#chat obviously has a lot of clothes (ROBE ROBE ROBE) but i like to think john does as well. they're fashionable

[schmabbald]

i don't even have a funny caption for this one i just. behold. this took longer than i would like to admit

[volkswagonblues]

a lil guide to the Fire Nation for the ATLA fic writers out there

(aka. a no means exhaustive primer on east asia by an asian person)

This is a guide for fic writers want to write a canon-era story set in the Fire Nation, or featuring Fire Nation characters. A quick little primer on the tiny details of everyday life that you might not think about, but certainly stuff that would make me, an asian person, wince if I were to encounter it. BRUSHES, not quills. CHOPSTICKS, not forks. 

(note #1: this was partly inspired by a chat with @elilim​) 

(note: #2:  I originally intended it for zukka fic writers before realizing that other writers might find it useful. so apologies for a slight Zuko-bias for that reason)

(note #3: this is all stuff i was thinking about when writing firebender’s guide, in case anyone was wondering)

1. CLOTHING

Okay, I think the most straightforward way to describe what everyone’s wearing most of the time is “tunic”. They’re all just...tunics of different colours and varieties. Later when Zuko’s the Fire Lord he wears robes. The show provides a better visual guide than I could, here are a few notes to keep in mind:

a) Japanese people wear their collars LEFT crossed over RIGHT

I don’t think this would come up in writing as much as it would in art, but it’s considered bad luck to do it the wrong way because that’s only for dead people. Let my boy Zuko demonstrate:

b) There are no buttons

This is picky, but Wikipedia says “Functional buttons with buttonholes for fastening or closing clothes appeared first in Germany in the 13th century.[6] They soon became widespread with the rise of snug-fitting garments in 13th- and 14th-century Europe.” I kinda believe it. If you look closely, characters’ clothes are always tied together or wrapped in some way with a belt. If there are fasteners, they’re braided frog closures that go into a little loop, like the qipao-style dresses women wear in Ba Sing Se, or Zuko’s casual prince’s clothes in the topmost image. Anyways, I don’t think Zuko or Azula or the Gaang would technically button or unbutton anything when they’re changing clothes. Clothing is designed to be tied, not buttoned.

[so much more under cut]

c) This isn’t a real rule, but there’s something called koromogae, or the seasonal changing of clothing in Japan.

This is something I learned when I was writing firebender’s guide, and I just liked the fun detail about there being a strict calendar for when to wear something. I liked the idea of someone like Zuko, who actually spent most of his formative years outside of the Fire Nation, coming home and just suffering mutely through the summer heat because upper class etiquette says no changing into cooler clothes until August 15. 

From My Asakusa: 

And this website:

Generally, people change from thick, heavy, dark-coloured clothes for winter to thin, lighter, bright-coloured clothes for spring and summer. In traditional Japanese culture, particularly in formal settings such as tea ceremony, it is important to acknowledge the changes of seasons—in such circumstances, not only the patterns and colours of the kimono that are worn but also the utensils and furniture that are used are required to change. By changing their clothing, people notice and appreciate the change of seasons. [Japan Foundation]

Here are some visual guides from the official creators for clothes: (notice how it’s pretty much always left over right)

2.FOOD AND EATING

a) Traditional cuisine

It seems like the most common foods in canon are Fire Flakes and meat, to the point where poor Aang had to eat lettuce out of the garbage at some point.

HOWEVER, the Fire Nation seems to basically a big subtropical archipelago, so I would guess that seafood and rice are common. If you want to write about characters eating, a. quick google for “traditional japanese cuisine” would help you come up with a menu really quickly.

Wikipedia says:

The traditional cuisine of Japan, washoku (和食), lit. "Japanese eating" (or kappō (ja:割烹)), is based on rice with miso soup and other dishes; there is an emphasis on seasonal ingredients. Side dishes often consist of fish, pickled vegetables, and vegetables cooked in broth. Seafood is common, often grilled, but also served raw as sashimi or in sushi.

But before we get too serious, at one point the Gaang eats a “smoked sea slug” (Sokka’s Master) 

Oh ATLA, never stop being you.

b) Utensils

One thing to keep in mind is chopstick etiquette. Someone like Zuko or Toph, for instance, would have completely internalized all of these.

Another thing is that there are no glasses. Cups and bowls are made of ceramic or clay. Let the Gaang show you:

And another note: characters won’t eat “bread” in the European sense, ie. a baked lump of dough. Steamed buns, yes. Fried pancakes made from batter, yes. Flatbreads, okay I’ll give it a pass. Rice or noodles should be the most common carbs of choice.

3.ETIQUETTE

“In the homeland, we bow to our elders” - angry schoolmistress in The Headband.

Japan Guide has a list of etiquette rules for visiting Japan, which is interesting but not too necessary to read. In general, based on what The Headband tells us, Fire Nation characters would have been raised with a strong nationalist curriculum that values communal contribution over individualist expression. Even someone like Zuko, who openly rebels against that, probably couldn’t help but be affected by it. In general the Fire Nation seems to have an East Asian-ish set of values. It’s patriarchal, all the positions of authority are filled by men; there seems to be a strong emphasis on patriotism; there’s a sense of diffidence and respect towards one’s elders; and finally, there’s an emphasis on “knowing” one’s place in society and fitting into what’s expected of oneself.

I don’t really know how to describe it, but in China and Japan I sometimes feel like there’s rules for everything, and even people born and raised there acknowledge it could be stifling at times. You could go down a rabbit hole researching points of etiquette (for instance, rules on who has to sit where in group dinners...), but to me the most important thing is acknowledging that Fire Nation has a rigid system of etiquette, and also, they’re an imperialist power who’s pretty prejudiced against foreigners. Poor Aang/Kuzon gets called “mannerless colony slob” just for being slow on the bowing action (!!!)

(in firebender’s guide I had a lot of fun imagining the stupid microaggressions Ambassador Sokka has to face in the Fire Nation, so obviously I’m just biased)

4.WRITING AND DESKS

Characters would probably write on paper, with a calligraphy brush. Not quills or pens -- a brush. Technically, old Japanese and Chinese texts should be written top to bottom, right to left, but the show itself doesn’t do this, so I think you’re fine. 

One fun thing about traditional calligraphy is that you don’t use bottled ink. You have something called an ink stone, and then you grind your ink yourself by rubbing the ink stone in a special little dish with a bit of water. In my (very few) encounters with this stuff in the calligraphy lessons of my youth, the ink stones can be plain or have beautiful designs on the side. It looks something like this: 

ATLA is an East Asian-ish universe, so characters are likely to be kneeling at a table, not sitting. To demonstrate, here’s my boy Sokka doing his famous rainbow at Piandao’s:

and here’s the war chamber meeting when Zuko speaks out against a general’s plans to sacrifice some soldiers:

THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS: This is Zuko’s cute little setup when he’s writing his goodbye letter to Mai. In this case he’s writing in a chair and table. It’s possible that some furniture items, like a sitting desk and a bed in a bedframe (not a bedroll or futon) are special royal palace features. Normally in a private setting we see characters sitting on the ground or on a slightly elevated platform with a low table. Maybe Caldera is just different? Or rich people are just different: the Bei Fongs also have a sit-down dining table + chair setup.

(That little rectangular box is his ink dish!!)

5.A NOTE ON GENERAL CULTURE

It’s worth talking about a few general points of East Asian culture. I can’t claim to speak for ALL of Asia, and I don’t think I should. But I do think ATLA fic writers who want to set something in the Fire Nation should take a few moments to at least skim the wiki pages for filial piety and Nihonjinron (literally, "theories/discussions about the Japanese"). There’s a certain...vibe to...asianness... that I’m not sure I can explain without like, a doctorate degree in sociology. 

It’s a bit like gender, I guess. There’s no definitive checklist to what is a woman and what is a man, and we can argue that gender is performative, that it’s a construct, but at the end of the day gender is still (tragically) real in the sense that it still shapes people and affects how we walk and talk and dress and think. Nationality is the same. Obviously, the Fire Nation is a made up place in a made up show, but out of respect to the cultures that inspired it, I do think it’s worth familiarizing yourself with some of these cultures’ codes and values.

Also, ahem, if I can direct you to war crimes in the Japan’s colonial empire. Again, worth remembering that the Fire Nation was an imperalist colonizer too.

I might do a continuation of this post and talk through my more abstract takes about Fire Nation culture - Is Zuko an example of filial piety gone right or filial piety gone wrong? Why I think Zuko’s flashbacks are like, at least part teenage melodrama bullshit (the reason is son preference), how someone like Sokka might be treated once he’s openly Water Tribe in the Fire Nation (probably with racism...), specific aspects of asian homophobia and racism, etc. We’ll see.

This is not a definitive guide. Comments and critique welcome.

If you think there’s a factual mistake, PLEASE hop in my asks and let me know. I also think there’s a huge blind spot in ATLA for South and Southeast Asian representation, so I acknowledge that I can’t speak for all Asians, and there is no such thing as a “pan-asian” identity.

If there’s something else you’re curious about, I’m not a historian or anything, but I like research. Ask me and I’ll try to answer the best I can.

And oh, one last thing, this is how I do research when I wrote firebender’s guide, in case anyone’s interested in learning more (LINK)

[tuiccim]

Terrigenisis (Part 19)

Pairing: Stucky x Inhuman!Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.5K

Summary: After undergoing terrigenisis unwillingly your life is turned upside down when you are deemed too dangerous to return to life as a civilian. You are put with the Avengers team to train and rebuild. As you hone your powers and skills, you must also decide if you can find home and love again. Or is your curse to be a lonely wanderer forever?

Warnings: Fluff, Smut (NSFW 18+)

Dividers by @fireflygraphics

Terrigenisis Series Masterlist

It’s the night of Tony’s party and you are in your room getting ready. You exit the bathroom after a shower to see a gift box on your bed. It’s wrapped in a blue bow and you know it can only be from two certain men. The note reads “To the most beautiful woman in any galaxy, please wear this tonight. We love you.” Inside you find a beautiful dress. It’s blue and has a style reminiscent of the 40s. You do yourself up and put on the dress. A knock on the door has you grinning as you answer it. 

“Wow. You look beautiful.” Steve says, returning your grin. 

“Beautiful doesn’t even begin to cover it.” Bucky charms.

“It’s a good start,” you kiss each of them. “I love the dress. Thank you.”

“It looks great on you, doll.” 

The party tonight was one of Tony’s penthouse parties at the tower. Only family, partners, and close friends were invited. After arriving, the three of you made rounds greeting everyone. You’re excited when you finally make it to Sam. 

“Hey Sam! Wanna introduce the beauty on your arm?” you grin widely. 

“Of course,” Sam puffs out his chest as he motions to her, “This is my girlfriend, Kaziah.” He gives her each of your names and you spend twenty minutes or so chatting with all of them. Kaziah is sweet and you enjoy meeting her immensely. You are distracted a few minutes later when Loki strolls in wearing an all black suit. 

“Well, don’t you look like a million bucks!” you hug his neck as he chuckles. 

“You like it?” Loki preens. 

“Very much. You look great. Are you still planning to go back to Asgard tomorrow?”

“Yes. And before you ask, yes, I’m going to tell her.”

“Yay. I look forward to your return and hearing how it went. Can I introduce you around a bit?” 

“Lead the way.” Loki offers his arm. 

You guide him to different groups introducing him, smoothing any ruffled feathers, and making him feel comfortable in the setting. Loki relaxed as the evening passed. You enjoyed yourself, spending most of your time with Steve and Bucky, dancing, eating, drinking, and having fun with your friends and people you know and trust. It was fun. 

A couple of hours in, you notice Kaziah sitting by herself on one of the couches. Sam is in a group nearby with Rhodey and a few others cutting up. You grab an extra glass of champagne and sit beside her, holding out the drink to her, “Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Yeah, there is always that little bit of awkwardness when you don’t know many people.” Kaziah flashes a nervous smile. 

“I understand,” you laugh, “I was basically dropped on the team with no warning, having never met any of them.”

“Wow. But it worked out? You’re dating Bucky and Steve?” She asks. 

“It worked out better than I ever hoped. And, yes, we are in a relationship together. We know it’s not conventional, but we’re very happy.”

“I saw you with Loki earlier. Are you with him also?” Kaziah asks carefully. 

“No. Loki is a good friend and we train together. He’s a really good guy once you get to know him.” You happen to catch his eye across the room and he smiles at you. That’s when you feel the ice pick to your head and immediately open your mind to him. 

“You’re needed in the rooftop garden, darling.” Loki’s voice drifts into your mind. 

“What? Why?” You asked confused. 

“I don’t know. I was just asked to relay the message quietly.” Loki’s chuckle echoes through your head and you grin.

“What was that? It looked like you were having a conversation.” Kaziah asks curiously.

“Oh, nothing,” you answer evasively, “Will you excuse me?”

“Uh, of course.” Kaziah looks confused. 

“It was nice talking to you.”

“You, too.”

You head to the elevator while looking for Steve and Bucky but, not finding them, you shrug and hit the button for the rooftop. Suspicion and curiosity curl in your stomach as the elevator goes up. When the doors open, you notice a trail of petals leading into the garden. You smile as you follow it.

--

Steve and Bucky had spent most of the day of Tony’s party shopping for you. They found the perfect dress to give you fairly quickly but finding the perfect engagement ring had proven nearly impossible. They didn’t know what they were looking for exactly but everything they were shown just wasn’t the one. It had to be perfect. As they visited the sixth jewelry store, they knew time was running out. The proprietor showed them several options but then, recognizing both men, he smiled and kindly suggested they check the antique store next door. He told them his brother was the owner and he kept a beautiful selection of estate jewelry. 

Steve and Bucky weren’t sure what he meant by estate jewelry but since they weren’t having any luck at traditional jewelry stores they decided to give it a try. The owner greeted them immediately and guided them to the jewelry case while offering to show them anything they’d like to see. 

“Buck.” Steve’s eyes go wide as a ring catches his attention. 

“That one? It’s not very traditional.” Bucky asks.

“Neither are we.” Steve chuckles. 

“You’re right about that. And the ring. It’s perfect,” he turns to the owner, “Can we see that one?”

“Of course. It’s one of a kind. I’ve never seen another like it. It came from a family in upstate New York. I thought it was a lovely piece.” He hands over the ring nestled in a small heart shaped box. 

“This is it.” Steve says.

“It’s perfect,” Bucky agrees. 

They paid for the ring and exit wearing grins. Tony had agreed to help them with the proposal and was having the rooftop garden turned into a paradise. Now they just had to get you to the roof and the rest would fall into place. 

--

The trail of petals leads you into the center of the rooftop garden where your men stand with smiles. Bucky and Steve are both handsome in their suits. A small table of desserts and champagne are off to one side. The garden is filled with lights and candles. There are blooming flowers everywhere and you have no idea what is happening. 

“What is all this?” you ask, all smiles. 

“We wanted tonight to be special.” Bucky says. 

“It’s beautiful,” you smile but tremble as nerves set in. What could this be about?

“Doll, we love you. You’re the love of our lives and this relationship is everything we ever wanted. So, we have something we want to ask you.” Steve says. He and Bucky take a knee in tandem and each take one of your hands.

“Will you marry us?” Bucky asks, looking up at you with a grin but you see the fear behind his eyes. You look at Steve and recognize the same expression on him. 

“M-marry? You want to, to ,to get married? To me?” you stammer. 

“Yes.” They say in perfect unison. 

They hold up a ring and you stare at it mouth agape. A star sapphire set in a halo of diamonds. The ring was obviously a vintage piece and it was the most beautiful piece of jewelry you’d ever seen. 

“You’re serious?” you breathe as tears flood your eyes.

“Yes.” Bucky says. 

“Absolutely. Please marry us. We love you so much.” Steve says. 

“Yes! Yes, of course I’ll marry you! Yes! I love you both. So much.” You exclaim as the men surge to their feet and swing you around. When your feet touch the ground again, Bucky takes the ring out of the box and places it on your finger. 

“It’s a star sapphire since both mine and Bucky’s symbol is a star.” Steve explains. 

“Blue because honesty always comes first in our relationship.” Bucky says. 

“Surrounded by diamonds because our love will always surround you.” Steve continues. 

“And antique because you’re marrying two old men.” Bucky chuckles. 

You laugh but stare at the ring that they chose with admiration, “It’s perfect. Thank you.”

“Let’s toast to our engagement.” Bucky goes to open the bottle of champagne. The three of you share champagne, strawberries, and cake as they tell you about how they decided to ask you and their day of shopping to find the perfect ring. 

You stare at it saying, “I never thought I’d get married again. I just assumed in this relationship we’d just be together.”

“You are okay with getting married, right?” Steve asks. 

“Yes! I want to marry both of you. I guess it will be more of a commitment ceremony since we can’t legally get married,” you explain.

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about it and I think you and Steve should get married legally and we can have a commitment ceremony for the three of us. There would be a lot of protection for you in being Mrs. Rogers.” Bucky states. 

“I’m… I won’t be changing my name. I never did with Charlie.”

“You don’t have to. Bucky, you hadn’t said anything about this before. Are you sure?” Steve asks. 

“Yes. It just makes sense. If you’re okay with it, doll.” Bucky says. 

“I get it from a legal standpoint but no matter what the THREE of us will be married,” you smile. 

Steve nods, “While we’re on our honeymoon, Tony is going to renovate our rooms into an apartment. We just have to pick a date. We-”

“We can go over all the details later,” you interrupt Steve. “Right now, I’d like to go to our room and celebrate with less clothing on.”

“I love the way you think,” Bucky says as he helps you to stand and kisses you. 

Steve grabs the bottle of champagne and bowl of strawberries, “I’m sure we’ll work up an appetite.” He winks and kisses you. 

You can’t keep your hands off each other in the elevator and find yourself sandwiched between the two men with their lips wandering over every expanse of exposed skin. You stumble into the guest room the three of you are staying in and gasp. The room is full of flowers, a small table covered in candles and food, another bottle of champagne, three fluffy robes with your names embroidered on them and matching slippers, a wedding planning book, and a note of congratulations from Tony and Pepper. 

“This is so sweet! They are so thoughtful.” you exclaim. 

“They definitely know we plan to work up an appetite.” Bucky chuckles. 

“We should get to it. Unzip me?” you whisper. 

“My pleasure.” Bucky complies and gently guides the dress down for you to step out of it. You’re wearing a beautiful lingerie set complete with garter and heels and both men devour you with their eyes. You sit on the end of the bed, lean back on your arms and cross your legs while eyeing the two. 

“Naked. Now,” you say playfully. 

“Yes, ma’am,” Bucky grins as they shuck their clothing quickly. When both stand before you gloriously naked you look them up and down, licking your lips. You go to them and put a hand on each of their chests before lowering yourself to your knees. You stroke both of their cocks and take turns swirling your tongue around each of their heads. 

“You’re both so good to me. I love you so much. I love fucking both of you.” You make comments each time you switch between them and they’re both looking at you with a feral expression as you praise and tease them. 

“Fuck, doll.” Bucky says as he grabs you and pulls you to your feet, “Get up here.” His mouth claims yours and Steve is behind you in an instant, removing your bra, cupping your breasts and kissing your shoulders. You feel his hard length pressed to your ass and Bucky’s pressed to your mound. You moan loudly as their hands and mouths wander over you, divesting you of your lingerie.. 

“I… I want to try something,” you moan. 

“Anything, sweetheart. What do you want?” Steve asks with his lips against your neck. 

“I want you both inside me. Both inside me at the same time.” You say breathlessly. 

“You mean, both of us inside your pussy, doll?” Bucky clarifies. 

“Please. Want to feel all of us together.” You whimper. 

“If it’s too much, you have to tell us, doll. Don’t let us hurt you.” Steve says as he picks you up and carries you to the bed. “Promise?”

“I promise.” you agree as he lays you in the middle of the bed. 

“Fuck, that’s hot. I want inside you so bad.” Bucky groans from behind you, both men are flush against your front and back. He pulls your leg up and runs his fingers through your slick folds. He dips two fingers inside to ensure that you’re ready. A third finger is added and you moan loudly. 

“Bucky, please. I need you. Please!” You beg. 

Bucky’s head finds your entrance and slowly presses in. You stare into Steve’s eyes as you grab Bucky and encourage him on. Bucky thrusts into you a few times languidly, working your pleasure and coating himself in your slick. “Come on, Stevie. Our girl’s ready for you.”

Steve slides his cock against you to coat himself before slowly pressing his head in. You gasp at the sensation. 

“Okay?” Steve groans. 

“Yes, it’s good. Don’t stop.” you moan and then cry out as Bucky gives a gentle thrust. 

“Fuck, baby, feeling both of you is so hot.” Steve groans. 

“Then don’t stop. Keep going, please.” You whisper. 

“Move, Stevie. We need it.” Bucky groans. 

Steve presses in by millimeters and keeps checking in. You feel so incredibly full and the pleasure is immense. When Steve stops again, you begin to roll your hips, loving the friction of feeling both of them in you. 

“Oh, fuck.” Bucky moans as he takes a gentle bite out of your shoulder. 

“I can feel both of you. Fuck, it’s so hot.” Steve says as he begins to move with you. 

Your moans mingle as you cling to each other and writhe in pleasure. 

“Oh, God. I’m…” the words fail you as your body shakes with the orgasm. The intensity nearly takes your breath and once it subsides you feel it immediately begin to build again. 

“You’re trembling and clenching so tight, doll. You’re so fucking perfect for us. So perfect. Fuck, can’t believe we found you. Love you so much.” Bucky groans as he begins to move a little more quickly. 

“Buck! Can feel you. Feels so good. You both feel so good. Want it to be like this forever.” Steve moans. 

You’re trembling uncontrollably. The words, the men, the intense pleasure are enveloping you, body, mind, and soul. You cry out as you fall over the precipice again. Your body shudders and your hips move of their own volition. 

“Oh, fuck. Fuck.” Bucky groans as he releases inside of you.

Steve’s hands cup your face and he kisses you intensely before his own orgasm overtakes him and he presses his forehead to yours. As he comes down from the high, he whispers to you, “Bucky’s always been right about you. You’re perfect for us.”

“You are. You’re perfect for us.” Bucky says, wrapping an arm around both of you.

You lift your hand and look at the ring that sparkles on it, “We’re perfect together.”

Part 20

Tuiccim’s Masterlist

Updates and taglist: Due to the unreliable nature of tags, I no longer keep a taglist. Updates for series are made twice a week. Please follow my sideblog @tuiccimfanfiction​ and turn on notifications for updates. All series and new stories will be reblogged to it. You will only receive notifications when a new part or story is out! Nothing else will be blogged to the page. I can’t thank you enough for your support!

[theresthesnitch]

Crooked

A/N: another entry for @harryandginuary BINGO. I had a lot of fun with this one. I hope you do too.

Did you know that Charlie Chaplin once came in third in a look alike contest?

Read it here on AO3.

Prompt: O 73. You've dared me to do this as a joke but there's no way I'm backing out now.

***

"You don't have to do it."

Harry scoffed. "Of course I do.

"Listen, mate," Ron said. "I realize I'm the one who dared you to do it, but you don't have to actually enter the Harry Potter look alike contest."

"You may have meant it as a joke, but I'm committed now. I'm going to do it."

They stood in line at the registration table, and Harry looked around the room. The costumes were really bad. Did people think he really dressed like that? Looked like that?

The person in front of him moved, and Harry stepped up to the table with a nervous smile. "One entry, please."

"You can't charm your eyes green."

Harry, confused, replied, "I didn't?"

The witch sitting at the registration table narrowed her eyes at him. "It's against the rules of the contest. You can charm the scar; you can't charm the eyes."

"Solid rule. Good catching this one," Ron said from just over his left shoulder.

She pointed her wand at Harry's face, and his hand twitched for his wand before she said, "finite incantatum." Harry stood there staring at her, eyes unchanged. "Fine, whatever, it's not the right color anyway, so it won't help you."

Harry wondered briefly if Ron was going to die of laughter. "Er, right. Okay. Can I enter now?"

The witch rolled her eyes. "Name?"

"Harry Potter."

The witch fixed him with such a glare that he was sure he was going to implode under it. Ron, meanwhile, was struggling to breath.

"Obviously, buddy. But I need your real name to register for the contest."

Harry blanked. "But, my name really… James. James Evans."

"Alright, James. You're going to be number 4. When the time comes, they'll call you on stage."

"Right, thanks."

Harry walked away with Ron wiping tears from under his eyes. "Merlin, I'm glad you did this. It's going to be so fun for me."

Harry smiled. "I've never been so anonymous in my life. No one's even looking at me!"

"Of course not, mate. You don't even look like Harry Potter."

"Yeah, apparently I got the eyes wrong."

Ron looked around the room that was slowly filling up. "I can't believe you let my sister judge this."

"First off, if you think I let Ginny do anything, you are very much mistaken about how our relationship works. And never let Ginny hear you say that I let her do something. Second," Harry shrugged a shoulder, "it's for charity."

"Alright, I guess that's-"

"Your scar is crooked."

Harry turned around to face a slightly short, wiry man wearing a number 6 with blond hair and the most elaborate lightning scar he had ever seen. Do these people even know what I look like? "Excuse me?"

"Your scar is crooked," not-Harry 6 said. "You messed up the charm, and it's not even straight. Sloppy work."

"Huh," Ron said, looking Harry straight on, "your scar is a bit crooked."

Harry chuckled before turning back to not-Harry 6. "Thanks, mate. Good looking out."

"You can't really expect to compete if you don't put in the effort. Better luck next time." Not-Harry 6 walked away and left Harry standing with his mouth hanging open and Ron, once again, dying of laughter next to him.

"Ron, I think I might lose the Harry look-alike contest."

"Harry, your fiancée is judging." Ron clapped Harry on the shoulder. "You're absolutely going to lose the look alike contest."

"Welcome, everyone, to this year's War Orphan Carnival. We're ready to start our Harry Potter Look-Alike Contest. Can I get all the contestants on the stage?"

Harry walked on stage with a handful of other contestants, and lined up next to a witch with a number 3 around her neck. Harry did a double take looking at her. She looked remarkably like him. He looked out to where Ron was standing in the crowd with a dumbfounded expression on his face. He raised an eyebrow in question. It has to be charms, right? Ron shrugged in response.

"Now everyone, we have a very special guest judge for our contest this year," the announcer said. "If anyone can tell us who the true Harry Potter look alike is, it would be her. Let's give a big round of applause for Ginny Weasley!"

Ginny walked on stage and immediately locked eyes with Harry. He shrugged a shoulder, and her eyes glimmered with mischief. She walked to the microphone, said a few words, and then was walking down the line of contestants. She chatted briefly with not-Harry 1, who was a tall wizard wearing Gryffindor robes, and not-Harry 2, who wore red and gold Quidditch robes and carried a broomstick.

Ginny stopped in front of not-Harry 3 and looked her up and down. She looked over at Harry with wide eyes, then back to not-Harry 3. “That’s a really impressive costume. Did you use charms?”

“No,” said not-Harry 3. “I’m Harry Potter.”

“Right, of course,” said Ginny. “It’s very good. Is that your natural hair?”

