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animasola86 · 1 year ago

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A BLESSING AND A CURSE: Making out in the Undercroft

Pairing: Sebastian Sallow x f!mc Genre: Fluff/Hurt/Comfort // Words: 3.2k

Context: Sebastian had his eyes on the new student from the very beginning. After two tumultuous days full of adventures and slowly getting to know her (and her body), they end up in the Undercroft and things might get a little more heated than before. (But only a little, for the smut version of this prompt, go read A Night in the Undercroft.)

Warnings: Mentions of physical abuse and bullying aka how Nebbia got her scar.

Excerpt from Chapter 8:

He must have fallen asleep somehow, because when he suddenly felt something brush against the back of his head, he flinched badly, his whole body shaking awake with a jerk. He spun around and met two wide green eyes and a hand hanging mid-air, fingers outstretched. For a moment they stared at each other a little awkwardly, then he smirked at her and straightened up, leaning his elbow on the couch beside her, his fingers slipping encouragingly between hers.

“What happened?” was her first question as she shifted slightly on the couch, before her eyes moved past him and around the vast room. ��And where are we?”

“This is a very secret place called the Undercroft,” he told her quietly. She listened with interest as he went on telling her about how he used to spend hours in here with Anne and Ominis, yet from the thick dust layers all around them she could probably tell that it had been a long while since that had happened. He didn't dwell on that and simply declared this place a refuge from angry adults and annoying ghosts. “And I brought you here after you fainted...”

“I fainted?” she whispered and slightly tugged at his hand. “Oh...”

“How do you feel now?” he asked and raised his free hand to gently move the back of his finger against her cheek, noticing that her skin felt much warmer.

“Better...” she mumbled and leaned back into the cushions, her eyes wandering away for a moment. “Must have been all too much today...” When she looked back at him, she furrowed her eyebrows slightly. “I'm sorry I got us both detention,” she then added and chewed on her bottom lip nervously. “I thought I could... turn things around...”

“It's okay,” he replied with a warm smile, his thumb moving over her palm in soft circles. “Perhaps I should have warned you about Madam Scribner...”

She gave him a strangled chuckle. “That woman was really scary...” she muttered under her breath and looked down at their joined hands. “Perhaps worse than that poltergeist...”

He exhaled a laugh. “Oh yes, she knows how to protect her precious books,” he said with a shake of his head and a rolling of his eyes. “But don't worry too much about it. What's a little detention, right? At least we can spend it together...” he added quietly and watched her closely.

She blushed slightly as she looked at him. A tiny smile broke from her lips, and he found himself staring at her mouth again. For a moment he just looked at her, lost in thoughts he tried to suppress once more. When she squeezed his hand, he almost flinched and blinked quickly.

“Do you... uh... want me to take you back to your common room?” he then asked abruptly, tempted to lean away and let go of her hand when all he could focus on was her tiny frame lying right in front of him, so close, so warm, so inviting.

She shook her head. “I'd rather... stay here, if that's okay,” she whispered. “My roommates were a little cross with me for sneaking in late yesterday...” she added under her breath.

He looked at her with a frown. “You're welcome to stay here as long as you like,” he replied with a small smile before he pursed his lips and threw a glance through the vast room towards the metal gate. “I might have to talk to Ominis,” he muttered quietly, more to himself, before he noticed Nebbia's interested gaze. “He was the one who discovered this room, you know? It's his secret place and I'm not supposed to share it with others...”

“I won't tell anyone,” she said with earnest, tightening the grip of her fingers around his. “I promise. I mean, I don't know anyone I could tell to begin with, but no matter, I will not tell anyone, I swear!”

Sebastian smirked at her, though her words left him a little conflicted. He still felt responsible for taking up most of her time, though he really enjoyed it as well, and having her all to himself did feel surprisingly nice. Selfishly so. Leaning up on his knees, he wrapped his other hand around their joined fingers and watched her. “Thank you,” he said, not just thanking her for her discretion, but for so much more he couldn't quite fathom still.

