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chipsandwaffles · 3 years

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magic, cake, and you

Synopsis: You’re invited to Hogwarts, the most prestigious magic school in the world, and immediately gain zero friends but one rival. Member: Doyoung/Reader Word Count: 19,872 Notes: lol it’s ya boy with a collab fic make sure you read the fic that @taeyongtime wrote as well! this fic has been in the works for like three years I hope you all enjoy! --

-- “Wow…”

You stare up at the castle in the distance, eyes wide in wonder at the beauty and size of it. When you got your letter from Hogwarts telling you of your magic powers and that you were able to attend in your upcoming school year, you just expected another normal building with kids in it. You didn’t expect a large castle across a lake with hundreds of other kids riding in boats with you towards it.

The only word that could describe how it looked was magical, cheesy enough as it was.

Eventually, the boats reach the other side of the lake and everyone clambers out of them. You’re all led up to the castle grounds and into the castle, and even more things astound you as you step inside the Great Hall. The floating candles above you, the night sky that had been magically produced, the long tables where many more students sat. All of it made it hard to keep your jaw off the floor.

“First years, gather around,” Professor McGonagall says. She’s standing in front of the room near another table, who you no doubt is a table for the other professors of the school. Next to her is a chair, and on the chair sits a hat with a weird amount of creases that almost looks like a face.

You wouldn’t be surprised if it talked.

“I will call up your names one by one for you to be sorted into your house. After that, please join your respective table.” The professor unfurls a scroll, picks up the hat, and then begins reading off names. One by one students go up, and, just as you thought, the hat talks, telling them each what house they belong in.

A few names stick out to you, a boy named Kun, who ends up in Ravenclaw, and another Ravenclaw boy named Ten, only because of the ridiculous cheering from girls that no one else really gets.

A third names sticks out, and you watch as the boy named Kim Doyoung walks up to the chair and takes his seat. He looks proud and confident as he sits there, and the hat laughs at him for it.

“Ahh, of course you’d be proud. Just like the rest of your family. Hoping to be in Slytherin… But you have so many traits from Ravenclaw as well… Hmm… What a difficult choice,” the Sorting Hat debates for a moment, but Doyoung never wavers from his proud posture, sure that he’ll be put into Slytherin. “Hufflepuff would be a good choice for you as well, now, wouldn’t that be something to tell your parents… Ahh, but really it isn’t a difficult decision at all, is it?”

The hat quiets for a moment, and ultimately bellows out, “Slytherin!”

Doyoung sighs with relief and you watch as he rushes over to his designated table. You laugh as he holds a hand to his chest, seeing that the whole proud act was just a show in front of everyone. Just like all the other kids, he was just as nervous.

More kids are called up, and then your name is called soon after. You step up to the chair and take a seat as the hat is placed on your head. The hat is silent for a long moment, and you stare out at the crowd in front of you, your breath catching as all eyes are on you.

“I see many things in you, many traits that any of the houses would be happy to have…” The hat says. “But I see what truly lies deep within you… All the traits you’ve yet to grasp…

“This one is Gryffindor!” The hat yells. You hear clapping from your house table, and rush over to it as soon as the hat is taken off of your head. You weren’t at all sure what house you were going to end up in, but this one seemed fine to you as you sit among the other students.

Of course, good things could only happen for so long before they were replaced with bad things.

The sorting ends, and dinner begins. Immediately, everyone starts talking, and you have trouble joining in on their conversations. It seems a lot of the other kids know each other, and you have no idea what they’re talking about when they mention magical things you’ve never heard of.

You were born of two non-magical parents, and all these kids grew up with magic somewhere in their household.

You can’t help but feel absolutely left out.

“Hey, you.” You look up at the voice speaking and see Kim Doyoung, staring at you with a raised eyebrow. You point to yourself and he rolls his eyes. “Yes, you. You’re the one who was reading on the train by yourself, right?” You nod your head at Doyoung, and he smirks. “Then I guess it’s fitting that you’d be my rival, being in Gryffindor and all.”

“Rival? When did we become rivals?” You ask. You notice a lot of the other Gryffindor children staring and you feel unease settle in your stomach at the unwanted attention.

“Right now, when I declared it.”

“…that’s ridiculous! I’m not going to be your rival!”

“You are. Not that it matters, because even if you’re my rival you won’t ever really surpass me.” Doyoung turns on his heel and walks back to the Slytherin table. The other kids at your own keep staring until you look back, and then they all quickly look away, as if they didn’t just all have their eyes on you. You frown and try your best to focus on your food, even though you weren’t hungry anymore.

Dinner eventually ends without you making one single friend, especially after the Doyoung incident, and then you’re led by an older student through amazing hallways with moving stairs and talking paintings. Even the painting in front of your common room talks.

As you enter your new shared bedroom and sit on your bed, you take a deep breath.

Your parents told you to make some friends the first day, but there were plenty of other days to make friends. You could be impressed with all the magic around you first and make friends later. That’d be okay.

“Hey, Y/N, right?” You look up at one of your roommates, not at all sure of what her name was. You nod your head and she raises an eyebrow at you.

“You look really confused. Are you a Muggle-born?” She asks. You nod your head, knowing that word meant you had nonmagical parents. She smirks a little bit, and then steps away. “Make sure you stay away from me then. I don’t want to catch your stupid.”

You frown as she walks out of the room. You weren’t stupid. You absolutely were not stupid. You hop off your bed and follow after her, grabbing at her robes as she stands in the common room with some of the other students.

“What- stop touching me!” She steps away from you and glares. “What do you want?”

“I’m not stupid. Just because I have muggle parents-

“Can you do this then?” She asks, producing her wand and casting a spell. You frown and stay quiet. “Like I said. Stupid. Now get out of my face, loser.”

You glare at her, and, without thinking grab her wand and throw it at the roaring fireplace. It lands in the flames and bursts with magic. The kids all look at you, and she screams.

“How dare you, you stupid-

“Guess you’re stupid now too since you can’t cast spells without your wand!” You yell.

You rush back up to your room and slam the door. There was no doubt you were going to get into trouble, but at least you stood up for yourself. That was something to be proud about.

Right?

After a stern talk from the headmaster, and a switch of rooms, you officially start your life at Hogwarts. The first few days are lonely, considering everyone in the school had apparently heard about you throwing someone’s wand into the fireplace by day two. No one wants to talk to you, so you just take it in stride and keep to yourself as much as possible. You study in the library, come back to your room when everyone is sleeping, and eat alone.

It’s fine, because at least you weren’t friends with some petty bully.

Until your birthday rolls around only a few weeks later, and there’s no one to even talk about it with. You get a letter from your parents, wishing you well with a gift of school supplies and some nice sweaters for when the weather gets colder, and you can’t help but feel sad knowing you won’t get to spend the day with them.

Not to mention that every year you would always make cake with them, and this year you wouldn’t even be able to see them.

It sucked.

Your parents wouldn’t want you to be sad though, so after dinner you go off to find the kitchens. If you couldn’t make a cake with them, you could at least make one by yourself. You deserved at least that.

You wander the halls for a while, entering classrooms and bathrooms and storage rooms as you go along. It takes a while, but you manage to finally spot it near the staircase leading up to the Hufflepuff house. Upon entering, you see small creatures rushing about with trays and plates and bowls and food, clearly still cleaning up after dinner.

None of them seem to take notice of you, and you stop for a moment, not sure what to do. You don’t want to get in their way, but you don’t want to go back on your original plan either.

“What are you doing here?” You look down at one of the creatures, a stern looking one that stares up at you.

“Uh, I… I’m sorry, I just came to make a cake I didn’t know- sorry, I can leave,” you say. The creature shakes its head at you and takes your hand. They lead you over to a small table and gesture for you to sit down. As you do, they ask you again why you’re here.

“I wanted to make a cake… because it’s my birthday and my parents and I would always make a cake together. But…” You sniffle, and wipe at your eyes, not realizing you had started crying.

“You stay here. I’ll be back.” You nod and sit at the table, watching as the creature disappears further into the kitchens. It’s a long time before the creature comes back, but when they do, they stand in front of you and set a plate on the table with a slice of cake on it.

“Happy birthday, young one. I am not your parents, but I hope this suffices.” You start crying again but thank the creature anyways. They walk off after patting your arm, and you wipe at your tears once more, feeling better at the small gesture.

It wasn’t your parents, but it was good enough.

“Y/N.”

You look up at the voice and see Kim Doyoung standing there. After seeing him on the first day, you didn’t stop seeing him. He had been in multiple classes with you and had often been in the library when you were in there. You didn’t talk at all, but he was still there.

And here he was now.

“Doyoung… Hi.”

He nods at you and then walks away. You turn back to your cake, a little confused as to why he was here, but focus on your treat and take a bite. The cake is moist and just the right amount of sweet as it melts in your mouth, and it’s delicious enough that it makes you forget about everything that’s happened the last few weeks at school.

It’s really what you needed, and you make a note to really thank the creature that gave it to you.

“Here.” A cup is placed in front of you next to your plate and you look up to see Doyoung again. He sits down, with a plate of cookies and a cup himself, and you stare at him, even more confused than before.  

“What? Do you not eat cookies and milk?” He asks.  

“I do- but- why are you sharing with me?” You ask. He stares at you before picking up a cookie and shrugging.  

“Saw you talking with that house-elf about your birthday. I thought I'd be nice,” he says. “But if you don't want it- 

“No! I do. Thank you.”  

Doyoung nods and the two of you eat in silence, Doyoung eating cookies faster than you've seen anyone eat cookies and only stopping for a drink of milk. You eat your cake and nibble at a cookie afterwards, feeling content with how your birthday has gone.  

Even having Doyoung with you, who had declared you his rival since day one, was comforting.  

“I heard you threw someone’s wand into a fire on our first day.” You frown and set your cookie down. Of course Doyoung heard about that. Everyone in the school had.  

“She called me stupid. I wasn’t going to let her bully me like that,” you say. Doyoung laughs.  

“No wonder you got sorted into Gryffindor,” he says. 

“What do you mean? Are you insulting me?”  

“No. It just makes sense. You stood up to me and that girl. Only people brave enough to do things like that would be sorted into Gryffindor.” Doyoung says. It grows silent between the two of you once more, Doyoung shoving three more cookies down his throat before you decide that you can't let the silence last any longer. Not when there was a pressing question on your mind.  

“Why did you declare me your rival at our sorting?”  

Doyoung looks at you for a long moment before he shrugs and stands up. He picks up his plate of nearly empty cookies and his cup, and steps away from the table.  

“You seemed like the only one who could actually match up to me. And I clearly made the right choice because no one else seems to be taking school as seriously as you and me,” Doyoung says.

“Somehow that makes me feel a little better,” you say. “Kind of sounds like you just want a friend to enjoy school with.”

Doyoung flushes at your words and turns away from you, shaking his head. “Whatever you want to think, Y/N.” He pauses and looks back at you. “Happy birthday.”

Doyoung begins to walk away, but you call out to him before he can get very far. He looks back at you, and you smile. “Thank you, Doyoung.”

He gives a small smile back before finally walking off. You watch him go and breathe out a quiet sigh of relief, happy that your birthday went far better than you expected.

After your birthday, things start changing between you and Doyoung. While he still seems to want to battle you for the top spot in your grade, he at least does it a little more civilly. He sits next to you in classes, going over the homework together before the professor arrives and ignoring any judgmental stares from the other students. He studies with you in the library, challenging you to read book chapters faster than him. And, while he doesn't eat any meals with you, it still feels like the two of you are friends rather than total rivals.

Days pass at Hogwarts faster and happier with Doyoung by your side, and before you know it it’s already wintertime, and nearing the end of the semester. You smile to yourself one snowy day as you enter the library, seeing Doyoung waiting for you. How could someone who was just your rival and not your friend do that?

“Doyoung!” You reach your usual seat across from Doyoung and sit down, placing your books on the table. He looks up at you from the book he had been pouring over and nods at your arrival. “What are you reading? Anything interesting?”

He shakes his head and closes his book, looking up at you. You see on the front it’s your schoolbook on potions, and you grin.

While every subject you did well at, potions was the one class that you especially excelled at, better than the other students in your grade. Professor Slughorn had been especially impressed, considering many students didn’t understand potions that well their first year when there was so much to remember when it came to the ingredients.

But you remembered every ingredient and could make all the potions you’d learned so far in your sleep. Not to mention that Doyoung, who did so well in his classes as well, wasn’t as amazing at potions like you were. He hadn’t beaten any of your test scores, nor could he answer a question faster than you could.

And him reading over the potions book meant only one thing.

“Are you nervous about the potions midterm? I could help you, you know. I don’t mind!” Doyoung stares at you for a moment before shaking his head again.

“I can manage just fine on my own. I was just studying before you got here.”

“Come on Doyoung. I can help-

“It’s fine!” Doyoung yells. Immediately, the two of you are shushed by the librarian, Madam Pince, and Doyoung looks back down at the book. Silence settles between the two of you for a long moment until you place Doyoung’s charms book in front of him.

“Let’s study charms, okay?”

Doyoung stays silent as he opens his book and continues to stay silent for the rest of your studying together. He and you end up parting on awkward terms as you head back to your respective common rooms, but you’re sure it’d be fine the next time you saw him.

You were wrong. It wasn’t fine the next time you saw Doyoung. Instead of being friendly, he gave you the cold shoulder. When you asked questions, he’d give you half-baked answers. And when together in the library, he and you studied just as quietly as the last time you were there. You wanted to ask Doyoung about it, but you chocked it up to him focusing on studying for midterms.

You just hoped when they were over, your time together would go back to how it was.

Eventually, your potions midterm arrives, and you enter the classroom feeling excited and ready to ace it. You take your usual seat across from Doyoung, and frown when your former roommate from the very first day of school sits next to you, and one of her friends sits next to Doyoung. They had never sat next to you before in potions and seeing the looks on their faces makes unease settle in your stomach.

“Good luck, Y/N,” Doyoung says. You smile at him.

“You too.”

“Good morning, everyone! For today’s class, you will be showing me how well each of you can brew one of the following potions,” Professor Slughorn says as he steps into the room. He points to a chalkboard, where three of the potions you’d learned so far had been written. A little unease disappears at seeing said potions, knowing exactly how to brew each of them.

“Whichever potion you wish, just make sure to tell me when it’s finished, and I will grade you promptly. Now then, begin!” You and your classmates all walk over to a wall of ingredients, and, one by one gather up everything you’ll need for the first part. Once you return to your table, you begin preparing your potion; The Antidote to Common Poisons.

You add each ingredient according to your memory, first crushed up Bezoar, then a couple measures of a few standard herbs that go into any potion. Once they’re in there, you heat it up, wave your wand, and leave it to brew. While you wait, you’re given a written test, one you fly through without much issue, and then are left to wait again.

Doyoung finishes around the same time as you do and you offer your hand to him.

“I’ll turn in your test for you,” you say. He doesn’t complain at your kindness, handing over his test. You take yours and his own up to the professor, and then go over to the wall of ingredients once more to gather what you needed for the second part of the potion.

Nearly two hours later, your potion is ready for more ingredients. You take a pinch from one of the mortars in front of you with crushed-up unicorn horn and sprinkle it over your cauldron. You grab your wand, prepared to stir the potion, only to watch as it begins fizzling before you. You frown and quickly look to the professor, knowing that the reaction it was having wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Um- professor!” Before the professor can even get to you, you hear your cauldron pop as it explodes next to you. You quickly duck under the table, and that unease that had been sitting with you bubbles up just as your potion did.

“Y/N- how much unicorn horn did you add?!” Professor Slughorn yells. You peek above the table, frowning at the hole in your cauldron. You weren’t going to be able to continue now.

“I- just the one pinch-

“Clearly not! I’m very disappointed in you. 10 points from Gryffindor.”

“But professor-!”

“Do you want more points taken away?” He asks. You shake your head and stand up, looking around at your other classmates. You hated when they all had their eyes on you, and it didn’t help when Doyoung was staring at you with such a blank expression.

Why wasn’t he defending you? He had to know you added the right amount of unicorn horn. How could you not when you knew the instructions by heart?

“I’ll have to get this cleaned up. In the meantime, please wait in the hall until class is finished, Y/N. We will talk about what happened afterwards.”

“But-

“Go.”

You hear laughter from some of the other students and rush out of the potions classroom. The door slams behind you and you slump to the floor against a wall, wiping at tears that had started to form. You thought this whole bullying thing had ended after the first day, but apparently not. Apparently you were just destined to not have fun at this school.

“Hey, are you okay?” You look up to see a fellow Gryffindor, a boy with a kind face and worry etched on it.

“I-I’m fine,” you say. He might look friendly, but you weren’t going to fall for it. Not anymore. You wipe at your eyes one more time before turning away from the boy, not wanting to talk to him.

“You say you’re fine, but you’re out here crying,” he says. He moves to sit in front of you, leaning closer than you’d like him to. “Why are you crying? Did something happen in class?”

“Why do you care? You’re probably just going to tell everyone that I was crying. And then everyone else is going to have another excuse to pick on me.”

“Why would I do that?” The boy asks. He leans back and frowns. “Wait, pick on you? Have people been bullying you?”

“…why wouldn’t they? I threw another kid’s wand into the fireplace on my first day,” you reply. “Because I’m stupid because I don’t have magical parents.”

The boy laughs at your words, hearty and long enough that he has tears by the time he’s done. You stare at him, not at all sure as to what he’s laughing at. He grins at you once he’s done and puts a hand on your shoulder, squeezing it.

“You know why you were put in Gryffindor?” You shake your head, not at all sure of the reason anymore. He moves his other hand to your other shoulder and squeezes them both. “Because when everyone wants to put you down, you’re willing to stand back up, stronger and better than they could imagine. Bullying is pathetic and cowardly, but you’re brave enough to stand up to that bullying, and brave enough to not let it get to you. That’s why you’re in Gryffindor. So perk up, okay? You’ll get past this.”

You sniffle, smiling at the boy’s words. He was right. No matter how much all of them wanted to get you down, you would still get right back up, better and stronger than all of them.

“Thanks. That means a lot.”

“You’re welcome uh… Sorry, I didn’t even bother to ask your name. I’m Johnny.” Johnny puts out his hand for you, and you grab it, shaking it.

“Y/N.”

“Nice to meet you then, Y/N,” Johnny says. He stands up and grins down at you. “From here on out, let’s be friends, okay?”

You nod your head, still smiling. “Okay.”

Before you know it, your first year at Hogwarts comes to a close. After being able to retake your potions midterm and passing with flying colors, the holidays came and went, and the second part of the school did as well, this time, happier and more enjoyable. While Doyoung seemed to grow more distant, it didn’t entirely matter because you had many more friends that came from it. Johnny and you had become close, especially because he, just like you, was born of non-magical parents. It made things easier, and even more so when he introduced you to all of the friends he had made his two years at Hogwarts.

It wasn’t fun like hanging out with Doyoung was, but it was fun in its own way, and, really, you couldn’t complain about that.

As you’re heading to the kitchens one last time before you have to head home for the summer, you see Doyoung enter before you. The two of you didn’t talk much anymore, but, maybe this was the time to rekindle that friendship that had been lost.

You enter the kitchens yourself after a moment and see Doyoung already sitting at the table you had sat at so long ago, eating a plate of cookies with a glass of milk. One of the house-elves notices you and asks if you’d like a snack, and, after declining you head over to Doyoung.

“Hey.”

Doyoung looks up from his plate of cookies, surprise written clearly on his face as his eyes meet yours. You smile encouragingly and sit down.

“I saw you come in and figured I’d join you. How have you been? We haven’t really talked since the holidays…”

Doyoung shoves a cookie in his mouth, and then after a drink from his milk, nods. “Yeah… I… had a lot going on after the holidays. Sorry.”

“That’s okay,” you say. “We can talk some more over the summer. We can write each other letters too! My friend Johnny is going to visit, so maybe you can visit- uh- only if you want though!”

Doyoung smiles sadly at you before sliding the plate of cookies towards you. “Thanks. I’ll ask my parents about it.”

You frown at Doyoung, knowing that something is clearly wrong, but not wanting to push it. Instead, you take a cookie and begin nibbling on it. Doyoung and you sit in silence together until the plate of cookies is gone and there’s nothing left to keep you together in the kitchens.

You probably weren’t going to see each other for a while so you reach across the table and put your hand on top of Doyoung’s before he can pick up the empty plate.

“Doyoung, thanks for being my first friend at school. It meant a lot to me.”

He stares at you for a long moment, pain clear on his face, but he ends up nodding and smiling anyways.

“Yeah. The same goes for me.” He stands up and takes his empty dishes. “Thanks for being my friend, Y/N.”

You watch Doyoung walk away, and you get up yourself, heading for the exit of the kitchens.

“There you are!” The door to the train car opens and you look up to see Johnny standing there, along with two other boys, Yuta, one of Johnny’s Slytherin friends, and a Ravenclaw named Taeil behind him. You grin and stand up, letting Johnny envelop you in a hug. “It’s only been a few weeks, but I still missed you tons.”

“Me too, Johnny.”

The summer had passed by too quickly with so much going on at home. Your parents and you took a fun vacation together, one you couldn’t shut up about when you wrote to your new-found friends. Your old friends from your neighborhood visited, all asking about the school you went to and enjoying the time you had together. Johnny visited as well, and stayed longer than you expected, and every moment with him was a moment not wasted. Letters had arrived from all your friends, and you all wrote back to each other over and over as the summer went by.

One even came from Doyoung, asking about your summer. None after that, but it still meant a lot that he sent one letter at least.

But now here you were, back on the train heading to Hogwarts, with friends by your side and a happy smile on your face.

You’re sure that nothing could ruin this year.

“Y/N, you can’t study forever. You’re gonna waste away in the library,” Johnny says, his arms stretched over the table. You had been studying for a test coming up in your charms class, but only for a few hours. It wasn’t like you’d been studying for the whole day.

“Studying is very important, Johnny. I know you don’t know much about that.” Johnny laughs and leans back in his chair.

“You’ve gotten a lot of cheek since summer… Yuta’s been rubbing off on you, huh?”

You laugh yourself. “Maybe a little.”

“Yet none of my free spirit attitude has?” Johnny asks. You shrug and continue to read your Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 book, flicking your wand in your hand as you test out the hand motions for each spell. You can feel Johnny’s eyes on you, watching quietly as you practice and read.

But clearly he can’t be patient because he eventually reaches for your book and snatches it off the table.

“Hey!”

“You’ve gone over Incendio so many times that you’d probably be able to set this whole room on fire. Take a break, will you? Come watch our Quidditch practice.”

“I’ve never watched before though. I won’t know what’s going on,” you say. Johnny raises an eyebrow at you.

“Did you not go to any of the games last year?” You shake your head.

“I liked studying more, plus, I heard our house kept losing. Something about that Johnny kid being the worst player…”

“Oh my- now you’re definitely going. That Johnny kid is going to show you just how good he is!” With a loud shush from the librarian, Johnny and you take that as your cue to leave, and head for the Quidditch pitch. You had never actually been out here before, only ever seeing it from windows and hearing about it from students passing by.

It was cool to be on, and even more so when seeing the students flying up in the air on broomsticks. You had thought Quidditch was just another sport wizards came up with that involved a ball, but this really seemed much more fun.

“Johnny!”

One of the Gryffindor kids comes flying down, stopping right in front of you and Johnny with a grin on her face.

“What took you so long? We’ve been waiting a whole hour!” You look at Johnny and punch at his arm, frowning.

“You should’ve just left without me!”

“It’s fine, she’s exaggerating. It’s only been twenty minutes.” He turns to you, rubbing at his arm. “You can go watch in the stands. I promise it’ll be enjoyable.”

He starts walking off, with the girl hopping off her broom to join him, but immediately he turns around and calls to you.

“And no reading, Y/N! Pay attention!” You roll your eyes and head up the stands, taking the stairs up and up until you reach the bleachers at the very top. You take a seat, and look across the way, immediately sighing in relief at seeing other people, ones you did not like, sitting there. This was supposed to be enjoyable, so sitting far from them guaranteed that.

You resist the urge to open a book as you wait, and instead look around the stands, seeing the other students watching the practice. Not only are there Gryffindor students, but there’s also sprinklings of Ravenclaw, and one Hufflepuff student in the same stands as you. No Slytherin, though, that wasn’t much of a surprise, not when Gryffindor and Slytherin were considered rivals.

“Y/N!” You look away from the bleachers and see Johnny on a broom, floating in front of you, and you smile.

“Looking cool, Johnny.”

“I knew you’d think so. If you want, I can take you for a ride later.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be practicing, Johnny?” You look over to your left and see the one Hufflepuff student, yawning as he walks over to Johnny. Johnny and he exchange a handshake, clearly one they’ve made up together, and they look back at you.

“Y/N, this is the Hufflepuff seeker, Taeyong. Taeyong, this is my best friend, Y/N. Teach her the basics, will you?”

“Sure.” Johnny waves and flies off, and Taeyong walks over to you, sitting down and yawning again.

“Tired?” You ask. He shrugs.

“A little. I was in a middle of a nap when Gryffindor’s team came yelling at me to get off the pitch twenty minutes ago.”

“You were taking a nap on the Quidditch pitch? Couldn’t you have just used your bed?” You ask.

“I could’ve but I was running drills in my head and then I laid down to think and then I was too lazy to go to the common room so here we are,” he leans back and yawns once more, closing his eyes as he does.

“…Johnny said you’re a seeker. What is that?” Taeyong’s eyes shoot open and he stares at you, eyebrows raised.

“You don’t know what a seeker is?” You shake your head. “Do you know anything about Quidditch?” You shake your head again. “Okay… Well, it’s a sport with each team having seven players. If you look up there…”

Taeyong points to the Gryffindor team in the air and begins explaining all the basics of Quidditch. How there’s one keeper, Johnny, who kept the other team from scoring. There were three chasers, who scored in the opposing team’s goals. Two beaters, who kept one of the three types of balls away from their teammates and then the seeker, who flew around looking for the golden snitch, an impossibly hard ball to see, especially with all the chaos going on during the game. However, once the seeker caught it, the game would end.

It all seemed simple, but for most of the time that you spent on the bleachers with Taeyong, you yourself looked around to try and find the golden snitch with binoculars that Taeyong had. You barely even gave Johnny a second glance as he kept balls from going into the goals, your mind far too fascinated on the ball that ended the game.

“Oh, there it is!” You point up to one of the bleachers, where it fluttered around a Slytherin boy who stood next to two others, one being Yuta and the other being Doyoung. They both laugh as the other Slytherin boy tries batting it away, and you frown, pulling the binoculars away from your face.

“You okay?”

“…yeah, just… How does Johnny do it?”

“Do what? Fly on a broom?” You shake your head.

“Becomes friends with everyone. I mean, I’m friends with people in other houses but that’s because he introduced me to them. How do I become friends on my own?”

Taeyong leans back once more and shrugs. “I guess use that Gryffindor tenacity like him and just be so friendly that others can’t help but want to be friends with you.” Taeyong takes the binoculars from you, and, looking up at the three Slytherins, asks, “You know him? The one with the glasses?”

You nod. “Kim Doyoung. He was my first friend at Hogwarts, but we haven’t really spoken since last year.”

“Well, if him constantly looking over here is any indication, I think he wants to be better friends with you too.”

You flush at Taeyong’s words and shake your head. He was just teasing you, because there was no way Doyoung could see you from all the way up there. You look back to where the Gryffindor players are and see them do a cheer before they disperse. Johnny heads over to you on his broom, grinning at you.

“Did you watch me out there, Y/N?”

Taeyong and you share a look before laughing.

“Totally did! You did great blocking the goals!” You say, still laughing. Taeyong laughs harder.

“So great! Better than when you’re actually playing!”

“Oh my- you two are the worst. I can’t believe I introduced you two.”

The year continues rolling by, until your birthday comes around and you’re reminded once more that you won’t be celebrating it with your parents. Even though Johnny is so nice and throws you a wonderful birthday party with all of your mutual friends, it still leaves a vague hole in your heart.

Which was probably why you find yourself in front of the kitchens later that day. You smile as you remember the cake the house-elves made you last time and push open the door. Immediately, at the usual table, you see Doyoung sitting there, a plate of cookies and a glass of milk in front of him, along with a slice of cake and a glass of milk across from him. You grin and rush over, sitting down and surprising Doyoung as you do.

“Hey.”

Doyoung smiles. “Hey.”

“Did you-

“No. It was there when I came in. Guess they were waiting for you.” You smile even more and stare at Doyoung.

“And what about you? Were you waiting too?”

“No! I- no way. I came for my usual snack time.” Doyoung’s eyes don’t meet yours, and you know that he’s lying to you. The hole in your heart seems to seal up at all of this, from the cake to Doyoung, and you can’t help but feel happier than before.

“Thanks, Doyoung.”

He’s silent for a long moment until, “yeah. Happy birthday, Y/N.”

Whatever had been on Doyoung’s mind seems to disappear for the rest of the year, as the two of you begin spending time together again. He and you sit next to each other in classes, going over homework again. You study in the library together, or even in empty classrooms just so your other friends can’t disturb the two of you.

All of it is nice and wonderful, and you’re glad to have a friend that’s actually in your year again.

And then the end of the school year approaches, and Doyoung gets distant once more. It’s different this time, as he’s not ignoring you or acting like he doesn’t want to be around you, but rather he clearly has something on his mind, and whenever you ask about it, he changes the subject.

You figure that maybe it’s got something to do with his family, considering when the holidays rolled around, he didn’t really seem thrilled to go home, but you’re not sure.

Not when he won’t talk to you about it.

But as the final days of the school year come and go, you decide you were going to get whatever was bothering him out. You were friends after all, and that meant that friends talked to each other. And, unlike last year, you weren’t willing to let Doyoung go again.

You find yourself at the kitchens once more on the second to last day of school, and, upon opening up the doors find Doyoung sitting there, his usual plate of cookies in front of him. You walk over and sit down across from him, pulling the plate of cookies off the table and sitting them on the space next to you.

“Hey why- oh. Y/N.”

“What’s wrong with you? You’ve had something on your mind for the past two years and refuse to open up about it. Aren’t we friends, Doyoung?”

“We are,” Doyoung says. He quiets for a while, opening his mouth over and over again to speak, but not saying anything when he decides it’s not the right thing.

Over and over he does this until eventually he looks at you, with clear pain in his eyes. “You remember that potion that blew up our first year?” You nod slowly. “It was me. I was the one who sabotaged it.”

“You- you what?!”

“I put the extra unicorn horn in when you turned in our tests. It didn’t have a bad reaction until you put in another pinch,” Doyoung explains. You look at him, already feeling the tears welling up at his words.

“I-I almost failed because of you- I thought we were friends! Why would you do that to me?!” You yell. Doyoung looks away from you.

“Because you were going to get a better grade than me, and I needed to be the one at the top of the class,” he says. You stand up and step away from the table. No wonder Doyoung had something on his mind. It was total guilt from what he’d done.

“I asked you if you needed help-

“You think I wanted help from a mudblood?!”

Silence fills the air between the two of you and you feel the tears roll down your cheeks.

You had thought nothing could go wrong this year, not when you had friends by your side, and especially not when Doyoung and you became friends again.

You couldn’t have been more wrong.

“You act like muggle-borns are the worst people, but you purebloods are the ones that are such bullies and cowards and- and idiots!” You pull out your wand and point it at Doyoung, glaring at him. He pulls out his own wand, pointing it back at you.

“Expelliarmus!” Doyoung’s wand goes flying and clattering to the floor and you sniffle, wiping at your eyes.

“You wanted a rival, Doyoung. Now you’ve got one. I’m going to be so much better at everything than you, and I’ll make sure you never surpass me. I’ll show you and everyone else just how great a muggle-born can be.”

“…Y/N, how many classes are you taking this year?” Johnny asks from across the dinner table. The sorting ceremony had just finished for your third year at Hogwarts, and while everyone around you had been talking and eating, you decided to get another head start on your studies.

It was necessary if you wanted to beat Doyoung in all of your classes.

“Ten. I tried for eleven but Professor McGonagall said that no matter how smart I was, it wasn’t possible.”

“Ten- Y/N, you’re a third year. The max is nine classes, and most finish the year with eight! I mean, I barely finished with eight!” You roll your eyes and look up at Johnny.

“Not to be rude, Johnny, but your talents don’t really lie in using your brain like me. You’re better at brute force.”

“First of all, that was totally rude,” Johnny says, but he laughs anyways. “Second of all, just because you have a brain doesn’t mean you have to burn it out. Give yourself some kind of break.”

“I can’t. I have to be the best,” you say.

“You keep saying that, but you never say why. What happened before the school year started? Did someone say something to you?” Johnny moves his hand to grab yours, and he squeezes it. “You know I’ll deal with them, right?

Your eyes wander past Johnny to the Slytherin table, where you see Doyoung staring right at you. You glare and look back at Johnny. You didn’t need Johnny to deal with Doyoung. You were already doing that.

“No need. I’m already dealing with them,” you say. You pull your hand away and close your book, standing up right after.

“I’ll see you back in the common room. I can’t study with all this noise.”

“What- Y/N! You didn’t even eat-!”

You walk out of the Great Hall, with many eyes on you as you exit. You weren’t supposed to leave until everyone else left, but you had been doing this for three years now. Johnny would tell you the new password later, and in the meantime, you were going to go find a nice corner to sit and study in.

“Y/N!”

Or not.

You keep walking, not wanting to turn around at that voice. You were going to be hearing it for the rest of the year, so at least for today you could be rid of it.

But then you feel your legs wobble beneath you and you fall to the floor, forced to look back at him.

“A Jelly-Legs Jinx? Really?”

“Well, you wouldn’t stop, now would you?” You frown at Doyoung and wave your wand at him, performing the exact same curse. His knees buckle and he falls to the floor in front of you, with a roll of his eyes as he does.

“Really?”

“Yes, really. What do you want?”

“I-“ Doyoung pauses for a long moment, and when he has to think his words over, you quietly mumble the counter curse and feel your legs return to their natural strength. You stand up and Doyoung looks at you, frowning. “Wait!”

“I did wait! You didn’t say anything!”

Doyoung rolls his eyes and waves his wand again, ready to perform the jinx once more, but you’re faster and you quickly knock his wand out of his hand with another Expelliarmus.

“I hate how good at that spell you are,” Doyoung says. You snort at his words, and then quickly bite it down before it turns into more laughter. He was your rival, which meant there was no laughing to be had.

“I’m glad you can admit I’m better. I’m sure it must hurt your pure-blood pride.”

“Oh shut up- I came to apologize not to be ridiculed by you,” Doyoung says. You roll your eyes and wave your wand again at him.

“Rictusempra.”

Doyoung starts slapping at parts of his body, laughing as he does, clearly trying to get the tickling charm to stop but of course it being ineffective. You laugh at him, finding the scene all too funny and hard to keep in. For someone so proud, he looked pretty pathetic right about now.

“Oh- ha-hahaha- Y/N! Come on- ha-haha-haha!”

“Good luck, Doyoung! Bye!”

Before Doyoung can even do anything, you rush off, laughing still as you do.

Encounters between you and Doyoung don’t stop there, and, most of the time, end in duels between the two of you. While they’re mostly harmless, there are more than a few that ended in an Incendio spell setting your robes on fire, and even once burning your hand. Nothing too serious, but it still hurt and you got Doyoung back with a good Flipendo that sent him right into a group of students. It had been a good enough distraction for you to run away and make it back to the Gryffindor Common Room before Doyoung could try anything else.

You’re sure the duels weren’t what Doyoung really wanted, but it was impossible to stop them when Doyoung tried to keep you in the same place long enough for you to listen to whatever crap he wanted to say, and you weren’t willing to listen.

Besides, the dueling was fun, and it kept you up on your spell casting.

That is, of course, until you get in trouble for dueling without permission. Afterall, there was a club for it.

You had been avoiding Doyoung for what felt like the fifth time that week, and came across Johnny walking and talking with the other Gryffindor Quidditch members when you interrupt.

“Johnny! Hide me!” You say, quickly shoving yourself between him and someone else. You grab the back of his robes and walk behind him, doing your best to use his tall stature to hide you. It doesn’t work well though, especially when he asks questions.

“What- what are you doing?” He asks, trying to turn around.

“Hiding! Just let me walk behind you for a minute-

“Y/N!”

You pull on Johnny’s robes, only for him to lose footing and fall back, bringing him with you as you tumble to the ground together. You groan and quickly push him off, getting up to rush off, but not before a spell is thrown at you, making you trip and fall again. You huff and turn around, throwing your own nonverbal spell back at Doyoung. He himself trips, and you quickly get up, pointing your wand at him.

“Y/N- what is going on?” Johnny asks, grabbing at your pant leg beneath you. You shrug down at him and grin.

“Dueling. Why do you ask?”

“Dueling?!”

“Flipendo!” You wave your wand in front of you, easily muttering a Protego under your breath as the spell bounces off your shield spell. Doyoung throws a few more at you, and you start backing up as he comes closer. The other Gryffindor students that had been around you all dodge out of the way of your duel, and Doyoung swiftly moves around them as he walks towards you.

“You know, it’s not nice to back your opponent into a corner, Doyoung.”

“It’s not nice to ignore your opponent either, now is it?”

“Oh, whatever! Stupefy!” Doyoung looks shocked as you fire off the fourth-year spell at him, but it doesn’t shake him up enough as he shouts out his own spell.