“Yes.” Not-Harry 3 was not very talkative.

“Great!” Ginny seemed a little lost now. “Well, good luck!”

Ginny stopped in front of Harry and looked him up and down. “Tell me about your Harry costume.”

Harry smiled. “Apparently I got the green eyes wrong and the scar is crooked.”

“Idiot.” Not-Harry 6 was apparently listening in. “You don’t tell the judge how you messed up the costume. Amateur.”

Ginny looked up to Harry’s forehead. “Huh, it is crooked.”

“Told you,” mumbled not-Harry 6.

“Maybe I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself,” Ginny said with a coy smile.

“Oh?” Harry asked. “What do I have to do?”

“Just answer a few trivia questions.”

“Were we supposed to memorize Harry Potter trivia for this?” asked not-Harry 2 to not-Harry 1. “I don’t remember seeing that in the rules.”

“Anyone can do Harry trivia,” Ginny went on, poorly concealed glee on her face. “I’m going to ask you Ginny trivia - things only the REAL Harry would know.”

“Alright,” Harry said. “Give me your best Ginny trivia.”

“Favorite color?”

“She’ll tell you it’s blue, but it’s really green. Green like a fresh-pickled toad.”

Ginny shook her head. “Favorite food?”

“French toast, but only if it is served with powdered sugar and not syrup.”

“Favorite number?”

“Seven.”

“Favorite season?”

“Autumn.”

“Favorite flower?”

Harry froze and his jaw dropped. Did she have a favorite flower?

“I - uh - Gerbera daisies?”

“What, no. That’s Hermione’s favorite flower.”

“It is?” said Ron’s voice from the audience. An echo of laughter went around the crowd.

“It is,” Ginny said over her shoulder. “One more chance. My fiance would absolutely know my favorite flower.”

Harry racked his brain, but he couldn’t think of a single other flower. “Lily?”

Ginny snorted. “No. Daffodils. Nice try, but you are clearly not a very good Harry Potter.” She winked, and moved down the line to not-Harry 5.

Not-Harry 5 was a little child who barely came up to Harry’s waist. His hair was rumpled, and he wore black robes with a stuffed white snowy owl on his shoulder. Ginny squatted in front of him. “Hi, sweetie. What’s your name?”

“Connor.”

“Hi Connor. I like your owl.”

“Thanks. I have a wand, too.” He held up a stick that had tape and glue around the end for a handle.

“Where did you get that wand, Connor?”

“I made it,” he said. “See, I put glue and tape, and it goes swish swish.” He waved the wand around.

“It’s very good. I was afraid I was going to have to tell Harry you had his wand. It looks so much like his!”

“Thank you. Mummy drew a scar on my forehead too. See.” He pointed at his head.

“I see. Your scar is not crooked, Connor.” he nodded his head. “Connor, do you know what Harry Potter’s favorite spell is?”

“Expelli-arms!” Connor waved his wand around when he said it, and Harry’s heart melted.

“Very good! You’re a very convincing Harry.”

“Thank you. He’s my favorite.”

“He’s my favorite, too. I’ll see you later, okay Connor?”

“Bye, Ginny.”

Ginny stood up and moved down to not-Harry 6, who was now sporting a black Harry wig. Not-Harry 6 regaled Ginny with an explanation of how his clothing choice was authentic and how he had done extensive research into the kinds of clothing that was preferred by Harry when he was at Hogwarts. Harry rolled his eyes and hoped no one was taking notes on this.

At last, Ginny walked back up to the podium. “Ready to make your choices?” the announcer asked.

“I am.” Ginny conferred briefly with the announcer, then stood to the side

“In third place, Number 6!” Not-Harry 6 walked forward to accept his medal, and returned to his spot. Harry could hear him grumbling slightly.

“Second place, Number 3!” Not-Harry 3 accepted her award quietly to a smattering of applause from the crowd.

"And finally, our grand winner in our Harry Potter Look-Alike Contest is, drumroll please," The announcer paused everyone in the room drummed their hands on their legs, "Number 5!”

Connor lit up like it was the best day of his life, and walked forward to grab his trophy. He tripped over the edge of his robes a bit, causing not-Hedwig to wobble on his shoulder, and then stood next to Ginny.

“Congratulations, Connor.”

“Thank you, Ginny.”

“Connor, would you like to meet the real Harry Potter?”

Connor’s eyes were as big as saucers, and he nodded emphatically. Ginny turned back to the announcer. “Roger, I happen to know that Harry is here today, and I think I can convince him to come up and say hi.”

The announcer’s face lit up. “Oh, ho ho! A special treat indeed. Mr. Potter, are you here today?”

The crowd went absolutely silent, and Harry waited for a beat before walking forward.

“Not you, you wanker,” not-Harry 6 said. “Get back in line!”

Harry continued forward, and shot a wink over his shoulder. He walked straight up to Ginny, dipped her dramatically and pressed a kiss to her lips. The crowd went wild. He set her upright before breaking the kiss and heard, “Oh merlin. I just called Harry Potter a wanker,” from somewhere over his shoulder.

Harry knelt in front of Connor, who looked like he couldn’t believe what was happening in front of him. “Hi Connor. Congratulations on winning.”

“Thank you, Mr. Potter.” His voice came out at barely a whisper.

“Can you call me Harry, Connor?”

“Yes.” Still a whisper.

“You know, you get to go home and tell all your friends that you beat Harry Potter in a Harry Potter look-alike contest.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Harry parroted. “I like your Hedwig.”

“Thank you.” Connor’s voice was a bit louder now. “You’re my hero.”

“Want to know a secret, Connor?” He nodded emphatically. “You are my hero.” An “awww” went up from the audience. Connor’s face lit up and he threw his arms around Harry in a hug. “I bet your mom is here. Do you want to take a picture with Ginny and I?” He nodded again.

A few minutes later, they finished a round of pictures with Connor’s mom, and a few more for the Prophet with all three winners.

“Thank you, everyone,” Roger the announcer said. “Congratulations to our winners, and let’s hear a round of applause for Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley!” The crowd roared, and Harry and Ginny made to leave the stage when they heard a gasp.

“Oh my merlin. I told Harry Potter that his scar was crooked!”

[murdereraisuha]

Classpecting TWST: Savanaclaw

Time to classpect the dorm that deserved better writing-wise. I’m gonna start tagging these “twst analysis” now too cause I am basically using the classpect stuff as a vehicle for getting a better understanding of the characters

Spoilers for chapter 2 and some of the trio’s personal stories. No knowledge of Homestuck required to read.

[Image description: A banner containing a picture of Leona, the symbol for the hope aspect, and the words “Leona Kingscholar: Prince of Hope”]

Before we get to the reasoning, I just want to say, Leona I am so sorry you have to share a classpect with Eridan. Okay now I’ll hand the mic to past me.

Throughout his personal stories, we see that Leona is fine with resorting to underhanded tactics, but he specifically values cleverness and creative use of resources. Leona looks down on those who don’t exhibit those things (ex. the Savanaclaw students in Leona’s dorm uniform story who tried to beat up Jack using sheer numbers).

Leona tends to only expend effort on things that benefit him in some way.

Leona is a powerful and intelligent magic user; he could have easily graduated already if he wanted to, but it seems he doesn’t want to.

Despite Leona’s strengths, those around him criticized him and constantly compared him to his brother due to Leona being the 2nd born prince. No matter what he did, he could not sway those opinions. He could never become number 1.

Because of this, he developed the belief that life isn’t fair and he gives up on things rather easily.

Based on this, I have 3 aspects in mind: rage, hope, and doom.

Rage and hope go hand in hand as opposites: rage is negative emotions, rejection, and doubt, while hope is positive emotions, acceptance, and ideals. For Leona, his story seems to be about him having given up on his hope and dreams of ever succeeding. In its place he has become quick to deem efforts worthless. He acts antagonistic to people like Vil and Malleus, and he seems to disapprove of some of Jack’s honorable ideals. All of these things connect to the parts of rage/hope.

Doom is also a possibility, as it represents negativity, decay, and limits. It is the opposite to life, the aspect that I picked for Kalim. Therefore, I think doom is plausible since Leona shows the opposite side to the luxuries enjoyed by Kalim and Farena as first borns.

Now for classes. I don’t think Leona does much stealing, he doesn’t suffer from indecision, he doesn’t put up any masks, and he’s not a very healing focused person. I think that narrows it down to witch, heir, mage, prince, and bard.

If it’s prince or bard it would have to be hope, in which case prince of hope fits Leona best due to his destruction of hope being focused more than just happening naturally. Though Leona has suffered, it seems to have more hampered his potential than gave him useful knowledge so now I’m kicking out mage. Heir seems to fit best if it’s as a heir of rage. Finally, I’m also kicking out witch since he he doesn’t do much manipulation of any of the 3 aspects.

Between prince of hope and heir of rage... it’s prince of hope. Since Leona says that nothing he did could sway people’s negative opinion of him, we can assume that Leona had hope earlier in his life that he could change those opinions. He did stuff like studying and improving his magic until he finally realized that that wasn’t changing his image at all. Rather than preserve his hope, he choose to destroy it, making his class the active destroyer class, prince.

In chapter 2, he rallies Ruggie the rest of his dorm against Diasomnia, using their hopes as a tool for destroying the other teams. In 2-24 Leona then tries to destroy their hopes once he deems their plan useless. At one point he says 「じゃあ本当のことを教えてやるよ」, translated by Shel_BB on youtube as “Let me give you a dose of reality.” This and the other things he says this episode really connect to the hope/rage themes of reality vs fantasy and stop vs go. Therefore, quite ironically since he is an actual prince, Leona's classpect seems to be a prince of hope.

[Image description: A banner containing a picture of Ruggie, the symbol for the Life aspect, and the words “Ruggie Bucchi: Rogue of Life”]

Ruggie grew up in a poor environment with food insecurity. Many of his clothes are hand-me-downs, he’s fine with eating odd things like dandelions, and before holiday break he raids the cafeteria for food to bring back for the others in his town.

Ruggie’s official hobby is part-time jobs. From working at Mostro Lounge to selling mandrakes, he’s really focused on earning money however he can.

His skillset, which includes pickpocketing and haggling, lets Ruggie pull off plenty of clever and underhanded tricks.

However, like Leona, Ruggie still has standards: in one of his ceremony robe voice lines, he says that he prefers his lot in life over that of a spoiled, rich person without any problems. 

His dorm uniform personal story, where he teams up with Trein’s cat to get magic history help and catch rats, is about using the power of others instead of relying solely on himself.

There were 3 paragraphs of stuff here that I deleted because I was getting absolutely nowhere. I didn’t expect Ruggie to be this hard.

Like, Ruggie's problems kinda seem to stem from just poverty and Leona being an asshole. Well, hm, actually if we combine the moral of his dorm uniform story and Ruggie acting like Leona’s maid, perhaps Ruggie’s problem is something like he keeps taking on burdens? Out of everyone who lives in his slums, he’s likely the only one going to a prestigious school like NRC. He’s likely well-known there because of that and him bringing back food a lot. Are Ruggie’s ambitions for a good job not only his own ambitions, but that of the whole community? I’ve always been a bit confused about why Ruggie helps Leona out outside of the magift tournament stuff. Is he... so used to having to help others and constantly take on jobs that his standards for what’s reasonable work are gone? I just went through the chats and in Jack’s one with Ruggie, Jack is telling him about having to find something to draw for a homework assignment and Ruggie immediately offers to go get his warthog piggy bank. Bruh?? Doesn’t that have your money? Why are you just lending it out like that????

Alright, because Ruggie is a guy who needs to chill and have some me-time, I’m narrowing his class down to rogue, maid, or knight. For aspects, I’m thinking life (energy & luxury), time (action & death), or blood (community & responsibility).

On second thought, I’m kicking out maid and blood. Rogue & knight and life & time seem to fit Ruggie better. And now my best guess is rogue of life. First, he obviously fits the stealing aspect of the class through his skill at stealing. Like how a rogue redistributes things, Ruggie obtains money/food to redistribute to the others in the slums. He also injured the people in chapter 2, basically taking life from them, which resulted in Savanaclaw's chances of winning the tournament getting stronger. For the tendency of rogues to have a hard time coping with having their aspect, Ruggie has a hard time accepting luxury/relaxation time. He funnels all his resources into efficient causes and his community. Also, in Jack’s dorm outfit personal story where Jack tries to help him out with stuff, Ruggie is distrustful of him and goes out of his way to avoid him.

I didn’t have any sort of eureka moment with this one like I had with the twins, so I’m still unsure about it. However, considering that TWST characters obviously weren’t meant to get crammed into the classpect system, it makes sense that some might not fit perfectly. So, with what I do have, I think that Ruggie is a rogue of life.

[Image description: A banner containing a picture of Jack Howl, the symbol for the mind aspect, and the words “Jack Howl: Page of Mind”]

Jack values honor, strength, and hard work. He believes that people should accomplish things through their own efforts rather than lowly tricks.

Therefore, Jack disapproves of Leona and Ruggie's method of doing things. 

In contrast to how Leona and Ruggie use others, Jack sometimes refuses help, like in chapter 2 when he claims he can handle his dorm by himself.

Jack is quite intelligent and insightful, as shown by his comments throughout chapter 3 and his scary outfit personal story.

Jack respects social/group hierarchies and takes care not to disturb order, as shown in his dorm outfit personal story.

Also in his dorm outfit personal story, Jack says that he wants to become someone with a single true purpose.

So, I'm already kind of stumped. He doesn't have any big moments in the spotlight during the main story, so there's not much to go off of there. 

We have to start somewhere though. So, first off, I’ll eliminate the destruction classes and theft since he doesn’t do much of either. I’ll also eliminate the knowledge classes since I don’t think he holds any special knowledge of anything.

For potential aspects, after eliminating the ones that seem mostly irrelevant to him, I’m left with mind, heart, hope, rage, or blood. The 2 that particularly stick out to me are mind and heart.

Mind is the aspect of logic, unbiasedness, morality, and blending in. For Jack, his strong focus on justice even when it means going against someone he once admired seems very mind-like. His care in not stepping out of line in social situations also relates to blending in. Of course, we should still keep mind’s opposite, heart, in consideration.

Now that I’m pretty confident his aspect is mind or heart, we’re left with 12 possible classpects. I still can’t narrow it down well, let’s go back to Jack’s traits.

What challenges does he face or have to overcome? In the main story, the problem he faces is trying to correct the injustice in his dorm by himself. In his dorm outfit story, the problem he faces is being over zealous about helping Ruggie. Wait, actually, that’s not right. Though that is a problem, it seems like the main growth/realization for Jack is about his motivation for helping Ruggie. When questioned by Ruggie in part 1, he mainly cites the group hierarchy as the reasons for his actions. However, later on, Deuce deduces (haha) that Jack looks up to Ruggie like a big brother. Though Jack denies it, at the end of the story he asks if Ruggie would let him call him big bro.

It’s like he is concerned about justice and social harmony (mind stuff), but in reality he does stuff according to his impulses and emotions (heart stuff). This doesn’t feel like a prince/bard situation though, it isn’t dysfunctional or destructive enough for that. I thought that the pages of the cast might be Epel and/or Sebek, but it seems that Jack may be a page.

Pages, the passive exploitation class, are characterized by a deficit in their aspect that they try to hide and overcome. Like how Jack takes his service of Ruggie too far, pages often overshoot in their efforts to correct their weakness. However, as they grow and learn from their mistakes, pages become masters of their aspect, like in Jack’s scary outfit story where he starts out with a bad idea then at the end develops it into a sound plan to scare the tourists. That also fits well with mind, since smoke and mirrors is another big part of that aspect.

Therefore, with how well this class seems to fit with Jack’s actions and motivations, I think that he is probably a page of mind.

[ibijau]

“You should know where the door is. You’ve walked into it three times, after all.” Jingyi to Jin Ling, background zhuiling.

modern AU

Jin Ling ignores Zizhen’s barely contained laughter and squeezes through the door with all the dignity he’s capable of. Which isn’t a lot, not at the moment, but he’s trying anyway.

“It’s a bold choice,” Zizhen notes, doing his best to be polite. “It’s original for sure.”

Jin Ling glares at him. Zizhen did not go for originality. He’s dressed as a vampire, which in his case means he just had to add a cloak and some cheap fake fangs to his usual clothes. Jin Ling would mock him for putting so little effort into his disguise, but since he did recognise a vampire, he can’t really criticise. 

“Shut up,” Jin Ling hisses, glaring at his friends. The holes for his eyes are too small to see well, so it’s unlikely Zizhen even notices he’s being glared at, but the intention is there. “Where’s Sizhui?”

“He went out to call his dads, he’ll be back soon,” Zizhen explains. “If you want, you can go put your present in the guest bedroom in the meanwhile. You know where it is, right?”

Jin Ling does know. He’s come here quite a few times, between Wei Wuxian being an old family friend and Sizhui so kindly offering to tutor Jin Ling for his history classes. He knows exactly where the guest bedroom is, and it would be very easy to get there if there were less people (Sizhui is popular, and his house is big and perfect for a large party) and if Jin Ling’s costume were just a touch less annoying. He bumps into three Jiangshi, spills the drink of a fox spirit, and nearly falls on the floor with a Cleopatra, before he finally reaches the door of the guest room. Then, because his life didn’t suck enough yet, Jin Ling misses the fucking door when he first tries to get inside and hits the doorframe with his face instead.

On one hand, the costume prevents him from hurting himself. On the other hand, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place if he weren’t wearing this stupid costume.

On the bed of the guest room, there’s a pile of presents in pretty giftwraps and bags. All of them clearly inferior to what Jin Ling got for Sizhui’s birthday, obviously. So Jin Ling places his gift in a good position, so it’s sure to be among the first that Sizhui will open when they get to that part of the party. It’s all part of Jin Ling’s very careful plan for the evening, and…

“Oh, you’re right, someone else has arrived,” a too familiar voice says behind him. “What a sweet costume!”

Jin Ling’s heart starts racing in his chest as he turns around to greet Sizhui. It’s useless to smile, but he does so anyway, because it’s Sizhui, and Jin Ling is incapable of not smiling around him.

And yet his smile drops when he sees his friend standing in the doorway, Jingyi right next to him.

Sizhui looks like he just stepped out of a period drama, with gorgeous embroidered robes and his hair elegantly tied in a bun. Jin Ling recognises a character from a popular drama that they both like and sometimes watch together after tutoring. He would be impressed by the quality of that disguise if he weren’t so crushed.

“Who’s in there?” Sizhui asks, smiling politely, leaning forward to see if he can recognise his guest. He gasps. “Oh, A-Ling, is that you?”

Jin Ling is glad the costume only shows his eyes, because his face is burning from mortification. He half wants to cry. He won’t, though, because Jingyi is right there, looking like he’s having the time of his life, and Jin Ling won’t give him that satisfaction.

“Yeah, it’s me,” he grunts. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks,” Sizhui replies, his smile a little warmer now, though Jin Ling doesn’t really notice, too busy drowning in his humiliation. “I’m so glad you came, A-Ling! I have to go check something in the kitchen quickly, but let’s chat after, okay? Oh, do you want something to drink? I got pepsi for you, I’ll pour you a glass.”

Jin Ling nods, not that Sizhui can really see it with that stupid costume on. It doesn’t matter, Sizhui goes away, leaving Jin Ling alone with Jingyi whose western style demon costume fits awfully well, considering the circumstances.

“I can’t believe you came as a carrot,” Jingyi snickers.

“You said Sizhui would be a rabbit!” Jin Ling accuses.

Jingyi grins. “I said he considered it.”

“And you said that he said if he were a bunny and so someone dressed as a carrot, he’d ask them out on the spot!”

“Yeah, he did,” Jingyi laughs. “When we were fourteen and accidentally discovered his dad’s stash of alcohol. I can’t believe you did this. This is the best day of my life.”

Jin Ling has never so badly wanted to punch someone in the face, and that’s saying a lot because he pretty much always wants to punch Jingyi to begin with. They’re always playing pranks on each other, sure, but this time it feels mean in a way Jin Ling wouldn’t have expected from his friend. Jingyi knows about his crush on Sizhui, he knows how much Jin Ling was hoping to ask him out tonight, and now he can’t, because he’s a stupid carrot while Sizhui is a prince or something, and everything is ruined for ever.

“I’m going home,” Jin Ling hisses.

“Sure, do that,” Jingyi teases. “You should know where the door is. You’ve walked into it three times, after all.”

“Just once!” Jin Ling barks, as if that’s any better, and this time he does manage to get through the door on the first try, shoving Jingyi on his way out. His friend is still laughing, the awful bastard.

Jin Ling hates him. He hates him so much. And Jingyi, who is the worst person that Jin Ling has ever met, even counting the uncle who used him as a hostage and almost killed him when he was ten, follows Jin Ling to the front door, smirking the whole time.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Jingyi says when Jin Ling grabs the doorknob.

“I don’t give a damn what you think I should do!” Jin Ling snaps, but he doesn’t open, not yet. “Why not?”

“Because Sizhui bought pepsi even though you’re literally his only friend to drink it,” Jingyi points out. “And he gots all those snacks that you like. And he dresses up as your favourite character from that stupid show you made him watch. So if you leave, all his efforts will be wasted, and that’s a lot more cruel than me making you wear a stupid costume,” Jingyi smugly adds. “Which, by the way, I didn’t expect you to actually do, you dork.”

Jin Ling glares at Jingyi, and hesitates.

He really should know better than to listen to anything Jingyi says.

But he still stays, because he’d have to be a fool to miss even the slightest chance to spend more time with Sizhui, anyway.

[superangsty]

Not DOA but like it IS DOA but like obviously it’s not

The trouble w me every time I try to write a multi chapter fic is I end up hating it and then I kinda just... lose all motivation to write any more.

Anyway, have a lil ficlet of Chandler and Joey first meeting!

*

*

There’s something quite cathartic about watching a terrible play in a basement that barely has the right to call itself a theatre.

Maybe it’s sitting in the dark, knowing that not a single person’s eyes will be on you for the whole two hours of the show. Maybe it’s the buzz of opening night, the excitement of the actors practically radiating off them as they deliver their lines with about as much skill as a high school Shakespeare reading.

Either way, Chandler is almost considering thanking Janice for dragging him along with her. Almost.

When the after party starts getting underway, the main crowd of bored theatregoers gone leaving only the actors and their guests, Janice puts a beer in his one hand, grabs a hold of the other, and pulls him over to where her cousin is standing, chatting up some girl in techie clothes.

Now that he’s out of the weird wig and make-up he was wearing for the show, the guy looks quite… well, Chandler would say really goddamn hot if he wasn’t afraid of getting slapped by Janice for objectifying her favourite cousin (which, considering how many she seems to have, is saying a lot).

So, of course when Janice stops in her tracks and he turns to greet them, Chandler oversteps and, in his attempt to regain balance, spills his beer all over the poor guy’s clean white t-shirt.

Chandler freezes.

Janice is staring at him, that face she does when she thinks he’s being particularly moronic, like she’s on the verge of saying “oh. My. God,” like she does when, well, like she does during most conversations, so he needs to say something, needs to laugh it off before it becomes a Thing.

“I --” he says, and cuts off before his throat constricts from the pure mortification of it all.

Janice’s cousin laughs, claps a hand on his shoulder, and opens his mouth as if to say something. Probably something comforting, but condescending in that way that attractive people always are when talking to ordinary folk like Chandler.

So Chandler turns on his heel and speed-walks out the theatre.

*

It’s thankfully a Saturday the next day, and Chandler is pulling on his robe to go across the hall to Monica and Phoebe’s for breakfast when he hears a knocking at the door.

He opens the door, thinking it’s one of the girls come to tell him to hurry up or his coffee’l get cold, but instead finds himself face to face with Janice’s cousin for the second time in less than 24 hours.

“How you doin’,” he says.

“…,” Chandler says.

The guy holds out a hand for Chandler to shake, and against his better judgement Chandler takes it, silently cursing Janice and her obsession with nosing in his business.

“I’m Joey,” he says. Chandler just stares. “From last night?”

Chandler might be a bit in love.

“Yeah! Yeah, um...” he replies, frantically trying to smooth down his hair. “What are you… Uh, what are you doing here?” His voice is getting faster, and higher, and he knows he probably sounds annoying as hell but he just can’t stop himself. “Not that I – not that I mind, but – oh, fuck, I’m sorry about last night, do you need me to – I can pay for a new t-shirt?”

“I was thinking maybe you could buy me dinner,” Joey says, smirking, “then we’re even.”

What?

What?

Surely, Chandler can not have heard that right. Or he did, but he missed the – the friendly, bro-y tone, right? Because there’s no way -

“Um.”

Joey’s smirk drops. “No?” he says, eyes wide, as he holds out his hands in what is maybe some kind of apology, “Shit, sorry, I just – Jan said you might be --” He sighs, and shoves his hands into his pockets. “Interested?”

“I am,” Chandler blurts out after a moment, feeling a smile start to spread on his face. “Interested. I’m definitely --”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

[deadanddeactivated]

Sanders Sides Hogwarts AU

So... this started as me just listing things out for a harry potter au and now it’s a semi-fic?  Oops.  Um.  Enjoy?  More to come for the other characters later if people want?

--

I’m thinking Roman and Remus are technically muggleborns, except their aunt is a witch so when Roman starts showing accidental magic their father knows exactly who to turn to.  He’s almost relieved actually, because magic didn’t tear his family apart but it’s so hard to talk with his sister when their worlds are so different and he tries but she doesn’t so they rarely see each other.  But now his son has magic!  And she comes to stay, comes to help Roman and teach him everything she knows about Hogwarts and the magical world.

But Remus, well, Remus doesn’t seem to have magic.  Because where Roman is explosive, Remus isn’t.  Remus sits and talks to snakes and his magic helps him play pranks.  Roman shouts and the walls rattle and things float when he’s happy.  Their father loves them both the same, but Roman and Remus face the same problems he and his sister faced.  Their worlds are so different, they grow apart.

And then their father dies.  It’s unexpected, it’s tragic, and they’re left alone.  Roman, obviously, goes to live with their aunt but Remus is given a choice.  He can go with them and face all that he can never have, day in and day out, or he can move in with his muggle uncle.  

Remus chooses his uncle, thinking that Roman doesn’t want him around, thinking that all that magic right in his face and out of reach might just make him scream.

Roman watches Remus leave and starts thinking he’s the problem.  His father’s gone, his brothers gone, and Roman internalizes that in the worst of ways and his aunt doesn’t know how to notice.

They don’t see each other much after that.  They barely talk at the few family events Roman attends.  Eventually Roman stops wanting to go to those, tired of watching everyone else be close and having fun while he feels like the outsider. 

Then Hogwarts sends outs its letters and Roman isn’t surprised to get his, but he is excited.  Remus though, Remus is very surprised to get his.

“There has to be a mistake.”  He frowns.  “I’m not a wizard.  Roman is.”

“The book doesn’t make mistakes,” McGonagall assures.  “Don’t you remember doing things that no one else could when you were young?”  Remus does, of course he does, he clung to those moments like a lifeline as he felt Roman drifting away.  But...

