#First time ever trying to draw a bat yay!

[masschase]

shaunviola for the ask meme :]

Question ask meme (feel free to send more, I like this format)

YAY SHAUNVI!

When I started shipping it if I did:

Directly from tumblr! I think the first time would have been in a piece by iilovebeam though I think I saw other people's art of them too. I was just like OOH! Like I'd not really thought about it but the moment I did, I saw an interesting dynamic there.

My thoughts:

I mean I adore them. I make no secret of the fact I can sometimes end up a little bored once couples are together and there's no friction and so on. With Shaunvi there's a lot to play with. I think it was the first kind of secondary ship I decided to add to my fanfic, though I believe it wasn't the first to appear as I wrote everything so out of order.

What makes me happy about them:

They start from this place of a lot of tension established in canon, and I just love the idea of Viola having this attraction to Shaundi right off the bat but her being like... untouchable? Unavailable? Like she almost starts off a goal; a grown-up version of the more unusual girl trying to win the popular girl over as a friend, but it becomes more than that as she falls hard for her. From Shaundi's perspective there is this huge barrier though, she can't even allow herself to think about it because Viola is involved in Johnny's death. That barrier breaks in my hc when Shaundi finds out Johnny is actually alive, because that really was her sticking point above all else. From then on they start a rather intense relationship. I was going to say short but it's about a year long so short is pretty subjective. They're a bit on again off again after that; they fizzle out romantically but they remain friends and they also maintain this spark sexually.

What makes me sad about them:

Because my universe is canon obviously it's never going to work out because Viola dies 🥲 I obviously had that in mind when I decided not to have their relationship cover the whole 2016-2020 period because I think Shaundi would very much struggle to recover from that in a way my other characters who lose people have strong defences against. It also just didn't fit what I wanted for them, I wanted them intense and passionate and I think that either settles into something else or it ends.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

I mean I haven't actually read any fanfic that features them I don't think, I included them briefly in mine but didn't tag them as a pairing bc that would annoy me if they were tagged but not a main pairing and only in it for five seconds. Actually I wish I'd woven them into my own story in a more interesting way, but I was so far in when I came across the pairing. It kind of works though because we see Shaundi's disdain adapt quite suddenly after finding out about Johnny. I guess I wouldn't like to see anything too cheesy or boring for them? Nothing that's like love at first sight, instantly getting along when Viola joins because while canon devation is fine it would also remove a lot of what I like about them. I would accept a well written happy ever after for them! But they need some tension in the lead up. Obviously hc them however you want, this is just about what I'd personally enjoy reading! 😊

Things I look for in fanfic:

Honestly any interesting portrayal of the relationship would draw me in. I'm not super picky. I've not read fic of them but every angle I've seen for them on tumblr I've absolutely loved. Pining, angst, awkwardness, well written smut; a lot of standard things I like would work.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

So for main universe, Shasha (Shaundi x Asha) is something many of you know I have an interest in. I think they would have an interesting dynamic but plotting out an actual storyline for them is quite different. These things come with time for me though they just pop into my head at random times. If I don't find a route for them romantically I'd love to see them living together in a QPR type situation! I'm also a little... just a little curious about Shaundi x Kinzie. That would be more AU though, as would Shaundi x Casey. There are quite a few I can see for Shaundi.

As for Viola, main universe she's dead so I'm going to just go cracky and say Violin? Yeah I feel like some people are going to think "oh, well, you're the self-appointed ship name guy so you would", and... they have a point. 😆 It's really quite hypothetical as I don't really make anything with the afterlife, but if I did, there would have to be a heaven x hell ship. I think they'd kind of click. AU where she lives though? I'd say most likely an OC tbh. If Casey's the Boss it doesn't really fit for more than a fling type thing, but the idea of Viola x Boss really appeals to me for a more fitting Boss, because they gave her a pretty big chance in SR3 and I'd like to know what would come from that. Imagine the early days and them just being the one who's on her side, y'know? 🥲

My happily ever after for them:

So I guess in terms of what fits my mostly canon+ universe, I did have a possibility of Viola being in the pods after all due to a mix-up, very much a "here's how Shaunviola can still win" thing tbh. They could potentially be together on Ragnarok. But I guess I don't really see that theory as an actual part of my canon nowadays, and again, idk if I have a story for them there yet. If I do I'll likely share it 😊

Who is the big spoon/little spoon:

I guess I see Shaundi as the big spoon most of the time. She's the more physical of the two but it's more than that. I just think Viola has this insecurity about whether Shaundi really cares for her and always will. When Shaundi holds her it just reinforces that this is all willing and that she loves her.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity:

So in my hc they both like to dance, that's a pretty straightforward one. I can see them going out while in the "off" phase of on/off and winding up slow dancing 🥲 I think they prefer nights out over nights in but maybe they would enjoy cooking together with a bottle of wine or two. I also have an image of them cycling out of town and looking down at everything from high places. I feel like it's easier for these two to find what they really cherish about each other when there's no distractions, just peace and quiet.

[akeilai]

Just some very rough sketches I did when they wouldn't leave me alone while I tried to sleep! Bat!Ciel from Sanguis by Secretly_a_wuss and DemonofPhantomhive! And of course Tiny Teacup!Sebastian because we all know he would.

And the wrapped up Bat!Ciel is based off of Lil Drac the rescued bat! Don't know Bat!Ciel's species, but I based him off the flying fox bat!

Hope you guys like it! @demonofphantomhive and @secretly-a-wuss

[thinger-strang]

i have some ideas about a "reverse" au; where billy is the indiana native while steve is the california newbie ( @smashmouth-hargrove i said i would tag you)

billy

drives a truck (neils old one that breaks down every few hundred miles) but is saving up for something more flashy

still has a mullet but it's not as shaggy

definitely has a piercing still but doesn't wear the dangly bit unless he's going "out"

wears a lot of ratty tee shirts, still with cut off sleeves for some of them

been working at bennys diner since he got his drivers permit

mostly a loner but friends? with tommy and carol but not besties and definitely not at the top of the food chain

and i feel like billy would be quieter? like still angry and gets into fights all the time but less likely to draw a lot of attention to himself, having grown up a gay kid in such a small prejudiced town

him and max still dont really get along but in more of an "im ignoring you therefore you dont exist" type way

but same basic backstory with his mom and everything just in hawkins

hed get involved with all the upside down shit bc max is part of the party from basically the beginning and while they have a stilted relationship they still look out for each other

im thinking itd be something with el and max would get freaked out by her powers and everything theyre discovering and end up telling billy

he wouldnt believe her at first not until he meets el or something (i don't really have like a plot line worked out)

but i think he'd be lumped with the kids, cant really picture him running around with nancy and jonathan and definitely not hopper and joyce, i think hed end up as a kind of babysitter type accidentally

steve

even bigger hair from swimming in the saltwater all the time

actually canonically a swimmer

seems very laid back, everyone immediately pegs him as a stoner (not wrong but still)

lives in hawkins now bc his parents got a divorce but both were also deemed unfit to have a child so he lives with his aunt claudia now

dustin hates him at first bc he only remembers steve as the awful cousin he's only met once but they grow on each other

steve only wore bright shorts and like crop tops for the longest time until claudia realizes he literally doesn't own warmer clothes and takes him out to get new clothes

hes really charming and everyone kinda swoons around him but doesnt ever take anyone out (he just went through a weird break up and isnt in the mood)

he gets dragged into the upside down shit when he goes to pick up Dustin from dnd (so way earlier in the day than billy gets max originally) and billys at the house so he asks to talk to billy outside and apologizes for starting shit with him at school (they get into a fight bc steve, trying to cover his own gay ass, calls billy a queer and they fight but steve feels awful bc that was shitty he was just really mad about moving idk) and then theres demodogs, steve panics but ends up kicking ass with the bat yay!

him and billy end up becoming really good friends and since steve doesnt have a car, just drives claudias station wagon when he can, billy ends up picking him up and driving him around a lot and they hang out in all the hidey holes billys found over the years

[icequeenbae]

Desert Flower (m) Ch. 1 | BBH

Pairing: Baekhyun x Reader x Baëkhyun

Characters: EXO and X-EXO (not all of them mentioned)

EXO vs X-EXO dynamics, complicated relationships, angsty, action, smut (as usual)

Warnings: sorta mingling with your ex’s ‘evil twin’, mentions of blood/ violence (nothing too graphic… I suppose), Y/N gets teary a lot(?), explicit content, rough sex, unprotected sex

Word Count: ~13.5k (full), ~3.7k (Chapter 1)

Summary: Baekhyun, your beloved boyfriend of three years, suddenly breaks up with you and disappears from the city in an attempt to protect you. But leaving you alone and clueless means trouble will surely find you. For it is easy to spot a flower in the desert.

Masterlist   >> One >> Two (m) >> Three (m) >> Four (fin)

Author’s Note: Yay, this is happening!!! My first BaekBaёk, oml I’m gonna-

Ok. I’ll admit right off the bat that I wouldn’t be posting this any time soon without my lovely beta @baekshoney​ 🖤 She’s the person I turn to when I think there’s a million little things I could’ve done better, because that’s what I always think. I had to give myself a cut-off date to finally give up editing this 😅 So, I’d really appreciate it if you guys could share your thoughts and opinions on this too. My asks, dms and comments are places where you’re always welcome! Now, let’s get into this!

Tags: @blahblahblah-boo @baeklightsx @wooya1224 @baekklove

Chapter 1. The beginning of the end 

It was all too sudden.

The words he’d said deafened you. Refusing to believe what you were hearing, you shook your head and took a step back, as if doing so could start the conversation you’d just had over. Or rewind the time and allow you to prevent the words from coming out of his mouth in the first place. But he was firm, unyielding in his stance.

‘I’m sorry,’ he repeated. ‘It’s my fault. I should’ve known better.’

Than to start this relationship, was what he meant. That he should have avoided getting in a relationship with you altogether, and breaking up with you would’ve never become an issue.

‘Why?’ You tried to speak, but your lower lip started to tremble, silencing you at once.

This was all wrong. It couldn’t have been true, what he was saying.

He licked his lips, looking away, hands forming tight fists at his sides as he tried to recollect himself and urge his body to stay frozen on the spot.

That did not work for long – the sight of you, so small, so stunned and defeated, with tears welling in your eyes while you tried to stifle them… He couldn’t. It was stupid of him to break his act so easily, but you were too precious to him to just leave you like this.

Sighing and cursing himself out in his mind, he took a stride towards you and gathered you tightly in his arms.

‘I am sorry, Y/N,’ he continued softly, hearing you hiccup in his unexpected embrace. ‘But I have to leave. We- I should’ve stayed away from you from the start. Forgive me for being so weak.’

You sobbed at his words, shaking your head stubbornly and clinging to his broad chest as an act of desperation.

‘I can come with you!’

‘No,’ he interrupted your crazy idea. ‘I’m leaving you behind. To keep you safe.’

‘Safe from what?’ You questioned, half-annoyed now.

He kept insisting that he wished to protect you, but how was leaving you all alone ensuring your security? And why would you even consider it, when you only felt safe while with him?

‘I cannot tell you. The more you know, the more dangerous it is.’

‘Baekhyunie, please,’ you wiped the tears and grabbed onto his vest as he moved to pull away. ‘You can’t just decide this on your own!’

‘Y/N,’ he took hold of your wrists, not removing them just yet. ‘I know it’s hard, and I never wanted to hurt you like this. But there’s nothing you can say that’ll change my mind. I’d rather break your heart than risk your life, so it’s not really a choice.’

He looked around as if to make sure you were not being watched, and then leaned in to place a farewell kiss on your temple – his favorite spot. You sniffled, realization of the inevitable setting in.

‘Just let me go, flower,’ his voice lowered to a whisper, and you sobbed at the pet name. ‘You’ll be better off without me, I promise.’

‘No,’ you protested as he freed himself from your grasp, and took a step back. ‘No, Baekhyun, don’t leave,’ you clawed at his forearm, trying to stop him. ‘We can deal with it together, we can think of something! I don’t want to be without you,’ you whimpered sorrowfully.

He shook his head, shying away from your touch, while you desperately tried to hold him back.

But you couldn’t. He gently peeled your hands off to walk away, and you missed the pained crease between his eyebrows when he turned his back on you to escape your apartment.

‘Please, don’t do this…’ You whispered, voice breaking in anguish. Just as your heart was.

Yet, Baekhyun kept walking. Leaving you to weep in the unwelcoming emptiness of your home.

Leaving you for good.

***

Your relationship with Baekhyun started almost three years ago.

Still new to university life, you found yourself in the midst of a soap opera worth of drama when a bunch of transfer students joined all at once, some even in the same year as you. All highly attractive, they usually hung out together and spent less time than needed socializing with the outside world.

Not that you cared too much – sure, the excitement going around was making you curious, but they looked too handsome, almost to the extent that you found it intimidating. Ironically, the most intimidating you found Baekhyun. His then long dark hair with strands of red and a mullet hairstyle, the sharp green eyes, the pierced eyebrow, and the lip ring that made him look like a very attractive hooligan... The piercings turned out to be just as fake as the eye color, which did not disappoint you at all.

Funny enough, you only got to know this bad boy because he took a liking to retreating to the campus library. Hiding from all of the attention, of course. While some members of his clique actually basked in it, he preferred to disappear to the remote aisles of the quiet space and read a book, or, more likely, sleep with one on his chest. You saw him like that often, since you were stuck in there yourself – essays for different classes were piling up rapidly. As a diligent student, you were determined to do well in your first year of university, so dragging yourself to the library to stay glued to your laptop was the best option.

Coincidentally, you also preferred to stay in the less lively spaces, as you tended to seek peace and quiet to focus on your assignments. Your attention span… wasn’t impressive, to say the least, so you did your best to avoid any distractions. However, you didn’t count on a certain sleep lover to be one of them.

It was not the first day you spent close enough to notice the tranquil expression he wore on his face as he was snoozing. It was, however, the first time he caught you staring mindlessly in his direction. Burning the deepest shade of red in your cheeks, you grabbed your books and quickly made yourself scarce, thanking heavens for the multiple aisles of books around. You walked around for ten minutes or so, actually placing your books back where they belonged and finding a secluded corner to check out what else was on the shelves. Squinting, you tried to read the name of the tome that had gotten your attention, and raised your arm to get it from the level that was clearly too high for you. Thankfully, someone reached over your head and helped you obtain the book. You turned around to say thank you but instead were suddenly pushed back into the shelf by the taller figure with neat red strands. Speechless, you only held your book close and gaped at him, as he leaned forward.

‘Ever heard about the cat killed by curiosity?’ He hummed, eyes piercing you from above.

You swallowed, knees getting weaker as you registered the fresh musky smell coming off of his brightly colored shirt.

To push your buttons, he decided to get even more scandalously close to you, arm holding onto the rack behind you to keep balance.

‘Nothing wrong with being curious!’ You jabbered. ‘In fact, if people preserved the curiosity they have as kids they would’ve had a much bigger learning capacity as adults.’

He huffed. You weren’t sure if he was shocked or amused, because your eyes looked anywhere but his face. In fact, they lowered enough to fix on your forearm, resting across his rib cage, and your fist pressing slightly into his pec to keep him at least at a minimal distance.

At this you gasped, eyes widening and returning to his face, only to catch an inquisitive spark in his retinas as he nudged the lip ring with his tongue. Sighing, he took a step back, finally allowing some space between you.

‘Can’t write a philosophy essay with this, little flower,’ he chuckled. ‘Or if you can… I’d be impressed.’

You looked down in confusion, understanding that the book you were holding was from a Botanics section. ‘The Oxford Book of Wild Flowers’, read the title.

But… How did he know about your philosophy assignment?

***

Only later had Baekhyun confessed that he had had an eye on you for a while by the time this incident took place, but the moment of your outburst was what got to him. When he looked down at your cornered form, holding a book to your chest so innocently, and keeping him away instinctively with one arm. He had to bite his tongue to prevent a smile from making its way onto his face. That was it for him, and even though he wanted to avoid you and keep interactions with you to an absolute minimum, he couldn’t help but find ways to draw your attention. Like that one time, when you walked out of the library because the loud noises from the outside made your concentration for the night crumble.

The source of that noise was, in fact, a certain convertible, blasting the music for the entire campus to hear. You would have come up to complain that your studying was cut short if you didn’t have perfect eyesight. It allowed you to see that there was a red-haired problem sat in the car, with a bare foot resting lazily against the panel. Ready to run the other way, you turned around, meeting a solid chest with your forehead. You discovered that it was a rather cheerful guy in the same year as you, Jongin, and the other one with him was Sehun. And those two stalled you long enough for Baekhyun to make an entrance.

It was the first time he tried asking you out. And got rejected.

However, as much as you wanted to take ownership of that and say that you were playing hard to get when you walked off and left him stunned by your refusal, that was not the case. This guy made your throat go dry at the mere sight of him! He was way too handsome, and he also looked kind of… well, he looked like he’d break your heart without thinking twice about it. And that you couldn’t allow.

But then again, good girls do tend to fall for bad boys. Or was he only pretending to be bad? You’d never heard anything that discredited him, except for the way he stared people down sometimes. That once happened to a fellow student in your class. After he sat next to you during lunch.

Actually, almost the entire week following that incident you had lunch alone because everyone kept making excuses to sit elsewhere. That was how you became friends with Jongin and Sehun. Having had a few classes together, you were more or less acquainted with each other, so you didn’t mind when Jongin suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a tray and asked you if they could join. He even had lunch with you when Sehun wasn’t around – you figured that it made Jongin even more chatty. So much so, that one day he leaned across the table to get slightly closer, and used his most clandestine voice on you.

‘You know, hyung could burn a hole in anyone next to you with his glare, but I’m immune to his ‘charms’, thankfully,’ he giggled and added, ‘Still, I think you should give him a chance. Baekhyun’s a good guy, and he’s kinda torn as it is. Asking you out was a pretty big step for him.’

Honestly, you had a hard time believing that. Baekhyun… was probably the kind of guy, who never even had to ask. You could look around and easily spot a dozen eyes that were fixed on him at this very moment. Why in the world would he want to date you, clearly not the ‘easy-going’ party type? He probably wanted to get into your pants just for sport, like the rest of the pretty boys.

‘Whatever you’re thinking, it’s far from the truth. Ugh, Junmyeon will kill me for this!’ Jongin cursed himself and continued, before you could ask. ‘Hyung looks rough around the edges, but he’s really a softie. Trust me on this.’

‘Are you his wingman or something?’ You snorted dubiously, getting a little timid from this discussion.

‘Ha, are you kidding? He’s gonna strangle me if he finds out. Like I said, he’s torn between staying away from you and persisting in his efforts to take you out. Just think about it,’ he ended with an attempted (but failed) wink.

As if to take away your chance to process the unexpected input, Jongin shoved Baekhyun in your direction the very next day. Disappearing from the cafeteria right after, of course. Envy his subtlety. But, apparently, what he said earlier had an effect, so you only nodded when a flustered figure asked for permission to sit with you. He looked quite different from the previous times you saw him up close – much less confident and intimidating. But he seemed sincere when he said he just wanted one chance.

And that was how your relationship picked up. It took a whirlwind course from the very beginning, and the hot summer before your second year of university was the most torturous time ever for the both of you. Still wary of getting played, you only trusted Baekhyun enough to get intimately close months and months into dating. And he was patient with you, going at a slow pace, letting you pull away whenever you wanted. Until you didn’t want to anymore.

That last leap of faith was a beginning in itself – a true beginning of you and Baekhyun. The final seal was broken, and you entrusted yourself fully to him, which he repaid by showering you in his affection and feelings that he himself had not come to acknowledge just then.

After a year together, you were not simply allowed into the inner circle, but also educated about the special abilities that Baekhyun and his friends had. You were first interrogated by their leader, Junmyeon, who wanted to make sure you had no ulterior motives and were not going to tell a living soul about them. He called it ‘a quick chat’ as he dragged you in a scarcely furnished room where he sat you down at the small metal table across from him. The leader asked you questions and tried reading your verbal and non-verbal cues, so it was clearly an interrogation. Junmyeon was pretty experienced in this, so he could instantly tell that you were harmless. And you also passed the test, answering the most ridiculous questions about Baekhyun – apparently, that was to make sure you were not ‘faking it’ – so, he accepted you into their family.

However, knowing too much was dangerous, so you only learned about their powers and how they came from the so-called EXO Planet when they were young (talk about dating an alien!), and that the organization they called ‘the Red’ amongst themselves wanted to hunt them down. They also used to be held hostage by these people – and that was just about as much you knew about the issue because Baekhyun kept you away from the ‘unnecessary details’. He only told you that they seemed to be hidden well in this town, surrounded by just enough people to blend in and disappear. And you worried, always, because you knew too little about the dangers surrounding the group, and even less about how you could contribute to their safety.

Baekhyun laughed when you once brought it up, finding your concern nothing but cute.

‘You don’t have to worry about it, flower. It’s my job to make sure you’re safe, not the other way around,’ he then said, playing with the curly ends of your hair.

You frowned at that. Why was it not your job to take care of him? If you could help, you wanted to help. But he always brushed you off, saying that the only thing you should do to help is staying out of trouble. Like that was a challenge – you either studied or hung out with him and his friends, not much room to stir trouble. The only other person you talked to regularly was your roommate, and she was also pretty harmless.

As time went by, you got closer to your own graduation, basically, one year left before you had to figure it out for yourself again. Your boyfriend was always supportive, but you couldn’t help but wonder how he imagined your future. He was always up to something but never shared it with you since it was ‘nothing for you to worry about’. Had he not shown you his actual abilities before, you would’ve certainly thought that it was a crazy lie he told you to cover up for some kind of illegal activity. In reality, some illegal activities were going on, especially since hacking and cracking was one of Minseok’s specialties (but mostly because they needed to keep their identities out of sight). Another reason why they didn’t all go to the same school when they arrived, and also why they changed their appearance ever so often. The lucky mullet was long gone by the time you had your first Christmas together, and you had had the pleasure of seeing him in multiple hair colors throughout almost three years of your relationship. Notably, the first dozen or so make-out sessions you had with him took place when he had just cut his hair and dyed it pitch black. And he still wore his fake lip ring at the time, which was an experience in itself. He did know how to use his mouth…

Admittedly, you were kind of used to being the object of the boys’ shameless teasing every time you hung out together. The way Baekhyun kept you close and fussed about everything was, apparently, atypical for their usually chill and humorous hyung. He was their second-in-command, after all, the genius behind the strategic planning of the group, and the mind that kept them hidden for so long in one place.

Because of you.

One of the boys had previously let it slip that they hadn’t lived anywhere for that long before, maybe not even for one full year. But this time Baekhyun was determined to stay for a while, now that he had an anchor.

But the day came. When he found out that they might’ve been compromised, he got scared. The way he’d never feared anything before. And he’d been through a lot, to put it mildly. Baekhyun could maintain a cold and sharp mind at all times, that was his thing, but not when it came to you. Once he figured out that there was a real chance, that they could’ve found the EXO hideout and, thus, could connect you to the boys, he couldn’t think straight. Overwhelmed by a sudden panic, he sought advice from the leader.

‘You know it’s not me who’s supposed to decide,’ Junmyeon sighed, looking at his disheveled second. ‘I told you a relationship wasn’t a good idea. I also think that keeping her close means putting her life in jeopardy.’

His words were cutting through Baekhyun as he paced the room, long fingers grasping his own hair.

‘But it still may be a safer option than leaving her here,’ the leader added, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘We need to relocate fast, and you have the ‘better of two evils’ situation on your hands.’

‘I know I should leave her,’ Baekhyun stopped in his tracks, turning his head to the leader. ‘But what if they already know, hyung?’

‘Minseok had every trace of her erased, not a single camera in town had a glimpse of her with you. They might have found our footprints in the sand, but those don’t necessarily lead to her. I suppose they should move on as soon as they come here and realize that we’re nowhere around.’

‘Most likely, but what if-’

‘They can very well catch up to us while we run. Like I said, there isn’t a right answer, but a choice. And I think that you’ve already made it when you should give her a voice, too,’ the leader pushed.

‘I-’ Baekhyun turned away to hide the glassy eyes from Junmyeon. ‘I have to give her a chance, hyung. I cannot sentence her to a lifetime of running and danger. And I know she’s silly enough to throw herself into it if she has a say in this.’

‘And if you’re wrong? You’re going to break her heart as a precaution?’

‘She won’t die from a broken heart. Can you imagine what they’d do to her if they find out?’

Junmyeon bit his lip. This time, the choice was completely out of his hands. He thought his second was making a mistake, but it was not his place to decide. Exhaling again, he nodded.

‘Tell her in the morning. We’re moving out as soon as the rain starts.’

