#It's probably magic but if you ask he says 'I studied dance' and changes the subject

[daydaydayrk420]

Do you write for Stephen strange. If so can you do a fic with him where it’s pre magic Stephen. And Stephen is a narcissist and playboy he then meets reader and they hook up with Stephen. It can have body worship and also piss play

You didn't specify who's who so we're having bottom Stephen because I say so

This took me a while because I couldn't find myself motivated for this one. I have nothing against Benedict but I don't like Strange that much so I apologize if this one feels badly written. i also don't know how to write narcissist. I wanted to write it at the beginning but throughout I realised I don't actually like Dr. Strange. So I'm sorry if you'll be disappointed. This'll probably be the only Dr strange fic I'll do .

And don't lie to me I know it's bad I can see it.

Best night of my life

Stephen strange X male reader

⚠️ piss play, playboy, body worship, pre mag Stephen, top male reader ⚠️

🚨 Minors and girls do not interact 🚨

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Stephen is currently in the most expensive bar in this town. Why? He's looking for prey. Why here? Well of course because he's not a cheap whore. He deserves a rich treatment from a rich man.

That being said Strange looks around studying everyone in the bar. That's until his eyes fall on a new face. He's not dressed special. He doesn't look special. But the drink on his table and Rolex watch says different.

He stands up and takes his drink towards him.

"Is this seat taken?" The man looks up at the unfamiliar voice. He looks at Stephen from head to toe. He knows what he's after. "I'm not interested."

Strange chuckles and sits in the chair opposite of him. "I can change that."

The man looks at him unamused.

"Look I'm not looking for a one night stand okay?" "You will" Stephen said without any thought and lean on the table as if he was trying to show his imaginary tits through his slightly open button up.

The man raises an eyebrow. He really isn't looking for a one night stand. But this guy is taking it as a challenge and he wants to see how hard he'll try. "Alright you have until midnight to change my mind." That's in four hours.

"Deal." Strange smirks and offers his hand to shake. "Stephen Strange." "Y/n y/l/n." Y/n takes his hand and gives it a firm shake.

"How do you plan on changing my mind?" The man asks curiously as he sips his drink and studies the playboy before him.

"With drinks."

And so he does. They talk and drink throughout the night. Stephen doesn't want to admit it but he's starting to actually like this man. They're both acting like they're out on a date.

"It's getting late i think the bar is going to close soon." Y/n said and checked his watch. They have 30 minutes. Stephen looks around the bar. There are only four other people there besides the barman. "We should probably go. Wouldn't want to get in trouble." He said and stood up. He grabbed y/n's hand and pulled him up too. They chuckle at how wobbly they've gotten and make their way to the bar to pay.

Once that's done Stephen drags him outside. Y/n chuckles and follows after him. They wobble around the empty streets and chat about insignificant things. But because none of them are paying attention to the road Strange stumbles over a broken brick from the walkway. Thankfully y/n acts quickly and catches him before he falls. Stephen's arms wrap around the other man's shoulder as his arms are around his hips. It looks like y/n is dipping Stephen in like a tango dance or something. None of them move as they look into each other's eyes.

Y/n wants to kiss him. But he can't. If he made the first move it would mean that Strange has won the deal. Stephen is too drunk to remember their deal and doesn't hesitate to lean up and press their lips together. Y/n responds immediately. He pushes his tongue into his mouth and backs him up into an alley.

Stephen runs his hands over y/n's body. The man groans in response and presses Strange against the dirty brick wall. Stephan gasps and presses himself against the other man so he's not touching the wall. "Ew! Careful this shirt costs a fortune!" He huffed as he looked behind himself at the wall. Y/n grumbles and rolls his eyes. Strange raises an eyebrow. "What, you think it's cheap to look this expensive?"

The other man grumbles at the sassy tone and bites his tongue to hold back on any comments. Instead, he pulls him out of the alley and towards the direction of his house.

"You're a brat." Y/n grunts as he pulls Stephan through his front door and instantly pushes him against a wall. Strange smirks and reaches for the man's belt. "You like it."

The other man groans and grips Stephen's wrists. "So impatient." He huffed and dragged Strange towards the bedroom. Stephen giggles and follows eagerly.

Y/n doesn't hesitate and throws the other man into the bed. They both start to strip as they get impatient.

Stephen is naked first. He smirked as he lay in the middle of the bed and spread his legs. Y/n groans as he watches how the other man runs his fingers down his body to his dick and teased himself. Strange let out a moan at the feeling of his cold fingers on his hot tip. He tries his best to keep his eyes open and hold eye contact.

Y/n strokes himself lazily and watches how the other man sucks on the fingers of his free hand. Once they're wet enough he reaches to his hole and starts to prep himself. He throws his head back and moans.

Y/N keeps watching as he strokes himself. The moans Stephen is letting out make his cock throb with need. That's it. He climbs into the bed and pins Strange's hands above his head. "You've been a brat the whole night i think you deserve a punishment." That gets Strange to whimper and buck his hips up. "Ah ah ah. No moving." Stephen whimpered in response again. Y/n grabs his belt and uses it to tie the other man's hands to the bed frame.

"Kinky." Strange smirks. Y/n only hummed and got off the bed to go to his dresser. He pulls out a box and takes it back to bed. Strange feels his dick twitch at the thought of what could be in the box.

Y/n runs his hands over Stephen's legs. "Look at you. So gorgeous." Y/n hummed and teasingly ran his fingers over the other man's sensitive cock. Stephen whines and lifts his hips. But y/n pulls away. "No moving."

Y/n reaches into the box and pulls out a sounding rod. Strange's eyes widen as a soft whine escapes past his lips. Y/n cleans up the rod and takes some lube. He squirts some into his hand and teasingly strokes Stephen's dick. Stephen moans and closes his eyes. He's never this willing to submit. He's always a brat for as long as he can. He doesn't know if it's because of the alcohol or the fact that he's actually interested in y/n. But he's willing to do anything for him.

Y/n prepares the rod and lines it up with the tip of Stranges cock. "I'm simply using this to block off any cum or even piss for how bratty you decided to be."

Stephen shivered at the thought that piss play could be a possibility. He tugs against the belt but it won't budge. Strange whines and lifts his hip. Y/n clicked his tongue and gripped the other man's hip to pin him down.

Once he made sure Strange wouldn't move he grabbed a hold of his dick and carefully inserted the sounding rod. Stephen moans loudly and arches his back.

Y/n smirks and moves it in and out a couple times before he pushes it as far as he could. The other man whimpered and buckled his hips. "Please." He pleaded. Y/n tilts his head and admires the way Stephen looks. "What do you need darling?" He asked as he ran his hands up the pale man's body. He felt the shivers his touch caused which only led him to smirk.

The paler man whines. "Your cock." That's all it took for y/n to lube up his fingers and start prepping Stephen as fast and safe as possible. Strange let out a high pitched moan at the eager fingers that found his hole.

"Yes yes yes yes yes." He chants as he fucks himself onto the big fingers that are stretch him like he's never felt before.

"That's it. Just like that. Fuck yourself on my fingers." Y/n smirks as he holds his hand in place and watches as Stephen whimpered because he had to do the job.

"Please please I'm ready." Stephen whines and begs for more. Y/n gets in between his legs and lubes up his penis. "so eager."

They both moan. Y/n pushes in slowly as he watches how Stephen's mouth falls open into a silent scream.

Strange whines. "You feel so good." He wants to move his hands. Hold onto the other man but the belt around his wrist stays in place.

Y/n lifts the other man hips and starts thrusting at a fast pace. "look at you. So beautiful." He praised as he watched how Stephen bounced with each thrust. "Such a beautiful body. I wonder what it would look like covered in white. Or maybe even hot gold." He grunts and uses one hand to stroke Strange's dick. Strange whines and his dick twitches at the feeling of the sounding rod moving around because of the strokes.

The room is filled with grunts and whines. The headboard hits against the wall. "Look at you. A whining mess." Y/n grunts and puts pressure over Strange's bladder. That made Stephen cry out and arch his back. "Don't do that" he whimpered. "Why?" Y/n smirks and does it again.

Strange whimpered again. "I'll piss myself."

"That's the plan." Y/n smirks and speeds up. The paler man whimpered and planted his feet so he could meet the fast thrusts with his. "Good boy. So pathetic for me. So sweet." Y/n grunts and teases the tip of the sounding rod that's peaking out of Strange's tip. Some pre cum leaks around it.

Strange whimpered. He feels like he's on the verge of pissing. He suddenly starts regretting drinking so much. "wait no no no no" he whines as his dick twitches. It feels like he's pissing but nothing comes out. Y/n watches with a smirk. "Look at you. You want to piss? You want to piss all over yourself?" He smirks and toys with the rod that's blocking all of the flow.

Stephen whines in humiliation. He's never been into piss play but he can't help but want to do it.

"Beg." Y/n ordered. "Please please please please" Strange whines. "Please please please please I can't. I can't hold it. I can't " he blabbered. Y/n felt bad but fuck he loved the sound of his begging. "please!" Stephen cries our as he arched his back. Some pee started to leak around the rod.

"Alright baby." Y/n slowly removes the rod. Stephen whimpered as tears streamed down his cheeks. He feels his hot golden liquid cover his things and the sheets under him. He sniffles in humiliation. "Goon boy. Look at you. So good." Y/n praised as he gave gentle thrusts. Strange turns his head trying to hide his face in his arm. Y/n kisses the tears away off his jaw and cheek.

"So good for me." He praised. Once Strange has calmed down y/n speeds his thrusts again. Chasing his own release.

Stephen moans and arches his back. His body is so sensitive that all he can mumble out are incoherent pleas of permission to cum.

"Close already?" Y/n hums as his own hips start to stutter. "Me too." He buried his face in the paler man's neck and aims for that bundle of nerves that make Stephen whine.

"Cum for me." At that Stephen let's go and squirts all over their bellies. Y/n isn't far behind as he gives his last few thrusts and spills into Strange. Y/n weakly indies the belt before his body gives out and he collapses on top of Stephen. The paler man's arms fall and he instantly clings onto y/n.

They lay there like that for a while. Enjoying each other's presence.

"...we should clean up." Strange mumbles but doesn't make an effort to move. Y/n only mumbled in response. He's barely awake.

"In the morning..." Y/n mumbles before his body succumbs to sleep. Strange falls asleep shortly after.

[kimbap-r0ll]

Finally !! Every time I come late but now I have the chance !! So my request is dorm leader with a Hua cheng s\o (Tgcf) !! Good Luck and thank you !!

Hi, thank you for the ask! So, I don't know this character (heard of the show, that's it) so I probably didn't get the character too correct. Hope you enjoy nonetheless!

Dorm leaders with an s/o like Hua Cheng

Riddle

So he doesn't mind your tendency to look down on others (Riddle does the same ngl) but he might not like your aloofness at first. Be sure to be gentle with him!

He's amazed at how strong you are, especially in your unique magic which has to do with shapeshifting. He might ask where the inspiration came from

If you have someone that you really care about, you tend to be super protective. You two are probably super protective of each other as a result haha

Overall he likes how intelligent you are and the two of you do a lot of study sessions together

Leona

He might've thought you were super annoying at first because of your high and mighty attitude. However, he does respect your abilities

He does find it a bit funny that you like collecting antiques or rare artifacts, he might just give you a necklace he has because why not

The two of you are fiercely protective of each other too. It's really cute in a way but at the same time it's super hard to approach the two of you because of your menacing aura

Similar to Riddle, he needs some comforting, so be sure to show him this side of you as well!

Azul

He fell for your cool, calm, intelligent persona. He really likes people that are really cool but he also likes people that are protective (likes to be protected ngl)

He tried to impress you with his own intelligence at first but that failed haha. He ended up just being truthful about his feelings and that probably worked

Please keep him close, he might not say anything about pda out loud but if you walk around with an arm around him omg he will melt

You two are a menace on campus. Not only are you extremely talented in magic but you are also extremely charismatic. You two should start a business together

Kalim

He tried to get you to laugh but you didn't budge. At first he thought you might be hating him, but that changed when you told him you liked the jokes you just don't laugh as often :/

Asks what you can shapeshift into, might seem obnoxious but he really is just a curious person. If you do even an easy shapeshift technique he'll go full on "OMG UR SO COOL 😭😭"

He doesn't mind your protectiveness but he does want you to relax a bit. He might want to dance with you to loosen you up a bit but how well that goes depends on the situation

Really likes spending time with you because you're just full of so many cool stories and things to teach him about. Jamil might like your presence too

Vil

The two of you might've seem like the worst people to pair up together because omg you two are literally unstoppable

Beautiful, handsome, intelligent, charismatic, powerful, the list goes on and on! Vil didn't think you two would get along at first but you two started to like each others' more quiet presence

Vil is quite protective, similar to you! The two of you probably hang around each other all the time but because of paparazzi it might be hard to do pda

Vil really thinks your amazing in so many ways. You two definitely like antiques together too

Idia

Was afraid to meet you at first because you were literally the strongest person he knew (other than Malleus). You however liked Idia and approached him first

Idia's too afraid to be protective (thinks he's not worth it ;-;) but will always get surprised when he feels your arm wrap around his shoulders when you two walk to class. His hair might turn red haha

He will introduce you to video games he likes, especially the retro ones since you like antiques and other rare trinkets. You should try some with him!

Idia definitely likes how you're chill but protective. I feel like it's a vibe being in this relationship, also Ortho thinks you're super cool

Malleus

The two of you probably were the top students in your classes and that's where you two got introduced to each other. He liked how you were very calm when talking to him, and that's probably where he got interested in you too

I feel like you two would practice magic skills and study together. It's a very calm vibe. You two definitely check out antiques together too since he's used to items like the ones you like

Malleus is extremely protective, he just doesn't show it as often. You however have no issue keeping an arm around him or holding his hand while walking to class. Sebek might question this at first but soon finds out you two are together and is like a fan supporting their ship haha

You two are like the intelligent-mysterious couple. But in reality, you two might enjoy a cup of warm tea together and just being wholesome

[unanswered-stars]

From the Writer's Question Game thingy :> 🍓🌵🧃🪐🍬🔪🥐🏜️☁️🌸🧩

Ho! I put so many lol. I warned you, I'm nosy xD.

Ahhh thank you so many I hope my answers are sufficient!

🍓 - I must credit @acourtofladydeath and her fic All Things End for bringing me to fanfiction in the first place. I read that fic multiple times before I was able to read anything else. This is not fanfiction it is life changing and that is simply a fact.

Quickly fell into the rabbit hole of Azris on ao3 and came across @the-moth-writes Heaven Help The Fool Who Falls in Love and I simply could not get it out of my head and had commented “oh it would be so fun if you …..” and it wasn’t till I was reading @futurehunt A Court of Shadows and Ash and I finally made an account so I could properly comment and interact and I was still stuck on the story idea I had, so I reached out to @the-moth-writes and asked if I could continue her story to which she graciously said yes.

Once I started writing I just couldn’t stop. I was always a big reader and writer growing up and was intending to major in English in college but I had a terrible professor when I was in a college class duel enrolled as a high school student and they absolutely tore my writing apart and I instead got a degree in Religious Studies and BSN. I have not written anything for fun until now and I am so sad that I did not start sooner but I am so happy to be writing again.

🌵 - so all of the playlists that I listen to are self made on my personal Spotify so I don’t want to share those but I will say my 4yo is obsessed with @chunkypossum playlist for Between Us. The amount of dance shows I have watched to this playlist at this point are innumerable.

🧃I was a antapartal/postpartum (pregnant/after you have your baby) nurse and aside from my children it is what I am truly most passionate about in life and I could talk all things pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and home birth for days 👀

🪐 1. Getting my joy back for writing

2. This is going to sound so silly but my kids have been so cool recently just learning so many new skills and just love watching them explore the world and become their own little person.

3. My sister will be back stateside in a few weeks and I am thrilled to have her living by me again!

🍬 - ahhh Rhys where to start with this guy. @jules-writes-stories honestly said it really well here. Half of the CoN gets killed immediately under Amarantha’s reign and then on his return to the Hewn City for the first time post occupation that is how he decided to approach it? Enough said. He’s been HL for at least 200years and I feel like he has nothing to show for it. That is not even touching on the infantalization and sexualization of Feyre. I could write paragraphs on this man but I shan’t waste my breath.

If you want to see me hot take on Majda look here

🔪 - fanfic: how large can a treehouse be while also being structurally sound. This then turned into a multiple day rabbit hole of looking through photos of the most magical treehouse in the world.

Nursing school pt patho paper: cockroach in vagina. I needed to know how many other times this happened and that I wasn’t the only one scarred by this. 🤢

🥐 - Brennan from Game Changer/Dimension 20 monologuing abut literally anything. Sauron but it’s Trump is probably my personal fav.

🏜️ - I talked about this is my previous two posts and this one is getting long 🙃

☁️ - sometimes I make up stories for my kids as bedtime and bring in a little realism and my oldest was asking me about wishing on stars and I said something along the line that sometimes the stars will answer you back and answer your wish and sometimes your wishes go unanswered. Not because one wish is better than another but sometime we just have to figure out our wishes on our own journey. We now have a little story about what happens to all the stars of unanswered wishes = Unanswered Stars

🌸 - I do not have any currently but we had many cats and dogs growing up. Truth be told I actually do not like pets. I know I know please don’t burn me. I’m allergic to dogs and cats, they both cause my chronic migraines to flare up. I also killed my two pet fish I owned growing up. Both accidentally. One because I over fed it and the other because we went on vacation and I forget to have someone feed it so it starved…

I know I’m the worst I’m sorry.

I would get an outside pet should my children ask.

🧩 - I answered this one here

Thank you so much for sending in these questions! I love answering all of these. If you want to join, the list of questions can be found here!

[wildskissed]

Kiss and Tell Prompts - @waterdepths mused: A tentative, exploratory kiss between friends . (What if I...)

Eve's used to asking Gale questions about all sorts of things, but namely about his studies in magic. However, every once in a while, a conversation takes a turn, like an unexpected wave on a rock when the tide changes. Conversations become magic lessons that make them both much happier, and Eve would do anything to put a smile on Gale's face at this point: it's just a BONUS it makes her smile too.

Honestly, she's never met anyone who delights in magic the way she does, but it only endears him to her more. It's a shame when the weave eventually fades away, and all that's left is the two of them and the night before them, stretching on until morning. Usually, one of them would find an excuse to go and turn in, but tonight, the lasting butterflies that are fluttering away in her stomach have no chance to be quelled because there's still BEAUTY around them to revel in, and neither of them have taken a step back yet.

His eyes are alight with the glow of the moonlight, always out here at this time of night delighting in the stars anyway, so perhaps he's wishing for a little more time with the night before going to bed. There's a certain magic in the world around them even without plucking at the weave to accentuate it, and Eve enjoys it just as much as he does, stepping closer to him with a smile on her face. Her fingers lightly brush his hair to tuck it behind his ear, tenderly caressing the dark veins down his cheek absentmindedly, that travel down towards that orb in his chest. A PUNISHMENT she doesn't believe he deserves for trying to show his devotion. Ambitious or not, he was trying to make his lover happy and paid a price that was too steep.

Eve can't even begin to IMAGINE how that feels--both how things ended with Mystra and such a cancerous and probably painful orb in his chest--and her heart starts thumping away as it dawns on her that perhaps she's too close. She's in his space, fingertips dancing over parts of him he might not appreciate her familiarizing herself with, and yet, it's hard not to get lost in his eyes tonight. A crimson blush tints her cheeks as she smiles a little more, mustering up a little courage to lean up and press a tentative kiss to his lips, a shiver going down her spine, and her stomach doing pleasant flip flops as she does.

Perhaps had they still been practicing, he could have seen it coming through the weave, and maybe he was perceptive enough to expect it even without it, but the warmth of his lips and the hint of the taste of magic from before was about to become a memory SEARED into her thoughts regardless of how this ended. Her lips tingled with excitement as she pulled away, but purple eyes never left his face as she waited apprehensively for his reaction. She just wanted to drink the moment in, even if she had to tell him it was just a 'thank you', or a way to say that she cared about him and what happened to him...he just meant a lot to her, and she wouldn't take it back even if she could.

[linawritesocs]

my ocs' glorious masquerade voicelines!

YES I KNOW THIS EVENT IS OVER BUT. WELL I'M STILL NOT OVER IT SO YEAH I'M WRITING MY SONS' VOICELINES FOR THIS EVENT.

also yes, even though seth is my mc, he has his card and his voicelines as well because. um. i wanted to write his voicelines. THAT'S IT THAT'S THE REASON DHDJKSSKSK. i'm not sure if i actually see him as "playable", but i think it would be nice if his and minnie's cards could be used as "support cards" for battles and exams, basically like a buddy bonus. also you could use their cards for lessons too!! it would be so cute to see them studying with nrc students 🥺🥺

i added their "card descriptions" as well, because i won't be able to draw all of their cards, but i still want to think about what they would look like!

seth's masquerade ssr voicelines.

card description: he's talking to rollo while they walk together and grim looks tired of him and he's thinking of running away from his owner. as for the groovified version, you can see seth smiling and dancing with someone and it seems to be rollo. he's also not wearing his hat, his mask and his cape and his hair looks more messy than usual, however, he's having fun. for the first two items, he lost them while the whole magic user genocide thing's been happening and for his cape.. he just took it off to make rollo and malleus pay attention to him. and it worked because of his shoulders being open. yeah, scandalous.

summon: "this city is, like, so cool! i honestly wouldn't mind living here- hey, grim-chan, wait for me!"

groovy: "hehe, you thought i'll just stand there and let you dance with that guy? sorry, but i've been waiting too long for this moment."

set home: "i guess this cape isn't that bad, but.."

home idle 1: "i wish minnie-chan could come with us. imagine if she saw sebek-chan right now! oh, maybe i should send her a pic or two? he's way too distracted because of malleus-chan anyway."

home idle 2: "i don't get why rollo-chan made me wear this cape, to be honest. i think it had something to do with my outfit being "too revealing"? what would he think about my halloween outfit then?? wait, i think i have some photos of it saved.. hey, rollo-chan, i have something to show you!"

home idle 3: "i don't get it. how did they manage to make these outfits? they fit us so well and they even added things like azul-chan's glasses and roland-chan's eyepatch.. where did they get that info? though i probably shouldn't be surprised, i can easily guess anyone's measurements right when i see that person, haha."

home idle groovy: "malleus-chan really thought he can just steal him away from me like that.. he's way too popular anyway, so he should let me have fun as well. maybe he did it because i refused to dance with him earlier? ugh, he's even more childish than i am.."

home tap 1: "some kids said that i look really pretty and asked if they could put flowers in my hair. i said that they should ask merrill-chan because his hair is longer, but for some reason they still wanted to do it with my hair.. they did such a great job though!"

home tap 2: "wow, ivy-chan is right, that assistant guy looks so cool! of course she would get such a huge crush on him!.. i feel kinda weird when i look at him though. if it wasn't for me changing my appearance, i would probably look just like him. so yeah, it's like meeting my own twin in some way."

home tap 3: "so epel-chan was okay with riddle-chan and deuce-chan saying that he looks cute, but when i said it, he looked at me like i just insulted his entire family??" *sobs* "why is he so mean to me.. i'm just trying to be a supportive senpai, that's all.."

home tap groovy: "i had so much fun today despite everything, i don't wanna go back to nrc! can we stay for at least one day- oh. wait, we were supposed to spend three days here, right? SO I CAN STILL TRY TO ASK ROLLO-CHAN OUT?? LET'S GO!"

hayden's masquerade ssr voicelines.

card description: he seems to be stalking seth and rollo and he has stars in his eyes and he's smiling like a fanboy that he is. meanwhile the groovified version of his card has him wearing his mask, blushing and refusing to dance with others. he looks a lot like a tsundere too, haha.

summon: "ehehe.. i can't believe i finally found someone who's related to the other seven! this is my chance, my family will be so proud of me!"

groovy: "oh, sorry, i don't really like to dance. why don't you go and dance with rollo-sama- ahem, rollo-san instead? i thought you were more interested in him anyway."

set home: "why the chameleon mask.."

home idle 1: "this school really is amazing, don't you think so, prefect-san? and the righteous judge's statue.. i've never thought that i will actually see it.. i-i'm not crying, i just got a bit emotional, haha."

home idle 2: "of course they would go with team names like that.. nrc students never change, do they? they're always so arrogant, so full of themselves, they're just so- well, i mean, it's normal to find other students annoying sometimes, right?"

home idle 3: "allen is here too? ugh, he really is following me everywhere- oh, i'm sorry, do you want to take a walk somewhere together? i would love to learn more about this city and i'm sure it would be even more fun if i do it with you. i just hope allen won't see us.."

home idle groovy: "stop looking at me like that, i told you i'm fine with you dancing with him. i'm sure rollo-san wants to dance with you as well. but promise me that you won't disappoint him. though i doubt that he would get bored with someone like you around."

home tap 1: "i just want to get a break from azul already.. why did it have to be him? honestly, i would be okay with the leech twins going with us, he's just that annoying! hm.. what if i text floyd and tell him that azul really did cheat and that's why he and jade weren't able to go? i wonder how he would react.."

home tap 2: "elpys would totally love this place. i can see her jumping around and going "hay-hay, look at this! isn't it so cool?", haha. i kinda want to see her wearing a masquerade outfit too.. prefect-san, you know it's rude to eavesdrop, right?"

home tap 3: "there are so many rsa students, but it looks like angel didn't come with them. and blythe too.. to be honest, it's a bit boring without them. and it looks like the speculum students feel lost without them as well. that catboy is doing just fine though, i'm not surprised."