She smiled at him, and in that moment, as their eyes locked, something unseen moved between them, before they moved closer to each other. Suddenly his hand was on the back of her neck, and she grabbed the front of his shirt, and fractions of a second later their mouths collided. The kiss was at a slightly awkward angle, but nothing seemed to stop them – and somehow he ended up climbing onto the couch to her, pushing her small body into the back of it, halfway covering her with his broader form.

Their lips remained glued together, hands and limbs entangled, her warmth taking over every rational thought he had still left in the back of his mind. Soon his body acted on its own, his fingers moving over fabric and skin, his knee pushing between her thighs, his breaths ragged and shallow. She squirmed slightly beneath him, but never showed any sign of discomfort. With how she dug her fingers into his hair and held him close, she seemed just as eager as he was.

The kiss became messier by the second, their heavy breathing filling the air as the couch squeaked quietly under their combined writhing. Her tongue danced with his, the grip of her hand tightening, before she eventually leaned back, trying to catch her breath, her green eyes wide and her pupils blown under the intensity of whatever they were doing. His lips were tingling, and when he licked them, she was suddenly back in his face, kissing him almost hungrily again.

He chuckled against her, his arm snaking around her body as he rolled them around so she was halfway covering him now, his free hand holding the back of her head, his fingers digging into her soft hair. In her new position, she cupped his face and held it firmly as she pressed her lips to his, eager to taste every inch of his mouth as she slipped her tongue into it. He was yet again surprised about this rather unassuming girl, cute and innocent by day, but he seemed to be able to tickle her deepest desires out of her.

Quite the powerful revelation.

And despite the heat growing between them, it was him who broke the kiss eventually, gently grabbing her face and leaning her away slightly to look at her. They were both out of breath, their lips swollen, their gazes filled with something he could only describe as lust. But he shouldn't push his luck, shouldn't overdo it, shouldn't take things too far too quickly. Even though his teenage body wanted nothing more.

With a deep inhale, he rolled her off of him and simply held her in his arms, his lips ghosting her forehead until he felt the ragged lines of her scar beneath his sensitive lips. He halted then, curiosity taking over. Giving her scar another firm kiss, he then leaned back and looked at her. She met his gaze, chewing on her lips. Because he still couldn't find the right words to ask what he wanted to ask, he raised a hand and gently traced his finger over her skin, his fingertip running along the slightly protruding lines cutting through her right eyebrow.

She closed her eyes and let him touch her, exhaling loudly as she nestled against him, though a slight frown creased her forehead. “It's ugly, isn't it?” she then whispered barely audible.

“No, it's not,” he said quickly, leaning in to kiss her scar once more. “It's a part of you, so it can't be ugly. I mean... you're...” He cleared his throat, and his fumbling for the right words made her open one eye, a tiny smirk playing around her lips. He met her gaze, feeling his cheeks warming up under it. “You're beautiful, is what I wanted to say,” he said quietly, trying to ignore the blush spreading to his ears. “And no scar can change that.”

She opened both eyes and raised a hand to trace her finger over his jaw as she watched him closely. “You don't have to say that...” she whispered.

“But I mean it,” he declared, holding her gaze, before she looked away. She sighed and lowered her hand to rest on his chest, mindlessly playing with his tie. “How did you get it?” he then asked, eager to find out more and no longer caring to find the right words.

He saw her clenching her jaw, her eyes still fixed on his shirt. “It was... given to me...” she replied after a long pause, making him frown deeply. He encouraged her to go on by pulling her a little closer to him, his arm holding her tightly. “In the orphanage, I had to share a room with five other girls...” she started to explain, her voice feeble, her face a mask, but he could see the turmoil in her green eyes. “And they didn't like me very much...”