“Protego!”

“Come on Doyoung! You're never going to catch me like that,” you taunt. Doyoung’s face hardens and you turn down the hallway, looking back for a moment only to see Doyoung running after you, faster than before.

“You're starting to seriously piss me off!” Doyoung fires another spell at you, you block it, laughing, and then he yells, “Imperio!”

You let out another shield spell, but whatever spell Doyoung’s fired off seems to go right through it and hits you. Your eyes widen for a moment and immediately after your mind goes blank. It feels like a weight is lifted off your shoulders, and any stress you might have been having just disappears into thin air. You watch vaguely as Doyoung stands in front of you, his own eyes wide, as if he was scared of what he just did.

Then, all the feelings that disappeared come back to you in a rush as you hear Professor McGonagall round the corner, yelling at the two of you. You fall to your knees, your head pounding as you try to gather your thoughts, and you feel Doyoung next to you moments later, spouting healing spells at you. It makes the pounding in your head go away eventually, but it's replaced by incessant murmured apologies from Doyoung.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…”

“Both of you- detention before dinner! We will talk about your further punishment later, for dueling outside of dueling club and for- for using an unforgivable curse on another student.” There are a few gasps in the distance, and you can see the other Gryffindor students watching the scene unfold. The professor turns on them and yells once more. “Off to class! Now!”

Everyone scurries away except Johnny who rushes to your side, helping you up. The professor looks you over, patting your head, seemingly to examine you. Once she’s satisfied, she sighs and then looks to Johnny.

“Take her to the infirmary, Mr. Seo. It's better to make sure than be sorry later.”

“Of course, professor.”

“Mr. Kim. Off to class. We will discuss this later.”

“Yes, professor.”

Doyoung rushes off in the opposite direction of you and Johnny, and Johnny begins leading you to the infirmary. As you're walking, you can’t help but think about the unforgivable curse Professor McGonagall mentioned. You had been studying a lot of spells since you and Doyoung started dueling, but you never came across anything called that.

“What's an unforgivable curse?” You ask Johnny. He stops and looks at you.

“What? Even you don't know? Ms. I've-been-stealing-Johnny’s-fourth-year-books-to-learn-spells-to-duel- Kim Doyoung? He was the one bothering you, wasn't he? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We're friends- we were just dueling for fun,” you lie. You're not sure why you do, but even so, Johnny wouldn’t look pleased either way.

“Friends don't use the Imperius Curse on other friends.” He turns to you, putting his hands on your shoulders and squeezing them. “There's three unforgivable curses. The Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Killing Curse. They’re unforgivable because they do terrible things to their victims, and evil wizards and witches use them for their own enjoyment. It’s dark magic, Y/N. And he- he used one of them on you.”

“That doesn’t mean he's evil. He's just… easy to annoy,” you say.

“Why are you defending him? He tried to use mind control on you!” You push away from Johnny and shrug, crossing your arms.

“I don’t know- we were just dueling. Why are you getting so upset over it?”

“Because-" Johnny stops himself and shakes his head. “Never mind. Let's just get you to the infirmary. You should be resting.”

After getting checked over by Madam Pomfrey in the infirmary and resting there for a few hours, you head off to Professor McGonagall’s classroom to receive your punishment. Doyoung is already sitting inside of the classroom, his arms on the table and his head in his arms. You grin and wave your wand at him, watching as your spell hits his robes and begins making them float.

Doyoung doesn’t even react and continues to stay in his position. Your grin falls and you walk over to the table, crouching in front of it and poking Doyoung.

“Ooo, there’s a ghost messing with your robes…”

Doyoung peeks out from his arms, and you can see his eyes are red and parts of his face blotchy and bloated. He quickly turns away from you, rubbing at his eyes quickly, clearly to wipe away any remaining tears.

“Doyoung, were you crying?”

“No- shut up. Why are you even talking to me?”

“…because I like annoying you,” you say. You move around the table and take a seat in the one next to Doyoung. “Plus, we might be rivals but I can’t let my rival be crying. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. We’re rivals. Not friends,” he says. “Besides. Why would you listen to me now when you wouldn’t listen before?”

“Well-

“Mr. Kim. If you’d come with me.” The two of you look up to see Professor McGonagall, a grim look on her face. You frown, not sure why you guys were getting separate scolding’s. It seemed unnecessary, but, then again, you were already in trouble so there was no real point in arguing with her.

You stay quiet as you watch Doyoung follow the professor into a side room. She closes the door and you’re left alone. Quickly, you rush towards the room and put your ear to the door, trying to listen in. When you don’t hear anything, figuring it has to be enchanted, you return to your seat and amuse yourself by making various things in the room float.

Eventually, Doyoung comes out and takes a seat next to you, mumbling that it was your turn. You walk to the room and it closes behind you, and Professor McGonagall sits there at a desk, writing various things down.

“Sit.”

You do as she says, sitting in one of the chairs opposite the desk, and watch as she writes.

“I cannot express how disappointed I am in you, Ms. Y/N. As one of the top students in the school, you are to set an example, and yet here you are, dueling outside of dueling club- Mr. Kim said this is the twenty-seventh time. Is that right?”

“…I wasn’t really keeping track, but maybe that’s close…” You clasp your hands in your lap, feeling the professor’s disappointment wash over you. This sucked way worse than her being angry and yelling at you.

“Detention. Until the holidays. It only seems fitting.”

“Yes, professor.”

“Along with that, you will have in-school suspension for the week for using spells outside of your grade. Which means no wandering the corridors between classes, or after meals, and no trips to Hogsmeade.”

“Professor-!” She gives you a hard look, and you immediately back down, nodding your head. “Yes, professor.”

“If something like this happens again, I cannot guarantee that I’ll be as lenient. Do you understand?”

You nod your head, and the professor waves at the door. It opens for you, and you quickly exit, mumbling under your breath. “That was lenient?”

You walk back to your seat next to Doyoung and sit, frowning at the piece of paper that’s been placed on the desk. Doyoung has one too but has apparently already started writing. The professor comes out of the side room and sits at her main desk, eyes trained on the two of you.

“One more thing. An essay, explaining everything about dueling you know, considering the two of you seemed to be extremely good at it. I’d like it finished before dinner.”

You frown and take out one of your pens you had always kept in your robes, quickly beginning to write.

Though, the second the professor looks away to do something else, you quickly enchant it to write by itself. While essays came easy to you, they came even easier when you didn’t have to cramp your hand while doing it. Doyoung lets out a sigh as you do so but doesn’t seem to tattle on you.

“Bet I can finish my essay before you,” you mumble to Doyoung.

He doesn’t even look at you as he mumbles out “you’re on” and starts writing faster.

After the whole detention debacle, things go back to how you expected them to go for the rest of the school year. Your in-school suspension is spent mostly in your bedroom, studying and working on ways besides studying that will bother Doyoung. You don’t come up with much, instead, Doyoung and you continue being rivals, quietly, with no other ridiculous stunts like dueling every week. Even in detention together, the two of you don’t speak much, especially since Doyoung sits as far as possible from you. It seemed he was taking this whole rival thing seriously now. In turn, that meant you had to work even harder to not let Doyoung surpass you in any of your classes, which also meant ditching Johnny to study and do homework. He didn’t really like it, the complaints happening every time you had to ditch him for homework. At least it was only one friend you had to deal with doing that, since Yuta and Taeyong were always busy with Quidditch, especially when they were both captains to boot.

Really, it’s an easy rest of the year. Your birthday passes, with you eating cake alone in the kitchens. Christmas passes, with you staying with Johnny for the holidays.

And once the new year starts, you don’t see much of Doyoung anymore, especially when you don’t have detention together. It’s only in classes when you really meet, but it’s not like you really talk much or anything. The two of you really just keep your distance.

Déjà vu hits you one day as you’re wandering the school grounds, realizing that something like this happened the previous two years as well. Granted, you were the one who caused the distance between you and Doyoung this time, but even so, it was still the same.

You frown, suddenly missing the times you and Doyoung were together.

“Y/N!” You turn around to see Johnny geared up with the other Gryffindor Quidditch players walking right towards you, and you put on a smile, not wanting to worry him. “You don’t look busy right now, which means you can come to the game today-

“Oh, no, I actually have to-

“Nuh-uh. No excuses from you today! Let’s go!” Johnny grabs your hand and begins dragging you towards the Quidditch Pitch, ignoring any and all protests from you as you go.

It’s hard to focus during the game, though, especially when Doyoung is the one doing the commentary. You barely even give anyone else a second thought as you stare across the way at him.

Hearing him enjoying the game, and seeing him smile whenever Slytherin gets a point makes your chest contract with a feeling you’re not entirely sure of. All in all, the game sucks, even when Gryffindor triumphs over Slytherin.

And, as the year ends, and your fourth year at Hogwarts comes and goes as well, the feeling doesn’t leave. Beating Doyoung grade wise in your lessons both years didn’t even bring you as much joy as you wanted. Really, it kind of just upsets you further.

Your fifth year at Hogwarts starts with the same terrible feeling in your chest you’ve had since third year, right at the beginning of the school day in your second class. You had decided on taking muggle studies that year, knowing it’d be an easy class that you’d get top grades for, but a frown immediately takes to your face as you see Doyoung sitting at the front. He’s the only Slytherin you can see in the whole class, yellow and blue and red robes making up the rest of the students. He stuck out like a sore thumb and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes as you made your way to the seat next to him.

“Weird seeing you here, Doyoung,” you say, setting your bag down and taking a seat. Doyoung looks at you and mirrors your frown.

“Why is it weird? Am I not allowed to take this class?”

“Oh, no. You’re allowed. Just didn’t think someone like you could stand the smell of all the un-pure blood in the room.”

“Hey-

“What?” You smirk at him, shrugging. “I’m just speaking the truth. Plus, knowing your family, wouldn’t they disown you for taking a class like this?”

Doyoung rolls his eyes and looks down at his textbook. “How can I beat you at every subject if I don’t take it?”

You snort, happy you could get under his skin. It made the tightness in your chest dissipate just a little bit, the banter between the two of you feeling good and almost friendly. Though, you probably could have been a little friendlier. “I’d love to see you beat me in this class.”

“Watch me,” Doyoung mumbles.

The class starts only moments later, and you feel even better as you watch Doyoung take notes on every single thing while all you did was doodle in one of your notebooks. Everything you were hearing you knew first hand, so notes truly seemed like a waste of time. Plus, your doodles of Doyoung furiously writing things down were far more entertaining anyways.

Doyoung must look over at you at some point, because he huffs and scribbles a few words into your notebook – stop drawing me and pay attention – but you just laugh and ignore him.

The class becomes even more entertaining when you and a few Hufflepuff students have to correct the professor on something, your eyes turning to Doyoung afterwards to see him see him writing down whatever you had said.

If he wasn’t such a jerk about his pureblood status, you’d almost think his interest in muggle studies was cute.

When the class ends, you notice Doyoung quickly shoving things into his bag before pulling a box off the ground you didn’t notice before. He sets it on his desk and looks at you, pointing at it.

“For you. See you later,” he says before rushing off.

“Huh? Doyoung!” You stare after him, confused as ever before looking to the box again. There’s a note attached to it and you pluck it off to read.

Happy late birthday. For the last two years, I mean. And sorry about our last duel third year. Hope you stay warm this winter. -Doyoung

You set the note down and open up the package, irritation building as you see the expensive sweater staring back at you. How could Doyoung gift you something so nice, and apparently for your birthday and as an apology? Who did he think he was?

You weren’t even friends. He was the one that made sure of that. And yet, this felt terribly friendly and nice and you shut the package closed, shoving the note into your bag and standing up. Doyoung was such a jerk. The worst type of jerk.

You rush out of the room, intent on finding him so you could return the package and give him a piece of your mind.

Unfortunately, no matter how many times you end up shoving the package back to Doyoung, he shoves it right back at you and disappears before you can get a word in edgewise. You decide on just handing it off to another Slytherin so they can give it back to him, and find your chance when you end up meeting Doyoung’s sister. She offers to give it back after initially declining, and though you didn’t get a chance to yell at Doyoung, at least you wouldn’t be burdened by his stupid gift.

Or, so you thought, until your birthday rolls around.

You go to the kitchens for your usual cake, and, for the third year in a row, Doyoung isn’t there. Instead, a larger cake sits there on the table, with a note next to it clearly written in Doyoung’s scrawl, and the stupid package gifted to you earlier in the year wide open to let you know just what was in it. You take the note in your hands and frown.

“Happy birthday…” You sit down at the table, folding up the note and stuffing it into one of your pockets. You cut yourself a slice of cake, place it on a smaller plate and jab a fork into it, bringing it to your mouth right after.

You’re not sure if it’s the cake or if it’s you, but it’s bland and boring and you can’t help but feel as lonely as you did in your first year at school.

And then, the feeling you couldn’t describe hits you full force and you realize exactly what it was.

School wasn’t fun if Doyoung wasn’t by your side. Studying together, doing homework together, talking in between classes, hanging out in the library, dueling when you weren’t supposed to, getting in trouble together, being rivals and being friends.

None of it was fun without Doyoung.

So, you stand up, enchant the cake to follow you with a quick wave of your wand, and head for the dungeons.

It doesn't hit you until you’re standing in front of Slytherin’s house that your plan to see Doyoung probably should've been thought through a little better. You had no idea where he was, nor had any way of seeing him if he was in fact in his house. Unless you broke the rules, but that'd probably be unbecoming of a prefect, and you didn't want to get on McGonagall’s bad side again.

You frown and think for a moment about some sort of spell that could help you out, but are interrupted by a voice just a few feet away from you.

“Y/N? What are you doing?” You turn and find yourself face to face with none other than the person you were looking for, Kim Doyoung, with a stupid frown on his face and a bag of cookies in one hand. That traitor.

“I came to see you. And to give you a present.” Doyoung raises an eyebrow but doesn’t get to ask what exactly you were talking about as the cake you had enchanted is hurled right at Doyoung with a flick of your wand. It hits him square in the face, the cake exploding and coloring the walls and floors of the dungeon around Doyoung. You bite your lip as you snort, trying to hold it in, but seeing the ever so serious Doyoung like that is just too much. You burst into laughter, doubling over as Doyoung stands in shock in front of you.

This had been your plan all along, mostly to get back at Doyoung and to also lighten the mood before you had the big talk you wanted to have with him, but you truly didn't think it would be this funny.

“Y/N- what- goddamnit, what is your problem?!” Doyoung finally says. You look up at him through the tears that had started to gather in your eyes, and watch as he wipes cake from his face, tossing it to the ground. “You think this is so funny, huh?”

“Hilarious.”

“Yeah, well, I'll show you how hilarious it is,” Doyoung says. He gathers a glob of cake from his hair and walks toward you, and you can already see where this was going.

“Nuh-uh, don't you dare-

“Oh, but it’s your birthday, Y/N. I think you deserve some cake.” Doyoung has you by the hand before you can get away, and then there's cake being shoved into your face, Doyoung smearing it as much as possible so that it covers every inch of skin. Doyoung laughs as he pulls away, and you wipe the cake from your eyes, grinning back at him.

“I'm glad you’re having fun,” you say.

“You started it.”

You chuckle and look down at your hand, still being held by Doyoung's, and squeeze it. Now that the fun had been had, it was time to talk.

“Why can't we just be like this?” You ask. “We have so much fun together, but then something happens and you pull away or I pull away. Why can’t we just be friends, Doyoung?”

You look up at Doyoung to see him looking down at your hands, and when he looks back at you, he's got this ridiculously sad look on his face.

“Because I was raised to hate people like you and every time something happens I'm reminded that we aren't supposed to be friends and when we are I keep hurting you. I don't want to but it happens anyways-

“We’re young, Doyoung. You're bound to make mistakes.”

“Purposefully sabotaging your potions midterm wasn't a mistake. I did it with zero regrets,” Doyoung says, and he pulls his hand away from yours.

“You realized how crappy you were afterwards though. Otherwise you wouldn’t have told me.”

“What about when we were dueling and I…” Doyoung chokes up for a moment and you know exactly what incident he's talking about.

“Have you used that spell since?”

“God, no. I don't even want to think about it.”

“Then who cares what you did?” You ask and Doyoung gives you a look like you've said the stupidest thing in the world. “Okay, let me rephrase. You've done things that hurt me, but you regret them and that's what matters. I don't care anymore, Doyoung-

“But I do-

“That’s great, but start caring about me some more instead and work harder so that you don't hurt me again! You're the only one that can tell you what to do, Doyoung. So if you don't want to hurt me, then don't.”

“That's so much easier said then done-

“I don't think so. If I don't want to see a friend of mine upset, then why would I do something that I know would make them upset? I- ugh, this is so stupid, Doyoung.”

“Then let's stop talking about it and just forget it happened,” Doyoung says. He takes a step away from you, but you roll your eyes and grab his hand, squeezing it tightly.

“I hate not being friends with you, Doyoung. All the magic and learning in the world doesn't mean anything to me if I can't do it with you. I can have a bunch of other friends, but that doesn’t mean I don't feel so stupidly lonely when I'm sitting in the library with them wishing it was you instead.” You can feel tears pricking at your eyes, and you sniffle as you squeeze at Doyoung's hand, willing him to understand all your feelings.

“When we study together and compete against each other and are just with one another, that's my favorite time being at this school. I was so lonely and missed my normal life and no one wanted to be my friend when I came here. Except you. I miss you, Doyoung,” you say, looking up at him. He's got tears in his eyes too, and he quickly looks away, looking at anything but you.

“Can't you just fricking admit you miss me too and work on all the things you need to work on and be my friend again?”

Doyoung is silent for a long time, and as you blink back your tears, you think maybe he'll just ignore your words. If that's what he truly wanted, then you'd let him go. But you were certain he didn't want that. You were certain he wanted to be friends with you again too, it was just buried behind a bunch of other complex thoughts and emotions.

Doyoung confirms it when you feel him squeezing your hand back.

“There's not a day that goes by where I don't miss you, Y/N,” he says. You smile, feeling tears start to roll down your cheeks. “I always thought of you as my best friend- and learning magic with you was when I was happiest. Being a pure-blood, everyone looks at you differently and like they have to walk on eggshells around you- they just expect you to be someone they fear- but you never did. You always just looked at me with a smile- but- but I hurt you- but even then you still didn’t look at me any different even when I deserved it.”

“Doyoung…”

“I hate the me that hurt you again and again, and the me that listened to the hateful words and practiced all the dark magic my parents wanted me to learn. I don't- ever since that duel, I didn't want anything more to do with it. Seeing you like that-

“I'm okay, Doyoung,” you say, hoping he'll understand it was true. He nods and takes a deep breath.

“I don't deserve another chance, Y/N. But if you’re willing to give me one, then I swear I'll do my best to not screw up again. I won't be the Doyoung I hate, and I'll work hard to be a Doyoung that won't hurt you.”

“Knowing you, I'm sure you won't fail. You never do,” you say, and Doyoung laughs. He squeezes your hand and just laughs, and you can't help but join him. “Let's be friends again.”

Doyoung nods. “Okay.”

As per usual, Doyoung and you fall into a routine together. You walk to classes with each other, you take your meals elsewhere so you can talk about magic and studying together, you huddle down in the library and are often in your own world even when your other friends join you, but you can't bother to care about anyone else because your first friend at this school is your friend again, and even though it's clear there's moments Doyoung hesitates or looks like he wants to run away, he works through it and stays by your side.

You couldn't be happier.

“I don't like him,” Johnny says one day, frowning at you as you sit in the library together. You were waiting for Doyoung to show up and Johnny had tagged along with you only because Quidditch practice had been cancelled due to the weather. He was leaning over the other side of the table, both of his hands on one of yours as they fiddled with your fingers out of boredom. You roll your eyes at your best friend, already having had this conversation three times over by this point.

“He doesn't like you either, if that makes you feel better,” you say. Johnny sits up abruptly, shock on his face.

“Since when? You never told me that!”

“I don't know. Recently he said something.”

“Why not? I'm great! Why wouldn't he like me?” Johnny asks, starting to look upset at the thought that Doyoung didn't like him. You laugh at the ridiculousness of it.

“You don't like him either. Why does it matter?”

“Because- he's your friend- I want your friend to like me!”

You tilt your head in confusion. “I really don't understand you.”

“I-” Johnny pauses, staring at you with a hard, calculating look. It makes you squirm and you have to look away. “Y/N, do you like anyone?”

You blink in even more confusion at the floor, your best friend's question taking you off guard. You'd never really thought about it, too preoccupied with the whole magic learning thing. How could anyone think about romance when there were new spells to learn and new potions to brew every day?

“Y/N, sorry for being late.” You look up from the floor to see Doyoung, looking a little frazzled from clearly rushing from somewhere to the library, and you smile at him, shaking your head because you were just glad to see him show up.

“It's okay. I was waiting for you anyways.”

Doyoung smiles softly at you and takes his usual seat by your side. The two of you begin to crack open your books, but Johnny, forgotten from the other side of the table, clears his throat to interrupt you.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he says. You laugh and shrug.

“I haven't really thought about it.”

“About what?” Doyoung asks.

“Johnny wants to know if I like anyone.” Doyoung nods his head slowly, quiet for a long moment before looking at you.

“You don’t?”

“I just said- wait, do you?” You ask. Doyoung stares at you before quickly looking away, shaking his head. “You're blushing- you do like someone! Who is it?”

“No one- shut up. Let's just study.”

“But now I want to know,” you say, leaning close to Doyoung with a pout on your face. “Come on, I want to know. Don't you want to tell me?”

“No, I want to study.”

“Oh my god!” Johnny slams his hands on the desk as he stands up, and you look at him, confused at the shocked expression on his face. He looks as if he just had the greatest epiphany in the world, but you were still in the library so you immediately shush him.

“What? Don't be so loud, Johnny.”

“You-!” Johnny points at Doyoung, and you look between the two, watching as they stare at each other with harsh glares and you can feel a tension between them growing.

“Johnny, sit down before we get kicked out-

“You can't,” Johnny says. Doyoung snorts and rolls his eyes.

“What are you, my parents? I already know I can’t.”

“Good. You try anything and I'll snap you in half.”

“At least I'd have the guts to try,” Doyoung says. You have no idea what your two friends were talking about, but it didn’t matter as you watched the librarian approach, clearing her throat as she stopped in front of your table.

“Out, Mr. Seo.”

“Huh?” Johnny whips around to face Madam Pince, and you snort under your breath as he jumps away. “Jeez, you just snuck up on me!”

“Because I know how to be quiet in a library, Mr. Seo. Unlike you. Which is why I have told you to leave.”

“But-

“Out.”

Johnny looks back at you, opens his mouth to say something, but ultimately sighs and gathers his things. You watch as Madam Pince leads him out of the library, and once he's out of your sight, you turn back to Doyoung.

“What was that about?”

“Nothing. Let's study,” Doyoung says as he leans forward, beginning to take notes as he reads from his charms book. You frown but do the same, whatever conversation between your friends truly over and done with.

Even though they had ended it, you can’t stop thinking about the conversation from the library. It doesn’t impede your studying or anything luckily, but you do find yourself thinking about it often when you’re around Doyoung. Did he really like someone? And if so, who was it? And why did Johnny seem to know but you didn’t?

You stare at the boy who had been constantly occupying your thoughts from across the Great Hall, trying to see if he interacted with anyone enough that it seemed like he had a crush on them. Rather than seeing anyone though, you just see him consistently being pulled in every single direction by so many different Slytherins, and you wonder how he can even eat properly when all he seemed to be doing was something someone else wanted.

Didn’t Doyoung know how to say no to people?

“Y/N, are you listening to me?” You hear Johnny ask, your giant of a best friend shoving his way into your eyesight as he pushes his face ridiculously close to yours. You frown and back away, scrunching your nose at his proximity.

“No, I wasn’t. Why are you getting so close?”

“I had to get your attention somehow,” Johnny says, leaning close again. You’re about to shove at him but are interrupted when what seems like a baked potato explodes against the side of his head. You’re in shock for only half a second before bursting out in laughter.

“Who-?!” Johnny whips around to look for any sort of culprit, but everyone nearby seems just as shocked as him. Johnny huffs and sits back down, wiping a glob of potato off the side of his face and plucking it onto his clearly finished plate.

“So not funny...” You snort and Johnny glares at you to shut you up, but seeing chunks of potato still in his hair makes you start laughing again. “Y/N!”

“What?” You ask between laughs. Johnny rolls his eyes and stands up, leaving you and a few of your fellow Gryffindors to your laughter.

And then, once your eyes land on him again, you know exactly who the culprit is as you see his hand over his mouth, wand in the other, clearly trying to hold back any laughter while the rest of the Slytherin students around him look utterly confused. The two of you make eye contact and you grin at Doyoung, giving him a thumbs up. He shoots you his own grin, an adorable gummy smile that you don’t really see that often, but given to you now like a secret that only he wanted you to know about.

Your heart flutters in a way it never has before, and you have to look away to stop any and all weird feelings bubbling from your chest.

“Is Doyoung not coming today?” Johnny asks as he sits across from you in the library once again, for once actually studying since the midterms were coming up. You shake your head, furiously writing down a sentence in your notebook before looking up at him.

“I told him I was busy. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something,” you say, setting your pen down. Johnny raises an eyebrow and looks at you.

“About?”

“About...” Your eyes wander around the room for a moment, not sure what words to say in this situation. It seemed awfully stupid to be asking about how it felt to like someone, but Johnny seemed to know better than anyone. “How does it feel when you like someone?”

“What?!” Johnny is immediately shushed by Madam Pince and he gives a slight bow in apology to her before looking back to you. “You like someone?” He whisper-yells. “Since when? Who is it?”

“I never said that- I just asked how it feels- I don’t know if I like anyone-

“You’re asking about it, that means you like someone-

“I don’t- okay, maybe I do- but maybe I don’t and that’s why I’m asking how it feels!” You say, leaning closer so you could whisper even quieter, as if anyone was really going to eavesdrop on your conversation.

Johnny leans close too, staring at you, his eyes flickering back and forth between your own, like he was looking for answers that only you could give. You frown, wanting him to answer you already, and you flick his cheek with your index finger.

“Well?”

Johnny leans back. “Things I would look out for are, like... Heart rate increasing, feeling happy around them, thinking about them often, wanting to be around them- or, you know, butterflies in the stomach because you’re nervous around them. Stuff like that. I would say wanting to kiss them or hold them too, but not everyone feels that...”

You think back to when Doyoung smiled at you so brightly in the Great Hall the other night, your heart fluttering at the sight, and feel a smile coming to your face.

“Oh my god, you like someone,” Johnny says. You whip your head to look at him and shake your head.

“I don’t.”

“You were just smiling to yourself thinking about them- that's what people with crushes do all the time!”

You’re silent for a moment, trying to think of something witty to say, but coming up with nothing. You didn’t have a crush. You especially didn’t have a crush on Doyoung. Just because he made your heart speed up once didn’t mean you liked him. And, it wasn’t like it had happened since. So there was no way you had a crush.

“Can I at least know who it is?” Johnny asks, looking awfully disappointed for some reason. You frown and shake your head.

“No one, because I don’t like anyone. Let’s get back to studying,” you say, picking up your pen again. Johnny sighs but doesn’t say anything more, and you quickly immerse yourself back into your studies.

It isn’t until later, when you’re lying next to Doyoung in astronomy class at the very top of the astronomy tower, that the conversation between you and Johnny comes back to you. It’s not like this class was any different than usual – you laid down, you looked at the stars, you wrote down things the professor talked about when you were sitting in chairs and looking through your telescopes – but for some reason, while lying next to Doyoung, you couldn’t think about anything else but him. The way his hand was touching yours just slightly, the way your shoulders were pressed against each other, the way your eyes would follow the length of his other hand as it pointed out a shooting star in the night sky.

It didn’t help that your heart felt like it was stuttering in your chest, and no matter how much you willed it to just stop, it wouldn’t.

“Y/N, look! There’s another shooting star,” Doyoung whispers to you, his hand tapping yours to get your attention. You look at the sky, scanning the stars until you see what he’s talking about, a stripe of white streak across the dark expanse above you and disappear just as quickly.

“Did you make a wish?” You ask, turning your head to look at Doyoung. Doyoung chuckles and shakes his head as he turns to look at you.

“Nope. I don’t want anything.”

The two of you stare at each other for a long moment, and the stupidest thought you’ve had seems to enter your brain as you lean forward to press your lips against Doyoung’s, finished just as quickly as the shooting star that had just passed over you. You pull away, your heart hammering against your chest as you sit up, and you fidget for only a moment before standing up.

“Professor, I need the bathroom,” you say, not even waiting for an answer as you rush down the astronomy tower, only making it halfway down the stairs before collapsing against them, your breath heavy and your face flushed. You press your hands to your cheeks, shutting your eyes and breathing in and out to try to calm yourself down.

How could you though?

You just kissed Doyoung. In the middle of class. Because maybe you liked him more than a friend and kissing him definitely just solidified that thought.

You liked Doyoung.

You rub your hands against your cheeks quickly in frustration, not at all sure what you were supposed to do with this information.

“Y/N.” You freeze at the voice calling your name and when you don’t answer, Doyoung takes a few more steps down until he’s sitting next to you, closer than you wanted in this moment. You want to move, but you’re sure Doyoung would just follow you, so you stay seated with him, silent, waiting for him to say whatever he wanted to say.

“Did you kiss me because you like me?” He finally asks, quiet and so unsure even though he took forever to say anything. You look at him and find him already looking at you, and you feel your heart stuttering again.

“I...” You can’t really justify making an excuse in this situation, inevitably nodding as you whisper out a quiet ‘yes’ to Doyoung. Doyoung nods as well and looks away, down to his feet, and you’re not at all sure where this was going.

“We have midterms coming up. Then the holidays... Then our O.W.L’s at the end of the school year. Then summer break... Can you...” Doyoung pauses, and now you were even more confused as to where this was going. He looks back to you, earnest and vulnerable, and you wait with baited breath for his next words.

“Can you wait? I mean, for me to answer?”

“Huh?”

“We should focus on our studies and tests this year, but if you’re willing, I want you to wait for my answer. How I feel about you. If you want to know,” Doyoung says. You let out a loud laugh, giving Doyoung a look of pure bafflement. This was certainly not where you expected this to go.

“You want me to wait until next year?” You ask in disbelief.

“What? You can’t?” Doyoung asks, clearly challenging you, and you roll your eyes.

“Of course I can- but just know you sound awfully selfish asking for this-

“I know.”

“And what if I stop liking you by next year- or what if I decide to date someone-

“I’ll still tell you. I want you to know no matter what.”

You open your mouth to say something else, but instead just shake your head. “You’re the worst, Kim Doyoung.”

“Yet you’re the one who likes me,” Doyoung says and you laugh again, shoving at him. “Come on. Let’s go back to class.” He holds out his hand to you after standing up, and you take it, smiling up at him. “By the way...”

“Hm?”

Doyoung places a kiss against your lips before you even realize what’s going on, and your mouth drops open in surprise as he pulls away. “Now we’re even.”

Doyoung doesn’t necessarily pull away from you like he had in the past, but certain actions like sitting close with you in class or hanging out with you in a free period don’t happen anymore, Doyoung telling you that he needed to focus on his studies instead of being distracted by you. Besides shared classes, you barely see him, especially when midterms sneak up on you so fast. Part of you is terribly happy that it seemed like he liked you back, but another part of you was starting to miss him the more you didn’t hang out together.

At least you had Johnny and Taeyong and the rest of your friends to keep you company. And, one day in the library during exam week, you find yourself sitting with Doyoung’s sister and the rest of your friends as you study. You even end up teaching her how a pen works – which is truly baffling, and you think about how Doyoung was also so surprised to see a pen for the first time. It’s cute, but she ends up rushing away after you and Yuta point out some doodles of Taeyong in her notebook, and you turn to said boy of her clear affections.

“Taeyong, when are you going to ask her out?” You say, and Yuta nods in agreement.

“You have all the time in the world since you stopped being prefect-

“Plus,” you interrupt, “she’s been having a hard time because of you! There’s so many rumors about you two and all your fans keep bothering her-

“What?” Taeyong looks shocked, and you nod your head to let him know you were serious.

“Beginning of this year I saw some other students bother her about whatever your relationship is. Make it clear to her and everyone else that you like her already so people will shut up!”

Yuta nods in agreement. “I’m so tired of Jaehyun whining to me about it. He’s probably the worst of the lot since he likes her.”

Taeyong is silent for a long moment before shoving his things into his bag, standing up in a rush and then looking to you. “I’ll talk to her. Any idea where she might’ve went?”

“Nope. But I’ll help you look,” you say, putting your own things away before standing up. Yuta stands up as well, stretching and yawning and both you and Taeyong look to him. He looks back at you, laughs, and shakes his head.

“I’m not helping. I was just going to go get some snacks from the Great Hall. See you guys later,” he says, walking off towards the library entrance.

“Hold up, I’ll come with you, Y/N.” Johnny says, putting his stuff away as quickly as he can. Taeil, the last member of your friend group doesn’t say anything as he stands up as well and puts his things away, your study group clearly done for the day.

You and your friends head towards the library exit as soon as Johnny and Taeil are finished putting their things away, only to be stopped by a commotion in the hallway. Your eyes widen when you see Doyoung’s sister throwing a punch at one of your fellow Gryffindor’s, the girl yelling about expulsion only for Doyoung’s sister to pull out her wand and argue right back at her.

Your eyes wander to Taeyong, hoping he truly understood the issue at hand now, and find him pushing through the crowd that had gathered since the fight started. You watch as Yuta and Taeyong easily dissipate the situation, Yuta taking away the wand in the younger Slytherin’s hand while Taeyong tells the girls off. They rush away, and as head boy, Taeil ushers the other students to follow suit with Johnny’s help, and you ease your way closer, wanting to know if Taeyong was going to solve this issue finally.

Unfortunately, after Taeil hands out some punishment to Doyoung’s sister, you’re dragged away by Johnny before you can even find out whether or not the two were going to resolve their problems.

“Don’t you know what eavesdropping is, Johnny?” You ask when Johnny finally decides to let go of your arm. He laughs and shakes his head.

“Since when did you care so much?”

You shrug. “I care about Taeyong- I want him to be happy. Don’t you want one of your best friends to be happy, Johnny?”

“Of course I do. But I’m sure Taeyong will figure things out for himself,” Johnny says.

“Or things will just get worse from here... Do you know how stubborn Doyoung’s sister is?”

“As stubborn as you, probably. Considering you still won’t tell me who you like-

You open your mouth in shock, pretending to be surprised about something so you could get out of this conversation. No way were you telling Johnny you liked Doyoung. “I just realized- I'm supposed to be meeting McGonagall about my transfiguration midterm-

“You are such a liar-

“Me? Never!” You pull out your wand and quickly mumble a jelly legs jinx under your breath at Johnny, watching as he collapses to the ground with a groan and a shout of your name. “Sorry, gotta go, Johnny!”

Midterms pass, the holidays pass, and the next time you truly talk to Doyoung is after a particularly interesting match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff, where his sister and Taeyong take a harsh dive to the ground after a bludger had hit her square in the head and Taeyong decided to catch her. They’re both rushed to the infirmary, Doyoung following after and you hurrying down from the stands to not only make sure the pair was okay, but to make sure Doyoung was okay.

You find Doyoung outside of the infirmary, pacing back and forth like crazy, wiping at tears that wouldn’t stop flowing. Your heart is heavy looking at him so worried, and you rush to him, standing in his path. He stops and looks up at you, and before you know it, you’re being pulled into his tight embrace as he lets loose even more tears.

“I’m so scared, Y/N- what if she isn’t alright- what if Madam Pomfrey can’t do anything for her-

“Doyoung, shh...” You say, wrapping your arms around him and rubbing one of your hands up and down his back to hopefully calm him somewhat. “Madam Pomfrey knows what she’s doing. And if she couldn’t do anything, I’m sure you and I could come up with a potion to heal your sister or even a spell... We’re not the best for nothing, Doyoung.”

Doyoung sniffles and hugs you tighter, tears spilling into your neck and soaking into your robes. You can’t really be bothered, not when Doyoung definitely needed you.

“It’ll be okay, Doyoung. Your sister will be okay. Taeyong caught her too before she could get hurt even more- she'll be okay.”

Doyoung doesn’t say anything more, just holds you and nods his head and cries.

True to your word, Doyoung’s sister turns out to be just fine, magic definitely saving her from any harsh repercussions after the bludger to the head. At least, that’s what Madam Pomfrey had said, but Doyoung still does his best as a worried brother and looks her over, mumbling any healing spells to get rid of any bruises that she might have received.

You sit down in one of the chairs next to her bed and look up at Doyoung, frowning as he mumbles his tenth healing spell over her head.

“You should give some of those to Taeyong. He saved your sister after all,” you say. Doyoung tears his eyes away to look at the Hufflepuff a few beds away, still knocked out from the fall he took but at least looking better than he did coming in. Doyoung waves his wand once at him as he mutters a spell before taking a seat next to you, closer than you expected.

“Happy?”

“Only one spell to spare?” You tease.

