#i have so much politics revision left to do and the exam is so soon

[jewishjon]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[simluvbot]

Enhypen’s reaction to when you punch a guy (hyung line)

a/n: this was a request ! I said I could upload this a few days ago but due to it being my birthday and it currently being exam week I didn’t have the time to edit this so that’s why I uploaded without proofreading at first TT // ok I finished editing 😁 Jake and sunghoon’s one is so bad don’t read it pls sorry

Although as this fic includes violence I only wrote for hyung like members and not maknae line, I hope you understand

Warnings: descriptions of physical violence (punching), mentions of being in a crowd, mentions of wanting to harm others (thoughts)

+ note: this is a work of fiction and in no way am I encouraging violence ! I wrote this in a way that I thought would match the member’s personalities although this is definitely not a true depiction of the enhypen members ^^

Lee heeseung

You and heeseung had been in the library studying together for your exams, and although you both had luckily reserved a secluded spot in the library that was both quiet and spacious for your revision, it wasn’t soon before some inconsiderate assholes had decided to occupy your desk too.

There were only two of them, yet they still managed to take up over half of the table whereas you and heeseung only had one small portion to yourselves

Plus they were very noisy, and the only librarian being on the seconf floor didnt help either  😐

You and your boyfriend had both made several attempts to sheepishly ask them if they could please quieten down before the librarian came back and kicked them out and more importantly so you mad heeseung could focus ??

But they simply ignored you, paying attention to the… online games ?? They had came to the library to play???

You were starting to get very annoyed, but decided to bite your tongue and instead have you and heeseung focus on your work

But it was when one of them spilt their coffee on heeseung’s expensive   textbook and even laugh afterwards which is what you decided that you finally had it

You don’t know how it happened, but soon you were standing up and landed a solid punch on the guy’s face

Heeseung was really shocked, just as much as you at your brash movements

And he would be even more concerned for you when he sees the person you punched egret aggressive to you and start getting close in your face.

“Hey man, that’s enough.” Despite heeseung’s shock, it didn’t take him longer than second before he stood up and grabbed at the man’s arm easily after he got up close you you intimidatingly, heeseung’s strong grip preventing the stranger from hitting you back and you swear you’ve never heard heeseung’s voice so deep and authoritative before as he told the man to sit down and focus on his stupid game

Due to your own surprise at your actions, you barely payed attention to what was going on as heeseung had a polite (on his end..) whisper-argument with the two guys, packing his things up as well as yours before grabbing your hand and safely leading you out of the library

You two ended up going home where he cleaned at your busted knuckles gently, sad at the fact that you got hurt and overall bummed out at two guys who got you so worked up and that his go-to textbook got ruined ):

“Baby, why did you do that, Hm? We could have just left to another place. You could have gotten hurt if they fought back!”

More than anything, your boyfriend was upset at the idea of you potentially getting more than just a few cuts and bruises on your knuckles, and so you promised heeseung right then and there that you wouldn’t do it again

After both of you got changed into your pyjamas, you and heeseung had set up your own study area in the dining room table, where you both continued with your study session for the rest of the day, with lots of cuddles afterwards as a reward!

Park Jongseong

You and jay were walking back home and it was already dark outside as you were both walking through the streets.

Approaching a heavily crowded place outside a club which included several people under the influences, it was pretty hard for you both to squeeze through the crowd as you were walking past.

They literally were spilling onto the road.. :/

“Jay.” You gasped when you lost hold of his hand on yours, leaving you in the idle of the crowd alone. There were so many bodies around you and as you got quickly pushed to against a wall from the movements of the people you found it hard to make your way through the people who were much taller than you.

You were starting to get anxious and when someone came directly in front of you, literally ignoring you asking for them to move and plainly blocking you for no reason you started to get frustrated, adrenaline in your veins as you lost your boyfriend and wanted to get out asap before you started fo panic.

You had asked the person to please move out of the way so you could pass through and they even had the audacity to look at you and make eye contact — only to simply ignore you when you asked for the nth time for them to scoot.

So, with your anxiety peaking and frustration soaring, you punched them hard on their face as soon as they turned around, and when they went stumbling backwards you finally had enough space to escape from your trapped position against the wall.

Jay had finally found you and was right there a few steps in front of you, and you were almost reaching him when a hand pulled you back suddenly, slamming you against the wall aggressively and leading you to hit your head hard.

Jay saw the whole thing. and he was livid

He shouted at the guy and grabbed his hands in his, pushing him so he was off of you once again. Jay was so angry he literally thought he could see red. How dare a man not just refuse to let someone obviously distressed through, but to touch you and hurt you?

You had to calm him down and urged hin for you both to leave before the stranger started getting aggressive because he was already shouting at you both and some heads were turning 😟

He eventually listened to you when he saw your glossed eyes and you clutching at your aching knuckles, so gently grabbing your unhurt hand in his he swiftly led you both away from the crowd in less than a minute, face fallen and heart aching ah ):

“Hey, let me look at you. are you okay? Did that bastard hurt you a lot?”

You could tell he was still so agitated with what happened, checking at your bruised knuckles and looking a the back of your head that was starting to form a lump from the force of being pushed against the wall earlier.

“I’m so sorry, I should have held tighter. I should have brought some security guards with us today.”

You had to tell him it was okay and you defended yourself and the guy was just a jerk and can’t hurt you anymore.

Jay was still so sad at the fact that you got hurt all because he let you go accidentally for one second ): seeing you so anxious and literally in pain made him feel so bad.

He showered you in many kisses once you both got home and you had a relaxing bath together, as well as helping treat your bruise , promising for this to never happen again 🥺

Sim jaeyun

You were hanging out with your old classmates as a reunion and it was getting close to the time where Jake had said he would pick you up to take you home.

Your classmates had asked you if you had a partner and when you told them that you did, they all got instantly curious.

You of course got so excited and was ecstatic to flaunt off your talented and handsome boyfriend to them :D

So you showed them a picture of Jake, however the reaction that you were met with was not what you were expecting.

Your classmates were silent for a few moments as they looked at the photo, before one of them eventually asked,

“Oh, so that’s the guy you’re dating?”

You could see two of them exchange glances for a reason you could not possibly fathom and your heart fell to your stomach when you saw them stifing their laughter.

“What?” You asked, frowning as you looked at the photo you showed them on your phone. What was wrong with the photo?

“Oh.. nothing it’s just.. well.. he just doesn’t look like the best option..”

“It’s pretty cute actually. Of course you would end up with a guy that looks like he matches you in social level.. he’s probably a loser.”

You were so confused and the comments kept coming as they talked amongst themselves, openly criticising Jake for no reason.

You gotta admit, you never were the closest my with your classmates in the first place but still decided to agree to the meet-up for old times’ sake.

You could put up with their side glances towards you ever since you arrived because you barely cared, but when they dared talk about your boyfriend like that??

You were so angry you felt yourself almost shaking.

“Hey.” You said, standing up abruptly from your seat on the picnic table at the park you guys were hanging out at.

“Why are you insulting my boyfriend like that. What is wrong with you?”

Once again, they simply laughed in your face, seeming to think of your reaction as hilarious.

You were gonna start crying soon because the rage boiling up inside of you was reaching to the point that you were finding it hard to contain it and breathe deeply to keep calm and not cause a scene.

But they kept insulting Jake, liking watching you get angry under their gazes.

One of your classmates in particular kept offering comments, too many and you had enough - you snapped.

You punched them square in the face.

And you had done so just when you noticed Jake exiting his car right outside of the park, when it was obvious that he saw you.

You didn’t care, and in fact you started laughing almost hysterically in front of your classmates at their shocked expressions.

You were in tears because the person you punched started having a nosebleed… to you it was hilarious and you were in your own world trying to catch your breath from laughing so much until you heard your name being called.

“Y/n.” Jake said worriedly, finally reaching yoy and placing a hand on your shoulder.