“That wasn’t magic, that was me trying to be like Roman.”  He claims, because that’s what Roman said, annoyed his brother would try to steal his thing, and his Aunt never saw him.

“Ah, but it was magic,” McGonagall says but she still sees the hesitation in Remus’ eyes.  “Come to Hogwarts, there’s no better place to prove you have magic.  And if you don’t, you can come home as soon as you’d like.”  She promises.

“Okay.”  Remus agrees after a moment because, well, he wants to go.  He doesn’t think he has magic, except deep down he knows, but Roman will be going to Hogwarts and Remus misses his brother so bad.  This way they’ll see each other again, right?  And maybe, just maybe, if Remus does have magic they can be brothers again.

The trip to Diagon Alley is incredible and if Remus were paying as much attention as his uncle, he’d fall in love with the place instantly.  The thing is Remus isn’t paying attention.  As they move between shops, buying clothes and books and a wand, Remus is desperately searching for his brother, just in case. 

“Remus, why don’t you pick out some other books.”  His uncle eventually says, leading Remus back to the bookstore that’s cleared out a little since the first rush.  “You could find a book about wizard criminals, I bet they’re a lot more interesting than ours.”  He suggests, hoping that the allure of the dark side of the Wizarding World will be enough to grab Remus’ attention.  

It is and Remus’ Uncle leaves him in the bookstore as Remus starts wondering which wizard to add to his criminal masterminds collection back home.

His search is interrupted by a little garden snake whose slithering over the shelves.

“I don’t think you’re meant to be here.”  Remus comments, using a finger to scratch the snakes head.

“I can be where I want.”  The snake hisses, making Remus laugh lightly.

“Fair enough.”  He says.  “Maybe you can help me cutie, I’m looking for the coolest wizard criminal they have.”  

“Damnit Tempest, where did you go?”  He hears a whispered hiss but it doesn’t come from the snake.  Looking around, expecting to spot another snake, Remus instead spots a boy with a burn on his face.  “There you are.”

“You can talk to snakes.”  Remus notes, eyes wide.  He didn’t know other people could do that.  Roman couldn’t do that.

“What of it?”  The boy huffs, clearly defensive.

“So can I!”  Remus grins, bouncing over.  “I’m Remus!”  He greets.

“De.”  The boy says.  “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.  Come on Tempest.”

“I like it here.”  Tempest claims, curled up on the shelf.  

“We have things to do.”  De snaps.

“Aw, you have to go already?”  Remus pouts.  “I was hoping we could chat.  Hey, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?  We could be friends!”

“You clearly don’t have a lot of those.”  De mutters.

“Not yet!”  Remus agrees, getting an eye-roll in response.  Moving past Remus, De collects Temptest from the shelf despite her hissed protests.

“You should look for books on Wrath.”  Temptest hisses to Remus.  

“Tempest.”  De scolds.

“Thanks!  Bye!”  Remus calls, waving them off.  He finds books on this Wrath character in the history section of the bookstore instead of the criminals.  His uncle finds him shortly after he buys it.

“Find something to read?”  His uncle guesses, hands behind his back.

“Yep!”  Remus grins.  “It looks more war than crime, but a snake told me to read it so.”  He shrugs.

“A snake?”

“Yeah!  I made a friend!  His name is De and he can talk to snakes too!”  Remus grins.

“That’s great!”  His uncle grins back.  

“What you go do?”  Remus asks.

“I found you another friend.”  His uncle says and reveals what he’s hiding, a small cage with a rat inside.  Remus gasps, immediately opening the cage to pull out the brown creature inside.  He grins wider when the rat runs up his arm, placing itself on his shoulder.

“I’ll name him Trash Rat!”  Remus announces.

He doesn’t see Roman that day.

On the train, Remus means to find Roman.  Instead he gets distracted when he spots De sitting alone in one of the carriages, Tempest resting on the window sill he’s looking out of.  Despite De’s protests, Remus sits with him and talks the entire trip.  Despite De’s protests, he’s actually enjoying Remus’ company by the end of it.  A little bit.

Because of that, though, Remus doesn’t see Roman until the first years are standing out the front of the great hall.  Remus is chatting to De when he looks over and sees his brother, chatting to a small group. 

“Roman!”  Remus shouts, cutting himself off mid-sentence to bound towards his brothers.

“Remus?”  Roman frowns, surprised and confused.  “But...” he trails off, not sure how to politely say ‘you don’t have magic’.

“Isn’t this great?”  Remus grins.  “We both have magic now!  And we’re going to boarding school together!  Do you think we’ll be in the same house?  We could room together again!”  He says, words rapid fire enough it takes Roman a moment to catch up.  When he does all he can do is mutter ‘uhhh’ before the great hall opens and they’re heading inside.  

With a last name like Prince, Roman and Remus are stuck to nearly the end of the list.  

“His whole names Dante?”  Remus whispers, scandalised, when De is called up as Dante Smith.  The tables seem to fall under a hush as the hat is placed upon his head, just like it did for that Patton Heart kid.

“Slytherin.”  The hat calls a moment later and the room returns to normal.

“No surprise there.”  Roman mutters to himself.  “That guys a serious bad apple.”

“What’s wrong with De?”  Remus frowns.

“He’s the son of an evil wizard,”  Roman says.  “And he can talk to snakes.  Don’t get much more evil than that.”  

“But... I can talk to snakes.”  Remus mumbles, too low for Roman to hear.  Or maybe Roman just ignores him.  

The names continue until finally, the list hits the Prince brothers.  Roman is called first, older by a hair.  The hat is on his head for just a moment before it announces Gyfinador, convinced by Roman’s personality and his begging.  Roman breaks out into a grin, joining his table, before Remus is called up.

“Gyfinador, gyfinador, gyfinador.”  Remus chants as the hat takes it’s place on his head but he’s quickly distracted, quickly pondering the weight of the hat and if that makes any sense.  After all, the hat is sentitate and speak but no heavier than the hats Remus tried on the other day.  Shouldn’t it have organs?  Or at least lungs and vocals chords?  Those should definitely weigh more.  Does that mean all hats have those?

“Curious, I see.”  The hat notes.  “A much better fit for Ravenclaw than Gyfinador.”

“What?  No, I’d be a great Gyfinador!”  Remus argues.  “I’m super impulsive!”

“I see that.”  The hat hums.  “But there is much more to both houses than that.  Ravenclaw.”

“No, please.”  Remus tries.  “I want to be in Roman’s house.”  That makes the hat pause a moment, reading into his mind, before it sighs.

“I don’t think that will do either of you any good.”  It says.  Finally, before the hat can take as long as it did with that Heart boy, it announces to the room - Ravenclaw.

Remus gets off the chair numbly, looking to the table he’s meant to join now, then to the brother that's not looking at him.

“Do I have to sit over there?”  He asks McGonagall who smiles sadly.

“It would do you better to make friends in Ravenclaw.”  She says, as polite a ‘yes’ as he’s ever going to get.  Downtrodden, Remus takes a seat among the Ravenclaws.

“You should eat.”  Someone tells him a moment later.  Looking up, Remus sees another first year adjusting his glasses.  What was his name again?  It was one of the B’s, right?  Is he wearing a tie under his robes?  “I’ve been informed we will be getting a tour after dinner, it would be best to keep your energy up.”

“I guess.”  Remus sighs, begrudingly piling food onto his plate.  He doesn’t make conversation as he eats, neither does glasses.  Right until the dinner vanishes, replaced with deserts of all kinds.

“What?!”  Glasses huffs under his breath.  “That’s ridiculous.  Has the food changed, was it transported?  How?” 

“It’s magic.”  Remus says, amused despite himself.

“It’s against the laws of science.”  The boy says.  

“There’s probably a science beyond it.”  Remus shrugs one shoulder.  Glasses looks surprised a moment before schooling his expression.

“You are the first person to agree with me on that since I received my letter.”  He says.  “I’m Logan.”

“Oh!  Logan Berry!  That’s what it was!”  Remus says, finally placing the name he’d heard.

“Yes, that is my full name.”  Logan mumbles.

“I’m Remus Prince.”  Remus says.

“It’s good to finally meet someone that appreciates science,” Logan says.

“I don’t know, from what I’ve heard about Ravenclaw, we probably aren’t the only ones.  Ravenclaw is full of nerds.”  Remus hums.  

“That has yet to be proven.”  Logan states, making Remus laugh again.

Okay, he thinks, maybe this isn’t so bad.

[marvel-lucy]

The Ultimate Weapon, chapter 15

Nearly there, ish, i promise :)

It is a proven biological fact that serum helps metabolise alcohol faster than unenhanced people can manage. This is why enhanced can’t get drunk as easily and recover quicker. However, given enough alcohol, and inadequate recovery time, and it is also proven that enhanced can get drunk and then feel like hell the day after.

Proven by me. Right now.

I woke up in my bed, blurry eyed, blurry headed and confused. I thought we were watching a movie? Weren’t we? It was only later that I found out Bucky had put me to bed. I moved my head slightly and then winced as the room spun and my head pounded. Looking beside my bed I could see a bottle of water, some pills and a note.

I sat up, slowly, then paused half way while the room whirled again and my stomach churned. I made an involuntary groan of nausea and self-pity. After a few minutes, I was able to pull myself fully to a sitting position, and slumped back against the headboard.

“Jarvis, what time is it?” I asked, followed by a muttered “and what the hell did I do last night?” to myself.

Jarvis responded: ‘Good morning Miss Ruby. It is 8.07am. I can confirm that last night you drank the equivalent of two bottles of wine, two glasses of champagne and some of Ms Romanov’s Russian vodka. You laughed a lot and then fell asleep on Sgt Barnes, who carried you to bed approximately 5 hours ago. You have been sleeping ever since. I can confirm that your liver function is unimpaired however I recommend that you take the pills that Sgt Barnes left out for your stomach and head. I can also confirm that last night in your sleep, you snored for approximate 12 minutes in total, and said three words – Bucky, doll, and something I wasn’t able to detect. Would you like me to play you a recording of anything from last night?’

“No, that was excessively comprehensive Jarvis, thank you”. I slumped over to reach for the bottle of water and pills, and took them, sitting extremely still after until I was sure my body wasn’t going to reject them. Then, in a fog of self-pity and alcohol sweat, I slithered back down into the bed and fell asleep again.

Two hours later, I was woken by a loud pounding on the door. I sat bolt upright and felt a matching pounding in my head, slightly tempered by the painkillers and the serum. Luckily my stomach had settled while I slept but I wasn’t feeling at my best.

“What… who is it, what’s wrong, come in?” I yelled, and Jarvis unlocked the door to reveal Bucky, wide awake, obviously feeling fantastic and also obviously highly amused by my state.

I grunted and threw myself back down onto the bed, pulling the covers over my head. “Go away. I have the flu. I’m dying. Probably contagious” I groaned, then whimpered as he pulled the covers off the bed with enthusiasm and laughed at me.

“Come on kiddo, no excuse. I’m 70 years older than you and I’ve already been for a run! You need a shower and breakfast and to let us all make fun of you”. He was more hyper than I’d seen him before, his eyes sparkling and slightly manic.

“Noo, I need sleep and peace and then to hide away!” I countered, then yelled as he picked me up and walked me into the bathroom. I remembered how he’d helped me shower when I was first rescued from Hydra but now that I felt more… human… I squirmed at the memory, unsure if it was shame or something else that made my skin flush. He obviously didn’t intend to go so far today though, but dumped me in the shower, fully clothed (only then did I realise I was still wearing the dress from last night), turned on the shower, and left, laughing.

I called out “Nat is going to kill you, this is her dress” as he shut the bathroom door, then sighed and realised that the feeling of warm water was actually soothing. I took off my clothes, leaving them dumped in a soggy pile on the floor of the shower, and washed myself, then stood and let the water beat on the back of my neck for a few minutes before sighing and getting out.

Drying myself, I caught sight of my face in the mirror. I was still careful not to look too often, as it could trigger my anxiety, but today all I noticed was the large bags under my eyes which, on closer inspection, turned out to be smudged mascara. Delightful. I scrubbed myself clean, cleaned my teeth, and put on a robe before opening the door.

Bucky was lying back on my bed, arms folded behind his head and a grin still plastered on his far-too-handsome face. I scowled at him, then gathered up some clothes and shut myself in the bathroom again to dress. When I re-emerged, he sat himself up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and spoke, more gently this time.

“You feeling OK doll? I mean, not just your head, but you feeling OK about yesterday?”

I nodded, then said, blushing “I don’t actually remember all that much about some of yesterday evening, but yeah. It was horrific, and better than I expected” He smiled, and I continued, thinking I’d better get it out before I got too embarrassed. “Bucky. I… Thank you” I looked up at him and met his eyes. “Thank you, for looking out for me yesterday. I know it’s stupid but I wouldn’t have got through a lot of that yesterday without you. The meal, the roof, Sam. Just, thank you”

He stood up, and put his arms around me, resting his cheek on top of my head, and sighed quietly. “Already told you doll, no need to thank me”. I shut my eyes and enjoyed the sensation of my head against his chest, able to feel the warmth of his skin and hear his heartbeat through the material of his shirt. I realised I was enjoying it a bit too much, so pulled away and asked “you mentioned breakfast?”

He’d also mentioned making fun of me, which was pretty accurate. We went up to the kitchen where most of the team were gathered – not all looking their best to be fair. Clint was nursing a black coffee, while Sam lay on a couch nearby, arm over his eyes, and snored gently. Steve and Thor were working their way through a giant plate of food each, looking, as always, feel of life, while Tony and Loki chatted to them from across the table.

As I entered the room, Thor looked up and let out a cheer. “The vanquished warrior has arisen!” he boomed, and I saw Clint wince at the volume. “You have proven yourself capable of drinking at a level not often seen outside Asgard!” Oh god. I had vague memories of talking over the dinner table, becoming more relaxed, but a lot of the evening was lost to me and I hoped would never return. I was quite glad it seemed I’d relaxed, but hoped that I hadn’t done anything embarrassing. I was sure they’d let me know if I had.

I made toast and coffee, and then sat down at the table while everyone made jokes at my expense about headaches, and enhanced Alka-Seltzer, and about tests to see just how much alcohol it took to make me start singing… I glowered, although the combination of Bucky’s painkillers, my serum, and some carbohydrates, meant I was feeling pretty much fine by now.

“Well let’s not forget I am actually underage, so it’s all on you lot. Encouraging a minor to drink, shame on you all! I can’t be held responsible for the actions of my elders.” I was feeling slightly hyped up myself, able to give as good as I got. The feeling was a combination of adrenaline and embarrassment, but just for now I felt part of the team. I grinned as I drank my coffee. They’d forgotten that I was still 20. The years of training, the effect of the serum, everything I’d been through, most people assumed I was older. I knew the teasing wouldn’t stop but it at least shut them up long enough for me to get another cup of coffee and head back to bed for a bit.

I needed to be alone anyway. I felt physically fine now but I was aware that there was a lot going on in my head that I needed to process. I sat on the bed, leaning back against the wall, drinking my coffee, and thinking about yesterday. I’d gone into the day full of nerves at all the company and yet I’d come out of it feeling good. Some of that could be alcohol in my system still inhibiting my anxieties, but something had changed. Maybe it was the effects of my talk with Sam which had been rolling through my head throughout the day, maybe it was the care everyone had shown, which I hadn’t expected – the gentle teasing about my hair, the way they involved me in conversations. I found it hard, still, and I needed my space, but I almost believed that I could fit in here. I knew I had to find Steve and thank him for forcing this on me, and thank Sam for talking to me – and ask if we could make this a regular thing. Thank Nat for the dress. Thank Bucky again… my skin prickled when I thought about Bucky. It was a relief to have someone who genuinely knew what I’d been through; someone I didn’t have to explain about the rage and the fear. But it wasn’t that that came into my head, it was the tender way he’d kept hold of me when I was scared on the roof, the way he’d kept his leg touching mine throughout dinner so I knew he was there. It was a hundred little things that made me know he cared, and which terrified me. I was starting to believe I could be accepted now, despite everything, but I couldn’t accept myself yet, and I certainly couldn’t allow myself to have feelings for someone.

I blew out a huff of breath and rolled my head to ease a stiff neck, then noticed the piece of paper Bucky had left beside the bed with my water. I picked it up and unfolded it.

‘Hey doll. Hope you’re not suffering too much this morning. Just wanted to let you know I’m proud of you, you got through the day and you did great. You know we won’t let this be the last time you relax, don’t you? I’m glad you could put the mission aside for a day, and I’m glad I got to be there with you. Call me when you wake up? Bucky x’

I didn’t realise I was smiling as I read the note. I carefully smoothed it closed again and put it safely in a drawer. This was something that was just for me, the way I felt. I couldn’t admit it to anyone but in the safety of my locked room, I knew I’d read that again. For now, I needed to get back into the safety of mission prep, and not let myself risk emotions just yet.

I was about to go and beat up some punch bags, and try not to think about Bucky’s arms around me, when Jarvis’s voice spoke up. ‘Miss Ruby, Captain Rogers has asked if you can head to the control room. The team is preparing for a mission and would like you to accompany them’.

I garbled out an acknowledgement to Jarvis, telling him I’d be on my way, but stood, paralysed, in my room. They wanted me out on a mission? Could they trust me? Could I trust myself? Could I even make it outside, after the fear I’d felt yesterday? I took a shaky breath, and made my way upstairs.

Actions

[inkjam-moon]

Colors  Chapter One - Red

Summary: You’ve jumped through time all your life, but this jump seems to have put you in an entirely different reality as a nurse in the midst of World War II.

Pairing: Jeongguk x Reader

Genre: Fluff, angst, smut

Word Count: 13.2k

TW: Talk of war and violence associated with such and event, talk of racism, fist fight, medical/hospital talk, blood mentions, wound mentions, virgin sex

A/N: Click here to see what I based the dancing scene off of.

You always thought it was a glitch, a dream; anything that wasn’t reality. But then it happened again, and it kept happening, more and more, for longer periods of time, only changing for the drastic. You can’t control it. You don’t even really know what ‘it’ is. All you know is that when the haze arrives, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

The first time it happened you were seven years old. You were in the car with your mom, driving to the mall. When the light at the intersection turns green, your mom pulls out, and is t-boned by an oncoming truck. As soon as the truck hits your car, suddenly, you’re surrounded by some sort of fog, and then, as if by magic, you’re sitting at the red light again; same cars around you, same song on the radio, everything is exactly the same. Did you imagine the crash? You look up to see the light turn green, but as your mom lifts her foot off the break you scream.

“Wait!”

Your mom slams her foot back down on the break just as the truck runs the red light and plows through the intersection in front of you, mere inches from the front of your car.

You mom looks at you in amazement. “H-how did you know the truck was coming?” She asks as she pulls forward and crosses the intersection, pulling into the lot in front of the mall and parking.

“I saw it.” You state. “I think it was a dream.”

Your mom simply shakes her head at you as you both get out of the car.

You never really understood what’s wrong with you; why you spastically jump through time, but you do, and you have absolutely no control over it. You manage to maintain your memories through every jump, and nothing you do seems to have any impact on the future.

But this time is different. You’re twenty two now, and your latest jump has put you so far out of your comfort zone, you swear it’s a dream.

The first thing you hear is soft swing music playing on the radio. That’s odd. You didn’t think you turned the radio on before you went to bed, although your radio is pretty old and sometimes comes on by itself, but swing music?

You open your eyes and the first thing you see is red; the paint on the walls that surround you. This isn’t your room? You sit up and look around, realizing that you have no idea where you are. Your bed is the only one in the room, so it must be yours, right? You stand, letting the silken floor length nightgown that adorns you fall around your legs. You look around for a purse, a bag, anything that might help you place where you are, but you can’t find anything.

You grab the robe that hangs on the back of one of the doors in the room and slip it on before opening the door. Nope. Bathroom. You try the other door and it leads you out into a long hallway with three other doors and a staircase. Staircase seems like a good place to start.

You tiptoe down the stairs as quietly as you can and sneak across the hallway at the bottom into the kitchen. The radio is on down there too and a few girls sit around a table sipping coffee and eating breakfast as they chat and listen.

“Today President Franklin D. Roosevelt met with joint congress and officially declared war on the country of Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in the state of Hawaii yesterday. Today the true extent of the carnage is still unknown to officials who say it could take some time until they discover exactly how much damage was done.”

Pearl Harbor was yesterday? What the fuck. Does that mean it’s… it’s 1941?? What the-

“Is Y/N still asleep? It’s not like her to sleep in this late.” One of the girls, a blonde with perfectly pincurled hair and bright blue eyes mumbles.

“I don’t blame ‘er.” Another girl, the redhead with a thick country accent says. “She was up all night tendin’ to those poor soldiers.”

Soldiers?

“I’m glad she did. Better her than me. I don’t want to heal those assholes.”

“They’re still people.” A third girl chimes in. She has straight, stark black hair, almond eyes and tan skin.

“Yeah, people that bombed us.” The first girl states before turning to see you’ve arrived in the kitchen. “Y/N! Finally. We’ve been waiting for you.”

“G-good morning.”

“Are you alright honey?” The second girl asks.

“You don’t look the best.” The first girl adds.

“Clara!” The third girl scolds.

“Well, it’s true!” Clara, the blonde, defends.

“I’m not really feeling like myself this morning.” You explain.

“Don’t listen to her Y/N.” The third girl rolls her eyes. “She’s still shaken up from yesterday.”

“Aren’t you the one that just got her hometown blown up Kono?” The second girl asks.

“Shut up Bits.” The black haired girl, Kono snaps. “Anyway, Y/N, you should go get dressed, we have to leave soon.”

“Leave?”

“For work?” Bits, the redhead reminds you, as if you should know what they’re talking about, but technically, maybe you should.

“Your uniforms out on the line.” Kono says sweetly. “I’ll get your coffee.”

“Right. Okay.” You nod before heading out the door in the kitchen that leads to the backyard where Kono pointed.

You look at the clothes line to see a nurses uniform is the only garment left hanging. Shit. You’re a nurse? God, you hope you know what you’re doing. You grab your uniform off the line and head back inside. Just as you leave the kitchen you hear Bits whisper to the others.

“What’s her problem?”

“You have to remember, Y/N’s parents are from Korea.” Kono responds. “And Japan basically took over the country. It’s probably scaring her that they’re seen as enemies; she might be-”

You head up the stairs, not wanting to listen to the rest of that conversation. You go back to your room and get dressed, looking yourself over in the mirror as you pin your cap into place. You don’t really look like yourself, while there was make up in the bathroom, it’s all old fashioned and you have no idea how to use it. You’ll just have to go barefaced until you get the hang of things. Maybe you can ask Kono? She seems nice. When you deem yourself presentable, you head back down the stairs and start your day in this new life.

You all take a cab to the hospital, although, you’re not sure you can really call it a hospital, it’s more of a tent really. When you arrive, you follow Kono into the tent and are immediately overwhelmed by the view you’re greeted with. Men, dressed in military uniforms, are laying in cots. They all have various stages of injuries, some missing limbs, some wrapped head to toe in bandages, some even look as though they’re barely clinging to their lives.

Everyone around you is rushing to get their work done, tending to each and every soldier, although, you notice the soldiers in tan uniforms aren’t getting as much care as the ones in green.

“Y/N,” Kono turns to you. “Can you get some of the Japanese soldiers they just brought in over there?” She points to the far back of the tent. “You’re the only one that doesn’t seem to mind helping them.”

“O-of course!” You grab the stethoscope she hands you and head over to where the majority of men are wearing tan uniforms, the ones the other nurses seem to be avoiding.

You walk up to the first one you see. He looks panicked, but otherwise, relatively okay, no obvious wounds except for a small laceration on his temple. Using the bit of Japanese you know, you try to calm him down; he’s obviously terrified of being treated by the enemy, but you explain that you’re just trying to help him. Once he calms down a bit, you take his vitals, they seem normal, though you have no idea how you know that.

You write them down on his chart and then move onto the next man who seems to be in a lot of pain. You check him over to see he has a large wound on his abdomen. You clean it and then pack it tightly with gauze before calling over a doctor who takes the man away into a seperate tent for what you assume is going to be surgery. The next few men all seem relatively okay, and you explain to them the best you can that they’re alright, take their vitals to make sure, and then move on.

The day moves quickly; you work right through lunch and before you know it, it’s time for dinner. Clara is the one who comes over and pulls you away from your patient, leading you out of the tent and into another one across the way where the food is served. You grab some soup and bread before going over to sit with Clara and Bits. The three of you chat while you eat, you find out ‘Bits’ is short for Bitsy; and honestly you’ve never met someone who fits their name more. You’re just about to ask where Kono is when she comes bursting into the tent, looking around frantically until she spots you.

“Y/N!” She exclaims. “Come quickly, I need your help!” She tugs you up out of your  chair. You drop your spoon and follow behind her as she tugs you back into the hospital tent.

“What’s going on?”

“A soldier just came in from the harbor, he’s been trapped under rubble this whole time and he’s in shock. He’s got a bad laceration on his left leg. I’m pretty sure he’s Korean, I need your help translating.”

She leads you through the back of the tent and into where the doctor took your patient earlier. Your ears are immediately assaulted by the screams of a man as Kono hands you a gown, mask, and gloves which you put on before walking through a doorway and into a makeshift operating room. The sight before you is heart wrenching; there’s a man on the operating table, screaming in pain. The nurse is trying her best to hold him down while she screams at him in english to stay still.

You can hear him swearing and sure enough, it’s a language familiar to your ears. You rush to his side, pushing the other nurse out of the way before grabbing his flailing hands.

“Sir, sir I need you to calm down please.” You coo in your sweetest voice. He stills when he realizes he understands the words coming out of your mouth.

“Y-you speak Korean?” He stutters.

You smile at him. “I was born in Gongju.”

“Busan.” You watch relief spread across his face before pain overtakes it again. You move to soothe him and then try to distract him.

“What’s your name?”

“J-Jeongguk. Jeon Jeongg- Ah!” He cringes as the doctor prods at his leg, his eyes closed in agony.

“Okay, My name is Y/N, I’m going to be your nurse. Mr. Jeon, Do you have any allergies?”

“N-no.” He grits.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty o-one, and please, c-call me Jeongguk.”

God he’s so young. Only a year younger than you. “Alright, I’m going to figure out what’s going on and then I’ll let you know, okay?” He nods and you turn to the doctor. “What’s going on Dr. Evans?”

“He’s got a twelve centimeter gash on his calf. It’s pretty deep.”

“What did you find out?” Kono asks you.

“His name is Jeongguk, he’s twenty one years old, he doesn’t have any allergies. What’s the plan?”

“It’s pretty bad.” Dr. Evans states. “We might have to amputate.”

“Amputate?” You gasp. “Really?”

“I don’t see any other options. We’re going to sedate him now. Can you tell him?”

“S-sure…” You turn back to Jeongguk who thankfully is too focused on the pain to notice the worry on your face. “Jeongguk, listen to me. We might have to amputate your leg-”

“What?” He sits up straight. “No! No, I need my legs! I can’t-” he grimaces in pain before continuing. “No! You can’t take my leg, don’t let them take my leg Y/N, please! I need it for work, to support my parents!”