“Shh, I'm tired. Let me rest,” Doyoung says. A moment later he's plopping his head onto your shoulder, and then picking up one of your hands to entwine it with one of his, and you can’t help but shut up as the butterflies in your stomach decide to wake up for the day. It was one of the first interactions you've had with Doyoung in a while, and even though he didn't say anything, his actions spoke louder than any words he could possibly say. You smile and squeeze his hand, hoping you could convey your feelings with such a minor gesture just like Doyoung had done.

“I’ll tell you when she wakes up, okay?”

Doyoung lets out an affirmative hum before nuzzling his head against your neck softly, and for the moment, the infirmary is calm and silent.

The start of your sixth year is normal as usual. You say goodbye to your parents, push yourself through the magic wall to get to Platform 9 and ¾’s, step onto the train after loading your luggage, and start walking to your usual train car where your friends were bound to be sitting.

That is, until you're being pulled into a completely different train car, the door shutting behind you quickly as you turn to face Doyoung. You smile at him and he smiles back, squeezing the hand he had grabbed before pressing a little closer to you. For a moment, all is silent as he leans in, and you can't help but think he was going to kiss you again.

“Nice to see you too, Doyoung,” you say. He nods and ends up pressing his forehead to yours, and you swear your heart starts banging against your chest, looking for a way out. “Fifth year is over… exams are over. Summer break is over… Did you want to tell me your answer now or…?”

“Mm, not yet. But I have something for you…” Doyoung says. Before you can even ask what it is, Johnny is shoving himself into the train car and between the two of you, a goofy grin on his face as he pulls you down into the seat to sit with him. You nearly jinx him for ruining the moment you were having, but hold your tongue as you shoot an apologetic look to Doyoung. The disappointed expression on his face isn't missed by you even though Doyoung tries to hide it by a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head, and you reach out your hand to grab his.

"Sorry...” Doyoung pulls away and reaches the same hand into his robe pocket, and you turn to Johnny who is still all grins.

“I wondered where you went, Y/N. It’s my last year riding the train and I can't just ride it without one of my best friends. I’m going to miss you so much,” Johnny says, pulling you into a hug. It’s crushing but you hug back, patting Johnny’s back and knowing you were going to miss him too.

Even if he was such a big doofus.

When Johnny pulls away, Doyoung clears his throat and the two of you look at him.

“Here,” he says, pulling a sealed letter out of his pocket. “Read this later and let me know your answer, okay?”

“Huh? What is it?” You ask, taking the letter from him. Doyoung smiles and shrugs before taking his leave from the train car. You look down at the letter, wanting so badly to open it now, but not wanting Johnny to see whatever it was. He was too nosy for his own good.

“Are you two dating yet?”

“Huh?” You whip your head towards your best friend, seeing a defeated look on his face. You frown at him and shake your head.

“We aren’t- we don’t-

“I already know, Y/N. I’m your best friend, remember? You don’t even have to tell me.”

“...then why’d you keep asking?”

“To tease you. What kind of friend am I if I don’t tease you about who you like?” Johnny says, laughing and pulling you close again. “I still don’t really like him, but if that’s who you like, and if he makes you happy, then I want you to go for it already.”

Even though Johnny says that, there’s still this weird look in his eyes you can’t quite place. You want to ask about it, but bite your tongue and end up nodding. “He’s supposed to let me know how he feels soon.”

“Good. I hope things work out well.” You nod and smile down at the letter.

“Me too.”

“Taeyong...” You whine loudly next to Taeyong as the two of you sit in the Quidditch stands, and Taeyong chuckles next to you, closing the book he had been reading before turning to you. You look at him with a frown, glad he could hang out with you for once instead of with his girlfriend, but still being upset about an entirely different matter.

“What is it, Y/N?” Taeyong asks. You let out another whine before taking a letter from your pocket – the very same one Doyoung handed to you on the train only a few weeks ago, and give it to Taeyong. He takes it and begins reading, and you whine again, wrapping your arms around one of Taeyong’s and pulling lightly at it.

“Doyoung invited me to the stupid Slug Club Party coming up- he doesn’t know how much I hate the Slug Club. I mean- it's such an elitist club but because the students did one special thing- no offense, Taeyong-”

Taeyong laughs and pulls away from you. “I take full offense- I worked hard on that Pepperup Potion-

“I could brew that potion in my sleep, Taeyong. The professor just knows you’re popular so he invited you in.”

“Wow, you’re really hurting my pride here, Y/N,” Taeyong says.

“Am I wrong though? He does it with every student that’s in the club! Why do you think Doyoung is in the club? He has connections. It’s not because he’s amazing at some subject- because, guess what, I’m one step ahead of him but I’m not in the club!”

“Are you jealous?”

“No!” You yell, sitting back and crossing your arms in a pout. “Maybe at first, I was, but I really think it’s a big waste of time. Professor Slughorn is honestly just kind of creepy. He takes so much interest in the students-!” You pause for a moment, letting out a huff before looking at Taeyong. “I’m sorry, I’m being a jerk about this.”

“A little bit.”

“I just don’t want to go. Especially not with Doyoung. I feel like Slughorn is going to compare us and the two of us already do that enough.”

“Even when he wrote you such a nice letter inviting you?”

“...nice or not, it’s still a dumb club- Oh!” You smile at Taeyong and he immediately shakes his head.

“No.”

“What? You didn’t even hear my question!”

“Whatever it is, my answer is no. I know that smile. It means you’re up to no good.”

You frown and sit back once more. “That’s not at all what that means. I just wanted you to ask me to be your date instead-

“Ha!” Taeyong laughs and you shove at him, knowing how dumb of an idea it was. His girlfriend would probably have a fit if she knew Taeyong invited someone else after probably already inviting her. “Why don’t you just decline Doyoung’s offer then?”

“Lee Taeyong, Doyoung is clearly asking me out. I don’t want to ruin whatever grand plan he has. I’ve been waiting for him for almost a year- he probably really wants me to go,” you say, letting out a sigh of defeat. You knew there was truly no way around this.

“Well, it’s only a few hours. I’m sure it won’t be so bad.”

“Oh, but what if I pretend to be sick?” You ask.

“I’ll tell Doyoung,” Taeyong replies, grinning at you mischievously. “Actually, I’ll make sure he knows just how healthy you are.”

“What if I... just...”

“Y/N, you know you’re not getting out of it.”

Taeyong’s words had never rung truer a week later as you stood in front of the full-length mirror in your bedroom, dressed up for the night so you could attend the stupid Slug Club Party. Your roommates had tried to help you, offering their own share of clothes for you to dress up even fancier if you wanted, but you decided on something simple and comfortable – a pair of black slacks, a frilly, cream-colored blouse with black accents on the edges and hem, and some black flats. One of your roommates had commented that you looked like you were attending a funeral, making you laugh for the moment before remembering what you were actually attending.

You slap your cheeks a little to encourage yourself before heading out with a goodbye and a wave to your roommates. You were supposed to meet Doyoung in front of the Great Hall at around seven, but you purposefully got ready late and made sure to walk as slowly as possible out of the common room and down any flights of stairs to really bide your time. Being a little late wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“It’ll be fun, Y/N...” You mumble to yourself as you reach the bottom of the steps, seeing Doyoung at the end of the hallway in front of the Great Hall doors. He looked handsome even from this distance, and you couldn’t help the smile that made its way to your lips.

“There you are!” Doyoung says, rushing down the hall when he notices you. He comes to stand in front of you, looking even more beautiful than only moments before in a slick, black tux, paired with a green bowtie to let anyone know he was a Slytherin. “What took you so long?”

You shrug. “My roommates kept wanting me to try stuff on.”

“I see...” Doyoung looks you up and down for a moment before smiling and reaching out to take your hand in his. “I like what you picked out. You look nice.”

“Thanks. You look better,” you say, squeezing his hand. Doyoung looks like he wants to retort, but bites back his words as he instead tugs at your hand to lead you to the dungeons, down to the potions classroom where the party was being held. There’re a few people mingling in the hallway, who Doyoung unfortunately has to stop and greet. You offer a short nod at them, the dread that had been eating at you since Doyoung invited you increasing as the seconds ticked by.

You had hated any and all eyes on you since your first year, and stepping into the classroom with Doyoung only brought back that feeling from so many years ago. You think about how you could’ve easily got out of this by using magic or even by drinking a bad potion, but know Doyoung would’ve just been disappointed if you missed it.

“Kim Doyoung, one of my top students- and Y/N, what a surprise!” Professor Slughorn says as he sets his eyes on you. He walks over to you, clapping a hand on the back of Doyoung’s shoulder, and you resist the urge to roll your eyes. “Doyoung, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

Before you know it, Doyoung is being dragged away from you and you’re left alone at the entrance to the party. A feeling sinks to the bottom of your gut, and you have to take a deep breath to calm yourself. Just because Doyoung was being introduced to some other wizard didn’t mean anything. You were just as good as him- better than him, even. This party meant nothing.

You make your way to a corner of the room after grabbing a drink from the food table, doing your best to blend in with the shadows. You didn’t want to interact with anyone, you didn’t want to see anyone, you just wanted to be forgotten in the din of the party.

“You’re going to get a permanent crease in your eyebrows if you keep glaring like that,” a voice says and you look to see Doyoung’s sister, a small smile on her face as she looks at you. You laugh and shake your head before turning to her.

“I’m not glaring. I’m just really invested in this wall.”

“Mmhmm... Didn’t you come with Doyoung? Where is he?”

You shrug. “Somewhere else. Busy mingling. What he always does.”

Doyoung’s sister is quiet for a moment before letting out a quiet click of her tongue and stepping closer to you.

“What?”

“Doyoung has been chasing after you for years, just to be as good at school as you. But aren’t you smarter than him? Why not show everyone just how much better you are?”

“...I don’t need to prove that to everyone. I already know I am.”

“Then why are you sitting over here sulking?”

“I’m not,” you say, though you know she was right. You don’t know how to describe what you were feeling to her, so you turn back to the wall and sigh. “I’m really invested in this wall.”

“You already used that excuse,” she says. You roll your eyes.

“What about you? Where’s Taeyong?”

“Slughorn wanted to introduce him to one of the Quidditch players- don't change the subject. We’re talking about you.”

“There you are.” You and Doyoung’s sister turn to see the culprit of your conversation and feelings, and upon seeing her, Doyoung smiles. “Here with Taeyong, my dear sister?”

“Shut up- I'm not here. I’m- shut up.” Doyoung’s sister rushes off, embarrassment written all over her face, and you laugh as you watch her disappear between the other guests. Doyoung laughs as well before stepping closer to you, and you turn your eyes to him.

“Shouldn’t you be mingling with everyone else?” You ask. Doyoung rolls his eyes.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you. Follow me, will you?” Doyoung holds out his hand for you and you happily take it as long as it got you away from this party.

Doyoung leads you quickly out of the classroom, ignoring any and all calls of his name, and the two of you rush down the nearby corridor to one of the most familiar places in Hogwarts to you: the kitchens. There’re house elves still bustling about surprisingly, preparing food for the next day and still cleaning up from the previous meal, but they’re quickly pushed back to some corner of your mind as you take in the table that Doyoung has clearly prepared for the two of you.

It’s your usual table, of course, but covered in a white tablecloth, with freshly lit candles on top and a plate of cookies fixed in the middle. You laugh as Doyoung ushers you to your seat, and smile at him when he sits across from you.

“Wow. I’ve never had such a grand meal before in my life,” you say, nodding to the cookies. Doyoung snorts.

“It’s honestly just for decoration. I felt like the table was missing something,” Doyoung says.

“It certainly feels homey, at least.”

The two of you are silent, and you decide to take one of the cookies to nibble on, wanting something to do with your hands and mouth. Wasn’t Doyoung going to talk at all? Isn’t that why he dragged you here? Not that you really minded being away from the party, but you also didn’t want to just sit in silence together here.

“Can I be honest about something?” Doyoung ends up saying. You nod your head, and he sighs. “I wasn’t actually going to invite you to the Slug Club Party.” A frown settles on your face and Doyoung quickly shakes his hands in front of him to backtrack. “Not because I didn’t want you coming or anything- because it’s boring and exhausting talking to everyone. I honestly hate parties like that! All that attention makes me want to faze into a wall somewhere and I know you don’t like it either- that's why I wasn’t going to invite you.”

You raise an eyebrow at Doyoung and quickly swallow the bit of cookie in your mouth. “Okay, me I understand but you? Seriously? You interact with everyone so easily- I mean, whenever we aren’t together, you’re talking to someone else-

“Everyone comes to me first. If I could just lay in my bed all day, I would! But I have to live up to what my parents want and our family name so I have to make connections and be the best at everything...”

“Which you aren’t,” you say, smiling at Doyoung. Doyoung snorts and nods his head.

“You’re right. I’m not. I couldn’t beat you at potions without sabotaging you, I couldn’t beat you at muggle studies no matter how hard I tried- you're always one step ahead of me. Except...”

Doyoung moves from his seat across from you to sit next to you, pressing close and wrapping an arm around your waist to bring you impossibly closer. You look at him, willing your heart to calm down a little but finding it ignoring you just as always when you were this close to Doyoung.

“I fell for you first,” Doyoung says. Your eyes widen and you laugh loudly at Doyoung’s words.

“Fell for me first? Are you making this a competition too, Doyoung? Because I confessed first and kissed you first-

“Oh my god, no, no," Doyoung interrupts, laughing as well. “I was just joking-

“Sure, joking- whatever you say.”

“I was- because I know I can joke around you. I know I don’t have to live up to any expectations around you and even though we’re always competing it’s just for fun- that's probably why I like you so much.”

You smile at hearing the words you were waiting for for so long and look to Doyoung, feeling stupidly happy seeing the smile on his own face.

“You’re always making me wait for you, you know that, Kim Doyoung?”

“That’s because I was always listening to what my parents wanted. But if my sister can date someone like Taeyong, then surely I can do what I want as well.” Doyoung moves his face closer to yours and suddenly you’re breathing the same breath as he presses his lips to yours in a short kiss, and somehow the long wait you had to endure is worth it all in that moment.

“Like being friends with someone like me?” Doyoung nods.

“Being friends... or something more,” he says. “Do you still like me, Y/N? Will you go out with me?”

You laugh and press your own kiss to Doyoung’s lips. “I will. Just don’t make me wait like that again. Or invite me to another Slug Club Party. They’re stupid. Why’d you end up inviting me anyways if you weren’t going to in the first place?”

Doyoung is silent for a moment before looking away from you, shrugging. “...maybe it’s payback for the cake you smashed in my face last year.”

“You shoved some in my face too though!” You say incredulously, and Doyoung just laughs.

“Okay, okay- then no more parties. No more waiting. No more cake in each other's faces. We’re even, okay?”

You smile and shake your head. “Sure, sure. We’re even.”

#nct scenarios #doyoung scenarios #kim doyoung scenarios #nct fanfic #doyoung fanfic #sheep writes

106 notes · View notes

ragingbookdragon · 3 years

Text

Love Bites (But So Do I) PT. 2

Justice League x Reader One-shot

Word Count: 2.3K Warnings: Explicit Language

Author's Note: Aye, we're back with another Skyrim!Reader fic! Enjoy! -Thorne

**********************************************************************

It’d been close to a year since she’d joined the Justice League, and though the original members were a tightknit group, they’d welcomed her with open arms. Some of them were still wary about her, but for the most part, she was doing well within their ranks, especially when it came to being around Bruce or Hal. Given her longevity, she’d seen men like them before, known how to get along with them. Bruce she could meet on equal footing, Hal was simply a man that had to be shown who was in charge; it didn’t take much to make Hal crack under her authority, and in mere days, she had him wrapped around her fingers—Bruce too, but he’d never outright admit it to her face, or anyone else’s, even if a gun was put to his head.

She didn’t particularly fight much when they went on missions, preferring to be backup as well as their combat medic, a job she did well. She’d sewn up most of them without a blink of an eye, and while the first time she sewed Bruce’s wounds up, Clark and Diana stood beside to watch in case she tried to feed, they quickly learned, not only through her own comment but also his, that she wasn’t going to harm anyone.

Barry liked her. Or at least he enjoyed speaking with her. He found her ten thousand years of experience interesting, the history of her life, the survival of it. They’d spent hours talking about the past, hers and his from going back in time often. She enjoyed puzzling the poor scientist with magic. Barry wasn’t one to follow the whole “It’s magic” sermon; he wanted scientific evidence, hypothesis and experiments to prove how sparks, fire, and frost flowed from her fingertips like water. How natural it was for her as if it were like breathing.

She liked Barry. Liked to help him through personal issues. Her many years had given her experience in most subjects of life. Spurned lovers, betrayal of friends, death, life, all of it. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t help with, the League had come to find out. Sometimes, she even helped, and she didn’t even realize it.

***

It was one of the routine meetings for the month; she sat next between Diana and Hal, trying to focus on the words coming out of Bruce’s mouth but all she could hear was the quiet rumbling coming beneath them. What was she hearing? A broken pipe in the ceiling? Air hissing from a crack in a window, perhaps? No, it seemed to be coming from the table. But what was it? Nothing was shaking the foundation. What—

“(Y/N), is something wrong?”

She cocked her head up, realizing she’d pressed her face to the table in hopes she could listen closer to the noise; clearing her throat, she felt the eyes of the group on her. “Apologies,” she excused. “There’s…there is something I keep hearing under your voice. It’s…distracting.”

Her eyes found Clark’s. “Listen for a moment and see if you can hear it.”

They waited, everyone holding their breath, and when the rumbling came again, her eyes widened. “See! That! What is that!”

Clark held his hand up to say wait and she fell silent, letting him listen of for a few more moments, and then he cracked a smile and laughed.

“What? Why are you laughing?” she questioned. “What is it?”

“It’s Barry’s stomach,” he chuckled, nodding at the Speedster who suddenly flushed.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know you guys could hear it.” He laughed nervously. “It’s past my usual snack time so I’m really hungry.”

“I’ve got you,” Hal replied, digging in his bomber pocket to pull out a candy bar. “Snickers?”

“Ooo!” Barry chirped, taking it from him with a, “Thank you. I forgot to pack snacks when I left the house today.”

“Bar, one day, you’re gonna keel over from hunger because you forget. I swear, your memory is just as bad as your lateness.”

“God, don’t remind me,” Barry snickered.

(Y/N) hummed, eyes lingering on Barry for a moment before she turned to Bruce. “Sorry for the interruption. Please, continue.”

Bruce didn’t skip a beat, but she kept the thought of Barry in the back of her mind.

***

A couple hours later, the meeting had ended, and she caught up with Barry and Hal as they left. “Barry, a moment of your time, please? There’s something I wish to discuss with you.”

Hal waved the two off and continued to the Zeta tubes, leaving them and Barry smiled, “What’s up, (Y/N)?”

“How often do you eat?”

Hello left field with that question.

“I—what?”

“Consuming sustenance,” she reiterated. “How often do you do it?”

Barry shuffled on his feet, scratching at the back of his head. “Well…my metabolism burns through food like Hal does jet fuel.” He saw her cocked eyebrow and unimpressed look and immediately said, “I need to eat roughly 4.8 million calories a day.”

Her eyes went wide and for a moment she simply gaped at him, then she recovered and shook her head. “Divines, you eat a lot of food.”

“Yeah,” Barry chuckled. “Only downside of being a Speedster besides seeing the world in slow motion.”

“Forensic scientists make between forty and one-hundred-thousand a year. Is it possible for you to afford the nutrition you need to adequately feed yourself?”

Just like that, she hit a sore spot because Barry stilled, a remarkable feat, and his cheeks tinted red; she heard the stutter in his heart rate, noted the way he looked around uncomfortably. “I…Bruce…helps me sometimes.” He shifted nervously. “High calorie protein bars are the easiest to manufacture in massive quantities. I need them most nights.”

“So, you can’t afford the amount of food you need?” (Y/N) hummed, eyes narrowing as she brought her hand to her face, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “I’m going home for the evening,” she suddenly blurted out. “Come back here tomorrow around the same time. I’ll have something for you that will help with your food shortage.”

As she walked off, Barry grabbed her arm, pleading, “Wait, (Y/N), don’t. I can’t take money from you.”

“I never said anything about money,” she corrected, removing his arm. “I merely said for you to come back, and I’ll have something for you.” She winked. “Relax Barry. I’m not going to tell the world your secrets.”

***

He stood in the center of the area where he was supposed to meet (Y/N), had been standing there for an hour, but then again, she was only fifteen minutes late and he forty-five minutes early. Barry glanced at his watch when a buzzing started in his pocket; he pulled his phone out and saw her caller ID, lifting it to his ear. “Hello?”

Barry! Sorry for calling late. That thing I’m looking for is taking a bit longer than I expected it to. Do you think you could come to my home in Gotham? I’ve already called ahead and let Bruce know you’d be in city limits.

“Oh, yeah,” he answered. “I’ll be right there.”

Good! Travel safely!

It’d taken him all of ten seconds to get from the Watchtower to her house and Barry almost shit his pants when he saw it. It reminded him of Hagrid’s house but slightly wider and with multiple conjoined buildings to it. He walked up to the front door, hyping himself up to grab the brass doorknocker that resembled a demonic skull. When he knocked on the door, nothing happened, then the locks flipped and it opened, creaking on its hinges like a cheap eighty’s horror film, but it did the trick because Barry was scared out of his mind when all he saw was a darkened room lit up only by a candle holder on a table in the middle.

“I’m in the back!” a voice called from inside. “Fang is coming to greet you! He’s bringing Nevermore!”

Nevermore was the bird. He remembered that one, but who was Fang?

His question was answer by a giant mastiff came bounding from an opening to the hallway and Barry almost jumped a foot in the air; it looked terrifying, but he merely whined and shoved his head into Barry’s palm, waiting to be scratched behind his ears.

He relented, giving Fang a good ear-scratch, and smiled as Nevermore hopped up his arm to sit on his shoulder.

“Hungry!” he croaked. “Want snacks!”

Barry dug around in his pocket, finding a half-eaten granola bar. “Granola?” he offered, holding up a piece and Nevermore swiped it with a quick snap of his beak.

“Come in!”

“(Y/N), where are you?”

“In the back!” she called. “I told you that already!”

“I meant where!” Barry laughed, coming to the hallway. It split down two sides, one going to the right the other left. The right opened to what looked like a studio. The left went down and had two doors on the wall, what were bedrooms, and at the end of the hall was a study.

“Bedroom!” she answered, and Barry walked down the left, stopping at the second door that was creaked open.

He saw (Y/N) laying over her bed, digging for something on the opposite side away from him. “(Y/N)?”

“Come in,” she said, listening to him walk around to see her. “I forgot I shoved this underneath her a long time ago when I was cleaning things out.”

“How long is a long time ago?”

“Hmm…American Revolution? Give or take a decade or so?” she waved it off, pulling out what looked like an antique drawstring bag, about the size of a dinner plate; she held it up and patted the bed beside her with her free hand. “This is going to solve all your food problems,” (Y/N) announced, watching him sit down.

“Uh…how so?”

She placed it in his lap. “Think of your absolute favorite snack food. Chips or cookies or something.”

He did.

“Now…reach into the bag and pull it out.”

Barry’s brows furrowed as he reached in the bag, and she knew he’d found them because his eyes went wide, and he pulled out a snack pack of cookies. “What the—”

“Magic food purse,” (Y/N) explained. “Found it one day when I was exploring.” She took it back and reached into it, pulling out a thin tray of expertly wrapped sushi. “It’s really helpful when you’re traveling and can’t carry massive amounts of food around with you.”

Barry watched her pop one in her mouth; he knew damn well that sushi wasn’t in there when he reached inside. He swiped the bag from her and opened it, peering inside, but all he saw was a dark, stretching expanse. “That’s not possible,” he breathed. “There’s nothing in here.”

“It’s magic,” (Y/N) snorted, reaching in to pull out a frosted chocolate cupcake. “Anything you can imagine eating or drinking? It will come out.”

“That’s not scientifically possible!” Barry stressed, trying to shove his head into the bag. There had to be some gimmick to it. A transporter! Something!

“Why is it so hard for you to accept that some things in this universe can’t be explained by science?” she stared at him. “For Divines’ sake, Barry, your best friend is a man who wields a magic ring. You run faster than the speed of light.”

“There’s science behind some of that!”

“Not much.”

“But there is science! Here—there’s nothing!” Barry was having a crisis. “I don’t know how this works. I don’t understand.”

(Y/N) smiled and folded the bag up, gently stowing it in Barry’s jacket pocket. “It’s not about understanding, Barry, it’s about accepting that there are some things you won’t ever understand.” Her eyes crinkled at the edges. “That bag will never run out of magic. You can think all the food and drinks into existence and never run out of food again.”

She reached up and cupped his cheek. “No more high calorie meal bars unless you have to eat them. No more worrying about putting money aside to make sure you have enough to eat. No more relying on others to keep yourself from going hungry.” (Y/N) whispered comfortingly, “No more fear. No more worries.”

Barry felt the lump rise in his throat. He’d never admitted it, not even to Hal, but he worried constantly about keeping fed. Worried that money wouldn’t come in, that he’d go hungry, that something worse would happen. All the nights he’d laid in bed and had to roll over on an empty stomach because he couldn’t afford to buy more or eat what he’d planned for tomorrow then. All the skipping meals, all the exhaustion, all the worry. Gone in moments.

He felt her thumb under his eye, and he looked into her umber ones, seeing her smile softly as she wiped away another tear. She didn’t say anything, merely gazing at him and Barry leaned into her palm, reaching up to cup her hand closer to his cheek. “Thank you,” he managed through the lump in his throat. “I don’t know how to repay you for—”

“Shhh,” (Y/N) hushed, pressing her thumb to his lips. “There’s nothing to repay anyone for. I did this for you, Barry, not so you’d owe me.” She pulled away from him and rose from the bed, looking back. “Now, if you’d like a moment to yourself, I understand. But I was planning on making dinner. Would you like to stay the night?”

“You don’t mind?” Barry asked. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

She glanced over her shoulder with a wink, flashing those pretty white fangs in a smile as she flirted, “Stay all you want, Barry. I won’t bite…yet.” She left Barry in the room, heart pounding in his chest, but not from fear—from excitement and anticipation.

178 notes · View notes

fangirl--writes · 3 years

Text

Purpose. Pre-Spray Jeremiah Valeska x Reader

ENCHANTED PROMPT: “Plan a private picnic by the fires glow.”

RQ by anon. There was no specification other than Jeremiah Valeska so I chose Pre-Spray Jeremiah Valeska.

This was super fun to write, thank you so much anon!

Word Count: 1550

Check out this post If you’d like to request one of the other prompts.

A quick rasp at the door caused you to look up from your book. Wordlessly you sighed dropping your marker on your page.

It was just getting good too….

You gave a longing look back at your book before you adjusted your sweater and headed to the door.

“Yes?” Your tired gaze settled on the stoic form of your boyfriend’s assistant.

Ecco. Her blue eyes were deep as she swept your form with a quick nod.

Your lazy afternoon gone in a matter of seconds.

“Come with me please.”

Your brows arched as you stiffened,“Is Jeremi- “

“Mister Wilde, is fine.” Her voice was firm.” I have been instructed to come collect you at his request.”

A soft whine bubbled from your chest as you grabbed your shoes, slipping them on before reaching for your keys. Ecco’s eyes never leaving you as you locked the door. Her hand fell to your back as she guided you to the car, your mind racing with all matter of worry.

Is he okay?

Did something happen-

Jeremiah always informed you ahead of time if he was sending his proxy

Always.

His assistant remained steadfast and silent as she drove you the hidden paths to Jeremiah’s bunker deep in the outskirts of Gotham. Your hands twisted the seat belt in knots as you stared out the tinted window; the city skyline getting smaller and smaller in the rear view. Time seemed to drag as the car headed into the darkness; the soft glow of the headlights illuminating the rugged path ahead of you.

Please be okay... Please be okay.

Your knuckles were white as the car finally eked to a stop, you had to force yourself to still as the blonde came around to open your door. She led you through the familiar path to the cylinder block square nestled into the ground, with a soft click the door opened. Your chest was tight as the grey walls were bathed in a crisp glowing light. In an instant you threw yourself down the hall, the tense energy that bubbled in your chest burst as you sprinted leaving Ecco behind.

“Jeremiah-

Jeremiah…please answer me.”

Your voice grew more desperate with every scream. There was no sign of your red headed engineer-

Images of him collapsed somewhere down one of the many twisting halls flooded your mind; his body limp, lifeless on the cold concrete. The soles of your sneakers skidded to a stop as a faint crunch caught under your feet.

Your frantic gaze veered down to see a petal crumbled under your rampage… a vibrant crimson rose.

You backtracked catching sight of more petals… your siege paused as you followed the trail down the new corridor. The white lights were dimmed; instead, the hall was illuminated in soft glow of small flickering candles. A warm whiff of your favorite scent guided you down the hall.

Did… Jeremiah do this?

Every so often you’d come home to a beautiful bouquet on your table with a handwritten note of adoration. Small gifts would be delivered to your workplace, but never a gesture like this.

You thumbed the rose petal in your palm as you gawked in awe as you moved along unsure of your destination.

The hall opened up to a room familiar. The den where you and your significant other spent hours, reading, laughing and enjoying the others company.

The worn petal slipped from your hand as you laid sight on a room aglow by a steady crackling flame in a fireplace… a new fireplace. Lanterns filled in the gaps chasing away any inkling of frigid darkness.

Your hands flew to cover your lips as a surprised gasp escaped you. A massive fur rug was spread over the typical cold concrete draped with plush pillows and blankets. The rose petals had blossomed into dozens of stems planted in small metal vases laid meticulously across the space, dancing in the dim glow.

“Do you like it Darling?”

You nearly melted hearing Jeremiah’s breezy voice tickle your ear; your eyes squeezed shut as his arms slipped around you in a warm embrace

He pulled you in close his cologne faint, filled your senses as you held him.

“It’s… amazing…”

You froze in you enrapture; eyes growing wide for a split second as you remembered-

“Don’t Scare Me Like That.” The words flew from your mouth angrily as you wiggled turning to smack your partners chest.

“Do you know how worried I was?

I thought you were dead.

Ecco didn’t say anything and you- “

Jeremiah’s lips cut you off as he cradled your cheek in his hand. His forehead together against yours pulling away to speak in your place.

“Forgive me. I know it’s brash but I wanted to surprise you and didn’t know any other way.”

You grazed the back of his hand falling into the deep green pools of his eyes. His dark brows knitted in concern at your silence.

After a few moments your bubbling giggle filled the room. “Don’t make it a habit.” You pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before turning back to the fireplace.

Your partner’s hand entwined into yours with a low breathy chuckle and a shake of his head as he led you to the warmth of the hearth, guiding you to a cushion before slipping off to the side returning quickly with two glasses and a covered dish.

“Thank you.” You grinned as you reached to take one of the glasses filled with your favorite wine.

He settled beside you before laying the dish to the side before taking a drink of his own.

“I do wish you would have at least given me a clue…” You swirled your glass before taking a sip. “I feel so out of place in all this elegance.” Even he had dressed impeccably as always in a copper toned sport coat and trousers down to his shoes that shined with care.

Jeremiah’s hand brushed against your knuckles pulling your attention from the drink; the flame dancing off the lenses of his glasses as he stared into the roaring fire.

“It doesn’t compare.”

The faintest grin crept on his face as he caught a glimpse of your eyes darting away to your glass, your form dipped at his sincerity. He felt a small pride seeing your blush, the bashful grins as you took his compliments was almost mind numbing for him. “All the grandest gestures I could give would never measure to the one you have given me.”

Your head lifted with the faintest tilt as you set your glass aside. “…Sweetheart is was just a watch...”

Your naïve nature was a charm he held so dear to his heart Jeremiah wanted nothing more than to protect you, to guard you from the evils of the outside world that had turned him callous and cold.

He felt his cheeks crack into a chuckling grin that spilled into his speech. “-And it’s a lovely piece, but it wasn’t…quite what I had in mind.”

He cleared his throat as he turned to face you reaching to take both your hands.

You gave him a reason to step away and take part in the small pleasures.

He felt life was worth something again. He was alive when you were with him, the mere thought of you now made Jeremiah…dare he say giddy like school boy with his first love. He now had a purpose beyond the piles of blueprints and sticky notes lining the walls of office.

He had you.

The fear that paralyzed him to hide in the shadows of the underground was cracking, shedding a light on a new life that he could build with his new purpose.

Even now as he looked to you, blinking under the cover of the candle lit room a weak smile slipped across his lips. The words all planned, down to the breathes he’d take all but faded away; Jeremiah didn’t even notice the faint tremor in his hands as he took in a breath in an attempt to seal his nerves.

You made him a mess.

“Y/N, my darling... will you stay here? With me.”

Your eyes glistened, as a soft gasp escaped you breaking into a beaming smile as you nodded eagerly your whole-body following along.

Before you could reply, he pressed a finger to your parted lips. His voice was faint as he dropped an addition.

“The night, and forever.”

You couldn’t hold the elation that was bursting in your chest; suddenly you sprang forward overtaking him in a fit of glee as one word fell feverishly from your lips. Yes. Yes, yes yes.

The two of you went tumbling down to the plush carpet. Jeremiah was on his back in an instant as your lips came crashing down to capture his own in a buzz of excitement.

Unprepared he flinched as the two of you went reeling back; his mind going blank as your lips settled into his. His hands wandered to hold your waist steady, savoring the taste of the drink on your lips before watching you pull away with a breathless huff.

And now, he would never have to think of another day were you wouldn’t be with him.

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@spider-lonesome

@maria-akira

@seldomabsent

#jeremiah valeska imagine #jeremiah valeska #jeremiah x reader #gotham jeremiah #jeremiah valeska x reader #jeremiah valeska gotham #prespray jeremiah valeska #prespray jeremiah #gotham x reader #gotham on FOX #ask prompts #mini prompts #Feedback is appreciated

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wyn-n-tonic · 3 years

Text

Golden, Like Daylight -- Part IX

Word Count: 3,087 Warnings: PTSD. Children. Fluff. Angst. Emotions. Dialogue heavy bullshit. Author's Note: Welp... this is it, y'all. I posted the first chapter of this on March 4, 2021, and it's coming to a close today on April 5, 2021, and I'm... a goddamn mess. I'm not ready to let these characters go, both the TF boys and my own character in Leah. I really appreciate all your kindness and encouragement throughout writing this, my whole heart belongs to you. Thank you, I hope you love this as much as I love you.

MASTERLIST | PART: I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX

Her room is painted like a sunrise. He remembers the first time he went up there, like it was the first breath he ever took. All rising pinks and melting blues.

He wanted her to feel that freedom from the beginning.

Leah’s hands climb his back, a kiss pressed to the hot skin between his shoulder blades as he dips to pluck his peaceful little girl out of slumber.

“Baby, let her sleep.”

But he’s shaking his head, careful with hers in his hand, “she can sleep later, I need her with me now.”

“Hmm,” she hums, turning him to guide him back to their bedroom, “keep that enthusiasm.”

Their shuffle is quiet, Luna’s big eyes slipping back to sleep nestled into her fathers shoulder.

He’s been home for over half a year and as he crawls back into bed, baby and wife clinging to him, part of him still can’t believe it. That after everything he told her, she let him stay. That, like tonight, she’s soothed the new nightmares like the old. That he celebrated Christmas with them, Luna’s first.

That he watched her lift herself up and take her first steps. That after all he had done, those first steps were towards him.

That he helped blow out the candles that he helped light, on the cake he helped make for the little girl who has her daddy’s eyes. His dimple. His smile.

One hand splayed across each of their backs, he’s talking to Leah but directing it at Luna when her bright brown eyes open again to find his.

“Hi, baby,” he whispers, Leah’s soft hand falling on his under her small back, “I’m sorry that mama and papa woke you up.”

She reaches a tiny hand up to his face and he melts into the small touch of her, his heart swelling at the unbelievable luck he has in chances granted again and again when a little, “papa,” tumbles forward in the softly lit room.

He feels Leah jump and his eyes snap to hers before they both fall back to Luna, just over one year.

“She just sa—“

“Say it again, baby,” Leah coos, tears spilling over Frankie’s eyes.

She doesn’t understand but as she grabs for him, the small voice repeats, “papa,” and he didn’t know his heart could feel so full despite all the compounding moments of fullness she’s brought to him. That they both have.

He bites his lip while looking into Leah’s glassy eyes and knows that her heart is just as swollen in this moment and all the others.

“The next one’s first word will be mama,” his hand finds the small swell of her lower belly, “I promise.” —————

She presses a coffee cup into his hand before taking a seat across from him on the living room floor, baby toys and blankets strewn across the space between them.

“What happened?”

He takes a deep breath, finding the words he spoke out loud to his team in Lorea’s mansion, “A serious fuck up.”

“I figured that much, Francisco, but what happened?”

So he tells her and she lets him.

He tells her about the seventeen grand of Santi’s own money. How he promised himself no live fire and let himself and his desperation to give her and Luna and himself the best lead him into shattering his soul again. Ripping it up as life drained from the eyes of his fellow human beings and how he didn’t even have the protection of a flag on his shoulder to ease a semblance of that pain. How even if they were bad guys, they weren’t his bad guys to worry about.

He tells her about the helicopter crash, the result of his own greed for the money and for a lack of conflict led to more loss and conflict. How he doesn’t know if he’s the one who fired first on that village but he knows he fired, an automatic weapon slung across his shoulders as easily as the diaper bag he carries through the grocery store for her.

