#also this started out as like. one paragraph and then i got carried away oopsie | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

freddie-weaselbee · 3 years

Text

Close Quarters//F.W.

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Language, sexual references, partial nudity, like one paragraph of brief smut but no details, mentions of food, accidentally getting lit on fire (oopsie spoiler), angst, rude Fred

Summary: What happens when George moves out, leaving Fred to live with the one person he despises the most? Chaos, that’s what happens.

Prompts: Roommates and Enemies to Lovers with the prompts “I can’t believe you talked me into this.” “This is the opposite of what I told you to do.” and “You can’t banish me! This is my apartment too!”

Word Count: 9k

A/N: This is for @theweasleyslut’s birthday celebration writing challenge, happy birthday love !! And also the first fic in Abby’s Week of Weasley, enjoy!

~Abby’s Week of Weasley Masterlist~ ~Masterlist~

As Fred Weasley sealed up the last box with an excess amount of tape, he took a second to step back and take in his surroundings. It was the same old loft he had lived in for the past 4 years. There was the couch and armchairs positioned around a coffee table, the Muggle guitar propped up on its stand in the corner, the many pictures of his family scattered around the open space. It was controlled chaos, and to him it was beautiful. But it was all changing, and much too soon for his liking.

“Thanks for the help Freddie,” called his twin George from the other room. The tall ginger haired boy who had just spoken joined his slightly older brother in the main part of the loft, carrying a box filled with books he had collected over the years. “It really means a lot, Angie got pulled away for work so I know she’d appreciate it.”

Fred nodded and gave his brother a small smile. “Of course Georgie, anything else I can do?”

George took a look around the room. By the door were piles of dozens of boxes, all filled to the brim with George’s clothes and knick knacks. He sighed and scratched the back of his head, a deep sadness overtaking his features.

“No, I think we’re alright,” he said. “Just need to get these to my new place and we should be all set.”

Fred let out a deep sigh and looked at his brother. They stared at each other for a few short seconds before dropping everything in their hands and wrapping their arms around each other.

“Do you really have to go?” Fred whispered softly. It was so unlike him to be quiet, and even more unlike him to be nervous and shy. But watching his brother, who he had lived with for 22 years, finally leave and get his own place broke him. “It’s always been us, George, you and me, the Weasley twins. I can’t imagine living without you.”

George squeezed his twin even tighter, a loose tear falling from eye. “It’s not like I’m leaving you, me and Angelina will be just a Floo Network trip away. And you can’t expect her to stay here forever and be forced to live with you as well.”

Fred scoffed and let out a breathy chuckle. “What do you mean, she’s loved staying with us! The second she moved in with you she told me that she couldn’t imagine anything better than living with her lover and his twin brother who’s always around.”

“She was being sarcastic mate, she can only handle one twin at a time and unfortunately for you that twin is me.” George released his brother and quickly wiped his eyes, noticing Fred doing the same thing.

“Whatever,” Fred replied, “it was getting annoying not being able to walk around freely in my own place without having to see you two shagging on every piece of furniture.”

“Not my fault she can’t resist my charms,” he said, giving his infamous Weasley smirk. “Maybe with us gone you’ll be able to finally find a girl.”

“I think I should focus on getting a roommate first,” he said, plopping down on the couch. “You know I can’t live alone. Remember before Angelina moved in and you stayed at her place for the night--”

“And you showed up at Ginny and Harry’s and crawled into bed with them because you were scared? Yeah, no one in the family’s gonna let you forget that anytime soon.” Fred shoved his brother and crossed his arms, sinking deeper into the cushions.

“Sod off, you never know what could be lurking in the dark.”

George laughed and joined his brother, kicking his feet onto the coffee table. “You know,” he began, mischief gleaming in his eyes, “I do think I have an answer to your roommate problem.”

“Really?” Fred asked, shooting up. The less time he had to spend alone at night, and alone in general, the better.

“Yeah,” said George, “I ran into one of my old friends from school and turns out they’re looking for a place to stay and maybe earn some extra money. I was thinking that maybe, since you’ve got the space and we need some help in the shop anyway, they could take the other room and work downstairs on the weekends.”

Fred looked quizzically at his double, trying to read his intentions. “And who, pray tell, might this friend be?”

George just smirked and went to collect the rest of the boxes. “That, dear brother, is a surprise.”

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

You made your way down the cobbled streets of Diagon Alley, a place you had more recently been finding yourself. Work at the Ministry had been tiring, especially your first few years. But ever since the war ended and everything began to quiet down, you’d had some more free time to finally take in the world around you.

It stood out like a sore thumb. The bright and gleaming storefront with an animatronic face looking down at you. You had never visited Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes before, always nervous about running into a certain redhead and falling back into the same argumentative habits you’d had at Hogwarts. Fred had always made it his goal to make your life a living hell, and you couldn’t lie, you did the same to him. But after having lunch with George a few days ago and suddenly receiving a letter to come and visit him at his shop, you decided that it was finally time to see the inside of Diagon Alley’s most booming business.

The doorbell jingled as you walked in, catching the attention of your friend behind the counter.

“Y/N!” George cried. He hopped over the register, knocking a few things down from shelves, before pulling you into a hug.

“Hey George! So, this is the place, huh?” The inside was even more spectacular than the outside. The walls were lined with products from end to end, some of them you recognized from the twins’ testing at Hogwarts and others were completely new. An animatronic doll of Umbridge was riding across a rope close to the ceiling, making you laugh and remembering the horrors of your 7th year when the pink nightmare was in charge.

“This is it!” George had his arm around your shoulder as he showed you around, pointing out different products and trying desperately to sell you one of their love potions, knowing exactly how single you were.

“This is incredible, George, I can’t believe you guys actually did it.”

“You doubted us? And I thought we were friends!” He clutched his heart and doubled over, accidentally stumbling into a display and making all of the products crashing down.

“Oi, George what are you doing down there?” You froze at the voice, one you hadn’t heard in years and one that you weren’t too keen on hearing any time soon. Fred appeared on the steps, wearing a dapper purple and orange suit, his hair slightly ruffled. The grin on his face disappeared when he made eye contact with you, being replaced with a scowl. “What’s she doing here?”

“Nice to see you too, Weasley.” You smiled at him, a fake mocking smile that made his blood boil, and how you loved getting under his skin.

“George,” he said, acting as though you weren’t even in the room.

The man in question shifted from foot to foot, fidgeting with the sleeve of his jacket. “Well, uh, you see…”

“George sent me a letter the other day,” you interrupted. “Said that he had a proposition that he wanted to talk about and asked if I could come in today.”

Realization dawned on Fred and his eyes grew wide. “Oh no, George are you serious? She was the one you were talking about?”

You furrowed your brow in both confusion at the situation and anger at Fred, who had made you upset in record time today. “Talking about what? All I know is that he wanted to ask me something and I agreed to meet with him.” You turned to face the other twin. “What’s going on?”

“Ok, both of you calm down,” he said, hands up in defense. “Let me explain. Y/N, you know how you said you really needed a place to stay, as well as somewhere to work part time?”

It took you a couple of seconds, but you then understood what he was insinuating. “No. There’s no way, how am I supposed to live with you two when he’s going to be an annoying prat every second?”

“You’re not the most lovable person yourself, darling,” Fred sneered. “And besides, you wouldn’t be living with us. George moved out to get an apartment with Angelina. You’d be living with only me.”

Without a second thought you turned around and started toward the exit. “Well, I appreciate the offer George and it was great to catch up, hopefully next time I see you I won’t be bothered by your other half.”

“Y/N wait!” George cried, catching up to you and grabbing your wrist. “Listen, I know these aren’t the most...ideal conditions for you--”

“Same goes for me!” Fred called from the stairs.

George sighed heavily, rubbing his temple in frustration. “Y/N, I’ve missed you over the past few years. I know that you and Fred don’t exactly get along.”

“That’s the understatement of the century,” you said through gritted teeth. “He’s annoying, cocky, inconsiderate, and--”

“And he’s my brother,” said George. “He’s a good person, and for whatever reason you two decided to hate each other, I can promise that the Fred you think you know is nothing like the real one.”

You paused your struggle against his arm and decided to let him continue on.

“Let’s be real here. You need a place to stay and rent for most places in Diagon Alley is insane. If you stay here you get a nice bedroom, a cozy living room, a great view of London from the roof, and a low rate for rent. You can even work down here on the weekends to get the extra money you need. The only thing you need to do is be civil with Fred, that’s all.”

“That’s a lot more difficult than it sounds when someone’s as much of an arse as he is.”

Fred rolled his eyes and came over to join the conversation. “What would I get out of this arrangement George? I don’t know if you were unaware, but I don’t exactly need money at the moment, we’re doing just fine as it is.”

Great, you thought, he’s a pompous rich kid too. Gets a little money and it goes all to his head.