“I-I’m going to sedate you now, okay?” You grab the syringe of phenobarbital and prep it, making sure there’s no air in it before pressing it into his arm, injecting his vein with the drug. It’ll only be a few seconds before he falls asleep.

“Y/N don’t let them… My leg… Please…” Those are the last words he says before he drifts off into induced sleep.

You feel terrible. Absolutely awful. You can’t let them take his leg. You can’t. You have to do something. “Dr. Evans. Do we have to amputate? This man needs his leg.”

“There isn’t enough tissue left here to close the wound. Without the tissue, it won’t heal properly.”

“Can’t we take the tissue from somewhere else?”

“Somewhere… else?” He looks at you confused.

“Yeah, can’t we get the extra tissue from his arm or his other leg? Or even his… his behind?” You think you saw that on Grey’s Anatomy once.

“Oh my god.” Dr. Evans looks at you, stunned. “That… That might actually work. Alright, Kono, Emily, you both stay to assist, everyone else, you’re free to leave.” He shoos everyone else out and Kono thanks you as you walk out back into the main part of the hospital. You discard your gown, mask, and gloves before heading to the bathroom outside.

As soon as you close the door behind you, you rush to the sink and splash water on your face, before heading into one of the stalls and locking the door. You sit on the toilet, trying to calm yourself down the best you can. That poor soldier, if you weren’t here, he would’ve lost his leg for sure. You can’t even imagine… You just hope Dr. Evans can save it.

It’s about an hour later before someone else comes to use the bathroom When you hear the door open, you try to make yourself presentable again before opening the stall door to see to see Bitsy standing there, touching up her makeup in the mirror.

“Y/N! Where have you been? We been lookin’ everywhere for you!”

“Oh, I-I’ve been… In here.” You confess.

“Aw honey, have you been cryin’?” She drawls, taking in the sight of your puffy red eyes.

“W-what? No, of course not, I-”

“Oh darlin’, what’s got you in such a fuss?”

You sniffle as you wash your hands. “It’s nothing Bits, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

Bitsy eyes you curiously, her lips pursed. “Are you ready to go home then?”

“What?”

“It’s quittin’ time.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I’m- one of my patients is in surgery.” You explain, gripping the sides of the sink.

She laughs at this. “So what? The next shift will take over for ya.”

“He’s Korean. They’ll need me to translate when he wakes up.”

“Oh, Is it that poor boy Kono’s workin’ on?” She asks. You nod. “Oh bless your heart sweetie, he won’t be out for another few hours at least. Dr. Evans is frankensteining him up.” Bitsy pauses to think for a minute. “Alright, if you won’t come home, how ‘bout I take you to the oncall room they set up? That way you can at least get some rest. Sound good?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Okay, let’s go girly.” Bitsy leads you out of the bathroom, past the cafeteria to a small building that looks like one of the portable classrooms your high school had. She leads you into the brick building and you’re surprised to find it’s empty except for the cots that line the walls. She takes you to the one in the far back corner. “This one is the least noisy.” She states, gesturing for you to sit.

You take a seat on the cot and she looks at you for a minute before nodding. “I’ll make sure someone comes to getcha when he’s outta surgery, alright?”

“Yeah, thanks Bits.”

“Of course darlin’, now get some rest.” She turns on her heels and heads back out of the building, giving you one last sympathetic smile before shutting the door behind her.

You sit on the bed for a moment, wondering why this boy is affecting you so much. You sigh as you make yourself comfortable on the bed, pulling the sheet up over you as you try your best to relax. Thankfully, it doesn’t take you long to fall asleep, you didn’t realize how tired you were.

It’s dark out when you feel someone shaking you awake. “Y/N, Y/N wake up.” It’s Kono.

“Kono? What’s going on?”

“It’s John-kook.”

You snort, your tiredness making her mispronunciation funnier than it should be. “His name is Jeongguk.”

“Sorry. He’s out of surgery.”

“Really?” You sit up at this, grabbing your cap off the floor and pinning it back to your hair. “Is he okay?”

“He’s great. Everything went really well.” She explains as you stand up and follow her out of the building. “We managed to keep his leg using some skin from his other thigh, but he’s going to be sore when he wakes up. We need you to explain what we did and how he should take care of it.”

“Of course.” You nod and she explains exactly what he should do as she leads you into the second post surgery room. Jeongguk is the only one in there right now, tucked in a cot in the far back corner as he sleeps. She leads you over to him and then pulls up a chair for you.

“He should wake up soon.” Kono states. “Take his vitals every hour and record them on his chart. If he’s in pain, you can give him some morphine, but only one at a time, okay?”

“Got it.”

“Okay, I’ll leave you to it.” Kono nods before heading back out into the main triage room, leaving you alone with Jeongguk.

He looks so peaceful right now, so much more comfortable than he was when you first saw him. You grab your stethoscope from around your neck and check his pulse before taking his blood pressure. Everything seems good. As you place your scope back around your neck, Jeongguk begins to stir, his face grimacing in pain as his nerves wake up.

“Jeongguk?” You whisper as he comes too. He grunts. “Jeongguk are you in pain?” He nods, so you grab some morphine and inject him with it, watching his face relax almost instantly. “Is that better?”

He nods again as his eyes finally open and he looks around until his eyes land on you. “Noona?” He mumbles. You giggle at the term, letting it slide because he’s still drowsy, until you see his eyes go wide in panic and he tries to sit up.

“Woah, hey, what’s wrong?” You ask.

“My leg! Is it gone? I can’t feel it!”

“Jeongguk, calm down, it’s alright.” You try to soothe him. “You still have both legs.”

“Really?” He sits up on his elbows and looks down. You lift the sheet to show him that both of his legs are indeed there.

“See? Now, I just have to check your nerves, if that’s okay?” He nods, so you walk down to the end of the bed, take the pen from his chart and run it up the bottom of both of his feet. As they should, both feet twitch from the ticklish sensation. “Okay great. Can you wiggle your toes for me?” Jeongguk’s brow furrows in concentration, but it only take a few seconds before all of his toes start moving. “Perfect, that’s good Jeongguk, really good.”

Jeongguk falls back against the bed in relief and you realize that his face is filthy. You go over to the wash station and grab a bowl, filling it with warm soapy water and taking a washcloth back over to Jeongguk. “Do you mind if I wash your face?”

“No, please, go ahead.” He states. “I hate having all this stuff on my face.” You dip the cloth in the water as he continues. “So, what… what did they do?”

You begin dabbing at his dirty face, trying your best to clean him as you explain. “They took some skin from the back of your right thigh and used it to close the wound on your left leg. Everything went very smoothly and your wounds will heal nicely, we just have to make sure they’re cleaned and bandaged correctly, and I’ll explain how to do that when I have to change your dressing.”

“How long will I be here?”

“A week or so, maybe two, depending on how fast you heal.”

“And are you… will you be my nurse the whole time?” He asks hopefully.

You giggle lightly. “I can be, if you want me to.”

“Good.” He huffs. “That other nurse was mean. All she did was yell, as if that would help me understand english.’

“She was just trying to do her job.”

“Yeah I guess so.”

Jeongguk goes quiet while you continue cleaning him. As you scrub the mud and dirt and war paint off his face, revealing his tanned skin underneath, you realize for the first time how pretty he is. His eyes are a deep chocolate brown, wide and doe-eyed with curiosity; his nose is a little big, but it fits the proportions of his face; his bottom lip is fuller than the top, but they both look plush; as he breathes out, you can see his two front teeth, making him seem almost rabbit-like; and his jawline is chiseled, perfectly sculpted as you run the cloth down his neck. He’s truly beautiful, and you wonder how this poor boy from Busan got mixed up in the war and ended up fighting for the Japanese.

When you’ve scrubbed his face clean, you walk back over to the wash station, dump out the water, rinse the bowl, and ring out the towel before tossing it in the trash. When you’re finished, you dry your hands and then take one last look at him before starting to walk back towards main triage, but you don’t get very far before he stops you.

“W-wait, where are you going?”

“I should go see if they need me for anything else.”

“Can’t you-” Jeongguk bites his lip as you watch him struggle for the right words. “C-can’t you stay with me? What if someone else comes and tries to ask me questions? What if I start to hurt again? What if-”

“Okay, okay.” You laugh lightly as you walk back over to him. “I can stay for a bit longer I suppose.” You take a seat back in your chair and this seems good enough for Jeongguk as he relaxes back against the pillows. It’s silent for a few minutes before Jeongguk gets the courage to ask you a question.

“So… Gongju, huh? How’d you end up here?”

“Me?” Honestly you don’t remember. You must have immigrated at some point, but god only knows when. You settle for a vague excuse. “It’s… It’s kind of a long story.”

“I’ve got time.” He smiles at you, and you can’t deny that his smile makes the butterflies in your stomach do backflips, but how can you explain your situation to him? Jeongguk seems to sense your perplexed state and speaks. “You don’t have to tell me, it’s okay.”

“I immigrated with my parents when I was little.” You state. That seems like it could be true. “They wanted to raise me where the ‘American Dream’ was possible.”

“That doesn’t seem very long.” He smirks.

“I left out the details for another time.” You inform him. “For now, you should try and get some rest.” You order, standing up and pulling out your stethoscope to take his vitals again. He sits still as you listen to his breathing and take his blood pressure and you can feel him watching you as you scribble the information down on his chart. “How’s your pain right now?”

“Um… Maybe a five?”

“Okay, that’s about right.” You nod, marking one last note before putting his chart down and walking up to his side. “Now get some rest. I don’t want to come back and find that you’ve been causing trouble.”

“Me?” He feigns a gasp. “Never.” He gives you one last smile before settling back against the cot and closing his eyes.

You spend the next several days tending to Jeongguk, and for lack of an excuse to leave, you ignore your other duties. You stay by his side, keeping him company. You really only leave to go home and shower, you even bring your meals to his bedside, enjoying the rather bland food with him, and sneaking him something sweet whenever you can.

His progress steadily gets better; it’s only a few days before the pain in his right thigh is gone completely. It’s on day four that he decides he wants to try walking again and as you wrap your arm around his waist to support him, your heart rate picks up at the close proximity, it’s the first time he’s actually touched you, aside from the fleeting brushes of his fingers against your hand as you pass him things or check his vitals.

He’s determined to say the least; you actually have to stop him from pushing himself too far the first time when his knees nearly give out under him and you catch him around his waist, supporting his weight until he finds his footing again.

When you bring him back to his bed, he nearly collapses against the cot, his chest heaving with the effort of walking after being bedridden for three days. The pain he must be feeling, you can’t even imagine, but he puts on a brave face and swings his legs back up onto the bed, relaxing against the stack of pillows you’ve piled up for him.

It’s a week later, when the two of you are eating the dinners Kono brought you, that your curiosity gets the best of you and you finally ask him about himself.

“So, you’re from Busan, right?” You ask when you hear a hint of Satoori slip through his words.

He nods. “Yep, born and raised.”

“I’ve always wanted to go to the beaches there. I heard they’re beautiful.”

“They are. You should go sometime. You’d love it.” He says in between mouthfuls of soup.

“Ha, I don’t think I can swing that right now with everything that’s going on.”

Jeongguk looks a bit confused before realization dawns on his face. “There’s a war. Right.”

“Speaking of, I was wondering… How did you get mixed up in all of this?”

He sighs deeply before sitting his bowl of soup in his lap. “The same way everyone else from Korea did. We were drafted, every man over the age of sixteen. We were ripped away from our lives and forced to fight with threats of them killing our families and burning down our hometowns if we didn’t. I got drafted with my brother, but we were separated when missions were assigned. I got sent here and he’s fighting in Germany I think, if he’s still even alive… I’m fighting for a side I don’t believe in because I have to.”

The room becomes silent as your heart breaks for Jeongguk. This poor boy was wrenched from his family and forced to fight for the wrong side.

“Jeongguk, I’m so sorry…” You whisper.

“At least one good thing came out of it.” He mumbles.

“And what’s that?”

“I got to meet you.” He states, his cheeks flushing pink as he meets your gaze.

“O-oh…” Your face flushes the same shade as his as you fumble for words. “I-I, wow I… Um… That’s- You’re too sweet.” You finally mutter, averting your gaze, but he leans over and cups your cheek with his hand, turning you back to face him. He runs his thumb across your cheek lightly, barely ghosting across your skin.

“Y/N, I hope it’s okay for me to say this, and it isn’t too forward, but I think- I think I like you. And after I get better, I was wondering if I could maybe take you out?”

“R-really?” He smiles at your stuttered reply before nodding. “I… Yes.” You whisper in return. As if to solidify your answer, Jeongguk swings his legs over the side of the bed and leans down before pressing his lips to yours in a sweet, but short kiss. When his lips leave, you can’t help but chase after them for more, making Jeongguk giggle when you open your eyes to find he’s sitting upright again.

“I have to say, I’ve never felt like this about anyone before, but there’s something about you noona, from the first moment I saw you.” He offers you a beautiful smile that makes his eyes scrunch up, embarrassed at his own words and you can’t help but smile back.

It’s a week later when Jeongguk’s dressings are officially removed and he’s discharged from the hospital, but having nowhere to go, you offer to let him stay with you until he can make his way back home, with the permission of the girls of course. The two of you have been inseparable since your first kiss, and there have been many more sweet exchanges since then, you even taught him a little bit of english. Jeongguk even went so far as to call you his girlfriend during his lesson yesterday, and the word sent sparks up your nerve endings.

When the taxi pulls up to the home you share with the other girls, it’s pretty early in the morning, they should just be waking up for work. You help Jeongguk out of the car, handing him his cane as he grabs his bag that includes his dirtied and nearly shredded uniform. He’s currently wearing some scrubs you found at the hospital, they’re a bit snug, but they’ll work until you can find him some decent clothes to wear.

Jeongguk follows you up the front walk and you open the door before leading him in. You walk down the hallway, trying your best to be quiet, only to hear the word ‘surprise!’ being shouted at you as you enter the kitchen. You stumble back against Jeongguk in shock before a warm smile spreads across your face. Kono, Clara, and Bitsy stand in the kitchen, holding a cake with Jeongguk’s name written on it in Hangul.

“What’s all this?” You ask.

“We knew Jeongguk was finally coming home with you today, so we made him a cake!” Clara explains.

“We wanted to surprise you both!” Bitsy exclaims, bouncing up and down as she claps her hands together.

You turn to Jeongguk and explain the situation and a beautifully wide bunny smile spreads across his face as he drops his bag and grabs his chest where his heart lies. “Thank you.” He states in perfect english.

“Oh, you’re welcome honey.” Bitsy states.

“Now, we’ve got to head off to work, but we’ll see you whenever we get back.” Kono reminds you.

“Don’t worry,” You giggle. “I won’t wait up.”

“Oh, one more thing.” Kono turns back to you as the others head out the door. “I had my brother bring by some of his old clothes for Jeongguk since he doesn’t have any. I put them in your room.”

“Oh god, thanks Kono.”

“Of course.” She looks up at Jeongguk and then back at you before tossing you a wink. “Have fun kids.”

You roll your eyes as she saunters out the front door before turning to Jeongguk who’s already exploring the kitchen, you can tell by the icing on his finger that he’s about to pop into his mouth.

“Um, excuse me?” You laugh, halting him in his tracks. He stares at you with his innocent doe eyes as you walk over.

“I was fixing it.” He states, pointing down to where his name is spelled out in icing. You realize quickly that it’s spelled incorrectly; it says ‘jeongnun’.

“They tried their best.”

“I know, but eating it will make it better.”

You stare up at him incredulously. “Cake for breakfast?”

He simply shrugs. “Why not?”

Well, you can’t argue with that. You grab two plates and two forks and a knife, cutting you both a piece of cake before heading over to sit at the kitchen table to eat. Jeongguk joins you, but instead of sitting on a chair like a normal person, he sits directly on your available lap.

“Jeongguk!” You squeal with laughter, beating on his back to get him to stand up.

“What?” He feigns innocence as he looks down at you over his shoulder.

“Get off, your giant butt is crushing me!” You tease.

He giggles as he gets off, a forkful of cake already in his mouth as he takes a seat in the chair next to you instead. “So what did Kono tell you? I heard her say my name.”

“Oh, she had her older brother bring by some clothes for you.”

“Really?” His eyes light up when you nod. “Thank god, these doctor pajamas aren’t as comfortable as they look.”

You snort at the phrase ‘doctor pajamas’ before going back to your cake. Jeongguk finishes first, and with how fast he does, you would think the hospital starved him. “Did you even chew? Or did you just inhale?” You chide.

“What? It was good.” He states, smacking his lips for effect before giving you a goofy smile. “So, what do you want to do today?” He asks as he sits up, basically bouncing in his seat from excitement.

“Well, I figured you might want to take a shower first?”

“Are you saying I stink?” He pouts playfully.

“Sponge baths aren’t exactly the most refreshing.” You point out.

He wiggles his eyebrows mischievously. “Are you going to shower with me?”

“Jeongguk!” You squeal, flicking some icing off your fork and onto his face, making him flinch back in surprise. “What kind of girl do you take me for?” You tease, clutching your imaginary pearls.

“A beautiful and smart one.” He whispers, putting his elbow on the table and resting his head in his hand as he gazes at you.

You scoff. “Cheeseball.”

He giggles at this before continuing. “Okay so what do you want to do when I smell like a normal human again?”

“I figured we could just relax? Maybe watch- er, listen to the radio.” You keep forgetting that you don’t have a tv and they won’t really even be popular until 1946.

“But I want to do something.” Jeongguk whines.

“Jeonggukie, you need to rest. Doctors orders.”

“I’m tired of resting.” He pouts, crossing his arms.

“Jeongguk…” You sigh as you grab his plate and yours before standing and walking over to rinse them in the sink. He follows behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his head on your shoulder. “Do you want your leg to get better?”

“It is better.” He protests.

“Really?” You ask sarcastically. “Can you put all of your weight on it?”

“Yes.” He states.

“Okay.” You nod as you dry your hands. You swipe his cane out of his grip and then walk across the kitchen to the stairs. “Walk to me.”

“Is this necessary?” He whines.

“Walk. To. Me.” You repeat more sternly. “If you can put weight on your foot without any pain, we can go out tonight.”

“Fine.”

Ever the stubborn one, Jeongguk takes a deep breath before stepping forward with his injured foot. A grimace immediately appears on his face, but he muscles through it, putting all his weight on his bad leg as he takes his next step. He continues in this fashion the whole way across the kitchen until he reaches you and nearly collapses against you, whimpering in pain.

“There. Can we go out?”

“Absolutely not.” You scold, exasperated. “Goddamnit, did you really have to do that? You could’ve just injured yourself further for all I know.”

“Can I have my cane back now?” He mumbles, defeated. You hand him the metal stick and wrap an arm around his waist to help hold him up.

“Come on, we just need to get you upstairs and then you can rest.”

He nods, bracing himself as he straightens up before heading up the stairs with you, taking it slow, one at a time to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself again. When you get to the top, you lead him across the hall to your room, opening the door to lead him in. You see a bag of clothing on your bed and lead Jeongguk over to it so he can dig through its contents.

“Pick something to wear while I get the shower started for you.”

“Okay.”

WIth his affirmation, you head off to your bathroom and start the shower. “What temperature do you like?” You call to him.

“Hot.” He calls back. This boy’s going to use up all your hot water, you just know it. You turn the temperature up until steam starts billowing out the top and then you head back out to your room to see Jeongguk seems to have made a selection; a pair of pressed khaki slacks and a soft blue sweater.

“Find something?” He nods, holding the items up to you. “Looks good.” You smile before waving him over, watching him limp towards you and follow you into the bathroom. When he enters he looks around in astonishment.

“You have your own bathroom?”

“Well, not anymore.” You tease, raising an eyebrow at him. “Come here.” You grab the front of his scrubs and pull him closer to you before lifting the shirt off over his head. You toss the shirt to the floor and without even paying attention, you start undoing the drawstring that’s holding his pants up until he grabs your wrists.

“Woah, woah, Y/N. What’re you doing?”

“Helping you get undressed?” You look up at him, confused by his question.

“I can d-do that myself.” He stutters, swallowing hard.

It’s then that you realize your mistake. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry.” You start to giggle as you cover your mouth with your hand. “I went right into nurse mode.” You confess.

“It’s okay.” He smiles, placing his change of clothes on the counter.

As he leans over, you get the chance to admire his shirtlessness for the first time, and you can’t help yourself as you reach out to touch his abdomen, fascinated by how well-toned and muscular he is. You move closer as your hands glide over his chest, taking in every inch with awe.

“Enjoying the view?” He chuckles, snapping you out of your trance.

“S-sorry.” You mumble. “You’re just… you’re really pretty.” You admit, blush filling your cheeks.

“Ah, thanks.” He smiles, rubbing the back of his neck. “Can I shower now?”

“Right! Go ahead!” You scramble to exit the bathroom. “You remember how to wash your leg?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Okay, I’ll be right out here so yell if you need anything.” And with that you shut the door.

You busy yourself sorting through the clothes Kono left, folding them and putting them in a drawer you emptied yesterday so Jeongguk could use it. When you hear the shower turn off, you’re laying on your bed, reading a book you found lying around the house. It takes a few more minutes, but soon enough, the bathroom door opens and Jeongguk limps out, slacks hung low around his waist, sweater in his hand as he ruffles his hair with a towel.

The droplets of water you see dripping down Jeongguk’s torso make you drool inwardly, licking your lips at just how delicious he looks. He tosses the towel back into the bathroom before he makes his way over to your bed. He lays his cane against your nightstand before taking a seat on the mattress next to you, slipping on the cerulean sweater and then laying himself back against the pillows that sit at the headboard.

“I like your room.” He states, holding his arm out for you to snuggle up to him. You accept his request, reaching over him first to turn on the radio before sitting back and curling up at his side, your arm draped over his waist.

“Thank you.” In the time you’ve been here, you’ve grown accustomed to the dark red walls, not that you’ve seen them much over the last week, having spent the nights after your first kiss asleep in a chair next to Jeongguk’s hospital bed.

The two of you lay in content silence for a bit until a familiar song comes on the radio, one that even Jeongguk recognizes.

“He was a famous trumpet man from out Chicago way…”

“I know this song.” He whispers.

“You do?” You tilt your head to look at him.

He nods. “Sometimes at base our radio signals would interfere with American radio stations and it was almost always this song that came on. It was always a nice break. The tuners wouldn’t change the channel until the song ended because it always put us in a good mood.” A wide smile stretches across his face. “I would always get up and dance, and some of the other guys would even get up and join me.”

“I didn’t know you liked to dance.”

“I’ve always loved to dance. It just makes me so happy.” He explains. “My mom and I used to dance around the kitchen when I was little and after that, I just kind of never stopped I guess.”

“Are you any good?”

“I won a swing dancing competition at a club near my house once a few years back.”

“Well, color me impressed.” You state, rolling onto your stomach and laying your arms on his chest, resting your head on your hands as you gaze up at him.

“That’s why I didn’t want to lose my leg. It brought in a lot of money for my parents, so I figured I could win some real competitions here in America and bring the money back home, but then…” He trails off, the smile fading from his face.

“But then you were drafted.” You finish for him.

“Yeah…”

“I mean, once your leg heals, you could still compete.”

“Yeah, but…” He hesitates, running his fingers through your hair. “Then I’d have to leave you.”

“Jeongguk,” You sit up to scold him. “Don’t let me stand in the way of your dream. You never know when you’ll lose the opportunity.” You look down at your lap, remembering all the opportunities you’ve lost because of your ‘problem’. You would hate to get in his way when you don’t even know how long you’ll be here. Your eyes start to grow misty at the thought of ever having to leave him; your first real boyfriend, maybe even your first love.

Suddenly Jeongguk cups your cheek as he sits up, forcing you to look up at him. “You are my dream.”

You break into a smile, your bottom lip trembling as you try to hold back the sad and happy tears at the same time. Before you can say anything, Jeongguk leans forward and presses his lips to yours ever so sweetly. You’re not sure what to do in this era, if it’s normal for you to want to move forward and sleep with Jeongguk so soon, or if you should wait, but then Jeongguk tilts his head to the side and parts his lips, deepening the kiss, and you find yourself unable to resist.

The radio plays in the background as you attempt to pull Jeongguk closer, letting him flick his tongue against your lips ever so lightly before you break the kiss and sit up, climbing on Jeongguk’s lap and straddling his muscular thighs, surprising him a bit before you pull his lips back to yours. Not knowing where to put his hands, Jeongguk lets them lay at his side, but you can feel him fidgeting, so you grab his wrists and guide his hands to your hips. He pulls back to make sure it’s okay and you nod, scooting closer so that your chest is pressed to his, gripping his shirt and pulling him back to you.

The two of you make out lazily for a while, enjoying each other, until you start to feel a heat building in your stomach and you accidentally grind down on Jeongguk’s lap and he gasps, breaking the kiss.

“Y-Y/N I-”

“I’m sorry.” You interrupt. “I-I don’t know what came over me.”

“No, I mean… This is great, like… really great, but… wouldn’t you rather wait? Until marriage?” He asks.

You have to physically restrain yourself from bursting out laughing. “O-of course!” You roll your eyes. “That’s what we’re supposed to do, right? Wait until we’re married.”

“U-until we’re m-married?” Jeongguk stutters.

“I just meant ‘we’ in general as people, not ‘we’ us.”

“Right.” Jeongguk nods, though seeming a bit disappointed.

“Is it hot in here? Do you want some air?” You ask, trying to change the subject as you climb off of Jeongguk’s lap and walk over to your balcony, opening the door.

“Air sounds great.” Jeongguk agrees, grabbing his cane and standing up to join you.

You usher him outside and then excuse yourself to the bathroom, shutting the door and then flopping yourself down onto your bed. What the hell was that conversation? Does Jeongguk want to marry you? You know that was the thing to do back then, or… back now, but getting married so young, with someone you hardly know… That can’t be right, can it?

A week later, you have to return to work. You took a week off to help Jeongguk adjust to how things worked around your house, and thankfully, he only accidentally walked in on someone once; even more thankfully, it was Kono and she just laughed it off. The week was quiet, with the other girls at work most of the time, you and Jeongguk just spent the time getting to know each other; playing games, reading books, and listening to the radio, teaching him english, which he picks up surprisingly quickly; but you found the most fun was cooking with each other.

Jeongguk was surprisingly good at cooking, and after eating military and hospital food for so long, he was thrilled to be able to have a home cooked meal. The two of you made food from your childhoods, recreating what you could with american staples you would pick up from the local market, happy to be out in the warm spring weather with each other.

Jeongguk was using his cane less and less, in fact, when he was in the kitchen, he put it to the side and didn’t use it at all, choosing to use you for support instead; his arms frequently found resting on your shoulders, or wrapped around your waist. He’s a goofball, and you have to admit, you think you’re falling in love with him.

“Okay, you remember where everything is?” You ask as you grab your purse off the table.