He tells her about the crumbling mountainside, how all he saw at the bottom looking down was himself never coming home to his girls. How that’s when something within him finally snapped, when he and Will silently decided to take the reigns from Tom and Santi’s hands.

He tells her about the fire, burning hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep warm in the freezing air that wrapped around the Andes. About the gunfire that followed them through the rocks in the morning sun.

About standing over Tom’s dead body, the relief and guilt crashing inside him like a warm front meeting a cold one. How he thinks he’ll feel those both every day that he wakes because, unlike the survivor’s guilt easing through you on active duty at the knowledge that this just happens sometimes, this time was different.

He tells her that, after all of that, he threw millions of dollars down a snowy ravine in the middle of Peru where no one would ever see it again, not even his girls who needed it so much because he realized it wouldn’t be fucking worth it for them to have it if it meant not coming home.

He tells her how he almost shot that kid in the jungle. How he would’ve shot every kid standing between him and the boat to get home to his own.

He tells her that he thinks, at the end of it all, Santiago and his plan ended up doing more damage to that country than not.

She listens intently, focused wholly on him. Her face never breaks but he can see the cogs turning behind her eyes, trying to take it all in. Trying to understand.

“I understand if you want me to leave, if you never want to see me again,” he reaches out for her hand, a shiver of shock running through his spine when she doesn’t pull away from him.

Blinking as the words catch up with her, her head shakes, “I just got you back, Francisco, you promised me you wouldn’t leave again so why the fuck do you think I want you to go now?”

“Because what I did is unforgiv—“

“It’s not, there are terrible men in this world who do worse everyday,” he sees the slight sheen of tears coat her lashes, “and you helped stop one of them.”

“There will be others to take his place,” he says around a sip of his drink, his coffee gone cold in the spaces between all his words.

Her hand gives a squeeze to the one it holds, “there will always be others to take his place.”

His breathing evens out, anchored in his chest by a warmth he doesn’t deserve, “there's something else you need to know.”

He tells her about the five million dollars they were able to make it to the boat with, “we signed it all over to Molly and the girls. Will and Benny and I, we decided to do so while Santi was sleeping. We figured, ya know, at least we were coming home. It wasn’t really money we were losing since it was never ours to begin with, Tom’s family lost everything and they didn’t even know it.”

The tears do come now, streams running down his face, “I couldn’t stop thinking about how close you came to losing everything and not even knowing it too.”

His stunted words around the hiccups in his throat draw Luna’s attention, her babbles reaching out to him the way she tried to soothe Leah’s over the weeks prior. Their attention is on her now, eyes wide as she lifts herself with the couch for leverage.

She toddles one step towards his still shaking body before tumbling forward, his hands dropping the now empty coffee cup and Leah’s hand to catch her.

He pulls her small body close, hiding his face in the crook of her neck to inhale the scent of baby lotion. As she giggles in his ear, he looks up to Leah’s soft face, “the boys and I still took three hundred thousand.” —————

“You're fucking insane,” Deana doesn’t quite whisper into Leah’s ear, “a whole ass baby with another one barely even a year old, have you heard of a condom?”

“How many mimosas did you have already, D?”

Kristyn struggles with her key in the door, a large bag in hand, “judging by the slight slur, I’m going with about three so far.”

“Fuck off, K,” she points, turning back to Leah, “I'm just saying that if that big goofy idiot husband of yours goes on another of his boy’s trips, I will kill him this time.”

Her fingers are still quoting around the air as the threat falls around them, Frankie’s attention at the other end of the room grabbed away from the pureed carrots of Luna’s lunch.

“Well,” Kristyn interjects, holding the bag forward, “that’s why I come bearing the gift of one Benjamin Miller, he couldn’t be here because of a boy’s trip.”

“What do you mean?”

Leah looks back at Frankie, his eyes now turned to the conversation. She sees the pain and confusion there, he didn’t know.

Kristyn follows Leah’s gaze before looking back at the older sister in front of her, “he promised me this was his last one and he’s sorry it had to take place during your baby shower but,“ she holds the bag out again, “he says you’ll like this one.”

“It's not a shower,” Leah rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kristyn interjects, “a sprinkle. Whatever.”

“It’s not even that since, ya know,” she looks down at the tiny bundle in her arms, “he's already here.”

“A birthday present then,” she beams, “Benny says he’ll set it up when he gets home.”

Frankie’s laughter finds them now, choking around the baby food he’s trying to convince his stubborn daughter of—she’s not and she’s learned how to voice that disgust with all thanks given to her Uncle Benny.

“Baby, it’s another military surveillance camera.”

Kristyn laughs, “yeah, our whole house is strung up with them at this point but they come in handy to watch the neighbors since I’m nosy.”

“When did they leave?” His voice is small, a slight worry behind it.

Kristyn lets out a breath, “about four hours ago, he made me promise not to tell you until he was gone.”

He just nods his head, a silent clock beginning to tick in his brain. —————

It’s been two weeks since he heard from Ben or Will.

The boys have been here day in and day out since they came home last year, always were before that and even more so now that all they truly had was each other and the families they were making with and around each other.

Benny ran through Kristyn’s apartment complex screaming her name so loud as he started to bang on her door that he was met with a baseball bat. Now that idiot was going to be his brother because the sight she was met with was one of Benjamin Miller on his knees with a ring in his hands.

They gave them space with the baby’s arrival, small and short visits until Leah felt ready to have them all over again. He spoke to them that morning as he shaved the night’s stubble away, they talked like they were coming by and how they couldn’t get enough of their new nephew. How they were getting him the best present.

Frankie runs his forefinger and thumb along his mustache now, the compromise of facial hair he settled on. He didn’t want his full and sparse beard but he also felt lighter at the way Leah laughed into him with every brush of his lips.

He’s pacing the living room, bouncing the baby as Leah and Luna nap upstairs. There's only silence and the soft gurgling of a newborn when the quiet knock comes.

Already close to the entryway, he closes the distance and whispers a silent prayer to himself. A prayer that this isn’t bad news. That this is Will or Benny, not using their keys out of courtesy to the newness of little life inside his home.

He opens the door and is met with the tired eyes of Santiago Garcia.

“Hey, Frank,” he says. All bravado of his being seeped from him and replaced with, what sounds like, apology.

He adjusts his son in his hold, ushering the shorter man in so the warmth of the house doesn’t keep seeping out, “I thought you were in Australia.”

“Yeah, well,” he turns to face Frankie again as the door closes, “I make some really shit decisions sometimes.”

Frankie scoffs, half a laugh hidden in the sound. He’s not wrong but he’s not exactly right either.

“Can I get you something to drink?” He’s walked through to the kitchen, the shorter man falling in pace beside him, “we’re a dry household right now with the baby and my therapy bu—“

“Nah, Fis-Frank,” he stutters, “just came to talk to you. And Leah. She around?”

“She’s resting but I can pass along a message if I like it.”

Santi reaches into the leather folder he always carries around and produces a booklet, the one from the lawyer in St. John’s.

But different, a different cover and date, a different name stamped across the front.

“The boys sent me to give you this alone, said we needed to talk about a few more things than just this. Said I needed to apologize to you and to your wife, that I owed you that for so much but especially roping you into that shit last year.”

“Water under the bridge,” Frankie replies softly, changing direction to move through to the living room, “I gave up on an apology a long time ago and Leah never expected one, but nobody’s mad at you.”

Frankie carries the bassinet into sight from the kitchen before walking back, “what is this, Pope?”

“It’s your cut, we went back.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re stupid and greedy and we fucked ourselves up getting it in the first place so we figured we’d go back and we figured we fucking owed you.”

Frankie squints at the shorter man, searching his eyes for the hint of a joke he’s not laughing at. There is none. His cold brown stare is dead serious.

“This is my apology to you, Fran—“

“Frankie,” Leah’s voice filters into the room, he can hear her sleepy shuffle as she pads across the carpet now, “did you feed Santiago while I was asleep or should I?”

“I fed him, baby,” he calls over his shoulder.

He looks back at the man who helped shape his life, tears welling in his eyes, and hears Leah talking about ordering Chinese for dinner as she crosses the threshold but he doesn’t hear her. He can’t hear anything over the squeeze around his midsection, Santi’s quiet strength taking all of his air and senses.

He lets go as quickly as he grabbed him, Leah’s presence heavy in the room now and he crosses the room to gather her in his arms, a kiss pressed to each cheek and then her hair. He’s careful not to hug as hard as he had Frankie, conscious of her still healing body.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers between them, “for everything I’ve done and everything I wasn’t around for.”

She’s trying to catch her breath, trying not to cry herself, “it's oka—“

“I should’ve been here for you guys.”

Her small hand comes up to pat the curls, a little more gray than a year ago, “you are now.”

He pulls away from her, a hitch in his voice as he says, “can I hold him?”

“Yeah,” she nods, “but you gotta wash your face and hands, no tears or snot on my baby.”

He mumbles to himself about how that makes sense as he moves to the sink, fumbling over the soap in the holder as he shakes with nerves.

She makes her way across the kitchen, wrapping her still sleepy being around that of her wide awake husband. The low lying winter sun is filtering through the windows, bathing everything in soft, warm light.

She sees the golden cover of the booklet on the counter and taps it, “what's this?”

Daylight Family Trust is stamped across in big bold words.

“That was the boy’s trip,” he whispers, “that’s our cut.”

He watches her as she slowly reaches for the document, the one that explains how this all works and looks between the men.

“How much?”

Santi rips a paper towel from the roll, “about thirty-five million.”

Frankie holds her as her knees start to give out but she’s still looking at Santi, she’s still looking for the joke he never made.

“Daylight's your call sign, you know,” he says cooly, “all the wives get one too, did he ever tell you?”

She shakes her head, looking at her husband now and thinking of all the times that very word fell from his lips.

“On our last real deployment,” Pope continues, “he was flying as the sun was setting and the sky was pure gold over the desert—“

Frankie’s eyes never leave hers, arms tight around her now.

“—he said it reminded him of the way the gold flakes in your eyes reflect the sunlight back at him, he called you Daylight until he got home and shed the callsigns altogether.”

“Frankie?”

He presses his lips into her forehead, his hand a heavy weight on her lower back that says, I’m right here.

“Your daughter has the same golden flakes in her eyes, like you, Daylight.”

Frankie runs his thumb along the swell of her cheek, "all I wanted to do last year was get home to you both, all I wanted was to make it right and see that reflection of light back at me through you both again.”

He leans down to softly press his lips to hers before nuzzling his nose into her hair, “our son has them too, the same gold in his eyes, it was the first thing I said to Ben when I walked out of the delivery room.”

"It was the first thing they said to me," Santiago says, "when they got off the plane."

“Like me?” Her voice is soft, the heaviness of sleep still clinging to her limbs.

“Mmhmm,” Frankie hums, “like Daylight.”

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dracosathenaeum · 4 years

Text

Sleepless Nights

Summary: You can’t sleep but your boyfriend reads to you until you do

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1,154

#A/N: Requested by @thehumanistsdiary , I hope you like it! Poem is Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning because its the only poem I know 👀😅

Your eyes fell on the clock in the room every 5 minutes as you watched the minutes tick by. You had curled up in Draco’s arms at midnight after a long night of studying for your O.W.L.S which were coming up in the following weeks. Studying with Draco was both a blessing and a curse though, he was ridiculously smart, but at the same time, he had no idea how distracting he was.

“Stop oogling me and read those ridiculous leaves of yours.” He’d said just hours prior.

“I can’t help that my boyfriend is so distractingly pretty, wanna take a break and cuddle?” That cuddle had turned into much much more after your teasing but at least you were both more relaxed than you had been…

Yet here you were, wide awake curled into Draco’s side as he snored away. Draco had practically fallen asleep the second his head hit the pillow, whereas you had laid there for an hour straight just admiring his face, not one ounce of tiredness in you.

The moonlight hitting his face made him seem fairer than he already was, watching Draco sleep was always one of your favourite things to do, though some of your friends had called you ‘Edward Cullen’, whoever that was, after you told them. It was one of the only times he looked completely peaceful. Your brought up your index finger to trace the lines of his face, cupping his jaw when you had traced all of his features. You couldn’t help yourself as you propped yourself up on your other arm and tilted his face closer to yours to drop a kiss on his lips. You pulled away, feeling slightly weird about kissing him whilst he was asleep, but you really had no self-control when he looked like that.

You just leant back onto the arm you had propped yourself up on, happy to just watch him sleep. Usually when you couldn’t sleep, you’d just lie there and stare at the ceiling, this was one hundred times better.

“Please don’t tell me it’s morning already.” He hadn’t shown the slightest signs of being awake so to say you were surprised was putting it lightly. “It’s about 1am, go back to sleep Draco.”

His arms moved from where they had fallen to on the bed, to wrap around your shoulders and waist, bringing you back down to his chest. “Can’t sleep?” Draco’s raspy voice, still thick from sleep was your favourite sound in the whole world, one of the many reasons you loved waking up beside him in the mornings.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.” You tucked yourself back into his chest as his arms tightened around you, dropping a kiss on the top of your head. You could tell he was having trouble staying awake no matter how much he tried to mask it, he should know by now he can’t hide anything from you.

“It’s okay, I’ll stay awake with you.”

“Draco, we both have 9am lessons tomorrow, at least one of us should get some sleep.” Draco just ignored you and reached over your shoulder to grab something from his nightstand and flicked the switch to turn the lamp on. Both of you winced as the lights came on, you buried your face in Draco’s neck in attempts to shield your eyes from the lights.

“I thought we were sleeping, turn it off!” He instead sat up against the headboard, bringing you up with him. You were still curled into his side, both of his arms around you but instead of his hands gripping at your waist, they held onto a book.

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace.”

You were in love with Draco Malfoy, you knew that. You’ve known for the past two years. Yet listening to him read you poetry when he himself was only half awake, you found yourself falling in love with him all over again. One of his hands moved up to gently massage your scalp as he kept his eyes on the book in his other hand. The soothing tenor of his voice paired with the soft movements on your head had your eyes suddenly feeling heavy.

“I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.”

You hummed into his neck as he dropped a kiss on your nose in between lines of the poem. You had never been one for poetry, and you hadn’t thought Draco was either, but as he read to you, you realised you could listen to him recite poetry forever, no matter how cringey you thought it was. Your eyes slipped closed as you focused on Draco’s voice, feeling the calmest you had all week.

“I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.”

Draco finished the poem and looked down to see you snoring lightly into his neck, ‘adorable’ he thought. He returned the book to his nightstand and reached over to turn off the lights; sinking back down onto the bed, careful not to wake you as he brought you down with him.

It was his turn to stare now. Even though his vision was limited to the moon light, he still thought you were the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

He rarely had a full night’s sleep, often waking up in the middle of the night for an hour or two, that’s why he had started reading poetry. At first, he read it because it bored him to death, but he started enjoying it somewhere along the line. But on nights where he was lucky enough to be asleep next to you, he would just watch you sleep until he fell asleep again, content to just watch your peaceful expression. It was at times like this he wondered how he deserved someone like you, how he had gotten someone like you to fall in love with someone like him.

It was when you unconsciously burrowed yourself further into his hold that he realised. It was when you were deep in sleep but still called him name when he left to use the bathroom. It was when you murmured his name with furrowed brows, arms stretched out as if looking for him that he realised that maybe he meant as much to you as you did to him.

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anyoneseenadam · 3 years

Text

The Moon Spirit - two

Dorian x reader, Fenrys x reader (throne of glass)

Description: When you’re taught to be a queen from such a young age, nothing could go wrong. But when the king starts to fear your growing power you find yourself thrust into a world of faeries, evil magic and powerful men, learning to stand on your own can be harder than it seems.

warnings: blood, graphic descriptions of violence, objectification, gross old men, Dorian is a ball of love and niceness however, angst, fluff, possibly smut in later chapters

word count: 2.9k

a/n: oof the plans i have for this series omg!! i hope you like this pls comment and tell me what u think and also feel free to give any ideas/ theories i love getting that sm!! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

——————————————————————————-

Finding a place to get a drink was easier said than done.

You had ridden along the cold, barren road for hours – your only company being the birds singing above you, the horse moving below you and the small bundle of content wrapped in your arms who had fallen asleep in your arms in seconds, occasionally yawning widely. And through those hours you had met no one and seen no place to stop.

You eventually had to stop, exhaustion slowing you down. You moved off course and tied your horse to a tree next to a small stream, running a comforting hand through its mane as it drank slowly. You slowly stripped off as well, taking your time as you removed the blood-soaked layers from your skin. Once you were bare, shivering in the cool morning air, you stepped slowly into the stream – swearing enough to make a sailor blush.

However, you relented, running your hands over your skin, wiping away the guards’ blood with a heavy heart as the water turned pink. Your whole body ached, yet you were numb. Men were dead because of you, and - if he hadn’t already – Dorian would hear of your disappearance soon. And then the king would pick him a new bride, and you would be forgotten.

Just as intended.

Amaris was mewling behind you, hungry and cold, wondering why you had left. Or maybe that was just you, maybe you were projecting. You climbed out of the water, pulling your undergarments back on as you found a sunny patch to sit in, allowing the newly risen sun to cleanse away the remnants of the night, drying your skin slowly.

After half an hour of silent tears you picked yourself back up, pulling on your stiff clothes and climbing onto your horse as you set off again. You couldn’t just lie down and die, no matter how much you wanted to, you had to look after your last gift from Dorian, and you had look after yourself.

You ended up riding for hours more before you wandered into a small town. Dismounting, you led your horse through the town as you searched for a place to get food and maybe clean clothes, glaring down your nose at anyone who stared to long. Much like Dorian used to.

No. You tried to expel the thought of him from your head, not needing to be swept up in the thought of his forget-me-not eyes, nor did you need to remember that you may never get to look into them again.

What you needed was the tavern you could see at the end of the street.

You pushed through the street, ignoring the townspeople as you moved to the stables beside the tavern, giving your horse rest, food, and water. You hid Amaris in your coat as you moved into the tavern – back straight and head high as you walked.

The bar quietened down when you moved in, a small sprout woman pausing handing out drinks as she stared at you over a high skew nose. The bar smelt of sour whisky and piss, the surfaces barely visible beneath the dirt that covered every surface – the only source of light coming from tall candles that had been stuffed into wine bottles. The curtains over the windows were drawn tight, not allowing any other light in and the people in the bar all looked remarkably similar, tired. The woman behind the bar was petite, with a face alike a weasel and when she spoke you discovered her voice was just as shrill as you expected.

“And who do you think you are?” she moved in front of the bar, walking towards you as you levelled your gaze.

“I’m no one.” You replied, the answer vague enough that she hopefully wouldn’t try again.

“Then what do you want?” she was exasperated as she spoke, and you allowed yourself a moment of reprise as you glanced down at your clothes.

“A drink would be nice,” your voice was curt, tired. The small lady rolled her eyes, moving away as you approached the bar, allowing her to pour you a glass of cheap, hard liquor.

She slid it towards you, and you knocked it back quickly. “Do you also have fresh clothes and maybe some food for me and my cat?”

As she left with an eye roll, a man approached you, his hairline receding and breath fowl as he slung an arm around your shoulder, leaning far too close for your comfort as you trained your eyes forward.

“I can offer you a job,” he nodded his head and you looked over to see his eyes trained on the prostitutes in the corner, “I’ll even offer a free trial. To get you started.”

You felt panic rise like bile in your throat, your entire body tensing as you shoved this man’s arm of your shoulder. You calmed your face – unwilling to let any emotion show as you faced him.

“You couldn’t afford me,” you snarled, pushing down the heat growing in you as the curious eyes of the towns’ folk were once again turned on you.

“You bitch!” the man began shouting but was cut off by the shrill woman’s return. She unceremoniously dumped a pile of clothes in your lap, along with a small loaf and some fish, her gaze expectant.

You loosened the bracelet around your wrist, dropping it into her hand as she stared at the large jewels adorning it.

“That should cover it.” you muttered as you stood, keeping your gaze angry and forward as you shouldered past the burly man. You bundled the clothing and food in one hand, the other still holding Amaris tight to your chest as you left the dirty tavern.

You found your horse again, offloading the goods you had received into the worn satchels on its side – leading it out of the barn slowly, desperate to get out of this town.

Dorian was a mess.

He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, could barely speak anymore. It was enough to lose you, but to then realise that his own father had driven you away. His own father had made you feel so unsafe in your own home that you couldn’t even run to him, his father had made you feel so completely isolated that your only choice was to flee.

Chaol was trying to coax him back into civilised life, his brother mourning the loss of his friend, yet itching to find you. And level-headed as always, Chaol knew that wouldn’t happen with Dorian spending his days drinking or in bed – often both.

But Dorian didn’t know how to cope, he didn’t know how to plaster on a smile and pretend everything was okay. That was your specialty.

Almost a month had passed, and you certainly were nowhere to be seen. You weren’t coming home anytime soon and he was going to have to learn how to live without you eventually.

Every morning he woke up, a part of him hoped it was a bad dream, that you would be asleep in his arms, or giggling and pressing dizzying kisses into his jaw. He hoped one day he would just wake up and you would wrap your arms tight around his shoulders, tell him it was just a nightmare and stroke his hair until he fell back asleep.

But he knew that couldn’t happen, that life wasn’t kind enough to return his bride to him and so instead he chose to numb his thoughts. He ignored the flirty eyes of other woman, unable to look at them in their expensive dresses and jewels without his mind returning to you.

Everyday that passed without you hurt that much more, so when he sat on his throne as Chaol approached him with a beautiful but deadly woman, he decided since he couldn’t have his perfect woman, he must find her opposite. He couldn’t be who he was before – so he must become someone new.

You weren’t faring much better. The day you had left the bar, you had ridden all the way to the coast of Terrasan and had climbed onto the first boat to Doranelle. By the time you arrived in the city you had just about sold anything of value on your person and all you had left to sell was the poor horse you had taken away.

By the time it was just you and Amaris, you had acquired a small flat in the city – the walls were bare and there was only simple furniture in it, the mattress on the floor next to large windows, and worn cushions on a makeshift sofa next to a wooden table.

Every night Amaris crawled into bed next to you, licking away salty tears from your face as you pulled the thin, scratchy sheet closer over you – hoping to replicate even a shred of Dorian’s warmth, or the feeling of his arms wrapped secure around your waist. Most nights you didn’t sleep, the bags growing under your eyes as your heart slowly numbed. Amaris would bury himself in the warmth of your chest as your eyes blurred, watching the city move outside of your flat – the noise subdued and calming.

On the third day in the new city you set out to find work, desperate to find something that could numb the thoughts in your mind and make the days easier. Plus you were sick of grabbing the easiest food you could find. You found yourself walking to a library, deciding it would be the perfect mixture of solitude and work for you. And it helped that you had spent most your life reading, many nights curled under Dorians arms as you read your separate books – occasionally reciting a line to the other.

The old man at the front of the library was kind, his face wrinkled from easy smiles, and you could understand why his long, long life seemed so pleasing. The bookshelves were tall, dizzyingly tall, and filled with countless books that you wished you could search through for hours. There were also tall, stained windows lining the walls, letting in the beautiful morning light and showing how the dust danced around the room.

“So what brings you here?” he asked, moving around the desk he sat at and motioning for you to take a seat on the small, cushioned seats next to him.

You sat down gently, back straight but keeping your eyes trained on your neatly folded hands. “I need work, sir. I have very good qualifications and have been educated by the best.”

He laughed slightly at that, “That much is clear, my child. But I asked what brings you here? What is your story?”

You looked up to meet his eyes, unable to stop the pain that they revealed, and he took your hands gently in his warm ones, “The world has treated you poorly I see.”

You felt tears build in your eyes – this kindness so alien to your battered heart you couldn’t help yourself as you let out a soft sob. The man smiled kindly at you, squeezing your hands gently as he urged you to talk to him.

“I was f-forced to leave the man I loved,” you choked out, “his father tried to… hurt me.” Your explanation was an over-simplification, but you feared what may occur if you revealed the truth.

“Was he your mate?” the man asked kindly, and you shook your head.

“I am not Fae,” you explained, and he frowned, passing you his handkerchief as he stood.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked, retrieving a small, hand-held mirror, and handing it to you. You took it with a confused expression before looking in, gasping under your breath as you saw your ears had taken on a delicate point.

“I, I don’t- that’s not possible.” You shook your head, eyes wide as they met his.

“Where do you come from child?” he voice was gentle as he took in your shock.

“Adarlan.” You whispered and he smiled sympathetically.

“Then I believe a glamour has been removed recently.” You could feel yourself shaking, the weight of the knowledge hitting you. “Let me take a name dear, you can start work tomorrow, we’ve been needing some extra hands around here.”

“(y/n) (y/l/n)” your voice was small as you stood, shaking his hand lightly. “Thank you so much.”

“It’s no problem and remember when you work you can have a read through any book you like. Aisle sixteen contains many on the ancient spirits.” He looked down to your necklace pointedly and you bit your tongue so hard you tasted blood, desperate to not reveal any more than you already had.

“Thank you…” you trailed off and he smiled,

“Albert,” he finished for you. “And make sure to take care on your way home, this city is filled with powerful people, you would be smart to not mix with them.”

You nodded, pocketing the information in your mind, ready to add it to your list of rules.

Fenrys was tired. He had just gotten home from a month-long mission and all he wanted was to sleep, however he wasn’t quite ready to face Maeve yet and instead he decided to take a trip to his favourite library before she realised he was back.

He was walking in when he saw you, your eyes red but hopeful and he almost fell over at the sight of you. You were wearing common clothes but held yourself like royalty, head high and gaze ready to tear down a man who so much as looked at you wrong.

What he did next he wasn’t exactly proud of, but he needed an excuse, so he was willing to play his hand a bit. “Excuse me miss, do you happen to know where I could find the tilted goose?” your eyes widened when you saw him, fuelling his ego slightly.

He knew where the tilted goose was of course, it was one of his favourite bars, but you didn’t have to know that.

“Oh yeah, it’s just down this way. I’m walking that way I’ll show you,” your voice was like music to his ears, and he smiled, revelling in how you avoided his gaze, clearly intimidated by his stature.

“Thank you so much…?” he asked, and you smiled, softly, subdued.

“(y/n),” you stared walking in the correct direction, and he grinned.

“Beautiful name for a beautiful lady. Fenrys.” He placed a hand to his chest as you laughed lightly.

“Quite a flirt aren’t you?” you asked, eyes sparkling.

“Can’t help myself, I’m not sure I’ve ever met such a beautiful woman.” He looked down to you as he fell into step beside you, noticing that you were taking a much longer way than needed. “You new here?”

“How’d you tell?” your tone was self-deprecating, and he laughed.

“This way takes about five minutes longer.” He stated and you whirled around, pointing a finger accusingly.

“You know how to get there.” He felt his face heat up as he raised his hands sheepishly.

“Maybe…” he grinned, and you scoffed, rolling your eyes as you began to storm off.

��See you around princess!” he called after you, almost missing the way your shoulders stiffened momentarily before you called over your shoulder.

“You’d be so lucky!” you replied, pace quickening as he watched you climb a set of stars that led to some run-down apartments.

He laughed, the smiled on his face coming naturally and surprising him. Oh his life was about to get much better.

You shouldn’t have enjoyed the pretty man’s company. And you hated yourself for it.

But he was so kind and for five minutes he made you feel normal again, loved again. See you around princess! The words wouldn’t stop replaying in you head. You weren’t allowed to be a normal girl; you were a princess, and you were on the run, and you definitely had no time for handsome men who flirted with you.

You couldn’t betray Dorian like that, he was probably waiting for you to come home. And you planned to. You would build your strength and you would learn to fight, and you would tear the king to shreds.

But for now, you had to settle for getting through each day, and that meant you had no time for handsome distractions. As you steeled your nerves you felt the loneliness settle on your shoulders, wrapping around you like a shadow, and you fought to reach deep inside yourself, finding the sliver of magic that was curled up – dormant – inside of you.

You found it and fought to awaken it, only receiving a shard of the true power. You stood in front of the dirty mirror in your bathroom, taking in your newly pointed ears and watching as your necklace glowed gently, your eyes turning silver as you released a small amount magic, watching as the bright light shattered the mirror in front of you.

Your eyes widened at the loud noise and with a flinch the magic was gone, the only proof it was even there was the shattered mirror in front of you.

You stared back at the cracked reflection and squared your shoulders. You were going to train, you were going to fight, and you were going to win. Even if it broke you.

#throne of glass #dorian havilliard #dorian x reader #dorian havilliard x reader #fenrys x reader #fenrys moonbeam #fenrys moonbeam x reader

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baekhvuns · 4 years

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photocard.

synopsis : in which your best friend gives you the biggest gift that’s he’s always kept to himself on the day of christmas. ( collab w/ @hanflix ) ♡

pairing : minho x reader

themes : romcom & fluff.

word count : 3k

christmas eve.

you shuffled around in your bed, a pout decorating your pink-tinted lips as you brought the blanket closer to your face.

your mouth escaped a sigh one too many times now, and the only thought circulating in your mind was that your best friend in the entire world forgot it was christmas, a holiday you’d always without a stop celebrate together.

your mouth flees another sigh, it wasn’t a big deal that he forgot christmas considering he’s on tour in a completely different country while you returned from your work with the sweet wishes from your coworkers.

your best friend, lee minho, no, not the actor, is from the worldwide famous band, stray kids. it was only normal for him to be travelling way too many times during the years due to his schedule, but he always made time for you even on the busiest of days.

you’ve been friends for more than fifteen years, starting from middle school all the time now. the two of you shared everything, from your very firsts to seeing each other be successful.

you were truly happy at the fact that you two were still best of friends despite him being a literal singer who barely has time to take a seat.

and you love him for that, his personality, the whole tsundere facade, sarcasm and constant chaotic behaviour that made you laugh even on your worst days. on top of that his looks, especially his sharp eyes that you loved to gaze into and the way he always looks like a model when he’s doing the most basic chores.

so being lonely in your apartment, well both of your apartment as he’s over most of the times, was normal. but today felt colder than usual, the apartment quiet with the occasional sounds coming from the heater you placed in front of you.

just the mere thought of him sent your heart fluttering especially when you’ve got an unrequited love for him, being friends for fifteen years and one of us not having feelings for each other sounded absurd.

that’s impossible, that’s what you thought at first but then you started seeing minho in a different light. the way you’d look at him changed and the way your thoughts were constantly crowded by him finally made you realize that yes, you are indeed in love with minho.

your eyes gazing the sky outside, courtesy of the apartment window being able to showcase the city up top. the snow had already started to fall, it was a white christmas, you could see the christmas lights hanging and glowing, tall skyscrapers advertising their christmas spirit by showcasing a lights show of red and green with the occasional appearance of santa.

you could very barely hear the christmas bells from the street market below, but the piano music in the background that you specifically chose was louder.

you rolled over to face the window and buried yourself in one of minho’s black hoodies and the blanket, your eyes tired from the work and feeling droopy as if they’ll shut down any minute.

your thoughts wandering to minho who must be on stage performing his heart out, getting the adrenaline from his fans who he cherished the most. you smiled nonetheless, his face flashing in your mind.

minho on the other had just landed home, he wasn’t exactly supposed to be taking the uber back to your place considering one of the concerts was in both your hometown and he’s supposed to be with the members practicing for it.

he bids goodbye to his friends who cheered and whistled loudly at him yelling “good luck! call us if it works out your way!”

throwing them a playful glare he makes his way to the uber, pulling up his mask and adjusting the jacket around him as the cold december night wind lingered through.

he excitedly tells the address to the man driving not before stopping by a local bakery to grab your favourite cake and snacks, he makes sure to get both of his and your favourite colours along with a cartoon candle that reminded him of you.

he smiles at the bag in his hand before sitting back down in the uber before being driven to your apartment complex.

he sprints up to the building with the plastic bag containing food and cake in one hand while the other held his suitcase, while another bag over his shoulders.

he huffs and puffs out harshly as he tugs the mask down, bowing to the apartment building guard respectfully who only laughed and waved, knowing him and the number of times he’s visited before opening the door to the complex building and immediately being swarmed by the heat.

he glances around and a wide smile graces his face, he loves chirstmas, just because it’s your favourite holiday. he loves seeing you getting all giddy about decorating the tree and when he wraps you in wrapping paper while hearing you scream his name.

he’s sure that you did a great job decorating the entire apartment this year too, although a pity he couldn’t join you this year.

he shakes his head and makes his way to the elevator, pressing the top floor button before entering it. he jumps on his feet back and forth slightly, excited yet scared to see you after a while especially when he’s got something extremely important to say.

when the elevator dings, he practically sprints out of the elevator and makes his way to your shared apartment. but pauses before he could make noise, he takes a swift look at his wrist and checks the time.

11:40 pm.

“she’ll be sleeping, only got twenty minutes left,” he whispers to himself, taking the spare key out and slowly and quietly unlocking the door, not wanting you to know he’s here.

he takes his shoes off and pads his socked feet quietly on the wooden floor until stepping on the comfy carpet. he slowly unravels the window blinding and glances at the city being covered in snow, a smile on his face he looks at the clock again and panic comes over him.

he slowly but quickly takes the cake box out and places it neatly on the table, he grabs plates and puts the dishes beside the cake and then finally places the candles on the surface in a matter of seconds before lighting the candles up.

he has the radio set up for the perfect soft christmas music that echoes in the background, smiling to himself he lets out a sigh of relief and stands up, quietly making his way towards your bedroom even though he feels as if he wants to scream and jump on you.

slowly opening the door, he peeks his head in and his eyes settle on your sleeping form. a warm smile tugs on his lips but he pauses before opening the door.

his heartbeat increases and his stomach churns at what he’s about to do, he’s afraid that you’ll be upset and it’ll ruin everything between you two but he opens the door wider and makes his way towards you.

his lips curve up into a smile when he notices that you’re wearing his hoodie, your cheeks squished together with a blush to them as you slept away.

he contemplates for a second to either jump on you and surprise you awake or to scream and wake you up and then surprise you. laughing he chooses to peacefully wake you up, he takes a seat next to you and pats your warmer cheeks with his colder hands.

“(y/n), wake up,” he mumbles softly and you stir in your sleep, he smiles and caresses your cheek softly.

“(y/n) wake up or i’ll leave, ” he says again but this time closer to your face, you groan and reluctantly flutter open your eyes to look at whatever called out to you.

once your irises focus on the setting they immediately widened, a bright smile on your face as you jump in utter surprise. “minho,” you say groggily.

“what the heck are you doing here!” you let out and he pulls you in a warm hug, whining in your hold as you let out a chuckle.

he taps your head softly, “it’s christmas you idiot and you’re here sleeping,” he says, rocking you back and forth in the hug and you smile against him.

“well, if my best friend isn’t beside me,” you pause and push him away, “how will i celebrate it?” and examine his stunning face.

his eyes turn into crescents and he shows off his infamous smile that has butterflies aviating in your stomach.

before he’s about to pull you over his shoulder you stop him, “but min, aren’t you supposed to be with the guys? what about your tour?”

he chuckles and pulls you up, “you forgot the last concert is here, so i came straight to you so we both can celebrate christmas together,” he says, grabbing your hands and pulling you off the bed.

you groan and he chuckles, “now, c’mon it’s almost christmas.”

you follow him into your living room only to stop beside him, he grins widely when he looks at your shocked face and you find yourself tearing up and he panics immediately.

“w-what’s wrong?” he says, cupping your face looking at you in worry, but you only let out a chuckle and punch his shoulder.

“god, you’re going to make me emo today,” you say and walk past him to admire the living room. eyeing the small cake lit on the centre table with your favourite food around it, your stomach grumbles and you take a seat on the floor.

minho who’s been on pause for the past few seconds jolts out and walks over to take a seat beside you.

your eyes gaze over the table and then back to minho who’s weirdly fidgety, you look at him in confusion. “what’s got you so fidgety?” you ask and he shoots his head at you, wide eyes staring into yours.

he clears his throat harshly before dramatically placing his elbow on the table, cradling his face on his palm.

“nothing,” he gulps at your stare, you look at him a second longer before reaching behind him.

he swears he’s about to have a heart attack, it’s not like you’ve never come closer to him. you’ve hugged on multiple occasions and even sat beside each other with no feelings but for the past few years, all of that has changed.

his breath hitched in his throats and he swears to god that he hear his heart thumping in his ears, he then thanks the almighty when you pull away but only curses internally at your killer smile.

you extend your hand to minho, the one holding your present for him, wrapped neatly in a red box with a golden ribbon right in the centrepiece.

he crosses his eyebrows in confusion, “what is this?” he asks before taking it from your hands, you glance behind him to look at the time.

11:54 pm.

“it’s my christmas present to you,” you reply, pointing behind, “it’s almost time anyway’s so i thought i should give it right now.”

you smile when he takes it from your hands while eyeing you, he chucks open the gift and immediately gasps.

“you did not,” he exclaims, pulling out the very thing he wanted from the beginning of the year.

you grinned, “i did,” watching his eyes sparkle brightly that fastened your heartbeat.

he smiles and places the box beside him before clearing his throat and dramatically bringing out a green bag from behind him, he shoves it to your chest and looks away, a blush coating his cheeks.

you coo in excitement and dismantle the bag, going past the number of fluffy papers to finally grasp the rectangular object. your eyes widen at what you’re holding and scream, minho flinching in the process.

“minho you’re insane!” you say, absolutely blown away by the present he’s given you.