He led you to his car, and after you both left and as you sat silently in the passenger seat having calmed down, you were staring to feel awkward with all the little glances Jake threw towards you ever so often.

He didn’t ask or push, instead just remaining silent and gripping at your hand you had punched your classmate with, thumb swirling over your red knuckles as he stared down at them with a bothered expression.

“Sorry.” You finally said, giving him a sheepish smile. “They just kept talking so badly about you when they found out I had a boyfriend.. I couldn’t resist.”

Jake if anything was a bit disappointed that you had reacted violently, and he was silent for a few seconds as he sat unknowing of what to say, frowning and licking his lips like a confused puppy trying to work out a solution.

“Please just don’t do it again. Violence is never okay, you should have just left. I don’t want my y/nnie getting hurt or getting into fights because of me, okay?”

You both drove back and cuddled a lot on the sofa, and Jake made sure to give your knuckles several kisses, his heart aching with the memory of what happened );

Park Sunghoon

“Ha, if it isn’t the ugly y/n.”

You bit your lip as you heard the familiar laugh of the rink bullies behind you, plainly mocking you.

“Still friends with that weirdo, park sunghoon?”

Ever since the members in the same extracurricular figure skating club had found out you were friends with sunghoon, the ice boy that they liked to torment for reasons forever unknown to you, you had soon too fallen victim to their evil teasing.

“I told you to stop making fun of sunghoon like that.” You said plainly, sighing as you sat down on a bench to undo your skates.

The group members laughed and would just not leave you alone, even going as far as sitting next to you and entering your personal space by constantly poking at your sides sharply.

And you swear to god the temptation of slashing open their faces with the bottom of your skates was very tempting—

But no, you had told sunghoon that you would meet him at the entrance of the rink to walk home together after your individual practices; and you were already running late.

“Where you going? To go see sunghoon? Huh? Go tell him that we messed with his skates so he fails in the competition.”

Your hands froze as you were tying your converses. You looked up, meeting the leader’s gaze.

“What?” You had enough. You could never understand why they had sunghoon as their punching bag. Sunghoon was used to it, not one to start arguments and the type to only keep to himself when things like this happen.

You just went along with it and followed his lead in ignoring your other club members, but them going this far to try to sabotage the performance sunghoon had been training months for? You had enough of simply doing nothing in retaliation to their bullying.

Standing up abruptly, they stood back at youe sudden movement, but not quick enough for being able to dodge the punch you swung directly on the nose of the nearest one in front of you.

“Y/n?”

Looking over to the doorframe of the changing room — there was park sunghoon.

“Sunghoon.” You said in shock, glancing over towards the group in front of you as they started guffawing at the sides of the person you punched

“Sorry, I got caught up with-“

You were just making your way speedily over towards hoon when you were pulled back by the wrist painfully.

You gasped when the force that you were let go of led you to be flung over to one side and practically topple onto the sticky matte floor.

Wincing as you landed on your wrist, you hissed at the fresh pain and the loud crack that came with it.

It was silent as everyone paused, having heard your wrist snapping as much as you had felt the pain of it.

“Y/n!” Sunghoon was at your side in an instant, pushing his way cut though the others standing around you in shock.

His pretty face was frowned with worry, eyes wide as he came in front of you, assessing your wrist without touching it.

“Let’s get out of here.” He scooped you up, and if you weren’t busy trying to breathe in and out deeply to calm yourself down after your injury, you would have been surprised at the skate bullies making space for a clear path Sunghoon to carry you through.

From all your time of knowing the talented ice boy, your skating partner and friend — you had never really seen him show much emotion apart from the small smiles and laughs he gave only to you. His long legs were able to stride quickly to a bench outside as he called an ambulance for you, a distressed expression as he meticulously cared towards you.

And gee if you breaking your wrist didn’t hurt like hell, but after all, did you regret that day? No. You finally were able to stand up to the bullies for the first time, and even more importantly — that moment had started the beginning of a new chapter for you and Sunghoon.

[leejeongz]

cravity reaction to you giving them the silent treatment

🔅thank you for reading my work and following! and than you for requesting! i wrote this like giving them the silent treatment, as you can tell, because i’m not sure what other context you would ignore them in🥺 i hope you don’t mind! and not all of them are serious hehe🔅

serim:

reason for the silent treatment: you were jealous when you saw him talking to the stylists and sitting real close to them

he tried his damned hardest to not give in to you. this lasted for quite a while this time actually, an hour maybe? then he started feeling empty. he hadn’t hugged you or bugged you for a whole hour, even you were getting concerned at this point. he came over to you while you were washing your bowl and pan from lunch, standing behind you for a few seconds before deciding to poke your cheek. you tried to ignore him at first, then you tried swatting his hand away.

“i’m not moving it until you talk to me!” he exclaimed. you knew the annoying smile he’d have on his face right now that you couldn’t resist so you chose not to look at him, instead you concentrated on putting the wet dishes on the drying rack. “i can do this all day”

he really wasn’t lying, you wouldn’t put that past him, so you just chose to give up, it was easier than having a clingy serim around you all day. (you get that anyway but what can u do?)

“you should eat” you said quietly. serim smiled at you in response and removed his finger.

“you’re right, maybe i will go grab something with the stylists” he joked, risking another hour of the silent treatment. he was so lucky that you could take a joke.

allen:

reason for the silent treatment: he forgot your 1 year anniversary (this got a lil deep for some reason, kinda angsty, just a warning)

he started by giving you as much attention as possible. usually you’d be loving the skinship and cuddles, but right now you didn’t want to even see his face. you swatted his hands away and stormed off to your room. he sat back on the sofa, eyes and mouth both wide. he’d never seen you like this before. his head soon fell into his hands, which rested on his knees. once the first tear fell, it was soon followed by dozens more. it made him even weaker knowing you were probably crying too. he didn’t know whether to come to you or not but he decided to stay put for a little longer. after a few minutes, he saw your feet across the carpet and lifted his head, apologising profusely as he did so. you sat beside him, and looked at him, which he reciprocated almost immediately. he grabbed your hands instinctively but not before wiping a tear from your right cheek.

“do you care?” you asked.

“of course i care. i care about you, about us, i care a lot.” he pleaded, tears starting to burn at his cheeks.

“okay” you said, licking a tear from lips and nestling into his side.

he wrapped his arm around you and sniffled some more before asking if there was any way he could make it up to you.

jungmo:

reason for the silent treatment: you failed an exam and you think it’s because he kept distracting you while revising

he couldn’t help himself, he just HAD to follow you around like a lost puppy. he tried his best to apologise, knowing it was the easiest thing to do even if he wasn’t guilty, but it just made you ignore him even more, not even giving him the advantage of reading your face. honestly, his incessant following was cute, but he could never know that.

“y/n please” he begged from behind you as you made your way to the bathroom. “don’t make me come in there too” he tried to make light of the situation.

you turned and stood against the closed bathroom door, now looking at him from across the hallway. you raised your eyebrow and he started to talk once again.

“i didn’t realise what i was doing, i just wanted to spend time with you, i will never do it again, if i do you can shout at me, i’m kidding please don’t do that ,i would cry, i know you wouldn’t ever-“ you stopped him with a kiss. you hated how he had you WHIPPED for him, but you wouldn’t really have it any other way.

“i won’t you idiot, although i may accidentally purposely back my chair into you, gently of course” you joked “now can i please go in here… alone?”

woobin:

reason for the silent treatment: he used your toothbrush

“you changed yours to the exact same colour as mine, it was going to happen on day anyway” he announced, rolling his eyes while walking to the cupboard to get himself a different toothbrush. “where are they?” he shouted to you.

you chose not to respond and that’s when he knew he was currently experiencing the dreaded silent treatment. normally he’d be quite thankful for some peace and quiet but the circumstances weren’t great so...