“Yes.” He rolls his eyes, tired of you asking.

“And you’ll be okay going to the market by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“And you promise to rest? You won’t overwork your leg? I don’t want you to-”

“Noona.” He interrupts. “I’ll be fine I promise.”

“But-”

“I’ll be okay. Go to work.” He says in english, emphasizing his point.

You bite your lip with nervousness, not wanting to leave him on his own, you know how people in this area get with unfamiliar faces. “Okay.” You finally nod, opening the front door. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Jeongguk smiles before sweeping you into a sweet kiss, leaving you dazed for a moment before you walk out to the cab you called and climb in.

“Honolulu Military hospital please.” You tell the driver before looking back, watching Jeongguk wave goodbye as you drive away.

Work is awful. The amount of injured soldiers has slowed significantly since the attack, so you don’t have much left to do expect check the vitals of the few patients you do have; those that had more serious injuries and require a longer recovery time. You suppose it’s a good thing, you can hardly focus as it is, worried about Jeongguk being left at home by himself. What if something happens to him? You spend the better part of your lunch hour thinking of ways Jeongguk could get hurt, and it isn’t until Kono taps you on the shoulder that you even realize she sat next to you.

“Uh, Y/N?”

“Hm? Sorry.” You turn to her.

“I asked if you knew what Jeongguk was going to do when you went back home?”

“Back home?” You repeat, confused.

“You didn’t hear? They’re sending everyone back to the mainland since things have slowed so much here. Almost everyone that was called over gets to go home, except for a few who are choosing to stay.”

“Stay?”

“I was telling Bits earlier that I don’t know what I’ll do, the house will be so empty. So is he going with you? Or is he going back home too?”

“I… I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it.”

“You should think about staying.” Kono urges. “You’re doing really well here.” You nod as the lunch bell dings, signaling that your lunch is over.

The rest of the day goes by surprisingly quickly as you try to figure out what you want to do. You don’t remember much about living back in the continental states, you lived in California somewhere, but that’s as good as you’ve got really. You like Hawaii, you really do, plus Jeongguk is here, and as long as you’re here, he can stay with you.

As the cab pulls into your driveway, you still aren’t sure what to do, or what to tell Jeongguk as you and Kono get out of the car and walk up to the house. As you step over the threshold into the house, a delightful smell tickles your nose; someone’s been cooking. You and Kono both follow your noses into the kitchen to see Jeongguk sitting at the dinner table with Bitsy and Clara.

“You’re home!” Clara says, more out of surprise than happiness. “John-kook made dinner!”

“Really?” You ask, but when Jeongguk doesn’t immediately turn to greet you with that goofy smile, you know something’s wrong. “Kook?” You walk over and put your hand on his shoulder, but he still doesn’t look at you. Clara and Bitsy both have nervous looks on their faces.

“Kook…” You pull the chair out next to him and sit down before tilting his chin so that he looks at you. You gasp, dropping your purse in shock when you see the dark black bruise surrounding his eye. “Oh my god! Jeongguk what happened to you?” You ask, cupping his face and pulling it closer so you can inspect his eye, but he remains tight lipped so you turn to the two girls sitting at the table.

“We didn’t see the whole thing.” Clara states.

“We just caught the end of it.” Bitsy agrees. “Ya see, we were down at the market an’ we ‘eard this commotion.”

“It sounded like a fight and there was a big group of people standing in a circle, so we went to see what was happening and…” Clara continues.

“It was Paul. Him an’ his group a rougheins.” Bitsy growls. “Once we realized it was Kook, Clara ran into the middle of it to stop them.”

“It wasn’t fair, it was five against one!” Clara pounds her fist on the table. “Those racist bastards.”

“She got Paul to back off, but not before they gave ‘em a nice shiner.” Bitsy finishes with a sigh. “We helped him home though and made him rest before dinner.”

“The butcher felt bad and gave Kook a nice steak to put on his eye for the swelling.” Clara adds. “And then he made dinner with it.”

The girls keep talking, but they fade out as your focus is drawn to Jeongguk in front of you. He won’t meet your gaze, seemingly ashamed, that is until he picks up his fork and stabs a bit of meat before holding it up to you.

“I made your favorite.” He whispers. “Please don’t be mad.”

“Mad…?” You ask. “I’m furious, but not at you baby.” You lean forward and wrap your arms tightly around Jeongguk, knocking the fork out of his hands. “I’m just glad you’re safe.” You can feel Jeongguk smile as he returns your hug. You pull back and place a kiss on his forehead before sitting back in your chair. “Let’s eat, I’m starving.”

Jeongguk made bibimbap, your favorite, with perfectly seasoned meat, and you happily eat. After dinner, Bitsy and Clara leave for the night shift, and Kono disappears into her room, leaving you and Jeongguk alone to talk about what happened as you finish cleaning up the kitchen.

“I was just walking down the street at the market when these guys came up and started asking me a bunch of questions I couldn’t understand. When they heard my accent as I tried to explain that I didn’t speak english well, they started pushing me around while they yelled at me.”

“Did they say anything you recognized?”

“Jap.” Jeongguk mumbles as he puts the last bowl on the drying rack. “That’s all I knew. And then the big one punched me so hard I fell over, that’s when your friends found me.”

“Jeongguk,” You cry as you wrap him in your arms again. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault jagiya.” He sighs. “Although, I did lose what I went to town for; they stole it, said I didn’t deserve it.”

“We can go back tomorrow and get another one? What was it?”

“A ring…” Jeongguk whispers, looking up at you, his cheeks a bit flushed.

“A… A what?” You mumble, not sure you heard him right.

“It was a ring, for you.”

“For me?”

Jeongguk chuckles. “I feel a bit stupid telling you this without it, but I was going to propose to you noona. Tonight.”

“W-what?”

“Kono told me yesterday that you might be moving back home, and I want you to know that wherever you go, I’ll go with you, because I’ve fallen in love with you. I know it’s crazy and we’ve only known each other for a month, but I’ve never felt this way before, about anyone.”

“Jeongguk-”

“Noona, will you marry me? I’d get down on my knee, but I don’t know if I’d get back up.”

You’re speechless, you’re definitely rushing into things here, right? But maybe that’s how it should be… You don’t know how long you’ll be here, or maybe, is this where you’re meant to be? “Y-yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I will.” You nod as Jeongguk sweeps you up off your feet and spins you around the best he can.

“I love you Y/N.” He states as he puts you back down, pulling you close.

“I love you too Jeongguk.” You smile brightly as he pulls you in for a kiss.

The girls of course are thrilled when you tell them, each of them squealing happily. Bitsy being the sneaky minx that she is, actually manages to get herself invited to Paul’s house two days later and steals the ring back for you. When she returns it to Jeongguk, he happily opens it and slides the ring on your finger; it’s a simple, but beautiful ruby and the weight of it on your finger makes you feel warm inside.

You and Jeongguk decide a few days later to stay in Hawaii, at least for the time being. Jeongguk writes his parents letters daily and has since he arrived at the hospital, about a week after Jeongguk proposes, you receive a letter back from them. They’re thrilled about your engagement, and after weeks of Jeongguk asking, they’ve finally gotten enough money together to move to Hawaii, and should be on a ship within the week and should arrive in another week or two. You and Jeongguk quickly find them a nice house by the bay and eagerly await their arrival from across the pacific.

A few days after his parents letter arrives, you and Jeongguk are relaxing at home, both of you on the couch while the other girls are out, your legs across his lap as you listen to the radio and read to Jeongguk.

“Isn’t this Doris Day?” Jeongguk suddenly asks, turning the radio up.

“Hm?” You listen for a moment. “Yeah, I think so. The song is called ‘Again’ I think, I’m surprised you know that.” Suddenly Jeongguk pushes your legs off his lap and stands up before grabbing your arm and tugging you to your feet with him. “Kook,” You giggle as he pulls you flush against him. “What are you doing?”

“Dancing.” He states, grabbing your waist and beginning to sway you both back and forth.

“So I finally get to see the magical feet of Jeon Jeongguk?” You tease.

“Shhh, just dance with me noona.”

“Again, this couldn't happen again

This is that once in a lifetime

This is the thrill divine…”

It’s nice, a peaceful and sweet moment, with you pressed so close to him as he rests his head on yours while you sway, hand clasped in his, content in just being with him. It makes you sad to think that one day, at some point, life may choose to take him away from you, or more likely, to take you away from him.

“Mine to hold as I'm holding you now and yet never so near

Mine to have when the now and the here disappear…”

“Jeongguk…” You whisper, thinking maybe you should tell him, but you don’t know what happens to the people you leave behind; is some part of you still here, or do you and all traces of you vanish completely, even the parts of you in his memory?

“We'll have this moment forever

But never, never, again…”

“Mm?” You don’t hear him as much as you feel the rumble in his chest.

“I love you…” You say as the song plays its last chord and your dance comes to a stop.

“I love you too.” Jeongguk smiles and leans down, capturing your lips in the sweetest of kisses, making your knees weak. You grip his button up shirt tightly as you pull back, breathing a bit heavier, and you wonder what it’ll be like to have him. All of him. Before you can overthink it, you push Jeongguk backwards so that he falls back down onto the couch.

“Woah,” He exclaims as he hits the cushions. “What’s this about?”

“Jeongguk,” You whisper as you climb into his lap. “Let me show you how much I love you.”

“Are you sure?” He visibly gulps.

“I’m sure.”

Jeongguk hesitates for a second before nodding, his bottom lip caught between his teeth; a sight you can’t resist. You lean forward and press your lips to his, letting his hands fall to your hips as he pulls you closer, his tongue slipping between your lips, and this time when you grind down against him, he doesn’t pull away, instead he groans, deep in his chest, a rumbling that sets your body on fire, but then he pulls away again.

“Um, wouldn’t you rather do this in a bed maybe?” He suggests shyly, cupping your cheek.

“You won’t change your mind?” You ask, suddenly nervous that he’s rejecting you again.

He stares deep into your eyes, smiling a heart wrenchingly beautiful smile. “Never.”

Your chest and stomach flutter at the same time as Jeongguk helps you off his lap and leads you upstairs to your room where he shuts the door before spinning you to face away from him. He grabs the zipper on the back of your shorts and yanks it down, dragging them down your legs before pushing you down on the bed and crawling on top of you; gone is the innocent boy you love so much, in his place is a strong man with a fire building in his sweet brown eyes.

Jeongguk reconnects his lips to yours as he starts working at the buttons on the front of your shirt, carefully undoing them until he gets to the last one and sits back to look. He stares down at your half naked body; your bra and underwear all that’s left covering you.

“You’re so beautiful noona.” He whispers.

He skips unbuttoning his own shirt, choosing to just slip it off over his head and toss it to the floor, leaving him in just his white undershirt and khaki slacks. You pull his undershirt off and reach up, running your fingers over his chest and watching his muscles flex beneath your touch, but not for long. Jeongguk slips your shirt the rest of the way off and leans down to pepper your neck with kisses while he fumbles with your bra. It takes him a few moments, but eventually he gets the hooks undone and manages to slip the fabric off your shoulders, taking his time to caress and marvel at your breasts.

“T-they’re so soft.” He observes, leaning down and burying his face between them as he massages them gently, feeling your smooth skin against his face.

“K-kook…” You gasp when he brushes against a nipple. His head shoots up to look at you, ready to apologize for doing something wrong until he sees the look on your face and the blush adorning your cheeks. He leans up and kisses you sweetly once more before grabbing the waistband of your underwear. He looks at you for approval, which you give, before slowly pulling the fabric down your legs and tossing it to the floor. He sits on his knees, a now obvious tenting in his pants as his hands caress your thighs, seemingly mesmerized by your naked figure, before spreading your legs with a small groan of want.

Jeongguk quickly moves to unbuckle his belt, but once he gets it open, he falters and begins to ramble. “Oh god Y/N I-I’ve never… I never done this before and I don’t know if I’ll be any good. What if I do something wrong? O-or if I hurt you? What if-”

“Jeongguk,” You coo softly. “There’s nothing you can do that will make me love you any less.”

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” You whisper, sitting up to pull him into a kiss before you pull back and help him undo his pants the rest of the way, your hands brushing the scars on his thighs after he deposits his khakis on the floor.

“Noona,” Jeongguk calls your attention back up to his face as he pushes you back down against the mattress. “A-are you ready?” You realize he’s now leaning over you, one hand on the waistband of his underwear.

“Yes…” You mumble, suddenly realizing that in all the lives you’ve had, you’ve never had sex before either. “I’m just nervous I guess. I haven’t um… I haven’t done this either.”

“I’ll go slow, I promise.” He assures you, leaning down to give you a kiss before pulling the covers over you both. He shifts on top of you as he removes his underwear and then his knees are nudging at your thighs to open wider for him, and then you feel it. Something warm and hard is pressing against your most intimate of parts, trying to find its way inside your own warmth.

“A little l-lower I think…” You state, trying your best to guide Jeongguk to his destination. He follows your direction, pushing with intent until he finally slips the tip of his cock into you, a little faster than intended, catching you both by surprise as you let out a small cry.

“Are you okay?” He asks, panicking as he stills himself.

You nod, biting back the stinging feeling between your legs. “It just h-hurts a little bit. Y-you’re bigger than I e-expected.”

Jeongguk’s face flushes bright red as he looks down at you, obviously flustered by your comments on his size. “I’m s-sorry. Do… Do you want to stop?”

“No!” You whine, a little too loudly, making Jeongguk smirk just a bit. “J-just… Just go slow.” You mutter.

Jeongguk nods, leaning down to press his lips to yours as he starts moving again. He goes slow, swallowing each little gasp that leaves your mouth until he’s fully seated inside you and a moan escapes both of your lips as Jeongguk’s head falls on your shoulder.

“It’s s-so tight…” He whimpers. “Is it supposed to feel this good?”

“Jeongguk please move.” You plead, needing some sort of friction before you feel like you might burst.

Jeongguk simply groans against your neck as he complies, pulling his hips back before sliding into you again and again, making you feel dizzy and hot and oh so full. He feels so good inside you, brushing against your walls in all the right ways; you’ve never felt this kind of pleasure in your life.

You wrap your arms tightly around his neck and spread your legs wider, allowing him to go deeper as you both moan. The longer you go, the rougher Jeongguk’s thrusts become until you feel like you’re bouncing across the bed with every push of his hips. All of your thoughts are gone, the only thing you can focus on is the blissful feeling of Jeongguk, pleasuring you from the inside out. Suddenly a swirling heat starts building in the pit of your stomach, your senses heightened as you feel like your whole body is tightening.

You need to tell him something’s happening, but you don’t know how. “J-Jeongguk, I-”

“God it feels so good. I feel- hah~ I’m so- Oh god, w-what is- Oh~ Oh~!” Jeongguk thrusts into you one last time with all his might, spiraling you into the most amazing feeling you’ve ever felt in your life, crying out his name as bliss floods your brain and something warm and wet floods your core.

You’re both still as you ride out the feeling and then Jeongguk collapses on top of you, his body spent. He peppers your face with kiss after kiss, mumbling how much he loves before finally sitting up and carefully pulling out of you, both of you wincing. You feel a rush of fluids spilling out of you and you sit up to look, thinking you must be bleeding or something, but instead of red, you see Jeongguk’s white sticky release coating your folds.

“S-sorry.” Jeongguk mutters as he stands up. “Don’t move, let me get you something.” He limps his way to the bathroom and you hear the sink running before he comes back, one hand covering himself, a washcloth in the other. He sits back on the bed and gently swipes up your folds, collecting the mixture of your releases and then tossing the washcloth in your hamper, cheering when he sees it went in before grabbing his underwear and sliding them back on and handing you yours.  As you pull your underwear up your legs, Jeongguk climbs over you and lays on his side of the bed, grabbing your waist and pulling you flush against him, his arms wrapped tightly around you as you both sit in silence, suddenly tired. You start to drift off, and just as you’re about to fall asleep, Jeongguk whispers in your ear.

“I can’t wait to marry you noona. I love you so much.”

“I love you too Jeongguk.”

It’s a few days later, and few more sexual encounters later; you’re both sitting at home when Bitsy and Clara come home from work and Bitsy declares she wants to go out and have a good time before her and Clara head back to the states next week.

Clara rolls her eyes. “Bits, when don’t you want to go out?”

“Just because you’re a big ‘ol buzzkill.” Bitsy retorts, sticking her tongue out. “Y/N will come with me, wontcha Y/N?”

“Me?” You ask, surprised, usually she drags Kono out with her.

“Yeah, you haven’t been out in ages, don’t ya wanna have fun?” She taunts, shaking your arm. “Kook can come too! It’ll be great.”

You look up at Jeongguk as he comes back into the room with some water. He must have heard the conversation because he’s looking at you like a puppy you promised to take for a walk. “Where would we go?”

“Anywhere ya want! Kook, where do you wanna go?” She turns to him.

“Can we go dancing?” He asks hopefully.

“Of course! I’mma get changed, let’s leave in ten minutes, okay?” She squeals excitedly before flouncing up the stairs.

“I guess I should get changed too.” You state, putting your book down and standing up. “Kono, are you coming with us?”

“Yeah, why not.” Kono shrugs. “I think we all deserve a night out.”

“Fine!” Clara bursts. “Let’s go.”

They both stand up and you all head upstairs to get ready. You pick out your favorite red and white swing dress with a white petticoat and some red shoes, finishing your look with a red lip before heading out of the bathroom to see Jeongguk in a pair of khaki swing trousers, a red polo with suspenders, his favorite black and white oxfords and a black fedora.

He smiles when he sees you. “Noona, you look so pretty.”

“So do you.” You giggle, walking over to him. “But I think we can leave this at home.” You reach up and take off his hat, leaving it on the bed.

“Too much?”

“Just a bit.”

You reach up and cup his cheek. “Are you sure you’re okay to go out?”

“Noona I’m fine.” He rolls his eyes. “You promised when I got better we could go out.”

“I know, but-“

Just then you hear Bitsy calling your names from downstairs, telling you to hurry up in a less than polite way, so you grab Jeongguk’s hand and tug him out of your room and down the stairs to where the others are waiting.

“Let’s go!” Bitsy cheers when you’re all gathered. She grabs her car keys and you all follow her out the door and pile into her car; Clara in the front, and you in the back squished between Kono and Jeongguk.

It takes about ten minutes to get to Bitsy’s favorite place in the world; a bar called the Suds, and when you pull up, you can already hear the loud music and laughter coming from inside. Bitsy parks and you all get out, Jeongguk helps you out of the car and then grips your hand tightly as you walk up to the entrance, seemingly nervous. You squeeze his hand in return to let him know it’ll be okay and he seems to relax as you walk inside.

Bitsy vanishes as soon as you get inside, making a beeline for the dance floor, Clara and Kono find an empty table and take a seat while you and Jeongguk go to the bar and get everyone a drink, heading to the table when you’re done. You take a seat and take a sip of your beer, scanning the room. Jeongguk seems unable to sit still next to you, bouncing with excitement as he watches the dancers.

“Jeongguk, go.” You whisper, nodding at the dance floor.

He immediately stands but then turns back to you and holds out his hand. “Dance with  me?” He asks in a perfect english accent.

You accept his outstretched hand with a smile. “Of course.”

Jeongguk immediately tugs you out onto the dancefloor, making Bitsy cheer when she sees the two of you. “It’s about time!” She yells before the man she’s dancing with spins her around. “Show me what you can do Kook!”

Jeongguk doesn’t hesitate at all, grabbing your hand and your waist and pulling you close. The two of you rock step as Jeongguk intermittently swings you out, moving your feet to the beat of the quickstep song the band plays. He spins you around, leading you all over the dancefloor, impressing you with just how good he is, moving you to the rhythm. It isn’t until most people have moved out of the way that he moves onto the big stuff.

When he decides he has enough room, Jeongguk swings you down, lifting his leg up over you and the pulling you up from between his legs before spinning you so your back is against his and then flipping you up onto his back and over, making the crowd around you cheer. He slows down and lets you catch your breath before you jump up on his hip and then he pushes you off, sending you flying in a spin until he catches your hand and stops you, pulling you back to him.

You go back to a rock step until Jeongguk puts his arm around your waist and lifts you, sending you into a jump over and around his back before picking you up and flipping you over his arm where you thankfully land back on your feet.  He spins you once more before grabbing you under your arms and spinning you around, your feet flying out as he steps over them until you land again and fly back into Bitsy who catches you and sends you back into Jeongguk. You jump into his arms, your legs spread and he rocks you back up into the air, you feel like your feet touch the ceiling before you come back down. You come to one side of his waist and Jeongguk quickly swings you to the other, grabbing your legs tight before flinging the top half of you around him, catching you and spinning you before he lets your feet find the floor again. He grabs your arm and spins you one last time before the song ends and he stills you; everyone cheering and clapping as you come to a halt.

Bitsy runs up you, bouncing as she claps. “That was amazing! Y/N, I didn’t know you could dance like that!”

“I didn’t do anything, it was all him.” You state as the three of you walk back over to the table.

“I’m glad we saved your leg, Kook.” Kono smiles as you take a seat next to her and take a swig of your beer. “That was incredible.”

“Thank you.” Jeongguk mumbles, his face flushing from the praise. “I like dancing.”

“He’s won competitions back home.” You brag for him.

“That doesn’t surprise me.” Kono nods. “You could win some serious money doing that.”

“They have competitions here every friday.” Bitsy states. “You should enter one.”

Jeongguk looks at you confused and you translate for him, watching as he breaks into a wide smile and nods. “I’d like to.” He agrees.

“Then you should start practicin’!” Bitsy cheers, pulling Jeongguk to his feet. Jeongguk nods happily before turning back to you and grabbing your hand, tugging you back out onto the dancefloor.

The two of you dance to several more songs, having a great time with each other, but after the next slow song, you have to sit down and you allow Bitsy to take your place. You make your way back to your table and have a seat, watching Jeongguk twirl Bitsy around the floor to the music, until you notice Jeongguk start to limp again. The next time you catch Bitsy’s eye, you point at Jeongguk and then at your leg, and she quickly gets the message, dragging Jeongguk over to the table for you before grabbing Kono and Clara and hauling them onto the dancefloor with her.

“How’s your leg?” You ask Jeongguk as he sits down.

“Honestly I didn’t even feel it until you said something, but it is starting to hurt a bit.”

“Maybe you’ve had enough practice for tonight?”

“Yeah, I have.” He agrees, offering you a smile.

“So, you never told me you could dance like that.” You tease.

He shrugs. “Did you have fun?”

“Fun? You flipped me around so much I didn’t know which way was up! It was great!”

“I can teach you some steps if you want.” Jeongguk offers, his smile growing wider.

“That would be-”

“Well!” You’re interrupted by a loud male voice. “What do we have here? The local Jap couple.” You look up to see Paul, the asshole who beat up Jeongguk the other day.

“What do you want Paul.” You hiss.

“Well I heard you two were getting hitched. Is that true?”

“What’s it to you?” Jeongguk suddenly asks, standing up in front of you protectively.

“Woah there tough guy.” Paul throws up his hands defensively. “I see someone finally learned to speak english.”

“What do you want?” Jeongguk spits.

“I just want to make sure you didn’t put a baby in this here girl of yours,” Paul points to you and suddenly two men lift you to your feet and hold your arms behind your back. You struggle in their grasp, but their grip it too tight. “Cause if you did, I’mma have to knock it back out.” He rolls up his sleeves. “Can’t have you two breedin any babies to fight for the wrong side.”

“Don’t touch her.” Jeongguk growls, grabbing Paul’s arm and pulling it away from you.

“I can do whatever I want.” Paul states, grabbing the front of Jeongguk’s shirt. “I ain’t gotta listen to you, Jap.” And then Paul pulls his fist back, but Jeongguk’s quicker this time, punching Paul right in the side of his jaw, making the man stumble back a few steps from the unexpected hit. “You son of a bitch!” Paul yells, causing the music to stop as he lunges at Jeongguk.

“Jeongguk!” You cry, only able to watch as the man you love is knocked to the floor. Paul kneels down and continues hitting Jeongguk, punch after punch. Tears stream down your cheeks as you watch Jeongguk’s blood drip from his face. It’s then that you feel it; the haze. It surrounds you. No, you can’t leave now, Jeongguk needs you. “Jeongguk! Jeongguk, I’m sorry!” You whimper, slipping from the men’s grasps as you slowly disappear. You see the girls appear a the front of the circle of people surrounding the fight and suddenly see Clara and Bitsy jump into the fray, trying to pull Paul off Jeongguk. The last thing you see is Jeongguk reaching for you, blood dripping down onto his red shirt.

“Jeongguk!” You cry, bolting upright, gripping the blanket in your lap tightly. You begin sobbing uncontrollably as you realize; it doesn’t matter anymore, wherever you are now, whenever you are, Jeongguk is not here with you.

Copyright © Inkjam-Moon 2019

[raleigh-ocean]

the sarah’s and their drunk s/o | headcanon

Billie Dean Howard + [the hungry drunk]

She is so…speechless. Billie for sure didn't expect you to be like that but she is enjoying it too much. She was really late for the after party thanks to some last minute issues, so when she finally walked in you were way way ahead in drinks. Asking for you around the house, she finally found you in the kitchen fighting to open the biggest bag of chips you had found. As she could see, you pretty much had a feast of whatever you had found around. "What are you doing all alone here sweetheart?" she giggled, flickering her cigarette and hugging your waist with one arm before pressing a kiss to your cheek. "They didn't let me order a pizza, told them those…things weren't enough, I was so hungry Billie," your voice was very affected in between munching, as you still struggled to open the damn thing while Billie found it adorable and hilarious. She helped you open after a few tries, holding her cigarette between her lips, and then laughed when you gave her a sloppy kiss in return. "Oh shit, do you want a drink?" you said while holding your own glass, which she took to prevent you from spill it and doing a mess. "I'm finishing yours, then we can go get that pizza, what do you think?" and when your eyes lightened up, nodding with enthusiasm, Billie thought that at least you wouldn't be so hungover in the morning. She much preferred having you hungry than crying or raging around, but she still was impressed about how much you had drank since she didn't see you before like that.

Lana Winters + [the broken drunk]

When Lana found you hiding behind a three, being the absolute mess all by yourself, something inside her broke a little. She had watched you fell more silent as the night went on, Kit keeping the drinks getting to you while he danced happily with her daughter, finally married. You weren’t too fond of dancing, but you never stopped Lana from enjoying her little guilty pleasure. Until she went to the restroom for a second and when she was back you were out of sight. She didn't know what to do then, standing by your side in silence, but as soon as she was about to say something your voice came out all broken and slurred. "Why is she so pretty and why she won't ever notice me?" that really caught her off guard, looking past her shoulder in case you were heard. You clutched your glass against your chest, sobbing like she never saw you before. "About who are you talking about?” it’s a mere whisper and you didn’t seem to turn around to see who was talking to you. “Lana! Who else!?” Lana frowned a bit, puzzled but with the knot in her throat easing almost immediately. How much did you actually drink to even forget that you were her girlfriend from several years to this day? Chuckling, she sat by your side and hugged you with one arm, putting her head in your shoulder. “I’m sure she can’t take her eyes of you.” she reassured you, kissing your cheek. “Are you for real?” you sobbed again, kinda more happy but at the same time breaking Lana’s heart. “As real as I can be, dear, as real I can be.” Lana doesn’t like to see you that drunk, it’s like you lose yourself in darker times, so she always tries to have an eye on you in case the scenario arise again.