“y-you don’t like it?” he stutters out, afraid that you might not like it even after all the consultations from his group members who said, “simple is sexy.” and so he listened.

“are you kidding me? you got me one of your albums and you think i won’t like it?” you joke, patting his shoulder repeatedly at the excitement as you hurriedly discarded the plastic layering.

he watches your face contort into various expressions and feels his heart sped up as you flip through the pages.

you squeal at every photo and point at how ridiculous minho looked, even though he didn’t.

“oh, hyunjin is so hot,” you say and he immediately snaps his head at you.

“what did you say?” he asks, and you stick your tongue out at him playfully.

as you flip the pages and admire every single one of them, you find yourself staring at the ones with minho longer than the rest. when realizing you’ve been staring at it for seconds you quickly flip the pages, getting excited about the photo card you’ll pull.

minho’s internally screaming, knowing you’re one page away from the photo card, he feels himself starting to sweat, heart wrenching and he looks everywhere but you.

it’s not just a plain old photo card, instead, it’s a special one, the one he specifically designed for you after begging one of the staff members to create on extra print of it, and placed it at the side to give it to you at the perfect time.

you flip the next page and squeal at the photo, “hey! look it’s you, what a coincidence!” you say, picking it up to give it a look.

“what a coincidence,” he mumbles under his breath.

you flip the card and took the time to read whatever auto-generated thing he wrote but to your surprise, it’s something completely different from the past ones.

this one however has your heartbeat increasing, you lift your head to look at minho who’s been eyeing you in curiously.

you open your mouth but nothing comes out, instead, you hear your heartbeat thumping loudly. “a-are you serious?” you ask and he swallows, nodding hesitatingly.

“read it out loud,” he says and you shift to look at the card.

“(y/n), for the past few years, i’ve come to completely fall in love with you.” you pause to suck in a breath. “so this christmas, i wanted to ask you if you’d date me?”

you lift your eyes to look at him who’s scared out of his wits, water starts to brim along your waterline when he starts to speak.

“for the past few years, the way i looked at you changed, you’ve never invaded my mind so much till now,” he stops himself as his head slowly bows down.

“i’ve grown to love you differently,” he says and you place a hand on your mouth. “(y/n), you’re probably the first person i liked outside my members,” he chuckles dryly.

“so i wanted you to th-“

you stop him by lifting his head and pressing your lips to his, he lets out a surprised yelp and you cup his cheeks. he closes his eyes and kisses you back softly, smiling against your lips.

when you pull back, “i love you too, you dummy,” you say with a smile, breathing heavily while glancing in his eyes.

“not just as a friend, but more than that.” you smile before closing the distance between you two again, losing yourself in a sweet yet chaste kiss once again.

this time he pulls back with the brightest smile you’ve seen in a while, “i need to tell the guys, they must be waiting for my call.”

you gasp, “you all knew? and only told me now?”

he doesn’t respond but grins widely, fishing out his phone from his pockets to speed dial the rest who were waiting in their living room, settled on the couch waiting impatiently for the one special call.

once the call goes through they quickly answer it and put it on a video call, minho grabs your waist and pulls you down to sit in between his legs.

you smile shyly, the blush hitting your skim different today. your eyes meet the impatient eyes of the seven boys huddling over each other and you hear minho chuckle lowly in your ear.

“they’ve been waiting,” he whispers and you shoot your eyebrows up.

“how long?” you ask, and he finds himself smiling, “ever since debut.”

even before you could reply, the guys on the other side immediately start screaming at the sight of you two, shaking the camera violently while you and minho laugh at their absurdness.

chan, who seems the only normal one at the moment takes the phone with a big smile. “so? what’s the news?” he asks, his dimples showing and eyebrows wiggling.

you feel the blood shoot up to your cheeks when minho places his chin on your shoulder, “it’s a success.” he says and the other line goes insane once again.

one of them singing ‘my house’ teasingly, the other’s yelling and screaming in excitement and you watch them with wide eyes as if they’ve never witnessed a couple.

you turn your face to minho’s, “are they ok-“ before you could even complete your sentence he takes the chance to press his lips on yours and you find yourself melting under his touch, smiling against his lips.

“oh, eww!” you hear the other’s groan in disgust, making you and minho chuckle at their reactions as he pulls you closer to him.

you glance at the snow falling outside and a smile laces on your lips, burying yourself more into your now boyfriends hold you think about the past christmases with him, but this one takes the cake for being the best with the best present, the photo card.

oh, and of course, your best friend turned boyfriend.

#my first time writing for skz so please eXcUse Me #look this was last minute #collabs with rue #pls spare me #stray kids #minho #lee know #skz fluff #skz soft hours #lee know fluff #lee know x reader #minho imagines #minho scenarios #lee know scenarios #stray kids smut #stray kids soft imagines #stray kids soft hours

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emmanelson · 3 years

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Chapter 3: Feelings and First Times

A little prequel that takes place during 2.01-2.02 when Devi is dating both Ben and Paxton. The first time they have sex, it isn’t in a friends-with-benefits relationship. It’s bordering on the brink of something real, something special, at least in Paxton’s retrospect.

tw: rated M for sexual content

In the days that followed Devi deciding to date both Ben and Paxton, their relationship moved at a quicker pace than expected. Paxton meant what he said by wanting to make the time they still had together count, even if it would only be for a couple more weeks. So when Devi is invited to the Hall-Yoshida household that Friday night with the implicit instruction to stay over, she tells her mom she is sleeping over at Eleanor’s and is maybe even a little too eager to get there, the walk feels more like a sprint. They had tried taking the next step a few times, and then realized they wanted to live long enough to actually see each other, so doing it at the Vishwakumar residence was out of the question.

She isn’t expecting much, a pizza, maybe some video games in the garage and then she’d retire to Rebecca’s room and try to raid her closet unsuccessfully. But what she arrived at was a whole other story.

She was greeted at the door with a long, slow kiss and Paxton’s lit up face as he ushered her inside.

“We’ve gone on enough dates for me to get that it means one on one, so tonight it’s just us.” He was biting the inside of his cheek.

“Do you have protection?”

“Yeah I-Why, do you?” Leave it to Devi to be the first one to bring up sex. She did say that Paxton brought out her mega-horny side after all, and never thought she would actually get this close to having sex before being moved halfway around the world.

“Yeah, I kind of panicked and asked Kamala to buy me some at the drug store and drop it off a block away so my mom didn’t catch on.” For talking a big game, Devi knew next to nothing about sex. She only knew what she saw in tv shows, read about in weird Wattpad-fanfiction-turned-best-selling-novels, and researched on the internet. She had tried watching porn once but she clicked play when her airpod was off and you couldn’t pay her to relive that experience and the horror of her mom asking what she was doing.

“I kinda asked my parents to take Becca out for the night. I wanna show you something.” Paxton lightly took her head as they walked up the staircase towards his bedroom. Not the garage, not the couch, his room.

“If this is going to be one of the last weekends we have together, I wanted it to be special and shit.” She had been in Paxton’s room before, but had never seen it so clean, and was that the smell of fresh sheets? Upon taking in Devi’s widened gaze, he quickly backtracked and shook his head vigorously. “Not that we have to fool around or do anything that you don’t want to.”

Devi was shaking her head and stifling a laugh for a whole other reason.

“I just wanted you to have something that was something out of the stupid chick-flicks that Becca makes me watch. Something that you can think about while you’re in India and I’m stuck here. I had to use these dumb environmentally friendly light bulbs that my mom buys because the last time we had real candles, there was an incident with Trent and the house almost burned down.”

He had lit candles, or at least light bulbs in the shape of candles, ushered his family out of the house and seemed rather hesitant about asking for sex. She couldn’t believe this was her life right now. Her relationship with Paxton had always been somewhat based on physical attraction. When they first talked and she asked him for sex, to when they started dating and moved onto beyond chaste kisses and lingering touches over clothes to long makeout sessions and bruised lips and body parts.

If anything it only made her want him more and she eagerly hooked her arms around his neck. “This is perfect. More than perfect actually, you didn’t have to go through all the trouble, but I’m glad you did.”

Normally Devi was the one rambling and Paxton was the one initiating things between them, it was kind of a rush to be on the other side of things for a change.

“I want my first time to be with you, here, just like this.” She whispered against his mouth, watching as his lips curved upwards into a wide smile.

He took his time kissing her, familiarizing himself with her body, teasing things out in her that she figured laid dormant. He was moving so slow that Devi was getting frustrated as they fell back onto his bed.

“I know I’m the virgin here, but doesn’t it usually move a lot quicker than this?” She was trying to unbutton his jeans, lift up his shirt to feel his abs, anything to speed things up but Paxton simply continued pushing his tongue past her lips and making her head spin.

A hand snaked under her shirt and Devi immediately moved to cover her breasts, insecurity surfacing at the worst time.

“What’s wrong?”

“I know I have small boobs and I’m not like Zoe or Shira levels of hotness. So if this isn’t, you know up to par with the sex you usually have, I understand.”

Paxton only furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Did she really not know how he felt about her?

“Not only are you beautiful on the outside, but you’re gorgeous on the inside, something that they...are lacking.”

His words always made her flush, and this time was no exception. “I like your body. Now can I continue to appreciate it the way it deserves?” He chuckled under his breath and with one hand, grabbed both of hers and pinned them above her head. Her eyes widened in surprise and anticipation, she bit down on her bottom lip and if things weren’t already well on their way, he would have muttered something about wanting to do very dirty things to her. Repeatedly.

“If this is the first time, and quite possibly the last time we have to do this, you better believe that I am going to be taking my time with you.” He caught her lower lip with his teeth, slowing his movements which only made a whine emit from deep in her throat.

Paxton’s free hand moved between her legs and brushed her core through her underwear. Without breaking eye contact he moved her panties aside and inserted one finger into her, and then another.

The sudden pressure made Devi suck in a breath, no amount of YA novels or research could have prepared her for what it would actually feel like. Her whole body lit up, as if she was covered in gasoline and Paxton had lit a match, starting a fire that only seemed to spread.

“So tight.” His breath came out ragged, his jeans tightening against him. Paxton thought that guys thought about sex more than girls, and he hadn’t heard anything to the contrary until he met Devi. She had stared at him one too many times past the point of charming and made remarks about wanting to “climb him like a jungle gym.” Mostly through text to Fabiola and Eleanor that he may have happened to stumble upon when he used her phone to play Candy Crush.

In the days that followed their kiss in the park, Paxton wanted to nail his next history while Devi made it increasingly difficult to concentrate with all the short skirts she would wear, and don’t forget about the constant sexual innuendos she would make that went over his head because they had to do with whatever subject they were learning about.

“Is this okay?” He asked, his eyes searching hers for any hint of hesitation. One word, and he would gladly stall his movements. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No, just go faster. I want more of you. All of you.”

This night was all about making her comfortable, making sure she was getting the most out of this, that her needs were met. A selfish part of him hoped that if he made a lasting impression, she wouldn’t come back from India with a smarter, hotter, boyfriend or worse, fiance. His fears only made his grip on her tighten and tilt her chin up so she was forced to meet his eyes.

“Tell me, in words or else I’ll just assume and that’s a really shitty thing to do.” He spoke slowly, deliberately as her eyes fixated on his chest.

“I want you inside of me.”

Paxton breathed out a sigh of relief, or was Devi breathing out her own? He withdrew his hand and her body instantly shivered at the loss of contact. Within the time it took for him to shake off his jeans, Devi had regained control of her hands and grabbed a fistful of his T-shirt into her hands, yanking it over his head in record time.

“Do you want me to touch you?”

“Shh, this is about making you feel good.” He mumbled into her hair, dragging his lips towards her ear as she ground her hips into his. He took a condom out of his jeans pocket and rolled it on before positioning himself in between her legs.

He pushed into her slowly, the movements stilling as Devi dug her nails into his back in retaliation. She grimaced at the feeling, her body was tightly wound up and only when Paxton began to move his body at a quicker pace, did hers relax in response.

They laid in bed after, Devi’s legs felt like the jello and even if she had to be home in a few hours, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to walk without falling or at least looking like a klutz. “Is that a picture of Gigi Hadid on your ceiling?”

Now it was Paxton’s turn to almost flush to an unseemly red color.

“I’ve had that up there forever, just forgot to take it down that’s all.”

“Do you look at it when you, you know?”

“I was just inside you Vishwakumar, I think we’re as intimate as two people can be. You can say the word masturbate.”

“Well, do you?” She pressed, ignoring the way nerves once more fluttered against her stomach. “Do you ever think of me, when you touch yourself?”

“If only you knew.” He murmured against her neck, not wanting to give away just how many nights he spent relieving himself to the memory of their first kiss, or more recently, to their makeout sessions that didn’t just leave her hot and bothered, but him as well. “That was your first time right?”

“Is it that obvious? Should I just have had the word virgin written across my forehead?”

“I think it’s cool that you waited or whatever. Did what was right for you.”

“Why? What was your first time like?” Devi didn’t want to pry, or ask something too personal, but she would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious.

“Um, I think I was 14.”

“14? As in like freshman year of high school?” That was one year younger than her current age, it made bile rise to her throat at the thought.

“Eighth grade. It was the summer before high school and the JV and Varsity swim teams invited us incoming freshmen to a party, to get to know each other and whatnot. It was chaperoned by this one guy’s sister, I think she was 21. Her name was Stacey or Stephanie, something with an S. She brought us all beer and acted cooler than any of our parents at the time.” Devi didn’t say anything, but silently nodded and urged him to continue.

“Anyway, one night like the first week of school, we all get wasted right? Some more than others I guess, because I woke up not remembering anything that happened or even how I got so intoxicated. I was mostly drinking Coke the entire night, with some rum here and there sure, but nothing too extreme. I passed out on the couch and when I woke up, she was on top of me, stroking my hair, touching me, and telling me to stay quiet so we didn’t wake anyone up.”

“I-Is that all?” Her eyes were wide, almost glassy, and Paxton instantly felt years older than her. Like she was too innocent to be hearing this and yet here he was, exposing her to it anyway. Exposing her to the harsh reality that he didn’t want her to know, yet she was already familiar with after what happened to her dad.

“She started whispering in my ear. Tell me how I seemed really mature for my age and how college boys are so rowdy and they didn’t listen to her like I did. I don’t even remember us having any kind of in-depth conversation.” His voice dropped to a low whisper. “She said that it wasn’t cool to go into high school as a virgin, especially if you were a guy. The other guys on the swim team would just turn it into some kind of contest to see who could get laid the fastest. She said I would have a leg up on all of them and be able to show off.”

A bitter chuckle passed through his lips. “Except, I didn’t feel superior or like a man or wanted, I just felt empty.”

“Did you tell anyone?”

“Only Trent.”

Not wanting to sound rude, Devi bit her tongue and remained nonchalant. “Is Trent really the best person to be telling your secrets to?”

“He’s actually cool once you get to know him, okay? He told me that if I wanted to go to the cops and quote ‘make her a prison bitch’ unquote that he would back me up. He may act stoned 90% of the time, but he has a good heart. I trust him with my life.”

“Did um, did you ever see her again?” She asked patiently, as her fingers ran up and down the length of his torso.

“At that point, it didn’t matter. When I got back to school on Monday everyone had heard, turned me into the big man on campus and whatnot, whether I earned the title or not. I wish I had waited, you know? For my first time to be with someone that I really cared about.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know I’ve been with other girls before and you know, I’m some ladies man or shit. But that’s all it was you know, just sex. It’s isn’t like that with you.”

“Well if it makes you feel any better, this was better than what I had in mind. It was better than any rom-com or YA novel.”

“This doesn’t mean nothing okay? It would never mean nothing, not with you.”

Devi immediately wanted to correct his use of a double negative, but she refrained. She was speechless, too raw, first from the sex they just had and then hearing Paxton’s story. She was touched that he felt comfortable sharing such a private event with her.

“Would you have done things different? Your first time I mean.” She asked quietly, finding her voice again after letting all the information she had just heard sink in.

“Well I definitely would have waited to do it when I was sober.”

“Everyone deserves a second change, a do-over. And you aren’t drunk or high or impaired in any way right now are you?”

“No.”

“So take your do-over.” Sure she didn’t handle her own trauma in the best manner, but she was surprisingly insistent in helping others overcome their own turmoil. Plus with her big brown eyes, Paxton felt like he was saying no to Bambi.

“Dev-”

“I want you to feel good.” His own words hung in the air between them uttered by her soft voice, only a silent nod of his head and Devi had pressed her lips against his and rolled them over so she was now flush against his chest. “We can go as painfully slow as you want.”

“So now you aren’t in a rush to jump me?” The warmth in his features returned, he seemed to have a genuine smile on his face and was raising an eyebrow at her in slightly amusement.

“Something tells me this won’t be the last time, we’ll get there.”

#daxton #daxton fanfic #devi x paxton #paxton x devi #daxtonedit #nhie fic #heatwavefic

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forever-rogue · 4 years

Text

Hearth & Home

A/N: Hello friends and mainly my secret santa @marvel-and-mischief! Zoey, this is this for you and I hope you enjoy! It was so nice getting to know you and you are such a sweet, kind person. It’s not much, but I hope it brings a smile to your face and I hope you have a fantastic Christmas! Lots of love and hugs!

(disclaimer - this is my first time writing for Pero, please be gentle!)

Pairing: Pero Tovar x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3.2k

Warnings: none

MASTERLIST

»»————-　♡　————-««

Snow was falling outside the window gently, coming down in soft, fat flakes. The ground was coated in it already, creating slick icy walkways and dusting the gardens you had so lovingly tended to in the spring and summer. The sudden cold front had come unexpectedly, neither of you had much time to prepare, so you decided to let it be. If come the new year and spring, the flowers decided not to make an appearance again, you would simply have to plant new ones. Things always worked out how they were supposed, even if it wasn’t the most conventional of ways. But you already knew that and had known that more some time.

Your husband was proof of that in himself.

Speaking of which, you paused as you were in the middle of washing the pots and pans, shaking the warm, soapy water from your hands as you looked outside and spied Pero tending to the animals. The sheep and goats followed him closely on his heels, which he always insisted he hated, but you knew he secretly enjoyed. He had a soft, gentle soul, even if the exterior did not match that whatsoever. A walking contradiction, a balance of rough and soft, but he was your everything.

Almost as if he could sense your eyes on him, Pero stopped petting the sheep at his side and turned to look in the window, a small smile stretching across his features, highlighting the singular dimple you loved you so much. Cocking an eyebrow in amusement, he waved at you as you responded in kind, feeling a flush of warmth wash over you. You’d called him your husband for several years now, but sometimes even the simplest of looks caused the heat to pool low in your belly and make you feel like a maiden again.

Before you got too wrapped up in your little daydream fantasies, you turned back to your dishes, grabbing a cloth to dry them. You enjoyed days like this, the ones that brought a chill and allowed you to light candles all over your small home, along with a big fire in the main living area. There was something so welcoming and cozy about it, that it caused your heart to settle and feel warmth and content. On top of all that, it gave Pero an excuse to remain at home as well, instead of going into town to work at the blacksmith shop. No one was going to need any sort of armor or equipment in this weather.

“Mi Sol,” the sound of his warm, gruff voice caught your attention as you turned to find him coming inside, taking off his overcoat and hanging in near the door. You stopped what you were doing and walked over to him, grinning at him as you brushed some of the slowly dissipating flakes out of his dark curls. He made a small, contented sound in the back of his throat as he keened into your touch.

“Pero, you must be freezing,” you touched his cheeks, flushed red from the cold along with his nose. Before he could argue or contest what you were saying, you pressed your lips to his. Despite being slightly dry and chapped from the wind and chill, his kiss was still soft and gentle. His hand went to the back of your neck as he held you close, taking his gentle time to kiss you. When you pulled back, your hands went to the lapel of his shirt as you pulled him further inside towards the hearth where the fire was merrily crackling away, “relax and get warm, my love. I’ll go and get you a sweater.”

“Thank you,” he nodded softly as he took a seat near the fire, letting out a long sigh as he relaxed and let himself comfortable. He was not a young man anymore, after long days of working his bones ached, particularly his back, and the cold weather wasn’t helping. Luckily he didn’t even have to say anything, you just knew. You knew you and you helped him without needing to be asked, causing a warmth to wash over him. He was not a man of many words of openly gentle displays of affection, but you never doubted his love or devotion to you.

Nor he with you. You easily had the choice of many men to agree to have as a husband, but you had chosen him. He hadn’t even been an option, not truly, but you still chose him; you were a steadfast, stubborn little thing, he had always claimed and you had definitely proven that to him and everyone when your engagement was to be announced to the public, and you shocked everyone and chose him. It hadn’t been an easy thing; not by any means.

Choosing Pero meant losing your family and everything you had known. The reckless mercenary and the lady of polite, gentile society - a juxtaposition in every way. You were meant to marry a man of wealth and taste - culture, everyone liked to call it. But you had known in your heart since your little love affair had started with Pero that he was the one for you and there was no one else. For a few while he had wondered if you would end up regretting your decision or loathing him, but you never did, you never once had even a single regret over choosing Pero. When it came down to you, you would have chosen him again and again, every single time.

Love was the end, you always insisted, despite what the world seemed to think.

You gruff, stoic mercenary agreed, even if he didn’t verbalize the statement.

“Here you are,” you returned quietly, warm padded feet shuffling quietly along the wooden floor. Pero pulled his gaze away from the fire and turned to you, a smile slowly covering his face. Pressing a kiss to the tip of his nose, you held out the sweater to him before moving to grab some more blankets for the two of you. Pero was silent, uncharacteristically so for him, as he watched you. Turning slowly, you met his dark eyes and gave him a curious look, “Pero? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he promised as you lit a few more candles near the heath before joining him and sitting down on the soft couch, pulling the blanket over the two of you. Placing his arm around you, he held you close, breathing in the quiet comfort your presence provided, “are you happy?”

“Am I happy?” you repeated as you pulled gave, a puzzled expression crossing your features. You had no idea where this was suddenly coming from, but you reached up and put a hand on his cheek, “of course I’m happy, my love. I am very happy. I hope nothing in my actions has done anything to cause you to believe otherwise.”

“Of course not,” he huffed lightly, studying you with a quiet intensity that made you want pull him into you then and there, to become whole and one with him. Taking your hand from his cheek, he brought it to his lips, pressing a light kiss to your knuckles, “sometimes I just wonder if this is enough for you. If I am enough for you.”

“You are many things, husband, including a silly man,” you laughed at him, setting his soul at ease as he relaxed at your words of reassurance, “I am happy, nothing could make me happier. And you? You are everything. I don’t want anyone - I could not even dream of it.”

“Not even-”

“Not even some governor, or lord, or anyone could make me as happy as you do,” you closed the small distance between your bodies, practically crawling into his lap, “Pero, I chose you then and I still choose you and I would always choose you. Is that understood?”

“Yes,” any remainder of the tough exterior and façade he had melted away at your words. He held you close, pausing for just a moment before you decided to take matters into your own and kissed him. You were fully seated in his lap at his lap at this point, his large hands finding purchase on your waist as your arms wrapped around his neck. It wasn’t often that the two of you that were able to enjoy the quiet silence of a winter’s afternoon or to take such solace in one another, knowing that neither of you had any duties to attend to you. Pero pulled back after a few moments, his hands wandering up your body and pausing and your face, “I know I do not say often, mi sol, but I do love you very much. You make me happier than I could have ever dreamed.”

“I know it to be true, sweet husband,” you beamed at him, shining as bright as the sun on a mid-summer’s day. He’d given you the surprisingly tender nickname shortly after you’d met by chance at the farmer’s market one early spring afternoon several years ago. You’d brightened his day and instilled a sense of hope into his heart, he had told you, just like the sun - mi sol, “you don’t always have to say it. I know you mean it.”

You nuzzled your nose against his, admiring his quiet beauty for a few moments, pressing your lips against his cheeks, forehead, nose, and stopping at his lips before wrestling him down on the couch so he was flat on his back.

“I love you,” you whispered softly before moving to straddle his waist, “now let me show you how much.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

“It looks like the snow is starting to let up,” you commented as you opened the door to look outside, pulling your coat tighter around you. Gone was the harsh snowfall from the evening before, leaving everything covered in glittering white powder, but with a less harsh chill settling over everything. Pero came up behind you, wrapping an arm around your waist before pressing a soft kiss to the crown of your head, “it looks beautiful out there.”

“Almost as beautiful as you,” he commented as you playful sighed at him, “what do you say we go out and look for some holly and ivy today? We can decorate for the holiday properly.”

“Do you mean it?” you asked, eyes wide with excitement as you turned to him. He nodded as he moved to go and fetch your thick woolen outer coats and boots, “everything will look so lovely and festive! It is almost time to welcome the end of the year and halfway point of the winter.”

“Then we shall plan a big feast and everything to celebrate,” he grinned softly as your heart melted. He wasn’t normally a big fan of festivities, always going along with what you wanted to do, but never really having a preference one way or another. But this year, something in him had shifted and he seemed even more in the holiday spirit than he normally was….not that you were complaining at all. You loved to see him happy and smiling; despite all of his time with you and resigning himself to a quiet life, you knew things from his past life often still haunted him.

“I think that will be lovely,” you agreed as he held out your coat for you to slip into, followed up by him draping a warm scarf around your neck to keep you warm and toasty. You couldn’t help but grin as you buttoned up his coat, slapping his hands out of the way as you grabbed a scarf for him. He remained silent, watching you with reverence as fretted over him. When you were done, you took a step back and admired the handsome view that he provided, “there. All warm, Pero?”

“Wonderful,” he agreed as you opened the door again and stepped outside, holding your hand out for him to take. He wasted no time in enveloping your hand with his much larger one, smiling to himself as you swung your clasped hands together. He liked this - your humble little life, and getting to spend his days with you. It was nothing grand or overwhelming, but none of that mattered; all that mattered was you and love you shared.

“Pero?” you paused when you noticed that he was lagging behind, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he insisted as he caught up to you, pressing a kiss to the side of your head, “nothing at all.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

Humming under your breath, you finished setting up the rest of holly and ivy along the hearth, taking a moment to admire how it looked all around your small home. Even the small staircase leading to the second floor was covered with candles and greenery, casting a soft gentle glow around the whole place. It was nothing over the top or grandiose, but it was still beautiful and warm, and you loved it more than anything.

Standing on the stool under the doorway separating the kitchen from the living area, you carefully tacked up the mistletoe you had found. It was more for a small laugh, a fun little folly one of your friends had told you about, but you had still wanted to surprise Pero.

Just as you finished tacking it up, the front door opened and Pero came inside, immediately shaking out his hair to get the remainder of the snowflakes out. You were so startled by his sudden appearance that you stumbled slightly and almost fell off of the stool. Pero, ever the fighter and quick on his feet, was faster and at your side in just a second, catching you in his strong arms before anything could happen.

“Hello,” you grinned at him as he held you in his arms, a look of concern momentarily crossing his features. When he saw that you were okay, he relaxed, the rapid beating of his heart already slowing down as he set you on your feet. You leaned up and kissed his cheek, “thank you my love. You’re always my hero.”

“Are you alright, mi sol?” his hand found your face as he gave you the once over you and you nodded, “what were you even doing?”

“I was just putting up some mistletoe,” you pointed to the top of the doorway, watching as a look of confusion crossed your husband’s features. He reached up and touched it, giving it the once over as he brushed his fingers over the lush, dark green sprigs.

“Isn’t this poisonous?” he cocked an eyebrow as you nodded, “then why one earth…”

“It’s not for eating or anything,” you stated the obvious with a small laugh, “it’s for decoration. And besides, there’s a sort of tradition about it that I heard…”

“Pray tell, what could this so-called little tradition be?” he asked you as you pulled him closer by the lapels of his coat. He made a small sound of surprise as you let your lips linger near his.

“If two people are caught under it,” you explained, “you are supposed to kiss, and it is to bring good luck if you do and then bad luck if you fail to do so.”

“Ahh,” he laughed lightly as you nodded, “what an odd little thing. I’ve never heard of it before.”

“I hadn’t either,” you admitted, “another one of the ladies in the village told me about it today and gifted the mistletoe to us. I figured it might seem silly, but there’s not harm in trying, right? Besides that, I don’t quite fancy setting ourselves up with bad luck.”

“I definitely do not want to do that either,” his lips brushed yours as they quirked up in a small smile, “what do you propose we do about it?”

“I think you should kiss me, dear husband,” you suggested with coaxing, eager eyes, “and if it should please you, you can do even more than that.”

“I would not be opposed to either,” he put his hand on either side of your face as he offered you a gentle peck, leaving you hanging on for more, “how lucky I am to call you my wife, mi sol.”

“I love you, Pero,” you promised him, “you and only you.”

“And I you.”

“But now I really do need you to do something for me.”

“Anything.”

“Kiss me,” you insisted, “and then some.”

“As you wish.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

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#Pedros12DaysOfChristmas #pero tovar #pero tovar x reader #pero tovar x you #the great wall #pedro pascal #pedro pascal x reader #tovar x reader

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fabulouspotatosister · 4 years

Text

truth hurts

summary: there are just some things you can’t hide. truth serum does that to you.

word count: 3,452

warnings: minor injury, mentions of blood

gif credit: @lowercasev

a/n(1): hello everyone! i hope you're all having a splendid day, wherever and whenever you are. this is just another one of those "i had a random idea and i wanted to get it out" except the idea is super old and i just wrote it now because i love procrastinating. anyway, i hope you enjoy this fic!

---

I suppose this is what I get for not listening to the Doctor.

The wound on your ankle was looking, for lack of a better word, bad. While you weren’t a medical professional, there were a few things you were sure of - small cuts shouldn’t bleed so much, small cuts shouldn’t hurt so much, and small cuts shouldn’t be purple.

You hadn’t meant to wander off. Amy was with the Doctor, talking with the locals of the planet that you had landed on, which left you to watch the TARDIS. As if the TARDIS needed watching, you had thought then. You’d taken a small walk - just a little deeper into the forest you were in, looking at all the strange flowers and trees.

There weren’t many rules when it came to travelling with the Doctor. Not wandering off was one of them. And no interfering, but was that really a rule? You were a repeat offender, of course - how did the Doctor expect you to just stay still while there were so many extraordinary things to explore?

The forest was beautiful. You spent a lot of your small walk looking up at the canopy of trees that let in just enough light to make all the foliage glitter and glow. You were distracted, not really looking at where you were going, and you’d missed the feeling of something scratching against your ankle as you walked.

“I guess this is my karma,” you muttered, leaning against the TARDIS. You’d hobbled back when the pain became too much. The wound was pulsing now, beating in time to your heartbeat, a steady trickle of blood finding its way into your shoe. “I’ll listen next time.”

A sharp call of your name made you look up - the Doctor was there in the distance, smiling so wide it had to hurt. “Come on!” he called, and waved.

“Is it safe?” you called back.

The Doctor nodded and motioned for you to come over, bouncing up and down like an excited kid. He could be unbearably cute sometimes. (Wait, where did that thought come from?) “It’s fine! Totally safe! Amy’s distracted in the market, I think we should go get her.”

You looked at the Doctor, then at your ankle, and back to the Doctor. His smile was so earnest, so adorable. Your ankle would probably put a damper on everything, and the Doctor being upset was never a good sight. You were supposed to be having fun. You weren’t going to ruin everything by just having a scratch.

“Hang on a minute!” You bent down, hidden by some of the shrubs, and rolled down your pant leg. Your wound stung as the fabric brushed against it, and you winced. You stood up, straightened yourself, and gave the Doctor your best “I’m-totally-fine” smile. “Okay, I’m good to go.”

Your smile must have convinced him, because the Doctor grinned and spun around, disappearing back into the forest.

You tried not to limp as you followed him, but every step sent a stab of pain through your entire foot. Just grin and bear it, you thought, taking in a shuddering breath. Do it for him.

You pushed through the trees, finding yourself in a little clearing. The whole place felt alive - the trees glowed a warm orange as they swayed in the breeze, and the sound of their leaves rustling together sounded like delicate wind-chimes. Scattered around the clearing were various stalls and booths that were decorated with spools of vibrant cloth. The sounds of lively music and distant chatter filled the air as aliens of all kinds milled about.

The Doctor was waiting for you, leaning against a wooden pole that held up a string of twinkling lights. Underneath those lights, with his arms crossed like that, he looked quite… quite…

You frowned and something throbbed in the back of your head.

“Ah! There you are,” the Doctor said brightly. He stepped away from the pole, still smiling widely with that smile of his, and wrapped his arm around your shoulders. Don’t look down, you begged silently. Just ignore me. “Brilliant, isn’t it? One of the legendary Elremian marketplaces. Just huge melting pots of culture, and the best place to find rare collectibles - hey -”

The Doctor called your name, his voice soft against the din, and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. Your head snapped up to meet his eyes. Your heart stuttered in your chest at his gaze, his gorgeous green eyes sparkling with worry. (What in the world...)

“Are you okay?” he asked. He leaned down slightly to peer into your eyes, and you found that you didn’t want to pull away from how close he was.

You swallowed. Then, you nodded, and the throbbing in the back of your head turned into a pounding. “Of course,” you said, trying another “I’m-totally-fine” smile. “Let’s find Amy, yeah?”

That smile wasn’t quite as convincing. The Doctor frowned as he stood back up, his gaze lingering on you for just a second longer before he wrapped his arm around your shoulders again and led you through the crowds.

“As I was saying - collectibles,” the Doctor continued. Everything passed by you in a blur of vague colors and shapes. The Doctor’s voice was the only thing you could really focus on. “They’ve got everything from jewels to recalled video games, even stuff from archaeological finds if you can barter. Great, yeah?”

“Yeah,” you muttered. The beautiful lights of the marketplace were so bright now, even though the rest of the sky was already turning dark. “It’s just - it’s loud.”

“Loud? Don’t worry about that,” the Doctor said, and you caught a faint hint of concern in his voice. “Amy’s not far now. In here.”

The Doctor pushed back the curtain of a small tent, gently pushing you inside. It was a little better than outside, a little darker and a little cooler. There were candles scattered around the floor, which had to be a fire hazard in a cloth tent, but no one in the tent seemed alarmed.

“Amy!” the Doctor called, “How’s the shopping?”

Amy emerged from behind another curtain. She was in a new dress, a tight-fitting neon green piece with a cape that fell over her shoulders and to the floor. It trailed behind her as she walked up to you. “Good! Here’s one,” she said, then spun around and raised her eyebrows. “How do I look?”

“Bit bright,” the Doctor said, and Amy glared. “Sorry! Sorry. Good. I mean you look good.”

The Doctor was right. It looked good on Amy, and honestly Amy could make anything look good, but the green was just so bright and annoying against the gentle tapestries of the tent and - “I don’t like it,” you blurted.

Amy’s eyebrows had practically disappeared into her hair, but she was smiling. “Oh? Well, you’re honest today.”

“No, no! I mean -” The pounding in your head had started to feel like someone hammering at your brain, chipping away parts that you actually needed. You winced at the pain, and your ankle began to sting again. “No, I think it looks great, I think you look great, you always look great -”

“Don’t lie,” the Doctor said, moving to stand in front of you.

“I’m not lying,” you ground out. The Doctor’s brows furrowed.

“Are you in pain?”

“Yeah,” you answered - but if you were hurt they would be so upset and then you’d ruin everything - “Uh, no. I’m fine -!”

At “fine”, you buckled, your knees giving out beneath you - Amy rushed forward and caught you, gently lowering you into a sitting position on the floor of the tent.

“What were you saying about fine?” Amy asked, her hands on your shoulders keeping you steady. “Doctor, what’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing’s wrong with me,” you ground out, even though your legs felt like jelly and your brain felt like cotton. A sharp pain pierced through your head and you squeezed your eyes shut. “I’ll just - I’ll get up, let me -”

“No, seriously, don’t lie,” the Doctor said, and rushed to your side. He crouched down beside you, taking your face into his hands, his skin warm against yours. His face was so close to your again, and you could see every single detail, down to the way his lip trembled slightly. He’d always been pretty, but now, looking over you with concern, he was even prettier. How was that possible?

The words were out of your mouth before you could stop yourself. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re really pretty?”

The Doctor’s eyes widened. “More than once,” he said, then mumbled something under his breath. “Is that the truth?”

“Yeah, a hundred percent,” you said slowly, a smile spreading across your face. Shut up, shut up now before you ruin everything! “Super attractive. One might even say hot.”

“Hot?” the Doctor mouthed in Amy’s direction before he looked back at you. Amy made a face that said not my words. “Right, you told the truth, do you feel better?”

You let out a breath through your mouth. The cotton was coming out of your ears. That was funny. “Yup.”

Suddenly, Amy gasped. “Oh my God, Doctor,” she said, her voice tight with fear. She looked up at the Doctor, fear filling her eyes, and reached out to slowly pull up your pant leg. You hissed as warm air met your wound again. “She’s bleeding!”

Amy cringed and looked away, which meant that your wound was probably looking much worse than before.

“No,” the Doctor said, breathless. “How long ago was this?”

Your “I’m-totally-fine” smile was definitely not going to work now. “Just after you left me at the TARDIS, I think. Uh - I wandered off -” The Doctor’s eyebrows pinched, and something welled up in your chest, threatened to spill over. “And I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, please don’t be mad, but I wandered off and I cut myself on something and now I can’t stop talking -”

“I’m not mad, sweetheart, you’re hurt,” the Doctor said, his voice gentle. “Amy, move her a bit, I’m going to have to take a look.”