“oh brilliant, how mature of you” he slammed the door to the cupboard shut, still being careful not to damage it though. “you know it’s not going to get you anywhere” he once again rolled his eyes. “i’m going to my room, see you at dinner, sweetheart”. and that’s exactly when you saw him next. he was so stubborn sometimes, you had to give in else you’d never talk to him again.

“here” you tossed him a new toothbrush while he was close to the sink.

“this is still the same colour th-“

“ITS ROMANTIC WOOBIN” you shouted.

“from one extreme to another, clearly” he laughed, throwing you the toothbrush back. “now how about we be romantic in that restaurant down the street?”

wonjin:

reason for the silent treatment: he ate without you

“i swear i won’t do it again” he pleaded in his final words before giving up and slumping his way to his room, leaving you cooking your meal for one.

you wouldn’t normally be this mad about him eating without you, you didn’t even live together, it was just that today you’d planned to have dinner together but you were an hour late due to traffic. surely he could have waited an extra 60 minutes, right?

wonjin threw himself on the bed, sulking for 5 seconds then convincing himself he was in the right all along and acting like nothing was wrong. he pulled out his phone and started playing a game, one that he knew he would spend hours on if he started playing it. half way through the first round, something clicked in his brain. why was he sitting here neglecting you when he owes an apology? he composed himself and made his way back out to the kitchen, ready to start his begging for forgiveness.

“okay so sometimes... sometimes you can be unreasonable” great start, you thought, rolling your eyes “but on this occasion, i think your reaction is justified. take as long as you want, i’ll be standing right here” he said, mimicking a “rooting in place” action by twisting his feet on the laminate flooring.

minhee:

reason for the silent treatment: he accidentally recycled a piece of your homework

“how was i supposed to know you needed this stupid map?” he questioned. but you didn’t respond. instead you just went to his room and sulked, in silence. he followed and stood in the doorway, firing questions at you for the next 5 minutes before huffing and leaving you to sulk alone. he knew he was the mature one here, but he still felt guilty for what he did so 10 minutes later he came back to you and tried again, this time calmer and more willing to listen.

“i can help you do it again” he insisted “but i’m not that great at drawing maps” he admitted. you turned away from him. he probably thought you were just continuing the silent treatment but really, you were trying your hardest not to laugh.

“you know i just printed that out right? i didn’t draw that” you whispered, giving in.

“are you saying i just endured the silent treatment for a map that took seconds to print out? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” he shouted jokingly, sitting at his computer and bringing up an identical map. “here, print.” he grabbed it off the printer and realised yet another issue “you also used MY printer ink. i should have give myself the silent treatment for wasting ink like that.”

hyeongjun:

reason for the silent treatment: he killed you first in among us

hyeongjun thought it was a joke at first, it was just a game after all it's not that serious.

“you can still do your ghost tasks” he mimicked.

you did NOT find this funny. he made you look like a fool in front of your friends, surely your boyfriend isn’t supposed to kill you first, you thought. you pressed the home button on your phone, automatically leaving the game, and turned your phone back to portrait. you scrolled through your home screens for a while, looking like you were doing something important in hopes it would make hyeongjun jealous but he was too engrossed in the game. it wasn’t until you threw your phone on the bed and got up that he realised you’d left.

“you left the game? why? oh you’re gonna get snacks? can you get me those chocolate jazzle things you bought for us please?” he asked, still engrossed in the game.

you rolled your eyes and let out a very loud “ugh” which he didn’t even bat an eyelid at. you returned with the chocolates in your hand which got his attention, but instead of handing them to him, you ate them and looked like you were enjoying them.

“i’m SO sorry i killed you y/n” he rolled his eyes as you did earlier, but you pretended to not hear him, just as he did.

this went on until he, as the imposter, lost the game, and you couldn’t help but laugh in his face.

taeyoung:

reason for the silent treatment: he laughed at you for getting scared during a horror movie

you hit his chest and got up in a huff. how dare he laugh at you when you were genuinely scared?! the sound of his laugh was always nice, always except now, it just annoyed you. you went to the fridge to grab some of his snacks, the first time you did this without politely asking for permission. he never minded that you wanted food, he wished you’d just get them yourself, you didn’t have to ask, what was his was yours, so you took advantage of that but it really didn’t feel right.

“hey the movie hasn’t finished yet!” he shouted, turning over and seeing you scan his fridge. “there’s nothing in there, i’m the only snack in this place” he said, flipping back over. “oh and you, of course”. you narrowed your eyes and bobbed your head sarcastically behind him, as if you were mimicking what he said. you sat back down again empty handed, this time sitting on the single chair that was far from him.

“oh what’s wrong? you think you’re strong enough to sit alone? you don’t need me anymore?” he laughed once again. you just concentrated on the screen, your heart beating faster than ever before, hoping no scares were coming up.

“okay okay i’ll stop. now please come over here and cuddle me because i think he’s gonna do something again and i don’t want you to be scared on your own.”

you contemplated his preposition for a little, the tv making your decision for you when the music started getting louder and you felt the need for someone’s arms around you.

seongmin:

reason for the silent treatment: he spent the whole of your day off napping

“what’s for dinner?” he asked sleepily. his eyes opened to your figure, stood over him, your arms were folded and lips were sealed shut in a sort of angry pout. “what?” he questioned.

you yanked you duvet from him and threw it on the floor now giving you the perfect opportunity to grab your teddy that he’d slept with and leave. but that boy was gripping on to your teddy for dear life it seemed, he wasn’t letting go. “what are you doing? i can’t explain if you won’t tell me what’s wrong. and i’m not giving up lolly llama until you tell me”.

“just give me the llama seongmin” you broke your silence.

“is it because i slept all day?” when the words left his mouth, you stopped fighting for the teddy, you stopped leaning over him, you stopped trying to hide what had been getting to you all day. “because if it is i’m sorry, i woke up today with a really bad headache and i didn’t want to worry you.” he pointed to the tablets and headache strips on the side.

“is it-” you paused to look at him “is it better now?” you asked, knowing the best treatment for a headache was sleep.

“a lot better” he smiled in your direction “i am prepared to pull an all nighter with my favourite person now”

gifs aren’t mine

[itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto]

A/N: Hi guys! This was something I came up with whilst talking to @hotchsbabygirl and this fic was born, so enjoy! 

Possible Triggers: Swearing, reference to a bad previous relationship where consent was not given and smoking.  It’s called... Sugar, yes please! 

You sigh, typing up your report of the last case as you rub your eyes. “Anyone else jet lagged?” You ask Spencer and Emily who work at the desks beside you. It’s your fourth case with the team, and as much as you are settling in well, the flying is taking it’s toll on you and you suffer badly from jet lag.

“You get used to it. Took me a few months.” Emily said patting your shoulder relating to how you are feeling. “3 months, 1 day, 4 hours and 1 minute and 59 seconds.” Spencer added. “Oh, so the first few numbers of Pi then?” You smirked. “I didn’t think of that, but yes, I suppose you could think of it that way.” Spencer said, adjusting his glasses. “Nerds.” Morgan said. “Anyone wants a coffee speak now whilst it’s fresh.” “Nothing nerdy about numbers and statistics.” You smile, walking over to the coffee machine as Spencer looks at you with googly eyes. “Just like that, IQ of 187 drops to 60.” Emily laughed knowing Spencer has a crush on the young agent. Spencer snapped back into reality and went to join you at the coffee machine where you were deciding which donut to have, settling on the chocolate sprinkles one. “That’s my favourite too!” Spencer exclaimed “Oh, sorry! Do you want it? I can have the cinnamon sugar instead.” You offer “No. It’s fine really.” Spencer smiled picking up the cinnamon one. “You have it.” “Or we can share.” You offer taking a large bite of the chocolate one, leaving Spencer the remaining half on a napkin. Spencer nods, doing the same thing and hands you the other half of the cinnamon one, noticing you make a coffee. “You want one?” You ask, noticing Spencer is still staring at you, not that you mind. You’ve developed a small crush on the slightly older agent, with you being 25 and Spencer being 28. “Please. My mug has my name on it.. The one you have been drinking out of.. But it’s fine. A different mug will be sufficient.” Spencer says blushing “Oh Spencer, I’m so sorry, I thought all these mugs were the same!” You say, feeling awful. “I don’t wear my glasses very often.” “Don’t worry Y/N. Honestly. They are mostly the same, apart from the brightly coloured ones. They are Penelope’s.” Spencer said. Meanwhile . . .