Cordelia Goode + [the naked drunk]

“Y/N what are y-OH MY GOD” She almost had a heart attack when she saw you crossing the front door at 4 a.m without your shirt and heavily drunk. You always went out with the girls to make sure they didn’t put up a show, but it seemed that they finally convinced you to give in and drink. The first question she landed was obviously where were your missing pieces of clothing. You were too worried about whatever Queenie was telling you, both trying to not wake the whole house, so Zoe had to tell Cordelia that you lost it at some point of the night and you didn’t remember. And you are quick to tell her. “Deliaaaaaa I lost my shirt!” you are smiling a lot and she is too worried about trying to make you lower your tone and cover you with her robe. “How can you-How did she ended up like this!?” Cordelia would be all about yelling-whispering, trying to ignore the fact that you are telling her sweet nothings. “One moment she had it on, second moment she was flashing us Cordy,” Madison shrugged, way too drunk to barely hold herself too. You bet your ass later in the morning, she’s going full throttle for sure. But even hangover, you still are a bit flirty and all “Well, you don’t need to worry baby, the only one I wanted to flash was you” and Madison is all ‘woah snap’ and Cordelia is just Not Having It ™ - so the next time y’all go out she goes with you to prevent you from getting a arrested or something. She for sure was not expecting you to get like that...and your drunk behaviour will make quite some messes around the Academy at some point (as when you presumily sent a nude to the staff group chat and Cordelia forbid you from being there and therefore started the group chat wars aka @shineestark and I have a full hc built around this and this reader is the same as in all Delia’s stuff I wrote!).

Bette and Dot Tattle + [the touchy-feely drunk]

Bette is all over the roof, and Dot...too but in a lower level than her sister. Having you holding their hands or with your arms around their waist or even snuggled in their chest is like heaven. And Bette takes this opportunity to kiss you as much as she wants, giving you love without having Dot’s nagging voice in her head telling her to not be tiresome. She is taking full advantage of your state just to keep pampering with her kind of love at least. Dot is more worried about you throwing up all over them and at first will be wary of you being that close to them just in case, but as the night goes by and you don’t leave their side at all...well, it makes Dot start to warm up to your ‘love’ too. They don’t quite like the part where you can’t actually speak much or at least speak something with some sense, but having you all for themselves it’s always a really nice thing. It’s weird to see you like that, since you hardly ever drink, but it’s a nice weird thing. It also lead to you asking them to spend the night together for the first time, so how can they do about that? Saying ‘no’ to you? Bette will always laugh at how Dot blushed fiercely when you fell asleep with your head nuzzled in her neck.

Sally McKenna + [the violent drunk]

Oh God, Sally absolutely feels some particular things seeing you that worked up, but it also worries her that you are not near her if you get like that. It’s something you don’t even like of yourself, but sometimes you get a couple drinks and then your whole mood is thrown over the roof. Sally had to held you back several time because one of Will’s model acquaintances is getting too close to you and it anger you to no end for some reason. She knows how to handle you, how to move around people so you don’t end up in a Situation ™ and therefore being in trouble. But Sally is just one woman and she can’t be by your side at all times, so obviously you end up about to punch someone when she was away, trying to get you something to eat to help you get sober. Sally is quick to her feet to drag you out of the party, redirecting all that negative energy towards...other activities. You only had been that drunk around her a handful of times, all in those events the high fashion socialité has thrown at the Cortez, and after that last one she is adamant about not letting you get to that point in any way. And you agree with her wholeheartedly.

Audrey Tindall + [the sloppy drunk]

After the tenth time Audrey has to save one of her things from breaking thanks to your new found ‘curiosity’ she thinks she’s going completely insane. At first she found your ‘butter-hands’ syndrome somewhat endearing, just because you keep on saying ‘sorry’ every time you are about to break or take down something without noticing. But you are now way to drunk to even do that and she has to keep herself checking what are you doing and where are you going in case it get out of hand. She hates avidly whoever decided to keep giving you shots and is kinda annoyed at you for your behaviour, but Audrey takes a deep breath every time she is about to kill you reminding herself that she loves you and she can’t actually do that. When your sloppiness start to get out of hand, aka you starting to do reckless stuff out of the blue, she would be vocal about it with you and sent you to your share room in order to sober you up with a good cold shower. Audrey doesn’t like that part of you especially and she would remind you about it once you are not with a massive headache.

Ally Mayfair-Richards + [the sentimental drunk]

At first Ally found funny how you kept being by her side, clinging to her for your dear life, but at the same time it ignites a little jealous flame inside her watching you proclaim your love for everyone. It’s not the first time she is seeing you like this, but still the flame is always there. You aren’t that...open with your feelings in a regular setting, but when you had your share of drinks your tongue loosen up and go full throttle. From experience, she knows better than having you reach that point since you later barely remember what happened, but she can’t do a thing if you made your way to your current state before she could do something. In exchange of your behaviour, Ally stays close to you and give you kisses as much as she can to remind herself that even when you are like that you still loves her the most. In your drunkass haze, you pick up these gestures and you soon pull her in your lap, sitting away from everyone at the party and start to pepper her face all over with kisses and words full of all those deep feelings you have for her and only for her. And maybe you might make her shed a tear or two, but it’s just because hearing you proclaiming your love for her always caught her by surprise and warm her heart at her fullest. However she still doesn’t like you being that drunk.

Wilhemina Venable + [the happy drunk]

If you are already a happy person without having to drink, Wilhemina can’t believe you could keep leveling up in that just by being totally wasted. She is getting used to be in a formal relationship with you, loving every second she gets to spend with you, but she had still to see that part of you. You two were at a bachelorette party from one of your friends and everyone kept going full on ‘remember when Y/N used to beat us all drinking’ and they got you drunk before Mina arrived. You welcomed her without any kind of restriction and the biggest smile on your face. At first she didn’t notice you were that wasted and it only gave it away when you made her laugh with the most stupid thing that crossed your mind, almost you falling to the floor in good laughters. She is actually worry that you end up throwing up and try to get you controlled in case you decided to keep drinking, but at the same time...seeing you being that carefree and dancing and laughing and trying to keep her entertained and happy just moves something in her heart. She doesn’t really care to see you in this state as long as you are feeling ‘okay’ in the sense to not lose yourself, the extra happiness is always more than welcome in those times and situations when she doesn’t feel the best at it -like social events, per example.

Tammy Robinson + [the horny silent drunk]

For Tammy is something normal, something she has got used to. But for the rest of the group? It’s their time to freak out because they never saw you getting a) that drunk and b) like that. Lou actually had to ask Tammy why she is laughing so much every time you get near her. All of it is because you whisper some indecent proposals to her ear and she had to calm you down lightly with promises and some touches in right places. It’s something fun, if she was being honest, overall because aside of getting closer to her for that you are not really talking much and just moving along her everytime she moved. Like lost puppy, but make it horny. And she kinda likes the attention? So she let you be for a good while until it start to weigh on her and then she’s quick to push you into the nearest room and let you do whatever you last said to her. But once you got what you’ve been yearning for all night...Tammy has to help you get to the nearest place in which you can lie down and nap. It only earn soft laughs from the rest and even from her, but for sure later she will remind you about it just to see you get as red as a tomato.

[mikkomacko]

Wonderwall 2

"You're gonna be the one that saves me."

~

Dear mother,

I hope everything is going well with whatever it is you are doing at the ministry and I hope your friends are well.

I've spent time with Harry and I know father hates it, but I think it's good that him and I get closer considering our crowds are starting to merge.

He doesn't know of my magic or my history just like most. Zayn is still the only one I've shared this with and he's been an excellent friend ever since. I've yet to have an incident this year but I'm afraid one might happen soon. You see, I've been having these awful nightmares in which I'm trapped in a glass ball, buried under snow and fog. On the other side is someone familiar and I know they're in trouble but I can never get out to help.

I don't know if this a sign of something but the lack of sleep is starting to get to me. I've received multiple detentions for mouthing off and falling asleep in class, specifically Umbridge's class. Please don't worry about my schooling, Harry and Zayn have been helping me a lot. Zayn is trying to help me find a way to sleep better and I hope he does before I have another incident.

However, I'm starting to think that being around Harry and his friends is dangerous. I'd hate to lose control and hurt him or reveal something I'm not supposed to. As much as I enjoy being with him, I don't want to make his life any more complicated than it already is. Please send any advice if you have any and let me know if you and the others are ok.

-Sincerely, Lily S.Jackals

~

I watch Zayn climb down the ladder of the astronomy room, leaving me alone in the musty air with Professor Trelawny.

"Excuse me professor?" I fiddle with the strap of my bag, hesitantly approaching her. She faces me, hair a wild mane under the piece of cloth holding it down and eyes bugging out from under her thick glasses.

"Yes Ms. Jackals?"

"I was wondering if I could ask you about something?" I cringe, hating that I just asked to ask a question. She nods, encouraging me to go on before walking away from me, robes dragging on the floor. I watch her pull down a teacup from her cupboard.

"I've been having these dreams lately," I watch in confusion as she pours tea into the cup. "I'm stuck inside this glass ball and I can't get out. I know someone on the other side needs my help but I can't see or hear them."

"Sounds awful dear." Professor Trelawny brings over the cup of tea, shoving into my chest and spilling some over the edge. "Now drink up."

I gulp the hot tea down in one go, my throat tightening in protests against the burning liquid but I need answers as soon as possible. I don't have time to sit around and chat over tea with Professor Trelawny. I hand her my cup, waiting anxiously as she examines the tea in the bottom of the porcelain cup.

"I see a tree," She says thoughtfully. "of skeletons and bones." Her huge eyes flicker up to as if looking for a specific reaction. When I don't respond, she continues and I don't need to hear her words to know what the tea means.

"You've got a family of secrets that's holding you back, dear."

I nod stiffly, not even thanking her or bidding her good day and storm for the ladder, already devising a plan in my head. The only way I'm going to get answers is through my family. Speaking to my father is a lost cause, he's as hopeless as I am when it comes to opening up to others. Which leaves my mother. She's always followed everything my father says, even though they've never actually been together. I've pressed and pressed for answers as to why my family is split the way it is but it seems the only thing we all have in common are secrets.

~

"I always liked pens and pencils better than quills."

Zayn looks up at me through his dark eyelashes, nodding his agreement before looking back down at the paper in front of him. He traded in the black ink pen he was outlining with, grabbing a lead stained pencil instead.

"Would save a lot of time, not having to dip a quill in ink." He uses the pencil to fit some lead on my cheek, using his pinky to smudge it. I grin at the roundness it gives the drawing, always amazed at Zayn's artistic abilities

We're silent for a moment, the only sound around us being the scratch of Zayn shading his drawing and the muffled conversation of the students around us. It's peaceful, but it won't last. It's only a matter of time before Zayn decides to question me. It's about another minute before he softly clears his throat. "Did you find out what your dream meant?"

Careful to not move to much, I gently shrug. "Kind of. She just told me my family is hiding shit from me and I assume that's where the whole 'being in the dark' part of the dream is coming from."

Zayn cracks a toothy smile. "So nothing we didn't know."

"Nope," I laugh, running my fingers through my hair, realizing my mistake too late.

"Oh you bitch!" Zayn scoffs, dropping his sketchpad to the grass next to him. He huffs, pushing himself to his knees and crawling towards me.

"I forgot!"

"You always forget." He grumbles but he's got an amused grin on his lips. I roll my eyes, staying still as he slips his lead stanied fingers into my hair to fix the part. Taking peeks at his drawing, he manages to return my hair to the way it was before I ran my hands through it.

"Maybe if you'd stop distracting me."

"Maybe if you weren't such a dumbass."

"Runs in my family." I grin cheekily. Zayn laughs, returning to his little spot surrounded by pencils and pens, picking up his sketchpad.

"Think you got most of it from your father." He settles the pad in his lap, resuming his work.

"You could say that again."

Zayn flickers his eyes up to me again, the usual bit of sympathy that arises when my father is mentioned, swimming in them. "Are you going to try asking him about the secrets?"

I snort. "Like he'd ever answer me. I'd have to submit a formal letter to even get a chance to speak with him."

"What about your mom?"

"She's busy. I wrote her a letter last week, telling her about my dream and Harry."

"And?"

"Still no answer."

"Parents are fucking awesome."

I snicker, ignoring the heaviness in my chest to bask in how much I really love Zayn. Coming from disfunctional families, Zayn and I have always been able to make jokes out of each other's wrecked homes. It may not be a healthy coping skill but it sure helps.

Zayn's eyebrows pinch together. "Think your lion will be grumpy if he sees me drawing you?"

Confused, I respond, "No, why?"

A smirk tugs at Zayn's lips. "Because he's walking over."

I whirl around, catching sight of Harry walking towards us. He meets my eyes, grinning and walking faster.

"Are you serious?" Zayn groans but I ignore him, smiling at the way Harry's hair bounces with each step. I notice he's not being followed by his usual gang and while I love the rest of the boys, it's nice being with just Harry.

"Quit whining." I finally respond to Zayn, turning back around. "I'll see you later, ok?"

Zayn just nods, shooing me away with a careless wave of his hand. I clamber to my feet, turning around to face Harry, whose smile grows.

"M'not gonna be able to keep you still with him here." He shrugs and it it weren't for the lightness of his voice I'd be burning with guilt.

Before I can respond, Harry's falling onto the grass next to me with a soft thump. He spreads his legs out in front of him, leaning back on the palms of his hands.

"Hi," I greet, leaning into his side. He's in just a tee-shirt today and the warmth of his body on my arm is gratifying.

Harry grins, dimples sinking in deliciously, and says a simple, "Hey." I don't mind his words being simple because his eyes are looking over my face with the kind of warmth someone can't purposely create.

"Hello," Zayn interrupts, snapping Harry and I from our daze. Zayn is smirking, amusement twinkling in his eyes and I want to ask him what he finds so funny but I'm afraid I might not want to hear the answer. I'm sure it'll have something to do with how infatuated I am with Harry.

"How's it going mate?" Harry questions, briefly leaning forward to give Zayn a good hand shake. His ribs press into my arm as he moves and my ears heat up.

"S'good," Zayn nods, looking around the school yard with a peaceful smile. "enjoying the heat while it lasts. Tha' popsicle over there will be crying about the weather by next week."

I scoff but Harry's chuckle covers it up. "I will not!" I argue even though I sure as hell will be complaining about the fall chill that's supposed to blow in next week.

"Lie all you want Lily," Zayn says, obviously amused with my offense. "but you're not borrowing my sweaters when you're cold."

I roll my eyes at his words, a child-like anger blooming in my chest. I always borrow Zayn's sweaters because they're significantly warmer than my own. He'll never tell me where he gets them so I've never been able to purchase my own, which wasn't a big deal until now.

"Yeah, well...you can't use me for your sketches anymore!"

Zayn chuckles and the heat in my ears prickles stronger. Harry's eyes examining the side of my face make this childish argument even more embarrassing than the fact that Zayn is openly being dick.

"I've known ya long enough to be able to draw ya out of memory." Zayn quips and the cocky glint in his eyes has my gut twitching.

"Then I'm not helping you with potions." I snip proudly. Without me, he'll fail Snape's class. My pride, however, is short lived because Zayn is unfazed by the threat.

"Don't need ya help."

I'm ashamed to admit that the comment hurt. Potions is just a class but I'm the best in the school at it. I know I am. That's the one class I can go into and not worry about messing up because it doesn't technically require magic. And while Zayn is good at every other class, potions was the one thing I had on him, the one thing that's mine. But apparently, it's not even mine because Zayn can do just fine on his own.

"Hey," Harry says softly, the tension of Zayn's words hanging in the air being too much. His palm finds my lower back, pressing down lightly to get me to look at him.

Biting the inside of my cheek, hard glare still stuck on Zayn's smug face, I ignore Harry's request. "Fuck you," I hiss and I don't bother staying to see if he's realized that he's genuinely pissed me off. I climb to my feet, brushing off my clothes.

Harry was quick to scramble up with me, not saying a word as I stomp away from Zayn and back towards the castle. Harry follows, his hand latching onto the sleeve of my sweater.

"You alright?"

My stomach swirls uneasily and I find myself wanting to tug my arm away from Harry's touch, but he's not the source of my indignance and I shouldn't take it out on him. Control your emotions, my brain reminds me.

"Fine," I mumble, my voice now empty of any signs of how much Zayn's words affected me. "he's just an asshole sometimes."

Harry's lips quirk up into a tiny smile. "I could've told you that lovie."

His words bring a small smile to my lips and I let him intertwine our fingers. His hand is warm compared to my icicle-like fingers and I wonder if he's always this warm. I hope he is, I think, loving the idea of being able to go to Harry every time I'm in need of warmth.

Without putting to much thought into it, I peck a kiss to the dimple in his cheek. His grin grows and his cheeks turn a soft pink that would look unflattering on anyone but him.

~

Head held high and shoulders squared, I strut past Slytherin table and Zayn. I feel Zayn watch me, either amused or confused with my behavior. I ignore him, eyes catching on the boy I was looking for in the first place.

My heart thumps louder and louder the closer I get to his table. Fortunately, there's an open spot next to Harry, the rest of his gang being sat across from him. Taking deep breaths, I approach the table, forcing a smile when Liam looks up at me.

"Good morning Lily!" He cheers, eyes squinting as he beams at me.

"Hi." I mumble shyly, sliding onto the bench next to Harry. At the sound of my name he had dropped his fork and turned to look at me. I meet his gaze, getting close enough that our thighs press against each other.

"Hey." Harry says in surprise, seeming dazed to have me sitting next to him. My stomach twists with guilt but the fluttering of being close to him overpowers it.

"Mind if I sit with you?" I ask, directing my question to the group but not tearing my eyes away from Harry.

"Of course not!" Harry says, wincing at the unexpected volume of his voice. I chuckle at him, heart settling a bit now that I'm actually sat with him and too busy admiring the way he holds his fork instead of fretting over how new I am to this.

"How have you been holding up with Umbridge and all her detentions?" Liam asks me, abandoning his plate of food to rest his chin in his hands.

"Fine," I shrug, lifting my hand to show the boys the pink splotch on it. "found this potion that heals it really quickly but it still scars."

Before I can drop my hand back into my pocket, Harry is snatching it out of the air and bringing it to his lap. His fingers fill the gaps between mine, thumb gently running over the sensitive scar tissue.

Niall, Liam, and Louis all eye Harry curiosity but say nothing. He ignores their looks, keeping his frowning face down to examine my hand.

"Well that's sick," Louis finally says, pulling everyone's gaze from Harry. "you can fix Harry's hand before he's got to go back. Seems like she's really taking it out on you two."

His words make me freeze, something heavy settling in my stomach. I turn to look at Harry to find him glaring at Louis. He meets my eyes, an innocent smile gracing his lips. Any other day and I would have let him be, accepting the mischief in him but not today.

"You got detention again?" I ask, pulling my hand out of his and leaning over him to grab his other one. He doesn't fight me as I tug it towards me, noticing the white bandage wrapped around his palm.

"S'nothing." Harry insists, angling himself towards me. He tenses when I peel the end of the guaze, unwrapping his hand. His hand is split in bloody letters, skin red and bruised.

I must not tell lies

"Harry," I huff, dropping his hand to grab my bag from the floor. I dig through the pocket until my fingers land on the bottle I'm looking for.

"You knew I had detention." Harry says quietly.

"Yeah, once." I gripe, shoving my bag to the floor. Day after day for the past week and a half, Harry's been waiting for me after my detentions with a hug and kiss to make it better but all this time he never told me that he was in detention too.

I pull the stopper out of the bottle, lifting it over Harry's hand. "You don't have to fix it." Harry insists but he makes no move to pull his hand away.

"Shut up." I tell him, squeezing the healing potion over the wound. He winces, knees spasming into mine as his hand bubbles and smokes for a moment. His skin appears to be melting, stretching over the words he had to carve into himself. Once it's healed, all that remains is a pink scar.

"Thanks lovie." Harry murmurs, clenching his hand as if testing the strength of the skin that's healed his hand. I probably would have blushed hearing him call me that in front of his friends. He's only used that petname when it's just him and I, and even though it always makes me flutter, today is not one of those days.

I stiffly nod, returning the potion to my bag. I place my hands back in my pocket before Harry can get the chance to grab them. His eyes burn into the side of my face, willing me to turn and look at him but I keep my eyes up, looking over Liam's head at the tables behind him.

"You made that potion yourself?" Niall asks me.

"Yeah."

"Oh," Niall says. "Wicked."

I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat when Harry's fingers land on my forearm. "You're not mad at me, right?" He whispers.

"No." I lie, recalling the uneasiness that had plagued me last year when Harry came out of every single Triwizard challenge with injuries that could have been far worse.

Harry locks his fingers around my arm, giving it a small tug. I still don't look at him, knowing I'll bust if I look into his eyes.

"M'sorry." Harry says-pleads- as he urges me to look at him by pulling at my sleeve. When I don't respond he tugs harder.

"I honestly don't care Harry!" I finally groan, fed up with the noise of the Great Hall and the fact that Harry obviously doesn't trust me enough to tell me when he's hurt. To make it worse, the back of my neck prickles as if someone's watching me.

"Lily," Harry murmurs, scooting closer to me. I'm reaching for my bag, ready to get up and leave when shouting rings out from just outside the doors.

Being sat close to the exit, I just have to look around Harry's shoulder to see Umbridge and McGonagall standing on the staircase. Both of their faces are red with anger.

"Umbridge." I state simply, jumping to my feet. I'm heading towards the doors, knowing Harry is following and maybe even his friends, when fingers lock through mine. By the warmth of them, I know their Harry's. We join the crowd that's gathered.

"Are you questioning my authority?" Umbridge says through tight lips, glaring down from the top step at McGonagall.

"Only your mideivel detention practices!" McGonagall snips, rising to the same step as Umbridge. I see her lips move in a response to McGonagall, looking around at the crowd of students with tangible distaste. Maybe it's the restless dreams or it's the stupid argument with Zayn or Harry not telling me about his detentions. Whatever it is stops me from hearing her words.

I stare at her eyes, the icy blue chilling my veins. Like some kind of dream, I see the blue pour out of them, casting the front of her pink robes in ice. It trails down her front, spilling over the steps in frothy wisps of white that immediately freeze the stone. It continues, consuming the feet of Professor McGonagall and then the first line of students. I watch it, heart thumping loudly and fingers going numb in the now frigid air. The ice is quickly capturing students and as it inches towards mine and Harry's feet, my entire body heats up, my chest burning like it might explode any second.

"Lily!" I stumble back, breath caught in my chest and dizzy. Professor Snape is standing over me, nostrils flaring and black eyes blazing. Like a tidal wave, the noise of the now bustling corridor fills my ears and I can feel Snape squeezing my shoulder and I can feel his wand poking into my chest.

Confused, I pull away from him and accidentally bump into whoever is standing directly behind me. Their hands grab my elbows, softly like I might explode.

"What are you doing Lil?" Zayn asks, stepping in front of me to examine my eyes. He was the person behind me. My heart spikes, panic rising in my chest when I recognize the sympathy and worry in them. The last time I received that look from him was our first year at Hogwarts when I accidentally knocked over a book shelf out of anger without even touching it.

"What are you talking about?" I croak, chest growing tighter and tighter with panic. My heart throbs painfully in my left shoulder. To answer my question, he steps to the side and nods behind him.

The staircase where Umbridge and McGonagall had stood is now empty. The top four steps and the beginning of the handrail are shimmering in the light and to my horror, I realize they're covered in ice.

"You burnt Harry." Zayn says softly. If possible, my chest grows even tighter at his words and I'm positive that can see my heart pounding through my rib cage.

I turn to find Harry, a lump building in my throat at the sight of him. He's watching me with a furrow between his eyebrows and lips in a frown. He's cradling the hand that had been holding mine and I notice that it's an angry red. I look down at mine, tears building in my eyes at the sight of my black fingertips.

"Lily?" Harry calls, so softly I could barely hear it over the ringing in my ears.

"I need you to come with me Lily." Snape interrupts, stepping between Harry and I. I meet his gaze, feeling utterly helpless with my quivering knees and soppy eyes. "Right now."

I nod, already knowing he's taking me to the dungeons. My legs are stiff and numb as he guides me towards his classroom. Both Zayn and Harry call out for me again and I can't speak around the lump in my throat or bring myself to turn around. Thankfully, Snape answers for me.

"Don't you all have essays to be writing?" He snips and as we step onto the lower staircase I catch sight of Harry stepping forward to follow us, making it only two steps before Zayn is stopping him. His eyes are on mine the whole time.

~

"What did he tell you?"

"The same thing he always tells me." I reply, tonelessly. Snape's words of wisdom echo around in my head. "You're letting yourself become too attached. Too emotional."

"Did he tell you how stop it?" Zayn asks and I nod.

"Same thing he always says?"

I nod again, repeating Snape's words. "'Keep to yourself to keep yourself safe.'"

Shaking his head, Zayn let's out a low growl. "That's absolute shit. Anyone with eyes can see that Harry's good for you. Taking him away from you outta make it worse, not better."

I shrug, staring at the words on the history book in front of me but not reading them. Even if I wanted to read them, the water that's built on the edge of my vision prevents it.

"He might be right." I whisper.

"What makes you think that?" Zayn scoffs.

"I could've lit him on fire Zayn. I could've hurt everyone in that hallway because I was too distracted. I got too into my head and I lost it."

A sarcastic laugh busts from his mouth, palm slapping down on the table in front of me. "You don't actually believe that Harry is the source of this, do you?"

I stay silent, not knowing what to say. This had happened before I was around Harry and I was always told that the cause was me being careless and too social. I wasn't focused on myself and my magic and that's why I let it get out of hand. I don't blame Harry, he didn't know, but a part of me does believe that I was being careless because I've been so focused on him and as much as it hurts, I'm going to have to cut back on my time with him.

Thankfully, Zayn doesn't press me to answer that particular question. "When do you get to return to classes?"

"When Snape deems me healthy again."

"So I've got to keep suffering in classes without ya? Last week was bad enough-"

"Last week was your own damn fault Zayn." I snip, my temper flaring at the memory of the argument I had with Zayn. We don't usually fight and when we do it's easy to just fall back into our routine without discussing it. This time proved to be pretty similar besides the fact that I'm constantly on edge and will snap at Zayn at any given moment. I guess this is one of those moments.

"Ya know I was kidding," Zayn whispers. He looks around the library, searching for prying eyes and ears before muttering, "I was just a bit jealous ok? Not used to sharing ya."

"Jealous?" I scoff. It's absurd to think that strong, egotistical Zayn has ever been jealous.

"I've always had your attention for the past five years. Now all of sudden we've got a whole gang of Gryffindors with us. S'taking me a while to adjust, ok?"