“Sweetheart? That’s nice, can you call me that more often?” Externally, you were smiling like an entire idiot, but internally you were slapping yourself in the face. “I really like it.”

The Doctor went still for a moment, lips parted in surprise. He glanced at you and smiled, his cheeks a little flushed. “Yeah?”

You breathed out a tiny laugh. “Yeah.”

The Doctor whipped his sonic screwdriver out with a flourish and pointed it at your ankle. You winced at the whirring noise it made, and the Doctor shot you an apologetic look. He brought it up, doing the little flick that he always did, and squinted to read the results.

“That screwdriver thing you do,” you said.

“What about it?” the Doctor replied, slightly distracted.

“It’s kinda hot.” Oh my God, please just shut up. “The way you flick your wrist, it’s nice. You’re nice. Everything about you is nice.”

The Doctor gave Amy a kind of helpless look. Amy’s eyes were still wide, her gaze still tinged with fear, but she still waggled her eyebrows at him.

“Not helping,” the Doctor groaned, and Amy grinned.

“Definitely helping.” Amy reached out to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear. Her lips curved upward in a reassuring smile. “Is she going to be okay?”

“No,” the Doctor said.

Amy glared up at him. “What do you mean, no?”

“Yes, I said no, in the interest of being honest.” The Doctor looked at the sonic again, then tucked it into his jacket. “She’s been scratched by an Iophinque plant, so, one of two things - either it goes away in an hour, or it kills her.”

“I think I’d prefer the first one,” Amy said. She glanced at you, and smoothed out your hair with her hand. That felt nice too.

“Me too,” the Doctor muttered. “Right. I’m going to head out for just a minute. Talk with the locals. Amy -” His face went serious - “call me if the worst happens.”

“The worst?”

The Doctor's voice wavered. “You know what I mean.”

You whined as he stepped farther away, and you swore you could see the Doctor’s face crumple. But then he smiled, a “I’m-totally-fine” smile. “Don’t worry,” he murmured, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of your head. “I’ll be back.”

“He always says that,” Amy grumbled, watching him run out of the tent.

“He always comes back,” you told her. She looked at you, her expression unreadable - and then laughed, a little bit amused and a little bit incredulous.

“You like him,” she said.

There was no use hiding it now - the plant that had scratched you had to be some kind of truth serum. It felt a little ridiculous, but there was always space for ridiculous when you travelled with the Doctor. “I do.”

“Him?” Amy stressed, and you nodded. “Seriously?”

You nodded again, and the motion made your head spin, your eyes fluttering. “Seriously. He’s just so wonderful, and nice, and - and -”

“Hey, look at me,” Amy sounded so far away, but there she was, kneeling right in front of you. She patted your cheek gently. “Stay awake. Keep talking. Let’s make this like a sleepover, yeah? Talking about boys. Alien boys.”

“Alien boy,” you corrected her. “Singular.”

“Okay, fine,” Amy said, laughing fondly. She shifted, and you tried to focus on the color of her dress. You still didn’t like it, but the neon green was loud enough to keep you awake. “What is it about him?”

You didn’t have to think much. “He’s - he’s brilliant. That’s what he is. He’s smart, to the point of being a little annoying, and funny, and kind, so kind. So lonely but so kind. And he cares so much. I think it’s beautiful. I think he’s beautiful.” You frowned. “Does that make sense?”

Amy nodded and smiled gently. “Yeah, I do. You said he was hot?”

Your frown morphed into a pout. “He is!”

“Oh, I know,” Amy said. “Believe me, I know.”

Silence settled over the two of you. Amy sat with you, a quiet comfort as she stroked your hair. But there was something else you wanted to say, something important, something -

“Sad,” you said softly. You felt tears well up in your eyes. “He makes me sad. It’s okay, but -” Your breath hitched in your throat. “It’s sad, you know?”

“What is?”

“I don't think he loves me back.” The words were out of your mouth now. They crashed over you like a tidal wave, and now that you had actually said them, they felt real. “He doesn’t - oh, God - he doesn’t love me back.”

Amy shook her head, her hands moving to your shoulders. She shook you slightly and you looked at her, your breathing shallow. Tears were already streaming down your face. When did that happen? “You don’t know that.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” you said. Your words were blending into one another like smudged paint. That was okay too. “I’m okay with it. He doesn’t have to. He - I know he can’t.”

Amy sighed, sadness swimming in her eyes, and wrapped her arms around you. It was nice, being hugged by Amy, but you definitely weren’t feeling nice - nausea washed over you, and you sagged in her arms. You coughed, and something warm trickled out of your mouth. Spots of bright red.

“M’sorry,” you mumbled weakly. “Your dress, I got it all dirty.”

“It’s okay,” Amy said, soothing you. “I haven’t even paid for it anyway.”

“You know, I still don’t like it.” You coughed again, your chest rattling. “Hey, Amy?”

“Hmm?”

You pulled away from her and watched as her calm expression shifted and morphed into one of fear. It must have been bad, whatever you’d coughed up, because Amy’s eyes were the size of dinner plates. It was a little funny, and you would have laughed if your mouth didn’t taste so much like pennies.

“Got the second option,” you slurred. “I think you should call the Doctor now.”

You pitched forwards, hanging limply in her arms, your head resting comfortably against her shoulder. You didn’t even hear Amy scream into her phone. But you could feel her shuddering, and you wanted to tell her that it wasn’t worth it, being scared over you, but your mouth was just so full of -

The Doctor burst through the curtains of the tent, clutching a metal cylinder in his hand. “What happened?”

“Doctor,” Amy began, “I think she’s -”

“I know,” the Doctor said sternly. He took you from Amy’s arms and everything seemed to lurch for a moment, shifting until everything went still, and he was above you. Through the cloth of the tent the twinkling lights outside looked like stars. It was the perfect backdrop for him. “I’ve got you.”

“Yeah, you have.” The Doctor looking down at you, his hair falling over his face, was enough to make your heart clench painfully. Everything else hurt too. “You always have.”

“I found an antidote, you’re going to be okay,” the Doctor said, pushing your hair away from your neck. Something cold pressed against your neck, and you jolted - you reached up to grab the Doctor’s hand, clammy fingers wrapping around his wrist.

“Wait, wait,” you said, the words coming out jumbled, “I love you.”

The Doctor stared. It felt like an eternity under his gaze. His eyes were wide, searching your face for something - proof that you were lying, maybe? He wouldn’t find that anywhere with you, whether you liked it or not.

“I love you,” you continued, “and I need to tell you before you cure me and I get embarrassed and take it back.”

The Doctor was still staring, his whole body frozen in place. He blinked once, twice, and swallowed thickly. He was never usually so quiet.

The silence was getting to you. “I really want you to say something.”

“You -” The Doctor let out a heavy breath. “You love me?”

“Yes,” you whispered. Your vision blurred, putting something that looked like a halo around the Doctor’s head. How fitting. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

The Doctor laughed softly. His free hand found your face, and he brushed his thumb against the corner of your lip. “You know that’s in bad taste, right?”

“Definitely.”

There was a click, and then a hissing noise - something sharp pinched your neck, and you felt a warmth spread over your whole body. It was taking the pain away, you noted dimly, your whole body relaxing even more as the antidote did its work.

“Feels nice,” you said, letting your eyes slip shut. “Thank you.”

“You are very welcome,” the Doctor said gently. Then - “Are you with us, now? ‘Cause I really want you to be awake for this.”

You quirked one eye open, and the Doctor smiled down at you. This wasn’t your truth-serum addled brain thinking, this was your very love-addled brain thinking - he shone brighter than anything else in the room. Even Amy’s neon green dress. Which you still didn't like.

“Guess what?”

“What?”

“I love you too.”

You spluttered, your face burning despite how tired your body was, and made a noise that was probably the audible equivalent of multiple question marks.

All of that doubt and fear - just gone in seconds, wiped away like it had never had been there. Distantly, you could hear Amy sigh in relief, muttering something that sounded like “I said you didn’t know”.

“Oi, don’t tell me you’re getting shy on me after a confession like that,” the Doctor said, his eyes crinkling.

“I was under the influence!” you protested weakly. The Doctor laughed, a sound full of fondness, and brushed a hand over your hair. It made you feel warm, like sitting right next to the fireplace in the TARDIS library. It felt like home. He felt like home.

"I wouldn't kiss her, if I were you," Amy said. "She just coughed up blood. On me."

You ran your tongue over your lips, still tasting the blood that was left there, and grimaced. The Doctor mirrored your expression. "Seconded."

"There's always later," the Doctor said coolly, sending another wave of heat to your face. "You should rest. We'll get you back to the TARDIS."

You blinked up at him. "You'll be there?"

"Always." He pressed a soft kiss to your forehead. "This'll have to do for now," he murmured against your skin.

"It's perfect," you whispered, your eyes fluttering shut as a welcome darkness overtook you. You're perfect, you thought, but he already knew that, didn't he?

---

a/n(2): i really hope you enjoyed! i hope you guys are doing awesome, love you lots!!

#doctor who #doctor who x reader #eleventh doctor x reader #11th doctor x reader #eleventh doctor fanfiction #doctor who fanfiction #jess writes #i keep forgetting to use my writing tag sksjsj #this is very unedited but. who cares. we're living on the edge baby #amy pond #<- im Stupid and forgot to tag her

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jenonctcity · 5 years

Text

Shadows In The Snow

Lee Jeno – Smut/Fluff/Angst

Prince!Au, Royalty!Au

Warnings: Mentions of Anxiety/Panic Attacks, Explicit Sex, Mild Violence, Mentions of Character Death, Mentions of Illness.

Word Count: 20k

(This is NOT part of the Charia Kingdom Series. This is a completely different story and is not related to that series at all.)

An arranged marriage between the Prince of the Northern Kingdom and the Princess of the Southern Kingdom came as a surprise to both of them. Neither of them had wanted the forced marriage, but being under the thumbs of their parents, they both had no choice. The Princess is sent to the Northern Kingdom to live alongside her future husband but is met by a reluctant and cold Prince. Not wanting to know his bride, he’s distant and mean, not caring if she gets offended or upset by his actions. How does he react after a severe turn of events happen? Love or Hatred? Prince Jeno questions everything in his head and comes to a final conclusion about his future.

You could remember the first time you stepped foot into the castle of the Northern Kingdom. The air was warm despite the cold bite of the weather outside, the rooms lit up brightly making the place feel welcoming, and the entrance hall so pristine it was almost glowing. Of course, the palace you grew up in was just as lavish as the palace the Lee family lived in, but it felt like you were stepping into a whole new world. Whereas your home was filled with warm colours to match the humidity and setting of your Southern Kingdom, the interior of the palace in the Northern Kingdom matched the snow that fell from the sky and laid thick on the ground. The only warm colour was that of the candles lit inside lanterns that lined the walls, and the gold that mixed in amongst the white. Not much natural light came through the windows from the flurry of snow that fell from the sky blocking the sun. That was five years ago, and it still felt exactly the same to you, apart from this time you had a gut wrenching feeling of anxiety from the lack of comfort you felt. Before you had been surrounded by royals you didn’t even know the name of, lords and ladies, and people who had a stupid amount of money. This time you only had Mark, a royal servant, as your company. From what you could gather, he was a kind man, and you could only assume he was Prince Jeno’s personal assistant. He was dressed in typical servant attire, his black suit being quite the contrast to the white interior of the halls he walked you down. Before you had been in the palace for a ball. One that would mix the future heirs of the Kingdoms together in hopes of possible alliances and marriages. Now you were walking down the halls of the Kingdom to meet your future husband.

When your father had graced the news upon you that you, the Princess of the South, would be marrying Jeno, the Prince of the North, you’d actually been rather excited. You’d met the Prince once before at a ball his family held in their castle. He’d asked you to dance and before you knew it, he was whisking you around the dance floor at the age of fifteen with his hand in your own. He was very sweet from what you could remember. His boyishly handsome face and adorable eye smile being imprinted in your memory as a crush on him bloomed in your stomach. After the dance, he’d bowed to you and pressed a kiss to the back of your gloved hand. You hadn’t seen him since that night, and now you were nervous for your reunion with the blond Prince. The people of the Northern Kingdom were known to have black hair that stood out amongst the bright snow, however, the royal family all had light coloured hair, it running in the family for generations. You knew this from all the portraits on the walls that had golden plaques highlighting the names of each royal family member. You were brought out of your thoughts by the muffled sound of shouting coming from behind a closed door. Your eyebrows furrowed in curiosity as Mark stopped in front of the door. This led you to believe the aggressive voice behind the oak door was that belonging to Prince Jeno. Mark hesitated, the voice as clear as day, and he didn’t know whether to take you away or to follow the strict instructions he had of taking you to meet the Prince. Your palms started to sweat as you listened to the deep voice.

“I won’t do it. You can’t force me to marry some random girl I’ve never even met!” His voice echoed around the room and into the hall where you stood. You felt a hot flush run through you, and you doubted it was from the warmer clothes you’d been stuffed into upon arriving in the cold kingdom.

“I can and I am.” A softer voice retorted, not sounding at all phased by the argument at hand. “You have met her.”

“Well obviously she isn’t that special since I can’t remember her.” The voice growled before a thud of wood hitting the marble floor sounded.

“Stop acting like a child and take on the responsibilities of a Prince. You’re an adult now Jeno and you better start acting like it.” You looked down at your feet, refusing to look up at Mark as you felt embarrassed from hearing all of this. Sadness flooded your body; all the excitement having been drained from you upon hearing the argument between the Prince and what you could only assume was the King.

“Fuck. You.” The deep voice growled before the sound of skin slapping skin echoed through the room, a dead silence followed that. Mark was frozen on the spot, not wanting to interrupt but feeling guilty for listening in. You felt bad for the young servant. He was clearly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Don’t you dare speak to your father like that ever again Jeno.” A soft but stern voice of a woman piped up.

“I’m sorry Princess, I didn’t mean for you to hear that.” Mark whispered and when no one spoke from behind the door, Mark used this as an opportunity to knock on the door. You bowed your head to him and tried your best to plaster on a fake smile despite the heartache you were feeling beneath.

“Come in.” The woman’s voice spoke, and Mark opened the door.

“Your majesties,” He bowed to the King and Queen, then turned to Prince Jeno. “Your highness,” He bowed to him and then cleared his throat. “Princess (Y/N) of the Southern Kingdom has arrived.” He stepped out of the way to reveal your nervous figure. You bowed to them and continued to keep your fake smile on your face. You glanced over at Prince Jeno timidly. The first thing you noticed was the bright red mark on his cheek from where he’d been struck by the Queen. Then you noticed the hard look on his face. He looked at you like he wanted you to tumble to your death off of a cliff, like you meant absolutely nothing to him. You also noticed how handsome he’d grown to be. He had deep eyes that you wanted to get lost in but stopped yourself from doing, his strong jaw making his cold expression look even more severe and his pink lips forming a hard line. He was wearing his white and gold uniform, you thought he probably had to be forced into it due to his reluctance to fulfil his Princely duty of marrying you. He had also grown a lot since the last time you saw him, his now tall frame looking daunting to you as his broad shoulders were clearly tensed up. His blond hair was parted off of his forehead and he had a crown perched on top of his head. Your smile faltered and you averted your gaze quickly, then noticing the chair that was upturned on the floor. That must have been the wooden noise you’d heard clattering from behind the door.

“Welcome my dear!” The Queen smiled a wide smile quickly, approaching you with her arms out. When she got to you, she cupped your cheeks and looked into your eyes. She didn’t say anything, but she could tell by the wateriness of them that you’d heard everything that had just been said. “Did you have a safe journey?” She tried to distract you and lift your spirits, her stomach fluttering in guilt at her son’s behaviour. She looked at your long-sleeved dress that went down to your feet. The thick, red material being a symbol of your Kingdom’s red flag. “Are you warm enough? I know how much different it must be from the heat of your Kingdom.”

“Yes, your majesty.” You spoke quietly and gave her a weak smile. She let go of your cheeks and instead took your hand into one of her own.

“Let me introduce you to my family.” You’d never met the King and Queen before, but you’d seen them from afar those many years ago when you’d attended the ball they held at their palace. They both hadn’t aged a day from what you could remember, their faces looking youthful with slight age marks around their eyes. The Queen was probably one of the most beautiful women you’d ever laid eyes on. You felt like dirt compared to her and tried to push back the self-conscious feeling you felt. She had long blonde hair that was dead straight and stopped at her waist, two braids met in the middle of her head to keep her hair out of her face and the golden crown she had on top of her head gave her an ethereal look. You knew that she was too in your position once, but you doubted it went down the same way as it was in that moment. You wondered if she was chosen to marry the King because of her blonde hair, assuming the Royal family wanted to keep up the gene of them all being light haired. Gazing at the Queen made you long for your own mother, the Queen of the Southern Kingdom. You gulped back the lump in your throat and looked at the King as she introduced him.

“This is my husband, the King of the Northern Kingdom.” He bowed his head to you and gave you a genuine smile that reached his eyes. You couldn’t help but notice how much his son looked like him, they had the same face shape and nose, but the Prince had his mother’s lips and eyes. Together the two had made the most beautiful offspring.

“It’s a pleasure to have you in our home, I hope you feel welcome here and I’m happy to welcome you into the family.” His words felt sincere, but you didn’t feel welcome at all, at least not from the Prince. The King and Queen were doing a good job at making you feel comfortable though and it made you wonder how to lovely people such as themselves produced such a cold son.

“And this is our son, Prince Jeno.” She smiled, giving him a wide-eyed look that told him he was going to regret acting up in front of you. He let out a long sigh and bowed to you even though he looked reluctant to do so. “I wish you both good health and fortune in your upcoming marriage.” They both bowed once more before leaving you alone with the Prince in the sitting room you’d been brought to. Jeno let out a sigh and looked at Mark.

“Take the Princess to her chambers.” When Mark hesitated for a moment, clearly having been instructed by someone else to do something different, Jeno raised his voice. “Now!”

“Right this way your highness.” Mark exited the room quickly. You gave Jeno one last look, your heart pounding in disappointment as you looked at him. He turned his back to you and his shoulders stayed rigid until he heard the door shut behind him. You trailed after Mark through the daunting halls of the unfamiliar palace, feeling nauseous for your next meeting with the hostile Prince.

---

You tried to think of many ways to get out of going to dinner with your fiancé. However, as you sat on your larger than needed bed, you couldn’t think of any good excuses that would excuse you from meeting with the Prince. A maid had knocked on your door, waiting for your response before letting herself in. She told you it was time for you to get ready for your dinner, and she’d presented you with a baby blue and gold dress. The baby blue material was made from the finest of silk, with gold coloured lace adorning the top portion of the long-sleeved garment. The skirt came down to your ankles, and you’d been given a pair of matching blue heels to wear. The maid had then brushed out your long hair and plaited it, so the thick plait fell over your right shoulder. When you looked into the gold framed body length mirror, you couldn’t help but think about how innocent you looked. Your eyes were no longer red from the sobbing you’d done after Mark had left you alone in your new bedroom, but they still felt heavy and itchy.

“The Prince will be so shocked when he sees how beautiful you look your highness.” The sweet maid smiled at you from where she stood behind you. You caught her eye in the mirror and gave her a weak smile.

“What’s your name?” You asked in a quiet voice, feeling the comfort of her voice seep into you.

“My name is Nayeon, Princess (Y/N).” She kept up formalities as she bowed her head to you, the grandfather clock in the corner of your room chimed, signifying the turn of the hour. “Oh, it’s time to head down to dinner. You’ll be dining with Prince Jeno in his private dining area.”

“Will it just be the two of us?” You asked meekly, your hands clasped together as you played with your fingers in nervousness.

“Yes, your highness, now if you’d like to follow me.” You hesitated for a second before you followed her. She took you down the wide hall and you noticed that the temperature had dropped since the sun had gone down, making a light chill cascade up your spine, with the only light available coming from the lit lanterns flickering on the wall. She guided you around a corner and down one more hall before stopping in front of an open door. “Just through there, your dinner will be served soon.” She smiled and motioned for you to enter the room with your hand. You timidly took a step into the room, it looking like a typical dining room for a royal with a dark oak table in the centre, two chairs opposite each other on either side. A lit candle was on the middle of the table, in between two beautifully decorated plates. You then noticed Prince Jeno stood beside the table, he stood up straighter as you entered the room and bowed to you. You returned the bow, opening your mouth to speak but not really knowing what to say to him.

“Sit.” He pulled out one of the chairs and motioned with his head for you to sit. You hurried to take a seat, not wanting him to get mad at you like he had previously shown earlier on in the day.

“Thank you.” You spoke quietly, placing your hands in your lap and keeping your posture straight as you watched him sit in the chair opposite you. You let out a gentle sigh, averting your eyes and glancing around the room at the décor. He made no effort to start up a conversation with you, and you had no idea what you could possibly say to the Prince that would make him want to talk to you. Dinner was served and Jeno barely even looked at you. The silence made you feel sick and you hardly touched your food. He noticed, but he didn’t care. If you wanted to starve yourself then that was your problem, not his.

You left the dining room feeling dejected and sad. Nayeon took you back to your room and pretended as if she didn’t know that the Prince had hardly spoken with you, keeping a gentle smile on her face. She helped you get ready for bed, and then left you on your own with nothing but the light of the moon shining through the gap in the curtains. You sat on your bed, looking up at the ceiling as tears flooded your vision. You let out a long sigh, trying to contain your emotions as a wave of homesickness came over you. It was no use, because tears streamed from your eyes the second you thought about your parents. In a way you knew you should feel resentful of them for sending you away to a kingdom you didn’t really know to marry someone you’d only met once, but you knew they only did it because they had to. Your kingdom had been met by a financial crisis, and the first thing the royal advisors told your parents to do was to marry you off to a Prince from a financially stable kingdom. Obviously, your parents went to the richest kingdom out of the four kingdoms in your country. The Northern kingdom was best known for cold weather and its army, it had a reputation of being the saviour when it comes to wars with other countries across the sea. During wars, all four kingdoms banded together, and it was always after the army from the North got to the battle that it would end up being won. The Eastern kingdom was known for its rainy weather and the luscious fruit and vegetables that it produced. Food from the Eastern kingdom could be found in any of the four kingdoms as it was a highly traded good. The Western kingdom best known for its fishing and fashion; those being traded amongst the kingdoms for such a low price that the demand for the products kept the economy running. And your kingdom, the Southern kingdom, was known for its high population and poverty. It’s not something you were proud of, but the people in control were trying their hardest to get rid of the people living on the streets and give them a roof over their heads. Especially as your country had blistering heat almost all year round. You didn’t even want to think of the people who died from the exposure to the sun. But due to the financial crisis, this wasn’t achievable, so when your parents came to you about the arranged marriage, you didn’t kick up a fuss about it and instead decided to think of the positives, which led to you actually being excited about the marriage. Now though, you just wanted to go home.

---

A whole week of being ignored by the Prince had done nothing to lift your spirits. Well he hadn’t ignored you, but you wouldn’t class irritated looks of disgust over dinner every night to be polite. It really seemed to you like he hated you, and it felt like a knife being twisted in your stomach every time Nayeon would come to your room to collect you for a meal with your future spouse. The only time you could remember smiling and feeling genuinely happy was when the Queen had summoned you for lunch one afternoon. She’d made you feel welcome and tried her hardest not to talk about her son, instead asking you about your life and recommending things for you to do in the palace in your free time. Apart from that, you just counted down the days until your marriage whilst you strolled around the palace absentmindedly.

On Friday, you’d been dressed up in a pale pink gown. You’d gotten used to the long sleeves and heavy materials over the past week, nearly all of your new clothes being suited for the cold weather outside. You were glad though, because you still found yourself getting cold even under all the cloth you had draped over your body. Your hair had been pinned in a half up, half down style, the section that was up having been plaited into a bun. You felt pretty, which gave you a small burning of positivity in your gut. At midday, you’d been taken to the main dining hall. It was much larger than the intimate one you’d been eating with the Prince in, and you’d much prefer to have dinner with him in there from now on. Your eyes laid on a young man. He had a wide smile and black hair, his navy blue and white uniform telling you that he was of royal blood. You recognised the crest on his badge to be that of the Western kingdom. Sat at the table and not moving was Prince Jeno, he watched as the other handsome man approached you.

“Princess (Y/N), it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Prince Jaemin of the Western kingdom.” He bowed to you, holding his hand out for you to place yours in kiss. When you did, he brought your hand up and placed a soft kiss to the back of it. Your heart fluttered and a small smile rose on your lips. You’d known Prince Jaemin for a total of 30 seconds and he’d already shown you more affection and kindness than your own fiancé. You glanced at Jeno to see if he’d reacted to seeing another man kiss his fiancées hand, but he just watched you both with a blank look on his face. You bowed back and he didn’t let go of your hand, gently pulling you over to the table. He pulled your chair out for you and you sat down, sitting directly opposite to Jeno. Jaemin sat beside you and cleared his throat. “So, are you enjoying the North (Y/N)?” He asked, looking at you with a cute smile on his face. Where Jeno looked intimidatingly handsome, Jaemin looked the kind of handsome that had all the girls cooing over him, his smile being his killer feature.

“Oh, yes I am.” You lied with a fake smile on your face. “I can’t say that I love the weather, but everyone has made me feel so welcome.” You put emphasis on the word ‘everyone’, shooting Jeno a smile as you directed that at him. He narrowed his eyes at you and smirked in retaliation. His smirk put a horrid feeling in your stomach, because that confirmed to you that Jeno knew exactly how he was acting towards you, and that he couldn’t find it within him to care.

“That’s great!” As you spoke with Jaemin, the servants brought out the food, setting down steaming plates in front of all three of you. You sipped at your wine and listened to Jaemin as he went off on a tangent about marriage. You noticed that throughout the meal Jeno had flagged down the nearest maid multiple times to refill his glass of wine.

“May I ask what brought you here today Jaemin?” You asked when he’d finally taken a moment to stop talking and to eat instead. He swallowed his food and looked at Jeno before looking back at you. He was about to answer when Jeno spoke up first.

“He visits once a month.” His voice was deep and held little emotion.

“Oh, may I ask why?” You asked Jaemin despite it having been Jeno that gave you an answer.

“Our mothers are sisters, when his mother comes to visit my mother, she brings him with her.” Jeno was the one to answer you yet again. This is the most conversation you’d gotten out of him since you arrived, and it was a bittersweet moment for you. On one hand you were happy that he was actually talking to you, and on the other hand you were devastated that he sounded so emotionless.

“So basically, we’re cousins.” Jaemin nodded and smiled, taking a sip of his own wine. “He’s older by a few months.”

“That’s lovely.” You gave Jaemin a genuine smile and you could see that he really looks up to Jeno, despite the small age gap.

“Not as lovely as you Princess.” Jaemin winked at you and sipped at his wine again. You felt your cheeks flush and you shot a glance to Jeno who had one eyebrow raised, but apart from that, he didn’t look like he cared. “I must say, I am rather envious of my cousin for being the one to marry you, but I wish you happiness.” You almost begged Jaemin to take you away from this kingdom and to take you home with him, but you knew it wouldn’t make much difference and would only make things worse for you in the long run. “But you know where the Western kingdom is.” He winked at you. Jeno cleared his throat as a warning but Jaemin didn’t seem phased at all.

---

Jaemin’s visit two weeks ago had seemed like a lifetime ago, and you wished the handsome boy would come more often so you had something to look forward to. Jeno hadn’t spoken to you much, which you were getting used to. It made you wonder if this is how he was going to treat you even after you were married and with children. You hoped not, that was enough to make anyone go insane. It became too much for you one morning, and after sitting through breakfast on your own in the large dining room, you decided to make an effort with the Prince. Walking down the east wing of the palace that would take you straight to the Prince’s chambers, you passed Mark who had a smile on his face the moment he saw you.

“Good morning your Highness.” He bowed to you, expecting you to just bow and continue walking but you stopped, holding your hand out to him to stop him too.

“Good morning, do you happen to know where the Prince is?”

“Oh yes, I believe he’s just finished his breakfast and he’s relaxing in his bedroom. Would you like me to take you to him?”

“No that won’t be necessary, thank you Mark.” You bowed your head to him. He bowed in return and bid you goodbye. You walked towards the Prince’s bedroom and stopped in front of his door. You took in a deep breath and gingerly knocked on the door, regretting it almost immediately as all your courage drained from you.

“Come in.” The Prince’s voice called through the door. You noticed that his tone was light and airy, not like anything you’d ever heard from him since every time you’re in his presence he’s hostile and blunt. As you entered the room, you saw him look up to see who it was. His face fell when he saw you stood timidly in the doorway; his eyes boring into yours for a moment before he turned to look away once more. “What do you want?” his voice was no longer airy and light, his tone more resembling daggers stabbing at you with the intent to harm.

“I wish to get to know you better. We are going to marry after all.” You tried to hold a tone of confidence, but you were afraid you sounded like a nervous child about to tell their mother they’d wet the bed.

“I’m busy.” He grunted, not even sparing you a glance.

“Doing what might I ask?” You walked into his room, nerves flooding your body with such unease that you could feel it in your toes and fingertips. He slowly turned to look at you and narrowed his eyes, clearly not liking how you questioned him.

“Fine. Let’s spend time together.” He stood up, his chair skidding across the marble floor with an ear tingling screech. He snatched your wrist into his hand and pulled you harshly out of the room. The grip he had on you was hurting, but you decided not to say anything as he dragged you through the castle. You struggled to keep up with him, having to alternate between jogging and walking fast so that you didn’t fall. He pulled you outside into the freezing wind and let go of you. Your arms automatically wrapped around your body, goose bumps rising on your body as the long-sleeved dress you wore did nothing to protect you from the wind. Flurries of snow hit you as the sky coughed out the snow in sparse gusts. “Go stand over there by that tree.” He commanded you, pointing at a tree that had a large trunk. You gulped but obeyed him, not wanting to make him mad, but you were very confused as to why he had instructed you to do so. You trudged through the snow and stood with your back to the tree, your body shivering from the chill. He went over to a small wooden shed nearby and pulled out a bow. Your eyes widened as he grabbed 3 arrows and stood parallel to you, about 20 feet away.

“What are you doing?” You questioned as he loaded the bow with an arrow, standing with two feet apart and his left side facing you.

“Spending quality time with my fiancée! You’re helping me practice my archery!” He gave you a wide smile, but you could see the sinister look behind his eyes even from far away. “Now stand very still, don’t worry my love, I am very good at this.” He winked at you and your stomach plummeted through the snow.

‘He’s going to kill me so he doesn’t have to marry me.’ You thought to yourself as he pulled back the string, closing one of his eyes as he aimed at you. You didn’t think that the shivers you were experiencing were from the cold anymore, but from the paralysing fright you were undergoing. You couldn’t move, your feet feeling anchored to the floor like a one of the criminals they locked away in the dungeons. Jeno smirked to himself when he saw you squeeze your eyes shut, letting go of the string and sending an arrow flying towards you. It hit where he had aimed it for perfectly, and it stuck into the bark of the tree an inch above your head. You let out a whimper and flinched as you heard the ear-splitting crack of the wood above you, your heart pounding in your chest and your breathing becoming too quick for you to control.

You were having a panic attack. Something you hadn’t had in a long time. As a child you were riddled with anxiety after one of your nanny’s had told you a story of a princess being kidnapped from her home. You lived under the constant fear that bad people were going to break into your chambers and steal you in the dead of night, using the guise of the dark to get away with it. Needless to say, once your mother and father found out why you were suffering from constant anxiety attacks and would flinch whenever anyone approached you, they had banished that nanny from the castle. After months of therapy, you had found your life much easier to cope with and your parents had assigned guards to be with you and stationed outside of your door every night. You grew out of it by the time you were a teenager. But this was bringing back all the feelings you’d been able to push aside for so long, and you felt like a child once more, cowering at the thought of being killed by a stranger. Jeno loaded another arrow into his bow and aimed it at you, pausing once he saw you let out a sob, your frame hunched over and arms wrapped around yourself.

“Shit.” He mumbled, knowing he’d taken his little joke too far. He was one of the best archers in the kingdom, so he knew his arrow wouldn’t hit you. But you didn’t know that, and in your mind, he had every reason to want you dead. He lowered his bow and gulped, throwing it to the floor and running through the snow to you. “Open your eyes.” He grunted, placing his big hands on your shoulders and giving you a firm shake. You couldn’t breathe. It felt like his arrow had hit you in the throat and punctured your windpipe, the air not successfully inflating your lungs and your head feeling like someone was crushing it with their hands. “Hey!”

“D-don’t k-k-kill me.” You stuttered out, your lungs gasping for air as your throat gave it restricted access to small puffs of oxygen. Jeno was taken aback by your words. Standing frozen in the snow with his eyes watching you have a meltdown in front of him. He snapped out of his daze and gulped down his guilt, sighing like you were a nuisance as he scooped you up into his arms. You whimpered as he touched you, your body going completely stiff in his grasp as he trudged through the snow, carrying you like you weighed nothing.

“I won’t hurt you.” He mumbled, taking you inside and setting you down on a lavish chair that was in the corner of the hallway beside a small round table that held fresh flowers in a beautifully painted white and blue vase. He kneeled down on one knee so that he was facing you. “Breathe…” His voice was uncharacteristically soft, and he took one of your hands into both of his. You looked at him, your eyes bloodshot and your cheeks freezing cold from where the winter air had hit the tear tracks on your skin. You hadn’t seen him this close since you were fifteen and had been dancing with him at the ball. He was beautiful. His straight nose, his deep brown eyes, his very slightly plump but very pink lips and his strong jawline had you distracted from the internal panic you felt. Your breathing slowly steadied as he kept his stare on you, looking you dead in the eyes as he studied you. His thumb stroked the back of your hand, and you gulped down the lump in your throat as you looked at him. You bottom lip wobbled and one tear fell from your eye as your brain came back around to its normal state. “Are you alright?” He asked, slowly withdrawing his hands from your own. You nodded in response, not trusting your vocal cords to answer him. He stood up, and with a curt nod of his head he hurried off down the hall of the castle, leaving you alone in the chair he’d sat you in. Not long after Jeno’s retreat, Mark came running down the hallway with a panicked look on his face.

“Princess!” You knew that Jeno had recruited Mark to go see if you were okay. It hurt you that Jeno couldn’t even bare to be with you that much that he couldn’t stick around and be with you himself, instead he sent his servant. Mark kept asking you questions and trying to gain your attention, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care about what he was saying. He timidly helped you up to your feet and took you to your bedroom, checking on your every hour to make sure you were feeling okay. You weren’t.

---

It had been three and a half weeks of your dearly beloved Prince Jeno doing his finest effort to avoid you. You had briefly seen him during a dinner that the King and Queen both required your attendance for. You sat opposite each other and he refused to meet your eye, his attention on his mother most of the night and it seemed as though he was ignoring his own father as well. Although you had no idea why he would do that to the King. But you didn’t want to ask to find out. He spoke to his mother and even sat beside her, seeming almost as if he was being clingy with her like you’d expect a 5-year-old mummy’s boy to be. She played up to his whims and always responded to him like a loving mother, even going as far to pat his cheek at one point when he shot her a small pout at something his father had said. The whole scene didn’t look very Queen and Prince like, more mother and son like. But because the dinner wasn’t official business you assumed that they didn’t care. It was now obvious to you that the slap she’d struck Jeno with on your first day in the castle was a very rare occurrence.

You had spent a few afternoons with the Queen, getting to know her and learning how to do your official duties as the upcoming Princess and Queen of the Northern Kingdom. She was a very gentle soul and you always felt comfortable around her. As for the King, you didn’t really see him much unless it was in passing or that one time during your dinner with the royal family. Nayeon went missing for a week, and Mark had told you that she was on leave for those 7 days just to visit her family, but that she would be back again in no time. So for that week you had no one to keep you company, which saddened you deeply and left you wallowing in your loneliness as if you were being punished like a criminal on trial for manslaughter.

When Nayeon came back she made sure to spend a lot of time with you to make up for her absence. She made you tea every night before you slept, and she would tell you stories that her family had embarked on. Your favourite story of hers was the one about her father going into war when she was a child. Her father had been in the Northern army and had fought along many men, old and young, in an attempt to stop the four Kingdoms being invaded by the Country of Hacin across the seas. You remembered being very young when armies from all four Kingdoms banded together to fight off the incoming threat. The war had started after your parents refused to set you up for an arranged marriage with Prince Renjun of Hacin. They didn’t want you to be in a different country, so they refused the offer presented to them. Which the King and Queen of Hacin didn’t like. Causing them to declare war. It was mostly the Western Kingdom that got the brunt of the war, as they were the Kingdom parallel to Hacin across the sea. The troops made their way to the Western Kingdom and fought against the threat, but it wasn’t until the Northern Kingdom joined that the war finally came to an end. You had heard that thousands of men had lost their lives in battle, and you were eternally grateful to them all. Nayeon’s father was one of the men who never made it home to their families, and that’s the reason why it was your favourite story of hers. Because you could see the pain in her eyes and her strained tone in her voice as she tried to hold back her tears, and it made you feel grateful for the life you’d been given. You had made sure that Nayeon knew how you felt towards the war and she could tell that you were grateful for her father’s sacrifice.