home tap groovy: "no, i'm not sorry for "breaking allen's heart" or anything like that. it's something that i should have done a long time ago. you know what i mean, right? he had a crush on you too, after all. i wonder how long it's gonna take for that nemis girl to get tired of him."

merrill's masquerade sr voicelines.

card description: he's looking at his outfit and has this confused face expression, almost like he's going ".. i have to wear THIS?" and in his groovified card he seems to be looking at his phone and laughing. it looks very cute too, because you can tell that he's genuinely happy :) he's not dancing with others and it's fine, he's still having fun.

summon: "i look beautiful as always, right? haha, i know that. i just wish that guy would let me keep the first outfit, i looked even better in it."

groovy: "if i'm not dancing with you all, it doesn't mean i'm lonely or anything. i'm just talking to my cousin, what's wrong with that?"

set home: "i have to spend three days here.. i sure hope it's not gonna be boring."

home idle 1: "i'm glad you think i look good in this outfit, but.. you've seen the first one, didn't you? so you agree that i looked better in it! ah, of course you would say that, you had to go through the same thing.. i'm so sorry, prefect-chan, we will take revenge on their student council president."

home idle 2: "it really hurts me to see onyx-chan pining over my cousin like this.. okay, yeah, it hurts me because he looks pathetic and not because i feel sad or anything. but hey, that's why i should try and help him. he doesn't have to worry about anything at all~"

home idle 3: "of course, idia is also here.. and why did he ask me to be in the same team as him? is he obsessed with me or something? but i like that our outfits look different, even though we're from the same dorm. it's like i really am not his servant anymore and i have more freedom."

home idle groovy: "haha, austin-chan would lose his mind if he saw me wearing this. hey, can you take a picture for me? sure, i could take a selfie, but i trust you and i think you will take an even better photo. okay, let me think of a pose.."

home tap 1: "hey, sorry, but i think hayden-chan is thinking of stealing your man from you. do you want me to do anything about it? what, i don't mind helping you as well, you're not so good at hiding your crush on rollo-chan. you don't have to worry about it though, i doubt that he's interested in your rival."

home tap 2: "wow, those kids really have done a great job. and the colors of these flowers fit your hair so well! if your hair was longer, you would look even better.. hm? is everything okay, prefect-chan? you look so pale.."

home tap 3: "hehe, so you and grim-chan are wearing matching outfits? how cute. didn't you two do it for halloween as well? you sure get along well.. okay, why is your cat screaming and trying to run away? are you hiding something from me, prefect-chan?"

home tap groovy: "i didn't think that i'd end up saying this, but today wasn't so bad. sure, idia was here and also some of us could lose their powers forever, but it got solved more quickly than i thought. well, idia is still here, but.. hey, did you talk to their vice president yet? he's a cool guy, you're totally gonna love him. i talked to him before and i already know that i will miss him."

allen's masquerade sr voicelines.

card description: he's holding a really cool sword and looking at it with this :O face expression, like he's never seen something like this before. as for the groovified version, the card looks much darker than everyone else's cards and it has this red lighting which makes allen look more scary and intimidating. he still has a smile on his face and he seems to be holding out his hand to someone, asking them to dance.

summon: "all of this sounds so romantic! could it be.. i'll finally get a chance to dance with hayden? hehe, i can't wait!"

groovy: "now, would you like to dance with me? don't worry, as long as i'm with you, nobody can hurt you, even hayden. him being a cheater is one thing, but that loser can't even dance properly!"

set home: "i'm so excited for the festival! hey, hey, are you excited too?"

home idle 1: "for some reason, hayden isn't paying any attention to me?? it's almost like he's avoiding me for some reason.. i don't get it, why is he following that rollo guy everywhere? hey, can you do something about it, prefect-chan?"

home idle 2: "nemis-chan looks so pretty in that outfit.. u-uh, what, i'm not staring or anything! anyway, where's hayden? i should go and find him- oh, i almost tripped."

home idle 3: "you want to know why i have a sword with me? oh, i just thought it would look good with what i'm wearing, that's all. i mean, you can agree with that, right? i have no idea how to use a sword though, but whatever, i'll figure it out. where did i find it?.. oh no, their student council president is coming, distract him for me."

home idle groovy: "hey, it's not like i miss you or anything, but just so you know, i could've danced with you instead of nemis-chan today! if only you accepted my confession back then.. it's fine, you really are not the best person for me- what do you mean, we can still dance together as friends??"

home tap 1: "of course, everybody wants to dance with neige-kun.. i-i'm not jealous of him! and i've expected that, he's so popular after all, it's just.." *sighs* "i wish i was just as popular as him. i bet people would be just as excited about dancing with riley too."

home tap 2: "whoa, i didn't expect roland-senpai to reveal his other eye today. it honestly doesn't even look that creepy, i don't understand why most students got so scared of it. maybe i should go and comfort him? ah, i just remembered that he still hates me.. well, who cares about that, i'm gonna do it anyway."

home tap 3: "um, can you ask your boyfriend to stop staring at me like that? i feel like he wants to kill me or something like that and that's pretty rude of him. calm down, why is your face so red? wait, he's not your boyfriend?? i thought that you were on a date when i saw you two hanging out. haha, prefect-chan is still single!.. oh no, you have the same face expression as him."

home tap groovy: "i'm glad that jay-kun is already feeling better. i really thought he was gonna die because he's literally made of magic.. hey, can i ask you something? are you and the student council president really that close? like.. would you cry if something bad happened to him? like, something really, REALLY bad?"

roland's masquerade r voicelines.

card description: he's trying to put his mask on and he's still covering his damaged eye. he's smiling, almost like he's trying to calm everyone down and telling them not to worry about his vision.

summon: "i think i should wear a mask instead of an eyepatch because it would fit this festival's theme better. i just hope others won't find my eye too scary.."

groovy: "haha, being a fae in this situation is so.. inconvenient. i'll still try to help others though. that's what a reliable upperclassman should do."

set home: "thank you for saying that i still look good. i really appreciate it."

home idle 1: "did allen really steal that sword?" *sighs* "of course he would do that, why am i even asking. i'll go and apologize for him. it's not like i'm worried about allen, i just don't want other rsa students to look bad."

home idle 2: "why did neige-kun ask me to dance with him? he has so many fans and admirers, why would he find me more interesting? i don't get it.. maybe he just felt bad for me because everyone's been avoiding me this whole time? this is so embarrassing.."

home idle 3: "hehe.. oh, don't mind me, i just noticed something and i thought it was funny. um, don't you think my name is quite similar to rollo-kun's name?" *laughs* "sorry, i thought about it again. i should listen to the other students and stop saying dumb things- you think it's funny too? i'm glad to hear it."

home tap 1: "i'm not used to wearing something like this.. hm? what do i usually wear? ah, when i was younger, i was in my.. ahem, "emo phase", so i mostly wore everything black. i looked kinda scary back then, haha. i think my fashion taste is much better now, though it doesn't seem like avery-kun agrees with me."

home tap 2: "it looks like you and other nrc students are having fun. oh, did that sound weird? i just.. yeah, as you can see, i don't really feel like i belong with other rsa students. sometimes i wonder how my life would go if i never had to transfer to this school.. no, i shouldn't think about it like that, i have avery-kun and other gardening club members after all!"

home tap 3: "don't you think it's strange that even though it's called "the city of flowers", we haven't seen any flowers yet? i'm very curious about this city's "special" flowers as someone who's a gardening club leader.. it's a shame that avery-kun couldn't come with us, i can imagine him asking rollo-kun about them until he agrees to show them."

fake!jay's masquerade r voicelines.

card description: he looks like a poor innocent child who has no idea where he is hjdjdksdks. basically he's just standing there, looking lost and kinda nervous with a drop of sweat on his face.

summon: "d-do i look weird? how do i move in something like- oh no, i'm so sorry, i didn't mean to fall like this! w-what should i do, everyone is looking at us.."

groovy: "imagine if my creator found out about this.. what would his reaction be? would he be worried about me or would he be happy because he doesn't have to think about his creation being more loved and talented than him? never mind, i'm just thinking out loud."

set home: "um, well, i guess i like my mask.."

home idle 1: "i wish i could learn more about this city with everyone else, but.. allen-senpai. i have to make sure he doesn't do anything weird or even illegal. i'm jealous of one of those nrc students, jamil-senpai, was it? he doesn't have to worry about anything like that right now.."

home idle 2: "i don't think my creator would like this place, it's too noisy for someone like him. maybe it's because of the festival, but i can't imagine him enjoying this trip. what about me? uh.. i guess i don't mind it that much? no, actually, i like it a lot. it makes me feel like i'm a real person with a fun and exciting school life."

home idle 3: "maybe it's for the best that angel-senpai didn't come with us. i still respect them even though they're just as unique as allen-senpai, but i wouldn't want them to cause problems for the nbc students. and we have chenya-senpai here, so that's.. that's already too much."

home tap 1: "h-hey, i'm sorry for asking this, but.. would grim-san be okay with me giving him some headpats? again, i'm so sorry, he just looks so cute today, i can't help it! h-he's fine with it? are you sure about that?.. what do you mean, he will regret saying no to me?"

home tap 2: "why did i have to dance with chenya-senpai out of all people.. no, seriously, why did he choose me? i'm one of the most "ordinary" students here, i'm too boring for him! you think i tend to attract chaotic people because of my personality? what's that supposed to mean??"

home tap 3: "i've actually done a lot of research before going here with everyone else. i won't deny it, i got really excited when i heard that i'm one of the students who were chosen. as for allen-senpai.. he just went "oh, hayden is going to be there? okay, i'm coming then!" he really thought that he had a choice too.."

[pixeldistractions]

Dinner was delicious and filling, and the margaritas left them feeling light and bubbly. They promised not to talk about their children the whole time, and they mostly achieved that goal. They talked about their plans, and even about their future, but in such a vague and far off way. She and Johanna would love to join him and the boys in Japan next winter. And next summer, they would take the camper to California to visit vineyards and drive up the coast. But tomorrow, next week, all the days in between? They didn’t need to talk about that right now. Tonight was for magic and whimsy. Tonight, they walked away from the main strip down to the waterfront. She studied the beach with her eyes full of curiosity.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I just wonder if the sand is dry or mucky,” she said. “Or if the shells and stones are too sharp, or if it’s wet and there’s those little sand crabs that burrow underneath?”

She wanted her toes in the sand, but only if it was perfect sand.

He bent down to feel, to run his fingers through the drifts. It was dry, cold now from the night, and a little course but not too rough. “No sand crabs,” he said. “Give me your foot.” 

He unbuckled her sandals. He took a handful of sand and sprinkled it over her toes, waiting for her reaction.

“I just feel weird about gross things touching my feet sometimes,” she said. “You must think I’m so lame.”

“Never,” he said. “Don’t we all worry about things sometimes?”

He took off his boots and socks, too, and they left their things in a pile.

The beach was empty this late at night. In one direction, there were the shrieks of drunk college kids walking from the restaurant to the nightclub to the train station. In the other direction, the roar of a far off waterfall. On the street corner, a busker played “Can’t Help Falling In Love” on a saxophone.

Jordan held his hand out to her. “I didn’t get to dance with you at Stephanie’s wedding.”

Maria smiled. She took his hand and he spun them into a playfully exaggerated slow dance.

“But I didn’t say I was any good at this,” he added. They both laughed and continued to spin and sway in the sand.

“So why didn’t you ask me?”

“Because I was dressed for table service,” he said, “and you were wearing your revenge dress.”

She gasped with laughter. “My what?”

“I think of that one as your revenge dress,” he said. “Because you wore it to that wedding after I told you I was leaving. And it was so red, and it fit you in all the right places. I just think you must have been pretty mad at me to be as sad as you were that night and show up in that dress.”

Maria smiled, guilty as charged.

“Am I right?”

“Well, I certainly have uglier dresses,” she said. “But I still would have danced with you, even in your service uniform, even if you had food spilled all down the front of it, even if I was mad.”

He shrugged. “I should have asked anyway, I guess. Or I should have told you sooner. Or I should have kissed you sooner.”

She shook her head. “It’s okay,” she said. “We can’t change what we did or didn’t do. You shouldn’t change it even if you could. Haven’t you had some experiences? Learned some things? Whatever you did or didn’t do is the reason we ended up right here, dancing in the sand. Then it was perfect.”

“Well, I’m still sorry you had to go through so much trouble so I could figure out my shit.”

She grinned teasingly. “Oh, so you think you’re done then? You have it all figured out?”

“No, probably not all of it. Sorry.”

She settled into his shoulder, swaying slower now, barely swaying at all. “The margarita made me sleepy,” she said, after she yawned in his ear.

“We can go if you want?”

“Not yet,” she said.

It was a nice place to be, here in the sand, where every choice and error had finally led them. She was here in his arms, now, finally, her hair on his cheek, her chest breathing against his. She was here in spirit through all of this, when he broke down, when he ran, when he faltered. She was here, loving him, constant and sure.

This love was not a thing to be escaped, like clawing out of a cage or evading a cleverly laid snare. Her love called out to him from anywhere he roamed, gentle and steady, like a beacon to guide him back home.

“I love you,” he said.

“Oh?” Her sleepy eyes went wide and she pulled away from his shoulder to look at him. She probably thought she hadn’t heard him right.

“Yeah, um, so I love you and I needed you to know that, and I’m sorry it took me so long to figure it out.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “I always felt loved by you. I knew you’d get there in the end.”

“You’re too good to me,” he said.

“If I am, it’s because I love you, too. So much.” Her smile was happy and dazed. “I feel like I’m dreaming. I’m not, am I?”

“Not right now,” he said.

“So, is that what you figured out? Like, ten minutes ago?”

“No, not ten minutes ago. It’s been a little longer than that.”

“Thirty minutes?”

“Ha ha. Thank you for being patient with me.”

“It was worth waiting for,” she said.

As the night dragged on, he felt more of her weight hung on his shoulders. She yawned again. The faith she had in him to hold her up, the trust that he would take care of her. He liked the man she saw in him. He wanted to become that guy.

“You’re so tired,” he said. “You want to head back now?” 

“Mmm…” she hummed into his shoulder. “Just five more minutes. This is so nice. Who knows when we’ll be able to do this again?” 

About that. He wondered if this magical burst of confidence was spent? Was the timing all wrong now? Would it be too heavy? Would she say no?

As if reading his mind, she added, “But we don’t have to talk about that tonight. This night has been just perfect, so perfect, couldn’t be more perfect.”

She was half asleep already and floating off into the most magical dreams. He wanted that for her tonight. He would carry her off on a cloud to a place where everything was decided and no one was disappointed with the answer. He would lay her in bed and hold her there until the morning.

Tomorrow would come with its answers, whatever they may be, but this night would always be perfect.

— from “boxes and squares #4.4: now know the answer” (5/5)

footnotes: the revenge dress

Next ->

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Interlude Chapter 20

Previous | First | Shadowland

Master Post

The after-party for the wedding was fantastic. Blood-Wraith felt like he could truly relax for once. It legitimately felt like everything was fixing itself. Of course that was not truly the case for him. Milosh was still out there and the ULTRAMagic Guild was just around the corner. These thoughts crossed his mind as he watched everyone else sing, dance, and have fun. It was supposed to be a happy time, but these thoughts bore down on Blood-Wraith. He had no right to ignore them, or so he felt.

Eventually things came to a close and everyone went home. Blood-Wraith changed out of his formal wear, went downstairs, and sat on the couch to watch some television with a robust documentary on Droomopolis (a city within the realm of chaos). At this point it felt like he needed a month or two to wind down from all that had happened. Ultimatum and the guild would have to be patient and wait. Blood-Wraith was still going to study and practice, he just needed to hold off on the adventures for a bit. To be fair, he was eager to learn the magic Vexation had promised to teach him, which would probably require time to learn.

Before going to bed that night, Blood-Wraith thought he sensed something. Putting down Valentina’s alchemy guide, he got out of bed. Being careful not to wake anyone, he quietly made his way down to the basement. Blood-Wraith flipped on the lights and looked around. Aside from the secret room being opened, everything was in order. Perhaps Aureolus had accidentally left it like that for some reason. As he approached, he heard the rustling of dust and stones. That was never a good sign. Thankfully nobody seemed to be in the backroom… then the lights shut off.

Feeling his blood run cold, Blood-Wraith quickly turned around only to bump into someone. He could not see who it was, but it looked like… a woman in a top hat? “Oh my, and I thought hiding my presence from the dark angel would have sufficed…” she remarked.

“Who are… you…” Blood-Wraith felt his head go light as he inexplicably fell asleep. When he woke up, he found himself in his temple back in The Roaring Mountains. This left him very confused.

“Good morning, Blood.”

“Dunja? What’s… what’s going on here? How did I even…?”

“How’d you get here? Honestly, I’m not sure. I sensed what happened last night, and hopped on over here. As for your encounter, I’m pretty sure that was Andelin you ran into.”

Blood-Wraith was handed a plate of simple, on-the-go breakfast. “Oh, thanks. Do I need to worry about her?” He asked as he began eating.

“Probably not. From day one, Andelin has had her own ambitions. Truthfully I'm not sure what she’s up to most of the time. What I can say is that if she’s out this far, it’s probably of her own accord.” Dunja sighed. “All the more reason for me to go and fix my blunders…”

“I see. So, have you seen my temple before?”

Dunja stood up. “Back when it was empty. I came here with Andelin on her recommendation. Now it’s quite impressive… and I think I know why we’re here. Take a look at the walls…”

Blood-Wraith turned around and was greeted by vast murals depicting things he had done thus far. “Incredible…”

“It was quite interesting looking through all of this. I see the Lich was deteriorating as time went on, given how progressively freakish he looks throughout all of this…”

“Yeah, I noticed that after the battle at the Metal Oasis. He just seemed… wrong and dead.”

Dunja shook her head. “Milosh is such a moron. Honestly I don’t think the Lich could have handled all that power. He probably would have imploded in on himself and left us up the creek without a paddle.”

That was surreal to hear. “Huh… So what would have happened then?”

She shrugged. “No idea. None of us thought that far ahead… It’s possible that I may have gotten fed up with Milosh and executed him right then and there though. He ain’t worth the dirt he stands on…”

“I guess that means there’s a distinct difference between planning and execution?”

She nodded. “Oh absolutely. Some things are easier said than done…”

“Yeah… hey, what about that part?” Blood-Wraith pointed to a section of the mural that depicted Dunja in an alternate series of events.

“Hmm… that’s Desislav, I think… was I going to try and convince him to join me?”

Blood-Wraith inspected it further. “I think that’s what it’s getting at…”

Dunja sighed. “It looks like history would have tried to repeat itself… Jeez. I can’t imagine being that bad though.”

“Perhaps it would have happened had you not come to our side?”

“Yeah, I think so… good lord, Valerie was right from the get go…AGAIN” Dunja exclaimed as she stepped away.

That name intrigued Blood-Wraith. “Who is this Valerie person?”

“Oh boy… She is the one who split Deimos. Not me, not Milosh; Valerie. From what I’ve learned over the years, she was originally part of a guild of mages from the Magician’s Labyrinth. After a disagreement, she was kicked out and went rogue. This happened a long time ago and that guild has long since gone defunct. Andelin kept claiming her mother was a member, but I never believed that. In regards to Milosh, he offered to pay her handsomely… Funnily enough I never saw him render payment to her though. It makes me wonder if she found a way to jinx his plans…”

“Wait, if Valerie warned you about Milosh, why did she go through with splitting Uncle Deimos?”

“Spite, looking back on it. Or at least, I assume she probably wanted to spite her old guild. She also probably had a good feeling our plans would go belly up and… which is why she warned me in the first place… ARGH, I HATE THESE REALIZATIONS!”

Blood-Wraith laughed sympathetically. “Is she still out there?”

“Yes, I’m sure of it. What she’s up to I have no idea though.”

As he thought about that, something crossed Blood-Wraith’s mind. “Dunja? Did you ever… um, execute your enemies?”

She paused, then took a breath. “Nope. I couldn’t bring myself to. Milosh frothed at the mouth and Gratiana judged me, but I never killed anyone… just made them work. Maybe death would have been more merciful, but I couldn’t bring myself to take someone’s life. Blood, this is very important, so listen closely: When you look someone in the eye in their final moments, you see everything. You see them, their soul, their sorrow, their joy, their love, their family, and their spirit. Their fate is your hands… and I chose not to enact violence. I could feel my heart get heavy every time someone was brought before my swords...”

“But what about Milosh? He doesn’t sound like he deserves this kindness.”

“That’s the tricky part, Blood. Some people are that far gone. They revel in stupidity and give themselves to evil… and some are foolish enough to go along with it. I don’t know what an ideal world looks like, but I imagine it’s one where we don’t have to deal with Milosh’s. Until that day comes, all we can do is look that kneeling beggar in the eye and see with our eyes wide open.”

Blood-Wraith looked lost and confused. “I never want to kill and I don’t want people to die… but I’m not sure who’s lost and who’s too far gone…” Blood-Wraith lamented. “I don’t want to lose more Leif’s, but I don’t want Milosh's to threaten our lives.”

Dunja smiled. “Don’t worry, Blood. When the time comes, your heart will have the right answer.”

“But what if I make the wrong choice?”

“Well firstly, don’t beat yourself up over it. We all make mistakes. What matters is how we respond to them. Don’t forget what we discussed back in the forest.”

Blood-Wraith sighed. “Right. I just… I have a lot going through my head.”

“Well of course you do. You’re just a kid after all. Look, if you make a mistake in the future, come talk to me and we’ll work through it. And I’m sure Englehart will also have some words of wisdom for you.”

“Thank you, Dunja.”

“And hey, don’t forget that you have your mom and dad there for you. Now come, let’s go home. This place is kind of eerie.”

With that, the two returned to The Iron City. Blood-Wraith still could not shake the anxiety, but that talk made him feel better. This was likewise for Dunja. It was cathartic for her to get some of her grief and regrets off her shoulders. She still had a long way to go, but her future was getting brighter and brighter. All she had to do was keep moving forward.

Shadowland was still looming over her, however. She would have to face the kingdom she sullied eventually. Would the Haugen’s, Barna’s friends, Torunn, and the citizenry even accept her repentance? She never slew anyone, but she did damage nonetheless. So many thoughts also ran through her head. Eventually she felt a compulsion that prompted her to look up at the dragon constellation. Nothing happened until… it winked at her? Was she seeing things?

Either way, Dunja felt a wave of positivity and support wash over her. “Thank you, Leif. I needed that…” Dunja replied as she went back inside. He was right: She just needed to face things head on and not look back.

To be concluded… 

Next: Shadowland

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[animeomegas]

Kinktober - Day 25

[Solomom (Obey me) + Jealously]

Summary: You and Solomon had been together for too many years to count, and as such had little patience in your relationship for petty jealously when one of you went out with friends or danced with someone else at a party. You just didn’t get jealous... well, that’s what you thought until you managed to decipher the final chapter of a rare and old magic book before Solomon did. Now he’s pouting and jealous and demanding that you teach him the final chapter. Unfortunately, for all his wisdom, Solomon seemed to have forgotten the phrase, ‘be careful what you wish for’. Dom!Alpha!GN!Reader

Warnings: There is no established consent but believe me, Solomon is an enthusiastic participant. Solomon being jealous, but it’s lowkey, not anywhere near yandere, don’t worry. Also, this one is a bit rushed, but I’ve been super busy visiting my family home, so sorry about that!

“My love, do you have the book I lent you? I wish to take it for some studying in the library,” Solomon walked into your bedroom, cape billowing behind him.

“Hmm?” you asked distractedly from where you were scrolling on your phone in bed. “Yeah, sure, I already finished translating and studying it anyway.”

Solomon froze.

“Ha,” he gave a forced laugh. “What do you mean you finished it?”

“What do you think that means, Sol, come on now, darling.”

Solomon’s eye twitched and you had to fight to keep your smile down. You knew just how to push every one of his buttons.

“Apart from the last chapter, you mean?”

“Nope, why would I say I’ve finished it if I hadn’t finished the final chapter.”

His eye twitched again, and he let out another forced laugh.

“And you understood it?”

“Of course,” you blinked at him like you couldn’t understand why he was struggling to grasp this concept.

Just then, little bit of uncontrolled magic knocked one of your little plants onto the floor.

“Oh dear, I do hope you’ll be cleaning that up,” you said with a monotone voice, still scrolling through your phone. Asmo was messaging you about setting up a threesome, you should probably reply to him before he threw a fit.

“Tell me how you did it!” Solomon demanded, taking the phone out of your hand and putting it in his pocket. Oh well, sorry Asmo, guess he won’t be getting a prompt reply.

“Why? You spent all of last night’s dinner date talking about how you couldn’t wait to sit down and decipher it yourself, why the sudden change of heart?” you fake pondered for a moment. “Unless it’s because you’re jealous I figured it out first.”

Solomon’s lips pursed and you could see him go a little red around the ears.

“Of course not,” he refuted. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then I see no reason to help you with it.”

Solomon’s scent was tinged with disdain.

“Fine, just- Can you show me some of the magic then? It might help me to reverse engineer if I know what I’m working with,” he was still using the tone of voice that he always used when he felt like he was losing his control on a situation and didn’t know what to do. You had really rubbed him the wrong way.

Good job you thought his jealousy was cute.

“Sure! I don’t mind doing that, now?” Solomon nodded. “Cool, just give me my phone back, I’m not having you use it in one of your experiments, I need it.”