“Rossi, you won’t believe this. Y/N used Spencer’s mug and shared a donut with him, and he didn’t even flinch.” Derek said, sipping his coffee. “Damn. He must have the hots for Y/N. You know she’s studying for a PhD in psychology and forensics?” Rossi said signing off a document that Penelope gave him. “What are you all talking about?” Hotch said in a stern voice noticing the agents  are not doing their work. “Well…” JJ began and told Hotch “Pretty boy better say something soon or I’m going to flip a table.” Morgan said “Keep it professional.” Hotch said, pleased that Spencer has a crush. “No. We will not rest until genius makes a move.” Penelope giggled Back by the coffee machine . . . “You want sugar?” You ask Spencer getting it down for yourself, adding an unhealthy amount. “Please, same amount actually.” Spencer smiled, trying to buck up the courage to ask Y/N on a date. This weekend he had planned to go to a pumpkin patch and get a sweet pumpkin spiced latte afterwards, but would much rather have company, and take Y/N with him. “And I thought I was the only one who liked sweet coffee.” You say putting the now empty bag of sugar in the bin. “Looks like they’ll have to order more sugar.” Spencer smiled as you both walked back to your desks as everyone goes back to pretending they were busy and not listening/watching your conversation.

 Later in the day . . .

Since there isn’t a case, you and the team go for a beer after work to celebrate your first month with the team. You sit in the middle fiddling with your converse and sipping your beer. “So, what do you guys have planned for the weekend guys, if we don’t get a case?” You ask, attempting to make some form of conversation that isn’t work related. “Chocolate thunder and I are going to his Mom’s birthday party.” Penelope smiled, sipping her cocktail as Derek smiled as Penelope snuggled into his arms. You think Penelope and Derek are adorable together, and wish you had a relationship like that. “I’m taking Jack go-karting with Henry.” Hotch smiled “They had so much fun playing mini golf last time.” JJ said showing you photos on her phone. “I’m taking Sergio for a check-up and meeting some college friends for a drink.” Emily smiled “I’m revising for my Psychology exam. You all have much more fun planned than me.” You sigh, wishing to be doing something fun. “I’m going to a Pumpkin patch and getting some pumpkins to carve.” Spencer smiled “Do you like Halloween Spencer?” You ask, sipping your beer as everyone groans knowing what’s coming. After about 5 minutes of Halloween facts... “So yes, I guess you could say I like Halloween.” Spencer says sipping his fruit cider. “Well the pumpkin patch sounds like a lovely way to spend a Saturday.” You smile, “I’m going for a cigarette and to get another drink. Does everyone want the same of what they have had?” I’ll get a round on my way back.” You say Everyone nods, and Rossi joins you outside. “So pretty boy, you going to ask Y/N to the pumpkin patch with you?” Morgan asked “No! I’m sure she was just being polite.” Spencer said sipping his cider, trying to hide his blushing cheeks. “Just ask her Spence, I think she’d love to go with you.” JJ smiled “You have nothing to lose besides us embarrassing you for a while regardless of the outcome.” Hotch said “Besides, you have already shared cooties with her anyway.” Penelope said reminding them all of earlier “Fuck this. I’ll do it if it shuts you all up.” Spencer sighed getting up Outside …

“I can’t believe you have been here a month Y/N.” Rossi said exhaling from his cigarette. “It feels like you have been here longer.” “I hope that’s a good thing Rossi.” You smile “It is.. and Spencer has taken quite the shine to you too.” He says “I think it’s that I’m studying for a PhD, or that he’s no longer the youngest on the team.” You say Rossi chooses not to say anything, as the door opens and out comes Spencer. “Hey guys.” He says and gives Rossi a facial expression that means, “Please go away”. Rossi nods in understanding and goes back inside where the team are all behind the door like children, about to listen to the conversation. “Hey Doctor Reid.” You smile at him “Hey future Doctor Y/S/N.” He smiled back “You come out to smoke or just to say hello?” You ask. “Both actually, plus I got a leg cramp.” He said stretching his leg “I didn’t realise you smoked.” You say lighting another one up “Mainly after cases as a way of relaxing, or if something is on my mind.” Spencer said. “Can I use your lighter?” He asks “Sure. Which is it today?” You ask handing him your lighter. Spencer lights his cigarette and hands your lighter back. “Hm?” “You said you smoke after a case, or if something is on your mind. Which is it? It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me.” You say taking a drag from your cigarette. “The latter.” Spencer says taking a drag from his. “I’ve been thinking...” He begins “You? Thinking? No.. Really?!” You joke, trying to cheer Spencer up from whatever is on his mind. “Come on pretty boy... You can do this.” Morgan whispers from the other side of the door. Spencer flushed his cheeks. “Do you like Halloween?” He asks as a few quiet groans are heard from the other side of the door. “Must be the game on the TV.” You say “Or our bastard co-workers.” Spencer thinks to himself. “Probably.” Spencer says through gritted teeth “I love Halloween! I’ve got pumpkin and ghost lights around my apartment at the moment.” You smile. “Why?” “Er..” Spencer shakes a little dropping his cigarette which he quickly picks up again. “I was wondering… It’s okay if you don’t… But do you fancy going to the Pumpkin Patch with me tomorrow?” He says looking down at his converse, with his Halloween socks, little ghosts on one and Frankenstein’s on the other. You smile, a single tear going down your cheek. It has been a while since a guy asked you out, since you left your ex after he cheated. “Spencer, are you asking me on a date?” You ask “Y..Yes I am. But like I said, it’s fine if you say you don’t want to.” Spencer says, still looking down. “I’d love to go with you Spencer.” You smile, lifting Spencer’s head up with your hands as cheers are heard from the other side of the door. Spencer looks at you, smiling wide. “Really?” You nod. “As long as I get to buy a pumpkin for my apartment.” “As long as I get to kiss your cheek.. Like, right now if that’s okay.” Spencer said biting his lip. “Damn pretty boy.” Derek whispered. “We didn’t discuss this.” “But he did ask for consent. That’s more than her ex did.” Penelope whispered “Her ex?” Derek whispered back “Long story delicious.” Penelope whispered “Yes Spencer, that is more than okay.” You smile as Spencer softly kisses your cheek making you blush. “I’ll pick you up at 12.” Spencer smiled, putting his hand on yours. “For now though, I think you promised the team a round of drinks.” “Shit. I forgot about that.” You say getting up, still holding Spencer’s hand and walk to the door. “MOVE MOVE MOVE.” Emily said shoving everyone back to their seats but it was too late, you and Spencer caught them all in the act. “I didn’t realise a sticky bar floor was comfortable to stand on for more than 2 minutes.” You chuckle, finally clocking what the cheers were about earlier. ________________________________________________________________

Well guys, I hope you enjoyed that! I have a few more in the works, and let me know either in the comments, asks or on messages, if you’d like to be on my taglist! Requests are OPEN!  Follow up coming soon! Taglist: @pumpkin-goob , @jpegjade , @andiebeaword , @hopebaker , @hotchsbabygirl , @hercleverboy , @cupcake525 , @aperrywilliams

[kitaychan]

We need to talk

Summary: After a breakup, Ivan realizes his life was not as fullfilling as he had thought. Reaching out to old friends might prove to be a slow task with interesting outcomes.

Chapter preview: Yao sighed, peering over to the kitchen, he gasped and hurried inside. “How did you set my teapot on fire?”

Ivan could hear Arthur’s alarmed voice and the water tap running. “I don’t know.”