>> Chapter 2

A/N: So, what do you think? This is more of an introductory chapter, I know, but it covers quite a lot of their relationship with Baek. You must be excited to see where this goes and when Baёk appears? Or if Baekhyun is coming back? Me too, me too 🙈

[reneesi]

i never would have thought // CH.10

CH.10 II the walk home

A/N: GUESS WHOS BACK?? I lived hoes 😎😎. So I've been feeling a lot better and I finally got enough sleep to remember how to write and I also got an editor!! so yay! Hopefully the quality will be a little bit better writing wise :)! We will be returning to semi-scheduled programing but for my sake I'm gonna change the updates to twice a week since three time was clearly too much for me to keep up with. Tuesdays and Fridays will be the new upload days! Anyways, enjoy the rest of the chapter~

WRITTEN PORTION

“I knew you’d make it!” Tanka roared, slapping Tsukishima’s back a little too hard as the blonde took a seat beside him. Tsukishima flinched ever so slightly, and grit his teeth as he reached up to rub his shoulder.

“I only came because this is a team event.” Tsukishima mumbled, rolling his eyes as more teammates piped in with hellos and comments of joking passive aggressiveness.

When Tsukishima had initially texted the group chat that he would be skipping that night's festivities the team had erupted into light disapproval and jokes of annoyance. Although (Y/n) knew she should have been angry, the feeling that overwhelmed her senses was much closer to disappointment. She’d tried her best to hide the way her stomach had sunk deep into itself by keeping her eyes low, but her slightly hunched posture had been a dead give away. Sugawara, ever so intuitive, had taken notice.

So while the rest of the team broke out into laughter and hypothetical plans to drag Tsukishima along, Suga had wrapped an arm around (Y/n)’s shoulder and offered a sympathetic smile. (Y/n) had smiled back of course, as convincing as she could muster, but had mostly kept her head down for the rest of the walk.

And while the team was slightly annoyed with Tsukishima’s lack of presence, they weren’t the least bit surprised since it wasn’t the first time he had bailed on them. Yamaguchi, especially, had tried his best to defend Tsukishima at first. That is until he’d caught a glimpse of (Y/n)’s face. One look at her frown immediately made him go silent.  A few minutes later he had broken away from the group, typing away furiously at his screen.

Now that Tsukishima was sitting right across from her, (Y/n) couldn’t bring herself to erase the stress that was crushing her chest. She looked down at her food in confusion, he was here.. so why did she still feel awful?

“You didn’t have to come, you know?” (Y/n) finally burst out, looking up just in time to see Tsukishima’s eyes widen ever so slightly. In the dim yellow-ish light his blush was easy to miss. Tsukishima reached up to adjust his glasses and let out a signature tch.

“Of course I didn’t have to come, stupid,” He replied in irritation, looking away to avoid (Y/n)’s heavy stare. When she didn’t look away, he added “I came because I wanted to.”

“That’s convenient.” Yamaguchi cut in, unusual smirk tugging at his usual innocent face.

“Just gonna casually leave the part out where I had to basically force you to come?” Yamaguchi teased, reaching over to poke at Tsukishima’s increasingly red face. The blonde quickly swatted his best friend’s fingers away.

“You didn’t force me,” He scowled, sending Yamaguchi a glare “I just reconsidered is all.”

The latter of his words were much quieter, so much so that for a moment (Y/n) considered they may have been just for her.  A secret message of reassurance that he didn’t in fact hate her, but rather had really just been feeling lazy. She turned those five words over in her head at least seven times, staring at him intently, before receiving another glare. She came to the conclusion that it was much more likely that he hadn’t meant for anyone to hear. (Y/n) thought about what it could have meant, narrowing her eyes as her vision lulled.

“Stop staring, it’s rude.” Tsukishima said flatly, reaching across the table to flick (Y/n)’s forehead abruptly. (Y/n) shook her head in surprise and finally noticed she’d completely zoned out straight ahead. Her eyes widened as a red tint flushed across her cheeks.

“S-sorry!” She squeaked out, looking away immediately.

If it wasn’t for Tsukishima’s light chuckle drawing her eyes back just seconds later, (Y/n) would have missed what must have been the first time she’d seen Tsukishima smile in what felt like forever. He rolled his eyes before turning to ask Tanaka a question, and being pulled into a long conversation about volleyball.

Following this example, (Y/n) turned to her upperclassmen and joined their conversation, but unlike Tsukishima, she was unable to focus. And although her eyes rarely made their way back to him for the remainder of dinner, (Y/n) couldn’t get her mind to do the same.

At around 9 PM, Hinata and Kageyama announced that they would be departing early, excusing themselves with a simple mention of early training. As he hugged her goodbye, (Y/n) could have sworn she saw a blush creeping its way across her cousin's cheeks, but when she tried to ask he’d practically jumped out of his skin and laughed a little too loud.

“I’m probably just sleepy!” Shoyo had chuckled, slapping (Y/n)’s arm with more force than necessary.

(Y/n) had squinted at the pair, watching as they made their exit, wincing as she rubbed her arm thoughtfully. She would definitely have to bring this up with Shoyo later.

As for the rest of the team, most of them had stayed until at least 10 PM. After that it grew even later and people began to bid their goodbyes until only Daichi, Sugawara, (Y/n), Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima remained standing outside of the restaurant.

“I never realized how late it had gotten!” Sugawara yawned, peering at his watch. Daichi took Suga’s school bag and draped it over his own shoulder, wrapping his free arm around his boyfriend’s waist. Suga rubbed at his eyes sleepily.

“Hinata-chan, will you be okay walking home so far this late at night?” Daichi asked, turning to face the first years.

“I think I’ll be okay… I’d usually just walk with Shoyo but he left early.” (Y/n) giggled awkwardly, rubbing at the back of her neck with her palm. Daichi’s eyes suddenly widened as he looked at something just behind (Y/n). She turned back quizzically only to be met with a sheepish Yamaguchi. (Y/n) narrowed her eyes and raised a brow.

“Yama..?” She asked slowly.

“Yes?” He replied, batting his eyelashes innocently. Tsukishima rolled his eyes and groaned.

“Okay, well i'm going home. Congratulations Hinata, have a good night everyone.” He raised a hand lazily, already turning to leave.

“Would you like me to walk you h-“ Daichi began before Yamaguchi, who had grabbed Tsukishima by the collar of his shirt at some point, cut in.

“Actualllllyyy Tsukishima is gonna walk her home! You guys go home! Don’t worry about it!” Yamaguchi beamed, waving at his upperclassmen in an almost aggressive manner.

“Looks like we’re being shooed away, goodnight everybody.” Sugawara chuckled lightly, following Daichi’s lead as he turned them both around and began to walk, arm still held tight around Suagwara.

“Goodnight everyone.” Daichi called back, footsteps growing distant as a silence fell over the three remaining first years.

“I’m not walking her home.” Tsukishima said, almost on cue, as he wiggled his way free of Yamaguchi’s gasp and began to walk away once more.

“Oh no you don’t.” Yamaguchi snatched him by the strap of his bag this time “You absolutely will be walking (Y/n) home! Last time you didn’t, so you still owe her.”

“H-hey it's ok! I can just walk home alone, I don’t wanna cause any trouble-“ (Y/n) tried, words wavering as her anxiety seeped through.

“Are you kidding? It’s almost midnight! No way you’re walking that entire way alone! What if you get kidnapped? Or worse! Tsukishima are you really gonna let some random killer get a hold of our teams precious third manager because you-”

“Oh shut up.” Tsukishima finally cut in, rolling his eyes in frustration. He glared over at Yamaguchi and ripped his friend’s hand off of the strap of his bag.

“Fine, I’ll walk her home…. But fuck you Yama.” He growled, turning briskly to walk in the direction of the Hinata’s house.

(Y/n) looked over at Yamaguchi in absolute horror, Yamaguchi only offered her a cheeky grin and two thumbs up in response before Tsukishima’s angry voice rose up.

“Come one idiot.”

The first ten minutes of walking were dead silent, with Tsukishima keeping a steady pace two steps ahead and (Y/n) trying her very best not to stare at the back of his head like a total creep.

“Sorry for being late.” Tsukishima eventually grumbled, not bothering to turn back.

(Y/n) was thankful for that, given that her cheeks began to glow pink almost immediately. She blinked at the back of his head for a moment too long before remembering she was supposed to answer.

“I-it’s okay!” She stuttered out, staring up at the sky in avoidance until her face finally cooled. After more silent minutes passed, (Y/n) furrowed her brows thoughtfully and asked,

“Why didn’t.. you wanna come… at first?”

Whatever Tsukishima’s face had done in response to her abrupt question would forever be a mystery, given that from behind he appeared completely unfazed.

“Reasons.” He finally said flatly, head tilting ever so slightly to indicate he was looking up at the sky.

“But I came didn’t I?” Tsukishima added after another long moment of silence.

“Thank you for showing up, even if you were late, it meant a lot.. to me.” (Y/n) replied, voice barely above a whisper.

Tsukishima’s shoulders seemed to tense, but not enough for (Y/n) to be sure. If only they were walking side by side she could gauge his reactions better… she quickened her pace ever so slightly but not enough to close the gap.

“Yeah, congrats on winning.” Tsukishima could have been smiling, it almost sounded like he was, but in all honesty (Y/n) never knew with him.

“You deserved it.” He added after another minute of silence passed.

The walk continued in quietude for a bit as the tension finally eased off of (Y/n)’s shoulders. Even if it was just one simple kind remark, (Y/n) understood Tsukishima well enough by now to know he didn’t go around giving praise to just anyone. His kindness was not to be taken lightly, even if it was barely notable at best. Maybe he had been mad, maybe not, but it had clearly passed given that he wasn’t being mean or ignoring her at the moment. If they were okay, if Tsukishima was tossing her light compliments and walking just a little bit slower until their paces matched up and they were walking side by side, then it didn’t really matter much to (Y/n) what had been going through his head earlier that day. They were clearly still friends, so she could stop walking on so many eggshells.

“You know you never did tell me much about your brother!” (Y/n)'s voice chimed up, bubbly syllables lifting her steps into light skips as she leaned forward and turned her head back to send Tsukishima a cheeky ass grin. He scoffed and reached up to adjust his glasses, breaking eye contact quickly.

“I already told you stuff about me. If anything you should be the one talking, idiot.” Tsukishima groaned, irritated brows crossing across his forehead.

“What do you wanna know?” (Y/n) asked, pestering tone vanished from her voice. Tsukishima only shrugged, eyes held taught to the sky.

“I could tell you about my family?” (Y/n) tried after neither first years said anything for a full five minutes.

“Ok.” Tsukishima said simply, glancing over as (Y/n) held a finger up to her chin thoughtfully.

She tried to ignore the way his eyes made her cheeks burn just a bit and looked up at the stars that had gradually begun to shine brighter and brighter.

“Well my parents are pretty nice people, they just aren’t so great at being parents.” (Y/n) laughed to herself softly, glancing over at Tsukishima’s confused face for only a moment. When he didn’t reply, she continued

“They love me, I know they do. The world back home is just… different. Honestly it's difficult for me to talk about this because I feel like it’s a hard place to explain to an outsider.”

“An outsider..?” Tsukishima narrowed his eyes, not in offense but in curiosity

“My parents are kind of… wealthy. The whole social bubble that comes with that is totally different from here..” (Y/n) explained cautiously, embarrassment seeping through the cracks of her words. Tsukishima’s face relaxed to an unreadable expression.

“Oh.” He mumbled, gaze drifting to the sky in tandem with (Y/n).

“Yeah. It kind of sucks..” She sighed, “And I mean I don’t wanna sound ungrateful or anything because I’m not! It’s just that everything has a price and mine was freedom.. My whole life growing up my parents were always motoring me like some kind of doll. I always had to dress a certain way and act a certain way and hang out with certain people and the more they made me the more I hated it.”

(Y/n) paused, sneaking a glance at Tsukishima, his brows furrowed again, but instead of frustration he seemed like he was deep in thought.

“Once, when I was 11, I remember overhearing them arguing about how I'd never end up happy if I couldn’t learn how to fit in. My dad wanted to send me away to boarding school and my Mom was absolutely opposed, but she agree with him that I needed to.. improve.. or I’d never find the right man and settle down and stuff. I was too young to really understand but it just seemed so unfair. I mean, I hated school. I was always having to hang out with these girls that would spread rumors about me behind my back and the guys were.. mean, and I was just so mad that my parents were blaming me for the way I was reaction to it all that I started pushing back as hard as I possibly could and-“ (Y/n)’s lips came to a halt as realization hit her

“I-I’m sorry I’m totally rambling about stupid stuff that you didn’t even ask abou-“

“Shut up” Tsukishima cut in, “if I didn’t wanna listen I would have just tuned you out.”

“H-hey!” (Y/n) protested, mortified blush still hugging her cheeks.

“I didn’t. So stop talking about pointless stuff and keep going.” Tsukishima scoffed, stretching his arms up to provide support for his head which was tilting back into his palms.

“Okay.” (Y/n) mumbled softly, embarrassment dying down to a subtle shyness.

“W-well, I ended up dying my hair brown two years later. I wanted to because I-I never really liked my hair but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do it mostly because I wanted to piss my parents off.” (Y/n) giggled out the last bit, tugging at a strand of hair unconsciously.

“It suits you.” Tsukishima said simply.

“Thanks!” (Y/n) lit up, too distracted by the prospect of talking about her hair to notice exactly what Tsukishima had just said.

“I did it by myself and I’ve kept it up all these years because I think it looks a lot better and-“

“Okay, I’m tuning you out.” Tsukishima yawned

“Hey! Don’t be rude!” (Y/n) glared, reaching over to punch his arm lightly. Tsukishima made a face of displeasure but otherwise ignored it.  

“Anyways, AS I WAS SAYING before SOMEONE so RUDELY interrupted me,” (Y/n) began again, clearing her throat before delving into a ten minute rant about why dying her hair was the best decision she’d ever made.

Just as she was finishing up, the Hinata household came into view. The conversation fizzled to an end as Tsukishima walked (Y/n) all the way to the door, staying a good foot behind her. He watched her with the same bored expression as they made their way to the front steps and front yard respectively. (Y/n) paused and turned back to Tsukishima with a breath held tight in her chest, it would be rude to walk inside without even saying goodbye.

“T-thank you, for walking me all the way here.” (Y/n) stuttered, eyes trained on the ground that stretched between.

“Yeah.” Tsukishima shrugged, pausing for a long moment before finally asking “Hinata-chan?”

“Yeah?” Her eyes snapped up to him almost reflexively

“While you’re here, be yourself. It’ll be a waste if you’re not… I know we all want you to feel at home so if your other home is a bad place make this a good one.” Tsukishima’s tone was nearly impossible to pinpoint. It hadn’t been quite soft but his usual cover of aloofness was completely absent, it was the kind of comfort that was candid and honest in a way that Tsukishima rarely ever displayed. (Y/n) stared at him wide eyed, before slowly nodding. He stared back for another long moment, almost as if waiting for a reply before a look of finality overtook his features and he held up a lazy hand.

“Goodbye.” He said monotonously, before turning to leave without another word. His movement snapped (Y/n) out of her shock and she called after him,

“Goodnight, Tsukishima! Thanks again!” She exclaimed, waving a frantic hand even though she knew Tsukishima wouldn’t be turning back to acknowledge it. As she watched him go (Y/n) felt an unstoppable blush stream across her face as his words rang through her head once more. His kindness was so rare, and as a result it always ended up feeling like a special gift. She touched the heated flesh of her cheek with the tips of her fingers, why was she always getting flustered around him?

“Don’t be so loud, my parents are already asleep.” Shoyo hissed from behind her, sticking his head out of the cracked front door.

(Y/n) realized Tsukishima was gone and that she’d been staring stupidly at nothing, she turned around and offered a sheepish smile.

“Sorry.” (Y/n) whispered, making her way inside once Shoyo opened the door fully and stepped aside.

“Why did you stay out so late?” Shoyo asked as (Y/n) leaned over and began taking off her shoes. After a pause she said,

“Tsukishima walks reeeeally slow.” (Y/n) smirked, lying straight through her teeth.

Shoyo’s eyes widened for a moment as he tried to do the calculations in his head, staring at her in utter perplexity. (Y/n) only snickered, slipping into her slippers as she began to walk away. Shoyo brain finally caught up and he burst out after his cousin,

“Wait, what the fuck?!”

previous I next

MASTERLIST

Tagslist: @domtamaki @kodzu-ken @clowninfortodoroki @kageyamasbabygorl @miya-yume @chaelysian @kittyddandnyla @chaseyui @it-was-just-a-ship @melanie09astrid @naorii-chan @chaoticalybiased @saltyteefff @aristatrois @iamthepenguinwhosearseisonfire @raineedayze @freyafolkvangr @scftsugawara @genuinelytodorokisbitch @cleopatera​ @tskeiki @charliefredb​ @just-snog-already​ 

[oh-for-fic-sake]

I Just Move Things

Whilst looking through luthors drives the league find a new metahuman who is to powerfull for her own good.

Masterlist

Warnings: swearing

A/n:So this is a new series of imagines with Justice league/ teen reader obviously no smut but fluff angst and everything in between i know that the pic is starlight but that’s there more for the eyes.

(not my gif/pic)

I Just Move Things

"Seriously this girl, shes incredible, Lex didn’t have much on her he only just got the footage a day or so before the whole supes vs bat thing but we are soo lucky she wasn't involved, if she uses her head she could probably wipe all of us out, we need to get here to join" Barry was giddy as he started gushing over the new mysterious metahuman who was a prime candidate for the justice league. Arthur sighed crossing his arms

"Oh really? I'm sorry but I don't see how that tiny thing could do much damage wheres her weapon?" He said unconvinced Bruce and Clark agreed somewhat looking at the photo victor had pulled up on the screen a girl who looked around sixteen sitting at a table outside a Starbucks reading a book, she looked like a typical teenager, no muscle definition to her small form, so obviously had no combat training she looked like a regular man could snap her in two, easy to over power. Victor sighed at them.

"Looks can be deceiving every thing you see in that photo is her weapon, the ground, the air, the glass in the window behind her even the chair she's sitting on she could use all of these to impale you if she wanted to ,its quite incredible watch her here look at this video." The clip was grainy showing the inside of a corner shop, she was standing by the counter blowing bubbles in her gum paying for a small bag of groceries when a man came in holding a gun screaming at the girl at the register who quickly turned around to the cash register fumbling trying to open the cash draw as he shouted pointing the gun at her making her scream and struggle even more. The teen in question moved only to be ordered to put both her hands on the counter, she did so but as soon as she did looked over her shoulder to the door blowing yet another bubble letting it pop she was very calm for a young girl who had a gun in her face she huffed took a deep breath you could see her eyes light up a little and the metal frame above the door caved in enough to hold it closed trapping them inside, neither of the others noticed to preoccupied quickly she slid a tin can into her hand and looked at the gun tilted her head to the side eyes flickering once again and the barrel caved in on itself looking like someone had pinched the end closing the hole completely making it useless, no bullets would be firing from the weapon the man when to scream confused but was struck in the temple by the can of beans dropping to the floor in a crumpled heap she kicked the gun away in case he got up. The cashier looked around crying in relief as she saw the thief had been knocked unconscious and with a quick look the metal frame quickly snapped back to its original state. She exchanged a few words with the girl who was now on the phone to the police nodding towards the security camera  the surprised she looked up you could see her curse as she looked into the lenses a grim expression eyes flashing and the video cut off, she had broke it trying to cover herself. Silence washed over the group as they came to terms with what they saw. Clark was the first to break it

"That was, different she helped tho that is a good thing she wants to do good. To protect people" Bruce spoke up next

"She didn't take chances, but that ability, what she can do its not something to take lightly, we don't know the extent of it can she do other things?" The question was directed at victor who had been scouring the cities surveillance for her.

"I've caught her a few times on cctv doing things, she practices at night around Gotham docks. And its amazing to watch, so far from what I can tell its molecular based, solids liquids and gases. I've seen her change the shape of containers, fix broken glass, she can't fly but seems she has just started to make invisible platforms to stand on and climb and when she fell she managed to make the ground sort of turn sand like to make her fall softer and she doesn't even seem to do it consciously it just sort of happens once she got up it settled like water becoming regular concrete again. Where ever she got the gift it hasn't been long, she is still trying to control them, small things are easier, like the gun and the door, but the first time she made the invisible stairs she got a nosebleed and passed out I lost her for a few weeks but when I found her again she did it again, must have practiced somewhere else as she only got a little nose bleed and didn't pass out just got dizzy" Diana sat there contemplating

"So basically this incredible power is wrapped up in a hormonal teenager  who doesn't know how to use it yet, she is still trying to figure out what she can and cant do? And no doubt soon will start testing her limits? Bruce we need to pull her in now we can't waste any time she could hurt herself or someone else" Barry nodded they all shared a look agreeing. Time to bring her in.

"Where is she?"

"She will be at the docks again tonight around nine o'clock, she has a pattern its like clock work, docks ,chemical factory and just recently started down under the main bridge towards Metropolis playing around with water". They nodded she seemed shy Clark showing up could scare her same with Diana, Barry wouldn't be a good idea he tended to fumble his words and Arthur was well Arthur. In the end it was decided Bruce would go do the talking, after all Gotham was his turf.

Well shit gonna be hard to explain this one.... you looked down sighing it was very typical tho well for you any way. You see you had a problem, or should you say gift, you could move things not just the whole abracadabra Matilda floating thing, you could move things on a molecular level..... like clay everything is clay. After practicing you now know that you can break down solids into teeny tiny grains like sand using it as sinking sand or putting it back together in a new shape and recently discovered you could pull all the teeny tiny molecules in the air together really tight it becomes an invisible force field type thingy like an instant piece of bullet proof glass, or like a platform to stand on . It was cool but difficult to control some things more then others, for instance solids where the molecules are pack tighter are easier to manipulate then water where they are all moving then air that was tricky they were fast and hard to control. And there was limitations you couldn't change anything living or growing, no plants, no animals and consequently no people. You cant heal people which you learned the hard way after cutting yourself for the sole purpose of sewing it back up nope didn't work and you wished you'd don't a shallower cut knowing it was going to leave a scar. Which sucks, but you can control the air in their lungs technically it wasn't apart of them. Loopholes, there is always a loophole. But you can fix things, like a crack phone screens burst pipes you just had to stretch things a bit or zip them up. Which brings us to this little mishap. How the fuck can you explain this, you had been trying to feel the air. You felt with your powers you liked to think of it as ripples you know like when you wave one hand under water you can feel the ripples hit the other? It was like that except you felt what the ripple hit. Kind of strange but that was the best you could come up with. So hear you was scratching your head looking at a half sunk boat, now you may be thinking boats sink all the time whats the problem?.... well normally boats sink in water not solid concrete, you had been trying to feel your ripples and pull the air below a small boat making it 'levitate' but lost your cool dropped the fucking thing panicked tried catching it and wham bam thank you ma'am boat is now half sticking out of the dock floor with a broken window. You looked up into the sky.

"Really? As if my life wasn't already a joke you gotta throw bad luck in the mix to?" You quickly closed your eyes willing the glass to reform feeling each the large pieces lift joining them selves back together slowly setting them back into the frame concentrating in 'zipping up' the seams at such a microscopic level no one would know any better. Once finished you opened your eyes, boat was still in the ground but the window was back in place. 'Yay go me' You smiled, you may not have achieved your goal of safely moving the boat but you did fix the window you broke. You sighed trying to pull the thing up again but stopped when you heard a large ominous crunching sound coming from the hull. You jumped growling pulling at you hair near your scalp.

"No no no no no this is not meant to happen just fucking move! Move up damn it!"

"Need some help?" You screamed jumping  turning around as the ground flicked up around your feet creating a small knee high spikes pointing between you and Batman?. You took a step back quickly stomping the small barrier away

"Err no no I err just out for a nice stroll haha." He hummed unconvinced looking at the boat sticking out of the ground you followed his gaze chuckling nervously scratching at your chin

".....that was like that when I got here....... I mean you see some weird shit in Gotham huh?" He looked back at you.

"I already know about your gift, you can't control it yet?" You gasped taking another step back

"Gift? What gift nope no sir-y no gifts round here."

"So I didn't just watch you drop a boat into concrete and fix the window on it?" You blinked slowly at him then heaved a heavy sigh stuffing your hand in your pockets.

"Y-you saw that? Shit I didn't mean to, I promise its just hard and i just want to stop doing things on accident....then other accidents happen a vicious cycle really" You said waving over the little accident. He nodded

"I believe you, but you were panicking, concentrate try making it sand again then harden from the bottom push up like layers like your filling in a hole go from the bottom up" you looked at him a little shocked but nodded looking at the boat feeling around beneath it with your 'ripples' making the concrete go lax hearing the hiss of it as it became loose grains before pushing up hardening thin layers from the bottom finally bringing it to the surface. You smiled happy at fixing your problem. He smirked seeing you giddy from your achievement.

"Wow thank you that helped a lot I would have been here all night before figuring that out." He nodded

"Your welcome, I'm glad I found you, we have been watching you for a while, we would like to talk to you"

"We?" You asked not really understanding

"The Justice league, you have a strong ability that we think would be useful and we wanted to see if we can help you control it we can give you training in combat weapons and hand to hand which ever you prefer." You looked at him jaw hanging open

"Your joking? You've gotta be, I just move things not really worthy of being up there with you guys,but I don't want to be used then thrown away but thanks for the help" you said turning to walk away he frowned

"We wont please you can trust us" he said reaching out quickly holding an arm dragging you back a little making you gasp and jump he then winced hissing as a thin spike quickly pierced the side of his hand that held you, you panicked.