“Fred, what were we talking about the other night?” George prodded. “You hate being alone, especially at night. If Y/N’s here, then you’ll have someone to keep you company, someone who’s always in the loft with you.”

“Aww, is little Freddie afraid of the dark?” you mocked, sticking out your bottom lip and jesting in a baby voice.

He practically growled back. “Shut the fuck up, you--”

George put his hands out, one on your shoulder and one on Fred’s chest to separate the two of you. “It’s a mutually beneficial deal. You both know that you don’t have any other options, and maybe if you two dimwits spend some time together you won’t be at each other’s throat all the time! Now, what do you say? Just try it out.”

You looked Fred up and down dramatically, letting him know how much distaste for him you had. He did the same back to you but paused for a brief moment at your boobs, causing you to blush and look away.

Fred was the first to give in. “Fine. I’m willing to try it if she will. As long as we establish some ground rules, starting with you can never come into my room, got it?”

It took everything you had not to slap the shit out of the man standing in front of you, but George was right. You didn’t have any other options.

“I’ll at least have my own bathroom, right?” you asked George.

He laughed guiltily and mentally prepared himself for another barrage of yells. “You see, about that…”

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

“Your room’s at the end of the hall, bathroom’s to the right, my room’s to the left, have at it.”

You dropped the heavy boxes you had been carrying onto the floor and leaned over to catch your breath. Fred was standing nonchalantly in the kitchen, pulling out the bread and jam to make a sandwich.

“Excuse me?” you asked indignantly.

“You’re excused,” he replied, not even looking up.

You stomped over to the small kitchenette and slammed the refrigerator door shut, which Fred just opened again seconds later. You tried again, but he merely sighed and reached for the handle. Finally after not being able to take any more you shoved his hand aside and stood in front of the door, leaning all of your weight onto it.

“Something I can help you with, doll?”

The anger coursing through your boy only intensified, nails leaving marks on the insides of your clenched hands. “First of all, don’t call me doll, understand?”

He rolled his eyes and grabbed you by the waist, lifting you to the side so he could once again get to his food. “I’ll call you what I want, darling.”

By this point you had completely given into your anger. Pulling your wand from your back pocket you shoved it under his chin, forcing him against a nearby wall and making him finally pay attention to you. “You listen here, Freddie,” you snarled. “Neither of us want this to happen, that’s a fact. But if you get to have ground rules then so do I, and I will not sit here and be quite literally tossed around like some quaffle! Have I made myself clear?”

It was subtle, but Fred gulped. You had always scared him at Hogwarts, which is one of the reasons he picked on you so much. He’d rather be on the offensive than always backed into a corner playing defense.

“Ok doll--sorry, I mean Y/N. Let’s sit down and go over any rules, ok? As much as I enjoy being pinned to the wall by you, I think we need to defuse the tension, yeah?”

Even when he was trying to make peace he was infuriating. But you relented and slowly let the wand down, pulling out a chair at the countertop with Fred joining right next to you.

Fred summoned a piece of parchment and a pen (which was always much easier to use than quills) and messily scrawled ‘Loft Rules’ on the top.

“Alright, you can go first,” he offered.

You thought for a moment before delivering your demands. “Number one, no nicknames. I go by Y/N, and I refuse to answer to anything else.” He nodded and wrote it down.

“Number two. You can’t ignore me. I know you think you’re better than me and that I’m not worth your time, but if I’m going to be your roommate then you have to treat me as an equal, and I’ll do the same to you.”

“Yeah,” Fred scoffed, “just like you did back in Hogwarts.”

“Can we please not focus on the past?” you asked. “I know we were both horrible arses to each other, but we’re not kids anymore. I’ll respect you if you respect me. It’s not that difficult.”

Fred grumbled in agreement and wrote down the second rule. “Anything else?”

“Don’t go through my room or my stuff. I have some very personal items and I would appreciate you keeping your nose out of them.”

Fred put the pen to his chin in concentration, ideas forming in his head.

“Fred,” you scolded. “No touching my things. That’s final.”

“Fine, but the same goes for me,” he said. “That’s my rule number one, stay out of my room and don’t touch any of my personal items. Furniture and that kind of thing don’t count.”

You nodded. “That’s only fair. Rule number two?”

“George and I are always working on new products, and usually testing them out on people. We’ll pay you to test them if you want, but if not you need to stay out of our way and mind your own business.”

“I’ll test anything you guys have, I did it back at school and I’m sure you’re much more professional now.”

“What?” Fred asked, completely confused. “When did you test our products?”

“Who do you think was the one who tried, and eventually perfected, the skiving snackboxes? George asked me to help him with them so I skipped prefect duties for a few nights and we figured it all out.”

“There’s no way you were the one who fixed them! I’ve been giving George the credit this whole time, how in the world did you do that?”

You shrugged. “I wasn’t top of our class for nothing, Freddie.”

“Oh I know, you never let me hear the end of it.”

Before you could say something in response Fred rushed on to his last request.

“Number three,” he said, smirking widely. “You can’t complain about any of the girls I bring home, and you can’t get in their way or say bad things about me. Believe it or not, I can be quite charming and I give everyone a good time, so no complaints of noise either. And we don’t use silencing spells, so get ready for that.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“Thank you. Now, I’m going downstairs to help George with a new shipment that just came in. Have fun unpacking your things!” He didn’t even give you a chance to say anything before aparating downstairs, leaving you alone in the large loft. You sighed and went to grab the boxes, dragging everything to the room you would be stuck in for who knows how long.

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

“This is the ugliest uniform I’ve ever seen!”

“Then it’ll match the rest of your personality! Put it on.”

You scoffed at Fred’s remark but decided not to argue. No matter how much you despised the boy you figured it probably wasn’t the best idea to start off by insulting your boss. Fred Weasley was your boss. You never thought you would reach this low of a point in your life.

The outfit you had to wear was exactly what Fred and George wore, which was fine for them, two 6’ 3” men. But the oversized male suit that you had to roll up countless times really didn’t suit your figure, and Fred knew that all too well.

Scrunching up the pant legs and fastening the tie, you made your way out of the loft to join the twins down in their office, running into George on the way down.

“Hey Y/N, sleep well?” George asked, handing you a latte he had bought from the coffee shop down the street.

You gave him a grateful nod and took a sip. “Hardly. I didn’t get moved in until about 2 in the morning and I always have trouble falling asleep in a new place, so let’s just say last night was a pretty rough start.”

“Fred didn’t help you unpack your things?” George questioned, looking a little surprised. “That must’ve taken you ages to get everything set up.”

“You’re telling me. But no, he just holed himself up in his room, ordered takeout around 9, then went back to his room and that’s all I saw of him. But I mean that’s pretty in character, yeah? Never really liked me much.”

It took George a few seconds to take in everything you were telling him. Fred was never one to ignore someone, especially someone he was living with. “Yeah,” he said, “but even so he was never actually rude to you at school right? I always thought it was some teenage rivalry fueled by hormones of something like that.”

“I wish it was that simple,” you sighed. “But I always appreciate when he’s leaving me alone. It’s a lot better than some of the asshole things he would say and do when we were kids. Trust me, the less we interact, the better.”

George was speechless with shock, but you didn’t notice. You made your way to some shelves to tidy up before the shop opened, leaving George standing open mouthed.

He watched as Fred finally exited the office with a stack of papers piled higher than his head. He dropped them next to you, a shit eating grin plastered on his face. “Fill these out for me will ya? Order forms, due back to me by noon. Shouldn’t be too complicated for you to understand, but let me know if you need me to explain what any of the big words mean.”

“Of course, sir.” you said, picking up the stack and taking it to the back. Fred came over to join his brother, who looked appalled at Fred’s actions.

“What?” he asked.

“I love you, but you’re a fucking moron.” George followed you into the back while Fred stared at him, confused on why his brother had for once in his life not been on his side.

George spent the rest of the morning showing you the ropes until you felt you were comfortable enough with the setup to be able to help them stock products and show people around. It was a nice change from your Ministry job, which was predictable and could be quite boring. This job had you always on your toes, talking with kids and demonstrating some of your favorite products.

The twins came back from their lunch break around one and were met with a large crowd of kids following you around like lost puppies. They were all grinning widely and laughing at every demonstration you provided, making you mirror their actions with glee.

You tried to show the kids how to use one of the newer products, but it ended up exploding in your face, making everyone howl with laughter, including yourself.

Fred watched you interact with the kids, enraptured by how easily you seemed to get along with them. When he knew you at Hogwarts he always thought you were a cocky and arrogant student who would’ve hated the idea of his pranks and jokes. The person he was watching now was nothing like the one he remembered.

“She’s a natural, huh?” whispered George, snapping Fred out of his stupor. “She’s always been good with kids, they seem to love her.”

“Y/N?” Fred asked. “She was so cold back in Hogwarts, I never saw her smile once!”