Solomon handed back your phone easily, eager to see the new magic spells he’d yet to figure out, and presumably twice as eager to crack the code and then try and surpass you by mastering them.

But Solomon had no idea what was in that last chapter. You hid a rather evil smirk. Sex spells. The last chapter was full of sex spells.

This was going to be fun.

…

“This isn’t funny anymore,” Solomon grumbled, floating several feet in the air with his arms crossed. You’d used the first spell in the chapter to start with, just as a little taster really. It was by far the most innocent one in the entire chapter. A simple levitation spell that could be held easily in conjunction with other spells, nothing inherently sexual.

“Well, if you’re not amused, I can always try the next one?” you smirked, stalking up to him and poking him on the forehead. “Here, statim summa voluptas.”

Solomon seized the seconds the words left your mouth, hips jerking against nothing as a stain appeared on his crotch and a blush on his face.

The book had simply called this one the ‘immediate orgasm’ spell.

“Wha- What spell is- How are you-!“

You casted it again.

“Hnng,” Solomon groaned, stretching and flailing in the air. His face was pink and the stain only continued to grow. “Fuck, fuck, this is too much!”

You casted it one final time.

The noise that slipped through Solomon’s closed lips was sinful. Because he was suspended in the air, he had nothing to hold onto while he was riding out his third orgasm, so his hands were clenching and unclenching rapidly to make up for it. He was panting now from the exertion of three rapid fire orgasms. It was tough to tell under the levitation spell, but he look completely limp and exhausted.

“How did you-“ Solomon coughed and wiped some drool off of his chin. “How did you do that?”

“I thought you wanted me to demonstrate the spells in the last chapter, Sol?” you questioned, tilting your head mockingly. “Don’t tell me you can’t handle it? You’ll never figure out how the spells work if I don’t show you.”

Solomon narrowed his eyes at you. His thirst for knowledge was untameable, and he was still jealous that you’d figured out the chapter before he did.

“What other spells are there?” he asked, staring you dead in the eye like he was trying to will you into showing him the information. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t make for a particularly threatening picture, floating helplessly, cumming at your mercy.

“Hmm, well, I thought this next one was fun,” you smiled, flicking your fingers at you and casting the next spell. “Think of the potential!”

All of Solomon’s clothes vanished, leaving his naked body free for your appraisal. The sticky cum from the previous orgasms was now obvious, covering his crotch and inner thighs completely. Solomon’s nipples were rock hard, and his backside was slippery with slick. In other words, he was absolutely breath-taking.

You couldn’t help but reach out and play with him for a bit, focusing on his extremely sensitive cock, watching the way Solomon flinched everything you made contact. And he was still complaining.

“That spell is ridiculous, what practical use does it have anyway?”

You rolled your eyes and decided to get him to shut up. You took swiped a finger through the cum on his crotch and held it up for Solomon to take into his mouth, something he refused with a harsh glare. He looked like he wanted to curse you out, but he wasn’t foolish enough to open his mouth while you were standing poised. Whatever. You just shrugged and smeared the cum all over his lips. That worked just as well.

Solomon levelled another glare at you.

“What’s that look for?” you asked with exaggerated interest. “Oh! I know! You must be bored of that spell now, how about we try the next one, then?”

“magicae delectationis manus,” you casted, eyes flashing. The last one was fun, but this one had to be your favourite.

There was a tense moment of silence, before Solomon smirked.

“You said you’d mastered all the spells, but it seems that-“

Solomon cut himself off suddenly and tensed.

“What’s that?” he asked, trying to turn around while airborne. He sounded a little nervous.

“What was that you were saying about my spell not working?” you laughed, circling him. “I think you’ll find this one… enlightening.”

“I can feel- Hnng, fuck,” Solomon cried out, writhing back and forth. “How does it feel like this? What are you doing?”

Solomon’s hands were jumping to different parts of his body sporadically. One second, he was clutching at his chest, the next, his neck, then his cock.

“Feel like what?” you laughed. “Oh! You mean, why does it feel like there are a bunch of invisible hands all over you right now? Well, my spell of course! That should be obvious! Are you enjoying it?”

Solomon didn’t answer. Although maybe that had something to do with the invisible hand that was clearly messing around with his tongue. It was so hot to see Solomon’s body react without seeing any of the hands. You wondered…

Oh yes, that was a nice view. Solomon’s hole was stretching as though he was being fingered, but you couldn’t see the hand. It was like a glass dildo, but better. The way it opened and closed, seemingly by itself, was so sexy.

Walking back around, you absently flipped through the chapter of spells, Solomon’s muffled moans filling the once quiet room. You still had twenty-five pages to go. Excellent.  

…

Later, when Solomon tried to make you explain how you knew how to translate the chapter, he was rather upset to find that their had been a key to the code tucked in the book sleeve. It was simply a form of child lock, to help stop children reading the last chapter, nothing complicated or spectacular. Solomon had been grumpy since you told him, but oh well, he’d definitely learnt his lesson.  

[jinxhallows]

Uninvited. [Part VII]

Uninvited. a short series ft. Felix, Chan and Hyunjin

cw: 100% AU, afab reader, supernatural creature themes/tropes, vampire theme/tropes, hybrid theme/tropes.

word count: 4.5k

part one -> click here

part two -> click here

part three (explicit content) -> click here

part four -> click here

part five (explicit content) -> click here

part six -> click here

——–

Felix gives you the phone, mutters something about his study, and disappears in a high-speed blur, leaving you alone in the living room.  The automatic curtains have drawn now that Dawn is approaching, leaving the den covered with orange tones cast by the recessed ceiling lights. 

“Little witch?” Chan says on the other line.   

He sounds tired, his voice croaks. 

“Are you okay?” You ask with concern. 

He sighs.  “Someone’s blown the whistle here unfortunately…I came to get the final key to bringing Hyunjin back; and that’s the remains of the witch that sealed him.” 

You shift in your seat, pressing the phone closer to your ear.  “Felix told me you were going to do a spell, and Hyunjin said you had to kill a witch to do it.  Why would you run off like that without us? Isn’t that how we got here? Being overpowered by witches?” You realize you’re lecturing and stop yourself, changing your tone.  

“Let me help you.” 

Chan took a reflective pause, filled with thoughts of respect and admiration for your bravery and also perhaps slightly turned on by the tone you took towards him when you chastised him. 

“The shop where I’ve found a witch is now guarded by vampires.  Either the witch community here is all cloaked, or they're hard to come by in this town, but…I’m probably going to need some magic and some backup if I’m to do this successfully, and little witch—“ 

“I have been wanting to take you out for ice cream since we’ve met, I don’t have room for error.” 

——— 

Dawn had broken outside, you hadn’t any idea what time or how bright the sun was behind the expensive customizations to make the home daylight proof all around.  Felix was in his daytime death, resting safely locked inside of his bedroom. 

You sit upon the floor next to your bed.  You’ve drawn a circle, a summoning sigil in your blood upon a large piece of parchment paper.  You have a glass of Felix’s blood he carefully spilled for you before he laid to rest.  You hadn’t any way to preserve it, so although it had only been maybe ten or fifteen minutes, some of the blood had congealed in a very unappealing way.  His blood was also dark, a lot darker than human blood.  It still smeared deep cherry, but it appeared the colour of chocolate syrup. 

Closing your eyes, you take a grounding breath before chanting the spell in the foreign tongue that was written on the page in front of you.  You chant again, and again, and again, until you can feel your body temperature rising slowly in an unnatural way.  You take this as a good sign and follow your intuition as you throw back the half glass of jellied blood.  You gag when the texture first enters your mouth, but you had never taste Felix’s blood until this very moment.   

Despite you wanting to hurl it back up from the thickness, it dances down your throat and refreshes and quenches a thirst you didn’t know you had.  You feel your heart racing and as if someone’s shaken you up like a can of carbonated soda.  It’s hard to focus, to concentrate on completing the spell like this when you’re overwhelmed by the feeling of his blood in your system.  You blink a few times, trying to clear the brightness of all the pigments in front of your field of vision.   

You blink again and seem to see him, Felix, his eyes, in front of yours so close…too close…he’s not supposed to be this close— 

You chant louder, hands feeling and searching for the athame on the floor that you couldn’t see, your eyesight blinded by visions and colors you’ve never seen before. 

Cold hands slip between your legs and you gasp from the way it soothes the fire in your loins.  Icy fingers slip between your folds and the more you’re touched, the more in control you convinced yourself that you felt. 

‘Chan-‘ you breathe. 

His voice, dark, low, you hear it inside of your head like telepathy. 

‘No little witch, try again.’ 

You stagger onto your side, feeling the heat becoming too much to bear.  You feel like you’re melting, hot air too thick to breathe in.  You fall over to the side, catching yourself on your elbow as you slice the center of your palm and slam it onto the center of the sigil, blacking out entirely. 

You come to in the all too familiar room.  You collect yourself far quicker this time and sit up, shaking off the discomfort of the trip here. 

But the room is empty. 

You stand up from the bed, looking around, turning every which way hoping at some point Hyunjin would pop out with a surprise of sorts. 

Instead, you hear a scream of agony that makes you notice the door has been left ajar. 

On the two occasions you’ve been here, Hyunjin has been unabashedly paranoid about whoever else lurked in these halls, and was diligent about keeping his tiny quarters locked. 

Another scream and you can now tell the voice belongs to Hyunjin himself.  You scramble to your feet, tripping over something on the floor. 

Crouching down, you pick up what looks to be an ancient, leather-bound book.  It lay haphazardly upon the dirt floor, the parchment pages open.  When you turn it around, you see what appears to be Latin text scribbled out.  It was difficult to read, as the book had fallen into a collected small puddle of blood.  The parchment had soaked it through, smudging the black ink. 

Another scream. 

You tuck the book into your bra, gently opening the door to look out into the corridor.  Each step you take towards the door builds more hesitation. 

You’re not some kind of a hero.  You should break the summoning link and return to the world of the living.  You can tell Felix and Chan to expedite the spell and— 

“Do it. You know everything now.” 

“Do what?” A singsong voice, hollow, empty.  Like a glass vase in a room of darkness.  “Do you want me to kill you Hyunjin? Do you know what you’re asking of me?” 

“You’re the oldest witch I know—are you too stupid to figure out how to kill me? Don’t tell me that’s why you’re dragging this out— “  

Hyunjin’s weak laugh is interrupted by the yell that breaks forth from his chest as his flesh is burned with a sharpened iron stake. 

You clasp your hands to your mouth to physically stop yourself from the reflexive scream you were ready to cry when you see Hyunjin inside of the mysterious room at the end of the corridor that you had never made it to… 

You had never made it there, 

Until now. 

All ruby haired, battered and bloodied; his eyes a metallic, golden, hungry hue, Hyunjin sat in a chair, surrounded by a circle of what you could sense as powerful magick.  It was keeping him there. 

But that wasn’t all, for double protection—he bore iron shackles on his arms and legs; and he couldn’t break them with vampiric strength which could only mean one thing. 

They were charmed to keep him in place. 

He sees you over the shoulder of the tall woman ---half covered with thick black curls down to her waist---whom you faced the backside of only a few yards away.  The room was enormous and reeked of filth and bodily fluids.  Blood smeared on the walls, various body parts of animals scattered blasphemously after rituals.   

Hyunjin’s eyes meet with the ancient witch in front of him.  “Edith you’ve had my soul for almost a thousand years—don’t bring my brothers into this.  I killed you, this is between you and me- “ 

You press your palm tighter against your mouth as Edith pulls her iron stake back out of the fire once more, glowing hot, and shoves it directly into his chest, next to his heart.  The hot metal burns, melts, causes blood to spill out from his body and Hyunjin feels dizzy with rage and near intolerable amounts of pain.  His curse heals everything seconds later, only for her to drive the stake in once more. 

“It was between you and me.  But then you assumed I didn’t have witches guarding my remains.  Guarding my town from your filthy family. In fact, that’s just like Christophe to waltz right in, considering himself invincible, just out in the open, in a town that hates him; go to the oldest witch shop and then purchase dark objects…” Edith clicks her tongue as she places the stake back into the hot flames. 

If he were able to pass out from the pain threshold, he would’ve by now. 

“A stupid boy, a foolish boy. He was never good enough for my daughter, filthy mutt.”

“And then… he asks for a witch, I wonder why.  Why, pray tell, does a vampire want an old witch to help him with a spell?” 

“Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to, pretty lady, you know your blood is a better high than drugs.” He watches her as she approaches him once again, standing in front of him.  She takes his chin in her hands, digging her fingertips into his pale flesh.  Her nails are sharp, and blood trickles down his jaw and neck from the pierced skin. 

He still doesn’t react.  Instead, his eyes narrow. 

“My brother likes fine dining and has good taste, what can I say? We’re not your average family.” 

Edith’s lengthy fingernails slash across his face, leaving jagged scars that begin sealing as soon as he looks back up at her with a smirk. 

“Do you think I'm a fool, Hyunjin?! Witches have been disappearing down here left and right, blood trails hidden by cloaked spells I couldn’t find.  You’ve discovered how to perform magick as a vampire, and you’ve told Christophe and Felix, haven’t you?” 

Hyunjin remains silent, his expression stoic and unchanged.   

Edith lets loose a shrill scream and it echoes and reverberates, making you feel as if your brain was rattling around inside of your skull.  You stumble back and cover your ears, wincing.  She grabs Hyunjin by the neck, her teeth gritted. 

“I may not be able to kill you, but I’ll see to it that your brothers join you down here for a family reunion very soon.” 

Hyunjin’s eyes flit to you once more.  He can see the edge of the grimoire and its imprint inside of your shirt.  He smiles internally. 

Christophe always liked the clever ones. 

 “Go.” He mouths.  Edith whips around and you both lock eyes.  You’ve never felt such a strong sense of dread.  It was as if you were fighting to keep your spirit inside of your body as you froze to the spot. 

“GO!” 

Felix’s eyes break open as he rips the blankets off of his body.  It was as if he heard something explode.  His blood stirred him awake. 

He disappears up the stairs, finding you on the ground choking.  You feel fluid in your throat that you’re trying to hack out and when you see its blood spattered on the ground, you start to panic.  Felix is kneeling next to you, trying to calm you down, trying desperately to figure out what was going on. 

He sees the summoning materials beside you and now he understands as he forces you to sit up straight. 

“Someone tried to kill you, but they didn’t succeed.  Try to calm down, this will pass shortly and you’ll be okay little witch.”  Felix patiently rubs your back as he waits for the spell to be over.  You feel like an elephant is sitting on your chest, everything feels so heavy, like you were going to crumble. 

That’s when you realize something. 

As you clutch your chest, you feel an object.  You slip your hand into your shirt and pull out the grimoire and the weight immediately dispersesfrom you as you work to catch your breath and your airway opens completely for the first time in what felt like hours. You gulp in giant breaths until your equilibrium returns. 

Felix furrows his eyebrows, picking up the book and turning it over in his hands.  There’s a dark mark on the front of it that you didn’t remember from before.  Fresh blood is painted on the front and you realize it’s soaked your shirt too. He flips open right to the bloodied page and freezes. 

“This blood…it’s my brother’s…” he looks up at you in horror, “What happened?” 

“Is it dusk yet?” 

“Nearly…another two hours.” 

“It’s Hyunjin.  Edith, she knows he told me about the sigil.  She knows Chan is in their town right now.  We have to leave, now.” 

“We’ll have to take the truck; we have a light tight compartment for us built inside.” He stands up, helping you to your feet.  “Are you sure you’re okay, little witch? Dimension hopping with an attempted spiritual assassination isn’t exactly light work.” 

“I’m fine.” You say, avoiding eye contact, earlier visions flickering in your mind and making you feel all kinds of uncomfortable. 

Felix wants to argue back that you’re not fine, and he could tell something was off about you.  Chan was in immediate danger however, and that took precedence over anything else at the moment for the both of you. 

“Meet me in the garage in ten.” 

“Make it five.” You call out behind you as you, hurrying out of the room. 

------ 

You’re not sure what you had thought Felix meant by ‘light tight’.  You hadn’t calculated at all the unfortunate inconvenience of him not being able to be exposed to sunlight.  Even a couple of hours before dusk, his body would combust.   

So yes, it was strange to be on the highway, orange skies ahead of you with the sun closing down onto the horizon to your left; and to be talking to someone in the trunk via an intercom system built into the dashboard.  It was like being on a Bluetooth phone call in the car, but the idea that the person was in the trunk was just the part your brain wouldn’t stop reminding you of. 

This life you’ve chosen to live was strange indeed. 

“You made a good call, having us leave earlier.” Felix’s voice comes over the sound system.  “Chan agreed—if we make it before dusk, there won’t be any vampires to spot us.” 

“What about the witches? Edith didn’t mention vampires, she said she had witches guarding her remains and the town.  Is there only one way in and out of this place?” Your fingers tighten and loosen around the steering wheel as the crushing reality of the life-threatening situation you were in begins to sink in. 

“We’re not driving into the town little witch.  When we were exiled all those years ago, we made sure that for us, there would be only one way in and out.” 

You’re confused, you glance at the GPS on the screen. 

“Aren’t we going to meet up in the town where Chan’s staying?” You inquire. 

There’s a pause. 

“Chan’s not staying in the city.  He was careless to go in uncloaked for the supplies, but though impulsive, my brother knows he can be killed if he stays inside of the borders for too long.” Felix sighs, “No, we aren’t headed into the town.  We’re going to visit an old friend.” 

The sun dips under the horizon as the skies darken during the two hour drive.  When your GPS has you turning onto a dirt road with no streetlights, you become more alert, almost feeling the hair stand up on your arms.  You make another turn, and the trees curl away from the road in a strange, peculiar way.  The truck stalls, bringing you to a jerky, abrupt and unexpected stop.  Your heart starts racing as the lights start flickering. 

“Shit.” You hear Felix’s voice, a bit of clamoring from the trunk and then he’s in the seat next to you, dialing a number on his phone and dusting himself off, smoothing his clothes. 

“What’s wrong?” You ask. 

Felix is about to answer when he hears the other line pickup and immediately is drawn back in annoyance.  

“Han Jisung! You couldn’t have disenchanted the road when I called earlier?!” 

“Absolutely not Felix.  How do you think I’ve stayed alive this long?” 

You gasp as you look in front of you once more and someone’s standing there, holding a phone to his ear, illuminated by the bright headlights of your truck.  Short, black wavy hair frames his face. He wears a navy blue turtleneck and dark pants.  He slowly lifts his hand and the vehicle stirs back to life. 

Felix looks irritated as he presses end on his phone call and rolls the window down, sticking his head out. 

“I should persuade her to run you over–” 

“Chan!” You’re completely distracted as you see the onyx wolf emerge, standing next to the stranger.  You shove the door open and clumsily make your way out of the vehicle to run over to him. 

Jisung takes the opportunity to hop in the driver’s seat.  He closes the door and looks over at Felix with a cheeky grin.  “You should, but I think that window is closed, my old friend.” 

They both look out the front window at you, careless about the dirt, on the ground, hugging the black wolf.  You pull back and look into his amber eyes and realize you had never seen him in this form since the first night you met, under a far more terrifying pretense. 

You’re staring too long; it must be making him uncomfortable.  He whimpers and licks your nose.  You fall back onto your bum, wiping your face. 

“Aw come on! It’s a lot less hot when you have wolf breath.” You laugh.  Two barks and he runs around in a circle. 

“Hey Lady & The Tramp, can we take a raincheck on the Disney special and figure out how we’re gonna end this ancient bitch?”  Jisung honks the horn and yells out the window. 

You lean forward and ruffle the hair atop Chan’s furry head before you two both go back to the truck, sliding into the backseat.  Jisung begins the trek up the hill to his home. 

“Why are you a wolf now anyway?” You ask, running your fingers over the soft, black fur of his back.  Chan’s thick muzzle lays in your lap as he enjoys your comfort and touch. 

“He can’t answer you; you know.” 

You look up and can see Jisung’s glance at you in the rearview mirror.  He chuckles, eyes returning to the road once more. 

“When my barrier spell went off, he came as a wolf for protection.  We knew you two were coming…but you can never be too sure.” 

You silently nod in understanding, watching the moon out the window as Jisung parks in front of an old Victorian home.   

Exiting the vehicle, you all follow Jisung inside of his home.  Chan scampers up the stairs, while you, Felix and Jisung all sit in the living room around a large, round table.   

Once seated, your hands in your lap, you look around at the home.  A fireplace, unlit, with a mantle filled with dusty, old, strange things.  White and black wax was melted in thick globs over the edges and down the sides.  An elaborate altar was set up near the window with deities you didn’t recognize, and photographs of what appeared to be perhaps the ancestors of Jisung.  From growing up, you knew what an ancestral altar looked like…and by the looks of this one…Jisung was not a novice witch by any means. 

“So, if Edith plans on capturing your souls and not killing you…it's probably because she hasn’t figured out how to.” Jisung is standing in front of a bookcase, carefully running his fingers along each one as he talks.  He pulls one free and comes back over to the table, setting it down.  Felix hands him the grimoire you retrieved from earlier. 

He looks at you before he opens the grimoire first.   “I’m Jisung, by the way.” 

“Jisung’s family were powerful healers that worked with all species and were always good to my family, even when we were mortal.” Felix pulls the other book across the table, looking at its pages. 

“How old are you?” you ask. 

“I lost count after 300.  You’re not supposed to count the years I was dead…carry the amount of time I was resurrected, divided by the bodies I inhabited–oh I don’t know.” Jisung laughs. “I’m old.  That’s all you need to know…what’s your name?” 

“We call her little witch.” You hear Chan and he comes into the room, now a fully dressed beautiful human. 

“Actually, Hyunjin calls me pretty witch.” You tease as Chan sits in the wooden chair next to you. 

“Ah.” He places a hand on your knee.  “Remind me to dagger him for another year when we get him back.” 

You giggle and he leans forward to kiss you.  His lips are soft, you gently hold his face and you both pull away from one another, feeling the after waves of the euphoria you got in each other’s presence lately.  It was strange, it felt chemical. 

“Jisung, what do you know about resurrecting Hyunjin?” Felix asks.  “I have the spell to access Edith’s remains but once we get them…then what? I hit a dead end in my research.” 

Jisung’s brow wrinkles as he lightly bites his inner lip, thinking over the question.  He slowly flips through the bloody pages of the grimoire, running his hands across it, feeling its power. 

“She linked herself to Hyunjin in purgatory…if you need her remains to bring him back, she probably did that as insurance…” Jisung’s voice trails off as his expression grows worrisome. 

“Meaning if we bring him back, we bring her back too…” Felix finishes the thought, coming to the realization as well. 

“Shit.” Chan mutters. 

“Ok, then we do an unlinking charm once we get her remains.” You find the obvious answer and say it aloud.  Everyone at the table looks at you in disbelief. 

Everyone except for Jisung. 

He pulls the chair out and turns it around, sitting straddled on it, his arms resting atop the back.  “Unlinking a witch like Edith though…that’s not your average unlinking spell.  This grimoire belonged to her.  You’ll need a sacrifice, a human sacrifice.” he explains. 

“Human sacrifice? I’ll procure one, no problem–” Felix stands up at once. 

Jisung points to the script in the book. “Not just any human, Felix; It has to be a witch from her bloodline.” 

A heavy silence falls over the room. 

You feel weak.  Saliva builds in your mouth as you become nauseated.  “I have to die.” 

“Absolutely not, there has to be another way.” Chan says immediately, leaning forward on the table. 

“I knew this was going to happen…” Felix stands up and walks away.  He’s stressed.  He runs his hands through his hair.  “I knew it was too good to be true.” 

“Edith made it this way on purpose.  Maybe she visited a Seer and knew you’d meet the little witch.  She knew it was going to come to this, somehow, she set this up.” Jisung shakes his head with a sigh. 

“This is why I don’t fall in love.  Love is weakness, it’s a vulnerability that makes the goal murky every-single-time.  Look now brother, how history is repeating itself once more.” Felix’s voice is a little shaky, was he…afraid?  

Chan’s fists tighten.  “We don’t unlink them then.  We bring both of them back and kill her.” 

“That’s suicide Chan.” Jisung hesitantly comments.  “She has the capability of being reborn and won’t rest until she’s killed all of you.  Edith has to be trapped.  We have to find a way to bring Hyunjin back by himself, if you don’t, you’ll be in a far worse situation than her being trapped with him right now.” 

“Then we’ll figure it out after we get her remains.” Chan’s hand clasps over yours as he talks to Jisung, and you realize you’ve been quiet this whole time, almost phasing out their voices as you felt the overwhelming emotion in the room to maximum capacity. His touch brings a sense of protective calm over you. He must’ve been able to sense your discomfort.   

“Let's just focus on getting out of this alive.” 

Things were mapped out and thought through with all points considered thoroughly.  Jisung had frozen blood in storage that he thawed for his undead company prior to their arrival.  The air is filled with a quiet buzz.  Nobody speaks to one another.  Chan quietly and slowly paces back and forth in front of the altar. 

Felix feeds from his fourth blood bag as he and Jisung go through the texts at the table, still seeking a loophole for the unlinking spell.   

Chan pauses, his hands behind his back.  He looks at the framed photos decorated on the altar.  He sees the offerings, the candles, the various jars and bits and bobs he couldn’t identify.  Mortal spirituality always both intrigued and perplexed him.  Discussions on such always fell short once someone would find out what he was.  His existence proved greater forces were at work, but also proved just how little we knew about what those forces were capable of. 

“If I pray to my ancestors or something here, will that help us tonight?” Chan asks. 