"OH MY GOD! I'm sorry I didn't mean to! it just happens when I get scared or startled!" You quickly pushed the spike down grabbing his hand and twisting it with trembling hands hope he didn't beat the shit out of you, you'd basically just attacked him.

"Erm please stay still there are a few bits in there" you said before pulling at the little pieces of debris from the small puncture hole, when you react on instinct it doesn't end up as put together as when you actively control things hence little bits falling off and such.

"Your powers are strong I don't think your fully aware of what your capable of crushing a gun with a look is just the start, just give us a chance trust us"You let go of him hugging yourself taking a step back you felt bad you didn't mean you stood looking down waiting to see if he was angry, he seemed more sympathetic.

"Its not that I don't trust you, fuck how can I not I'm just....scared, you don't know the things I've done.....I could accidentally kill one of you then what? Be hunted down by you guys? I'm not indestructible I'm human and I haven't got control of it.... I don't even know what it is.....but its probably about time I found out I suppose I just simplify it so I don't you know....loose my nerve, bad things happen when that happens , its always frightened me... if-if I did come with you what do you guys get out of helping me? There’s always a price" he regarded you carefully he could see the fear the uncertainty in your voice it made you seem younger ,smaller lost he could tell you wanted to find somewhere to go, to find a home base and people who understood a bit like Barry in that sense he sighed smiling softly before speaking.

"Hopefully a team mate, one day someone will come and pick another fight and when they do we need to be ready, to have people we can call on to help, your strong a lot stronger then you realize this gift it-its probably made you one of the strongest metahumans on the planet,even superman was a little concerned of  encountering you that's why I'm here he chickened out." You giggled a little and he smiled relaxing, you were a good kid he could tell just scared and lost the league would be good for you give you direction.

"Really? I'm pretty sure I've got more reason to be wary of him" he smiled a little "The point is your strong and will only get stronger ,your still just learning about it we want help you, give you a safe place to learn how to control it, test your limits. Your a good kid I can see you want to help and we will give you the opportunities to do that." You nodded it did sound good, the chance to practice using this gift away from people, in a safe and controlled environment the only people around would be able to dodge and escape if things did go wrong you looked at your hands for a moment.

"...You'd really help me?"he nodded

"Not just you but we will also help protect those closest to you" you looked away

"Don’t have anyone." He stopped at that

"What? Your alone?" You shrugged nodding throwing your bag on your shoulder

"You mean family right? Don’t have one I told you bad things happen when I loose my control, I just have foster homes well had I left,better off on my own" you held his gaze you were testing him, letting him know exactly what you'd done with out saying the words guard up and waiting to see if he'd try to over power you or change his mind. He didn't know what to say to that, he could hear the others through the comms warning him to back off asking if he wanted back up, he ignored them you had killed them accidentally that much was clear. You had no one he couldn't imagine just what you had been through, but he also knew this was a test he had done it himself when he was younger, you were waiting to see if he would judge you or leave you here alone, the others wont understand that’s why they were panicking telling him to leave if he did  you'd never trust them again something none of them could risk, but it was also your way of trying to push them away. He shook his head coming closer slowing when your eyes began to glow and the floor rippled beneath his feet he raised his hands slowly the others were shouting down the line at him but you was getting defensive not readying for an attack.

"That’s why we want to help you, so nothing like that happens again I cant imagine what you've been through or what it was like but you don't have to be alone anymore or be scared" you believed him, something told you he understood pulling back from the concrete, he had plenty of time to attack you but didn't.

"And you wont be mad if I break something?" He shook his head releasing a breath he wasn't aware he was holding

"If you break something you can keep practicing until you fix it" you contemplated for a second.

"Okay then but just to see if I can fit in, don't let them make me jump.....I don't wanna shank them....you got off lightly it was aiming to go straight threw to your face... I sort of caught it a little" Bruce tensed but quickly controlled himself, the last thing you needed was to see he was slightly afraid of your gift it could feed your own fear.

"They already know, they've been watching in case they needed to help if things went bad its up to you" you gulped and nodded a little as he began walking away you hesitated looking the opposite way you could run, forget this whole meeting and leave, you sighed watching his back you had no doubt he was giving you the chance to leave you took a deep breath they could help and if it does become a con you would find a way to leave and disappear nodding you quickly jogged up behind him following him to the bat mobile he opened the back revealing two seats.

"This thing has extra seats?" He smirked down at you

"Well this one does some of the others don't." You tilted your head

"How many of them do you have?" He chuckled as you slid into the seat

"Quite a few buckle up and hold on" he said nodding the the strategically placed grab rails the shut the door a few seconds later you were moving. You shivered a little nervous you didn't think it was a bad thing to go and train somewhere more secure but one mistake and you could easily become an enemy and contrary to what they may believe you couldn't take any of them on you was still a human you still bled. You sighed leaning back a little resting your head on the seat behind you as he drove you god knows where.

[sheerfreesia007]

You’re Absolutely Terrifying

Title: You’re Absolutely Terrifying

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski x Reader

Author: @sheerfreesia007​​

Words: 1,875

Warnings: Fluff, Injury, Cursing

Teen Wolf Tag List: @linkpk88​, @pure-ghost​

Permanent Tag List: @paintballkid711​, @fioccodineveautunnale​, @phoenixhalliwell​, @synystersilenceinblacknwhite​

Author Notes: Yay some Teen Wolf fic! This one was inspired by the Cinderella gif below. I love me some Stiles! Feedback is always welcome and appreciated! I hope you enjoy!

Gif Credit: Google

         Soft music was playing in the background as you lay on top of Stiles’ bed going through old books on ritualistic killings, different books laid out on the bedspread around you opened up to different pages as you wrote anything you came across that sounded promising in your notebook. Your eyes widened slightly at the drawings that were in the book you were currently looking at. They showed depictions of the actual killings and you quickly turned the page over to curb the bile rising in your stomach.

         “You alright over there?” Stiles asks as he moves to sit on the floor in front of the bed next to where your face is. You lift your head to look at him and smile softly. 

         “Yeah totally. I normally spend my Friday nights researching ritualistic killings and staring at horrific depictions of those killings.” you respond sarcastically with a grin and Stiles scoffs at you softly as he rolls his eyes.

         “You and me both.” he quips back and you laugh softly as you tilt your head at him.

         “For some reason I can’t tell if you’re serious or not.” you say curiously and he grins over at you as he gets the book he’s looking through situated on his lap. You can feel your heart fluttering in your chest at his grin and the way his eyes follow you closely. Ever since you met Stiles back in the third grade he’s been one of your best friends, the other being Scott McCall. And once Scott was bitten by Peter and developed his werewolf problem you and Stiles have been beside him step by step. You and Stiles were the research gurus of the little trio you formed. While Stiles was more the detective you were more the librarian of the two. Stiles had been quite impressed by how easily it was for you to be able to find information on any topic and how quickly you were able to research it and take notes that helped him and Scott.

         And while you were a key asset to the two young men in your life, there was just something about the way they viewed you you wished would change. Especially with Stiles. For the longest time you had been harboring the hugest crush on him and unfortunately he didn’t seem to reciprocate it.

         “Ha, ha, ha. You got jokes huh?” Stiles says as he peers over the bed at the book that you’re looking at.

         “Only for you Stilinski.” you quip back at him and the grin that falls on his face is almost blinding. You blush softly and look back down at the book you’re researching and begin to get lost in the words and knowledge it stores. You’re so deep into your reading that you don’t come out of it until you see Stiles stand up from his spot on the floor. He’s frowning as he looks towards his open bedroom door. You tilt your head at him curiously wondering what he’s doing when you hear it, the sound of floorboard creaking is heard from downstairs. Your eyes snap over to Stiles and see him already moving to the bedroom door. “Stiles? Wait!” you called out as you tried to scramble off the bed. 

         Slipping in the blanket on his bed you fell to the floor with a crash, slamming your shoulder into the floor with a groan. You tried to get to your feet quickly but it wasn’t quick enough as you saw Stiles grab the metal baseball bat at the side of his door and then quickly rushed out shutting the door behind him. Your eyes widened as you heard the soft click and knew that he locked you in by way of that stupid little keyhole that he never got replaced. Who in their right mind would still have a door with a keyhole? 

         “Stiles! No wait!” you cried out as you finally got to your feet and got to the bedroom door. You desperately tried to open it tugging on the door knob to no avail. You slammed your closed fist into the door and screamed loudly in frustration. Panic was quickly consuming your body and you tried to tame it but the thought that he had just gone out there with any protection besides a bat was fueling the panic. “Stiles! Please! Come back! You have to come back!” you screamed as your fist kept pounding on the door.

         Suddenly you heard a crashing noise from downstairs and the panic, desperation and fear that was slowly trying to choke you was now drowning you. You screamed as loudly as you could and kept slamming your fist against the door. Suddenly you remembered his window rushing over to it you quickly unlatched it and slid it open. In your hurried panic state you had already gotten one leg over the windowsill before you heard the lock click on the door and the door slowly opened.

         Your brain wasn’t thinking as you slid your leg back into the room and rushed the door. Slamming it closed on whoever was on the other side you heard their groan and you used that to your advantage as you whipped the door open and cocked back your arm letting your fist fly. Your fist connected with a face and when you looked up you stared wide eyed at Isaac Lahey who was now groaning and holding his bleeding nose. Chest heaving you tried to make sense of what you were looking at and Isaac just stared at you in shock.

         “What the fuck!?” he snapped suddenly and you shook your head quickly.

         “Where’s Stiles?” you asked in a rush and Isaac looked over his shoulder.

         “Downstairs with Scott.” Isaac answered.

         “Sorry for breaking your nose. You’ll heal. I have to go kill someone though.” you said without any breath as you pat Isaac on the chest and moved around him. He stood there for a moment still holding his hand over his nose before he whipped his head to your retreating form.

         “You have to what?!” he called as he chased after you. 

         You were breathing heavily with emotion as you processed that if Isaac and Scott were here then Stiles was safe. All of your emotions were still coursing through you and you tried to slow your breathing but it wasn’t working. He had left you to go do something stupid. You could have lost him because of his stupidity. Tears began to pool in your eyes as your thoughts raced and you made your way down the stairs. 

         Scott stood with Stiles in the living room watching over someone who laid on the ground with their hands tied behind their back. Scott noticed you first as his head snapped over to look at you. You could hear Isaac coming down the stairs behind you but your main focus was on the tall gangly young man who was just hanging up his phone. You didn’t think as you moved and before Scott could grab you you had shoved Stiles up against the wall as your breathing picked up again.

         “Whoa!” Stiles said shocked as his back hit the wall and you pointed a finger in his face.

         “Shut up Stilinski! I am so close to murdering you it’s not even funny.” you snapped at him and watched as his eyes widened. His hands slowly came up in a gesture of surrender and you released him so that you could begin to pace. Scott and Isaac stood close by but gave you room to process through whatever it was that was going on with you. “Did you even think before you acted just now? Was it really worth it to go against this idiot by yourself?!” you asked rhetorically as you paced. Your hands flew in the air as you asked each question and when you looked over at Stiles with a sharp turn of your head you saw him watching you silently. 

         You took him in quickly and saw that he had a bruise forming on his right cheek bone and what looked like a cut under his left. But for all intents and purposes he looked like he was going to be okay. You shook your head as tears began to pool in your eyes again as you stood and stared at him. His body jolted away from the wall when he saw the tears in your eyes.

         “You left me up there when I could’ve helped you.” you cried to him as you flung your arms out from your body. “It’s you and me Stiles, we have to have each others’ backs! We don’t have the supernatural gifts that the others have.” Tears began to fall from your eyes and you watched as Stiles began to approach you. “I thought the absolute worst was happening to you because you decided to play hero. I-” you began to say and suddenly gasped as your mind raced with your horrifying thoughts. “I thought I was losing you.” you finished softly as Stiles came to stand in front of you his amber eyes gazing at you softly as his arms came up and hugged you close.

         “You’ll never lose me.” he promised softly as he held you close.

         “I fucking hope not you asshole.” you grumbled out to him as you buried your face in his chest and hugged him tightly. “I’m pretty sure I’d do worse than give Isaac a bloody nose if I lost you.” You heard Stiles chuckle softly as he rested his chin on your head and pulled in closer.

         “I didn’t know I meant that much to you.” he confessed softly to you and you pulled back with a jerk glaring up at him.

         “I love you dickhead. I’m in love with you. Of course you mean that much to me.” you snapped at him angrily. Silence fell over the four of you as Stiles stared down at you with adoring eyes. Scott was grinning from ear to ear happy that finally you had said something to his best friend. Isaac was just staring at you like he was terrified of you and kept inching closer to Scott.

         “I’m in love with you too.” Stiles said softly as he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to your lips. You hummed softly against his lips before pulling away harshly, Stiles lips still hung over your in a pout.

         “I’m still mad at you for being a hero.” you gripped out and Scott laughed loudly making both you and Stiles to smile over at him. Stiles leaned down and brushed his nose against your ear softly.

         “Let me make it up to you.” he whispered into your ear and you titled your head away from him while you looked over at him.

         “Maybe.” you said with a soft smile.

         “Remind me to never piss you off.” Isaac said suddenly as Stiles wrapped his arms around your middle when you turned to face Isaac and Scott. “You’re absolutely terrifying for a human.” he finished and all of you burst into laughter. Stiles leaned down and nuzzled his face into your neck pressing a soft kiss there and you hummed softly again.

[a-dose-of-harold]

Once in a Lifetime: Chapter 20

Once in a Lifetime: A Harry Styles AU Imagine Series

I’m sorry that I haven’t updated for years; took me a while to find motivation and finally put what in my mind into words… so I hope you enjoy it!

All the love.xx

Chapter 20: The Muse

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

October 2019: Barcelona, Spain (Memories)

Zayn’s POV

It was the fifth morning of our vacation. The golden sunlight peaking through our resort curtains had woken me up from my deep sleep. I tightened my eyes and winced from the slight soreness in my arms and thighs. I felt her body next to mine and my heart skip a beat.

Flashbacks from last night with Y/N hit me and a smile slowly crept across my face; it was a night that I know I will always remember. The romance, the passion, the love… all of it was new to me. I honestly never had felt this strong about anyone in my life.

Last night I realized that I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with her and it hasn’t even been a year.

I slowly inhaled and then exhaled as I opened my eyes. I looked over to my right to see Y/N sleeping peacefully on her stomach with her arms tucked under her pillows. The sun was hitting her body so perfectly and God, did she look flawless.

I slipped out of bed, pulled on my boxers and quietly tiptoed over to my bag and pulled out my sketch book and pencil set and began drawing her.

I have traveled all around the world, seen countless beautiful artwork and sculptures, visited the most amazing places and heard various pieces of music that changed my life… but nothing was a breath-taking as Y/N.

I drew every detail of her body that I could see; I added shadows, highlights, and even drew the texture of her hair that rested so perfectly down her back and along the pillow as she slept. Her steady breathing helped me focus as I worked my hands across the paper. I felt so at ease in her presence. She knew that I love to draw and paint her here and there, but she had no idea that I had began a small collection of just pieces that all pertain to her in my studio. She was my muse. She brought out this side of me that I never knew I had. She believed in me and always encouraged me to keep drawing and painting because she whole heartedly believed that one day someone will recognize my talents.

About an hour and half passed and I had finally finished, I smiled to myself as I tucked my drawing back into my bag and crawled in bed next to her and trailed butterfly kisses up her bare back and across her shoulders.

“Morning Zayn,” She whispered, eyes still closed. She snuggled her body closer to mine as she pulled the top sheet to cover us.

“Morning babe,” I grinned as I wrapped my arms around her naked body and kissed the top of her head.

She suddenly rolled over her body on top of mine, slightly confusing me. She picked her head up and placed a kiss on my lips blindly and began trailing kisses down my neck and to the other side.

Ooh.

I moved my head to the side for her to have more access to my neck, “Love… We have a lot of things to do today.” I chuckled.

She paused her movements and picked up her head and peaked through one eye, “Are you saying no to my lazy morning advances?”

She tucked her bottom lip in between her teeth and smiled before she began kissing my jawline and neck.

How in the world am I suppose to say no?

“I’m not saying no, I’m just… saying… that… we have a lot to do… today.” I breathlessly replied.

“Mmmm please, I want you,” She mumbled against my ear.

I felt my cock twitch and flipped her over; a giggled escaped from her lips, one of my favorite sounds in the world.

“Guess last night wasn’t enough for you?” I placed a kiss on her lips then neck.

“I can never get enough of you,” She grinned as she ran her fingers through my hair and crashed her lips into mine.

Damn, I am so in love with her.

September 2020: Manhattan, New York City (Present Day)

Your POV

Liam and Sophia were gone on their week long honeymoon in the Fiji Islands. I had been working like crazy all week since Eleanor and I had received new patients and had to run them through a series of tests, study lab diagnostics, and extensive research to figure out the best course of action. I had been getting headaches every single day from the stress, which was stressing me out even more because I couldn’t focus and I needed a clear head when it came to making a decision that affects my patients’ outcomes.

On another note, Harry and I have been inseparable. He and I could barely stand a few hours without each other. It’s like nothing I have ever felt before.

A few nights ago, I was absolutely exhausted after work and so was he; he had called me around 10pm after he got out of the shower and wanted to say goodnight. I honestly didn’t mind that he wanted to sleep at his own since work had drained me that day and all I wanted to do was sleep. After we said our goodnights to each other and hung up, I settled in bed and tried to sleep.

But I couldn’t.

I kept tossing and turning and going crazy because I was so exhausted, I knew I was, but I couldn’t fall asleep. I then realized that ever since Harry and I started dating again we hadn’t really spent a night without each other. It had become second nature to us to just stay at one another’s, so tonight was the first night I had been without him since June. I had just seen Harry this morning and already I was missing him.

I looked at my clock to see it read 11:36pm. An hour had already passed and as tired as I was, I was willing to drive over to Harry’s. I groaned as I sat up and grabbed my phone.

Just as I was about to call my boyfriend, I heard the front door to my condo open and jumped.

Only two people have the key to my place besides the landlord: Liam- in case of an emergencies; and Harry. I crawled out of bed and peaked my head out of my door to see Harry walking towards my bedroom with a duffel bag over his shoulder.

“Hi,” He smiled as he dropped the bag and wrapped his arms around me, “I couldn’t sleep without you.”

I returned his hug and kissed his lips, “I couldn’t either, I was just about to call you to tell you I was coming over.”

Harry guided us to my bed and lightly pulled me down next to him, “I’ve missed you love.”

We both settled into each other’s arms and within two minutes we both drifted off to sleep.

- - - - -

It was the Friday night before Zayn’s art show, Eleanor and I coerced our boyfriends into a double date since Liam and Sophia were still not going to be back for another couple of days.

“Are we really going to see an old film while sitting on picnic blankets?” Louis groaned as Harry pulled up to Central Park. Central Park was hosting a movie night for lovers, they had a giant huge screen set up with popcorn stands, cotton candy machines, soda stands and boxes of candies. 

“It’s not that old Louis, there’s color.” Harry grinned as he turned off the car.

“If you’re going to be a sore sport tonight then just hail a cab and go home.” Eleanor rolled her eyes, she was getting irritated because she looked forward to tonight but Louis couldn’t stop complaining.

Louis immediately knew from her tone that he needed to shut up before he pissed her off again, “No, I’m sorry love, I want to be here!”

I stifled a giggle as I climbed out of Harry’s SUV.

Harry grabbed the two blankets he brought, handed one to Louis, as I laced his hand in mine. We found a nice spot on the grass which had a good view of the screen and as Eleanor and I set up the blankets, the boys went to buy drinks and snacks.

“Have I ever told you how cute you and Harry look together?” Eleanor grinned as she sat down next to me.

“Nope.” I crinkled my nose and shook my head.

“Well you two do look adorable, and the way he looks at you… so full of love…” She began.

“That’s how Louis looks at you.” I pointed out.

“Yeah?” Her eyes lit up.

“Of course! Come on Eleanor! I tell you all the time that Louis’ completely head over heels for you!” I nudged her shoulder with mine.

“I know he is! He actually… told me that he was ready for the next step,” Eleanor mumbled.

“What?!” I turned my body towards her with my jaw dropped, “He is?!”

“Shhhh!” She brought her finger up to her lips but couldn’t hide her smile.

“But I don’t know if he meant marriage though!”

“What else could it mean?” I chuckled, “You guys live together, have a dog together, pay bills together… didn’t he also co-sign on your car? What else could he possibly mean?” 

“I don’t know! I just don’t want to assume anything when it comes to Louis, you never know what the hell goes through his mind!” She shook her head.

“That’s true-,” I was going to say something else, but we saw the boys approaching us and changed the subject.

After the movie we decided to grab a late-night dinner at one of Louis’ favorite burger joints.

“So are you two going to Zayn’s art show tomorrow?” Louis asked as we ate.

“Yeah,” I took a sip of my beer, “I’m going there first, Harry’s going to come after he gets off work.”

Harry just nodded in agreement since he had food in his mouth.

“Yay! Can we go together Y/N? Niall and Louis are going to come straight from their meeting and I don’t want to show up alone.” Eleanor batted her eyelashes at me.

“Of course! You’re going to be the prettiest date there and that I’ve ever had.” I winked at her and she jokingly blushed.

“Heyyyyy!” Harry furrowed his eyebrows and looked up at me.

“What?” I took another bite of my burger.

“What about me? Am I not pretty?” Harry pouted.

“Do you want to be called pretty, Harold?” Louis laughed.

“Well… I…” Harry didn’t know how to respond.

“Face it Styles, you have nothing on me.” Eleanor stuck her tongue out and flipped her hair.

“I agree with her on this one Styles,” Louis grinned as he rubbed one of Eleanor’s forearms with his free hand.

I kept trying not to laugh at Harry’s pouty face but failed as I wiped my mouth.

“Well fine! I’ll find someone that thinks I’m pretty to take me tomorrow night.” He jokingly huffed.

“You do that and see what happens.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Oh! Do it! I want to see what happens!” Louis taunted us and Eleanor nodded with a big smile on her face.

I shot Harry a playful glare before I leaned over the table and placed a kiss on his lips.

“Ew! Stop!” Louis groaned.

When we finished the movie, we joined Andy, Niall, and Katherine at a nearby bar around 11pm and caught each other up with what’s been going on in each other’s lives all week, on top of stalking Liam’s and Sophia’s Facebook photos that they posted of their honeymoon.

- - - - - 

Saturday Morning (Day of Zayn’s Art Show/ Present Day)

Harry’s POV

Damn it.

I bent over to pick up the cookie pan I dropped, thank goodness there wasn’t anything in there.

“Harry! What’s going on with you today my dear?” Claudia asked.

“I’m just a bit anxious is all.” I mumbled as I placed the dirty pan into the sink.

“Anxious about what?” Claudia dried her hands and leaned on the counter next to me.

I exhaled loudly and motioned for Claudia to follow me into my office, not wanting the whole staff to hear what was bothering me.

Claudia and I took the seat next to me and waited patiently for me to talk.

“I’m just anxious because tonight Y/N and I are going to her ex-boyfriend’s art show… he’s a new rising artist. I saw an article of him in the New York Times this morning about how his pieces are suppose to be beautiful… and I don’t know… I’m just over thinking a lot of things.” I pinched the bridge of my nose with my thumb and index finger and leaned back against the chair.

Claudia’s face softened, “Harry… what are you worried about? That she will go back to him?”

“Yes.” I finally admitted.

“Harry… but she chose you, did she not?”

I sighed again, “What if tonight she realizes it was a mistake? What if she sees how well his art work is doing and-”

“Is that the type of woman you think she is?” Claudia cocked her head to the side.

“No but-”

“Ah no buts,” Claudia held up a hand, “Imagine if she heard you thinking these things about her, as if you don’t trust her love for you.”

“I know… it’s why I’ve been a mess all morning, I feel like a terrible boyfriend for thinking that she would go back to him and my head is just spinning with crazy thoughts because I’m going to be half an hour late to the show tonight because we have that order.” I pulled the hair tie out of my messy bun and fixed it to make it look more neat.

“I understand where you’re coming from because I don’t want you getting hurt dear, but you are just going to make things worst if you worry about things that aren’t worth stressing over. She was with him and then even after 10 years she was still in love with you, I’m sure she loves you just as much as you love her… so please don’t worry so much.”

“I know, I know, you’re right Claudia. Thank you for talking to me. I’ve been keeping it to myself all day.” I cleared my throat.

“Yeah just take a few minutes alone and clear you head! Go for a walk or something! We have a lunch rush coming soon and we have to finish that cake before you leave,” Claudia stood up and straightened her pants before she put her hand on my shoulder and slightly shook it, “You’re an amazing person Harry, I’m sure her ex-boyfriend is good guy, but she chose you for a reason, believe in that reason.”