He felt something hot gathering in his stomach, a tight coil of anger as he listened to her tale. She told him about the dreary circumstances she had to live under, their tiny quarters, and how she could hide all of her belongings under the old mattress of her bunk bed, how they worked all day in the factory and how they were barely fed afterwards.

“One day,” she said quietly, “at the end of our shift, I was so tired I bumped into a box of buttons, one we had already sorted, and I dropped it, buttons flying everywhere. We were supposed to go back to the orphanage and have dinner, but because of my mistake, all the girls had to stay longer. I was already hated by most of them for whatever reason, I don't even know why really, but after that they all hated me even more and they –”

She took a deep breath, and he saw her closing her eyes as she snuggled against him as if trying to hide from the memory. He gently rubbed her arm, working his jaw as the frown grew on his forehead. He had already heard enough, his mind adding the missing pieces of her story as his eyes travelled over the crooked lines of her scar. The anger boiled beneath his skin at these unknown Muggle girls.

But she needed to get it out, share the horrible experience with someone, even though he wanted to spare her the recounting of it, but perhaps it could help her deal with it better. So he let her continue, even if her shaking voice almost broke his heart.

“One morning they ambushed me in bed and... two held me down, while the others... carved lines into my face with blunt glass shards...” A sob escaped her, and he instinctively hugged her tighter, his breaths quickened as her turmoil added to his rage. “My... screams woke the matron, and the girls... quickly let go of me and ran away, leaving me bleeding all over my bed... I was scolded for my noises and the soiling of my sheets, while they... never saw any consequences...”

He shook his head in disbelief. “I'm so sorry,” he said quietly, trying not to speak his mind immediately. His hatred for those Muggles bubbled right beneath his skin. “What a horrible –” Inhaling deeply, he stopped talking and pressed his lips to her forehead instead, holding her in his tight embrace. She grabbed the front of his shirt and leaned into him, slowly relaxing against him once more. “I am so glad you're here now... away from all of that...” he added quietly.

Nebbia's breath steadied against his neck, and he felt her nodding. “Me too...” she whispered, and for a long moment they just lay together on the couch, holding onto each other, their minds racing for different reasons. He could only imagine what she must be going through right now, having remembered such a horrible experience, or all of her time in that terrible place, so he tried frantically to find ways to distract her, make her feel better, show her that she was safe now.

So he gently grabbed her shoulder and leaned her away to look at her, his eyes on her face before she met his gaze, her lips trembling slightly. His hand found her cheek. As soon as he felt her wet skin beneath his thumb, he inhaled deeply and leaned in, pressing his lips to hers for a kiss that would hopefully convey all those things he wanted to show her. She breathed heavily against him and kissed him back, probably trying to forget what she had just shared with him.

They remained locked like this for a while, caught in their desire to just feel the other, before lack of oxygen made him move his lips along her jaw and down her neck. He shifted against her, rolling her around until she was lying beneath him, and as he focused on kissing along the slender column of her neck, he felt her hands rubbing over his back, her heavy breaths making strands of his hair fly.

His lips pressed against her soft skin, and before he knew it, he started sucking on it gently, coaxing a surprised whimper out of her. Looking up to meet her hooded eyes, her lips parted and trembling, swollen from their kiss, Sebastian smiled at her. He saw her blushing even more as she watched him breathlessly. Without another word, he moved back down and continued kissing her sensitive skin, feeling her squirm slightly beneath him under the sensation as he grazed his teeth carefully over her pulse.

Her fingers dug through his hair, and he shivered under the touch. He could feel her rapid heartbeat against his tongue as he moved its tip along her skin, tasting salt and something sweet, and he would have continued his journey along her neck if it wasn't for the quiet moaning of his name she suddenly issued. “Sebastian...”

He raised his gaze, feeling as flustered as she looked, before he leaned back fully and licked his lips. “Sorry, I... got carried away...” he admitted with his cheeks burning as he rolled off of her.

She gave him a small smile, her hand trailing along his arm. “It's okay...”