“Really?” George asked bewildered. “She’s always been a blast! Lee and her were friends and I can’t help but think he might’ve sparked the wild side in her, but I’ve never seen her be cold to anyone. Well, anyone except you.”

Before Fred could see anything you noticed the twins’ arrival. Smiling, you gestured to them and announced their presence in a regal voice. “And there they are, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes!”

The kids cheered and ran over to greet Fred and George, bouncing with excitement and berating them with questions about their products. George gave you a teasing glare as he was dragged across the floor while you sat on the counter, laughing at the scene you caused. But when you went to look at Fred, who you expected to be ignoring you, he was doing the complete opposite.

He was staring at you unashamedly, his eyes burning into yours. You awkwardly looked away, but when you glanced back a few seconds later he was still analyzing you, as if he was trying to figure out everything about you. You cleared your throat and moved to the back office, hoping you could get a start on that paperwork and maybe shake the weird feeling you got when Fred looked at you like that.

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

“All closed up for the night?”

You jumped at Fred’s voice, which had distracted you from casting the last of the protective charms needed to keep the shop locked up. With an entire alley filled with wizards who learned Alohomora in their first year at Hogwarts, it was safe to say they needed their fair share of charms to keep the store from being robbed.

“I was almost there, before you interrupted,” you said, turning back to the final spells you needed to cast. It had been a few weeks since you moved in with Fred and it had honestly been a lot better than you had expected. Of course, you two were still constantly at each other’s throats and the neighbors had complained about shouting matches more than once, but neither of you had killed the other yet and you considered that a victory.

As you finished up the last of your closing duties you saw George grabbing his things and heading to the Floo network upstairs, trying to rush past and avoid you and Fred.

“Hey!” you yelled after him. He stopped dead in his tracks and tried to shrink down as if to hide from you. But, being over 6 feet tall, it was rather difficult for him to disappear. “Where do you think you’re going? Stop trying to sneak off on us!”

“Yeah,” said Fred. “We’ve had takeout the last three nights in a row, we need you to stay and cook us a decent meal so I don’t have to smell Y/N’s fast food breath anymore.”

You elbowed him but nodded in agreement, you were getting absolutely sick of not having a home cooked meal.

“Guys,” George groaned, “I need to get home to see Angie! I’ve been working late for the past week and it’s been a while since we’ve had some...alone time.”

You and Fred both covered your ears and gagged, pretending to pop a puking pastille and subsequently throw up.

“You’re both so immature, and that’s coming from me,” he said smiling. “Besides, isn’t it high time you two learned to cook for yourselves? What were you gonna do, just have me cook for you the rest of your lives?”

“Yes,” you and Fred replied in unison, shooting each other dirty looks before turning back to your friend. Fred, with his unhealthy obsession with pyrotechnics, and you, with your lack of basic common sense, were never allowed in the kitchen before, and so neither of you had any idea how to cook even the most simple of meals.

George rolled his eyes and continued up the stairs to the loft, you and Fred following shortly behind him.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine, just follow the recipe I laid out for you. It’s spaghetti, I’m sure even you two couldn’t mess that up.” And with that, George had whooshed through the fireplace, leaving only you and Fred in the kitchen.

You stared at each other for a second, before you came to a decision. “I’ll order the takeout, you want Chinese tonight?”

You picked up one of the many takeout menus you had lying around and began to skim through it when Fred spoke up. “No, George is right. We might as well try to learn, and with two of us we should be able to figure it out.”

You looked at him as if he had grown a second head. “That is the dumbest idea you’ve ever had, and you’ve had some really dumb ideas.”

“C’mon,” he said, wrapping an arm around your shoulder. “We’re both smart, some of us more so than others. How bad can it possibly be?”

Answer: very bad.

Fred was running around the kitchen screaming at the top of his lungs while the fire alarm blared all throughout the loft. “Y/N, help! It won’t stop screaming at me!”

“I don’t know what to do!” you yelled, throwing the burning cookbook into the sink. There was still smoke rising from it, which made the alarm continue to beep at full volume. You grabbed the pot of boiling water and poured it down the drain, hoping that it would put out any of the pages that were still flaming. But the water only splashed up at you, making you yelp and fall backwards in order to avoid being burned by the liquid.

Fred was still scrambling through the rooms and he didn’t notice your body laying on the floor, causing him to trip over you and faceplant into the spilled marinara sauce.

The two of you tried to get up but your limbs became tangled in each other’s and you ended up on the ground again. After a few struggles you were finally back on your feet, but you were once again off of them as Fred hoisted you into the table.

“Get on my shoulders,” he said over the sound of the alarm. You climbed on and reached up to fumble around with all of the buttons on the device. “Hurry up, Y/N, I can’t support you for much longer!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying!” After what felt like ages you had finally pushed the right sequence and the loft was drowned in a sudden silence. Both you and Fred let out sighs of relief as he lowered you back onto the table. You hopped off and took a few steps back, finally taking in the disastrous scene around you.

“Well,” you said relieved, “at least that’s over.”

You turned to smile at Fred but we’re only met with a wide eyed look of pure horror.

“Fred? What is it?”

It was then that you smelled it. The familiar burning that had just been flooding your nostrils moments before was suddenly back and stronger than ever.

Slowly, you turned your head to look behind you, and your eyes widened even larger than Fred’s had. “I’m on fire!”

Sure enough, your oversized sweater had been dangling in the flame of the kitchen stove, which neither of you had remembered to turn off. The bottom of your outfit was slowly burning, bright orange and red flames climbing up your torso.

“Fuck! Fred, do something!” you wailed. You began running around the kitchen and spinning around faster and faster to try to put out the fire.

“I’m trying!” Fred grabbed a blanket from the living room and draped it over you, hoping to cut off the oxygen flow. But the fire only spread to the blanket, making your situation ten times worse.

“What the fuck Fred?! Do something useful!”

Fred dove under the table, reaching for his wand. He shimmied under a little more, but his right pant leg got caught in the burning blanket, meaning that both of you were now being engulfed by the flames.

“Holy shit!” He patted the small flames on his pants away, but you were frantically trying to shove yourself into the sink under the running water.

Grabbing his wand, Fred tried to get up, banging his head on the table in the process, and aimed it at you. “We never should’ve tried cooking! I can’t believe you talked me into this!”

“This is the opposite of what I told you to do!” you shrieked. “Now put the fire out you moron!”

Fred quickly cast Aguamenti, sending gallons upon gallons of water out of his wand and straight onto your flailing body, as well as the burning blanket. You sat in the sink, ass half in the now empty spaghetti pot, completely drenched from head to toe. Fred’s pant leg was still simmering, and his entire face was covered in marinara sauce, which had dripped down to cover most of his shirt. After all of the shock of what had just happened finally passed, a small smile crept onto both of your faces, and soon you were both bent over laughing hysterically.

Fred lifted you out of the sink, pushing you away suddenly when he realized how much water was dripping onto him. “C’mon, love, let’s get you cleaned up.”

“Hey, I thought I said no nicknames,” you teased, falling in step with him as you both rushed to your shared bathroom.

“C’mon, just this one, please? I deserve it after what you put me through back there.” He gave his best puppy dog eyes but you didn’t fall for it for a second.

“What I put you through?!” you said, bumping into his shoulder. “You thought we were supposed to light the noodles to get them to soften! I caught on fire for Pete’s sake!”

He laughed at you as you turned on the bathroom sink and tugged at your sweater. It was completely scorched in the back, black all the way up to your collar. You were lucky Fred had put it out when he did, otherwise there was a good chance it could have damaged your hair.

You took the now ruined sweater off, leaving you standing there in only your bra and a pair of comfortable pants. You could feel Fred’s gaze on your body, making your face turn red and you instinctively covered yourself up. He unbuckled his scorched trousers and hung them in the shower, hoping that maybe he could get some material and fix them later.

The both of you realized simultaneously that you were each half naked, and you were completely soaked wearing a fairly transparent white bra. Deciding to distract from the obvious tension, you finally broke the silence. “This may sound completely ludacris, considering I was just, y’know, on fire, but that was one of the most exciting and fun things that’s happened in a while. Reminds me of when we were back in school, with all of the mischief and pranks.”

“Back in school?” Fred replied. “I thought you hated my pranks! You seemed like you were so, i dunno, above me. And I thought you hated everything fun and exciting!”

“You’re not serious, are you?” You smiled at his confused expression. “I was friends with Lee and your brother. The amount of trouble I would get in when you were off in detention or shagging some girl in our year...it was fantastic. I never hated your pranks, I just hated you. No offense.”

He shrugged. “None taken. I hated you too. But you’re nothing like I thought you were.”

You took a step closer to him, softly biting your lip as you grinned sheepishly. “You’re nothing like I thought either.”