I grabbed my phone, wallet and pulled off my hairnet as I exited the kitchen and told Candice that I would be back in an hour.

I hailed a cab and gave him the address to Niall’s office as I clicked on his name in my phone.

Niall’s POV

“Did Harry tell you that we are going to Y/N’s ex-boyfriend art exhibit tonight?” I held my phone in between my cheek and shoulder as I shuffled through the dozens of files on my desk while trying to talk to Gemma.

“What? Come again? Y/N’s ex-boyfriend?” I heard Gemma’s shocked tone of voice on the other end.

“Yeah, his name is Zayn, he’s a really cool guy. I actually met him the same night Harry told me about him and Y/N… that was a strange night come to think of it.” I raised an eyebrow as I remembered catching Harry and Y/N making out.

“Why are you going to his art show?”  She asked.

“Well he invited all of us, sort of. He invited Y/N and Louis and told them to bring whoever they want. Actually, here, I’ll show article that The New York Times did on him.”

I quickly texted Gemma the article and continued searching for the documents I needed for work.

“New York Time? Whoa, he must be good.” I heard her say as I found the file I was looking for.

“Yeah, that’s what it seems like. I might buy a piece tonight, my home office is a bit dull, yeah?”

“It wasn’t dull the other week when you were fucking me on your desk.” She nonchalantly replied.

Her words took me by surprise and I almost dropped my phone.

“What?” I swallowed.

“You heard me lover boy,” She chuckled.

“You can’t say something like that when you’re not here, that’s not fair.” I cleared my throat as I sat up in my chair.

I heard Gemma giggle, “You weren’t complaining when we had phone sex yesterday.”

“Gemma, I’m going to hang up, I swear this is pure torture.” I groaned as I adjusted my pants.

“You wouldn’t dare hang up on me.” Gemma said oh-so-matter-of-factly but then I heard my phone beeped and saw Harry’s name flash across my screen.

“I would if your brother was calling. Gotta go, love you, bye!” I smiled as I ended our call and answered Harry.

“Harry! What can I do for you?” I cleared my throat.

“I’m heading over to your office, want to have lunch?” He asked, his voice sounding a bit off.

I looked up at the clock on my wall to see that it was almost noon, “Yeah I’ll order something for us and have it sent up to my office. I have to go through some contracts so I can’t leave the building yet.”

“Alright, that sounds good, see you soon.”

I texted Louis to ask him if he wanted me to order him anything and he quickly replied saying he was starving and to order him anything.

I called a nearby restaurant that I frequently ordered from, gave them my order, and continued reading the contract.

I heard a knock on the door ten minutes later to see Louis strolling in with his hands in his pants so I stood up to greet him like I always do.

“Whoa Niall, I know that wasn’t because of me or maybe it was, are you that excited to see me or did you get a new secretary?” Louis gestured at my pants and I felt my face flush red and quickly sat down to smooth out my pants.

“Fuck off, you twat,” I groaned.

“Hey! No need to get hostile! Geez just go call your girlfriend or something!” Louis chuckled.

“She’s the reason for my predicament.” I shook my head as I crossed my legs under the desk.

I saw a smirk form on Louis’ face, “Oh really? Did she send nudes?”

“Louis, shut up. Harry’s about to be here. Just drop it.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“You really need to get laid.” Louis clucked his tongue as he sat down on the couch that was in my office.

Yes, yes I do.

- - - - -

Saturday Evening (Present Day)

Your POV

I stepped back and smiled at myself in the mirror. I was very pleased with my hair, outfit and make up for tonight.

A knock on my front door pulled my attention away from my reflection and I hurried, knowing it was Eleanor.

“Y/N! You look gorgeous!” She squealed as I opened up the door.

“You look amazing!!!” I beamed as I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into my apartment.

“Who are you trying to seduce? Harry or the artist?” She teased.

“El!” I gasped and then frowned.

“I”m just saying! You have two guys that are head over heels in love with you…”  She clucked her tongue and then shot a devilish grin at me.

“El-” I started.

“I’m only kidding! But you do look pretty damn gorgeous, I don’t know if anyone is going to be looking at Zayn’s artwork cause they’ll be too busy checking you out.” She winked.

“Okay, please stop.” I laughed as I pulled her into my bedroom.

Eleanor and I did some last minute touch ups before we went down stairs to get in our Uber.

New York City on a Saturday night is always the same, busy and full of traffic. The ride to the art show made me feel a little anxious. I was constantly checking my phone to see if Harry would text me even though I know he was working.

I wasn’t sure what to expect tonight with Harry and Zayn being in the same building, but I really hope that it goes smoothly. Just as we arrived to the exhibit I got a buzz on my phone.

Hey love, I just finished up at the bakery and will be heading over soon. I’ll see you in a bit! - H

I quickly responded to Harry and placed my phone inside my clutch.

We all thanked the Uber driver as he dropped us off and made our way slowly inside. I was the last person to enter since the strap of my heel needed adjustment.

From the outside looking in, I could see a lot of people in the exhibit. I was so proud of Zayn for following his dreams and never giving up on himself. I stepped into the double doors of the building and walked to the exhibit entrance, a lot of the people began to look at me and whisper. I didn’t recognize a lot of them but they appeared to recognize me.

I thought perhaps I was being paranoid but I saw a group of people around a beautiful hand crafted sculpture by Zayn of just a naked body that seemed vaguely familiar, and people silenced as I walked by.

I tried to look around for my friends but then my eyes caught a glimpse of the wall of Zayn’s artwork and I froze: they were all of... me. All of...me. Zayn’s entire exhibit was pieces of art that all pertained to me.

I couldn’t move. I didn’t know what to do. All of a sudden people started clapping and I heard Zayn’s voice from behind me that pulled me out of my trance.

“Y/N, thanks for coming, it means the world to me that you could make it,” Zayn beaned at me as he held out his arms.

“Zayn... I... it’s all me...” I was flustered and couldn’t find the right words. Everyone was watching me and I didn’t want to ruin Zayn’s night so I just hugged him, still in complete disbelief. A woman in dark maroon pant suite standing next to Zayn nodded to acknowledge me and I could see her now understand who his artwork was about.

His work was breathtaking, not in the way that it was me, but his art style. I was speechless.

Elenor came up to me and pulled me to the side realizing that I was in a shock and needed her rescue.

“Y/N!” She whispered when she pulled me into a corner away from others, “first off, wow you’re absolutely gorgeous, and two, what the fuck?!”

“I really had zero idea that Zayn had this much art work of me! I knew he sketched me here and there when we were together but paintings? Sculptures? Photos? Everything... I’m so overwhelmed right now.” I could feel my anxiety building, my heart racing and my head beginning to pound.

“Y/N, I love you but you need to make sure that Harry does not see this because he will probably lose it.”

OH SHIT. HARRY!

I tried to open my clutch but of course I was having a hard time opening it. I was fumbling and finally just gave it to Eleanor because I was a wreck.

I unlocked my phone and called Harry but he didn’t pick up.

Moments later, Zayn stood up on a podium, and began to make a small speech. He thanked everyone for coming and talked about how he came from a family with a lot of love but little money, and wanted nothing more than to be an artist and he’s finally able to make that dream come true and he wanted to thank me, Y/N, for always being supportive and encouraging him to chase his dreams. “I wouldn’t be the man or the artist I am today without her and I’m so glad to have her in my life. She has been there for me through so much of my life. She is my friend, my muse.”

The entire audience clapped and cheered Zayn congratulating him.

The woman that I recognized from earlier walked next to him and asked for the microphone after whispering in his ear. Zayn’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Good evening ladies and gentleman, my name is Isabella Russo. I am the proud owner of Luhring Augustine and would love to thank you all for coming to support our new up and coming artist, Zayn. It has just come to my attention that every piece Zayn has graced us tonight has been purchased. Congratulations Zayn, you have won a permanent wall here at my art gallery.”

Sound began to fade as my eyes went wide. I could see everyone cheering and clapping but it was all white noise to me at this point. I felt someone grab my hand and pull me away. Thinking it was Eleanor but I finally looked up and saw it was Harry and my heart dropped. Oh no.

Harry pulled me out of the exhibit and outside into the front of the building, not realizing that I was having a semi-anxiety attack, Harry began to shout.

“How dare he just put you on display like that? Did you know? Of course you couldn’t have because you would have TOLD me! Did he even ask you for permission? Did you sign a contract or waiver? Who does he think he is? How fucking dare he just put a sculpture of your naked body for the fucking world to see?” Harry was pacing, he was angry and shouting.

“Y/N! Can you say something? What the fuck!” Harry roared.

I tried to blink back tears, “Harry I really had no idea, he never told me... I... didn’t know.” I felt my head began to pound, oh god not these damn migraines again.

Niall came out of the building and he could feel that there was a lot of tension between us. He smiled at me and walked up to Harry. “Mate, it’s handled. It’s also not Y/N’s fault and you know it.”

Louis and Eleanor quickly joined us outside, Eleanor coming to my side to make sure I was okay. While Louis handed Harry a drink.

“Breathe Y/N. Just breathe. Can I place my hands on you?” Eleanor asked, when I nodded she put her hands on my arms and rubbed them up and down to comfort me. Eleanor just knew me and tell I was having a semi-anxiety attack and god I love her so much because of it.

After I was finally able to compose myself and was able to process the events of tonight and speak. I walked up to my boyfriend, who was boiling with rage.

“Harry, you have no right to be angry with me. I didn’t know about any of this. You cannot be angry at me for something I cannot control.” I stood ground, “Zayn’s art is his art. I’m not going to stop him from doing what he loves.”

“Obviously you couldn’t control or handle it! Art? He put you on display like... like...THAT. I am not going to just let him do that to you.” He rudely stated. I saw something in Harry’s eyes. I had never seen this side of Harry, ever. He was always so kind, so generous... but this was... what?

“Mate, back off. She didn’t do anything wrong.” Louis stepped in between us.

“What do you mean like THAT?” I asked. Eleanor close behind me.

“Like you’re his girlfriend and like some OBJECT to be desired!” Harry shouted. And I just dropped my jaw in disbelief.

Then all of a sudden we heard Zayn’s voice break the silence, “She is not an object, she is much more than that to me. You have no right to be speaking to her that way. She didn’t know about this part of my work. It was my fault and mine alone. If you want to be angry at anyone then be angry at me.”

“How dare you just put her on display like that? Have you no respect for Y/N?” Harry growled at Zayn.

Louis and Niall had to step in between both of them.

“She has my most respect. She is my muse. I’m sorry that you don’t understand what it’s like to be an artist but I’m not going to apologize for my art work.” Zayn stated. He turned to me and thanked me for coming and apologize for not telling me in advance because he wanted it to be a surprise. My head began to pound even harder and my ears began to ring. This wasn’t the normal migraines anymore.

All of a sudden I see Harry trying to lunge himself at Zayn, while Niall and Louis hold him back and force him to calm down. Harry was trying to push his way through them to get to Zayn. But I moved between Zayn and Harry trying to make sure that no one was getting hurt tonight.

“Y/N get out of my way!” Harry bellowed.

“No.” I breathed trying to stay steady, “Harry, please calm down-” my was starting to blur and then all of a sudden...darkness.

The last thing I remember was seeing the rage in Harry’s eyes and then it was black.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

<3 M

[angelbain]

The Picnic

(aka a little fluff / crack before I dodge on angst again)

The “extra episode of where are they now” as I picture it. 

Oneshot. Small reference to my fic “O Brave New World” chapter 3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/24252301/chapters/58501732#workskin  in which Catra and Adora visit Entrapta who feeds them experimental cookies. 

A Picnic at the end of the universe

Perfuma’s kingdom, a clear patch in the forest. PERFUMA and a few Plumerians helps stretch a big table cloth over the grass. SCORPIA is standing by her, holding huge baskets full of fruits and vegetables.

PERFUMA: Look, Scorpia, some people are coming! Oooh, I am so happy we are all seeing each other today!

She jumps and bats hands with joy. Scorpia looks at her with a loving eye. SPINERELLA and NETOSSA arrive from the air thanks to the former being able to cast winds.

PERFUMA waves at them with a smile: Here! Here! Come around!

SPINERELLA: Hello!

NETOSSA: We brought some drinks! Is that okay?

PERFUMA: Great! Amazing! Put them here!

She shows a small table. The four of them chat joyfully until a sound of magic glitter interrupts them. Appears GLIMMER and BOW who carries a cake bigger than himself, covered with icing and decorations, multiple-stairs type.

GLIMMER (raising her arms in the sky) Ta-daaa! We’re here!

BOW moans, and almost let the cake fall. It is caught on time by all the characters present, and slowly put in the middle of the tablecloth.

PERFUMA (with an inquisitive tone): Glimmer, what’s this?

GLIMMER: It’s a cake! Bright Moon’s cooks spend the whole morning preparing it! The icing has three different flavours, and the decorative pearls are coated with real gold!

As she talks, the cake seems to shine behind her. PERFUMA gives a concerned look at SCORPIA, who answers with an awkward smile.

PERFUMA: Well, err, thank you Glimmer! I’m sure it will be perfect for a light pic-nic in the middle of nature… But where are Adora and Catra? Weren’t they supposed to come with you?

GLIMMER: Oh, they said they would come by their own means… They should be there soo…

She is interrupted by the loud noise of an engine roaring closer. To all the characters’ horrified sight, a huge motorbike comes at them at full speed. Both riders wear a helmet that makes them unrecognised. They brake at last minute in a loud hiss, and do a spin that throws earth at the face of the protagonists. The back rider get their helmet off: it is ADORA, with a brand-fresh undercut and the biggest beam.

ADORA: GUYS! You will never figure out what I gave Catra for her birthday!

GLIMMER: Let me guess, this motorbike?

ADORA;: Yeah! It is a-ma-zing, right? 

There is no answer. CATRA appears by her side, looking embarrassed, with a box that looks like it has been stepped on multiple times.

CATRA: So err Adora… About the pizza…

ADORA: What’s with the pizza?

CATRA: It has… err… suffered a little in the journey… It should taste fine but…

She opens the box to the saddest pizza ever seen.

GLIMMER: Wait! You disappeared all this morning to do ONE PIZZA? Arrrr!(She holds her head in her hands)

CATRA: No! I made cookies as well! Look!

She opens a box, and get a cookie out that has very vaguely the shape of a cat, that she holds proudly in front of an unconvinced GLIMMER.

PERFUMA (trying to stay calm and speaking as if to a very small child): That’s cool! Put it next to Glimmer’s cake and join us!

CATRA (asides, with her hand at the side of her mouth, pointing at the cake): Wait, did Sparkles do that?

ADORA: Apparently.

CATRA (same attitude): And we’re standing here with our stupid pizza…

ADORA (dry voice): It’s a great pizza. Now stop being competitive and enjoy the party.

They are interrupted (again) by the rush of the river close by which becomes a sudden torrent, to let stage for a wonderful boat… on fire. MERMISTA jumps from it and waves her arms to throw water at the arson, and floods PERFUMA who came closer to say hello.

MERMISTA: Sea-Hawk? SEA-HAWK? Come out now, and don’t forget the food!

SEA-HAWK (from inside the ship): I’m co-o-o-oming darling!

MERMISTA (with a bored voice): Oh, hi guys. Sorry for the inconvenience. He insisted for the fire.

PERFUMA (drying herself with a towel handed by SCORPIA, fake-smiling): It’s no worries! What did you bring?

MERMISTA (proud): We got the best fish and sea-food you guys have ever tried! Bring it on, Sea-Hawk!

SEA-HAWK gets out with a pile of wooden boxes. He opens one to shiny lines of fish. In the background, we have a quick glimpse at CATRA’s face, licking her lips with eager eyes. PERFUMA winces.

PERFUMA: Well… err… that’s great?

SCORPIA: Wait, what do you mean that’s great? Didn’t you say you were vegetarian? Do vegetarians eat fi…

As she speaks, SEA-HAWK and MERMISTA’s faces drops. PERFUMA puts a hand on SCORPIA’s mouth.

PERFUMA: No, no, it’s great! Put these around… (she hesitates and points at a random direction) around here! Great! Now who’s missing?

ADORA: Well, Frosta, and Entrapta, and I think that’s all…

CATRA: About Entrapta, do you guys think she will bring Hord…

She is interrupted by FROSTA, who just jumps from nowhere in her ice armor and punches her. After the first surprise, CATRA gets up, smiles competitively, and punches her back. They start a playful fight that pauses quickly. FROSTA salutes the others.

FROSTA (with her warrior voice): Hello, guys! I hope you waited for me to begin the party! Yea-hay!

PERFUMA: Well, we were just greeting everyone and…

FROSTA: Amazing! I brought ice-cream! Yay!

She draws a whole bunch of ice-cream flavours. GLIMMER yaps in the background and Bow’s eyes are huge from excitement.

GLIMMER: Frosta, you’re just the best! Now everyone’s here we’ll be able to start…

She tends to the buffet but is quickly caught back by BOW. Vexed, she pouts and sulks when the calm hum of an engine disturbs them. A sort of spaceship arrives from the sky, and parks between the boat and the motorbike, dumping the later down to the horrified sight of ADORA and CATRA who puts their hands on their mouth. Without a clue, a giddy ENTRAPTA comes out of the ship, followed by candid WRONG HORDAK.

ENTRAPTA: (talking to her log) Social experiment number #132, I am about to share a pic-nic with my friends. (to everyone) Now hi, everyone! I am very happy to see you all!

PERFUMA: We are happy to see you too, Entrapta, and whoever, I really say whoever you brought with you will be as welcomed as…

CATRA (with a concerned voice): Did you bring Hordak?

At this very moment, HORDAK gets out of the vehicule. He looks around. There is a collective moment of awkwardness where everybody looks around to avoid anyone’s gaze, to the exception of CATRA who jumps on their feet and points angrily at him.

CATRA: WHAT? YOU BROUGHT THIS…

ADORA (hands on CATRA’s shoulders): Calm down please…

GLIMMER (pushing them aside): HEY! What is he doing here?

MERMISTA: Yeah, like didn’t he try to destroy the planet or something? Just sayin’…

FROSTA: YEAH! BAD HORDAK!

HORDAK: I can see that I am not welcome here. (He looks at ENTRAPTA who is puzzled). Let’s leave.

Before they do, PERFUMA steps out and catch them by the arm.

PERFUMA (pulling her best smile and stepping before the others who still look pissed): Please, don’t leave! You are most welcome here, and surely the other guests will be able to (she looks at the pissed group with a side angry eye and especially at CATRA for she holds them responsible for the start of the mess) put aside your differences. So, err, did you bring anything?

ENTRAPTA (joyful): Yes, as it is a custom to bring food to a party like this, I tried to find the perfect flavour! I experimented lots of them – Catra and Adora even tried one – but I need more subjects to try it so I brought you a sample! Here it is!

WRONGIE opens a metallic box. It is full of small grey cubes.

CATRA (aside): My, not again…

ENTRAPTA ignores the remark and piles up the box over all the stuff that is already there: the sea food, the fruit baskets, the cake, the pizza, the drinks, the cookies, the ice cream totter dangerously and start to fall down. Every member of the group jumps to retrieve something, but it is not enough, and eventually the cake ends up falling over PERFUMA who jumped to catch it.

There is a small instant of silence, followed by a cry of rage from PERFUMA, who drops her arms on the floor and yells.

PERFUMA: Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

SCORPIA puts down whatever she caught and approaches carefully.

SCORPIA: Hey… erm… are you all right?

PERFUMA: No! My party is ruined! People are fighting, and Glimmer’s cake is wrecked! I’m such a bad host!

PERFUMA begins to cry. SCORPIA holds PERFUMA in her arms and glance at the rest of the group, clueless, when ADORA steps forward.

ADORA: We are sorry, Perfuma. It took you time and energy to prepare this, and we are ruining it by being bitter.

NETOSSA: Yeah, and it’s not like it took us a long time to bring the drinks.

MERMISTA: Nor the sea-food. FROSTA: The ice-cream took me one minute…

CATRA: The pizza took us much longer but I’m sure it’s no great loss. And… I’m sorry I started this.

There is another silence. CATRA nudges HORDAK, who looks terribly ill-at-ease.

HORDAK (after a terrible effort): I’ll do my best to prove the princesses I’m an honourable guest.

CATRA: Hmm, good enough.

PERFUMA looks up, eyes still tearful.

PERFUMA: So you still enjoy the party?

ADORA: What? Of course we do! (looks at GLIMMER)

GLIMMER: And I’m just we can still save pieces of the cake!

SEA-HAWK: And the sea-food! (looks at MERMISTA)

SPINERELLA: And I love mashed fruit! (looks at NETOSSA)

FROSTA: We can mix it with the ice cream!

MERMISTA: Add the cake in it, it would be so cool!

ENTRAPTA: What if we make it in tiny scoops? (looks at HORDAK)

SCORPIA: And a little cookie at the top of it? (looks at CATRA)

BOW: Yay, cookies!

He jumps and high-fives SCORPIA. Perfuma cracks a smile, and they all laugh.

Ellipse to the end of lunch. GLIMMER is asleep on Bow’s knees, a small chunk of cake still at the corner of her lips. Meanwhile, BOW is showing WRONGIE how to use a bow. PERFUMA is chatting happily with NETOSSA and SPINERELLA.

PERFUMA: … So I sent an invite to this Double Trouble person, they seem to be so interesting, but sadly they declined. They said they got a key role in a play and don’t want to drop that out… I wonder what that is. Something about crime and investigation… I think Mermista would know more about this sort of thing…  

Her words are lost in the general conversation. In another corner, CATRA is leaning on ADORA’s knees. The others are in the background. ADORA is handing one of ENTRAPTA’s cubes to CATRA.

ADORA: You should definitely try this.

CATRA: I’m not sure about it…

ADORA: Come on! It’s completely different than last time!

Switch for a second on Sea-Hawk, who tries to sing a shanty but is interrupted by a flow of water, a pile of flowers and some snow.

CATRA: All right, if it pleases our majesty…

CATRA eats the cube, chokes from it and reach for the closest drink.

CATRA (after drinking a whole bottle of fizz) You idiot! It’s even worse than last time!

ADORA laughs heartily when CATRA jumps on her. They fight like two kittens.

Zoom on the rest of the groom.

They are gathered at a board game that is probably of BOW’s design, because it featues small figurines. ENTRAPTA is examining them all at once, one in each lock of her hair. SCORPIA is trying to read the manual and scratches her head, but tries to explain the rules. FROSTA is sleeping on her shoulder. MERMISTA just looks bored. HORDAK looks miserable.

ENTRAPTA: Bow, did you made these? They’re amaziiiiinnng…

HORDAK: I must admit it is quite a good craft.

BOW blushes. An arrow brushes by his nose.

WRONGIE: Oops! BOW: Wow!

The arrow ends up in a tree very close to PERFUMA, who is pouring warm water in a tea-pot. She jumps, but the pot is caught by a net that allows it to land peacefully in her arms.

PERFUMA (smiles): thank you, Netossa. (turns to ADORA, who raises her head from the cuddle fight that led her and CATRA to be covered with grass). Adora, I wanted to ask, do you have any news from Swift Wind?

ADORA: Oh, haha, hem… He is on a quest to find other talking animals like him. He said he feels a little lonely in his… hem… condition.

CATRA: Yay, and so far he found a frog and they are the greatest complainer in history.

PERFUMA smiles. ADORA looks away, a little guilty. CATRA uses the moment to grasp a chunk of grass and punch it at her face. They resume the fighting. Zoom on BOW, who stands up, with at his feet a yawning GLIMMER.

BOW: Guys, please, can I have your attention for a minute!

MERMISTA: Eeeeerr, seriously, you’re going to make a speech? This is sooooo cheesy!

SCORPIA: Shhhh, he is going to make an announcement. We are all ears, Bow, go on…

FROSTA (who woke up): Are you and Glimmer getting married? (Glimmer blushes)

CATRA (with a smirk): You’ve got to get a proper shirt for that though.

BOW: Wait, we’re not…

SEA-HAWK: I could do the singing!

SCORPIA: Can I be your best man? Please! I’m never been anyone’s best man!

BOW: We’re not…

ADORA: Wait, who’s getting married?

ENTRAPTA: Bow and Glimmer, apparently. It will be a great social experiment, I’m waiting for it. By the way, aren’t you and Catra going to do it with them? (ADORA blushes violently.)

BOW: WE’RE NOT GETTING MARRIED!

A big silence follows. Everyone looks shocked, Scorpia is even almost tear-eyed.

SCORPIA: You’re breaking up? But you’re such a good couple! Please don’t break up! (She kneels down, grabs Bow’s trouser’s leg and begs) Please-please-please…

BOW (sighs): We’re not breaking up, we’re not getting married, and I just wanted to tell you guys that tea is ready and that I made each of you a personal cup to bring back home!

SCORPIA stops crying, and PERFUMA just laughs from the whole situation. SCORPIA looks at her and smiles from seeing her lover be happy. On the back, ENTRAPTA strokes HORDAK’s cheek with her hair, and he lifts his head to look at her. Behind them, WRONGIE looks at the scene with loving eyes.