Jisung looks at him for a moment and smiles.  “It definitely wouldn’t hurt, here, let me show you how to make an offering.” he stands up from the chair, walking over to Chan as they begin talking in hushed voices to one another. 

You’ve been sitting in the wingback chair in the opposite side of the room, sky watching once more.  Disassociating, in a trance like state to a place that feels better than right here, right now. 

Felix approaches you.  You don’t look up at him. 

“I think you don’t fall in love because you won’t let yourself.” You say aloud.  You partially meant to just think it and not say it, but you partially didn’t care that it was out there now.  Felix doesn’t respond.  This prompts you further. 

“You’re afraid you can’t control what you are from destroying everything you love.  So, you don’t even try.” 

“It's like sentencing someone to death…they just don’t know when it’ll happen.” Felix’s voice trails off, hand in his pocket as he looks down at the side of your face.  Your gaze locked on the moon in the sky. 

“So, what happens when you can’t run away from it anymore?” 

“Love? Or who I am?” 

“Both.” 

Silence. 

“I suppose I’ll face it like I’ve done to all of my demons.” Brown eyes watch the glimmer of the river below.  “I don’t have a history of surrender.” 

More silence. 

“If it comes down to sacrificing me for Hyunjin, Felix…” You finally look up at him, both of your eyes meeting for the first time during the entire conversation. 

“Kill me.” Your voice is barely audible, a breathy whisper.  You can feel a tear running down your cheek.  With a sniff, you quickly wipe it away.  “Don’t tell Chan.” 

“Little witch–” 

“Promise me Felix.” 

He hesitates, about to say one thing, but deciding on another. 

“I promise, little witch, that you won’t have to die for the sake of my brother….” 

He pushes a curl behind your ear. 

“That’s what I promise.” 

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

next part -> click here

[pillage-and-lute]

Prompt: fake realtionahip/marriage, whoever you like!

Ooohoho! This has been chilling as a draft for ages, now I have completed it. *mildly evil laughter*

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The funny thing about Geralt, Jaskier thought as he did up the buttons on his best doublet, was that he really didn’t lie. He said things that weren’t true, but they were usually things he believed, or thought he believed because he was tired or grumpy. Sometimes he told half truths. He didn’t lie though.

It wasn’t even as if he didn’t have a poker face, Geralt’s face was all poker face, he just hated lying. Normally it wasn’t an issue, but tonight, Jaskier reflected, it wouldn’t be ideal.

Jaskier had heard through some whispered words at a pub that a bunch of Nilfgaardian nobles were having a gala, and the temptation of finding out what political secrets they could was two strong for their odd little family. So Geralt and Jaskier were going undercover.

There had been quite a bit of debate about that. Jaskier was obviously going. He’d grown his hair longer and had a bit of scruff going, and to be frank, all a bard really needed to disguise themselves was a new name, people saw the clothing and heard the music, but rarely remembered the face. Yennefer would have been the ideal partner in crime except for a crucial thing.

When Yennefer had been changed by magic, her eyes had been left the same. Somehow, the transformation had solidified them, and no spell would change them. Her eyes were too distinctive, and so she would stay behind with Ciri. That left Geralt, and since the ball was only for the nobility, he would be the fiance of Julian Pankratz, Viscount de Lettenhove.

Damn.

See, Geralt didn’t lie, and that was bad enough. Jaskier wouldn’t be able to rely on Yennefer’s in-depth knowledge of the nobility and that was worse. Worst of all though, was the fact that Jaskier would have to spend a night full of wine and dancing pretending to be in love with, and engaged to, Geralt. Who he loved.

And who had, not three months ago, blamed Jaskier for every bad thing in life.

Since then Geralt had caught up with him half-way down the mountain and there had been some grumbled words about how Jaskier ‘wasn’t actually, exactly, a total curse’. Not a glowing review, but then Cintra had fallen, and they had Cirilla and they’d found a wounded Yennefer and it had all gotten so very busy.

Jaskier cast a last look in the mirror as the door to his room creaked open. He turned, expecting Geralt, but it was Yennefer.

“I suppose,” she said, eyeing him. “That this is as good as you get.” It could have been said cruelly. A year ago it would have been. Now, though, the words were fond. 

“I like the kohl, it goes well with the wrinkles at your eyes,” she winked. He smiled. There were no more wrinkles now than had been twenty years ago, and they both knew it.

“I wasn’t sure about the eyeliner,” Jaskier said, trying to sound haughty. “Overdramatic eye looks are your thing.”

Yennefer chuckled and sat on the end of the bed. “A tiny smudge of eyeliner is hardly overdramatic.” She studied him approvingly, then looked at him. Her expression was frighteningly soft.

“Have you told him that you love him?”

“Never,” Jaskier said, fiving his cravat in the mirror.

“Why ever not?”

“It would only be the mountain all over again,” Jaskier sighed. “I tried, you know. I spent years trying, and then on the mountain, I thought I was being clear...”

“What did you say?”

“I asked him to leave it all, just for a little while, with me. I thought we could go to the coast.”

“The coast,” Yennefer said from her spot on the bed. “As in Lettenhove? You wanted to show him where you grew up?”

“Partially. I could explain the immortality business easier if he met my sister, but mostly I just thought it would be peaceful.”

Yennefer snorted. “With Geralt? Peaceful? He’d spend the whole time fighting drowners and telling you not to write about mermaids because they’re vicious.”

Jaskier smiled wanly. “That’s pretty peaceful for him.”

“But he said no?”

“He didn’t say anything,” Jaskier said. “Then he, well, you know, he spent the night in your tent.”

“Ah,” Yennefer said. “For what it’s worth, I hate that it happened too.”

“He doesn’t though!” Jaskier cried, whirling around to face her. “He wants it to happen again! And you! You don’t want him but he wants you while I want him!” The frustration of the whole situation and nerves for what was to come were overwhelming. “And you’re here, trying to help me,” he said more quietly. “Why?”

“Because I like you,” Yennefer said, simply, standing from the bed. “And I like him. I also never, ever want to kiss him again. The djinn is sitting, somewhere in my chest, telling me I love him, but the feeling is...sick. It feels like love, as well as I can remember, but it’s poisoned and twisted and I want no part in it.”

Her purple eyes pinned Jaskier to the floor.

“And that poison pales in comparison to how much you love him. He deserves that.”

She swept out the door, tossing a “Sort it out,” over her shoulder.

Well.

The next knock at the door was Geralt, Ciri in tow. Jaskier hoped the witcher hadn’t heard any part of his and Yennefer’s conversation, but he suspected that no one overheard conversations that Yen didn’t want them too. 

“Dandelion!” Ciri said, leaping at him and using the name she’d first met him under. “You look nice! Like a prince in one of your stories!”

Jaskier blushed and thanked her quietly as he scooped her up and tossed her, laughing, onto the bed. 

He looked at Geralt for his opinion.

Oh he looked so good too. Yennefer had charmed him so that anyone else would see a different man in Geralt’s place, but to Jaskier he looked just the same. But he was wearing white. 

A white chemise, the collar and cuffs with fine red embroidery, with a cream colored cape, half length so it fell just to Geralt’s hips. It was embroidered too, green and pink and so many other colors, despite being overall still mostly cream. The pants were the same creamy fabric with a stripe down each side. Dark boots and a wide, decorative, dark belt completed the look.

“Wow,” Jaskier said.

“Rivian traditional clothing,” Geralt muttered. 

“I thought you’d hardly actually been to Rivia,” Jaskier said,.It was a better choice than the other thoughts in his head, which were half-formed screams about how absolutely skin tight those pants were.

“I haven’t been, but my...character is.”

“Right,” Jaskier said, dragging his eyes above Geralt’s shoulders. “My fiance, Ludomir of Rivia.”

Geralt said nothing.

Jaskier kicked himself for mentioning the fiance thing.

“We should go,” he said.

And they went.

The lord’s castle was small, as castles go, and the guards at the gate didn’t even bother to check their invitations. With all the other lords and ladies streaming past, no one would guess that the pair were out of place. Jaskier and Geralt enterred the ballroom and Jaskier felt his stomach drop straight through to his shoes.

The walls were positively lined with Nilfgaardian soldiers. Geralt’s shoulders stiffened too, but they steered themselves to a feast table as if nothing was wrong.

It took them almost a full circle of the tables to find the two little cards for ‘Viscount de Lettenhove’ and ‘Guest’. Getting onto the guest list had been laughably easy, and Jaskier just sent up a silent prayer of thanks that the stupid title was finally useful for something.

They sat in their places and guests populated the seats around them. There was a lady next to Jaskier who already smelled of the strongly alcoholic sherry that was being served. Her hair, probably a wig towered, and was strung all over with so many pearls and little tiny golden ornaments that when she stepped outside she must surely be attacked by magpies.

“My lady,” Jaskier said, as chivalrous as he could around a mouthful of her rose perfume. “I’m afraid we haven’t had a chance to be introduced.”

“Oooh,” she giggled, “You’re sweet, I’m Dame Au’Vigne, and I can see by your card that you are the Viscount de Lettenhove, I knew your father.”

Yes, Jaskier thought. I remember, he turned down your proposal. Jaskier had been a lad then, barely eight years old, but he remembered through a child’s eyes a mountain of lace and perfume who had offered to marry his father while actually at his mother’s funeral.

“It’s a pleasure,” he said. Heinous bitch, he thought. He remembered rumors too, which are always a bard’s stock and trade, that Dame Au’Vigne’s husbands were always wealthy, usually handsome, and all of them had shockingly short lifespans. 

Rumor also had it that she was backing Nilfgaard financially and had been playing the shipping stock with insider knowledge of their movements. A very good person to be seated next to tonight. 

“May I introduce my fiance, Ludomir of Rivia,” Jaskier said, gesturing to Geralt. Geralt nodded and hummed, somewhat politely.

“How handsome,” Dame Au’Vigne stage whispered. “Where ever did you find him?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Jaskier said.

The lord of the castle stood up and gave a droning speech. It was full of euphemisms about ‘upholding standards’ and ‘fostering strong relations’ that boiled down to ‘I’m an untrustworthy bastard who believes that allowing the deaths of my people en masse is fine so long as I make money.’ It was depressing, too, as Jaskier looked around the ballroom to see so many people nodding in agreement. 

Traitors and bastards, the lot of them.

Geralt’s face hadn’t changed even an inch.

“So,” Dame Au’Vigne said as the appetizer course was served. “You two aren’t exactly in a honeymoon phase, are you?”

And she was right, for a couple, newly engaged, Jaskier and Geralt hadn’t acted the part yet at all.

“I’m afraid,” Jaskier said, inventing wildly. “That we’re both just a touch nervous, the engagement is so new, you see, and this is our first event,” he took Geralt’s hand, above the table, so Dame Au’Vigne could see. “As a couple.”

“Oh how sweet,” she said airily. “You know, they’ll have dancing between the courses, it’ll be a great way for you to wet your social feet. Sir Erdin and the lady in the lavender dress,” she pointed across the ballroom. “They’re newly engaged as well.” She lowered her voice.

“Sir Erdin is very supportive of the cause, word has it he’s in with the very inner circle,” Dame Au’Vigne giggled, as if being in the inner circle of a murderous group of intruders was as delightful as a recent engagement.

“How interesting!” Jaskier said, affecting a jealous and impressed tone. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Geralt’s eyebrow twitch, the way it did when he was listening hard.

“Oh yes,” Dame Au’Vigne said. “And Lord Snapcase, in the corner, he...” and she went on, was the marvelous thing, she couldn’t seem to help herself but gossip about everyone. And she had all these details about how they were helping ‘the cause’. Destiny must have finally decided to throw Jaskier and Geralt a bone.

Then the appetizer course was finished and Jaskier felt much less lucky. Dame Au’Vigne was ushering him and Geralt out of their seats to dance. It wasn’t one of the quick, hopping around, switching partners dances either. No, the band seemed insistent on only slow, romantic music. 

Awkwardly, Geralt slid one large hand around Jaskier’s waist and they turned in slow circles on the dance floor. The witcher’s face looked like a thunderclap.

“Try and look like you’re having fun, darling,” Jaskier said. Please don’t look at me as though holding me is torture, his inner self begged.

“Hmmm,” Geralt said. Jaskier leaned in.

“Really dear heart,” he leaned in even closer, lips almost touching Geralt’s ear. “People are going to suspect something,” he said in the barest of whispers.

“Let them,” Geralt hissed back in the same fashion. “We’ve got the information, we can leave.” 

Jaskier, keeping up appearances, tossed his head back and let out a delighted shriek of laughter, as if Geralt had just told him a joke or, perhaps, made a wonderfully indecent proposal.

“Later, perhaps,” he said, stage-whispering for the sake of those around them. Leaning in again he whispered for real, “We can’t leave until the party’s over, no one else will, they’d send some of those soldiers after us for sure.”

The music changed, and Geralt and Jaskier’s slow circles changed speed with it. 

Geralt hissed in his ear again, “I don’t see why I had to be your,” this close Jaskier could see Geralt’s jaw working with distaste. “Lover.”

“Fiance,” Jaskier said, trying not to let his heart sink. It couldn’t possibly go any lower. “There’s a difference.”

They said no more to each other, and after the second dance, declined the third to sit back at their seats and await the arrival of the soup course.

The man sat beside Geralt was some old military man, mostly mustache and the rest of him was a rather musty and very old fashioned uniform. It had gold braid and a colonel’s insignia. The hat that sat next to his chair had a plume. 

He leaned over to Geralt and said, rather loudly, in a voice that implied tone deafness, to both volume and social situations, “Just marrying him for the money, eh?”

People to both sides of Jaskier and Geralt looked around. Dame Au’Vigne looked at them askance.

“Hmmm,” Geralt said. It was a negative answer to the colonel’s question, but the man didn’t take it as such.

“Often is the way,” the man nearly bellowed. “My missus hated me right up to the day she died.”

Jaskier curled in on himself. The role of Viscount wasn’t a big one, mostly administrative and, these days, completed by his sister Rowena, who was better at sitting behind a desk. Still, argued a battered part of his long ago but still proper upbringing. The name of Pankratz was being dragged through the mud. Lots of these people would know the name too, these sour, vindictive, unpleasant, murderous people. And they’d know the gossip, would have taken part in the gossip about ‘Young Julian running off to be a bard,’ (this generally said with the same tone as is usually leant to slave trader) and how ‘he’ll never find a good marriage now,’ how he was ‘a disgrace to the name.’ 

And here was their long awaited confirmation. Jaskier-Julian, couldn’t find a good marriage, was being wed only for his money. Of course, more than half the pairings here were only in it for the money, but to have it said, so loudly too, and before the wedding had even happened, it was social condemnation.

Jaskier looked down at the table cloth, his face hot. He’d faced social condemnation before, of course, he’d survive. What hurt was that Geralt wasn’t really protesting, Geralt couldn’t even pretend to like Jaskier, not for a single evening. Twenty years he’d done a good enough job of acting to convince even Jaskier, mostly, apart from the punches and the insults and...maybe Jaskier had been a little blind to the truth but still. 

It was ruining their cover though, so he protested quietly. “Not just for the money,” he said, patting Geralt’s hand where one fist wrapped around his goblet. “My fiance is just shy, that’s all.”

The damage was already done, but the old colonel hiccupped. “Well lad,” he said, giving Geralt a slap on the back. “This ale’s pretty good so drink up. Got me through three years of happy marriage, strong ale did.” The man took a slug of his own drink. “And fourty seven more unhappy years.” He guffawed hugely and unpleasantly, little drops of ale flinging from his mustache. 

Wherever the soul of the unpleasant man’s dead wife was, Jaskier felt sure she was happy to be away from this miserable old drunk.

Geralt, however, was looking at Jaskier. Their eyes met. Jaskier knew he probably looked as hunted as he felt, and his cheeks were probably still burning from the embarassment. Still, it seemed as though Geralt was about to say something. His golden eyes were full of emotion, but Jaskier couldn’t parse out what kind. 

Whatever kind it was, it caused Geralt to take the colonel’s advice and drink like there was no tomorrow. 

Great. Jaskier had driven his companion to drinking. 

He felt a little like doing so himself. 

The soup course was good, hot and savory, but underspiced. Geralt slurped it up gratefully. Jaskier knew that rich food was usually too much for his senses if it was spiced to Jaskier’s taste.

More dancing. Jaskier didn’t stand, at first, assuming that Geralt would rather sit and drink more. There were some snickers as people judged him. Geralt stood though, and he offered a hand and led Jaskier to the dance floor.

“You need to act drunk,” Jaskier whispered in his ear. “If you were a normal man you would be.”

“I am acting,” Geralt rumbled.

“You’re very steady for a drunk,” Jaskier sniffed.

“You said I was shy, now I’m less shy,” Geralt whispered. “And I’ve been drinking. So...drunk.” It was torture, being held like this, having that voice in Jaskier’s ear. That hand, so warm cupping his own. He wanted to cry.

A couple whirled past them. It was the Dame Au’Vigne, gossiping to some new dance partner. A snippet of her words caught them.

“-de Lettenhove. Entirely loveless of course. Unlovable, his father said once, of course as a bard-” then the tide of conversation and other dancers stole the rest of the words.

Jaskier sagged. His father hadn’t been a nice man, and unlovable wasn’t the worst of what he’d been called in his life, but now, with Geralt so close and so disgusted by the prospect...well, it hit a little close to home. 

“Laugh,” Geralt whispered in his ear.

“What?” Jaskier hissed.

“Like before, laugh like before, but...more so. Pretend I said a dirty joke.”

Jaskier did, heads turned as he pretended to laugh, half scandalized and half delighted at something Geralt said.

Geralt even chuckled along with him. Then his hand crept down Jaskier’s back to his hip. It wasn’t dirty. It was just so,so spine tinglingly close to dirty.

It was almost worse. If Geralt had gripped his ass that would have been bad, but this, Jaskier was left to speculate. He had a very active imagination. The couples next to them were giggling and tittering, scandalized, but not too much, at the pair.

They danced all three dances. During the second dance Geralt spun Jaskier out and then back in flashily, dipping him over one arm like a dainty maiden. Jaskier, who was no dainty maiden, knew the strength that elaborate dip must have taken and his head spun. The third dance was slow, and once again they simply held one another and turned in slow circles. Except Geralt pressed their cheeks together in a way that was so intimate that Jaskier finally gave in. Just tonight he had Geralt, all of him, his attention, his warmth. 

There was only so much a bard could take, and Jaskier gave in to the fantasy.

“I wonder how Yennefer is,” Geralt whispered. “And Ciri.”

It was like having cold water poured all over him. Jaskier’s fantasy shattered as soon as it had formed. Of course Geralt wasn’t enjoying this, of course his mind was elsewhere. He had a beautiful sorceress to think of, even if they weren’t sleeping together. Geralt and Yennefer and Ciri made the perfect, happy family. Where did Jaskier fit in to that?

He pulled back a little, already missing the warmth of Geralt’s cheek against his own. They finished the dance stiffly.

Back at the table, squished between Dame Au’Vigne and the colonel, the main course was awful. Jaskier couldn’t judge it on the food, which he barely tasted. Dame Au’Vigne and the colonel, however, had apparently come to the conclusion that Geralt or, Ludomir, rather, was marrying Jaskier for the money and the sex. They tittered, loudly and drunkely, to those around, and Geralt leaned in.

“Surely we can leave after this course,” he whispered.

Desperate to be rid of the charade, Jaskier thought. To not have to be engaged to me. “Can’t,” he whispered. “Have to stay for dessert and more dancing, else it looks suspect.”

“Hmmm.” It was a displeased hum.

“And, there will be small talk, with dessert. You need to say something, people will think you’re mute.”

“You two twitter into one another’s ears all the time,” Dame Au’Vigne said loudly. She was fully drunk off the sherry and very loud. “But not one kiss,” she lowered her voice, as if trying to be discreet. It didn’t work. “Is it truly as loveless as they say? I know you aren’t waiting until marriage.”

As who say? Jaskier thought. The only person quite that invested seems to be you.

“Not loveless,” Jaskier said. It seemed weak even to his ears.

“Surely you’ll join the dancing again, then,” Dame Au’Vigne said. 

“No,” Jaskier said, fiddling with his napkin. “I’m feeling quite too full to dance, ate too fast, I’m afraid.” He hoped she was too drunk to notice he’d picked at his plate. It seemed she was.

“Lovely little veranda, get some air there,” said a man who, according to Dame Au’Vigne, was shipping weapons to Nilfgaard behind the backs of multiple heads of state.

Jaskier nodded,stood, bowed, and made his escape. He sighed, but wasn’t surprised to find that Geralt had followed along behind. Of course he wanted to escape the party too, but Jaskier wanted to escape...him.

To his shame and surprise, he found tears in his eyes. The pressure of sitting in a room chock full of people who wanted to kill him, combined with the fact that every last one of them reminded him of being bullied in school, and add to that that he was supposed to be fake engaged to Geralt...it was too much. Fake engaged and even in their fake engagement Geralt didn’t like Jaskier. 

Jaskier’s rational brain knew that Geralt did like him, mostly. He just didn’t love him.

Jaskier leaned his elbows on the railing, overlooking some moonlit gardens, and felt the tears roll down his face.

“They think I don’t like you,” Geralt said quietly.

“Yes,” Jaskier said. He knew Geralt could smell the salt of his tears or whatever, but still turned his face away so the witcher couldn’t see.

“I danced with you though.”

Jaskier chuckled wetly. “Nobles dance with people they hate all the time.”

Geralt was quiet for a minute then, very gently, he took one of Jaskier’s hands. “I don’t hate you.”

It was too much, Jaskier started crying in earnest, sobbing.

“C’mon, Jaskier, I like you. A lot.” Geralt was, for him, panicking clearly. Jaskier almost smiled. He was so bad at dealing with other people’s emotion. And his own.

“You’re my friend,” Geralt said, a little stuntedly. “You know I’m not a good liar.”

Too much. Twenty-two years and he finally said the word ‘friends’ and Jaskier wanted more. He whipped around to face Geralt.

“Tell me the truth, then, Geralt. Tell me you love me, it doesn’t have to be the truth for forever, but can you love me just for a night? Can you make it the truth for tonight?” Jaskier’s tears were ugly and blobby and drying up fast but he continued.

“Because I’ve loved you so long I don’t know any other truth,” He leaned forward and planted his forhead on Geralt’s collarbone and sniffled through the last of his tears, curling one, shaking fist into Geralt’s lovely pale cape as he cried. “Just this one night, Geralt, love me back.”

He hadn’t meant to say any of it, was half expecting Geralt to toss him off the low balcony into the bushes below. 

Instead Jaskier was lifted by two strong arms and sat down on the railing. Warm, delightful lips pressed against his and suddenly he was being kissed within an inch of his life. 

“The truth, you want,” Geralt said, pulling back and panting. “Is the only one I can give. I can’t pretend to love you.” Here Geralt looked into Jaskier’s eyes, like being struck by lightning. “I only love you, no pretending, I swear it.”

“But-” Jaskier was cut off.

“They think I don’t like you,” Geralt said, furiously. “I think you think I don’t like you, Jaskier I like you, I love you so much I don’t know what to do and I’m...I’m not good with words. Or emotions.” Geralt’s shoulders dropped a little. “I just am, and the way I am is... The way I am is better with you.” 

Geralt’s face screwed up with anguish. “And I’m the reason you think I don’t like you, it’s my fault and that feels so...so bad. Yennefer’s been working with me on the feelings thing and always says ‘bad isn’t a feeling’ but I can’t tell you what all the feeling is.”

Jaskier was staring, mouth open, as frustrated, stilted, fumbling words left Geralt’s mouth. They sounded angry, but only at himself. Geralt was looking up at him as if seeking benediction.

“Tell me you love me again,” Jaskier said.

“I love you.”

“Again.”

“I love you.”

“Again.”

Jaskier giggled as Geralt lifted him and spun him around before tucking him in close and kissing his forehead.

“I,” he said.

A kiss to Jaskier’s nose. “Love.”

A deep, breathtaking kiss to his lips. “You.”

There was nothing left for Jaskier to say except, “wow.”

Geralt smiled, that lovely warm little smile he saved for special times and offered his arm to Jaskier. “Shall we?”

They paraded back into the ballroom and danced the final dance of the set. Geralt whispered a suggestion of what he’d really like for dessert and this time Jaskier didn’t have to fake the scandalized giggle. “Back home, perhaps,” he said.

Dessert meant more conversation with Dame Au’Vigne, which was of course unbearable. There was plenty of Champagne though, which was pretty good, and the bubbles seemed to fill Jaskier all the way up. He took pleasure in picturing the downfall of all these horrible people when Nilfgaard was finally defeated for good.

He especially enjoyed sticking it to her gossip when he fed Geralt a strawberry with cream from his fingertips and recieved a kiss in thanks. Geralt was clearly enjoying himself too. He had a sweet tooth, and that certainly helped, but his hand that never left Jaskier’s under the table was a much better clue.

They walked back to the inn, flushed and warm in the cool night air, bidding farewell to the other drunken lords and ladies all filtering to finer inns or grand coaches. 

Then they were alone on their path back, Geralt’s witcher senses confirming their isolation. Then, Geralt, who never told lies, whispered sweet nothings into Jaskier’s ear the entire way home. Jaskier believed every single one.

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It’s done, this one’s quite long and I loved writing it. Geralt is useless at playing pretend, but very good at loving Jaskier in his own way. I imagine his emotion lessons with Yennefer must have been rather intense. 