A few days ago you started to feel really hot, despite the chill drifting in like a haze into your room through the open window. The curtains billowing from the slight breeze the cold winters air presented the Kingdom with. You shouldn’t shake the burning feeling that you had sitting inside of you like a furnace with an unlimited supply of coal. It caused unwanted sweat to bead on your skin and your lungs to speed up in attempt to cool yourself down. It was night-time so you knew most of the staff would be asleep or busy doing their own chores. You gripped onto the sheets of your bed and squeezed your eyes shut as a wave of nausea flushed through you and made you feel on the verge of throwing up. You gritted your teeth and stood up, involuntarily bending and gripping at your stomach as the unbearable sense of sickness stabbed at your gut. You whimpered, a sob falling from your lips as your knees buckled, your body hitting the floor with a dull thud. Externally you felt numb, the tips of your fingertips having no feeling and your body crashing to the floor didn’t bother you. Internally though you felt like you were going to die a slow death. You tried to steady you breathing, but you couldn’t, nothing but choked sobs falling from your lips as you gently blacked out.

---

The sun shining on the white snow was causing Jeno to squint as he drank his morning tea. His mother was accompanying him during breakfast, and they sat peacefully inside of her personal dining room. The floor to ceiling length windows allowing the hot sun to hit his skin and leave behind a warm feeling. It was a rare day of no clouds or falling snow, which always had Jeno waking up in a good mood.

“Jeno, my dear…” The Queen sipped at her tea and delicately dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. “You should be having breakfast with (Y/N), not with me.” She gave him a soft smile and let out a laugh when he sighed, immediately popping food into his mouth with his fork in an attempt to delay his response. “She is a lovely girl, and I know you don’t want to marry her. But avoiding her isn’t going to do either of you any good in the long run.” Jeno chewed his food slowly and gulped it down, sighing once more before nodding.

“I know mother.”

“Is that all you have to say?” She tilted her head, furrowing her eyebrows and rolling her eyes.

“No, I-” He was interrupted by the doors to the room flying open, Mark stood in the doorway, out of breath from where he had been running.

“Your Majesty, your Highness, you have to come quickly!” He gulped watching as the mother and son both stared at him in confusion. The Queen slowly rose from her seat but Jeno stayed where he was sat.

“What is it Mark?” She asked, approaching him quickly.

“It’s Princess (Y/N), we found her on the floor of her room about ten minutes ago. She was breathing but she was unresponsive. The Doctor is looking at her now.” Mark spoke so quickly that Jeno almost couldn’t understand what he was saying. He widened his eyes and stood up quickly. He then paused, and slowly sat back down in his chair. He coughed awkwardly and bowed his head once to Mark.

“Make sure she gets the best care. Keep me updated.” His voice held no emotion, and Mark knew that the Prince wasn’t going to be following him anytime soon. The Queen frowned at her son, but instead of chastising him, she quickly followed Mark.

Jeno sat at the dining table and pushed his plate away from him. He felt sick with worry that something bad was going to happen to you, but he couldn’t bring himself to face you. He was still holding guilt from the stunt he had pulled with you but didn’t want it to seem like he cared too much about you. He let out a sigh and rubbed his hands over his face in frustration, unsure of what to do.

---

The anticipation had killed Jeno over the day that he avoided everyone in hopes of not having any updates about you. Every time he heard footsteps approaching his bedroom, he made himself busy and refused to let anybody in, acting as if his work was more important than you. He hadn’t had a chance to take a step back and gather up all of his thoughts and feelings towards you. He was conflicted. On one hand, you were probably one of the most beautiful humans he had ever laid eyes on, and you had a very sweet personality to go with your sweet looks. But on the other hand, he did not want to get married yet, he also didn’t know you that well and because of his stubborn nature, he didn’t want to get to know you purely out of spite at his forced marriage.

The next morning, Jeno went about his day as normal, eating breakfast and then making his way to the palace courtyard to practice his archery. When he made it to the doors without bumping into anyone of significance, he metaphorically gave himself a pat on the back. Until Mark approached him from behind.

“Your Highness,” Mark spoke up, causing Jeno to jolt in surprise at the sudden chirp of Mark’s voice. Mark had always been silently stealthy and was almost a professional at silently making his way around the palace. “Sorry to interrupt, but you told me to keep you updated on Princess (Y/N).” Jeno turned around and let out an irritated sigh, nodding his head at Mark.

“Go on.” His voice was gruff, and he rolled his eyes. Mark took a deep breath, giving Jeno eyes that were full of pity.

“The Doctor has diagnosed her with the Macetipis Virus…” Jeno felt like a surge of heat rush through him at Mark’s words. His throat created a lump of emotion that made him feel uncomfortable and he had to look away from Mark to keep his cool. “She has all the symptoms, a high temperature, she keeps floating in and out of consciousness, and she keeps throwing up a yellow liquid.”

“I know the symptoms Mark.” He growled, storming off down the hall without giving Mark another look. He made his way to your bedroom, not bothering with knocking as he let himself straight into the room. Nayeon looked up at him with a wide-eyed look as she set down a steaming cup of tea on your bedside table. She immediately bowed and cleared her throat awkwardly. “Out.” Jeno grunted. She complied immediately and left the room without another word. Jeno gulped when he saw you tucked up in your bed, your eyes closed, and head lolled slightly to the side. Tears gathered in his eyes as he looked at you, feeling a horrid guilt at how he’d treated you as he stared at your limp body.

He sat down on your bed, taking one of your cold hands into both of his. He lifted it up to his lips and laid a gentle kiss to the back of your hand, a tear falling down his cheek as in that moment, he absolutely hated himself. You were going to die. He was sure of it. The last person he saw with the Macetipis Virus didn’t last longer than a week before she took her final breath and died peacefully in her sleep. He was sure his sister was going to live, but she didn’t. And at the age of thirteen he watched her slowly wither away before him even though the doctor had told the family that it was possible to overcome the disease. She was only ten years old, and she had her whole life ahead of her. Jeno had always promised her that when he became King that no one would ever harm her, and she could live her life as a beautiful Princess wherever she wanted to be, without having to worry about an arranged marriage. Now he couldn’t fulfil that promise because her little life was cut short, all because of the virus that was unavoidable. It wasn’t contagious, and so far, no one had figured out how people became ill with it. There had been no cases of males having the virus, so it was assumed that only females could contract it. Jeno knew this, that’s why he wasn’t worried about being by your side during this even if it wasn’t supposed to be contagious.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, stroking the back of your hand with his thumb. “You didn’t deserve how I’ve been treating you…I should have realised that you’re in the same boat as me and you’re going through an unwanted marriage as well.” He gulped, keeping his voice in a low whisper so that no one outside of your room could hear you. “Now you’re probably going to die, and you’ll have died unhappy and I am so sorry Princess.” The lump in his throat started to burn, but he didn’t care. He sat by your side all day, ordering anyone that entered your room to leave. He left around mid-evening to eat some dinner. You hadn’t woken up at all throughout the day, much to Jeno’s dismay. He wanted nothing more than for you to open your eyes so he could voice to you how sorry he was with you actually being able to hear him.

---

“What the fuck do you mean the wedding is being pushed back?” Jeno growled in a low tone, his teeth gritted, and his fists clenched. He had a surge of anger flush through him and he could feel his hands start to shake in aggression.

“Well Your Highness, Princess (Y/N) is very s-”

“I know that she’s sick.” He snapped; the poor servant stood opposite him flinching in fear. “Who made this decision? Tell me!”

“T-the King and Queen.” The servant gulped but visibly relaxed when Jeno stormed off down the hall, making his way to the throne room where he knew his mother and father were. He wasn’t subtle as he burst through the wooden doors to the throne room, completely ignoring the small crowd of people and storming up the royal red carpet to his parents who were both sat on their respected thrones.

“You pushed back our wedding?!” He shouted, his legs moving fast in his haste. He stopped in front of his parents, a scowl marred on his face and his shoulders rising and falling as he tried to catch his breath. “She’s going to fucking die any day now and you want her to die an unmarried woman?!” Jeno’s voice got louder, his anger evident to the people who brought him into the world. Everyone in the room was dead silent as they listened to the distressed Prince. The King frowned at him, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

“Jeno calm down.” His father spoke with a stern voice, sitting up straighter on his golden throne and looking down his nose at his son.

“NO!” Jeno stepped closer, running a hand through his thick blond hair in frustration. “You know how frowned up it is to die an unmarried woman, and you want that to happen to her?!” He gulped, tears filling his eyes as he flicked his eyes over to his mother. “Mother…she doesn’t deserve this…” He knew the Queen would be the one to pity him and end up giving him what he wanted, like she had most of his life. “Please.”

“Jeno, she can hardly hold her own head up. She can’t marry someone in the state that she’s in.” Her voice was soft, and she gave him a look that shows how much pity she felt for him.

“It’s been three days and they’ve told me that the keeps waking up, she can do it!”

“No.” The King spoke again, shutting Jeno off and causing the young Prince to let his emotions get the best of him. His face crinkled up as he started to sob. He felt embarrassed at his crying so he covered his face with his hands. The King rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “Don’t even try to turn the water works on, your mother isn’t going to give in.” They were both used to Jeno turning on his emotions to make his mother give him what he wanted, and the King assumed that what he was doing this time. This made Jeno angry again, ripping his hands away from his face and staring at his father once more.

“Go to hell.” He turned around and ran out of the room, not bothering to look back as his mother called for him. He ran until he reached his own room, knowing he needed to gather his thoughts and calm himself down before he visited you for the day.

He left it an hour before he collected a small bunch of bright yellow flowers from the palaces inside garden, letting himself into your room and coming to a dead stop when he saw your eyes staring back at him. This was the first time he’d been around to witness your consciousness, only having heard about it from Nayeon.

“Jeno?” Your voice was raspy and barely audible from where you laid in your bed. Jeno gulped, approaching you slowly with a slight hesitance in his heart. He felt like your eyes were piercing through him, making his insides tighten and his throat close up.

“How are you feeling?” He asked the first thing that came to his mind as he gently set the bunch of flowers into an empty vase on your bedside table.

“Bad.” You whispered out, unsure of how to communicate with the man who had only ever shown hostility towards you. If you didn’t have the horrible sense of nausea swimming inside of your stomach, you probably would have felt butterflies of anxiety take flight. He timidly sat on the edge of your bed, awkwardly grasping his own hands before letting out a sigh.

“I want to apologise to you for how I treated you.” You watched him from where you laid, your eyes nervously darting around the room when he stared you dead in the eye. “You’re a Princess, and you didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of my immaturity.” He reached out and took your hand in his own, lifting it to his lips and pressing a lingering kiss to your cold skin. “I’m so sorry.”

“Jeno.” You used all the strength you had to try and sit up, but you couldn’t quite muster it. Jeno let go of your hand when he saw that you wanted to be more upright, placing his hands underneath you to lift you up against the pillows. He grabbed the cup of tea that was still lukewarm to the touch and raised it to your lips. You sipped the tea and cleared your throat, feeling a sort of relief at the liquid at it slid down your throat. “It’s okay, I forgive you.” You spoke in a soft manor, shocked at the sight of the hard-headed Prince being apologetic to you. You’d never seen this warm-hearted side of the Prince, and you wanted to cry your heart out at how sweet he was being.

“They pushed our wedding back…but I promise you, when you recover, we will have the biggest wedding in all of history.” His encouraging smile made you let out a whimper of a giggle, your throat still feeling groggy and not allowing you to make all the noises you wanted to. “And I will be the best husband I can be. But until then, you need to get better, so that I can take you on some dates.” He chuckled, ignoring the tears that came to his eyes as he had it in his mind that you weren’t going to survive.

“Tell me about the dates.” You closed your eyes when a burning sensation ran down your oesophagus, causing you to wince as a rush of nausea hit you in the gut once more.

“Okay well I don’t know if you’ve been to the inside gardens yet, but I want to have afternoon tea there with you. It’s beautiful, there’s an array of so many colours and smells, and it’s so quiet in there. The walls are made entirely of glass, so it gets rather hot when the sun hits it, but the white of the snow outside is such a contrast to the colours inside that it-” He paused as you started to cough, your chest jolting as the uncontrollable coughs left your mouth. Jeno immediately jumped to his feet, pulling you forward so you were sat completely upright. He patted your back firmly, then rubbed his hand in circles on your back. “It’s okay, cough it up.” He grabbed the nearby bowl that had been set aside for when you needed to throw up, holding it in front of your mouth as he patted your back with his other hand. You felt embarrassed as you coughed, eventually puking into the bowl and letting out a whimper from the mortification you felt at throwing up in front of your fiancé. “Good girl, it’s okay.” He put the bowl down, grabbing a handkerchief from your drawer and wiping your mouth with it. He gently kissed your forehead without thinking about it, laying you down again and stroking your hair gently.

“Thank you.” You whispered out, your cheeks burning and the sick feeling sitting heavy on your stomach still.

“My sister was ill with the same illness you have.” He looked down at the floor, a heavy sinking feeling washing over him as he thought back to watching his sister die. You didn’t even know that Jeno had a sister, and you were intrigued to find out more. No one had ever told you about the Princess of the Northern Kingdom, so you had no idea she even existed. You wanted to ask him about her, but you didn’t know if he would respond to you with hostility, and you also found it hard to speak after the onslaught of pain you felt in your throat from throwing up. Jeno continued speaking without having to be prompted, feeling a slight weight lifted off of his shoulders at finally talking about his sister after being silent about it for so many years. “I spent all day every day by her side, I wouldn’t even let the maids help her, it had to be me. I was her older brother and I felt the need to protect her.” He cleared his throat as a lump arose inside of it, all his emotions pilling up and making tears well up in his beautiful eyes. “She died 4 days after being diagnosed.” You reached out and took his hand in your own, giving it a weak squeeze just to show him that you were listening, and you felt empathy towards him. “I won’t let that happen to you.” His eyes bore into your own, and you could see how broken the Prince was, all of his bad attitude making sense, but not excusing it.

He sat by your side all evening, talking to you for about ten more minutes before you drifted back into unconsciousness, but he still stayed by you. He asked Mark to fetch him a book so that he could keep himself entertained whilst keeping watch over you. At around 7 o’clock the door to the room opened slowly. Jeno looked up and smiled softly when he saw his Mother entering the room. She looked slightly surprised to see him sat there, her eyebrows raising on her beautiful face.

“Jeno I didn’t know you were here.” She closed the door with a gentle push, not wanting to make too much noise as she saw that you were sleeping.

“You shouldn’t be here; you could catch it mother!” His eyes widened with worry, not wanting his own mother to catch the disease that took his sisters life. He knew it wasn’t contagious but he couldn’t risk it.

“Jeno I will be fine; I’m only stopping by for a few minutes.” She smiled softly to him, giving him a small bout of reassurance. “You’re a good man Jeno, you being here for her when she’s in this condition is a good thing for you to do.”

“I don’t want her to wake up alone,” He closed his book and set it aside, moving to stroke your lifeless hand that laid on the bed. “I owe her so much; she can’t die alone.”

“Oh sweetheart.” The Queen sighed, approaching her son and leaning down to place a kiss on his head. She felt a sudden rush of pride at his confession, glad he was finally acting like the fiancé that you deserved. She was finally seeing the young man that she’d raised to be a compassionate, loving Prince. “I’m glad you’ve finally come around to marrying her…may I ask what changed your mind?”

Jeno thought for a moment, before taking a deep breath and letting out a long sigh. “Miyah never got to have her happy ever after and seeing (Y/N) like this broke my heart. I want her to have her happy ending.”

“You know you have to apologise to your father. The way y-” She was cut off as you started to cough in your sleep, your eyes suddenly blinking open as you couldn’t cough up what was stuck in your throat. Jeno jumped up from his spot and lifted you up so you were sitting upright, patting your back hard to stop you from choking. The Queen watched with wide eyes as you coughed up blood, it staining the sheets over you and dripping down your chin. Jeno gasps loudly, frowning in confusion at the sight of the blood. He rubbed your back as you started to sob from seeing the blood, his stomach dropping as he looked over at his mother. “Miyah never coughed up blood! It isn’t one of the symptoms, she may not have Macetipis!” He propped up the pillows against the headboard and laid you against them, not sparing any moment before sprinting out of the door towards the palace’s doctor’s room.

You looked at the Queen and whimpered, fear rushing through you and your stomach twisting in anxiety. “I don’t want to die!” Your voice was hoarse, and you shuddered before spewing more blood onto the sheets. The Queen stroked your head as your breathing picked up, your chest rising and falling fast in your panic. She opened her mouth, but you couldn’t hear anything she was saying, everything sounding muffled and cloudy as your vision blurred. The world went dark as your eyes closed, your consciousness slipping away once more.

---

The sound of birds singing is the only sound you heard when your body brought itself out of the slumber of sleep that you’d been in more than 24 hours. The last thing you remembered was the sight of your sheets being spoiled by the sight of your own blood, but as you stared down at the sheets placed delicately over your body, you saw nothing but pristine white. You laid there for what felt like ages, feeling thirsty but not having the energy to reach for your glass of water that you could see sitting on your nightstand looking appetizing and delicious. You felt better than you had felt since you’d come down with your sickness, and you prayed that you didn’t get any worse. Jeno entered the room half an hour later, surprise written across his face when he saw you staring back at him.

“You’re awake!” He rushed to your side and took your hand straight into his. He had a soft smile playing on his lips, but you could tell he was being suspicious about something. “How are you feeling?” You cleared your throat as he helped you sit up, propping your thick pillows up behind you to keep you steady.

“Better.” He passed you the glass of water when he heard how croaky your voice was, it sounding like you had a thousand swords lodged inside of your throat.

“I have something to tell you, and I don’t want you to panic. Just know before I tell you this, that everything has been sorted out, and you will be getting better okay?” His fingers traced soft circles on your skin that left a tickling sensation in their wake. You nodded, not wanting to use your voice if you didn’t have to as your throat felt stiff. “You didn’t have Macetipis, after you started coughing up blood, I knew something wasn’t right. I got the doctor, and he knew immediately that you’d been poisoned.” Your stomach flipped and you felt queasy at the thought of someone trying to kill you. “It didn’t make sense at first, no one from the outside had access to your room. So I knew it must have been someone who had been coming into your room. I’ve been here most of the time, and the only people who were allowed in this room were my mother, my father, Mark, the doctor, Nayeon, and myself. The doctor tried his best to save you, so it wouldn’t make sense that he was trying to kill you. My mother, father, and I would never do such a thing. If we wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” His words made your eyes widen in surprise that he’d say something that dramatic in such a calm manner. “I trust Mark with my life, and when questioned he said he knew nothing about it, and I could tell he wasn’t lying to me. Which left dear, sweet, Nayeon.” He growled her name, his fists clenching around your hand but not hard enough to hurt you. “When questioned, she confessed almost immediately. She’d been putting poison in the tea she’d been serving you.” Your heart dropped as you thought of the sweet maid who’d made you feel welcomed. You had no idea she could even do something like that. “The poison was a weak one that would take at least two weeks to finish you off. It was meant to give you a slow, painful death. But you have to take all doses of it for it to work. She said she’d gotten if when she was visiting her family. She blames you for her father’s death in the war.” Your heart ached as Jeno told you that. You had trusted Nayeon, and you felt tears fill your eyes as you thought it all over inside of your head.

“What’s her punishment?” You closed your eyes, willing the tears not to fall as your throat hurt even more with the rising lump inside of it.

“Death.” He sneered, his body tense with hatred and anger. He couldn’t believe that someone had the nerve to try and take his Princess away from him, right underneath his nose too. You gasped, your eyes opening quickly.

“No! Please don’t kill her Jeno!” Your tone was desperate, and Jeno knitted his eyebrow together in confusion at your plea.

“She tried to kill you (Y/N)!”

“You shot an arrow at my head.” You deadpanned at him, showing him you weren’t afraid to speak against him if you had to. His face immediately fell, and his mouth opened and closed as he tried to conjure the right words to say.

“I didn’t ever intend on hurting you though…” His voice was soft, and he glanced down at his hands.

“You could have. Prince Jeno, please…spare her life.”

“No. The punishment stands, and I don’t want to hear you ask for me to change it again. Am I clear?” You shuddered at his dominant tone, immediately losing all the courage you previously had to speak against him and just simply nodded. He sighed and momentarily closed his eyes. “They’ve set a date for out wedding. It’s a month away.” You didn’t reply to him, sipping your water slowly and keeping your eyes anywhere but on him. “Princess…don’t ignore me.” You looked at him and gave him a blank stare, only giving him the silent treatment to show him that you were displeased with his choice. He frowned at you and took the glass of water out of your hands. “When you’re better, we are going to spend a lot of time together, because I am determined to make this work between us. So you’ll have to talk to me eventually.” When you didn’t reply to him, he started to get frustrated, not used to people pulling this kind of thing with him. “Fine.” He stood up and before you could say anything, he’d stormed out of the room so he could throw his tantrum without you seeing.

You let out a sigh and snuggled back down into your bed, feeling a wave of fatigue hit you as you got comfortable. You flinched when the door flung back open and Jeno was stood in the doorway with a scowl on his face.

“You win! She’ll have her life spared. But you are forbidden to speak with her, and she will be sent to live in the Western Kingdom as a slave. Happy?” The smile that you gave him after hearing his defeat made his heart flutter, and he knew in that moment that if all if took for you to smile like that at him was him giving you your own way, then he’d have to start getting used to not having things go his way.

---

It had been two weeks since Nayeon’s confession. You were up and about on your feet and finally enjoying your time in the Northern Kingdom now that you had a fiancé who cared for you. It made you slightly sad that you had to be on deaths doorstep for him to come to his senses and make an effort with you, but since spending most of your days with the Prince, you were overjoyed that he’d changed his mind about you. Your first official date with Prince Jeno was a simple walk around the castle the day after you’d found out about Nayeon poisoning you. You were still rather tired, and Jeno didn’t want to tire you out completely, so he took you on a slow walk around the castle and told you all the stories he had about growing up in the castle. He held your hand tightly, keeping you close to him and enjoying every second he spent with you, just talking about sharing stories. It wasn’t an extravagant date, but it meant the world to you, and your opinion on the cold-hearted, hot head-headed Prince had completely changed. He’d taken time everyday to see you, whether it was to take you out and about on walks, or just to have breakfast, lunch, or dinner with you. Which you really appreciated, considering how busy the Prince was with his duties as the heir to the throne. He had told you that your parents had been exchanging letters with his own parents, but they had decided not to visit you during your illness, instead hoping to see you next on your wedding day. It hurt you that they couldn’t be bothered to make the trip to see you, but you pinned it down to it being such a long journey and you knew just how hard it was to sleep in a horse drawn carriage for the two day long journey.

The flickering candlelight sent shadows dancing on the spines of the thousands of books that lined the walls. Books that told stories, real and fiction, of wars, love, and of creatures of the night you knew didn’t exist. The library felt warm, the large fireplace lit with simmering flames to keep the Prince and his Princess warm in the late hours of the night. You watched Jeno’s lips as he read from the book opened in front of him, his eyes darting back and forth as they trailed across the words written on the paper. Your cheek was resting against the palm of your hand with your elbow keeping it steady on the table, and you couldn’t help the small smile on your lips as your listened to Jeno read about a Prince and a Princess falling in love. It was him who picked the book off of the shelf, and to be honest you had zoned out when he was reading some parts of the story, your brain focusing on his beautiful face more than the poetic words that tumbled from his mouth.

“He grasped her hands in his own, the softness of her fingertips causing riptides in the ocean of love he held deep within his soul, riptides he was ready to dive headfirst into, wanting nothing more than to drown from the assault of her love. The moonlight hit her rosy cheeks, if he wasn’t already blinded from her beauty then that would have ended his eyesight in that moment. Her lips were inviting, like a poison apple begging him to take a bite, but he knew in his heart that the poison she was offering with her plush, angel like lips, was one that would do him more good than bad.” He suddenly closed the book, glancing up at you with slightly reddened cheeks. You furrowed your eyebrows, moving your hand from your cheek to rest it on the table.

“I was enjoying that…” You pouted at him, wanting to know what happened next with the Prince and Princess. “What happens next?”

“Come with me.” He stood up abruptly, hoping that you couldn’t see how his hands were shaking as he snatched your hand into his own.

“Where are we going?” He started to walk so fast that you had to use your free hand to raise your flowing dress up off of the floor before you tripped over the loose material. He failed to respond to you as he steered the both of you through the dimly lit palace. He took you down three flights of stairs until you were on the ground floor, and he didn’t stop until he was stood outside of an arched wooden door. He pushed open the door and held it open for you to enter, smiling sweetly at you wondered past him. The first thing you noticed was the smell. The fresh, crisp smell of flowers and dirt was a welcoming smell, and one that you loved because it reminded you of the springtime in the Southern Kingdom. You couldn’t see much because of the looming darkness, but the full, bright moon shone through the glass ceiling and walls, lighting all the beautiful flowers giving them all a dim colour. You just knew that in the bright sunlight this place would be absolutely stunning.

Jeno gently guided you through the gap between the large flowers and leaves, following the trail that was purposely left and bringing you to an opening where a small table and two chairs resided. You then noticed a small indoor pond off to the side, surrounded by an array of different coloured roses. He pulled you into the clearing, the moonlight beating down on your both and causing shadows to fall on Jeno’s perfectly sculpted face. Your breath hitched in your throat when his hand came up to cup your cheek, his thumb stroking your hot cheek and his other hand lacing your fingers together. He smiled softly at you, his eyes memorizing every detail on your face that the moon bestowed upon him.

“You wanted to know what happened next in the story.” He whispered, his tongue darting out to lick his bottom lip causing your heart to almost skip a beat in anticipation. “I’ll show you.” He gulped as he leaned in, both of your eyes drawing to a close as his cool lips settled timidly on top of yours. You breathed in sharply through your nose, shock sinking into your nervous system as you realised that you were finally kissing your future. Of course you’d felt his lips on your forehead before, but that felt like nothing compared to the feeling of his lips slotted between yours. He drew away, his lips lingering on your own as his thumb started to sweep across your cheek again. You felt your lips automatically pulling into a shy smile, your eyes blinking open with the surprise of seeing his piercing brown eyes gazing at your face. “This is our story…”

---

The wedding came and went faster than you’d wanted it to. The build up to the wedding only days before had felt like they’d dragged. Your wedding dress fitting, seeing how the grand hall was decorated with the most beautiful and expensive décor that the staff of the palace could find, and finally seeing it all come to be. Your parent’s arrival the day before the wedding had you in floods of tears just from how overwhelmed you felt. You had been on deaths door just a month ago, and there you were, watching your parent’s carriage be pulled by horses with fur as black as night into the grounds of the castle the day before your marriage. Jeno had very busy, so you’d only seen him in passing in which he had looked slightly stressed and had barely given you a rushed kiss on your lips. He had to go to the town hall and give a speech in front of the civilians of the Kingdom about his marriage to you and what it meant for the Kingdoms future. You’d been there at his side, dressed up beautiful in his Kingdom’s colours and looking regal and stunning in the glowing sunshine. The snow had melted away, giving you a view of the Kingdom in a different light, but you knew that it would probably be back soon as the weather in the Northern kingdom was unpredictable.

On the day of your wedding you’d been whisked out of bed, hurried through your breakfast, and immediately taken to be dressed. Your hair had been pinned up and had beautiful white snowbell flowers woven into it. Your face had been subjected to a light dusting of makeup to accentuate your naturally stunning features. You felt like a Princess. You also felt sick with nerves, the familiar feeling of anxiety swimming around like a shark inside of your stomach. But you couldn’t let yourself be taken over by the panic, especially as you stared in the full-length mirror at yourself. Your wedding dress had long sleeves, the entirety of the dress having a layer of snow-white lace over the top of it. The body of the dress coming up over your chest and covering the corset you’d been stuffed into, the tightness of it making your anxiety worse as it felt like a constricting snake wrapping itself around your body. The skirt was a typical Princess skirt that would drag across the floor as your walked despite the beautiful white and gold heels you wore. Your lace veil was so long that it dragged along behind you as you walked. On top of your head you wore a heavy, solid gold crown that was fit perfectly for a Princess.

Once you’d arrived at the Kingdom’s church in your beautiful white carriage pulled by white horses, you waved timidly at the crowd of hundreds of civilians waiting outside the church to give you their well wishes. You noted that Jeno wore a similar crown to your own that sat on top his white blond hair when you finally got to see him as your father, the King of the Southern Kingdom, walked you down the aisle. Seeing Jeno stood at the end of the long aisle made your heart flutter. All of the past worries you had washing away like the melted snow as he stood in his white and gold royal uniform, the same one he’d been wearing on the day you’d arrived at the castle. You’d forgotten about how he’d treated you upon your arrival, but you didn’t care as you took a deep breath, your feet carrying you slowly walked down the aisle. Jeno knew he wasn’t supposed to turn around and look at you, but he couldn’t help himself. He turned around and felt his breath hitch in his throat, tears pooling in his eyes when he was how stunning you looked. After you fell ill, he never thought he’d get to see the sight of you looking like an ethereal angel as you walked down the aisle to marry him. So the sight overjoyed him, his heart bursting with the love he’d found within himself for you. He hated himself for how he treated you, especially now that he knew he was head over heels in love with you.

The ceremony flew by, your hands connected and his lips feeling warm on your own after you’d exchanged vows and rings. The gold ring felt heavy on your finger, but not from the physical weight of it, more from the emotional meaning it had. You were tied to Jeno for life now, and it had your heart beating in joy. You caught sight of Prince Jaemin wearing his own royal uniform in the front line of the crowd, his smile so wide that you couldn’t help but smile just as wide as him. Jeno bit his bottom lip, contemplating his next move, but in his head, he thought ‘fuck it’, and he swept you up into his arms. You squealed in surprise and held onto your husband tightly, the bouquet of red roses in your hand falling to the floor from your shock. Carrying you bridal style out of the church made Jeno feel a sense of pride in himself, and he ignored the heavy feeling sitting in the pit of his stomach about what was to come later. You both climbed into the awaiting carriage, Jeno’s lips finding your cheek as soon as the carriage door closed.

“I love you.” He whispered, lacing his hands with yours and causing you to almost combust on the spot. It was the first time he’d uttered those words to you, and it had your eyes filling with tears of happiness and love.

“I love you too.” You whispered back just as gently as he had. The two of you waved at the people who lined the streets of his Kingdom, your Kingdom. It dawned on you that you were no longer the Princess of the Southern Kingdom, and instead, the Princess and future Queen of the Northern Kingdom.

The wedding ceremony was followed by all the guests of the wedding going to the castle to celebrate with a banquet, soon followed by lots of dancing and mingling. You sat by your husbands side the entire time, greeting your guests with a smile and bow. The two of you held each other close when it was time for the two of you to have your first dance as husband and wife. The entire room going silent apart from the echoing music of the large orchestra as you moved around slowly with him. Soon after everyone else was able to join in, and the room was filled with joy of the festivities.

You were ushered away from Jeno by one of the maids and Mark when it hit 11pm and the guests were starting to dwindle. Your stomach hit the floor as you knew exactly what you were being taken away for. Mark’s voice echoed around your head, but you didn’t take in any of his words as he spoke to you about what was about to happen, despite you already knowing exactly how things were about to go down. You were taken to your new bedroom that you were going to be sharing with your new husband. The décor was beautiful, and it was very similar to the bedroom you’d previously had in the castle. You had a feeling Jeno had requested it to be that way to bring you more comfort. Mark excused himself and left you with two maids. They stripped you down from your wedding gown, leaving you in the white, lace lingerie that you’d been told to wear earlier on in the day. The brassiere came down to an inch above your belly button, the wire in the bra pushing your breasts up and making them look very appealing to the eye. It was paired with a matching pair of panties that did nothing to hide your ass. You wore white, thigh high stockings that were clipped onto the white suspender belt wrapped around your waist. They touched up on your makeup, pulled your hair from the pins to let it fall at your shoulders, tousled from being up all day, and finally left you on your own to await Jeno’s arrival.

It was Kingdom tradition to consummate the marriage on the day of the matrimony in order to create an heir. You were very nervous, especially as you had been dolled up to look sexy, which is something you had never had to be before in your entire life. But you supposed if it pleased your Prince, then it was worth it. You waited for Jeno, nervously pacing around the room in your heels before ultimately deciding that you felt uncomfortable and slipped them off, padding around the room in your stockings instead. You bit at your red painted bottom lip, deciding to sit on the bed to wait for your husband. You sat in the centre of the large bed, the silk bedding feeling like clouds on your bare skin as you leaned on one arm. The doorknob turning had your stomach erupting in the butterflies that had chilled out momentarily. Jeno entered the room and quickly closed the door behind him, leaving his hand on the doorknob as he looked at you with a shocked expression. He wasn’t expecting to see you like that, and his cheeks went bright red with heat from his sudden embarrassment. He hated that they’d undressed you like that, having would have preferred to undress you himself from your beautiful wedding dress. You watched him with shy eyes, wanting to cover yourself up from how he was just stood by the door, dead still, with his eyes on you. Eventually his eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. You looked like the epitome of innocence and grace, and he hated it. He hated that he was expected to ruin you in that way by taking your innocence.

“I can’t do this.” He spoke lowly, your stomach falling through the floor at his words. “No I can’t do this.” He shook his head, his eyes moving around the room to look at everything apart from you.

“What do you mean?” Your voice was soft and fragile, mirroring how you felt in that moment.

“This was a mistake!” He shouted at you, his face looking hard, his eyebrows scrunched up and his eyes seemingly darker than what they had been when he entered the room. You flinched, gulping in fright at his sudden outburst. You didn’t think you’d ever seen this Jeno again after how sweetly he’d been treating you since you fell ill. But maybe that was all an act. An act he couldn’t keep up any longer.

“Jeno…” Your eyes filled with tears as you watched him grab the vase of flowers on the dresser beside the door. The vase hit the wall on the other side of the room with a deafening smash, the flowers and shards of porcelain hitting the floor and making you squeal in surprise. He was angry, and he had never learnt how to control his anger. So he did was he always did when he couldn’t cope with his emotions. He acted on them and ended up getting aggressive.

“This was a huge fucking mistake; I don’t love you. How could I love you when I hardly fucking know you? I was forced into this and I can’t do this anymore!” His shouts echoed around the room, causing a sob to fall from your lips at his confession. The vein in his neck was prominent from how hard his shouts were and his strong jaw was tensed. His eyes held so mush hostility you wanted to cower away. “It would have been better if Nayeon had succeeded. Then neither of us would be here.” With that final blow to you, he pulled the door open and stormed out of the room, slamming it shut behind him with a loud thud that felt like it set a crack in your heart. He’d just told you that it would be better if you were dead. And it hurt. Nothing had ever hurt you more in your life than those words he’d just thrown at you on what was supposed to be the happiest day of your life. You sobbed harder than you ever had before, your throat burning and face wet from the tears that tracked down your cheeks. Eventually after you’d calmed down some maids entered the room to clean up and comfort you. But you just ignored their presence, feeling numb and staring at the broken vase across the room. Picturing your heart to be just as shattered as the vase.

---

You hadn’t seen your new husband since he’d ran out on you. It had been five days, but it felt like five months. You felt a longing in your heart, which surprised you because your heart felt so broken and your mind felt so numb. Every member of the palaces staff was either avoiding you, or treating you like you’d break if they spoke in any other way that didn’t sound patronizing. So it didn’t take a genius to put two and two together and figure out that the word had spread about your husband running out on you on your wedding night. Humiliation was a good way of describing how you felt, on top of the sadness and longing, it sat at the edge of your heart, ready to dive off into the pit of your stomach and bring back the butterflies that felt like daggers hitting the walls of your gut. You’d asked Mark where Jeno was, but he just told you that he couldn’t tell you as he was instructed not to. He seemed deeply apologetic though, and you couldn’t blame him for staying loyal to the family he worked for.

The last thing you wanted to do was meet with Prince Jaemin for lunch. But you found yourself being forced to because apparently he wouldn’t take no for an answer and he was prepared to go to extreme lengths to get you smiling again. You soon found out what those extreme lengths were when he let himself into your bedroom with a few maids in tow. The maids were each pushing a metal cart that had steaming hot plates of food you wished you had the appetite to want. Jaemin gave you somewhat of a sad smile, going to the table and chairs inside of your bedroom and pulling a chair out.

“Take a seat Princess.” He nodded down to the chair in his grasp, waiting for you to move from your seat on the bed. You let out a soft sigh, standing up and taking a seat at the table. Jaemin sat opposite you and cleared his throat. “This is probably a silly question, but how are you feeling?” You wanted to laugh at his question, giving him a strained smile as you picked up the mug of hot tea placed in front of you.

“I’ve felt better…have you seen him?” You sipped at the liquid slowly, keeping your eyes on the dark head Prince of the Western Kingdom as he started to pick at his food. He nodded, giving you another sad smile.

“I have. He’s…” He sighed as he thought about what to say, his eyes narrowing as his brain ticked over his words. “Jeno. He’s just Jeno.” The maids left the room as Jaemin dismissed them with a curt wave of his hand.

“He told me he loved me, then hours later he told me that he never loved me… He also said it would be better if I was dead.” You looked down at your fingertips that were clasping the handle on the mug tightly, trying to will the tears that flooded your eyes away.