BOW: So, here is yours, Adora – He gives her a cup full of tea. It is white, with a sword drawn on it.

ADORA: Nice!

BOW (continues the distribution of tea): Catra’s… - A red cup, with cat ears that poke at the edge, and a >.< cat face.

CATRA (doing exacly the same face): Why is mine making a face?

BOW: Glimmer’s… - A pink cup, with a complicated shape and small pearls that decorate it. She just smiles and grabs it – Perfuma’s… A round cup made of natural wood, with a small twig twisted around it.

PERFUMA: Thank you. (She closes her eyes and smells the tea with pleasure).

BOW: Scorpia’s…- It’s a deep red cup, huge, and with a special shape for her to hold: it is thinner in the middle and larger at the top and bottom, and without a handle.

SCORPIA (still tear-eyed): This is so nice from you Bow!

BOW: Frosta’s… - A light-blue cup, all transparent and with angular shape, like a diamond. It has a top cover to prevent spilling because she is impulsive.

FROSTA: Yay! (She jumps with the cup, but it just shakes the content and only spills a little bit out).

BOW: Mermista’s… - A blue-green cup with the handle in the shape of a fish, and a unicorn whale painted on it.

MERMISTA: Ok, it’s a little bit cool, I admit.

BOW: Sea-Hawk’s… - A dark-blue cup with a boat drawn on it – At least you won’t set this boat on fire!

SEA-HAWK: Oh, thank you!

BOW: Entrapta’s… - It’s a set of three black small cups. On each of them are stylised purple faces with hands: one with the hands on the ears, one on the eyes, and one on the mouth.

ENTRAPTA: Oh, it’s tiny! Amazing! (She gives mouth to WRONGIE, ears to HORDAK, and keep the eyes one. WRONGIE looks happy, but HORDAK looks puzzled). Thank you!

WRONGIE: Thank you! HORDAK: Yeah, hem… thank you. (He looks away)

BOW: and finally, Netossa’s and Spinerella! - He gives NETOSSA a cup all squared in black and white, and SPINERELLA a light purple cup with the handle in the shape of a wind spiral. They smile and cheer with the cups. - So, would you join me for a toast?

ADORA: Sure.

BOW (a little more solemn): So… To Etheria (he looks at ADORA and CATRA, who both blushes). To victory (he looks at SCORPIA, PERFUMA and FROSTA who all cheer). To love (he looks at NETOSSA and SPINERELLA who kisses, and then at GLIMMER who just smiles). To adventure (he looks at MERMISTA and SEA-HAWK who look fiercely ready for another). To forgiveness (he looks at ENTRAPTA, who smiles, WRONGIE, who blinks, and HORDAK, who simply nods.). But mostly to say: It’s the best thing so far to be friends with friends.

They all cheer and yay, and the last image is of a collection of cups all clasped together.

THE END.

[littlemessyjessi]

“Chasing Jessi”:  A Sirius Black Story: Plus Size OC: Chapter 11: “Truths Revealed”

————————-

Sirius Black Imagine Turned Story

Re-Written and Edit of an old story of mine I had on Mibba that deserved some more love and attention, lol.

Sirius Black x Jess Scamander (OC, OFC, PLUS SIZE OC, PLUS SIZE OFC)

————————————

Remus Lupin was a tad shocked to find a certain zany brunette sitting on his bed when he came back from the library.

Even more so, a rather pouty Sirius residing in his bunk.

"Er, hello Jessi." Remus said cautiously as he unceremoniously dumped his books at the end of his bunk and took a seat beside her.

"Hello, Friend." she grinned at him mischievously.

"Errr...." Remus began cautiously as she leaned back and crossed her legs in his lap. 

An impish grin on her face as she wiggled her toes in the rainbow colored toe socks. 

"She's thinks the two of you need to have a little date today." Sirius grumbled angrily from his bunk.

Defined arms crossed over his muscular chest.

He was the picture of anger in that moment.

"A date?!" Remus gasped. "But I thought you and - well, I mean- you and sirius are- padfoot, you can't be-"

Jess rolled her jade eyes dramatically, "It's not a 'date' per se. He's just being dramatic. Alls I want is to ask you if you want to go to a chocolate tasting with me. Sirius is more of a toffee guy. James is vanilla. And Peter -” 

"I am not!" James’ boisterous interrupted her from his bunk. "I just-"

"Oh shut it!" she chastised him. "I wasn't talking to you!"

She huffed angrily at the Quidditch captain before turning back to Remus, "AnyWAY, I know you really like chocolate and I really like chocolate so I thought it would be a fun little adventure between friends. What do ya say?"

"Oh, um- well, I- " Remus began to stutter before glancing at Sirius. "I mean, if Padfoot really isn't comfortable with it."

"Oh, come on!" she huffed. "He doesn't even care because he knows better. He's just mad at me because I won't snog his face off. But that's not important. What IS important is that there is chocolate to be had, Remus. Loads of chocolate. Hot chocolate. Chocolate syrup. Chocolate cupcakes. Chocolate with candy. Chocolate with filling. The possibilities are endless, Remus! And it's free! All it'll cost you is your honest opinions!"

"Well, I guess I could- ooomph!" he began only to be knocked backwards by the wild girl who tackled him on his bed.

"Yay!" she cheered. "Chocoholics forever!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Sirius grumbled shooting out of bed and pulling his girlfriend off one of his best friends. "I am not cool with you pressing your little self all over Moony."

"Sirius." she asked in a sugary sweet tone.

"Yes, angel?" he smirked, immediately caving to her.

Like he always did. 

Sirius turned to goo for Jess within seconds.

Every time. 

She’d bat an eyelash at him and the poor boy was helpless. 

"If you don't behave then I'm withholding kisses for a week." she said in that same tone.

His smirk fell and he glowered at her, "You wouldn't."

"Try me." she challenged.

"Ok, firstly, you wouldn't do it anyway." he said and her eyes widened at the challenge.

"And secondly, you think I can't live without your kisses for a week?" he asked. "YOU try ME."

"It's ON!" she said jumping at him and shoving him backwards onto his bed.

"Starting right now, you are not my snookums!" she grumbled, her competitive nature flaring. "Remus is my snookums!"

"Hey, whoa, I was just in this for the chocolate..." he laughed nervously.

"Come on, snookums." Jess grumbled as she shoved her feet into the fuzzy purple boots before proceeding to grab Remus’ hand and burst from the dorm. "We've got chocolate to eat."

Sirius watched them go.

Jess's determined face and Remus' nervous one.

They'd been in somewhat of a funk all day long.

They kept arguing.

Every little thing turned into a fight.

It was really putting a damper on his mood.

He didn't know what the problem was and in reality...maybe he'd let things get a bit too far.

Perhaps, it was because Christmas was drawing nearer every day and it put him in a bad mood.

He wouldn't be going home this year, not that it was ever good anyway.

And he wouldn't be going to the Potters since they were going on a little vacation.

And he was fairly certain that Jess WAS going home.

He just....he felt confused and he was taking it out on her.

Though he'd probably eat his own tongue before he'd admit that.

Poor Remus on the other hand, was being dragged behind this girl with surprisingly considerable strength.

"Oi, slow down, Jess." he chuckled nervously. "Where the fire?"

"In my belly!" she grumbled. "Sirius is being impossible! He just...he just- well he burns my biscuits today!"

"Burns your biscuits?" Remus tried not to laugh.

"It's something Aunt Queenie used to say..." she waved him off.

"Well, what's wrong?" Remus asked.

"I don't know!" she moaned. "It started this morning when I asked him what his plans were for Christmas."

"Ah." Remus said knowingly.

"Ah?" Jess questioned. "Ah, what?"

"Better let him tell you." Remus said with a shrug.

"Aw, Remus!" she whined. "Don't do this to me!"

"It's not my secret to tell." Remus said with another shrug.

"And you'd know all about secrets." she said off handedly.

"What?" Remus came to a stop and looked at her.

She halted and lifted an eyebrow at him.

She walked forward and hugged him around the middle.

"Remus, I know about your little furball transformation once a month." she said into his chest and patted his back when she felt him tense. "And I don't care. I mean, I care about YOU but it doesn't change my perception of you. I just thought you should know that."

He stared at her disbelief.

"What do you- how did you-Did Lily tell-no,she wouldn't- how long?" he stammered.

"Since first year." she said with a shrug making the iridescent rainbow scale jumper slide off her shoulder. 

Remus' eyes bulged out of his head, "What do you mean since first year? Jess, we're in seventh year now! How could you have - ?!"

She stared at him oddly from his little outburst before lifting her eyebrow and plopping a hand on her hip.

"Honestly, Remus.  I'm obsessed with magical creatures. Did you honestly think in the seven years that we've known each other that I wouldn't have read about werewolves and picked up a few things?" she said in almost disbelief.

Poor Remus was flabbergasted.

He straightened and looked at her with a little twinkle in his eye.

"You are a lot more clever than people give you credit for." he said a smile tugging at his lips as he pulled her jumper back up on her shoulder for her. 

She smirked evilly and said, "And let's keep it that way."

"Why?" he questioned.

She lolled her head to the side, "It plays to my advantage, Dear Remus. If they think I'm stupid, they never see my calculations. I know most people think I've gone mad. In the same sense as Xeno. But we just see things differently than others. Now are we gonna stand her jabbering for the rest of the day or are we gonna dive face first into a chocolate fountain? Because I'm fully prepared to die that way!"

Remus took in the wide jade eyes, the messy brown hair and flushed cheeks....and fell in love.

Not romantically.

Not sexually.

But in that moment, Remus loved Jess and she changed for him.

She became more than just Sirius' girlfriend and Lily's friend.

She became family to him and the poor boy was overcome with it all.

He wound his arms around her and pulled her in for a tight hug.

One of his lanky arms wrapped around her soft middle and the other along her back and shoulders. 

His long fingers threaded into her messy brown hair. 

He didn't have to say anything for her to understand.

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight and hard...like she was trying to convince him that she'd never leave him.

Eventually the two of them parted and she linked her arm with his before dragging him off towards the Hufflepuff common rooms.

However, neither of them noticed the Gryffindor hiding beneath James' invisibility cloak.

Sirius had long since slid down the wall watching one of his best friends and his girlfriend.

In that moment, Sirius realized something.

Jess was what he wanted in life.

Other things would come and go but she was his constant.

Everything else could be changed around as long as he had her.

He'd never realized just how pure of heart she was.

Sure she had her faults.

Everyone did.

Hell, he had plenty of them.

-----------------------------------

Chapter 10

Chapter 12 

-----------------------------------

Hello my little chocolate chips and banana muffins! 

So we have some development! A wee bit of a lover’s quarrel and a deepening friendship with Jess and Remmypoo!

How is everyone feeling about it so far?  I’d love to hear from you! Please feel free to comment, reblog with your thoughts and/or smash the ask box! Hearing from you makes my day!

All my love darlings!

Kenny

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@adventuresofnight

Love, Kenny

This felt appropriate 

[our-wargame]

take three steps to your left; take me with me you [2/2]

Read Part 1

summary:  Takahiro’s not sure why but he hates it when people get Matsukawa wrong. And they always seem to.

tags: rated t, pining, dialogue heavy now because oi-matsu-hana are three drunkards, maybe a part three from Matsukawa’s take?, dw matsukawa shows up yay, hanamaki/oikawa friendship and iwaizumi is yay

notes: the first chapter was supposed to just be that, just a short take on possible matsuhana relations, but then i decided why not make it a fic yknow. although part 1′s a good standalone!! this one’s much less serious but yeah! if you happen to reblog my work, i will most likely read your tags and then die of joy.

as always, ao3 link

Last chapter:

“Oh we forgot something,” Oikawa says, and this time there’s thoughtfulness sharpening the eyes sweeping over Takahiro. “We forgot about the part where you’re in love with him.”

Takahiro freezes.

Before Takahiro knows it, his arm is out. Is it really his fault though? It’s not like this was a first-degree planned nose-grabbing. One second Oikawa is saying some bull; and the another, Oikawa’s nose is just...in Takahiro’s crab-claw. His heart’s pounding a little faster than usual, but it’s Gucci. 

“Makki! That hurts my conker!.” Oikawa squirms into a sitting position and then scoots his ass back, pretty much over Takahiro’s lap to prevent his nose from getting torn off.

“Nice conk bro.”

When Oikawa wrinkles his nose, Takahiro lets go. He keeps wiggling it, exercising it with ugly ogre faces and complaining he can’t smell Takahiro’s teen reek or something like that.

“Hey, I’ve seen you looking at Iwaizumi after practice.” Takahiro shakes his head. “Just because he’s all sweaty-”

“That’s not-!” Oikawa jumps up, yelling. “He’s not-! You can’t just say-”

Takahiro laughs. Three years of friendship have given Oikawa neural damage, a better poker face, and a properly tainted sense of humor, but specially made mentions of Iwaizumi Hajime still sends him into a loud, quacky fluster.

“You know,” he says casually, comfortably stretching, splaying his arms out over the couch. “I’ve caught him staring back at you.” Leaving a soft pause for the atmosphere shift, Takahiro tilts his head to the side with a small, lopsided grin and waits.

Yes, he expects Oikawa to melt. Instead, Oikawa lets out a small sigh and plunks back down beside Takahiro. His gaze shifts from ground to ceiling and back again. A tiny, hard pit plunks into Takahiro’s stomach. Apprehension. He’s about to joke about how he never makes Oikawa wait this long when he’s teasing him, but the noise that comes out is a sad sort of wheeze that he ends up trying to pass off as a cough.

At last, Oikawa pursues his lips. Takahiro’s given him an opening and he’s taking it. “Makki. You’re in love with Mattsukawa-”

Takahiro’s breath hitches.

“And he’s in love with you.” Oikawa skewers him with his gaze, captain to one of his men, like they’re in one last match. “So. How about you save us spectators the time and-”

Never Gonna Give You Up rings shrilly through the air.

Oikawa’s mouth drops open. Takahiro he lunges for his phone. “Matsukawa,” he reads off the screen like they hadn’t both known from the ringtone.

“Huh. Well.” hums Oikawa. “I need to take a piss.” And he flounces off the couch with that.

Takahiro flexes his fingers, nails digging into his palm. They’re too long again, he thinks, drawing a long inhale. He’s not...he’s not nervous about taking a call from his best friend. 

Of course he’s nervous. After what Oikawa tried to imply-

He presses the phone against his ear. “Go for Makki.”

“Yes, hello, I would like some chikky nuggies.”

“Sorry, sir.” Takahiro yawns into the receiver. And into Matsukawa’s ear. “We’re all out. Does that make you hangry?”

“Little bit.” Matsukawa’s low voice sounds rougher than normal, like he’s got something caught in his throat or taken a pinch of Iwaizumi’s gruff soul. The line crackles. “What say you make it up to me?”

“Mmm? What’d you have in mind?” In his peripheral, he notices Oikawa stalking over here with a shit-eating grin Takahiro’s more familiar seeing on Matsukawa’s face.

“The usual. Pick you up in four?”

“Yeah.” Takahiro says, partially distracted with batting at Oikawa. He’s not going to give captain the opportunity to say something ridiculous like...stop flirting Makki! For one, they’re not flirting. And for another, Takahiro makes fun of Oikawa; the teasing in their relationship is strictly one way. To Matsukawa, he says “Wait.”

“Mmm?”

“I’m at Oikawa’s. It’s not rude if I tell him we don’t want him hanging out with us if I say it to his face, right?”

Oikawa leans over and gets his hands on Takahiro’s phone. He might be unable to rip it out of Takahiro’s grip,but he can, and does, bring his head down to yowl, “Fine! Enjoy your date without me!”

Oikawa’s going to die soon and it’s a shame Takahiro will be too busy disposing the evidence to attend the funeral.

“Okay make that five minutes. Also. Forgot to mention,” Matsukawa says, smooth as ever. “Iwaizumi’s sleeping over for the night. If you guys want, I guess we could make it a foursome.”

“Dude, don’t be gross.” Takahiro grumbles. “That’s almost as yucky as thinking about how Oikawa spends the entire time oogling Iwaizumi.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Oikawa huffs. “Oikawa-sama likes Iwa-chan, Oikawa-sama likes Iwa-chan without a shirt on! Everyone knows and all they do is bully Oikawa-sama about it!” Oikawa finally pauses to breathe. “Also, Makki says we’ll be there. And he says he wants to be sleeping with you guys tonight.”

“Cool. Gross but cool.”

“Yeah, great.” Takahiro says as flatly as he can muster. “Mattsun, hurry up and rescue me from the crazy man?”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Static crackles over the line. Matsukawa’s probably has the phone awkwardly caught between his shoulder and ear, to free his hands. “See you soon, yeah?”

Takahiro opens his mouth. And closes it abruptly. 

It’s nothing new, Matsukawa waiting for Takahiro to sign off. Matsukawa knows Takahiro hates feeling burdensome. Matsukawa always lets Takahiro end the call, no matter how silly they start out to be. It’s nothing new, but it’s one of Takahiro’s many preferences that Matsukawa just never forgets. It’s nothing new, but for someone infuriatingly attached to simplicity, Matsukawa sure goes out of his way a lot for Takahiro. 

“Makki?”

“Yeah.” Takahiro bites himself in the tongue. “See you soon.”

He jabs the end call button before he can do anything else. When he catches Oikawa’s mouth twisting he asks, “What?”

“Nothing,” Oikawa says, straight faced. And then when he can’t help himself, he wears a dopey grin.“Y’all are just so fucking cute.”

Takahiro rolls his eyes, even as a slow heat creeps up his neck. He gathers his things and gives Oikawa a quick hug before making for the door. Then he delivers a swift kick to the ass when captain makes the mistake of showing his back.

“Makki!”

“See you tonight!” he shouts, dashing out the door and right into his getaway man.

“Ow,” Matsukawa drawls, standing in a casual gray set of t-shirt and pants. He’s flexing his jaw because Takahiro friggen headbutted him. “I know you missed me but tone down the Iwaizumi-affection.”

Takahiro hardly thinks twice before snagging him by the wrist and hightailing them both away from the danger zone. “Stop slowing me down,” he chokes, and Matsukawa laughs. They almost make it.

“Oi!” Takahiro scowls, whirling around. “You asshat, Crocs only!” He snatches up the sneaker from where it’d bounced off his back and flings it at its owner. 

“That hurt, Makki!! My ass and my feelings!!”

“Yeah, yeah. Catch you later, captain.”

Matsukawa snickers and Takahiro elbows him in the ribs as they walk down Oikawa’s driveway. “You were absolutely no help, you big lug. Should’ve known...would’ve ditched you immediately.” 

“After I kindly offered a ride? Youch.” Matsukawa peers at him. He might only be a few inches taller but it does mean Takahiro has to pass over his lips to get to his gaze.

But since Oikawa’s said what he said...Takahiro looks away. Hovers and talks at the passenger side door. “Wanna give me the keys?”

They both know he hates driving.

Matsukawa snorts. Apparently he’s not even going to dignify the shoddy joke with a response.

The truth is, they both know a lot of things, Takahiro starts to think. He leans against the window, the glass cool to his skin. But maybe Oikawa’s right and he’s missed one.

...you’re in love with Matsukawa...and he’s in love with you.

Just to be practical, to seriously think about what it would be like, Takahiro takes a hot second  to hand control over to his imagination. Imagines himself turning his body, tilting his head, looking into dark eyes, a bright grin, pulling Matsukawa in and- Takahiro swallows. So he’s flushing. Okay. This is okay, hahaha...

They reverse out the driveway, Matsukawa shifting gears and into traffic with an ease Takahiro should be jealous of. But Matsukawa moves, does it all like it’s secondhand nature. The quiet confidence he wears is rare, but it’s the same kind Oikawa has, putting the ball in Iwaizumi’s hands without hesitation, without doubt, day after day. Each of them has the other’s confidence; are each part of the other’s confidence in himself.

Takahiro leans back and closes his eyes, lets the hot sun wash over his thighs, soaking through his shirt.

Maybe it’s not smart to compare, but Takahiro thinks he places a similar kind of trust in Matsukawa. Or at least the most trust he can muster. 

After all, he is a cynic. He’s the one who tells Oikawa they could never have won nationals anyways, and that the likelihood of going to nationals was made in the same ridiculous mold. He’s not a shonen protagonist. His faith is not in people; it’s in numbers, in facts. And that’s how it’s always going to be.

But. Takahiro thinks, thinks that if that was ever going to be different, maybe it’d be because of Matsukawa. 

“Hey.”

Takahiro blinks himself alert. Matsukawa’s turning the car around, sliding into the parking lot. They’re lucky there’s a spot right at the front of the diner, even if it’s a bit of a tight fit between two SUVs. “We’re here, meathead.”

“Meathead?” 

“It was that or meatball.”

“How hungry are you.” Takahiro springs his seat belt free and he’s got a hand on the door handle when all of a sudden, Matsukawa drops his phone into Takahiro’s lap.

“I’ll go. Do me a favor and text Iwaizumi back for me?”

Takahiro nearly unhinges his jaw. “Do you realize the amount of power you’re giving me. Do you know how much restraint I am being forced to perform right now.” Oh Holy Mother of Volleyball - he could change all of his contacts to Oikawa’s number.

Matsukawa grins his hey!-i’m-the-boy-next-door grin. The corners of his eye crinkling and all, and shit, he’s cute.

Okay, but he’s always been cute!! This is nothing new either!!!

“I am looking away,” Matsukawa says, hopping out his car. “The usual?”

Takahiro nods. Watches Matsukawa turn, watches his back grow smaller as he walks away.

And he’s in love with you, rings in his ears once more.

Is he? Because. If Matsukawa was. And they both...wanted to give it a try...

His shorts are suddenly shifting. He looks down, wraps his fingers around the phone starting to slide down his thigh and brings it up to examine.

The lockscreen’s an old blurry photo of the seniors previous to practice (but the picture changes often. When Oikawa’s bored or Iwaizumi’s feeling vindictive and finally ready to retaliate, or when Takahiro wants to. Often, like he said.). There isn’t a password because Matsukawa says he has nothing to hide, but mostly because Takahiro refuses to memorize any numbers he’s not going to use on a test and it’s more fun using Matsukawa’s phone than his own for some reason.

He makes a quick pit stop at the Photo Gallery, creating copies of some of the pictures of the guys and annotates extra dicks onto them. Most of them are actually photos he’s taken, he realizes. While he’s wondering if he should go ahead and delete some of the bullshit photos so Matsukawa doesn’t need to when he wants to download a new game and he’s got no space, Takahiro remembers he’s supposed to be replying to Iwaizumi. Contacts...there, Iwaizumi’s the first one.

You: so 8?

Iwaizumi: yeah. Iwaizumi: unless Iwaizumi: you know You: ?

Iwaizumi: you know. Iwaizumi: you and hanamaki take a detour

Iwaizumi: to talk bout your feelings Iwaizumi: you’re going to right

Matsukawa’s left it at that, left Iwaizumi on read.

Takahiro blinks.

Matsukawa wants him to answer Iwaizumi’s text.

Matsukawa’s giving him an easy out.

Takahiro closes his eyes. What. Is. Going. On. What does this even mean!!! He reads the text again and- Iwaizumi had said your. What.

He doesn’t get much time to think about the implications because Matsukawa’s walking up to him, passing him his order. The smell of hot food isn’t anywhere near as attractive as it usually is, so he place it on his lap. It can wait. He’s not sure if it’s appropriate to laugh out his nerves or glare, with Matsukawa slipping into his own seat, calm and collected as ever. From head to toe, in every piece of his posture and each inch of his expression, Matsukawa Issei tells the world just how perfectly at peace he is with it. Takahiro compromises by biting his own tongue, which triggers his swear-reflex.

Matsukawa snickers.

Ohoho, alright. Takahiro dials up his glare to the max. “Got something to say, asshole?”

“Yeah, actually,” Matsukawa’s lips twitch, a sign he’s suppressing a smile. Takahiro tries to do the same until the blocker says, “You’ve been kind of spacey. What’s up?”

“Ah.” Takahiro ducks his head. “Not much.” Just realizing I’d like to kiss you. Whaboutyou? ”Oikawa just. Said a thing.”

“Mm?”

Matsukawa’s not expecting a reply, he’s just offering Takahiro the opportunity to, should he want it. Affection, warm and rich, blooms in the spiker’s chest. His shoulders sink, falling lax. If he smiles, a little, sue him. “Pretty insightful thing too. Unusually helpful for a change.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. It turns out, before you talk about your feelings,” Takahiro says, looking right at Matsukawa while his ears burst into flames. “You have to be aware of them.”

“Holy shit.” Matsukawa blinks. And then he slaps a hand over his eyes and starts laughing, his shoulders actually shaking. Takahiro should kick hit him or run for the hills, right, except Matsukawa is talking to himself. “Wow. Iwaizumi was...right. I mean. And I thought-”

“Issei.”

“I’ve.” He finally meets Takahiro’s eyes. “Had the biggest crush on you. Since end of first year. And you never knew?”