He approached the kitchen, the smell of smoke was stronger and he found Arthur frowning alongside Yao inspecting the blackened teapot.

The brown haired man huffed, leaving the teapot on the sink. “Stop burning things, Alfred is not around, so you can quit gaining his attention.”

“It was an accident and I asked for help, neither of you seemed to notice, are you deaf?”

“You are banned from my kitchen, now. Go and commit arson on your boyfriend’s house, he can manage the fires quickly.”

Ivan let out a laugh. “I am totally going to tell Alfred about this.”

Scrolling down memes on his phone, Ivan glanced at the hour, he had spent at least half an hour just looking at his phone, on the back of his head, deep inside, he knew that he was delaying the inevitable.

He typed out a simple ‘hello’ before erasing it, why was it so hard to start a conversation? Alfred would just send him a random picture and they would talk about it or start a string of random pictures, but now, Ivan found it difficult to send a simple greeting to Yao. What should he say? What if he was busy?

He managed to gather enough words to form a coherent greeting alongside the question of ‘What are you up to?’

Dread invaded him instantly after he sent it. Perhaps that was too vague, or too informal. He sighed, setting the phone aside, it was done and he couldn’t take the message back, that was better, he’d be overthinking the whole day anyways.

This day, he was less worried about the nonexistent alarm that set off in his mind in the mornings, and more focused on the little pang of guilt that told him that he was wasting his time.

He took a breath, reminding himself that he was on vacation, he had nothing to worry about besides his cat and trying not to be a burden to Katya, whom unlike him, had left earlier to give off her classes.

He played for a while with his cat, the entertainment was short as Boris decided it was better to lie on his side instead of hunting the toy, Ivan poked a bit at the fluffy cat to make him move again but it didn’t budge, wiggling its tail.

The day passed rather slowly, Ivan had tried not to go out, not wanting to spend the time by himself in the park again, though the prospect of finding Yao again crossed his mind, he figured the man would be working just as Katya was.

Of course he was, that was probably why he couldn’t answer. Ivan sighed, why did he have to keep worrying about it? this was what he hated about being alone, his thoughts would be nagging at him, he had to find something to do or he would be anxious about a message the whole day.

He sighed, focusing on the lonely plant by the window, he searched around the house, finding some paints. It was time to stop delaying his task and deliver that child’s project.

The base was fairly easy if he remembered well, the background was mostly blue with some clouds around. What worried him was the boat, as he wasn’t used to painting at all, and well, he’d never made a decent boat.

He left the pot aside so the blue paint could dry, perhaps he could ask for help with it later.

Ivan glanced at the clock again, time had passed and Katya would probably arrive soon but he couldn’t help but feel a bit annoyed at the passiveness of his day.

His phone buzzed, taking him out of his thoughts. The short message displayed made him pause.

“Hi, sorry, I forgot my phone, I’ve just headed back from work. Do you want to come to my house?”

Ivan had to double check his phone.Firstly, to make sure that it was in fact a message coming from Yao, and secondly, to process the question.

Another message appeared.

“Are you busy?”

Ivan smiled, it’s not like he had anything better to do and at this point he’d be delighted to busy himself with anything.

Feeling less awkward he replied. “Not really, I was trying to paint the boat on the flower pot but I am failing at it. Anyway, yeah it’d be nice to talk”

“In that case, bring it with you, I’ll help. Let’s meet at the park, I have to see Arthur there.”

Ivan pondered for a moment giving out an affirmative reply, he wrote a note to Katya so she wouldn’t worry, grabbed a coat, the flower pot and left.

Once in the park, he went to buy some pastries, it would be mean to present himself empty handed, right? He even got another bottle of wine, to replace the one from yesterday. The cashier handed him everything on a paper bag that he carried quite difficulty.

He sat outside on the same bench, it was indeed a nice place. He could see Arthur and Yao approaching, both of them were wrapped with scarves and heavy coats, the latter was holding two cups of hot coffee.

Yao handed him one of the cups. “I’m so sorry, How long have you been waiting?”

Ivan shrugged, taking the beverage. “Not much.”

“For real, you can be as petty as you want, it was Arthur’s fault that we were held back.”

Arthur, groaned, taking a sip of his own drink. “I only said that they didn’t know how to make iced tea, I thought it was obvious.”

“The barista didn’t ask for your opinion.”

“If they want to make iced tea, they have to make tea, let it cool and add the ice. Not use that horrible mix with water.” The Englishman frowned, observing his drink. “At least they make good coffee.”

“Not really.” Yao let off a huff, ushering them to follow. “Anyway, let’s go upstairs, it is freezing down here. Aren’t you cold, Ivan?”

“I’m a bit used to it, it’s more chilly where I live.” Ivan paused, the englishman seemed to notice his hesitation, taking the paper bag and allowing him to finish his coffee and carry the plant.

Ivan walked with them, taking short steps. They questioned him about the city, about his work, his coworkers, Ivan had to suppress his frown at the last topic.

Yao’s apartment was warm, Arthur stepped in casually, making a beeline to the table while Yao took the flower pot from him so he could take off his coat.

Ivan fumbled a bit with his scarf, leaving it on and approaching the table. There were a few stocks of papers and books scattered on it.

Yao laughed nervously. “Sorry for the mess, I was revising some exams last night.”

Arthur rolled his eyes, setting the bag on the table, the Englishman raised an eyebrow and stared at him. “Yao, did you cook Francis’ recipe yesterday?”

The brown haired man nodded, placing the plant on the table. "Yeah, it took me some time and I had to buy wine because he would not leave me alone until I did."

"You let the frog get away with his quirks, he drinks wine with everything. I hope the dish was worth the expensive wine."

"It totally was." Ivan said, regretting his words as Arthur's expression changed into amusement.

Yao retrieved the books from the table, shaking his head. "Stop staring like that, we met at the store and I invited him."

"Sure… that's why you still have exams to grade, right?" The Englishman taunted, holding out one of the papers.

Yao hummed, fumbling with the papers. “You have delayed exams too.”

"True but why did he bring wine?” Arthur smiled, turning his stare at Ivan. “Are you following Francis’ advice or something?"

Ivan tensed a bit, at this point everything he'd say would be used by Arthur to tease them. “It is polite to bring a present when you visit someone’s house.”

“How dare you speak to me about proper manners,” Arthur chuckled, collecting papers from the table. "Yao has a good collection of books and I need to complain about it, you will help me out, right?"

"Not my fault that you burnt yours to get a date." Yao retorted, laying some brushes and paints on the table and taking a seat beside Ivan.

Arthur gasped. "If you keep that cocky grin on your face, I will kick you out."

Ivan watched in awe as Yao took a pencil, tracing swiftly the sketch of a small boat on the flower pot. "This is my house, you can't kick me out. What books do you need?"

The Englishman stood up, observing the books displayed on the shelf. He turned around with a serious expression on his face “Ivan, have you read ´War and peace’?”

“Uh not really, I have a copy laying around but I don’t think I ever finished it.” Ivan shrugged, toying with a brush.

“What keeps you from reading it? Is it the french parts of it?”

“I am actually fluent in french so...” Ivan saw how Arthur’s smile changed into a grimace, had he said something wrong? He quickly added. “I just hadn’t taken the time to actually read it.”

Arthur grabbed a couple of books, taking a seat. “I remember you once delivered a paper about The great Gatsby, it was very interesting though quite weak at the end.”

Ivan glanced at Yao in an attempt to ask for help but the grin the brown haired man held on his face told him that he wouldn’t get any. He laughed nervously. “I barely remember what I ate for breakfast, I don’t think I will recall something I wrote on highschool.”

Yao’s laughter filled the room, Ivan couldn’t help but stare at him, it was not rare to see the chinese smile, but it was certainly pleasant to hear his laugh, he found himself laughing too, Arthur joining as well.