This time Fred moved a few inches closer, his hand hovering over your hip and eyes taking in all of you. His fingers brushed against your side ever so softly, caressing your side with his fairy light touches. You slowly parted your lips and he did the same, continuing to grow closer and closer until--

“What the bloody hell happened here?!”

The two of you shot apart at the noise, registering that it must’ve been George who had used the Floo network to come back to the loft. You avoided eye contact with the redhead standing next to you as you both exited the bathroom and went to find George, who was looking wide eyed at the complete mess you had created all over the apartment.

“Y’know what,” he said after looking at the current state the two of you were in, “ I don’t wanna know. I just wanted to come back, grab the papers I left here, and be on my merry way.”

He stopped short, looking over at you again. “Nice tits, Y/N.”

You quickly crossed your arms in front of your chest again and Fred stood in between you and George, blocking his view of your very exposed self.

“Calm down, Freddie, I have a girlfriend, I’m not going to be ogling your roommate, dear brother.” He tiptoed around the giant mess and grabbed a stack of papers sitting on the coffee table. “Oh, and before I forget, Y/N, remember that guy I was telling you about? The one investor I work with?” he said with a wink.

“Umm, yeah, what about him?” you asked, still very shaken up about the events of the evening.

“He said he’d love to get to know you! I told him he’s your type and apparently you’re very much his, so I set up a date for you two tomorrow night. Is that alright?”

Fred snapped his head in your direction but you refused to look at him. What had happened in the bathroom was a mistake, an adrenaline induced mistake that almost changed everything for your roommate dynamic. You couldn’t mess things up now, not when you and Fred had finally been getting along. Besides, you had been dying to get out and date, and George had at long last found you someone that wasn’t a complete asshole. You’d be a fool to not give it a shot. “Y-yeah, that sounds great.”

“Perfect,” he replied. “I’ll see you two tomorrow then. And please, don’t ever cook again. I promise I’ll be here to make you a nice meal next time, alright?”

George disappeared once again, leaving you with the man who had almost kissed you in the bathroom of your shared apartment. Fred moved away quickly, going to clean up the mess the two of you had made. You tried to follow and help him, but he just shooed you away and back to your room.

Just a few seconds ago Fred was mere millimeters away from you, but now he felt like he was millions of miles away.

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

“Ready, Y/N?”

George was standing in the opening of the bathroom door, watching as you put the finishing touches on your makeup. You decided to put your best foot forward tonight. No use wasting a great opportunity just because of some unwanted confusions from the other day. Turning to face you friend you did a little twirl, dress flying up and spinning around you.

“How do I look?” you asked bashfully.

“Brilliant,” George replied, a proud grin on his face. “Let’s get you downstairs, he’ll be waiting to meet you.”

The two of you made your way to the staircase leading out of the loft, when a very upset and very tipsy Fred stumbled by the two of you. He pushed past and didn’t even stop to say anything before heading out of the shop and down the street.

“Where’s he off to?” you asked.

“Oh, just to shag another random girl he finds at a bar. It’s a weekly occurrence for him at this point. It stopped once you moved in though, this is the first time he’s gone out since you’ve lived here.” George looked longingly at his brother, who had always turned away from his problems and instead focused on firewhisky and girls to temporarily ease his pain.

“So, he doesn’t really date then? Just the hookup type?” you prodded, hoping against all odds that George would give you the answer you wanted to hear.

“He used to, back in school and before the war. But something just happened after he got out of the pile of rubble,” he said. “I haven’t ever seen the same girl around here more than once or twice. But hey, as long as he’s alright it’s really none of my business. I just gotta look out for him, y’know?”

You gave George a reassuring smile. “You’re a great brother, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told. Now get out there and get yourself a man!” George gave you a little shove in the right direction and you set off for your date.

Although you were hoping that this could be a change of pace, a push in the right direction, the date did not go anything like you were wishing it would.

The man George had told you about, Jason, was a perfectly fine guy. He was polite, charming, very handsome. But while the two of you wined and dined, you couldn’t help but compare him to something else. Someone else. No matter what he said, what jokes he would crack, it just wasn’t what you wanted.

You thanked him for a wonderful evening, but it was fairly obvious that neither of you had intentions of seeing each other again. As you sulked through the dark streets of nocturnal Diagon Alley, you couldn’t help but mentally kick yourself for giving up so easily. One date and you decided that this man wasn’t worth your time. And for what? An unrealistic expectation you’d conjured up in your head about what your ideal person would be.

As you trudged up the stairs to the loft, thinking about how in the world you would ever be able to actually find someone else to go out with, you heard shouting from inside the apartment. You reached to open the door, only to have it yanked open and a young woman, clothes hastily thrown on and pure fury etched across her brow, came charging out.

“This must be her, isn’t it? This is Y/N!” she turned her back and yelled. Fred suddenly appeared, shocked to see you home so early. “Well, answer me!”

Fred and you both stood there speechless, Fred not knowing what to say and you now knowing what was going on. “Y/N…” he finally said, so quietly that you could barely hear him.

This just set the other girl off again. “What are you, his girlfriend, wife maybe?”

You shook your head fervently. “N-no, not at all! We’re just... roommates.”

The girl seemed to calm after this, reaching out to put a hand on your shoulder. “That’s a relief I guess. I thought I had just become an accidental homewrecker!”

“Homewrecker?” you exclaimed. You didn’t even know this girl, she was just one of Fred’s random hookups, but she thought that she would be breaking up a nonexistent relationship between you and Fred.

“Yeah,” she said, “he brings me home from the bar, sweet talks me, gets me naked, and you’ll never guess whose name he moaned as he--”

“That’s enough!” Fred yelled, shoving the girl out past you and grabbing your wrist to pull you into the loft. “Look, I’m sorry Marcy--”

“It’s Macy, you dumbass,” she said, fixing her messed up hair and putting on a look of confidence. “And the night is still young, so if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go find someone else who can actually remember my name!” She slammed the door shut behind her, the thud echoing across the walls.

You clicked your tongue, trying to fill the absence of noise without wanting to bring up the very interesting news Macy had provided. “So, I’m sorry about your date--”

“Let’s not talk about it,” he interrupted. “I’m going to bed and I don’t want you to mention this to anyone else, understand?”

You didn’t give him any attention as you went to your room, trying to comprehend everything that happened. “Well, my date was a bust too, thanks for asking,” you said as you copied the earlier actions of Macy and slammed your door shut. You undressed and removed your makeup, hoping that a long night’s sleep would allow you to decompress and somehow sort out everything you were feeling.

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

Your goals of a long and peaceful sleep were shattered as a high pitched, incredibly annoying alarm clock beeped from the room adjacent to yours. You groaned and covered your ears with your pillow, trying to block out the noise to no avail. Rolling over, you saw your clock displaying 6:00 am, a time you definitely didn’t want to get up at on your day off.

You thought Fred would have woken up by now and turned off the horrid sounds, but it continued to ring through your ears, getting louder and louder each time. Finally, you couldn’t take it anymore and you jumped out of bed, storming over to Fred’s locked bedroom door.

“Frederick Gideon Weasley!” you screamed, banging on his door. His blaring alarm was only adding to your awful mood, caused by the terrible night you had before. You didn’t think you could stand one more second of the noises and you were practically screaming Fred’s name.

“Turn that off, right now! Fred I’m not kidding! This is your last chance.” You continued to pound your fist against the door to the point where you knew you were going to bruise if you had to continue. Completely fed up with the situation and with Fred in general you pulled out your wand and unlocked the door.

“Fred Weasley for the love of--” You stopped abruptly and took in the scene in front of you. You’d never seen the inside of Fred’s room before, but you had to imagine that it didn’t always look this bad. This...dark.

The drapes were hanging from the windows, covering any source of light that could’ve possibly come in. Clothes were strewn across the floor and small knick knacks were thrown everywhere with no care. The alarm continued to blare, but you couldn’t focus on that at the moment, the only thing you could focus on was Fred.

He was curled up in his bed, Muggle headphones covering his ears and blasting music so loud that you could hear it clearly from across the room. He was clutching a pillow into his chest, head buried into it and his body shaking with what you thought to be sobs. No, it couldn’t be. Fred couldn’t be crying.

Suddenly he jerked up and threw off his headphones, finally noticing your presence. “Freddie…” you said softly.

“Get. The fuck. Out.” he growled. He wiped his tears away and the sadness you had just seen in him had completely turned into something else. Complete anger.

You ignored his command. “Fred, are you ok?”

Shooting out of bed, clothed only in his boxers, Fred grabbed his wand and almost charged at you. “I said get out!” he screamed, tears continuing to stream from his face. “Go! Leave! I don’t want to see you again!”

You backed out of the room, hands in the air as the tall infuriated figure towered over you with his wand in your face. “Yeah, ok I’ll just, umm, go back to my room.”

You tried to rush back to the safety of your bedroom but a harsh hand grabbed your shoulder and turned you around. “No,” he seethed. “I said get out, that means get. out. Get out of my apartment.”