His expression must have answer because the silly guy starts laughing again and Takahiro honest to the gods, feels giddy enough to join in. “Were you going to tell me?”

A gentle shrug. “Don’t know. Wanted to though.”

Takahiro hums. Neither of them have said the real words though and maybe they should do the thing the conventional way? “So.” he begins. “What would you say if we called today a date?”

“Ask you when the next one would be?” Matsukawa puts a hand on the back of his head, an act which Takahiro recognizes as nervous. “Or ask, ‘wait, so you do like me, right?’“

He’s so silly, Takahiro marvels. So silly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

(Epilogue)

Five minutes past eight, Takahiro enters Oikawa’s house. With his boyfriend.

Boyfriend boyfriend boyfrienddd boyyyfriend boyfriend Matsukawa-boyfriend-Issei. 

These thoughts do not belong aloud, it turns out, when Oikawa spots them and immediately yells- nonsense at first, and then something along the same lines. Following up, is a demanding, “So?? Did you kiss yet? Yo! Answer the question! Did y’all kiss??” Iwaizumi rolls his eyes and tells him to mind his own business.

“Do you really want to know, captain?” Matsukawa smirks. Takahiro’s fingers find his and they link. Watching Oikawa’s eyes expand to the size of dinner plates is just as satisfying as watching the cogs in his brain turning to try and figure out the answer on his own the rest of the night. In the meantime, they’ve taken their spots on the couch while Iwaizumi fiddles with game settings to accommodate the four of them. It’s game night after all.

(Yeah, Takahiro supposes he owes Oikawa; he’ll give the details captain is dying for later. OR. he muses. Maybe he’ll get Oikawa and Iwaizumi together and then call his dues paid? Matsukawa would be down for either.)

Iwaizumi is as characteristically Iwaizumi as ever. At the snack break, Takahiro sees him giving Matsukawa a shoulder pat, and thinks that’s it. After the two of them get knocked out of the Smash Bros round early he plans on sitting back to watch the defending champion and Mr. Kirby war. Instead, he finds his shoulder being tapped and follows, getting led into the kitchen.

Vice captain hands him a water and leans on the counter. “Congrats.”

“Thanks, Iwaizumi-kun.” he deadpans. “I’m sorry we couldn’t work things out but I’ll cherish the memories.”

“Hey, man, I’ll punch you. No boyfriend around to defend you, y’know.” Iwaizumi taunts.

Takahiro smirks right back at him. He’s not sure if he could be happier if he tried. “So what’s this about?” 

Iwaizumi tilts his head to the side. “Oikawa tells me he helped you.”

“Yeah,” Takahiro can allow this. He nods. “Just like you helped Issei.”

“Ha! If only you knew.”

Takahiro raises a brow.

“You know the texts I sent him?” Iwaizumi’s grin is so very wolfish. “He asked me to send them. Fabricated all of them himself. He had me set you guys up.” And then he's calling out “See you later!” due to the fact Takahiro is hightailing out of the room.

Oikawa is absolutely beating the shit out of Metaknight, although Matsukawa’s still winning the trash-talking contest. But as Takahiro enters the room, he trails off, eyes leaving the screen for Takahiro’s. Taking his opportunity, Oikawa finally pushes Metaknight off the platform and whoops to kingdom come. It doesn’t really matter though, Takahiro has walked over, leaning down.

Matsukawa meets him midway. The kiss is soft and sweet but it still messes him up. In the best way ever.

Oikawa’s squeaks go ignored.

“You’re adorable.” Takahiro shakes his head as he sinks into the spot besides the blocker on the couch. He puts his head on Matsukawa’s shoulder and breathes in cotton and cool.

“Iwaizumi sold me out, huh?”

Another kiss stolen. “Dibs on him as my best man.”

Matsukawa snickers while Oikawa protests, “The hell? What about me? Makki, I had your back! I made the play of the year! I’m literally game MVP.”

Iwaizumi appears, nudging Oikawa to scoot over until they both have enough space. “I heard my name?” He gets himself two fistbumps. 

Oikawa scowls.

[animanightmate]

Drawing The Musketeers 13

Well, I spent the last week-and-a-bit either being super-ill or working my arse off on a paid creative project (yay for paying creatives!), and I’ve been craving drawing this whole time but was either asleep, wobbly, or furiously editing.

Anyway, I decided to say Sod It and have a go at a Musketeer I’ve been putting off for a while (as ever, better seen on a small screen):

Bibbledy-boo:

This took me a lot longer than usual, and I was knackered by the end (still recovering, I guess!).

I’m not convinced I got the facial proportions right, but they’re better than my current batting average. I think.

I kept going out of scale throughout, cursing, and redoing the outlines.

Of course he wears fucking lace.

The pauldron/ spaulder. Yikes. The result is… impressionistic, to be sure.

I’ve finally worked out that, as a right-handed person, I need to go top to bottom and left to right when drawing to avoid Le Smudge. And actually did so this time. Woot!

Santiago Cabrera was wearing his famous hat on the wonk in the source photo, which made everything quite difficult for me, a fastidious hat-wearer and recovering OCD-haver, to look at.

Still using the retracting pencil. I don’t know what to do about that. I think it’s fine for these small drawings, but if/ when I graduate to larger pages, I’m going to have to up my game.

Santiago Cabrera is intimidatingly symmetrical, fucking hell.

The feathers were fun to do.

I drew a hat! Look! It’s… okay!

The longer I look at what I’ve done with his ear, the less convinced I am.

Something else I’ve learned: eyes are nowhere near as big as we think they are. We just put a lot of attention on them. But they’re more often smaller than they appear on first glance in proportion to the rest of the face.

I need to stop trying to draw everything I see, or crack on and get a bigger pad and proper pencils.

I’m still pretty pleased with this.

Only a few main characters left, and then I’ll start picking more complex source pictures (heads more turned, props, longer body shots, more than one person in view, etc.).

⬅Day 12     Day 14➡

Progress shots below the cut for funsies.

[turtle-steverogers]

Government Affiliated Love Affairs

idk @fuck-your-fandoms suggested this and i vibed with it so yeee here we are

soulmate au! kinda!

ship: ralbert

warnings: none i dont think, but if i missed something lemme know

word count: 2600 ish

editing: eh kinda idk

-

“Well, this is stupid.”

“Yeah, tell me about it, pal.”

Race sighs, looking down at his hands as he fiddles with the cup sleeve of his grande americano.  

It was common knowledge that the “Formulated Love Act of 2023” was not the most foolproof of laws passed by the government in the past 5 years (not that anything the government did anymore was foolproof, but he’ll digress), but Race couldn’t help but at least appreciate that it wasn’t trying to push any heteronormative bullshit.  

That didn’t make this asshole any more bearable.

Granted, the notion of solving the ‘loneliness epidemic’ (which apparently was a thing and was causing the US enough damn trouble that the government fucking stepped in) through means of systematic soulmates was sweet.  Everyone gets a match based off a stupid fucking questionaire they completed when they were 21, like “oh, you can drink now! Here’s a shot of vodka and also your future partner is gonna be determined by this thick ass packet, go ahead and fill that out, no pressure!” And by the time you’re 25, a soulmate’s been hand picked for you.  By law, you’re required to marry them within a year of meeting, and then you’re set to live your life happily ever after. 

It was nice in theory.  But in practice?  Not so much.

Then again, wasn’t the government usually like that?

Race wished he had some whiskey to pour into his americano like those edgy movie characters.  Or Jack Kelly.  Jack Kelly did that sometimes.

When he’d gotten the email a week ago with his soulmate’s information and their established ‘meet-up arrangements’- which were really just fancy words for ‘forced date, have fun’- Race had been tentatively hopeful that maybe he’d be one of the rare cases.  The ones you read about on Buzzfeed where it really is love at first sight and maybe those few, poor FBI Agents who were stuck with the ‘Pairing Process’ had done something right for once.  

The ounce of a Disney fan within him had even entertained the thought of some miraculous meeting, where sparks fly and eyelashes are batted and smiles are exchanged.

But no.  Instead, Race is sitting at some random Starbucks in the middle of Manhattan with an obnoxious (and upsettingly pretty) redhead, who’s first words to him were, “I fucking hate coffee, I’m gonna get tea.”  To which Race had tried to cover his scowl, but failed miserably.

He hated tea snobs.  Don’t get him wrong, he enjoys tea as much as the next 25 year old guy, but those dudes who fucking made a point to openly despise coffee in favor of tea like some sort of pompous jerk?  Yeah, they killed his boner.

Race toys around with his coffee cup for another moment, before the silence gets too thick and he breaks, “Albert, right?” he asks, because even though it’s been a good half hour since they’d met up, the guy still hasn’t properly introduced himself.    

It had said Albert’s name and age in the email last Saturday, but come on.  It’s basic human decency to at least offer your name and maybe a handshake.

Albert scrunches his nose, taking a long sip from his iced peach green tea lemonade.  Fucking asshole.

“Yeah,” He says.  He sounds bitter and uninviting.  Race tries not to shrink in his seat, “And you’re Antonio.”

“Race,” Race interjects.

Albert’s eyebrows draw together, “Race?  What the fuck kinda-”

“It’s a nickname, just-” Race scrubs a hand down his face, “Just, don’t question it, but it’s Race, got it?”

Albert leers at him, “Fine.”

The silence settles over them once more, except this time, they’re maintaining eye contact.  Albert looks like he’s trying to size him up and Race’s neck prickles uncomfortably.

I mean, seriously, this is the guy Race has to marry?  Yippee fucking ki yay.

“Listen,” Race says slowly, “This- I mean,” he blows out a breath, starting over, “I hate to break it to you, but we’re stuck together and you’ve gotta move in by,” he pauses, checking the date on his phone, “Wednesday, so we could either work something out or suffer.”

Albert’s glare doesn’t falter, “I’ll suffer.”

Race sighs again.

XXX

“And down the hall here is my room and that,” Race gestures to the door opposite his room, Albert trailing behind him, “Is yours.”

After their disaster of a first date last Saturday, Race had relented and cleaned out his office, turning it into a guest room and moving his desk and file cabinets into his own room.  It was a tight squeeze into his relatively small space, but he wasn’t about to share a room with Albert.  But he was a nice person and wasn’t gonna condemn him to the couch, either.  So, guest room it is.

Albert hefts his box of belongings higher into his arms, shrugging his right shoulder to adjust the duffle bag on his back before inching into his room.

“Thanks, I guess,” He calls bluntly behind him before kicking the door closed, leaving Race standing dumbly on the other end.

Race blinks.  Then, blinks again.

“Man, fuck you!” He calls in a sudden surge of anger.  He hadn’t done a damn thing to Albert, what fucking right did he have to hate him?  He didn’t even give him a chance!

“Nah.”  Albert calls back.

“I didn’t mean it like that you fucking ass- you know what?  Nevermind.”  He storms into his own room, slamming the door shut behind him.

XXX

Later that night, Race is curled up in front of the TV, cradling a bowl of Panang curry and watching some random documentary about koalas.  He spoons some fried tofu into his mouth, frontwardly considering getting a koala, because they’re fucking adorable, and distantly wondering if Albert was ever going to come out of his room.  

He hadn’t heard from him all afternoon and the only indication that he was still in the house had been the distinct sound of a toe being stubbed, followed by a loud, ‘fuck me!’, which Race didn’t laugh at.  He didn’t.

His question is answered a moment later when Albert’s door creaks open down the hall and he pads into the living room.  Race can feel him lingering in the doorway, watching him, and he groans a little, placing his spoon back into his bowl and muting the television.

“What,” he says, turning to face Albert, who looks sheepish for a moment before replacing the scowl on his face.

“Nothing, just-” he purses his lips and glances towards the kitchen.

Race softens a little, “Are you hungry?  I didn’t know your order, but I got you some pad thai, 

‘cause it’s pretty standard…it’s in the fridge if you want it.”

Albert looks back at him, a strange look on his face, “You got me something?”

Race shrugs, “yeah?”

“Even after I-” Albert shakes his head, “Thanks.” 

Race watches as he seems to go through some internal conflict before stalking off towards the kitchen.  A moment later, the microwave starts up.  

“Alrighty,” Race mumbles to himself, unmuting the television and picking his spoon back up.  

A couple more minutes pass with the remote sounds of Albert putzing around in the kitchen and the narrator’s accented voice droning on.  It feels weird to have someone else in the house, but Race shrugs it off.  He never loved having roommates, but it was no different than his college days, really.  Even though he couldn’t just forget Albert after the year was over.  He had to marry the damn guy.

He’s surprised when Albert comes back into the living room and even more shocked when the other end of the couch dips.  Glancing over, he finds Albert sitting with his legs tucked underneath him, twirling rice noodles around his fork and staring fixedly at the TV.  He forces himself to relax and finish his curry.

They don’t say anything and eventually, Race lets his guard down a little.  An indiscernible amount of time passes and the program turns to a show about domesticated hedgehogs and how to care for them.  

Race feels himself nodding off, and he’s about to let sleep take him over completely when he feels his bowl being lifted out of his hands.  He cracks open an eye in time to see Albert get up and clear their dishes.

He comes back a moment later and looks mildly startled to see Race awake.

“I thought you were out out,” he says, and Race notes that the hostility that’s been ever present since they met is curiously absent.

“I woke up when you took our stuff,” Race admits.

Albert hums and sits back down on the couch, clicking off the TV and bracing his forearms on his knees.  He looks like he might want to say something, so Race waits patiently.

“Look,” Albert starts, sounding a little strained, “I’m sorry for how I’ve been acting.  I’m not trying to justify my behavior, but this whole,” he gestures a little wildly, “soulmate thing freaks me out and I kinda panicked over it and totally took it out on you even though it’s not in any way your fault and,” he lets out a humorless chuckle, finally looking at Race, “I’m sorry.  Really.”

Race offers him a tired, but reassuring smile, “Listen, bud, I’m like half asleep so only, like, a fraction of this conversation is getting comprehended, but it’s okay.  I mean, you were an asshole, but I get it.  This whole system is fucked.”

Albert laughs for real and Race finds that he likes it.  Just a little.  He can appreciate a nice laugh, okay?

“Sure is,” Albert agrees.

There’s a pause, but it’s not as charged as before.

“Where did the nickname ‘Race’ come from?”

“Uhhh,” Race yawns, stretching, “I dunno, my little sister always called me that and it stuck?”

“Cool.”

“Yeah.”

Race props his head up on his hand, sleepily watching Albert fidget.  Albert seems to sense him staring, because he looks at him again, offering a small smile.

“You’re tired,” he points out uselessly, “you should sleep.”

Race nods, standing, “Yeah, I think I’m gonna,” he starts towards his room, “You should, too.”

Albert salutes him, “I will.”

“Goodnight, Al.”

“‘Night, Race.”

XXX

After their little impromptu apology session, things change between Race and Albert.

They hang out more, heading into the city to browse through museums and stroll aimlessly through Central Park.  Albert brings Race to a planetarium and Race, in turn, takes him to an ABT performance at Lincoln Center.  It’s nice, Race finds, and his initial opinion of Albert is rapidly changing into something entirely different and ten times more positive.

He discovers that Albert’s favorite ice cream flavor is stracciatella, even though it’s hard to find in the States.  Albert tells him that he graduated from Pratt with a film degree and dreams to one day participate in the Sundance Film Festival.

In turn, Race confesses that even though he grew up dancing and always thought he’d be a professional dancer, culinary school had ended up being his calling.  

Little things about Albert start to filter into Race’s awareness.  Like the way he quirks one side of his mouth a little higher than the other when he laughs, or how he scrunches his nose a little and furrows his eyebrows when he’s filming.  He’s got that kind of charming, self-deprecating humor, where he’s always cracking jokes, but only at his own expense, making him approachable and likable.  When he’s telling stories, his voice always pitches a little different, captivating whoever’s listening.  But when someone else is talking, he gives his full, unwavering attention.  

It makes Race feel interesting and important.  Like what he has to say matters.

It’s a sunny Friday and the two of them are sitting in a small sandwich shop in Brooklyn.  Albert is retelling some ridiculous story about how he got a cab driver to bring him to a veterinarian for free, because he found an injured pigeon.  His meatball sub is long since forgotten and Race notices that he has a little sauce on his cheek.

He’s just about to reach out to wipe it off when he realizes it.

He’s kind of in love with Albert Dasilva.

Huh.  Crazy.

XXX

“Hey, so I was thinking we could go try out that new bubble tea place over on 14th?”

Race lifts his head from his pillow, blinking blearily at where Albert’s leaning against his doorframe.  It’s Saturday and they’d spent the night previous in some club getting spectacularly drunk and naturally, Race is hungover as shit.  But Albert doesn’t get hungover, the motherfucker.

He scrubs a hand down his face and Albert watches with a smirk as he struggles to sit up.

“Yeah,” Race says, “Yeah, I’m down, just,” he rolls his stiff neck, wincing as it cracks, “gimme a few minutes to freshen up.”

“No prob,” Albert says, sidling out of the room, “We can grab greasy breakfast for you somewhere as well!”

“You’re a saint!” Race calls back.

A half hour later, they’re bumping shoulders as they venture through The Village, keeping an eye on Albert’s google maps as they look for ‘Bubbleology’, the new fangled cafe Jack and Katherine had been insisting they try.

“So, the Air and Space Museum in DC is having an exhibit on Mars next weekend and I was thinking we could pop down to see it?” 

Albert perks up, looking away from his phone to give Race an excited smile, “Really?  Wait, how did you know about that and I didn’t?”

Race blushes a little, shoving his hands in his pockets, “It’s your birthday coming up, so I was looking for things to do and...yeah.”

“Aww,” Albert nudges him, but Race can see him flush, “That’s sweet, I’d love to- shit, Race, careful!”

Race gasps, freezing as a car speeds towards him.  The only unfrozen part of his mind is screaming that the crosswalk says they can walk, so why isn’t that car fucking stopping and-

He feels a hand grip his bicep, yanking him back towards the sidewalk and all cognition slams back into him as he and Albert fall onto the pavement.

“-Fucking ASSHOLE, watch it!” Albert’s screaming uselessly after the car, but Race isn’t registering it.  Not completely anyway.

He takes a moment to assess himself, breathing deeply as he becomes increasingly aware that he almost fucking died, but he didn’t thanks to Albert.

Albert looks down when Race tugs on his sleeve, “Are you okay?  Jesus, that was- mmph.”

Race pulls him down, crashing their lips together.  For a moment, Albert’s frozen against him, then he relaxes into the kiss, reaching up a hand to cradle Race’s jaw.  They kiss for a while, until Race remembers that they’re quite literally sitting in the middle of a sidewalk and pulls away.  

Albert opens his eyes, looking slightly dazed, “Whoa.”

Race bites his lip, suddenly unsure, “Sorry?”

“No,” Albert’s eyes widen, “No, don’t apologize, that- no, that was okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes,” Albert says, hoisting Race to his feet and pulling him in for another kiss, “Very okay.”

When they break apart again, they’re both laughing, foreheads resting against one anothers.

“Hey,” Race whispers, waiting until Albert’s eyes meet his to continue, “I like you.”

Albert rolls his eyes, but it’s fond, “I like you, too, dumbass.  Maybe those FBI guys actually were onto something.”

Race smiles, goofy and genuine, “Yeah, maybe.”

They stand there for another moment, enjoying each other’s embrace.  Then, Albert steps away abruptly, grabbing Race’s hand and pulling him down the street.

“C’mon, I still want bubble tea.”

It’s Race’s turn to roll his eyes, “Idiot.”

“Yeah, butcha love me.”

“You got me there.”

-

do we want a part 2 with fluffy dating stuff/wedding?

lemme know!

thanks for reading, chiefs

hmu to be added to my tag

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[artificialqueens]

Not Nineteen Forever (11) (Branjie/Scyvie)- Ortega

a/n: hey friends! welcome to chapter 11 of N19F, everyone’s favourite chronicles of our uni gals being irresponsible af. this chapter begins our collective slow descent into madness so hope we’re all ready. as always, thank u for the love and pls pls pls send a wee ask into AQ/my blog telling me what ur fav part was!!! i heart serotonin xo

trigger warning: drug use (Snoop Dogg’s favourite garden plant xo)

please note: this fic contains young adults often behaving in irresponsible/unadvisable ways with regards to alcohol, drugs and sex. if you are someone who feels as if they could be heavily influenced by fic and incorporate what happens in the plot into ur own life, pls steer clear!

summary: Brooke, Yvie and Nina are three flatmates who forged a friendship in their first year of university and picked up some other waifs and strays along the way. Now in their final year, there are feelings that need to be unravelled and confessions to be made whilst navigating drunk nights, hungover mornings, takeaways, group chats, library meetups, cafe gossiping, and the small matter of getting a degree.

last chapter: Christmas saw funny jumpers, Secret Santa gifts, and Yvie and Scarlet saying I love you but not-quite-saying-I-love-you.

this chapter: everyone is back at uni after the holidays but somebody’s got cold feet, and not because the flat heating isn’t switched on.

***

Brooke wondered if it was possible to sweat herself to death as she dragged her huge suitcase up the final step to her flat and scrambled around in her backpack. She had never been so excited to take off a jacket in her adult life, but as she fumbled around for her keys she began to wonder if she would ever actually get into her flat. Thankfully, somebody had evidently heard her struggling and the door was suddenly thrown open to reveal Nina, just as smiley, happy and excited to see her as she’d been before Brooke had gone home for the holidays.

“Brookey Brooke Brooke!! Happy New Year!” Nina cried, lurching forward to give her a hug.

“Oh my God, Happy New Year baby. I probably stink of sweat,” Brooke concluded, her puffer jacket feeling more like a portable prison of heat with each passing second. Nina patted her on the back as she pulled away, dragging her suitcase inside in a suitably Mum-like manner.

“Nonsense, come in. I only just boiled the kettle, you’ve got scarily good timing. Yvie’s here with Scarlet. I think they may be banging.”

As Brooke walked past Yvie’s room she heard something that sounded suspiciously like a hiss through a set of teeth, and concluded that Nina was probably right.

“I’ll forgive them. How was New Years’?” Brooke asked, finally peeling her jacket off and throwing herself down on the couch. Nina raised her eyebrows as she poured the kettle out into two mugs.

“Really good,” she said, drawing out the “really” for emphasis. “I mean, it was just me, Silky, Akeria and Vanjie but it was such a great night. Kiki went home with a guy that looked like Thor. It was very bizarre.”

Brooke let out a laugh. She hadn’t felt too much fomo at having missed any New Year’s celebrations, as it was really only the girls whose family homes were closest to the city that were able to meet up and party together. Canada was probably a bit too much of a commute. Brooke self-consciously remembered the texts from Vanessa that came through that night, her stomach flipping over.

“Nobody overdid it, did they?” she found herself asking, keen for an outsider’s perspective on the evening. Nina tutted as she handed Brooke her mug and sat down.

“I mean Silky did, but it was basically her birthday party so nobody would begrudge her it. Vanjie was cute, though, it was a shame you never had any signal,” Nina smiled at Brooke, Brooke feeling a knot in her stomach tighten at her words. She plastered on her best fake smile.

“Aw yeah, she’s a cutie.”

“You must be looking forward to seeing her again? Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that,” Nina encouraged her, sipping her tea.

“Yeah, of course! But I want to see my girls as well, you know? I mean I haven’t seen you for like, a month. Tell me about you and Monet!” Brooke smiled enthusiastically, jumping at the chance to divert the conversation from the topic of her and Vanessa. She took a big gulp of her tea, hoping it would encourage Nina to talk for as long as she could.

“We’re good! We’re good. I saw her just after Christmas, we met up in town. I’m still absolutely convinced the whole thing’s a massive practical joke and she’ll completely ghost me soon, but I’m trying not to think too much about it otherwise I’ll get too wrapped up in it and end up ruining things,” Nina reeled off, ending her sentence with an awkward shrug and a laugh to match, Brooke unsure if she felt good that the heat was off her and Vanessa or bad that it seemed Nina was a hair’s breadth away from self-sabotaging her potential relationship.

“Well you’ve been seeing each other for what, two months now? That’s getting into girlfriend territory, babe."

"Oh, don’t,” Nina laughed, shaking her head so violently that her tea threatened to splash. “As fucking if. No, I’m just enjoying it while it lasts and whatever happens happens. I mean, I’m hardly going to be the one to end it, am I?"

Brooke raised both eyebrows at her but didn’t push for any more. Brooke always worried about Nina ever so slightly, like the sister she never had. Nina was the best hypewoman around, always preaching self-esteem, confidence and body positivity, but when push came to shove she could only sporadically take that advice herself. Brooke knew that Nina had overcome a lot since her time at high school- she’d always remember when Nina broke down to Brooke in her first year halls room and had told her everything she’d struggled with in the past after a set of girls had laughed at Nina in a kebab shop after a night out. So Brooke could understand that sort of self-love was hard for Nina to maintain. Brooke had noticed it seemed to come to her in ebbs and flows like waves; the crashing-against-rocks happy presence of a Nina who danced about the flat singing to Lizzo in a new outfit she loved deeply contrasting with times where the tide would pull her back out into a sea of shame, unhappy and upset because she’d eaten a share pack of Minstrels quicker than she’d thought possible and was disgusted at herself.