They shared a glass of wine and devoured the pastries, Ivan painted slowly the small boat and answered more of Arthur’s questions, Yao praised his patience every now and then until Arthur left him alone in order to make some tea.

Ivan watched closely as Yao traced details on the little boat skillfully, silence enveloped them as he finished.

Turning back, he could hear Arthur pacing around in the kitchen but he could not see him.

He took a long breath before leaning over the table, just a bit, in order to gain Yao’s attention, the brown haired man set aside the brush, arching an eyebrow.

“When you invited me over, I didn’t think it would end up like this.” Ivan admitted, smiling sheepishly.

Yao tilted his head, a small smirk gracing his face. “Why?”

Ivan fidgeted with his scarf, he didn’t know how he was able to hold his gaze, he felt his face almost burning with embarrassment but he had already dug his grave so he might as well just die on it already, he reached out to take Yao’s hand, and lowered his voice. “Well… for starters, I didn’t think that Arthur would be acompaining us.”

Ivan considered the idea of not coming back to the town when Yao retreated his hand and chuckled, this was like highschool all over again but perhaps ten times worse because he had hoped to be on the right track just once, and now, he dreaded his sole existence.

No matter how much he tried to shrink on himself, to hide under his scarf, he would not disappear from the situation.

His train of thought was stopped or more accurately, smacked back to reality by a soft hand caressing his cheek. He could barely register Yao’s words. “You are fun to tease.”

Ivan nodded slowly, he was doomed, wasn’t he? He wanted nothing but melt on this man’s hands, he knew he was blushing, but this time, he didn’t mind it.

He gathered enough courage to lean forward, barely brushing his lips with the other, Yao’s hand moved to the back of his head, pushing him lightly so their lips met.

“Bloody hell!”

They both flinched back, Ivan had forgotten about Arthur’s existence, a sense of self awareness flared up in him but it didn’t manage to overcome the annoyance he felt. The Englishman was nowhere to be seen.

Yao sighed, peering over to the kitchen, he gasped and hurried inside. “How did you set my teapot on fire?”

Ivan could hear Arthur’s alarmed voice and the water tap running. “I don’t know.”

He approached the kitchen, the smell of smoke was stronger and he found Arthur frowning alongside Yao inspecting the blackened teapot.

The brown haired man huffed, leaving the teapot on the sink. “Stop burning things, Alfred is not around so you can quit gaining his attention.”

“It was an accident and I asked for help, neither of you seemed to notice, are you deaf?”

“You are banned from my kitchen, now. Go and commit arson on your boyfriend’s house, he can manage the fires quickly.”

Ivan let out a laugh. “I am totally going to tell Alfred about this.”

Arthur groaned. “From everyone you could have chosen to embarrass me in front of, it has to be with the one person Alfred has a direct line with, you are the best of friends, Yao.”

Sending pictures of a burnt teapot to Alfred wasn’t the way Ivan thought his night would end but he was delighted by today’s happenings.

Not only could he get another kiss from Yao before leaving, he had asked him out on an actual date, much to the Englishman's amusement, the remarks the latter made after they left Yao’s house weren’t embarrassing anymore.

Ivan had entered a state of sheepish acceptance, if he had to take on Arthur’s teasing in order to date Yao, then so be it.

[and-it-freezes-me]

Accidents Happen - To Pieces

Summary: Roman, feeling himself coming undone at the edges, continues to dig. Almost everything that could go wrong, does.

Content: Discussion of drugs, fainting, (brief) discussion of disordered eating, alcohol use, discussions of bad parenting

Word count: 7,188

{Part 3} {Part 5}

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Three days. They were going to meet outside Janus’ house at around four on Friday, and it was now eight on Wednesday morning. So… Forty-eight hours until eight on Friday, and then eight hours until they met up, and add another hour to actually put his plan into motion… Fifty-seven hours was almost too long for Roman to wait to get to the truth.

But he did it anyway, because this was the plan he had made, and because he couldn’t risk Janus getting suspicious and hurting Remus again.

When he got to school on Wednesday, Janus was waiting outside his locker for him, and Roman had to fight down the urge to sink his fist into his jaw. He’d aim for the scarred side, knowing it would hurt more, watch Janus stumble back, hands flying to his face… He didn’t. Instead he greeted him, smiled at him, and went over a few flashcards for their calculus exam that afternoon.

He begged off their lunchtime revision session, though.

Instead of going to the library, he went to find Virgil. There had to be more he could find out about Janus, about whatever he had on Remus, and the odds were that the caffeine-fueled senior would know more than he had told Roman in the first place. It would be hard to keep his reputation as the all-knowing man of mystery if he just gave away all of his secrets as soon as somebody said please.

Virgil was sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of one of the benches outside the back of the school when Roman found him, his head in Patton’s lap, allowing the other boy to braid small plaits into his dress-code-breaking purple hair. They were both giggling, and Roman almost felt bad about interrupting their private bubble of sunlight with his approach - then he realised that there was so much bad inside of him already that he couldn’t fit any more in. He stopped in front of Virgil, waited until his dark eyes broke away from Patton’s broad grin, and then cleared his throat. Virgil raised an eyebrow at him. “How can you possibly want more from me? I gave you everything I had on Janus…”

Patton made a scandalised noise, and tugged sharply on the plait he was working on. “Verge! You said you’d stop dealing secrets!”

“Ow, Pat, I lied, alright? Lay off…” Virgil winced and rubbed the side of his head, and a look that Roman couldn’t decipher passed between them. Then Patton sighed, nodded, and returned to playing with Virgil’s hair. There were three flowers in it, and Roman was certain that Virgil didn’t know they were there.

He cleared his throat again, licked his lower lip, and debated joining Virgil on the floor. “I think you have more.”

“Do you.” It wasn’t a question, and Virgil’s voice was flat. Patton’s eyes moved slowly between the two of them.

“You know everything about everyone.”

“I’m flattered, but we all know that’s not entirely true,” Virgil responded, sounding almost bored. He was doing a very good impersonation of his elder brother - and Roman hoped, for the hundredth time, that he didn’t know that Remy was dealing again.

“Fine. Tell me about Remus.”

Roman hadn’t realised that it was an order until Patton frowned up at him, his golden curls falling into his uncomfortably inquisitive blue eyes. “Manners, Roman. If you can’t be polite, you’re not getting anything.” Virgil just shrugged when Roman looked at him.

Roman resisted the urge to snap at Patton to shut up, to mock Virgil for letting his bit on the side try to run business for him, and wondered when he had become villainous enough to think like that. He swallowed and nodded once. “Sorry, Patton, Virgil. Please, tell me about Remus?”

They both considered him for a long second. Finally Patton nodded, apparently satisfied, and pushed his glasses back up his button nose before returning to Virgil’s hair. The information broker, on the other hand, gave no such quarter. “No.”

“I… I beg your pardon?”

“No. I’m not informing on your brother to you.” Roman felt as though he had been reduced to merely staring at people in mute shock more times in the last week than ever before. Virgil rolled his eyes and leaned his head back into Patton’s lap again. “You could have asked him anything you wanted, any time you wanted, and you didn’t.”

“Then…” Roman cast around desperately. He should just cut to the chase. Shifting from one foot to the other, he licked his lower lip, struggling to meet Virgil’s gaze. “Then… Tell me what Janus has been blackmailing him with. ...Please,” he added, because Patton’s stern gaze was on him again.

The expression on Virgil’s face was something like pity, but moved his head a tiny distance from left to right and then back again, as much as a shake as he could manage with Patton curling his hair around his fingers. “No. If you’d have given a shit about Remus before he ended up in prison, you’d have spoken to him before. I’m not telling you anything else. Patton, are you braiding flowers in-”

“I’ll tell Logan you’re cheating on them.”

A haze of anger had descended on Roman’s vision, and he had blurted the words out before he had properly thought them through, before he could jerk them back into his skull and bury them with the rest of his mealy, maggoty, un-Prince-like thoughts.