[startanewdream]

"Wish I'd left it there"

Hinny's first kiss in the movies really annoys me, but the script had a line about them talking about Tom Riddle's diary that was actually good (and missed in the books). I thought about that scene after seeing a giftset and then I just started writing a few words about a possible conversation between Harry and Ginny, the night before the Final Quidditch Match (aka the day before they kiss).

Hope it makes some sense!

There is a miserable look on Harry’s eyes that feels strangely familiar to Ginny. It is not that he doesn’t have any reason to be upset on this day; it is the evening of the final Quidditch match, Harry won’t play, he has weeks of detention ahead and he got scared after being involved with a dark art spell.

But the look on his eyes as he stares at the book on his hand - that is not related to any of these reasons.

She is not really surprised when she sees what book he is holding. The potions handbook that she knows was borrowed hurriedly at the library that morning, before Slughorn’s class. After all, Harry hid his original book the day before.

The Half-Blood Prince’s book.

The book that taught him many spells and gave him many tips, a book that Harry treated like an old friend, until… until the book betrayed him. That’s a feeling Ginny knows too well.

She remembers how it was after Christmas in her First Year, when she threw away Tom Riddle’s diary; she tried to get another book to replace it, a place where she could safely put her thoughts. She even wrote a few words, but it wasn’t the same.

Ginny remembers feeling betrayed by the diary, by what it made her do, and yet missing it like a part of herself. That’s the expression on Harry’s face.

He is alone on the couch in front of the fire. Ginny tells herself that she shouldn’t do anything - Ron and Hermione are probably more suited to talk to him, she has a few notes to study or she should even be sleeping before the last match -, but instead she finds herself drawn to Harry's side, sitting next to him.

‘Hey’, she tells and he jumps, his face colouring as it happens lately when she is near. Harry smiles, though it is more of a grimace, and Ginny tries not to let it bother her.

Before yesterday, before he casted that curse, Ginny could swear there was something happening between her and Harry - a sort of dance where they were getting closer and closer, almost touching and recoiling at the last moment, both of them waiting for the right signal to... to it happen. But ever since that story with the dark spell, Harry had withdrawn, avoiding to look at her as if he had let her down somehow, and Ginny had seen the shadow on his eyes as he talked about Dean rejoining the team.

Ginny doesn't really hate that half-blood prince for writing down a nasty spell, but she surely hates him for making Harry miserable. No book should have that power.

‘Hi’, he answers, a little late. ‘Thought you were sleeping already’.

‘Before the match? Too nervous’. She tries to grin, hoping it might infect him a little. ‘I was actually studying History of Magic’.

There is a faint amusement in his eyes now. ‘Wow’.

‘Yeah, I thought, it may make me sleepy or I might actually learn something. Win-win in any case’.

‘Sleepy is better’.

‘And there goes my attempt to get nine OWLS’.

‘Why nine?’

‘It’s more than Ron got. I hope it’s enough to ease Mom since I didn’t get the prefect badge’.

‘Who would want to be prefect?’

‘Not me - imagine being on rounds in a perfect nice Friday night?’, she asks, still light, and Harry looks around briefly, as if he only now realizes what was on Ginny’s mind for a while. They are nearly the last ones in the Common Room.

‘Oh’. Harry bits his lips, the pink in his skin now reaching his neck as the corners of his lips lift up. ‘It’s a nice night’.

And then, finally, Harry is looking at her as he does these days - eyes sparkling, nervous and excited at the same time, his gaze falling to her lips as if he feels drawn to it, before his eyes move to take in her face, every little detail, as if he was tasked to memorize it.

By the amount of time Ginny has caught him staring at her lately, she thinks he could draw her face if he wants to.

‘Ginny’, he whispers tentatively, and her lips part, tongue wettening them almost involuntarily; Harry’s eyes watch that movement and now there is fire on them. ‘I -’

But his words are cut when there is a heavy thump and they look down at the same time to watch the potions handbook opened on the floor. There are only the author’s writings on them; no words scribbled on the pages.

Harry backs away, his face troubled now. Ginny knows she ought to go away too, to give Harry an awkward smile and acknowledge that their moment is over, but she stays.

As easy as it feels when she is around him, it wasn’t to flirt that she went to talk to him in the first place.

‘It is not your fault’, she tells him bluntly. Harry eyes her warily.

‘I casted the spell. I won’t try to -’

‘I meant to trust him. That Prince guy’.

‘Oh’. He looks at the book on his hand. ‘Dunno. I feel stupid’.

‘For trusting a book that ended up disappointing you?’, she asks, inviting him to join her weird joke. Harry blushes, looking strangely flustered about what she is saying.

‘It is not like that, the diary was… truly evil’.

It seems like there is more he wants to say, but Harry looks away.

Ginny shrugs. ‘I know it was evil. Even then, even before I knew to whom it belonged, I knew it was evil and still… I missed it a lot. I tried to get rid of it twice, you know?’

Harry shakes his head. ‘I know about that time you threw it away in Moaning Myrtle’s toilet’.

She gives a reluctant laugh. ‘Not by best moment’, she acknowledges. Harry almost smiles. ‘Before that, before Christmas, I tried to hide in the same place you did. The Room of Requirement, though I didn’t know then what it was. Wish I’d left it forever’.

‘Oh. I never knew’.

‘Yeah, and I spent all holiday Christmas missing it like hell. I was miserable. I thought about it all the time. I would get angry when I saw other books, because it wasn’t the one I wanted’. She pauses. ‘No wonder I took it back first thing’.

Harry looks sheepishly, understanding what she means. ‘I won’t take it back’, he whispers. ‘Not just because of Snape finding out, I just - I just don’t want it right now’.

‘He betrayed you’, she summarizes. Harry startles as if he didn’t think about it in those terms before. ‘I think you should leave it there for a while. Try to forget it. Don't get too attached to it’.

‘Clean myself out of it?’

‘You are not tainted’, she says. Not like she was, she thinks.

Harry’s eyes are hard now, fierce. ‘Neither are you’, he tells her. ‘That diary… his soul… there is nothing of him on you. You are bright and powerful in a way Voldemort could never be’.

She should shudder at the name, but with the way Harry says it, with the resolution in his eyes that leave no room for her self-doubt, Ginny doesn’t fear Voldemort. Harry may have spoken about her brightness, but she thinks his lightness is powerful too, much stronger than the shadow of Voldemort’s name.

‘You can love’, he adds, his voice tender now, and though Ginny can think of a lot of people that she loves - her family, her friends -, she thinks of another type of love, one that she hopes to share with someone someday.

Not anyone. Maybe a special someone, she thinks, admiring the green in his eyes.

‘You can too’, she whispers back. There is a flash of surprise on his eyes, and Ginny wonders if Harry ever heard that he is loved; if he remembers it. But she doesn’t doubt that he can love and he knows it; he is too compassionate to not feel love.

And she wonders if he ever thinks of sharing a different kind of love with someone too.

But for now, she just picks up the book on the floor and gives it back to him.

‘It is just a book’, she says, raising.

Harry nods. ‘Just a stupid book’, he agrees.

‘I’m gonna sleep now - good night, Harry’.

‘Good night’. There is a pause. ‘Catch the snitch tomorrow, yes?’

‘I will wait for you with the snitch on my hand’, she promises him, giving him a small smile. ‘It’s a promise’.

Something flickers in Harry’s eyes, a faint glint of hope that makes Ginny think that tomorrow might be better. Tomorrow might be the day where their dance change tunes. ‘I’ll be waiting’.

[havethetimeofyourstyles]

in which harry stumbles across your livestream.

a/n: alright lovelies! here is my submission for bificathon hosted by my two lovely friends @bopbopstyles & @harrysclementines !! my prompt is ‘harry accidentally stumbles upon a livestream of her and her friend’ and let me tell you, I SNATCHED THIS SO QUICK! its my first time writing gxg smut, so pls be nice :’). also september is bi awareness month, so happy bi month babies! you’re so all beautiful and valid <3

enjoy 4k words of bi/camgirl!yn x roommate/best friend!harry filled with girl x girl smut/filth

come into my inbox and send feedback and let’s talk about this!

pls rb to share! <3

It was Harry’s usual Thursday night when he found himself lying in his bed with his laptop on his lap and a plate of his dinner in his hands. 

He was binge watching interior home designers on Netflix, letting out an ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ as they revealed the finished homes, practically envisioning his future home the same way. 

Thursday nights were practically the start of his weekend as he didn’t have classes on Fridays, and usually his friends and him would hang out, but he really just didn’t feel like going out nor did he have the social capacity to hang out and get drunk when he’s probably going to do that on Friday and Saturday. 

He simply just wanted a break, and that included staying inside and watching interior designers flip a house completely different, and eating his dinner. And he wasn’t ashamed that he enjoyed it. 

After a few episodes and an empty plate, Harry paused the next episode before it even started to put his plate away and grab a glass of water. As he was washing his plate, he heard the door open and close, followed by hushed giggles and whispers. 

“Shh. Harry might be asleep,” a voice said, but he knew it was you. You knew that he liked to sometimes sleep early, but he thought it was too early to be asleep, seeing as it was only eight p.m. 

“I’m actually in here,” he chuckled, making himself present with his voice. 

“Oh!” You said surprisingly, and another laugh was heard. 

You made your way to the kitchen, your guest following behind you as you saw Harry in just a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. 

“Hey, H,” you greeted. 

“Hi, love. Have fun tonight?” He asked. You had went to the bar to chill out from the many essays you had to write and exams you had to take, and Thursday nights were also a start to your weekend as well, so fuck it. 

“Yeah, I did, thanks for asking. This is Daniela, by the way,” you introduced the girl you had met at the bar. 

You had seen Daniela right when you walked in as her and her friends were sitting at the table right next to the entrance, and she immediately caught your eye. She looked right back at you, giving you some flirty eyes herself as you were dragged away by your friends and straight to the bar. 

After a few drinks and rounds of dancing with your best girlfriends, you saw Daniela walk over to the bar and order some drinks, so you decided that it was your chance to go up to her. 

You two had immediately hit it off, getting to know one another. She told you that she was a lesbian, and you proudly told her that you were bisexual. You also found out that you’re both in the same bio-chem class together, which definitely raised the excitement as she suggested studying together and you happily said yes. Then there was dancing while you two were both buzzed, completely forgetting your friends as you grinded against each other and kissed, not caring that you were practically putting on a show for everyone around you. 

And when you suggested that you took her home, she immediately said yes, and you dragged her outside as you waited for the Uber you called. 

“Nice to meet you, Daniela. I’m Harry,” he introduced himself, shaking her hand. “Her roommate and friend-”

“Best friend. C’mon, Harry, don’t put yourself lower than that,” you corrected and he smiled. 

“Alright, alright. My bad,” he laughed. 

“So, we’re gonna go to my room,” you winked him as Harry said ‘have fun’ before cleaning up a bit in the kitchen. 

He was glad that one of you was getting laid. He also noticed how happy you were, which he absolutely adored, and he thinks it has to do with the fact that you came out a year ago, and you’re now living your life to the fullest and happiest, and that’s all he wants; is for you to be happy with yourself and in general.

Harry met you at the end of freshman year of college as your friend groups met up with each other at a bar. He was a bit more shy than the rest of his friends, and didn’t immediately mingle with everyone until a few drinks in. But as you introduced yourself to his friends, you noticed him sitting down at the bar, not interacting with anyone. You were also somewhat on the quiet side, but was able to handle introducing yourself, so you completely understood why Harry acted the way he did when you two met. 

“Hey, not feeling it tonight?” You asked, taking a seat next to him. 

“Eh, not one for going up to people and initiating a conversation,” he said nervously. 

“I get that. Makes me nervous to go up to someone and talk to them, but I’m trying to get over that, so here’s me trying,” you chuckled as did he. 

“Well, we gotta drink to that then,” he said, and it took him by surprise that he was able to make a joke and laugh. 

It could have definitely been the liquid courage, but he was starting to warm up to you; joking around and becoming less tense as you two talked and drank. But that was because you were making him comfortable, to which he appreciated very much. 

Since then, you two have been by each other’s side. He told you that your friends kind of intimidated him because they were very out there, and that made you laugh slightly because it was very true, but you made sure to be by his side whenever your groups hung out. 

The group hangouts turned into one-on-one hangouts with just you and Harry. He was definitely more comfortable with you, and he really enjoyed your company and presence. 

Both of your friends had expected you two to end up together, but you two realized that you were better off as friends—who knows if you two will end up together, but for now, you were happy being best friends with him as was he. 

It was a year, the end of sophomore year, when you wanted to move out of the dorms. It wasn’t like you didn’t like your friends and roommates, but sometimes you wanted your own space and that didn’t help when there’s two other people in the same room as you. 

So Harry suggested that you both find a flat together since he was on the lookout for a flat anyways, and it’ll help him a ton with bills and whatnot. You excitedly said yes after you asked him if he was sure that he wanted to move in with you, and if he was extra sure that he wanted to since you’d be there when he would take home people. He laughed, and said that he didn’t care and wanted to live with you, saying it’ll be fun. You both had gotten quite close throughout that year and practically told each other everything, so it’ll be even better to live with someone you both trust. 

Junior year of uni, he noticed that you always came home with a sad frown on your face, briefly saying hi to him before going straight to your room and locking yourself up for hours. Harry tried figuring out why you were in such a mood all the time, and tracked his steps, seeing if he said anything wrong that made you upset. But he couldn’t figure it out as you both always had light and fun conversations during breakfast and dinner. 

And the frown went on for months until you both came back from Christmas break, and you told him that you had to tell him something very important. 

“Love, you can tell me anything, you know that right?” He said, reassuring you. 

“Yeah. It’s just…I’m nervous to,” you said, shaking your leg. Harry really wondered what happened during break that made you so anxious. He was worried that you wanted to move out and not live with him anymore, but he had to remind himself that it was probably not even about him as he told you to take your time. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll be here when you’re ready,” he said, and you nodded, giving him a smile before you walked off to your room to gather your thoughts. 

An hour later, you came out of your room and found Harry sitting on the couch, watching a film. You sat next to him, and he immediately turned off the TV, giving you his full attention.

You took a deep breath and started, “What I was trying to say earlier was that something about me has changed, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you when I was still figuring it out, but I was just scared of what you would think,” you said. Harry started to get concerned, but he let you finish talking before he said anything. “So, I’ve always had an attraction towards girls, and I thought it was just me thinking a girl was pretty, but when I started to get nervous and flustered when a girl would talk to me, I realized that I really like them, and I would find myself flirting with them and longing to have something romantic with them. And then when I went back home for break, I met up with a childhood friend, and somehow…we kissed. It was so magical that it made my stomach flutter.” 

Harry had smiled softly as you told your story; knowing where this conversation was going, but of course, he stayed silent and let you talk. 

“So what I’m trying to tell you is that… I’m bi,” you had said nervously, hands shaking in your lap. You were trying to contain your tears from falling from your face as you shook your leg. 

“Love, I’m so happy for you,” he replied, opening his arms to comfort you from the anxiety you were feeling from telling him. You had softly sobbed into his shoulder, feeling the weight on your shoulders disappear as you had finally told the person you were closest to and who you trust the most. 

“R-Really?” You said as you pulled away from his hold. 

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I be? I’m happy that you can be whoever you want to be and I’m here to support you,” he said, holding your arms and running his hands over your skin. 

“Thank you, Harry,” you smiled at him, feeling ultimately grateful for your best friend and his acceptance. 

Harry smiled at the memory as he heard giggles through your door, and he chuckled as he finished cleaning before heading to his room. He was feeling a bit tired and despite it being a bit earlier than his usual bedtime, he decided to call it a night a try to get some sleep, deciding that he could go on a run in the morning since he was sleeping early. 

But after an hour of tossing and turning, he gave up trying to get a restful sleep, and opened his laptop to put on some Netflix, hoping it would lull him into a deep slumber. He was comfortably watching a random show until his hand grazed his crotch, and he realized he hadn’t relieved himself nor had he had sex in a while. 

So, he pushed his boxers down his legs, kicked them off the bed, and took off his shirt before he grabbed some lube and pumped his cock as it immedately hardened in his hand. He began touching himself in the darkness of his room as he quietly groaned out and threw his head back on his pillow. 

Realizing he doesn’t have some kind of visual, he stops to search up cam girl sites on the internet so he can get a mental image in his head to get him off. He finally settled on one user that was doing a live stream called ‘KISSYPLS’ as the preview was a girl going down on another with a purple ambiance to the room. The room was dark, but not dark enough where he couldn’t see the two girls. 

The sound of the moans from his laptop were quite loud and he didn’t want you to hear it all the way from your room, so he grabbed some headphones from his bedside table, plugging in his earbuds into his ears as the sounds of the girls moaned and talked dirty to each other. 

“You taste so fuckin’ good,” the girl that was doing the eating out said before she crawled her way up to the other’s body. 

And the slightest moment as Harry was watching, the girl on her back had shifted down a bit as they kissed, and Harry’s eyes flew wide open once he glanced. He saw the face that he wouldn’t have expected he would see. 

His roommate. His best friend. It was you. 

You were being eaten out on his computer screen by Daniela, and he was in complete shock. He honestly hadn’t expected to find you because it was just a random scroll through the site, but holy fuck. 

You hadn’t had your account for very long—maybe about three months. But you thought it was a good way to make some extra money because the bills were stacking up and they had to be paid off somehow. And you loved the idea of getting off in front of a camera for random strangers who pay to see that shit. 

And of course, Harry didn’t know you were a cam girl at all. He hadn’t seen that coming when he was looking for something to get off to. But he wasn’t complaining. He just didn’t expect you to be the one on the other side of the screen. But there you were, showing your body and having sex with someone on camera for the (as shown) 27 people watching who are also horny as fuck. 

You as a person are already beautiful, he knew that, but your body was something else. The way your tits were shown so clearly on his screen with your tattoo that was inked right next to your left tit; as the purple light hit your skin. He wanted to take them in his mouth and devour them. 

You were sprawled out onto the bed, naked as Daniela was kissing you, and he couldn’t stop looking at you as your face looked while kissing someone. He was in complete shock that he stopped stroking himself, his dick in his hands as he watched you two make out. But once his cock twitched from the sight of your ass sticking up, getting a view of your glistening pussy and ass, he continued. 

You flipped Daniela onto her back, making her squeal in surprise before you started kissing down her body, leaving small and sweet kisses to her soft skin. You took her nipples into your mouth, sucking on it lightly as she moaned. Once you were lying on your stomach between her legs, you gave her inner thighs a kiss before licking one long strike up her pussy. You generally loved the way girls taste rather than guys, so your mouth salivates more when you’re with women, eating them out and tasting them, and pleasuring them to their orgasm.

You tongue focused on her clit, licking her sensitive bud relentlessly as your arms were looped under her thighs, and your hand reached up to grab one of her breasts, taking her nipple in between your finger and lightly pulling it. 

“Oh, fuck,” she moaned. Her voice was much more high pitched than normal, but you think it’s hot as fuck. “Like that.” 

That encouraged you to continue sucking on her clit, and you brought your free hand to plunge two fingers into her wet pussy, curling up to meet the soft spot inside of her. Daniela’s back arched off the bed as her hair was spread out onto the pillow as she grabbed a fistful of your sheets into her hands. You pulled your mouth away from her to place your hand on her clit, rubbing it fast as you continue to finger fuck her. Daniela was an absolute mess above you, chanting that she was going to come as a way to manifest her orgasm. 

“C’mon, beautiful. Cum for me,” you encouraged her, the sound of your voice had made Daniela and Harry moan out with how sultry and seductive you sounded. Daniela’s peak washed over her as her hips bucked up, but you placed your arm on top of her thigh to stop her from moving as you calmed her down from her high. You licked her up once more, collecting her juices on your tongue before climbing up her body to connect your lips with her. Daniela could taste herself on you, and it turned her on even more despite just having an orgasm. 

Harry watched as you two kissed for a while. She wrapped her arms around your back, pressing her body against yours as you two made out, swirling your tongues together. Harry fondled his balls, intensifying the feeling before going back to stroke his cock. He gripped on his long hair with his other hand, so it felt like someone was in the room pulling his hair for him, and he closed his eyes. With the feeling of his orgasm coming, he was about ready to pump faster so he could get to his peak, but he heard your voice again. 

“I’m not done with you yet. Wanna cum again?” You asked her, and she nodded eagerly. “Want you to cum when I say so,” you told Daniela, and she nodded. Harry slowed his movements down as if he felt like you were personally talking to him, even though a lot of people on her live stream felt the way he did once she said those words. 

You fixed the laptop, pushing it back a little but still pointing it down to your bodies rather than your face. Giving Daniela a kiss, you situate yourself, putting one leg over her and the other under. You reach between you two, inserting your finger in her wet hole and bringing that wetness to her clit, and she does the same to you. 

Slowly moving closer to one another, you touch clits, rubbing it against each other as you two moaned out. The sounds coming from both of your mouths were loud enough that Harry had heard them from his room, and it genuinely felt like he was in the same room as he was also watching it on his screen. 

“Fuck, I wanna cum,” he groaned to himself. 

“You wanna cum?” You said, rubbing yourself on her and she whimpered out a ‘mhm,’ and you proceeded to grind faster. 

“Yeah, please let me,” Harry moaned. 

The feeling of both your wetness rubbing together was sending you over the edge as you felt like you were going to explode. Your moans had gotten louder, and you really hoped Harry was wearing some sort of headphones with loud music because you felt bad that you were being this loud, but you couldn’t help it. 

But little did you know that Harry was listening to everything. 

You felt like Daniela had waited long enough to release, so you grabbed her face gently, giving her a kiss. “Go ahead. Cum for me,” you said breathlessly as you were going to let go after she was done. 

Once Harry heard those words, he sighed in relief, letting out a loud groan as his orgasm was released onto his stomach. His abs clenched and his hips bucked into his hand. He grabbed a pillow and bit on it, concealing his moans as he came down from his high. With his chest heaving up and down, he looked over at his laptop to see you breathing deeply and he knew that you had just orgasmed as well. 

Your orgasms had hit both of you hard as you were left sprawled out on the bed, laying on opposite sides as your legs were still entangled with one another. Daniela sat up, pulling your body towards her, and she kissed you deeply, still feeling entirely breathless. 

“God, you’re amazing,” she said against your lips, and you smiled into the kiss. The live stream was still going on, so Harry continued watching you two interact with one another post orgasm. “Kinda wanna use that dildo of yours on you,” she smirked, and you chuckled, nodding your head eagerly. 

“Like a threesome, but with a dildo,” you joked, and she laughed. 

“Maybe we should have one?” 

“What? A threesome?” You asked, pulling back, and she nodded her head and shrugged her shoulders. 

“Yeah, why not?” 

“With who?” 

Just on cue, a knock was heard on your door quite loud, making you and Daniela turn your heads towards the door. Before you even had the chance to even get up, the door opened, revealing Harry in just his boxers. You couldn’t help but look down at his crotch area and see his cock hard. 

“Done with the show ladies?” He asked, smirking. The two of you were still completely naked, but neither of you cared to make an effort to cover yourselves. 

“W-What?” You stuttered and looked at Daniela as she had no clue what was going on either. 

“Watched your live stream,” he finally said, and your eyes widened. 

“How did you find it?” You asked, moving towards the edge of the bed, and Daniela stayed behind near the headboard. 

“By coincidence, I swear,” he said, walking towards you. “Was just scrolling and I was horny as fuck, and I stumbled upon it.” 

“D-Did you like it?” A nervous tone came with your words, and it was strange because you’ve never been nervous with Harry, except the time you came out to him. A huge part of you wanted him to say he liked it and that he enjoyed the show, and you really hoped he did. 

He stood in between your legs and looked down at you as you looked up. The sight below him was just something that irked him; you looking up at him with wide eyes, acting innocent and him looking down at you with a raging hard on, begging to be touched by you and your mouth. He placed his hands on both sides of your face, caressing your warm cheek as he studied you for a moment. The smear of mascara that laid under your eyes and your flushed cheeks made his cock twitch. 

Just from watching your live stream, he noticed that you were quite dominant in bed with girls. But with how you’re looking at him, wanting validation and reassurance from him, you’re submissive with men (or just him in general).

His stare was intimidating, and the dark purple light illuminating your room didn’t help. He’s never seen you naked and bare, so that added to the stress of if he likes what he sees. But you were surprised that you didn’t want to cover up in front of him. Throughout the years of being best friends and roommates, you two have never fucked. Although you have kissed multiple times, it was purely platonic and sometimes you just needed a kiss every once in a while. And as your best friend, Harry was happy to help. 

“Of course I fucking loved it. Wanna know my favorite part?” You smiled softly, nodding slowly as you looked at him with big and innocent eyes. He bent down, matching your eye level before he whispered, “Well, first of all you, of course. Looked so damn beautiful, I swear.” You blushed, and he continued. “But the part when Daniela suggested a threesome just a minute ago. If you and her are up with me being a plus one, then I am. Your wish is my command,” he said softly, kissing your nose.

Daniela gasped behind you, a big smile on her face as she crawled to the edge of the bed, wrapping her arms around your waist and kissed your shoulder before she spoke. 

“Well, looks like we’re gonna have a lot of fucking fun.” 

[cockatrice-writers-guild]

LOVESTORY - Chp 14

kiss kiss fall into oblivion

warnings: swearing

Ah, prom night. The Big Night. The night of love and disappointment. Students rented nice clothes to wear on this special night in an attempt to woo the person of their dreams. There would be first kisses and heart wrenching rejections. Tentative steps on the dance floor and quiet sobbing in the bathroom. It would be horrible. It would be magical. The night where everything changed forever.