“Anyway. What about you, you going to ask Vanjie to be your girlfriend yet? It’s been longer than two months for you both and in your own words, Ms Hytes, that’s girlfriend territory,” Nina asked eagerly, Brooke almost spilling her tea all over herself in shock. Before she could answer, the kitchen door opened and in walked Yvie and Scarlet one after the other in a set of slightly crumpled clothes. Yvie’s face broke out into a smile as she saw her flatmate and she immediately ran forward toward the sofa Brooke was sat on, crushing her in a half-straddle, half-hug.

“Oh my God, bitch, it’s been forever!! Happy New Year!” she cried, muffled against Brooke’s shoulder.

Happy to see Yvie because she hadn’t seen her in ages and also because her arrival meant she didn’t have to answer Nina’s question, Brooke squeezed back hard. “Happy New Year baby!! How were your holidays? Scarlet, c’mere!”

Scarlet shuffled forward as Yvie ungracefully peeled herself off of Brooke, hugging her slightly more gently which Brooke was grateful for as Yvie spoke. “They were good. Made better by this one coming to see me.”

“Oh, did you go up to Yvie’s?” Brooke asked Scarlet as she pulled away, Scarlet rolling her eyes in mock-exasperation.

“Yeah, well. Someone decided to develop separation anxiety by the time we’d been apart for a fortnight so had me looking up train times before the bells had even rung at midnight,” Scarlet smiled, Yvie giving her a playful shove before pulling her down onto the armchair and into her lap, Scarlet giggling and batting her away.

“Well, you’re still both as gross as you were together the last time I saw you, so I’m glad nothing’s changed,” Brooke snorted, Yvie flipping her middle finger up at her.

“Oh, and you and Vanjie are gonna be totally different when you see each other again,” she rolled her eyes, Brooke clenching her teeth together momentarily. Why did everybody seem to want to bring Vanessa up every two minutes?

“Well yeah, we probably will be. It’s not like we’re together or anything,” Brooke gave an awkward laugh. Suddenly the mood in the room seemed to change. She saw Scarlet stiffen tensely in Yvie’s lap and Yvie look across to Nina, something in her widened eyes that Brooke couldn’t quite make out. As Brooke turned to look at Nina, the other girl seemed to be impervious to the sudden tension and was smiling brightly at her phone.

“Hey, Monet’s wondering if she can come round. We could get pizza, play Mario Kart, maybe get high? We’ve not done that in a while. Sound good?”

Before Brooke could address the shift in atmosphere, Yvie was replying to Nina. “I’d be so down. I’m actually starving.”

“Sounds fun,” Brooke responded, still not quite able to have her smile meet her eyes. “I’ll go unpack my shit and then come back through. Won’t be long!”

Brooke couldn’t have been more glad of a moment to herself as she flung open her bedroom door and crashed down onto her bed, a feeling of seasickness churning in her stomach. Laying on her back, she stared up at the cracks in the ceiling until her eyes began to burn. She took one heavy, deep breath and opened up her phone. Her gut plummeted all over again when she saw the name in her notifications.

V: You get back to flat okay? Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Brooke tapped out a message as quickly as she could, desperate for the interaction to be over.

B: Yep! Just there with the girls just now xxx

A reply came through before Brooke had even had the chance to replace the phone on her bed.

V: Yay!! You gonna come round and cuddle me and play with my hair? lol xxxxxxxxxx

Every single kiss that Vanessa had left at the end of her text felt like a stab in Brooke’s gut. Her entire stomach feeling like a ton of bricks, she replied.

B: Sorry boo we’re just having flat girl time just now! Just the three of us. I’ll see you soon though? Xxx

This pause was longer.

V: Aww damn well I already waited a month I guess I can wait another day :) have fun Brooky xxxxxxxxxxxx

Brooke dropped her phone on the bed, brought her hands up to her face and gave a huge, massive exhale. She didn’t know what the fuck was wrong with her. She didn’t know what had changed. Vanessa was the girl she’d been chasing for essentially her entire university career, the literal girl of her dreams. She had wanted her, and now she had her. And everything was fine. Except everything was far from fine, Brooke thought as she sucked her tense stomach in and willed that horrible sinking feeling to go away. Maybe it was the month-long gap from when they’d last seen each other. Maybe it was the way Vanessa’s texts seemed to shift from fun and flirty and lighthearted to saccharine sweet and intense. Brooke didn’t know, but all she did know was that any time she thought about her and Vanessa as anything more than what they were now or if anyone else brought that idea up, her heart started doing somersaults, and not in a good way.

Guiltily, she took her phone and scrolled up on her and Vanessa’s text history, looking back at their texts from New Years’.

V: Babyyyy xxxx

V: Keep trying to phone u n it’s going to voicemail :((( xxxxxxx

V: it’s so near midnight!!!!! xx

B: Sorry boo my signal is shit! I’m barely able to text :( xxx

B: But Happy New Year for when it comes!!!! Hope you are having a great night, get home safe xxx

V: Aww man that’s shit lmao dw dw xxxxxxxx

V: Happy New Year my baby, you’re the best thing to come out of this whole year and I’m so so glad we got our shit together, I really really really like you and I can’t wait to see where this year takes us xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

B: Awwww baby you’re sweet xxx

B: You never heard of playing hard to get lol (kidding) xxx

V: Ahahahahaha shut up whore xxxxxxxxx

V: Aint gotta play hard to get when you already got me xxxxxxxxxx

But Brooke hadn’t been kidding, and her signal had been fine, and Vanessa’s messages had made her feel worse instead of better. She preferred the old Vanessa, the sexy and suggestive Vanessa who only wanted to fuck all the time and who wasn’t bothered about cuddling or hair-playing or anything like that. All of that scared Brooke. To her, that was what people in committed relationships did, and she wasn’t at the age where she wanted one of those. Or at least, she’d never had anything properly serious before and the prospect of it completely terrified her. Brooke squeezed her eyes shut and tried to focus on breathing deeply. There was no way any unpacking was getting done now, as the top priority was to stop herself spiralling.

Brooke could have lain there for five minutes or forty-five minutes (she had no idea), but soon enough she was jolted out of her reverie as the buzzer went off. She got up and went out into the hall to get it.

"Hello?”

“Brooke, that you? It’s Monet, Neens said I could come round?”

Brooke wanted to repeatedly bash her head against the doorframe. Why did she have to be surrounded by cuddling couples and adorable pet names at a time like this?

“Yeah, no worries! Come up.”

As Brooke held her finger down against the switch to let Monet in, Nina ran out from her bedroom. She’d obviously spent the time making an effort, and her huge mane of wavy blonde hair was half-up half-down in a topknot on her head, her face painted with just enough makeup to look a touch more glam than everyday. She was still in her sweatpants but had changed into a fresh pyjama top. It had Lady from Lady and The Tramp on it, and the slogan “BED HAIR”.

“Is it her? Is she here?” Nina breathed heavily, nudging past Brooke to look through the peephole. Brooke couldn’t help but laugh.

“You sound like the fucking Grim Reaper’s about to come up the stairs, not your girlfriend! Fucking chill,” Brooke spluttered, squeezing Nina round her middle. “It’ll be fine.”

“She’s not my girlfriend! Stop saying that! Oh Jesus, you can’t say that in front of her,” Nina turned to Brooke, mortified. “Do I look okay?”

“You look gorgeous, as always. Interesting outfit choice, though.”

“Well, I want her to think that I always look this good when I’m being a lazy slob around the flat,” Nina shrugged, suddenly tearing her gaze back to the peephole and leaping back from the door as if she’d been scalded. “Fuck! Shit! That’s her, go!"

"Go? Bitch, where?” Brooke burst out laughing, trying to sober up in the hallway as Nina opened the door to Monet, who threw her arms around the other girl and covered both her cheeks in kisses.

“Hey baby! Ugh, I missed you so much,” Monet smiled, Nina growing shy and red as the other girl tapped her on the nose. “Thanks for having me over. I got you flowers!”

Brooke only just noticed the bouquet of bright yellow sunflowers in Monet’s left hand, Nina’s eyes lighting up as they were thrust into her arms.

“Oh, wow! They’re so beautiful, thank you, honey!” Nina smiled, pulling the girl in for another hug.

“Sunflowers for my sunflower. Oh, hey Brooke!” Monet cried as she noticed Brooke, immediately striding towards her and flinging her arms around her in a friendly hug. “How were your holidays? How’s Vanjie?”

Brooke tried her very best to keep from letting her discomfort at the topic of conversation show on her face as she pulled away. “They were…are…both amazing, thanks girl! How were yours?”

“They were great. Glad to be away from my crazy family though. You know you get to a stage when you just can’t live with them a second longer or you’ll commit a mass murder?” Monet chatted away, turning to Nina for validation. Nina screwed up her face and laughed.

“Nah, I think you’re just a psychopath.”

“Mm, you love it though,” Monet smiled, shooting a wink at Nina that instantly rendered her speechless. Monet burst out into a laugh and Brooke tried not to roll her eyes. Why did everyone else seem to fall into their couples so easily? Why did nobody else seem to have doubts or fears? “Come on, let’s get these pizzas ordered. I think my stomach’s eating itself."

Brooke followed the two girls through to the living room, as Nina let Monet know that Scarlet and Yvie were round. Monet turned to Brooke as if she was about to say something, but Brooke watched as Nina grabbed Monet’s wrist and whispered something to her urgently, Monet nodding understandingly. Brooke got the feeling that she had been the subject of the comment.

"Hey Monet!” Yvie called, Monet going over to give Yvie and Scarlet a hug in turn as Nina put the flowers in water.

“Hey ladies! You part of the WaGs of Belford Road too, Scarlet?” Monet asked her, Scarlet laughing and smiling up at her.

“The fuck does WaGs mean, you calling my girlfriend a bitch?” Yvie asked jokingly, Monet sitting down on the sofa and stretching out her legs as if she was one of the flat’s tenants.

“Wives and girlfriends. Mainly used for footballers back in the day but we’re just ballers, I guess.”

“We’d have the full set if Vanj was here,” Scarlet smiled at Brooke, and suddenly yelped, Brooke not missing the dig in the ribs that Yvie gave her. She started to become concerned. Was she making it really obvious that something was wrong?

“Okay, pizza!” Nina suddenly clapped her hands together, making Brooke jump. She scrolled her phone after she sat next to Monet, who threw an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. “We could get this deal? Cookies, wedges, chicken strippers and two pizzas for £25.99?"

"I’m not sure I’ll want cookies,” Scarlet mused, Brooke deciding she could really do with hitting the bong if only to fucking relax, and that now was as good a time as ever.

“You sure? Not even after this?” Brooke spoke up, holding out the bong and watching Scarlet reconsider.

“What pizzas are we getting?” Monet asked, Yvie instantly sighing the world-weary sigh of a put-upon flatmate. Monet raised a questioning eyebrow Nina’s way.

“Ugh, don’t. It’s a point of contention in this whole flat,” she began explaining. “Yvie likes pepperoni, but not any other meats. I only really like margherita or something chicken-y or vegetable-y. Brooke likes pineapple and olives-”

“Hold the fuck up,” Monet stopped Nina, whipping her head round to cast Brooke a judgemental glare that she almost missed, too busy tipping the weed out onto the gauze.

“That’s disgusting, Brooke,” Scarlet wrinkled her nose up, Brooke rolling her eyes as she searched for a lighter.

“Fucking hell, guys, it’s not a raw fucking sausage! It’s a bit of fruit and a bit of vegetable!” she sighed. Seeing her obvious distress, Monet produced a pink Bic from the pocket of her black jeans and held it out to her, Brooke taking it gratefully and striking up.

“…So you see the issue we have whenever we want a pizza in this flat,” Nina finished as the smoke hit the back of Brooke’s throat and she exhaled quicker than she would have liked, punctuating the whole thing with a cough and a splutter.

“Do you ever just get a half and half?” Scarlet asked innocently. Yvie squeezed her shoulder and laughed good-naturedly.

“Babe, I know you weren’t any good at Maths in high school, but there’s only two parts to a half."

"You like…pepperoni, right?” Nina narrowed her eyes as she tried to remember Monet’s favourite. The other girl responded by leaning in and kissing her cheek, smiling.

“Aww, Neens! You remembered,” Monet smiled, delighted. Yvie turned to Scarlet and frowned.

“Yours is…Hawaiian?”

Scarlet laughed. “Barbecue chicken. Monet, can we swap girlfriends?”

Brooke’s eyebrows flew up her forehead involuntarily as Nina completely froze, but Monet simply laughed back. “Sorry sweetie, this one’s mine. I can rent her out though. Five pounds an hour?”

“Eh, excuse me! I am actually here, you know?” Nina cried, seemingly much more relaxed now that Monet hadn’t freaked out at the label Scarlet had given them.

“Right, what fucking pizzas are we getting? The munchies are going to kick in in about twenty minutes so let’s go,” Brooke asked decisively, squeezing herself down beside Monet and Nina.

“Well, half and half both of them so that there’s four,” Monet suggested, gesturing to Yvie. “Me and Yvie like pepperoni, so let’s do half pepperoni, Neens if you like chickeny things then let’s have you sharing a barbecue chicken with Scarlet…we can make another half pineapple and olives for Brooke’s Satanic tastebuds and…that means we’ve got another half to play with.”

“Oh my God. Monet, can we keep you?” Yvie asked incredulously. “I think that’s the quickest we’ve ever decided on an order.”

“Let’s just make the last half margherita, then we can all have a bit,” Scarlet shrugged, Nina nodding and quickly ordering. Soon enough, the bong was getting passed round and the girls all settled into their respective seats lazily, the Wii soon getting fired up and many rounds of Mario Kart getting played. Eventually, it ended in a fierce battle between Yvie and Brooke.

“Oh, Christ!” Yvie groaned, Scarlet, Nina and Monet howling with laughter at Yvie’s dismay as she flew off the course. “I got a fucking mushroom and I used it…on a corner…like a squandering fucking toddler!”

“Eat shell dick, King Boo,” Brooke muttered, sending a blue shell with her right trigger as the buzzer to the flat went off.

“I’ll get it!” Monet cried excitedly, Nina getting slightly dislodged as she leapt off the sofa and ran through to the hall. As Monet returned with numerous boxes piled high on top of each other, Brooke sped across the finish line and cheered.

“You’re a fucking cheat,” Yvie scowled at her, pointing an accusatory finger her way. Brooke snorted a laugh.

“Hey! No fighting!” Nina chastised, ripping a box open to reveal a pizza with a curious variety of toppings.

“You’re my winner, boo,” Scarlet smiled at her girlfriend, Yvie instantly softening and kissing her on the cheek. Suddenly, four sets of phones went off and Scarlet checked hers first.  

Akeria Sainsburys Bag for Life: Alright hoes are we all back from home?

Okay Then: i’m still in Dubai sorry xoxo

Brooke’s Ford Transit Vanjie: Oo00oooh alright for some xoxo

Akeria Sainsburys Bag for Life: Jeez Plastique that must be so hard for you, thoughts and prayers up xo

Akeria Sainsburys Bag for Life: The reason I ask is because we at Antigua Road want a night outtt

Scarlet’s bitch: sorry guys we could not be further from a night out mood

mose: Yeah sorry ladies I am jetlagged as fuck

Kim Kardashian-West: Sorry girls :( Monet and Scarlet are round at ours though if anyone wants to join!!

Brooke’s stomach dropped as she remembered her lie to Vanjie. Shit.

“Nina, fuck,” Brooke said involuntarily, the other girls turning to her curiously.

“What did I do?”

The churning in Brooke’s stomach was back as if it had never left. She paused, looking back down at her phone. The chat had gone strangely quiet. Brooke bit at the skin on her thumb. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Yvie, ever the anti-bullshit merchant, narrowed her eyes at Brooke. “Are you okay, girl? You don’t seem so good today.”

Brooke was on the defense before she knew it. “I’m fine! I’m good!"

Before anyone else could say a thing, Brooke’s phone lit up. She was being phoned, and she didn’t have to look to see who it was.

Fuck.

Ignoring the rest of the girls, she walked out of the living room and into the hall, only answering her phone when she was safely in her own room. She took a deep breath before she spoke, keeping her tone deliberately, painfully, light.

"Hey boo!”

“Hey Brooke Lynn,” Vanessa’s voice was a similarly forced upbeat, but Brooke’s heart sank at the upset behind it. “Um, I’m just…I’m a little confused.”

“Okay, what’s up?” Brooke asked lightly, growing more convinced by the second that she was developing a stomach ulcer.

“So, uh…I thought you guys were having a girls’ night, and then Nina said that Monet and Scarlet were over…you know, it just seems a bit like the others have their girls round?” Vanessa questioned, her voice measured and calm and small and making Brooke feel like a massive dick.

“Yeah, no, uh…” she began, not really knowing how she was going to excuse herself. “I mean, no, I thought that too until I realised Yvie had Scarlet round and then Nina told me Monet was coming…just one of those things, you know? I mean I’d thought it was just a flat night too.”

“Right, sure,” Vanessa’s voice was understanding, and Brooke’s heart felt sore. She suddenly remembered something Vanessa had said.

“Besides, Monet and Nina aren’t together. It’s only Yvie and Scarlet that are girlfriends."

Brooke heard the hiss of a sigh come from the other end of the line. ”Brooke, can I ask you a question?“

"Sure.”

“Are we okay? You know, what we’ve got goin’ on. Are you still happy?”

Brooke’s stomach dropped to the floor. She had the smallest possible time gap to confront all the feelings she’d been trying to push to the back of her mind, and it was an impossible task. All day her stomach had been in knots at the thought of seeing Vanessa, but now that she was faced with the prospect of losing her she found herself panicking. She still liked Vanessa. Everything was just so new and different. She had to articulate that to her.

“Yeah, of course, definitely,” Brooke began, the audible sigh of relief on the other end of the line making guilt stab at her heart. “It’s just…everything’s so fresh, you know? I just want to take things as slow as we can. I like how we are, and I don’t want anything to change anytime soon.”

“Okay. No, don’t worry, I get it. I get it, and I don’t want to mess up either. So I’m happy to do whatever you want,” Vanessa said, her tone more cheerful now.

“I’m sorry if I freaked you out. Do you, uh. Do you still want to come round?”

“Nah, don’t worry, baby. I think us three are still gonna go out, so sorry in advance if I phone you at three in the morning.”

Maybe it was because she hadn’t seen Vanessa in a while, Brooke comforted herself, her heart swelling at the smile she could hear in her voice. Once they were together again and Vanessa would wind her up and they would kiss all rough and hot the way Brooke liked, then things would be better.

Enthused by her new-found optimism, Brooke found herself smiling. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll make sure my phone’s turned off.”

“Bitch. Cut that attitude or you won’t get any cute photos of my outfit.”

Brooke felt a heat curl in her stomach. “I’m more interested in what’s under the outfit, to be honest.”

“You’re a nasty fuckin’ whore. You might get somethin’ if you’re lucky. Okay, I gotta go, but I’ll see you soon, yeah?"

"Yeah, soon. Have a good night, stay safe,” Brooke signed off, relaxing slightly on her bed.

“I will. Bye, boo.”

“Bye.”

Brooke hung up, laying her head against the pillow and breathing out gently. Things were okay. She’d just had a wobble. She still liked Vanjie. They would be fine.

Before she could contemplate any more, her bedroom door burst open to reveal Yvie who marched in and perched herself on the end of the bed.

“Would a knock kill you?” Brooke rolled her eyes, too drained to be properly annoyed.

“Okay, talk to me,” Yvie demanded, her eyes full of concern. “You’re not fine. What’s up?”

Brooke knew she couldn’t lie to either of her flatmates, least of all Yvie. She groaned, unwilling to think any more about the situation but being forced to anyway. “Okay, it’s honestly nothing.”

Yvie said nothing, instead continuing to look at her, worry covering her face.

“When you began seeing Scarlet,” Brooke began unsteadily. “Did you ever…you know. Have second thoughts? Or any doubts or anything?”

“Absolutely fucking not,” Yvie said instantly, frowning. “But I know where this is going.”

Brooke’s stomach gave a spasm, instantly feeling the guilt seep through her again. “I feel so shit…and I’m sure it’s just a blip because I’ve not seen her in ages. But everything’s just getting too intense too quickly, you know? I’m happy just chilling with Vanessa, but I feel like she wants a girlfriend and I’m not ready for all that just yet. I thought I would be, but I’m not. Actually I don’t know if I thought I would be or not. The whole thing’s fucking with my head.”

Yvie sat and listened to her ramble on, then when she was sure she was finished she reached forward and took her hand. “Okay. First thing is, you’re completely valid. Everyone gets second thoughts about a potential relationship at one stage or another.”

“You’ve literally just said you haven’t.”

“Ignore that. Do as I say, not as I do, or..whatever. It’s a big commitment, and it’s easy to freak out. But I would just remember…” Yvie began, her face becoming pained as she looked right in Brooke’s eyes. “…how long you liked Vanjie for. How many times you were so close to telling her you liked her, and how many times you shat out. How fuckin’ happy you must have been when you kissed for the first time or when you told each other you liked each other. Fuck knows when Scarlet told me she felt the same way as I did, my brain produced the most sorotonin that’s ever been in my body in my entire life. Like, if you think you want to end things with Vanj, that’s fine. But you need to be honest with her, girl.”

Brooke remembered the day she’d finally been brave enough to kiss Vanessa and how her mind had completely short-circuited as their lips made contact. She remembered how wanted Vanessa had made her feel the first time they’d slept with each other, and the complete euphoria Brooke had felt when Vanessa told her she liked her back. All of those memories just made her feel more guilty at the fact that she felt more worried about the prospect of seeing Vanessa than excited. Remembering her internal pep-talk from earlier, Brooke shrugged.

“I know. I’m being an idiot. And I don’t want to end things with her, that’s stupid. It’s probably all the time we spent apart, right? Like I’ll probably see her and it’ll all fall back into place and I’ll feel just like I felt before the holidays again.”

“Absolutely,” Yvie smiled a little as she reassured her. Letting go of her hand, she patted Brooke’s leg. “You good?”

Brooke didn’t allow herself to think too much about it. “Yeah. Thanks for the pep talk.”

“Come on, then. There’s pizza that needs eating.”

As Brooke rose from the bed and followed Yvie to the door, she felt struck by a sudden dread. “Yvie?”

The other girl turned around and looked at her expectantly.

“Would you mind if we just kept this conversation between ourselves?”

Yvie nodded reassuringly and held the door open for Brooke, Brooke walking through it quickly and reassuring herself with exactly the same words as she’d done before. Things were okay. She’d just had a wobble. She still liked Vanjie. They would be fine.

[rubyleaf]

JELLIE: A BAND STORY – Spinoff: Katie joins a band

Yay, another spinoff about a character that’s not gonna appear in ages! But I figured out a lot of things about Jen’s troubled little sister Katie (a major player in later arcs) and how she ended up in a band despite all her resolve. Features heavy allusions to Katie’s aroace-ness and basically-stalking-someone-into-your-band behavior I would not condone in real life, even though it’s inspired by real-life events. (If anything, rather milder than said real-life events.)

Can be read as a standalone, but will probably make more sense if you’ve read this Katie spinoff first!

Tag list: @writer-in-monochrome, @alicewestwater, @mouwwie, @writingbyjillian (notify me to be added or removed!)

When Katie moves out for college, it feels like jumping out of a prison window straight into cold, deep water.

On one hand, she’s free now. Free from her parents’ expectations, free from the pressure to be perfect all the time, well-behaved, bringing home perfect grades. On the other, fulfilling those expectations has been her whole identity for so many years. If she can’t be the perfect daughter, the presentable child—who is she?

Katie doesn’t know. She doesn’t want to find out. So she keeps her head down; she works hard, studies hard, rarely socializes. It’s fine. She’s not lonely. She doesn’t need anything or anyone. It’s better to be alone of her own volition than to let people into her life and risk being abandoned.

That is, until her roommate teams up with her class project partner to blackmail her into joining them for a party.

“But I’m just here so you two do your parts of the work,” she insists as she peers into the dark, crowded room, already exhausted from the loud music and louder people. “Don’t make me do anything. I’m leaving again soon anyway.”

The two exchange a disappointed glance. “Come on,” says Rachel, her roommate. “It’s the weekend! It’s not like you have to get up early tomorrow or anything.”

“Yeah, and you should have some fun,” Lyra adds, her project partner who’s as competent as she is a social butterfly. “Maybe talk to some people? I could introduce you to some nice guys if—”

Panic flares through Katie’s whole body. “No, thank you.”

Lyra frowns. “Are you sure? You’ve never had a boyfriend, have you?”

“No,” Katie says firmly, “and I’m not looking for one.”

Which is true. For some reason she has never been interested in boys. Or girls, for that matter. It’s been years and she still doesn’t understand what the fuss is about.