It felt as though time had stopped. Virgil had paused mid-sentence, Patton’s hands had frozen mid-way through trying to sneak a daisy into the plait he was working on. The sound of shouting from the front of the school had stopped; even the wind had ceased to blow. The couple in front of him looked very briefly confused - and then Virgil’s expression changed to one of absolute disgust, whilst Patton’s became merely disappointed. Very disappointed. Roman discovered that he could manage to feel bad about something else, after all.

He was stepping backward, already trying to find a hole in which to curl up and die, when Virgil’s hand shot out and fastened around his lucky red sash, dragging Roman down so that they were face to face.

“For your information,” Virgil began, drawing the words out so that Roman could feel the disdain and anger in every syllable, “Logan is fully involved in our relationship with Patton.”

Another second of horrible, itching silence. Roman risked a glance at Patton, and found that he was refusing to meet his eyes. Then Virgil shook him once and, when he was sure that he had his attention again, continued speaking, his words deliberate, furious, cold.

“I never thought you would stoop this low. Remus might be unpredictable, sometimes dangerous, but you’re even worse, aren’t you?”

Roman shook his head desperately. “I - no! I -”

“No? Nothing gets in the way of your goals, Roman. Don’t think I hadn’t noticed. Not your friendships, not your morals, not even your own twin about whom you care so very much. Do you want to know the difference between you and Remus, Roman?”

Roman shook his head faster, and Virgil tugged him close enough that he could feel his breath on his cheek.

“Remus hurts people. You don’t even see your victims as people - you see them as obstacles in the way of your perfect, shining life. Remus knows what he’s done, what he does, and you? You have no idea what you do to the people around you. You pretend to be the hero, you’ve managed to delude yourself into believing that you’re the hero - Remus accepts that he’s human, while you think you’re some kind of god. You’re not.” Virgil was surprisingly strong. Roman was trying frantically to tug his sash out of his black-nailed grip but to no avail. “You’re so full of self-righteousness you can’t even see that people can make mistakes without being monsters - and you can’t see yourself turning into one, either.”

He released him with the air of one dropping a particularly filthy sock into a laundry basket, and Roman stumbled backward, panting. “Hasn’t your family hurt me and my dates enough? Get out of here.”

Roman didn’t need telling twice.

-

He considered saying he was sick to get out of school on Thursday. It wasn’t entirely untrue: after his confrontation with Virgil, Roman had found himself hurling what little lunch he had managed to eat into one of the toilets near the sports hall; a similar thing had occurred later, after dinner, when he had started trying to think through what Virgil had said. Skipping breakfast seemed like the safest thing to do in light of all of that.

In the end, he knew he couldn’t skip. Not really. He had two more exams that day, and if he missed them his grades would tank. He couldn’t let that happen. Not on top of everything else going on.

Roman had thought that he and Virgil were still friends, even if they didn’t talk much anymore. Well, obviously they weren’t now, but… He hadn’t realised that he had hurt Virgil that much. He had thought they had just drifted apart halfway through middle school the way people do, because they have different interests - but apparently that had not been the case from Virgil’s point of view. So what if he had missed a few calls from him, skipped a few invitations to hang out? They had stopped talking properly some time after Virgil came back to school - he had been off for a few weeks toward the start of eighth grade. Virgil had always passed it off as no big deal. 

Remus had always passed everything off as no big deal, too.

This time it was only bile that rose in Roman’s throat, and he swallowed it away. He could fix the mess between him and Virgil once he had figured out how to save Remus and ensured that Janus met his downfall.

He tried to speak to Logan as they filed out of their history exam that morning, but they just scowled at him. Clearly, Virgil had told them what had happened.

Janus was happy to talk to him, though. Janus was happy to talk to him, to sit with him, to talk and talk and talk at him, until Roman wanted to wring his stupidly graceful neck. Instead he just smiled, nodded, gave absent half-answers where he thought they were appropriate.

“There was a greater focus on The Great Depression in that exam than I was expecting, you know?” Janus asked as they sat down on the grass outside.

“I guess so,” Roman murmured, pulling out his lunchbox and his revision notes.

“Depressing, if you’ll excuse the easy pun.” Roman didn’t chuckle.

“You don’t eat much lately,” Janus commented, putting a gloved hand on Roman’s wrist as he closed the lid on his practically untouched egg rolls.

“Not hungry,” Roman muttered.

“Hm,” Janus responded. He squeezed Roman’s forearm briefly before pulling away.

“You seem distracted today. Everything alright?” Janus pressed. They were packing up to go to their afternoon exam.

“Yeah, just stressed,” was Roman’s automatic answer.

“We still good for tomorrow afternoon?”

“Yes.” It was the most emphatic answer Roman had given all day, and Janus looked pleased.

Snake.

Roman passed out halfway through his biology exam on Friday morning.

It had been hot in the exam hall, even more so than it had been on Monday, and Roman found that he had emptied his water bottle within half an hour of the exam starting. The words on the paper before him had blurred again, had straightened out when he had blinked, and then blurred again. It took until his pen caught on the paper and sent a spray of ink over his desk that he realised that his hands were shaking, and once he noticed, he couldn’t make them stop. He couldn’t control his own handwriting, either: no matter how many times he blinked at it, how many times he rubbed a hand over his face and pressed his knuckles into his eyes until he saw stars, it seemed determined to quiver in place before scuttling over the lines of his paper, their spider-like scurrying taking on Virgil’s voice. Monster, they said, villain.

His throat felt like a desert, tumbleweeds blowing across his tongue, and his water bottle was empty. Roman’s chair made an unnaturally loud scraping sound as he pushed it back; he could feel eyes turning toward him, burning holes in the back of his neck. Small black spots appeared in his vision as he stood to walk to the water cooler at the front of the hall, and although he squeezed his eyes shut tight before taking a step, they didn’t go away. They danced around the corners of his vision as he started moving between desks, keeping his eyes fixed on the clock on the front wall. How much time was he wasting here?

He didn’t realise he had stopped walking until his professor’s face swam into focus in front of him, her mouth moving. Roman had no idea what she was saying - it was as though he was underwater, with her swaying in front of him, sound bubbling past his ears in unintelligible blobs. Raising his hands, he tried to show her his water bottle, hoping he could get his message across, and then realised that his hands were empty. Had he dropped it? Or was it still back at his desk?

Roman tried to turn around to check, and that was when he felt his legs give out beneath him. He didn’t have time to worry about the ground rushing up toward him, though: it disappeared into a dark fog before it got too close.

-

The next thing he saw was Janus, haloed in a soft, bronze light and gazing at him in concern. Roman’s head throbbed dully: he went to raise a hand to rub it, and realised that he was lying on his back, head resting on something soft.

Janus was saying something, but he wasn’t entirely sure what it was. It looked as though he was arguing with someone: he was waving one hand the way he did when he was talking passionately about something. Where was his other hand? Usually both were involved in this dance - oh. There it was, running through Roman’s hair. He could feel his fingertips pressing lightly against his scalp.

Roman suddenly realised that his head was in Janus’ lap.

That was when sound returned to his surroundings.

“- be his choice!” That was Janus.

“He could have a concussion! This isn’t up for debate, Mr. Sinclaire.” Who was that? A teacher?

“He doesn’t have a concussion, Ma’am -” The emphasis in Janus’ voice said that he was seconds away from calling the teacher something far less complimentary. “- and you know that because you saw me catch him. He just needs to get outside.”

Roman blinked, and Janus’ fingers hesitated in his hair, then rubbed a gentle circle just behind one ear.

“His parents need to be called, at least. I don’t know if you missed it, Sinclaire, but Mr. Wang just collapsed.”

Roman sat up slowly, feeling the room swim around him, and was braced by an arm slipping under his shoulders to support him.

The irritation was even clearer in Janus’ voice now. “How could I have missed it? I caught him, while you just stood there and watched. Roman is an adult, meaning that it is his decision who should or should not be informed, and given that he recovered consciousness within five minutes, basic health training states that he should only be taken to hospital if he faints again, or begins acting unusually. So how about we ask him, hm?”