I shovelled another handful of chips into my face. I was at home, in my PJs, sitting on my bed and watching a show.

So, about the Thad situation. After that talk with Jeffery, I had started looking for an opportunity to tell him but a good one just never came up (or I was too much of a coward to seize the moment). Then I’d remembered prom. It was an ideal situation. I could ask him to prom and then base if I’d tell him or not on his reaction (if he was okay with it then maybe I’d tell him how I felt like halfway through the prom so he could let me down slowly and we could decide what to do from there. And if the very thought of going to prom with me weirded him out then I’d say I just wanted to go as friends and never tell him how I felt). It was fool proof! Except before I could even begin to work up the courage to ask him, he spotted a prom poster and started ranting about how much he hated the culture (though he made some good points) so I didn’t. It was better that way anyway.

About 7 episodes in, I felt the telltale quakes of velki steps in the distance. I ignored them. It was probably some other velki since Thad hadn’t said anything about coming over. I tried to focus on the show, a task that was becoming progressively more difficult to do as the quakes became more and more intense. He wouldn’t come here unannounced, would he? We had a treaty.

When one final tremor, the footsteps stopped. I held my breath, hoping maybe a velki had just gotten lost or something. I had a full night of slacking off and self-loathing planned and I absolutely could not afford to miss it.

My phone buzzed.

Thaddeus: hey im coming over

Thaddeus: be ready in about 3 seconds

That. JERK.

And then (about 3 seconds later), he was looking into my bedroom. I don’t even know why I kept the window uncovered anymore. He studied me for a few seconds before rolling his eye as if to say ‘Really?’

I shrugged and stuffed another chip into my mouth before raising an eyebrow in question.

He blinked at me (or maybe it was a wink) before moving away from the window. Typical.

He tapped on the front door and my parents answered it. I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying but judging by the sound of feet rushing up the steps after he finished, it wasn’t good. I had just enough time to mentally prepare myself for the worst before Dad burst through the door, a proud smile on his face.

“You didn’t tell me you had a prom date!” he said, excitedly.

I didn’t!

“I’ll let you get ready! Don’t want to keep him waiting!” he said, apparently completely unbothered by the fact that I was still in my pj’s.

I had the courtesy to wait for him to leave the room before diving for my phone.

Syren: WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Thaddeus: 😊

Syren: ???

Thaddeus: its a surprise

Thaddeus: just wear something prom worthy

Syren: I thought you didn’t like prom?

Thaddeus: i dont

Thaddeus: just trust me

Syren: But my shows

Thaddeus: read 9:23

Syren: Bruh

Thaddeus: read 9:24

I sighed and put my phone down before drawing the curtains over my window and walking over to my closet. My style was the classic ‘Please Don’t Look At Me I Beg Of You’ so I didn’t think any of my dresses were flashy enough (or anything enough) for prom but after some blank staring, I managed to single out a pale pink dress with a bow on the back that I barely wore. It had one feature. Surely that would be enough.

I put in on and checked myself in the mirror. Yup. I sure was wearing a dress. I always wore dresses though. I needed something to make this outfit special. After mulling it over, I pulled some of my hair into a ponytail and tied it with a matching pink bow. That would have to do. I wondered what Thad would think of it. I still didn’t know what he was playing at.

I grabbed a small purse (for decoration purposes. My dress had pockets) and slung it over my shoulder before placing my hand on the doorknob. Taking a breath, I slowly opened the door and was about to head down when I heard Dad.

“You really know how to clean up, young man,” Dad said.

Clean up?

“You know, I had my doubts about you before. I thought you were nothing but a hooligan but I guess you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, huh.”

“…thank you, Mr. Jones.” That was Thad, currently in the process of dying. I had to help him.

I closed the door as quietly as possible, counted to 3 and threw it open again so hard it bounced against the wall. The conversation downstairs seized instantly.

I made my way down the stairs, ignoring the sly looks my parents were shooting each other, and put on a pair of dress shoes. I waved to my parents and stepped into the cool night air. Thad was crouched down in front of the house, towering over it and literally everything else at the moment but that wasn’t what caught my attention. No no. What caught my attention was the fact that he was wearing a suit. A SUIT. LIKE WITH A TIE AND EVERYTHING. AND HIS HAIR WAS SLICKED DOWN. I ALMOST DIDN’T RECOGNIZE HIM. He looked so uncomfortable, it took every ounce of self control I had not to burst out laughing right there and then.

He took me in and his eyes widened though I wasn’t sure why. Then he looked away, covering his mouth with his hand (probably to contain his own laughter) and I noticed that he had even removed the black polish from his nails. He really was going all out. I felt kinda bad.

He turned back to me after a few seconds, a smile on his face.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

I nodded and he set his hand down in front of me, waiting until I climbed on and sat down before slowly standing up.

“Bring her back by midnight!” Mom called to him.

“Yes ma’am,” he replied, matching her cheeriness.

Then he turned and walked back to the gates of the city.

After a few minutes of walking in silence (and still not telling me what we were doing), Thad looked over his shoulder, seeming to decide on something. I watched as he raised his free hand to his painstakingly groomed hair and raked his hand though it, completely messing it up. Oh. He then held me closer (probably so I wouldn’t fall) and shook it out for good measure. The gel made it stick out at weird angles. He wiped his hand off on his pant leg and shot me a wicked grin. …we weren’t going to prom, were we?

Thad stepped out of the city and was about to leave when a sudden burst of laughter from below made him stop. He turned to see Jeffery laughing from inside his booth.

Jeffery wiped a tear out of his eye and tried to calm down. “You know how I said, ‘Looking sharp, kid’ earlier?”

“Yeah?” Thad replied good-naturedly as he crouched down in front of the booth.

“Well, I take that back.” They both burst into laughter and I smiled.

“Syren, get down here. I wanna see you,” Jeffery called to me even though we both knew I had no control over that.

Thad lowered his hand to the ground and I got off.

Jeffery studied me carefully before nodding to himself. “You look absolutely ravishing,” he concluded. He placed his hands on my shoulders. “You have fun tonight, okay?”

I smiled and nodded.

Still looking at me, he said in a stage whisper (that was way louder than his actual voice), “Though honestly honey, you could do so much better.”

“Hey!” Thad exclaimed. Then they were laughing again and I was too. Soon, I was back in Thad’s hand and he rose up again.

Then he turned left.

Jeffery laughed. “School’s the other way, you know!”

“I know!”

Oh no.

“You bring her back by midnight,” Jeffery called. “Or you'll have to answer to me!”

“For you, I’ll think about it!”

Then Thad started walking the wrong way. To add to my growing list of concerns, he then used his free hand to block my view of where we were going.

“Don’t want to ruin the surprise!” he said, cheerfully.

Oh dip.

Thad continued walking for quite some time, maybe 30ish minutes, before I smelled greenery and heard the rustling of grass replace the pavement. Also crickets. Besides that, it was quiet.

Finally, he stopped walking and looked down at me, his eyes shining.

“Ready?” he asked, his voice hushed as if he didn’t want to disturb the peace of wherever we were.

I nodded with some trepidation.

He slowly raised his hand and I took in the new surroundings. We were at a park. Velki sized by the looks of it but beautiful all the same. The dim lighting provided by the moon and the lampposts here and there made the park look almost other worldly. We appeared to be alone.

Thad slowly sat down in the grass and I saw that he was leaning against a velki sized tree. The moonlight made him look almost other worldly too. The improvised hair style suited him much better than the well-groomed one and I’d be lying to myself if I said he didn’t look stunning right now.

He brought the hand holding me upward so we were face to face and then just stared at me. I stared back, uncertain. I could feel a blush building. What did he want?

He cracked a smile. “You went kind of overboard with the whole prom thing, huh.”

I gestured vaguely at him.

He laughed and the sound filled the quiet air. It was loud and intense and comforting all at the same time and there wasn’t a whole lot I wouldn’t do just to hear-. I stopped that train of thought and boxed it up as best as I could. “Yeah, I guess I kind of went overboard too. I just didn’t want your parents to chase me off. It had to be convincing.”

He paused to give me a onceover. “Not that they could have stopped me from taking you.”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Kidding. You of all people should know that I genuinely fear your parents.”

I waited.

“…but theoretically, if you climbed out your window-”

THERE IT IS.

Thad went off on this tangent for a while, talking about all the ways I could sneak out, both with and without his help and I just…took him in. The way his eyes lit up when he was passionate. The way he smiled when he spoke. The way his hands gestured (including the one I was on to an extent) when he was really getting into something. Man, I really did redacted him.

…and he would never *static* me back. I was literally nothing compared to him. And I never would be. And he’d probably forget all about me as soon as we graduated and fall for a beautiful, confident velki and his eyes were just so captivating and-

“You look beautiful,” he suddenly whispered.

I jumped at the sudden change of tone. Guess he’d already finished contemplating my Great Escape. Oops. I really just lamented over the way he was when he was passionate and I’d stopped listening to him. Wow I really wa-

Wait, what did he say?

“Beautiful,” Past Thad informed me. My heart fluttered (read: jackhammered) and I felt myself turning red as a tomato. Me? In this? BEAUTIFUL? But it was barely different from what I usually wore. Was he messing with me? Still, compliments were meant to be returned.

Since the whole ‘bye’ thing (and with a lot of effort. Like, a lot), I’d managed to go from being completely unable to talk to Thad to just very much preferring not to (on good days but still, progress!). I felt my throat constrict slightly but fought it off.

“-look beautiful too,” I tried. My voice only cooperated after the first word and it was an octave higher than it really needed to be but it was serviceable.

Thad grinned. “Thanks.”

It took a few seconds of staring to realize I still had no idea why we were actually here. In this park. At night. In prom clothes. And what was the surprise?

“…why are…?” I barely managed to ask. Ugh. The quiet and Thad’s staring were making me self conscious.

“Right! The surprise!” he said, as if he’d temporarily forgotten why he walked all the way here in the first place. “Okay, so you’ll need to close your eyes for this. And no peeking.”

And despite all the wariness and self-loathing, I did. Because at the end of the day, Thad was still my best (only) friend and I trusted him.

I felt Thad’s hand (and by proxy, myself) move forward and held my breath. There was a pause. “Oh, yeah,” Thad said, his voice much closer than before (I could even feel his breath on me). “You…might want to brace yourself.”

…WHAT?

And then something soft and warm and slightly damp pressed against my face and basically my entire upper body. My eyes flew open and I found myself staring at an extreme close up of a pair of lips. As in Thad’s lips. As in he was pressing me against his lips. AS IN HE WAS KISSING ME.

My blush could probably be seen from space. I was going to explode. Thad pulled away after a few seconds. Or maybe it was a few hours. Who knows? Who cares? All I knew was that I wanted to run through a flowery meadow while screaming at the top of my lungs like that girl from The Sound Of Music but like…on crack.

Thad inspected me with a soft smile on his face. He was blushing too now.

“You have no idea how long I wanted to do that,” he said wishfully.

When I didn’t respond or make any indication that I had heard him (I was still completely paralyzed by shock), he reached out and gently poked me.

“Hey,” he said. “You okay?”

More than okay. I’d never been happier. And before I even knew what I was doing, I was up. (He wanted to kiss me.) I was walking to the edge of his palm. To his face. To his lips. (He’d wanted to kiss me for a while now.) Thad’s eyes widened at my approach but he didn’t move away. In fact, I think he drew closer. I reached up with my hands and grabbed his face or at the very least as much of it as I could. I leaned forward. (He…he loved me.) And pressed my face into his lower lip. (Why did he love me?)

-

Ugh.

“-n!”

Everything was black. So tired. I heard someone shouting in the distance.

“-ren!”

I was lying on my back. My head was pounding.

“Syren!”

Thad. He sounded worried. Also really far away.

“SYREN!”

Ow. Okay, that one did not sound far away.

I opened my eyes and found myself staring up at a blurry version of Thad’s face. I blinked a few times and the world slowly came back into focus. Thad seemed to relax, if only slightly. I’d passed out? While kissing him? I pulled out my phone and took a few seconds too long to type out a message.

Syren: How long was I out?

“I don’t know, like…30 seconds? How are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you want me to take you home?”

Ugh. Too many questions. I just shrugged. The action took more effort than usual.

“You passed out while kissing me,” he stated and barked out a slightly hysterical laugh. “I am so sorry.”

Was he…flustered? His cheeks were still tinged a slight pink.

“I mean, I’m glad you feel the same way and all but like, holy shit are you okay?”

Slowly, I lifted one of my hands. Thad watched me intensely as I did this. I gave him a thumbs up.

Thad laughed, visibly relieved.

“You know, I was going to take you to dinner after this but seeing how you just fainted…maybe we could just stay here and…I don’t know, uh-” he looked around, “…stargaze?”

I was okay with that. I couldn’t really move my head without setting of an explosion so I smiled by way of answering.

“Syren,” Thad said, his voice turning serious, “I don’t think you understand how cute you’re being right now.”

Thad stood up and walked around for a bit before he found a spot he was okay with. The view of the sky wasn’t blocked from here. Thad carefully lay down before slowly sliding me off his hand so I was lying on his chest.

We lay in silence for some time and my brain gradually stopped throbbing. As I stared up at the cosmos, I tried to wrap my head around the fact that Thad actually reciprocated my feelings. Like he…he l*ved me. Me. How? And when did that happen? …HOW LONG HAD HE WANTED TO KISS ME?

…what was he thinking about right now?

Eventually, I sat up and turned to face him. He propped his head up with his arm so he could see me better and I pulled out my phone.

Syren: So

Syren: How long have you

Ugh. I couldn’t say it.

Syren: You know

“What, you mean llllllllllllllooooooooooooooved you?” he said, stretching out the word as long as physically possible. Every second caused my face to dive one shade deeper into the wonderful spectrum of red (though saying the word made him blush too so…I guess it was a draw). I buried my face in my hands and nodded.

“I’m…not really sure, honestly. It took me a while to even realize that I…yeah. What about you?”

Syren: Same

Syren: I didn’t even realize it though

Syren: Carol had to tell me

Thad snorted.

“Though to be fair, I thought I had some kind of rare disease so I learned I was in love from the Internet. In love or dying.”

I snorted.

“I mean, can you blame me? Erratic heartrate. Frequent flushing of the face. What could only be described as light-headedness. Love is terrifying.”

I couldn’t argue with that. I nodded.

Thad watched me for a few seconds longer before he put his phone down and brought his free hand toward me. I felt his fingers wrap around my back and then his thumb gently stroked the side of my face and stayed there. My heart fluttered (it could classify as a bird by this point) at the gesture.

He smiled softly. “Still, I’m glad it happened.”

I pocketed my phone and after some internal debate, wrapped my arms around the oversized digit and leaned into it.

“…same.”

-

I woke to something prodding my side.

“Sy,” Thad’s voice came from somewhere above, “you gotta wake up. We’re here.”

I smacked at whatever was touching me and rolled over.

“Sy.”

I pretended I didn’t hear him. This was apparently the wrong choice because the next thing I knew, I was dangling in the open air. I reluctantly opened my eyes.

Thad stared back. He smiled wryly. “Good morning, sunshine. I would have let you sleep in but your parents will kill me in like,” he checked his phone, “10 minutes and I’d really like to be able to do this again so,” he shrugged.

I just blinked at him.

Thad crouched and set me down. Once I was sure my legs would cooperate, I stepped away from his hand and pulled out my phone. It was 11:47.

Syren: Thanks for the night

“Thanks for returning my feelings.” His face lit up in a grin. “You know, you’re a great kisser (…HOW COULD HE JUST SAY THINGS LIKE THAT?). Sorry I made you faint earlier.”

Syren: Technically I made me faint but it’s cool

Still, something about this whole thing had been bothering me and when I looked up at Thad to check, my suspicions were confirmed.

Syren: Have fun washing out those grass stains though

“Grass stains?”

He looked down at his pants and his eyes widened.

“THIS SUIT IS A RENTAL!”

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[calumxkisses]

Sleep On The Floor | c.h.

pairing: calum hood x reader

genre: fluff

warnings: none

summary: life’s getting dark grey, lucky for you, Calum is ready to show you all the colors - or maybe that’s what you dream about.  

a/n: hi beautiful angels, i’m back! sorry for being away fr such a long time but i was studying and trying my best to stay alive. today’s also my birthday and i wanted to thank all of you for loving my past serie. i love every single on of you.

this imagine its inspired by the song: sleep on the floor 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The music is loud, the same songs are repeated continuously but the constant talk and the drinks make it difficult to notice the monotony of these parties. It is a monotony that you relive every weekend since you started working in the music industry and it doesn’t depend on the place, the week or the event, the same things repeat themselves over and over again.

Dark grey. It’s the color that you best associate to this situation. It’s that color that makes you think about factories, workers in line, controlled by rules and by a world that leaves no room for creativity, for change, for a better world. You remember that Charlie Chaplin’s movie that your professor made you watch in school and the way he ends up living an adventure. Will that happen to you too? It’s just a party, you think, but because it’s a party you shouldn’t feel this way. 

You’ll take a plane tomorrow and you’ll end up in another city that you won’t visit because there’ll be no time. After the concert or the interview, you’ll end up in some hidden place dancing and drinking and the day after another plane or bus will be waiting for you. And when the tour ends, you’ll be able to breathe. 

The girl in front of you keeps talking about the promotion she got at work, but you stopped listening to her a long time ago. Didn't she get the promotion last week? Or was it another girl? Maybe she was the one who had just returned from a business trip? 

Across the room, a few steps away from you, Calum, Luke and Roy are talking about the new album the band is working on, the new genre they are experimenting with and the lyrics they enjoy writing but will never release. They spend their days like this, searching for new sounds and writing lyrics about salads and strange places where they get lost.

You look around before your gaze gets placed in front of you and you notice that Calum is looking at you too, his curly hair with shades of blonde free from any beanie and he’s still wearing the leather jacket. His eyes stare at you and a little grin forms on his lips. Without realizing it, you slowly approach each other. 

“It doesn't look like you're having fun.” 

“My stomach hurts from how much I’m laughing.” You say in a sarcastic tone, your face expressing your emotion. 

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” Calum knows you. He knows your need to break free from the world and the way you love everything that is extraordinary. He needs that too, he wants to have the possibility to just be him and not the bassist from 5 Seconds Of Summer, but he’ll never tell you this, he won’t give you the satisfaction of being right. But you know. 

“No, I'm just tired of always doing the same things.” You say dramatically, sighing.

“Then let's do something different.”

“Like what? Playing hide and seek instead of beer pong?” 

“No, let’s leave. We have a couple of hours before this party ends and nobody will notice our absence anyway. Let’s do something different for once.” 

You smile. He’s trying to relieve your suffering and you appreciate that.  

Calum walks away for a moment and when he returns, your jacket is in his hand and no longer on the couch. He throws it at you and offers you his hand. “A Taxi is already waiting for us outside. What do you think?” His smile is wide on his face, but not as big as the one that forms on your face when you grab his hand and drag him out.

You both laugh as you get into the car, your adrenaline is running high and you already feel better. The driver smiles at the scene, Calum whispers something in his ear and then sits back on the seat, his eyes following your body before looking in your eyes. 

“I didn’t know you could speak French.” You say looking at his face. 

“There’s a lot of things that you don’t know about me, love.” He says before looking in front of him, mentally trying to remember the name of the streets. His side profile is lightened by different colors as you pass all the different neons of the shops of the city.

The window on your right is slightly lowered. You rest your head on his shoulder and close your eyes, the wind brushes your face and the noise of the city is like a melody in your ears. Calum kisses your hair and rests his head on yours. 

You’re in a car, just the two of you stuck in traffic, yet you feel like you are in a different world, in a world of constant change, where everything happens only once and you are ready to treasure every second of it. 

You don’t know how many minutes have passed by before Calum taps on your shoulder and whispers, “Look.” before pointing to his left. You open your eyes and the Arc de Triomphe lights up the city. It’s a masterpiece that reigns in the French city. It’s fully illuminated and stands powerful in the center of the rotunda.

“Wow.” It's the only thing you can say as you get closer to the window to get a better look. The driver chuckles at your reaction. You are too distracted by the beauty of the monument to notice the way Calum looks at you, lost in the way the lights illuminate your face and the way your hand is in his, as if they were made to hold only each other. 

All the cars are driving past the monument as if it was nothing, probably used to the view, but you can’t get enough of the magical feeling that you feel just by looking at it.

As the Arc de Triomphe is now behind you, you sit back in your seat, your mouth still slightly open from the astonishment of the sight. They might have been some of the most intense minutes you’ve ever experienced.

“Everytime we finish a show here, we always ask to pass by here. After the confusion of the concert, this view always manages to bring peace. Usually we are always exhausted but we try to stay awake as much as possible to not miss this view.” He whispers, looking out and smiling at the memories. 

“I know how much you daydream and how much you like these views and as soon as they gave us the tour dates, I immediately asked to let you come with us. I knew you would like it.” 

The idea that Calum has thought of you, especially in this occasion, warms your heart. He’s not a person who expresses what he feels, he finds it difficult to open up to the world and to the people around him and you know that that's his way of showing that he cares, by gestures, thoughts and small details.

“Thank you, Calum. We passed here yesterday and it was magical in the sun, I didn't expect to love it even more at night.”

The car crosses a bridge and the Seine is illuminated, leading you to fall even more in love with this city. It is definitely the most romantic city in the world, as everyone says.

“Close your eyes.” Calum whispers, taking your hand and putting them on your eyes.

“Wait, why? What are you doing?” You ask but he stays silent. Your heart beats fast. 

Before you know it, the car stops and Calum talks to the driver. You are tempted to open your eyes and peek but the idea that he has decided to surprise you makes you feel too much guilt to do it so you decide to keep your hands on your face.

Calum opens the door, “Give me your hand but keep your eyes closed, okay?” You nod before holding out your hand. He grabs it and, being careful not to hurt you, he gets you out of the car.

You walk  for a while, the noise of the stones is loud as you walk on them and the wind ruffles your hair.

“Keep your eyes still closed for a moment.” He whispers in your ear making you feel chills all over your body.

You feel him moving away and you try to use your senses to understand where you are. You hear people talking in the distance, the noise of some cars behind you as you play with your fingers to entertain yourself while you wait. You aren’t afraid, there’s no single cell in your body that feels fear, you trust him too much to think about the idea that he left you there. He would be ready to climb the highest mountain and cross the hottest deserts to come to you, there’s no emergency that’ll let him leave your side. 

Since the first moment his eyes saw you, he knew that he couldn’t let you go.

You feel someone stand in front of you before you hear him speak: “Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

Calum is standing in front of you, he’s looking straight in your eyes to see your reaction. He’s holding a red rose in his right hand and a huge smile is on his lips. Behind him, the Eiffel Tower is majestic, a source of light in the dark of the night. You’re left speechless, the magic you’re living is impossible to explain with words. It seems like billions of stars are joined by surrounding the structure, illuminating it and making it something eternal.  

There are a few people in the distance, taking photos of the structure and laughing at each other. 

There’s a musician on the side of the tower, she’s playing songs that you’re not familiar with and yet they seem to be perfect for this moment. They might be love songs, or even sad songs, but the melody envelops the atmosphere that surrounds you, making you look like the protagonists of a dream.

“Calum.” It’s the only thing you’re able to say. He’s standing there, between you and the Eiffel Tower, one of the most beautiful attraction in the entire world and yet his beauty almost steals the spotlight. But he’ll never know.

He grins and turns around to admire the structure. You reach to take your phone from the pocket of your jacket and take a picture of him, of the Tower, of everything that is surrounding you. Something to look at when you’ll need to think about a happy memory. 

“I’m in love. That’s it. I know what love looks like now.” You said admiring the view. 

“With me?” He looks at you smiling.

“You wish, don’t you?.” 

He laughs and there’s no sound that could be better than that. Not even a view could be more beautiful. Calum Hood laughing in front of the Eiffel Tower, in the middle of the night, surrounded by stars is a sight that no one will ever experience and you hold this moment close to your heart.

“I’m moving here.” You say after a few minutes of silence. 

“You can’t.” 

“Why?” 

“I can’t live without you.” Your heart skips a beat. “How am I supposed to wake up on time and to go to all my appointments if you don’t remind me?” You both laugh. 

“Fine, I’ll honor you with my presence for a little while longer.” 

“Thank you.” 

For a moment, you look straight into each other's eyes. The world seems to stop, except for the Tower and the music in the distance. Calum takes a piece of your hair behind your ear and you can see your reflection in his eyes. 

“It’s getting late, we should go.” He whispers close to your lips.

“Do we really have to go?” You want to close your eyes but you can’t seem to leave the sight of his face. A face that you see everyday but that you can’t get enough of. 

“Yeah but this’ll be our little secret. A place that you can escape to when you’re tired of the world. It’s gonna be here-” He says before pointing to your mind, “-and here.” He stops pointing to your heart and for a second you stop breathing.

“We have too many secrets, Calum.” You say as he takes your hand and walks towards the Taxi. You can’t see his face but his body language is telling you that he’s smiling.

He opens the door of the car and gets in and you follow him, not before looking at the Eiffel Tower one last time and taking a deep breath. 

The drive back to the party passes quickly and silently, your head is again resting on Calum's shoulder and his head is resting on yours, your hands are intertwined as you play with your fingers while the stereo plays slow, almost inaudible music.

“We are here.” The driver says with a strong accent and you realize that you're back in that building. You both get out of the car and while Calum pays for the ride, you look around you. 

“It’s okay to escape reality every once in a while, as long as you remember to come back to reality to me.” He whispers while you get inside the house and you look at him confused before noticing the scene in front of you. 