“No, I... I shouldn't be so... forward with you... not very gentleman-like, eh?” He cleared his throat and inhaled deeply as he settled next to her, his gaze fixed to the vaulted ceiling above them.

“I thought we were past that,” she whispered quietly, a slight smirk audible in her voice. “We're no saints... no proper people... we're just young and eager...”

He chuckled and turned his head to her. “We sure are...”

Smiling at him, she then rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. He watched her quietly, before he suddenly jumped up and off the couch, causing her to fall deeper into the cushions without his body to support hers any more. She looked at him with surprised eyes.

“I shouldn't – I... I'll sleep on the floor,” he declared then, siting back down on the stone floor in front of the couch.

“Are you sure?” she asked, further tempting him to do the opposite of what was proper.

“Yes,” he said firmly and lay down on his back, crossing his arms behind his head to give him at least a little bit of comfort. “It's... uh... better this way...” He looked along his body then, quickly rolling onto his side, facing away from her, trying to hide the fact that he'd rather take it further with her right away.

Sebastian heard her shift on the couch, and suddenly her hand was on his shoulder. Swallowing hard, he raised one hand to grab hers, gently slipping his fingers between her own. Leaning his head on his other arm, he then closed his eyes, trying to ignore the churning of his stomach and the blood rushing somewhere lower.

“Good night,” she whispered behind him.

“Night,” he muttered, chewing on his swollen lips, squeezing her hand softly. For a long while he listened to her breathing, feeling the warmth of her fingers against his, remembering yet another very eventful day.

And somehow he had fallen asleep, surprised by how easy it had been, and when he woke up again, he felt something brushing against his face. Opening his eyes, he noticed a delicate hand hanging off the edge of the couch, fingertips playing with his messy hair. For a moment he let her, smiling softly to himself, before he turned around and grabbed her wrist, coaxing a surprised yelp out of her.

His tired eyes met hers, and he smiled even wider when he noticed the blush creeping up her pale cheeks. Slowly he sat up, shifting slightly uncomfortably under the state of his body. Before he could get lost in her eyes again, he lowered his gaze and pulled out his pocket watch, then groaned deeply. “Late for breakfast again...” he muttered and rolled his sore shoulders. “How'd you sleep?” he then asked her, his voice a low rumble, looking back to the girl still lying on the soft cushions of the couch, her hair dishevelled and her lips as swollen as his felt.

“Good,” she whispered quietly, her eyes moving over his face. “You?”

“Well, I had worse,” he admitted with a smirk, and it was true. At least the company had been better this time. And weirdly enough there had been no nightmares to keep him awake.

“We should go, hm?” she mused quietly, before she sat up with a soft squeak falling from her lips, stretching as she did so. He stared at her for a moment, mesmerized by the sweet sound. “Sebastian?”

“Huh? Uh, yes! Yes, we should,” he stammered and cleared his throat, then quickly got up and turned away from her, brushing dust off his trousers, trying to ignore the strain against the fabric. Rolling his eyes at his own body's reactions, he pushed a hand through his hair, before he almost flinched when he suddenly felt a hand on his back.

“I'm ready,” she whispered, and he spun around, meeting her gaze, trying to hold it to not guide her attention elsewhere.

He nodded with a smile and quickly grabbed her hand, then pulled her along through the vast space of the Undercroft. There were no words between them when he guided her back to Central Hall, yet it didn't feel awkward to be silent with her. It felt right. When they parted at the bottom of the staircase leading to the Ravenclaw Tower, she simply smiled at him, and he nodded, squeezing her hand as several other students passed them by, keeping him from saying goodbye to her properly.

“See you in Potions,” he called after her, and she waved at him, her cheeks flushed. Inhaling deeply, he turned away and headed to his own common room, eager to tell his body to calm down again.

[ Read the whole story so far on AO3 ]

[ A BLESSING AND A CURSE MASTERLIST ]

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