Zayn's words makes my eyes sting and my heart ache in the kind of way you can't really describe because it's so overwhelming. "Well that shouldn't be a problem anymore."

"Why not?"

My heart thuds painfully. "I don't think I'll be seeing Harry for a while."

[blahblahblippyblah]

The Magic of Dust: first day

Chapter 3

His dark materials AU.

Read on AO3 too.

Remus

Remus was the first one to wake up the next morning. Ileuda was curled up on his chest and glared at him angrily when he sat up and she tumbled on top of the bedsheets. He opened his bed curtains and surveyed the dorm. t was small and the other three beds had their curtains drawn shut still. Remus could hear the sounds of snoring coming from Peter and James’s beds. Orange sunlight spilled into the room, the sun was just showing up. He stretched and heard both his shoulder pop. He was sore today, which as expected the full moon was now 6 days away. He tiptoed barefoot to the bathroom. He quickly washed up and got ready. Ileuda also washed herself up using the sink to wet her little paws and wipe them on her face.

Tiptoeing back to the dorm he was relieved to see everyone was still fast asleep, so he took the opportunity to quickly get dressed. He changed his shirt as quickly as possible not even wanting to risk someone seeing the scars that covered his chest and back. By the time he was putting on his socks James’ curtains had begun to rustle, and by the time he had his bag on and was tying his trainers James stumbled out blurry eyes without glasses heading to the bathroom.

The common room downstairs was practically empty. Only two upper year students were up sitting by the fire chatting quietly. Remus headed straight down to the Great Hall since his stomach was rumbling.

The Great Hall was also sparsely occupied. Only the gamekeepers, and a large porky professor with bushy moustache were up at the head table. Two Slytherins were sitting far apart at their table, a group of three Hufflepuff girls were sitting giggling, and then one other person at the Gryffindor table. When Remus got closer, he saw it was the red-headed girl from yesterday. She looked sad as she poked her scrambled eggs with her fork. Remus decided to go and see what was up.

He sat down across from her and began filling his plate with bacon and filling his mug with some spicy smelling tea that was out.

“Good morning. Lily was it?” He asked when she looked up.

She stared at him for a second with a straight face and slightly squinted eyes. She was obviously deciding how to respond. Remus had forgotten about the fight James sand Sirius had started in the compartment, and she probably was deciding if he was to blame too.

“I’m Remus” Remus said extending his hand to her. “Sorry I didn’t introduce myself properly yesterday. Kind of nerve wracking coming to Hogwarts.” Remus continued trying to convince Lily he wasn’t being malicious.

She reached out and shook his hand back then went back to poking her eggs solemnly.

“It’s ok. I was nervous to come too” She said. On her shoulder her mourning dove daemon let out a mournful sounding sigh.

Beside him Ileuda laid her head in his lap. Remus pet her softly. Obviously, something was up making this girl sad, he felt bad for her, but he didn’t want to be nosy and intrusive, so he decided to try and change the subject.

“You excited for any particular class?”

Lily looked up and smiled faintly.

“Ya, I’m excited for potions. My friend Severus lent me a potions book on rare ingredients before I got my letter and I got really interested.”

Remus smiled; he honestly wasn’t fond of potions. At home his dad had stopped brewing since the smells affected him so strongly. Even if his office door was closed the fumes still seemed to spill out under the door and make him feel ill.

However, his mother would take him out a in the forest behind their house and he would help her pick stuff to eat for dinner, mustards, herbs and berries. Occasionally his dad would come and point out magical plants. Sometimes they would pick they for healing potions. One time they found a wand tree on their property deep in the forest. His dad had pulled out a handful of rice and placed it at the bottom of the tree. Then they stood back quietly behind and watched as a bunch of bowtruckels came down from the canopy to eat the rice. He was young then and seeing the little twig creatures had been a magical moment.

“So did you use to pick potion ingredients with your family?” Remus asked.

“Oh umm no. My family is muggle. But I went out with my friend quite a bit. He used to brew potions in his bedroom. I don’t think my sister would have liked that very much” The last sentence she said with her nose scrunched up a bit. Her dove daemon ruffled its feathers at the mention of their sister. Then it flew up in the air and turned into a monarch butterfly and landed in Lily’s hair.

“My mom’s a muggle. She doesn’t understand potions. She thinks it’s silly to brew a potion for a sore throat when you can just drink some ginger tea.” Remus said trying to keep Lily in conversation now that it seemed to be cheering her up.

Lily chuckled a little. “It is a little silly isn’t it. So what classes are you looking forward too.”

“Oh history of magic sounds fun. I read the text book twice already. Plus, I found a book on the Goblin rebellion of 1419 that I started reading.”

With that they started talking about how they thought school here would work. She had apparently been to a public muggle school, and she was worried Hogwarts would be different. Remus himself had never been to school before. His mom and dad taught him from home. They moved a lot because of his condition, and his dad was worried about people realising that he disappeared every month around the full moon, only to come back injured. So, He was really excited to start school like a regular person.

They continued talking about wizard history till the hall started to get busy. Lily had also read Hogwarts: A History and they started to compared notes when James and Sirius came into the hall. James was tying his new Gryffindor tie as he came in trying to straighten his clothes, which he obviously put on with little effort. Sirius however had just thrown on whatever was probably lying on the top of his trunk and didn’t seem to care. His tie hung untied around his neck, his shirt was opened at the top, and his robe was thrown over his shoulder, everything very wrinkly. This only thing that was done properly was his neatly brushed hair pulled back with a striking red and gold ribbon. This was in contrast to James whose hair looked even more of a rat’s nest than yesterday. They sat down with Lily and him and Lily immediately dropped her niceties and turned to Sirius who sat down beside her.

“I don’t remember asking you two to join us”

James paused but Sirius stayed calm and ignored her.

“Good because I don’t remember asking.” He simply said filling his plate with eggs and toast.

Lily glared daggers at Sirius. Remus thought she was about to hit the guy so he decided to step in.

“Lily this is Sirius and James. You may be confused since they forgot to introduce themselves like regular human beings.” Remus said to Lily while stepping discretely on James’s toes.

James got the message and sat up straight and turned to Lily.

“I’m James.” Remus pressed harder on James toes. He winced and continued “Sorry for that um…kerfuffle yesterday”

Lily didn’t respond. She just glared angrily at him. Sirius who was sitting beside her snorted at the word ‘kerfuffle’ and then coughed a bit since he chocked on his mouth full of eggs. Some went flying from his mouth onto his plate. She shot him a disgusted look and James started laughing out loud at Sirius which caused milk to splatter out of his mouth, which caused Sirius to laugh and a disgusting feedback loop of chewed food.

“You are both disgusting” She said out loud and shuffled further away from them.

Thankfully the post decided to arrive just then, stopping further bickering. The hall filled with owls carrying letters and packages to students. Remus looked up and saw a giant eagle owl land on James’s shoulder. The owl was huge, and very regal in the way it looked. It promptly held out its leg to let James untie the large package attached to it.

“Forgot some stuff. Oh, look mom sent cookies” James said reaching in the box.

Remus was so caught up admiring James’s eagle he didn’t notice his family owl until it nipped at his hand.

“Sorry Toffee” He said taking the letter from the little burrowing owl. He ruffled her feathers and gave one cautious look at James shoulder where his owl was now swallowing a whole boiled egg before taking off again.

Remus opened his letter.

Son,

I hope all went well on your way to Hogwarts. Your mother and I are already missing you terribly, as well as worrying about you. Last night we had Cottage pie only because it was your favourite meal, and your mother felt bad about not making you some before you left. She’s worried they might not feed you well enough so she’s planning on baking a bunch of things to send. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the Hogwarts house elves are probably the best cooks in Britain. I’ll have to wait to send the sweets until I go to Diagon alley, since muggle post won’t reach you and I will need to borrow a heftier owl. I would have sent some, but poor Toffee wouldn’t have been able to make the journey.

The school has an owlery which you should be able to send letters through instead of having Toffee fly across the country. I’m sure your first day will be busy, but if you could take the time to write home today and let us know how you are doing it would make both me and your mother feel better.

Study hard and keep your head down,

Dad

Remus smiled at the letter. He missed his parents too and appreciated the letter. He made a note to visits the owlery before the end of the day to tell his parents where he was sorted.

“Do you know how to use the muggle post?” James asked. Remus turned to see him looking over his shoulder. He quickly folded the letter and put it away.

“Ya, I use to send my grandmother letters all the time until she died. A little slower than owl post though.”

“That’s so cool. So how do stamps work then?” James asked with wide eyes and apparent interest. It was now Lily’s turn to snort in laughter. James shrank a bit at the laughing. Sirius chose then to but in and save James from further embarrassment.

“Given me a cookie Potter” Sirius said getting up and leaning across the table to reach for the box James was going through and putting in his bag.

“No! You Freeloader!”

Remus moved over a little just like Lily to avoid the fighting that ensued, where Sirius grabbed the box and James tried to wrestle it back.

“I feel sorry that you have to live with them” Lily said to him.

Remus smiled and was about to say that they weren’t that bad when a stray owl flew over them and dropped a red scarlet envelope in between James and Sirius. They both stopped moving immediately looking at it frightened. Everyone around them also stopped and stared at the letter too.

Neither James or Sirius reached out to pick it up both acting like any quick. Movements might make it explode. Remus leaned over to see in emerald green ink the name on the front in large cursive letter.

Sirius Arcturus Black III

“You better run mate” A redhead beside James said. His twin brother across the table nodded.

“What is it?” Lily asked. Remus too was wondering the same thing.

Then the letter started steaming violently.

“Too late” James said backing away from the letter. Sirius too sat down leaned away. The letter exploded with a thunderous bang scorching the table. Then a voice boomed around the hall making all the other students who hadn’t notice the letter stop and turn to see the commotion.

“SIRIUS BLACK! HOW DARE YOU BRING HUMILIATION UPON THE NOBEL HOUSE FOR WHICH YOU REPRESENT. CONSORTING WITH MUDBLOODS AND TRAITORS! YOU HAVE BROUGHT BOTH ME AND YOUR FATHER TO SHAME, YOUR ANCESTORS SHALL ROLL IN THEIR GRAVES!” Sirius kept a blank face but continued to stare down at the black burnt mark on the table where the letter was emanating sound. His eyes lost all the sparkle they had just moments ago, instead becoming grey haze. The voice was shrill with a thick French accent similar to Sirius’s, but this was posher. It out like thundering and making his ears ring with pain.

"YOU WLL FIX THIS EMBARESSMENT IMMDEIDALTY OR THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES!”

And with that final note the hall fell silent. Sirius stayed still and everyone kept watching him.

“All right you lot mind your beeswax” One of the redhead twins said out loud scolding everyone watching. Slowly people went back to their breakfasts.

“Alright mate” James asked quietly.

Sirius shook his head as if coming out of a trance.

“Ya. Of course.” He said sounding as if nothing had happened. “Lovely women my mother, real charmer” Sirius joked. James made a little snort of laughter which was what Sirius must have been going for because he began reaching for the cookies again.

Remus felt a little off. He had only heard about how some pureblood families were prejudice, but he thought Sirius might not have been from one of those families. He was so nice, maybe he didn’t know he was a half blood. But then again Sirius didn’t sound like he agreed with his family the way he just joked about his mom. Remus thought he would just wait and see how the day went with Sirius now knowing he was probably a half blood with James asking about the muggle post.

McGonagall was now going around handing out schedules down the Gryffindor table. Remus looked around.

“Where Peter?”

“Damn. I know we forgot something” James said standing up with Sirius and heading out of the hall.

Peter

The first day of classes had gone slowly. The first class they had was charms. Professor Flitwick was a short man with a high pitch voice and a goldfinch for a daemon talked for a bit then set them up to practice levitation feathers. This meant that they could talk with each other for most of the class.

This seemed to both be a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that everyone was so occupied with their own little groups they didn’t notice that Peter wasn’t able to even make his feather twitch. The downside was that everyone was talking about one thing. The howler Sirius Black had gotten. The story James and Sirius had told him when they woke him up hadn’t been complete, but from the rumours he was overhearing he didn’t blame Sirius for not wanting to talk about it.

Sirius however seemed bothered about the howler, he only seemed worried about one particular thing.

“They all think I’m some sort of loony blood purists now” Sirius said glaring at two Ravenclaw girls who were whispering behind them while looking over at Sirius. When James looked back at them and narrowed his eyes, they stopped whispering

“Forget them.” James said turning back to his feather and making it soar up effortlessly. James and Sirius both got the spell on the first try. Remus had taken a few tries but had eventually got it.

Peter turned back to his feather and tired again. Nothing.

“Here” Remus said reaching out and getting his attention. “Try a more flicking wrist thing. Like this”

Remus demonstrated. He tried again using Remus’s movement. The feather in front of him twitched up but didn’t get very far.

“More flick, less swish”

Peter tried again and felt the magic move out from his arm to his wand. The feather raised a little bit up to eye level and slowly fell back down.

“Amazing work Mr. Pettigrew” Professor Flitwick said coming over to check on everyone.

The rest of the day was uneventful. In Herbology they just went over safety rules. Most of which James and Sirius did not pay attention for. They spent most of the class secretly levitating potting soil into some blonde Hufflepuffs school bag. When the boy went to reach for his notebook to write down the readings for next class, the boy was pissed but couldn’t find the culprit. It took everything for them not to burst out laughing when he went to open his quill case to find that also filled with soil.

“Beautiful touch with the quill case Black” James aid as they headed to lunch.

After lunch was a double period of History of Magic. After the initial shock of Professor Binns who to their surprise was a ghost coming out of the chalk board the lesson got boring. Binns droned on reading from his notes about some sort of Goblin legislator formed on the 1600’s and most of the class fell off to sleep within the first hour. Eventually James was full on sleeping. Sirius was playing tic tac toe lazily with him on a spare bit of parchment. The girls sitting in front of them were braiding their hair and drawing doodles on their notes. The only person who seemed to be listening was Remus, who was diligently listening and taking notes.

By the time diner time arrived Peter was exhausted. Thankfully the amazing smell of the food in the hall woke him right up. Aspecta even ended her long nap and crawled out of his pocket landing on the floor as a racoon before getting up beside him at the table.

The girls also came to join them for dinner.

There was Marlene McKinnon and her Squirrel daemon Avita, Mary McDonald and her ginger cat daemon Wholright, Dorcas Meadowes and her snail daemon Reunter, and Lily Evans, who Peter remembered from the train. Lily didn’t seem happy to sit with them but followed her friends anyway. She however sat beside Remus as far from James and Sirius as she could, and only talked to him for the duration of the meal.

It wasn’t until desert something interesting happened. The greasy guy named Severus came over to their table and tapped Lily on the shoulder. He had a straight face on but Peter could feel the contempt coming off of him being this close to James and Sirius, who he kept shooting angry glances at. Thankfully they were both too engrossed in their conversation to even notice him.

“Hey Sev. What’s up? Sit down with us”

Severus looked at the group with disgust then shook his head.

“No thank you. I was actually wondering if you wanted to come to the owlery with me”

“Sure. Sounds fun I can send a letter to Tuney” She said standing up. Her butterfly flew around her head happily. “Remus don’t you have a letter to send as well”

Remus looked up too. “Oh yes. I’ll come with you.” Remus said standing up.

Severus gave him a look that said very clearly that Severus didn’t want Remus to come, but Lily smiled at Remus and him so Severus made a forced smile that disappeared as soon as Lily and Remus turned to head out.

“Ugh. He’s so creepy. No wonder he’s in Slytherin” James said beside him looking at where Remus, Lily and Severus had exited.

“Speaking of creepy Slytherins” Sirius said pointing over James’s shoulder to a blonde witch in Slytherin robes walking towards the Gryffindor table. She was slender and blonde, with perfect posture. She seemed to look down on everyone she walked by even though she couldn’t have been past 4th year herself. Her daemon was a pale white snake with red eyes that had wrapped itself tight around her neck like a scaly choker necklace.

“Who’s that” Peter asked.

“My bossy cousin”

She stopped in front of Sirius and cleared her throat. Sirius however rolled his eyes and went back to his pudding.

“What do you want Sissy?”

Sissy, the girl looked down at Sirius with a sympathetic look.

“Aunt Walburga has asked I talk to you in private. The girl said. She had the same French accent Sirius had, but it sounded softer and more polished like Sirius’s mom.

“Whatever the old bag has to say she can say it herself. She obviously has no problem telling the world”

“Sirius please. Don’t be a child”

“Whatever you have to say you can say it here”

“Sirius you know I can’t, now come along.” She turned gracefully her carefully braided hair whipping around her back as she walked away.

Sirius sighed dramatically then stood up.

“Duty calls apparently” He said sarcastically. “If I go missing, I leave noting to no one”, and with that he stalked off after the girl.

Sirius

Sirius was apathetic about whatever it was Sissy wanted, although he had a good idea what this was about. However, if his mom had contacted her it probably wasn’t good news. They wanted someone and Sissy loved being the bearer of bad news. She was always the goody two shoes, always tattling on him. She was even worse than Regulus.

When they got into the entryway Sissy led him towards the dungeons where it was quiet and no students were walking nearby. She put her hand on his arm and made Sirius walk alongside her. Maybe it would be a nice gesture if it wasn’t for what followed.

“Aunt Walburga and Uncle Orion have asked me to pass on the families remedy to your…. Indiscretion.”

“Ya? and what’s that?” Sirius asked trying to keep the hostility out of his tone.

“That you will remain in Gryffindor only if you can agree not to consort with half bloods and mud bloods. Gryffindor is full of them, and you will not allow them to taint your reputation.”

“My reputation?”

“Yes, your reputation, because whether you like it or not you are the heir to the house of Black, and therefore what you do will reflect on the whole family”

“I don’t care about this stupid blood nonsense” Sirius said pulling away from Sissy feeling annoyed.

“It is not nonsense Sirius, It is very much the opposite. The Blacks are the most powerful of the sacred 28. What we do sets the course for the future of our families. We can’t let lesser wizards work their way into our ranks and taken it down, like a disease slowly killing the tree from the inside out.”

“What a load of ….”

“Sirius. This is not a joke, and this wasn’t a request. Uncle Orion was clear. You are not to consort with anyone who isn’t a pureblood. If other families saw the Black heir consorting with filth, they’ll think our family is weak. Andromeda and I are to make sure you listen, it’s not just your head on the chopping block Sirius.”

“Fine. Is that all” Sirius said now inpatient.

“Yes” Sissy said with a forced calm voice.

“Good” and with that Sirius stormed off.

James

“Mate, where were you?” James asked when he came into the dorm. Sirius was laying on his bed staring at the ceiling. Fid was currently back to snake form, he wound around the bed post slithering up.

“I came right back up. Didn’t feel like finishing desert”

“Huh. Want to talk about it?” James said sitting down beside him on the bed. Bahadurr morphed into a kestrel and flew up onto the top of the bed and looked down at Fid head moving side to side regarding him.

“Just family stuff”

“Something tells me family stuff isn’t normal family stuff.”

Sirius just grunted in agreement. James laid back on the bed with him.

It was quiet for a bit. They both just listened to the sounds of the win blowing around the tower and the sound of people chattering down in the common room and in the stairwell.

“Sissy told me I wasn’t allowed to hang around muggle born and half blood. Said it would make the Blacks look weak or something.” Sirius said it low as if someone might overhear them even though they were alone in the room.

James just grunted out loud. He wasn’t surprised. He knew how most pureblood families thought. That was exactly the reason why his mother and father kept clear of them.

“It’s so stupid” Was all Sirius said after a long pause. James could tell Sirius was deep in thought. James waited a bit before speaking up.

“My dad says that wizards would be extinct if we didn’t marry muggles.”

James jumped up as Sirius started cackling like a mad man. James didn’t know what to do so he waited for Sirius to stop laughing and sat up beside him on the bed.

“I think your dad is right. Maybe my families too inbred to think properly. Either that or their heads are so far up their arses they can’t see past their gloomy manors and stuffy social groups”

“You know what I think.” James said and Sirius turned to him attentive to hear what James had to say. “I think bugger the lot of them. You’re a Gryffindor now.”

[shipaholic]

Good Omens/SU crossover - The Prologue!

Day 19, 2020: already behind on my writing schedule, lol.

It’s angels and demons with gem powers y’all! I’ve decided to post scenes from the fic on tumblr as I go, and then do a big edit at the end before putting it on AO3.

Prologue: three days after Adam and Eve leave the garden, Crowley reforms for the first time.

Link to next part at the end.

---

Prologue

4004 BC

There was an angel in the garden of Eden.

The others had left already after the business with the apple, muttering about cock-ups (but more politely, being angels). Strictly speaking, there was no reason for any angel to still be skulking around the garden. A cloud of embarrassment hung over the place. In a few hours management was due to turn up and sweep it, before returning to head office and drafting an official statement. The garden couldn’t remain on Earth, obviously. There had been talk of archiving it.

A twisted black sigil, the size of a rook’s feather, lay on a flat rock. It looked as though it should have only had two dimensions, but had been press-ganged by physics into manifesting an extra one. It was wrapped in a little nest of white cloth and placed in a sunbeam. The angel hovered nearby, trying not to break into out-and-out looming.

The black object on the rock finally did something. It glowed pure white and rose out of its nest to float in the air two feet above eye level. It made a noise that would be identifiable, many, many years from now, as a laser beam charging up [1].

The light became blinding, and a shape grew out of it - more shapeless than shape, its borders wobbling like a giant soap bubble. Then it compressed and became human-shaped. Limbs sprouted in every direction. The blob at the top decided to be a head. It was like watching dough being rolled out and reformed into an unsettlingly realistic gingerbread man.

Long curls unspooled from the head. Swathes of cloth burst into existence and draped around the figure, similar to that worn by the angel. It then changed its mind, and the loose toga pinned over one shoulder morphed into a cowl and hood, wrapping around the head and leaving only a few loose strands of hair.

Features popped out of the smooth face. Colour suffused it down to the fingertips. There was a final burst of wind and light, like a celestial flourish, and a pair of gleaming white wings unfolded from its back. Immediately, they turned black, like a forest scorched to ash. They fluttered once, and the figure gently touched down on the grass of Eden.

It opened its eyes. They were still golden.

Then it squawked and fell over.

“Ack,” it said.

It kicked a few times at its robe, which was not especially tangled around its feet, but that seemed less embarrassing than acting as though it had fallen over because it still hadn’t got the hang of having legs.

Then it caught sight of the angel hiding behind a rock.

“Gnn!” it said, and grabbed for something to throw at him. [2]

“Um!” The angel held up his hands. He tried to stand up without looking intimidating, and ended up in a kind of hunch. “I come in peace. Erm.”

The figure pulled a face, as if remembering the distant present. “Peace? You killed me!”

The angel grimaced. “Well. I suppose I did, technically. Sorry about that.”

“You whacked me over the head!”

“I know how that must look -”

“I thought we were having a nice moment up there, with the sheltering from the rain and so on, and two seconds later you karate-chop me with your blessed wing!”

The angel’s face was two notches guiltier than his gave-away-my-flaming-sword face. “It really was an ac -” He paused. “Well. Not quite an accident, to be quite honest. Not in the sense of not meaning to do it. But I really didn’t mean to k- discorporate you. I feel terrible about the whole thing.”

“Oh, you feel terrible! I’ve got a ding in my skull. Brand new skull and everything.” The demon tapped its own head, but found it undamaged. It frowned. “Huh. That’s useful.”

“You seem fine now,” said the angel. He already sounded far less sympathetic.

“Yeah, ssssuperb.”

“You’ve even redecorated yourself a bit. I like the, erm.” The angel gestured vaguely. “Belt.”

“Yeah. Well. Why not.” The demon preened a little. It was quite a nifty trick. The angel was a fan of his new, cinched-in waist look, but thought it a bit of a shame the demon had covered his long red hair. His gem - the winding black sigil just under his ear - was also half-hidden under his hood. The angel had a few further thoughts, but it seemed impolite to comment.

“What are you hanging around for, anyway?” said the demon. He was still sprawled on the ground with a clump of grass in his hand. “Planning to stand over me and just… finish me off whenever I reform?” He blanched. He’d just said it off the top of his head, but it was actually a disturbing thought. “Because that sounds, uh. Boring.”

“Of course not!” said the angel. It did sound boring. Also, horrible. He’d got through the entire War in Heaven without engaging in what might technically be called combat. Given the option, he’d prefer to keep his kill-count at zero. Who knew their human forms would… explode into smoke clouds from one tiddly knock on the head? Someone upstairs might have told him. “I wanted to see you were all right, that was all. You gave me quite a shock, you know.” He gave an embarrassed cough. “Look, I really wasn’t trying to trick you - back on the wall.”

“Oh, ‘course not. You were just doing me a favour, keeping me dry, nice and neighbourly, only by sheer misfortune an overwhelming blood-lust came over you, and there was nothing for it but to smite me off a sixty-foot wall. That’s a comfort. I feel much safer now.”

   The angel, unlike most of the others, understood sarcasm. [3] He kept what had really happened up on the wall to himself. It had been a loud clap of thunder - the first ever produced on Earth - and it had been startling and unpleasant. Usually a sound like that heralded the appearance of Upper Management, who would have had Questions about him chatting to a demon, of the kind that ended in Meetings with Clipboards. Getting the demon out of sight chop-chop had been the word of the day, and - well. Turned out these new, corporeal bodies were less resilient than one might hope. Bit of a rush-job, the angel regrettably suspected.

“How long was I out, anyway?” The demon peered around the sun-drenched garden. “I see this place has had time to dry out.”

“It’s been three days. I’m not really supposed to be here anymore. I’m going to be terribly late to the staff meeting.” The angel looked at him sidelong. Politeness lost a skirmish with curiosity. “What… exactly was it like?”

“What, getting my head stoved in? Or just the general feeling of betrayal?”

The angel was a being of heavenly love and he did not roll his eyes. “What were you doing in there? While you were, er, recharging?”

The demon’s yellow eyes went blank. “Hnn.” He scratched his cheek. “Just. Hanging about, you know. Think I was in contact with one of my people. Sort of felt like someone was talking to me. And like I was filling in forms. And having a nap.”

The angel frowned. “A nap? Never heard of it.”

“Oh, it’s going to be big.” The demon smiled. He had high hopes for sloth. At the very least, he suspected he was going to like it.

The angel gave a tentative smile. “So it wasn’t too unpleasant?”

The demon huffed. “Fine, no, it wasn’t torture. It was just weird. No harm done, and I got a new look out of it, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Not that you were being all that hard on yourself. Scratch that, be harder on yourself, softer on me.” He clambered to his feet. He definitely hadn’t got the legs down yet. Rebooting his body had set him back, he was sure of it. “I’ve got turned around. Where’s the exit?”

The angel pointed. There hadn’t used to be an exit [4], but now that Adam and Eve had departed, there was. “I’d move quickly if I were you. Head office is sending some of my lot down to check the place over. Could be any minute now.”

“Thanks for the warning,” the demon said gloomily. He spread his wings for balance and started to wobble away on newborn legs.