As you enter through the big door, you see that everything looks exactly as when you left. People are doing the same things they were doing before and while you throw your jacket on the couch, you notice that the stereo is playing the same playlist it was playing a couple of hours ago. 

Calum is back at talking with Roy and Luke, he’s holding a drink and he’s laughing at something his friend is saying.

You go back to the group you were with at the start of the party, nobody seemed to have noticed your absence. The girl in front of you keeps talking about the promotion she got at work but you’re not really listening. 

You look around before your gaze gets placed in front of you and you notice that Calum is looking at you too, he gives you a questioning look and winks before turning his attention back to his friends.

You smile.

[hillnerd]

WAKING UP- CHAPTER 5

Rating M      A03   ff.net   [ Previous Chapter]  [start at the beginning] 

For thanks yous, chapter warnings and ‘what happened last chapter’ scroll to the end of this chapter :)

=======================================================

CHAPTER 5 - QUEEN OF CLUBS

Ginny didn’t have a very large room, and it felt even smaller as Hermione tried to ready herself to go to a club, of all places. She wasn’t the club ‘type.’ She couldn’t say for sure, as she’d never been to one, but what little familiarity she had made it sound awful. Loud noises, skimpily dressed, dancing as if she hadn’t a care in the world seemed… exhausting. And pointless. And dangerous! Fleur, Angelina and Ginny were trying on a myriad of dresses and asking for the group's approval. While the wireless played raucous tunes and the other girls giggled, Hermione spent her time packing and repacking her beaded bag. 

The extension charm was still firmly in place. She hadn’t figured out a way to keep things more organized within it, though, so the canned goods she’d placed there kept falling over. She wasn’t going to forget food again, that she knew. She hadn’t located a new tent yet, but she needed to prioritize that soon. She had just finished repacking some of her clothes when she heard Ginny ask, “What are you doing?”

Hermione snapped the bag shut, not knowing how to explain her preparations in any way that made her seem of sound mind. 

“Just wasn’t sure what to wear…”  It wasn’t a complete lie. She wasn’t sure what fit her anymore. 

“Well, you can never go wrong with a little black dress,” said Ginny pointing to a thin-strapped sundress Hermione hadn’t had reason to wear in well over a year. 

She nodded and went to a corner, turning her front away from them as she changed into the dress. As she wiggled her jeans out from under the dress she noticed the other girls showed no similar discretion, happily throwing dresses off in the middle of the room. 

Hermione gave a speculative look in the mirror, tugging a bit at the neckline of her sundress. It fit differently than before, bagging around her waist and chest in an unflattering way, and the straps would not stay in place. 

“I can do alterations to dresses if anyone needs them,” said Fleur, grabbing a book from within her bag, discreetly catching Hermione’s eye. Arachne Salavarrieta’s Little Book of Sewing had a few good spells for altering clothing on the fly. All four of them looked over the text for just the right spells to take in, let out, and shorten dresses. 

Ginny, still underage and unable to do magic, begged them “you’ve got to shorten my skirt once we’re there!”

“Why not have us do it now?” Angelina asked, propping up a magically enlarged hand mirror on the roll top desk.

“I have four older brothers downstairs,” Ginny said with a sour look.

“Why should that matter?”

“One of those gits will take the piss in front of Mum if I look remotely sexy. That is, if Mum doesn’t already notice all on her own. I don’t know! Either way, just help me with the hem at the club, please? I don’t want to be the only one there looking frumpy!”

“From-py?” Fleur asked.

“Unfashionable, old-fashioned, overly modest and drab,” Hermione provided, fairly certain the term had been liberally applied to herself over the years.

“You look far from from-py, but we will help with the skirt,” Fleur assured Ginny. 

“And if any brother gives you shit at the club, we’ll hex them for good measure too,” Angelina added, bringing out a pair of curling tongs and prompting Ginny to sit in front of her.

Hermione pulled at her dress some more, not sure how much to alter it, and not sure if she wanted to bother. A pernicious guilt gnawed at her as she pulled the dress taut to her body. She should be doing something that mattered, not fretting over a dress. She should be in Australia. She hadn’t earned a rest, let alone a ‘fun time out.’ She’d taken no steps forward. She’d not found her parents’  location, she’d not earned money, she’d not even checked to see if her old childhood home was still standing.

“Hermione, is everything alright?” Fleur quietly asked, coming to stand beside her at the long mirror.

Hermione forced a smile onto her face.

“Oh you know me… I’m never sure what to do with fashion and all that. I’m more at ease in a library.”

Fleur gave her a searching look she’d seen before at Shell Cottage. It was a look that sought truth behind idle chit chat. It brought a sisterly sort of comfort that Hermione had not thought Fleur capable of a year ago. She had found the French woman to be condescending and too effortlessly beautiful to warrant any attempt at friendship. The war had given her an appreciation for Fleur, though. They were something akin to friends now.

“I just…” Hermione said in a low voice only Fleur could hear as the wireless yowled another rock anthem. “This feels so silly when there’s so much to do.”

“We’ve earned a bit of silly, do you not think so?”

“You all might have…”

“Hermione,” she said, putting a tentative hand around her shoulder. “You ‘ave done more than most anyone.”

“Since The Battle I’ve done nothing! Everyone is helping rebuild and all I’ve done is sleep! And my parents are still in Australia, and I’ve…I’ve done nothing to get them back.”

“Ron told us of your parents and the memories… Will you be needing any help?”

“No,” Hermione quickly insisted. “No. I just need to make a plan and get them back here. Once I have a plan then it will all be alright.”

“You are meaning to bring them back here in England… To the home you lived in before?” 

Hermione nodded, and saw a look of concern wrinkle Fleur’s otherwise flawless brow. 

“Hermione… Have you been to your home since the war ended?”

Hermione shook her head. “I’m planning on checking on it soon.”

“This is why I asked. You can not do that alone. Many Muggleborn homes were cursed after the war. Some are no longer standing,” said Fleur, her voice ringing with intensity despite the lyric tone.

Hermione was aware that many a Muggleborn home had been razed to the ground, but refused to believe the same could have happened to her childhood home. 

“Even the Burrow needed much curse breaking,” she continued. “We do not know each other well, but I am happy to help you with this.”

“Oh you don’t have to!” Hermione said with a shake of her head.

“Oh poppyrot!” Fleur said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Hermione let out a long breath, her gratitude forcing her to not correct Fleur to the word ‘poppycock.’ “It is my pleasure!” 

“You two alright?” asked Ginny giving the two a sidelong look as Angelina continued to curl her hair.

“We are,” Fleur said, looking to Hermione who confirmed this with a head nod. “Just helping out with fashion. It is a ritual we women do. The girls gather and dress and help one another to look more beautiful, while the men do nothing.”

“Maybe they shower,” Angelina added with a laugh, “but probably not. They never put in half the effort we do!”

“You see? It is the way of it,” Fleur said, giving Hermione a small squeeze and a meaningful look. “I can help whenever you like.”

“Thank you, Fleur…” she said with equal import. When the other girls looked at her with curiosity she continued, “I don’t have any of my usual things like makeup or hair products.”

“I have a ton of stuff in my bag,” Angelina offered. 

“As do I. We girls help one another,” Fleur said, grabbing a comb and some bottles of French products Hermione didn’t recognize. She continued with the faintest whisper, “You can send a message or Patronus to me when you are ready to enter your old home.”

Words failing her, Hermione put a hand on Fleur’s and gave it a small squeeze. Fleur said nothing, but the warm smile she sent in the mirror reassured her that the French woman completely understood.

After an hour of sewing alterations, primping, squealing, and many changes of clothes by each of the ladies, they decided they were almost ready enough to leave. 

“Oh! Jewelry! I forgot about that,” Ginny moaned, looking through her small box of earrings. 

Angelina and Fleur were eager to help her, but Hermione wasn’t sure she could take another debate about fashion. She was grateful for the silly hour she’d gotten to spend with them, though. Despite her hair still being a bit wild and curly, Hermione had to admit she liked how she looked in the mirror. The black sundress fit her perfectly now. She almost looked like she had a figure again. Between the dress and the makeup, and a bit of product from Angelina to keep her hair from frizzing, she looked almost pretty. She felt a touch of excitement flurry in her stomach at the thought of looking nice in front of Ron. It almost made her forget how nervous she was to be out of the safety of the Burrow. She gripped her beaded bag close to her side.

“I’m going to wait with the boys, if that’s alright.”

The girls waved her off as they held different earrings beside Ginny’s face. 

As Hermione stepped into the hallways she immediately ran into a thin, though sturdy, body and let out a small exclamation of alarm. She quickly muffled her sound when she saw it was only Harry.

“Are you all ready to go then?” he asked, craning his neck to catch a glimpse of Ginny behind the closing door.

“We’re almost all ready,” she said with a fond smile. “You know girls, it takes them forever.”

“You’re a girl too, according to Ron at least,” said Harry, giving her a wry grin. Harry was looking rather sharp in Muggle clothes that actually fit, and his hair was looking mysteriously untidy. 

“Did you do something to your hair?”

“What?” he asked, putting a hand to the back of his hair and patting at it. “It doesn’t look bad, does it?”

“No,” she laughed, seeing the panic in his eyes. “Just not as wild as usual.”

“Yeah, well it took like four spells and I think they’re already wearing off.”

She studied his hair and could see one by one little hairs slowly moving into disarray, almost like someone had rubbed an invisible balloon against it. 

“You’re trying to look extra nice for Ginny,” she teased.   He frowned, but a blush began to form around his jaw. “Yeah, well, we’ve never gotten to properly go someplace together, have we? You did the same for Ron, right?”

He had her there. 

“Speaking of, where is he?”

“Downstairs, I think,” he said, hand going to his hair again. “Is it looking bad again?”

“It’s looking more like it usually does, if that’s what you mean.” His face scrunched in disapproval. “Really, it looks fine. Your hair fits you best when you do nothing to it. You look perfectly nice.”

“You too,” he said with a glance at her, before heading towards the bathroom. “Ok, I’m going to try to spell this one more time.”

She knew it was a lost cause, but didn’t have the heart to tell him as he eagerly tried to preen. 

As she reached the bottom steps of the stairs, she could hear the low rumble of men’s voices.

“They’re taking ages,” Charlie sighed. “I don’t see why it takes them so long.”

“Women wear more?” said George. 

“Harry’s hair has taken almost as long,” Lee said with a snort.

Hermione looked around the corner and saw the men all sprawled around the room, shoes up on tables and couch arms in a way they’d never dare if Mrs Weasley were in the room.

While everyone lightheartedly bantered with one another, in the corner sat Ron. His brow was creased as he silently played chess with Lee. He looked haggard, and for the eleventh time that evening, Hermione wished they weren’t going out. She’d much rather spend the evening wrapped in Ron’s arms, as she had that afternoon. 

Her nerves had frayed at the thought of sleeping beside him, worried he would catch her in a nightmare. Silencing spell in place, she had feigned grumpy tiredness when he asked her questions. There had been no need to worry, though. Cuddled up to him she fell asleep as surely as one did on sleeping draughts, and somehow her nightmares were kept entirely at bay. It was the best sleep she’d had in months. The only thing that could have improved it was waking up beside Ron. He’d been gone when she’d woken, with no one knowing where he was. He’d come back from the village looking worn out giving excuses of ‘getting supplies’ which didn’t hold up to real scrutiny, when she thought of the timeline he gave. Ron Weasley was up to something, she just didn’t know what.

As if her thoughts drew him to her, Ron’s eyes rose and met hers.

The furrow in his brow smoothed, his scowling expression softened, and a boyish smile of his tugged at the corner of his mouth. 

“Who’s winning?” she asked, approaching the chess board.

“Ron was, but I think my luck’s about to change,” said Lee, a few of the men joining him in laughter and elbowing Ron, seeing his rather besotted look. Usually he’d turn beet red and curse at them, but his face remained mostly impassive as he met her eyes and smiled. The only sign of his discomfort was his ears going a tiny bit flush.

“Check mate,” said Ron, moving his bishop across the board, and rising from his seat.

“No it’s not, is it?” Lee asked, looking at the board. “Damn!”

Ron gave the lot a two fingered salute and led her from the living room to the kitchen, where his mother was doing some tidying and listening to the radio.

“I wasn’t sure about the dress,” she mumbled. Ron’s eyes traveled down her and she suppressed the urge to readjust her neckline, though she wasn’t sure in what direction.

“Well you look amazing in it,” he said, looking her in the eye and making her stomach do a tsukahara flip. 

“Thank you,” she managed. A pleasurable rush of nerves ran up her spine. Despite looking very tired, he looked handsome. He was wearing an untucked dress shirt she’d not seen before, with the sleeves rolled up his arms in a way that made the nerves in her spine turn to jolts. Given the darker color scheme of it, she assumed it was a hand-me-down from Bill. She quickly realized all of him was looking rather polished, with the exception of his beat up boots. She wasn’t sure what to say to him. He was so sensitive about clothes, and the last thing she wanted was to cause additional stress on him, but she also knew he was a bit insecure and it might be nice to compliment his appearance.

“So how long until the rest of the girls are ready?” he asked. 

Well there went that opportunity.

“Soon, I think. They just had to pick out earrings for Ginny,” she said looking up into face. His eyes looked so weary. “Are you doing well?”

“Course,” he grunted, immediately turning from her. “Mum, do you need help with that?”

Mrs Weasley turned from the dishes and assured him she didn’t. Despite the assurance, he started putting dishes in the cabinets. He didn’t spare her another look, not when the rest of the girls came down the stairs some ten minutes later, and not when they gathered on the edge of the property.

“Before we go,” George announced, beginning to hand each of them a playing card, “here is a Muggle I.D. for each of you.”

“Why do we need an I.D?” Ginny asked, inspecting the playing card in the waning light of the sunset.

“Because they check to see if you’re old enough to drink at clubs and such and can’t just put up an age line,” answered Bill.

“Why didn’t you transfigure these already?” asked Hermione, looking at her playing card, the Queen of Clubs.

“I’d have to know what Muggle I.D.s look like to do that. This just has a spell to register as an I.D. to Muggles. Pretty clever, if I do say so,” George said, smiling to them all as he finished handing out the cards. “Getting the dates right was tricky. Just make sure you say your birthday was in 79 or earlier. The card will match up with whatever date you say.”

“Where are we apparating to, George?” asked Angelina.

“My hotel room’ll do,” he answered.

Hermione felt Ron unexpectedly stiffen beside her. 

“Everyone but Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Fleur knows where to go. So you all can pair up and side-along there. Here, Gin, come with me,” said George, waving Ginny over.

Ron made as if to grab Ginny back, but George had quickly disappeared with her. One by one they all disapparated, leaving her and a distracted Ron staring at the space George had just occupied.

Ron licked his dry lips and scrunched his brow in determination. “Right… Okay then, I guess we better go.”

“We don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” she said, gently putting her hand in his. “We could just stay in, you and me.”

His shoulders slumped. “Merlin, I wish I could take you up on that.”

“Why don’t you?” she said, giving his hand a squeeze. “I’ve been dreading going out.”

“You too?”  “I packed and repacked my bag, just in case,” she said, giving the beaded bag a small shake that made its contents give a crash. “Damn. That’s probably the books again. I really need to find a way to make things stay in place!”��

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” he said with a fond look on his face. “But we should go. It’ll be good to get out, plus with G— nevermind.”

“Plus what?”

“Look, I really want to tell you, but I’m just not up for it all right now.” Her face must have given away how frustrating she found that. “I will, I swear I will! Just not tonight. Let’s just— let’s just pretend we’re okay and go out and try to enjoy ourselves.”

It went against every instinct in her body to agree to wait to know something, but she nodded her acquiescence.   His large hand moved to her back and the tight feeling of being compressed overtook her as he Apparated them to George’s hotel room.

In moments they reached their destination and the feeling of her breath being stolen didn’t stop, for Ron’s fingers grazed her side as he took a pace back from her. 

When they arrived they received a good amount of teasing for taking their time to arrive, heavily implying the two had been snogging. Neither teen corrected them. As everyone made small talk, Ron was completely silent and looked about the room with seeming purpose. He had shown immense concern about George right before they left, had that intense conversation with him earlier, and she had to admit George smelt like a bar when he arrived and looked like he might have been sleeping on the floor of one. She had no idea what Ron was looking for, except perhaps empty bottles. The room was sparse, and only a tray of food, and a small bag in the corner showing any signs someone had been living there. 

No one seemed to notice his actions except George who fixed him with a glare when no one was looking. Ron looked far from sheepish, and instead stood tall and locked eyes with his brother.

“Let’s get going. It’s just a few streets over,” George announced to the room, looking away from Ron.

Nerves shook Hermione as they travelled down the grimy London street. It did not look much different from Tottenham Court Road. The last time she had been near this part of London they’d ducked into a grotty cafe and been cornered by a pair of Death Eaters.

At least then it had been a less obtrusive group, with only her, Ron and Harry. Now they were a large boisterous group with so many redheads they stood out like a flock of goldfinches. Most of them were loudly talking or laughing, and many a passerby smirked at the boisterous group. If someone wanted to target them, they’d be all too easy to spot. She gripped her beaded bag so harshly one of her nails chipped. 

Thankfully George was quite correct about the distance being short. In minutes they arrived at a large dark building with music dimly pulsing through its walls and a line to get in. 

A large barrel-chested man with the thickest neck Hermione had ever seen stood at the door. The eldest Weasleys along with Lee and Angelina were let through with barely a glance at their playing cards, but as soon as he spotted the younger members of the group the bouncer began to look like an agitated bulldog. 

He eyed Ron and Hermione’s cards closely, but gave a much more scrutinizing look towards Ginny and Harry as they handed their playing cards to him. He held a small flashlight to the Jack of Spades and Queen of Spades, and even ran a fingernail along the edge. 

“What’s your birthday?”

“1979!” Harry offered, before wincing at his volume. Ron let out a chuckle, while Ginny rolled her eyes. The man’s glare intensified. “Er… July 31st 1979, that is.”

“Hmm… And you?” growled the Bouncer, sourly looking to Ginny.

“Tonight’s my birthday, actually!” she said with a winning smile. Hermione nearly protested, but Ron gave a small shake of his head. 

“Ah, happy birthday!” said the man nodding at the card before handing it back to her, looking much less ornery. “Let Teresa know about it, and they’ll do ya something special.”

“Your birthday, huh?” Harry asked Ginny as soon as they were through the door.

“Much easier to have a good time and get some free drinks that way, isn’t it?” she said, giving a conspiratorial grin he shared.

“But it’s not your birthday!” Hermione protested, irritation prickling down her neck.

“I’m not eighteen either,” Ginny breezily pointed out. 

“Well you’re lucky the card was able to adapt to that when you hadn’t said an actual date,” Hermione persisted. She clutched her beaded bag closer to her chest. “We don’t want to stand out.”

“Why not? It’s a Muggle club. It should be fun.”

“Well, it might be a Muggle club, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely safe.”

“You worry too much,” she said in an infuriatingly calm and understanding voice.

“No! We have to make sure we stay low profile and don’t say anything wrong, because all it takes is one wrong word and then everything falls apart!”

Harry looked to the ground, his eyebrows knitting together. He had to be thinking of the Taboo and the Snatchers as well.

“It’s just a bit of fun, Hermione. We’ll be okay,” said Ginny with a smile, looking around to spot the rest of their group, taking Harry by the hand towards a corner table. “Ah there they are!”

Hermione had never felt more like shaking her friend. Didn’t she understand how dire things were? They’d met Death Eaters at a Muggle cafe in London last August, and Fenrir and those Snatchers in the woods. All it took was one small mistake and then hell would rain down on them; they could end up beaten or cursed or stabbed in the chest.   “Hermione…” she heard Ron’s voice quiet and low in her ear. “There isn’t a Taboo anymore…”

“You don’t know that!” she almost shouted at him, painfully gripping her beaded bag. 

One of his large hands gently started unwinding her fingers from the bag, before taking it from her and putting it in his jacket pocket. He started massaging her fingers. Under the pink and orange lights she could just make out the imprint the bag had left on her hands.

“I can feel the Taboo’s broken, and I bet you can too if you concentrate on it,” he said, continuing to work her hands until they became limp in his. “But if you want to leave and go back to the Burrow, we can right now.”

His quiet earnest words brought her eyes up to his. He saw right through her. He didn’t give her empty platitudes. He gave her a common sense answer to why things would be different, and an out if she was uncomfortable. She felt the overwhelming need to kiss him, and despite the crowd she decided to indulge herself. She stood on her tiptoes, and he took her lead leaning down to brush his lips against hers, hands still holding hers. How had they had so many years together without kissing? 

For years she’d had to sit near him, with careful scrutinization over every action and inch between them. Was sitting too close to her friend? Would her leg pressing to his be too much? Would he notice how her eyes were fixated on his mouth a good three minutes as he grinned and told her about the mad thing he’d seen earlier that day? Did his hand around her shoulder linger longer than a friend’s hand would? When he’d tiredly leaned his head into her, had it meant something to him?

Now she could kiss him whenever she liked, and melt into his strong form, and let her hands be caressed, and get the anticipation of more ring through her body, and know it might be fulfilled later. The only thing she struggled to hold back was blurting out how very much she loved everything about him.

“Alright?” he asked as their lips parted. 

She nodded, biting her bottom lip to keep herself from saying ‘I love you and actually yes I’d like to go home, but only because I want to snog you until both of us can barely breathe.’

“Ready to have ‘a bit of fun?’”

“I think I can manage,” she said with a smile. As long as he was by her side something akin to enjoyment of the evening could happen.

They went to a back table that didn’t nearly have enough seating for them all. This didn’t seem to matter as half of them strategically placed their jackets and purses so strangers would know it was occupied, while the others went to the bar to get drinks for everyone. Their table butted nearly up to the bar, and Ron perched on one of its stools. 

“Do you want something to drink?” Hermione asked, looking at a menu. 

He shook his head. “Someone needs to stay sober. Might as well be me.” He took the menu from her and eagerly pointed to it. “But I could do with these fried cheese things!”

She got in line, ready to order and pay when George stepped in. “Put your cash away. You’re not buying a thing, tonight! We’re here to celebrate you three, after all!”

Grateful not to have to spend the meager amount of cash she had, she put in her order for Ron’s food, and her wine. She’d never drunk much in her life, but she experienced the occasional wine with her parents.

She had worried the evening would be tedious, but seeing everyone looking giddy, toasting one another, and even dancing made her rethink the evening. 

Ron had kept a close eye on George, but his brother was looking at ease and jubilant surrounded by family and friends. Hermione enjoyed the warming tang of red wine as they chatted away and seemed more relaxed than they’d been in years. The wine soothed her nerves as well.

“Was your skirt that short when we left?” George asked Ginny after she did a twirl to the music that accidentally flashed a cheek of her knickers.

“Yes it was,” she coolly answered. “And even if it wasn’t, there’s nothing you’re going to do about it, is there?” 

Harry, already looking sloshed, looked down at Ginny’s legs, his mouth slightly open.

Ron gave a chuckle before flicking his friend’s ear. 

“Righ’, sorry,” Harry said with a nod. Despite all the spells he’d done on his hair, it had reverted to its normal disheveled state.

“Let’s dance!” Ginny said, grabbing Harry’s hand. If it weren’t for the few rounds of shots, Hermione didn’t think they’d be able to get him on to the dance floor, but in his current state he happily followed his girlfriend to the bright lights and thumping music. This seemed an adorable prospect until they actually saw him dance.

“Oh shit… Someone needs to hit him with a stunner or something,” Ron laughed, as Hermione leaned back into him. 

Harry had no sense of rhythm at all, and his stiff-armed movements made many people wince. Ginny didn’t seem to care, and was happily dancing beside him. Her effervescence seemed to drown out Harry’s sad attempts at movement.

Ron guffawed, and shook his head in amusement. Seated on a bar stool, he was only a half a foot taller than Hermione, which made for much more convenient kisses with no tiptoes needed. She had finished her second glass of wine and had a hot pleasant sensation buzzing through her. She put her head back and closed her eyes, feeling the vibration of his deep laugh and the music thrumming. 

“Hmm… Y’should dance with me,” she murmured, though she made no move towards the dance floor. Instead she rubbed her hands down his legs that were on either side of her. The lights on the dancefloor shifted to green for a moment, and the cozy peace felt strangled. She glanced up to Ron, and thought of the one thing that really made her feel nothing but warmth. “You should snog me.”

He chuckled a bit, and she felt the back of his fingers graze her cheek. 

“Dance or snog— Whichever you want,” he replied in her ear. “Though it seems you’re going a bit legless for dancing.”

“I am not!” she protested, pushing herself off of him and nearly stumbling. She stood very tall and made firm eye contact. “I am far from inebriated and do not like the implication that I am inebredated!”

“You mean inebriated?”

“That’s what I just said!” she said, grabbing his hand. “C’mon, let’s dance!”

He gave a shake of his head, but followed her onto the dance floor, where most of their group were dancing. Despite the yellow and orange lights, they were a vibrant group that stood out. Hermione couldn’t think why she’d been worried about it, though! And Ron was actually a very good dancer. She’d discovered this at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, and was happy nothing had changed. He had a grand sense of rhythm and the way he held her close and moved about with her made her feel like one of those ladies from an old musical. Roger Gingers? No, that wasn’t it… 

“You make me feel like a lady!” she shouted over the music. “I mean, a lady from a musical that dances and such! Y’know? Like with Astaire and all those old ones in the movies?” 