“Freddie…”

“Don’t call me that!” He wasn’t even trying to hide the tears now. They came streaming out, drowning his face. “Leave the apartment and don’t come back. You’re… you’re banished!”

“Excuse me?” you asked, hands on your hips.

“I said you’re hereby banished from the loft and from my store!”

“You can’t banish me! This is my apartment too!”

“Banished! Leave! Go!” He ran into your room and started pulling clothes out of your drawers, throwing everything onto piles on your floor.

“Fred! Stop that, what are you doing?”

“I said banished and that’s final, get your things and leave.” He continued to pack your clothes, not even paying attention to what he was tossing and barely being able to see through his tears.

“Well...you’re banished too!” you screamed at him. “You’re in my room, that’s one of the rules! Get out, you’re banished!”

“No, you’re banished, I said it first so only mine counts!”

“No, you’re banished”

“No you are!”

“No--”

“Just get the fuck out Y/N!” Fred yelled, louder than he’d yelled anything before. “I can’t stand seeing you anymore and you need to go!”

“Why?” you pushed. “I see you crying one time and suddenly you can’t stand me? Are you really that scared of being vulnerable?”

“Yes!”

You both froze, taking in what he just said. He sucked in a deep breath and wiped his face with one of the shirts he was holding, coming close and staring straight down into your eyes.

“Yes. I don’t want you to see me curled up in my bed, crying into my fucking pillow because I miss my twin brother! Because I can’t handle being alone, and even when someone's living with me I’m still alone! Because you hate me, and I can’t even tell the girl I live with that I love her, because then you’ll laugh at me and leave! And maybe it’s easier to just make you go rather than being abandoned, again. So, Y/N, you’re banished, from my apartment and from my life.”

As he finished his rant you stood there, not knowing what to do or say. The ever-happy, cocky, overbearingly confident man in front of you had just vented out everything he had been feeling for the last few months. You couldn’t think straight or come to a rational decision. So you did the first thing that came to your mind. You grabbed his cheeks in your hand and pulled him down, enveloping his lips in yours.

He didn’t hesitate to kiss back aggressively, all tongue and teeth. It was nothing like any first kiss you’d had with anyone else; it wasn’t sweet or loving. It was passionate and needy, and it was both of you confessing everything you’d held in your hearts for the past few months, and if you’re being honest, for the past decade.

In seconds you were on the bed, legs straddling the person you had despised for years. Neither of you could let go of each other, only coming up for air when absolutely necessary. Hands on each other’s bodies, clothes abandoned on the floor, screams of each other’s names and moans of ‘I love you’s echoing off the bedroom walls, until the two of you were tired and panting, your head resting on his chest and his arms around your waist.

You twisted your head to stare up at Fred’s sweat-glistening face, the tears long since dried and his expression showing none of the negativity it had before. Snuggling into his bare chest even more, you murmured something too quiet for him to hear.

“What was that, darling?”

“I asked if you still wanted to banish me after that.”

He laughed and squeezed his arms around you, kissing the top of your head. “Definitely not. I mean, unless you want to go.” He shifted nervously, fears of abandonment and rejection resurfacing. What if this was just a heat of the moment thing? What if all you wanted was a one time hookup and you didn’t have real feelings for him? What if he was bad? No, that last one couldn’t be it, your screams had said otherwise. But everything else…

“Of course I don’t want to leave Freddie, but you did break the “no nicknames” rule a second ago, so maybe I should banish you.” He ruffled your hair and glared at you before chuckling and slowly closing his eyes.

“Hey Freddie,” you asked quietly. “Did you mean what you said? About loving me?”

“Course I did, love. Why do you think I was such an arse at Hogwarts? You were too pretty and perfect and the stupid guys were always talking to you. Made me bloody pissed. I’m sorry about everything I’ve done to hurt you, really I am.” You could hear his heart beating faster at his apology. You traced your cool hands in patterns on his chest, sending shivers down his spine.

“Well I was never an angel either,” you said. “One time I snogged Roger right outside the Gryffindor Common Room just because I knew you were gonna be leaving for Quidditch practice soon and I liked getting under your skin.”

“I knew that was planned!” he said, shooting up and making your head hit the headboard behind you. “No one believed me, but I knew you were a little minx just trying to get under my skin. But I see nothing’s really changed, has it?”

“Oh shut up!” you said, suddenly self conscious of your very naked body being on full display, Fred’s eyes raking you over. You covered up and snuggled back into the bed. “I love you too, y’know. I’m sorry I’m such a stuck-up snob sometimes.”

“S’okay, darling. I know you were just like that in response to me. Sorry for pushing you away so many times. I guess I tend to do that a lot.”

“Hey.” You raked your hands through Fred's messy ginger hair, pulling strands into tiny braids. “You know that George didn’t abandon you, right? He loves you more than I’ve ever seen someone love before.”

Fred nodded softly, tears forming in his eyes again. “Yeah, I know. But it’s hard. We shared a room for 18 years straight, both at home and at Hogwarts. Then we shared an apartment, and now it feels like he’s not even here anymore. Which is bloody stupid because I see him downstairs every day. I just...I want to be able to come home and tell someone all about my day, and talk about dreams and goals until 3 in the morning, and--”

“And try to cook dinner together only to end up on fire?” you interrupted with a smile on your face. “I know I’m no George, but I want to be there for you in any way I can. Stay up late and go on adventures and go on double dates with your brother and Angelina. I wanna be yours. I mean, if you’ll let me.”

Fred cupped your cheek and pulled you into a chaste kiss. “I’ll do more than let you, I was about to ask anyways but you had to beat me to it, didn’t you?”

“It’s a habit,” you shrugged. “I’m glad you tried to banish me.”

“I’m glad you wouldn’t let me. Looks like your stubbornness finally paid off.” You shoved his chest lightly and wrapped your arm across his torso.

“I love you Freddie.”

“I love you too.”

A few silent moments passed with the two of you wrapped in each other’s arms. “Hey Fred?” you said, finally breaking the silence.

“Yeah?”

“Can you please get up and turn off that bloody alarm?”

Tag List(specific fic): @lucymfer

Message me to be on my main taglist or any of my series taglists!

#fredweasley #fred #fredweasleyfic #fredweasleyfluff #fred x y/n #tw cursing #fred weasley #weasleys wizard wheezes #harry potter #hogwarts #diagon alley #george weasley #theweasleyslut's bday wc #abby’s week of weasley

280 notes · View notes

lisinfleur · 5 years

Text

Raiders

Things were quite simple for you: to be a prisoner sucks, but less than being the princess of that stupidly small kingdom. It's not like you had waited for any chance of being anything more than a wife, but your father had the worst finger in the Earth to choose you a husband!

Daughter of a lands lord, you thought your father would marry you to someone from the capital, but here he came with the local prince, son of the local king. A narcissist son of a bitch who slept with you once in a lifetime and had the audacity to spat at the breakfast table in the morning after your marriage that you weren't properly educated to please a man.

What he was expecting from a virgin damsel like you? The experience of one of the servants you were tired to see him cheating on you with?

The truth is that it wasn't so unpleasant to see your husband beheaded by that Norseman commander when their army invaded your place. But to be a prisoner wasn't good at all.

You were confined to a cage in a kind of a chariot, under the sun, in the middle of your front-yard, listening to their voices speaking on that foreign language you couldn't understand.

Once, that commander stood in front of your cage, speaking with another man, surely about you. He was handsome, different from the man you had ever known. His hair was cleaner, braided. His clothes were strangely beautiful and his voice sounded different from any other you had ever heard.

But he didn't try to speak to you and they were there around two days now. You saw some of them passing with chests of gold and silver. And one of them even passed carrying your chest with your dresses!

"HEY! THESE ARE MY CLOTHES!!!"

You yelled, but he ignored you completely, taking your dresses away. You sat, unhappy, in a mound of straw near the edge of the cell, but then, that commander came near, throwing some papers on the ground, picking up a torch to start a fire.

You recognized those parchments by the color of the wax seal and the silky ribbon attached to them. It was the property papers and some of them would be able to stick the claim over those lands! What was that idiot doing by burning those papers???

"HEY! STOP IT!! STOP!!"

You started yelling hysterically, trying to get his attention. Perhaps, if you could tell him about the papers and teach him how to use them to keep the lands, he would release you or even give you some fair fate.

You couldn't let him literally burn your chances that way!

"STOP!!!"

The thinnest of your yells finally attracted his attention and he came closer to your cage; his face frowned, bothered by your screams.

"What is this that you don't stop screaming, woman? For the love of Freyja, shut your mouth!" he spat, harshly.

But instead of paying any attention to his rough words, what caught your attention was the language he was using.

Your language...

"Can you understand me? Oh, dear Jesus! You speak my language! You can't burn these parchments! They're important!" you tried explaining, but he frowned even more.