“Okay,” Rachel says as she begins to withdraw into the crowd, “do whatever you want. But if you’re looking for people, feel free to find us!”

Katie makes a mental note to most definitely not do that.

Slipping away from the only people she knows here, she makes for the snack table, careful to put on her most aloof aura. Just like back in high school, it actually works. Katie knows how to avoid being spoken to by strangers, let alone hit on.

Just a few snacks, and then she’s going home. That’s it. That’s the plan.

At least until the sound of off-key singing carries over from next door.

Intrigued, Katie creeps closer. It sounds like a bunch of girls singing karaoke, messing around and having fun. Not really caring if they sound stupid or don’t hit the notes. Just enjoying themselves.

Much like…

Katie should get away, she knows. The last thing she needs right now are the memories, the old feelings. And most of all, in college she’s finally in a place where no one knows she’s the sister of Jennie Lin. She can’t afford to ruin that now.

But no one knows her here. These girls certainly won’t know her. She’s just here for tonight.

And deep down, no matter how much she tries to repress it, she misses singing more than ever.

Just one night. No names, no recognizing, no strings attached.

Pushing open the door, Katie slips into the room.

---

It’s a lot later than planned when Katie leaves the party, escaping the questions about her identity to stumble, breathless but satisfied, into the hallway outside.

This was fun, she has to admit. She has missed singing. More than that, she has missed singing with others, scary as it is to admit it. Even if she’s still not used to those others being strangers…or not nearly as musically gifted as her sister.

But maybe, just maybe, she could go for doing this more often.

“You’re not following your passion, are you?”

Katie gives a start. Wasn’t she alone in the hallway a second ago?

Spinning around, she finds herself face to face with a girl around her age. She feels like she might seen her before somewhere, but she can’t be sure; the most remarkable thing about this stranger is her height, making her stand taller than many boys. Brown eyes meet with hers, their droopy, heavy-lidded shape giving her a deceptively sleepy look, but Katie doesn’t miss the piercing intensity in her otherwise blank gaze.

“Do I know you?” Katie asks coolly.

The stranger ignores her question. “I’ve seen you sing,” she says, her voice deep for a girl and just as bluntly flat as her words. “You’re no amateur. You sing like a person with years of practice.”

Katie takes a step backwards. The strange girl’s words hit way too close to home, far too close for comfort. “It’s just a hobby,” she says. “What are you trying to tell me?”

“I’ve seen you in class.” The girl’s large dark eyes remain fixed on Katie, unblinking. “Engineering doesn’t suit you. You’re just doing this to make your parents happy, am I right?”

Katie wants to protest, wants to argue. But what is she supposed to say when she knows, deep down, that this stranger is telling the truth?

“I don’t see how that’s your business,” she says, narrowing her eyes. “Why do you care what a random stranger is doing with her life?”

“I have a band.”

Katie freezes.

“I play the guitar,” the girl says. “We still need a singer.”

Jen’s face flashes before her eyes, bright and happy without her.

“No,” she says firmly. “No!”

“You’d be perfect,” the girl insists. “Your talent’s wasted on engineering. You need to sing.”

The walls seem to close in.

“No!” Katie bursts out, her voice coming out louder than she intended. Backing away, she hits the wall, her eyes darting through the hallway in search of a way out. “I am not joining a band! Not now! Not ever!”

“But—”

“No,” she says again, turning to run away. “Good luck finding someone else. But I’m not the person you’re looking for!”

“Vicky Vega.”

Katie pauses mid-stride. “What?”

“My name,” says the girl, still sounding as unfazed as ever. “Victoria Vega. If you’re looking for me, in case you change your mind.”

Without mustering another response, Katie runs out of the building and writes off that encounter as a bizarre anecdote to shake her head at in the future.

---

What she doesn’t facture in is just how stubborn Vicky can be.

She has never noticed her in any of her classes before, but it seems the same isn’t true for Vicky. On Monday she is fully prepared for things to go back to normal when, in her very first class, a figure sits down beside her.

“This place is free, right?” Vicky asks when she’s already sitting. “I know you don’t have any friends here.”

Katie wonders if she has realized how rude she’s being. Judging by her tone, she apparently hasn’t.

“What are you doing here?” she asks in an undertone, glaring.

Vicky doesn’t bat an eye. “Joining you,” she says. “We’re in the same class. Might as well sit with you.”

Katie sighs. “I’m still not joining your band,” she replies. “So don’t get your hopes up.”

“Why not?”

What is this person, a child? Annoyance flares, but Katie expertly keeps it down. “I don’t have the time,” she replies, “and I don’t like bands anyway.”

“You sang a lot of band songs on Friday.”

Katie has no good response to that.

The same story repeats itself every time she has a class with Vicky. The girl follows her around like a lost duckling, sitting next to her in class, walking her from classroom to classroom. Katie can’t decide if she should be annoyed or creeped out or a mixture of both.

“How much longer are you planning to do this?” she asks on day four of the whole nonsense. “I already said no!”

Vicky looks unfazed. “I’ll leave you alone,” she says, “when you come to band practice with me.”

Katie takes a deep breath and lets it out again. Can’t show her anger. Can’t have any more outbursts like that night in the hallway. Conceal, don’t feel.

“This is blackmail,” she says. “I could report you for harassment if I wanted to.”

“Okay.”

Just that. Okay. Katie has no idea what to make of it.

She doesn’t report Vicky yet. Partly because she doesn’t want to stir up trouble or draw attention to herself…and partly because, for all her ignorance of boundaries, Victoria Vega doesn’t seem to have a malicious bone in her body.

---

It doesn’t stay limited to just classes. After another week or so, after an early afternoon class, Vicky suddenly produces a lunch box from her bag, opening it to reveal stir-fried noodles and vegetables.

“You haven’t eaten lunch yet,” she guesses—correctly, to Katie’s chagrin.

“Uh, thanks,” Katie says. “What gives you the idea?”

“You always skip lunch to study,” Vicky calls her out. “You need to eat. Here, no need to thank me.”

Katie blinks owlishly at the food, then up at Vicky. Then she narrows her eyes. “Are you trying to bribe me?”

Vicky doesn’t blink. “Maybe.”

“Then I can’t accept this.” Katie pushes the box away. “I’m not joining your band.”

Vicky ponders her words, then shrugs. “Eat it anyway,” she says. “You need it, you’re all bones.”

Feels a bit like a slightly overbearing grandmother, Katie muses.

In the end, she accepts the food.

---

After another week of ever-increasing pestering and favors, Katie has had enough.

“Seriously, stop it,” she snaps as Vicky sits down beside her on the grass in between classes. “I’m not an idiot. I know you only want me for my sister!”

Vicky looks so taken aback that Katie almost feels like an idiot for blurting it out. “Wait,” she asks, “who’s your sister?”

All color leaves Katie’s face. Oh great, now she’s talked herself into a pickle. She has always assumed Vicky would know already—why else should she be so hell-bent? But if she hasn’t—

“Never mind,” she mutters. “It’s not important—”

“Seriously, who?”

Katie looks up. Vicky’s calm, deep eyes are hard to read; but there’s a good-natured curiosity in them, as well as genuine confusion.

Katie sighs.

“Jennie Lin,” she mutters hastily, half swallowing the words. “From Voice in the Crowd.”

“Really?”

Looking up, Katie blinks in amazement. The confusion on Vicky’s face has multiplied exponentially, and it doesn’t look fake. “I didn’t realize you guys were related,” she says. “I thought you just had the same last name.”

Katie almost chokes on her coffee. It’s been some time since she has genuinely laughed; and now here she is, desperately muffling her laughter behind her hands.

“What?” Vicky asks. “My last name is Vega. I had three other Vegas in my high school class and people always asked me if we were related.” She pauses for a second, then adds, “They weren’t even Filipino.”

Katie can’t hide it anymore; she bursts out laughing.

“I feel you,” she says. “In my school we had two other girls named Lin. People always thought we were siblings or cousins.” She rolls her eyes. “Is it my fault I’m Taiwanese and Lin is the second-most popular last name in all of Taiwan?”

Vicky blinks. “Is it really?”

“It is. I checked once.”

Now it’s Vicky’s turn to crack a smile. She never seems to do that, Katie abruptly realizes; at least, she doesn’t seem to do it around her. She decides it suits her.

And suddenly it dawns on her how bizarre this situation is. Here she is, sitting with the very person who’s essentially stalking and blackmailing her into joining her band, laughing and joking around, almost like they’re…

Friends?

No, Katie decides. No attachments. She’s through with that.

Although, she has to admit, Vicky is kind of nice.

---

“I checked out Voice in the Crowd, by the way.”

It’s the next morning, and Katie’s heart clenches in her chest at Vicky’s greeting. A cold hand closes around her ribcage. This is it, her mind whispers. She is officially in her sister’s shadow again.

“What do you think?” she asks coolly. “Jen’s amazing, isn’t she?”

Vicky eyes her closely for a moment, then she replies, “I like your voice better.”

Katie’s eyes grow round. Different emotions war within her: a glimmer of joy, anger on Jen’s behalf, and plain disbelief.

“Now,” she says, “you’re lying.”

Blinking owlishly, Vicky frowns back at her in obvious confusion. “I’m not.”

“I know I’m not better,” Katie snaps, at the same time feeling a little bad for doubting Vicky’s honesty like this. “So stop flattering me. It’s not going to make me change my mind.”

She tilts her head, and a few strands of hair—dyed black for college to look less like Jen—fall into her eyes, obscuring Vicky from view. She doesn’t bother brushing them away.

“You have a higher voice.”

She pauses.

“And raspier,” Vicky continues, her voice as matter-of-fact as ever. “It’s made for a darker sound. So I think your voice works better with the music we’re trying to make.”

Vicky isn’t saying her voice is objectively better than Jen’s; that really would be a lie. She isn’t saying it’s worse either. She is saying it’s different, simple as that, and better suited to one particular situation.

Suddenly she wants to know the sound of this band she’s supposed to work so well with.

But…no. She can’t do that. She’s walking her own path now, not trying to follow in Jen’s footsteps.

Besides, she’s the only daughter her parents have any hopes for now.

And that means she can’t disappoint them.

---

Of course the one time Katie’s late for class is the time a creep shows up.

It’s obvious from the moment he sits down next to her—in Vicky’s seat, she thinks with indignance—way too close for comfort. His eyes are glued to her form, unblinking, staring much too intensely as he says, “Hi!”

Katie inches subtly away from him. “Hello.”

“I finally get to talk to you,” he says. “You’re always with that other girl, the ugly one.” Katie’s eye twitches, but he doesn’t seem to notice. “Don’t see what you see in her, you’re way prettier.”

Setting her jaw, Katie tries her best to remain coolly polite. “Vicky’s my friend,” she says firmly and instantly feels strange to admit it out loud. “And I don’t think she’s ugly.”

“Really? C’mon, be honest, she looks like a dude.” The guy laughs. Katie doesn’t. “And she always sticks to you like superglue.”

“I let her,” Katie replies.

“Yeah, duh. I’m just saying you should raise your standards.” The guy gestures loosely. “Hang out with some hot people. Do you have a boyfriend?”

“No,” Katie says truthfully. She knows it would be better to lie, but she simply can’t bring herself to even pretend to be in a relationship. The very idea creeps her out to the core.

“Whew, lucky!” he replies. “Lemme guess: Your parents didn’t let you have one in high school? Sounds like the only reason a hottie like you would be single.”

Katie stares blankly at the window, wondering how much more obvious she has to be about not being interested.

The guy leans closer, his stare further intensifying. “Would you like to get some experience?” he says. “Make up for what you missed? I could teach you, if you know what I mean.”

A shiver runs down Katie’s spine. “Um…no, thank you,” she says.

He doesn’t back off. He doesn’t even get the hint. “Why not?” he replies. “Don’t worry, your parents will never find out!”

Katie’s eye twitches. “I’m not worried about them,” she says. “I’m not interested in dating.”

“What? Hey, that’s just what they tried to make you think.” He scoffs. “You just need to try it and then you’re gonna love it—”

“Excuse me.”

Katie’s entire body relaxes on the spot. Vicky. Finally.

“That’s my seat you’re sitting in,” she says, staring darkly at the guy next to Katie. “Move.”

Turning around, their classmate snorts. “Hey, I was just talking to your little friend here,” he says. “Why’re you so scared? It’s not like I’m gonna eat her.”

Katie makes no comment. Vicky crosses her arms, unfazed, unimpressed.

“She’s not into you,” she says flatly. “Leave her alone.”

“Or what, you’ll kick my ass?” He laughs. “She likes me better than your ugly mug anyway. Right, Katie?”

Katie smiles mirthlessly. “No.”

“Hey, what’s that about? We were having a great conversation—”

Vicky doesn’t let him finish. Grabbing him by the collar, she yanks him to his feet. Even when he’s standing, she’s still several inches taller.

“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Vicky says quietly, an unsubtle threat in her voice. “Back off.”

Glaring, the guy assesses his chances against her before acknowledging his defeat and grabbing his belongings, muttering something about an overprotective bitch.

Sighing with relief, Katie smiles as Vicky sits down beside her, calmly staying close to protect her from any further attempts. “Thank you,” she says. “You came in at the right time.”

Vicky cracks a slight smile. “You’re welcome.”

“But…I’m not supposed to join your band now, right?” Katie looks down. “As a thank you…or something.”

“I didn’t do this to win you over.”

There they are again, those dark, ever-stoic eyes resting heavily on hers. “It’s just basic decency,” Vicky says. “You don’t owe me anything.”

Deep inside Katie’s heart, something changes, or maybe she understands it at last.

What has she been doing? She has effectively been stringing Vicky along for all this time, being distrustful and wary and straight-up rude for no reason except her own unresolved issues. And Vicky Vega is still here. She still has her back, without ever calling her out on her nonsense, without comparing her to her sister or asking for any favors.

I’ve been a terrible friend.

Vicky deserves better than this attitude. Vicky has done so much for her; she deserves something nice in return.

And besides, a voice within her whispers, if it’s with someone like Vicky…maybe even in a band might not be so bad.

---

Katie’s hands are shaking slightly as she steps up to the door of the old storage room the band uses to practice. Part of her brain is still screaming to abort mission before she gets sucked into something beyond her control, the very something she has tried to avoid for so many years.

Then Vicky glances at her, her expression silently questioning. Katie swallows. Smiles.

And nods her okay.

Vicky opens the door and steps inside. “Hey, everyone,” she says. “Sorry I’m late. I brought us a singer.”

And before the bandmates can express their surprise or confusion, Katie follows her into the room.

“Hello, everybody,” she says, still trying to smile. “I’m Katie Lin, and I’m auditioning to be the vocalist.”

[fictionalboys-arebetter]

Aftermath - Fred Weasley

A/N: Okay, this was my first ever request (yay!). So, @auwherefredisalive, I hope this is something like what you had in mind <3

Warnings: A bit of angst to begin with, but we all get a happy ending

Word count: 2,437. Yes, I got a little carried away. No, I’m not sorry.

It was done. The Dark Lord was defeated. But at what cost?

The rational side of you knew that in war, there is loss, there are people who will not return, whose sacrifices pave the way for the better future they fought for. That side of you was drowning, lost adrift in the crushing black of you despair. What was the cost, they asked?

Fred. Fred Weasley. There were other, of course, that you would mourn. Remus. Tonks. Lavender. Little Colin Creevey. But Fred Weasley was the highest price you paid for victory. The cost you didn’t think you could bear.

When they had gathered the fallen in The Great Hall, you had gone searching for him. You almost wished you hadn’t found him, not there. He’d looked as though he’d jump up at any moment and poke fun at you all for being emotional. And although you’d chastise him for his joke being ill timed and distasteful, you’d take that over the bitter reality you were left with.

 Now, Voldemort was dead and everyone was celebrating, congratulating one another on a job well done, but you couldn’t feel anything except the crushing emptiness in your chest and the weight of the ring on your left hand, heavy with promises that would never be unbroken. Except…

 The thought crossed your mind like a shadow, unbidden, as you sat blankly next to the shell of the man who was everything. For the first time since you’d seen his body, you looked, really looked, at those who surrounded you. There was relief, yes, but heartbreak too. Across the hall, Ron cast a look across his shoulder as he vanished out of the doors with Harry and Hermione, one last look to convince himself that his older brother wasn’t joking this time.

 Charlie stood alongside Bill; Bill who was the oldest, battle hardened and scarred and brave. Bill who didn’t bat an eyelid after his attack by a werewolf, Bill who endured in quiet strength all that life threw at him. Charlie who was broad and strong, in both body and will, who stared down dragons as though it were sport. Bill and Charlie, who both seemed smaller in grief, who wept silently but unashamedly, arms around one another for the younger sibling they couldn’t protect. Because isn’t that your worst fear, that someone or something will come for your little brother and you won’t be able to save him?

 Percy hovered, alone. Since his contrite return, things had been tense between him and the rest of the family, but still he remained close at hand. Sombre, ever watching. He had been there, he should have done something, he blamed himself. It was irrational, he knew, but he was finally home. He couldn’t bear to have that ripped away

 Molly. It was Molly you could hear beside you, above the din. It was a sound that could only be made by a mother who had lost her child. You hoped that Voldemort would spend his eternity in hell forced to listen to that sound. Parents shouldn’t bury their children. She had been strong during the battle, she had the rest of her children to protect, she would lose no more. Now, she had sunk beneath the weight of her despair. No longer able to hold herself upright, Arthur stood with his hand on her shoulder, his other arm around a blank Ginny. Ginny who had been sure that all her brothers were invincible. His eyes shone with tears he would only shed in private, for his family needed him now, maybe more than they had ever needed him before.

 You looked at George last, because you knew that the first glance at him would suck the breath from your lungs and leave you colder than any Dementor could ever hope to. In your years with Fred, you had picked up an almost singular ability to tell them apart at a glance, and yet you knew that you would only see his face, not George’s. He was across from you, holding his brothers hand. You were struck suddenly with the realisation that however painful it was to look down on Fred now, it would be worse for George. As you would see Fred’s face in him, he would see only his face, pallid and lifeless, when he looked at Fred. Except…

 The thought scuttled across your mind again, stronger this time, louder. You sat stoic as the thought repeated on a loop, burrowing it’s way into your consciousness and you knew you would not rest again until you had tried.

 Seven burning heads turned as you rose from you silent vigil, watching with curiosity as you stalked silently out of the door. No one followed you, no one knew how to help. They were all broken too.

 You found Harry, Ron and Hermione just sitting outside on the remains of the staircase. You sat down beside Hermione. Sensing this did not involve them, the boys rose and headed back inside to face the aftermath of the battle.

 “Did McGonagall keep that time turner you used in your third year?”

 You did not turn, but you felt the rush of air across your face as she whipped round to look at you, incredulous.

 “You cannot be serious, Y/N? Time travel is dangerous, not to mention illegal without prior approval. Look, I know it hurts, but there are consequences for this sort of thing, you could to Azkaban, you could-”

 “I don’t care, Hermione!” Her jaw snapped shut, you had never raised you voice like that in all the years she’d known you. Being engaged to a prankster required a certain degree of patience, after all. “Do you understand that I have nothing to lose and everything to gain? I don’t care what happens to me. I don’t. Just tell me what I need to know, does she still have it and do you know where it is? I won’t ask you to be any more involved than that.”

 Hermione paused, she’d always been known for her love of rules and order, but she hadn’t survived all this time without breaking a few rules (or laws, for that matter) and she recognised desperation when she it, although it was a look she’d never seen on you before.

 Her hesitation bolstered you, and you continued, “I have to try, ‘Mione. I have to. I’ll go insane if I don’t. I love him. I was supposed to have a life with him, to have a family and grow old and grey with him by my side. I can’t just let that go. Not if there’s a chance, any chance, that I can still have that. If it doesn’t work, there will be nothing left of me for them to break. If it works, I’ll take whatever punishment they need to give me. Hell, I’ll march into Azkaban myself if that’s what you want!”

 For the first time that day, the numb feeling inside of you gave way to a sadness you knew had the power to consume you as you saw it in your minds eye, the life you so desperately wanted.

 “I think she still keeps it in her office,” Hermione sighed, still not sure if this was the right thing.

 You called your thanks over your shoulder as you hurried inside. Years spent running amok through these halls guided you as you let a small shard of hope pierce the black veil in your heart. It had to work. There was no other option. It had to.

 Luckily, McGonagall’s office was relatively untouched, until you got there. You scoured the room from top to bottom, turning out draws and emptying cupboards with reckless abandon until you came to a shuddering halt. It almost glowed from within the desk drawer in the fading light of the afternoon, looking every inch as magical as you knew it to be.

 You trembled with nerves as you hooked the thin chain around you neck, and you counted internally as you turned the charm over in your fingers.

 One.

 Two.

 Three.

 That should be enough, just enough. As time sped back in reverse and then stilled around you, you shot out of the room. Again, into the fray, you thought, mustn't be seen.

 The chaos of the battle raging in full swing had you filled with anxiety, but was actually rather helpful in this endeavour. No one would really be paying attention to you, easier to slip through without causing any time-line altering catastrophes. Room of Requirement, that’s where Percy had said they were. Where it happened.

 As you sped through the crumbling halls, dodging curses and death eaters alike, it occurred to you that you’d embarked on this impulsive journey without truly planning how you would change things. Damn Fred and his influential spontaneity, you thought without truly meaning it. It was through a surprising source that inspiration struck you. You recalled how all Voldemort had cast an invisible protection spell on that god awful snake of his, how everything that would harm her had bounced off until the charm was lifted when he believed Harry to be dead. That will do.

 You skid to a halt, breathless and aching just around the corner. Pressing yourself into the wall, you dared a glance. Even after all this time, the sight of Fred Weasley set you alight, heart racing. He was joking aloud to Percy as he threw curses around effortlessly.

 You set to work, muttering protective charms under your breath as you focused on him. This had to work. Once you were done, you cast a final glance at his face, and turned back into the shadows. You couldn’t stay, if this didn’t work, if you had to see the moment he left you, you would never recover. Knowing you couldn’t be seen until after you reached the point in time that you’d used the Time Turner, you picked your way through the madness back to McGonagall’s office. Once again, you found solace in the dark corners cast by the stone walls of the castle, and you waited. Lifetimes seemed to pass before you heard frantic footsteps, and watched yourself barrel into the office.

 Moment of truth.

There was an eerie calm about the castle as you headed back to the Great Hall. You were torn between running there and dragging your heels, unsure what to expect. You strained your ears, listening for Molly’s anguished wails. Nothing.

 The closer you got, the more that ringing silence seemed to lighten you, and you found yourself flat out, crashing into the doors and counting the flaming heads scattered across the room.

 One.

 Two.

 Three.

 Four.

 Five.

 Six.

 Seven.

Eight.

 Nine.

 Nine. That was it, the magic number, the full house.

 “And where have you been, love? War’s over, or haven’t you heard?”

 You could hear the laughter in his voice. The voice that ran through you like hot butterbeer on a December morning, burning through your veins and sending your blood signing like the strongest Firewhiskey.

 And then he was right there in front of you, in the sharpest focus and the brightest colours. He tiled backwards as you sailed at him, arms tight around his neck, tears wet against his skin. He shared a puzzled look with George as his arms wound instinctively around your waist, holding you tight to him. He would speak of it to no one, but it soothed him to have you in his arms. Fear had spiked through him when you weren’t with the others, and he’d scoured the faces of the fallen, relieved when he hadn’t found yours.

 “Hey now,” he pulled back to look into your eyes, “what’s all this?”

 “I’m so glad you’re okay,” your voice barely broke above a whisper, eyes glistening anew as you drank him in. He was battered, bruised and cut, dirty and covered in dust, but you would swear for the rest of your life that this was his most beautiful moment.

 Fred wasn’t easily surprised, but he was taken aback by the intensity when you kissed him. Your lips were chapped, but soft against his, yet he felt that you had never kissed him like this before. It set him ablaze, fire rising beneath his skin until he thought it would consume him, but he did not pull away. Not until neither of you could breath, and even when he did, he did not move away from you. He wound his arm tight around your shoulder and anchored you to his side as he turned to his family, pointedly ignoring the raise eyebrow from Charlie and the smirk from George.

 They were your family too, you thought, as your eyes scanned over them once more. The scene could not have been any more different from a few hours ago. There were tears, still, but of relief and joy. There were smiles and hugs in place of broken hearts and shattered dreams.

 You knew, of course, that no one else would ever know of what you had done. You would never tell them, this was your truth to guard. You would give yourself this day, this day to impart into him how close you came to losing him, to tell him without words that you would not go on without him. And then you would let it go, you would not let what almost was take what would be. Voldemort and his fanatics had taken enough from you all, he would not get to take your wedding, your family, your future. You would not let him ruin you from beyond the grave.

 Fred instinctively focused his gaze down to where you rested your head on his chest as he felt you turn upwards to look at him.

 “Let’s not wait, Freddy. Let’s get married now.”

 He didn’t need to answer with words, his blinding smile as he leaned down you kiss you again was enough to send Molly off into a fountain of happy tears, thoughts of weddings and grandchildren dancing in her head.