Ron gave a nod, and she nodded along happy he knew the reference. Yes! He and she were meant for one another. He knew what she meant when she said things. Oh no, that couldn’t be right. Fred Astaire was a Muggle! There was no way he knew that reference!

“Wait! You don’t know who Astaire is!”

“Nope,” he replied, an amused grin making his dimple appear. 

“Then why did you nod along?”

“You’re supposed to smile and nod at drunk people and irate girlfriends— and you’re the best of both!”

She laughed as he spun her around. She could do this forever! Just spin and spin, his hands on her, the bright lights bringing out odd colors in his hair, his warm smile, the invigorating feeling of just being alive...

“You dance as well as you snog!” she yelled, right as the song stopped, making many on the dance floor snigger, but she didn’t care. It was true. And he was hers, not anyone else's, and she got to snog him whenever she wanted. “Let’s get another drink!”

She bounded to the bar, and added another wine to the tab George had started. 

“I think you might’ve had enough,” said Ron, sidling up beside her.

“Then you drink it!” she said, holding up the wine before taking a sip. He gently took the wine glass from her, and put it on the bar.

“Ever since I drank that poisoned mead, I’m not much for drinks from people I don’t know.”

“I just drank from it, though, so you know it’s safe,” she said, holding her hair up and away from her too hot neck. 

“And I need to be sober so someone can get us all home at the end of the evening.”

That was a very good point. “You should snog me in the club��s bathroom,” she countered. 

“That is very very tempting,” he said leaning in and giving her a peck on the nose. “When you aren’t sloshing about I might take you up on that.”

“M’not!” she said, grabbing her wine glass. 

“Another round?” George asked, holding out a tray of shots. “For the trio! And the birthday girl!”

“Oh yes, let’s drink to my birthday!” Ginny crowed, grabbing what was at least her shot glass. There was a quick clearing of a throat from behind her from Bill. “Oh come oooon! Can’t I have some fun?”

“You can have plenty of fun. Just might want to be able to remember it tomorrow.”

“Don’t be mummish!” she replied, downing her drink.

Harry tittered at this, and she put a hand over his shot glass before he could get it to his lips. “You might want to hold back.”

“Mummish,” Harry laughed, with a shake of his shaggy head. 

“How much has he had?” Charlie asked.

“A couple of shots and a beer,” said Lee with a shake of his head. “Complete and utter lightweight.”

“I want another shot,” Harry protested.

“Sorry, sloppy, leave this to the professionals,” George said, downing it before Harry could stop him. Hermione caught a grim look pass between Ron and Bill, but dismissed it as a good song came on and the other girls dragged them all onto the dance floor.

The party continued until Ron insisted they take a water break. Hermione slide into the booth next to him, wobbling only slightly, yet she gladly snuggled into him.

There was a gauzy blur to everything, with only the center of her vision having much clarity. It was nice. Her blurred cameo-vision settled on Ron. He was very handsome. And tall! 

She told him so.

“Thanks,” he said, not seeming to take her seriously.

“I mean it, though! You’re almost pretty,” she said with a firm nod. “I’ve always thought so. You have the bluest eyes… They’re so… Blue! And I love your hands. They feel nice too.”

“Uh huh…” he said with a smile. “I think we best get you home soon… Here, have some water.”

“I don’t want water, I want more wine,” she said, taking the water and drinking it. “But I do mean it. You’re very good looking. And you have a cute bum! I haven’t told you that, but I should. I should tell you these things! I mean to, but I wait too long, and then I can’t tell you. Like with your clothes tonight! You look extra dishy and I can’t tell you because I don’t want you to think I’m not nice about clothes to you, ya know?”

“Well in that case, thank you?” he said, pouring her some more water that she angrily sipped at. 

He’d taken off his jacket and rolled his sleeves up again at one point. She trailed a finger along a brain-scar on his forearm.  She liked that. There was something about it that made her squirm in a good way.

“I like your arms…  But to my point!!” she said, sitting up straight and poking him in the chest. “There’so much I can’t tell you! I’m the best secret keeper in the world. It’s like… It’s like my words are Fidelius charmed! And I don’t know how to tell you the secret! I want to, of course, but if I did and you didn’t say you love me back then I’d be so upset, and so I don’t say anything!”

She closed her eyes and leaned into his chest.

“You make it hard to not say things when you’re so pretty and good. You’re so good, Ron Weasley. I want to… I want to bottle you up and marry you and be the only one to touch your bum.”

His chuckle pleasantly hummed through her. He braced her against him a bit then kissed her forehead. 

“I want that too,” he said, almost so quietly it couldn’t be heard over the music. She felt him stir beneath her head and let out a huff. “What?”

She cracked open an eye to see Harry gormlessly staring at them.

“I’m so glad you didn’t die. You’re like… the most important people in my life and I love you both so much,” said Harry, pointing to somewhere a foot or so to the left of them.

“No more alcohol for you, Harry,” said Ron, making Hermione sit up. 

“I mean it!” Harry belligerently stated. 

“We love you too, Harry,” said Hermione, putting a hand on him. “You’re like a brother to me! If I had brothers. I don’t. But if I did, you’d be my little brother.”

“You’re like an older sister that I love like a sister. And we’re both not dead,” Harry said with a nod. 

“Merlin’s balls. We’ve got to get out of here,” Ron muttered, grabbing a glass of water and thrusting it into Harry’s hand. “Chug that and try not to be such a melancholy arsewipe, yeah?”

“I can’t help it. I had a bad childhood until I met you and Hagrid…” Harry said, looking so sad Hermione wanted to cry. 

“You did! Ron, he DID have a bad childhood!”

“Yep, I’m aware,” said Ron with a sigh getting up. “Harry, where’d you put your glasses and jacket?”

He gave a sad shrug. “I don’t have a family. I don’t even have glasses now.”

Hermione nodded. “He can’t SEE, Ron.”

“I’m legally blind.”

“He’s blind, Ron!”

“Oh my GOD! I’m going to find the glasses!” Ron exploded, a hand going to his hair. “I’m getting bloody tired of dealing with drunks, you know that?”

“But he’s blind, Ron.”

With a wild gesture of frustration he started looking around the various points in the bar Harry had been to. Harry murmured about a lot of sad things, and Hermione told him about Ron’s bum which made him snigger. She leaned her head against the back of the booth, closing her eyes for just a moment. 

She heard Charlie, Bill and Fleur bowed out for the evening, citing business they had to do the next day. Bill pulled Ron aside for a moment. She could just make out the low voiced words of ‘George,’ ‘rest’ and ‘bail’ beside her. She cracked open an eye and saw them both glancing at George, who was still bouncing on the dance floor with Lee and Angelina. Hermione listened to hear more, but the thrum of music drowned them out. 

Hermione woke up an indeterminate amount of time later lying in their booth, head curled up on a conjured pillow and Ron’s large jacket draped over her.

She blearily rose and blinked to see Harry finish a shot beside her.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be drinking anymore,” she managed to rasp even though her tongue stuck to the top of her mouth. She smacked her lips and looked for some water. The nearest pitcher seemed miles away even though it was a mere few feet.

“Y’were sleeping in the booth and there’s was noone to stop me,” said Harry with a triumphant smile that morphed into an unpleasant low belch.

“How long have I been asleep?” Her head was aching. She should have drunk more water.

“Mmm… An hour or so?”

“Where’s Ron?”

“He tucked you in,” Harry answered. She warmed at the thought of giant Ron hunching over to tenderly make her comfortable.

 Harry put his chin on his hand and stared at her. “He fancies you.”

“Well I quite fancy him as well.”

“You fancy him,” he said with a sloppy dismissive hand, “but not like he does you. He’s all…” A series of soft pats rained down on her head. “And you’re all…” He pointed a finger at her face, nearly poking her in the eye. “Ya know?”

“Oh well that makes sense,” she humored him. “Where are your glasses? Didn’t Ron go to fetch them ages ago?”

“Search me…” he said, putting his head on the table before slurring. “I need a nap…”

Ginny, Lee and Angelina came panting off the dancefloor.

“Where’s George?” asked Angelina, gulping down some water and making a loud noise of satisfaction when she’d finished.

“Wasn’t he with you?”

No one knew where George or Ron were. They were about to start searching when there was the sound of a mic turning on, and the DJ announced, “and now one of our guests wants to make an announcement.” 

There was a horrid feedback noise and a scuffle, but then a familiar voice began to ring through the crowd.

“Hello everyone!” said George into the mic. 

“Oh God, who let him have a microphone?” said Angelina, shaking her head.

“I’m George and I’m here to celebrate my little sister’s birthday! So everyone, say cheers to her!”

Many of the crowd raised their glasses and Ginny was happy to wave to them and give a small bow. Hermione spotted that she was wearing Harry’s glasses on top of her head. She turned to point this out to Harry but he was letting out a series of small snores.

“Also we’re here to celebrate my brother Ronnie, and his two best friends. I can’t tell you what they did, but they are being honored for their services and it’s pretty impressive shit, so cheers to them!” The crowd cheered again. “That’s right. He’s very impressive. Didn’t think he would be, but here we are! Didn’t think he’d make it out of a war alive, but he did. Not a fucking scratch on him, ‘cept some missing fingernails.”

Hermione looked for Ron, and found him standing to the side of the DJ booth. He looked like he was saying something, and George’s face went dark and surly. “No, I don’t feel like going home.”

“Get off the mic!” someone from the crowd hollered, and few people let out a resounding ‘woo’ in agreement.

“Yes, thank you for your support!” George said with a wave. “What was I talking about? Oh yes! The war! My other brothers all made it ok, but I lost an ear, and then my twin brother got fucking killed by a bloody wall. How stupid a way is that to go?”

The DJ tried to get George to hand over the mic, but he was belligerently holding it low and crowding the DJ out. Ron looked like he was saying something. He put a hand on George’s shoulder that was violently shrugged off, prompting Angelina and Lee to run over to intervene.

Hermione didn’t want to crowd them and was fairly certain she couldn’t get there fast enough to help anyways. Ginny had a hand to her mouth. 

“None of you know how much we sacrificed to keep you all safe, you know that? On the run all the time, nearly dying every day, and you lot just went about your lives having no fucking clue. People died. My brother is DEAD! And you’re all having a bloody good time, but he’s dead and everything is fucking ruined and—”

The thick-necked bouncer moved in and started pointing a beefy hand in George’s face.

“George, don’t!” came Ron’s holler, just barely picked up by the mic.

Hermione heard a chorus of yells beside her as, in front of the entire Muggle club, George whipped out his wand and brandished it at the bouncer.

“Take another step and I’ll drop you,” he snarled.

Hermione gave a yell of her own as Ron put up his hands and stood in front of George’s sparking wand.

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

Chapter 5 Author’s Note- 

Chapter 6 is already written and in the editing process.

I actually split Chapter 5 into two parts as it was epically long. So next chapter will be from Hermione's POV

oh, and it will have some smut

and angst

====================================================

Giant thank you to:

@abradystrix​ and @divagonzo​ for betaing and being so supportive and wonderful.

CHAPTER WARNINGS:

cursing, depresssed/anxious thinking, talk about eating & weight gain/loss, evidence of PTSD, drinking and drunkeness, threats

Previously, in 'Waking Up'

Hermione is on edge about her parents and is having trouble with anxiety in general- also worried about Ron not saying 'I love you' yet

Ron was exhausted from tending to George the night before- he's running on fumes- and is devastated that Hermione doesn't seem to care for Harry joining the Aurors- He fills out paperwork and gets sick with anxiety

Needs a quill and sees Hermione needs money for Australia

Goes to the village to get a job- gets lost in dark memories

Comes home to everyone giving cheers to him and the trio for Order of Merlins and Auror offers

They're all gonna go out to celebrate

[jilyyall]

Everything Has Changed

One evening on the shore of the Black Lake as they bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun, everything changed. Or, the first ‘I love you.’

They hadn’t been officially dating very long, but they’d shared a few snogs before they started dating – if just about every day since the beginning of the school year counted as a few snogs –  and they had been open and frank about their feelings for each other for weeks before they’d made it official, and she’d known him since they were eleven, so when James was silent all day, Lily knew something was on his mind. She didn’t think he was upset with her; it wasn’t an angry silence. It wasn’t as if he was trying to hurt her feelings or punish her by not speaking to her. That wasn’t something that James would do – it was what Sev would have done, back when they were friends and he thought she had done something wrong and was trying to guilt her into apologizing to him.

Rather, she got the distinct impression that he was wrestling with something in his mind, taking his time mulling it over. It was so rare that he took the time to think things through rather than diving in head first that she let him have the day, the whole damn day, even though it drove her mad. She would even let him have the night, if she thought he still needed it. Tomorrow, however, all bets were off. Her boy was going to get this off his chest, whatever this was.

They were in the Great Hall having dinner quite early tonight, their two separate friend groups sitting near each other, but not entirely together – James sat on Lily’s right, and his friends sat to his right with only Sirius sitting across the table from Remus, two bodies down from James. On Lily’s left sat her friends Mary and Dorcas. The only indication that the two groups were at all connected was how close Lily and James were sitting, hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder, knees knocking, feet tangled beneath the table, even as they turned their heads away from each other to focus on their respective friends.

If he were physically distant, she thought, then she would have worried because anyone who knew anything about James Potter knew that he could not keep his distance from the people he cared about. Be it an arm slung over a mate’s shoulders, fingers threaded with hers or carding through her hair or dancing down her arm or brushing down her side, or the simple disregard for personal space, the boy was incapable of not showing physical affection. She doubted the idea of not touching her or Sirius or Remus or Peter at any given time ever even crossed his mind.

Not ten minutes ago, for instance, he’d walked in with his mates, a dejected Peter tucked under his arm, spotted her seated at the table and sat all but on top of her with nothing more than a graze of his lips to the side of her head in greeting as he continued to devote his sympathetic attention to Peter’s woeful tale of rejection. He’d even had to pull his place setting over in order to maintain his proximity to her. So, no, she didn’t have cause to worry that he was upset with her, or contemplating ditching her or anything of the sort.

Still, she was having a difficult time concentrating on Mary’s story about the Muggle boy her mum wanted to set her up with back home. Instead, she was wondering what exactly could be taking up so much space in James’s head. Currently, she knew, it was Peter’s heartbreak. She tried not to be very obvious as she studied him; none of the boys were paying her any attention. She could hear James’s soft, earnest, comforting tone as he spoke to Peter, told him not to worry about Melinda Sprockett, the pretty sixth year Ravenclaw girl who must have turned him down earlier. It should have comforted her to know that James wasn’t being quiet with everyone. It only made her more concerned that he seemed to be holding something back from her.

“Right, Lily?” Mary said loudly.

Lily snapped her gaze to her friends, embarrassed to have been caught not paying attention. “Er, yeah, of course!”

“I told you she wasn’t listening,” Dorcas giggled as Mary rolled her eyes.

“Yes, I was!” Lily insisted, but she knew she was arguing in vain. She had been caught out, but she wasn’t going to just admit it.

Dorcas wanted to drag it out - Lily could tell by the smirk on her face and the mischief in her eyes - but Mary, sweet, sweet Mary, took pity on her. “I was saying it might not be such a bad thing, you know? There’s obviously nothing wrong with Muggles on the whole - I am Muggleborn; it would just be stressful trying to keep magic a secret.” 

“But do you even want to date him?” Lily asked. 

Mary shrugged. “Well, he’s cute enough, I guess. But I don’t even know anything about him.” 

“Well, it may not be a terrible thing to just have some fun getting to know him; then you can decide if he’s worth potentially breaking the Statute of Secrecy for,” Dorcas said around a mouthful of Yorkshire Pudding. 

“Certainly it’s not really breaking the Statute of Secrecy?” Mary said, looking shocked at the thought. “If you fall in love with a Muggle, there’s got to be some sort of bylaw that says you’re allowed to tell them. Just like the Ministry told our parents about it when we got our Hogwarts letters.” 

Mary looked at Lily as if expecting her to argue with her or confirm that surely it wasn’t illegal, but Lily simply didn’t know. She’d never dated a Muggle.

“You’re probably right,” Dorcas hummed and lifted a shoulder. “I really don’t know much about it, honestly.” 

James’s fingers tangled gently in Lily’s hair and she glanced over at him, distracted, expecting it to have been an unconscious thing he did while still deeply invested in his own mates. She was surprised to find him staring at her, eyes soft and warm and glowing with something akin to awe behind his glasses. There was a small, fond smile on his lips as he let his hand fall from her hair to twine his fingers with hers. 

“D’you want to go for a walk?” he murmured. 

“Sure,” she said, and was about to stand and eagerly lead him away when she noticed the plate in front of him. Before she could say anything else, he was standing and gently pulling her to her feet. “But you’ve hardly touched your dinner.”

He shrugged and began to lead her towards the wide doorway.

Their friends watched them go without a word. Despite the fact that they had both been at least somewhat involved in conversation, there were no protests from either the boys or the girls. Though she hadn’t said anything, she knew the girls were aware that something was on her mind and she suspected that the boys knew much more than she did about what was going on with James.

“I’m not hungry,” he told her.

“What?” Lily couldn’t honestly remember a time James had turned down food when he wasn’t deathly ill or on the brink of collapsing from sheer exhaustion. 

As if reading her mind, he gave her a look as they reached the Entrance Hall and headed out onto the grounds. “I’ll go to the kitchens if I get hungry later. It’s not a big deal.”

Lily let it go, but she still found it rather odd until she noticed how jittery he was. James was never one to sit still, was in constant motion be it a bouncing leg in class or long slender fingers tapping the desk during Prefects’ meetings. But this was a bit more than usual, she thought to herself as she watched him drag his hand through his hair for the fifth time since they’d walked outside. His head was swiveling this way and that and Lily would have worried he was looking for a getaway were his hand not so steady and secure in hers. 

She realized as he gnawed on his bottom lip that he was nervous and despite the fact that she had been so convinced all day that he wasn’t planning on ditching her, ignoring the warm, fond look he’d given her just moments before, Lily suddenly felt herself growing paranoid. What in the world could possibly have James Potter feeling nervous around her? Unless he was planning to break up with her. Or had some other likewise bad news to share.

There weren’t very many people out; it was that time of year where it was beginning to get cold out and the sun was just starting to sink beneath the tree line of the Forbidden Forest so most of the student body was inside. 

James led her over towards the Black Lake, and Lily watched him closely as he cheerfully greeted Martin Greene, his fellow Gryffindor Chaser, who was on his way up from the greenhouses. He didn’t seem nervous as he promised to see the younger boy at their early morning practice the next day, but his hand immediately jumped to his hair when Martin was gone. 

“You’ve been quiet today,” Lily said softly, bumping her hip against his gently as they ambled along the shore of the lake. They had made about a half-circuit by the time she spoke. 

James hummed, and she saw him nod out of the corner of her eye. 

“A lot on your mind?” she asked. She had told herself he could have as much time to process his thoughts as he needed, but he’d invited her on this walk, hadn’t he? He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t want to talk to her. 

“Yeah, I guess.” He sighed, and his thumb stroked along the back of her hand. “Sorry.” 

“It’s okay. You’re allowed to be pensive sometimes,” she assured him. Then that awful nagging worry struck again. What if she was reading all the signs wrong? What if his hand in hers wasn’t a sign that everything was fine after all? “As long as you’re not trying to ditch me.” 

She tried to make it sound like a joke, but she knew she failed when he halted in his tracks and pulled her around to face him. His eyes were wide behind his glasses and his jaw dropped as if nothing had ever shocked him more than that one suggestion.

“What?” he said, still gawking at her. Then, “What?”

“I was only joking,” she lied weakly.

Though his shock had done more to assuage her sudden worry than anything she imagined he might say, she still felt oddly vulnerable. Ever since she had accepted her feelings for him at the end of Sixth Year, she wasn’t used to feeling off-kilter around him. Even before they were officially dating, when they were in that odd will-they won’t-they limbo, she hadn’t felt nearly so uncertain than in that moment.

When she tried to turn away to keep things light, he held her there by the hand, once more turning her to face him. His free hand lifted, stroking her face, cupping her cheek as he stepped closer and peered down at her, that same awed look as before mixing with the confusion. 

“Lily,” he breathed, then shook his head as a bemused smile played on his lips. “Honestly, that’s the farthest thing from my mind. That’s the last thing I would ever do.”

She didn’t try to convince him she was joking, not again, not knowing that he could see right through her. Instead she bit her lip and tried to duck her head, but his nimble fingers on her cheeks kept her eyes on his. She felt her face flush, and she sighed. 

“I’m mad for you, Lily,” he mumbled, and brushed his lips gently over hers. 

“I feel the same about you,” she whispered, but she realized quite suddenly that maybe it was a bit more than that, actually. Maybe she a bit more than fancied the boy before her, judging by the way his silence had nagged at her all day until it had her on the edge of panic, fearing the worst even though she knew, logically, that her fear was unfounded. 

And since when had being single again been the worst possible outcome her brain could conjure? It had only been a few weeks and already she couldn’t imagine her life without James Potter taking up so much space in it. 

He smiled at her soft admission and then let go of her hand to bury both of his in her thick auburn hair. He kissed her, gently again, but much more solidly than a mere brush of his lips to hers. His mouth fit perfectly over hers, moving overs once, twice, thrice, before he tilted his head and deepened the kiss. 

A piercing wolf-whistle broke them apart after what may have been several minutes and they looked across the lake towards the castle to find their friends, his blokes and her girls, gathered near what was widely considered the best tree due to its full foliage and location mere steps from the shore of the lake. It was fairly obvious who had made the obtrusive sound as Dorcas was currently hitting Sirius’s arm none-too-gently. 

Lily looked up at James, surprised to find him looking somewhat disappointed by the arrival of their friends. She couldn’t recall ever seeing him anything less than thrilled to be reunited with his boys regardless of how brief their separation. 

“Shall we?” she asked when he met her gaze. 

He sighed, and his hands trailed slowly down her arms until their fingers were linked once more. “I suppose.” 

They continued on their course, not bothering to speed up despite Sirius’s distant and persistent urging. James tugged her to a halt again just as they were about to round the last little curve of the shoreline, mere meters from their friends. 

She peered up at him, mesmerized by the way the orange glow of the setting sun bathed him. He looked unreal; he looked perfect; he looked like a figment of her wildest dreams.

“I am sorry for worrying you today,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean to be distant. I was just… thinking about something.” 

“It’s okay,” she told him again. “I didn’t actually think you were going to ditch me all day. I don’t know why I suddenly got afraid of that.” 

He smiled at her, and there was a slightly manic look to the way his lips curved up. “It’s just that… I got myself all worked up and nervous over it.” 

She laughed at him because, well, she’d already realized that, hadn’t she? Almost as soon as they’d left the Great Hall he’d made it obvious how nervous he was. As he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her just a little bit closer, his expression dead serious, she suddenly realized why he was so nervous. And it was so obvious as well, wasn’t it? Hadn’t she all but come to the conclusion for herself mere moments before? Her breath hitched as he opened his mouth. 

Suddenly, the wild Gryffindor in her wanted nothing more than to beat him to the punch. The softer, more caring part of her recognized that he had been struggling to work himself up to this all day and she had only had a few minutes of the realization, and she couldn’t take that from him. So, she smiled up at him and waited. 

He was quiet for another second, then took a deep breath, and on a sharp exhale said, “I love you.”

Though she knew it was coming, the declaration made her heart sing and a little relieved giggle passed unbidden from her lips. Lily beamed up at him and it wasn’t until she registered the lingering anxiety in his eyes that she realized he was waiting for a response. 

“I love you too, you idiot,” she said with a fond shake of her head. “I can’t believe you’ve spent a whole day stressing about saying three little words to me when it’s so obvious how I’d respond.”

“I’ve fancied this girl for four years and finally got her to date me and she thinks I want to break up with her,” he shot back, but he was grinning now, a mischievous teasing glint in his eyes. “Honestly, and all these years I thought you were clever.” 

She rolled her eyes and he shook his head at her, splitting grin still in full effect, before he slid his arms around her waist, pulled her to him, and lifted her off her feet to swing her around in the air. Lily wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and threw her head back, laughing freely as he made her dizzy with all his spinning. 

“I love you,” he said again as he finally set her feet back on the ground. “I love you, I love you, I love you.” 

“You know it doesn’t make it any more meaningful if you repeat it incessantly,” she teased, but he clearly wasn’t bothered as he lowered his head, his mouth covering hers completely, hands leisurely trailing up her body until one rested tenderly on the side of her neck and the other cupped her cheek. 

He jerked away from her as a stream of water from the lake suddenly shot out and struck him in the side of the head, magically missing her by inches. They both whipped around to see their friends all laughing at them, Sirius’s wand hanging limp in his hand at his side as he was all but doubled over. 

James took several hurried steps away from her, clearly intent on retaliation, before he turned around again, kissed her quickly and with a flash of a grin, and repeated, “I love you.” 

Then he was gone, and was nothing more than a tangle of limbs as he wrestled Sirius to the ground Muggle-style. Remus and Peter stood close by, laughing, as Mary and Dorcas retreated hurriedly to avoid falling casualty to the boys’ roughhousing. They stopped in front of Lily and all three of them watched warily as James and Sirius rolled into Remus’s legs, causing the poor boy to fall on top of them as Peter dashed a few steps back. 

“Boys,” Dorcas said, shaking her head as she watched Remus, usually the most composed of the lot, laugh and throw himself wholeheartedly into the pile of wrestling limbs. 

“So immature,” Mary agreed with a little dismissive sniff.

But Lily couldn’t stop smiling as she watched James play with his mates like children. “Still love ‘em, though.”