"What are these parchments?" he asked looking at you.

"Documents... Documents that set the land as yours?" you asked back, not really getting he didn't understand what you were talking about.

"I need no documents," he answered, "My land." he pointed down to the ground. "Whoever says it's not my land..."

His hand touched the sword and you understand he would surely kill whoever dared to say it wasn't his land.

Functional. But not practical.

"Why fighting if you can just stick your claim and not be questioned about it? Those papers are given by the king of England and warrant these lands to the man who possesses them. I can show you!" you said, looking at him. "I can teach you how to read them, so you'll see I'm not lying. If you keep those papers, then nobody will be able to take this land from you."

He twisted his face, looking at you.

"Why would you teach me? I'm your enemy."

Logical. Not exactly real.

"Let's say you kinda saved me from a bastard. So... I owe you my freedom. I teach you, you set me free. It seems a good deal, don't you think?"

He wasn't very leaned to take your deal, but he knew his brothers would be pleased to understand the things written on those papers and the Englishmen had tried to negotiate with those papers before... Maybe knowing how to read them wouldn't be something useless after all.

"Fine... You teach me. I set you free. Until then, you're my slave. What is your name, slave?"

Slave...

It was worse than before, but at least there was a good perspective at the end of that way. You chose to keep yourself meek. To lose his trust wouldn't be a good thing.

"I'm Y/N," you answered, seeing when he came near the door of your cell, opening it before wrapping a rope around your wrists. "That's not necessary... I won't flee," you promised.

But yet, he tied the knot.

One step at a time, you thought.

"I'm Hvitserk. And I tell you what's necessary. Now walk, slave."

You couldn't exactly understand why he asked your name if he would keep calling you "slave". But you just followed him, silently, gathering the parchments when he allowed you to come closer, carrying them with your arms tied.

He took you back into the castle and you saw lots of things messed up, but somehow, his men were organizing themselves a good clean space where they could sleep all under the roof.

Hvitserk didn't give you too much time to observe. He took some more parchments from another of his men, preventing him to burn them and walked you into the library, sitting you down on a chair at the bigger table.

"Now, teach me."

So eager!

"Things are not like that, Hvit-ts-serk," You struggled with his name, trying to organize the papers over the table with your hands tied as he was locking the door behind the two of you.

The library was a real mess. Your husband would have a heart attack if he could see his precious parchments and books spread out that careless way.

"Could you please release my hands?"

Hvitserk looked at you with a frowned face and you sighed.

"Look... I'm your slave, right? It means you have the right upon my life. If I try anything stupid like trying to flee or harm against a man that's twice my size, is trained, and carries a sword that's, at least, a thousand times sharper than any of my dangerous needles - with which I had hurt my own fingers thousands of times, by the way - you can please spare me from my life for I'll have proven you that I don't deserve to live over my own stupidity! Come on! What can I do? Kick your leg and try to run ten meters into this heavy dress?"

The frown on his face became lighter and his eyes observed your dress, kinda running your whole body, causing you to blush. In his mind, your math was right: he could cross you with his sword without even have to walk towards you. So, he unsheathed his sword and used it to cut the rope on your wrists you slowly rubbed trying to get rid of the bothering sensation of the sisal.

"Thank you... Now look," you said, placing one of the parchments in front of him "Each one of these drawings is a letter. You must understand each one of them first, then how the combinations of them work in two, then three, then how you can form words with them, and how to put these words together in a sentence. You see, this is a whole sentence," you showed him a group of words from a dot to another. "The document is formed of dozens of sentences gathered together in paragraphs. I won't be able to teach you how to read these documents in a day. It will be a process. That's why I'm telling you this is worth my freedom: I'll be your slave for a while... And after this, you'll be able to read not only these documents but anything wrote by an Englishman."

It was a long and complex process that was bothering Hvitserk only by hearing your explanation of the whole shitty path he would have to follow. Maybe Ivar would like to learn this more than him. And Ubbe would surely have the patience to follow the whole bunch of steps you said. But neither of them was there and both of them would like to have someone with that knowledge. He couldn't let it pass...

You saw the commander sighing, bored.

"Fine... Where do we start?"

"From the beginning," you sighed as well, sitting by his side.

It would be a long way.

Hvitserk wasn't a patient man and his mistakes could quickly build up his anger, causing him to leave you for days waiting to continue his lessons.

You were restrained to the library, but he ordered you were fed even when he wasn't coming. Two good meals a day, as much of water you needed and his strange custom of a bath every week. Somehow, it made you feel more comfortable with yourself. It was different, but something you would turn into a habit.

He also ordered a bed to be brought for you and installed at the end of the library hall. Some blankets of yours were brought and you started having some comfort to sleep.

In return, he came back after three days out and found the whole library clean and organized.

You got rid of your petticoats and he taught you how to braid your hair like one of them, making your life pretty easier without the strands of hair on your face or the complicated hairstyles you were used to having your servants making on your long hair for the dinners and events your husband wasn't there to settle anymore.

Instead, your lessons with Hvitserk started becoming more pleasurable as he was progressing and starting to find pleasure in what you were teaching him.

He learned more of your language with words he didn't know. And ended up teaching you some words of his language, making it easier to teach him how to use the words.

It took you around a year, but finally, the Viking commander was able to read the complete extension of the parchment he was about to burn when it all started.

"In the name... of the King... And Our Lord Jesus Ch... Christ. And what is this bunch of risks?" he asked, pointing the king's signature near the seal of wax.

"This is the signature of the King. Signatures are personal ways to write your name. Like the wax seals I explained before," you said, smiling at him.

"And why do you Saxons put your god on everything?" he complained. "This Jesus... It’s your god, isn't it?"

"Kinda," you said, smiling. "To put things under the name of Jesus Christ and seal it having God as witness kinda puts over the men's shoulders the weight of an oath that God himself will punish them if not respected. It is like an oath over your arm ring," You explained, remembering his explanations about that jewel.

"That sounds weird to me. We fulfill our oaths on our own honor. It's reprovable by the gods to break an oath, but well... It is up to you to become a dishonored bastard..." he said, making a roll with the parchment he just read and looking at you. "Speaking on oaths... You did your part. I can read now and understand what the Englishman say and write, as you promised. It means... You're free to go. You're no longer my slave."

Those words were everything you wanted to hear, and somehow, they sounded heavy and sad.

Where would you go now?

What would you do with your life?

You could travel to your aunt's house near your father's former farm, but you were sure she would stick you up into a convent to live the rest of your life isolated, serving God or whatever those women locked in monasteries on top of the hills were used to doing.

And...

You would never see Hvitserk again.

Somehow, it was what was sinking your heart deeper into your chest. You got used to his laughs, his words, the time by his side. Even the way he was bothered sometimes with his impatient way to not accept failure on something simple like syllables... Everything was good about his presence...

And you didn't want to lose it.

"I... I changed my mind," you mumbled, catching his attention. "I don't mind being your slave... I mean, I could teach you more things and..."

You sighed.

"I have nowhere to go. And I don't wanna leave now that I got used to your presence..." you said, seeing his lips curving into a small smile.

"You're a free woman, Y/N. You can choose to follow me if you want to."

He liked your presence as well.

Hvitserk got used to having you around and it was pleasing him to notice the blush on your cheeks and to know you didn't want to leave anymore.

"What does ‘amen’ mean?" he asked, out of nowhere, surprising you with the strange question.

"What?"

"I asked... what does ‘amen’ mean? And also... there are some strange things in this castle. Other than the crosses, other objects are repeating itself in the rooms... Are they sacred or something?"

His questions bugged your mind and you frowned, but he came near, touching your chin and causing your cheeks to burst in red when he smiled so close to your face.

"See... There are many questions I have about your people, your ways... And I'm sure you have many questions about mine. I could show you the way of my people. My homelands... And you can teach me more. There are plenty of reasons for you to stay, dear Y/N."

Dear...

It almost melted you in his fingers and he smiled, noticing it messed with your heart.

"Yes... I... I'll stay," you said.

"Yes. You'll stay," he repeated, smiling bigger.

There weren't too many things he really wanted to learn about the Saxons' customs for real. But any reason was a good excuse to keep you close enough for him to melt your heart.

And he was going very well with that pair of green eyes and those sexy smiles!

Soon, he would be the reason for you to stay.

Maybe, he already was.

Do you like my work? Support me!