“He’s stupid.” Jaemin’s words caused Jeno’s ears to prick up as he stood outside of the door, listening in on your conversation as they door had been left open by the maids when they left. He gripped the bouquet of roses in his hands tighter and his eyebrows furrowed. “You’re such a beautiful woman, and he doesn’t deserve you. You’re kind, he’s not.” You glanced up at Jaemin, feeling like a knife had been twisted in your gut as you listened to Jaemin’s heavy words. “I can only regret that Jeno’s parents beat my own to asking your parents for your hand in marriage.” He let out a sigh, continuing to eat as if he hadn’t just told you that he wished he was your husband and not his own cousin. Jeno felt his blood boiling, and he wanted nothing more than to hit his cousin around the head with the flowers in his grip. But instead he let out a sigh and stomped off, pushing back his plans to apologise to you as he didn’t want Jaemin to hear what he had to say to you.

“Prince Jaemin…I’m a married woman, you shouldn’t be speaking to me like that.” You wanted to sound assertive, but instead your voice was shaky and showed how nervous the conversation was making you.

“I do apologise, I didn’t mean to make you think about what could have been.” He gave you a slanted smile, clearing his throat awkwardly. “You need to eat, you look awful.” This had you letting out a curt laugh, your eyebrows raised as you looked at the cheeky Prince.

“That’s no way to speak to a Princess!”

“I’m just telling you the truth! Please, eat.” Jaemin pushed the bowl of soup in the middle of the table towards you, holding a spoon out for you to take. You let out a gentle sigh and took the spoon, sipping at the warm soup in hopes it shut Jaemin up.

---

Jeno had spent the rest of the day boiling over what he’d heard Jaemin say to you. He paced around his room and had made a complete mess of his normally neat hair from tugging at it in frustration. The sun had long gone down and he groaned as he laid on his bed staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression. He had yet to prepare for sleep, still wearing the loose white shirt tucked into his tight dress trousers. His mind wondered to thoughts of you. He heart was breaking just as much as yours was. He hated himself for the things he’d said to you, and the reasons why he said them to you. The Prince could no longer bare it and came to the decision to put an end to his distress.

He pushed himself up from the bed and didn’t think much of it as he left his room. He let his legs carry him across the castle to where you had been staying in what was supposed to be your shared bedroom. Without even thinking to do the polite thing by knocking on the door, he swung open the bedroom door, his words caught in his throat as he saw you sat by the large window, staring out at the moonlit night wearing a silk robe, your bare legs stretched out on the floor in front of you. You turned to see who had just rudely let themselves into your bedroom and your breath hitched at your eyes fell on your husband, stood with his lips parted and his hand still gripping the door handle as he stared at you. He pushed the door closed and took a few steps into the room, not really knowing what he was expecting your reaction to be. But he knew for sure he wasn’t expecting the reaction he got.

You stood up, pulling the robe tighter over your pyjama clad body, the cotton tank top and shorts not doing much to hide your body, but you weren’t expecting anyone to burst into your room unannounced. Without a word you walked up to the blond Prince stood in the middle of the room, his eyes trained on you as you moved. Your palm hitting his cheek let out a slapping sound echo off the walls, his mouth popping open as his head snapped to the side from the surprising strength you had put into the attack. He was shocked, he had no idea the meek, timid, placid Princess who he’d grown to love had it in her to lay her hands on her husband like that. But he found a fire burning inside of his stomach that made him love you more for doing that.

“Are you proud of yourself?” He slowly turned his head to see the fire behind your teary eyes. A fire that looked like it was about to be put out by the water begging to fall from the waterline of your eyes. “You made me think you loved me, and then on our wedding night you told me you wished I was dead. Now I have to be married to someone who doesn’t love me and be in a loveless marriage for the rest of my life!” He looked down at his feet, letting out a short sigh and trying to ignore how pained your voice was. “Get out.” You turned to walk back to the window, wanting to watch the falling snow in the moonlight in hopes it would calm down your racing heart. You were stopped by a strong grip on your wrist that pulled you against a firm chest, your free hand coming up to land against it in your surprise. The hand on your wrist loosened and a pair of strong arms wrapped around your body, keeping you pressed to Jeno’s torso. The feel of his grip and his familiar scent is everything you’d been dreaming about for the five days that you’d been apart from him. It was almost overwhelming being so close to him, the tears finally breaking past their barrier and streaming down your face as your heart felt like it was slowly mending itself. He pulled his arms away from your waist and moved them to cup your face in both of his hands. Tilting your head up so that your gazes were locked, he poked his tongue out to wet his lips as he took a deep breath.

“I love you so much that it physically pains me to watch the tears as they fall from your bewitching eyes. Being away from you for the past five days knowing how my words would have affected you made me want to throw myself from the tallest tower to my own demise because I knew how hard it would be to coax you into trusting me again. After the wedding, my father took me aside and reminded me of my duty as a Prince, and that I was expected to produce an heir. So that was swimming around in my head like a poison fusing with water and turning all my thoughts damaging. When I opened the door to see you poised like an angel with no wings, I felt like I was doing the world a disservice by tainting your innocence and I don’t know where my mind took me but it was an unpleasant place that left a bitter taste in my mouth and a tear in your heart.” Your eyes glistened with tears as Jeno never once glanced away during the poetic words he spilled to you. He sounded like the Prince in the book that he was reading to you in the library on the night of your first kiss. “I would never wish you dead, nor would I want to ever live in a world that you didn’t exist in. I love you, and I can spend the rest of my life telling you so and apologising if I have to. If it means that you will love me the way you did before I let my mouth talk without my hearts consent. Forgive me Princess.” He stared into your eyes, his own swimming with sincerity leading you to know that he meant the words he spoke.

“I forgive you.” You whispered, letting out a soft sigh as you gazed as his facial features, falling more in love with him as your mind went over his speech.

“Thank you, from this moment on, I will be the husband that you deserve.” He leaned in and placed his lips to your own, the kiss being soft and long as his arms moved from your cheeks to your hips. You moved one of your hands to his jaw and the other to his shoulder, feeling lost in the kiss as he slowly moved his lips against yours. This was everything you’d been dreaming about since your wedding night, and you couldn’t describe the joy and relief you felt at finally having your husband by your side. He licked at your bottom lip, pushing his tongue past your lips when you gave him entrance and letting it explore your mouth as he slowly backed you up to your now shared bed. You’d finally get to share the too big bed with the man you love instead of sleeping alone. That thought alone send sparks across your body that gave you a tingling warm feeling you’d never experienced before.

He moved his lips to your jaw, placing tender kisses to your warm skin before trailing them down your neck. He sucked gentle bruises on your neck as quiet mewls and gasps left your parted lips. His hands tugged at the silk tie of your robe and let the silk slide open. He pushed it from your body and let it fall to the floor, leaving you scantily clad in your pyjamas. His hands scaled up and down your sides as his fingertips got used to the feeling of your body, the silk bunching up as he let his hands wonder underneath your pyjama top. Pulling away from your neck, he gently lifted you onto the bed, crawling over the top of you and diving back in to kiss your lips with vigour. His hands framed your head, holding his body up as his tongue trailed your bottom lip. His body rested against yours, slotted between your legs with his crotch pressed to your own.

You knew the basics of sex. You’d been taught by a very red-faced Mark a few days before your wedding and he’d assured you that Jeno had also received the same embarrassing talk. But you still felt a bundle of nerves wind itself up inside of your stomach and the thought of having the Prince on top of you without any clothes on. But at the same time, you felt a spark of excitement travel to your core that you’d only ever felt before when you’d gotten curious and let your fingers wonder. All the orgasms you’d had were self-inflicted by the use of rubbing your clit late in the night when there was no one around to hear your quiet whimpers. So the feel of Jeno hardening against you through his clothes and your thin pyjamas was causing that familiar feeling to build, spurring you on to want more.

You turned your head and let his lips kiss at your cheek leaving faint marks of spit against your warm skin as his tongue darted out to taste you. Your chest was rising and falling fast as you tried to catch your breath, Jeno’s lips never stopped as you opened your mouth and spoke. “Have you ever…?” You felt your cheeks flare up as you blurted out the question, unable to finish it and hoping he would catch your drift. He paused and his silence piqued your curiosity, so you turned your head to look up at him. His mouth was parted, and his eyebrows were furrowed, almost as if he was annoyed at your question, and you could almost see the cogs turning in his mind.

“No of course I’ve never had sex…have you?” His eyes widened slightly, and he pulled back slightly. You had a feeling if your answer was yes then he was going to cause a scene that would wake up everyone in the castle. It was expected of a Prince or Princess to stay a virgin until their marriage to another Prince or Princess. So you would feel the same way if you found out that Jeno wasn’t a virgin, and you could understand why he had pulled such an annoyed face now you knew he thought you were asking about having sex.

“No! Oh no I didn’t mean, er…I didn’t mean that. I meant have you ever…touched yourself?” Your cheeks were boiling as your embarrassment set in, your voice almost a whisper as you asked him. Jeno visibly relaxed and a small smirk arose on his face.

“Yes, I have. Have you?” He lowered his head and laid gentle kisses to your neck that left a heavy feeling in your stomach. “Have you been a dirty girl and used your fingers to do the job your Prince should be doing?” His voice dropped an octave and your stomach fluttered as his lewd words, your hips bucking up into his as you wished for him to copy what you did late into the night. “Do you want me to do the same to you?” His fingertips trailed down your side, sending shivers up your spine and a small whine to leave your chest.

“Yes.” You whispered breathlessly as he sat back on his knees, staring down at you like a predator staring at its prey. He smirked; his bottom lip caught between his teeth as he tugged your pyjama shorts down your legs slowly. You suddenly felt shy, automatically closing your legs to block his view of your heat but he gripped at your knees and forced them apart.

“Be a good girl.” He gazed down at your glistening pussy, his tongue darting out to wet his lips as his eyes darkened. He tried to push down his own nerves, wanting you to think he was confident even though you knew he’d never seen a vagina before. He paused, taking a deep breath as he trailed a tentative finger over your folds from your clit to your dripping hole. “Wow…” He breathed out, shuffling back on the bed and laying so that he was at the right angle to lean out and lick at your centre with his slow tongue. You let your head fall back against the pillow as his tongue flicked up and down slowly, circling your clit and forcing a loud moan to erupt from your lips. Your moan provoked him to take your clit between his lips and suck on it softly, his finger trailing down to your waiting entrance. He slid it in very hesitantly, remembering the words Mark said about it being very painful for a woman if they aren’t prepped properly.

“Jeno…” You whined and lifted your head to watch him as he started to devour your pussy, his enthusiasm making you almost see stars as your toes curled and back arched, the ball of pleasure in the pit of stomach flaring up as if it was going to explode at any moment. “Oh!” You squeaked, biting your bottom lip to stop yourself from screaming as he brought you to the edge that you’d sat on many times before from your own doing. Only this time it felt a hundred times better. He stopped abruptly, removing his mouth and stopping his finger. As he pulled his face back you noticed his lips and chin glistening with your juices, causing your stomach to do a flip at obscene sight.

“I want you to finish on my cock baby girl.” His words almost shoved you over the edge, but you nodded and gulped down the saliva that had built in your mouth as you watched him. You nodded eagerly and licked your lips, gasping slightly as he pushed another finger inside of you. The slight stretch made you wince at first, but after a minute of him pumping his fingers in and out of you slowly the pain dulled, and you could feel the pleasure pouring through.

He pulled his fingers out and sat up again, popping open the three buttons at the top of his shirt before pulling the loose shirt over his head. You propped yourself up on your elbows, staring at his defined body with hearts in your eyes. His blond hair was fluffy from the friction of pulling his shirt over his head and you wanted nothing more than to tangle your hands in the light strands and trail your tongue down his chest. He threw the shirt to the floor and paused as he took the button of his trousers between his fingers and thumbs. He visibly gulped and looked up at you with hooded eyes. You could see that all his confidence had flown out of the window as he stared at you. You smiled softly, sitting yourself up and pulling your own top off, throwing it to the floor with his and leaving you completely naked in front of him. His eyes went wider than you’d ever seen as his sight dropped from your face to rest on your breasts.

“Shit.” He gulped again, his mouth almost watering at the sight of your chest. It was the first time he’d ever seen a pair of boobs in the flesh from what he could remember, and he wasn’t disappointed. He hurried to pop open the buttons on his trousers and he discarded of them, leaving him completely naked. You didn’t get much of a chance to look at his penis as he hurried to lay over you, taking on of your nipples into his mouth and cupping your other breast with his big hand. You wrapped your legs around his waist and could feel his hard cock brushing against your core, making you want more.

“Jeno, I want you now.” You whispered, his eyes glancing up to look you in the eyes as his tongue swirled around your sensitive bud.

“Hang on.” He mumbled against it, taking it between his lips once again and sucking hard. You giggled softly, reaching up and running a hand through his hair and pushing it away from his forehead.

“You like that don’t you?” You bit at your bottom lip as you watched his lips suckle on your nipple. He closed his eyes and nodded, pulling his lips back and letting your nipple go with a pop.

“Are you ready?” He moved a hand down sitting back slightly and taking his cock in his right hand, pumping it a few times. You finally got to see it, your eyes zoning in on the large member he held tightly in his hand. You’d never seen a man’s privates parts either so you had nothing to compare it to, but it definitely didn’t look small, and had a vein running up the underside, the head a pink colour with a milky bead of pre-cum leaking out from the top.

“Yes.” You nodded eagerly, settling your head against the pillow and trying to relax. He smiled softly at you, leaning over you and placing a tender and lingering kiss to your lips as he started to push his cock into you. You gasped, the pain a lot worse than the pain you’d felt from his fingers. Your back arched and tears pooled in your eyes as you tried to cope with the pain, not wanting him to stop as this was the most intimate you’d ever been with anyone, and it being your husband that you loved with all your heart meaning you’d be crushed if he stopped. He went slowly, pulling out a few times only to push in again in an attempt to fit inside of you better. He stopped once he was fully inside of you, laying kisses on your cheek and stroking your side affectionately to calm you down.

“Tell me if it gets too much Princess.” He spoke quietly into your ear, pulling his hips back and rolling them into you again. He was laying over you so that his forearms were pressed to the pillow on either side of your head, wanting to be as close to you as he could be but still so he could control the situation. He repeated this slowly, letting his head drop into the crook of your neck as his eyes squeezed shut from the immense pleasure shooting up his cock into the pit of his stomach at how tightly your walls were sucking him in. It took at least a minute of Jeno pushing his cock in and out of you for you to feel the pleasure that you’d felt when he’d used his fingers. The pain died down and you focused more on how his strong figure loomed over you, his breath panting against your neck and the sound of skin slapping against skin as he fucked you slowly. “I love you.” His voice was deep and gruff, but the words held so much meaning to you that you let out a loud moan, gripping at his back, leaving red marks on his skin as your nails dragged across it.

“I love you too.” You whimpered, your back arching and thighs starting to shake as euphoria fluttered down onto you like the snow that fell from the sky outside of the window. His thrusts got faster, and he let out little grunts and moans, his tongue darting out to lick at your neck before his teeth bit your skin, sucking a dark bruise into your skin. Your senses felt heightened and you felt like sobbing as the burning in your stomach roared like a fire about to explode. You couldn’t hold on any longer, and as Jeno’s lips met your own in a sloppy kiss, the ball of fire in your stomach finally burst and sent the best feeling you’d ever felt across your system. The orgasm Jeno gave you felt so much better than any you’d been able to bring upon yourself, and you felt yourself wanting to cling onto the man above you as he continued to make love to you.

“Fuck, baby.” He groaned, his eyes tightly shut as his rhythm faltered and he tensed up. His biceps on either side of your head became more defined as he tensed, his hips slamming into you one final time as he came inside of you, his hot seed spilling into your velvety walls. He lifted his head up and slowly opened his eyes, gazing at you with half open eyes. He let out a dazed smile, his hips rolling into yours a few times as he rode out his orgasm. He leaned in and laid his lips on yours, kissing you sweetly and full of love before attempting to pull back from you. You whined and gripped at his body, shaking your head as non-verbal sign that you didn’t want him to get up yet. He let out a soft chuckle and wrapped his arms around your body, rolling you both over so that you were laying on top of him. You laid your head against his chest and let out a sleepy slightly smile. “Thank you.” His chest vibrated against your head and you looked up at him, stroking at his skin with your fingernails as you raised an eyebrow.

“What for?” You asked, pressing your ear to his chest once more to listen to his heart as it started to beat slower.

“For being such a forgiving, and loving person. What I did was inexcusable, and you had every right to ignore me and tell me to back off. But you didn’t and I am so thankful for that, because I love you, and I’ll love you until my dying breath.” His words tugged at your heartstrings and made you feel a sense of elation. It helped that you were basking in the bliss of sex and his cock was still tucked inside of you, so you hadn’t yet felt the soreness you were sure to feel.

“You’re my Prince,” You pressed a kiss to his chest and smiled at him. “And I am your Princess. I wouldn’t change that for the world.” His arms wound around your body tighter and he placed a kiss on your forehead. It was quiet for a few minutes before his voice broke the silence.

“Can we do that again? Now?”

“Jeno!” You gasped, using your hands to push up on his chest to give him an amused, but shocked expression. “…Okay!”

---

The castle felt like a much happier place to you now that you could walk around without worrying about whether you’d end up pissing off the angry Prince if you came across him. Instead you now walked around actively trying to find him, wanting to spend as much time with him as you possibly could. The first night you’d spent together those five months ago had been the kickstart to the happy ever after that you’d read about in the books. And ever since that night, Jeno had stuck to his words and had been the best husband you could have asked for. When he wasn’t doing his Prince duties, he was by your side. Keeping you company, reading to you, trying his best to bed you, or talking to the ever-growing bump you had that held the future Prince or Princess of the Northern Kingdom. It didn’t come to a surprise to either of you when you’d found out about your pregnancy a month after you consummated your marriage. And the King and Queen were thrilled once you announced it to the Kingdom. The Queen had been spending a lot more time with you too, ecstatic that her son had finally seen the light and started his life with you. You had exchanged a few letters with your own parents, and they were happy for you and promised to visit you soon. Prince Jaemin had given you a wide smile and a friendly hug, before turning away and letting his face fall at the news of your pregnancy. He couldn’t ignore the thudding in his heart as it longed for you, but he had to pretend everything was fine and that he was happy for his cousin and yourself. You hadn’t heard anything about Nayeon, but you wished her well and decided to let go of all the negative feelings you felt towards her, giving her your forgiveness despite her attempted murder.

“Will you read to our little Prince or Princess when they’re born?” You sat in the library, opposite your husband at the table in front of the large window, watching the snow as it calmly settled on the ground of the Kingdom. Jeno looked up from the book in his hands and gave you a bright smile.

“Of course I will.” He laid the book down on the table and followed your gaze out of the window.

“They’ll love the fairy-tale books, especially the one about the brooding Prince who fell in love with the kind Princess.” Your smile widened as you talked about the book he’d read to you on the night of your first kiss. You turned to look at him and let out a soft chuckle, licking his bottom lip.

“Yes, it sounds rather familiar doesn’t it?” He tone was teasing, and he glanced out of the window again before letting his eyes fall on your prominent baby bump.

“How did the story end again?” You rested a hand on your bump as Jeno stood up. He helped you to your feet and stood in front of the glass with you, looking out at the Kingdom from the high window as he wound his arms around your frame. You placed your hands on his chest and gazed up at him, a soft smile playing on both of yours lips.

“They lived happily ever after.” He leaned down, capturing your lips with his own, pouring all the love and affection into the exchange. Thanking you in his mind for how you took his cold heart and heated it with your own love.

----

Hey, it’s finally out! This took me over a month to write and it’s brought me stress, joy, and finally a sense of achievement at writing something 20k words long. I would appreciate it dearly if you took a moment to tell me your thoughts and feelings about this piece. I’d love some feedback! I hope you enjoyed it x

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soccerbites · 3 years

Text

WHAT IT WAS | RAFE CAMERON

Masterlist on pinned!

A.N: Heeyy, if you find this familiar it could be because you read it on my wattpad account or on here before I deactivated! English is not my first language so please be kind!

WORDS COUNT: 4k

WARNINGS: a lot of them, swearing, blood, drugs, etc.

You hadn't thought about it in months when you finally were getting over it, suddenly came back, all the memories, good and bad, all the euphoria, when everything was angelic, when it was cruel, when suddenly it was radiant, then turned violent, and ended up being painful. When you gave up on it because you could not take it anymore.

Your family was the typical kook one, you grew up in a life full of luxury, you got everything you wanted due to your mum's richness.

Sarah and you were best friends since you were born and his brother was your boyfriend practically since both of you learned that word. The Cameron's and your family had everything arranged between you two, Rafe and you were supposed to be together for the rest of your lives, he was going to take care of his dad's company, the next step would be getting married, travel around the world, having lots of beautiful kids and live happily ever after.

2008

It was your 5th birthday party, all your friends were there and you felt extremely happy with the big amount of presents you had received from them all. You were not the typical little girl your parents desired you to be, you had begged for them to let "Pirates of the Caribbean" be the theme, you hadn't really seen the movies but you loved pirates! Rafe and you would always pretend you were them in his dad's yacht because Sarah did not like them at all, you couldn't understand how it was so fun! Your friend would lend you one of his plastic swords and play the whole afternoon. The best part was that you always won, but now, many years after, looking back at it Rafe was probably letting you win. However, your mum forced you to make your party about Cinderella, you hate princess but especially Cinderella, there wasn't a reason for it, you just did.

Weeks before you had told the little boy your birthday was going to be about pirates and he was so excited about it, you babble about it for days, so when Rafe arrived at your house with his family and saw all the princess decorations and the angry but yet sad face you had on, he instantly understood what was going on, you both were little but very smart for your age, plus he had sympathy for you due to his similar family conditions.

Everyone but you and him enjoyed the celebration, the young man and you stayed together in a corner of your backyard playing alone. Rafe picked up two small branches and played as you were pirates like you would usually do, he knew that was what you really wanted at that moment.

When it was time to blow the candles you looked at your sky blue and pink cake, wishing it had Jack Sparrow's face on it, Rafe smiled at you and you smiled back at him. Everyone sang the typical song, you blew the candles and buried three of your little fingers into the cake, thinking of three wishes.

being a pirate

playing as pirates with Rafe

Sarah wanting to play as pirates with you two

2010

It was almost summer and you were really excited about all the little adventures Rafe and you were going to have in the next months.

You felt so much older, your first year of primary school was over and it had been great! Even though Sarah was not hanging out with you as much as she was before; you had the hope of playing with her more now that you had nothing else to do.

Those weeks were great, you almost didn't see your girl best friend, but her brother and you were getting closer and closer as days went by. Rafe always protected you from everything and made you laugh a lot, he was funny.

Summer '10 was lovely, one of your favorites memories of you and the boy happened during that time, your first kiss. You didn't really count it as the very first kiss, but you had to admit that, at that time, for you was even more than what it actually was.

It was an extremely warm day and you invited Rafe over to play in the fort you both had made in your backyard, right where years before you were pretending to be pirates while your birthday party was going on inside the house. He was 'building' a table as you made mud cakes.

"Look at the cake i made for us!" you abruptly shouted, thing that scared Rafe, but he didn't let you notice because the last thing he wanted was for you to make fun of him.

"It looks delicious y/n, we should eat it!" he said, excitement on his face while sitting beside you.

"ARE YOU CRAZY RAFE?" you were shocked, the drama queen in you was starting to jump out, "IT'S MADE OF DIRT THAT'S DISGUSTING!" you looked at him, terrorized by what the little boy was saying.

"i- i- i wasn't serious, i- i just thought you'd like me to say that" he was so embarrassed.

"oh, i'm sorry" you apologized to him.

There was silence for a few seconds, it wasn't uncomfortable so you didn't mind about it.

"wanna know what Sarah made me do?"

"mmmm, maybe"

"she made me watch 'The Princess And The Frog', TWO TIMES" he sounded so mad, "and then she told me that Topper kissed her" he looked at you, you were not understanding why he was telling you this, but before you could talk; he continued, "and i was thinking that may- maybe we can d- do it too" you opened your eyes wide open, kissing him? like in the mouth?

"i- in- the mouth?"

"yeah, i mean, that's what she told me" you stared into his eyes, trying to figure out if he was just messing with you or was actually serious about it.

"uhm, i guess so?"

"you do?" he had a frown formed in his face.

"if that's what you want to" he nodded with a smirk on his lips.

You both turned and were now facing each other, without an idea of what to do you followed him, he started to lean forward and you did too, he closed his eyes and you did as well, and after what felt like an eternity but was actually almost four seconds, your lips touched his; ending up in a little pecked kiss.

After that day neither you nor Rafe talked about it again, it was like it never happened, which, at your really short age, was normal.

This year your family and you decided not to celebrate your birthday due to your grandma passing away two weeks before, it didn't feel right for them. At seven years old it was hard to fully understand what death was, you had heard about it but never experienced it before. Rafe felt really bad about it and on the day you finally turned seven he went to your house and spent it with you, so that way, you would not feel as lonely.

2012

Rafe was starting to change, he did not want to play with you anymore and that made you sad and upset. Your mom told you it was normal for boys to not hang out with girls once they grew up, but that wasn't him, it didn't felt like him. You never thought that the boy who was your best friend, the only kid you really enjoyed being around, especially after Sarah hang with more friends that were not you, would leave you alone.

You started to search for fun on other stuff and found that you loved to read stories about wonderful adventures, and when you finished every single book in your house about the topic, you started to flip through the pages of some old books regarding birds and insects, you were amazed by the stunning draws and colors of them and wanted to make your own.

For your ninth birthday you decided to do an exchange, it was difficult to convince your parents but they finally gave in, instead of a party you wanted them to give you a pretty journal with some color pencils. That way you would have your own investigation diary about those interesting creatures you were obsessed about.

Summer had ended and school season started, you and your little notebook were inseparable, you took it with you to class and spent all the recess doing little notes about birds you had seen during the day so when you arrived home you could search and learn about them.

One cold winter night, your dad told you that the Cameron's were coming home to have dinner, you couldn't wait for them to arrive, maybe that was the moment you had the opportunity to befriend Sarah again and show Rafe all the information you had collected during the months you didn't hang out. But they never appeared, their parents had gone but not them, Sarah was not feeling well and Rafe was sleeping over at a friend's house.

2014

Sarah was talking to you! you were friends again and there was no way you would not see each other every single day.

Spending every minute of the day over at her house was completely normal at that point. You two hanging out again made your families closer.

It was like your parents didn't care at all you were just a pair of ten years old, almost eleven, kids.

Rafe would always try to be with his sister and you whenever you were around at their house, but Sarah would just scream at him 'LEAVE US ALONE!' which ended in him giving up and walking away. It was sad, you missed spending time with the boy.

2014 was the year you turned eleven, and also had your first period. Everyone was so excited about that and you just hated it, with your whole heart, it made you want to cry every single time. Due to that, your body started to change, and boys started to notice it, including Rafe.

2016

The year it all started.

It was your thirteenth birthday and you did not felt like doing a big party, that night the Cameron's and your family went to a restaurant. Sarah, Rafe, and you were talking about what you were going to do the next week while Wheezie just listened. Finally, the boy and you were good friends again. When the food arrived you all shut up and started eating while paying attention to what your parents were talking about.

"oh yeah, of course, they are definitely getting married at some point," Ward said to what your father nodded.

"it's the best for them" this time your mom spoke.

"of course it is!" Rose laughed, "he will be taking care of the family business, they are going to have a splendid life together"

"Who are you talking about?" Rafe got into the conversation.

"we are talking about you silly!" you looked at your mom, not understanding what was going on.

"wha- what?" Rafe was just as surprised as Sarah and you were.

"yeah kid, we are talking about yours and y/n's future together" Ward stated as taking a piece of meat to his mouth.

"what exactly do you mean?" you stepped in this time.

"what you heard kid, your future life, your marriage, and all" your dad said as if it was the most normal thing to say to a thirteen-year-old.

"their marriage?!" Sarah was furious, you could notice it in her voice tone, Rafe and you stared at each other.

"you just are too young to realize yet" Rose brushed it off. None of you talked for the rest of the night.

Just a few months after that, your dad and Ward had already made a reservation for you two at the exact same restaurant. When you arrived you saw Rafe already there in a table positioned in a corner. Now looking back at it, everything was so fucked up, you were just kids. You approached him and sat, he smiled at you while you did.

"hi", he said, shyly, of course. It was really weird, you both had been alone before but never this way, this was completely different, your families were hoping that you turned this into something romantic. "Are we on a date right now?".

"i think so?" you laughed a little bit, "please, don't make this awkward, i don't get why they do this".

"i do" he said, you looked at him with a confused face, was he agreeing with all of this? "i mean, i can see why they want us to be together" after that he took a sip of his soda and started serving you some.

"Rafe, you should be allowed to 'date' whoever you wanted"

"And what happens if who i wanna date is you?" you were shocked at your friend's words.

"Rafe what are you talking about? i just turned thirteen and you are about to turn fourteen, you like it or not we are kids" you were a little bit mad due to what he was saying.

"well, Juliet was thirteen and Romeo was around that age"

"Rafe you did- you did not just compare us to Romeo and Juliet, have you read the book?"

"no, i did not"

"THEY DIE, THEY DIE AT THE END" you knew you were making this a lot bigger than it actually was but didn't care about it, "of course you didn't read the book" you whispered but he heard.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" now that you're remembering everything you can't believe that a pair of thirteen years old could be so dramatic.

"I MEAN WHAT I SAID," you said while leaning over the table.

"you know what, why don't we shut up and finish with this as fast as we can, i don't want to be here" Rafe proposed.

"sounds perfect to me, i do not want to be here too"

Either of you spoke again until you had had dinner and Ward picked you two up.

2018 / 2019

In the past two years, Rafe and you had finally got together. Your parents were over the moon about it and you were also really happy. You both were discovering and experiencing together what being in a relationship was.

The first months were a little bit strange, you both knew that it was not a real relationship, for everyone else you were together, but in reality, you hadn't had that many kisses as you thought you were supposed to have and outside school didn't see each other that much.

Summer '18 the Cameron's took you with them on their holidays to the Bahamas, it was amazing, not just because Rafe and you spent a lot of time together but also because you got to hang more with Sarah who you were not seeing a lot since it all started, and the reason was that whenever you went to their house you were with her brother, and they definitely didn't get along that much.

Unfortunately, the 'real' part began in 2019, you and Rafe turned sixteen and started going to parties and being more around of what people called 'pogues'. During the school year, it was like a daydream, he picked you up and went together, you had lots of dates and spent beautiful moments together, those were the times when your relationship was at it's highest, where you realized that, after all, maybe your parents were right and your destiny was, indeed, be together.

Your favorite moment from that time in your life was with him. You both were laying in the grass of your house's backyard, it was really cold outside, and decided to take some blankets with you to be warm. You were laying in his chest while he hugged you, appreciating the stars. He pressed a kiss to your head and you smiled to yourself.

"wanna know something?" you looked up to him.

"pretty boy is thinking! someone please record this!" you said, just to annoy him.

"shut up" he laughed, knowing you were messing with him, "you want to know or no baby?" he asked, a more serious tone on his voice.

"of course i want to know" you took his hand into yours, the warmness made you shiver, to what he hugged you harder.

"i read on the internet that you can buy stars online, maybe one day i'll buy you one and name it Rafe so whenever you wanna get rid of me you would not be able to" the boy started swinging you side to side in a slow speed, you'd never felt that peaceful in your life before.

Once again you looked at him "that's a little bit wicked of you" he giggled, "however, i think that would be the most divine present someone could ever give to me" he backed down his head and kissed your cheek, "and also, i'm never getting rid of you" you could feel him smiling while pressing his chin against the side of your head.

That was the last happy time you genuinely can remember at perfection.

You still don't know what happened when summer '19 arrived, it was the breaking point of your relationship. Parties at the beach were being held by pogues most of the time, and you never went because partying was not your thing, all of them ended up in disaster, pure and authentic disaster. You are grateful the only one you went to was the first one. Rafe was extremely drunk and you were trying to take care of him but it was being hard, especially when Topper got into a really intense fight with JJ and John b, two of the few pogues you knew, it was tragic and it got worse when the blonde one pulled a gun at Sarah's boyfriend head, while all that happened you lost Rafe and found him after like five minutes beating up someone that was on the ground, barely moving. You ran towards him and with all your straighten you push him.

"YOU'RE KILLING HIM RAFE!" you yelled at your boyfriend, when you finally got to see him he was covered in blood, you took him by his hand and got out of there, arriving at your house where you helped him clean up himself.

"i think i'm in love with you" he tried to say but was too drunk to pronounce the words properly.

"don't start with that now when you almost killed a random guy tonight, for what? explain" you were furious.

"'cause he is a pogue, he deserves it y/n" you both walked to your bed and laid down to sleep.

"no he doesn't Rafe, that's not an excuse for what you did, they are people just like us" you scolded him.

"whatever" he ignored you.

Some time after that Sarah started to see John B behind Topper's back and she asked you to keep her secret safe, which you did.

At midsummers Rafe escorted you, it was a fantastic night, you two were together the whole time and drank lots of expensive champagne while you danced. The pride on your dad's face was priceless, in that moment you forgot about what had happened a few nights before and just enjoyed the moment, smiling at your boyfriend, always.

"you wanna know something?" Rafe whispered in your ear while you danced to a slow song, his hands on your waist and yours behind his neck.

"mmm, this brings back good memories" you smiled to the handsome man in front of you.

"i love you"

"i love you too Rafe"

"let me finish pretty girl" you laughed a little bit, "please stop smiling like that, i'm not sure what will happen if you keep doing that" this time your laugh was stronger, getting some looks from people around you.

"i'm just really happy right now, wouldn't want to be anywhere else" you hugged him without stop moving.

"i know, me too"

A few minutes after he disappeared, and you did not have an excuse to stay so you went home. The next day you found out he was trying to beat up the blonde pogue, JJ.

You don't really know why but for some reason it went away and everything was perfect again, but it only lasted a few days.

You were really bored at your house and after contemplating whether you should or shouldn't go to the Cameron's house, you got into your car and drove around the few blocks that separated your house from Rafe's. You knew his parents were out of town that day and Sarah was probably hanging out with John B and his friends so you didn't bother on knocking and just got in. You heard your boyfriend's voice from the downstairs bathroom. Once you got into it you saw his clothes on the floor and he was applying toothpaste to his arm.

"Rafe?" he looked at you scared.

"y/n- i- i" he was crying, you directed your eyes to his arm, a huge new burnt was there.

"Rafe what happened?" you got closer to him, "is that blood?" you pointed at the clothes on the floor.

"no", he denied it but it obviously was blood.

"Rafe, what's going on?"

"i- i got into a fight" ha answered.

"with who? baby who did this?" you helped him with his injury.

"Barry" but as soon as you heard that name you pulled away.

"Barry? as the drug dealer Barry?" he didn't even look at you, "Rafe are you doing drugs?" completely ignored you, and when he did that you figured out the answer, "how much do you owe him?" you asked, one hand on you waist and the other one on the bathroom door.

"some thousands" your jaw almost touched the floor, and your face was full of disappointment and anger. "don't look at me like that" he begged, and tried to grabbed you and pulled you closer to him but you just pulled him away.

"DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT? THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?" he didn't reply "FUCK RAFE, THOUSANDS? YOU OWED THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO A DRUG DEALER AND YOU EXPECT ME TO STAY CALM?"

"i can explain."

"NO YOU CAN'T, WHAT? TOPPER AND YOU GOT BORED OF THE STUPID WEED AND WANTED TO TRY SOMETHING STRONGER? WHAT DID YOU BUY? COKE? NOW YOUR HOBBY IS BUY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON COKE? THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT TO EXPLAIN TO M-"

"GET OUT" he screamed to your face as he got closer to your body, while pointing to the door, "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY DAMN HOUSE" you looked at him and turned away, walking towards the door and he didn't follow you.

"HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING LIFE RAFE" you screamed without closing the door.

After that you didn't see him in a long time, you didn't go out of your house anymore.

You heard that Sarah and John B were missing, you missed her. You had no one to talk to, just your own thoughts.

A few weeks later, everything came out to the light, Ward went to jail for killing John B's dad and being kinda responsible for another poor man's death.

Rafe confessed that it had been him the one who shot the detective, but they found out about his drug addiction and blamed it on that, so he ended up going to rehabilitation and not directly to jail.

2021

It was your eighteenth birthday, Sarah was coming to your house to keep you company until your parents got out of work.

As you were walking towards the kitchen the doorbell rang.

"hi" you said as opening the door.

"hello, is this y/n?" the man in front of you asked while reading your name from a box.

"that would be me" you said, and after signing some papers he gave you the package.

You placed it on the table and started opening it. It seemed like a picture frame, when you paid attention to it, tears fell from your eyes, there was a little letter on it.

i did not name it after me, i realized that you were, are, and always will be the big star that keeps me going. I hope you know how much i miss you and regret everything i did, maybe one day you'll forgive me and love me again. I took that for granted and i'm so sorry of that. happy eighteen birthday y/n, i expect you still think this is the most divine present someone could ever give you.

- Rafe

It was a star, he had bought a star and named it after you, Rafe kept his promise, and even though you had said to yourself, just the night before, you will move on and forget about him, you couldn't help but smile; wishing you could re-do everything and go back to what it was that night from a few years before.

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