“Sorry again!” the angel called out.

“Not like anyone died. See you, angel.”

The angel waved, then felt foolish since the demon was facing away. “Aziraphale. Don’t think I said.”

“Goodbye, Aziraphale.”

“Goodbye, Crawly.”

The angel watched him stumble towards the exit of the garden, until he started to feel peculiar and unsafe and guilty about something he couldn’t put his finger on. Time to leave and avoid running into management.

Aziraphale the angel turned and strode eastwards, and Crawly the demon continued west, and they wouldn’t meet again for six hundred years.

---

[1] But only in certain B-movies.

[2] There were no deadly weapons in Eden, even if you improvise. The figure grabbed a handful of grass. He inconvenienced himself more pulling it out of the ground than he would have done to the angel by throwing it.

[3] After a fashion. At least, when it came draped in a neon flag with ‘I am being facetious and mean to you’ scrawled across it.

[4] An exit for humans, that was. The four Gates at the North, South, East and West were guarded by angels and they led to less Earthly destinations.

---

(Chapter 1, Part 1)

[mswisegal]

Behind Schedule

A/N: this isn’t what i expected when i started writing Talbott/MC/Charlie but i thought ‘meh boys fighting over one girl is so old school and a trope overused but still good when cooked right.’ but still. so i thought i might sprinkle in a few fluff and slow-burn with a dash of oblivious!mc cause why not. bon appétit.

How could she not possibly noticed the time? She should be in the library four hours ago, oh if only Tonks would stop her pranks (despite her knowing this was impossible, she wished anyway.). It didn’t help that Tulip was cheering her on as she dropped glue all over Charlie and Jae and then proceeded to dump feathers at them.

This started a chase with two girls laughing as they run while two boys leaving trails of feather ran after them, wands out, and casting a few jinxes their way. It was only in good fun until (Y/N) got hit with one of Charlie’s malicious spells directed at Tonks and Tulip’s way.

She was with Rowan who was obviously complaining about Ben’s odd behavior when she was cut midsentence because of the bucket full of cold water appearing on top of her head and drenching her in the process.

In the middle of January.

Rowan shouted in surprise and the four students, alarmed, stopped. Guilt drowned Charlie and started to fuss over her, apologizing as he took off his sticky feather-filled robe and draped over her shivering form.

“Oh merlin, we have to get her some new clothes and-”

Too late, McGonagall was already approaching them with this look on her face that if (Y/N) wasn’t cold to the point she was numb she would have felt shivers down her spine.

Charlie, Jae, Tonks, and Tulip were sent to detention while Professor McGonagall and Rowan escorted her to the Hospital Wing after the Gryffindor professor had cast a warming spell.

She hadn’t noticed the time until she can leave. (Y/N) who was good as new was finally settling down from the accident before she got hit with the memory of her promising Talbott to meet him in the library.

(Y/N) reached the library with ease since there were only a few students out and about. She thanked Madam Pomfrey silently for letting her out on a free period. 

Despite having doubts that Talbott was still inside, she entered the library making sure not to be noticed by one of the strictest librarian known to wizardkind. Before she gets scolded for breathing (Y/N) noticed Talbott sitting alone, holding a book in his hand, looking slightly distracted and irritated.

She took a deep breath, rehearsed her apologies, and readied her explanation before nearing the teen with hands behind her back looking sheepish.

“Heyyy Talbott...” (Y/N) said lamely, she cursed herself for not thinking of, at least, a proper greeting. Maybe ‘Salutations, Monseuir Talbott.’ would have been more appropriate.

Talbott turned his head with creased brows and (Y/N) bit her lip in worry.

Maybe not...

Talbott closed the book and she started stuttering out her explanation.

“L-Listen, I’m so sorry. I didn’t- I wasn’t paying attention, then I was jinxed a-and I got drenched with cold water, Rowan was there and so is Tonks, Jae, Tulip, and Charlie, then-”

The boy stood up and held up his hand to silence her and she bit her lip again, nervous. “I know.” Talbott sighed out, clearly tired and a little resigned. “I asked Rowan when we were both in Transfiguration.”

“Oh, I thought you skipped class and waited for me... I felt kinda bad.”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself (L/N), rest assured I’ll put my education first before you.” He deadpanned. (Y/N) blushed in embarrassment, fiddling with her fingers behind her back.

Talbott’s expression softened before sighing. “I apologize, I didn’t mean to be so- there has been a lot in my mind lately. It’s becoming quite tiring. I-”

(Y/N) was caught by surprise that her wide eyes met maroon ones and Talbott flinched with the sudden eye contact that he looked away quickly, lips pressed together in a thin line.

Confused, she waited in awkward silence until Talbott straightened his back and regained composure before meeting her eyes again. “I’m glad you’re doing better after the incident.”

(Y/N) lit up at the mention of her fast recovery, “Yes, well, you can thank Madam Pomfrey for that one. She is, no doubt, an extraordinary witch.”

“What else could she possibly be? Professor Dumbledore wouldn’t have hired her in the first pla-” Catching himself this time, he closed his mouth before finishing the sentence.

(Y/N) now looked at Talbott with a mixture of worry and confusion written on her face. “Talbott, is there something wrong?”

“I’m sorry, I- I don’t feel very well. Please excuse me.”

Before she could say anything else, Talbott went pass her, book still in hand as he went out of the library. Still a little bit befuddled she stood rooted to her spot wondering what was that about.

Entering the Dining Hall with Rowan, Diego, Andre, and Badeea, were all chatting animatedly before reaching their own respective seats. Dinner was quite a party, each member of her own little gang bombarded her with questions laced with concern that made her heart full as she stuffed herself with chicken.

“(Y/N), I truly am sorry.” Charlie with sad eyes and voice laced with guilt told her for the umpteenth time. “I really wasn’t being careful and you got hurt, and-” With a smile, she held up a finger.

“Oh stop worrying Charlie, I’m not made of glass. It was just a bucket of cold water, I faced much more dangerous creatures, dark wizards, and werewolves for merlin’s sake! It’s alright.”

Charlie who still wasn’t convinced, frowned and (Y/N) tried her best not to roll her eyes good-naturedly. “Besides, I think Professor McGonagall giving you detention is far worse than being soaked.”

“Still...” And it was soft, sincere, and sorry. She didn’t know why he was pressing such a small mistake. It was like he did something so horrible that he couldn’t get back from.

Placing a hand behind Charlie’s back, she gave him her best reassuring smile and for a moment time stood still. The warm glow of the candles above gave an ambiance in the room that seems to just fit their current situation.

(Y/N) didn’t know how Charlie’s eyes became so.... cyan.

Sharp laughter from the Dining Hall snapped them back to reality and (Y/N) dropped her hand and Charlie looked away, a little flustered while she contemplates.

After the Library and Dining Hall incident a few weeks later, she had lain in bed thinking of a few things. Firstly, she never knew what Talbott wanted from her and second, what was that all about with Charlie. It was all so... confusing. Not one made any sense.

Why Talbott was acting so differently and why Charlie suddenly felt like it was okay to avoid her every chance he gets. (Y/N) thought she might have done something to set them off but looking back, she couldn’t think of anything. 

Other than pestering Talbott on becoming her friend, and Charlie isn’t a person easily offended. (Both of them really. However, her bird friend is a tad bit sensitive when it comes to his beliefs and opinions.)

Talbott, she thought, is quite frank. It almost got him in trouble once with Professor Snape and one of the Hufflepuff students. She never asked for details but it was quite a big argument that almost resulted in first flying if Professor Sprout didn’t intervene. (Y/N) didn’t know him yet at the time, still a little preoccupied in finding Jacob.

So, she didn’t know why Talbott is suddenly so secretive. She was used to him being blunt. Never once did he left her wondering about his intentions so it was an alarming change.

Charlie was different, however, he can be quite confrontational but not to a point where he would start a fight. Not as hot-headed and not the kind person to explode when backed to a corner. Gryffindor, a house filled with boiling water, has a few members that simmer.

And Charlie was one of the few that simmer, so when he started avoiding her, she was taken aback and hurt. Despite this, she approached him and asked if there was a problem but the only response he gave was an excuse and a red face

Arrgh! How frustrating! She huffed and shifted to her side, closing her eyes,  despite knowing that sleep was too far away for her to grasp.

(Y/N) was alone this time as she walked around the Forest. The sun high up telling her that it was one in the afternoon. This place doesn’t look so bad in the day, it was even close to being peaceful before a twig snapped behind her.

Alarmed and so used to being attacked, turned around with her wand out and threw a hex where the sound came from.

Talbott, surprised, dodged with grace. The hex hitting the ground with a bang, and (Y/N) suddenly realized what she had done.

“Talbott! I’m so sorry, I thought you were someone else!”

“Thankfully I’m not.” He said with that flat voice she was used to hearing. “I saw you walking down here, and since I’m a Prefect it’s my job to tell you this is a bad idea.”

“I-”

“Especially when it’s related to cursed vaults.” He added with a bite and she cringed suddenly remembering rumors regarding the Forbidden Forest.

“Sorry, I just want some fresh air.” Talbott lifted a brow and she sighed. “Hogsmeade is too much of a crowded place to think.”

“It’s dangerous but I understand. People can sometimes be overwhelming.” He looked straight ahead and walked and (Y/N) took this as a chance to keep going.

They walked in silence, the wind was cold but they were warmed under the light of the sun and there’s no perfect weather for a walk than today.

When Talbott suddenly stopped and started lifting a hand in front of him to stroke the air, (Y/N) was left confused. What is he doing?

Talbott aware of her stare gave one answer. “Thestrals.”

She said nothing more. (Y/N) only looked at the empty space, looking solemn.

Talbott sighed again, tired of thinking that sighing was becoming a habit these days. He stopped petting the thestral, who huffed, to face (Y/N) with an expression she couldn’t read.

“Do you want to try?”

(Y/N)’s eyes thought about it before nodding, giving Talbott a small smile before walking towards him, hesitant that she might accidentally offend or bump the creature she couldn’t see.

To her surprise, Talbott held out his hand, a silent offering to guide her and she took it. He gently held her hand until they stopped in the middle of the space and she heard the hooves, a couple of neighs, and the flapping of wings.

(Y/N) was nervous but she trusts Talbott. He was a good person despite what the others see him as. Even him, she thought sadly. She appreciates his honesty, a cool glass water in a field of sugar-coated lies.

Talbott moved his hand to her wrist and lifted it up. Suddenly she felt something solid in the air and figured that it was the thestral’s head.

“This one is old, he’s been pushing carriages for a long time.” He said as he removed his hand from her wrist. “He’s tired.”

(Y/N) felt the breath of the horse on her face as she repeated the same stroking motion. “Thank you.” She muttered towards the horse and knowingly towards her bird friend.

“I stand by to what I said about the Forbidden Forest. I have a bad feeling about this place and you shouldn’t just come in and come out even if it’s in the middle of the day.”

(Y/N) was silent, a little sad and it showed but took it as a serious matter really needed to be addressed. “But...” He trailed off and she turned her head to look at him.

He wasn’t staring at her but on the ground with hands in his pockets, looking somewhat shy.

“But I also said that I understand the need of being away from people. So if you want-”

(Y/N) waited. She didn’t know what she was waiting for but she did anyway.

“Then ask someone to accompany you. Maybe Hagrid, he knows his way best around here. Don’t be stupid and don’t go alone. Merlin forbid you heed my warning.”

Feeling cheeky so suddenly, she grinned. “You know me too well Talbott, someone might think of us as friends.”

“We aren’t friends!”

Charlie sat on the fountain in the Courtyard, his leather bookcase with him as sketched one of his latest fascinations in a worn out sketchbook. A little too distracted to see (Y/N) approaching, hands holding a box behind her back.

“Hey, Charlie...”

Like a doe startled in the woods, Charlie jumped. It took seconds for him to close his sketchbook and shove it in his bookcase. (Y/N) felt like she walked in on something private and she sheepishly looked down.

“Hey... (Y/N). Do you need anything?” That was the first non-excuse he said to her in weeks and she could have instantly burst into tears if she didn’t hold it back.

“Actually no, I’m here to give you something.”

Charlie confused and a little curious waited and (Y/N) put the box into view. “What for?”

“It’s to make it up to you. For whatever I did.” She rubbed the back of her neck feeling foolish, she felt like she’s buying Charlie’s forgiveness and she wished that he doesn’t see it that way.

Unbeknownst to (Y/N), Charlie thought very far from it. Guilt took over the boy again and he lowered his head in shame as he looked down at the box in his hand. It was a small maroon box wrapped with a golden ribbon that was slightly crooked and uneven.

It was so childish of him to avoid (Y/N) all of a sudden. Feeling undeserving of the gift and (Y/N)’s friendship.

“I- You did nothing wrong (Y/N), I swear. It’s just me...”

Oh for a second there she thought that he might not have liked the gift she gave him. But with Charlie’s admission got her wondering what it was that pushed Charlie away, if it wasn’t her then what?

Still, she wanted to give her support in whatever it was and guilt ate Charlie up more than usual.

“It’s okay Charlie-”

“No! It’s not! You didn’t deserve that, I was just being a twat. I just have a lot on my mind...”

(Y/N) thought that she heard that before but can’t remember when.

“Yeah, you kinda were.” And Charlie felt like tearing himself into pieces then and there and be swept by the wind when he felt (Y/N) mess up his red hair. “But you’re my twat. It takes a lot more than ignoring me to keep me away.”

“I can see that.” He chuckled.

“Then stop sulking and open the box already.”

Heart a little lighter and freckled filled cheeks flushed, Charlie pulled the ribbon loose and opened the lid of the box to find a small silver dragon pin attached to a black cushion. It had two small rubies where its eyes are and he couldn’t help but gasp.

“Melin (Y/N), where did you get this? This amazing!” A smile bloomed on his handsome face and (Y/N) couldn’t help but grin with pride.

“I’m glad you like it.”

Charlie, despite the gift and the air cleared, he still couldn’t get rid of the remaining self-accusation. Instead of wallowing in it, he pushed it aside and decided to make it up to (Y/N).

“Hey, (Y/N)?”

“Yeah Charlie?”

“Let’s grab a few sweets at Honeydukes. My treat.”

And (Y/N) couldn’t stop smiling.

Everything went well than expected. Charlie was talking to her again and Talbott went back to his blunt self and everyone settled down in their own normal routine.

Normal routine meaning: Finding out who R is, figuring where Jacob went or if he’s working for R, helping Professor Rakepick, and breaking cursed vaults.

So it was really a packed year filled with surprises. The Yule Ball was coming up and it became to most talked about topic at Hogwarts and even among her friends. She was as excited to see what it was and what the event will bring her.

In celebration for the coming ball, Jae had invited everyone at Hogsmeade. A group activity that escalated into tradition. They laughed, and joked, and shared stories that got Tonks laughing so hard she got butterbeer coming out of her nose which resulted in more laughter.

As she talked to Penny and Andre about her dress there was two boys sitting across from her, a tad bit stiff and uncomfortable. 

“So,” Charlie said, hesitant before continuing, “Are you... gonna attend the ball?” 

Talbott’s expression changed with distaste at the thought. “Sadly, I have to. It’s inconvenient when you have other important things to do.”

Charlie grabbed his glass and drank for a moment to think. “Who do you plan on going with?” He asked, feeling a little short since the Yule Ball’s date was announced.

Talbott observed Charlie, not missing the boy’s irritation buried deep behind his soft features. “I haven’t thought about it.” Clipped and short, revealing less than what Charlie would have liked. He wants to keep it that way. “You?”

“I have one in mind but I haven’t asked her yet.” Charlie was now aware of how heavy his glass is and placed it back down on the wooden table.

“I wish you the best of luck.”

“You too.”

[minah-delacroix]

7 DAYS, 7 DATES Inside the world of Suho Kwon

A week in the life of quidditch star, Suho Kwon Delacroix

By Sarah Hughes- Freund

Beyond the paparazzi flashbulbs, masterful personal branding, and fashion and sporting prowess, lies the day-to-day business of family life. Quidditch champion, Suho Kwon gives us a sneak peek of his daily life as part of the greatest wizarding family of France.

DAY 1 : ROMAN HOLIDAY

Suho Kwon and his sister Minah pose in a high fashion impromptu shoot and sit down for a Q&A during a trip to Rome, where they traveled to attend the launch event of Agnes Seybrook’s jewelry collection, Lumière. The French stars open up about a wide range of topics from their Parisian residence to their pet peeves and biggest inspiration.

At this year’s BAT Gala in May, our friend, CHARMED alumnus André Leon Talley welcomed Minah Delacroix and Suho Kwon to the red carpet by enthusiastically proclaiming them the future of fashion. We happen to agree with him—and not just because the two of them project a classic, yet avant-garde aura that happens to align with the fashion industry’s present tastes— we believe that Elise Delacroix and Junho Kwon’s children are the future, and we wouldn’t necessarily even narrow the claim to fashion alone.

The last name Delacroix instantly brings to mind fashion house Maison Delacroix, which has become one of the biggest names in the industry throughout the last decades. In recent days, it is the younger generation of the family who dominates the fashion scene with Minah Delacroix toggling between the debut of her first clothing collection in Paris (a collaborative project with fashion powerhouse Lana Paradis), photoshoots for muggle luxury brand Dior—the 22-year-old recently became the brand’s youngest global ambassador— and the rumors of an upcoming business partnership with Enzo Saint Pierre.

The latest to add fashion to his CV, though, is no other than quidditch player and Minah’s older brother, Suho Kwon, who only a few years ago founded the successful sports brand, Quidditch Republic.

Of late, it’s been his personal life —and not the fact he signed up a millionaire contract with U.S. apparel emporium, Power Play—, under the spotlight, after a supposed split with long-time rumored girlfriend, Claire Dancourt, Suho was spotting passionately kissing none other than quidditch prodigy, Emma Muller.

Suho, who started his career in the quidditch pitch at age 16, already has five German League Cups and three European Championships under his belt, as well as captaining the South Korean National Team on the latest World Cup, on which they reached the final after having cleared Norway, vice-world champions, in the quarterfinals, in record time. Yet when your mum is the heiress of the Delacroix Group, your sister is Minah Delacroix and your dad is one of the most important figures of the British Ministry of Magic, making out with one of the most famous women in the world isn't quite as crazy as it would be for pretty much anyone else.

Sitting in a room of his sprawling holiday home in Rome, before the launch of Lumière —the latest enterprise of his second cousin, Agnes Seybrook—, Suho is down-to-earth, offering up champagne and Cauldron Cakes ("no seriously, take some!") as we chat about his love for fashion and how much he’s learned growing up with a house full of female figures. "I’m lucky to have been raised by great women and have them supporting me through thick and thin“ Suho says. "I love them, I think there should be more women like them in positions of power.”

On his sister, Minah, Suho says “She is an inspiration to me. When it comes to fashion, she’s always giving me little tips and making sure I understand that fashion is a way bigger world than what everyone sees. There are so many different components that allow a project to move forward and so many different people involved in the process.“

Reminding me that an industry friend said Minah was one of the nicest models he'd ever worked with, I tell Suho and he lights up. "That’s all I could hope for," he says smiling proudly. “That goes back to how we were raised. As our dad always taught us that you should treat everyone the same, whether it’s the president, a coworker or someone working under your command. I’m glad people regard my sister that way”.

Just on cue, Suho’s younger sister and socialite, Minah Delacroix walks through the door in route to her room. She wears a pink satin robe, slippers and her shower-wet hair pulled into a bun. She initially seems flustered, but when I ask, she kindly agrees to an interview. “This is for Suho’s cover story right?” She asks politely enough for me to understand that she won’t be answering questions that take the spotlight away from her brother. Twice reassured, Minah sits on a velvet sofa next to her brother in a leisurely, offhand way, and pours her cat, Minho, in the empty spot beside her.

Nevertheless, Suho appears skeptical “We’ll have to see about that” he predicts “She’s always in center-stage without even trying”. 

Without further ado, we move onto an interview where I ask a few questions to the most famous French siblings of the Wizarding world.

Q&A

CHARMED Magazine: I’d love to ask a few questions about your personal life: Do you two live together or separately when you’re in Paris? Suho: I have my own place few blocks down the family residence; it’s sort of a necessary thing, I think, as we get older especially. It kind of happened coincidentally —the building went on sale while I was in Paris, so we went to visit it with my family and we loved it. I still spend a lot of time in the family home, but it’s important that I have my own separate space. Minah still stays with our grandparents and aunts when she’s in Paris, but she has her own apartment too. Minah: I do, but it’s just more convenient to stay with the family. It makes Paris feel more like home.

CM: Since you grew up together, you obviously must have a major shared interest. Which one is it? M: Quidditch undoubtedly. It is probably obvious for Suho given his career choice, but I love quidditch as well. I got my first broom as a toddler and started playing during my first year in Beauxbatons. S: As children, we played a lot together. I used to train Minah to become a chaser, like me, but in the end, she worked better as a beater. M: Suho is one of those typical brothers who believe his little sister wants to become exactly like him, so when he decided he wanted to be a chaser, he also decided I’d be one too. He used to drill me on free throws, but he hated it when the quaffle touched the hoop before gliding trough because apparently, players who scored that way lacked elegance. If I ever made a throw that bounced on the hoop before scoring, he'd yell ‘doesn’t count!’. It was frankly ridiculous.

CM: Other than quidditch, is there any other way you bond with each other? S: We’ve grown up together, so it’s kind of inevitable that because we’ve shared the same experiences, we’ve also developed similar interests. M: On our downtime, we love going to movies and just being able to enter someone else's creative world. We love it, but we don’t get to watch very much of it. Although we watch all the stuff our friends make S: Another thing we connect over is food. Growing up, we always had dinner together as a family. Obviously, as we’ve gotten more intense with our careers there’s not always the opportunity to do that, but when Minah and I are in the same city, we’ll eat all meals together. That being said, we’re not the same. I’m way more into following sports than Minah is. She has separate interests as well. M: I think I have more of an interest in fashion, but that’s not to say that he doesn’t have an interest in fashion. S: I’m super into fashion! Maybe not in a traditional or expected way, but I love it as well.

CM: Speaking of fashion, which one is more fashion-forward? S: I want to say Minah, but actually, we both are very fashion savvy. I guess it’s more evident for her since she’s one of the faces of the family business and pretty much everybody's fashion muse, but I’m into fashion as well. I have my own sportswear brand and we recently signed a partnership with Power Play. We're doing well. M: I think I would pick Suho. He is probably even more picky about what he wears. When we were younger, Suho and my cousins Gabe and Agnes (Seybrook)  actually made up a fashion clique they dubbed the “7 Brand Club”. It was hilarious, they only wore clothes from seven luxury brands and they would brag about it. Thankfully they forgot about it now that they’re all grown up, but I always tease them about it.

CM: Well, it sounds like an interesting group! We all know that siblings sometimes drive each other crazy, and you two spend a lot of time together, so I would love to know how you get on each other’s nerves. S: I think I get on her nerves more than she gets on mine, naturally. I’m her older brother, so I give her a hard time sometimes. M: He has a great sense of humor, which I’m sure so many people appreciate, but sometimes I’m like, ‘Okay, okay, I get it, you’re funny.’ He’s also very overprotective at times and granted, it is nice to have him worrying about me, but when he fusses over the minimal details, it can be unnerving.

CM: Is that your biggest pet peeve about him? What do you love most about him? And viceversa M: In general, Suho is just easy to get along with. I love how genuine he is and how unapologetic he is about it, despite it all. My biggest pet peeve is related to his overprotectiveness… he basically calls non stop when I don’t pick the phone. It’s so annoying, but we’re both bad at staying mad at each other, so whatever happens, we confront each other, forgive and move on. S: To me, I guess, Minah is the person that can make me happy no matter what I’m going through. She really makes everything seem easy. Pet peeves... I don’t know. She is seriously the best, but she never picks the phone and is terrible at texting back. [Laughs]

CM: Onto the most serious topics, the positive path and the trajectory that you guys are on, where does that come from? Who are your biggest inspirations? M: My family in general. Growing up, all I saw was my aunts trying to be the best version of themselves and people coming to my grandparents for wisdom or guidance. It has been very inspiring to grow up in such an environment where everybody is just so accomplished. S: I 100% agree with Min on that one. Our parents and family are definitely my biggest role models. And that’s where we both pull all of our inspiration from.

CM: How would you describe your relationship with each other? M: Suho and I are very similar in a lot of ways. Being close in age has put us right next to each other for a lot of things in life, so he’s always been my greatest supporter and something akin a parent to me. At this point, we’re both very focused on our own lives, projects and whatnot, but my relationship with him is sacred to me, so I try to spend as much time as possible with him. S: We’re each other's support system. If I’m down, Minah is that one person that makes me laugh and turns things around the quickest. I know how cliched it sounds, but we truly are best friends. I mean it.

CM: It’s beautiful that you guys are in such lockstep. Minah, talking about your brother you said that you felt like the two were almost like twins, like you could finish each other’s thoughts. Were you guys always that close? M: We’ve always been incredibly close, but at the same time our family never pushed us to do it all together. I guess we’ve got time apart in order to realize who we really are individually and in the process we’ve developed this close bond and trust for each other. Suho really is an amazing brother, he knows me very well and understands my motivations better than anyone else.

CM: Do you have a favorite memory of each other? M: I just thought of the time we had to be homeschooled. Neither of us was good at focusing on it, quite honestly it was a drag. We’d pretend that we were doing our school work, but the moment our aunts turned their backs, we’d be running around the manor and terrorizing the house staff. I don’t know if that’s my favorite—but it’s definitely a special one. I also loved being in the same quidditch team as him during high school. As the chaser and beater, we carried a big part of the team’s dynamics. We know each other so well that any time one of us made a mistake during practice, we would look at each other and laugh really hard. Of course, a mistake was unforgivable during an actual match for Suho, but it was fun to play together. We complemented each other very well, I’m actually getting emotional talking about it. S: Minah was just ruthless, it was amazing to see her play and I think I agree with most of the things she just said, but personally, I think traveling to Korea together, for the first time was a very unique experience. We both got to experience so many things, meeting our paternal family, visiting all these crazy places and just having each other to rely on. It was just awesome. I’ll forever remember that trip.

CM: Has there ever been, like, some sort of feeling of competition between the two of you? S: We never really felt competitive because Minah has always been better than me at everything. There’s been no competition. M: [laughs] Oh, no! That is so not true. S: It is, Minah was into modeling and basically under the spotlight from a very young age, so I was like “My younger sister is, like, 5, and she’s making all these cool stuff. What’s happening?”. Minah had an entourage of people behind her while doing photoshoots and then she would go to school, learn languages and play muggle sports and I was all like “I’m underachieving.” Minah has always been special and whatever she wanted to do, she did it amazingly. She is a natural, and never forces anything at all. Minah just didn’t have as big as a passion for quidditch as me. But if she did, she could be doing what I’m doing right now and she would be so much better.

CM: Finally, Describe each other in three words. M: “Hilarious”, “supportive” and “loving”. S: “Creative”, “powerful” and “unique”. No, wait, three words it’s not enough, I have to add “inspiring” too.

****