Tagged ones:

|| @bluearchersstuff || @ivarswickedqueen || @directionlessbuthappy || @akamaiden || @bang-kim-bap || @cris101071 || @solveigs-temple || @volvas-temple || @alicedopey || @captstefanbrandt || @queen-see-ya-in-valhalla || @lol-haha-joke || @normatural || @readsalot73 || @shutter-bug124 || @rekdreams247 || @slutforasoldier || @naaladareia || @laketaj24 || @therealcalicali || @grungyblonde || @arses21434 || @honestsycrets || @rabeccablake || @2thequietone4 || @blackspiritshake || @vikingsbifrost || @sincerelysinister || @x-valhalla || @allvikingsfanfic || @harringtonsbaseballbat || @lyanna-the-giantsbane || @chinduda || @isthat-tyra98 || @hissouthernprincess || @xinyourdreamsx || @thiahilmarsdottir ||

Want to be tagged? Ask me!

#history vikings #imagine vikings #hvitserk #hviserk x reader #hvitserk imagine #hvitserk ragnarsson #hvitserk lothbrok #hvitserk white shirt #hvitserk’s heathen feast #sister wives #5CW #5CW Event #5CWHvitserk2 #shot #later works

126 notes · View notes

cerealmonster15 · 5 years

Note

How about Leo for that character thing?

ffffuck yes i have to put this one in a readmore bc i got carried away listing like 800 leo quotes

How I feel about this characterhes one of my favorite royal sibs!!!!! probs tied with elise and takumi? or possibly my most fave?????? i was sad the whole time birthright bc i missed him and elise the whole time,,,, now that im playing conquest im sad bc i miss takumi lol. i love my tomato brother ;w; but he (and xander) is like the funniest fuckin character, oh my god. i love him so much. he makes me cry with laughter half the time he opens his mouth. hes this snarky little snob and he can’t dress himself for shit bc his clothes are always inside out or backwards (me too actually. every time i realize my shirt’s on wrong im instantly like Wow Leo Vibes). i love how in birthiright near the end theres this important emotional scene and hes gotten rid of iago and corrins like “hhhhey leo,,,? ur shirts inside out” and he just goes “DAMN IT.” his shop voice lines sound like a really sarcastic customer service voice. “Welcome. Goodbye~!”. so do xander’s??? i fucking die every time one of them is manning a shop oh my god i love themhis alts in feh make me s c r e a m hes so damn funny and dramatic.summer leo:“[grumbly voice] TANLINES… what, torture.”“If you are disappointed by these results then give me clothes”“Hot… beaches?hHHRRNNNNNN[aHEM], hate them.”“Tropical islands? Forget it! And this swimsuit? [snobby laughing tone] DONT even get me STARTED!”“Hey, if you like tropical islands, that’s fine. Maybe it’s not as bad as[randomly starts laughing???] I say.” like is he trying to be chill about it but just cant hold it together because the very idea of a tropical idea is so absurd to him ?? hes so fuckign weird i love himGOD my ultimate favorite leo quote ever of all time tho is: “I actually like walking a beach at night. But… swim? In the ocean? [laughter, maybe nervous laughter i cant fucking tell] With my body?!?!???” WITH MY BODY?? i love him what the helland then he does that thing in the lvl40 five star convo where hes like “id be as red as a tomato if i got a sunburn???? fuck, how could i hate the sun if thats the case??? maybe ill go right now-” god hes so weird. i love that line regular leo does thats like “you’d never guess what vegetable really catches MY fancy! ………tomatoes…….”and then picnic leo omg. i probably screamed when i saw he was a free unit this spring i was SO HAPPY [as much as i love summer leo i dont actually have him and i cry that his banner hasnt returned this summer yet ;c]he grumbles when u poke him. he goes MMMMMM when you pick him up to take his turn. he complains about the sun, AGAIN.“i’m not used to this much sunlight! it’s…. nnggggg,,, blINDing..”“[offended voice] why are you being so SNEAKY? THIS is a PICNIC!” HhhhhhHHHHHH god lmao“[very proud voice] How does it taste? It must delicious, given I made it mySELF!” “What about this? I had my retainers prepare it for us.“ ik a lot of people say this contradicts his first line and one of them is a fucking lie, but i like to think this just means he made lunch with odin and niles and they did different parts and it’s soooooooooooooooooo cute to think about him cooking with his boys ;w; also he sounds so proud here too. hes so proud of his retainers and hes like “heh, mine are the best, they made this great food arent they wonderful i love them so much”“You want…to try some of my cooking? [gasp sigh huffy noise??] If you insist…” hes so excited someone wants to eat his cooking but he cant let anyone Know he has emotions lollies down… maybe leo really is my top fave LOL i just love his lines so much. i want to high five his voice actor for the delivery on these lines. that’s not even going into some of his supports in warriors that ive watcheed on youtube [plz everyone needs to see the one with frederick and leo. it always has me in tears. theyre SO FUNNY together ldjsfgbgf]chapter leo of birthright is probs one of my favorite chapters in fates. it was HARD AND ANNOYING but the dialogue made me weepy

All the people I ship romantically with this characterodin and niles are fave….. they make a cute ot3!! i love how much he appreciates and cares for them and theyre all so good for each other… mr uptight leo and his chaos incarnate retainers to bring out his very secret dorky side… my BOYS!!! i could go on and on about them for many paragraphs but this is already way too long lmfao oopsi also like leo and takumi of course lol. i havent played revelations yet but ive seen bits of their supports and also i just love the bickering enemies to lovers trope lol. this is my favorite panel from the 4koma comics

My non-romantic OTP for this characteri love the familial bonds between all the nohrian siblings but so far leo and elise is my fave sibling duo,,, but im biased bc so far ive only gotten theirs and camilla/xander’s lol. but even in hoshido i like the younger sibs plus older sibs duos. the idea of closeness in age forming a special bond is cute to me. i also like corrin and leo as having a close sib bond since they seem close in age! i know theres [remembers graveyard chapter of birthright again and starts sobbing] some underlying angst of him envying all the doting on corrin his siblings do and he feels ALONE AND I CRY, but he also was very fond of corrin, and i remember the end of birthright where camilla totally calls him out saying how he was saying how nice it was to get to see corrin again ;w; i’d like to think they were close!and of course i like leo and camilla’s relationship…. thinks about end of birthright and sobs… at least they have each other ;o;i need to get more leo supports actually… i want to see every support convo but theres only so much time CRIES

My unpopular opinion about this characterIDK if this counts bc i feel like it’s half and half but i am not a fan of shipping corrin specifically with him or any of the other nohrian/hoshidan royals. like i totes get wanting to marry him as a character, buuuuuuut like i personally was not about to do that when our protagonist was his adopted sibling??????????? no thank you?!?!?!?!????? my friends and i read through the s-support convos for all of them on the wiki once and just…died the whole time bc theyre SO AWKWARD AND WEIRD “i was hiding my FORBIDDEN FEELINGS for you, PERSON I THOUGHT WAS MY SIBLING, my WHOLE LIFE, but now that ur NOT MY BLOOD RELATED FAMILY we can GET MARRIED, even tho weve still been calling you sister/brother casually this whole game” i CRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY IT’S WEIRDDDDDDDand like i dont think thats really an unpopular opinion but i see enough corrin/royals art to think it’s unpopular enough i guesstho i imagine there are some people that chose to marry the royal sibs and also think it’s weird but they just love the character and sat there like “ew stop dont talk about that” loltho some people are like “it’s not technically inc/est-” like,,,, it kinda still is tho HHHH GROSSANYWAY

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.I mean with all video games i wish bein gay was more legal. i want to s-support all the royals to their counterparts. let leo hold takumi’s hand, which would probs turn into a competition of who can squeeze the hardest until they break each other’s bones bc theyre stupid, but plz. i want this. let hoshido and nohr form ultimate peace bc all their royal fams married.also i dont know the full situation with forrest bc i havent unlocked him but from what ive heard i wish leo was nicer about CERTAIN THINGS in their…. i guess recruitment chapter ? supports? i hear in some of japan’s dlc or a drama cd or something he comes around and is more accepting but still, if that’s not the case in US game i wish it WAS!!!ALSO i wish the sibs could have support convos with each others kids. like even if it was just the main royals kids getting to talk to their aunts and uncles i think that’d be CUTE !!!!!WAIT ALSO on the wiki, leo, niles, and odin all have unused quotes from the endgame. it seems like theyre in the part of the game where you got knocked the fuck out and hung out in the afterlife for a bit with ur dead friends and family and then everyone in the real world is shouting at u to get up off ur ass and come finish the fight. im wondering if that means leo and his retainers were originally supposed to join you in your final battle, even tho you were siding with hoshido? i wouldve loved that and cried twice as hard.....

[x]

#HELP this was the first thing i did this morning #awoken by my insane amount of love for leo #unapologeticbisexual #asks

4 notes · View notes

empmoniitor · 3 years

Text

2021 UPDATE: PRODUCTIVITY TIPS FOR EMPLOYEES WHO HATE PRODUCTIVITY TIPS

It might not come to you as a shocker, but we all hated being lectured for getting started on our assignments on time back in the college days. In the end, it was just a matter of scoring better CGPAs, and none of these were going to help!

Notice the anomaly here- traditional approaches of staying focus does not work for everyone. Reading productivity tips when you know you can’t follow them is equivalent to watching a DIY Christmas Cake tutorial- who’s going to cook it?

Then why read this blog?

Because I’m in your shoes!!

BEING UNPRODUCTIVE IS A MYTH!

BEING UNFOCUSED IS THE TRUTH

Here’s a little secret- you can NEVER be unproductive when you’re all happy and gay (though overwhelming happiness may distract you). As you might already decipher, the most dangerous productivity killer is the lack of focus. It roots from various factors like a lack of motivation, discipline, a highly distracting environment, etc.

There are numerous ways to know if you are unproductive, but let us break some of them down to understand if you fall on this side of the spectrum.

09 UNPRODUCTIVE HABITS YOU NEED TO ASSESS

One might have a few of these habits, but a total of more than four of these is a CODE RED for your work zone, sergeant. And you might want to skip to the productivity tips ASAP. Okay, so here are the non-productive habits:

1. PROCRASTINATING

The more you keep putting something off, the less likely you would feel like doing it any soon. In the end, you might think you can complete your tasks on time, but you would still be running late every time you have a deadline.

2. NOT HAVING STRUCTURE AND TAKING TOO MANY BREAKS

Sergeant Crazy might think it’s a good idea to have a rigid structure, but to be honest, it is more of a flexible thing that revolves around your circadian rhythm. Being a night owl is not a punishable offense, after all, but you got to organize your day accordingly.

3. NOT SETTING ANY GOALS OR SETTING TOO MANY GOALS

Oopsie doopsie! And you wonder why you need productivity tips? :3 Setting goals for a day can be confusing, especially when you’re new. But if it has been months and you still feel stuck, boy are you in trouble!

BTW, HERE ARE

04 TIPS TO MOTIVATE YOUR REMOTE EMPLOYEES

4. DROPPING EVERYTHING FOR OTHER PEOPLE

You are in complete control of your life and your time- so respect it. There’s no harm in sparing some innocent minutes out of your working hours in assisting a colleague. But, always remember, once you actually start working on their behalf, there is no going back! Adios, amigo.

5. SUSCEPTIBLE TO DISTRACTION

How often do you keep your hands off your doggo now that you are working from your home? WFH comes with responsibilities and distractions, but you cannot keep falling for it every damn time.

6. CLASHING PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE

Keeping your social life off the table should always be the protocol when working- unless there’s something urgent. You cannot be communicating with your client while having dinner with your family. Crossing the narrow boundary between your personal and professional life is another CODE RED.

7. STARTING SOMETHING AND NOT FINISHING IT

The last 10% of every project takes about 90% of our energy, and it’s fine. But you don’t have to feel so intimidated by it that someone else would have to finish it for you! If you can relate to the second part of this paragraph, you are in for some serious trouble.

8. CONSUMING UNNECESSARY INFORMATION

Mental clutter can be more overwhelming than physical clutter- in both work and personal life. Thus, if you’re frequently drifting off to random answers on Quora while marketing your content, you might as well proceed ahead with the productivity tips.

9. FAILING TO ADMIT MISTAKES

A little birdie lived in denial and never learned how to fly. Denying and failing to admit your mistakes is only going to make it worse. Worst case- blaming it on others- is going to do nothing. Do you have this habit? (Don’t worry. It’s safe to tell me.)

HOW TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE?

07 BEST PRODUCTIVITY TIPS

Here comes the pep talk. No. I’m not going to preach anything about getting started early with your day and taking a walk. Sleep all you want, but not at the cost of your pretty, pretty JOB!!

So, here is your productivity tips for becoming a better, more focused employee at work:

1. ASSESS YOUR PRODUCTIVITY GRAPH

Every person has a different circadian rhythm (an internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle). You need to assess yours to know your peak productive and non-productive hours.

There are various ways to detect it, like the AutoMEQ Test, Daniel Pink’s 3 Questions Test, or you can use productivity tools like EmpMonitor to understand and assess your individual and team productivity graph.

This way, you can understand when and how you work. You can take up new tasks accordingly and work on the old ones at your own convenience.

2. SCHEDULE IMPORTANT AND UNIMPORTANT TASKS

Once you understand your productivity graph, you can schedule your emails to the least productive time of your day- say the afternoon. Then you can work on your most time and energy-consuming tasks in the evening- or whenever you have your productivity spur.

However, you must never confuse the concept of urgent tasks with time-consuming tasks. It doesn’t matter if you’re feeling like a boiled potato right out of the pot- you have to start working on the urgent project and put away that damned email for the moment.

Here’s how you must prioritize your tasks:

1. Important, urgent.

2. Not important, urgent.

3. Important, not urgent.

4. Not important, not urgent.

3. TAKE BREAKS. NEVER TAKE TOLL ON YOUR HEALTH

When you’re out of breath, you’ll have far less energy to work further. You can’t keep pushing through to complete an urgent task by delaying a break. One of the best productivity tips is to take breaks at scheduled hours and never skip them- come what may.

Drink more water. Don’t be dehydrated. Work in 90-minute blocks with 10-minute intervals to recover and refuel. It works for a lot of people. Some people tend to get carried away with their work- but it will only make things worse.

For starters, you will get tired in the first half itself. Plus, you will lose motivation and focus. In the long run, you may even lose creativity. How are you even going to continue for a day, little fella?

AND OH, HERE’S A LITTLE

WFH UPDATE: HOW REMOTE WORK CULTURE AFFECTS SENSITIVE SECTORS

4. SET GOALS. ALWAYS MAKE LISTS

Apart from a “TO DO” list, you must always have a “STOP DOING” list as well. Hear me out- Steve Jobs said that what made Apple Apple was not so much what they chose to build, but all the projects they chose to ignore.

So you must know what you choose to do and don’t for the day. Laundries? Yes. Groceries? No. Emails? Yes. Instagram? No.

When you check for the things you accomplished for the day, not only do you have a sense of satisfaction, you also feel more in charge of yourself. This way, you can stay more organized about the work you do every day without worrying about the deadlines (because you’re always aware of it!)

5. MAKE MORNINGS BEARABLE WITH RISEUP

Night owls, hear me out- I know it sucks being awake at 11 already. I’m one of you. Hello! How you doin’?

Do you want to make the mornings a tad bit easier? Here’s your trick. Follow the RISEUP acronym:

Refrain from snoozing the alarms.

Increase the first-hour activity.

Shower or wash your face after brushing.

Expose yourself to direct sunlight.

Upbeat music will lift the mood.

Phone a close friend.

Okay, so here’s a catch- everything that I mentioned above is going to manipulate your circadian rhythm into thinking that you were awake for REALLY long. As a result, you won’t feel dizzy. You’re welcome.

BONUS, READ-

05 BEST WAYS TO MEET DEADLINES WHEN YOU’RE NOT A MORNING PERSON

6. STOP MULTITASKING

Dividing your attention between multiple tasks increases your overall mental stress and decreases your focus. As a result, You can never complete the assigned tasks on time if you work on all of them parallelly.

Begin with the most urgent one that sucks the least of your time and effort. Once warmed up, start working on the task that is urgent as well as time taking. Take frequent breaks and organize your day in a way that you can complete all the tasks before the deadline.

Multitasking is one of the worst productivity tips that one can give you. Always focus on one task at a time. Never jump from task to task whenever you’re bored, or you will soon run out of motivation for the day.

7. LIMIT YOUR DISTRACTION

Easy to preach, hard to follow- I know. But isn’t it quite obvious? Jassie Gill might light up your mood once in a while, but does he let you work for at least ten minutes straight? Listen to music only when it doesn’t distract you. Try to limit your social media interaction during your working hours.

Logging out of Instagram isn’t a viable solution- you will crave more for it. Check your notifications only during breaks. Also, avoid binge-watching television and Netflix when working.

Set your laundry timings and other chores for your lunch hours. Visit the market in the evening or on the weekends! Long story short- keep yourself from getting distracted- one of the most effective productivity tips. It’s easy to fall for all these, then why take a chance?

QUICK REVISION

Here comes a ghost hug for all the beautiful people who are still reading.

Below is a list of habits that an average non-productive person might have:

1. Procrastination

2. Not Having Structure and Taking Too Many Breaks

3. Not Setting Any Goals or Setting Too Many Goals

4. Dropping Everything For Other People

5. Susceptible To Distraction

6. Clashing Personal and Professional Life

7. Starting Something and Not Finishing It

8. Consuming Unnecessary Information

9. Failing To Admit Mistakes

Here’s a list of the BEST productivity tips:

1. Assess Your Productivity Graph

2. Schedule Important and Unimportant Tasks

3. Take Breaks. Never Take Toll On Your Health

4. Set Goals. Always Make Lists

5. Make Mornings Bearable With RISEUP

6. Stop Multitasking

7. Limit Your Distraction