It was Janus’ arm supporting him, Roman realised. Their teacher was just staring at him, and it occurred to him that he was supposed to say something now. He licked his lower lip anxiously. “I… I’m fine. Don’t call them. Just need to finish my paper…” Roman tried to pull away from Janus to stand up, stumbled, and found himself grateful for the fact that Janus rose with him and caught him again.

Both he and the teacher were shaking their heads now. “Ro, don’t be stupid. You need a-”

“Mr. Wang, don’t worry about the paper. ”

“Come on. We’re heading outside, Ro. We can come back to discuss making up the paper later.” Janus was draping one of Roman’s arms over his own shoulders to help himself support him.

Roman nodded slowly. He didn’t really feel good about walking out, but the idea of going back to his paper wasn’t a particularly pleasant one either. Besides, he had a feeling that neither Janus nor Miss Fox were about to let him do that.

It wasn’t until Janus started guiding him toward the fire door that he realised that everybody else was still sat in their seats, most of them staring at him. Janus appeared to notice him noticing, because the arm around his waist squeezed his side briefly and he murmured, “Hey. Focus on getting out of here, alright? Everything’s gonna be okay.”

“Okay,” he muttered back.

Janus guided him out of the sports hall, grabbing both Roman’s backpack and his satchel from the heap by the door. Roman blinked in the bright morning sunlight. It felt as though he had been in the exam hall for hours, days, through the heat-death of the universe - not less than an hour, assuming Janus had been right about him only passing out for a few minutes.

A thought occurred to Roman then, and he frowned. Having checked the seating arrangements earlier that morning, he knew for a fact that Janus’ seat had been somewhere behind his: it didn’t make any sense for him to have caught him. He’d have had to practically teleport across half the hall to be there on time. He said as much. “Did you really catch me? How were you right there? You should’a been on the other side of the hall.”

A small smile tugged at the corners of Janus’ mouth. “After you got up and stumbled halfway up to the front, then just stood and swayed at Fox? There was obviously something wrong. And all she could do was ask you what you were doing and if you could return to your seat. You could have been seriously injured if she’d have just let you fall and crack your head on a desk on the way down. The incompetence.” He scoffed, and Roman’s mind boggled at the fact that he had just been rescued by the villain he was trying to bring down. Janus seemed to be thinking along similar lines, because as he maneuvered the two of them around the bins at the back of the sports hall, he commented, “Always thought it would be you catching me as I swooned, not the other way around. Funny how these things work out, huh?”

“So you abandoned your paper because I walked across a room? Where are we going, anyway?” Roman was fairly sure that he could walk on his own now, but there was something comforting about leaning against Janus. It was the physical contact, of course - Roman wasn’t entirely sure of the last time he had hugged somebody - not the fact that it was Janus with an arm around his waist.

“The bench behind the science block. That alright?” Janus waited until Roman had nodded before continuing. “And no, not just because of that. Virgil texted me on Wednesday, said all the evidence pointed toward you having a slow-mo breakdown - his words - and that I should keep an eye on you. Sit.”

Roman sat. What else had Virgil said? Did Janus know he was onto him? He wouldn’t blame Virgil if he had gone and spilled all the beans - a spider couldn’t be expected to keep its secrets for long. What good was an intricately crafted web with nobody there to marvel at it?

But Janus didn’t look mad. He was digging through his  backpack, and after a second he tossed something into Roman’s lap before sitting down beside him. “Eat.”

“What?” Roman picked up the thing Janus had thrown at him. It was a sandwich, sealed in a reusable plastic bag. Red jam was oozing out from its edges. He swallowed. “This is your lunch. I’m not eating your lunch.”

“Well, you’re not eating your lunch, so you’re going to eat this.” The response had been immediate, brisk; Janus looked a little guilty, and took a deep breath before continuing in a much more gentle tone. “And it’s not my lunch. I’ve been making an extra sandwich every day in case you needed it. And you obviously do.”

Roman considered arguing, but decided against it. There was probably poison hidden between the brown bread. He opened the bag and pulled out the sandwich, then nibbled quietly at one corner.

Janus wasn’t touching him anymore. Roman wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or frustrated. No, he was - he should be grateful. He didn’t want to touch his nemesis any more than he had to to keep up the act. The little thing inside that was begging for Janus to hug him again was just the part of him that was so desperate for affection that even a monster would do.

“Roman, are you… Alright?” The brunet sounded tentative, as though he were afraid to upset him by asking, but as though the question really mattered to him. Yet again, Roman reflected upon how good an actor Janus had turned out to be.

He swallowed a bite of sandwich. “Fine. Tip-top. Never better. Why’d you ask?”

Janus gave him what could only be described as a look, and started counting on his fingers. “Let’s see… You just passed out halfway through an exam, Virgil’s concerned enough about you to actually ask me to keep an eye on you; unnecessary because I was doing that already because, oh yes, your twin brother is in prison for grievous bodily harm, and you’ve gone from being slender to being positively skin and bones in less than two months.” It looked as though Janus wanted to say more, but he stopped himself.

There was jam on his fingers. It was sticking to his skin in stains almost the colour of blood, and Roman stared at the last bite of sandwich in his hand for a few seconds before popping into his mouth and sucking his fingers. Demons and monsters drank blood as though it were lemonade, right? And according to his inner compass, he was well on the way to becoming one of them. According to Virgil, he was already a monster.

“Drink.” Janus handed him a water bottle, and Roman obeyed. “I’m just worried about you, Princey. I’m your friend - possibly your only friend, given the fact that I’ve never seen you actually hang out with anybody else - and I don’t want to watch you burn away.”

“I’m… Just stressed.” Roman offered finally. Janus just looked at him, face open, and Roman was struck by the urge to tell him everything. He didn’t. “It’s been rough not having Remus around. I mean, I know he’s a monster, ‘n all,” he hurried to clarify, eyes landing on the burn tissue around Janus’ bad eye, “but… Home’s different without him.”

It looked as though Janus wanted to say something. He opened his mouth, his throat bobbed as he swallowed and winced, but in the end he just rested a hand on Roman’s knee and squeezed it. “I think you should go home. Get some rest. Sitting Geometry this afternoon isn’t going to-”

“I’m not going home. I - It’s just one more exam, plus whatever I need to do to make up Bio. I’m not failing just because-”

“Just because you worked yourself to the point of collapse?” Janus took his empty bottle back from Roman and returned it to his backpack, ignoring the scowl Roman gave him. “Fine. But only if you eat lunch today. I’m sitting with you, and if you don’t finish, I’m skipping this afternoon to take you home.”

“My dad will be home. It’s his day off.”

“I never specified whose home.”

Roman let out a grunt of frustration and pressed his face into his hands, and Janus squeezed his knee again. Roman wished he would stop. Not the knee-squeezing in particular - all of it. The lying. The pretending to be Roman’s friend when he had blackmailed Remus into prison. The pretending to care when he was just looking for a way into Roman’s head, a way to destroy him as well. It was difficult to believe that the boy sitting next to him, the one that had helped him out of the exam hall and had had a panic attack because his sleeve had caught fire, was the same person as the man that Remus was so clearly scared of.

If Janus kept this up, Roman was scared that he’d forget who the villain was altogether. He needed to finish this, and soon.

“Okay. Deal, whatever. Can we still hang out this afternoon?”

Janus looked incredulous, and the expression brought a faint smile to Roman’s wan face. “You still want to hike through the woods after this?”

“Yes. I’ve been looking forward to it all week.” It wasn’t a lie.

“I… Okay. But only if you eat everything, and you don’t pass out again in Geometry. And if you start getting dizzy while we’re walking, we’re going back to mine to watch TV. My parents are going out of town for the weekend.”

Roman opened his mouth to argue, but the firm stare Janus gave him clearly said that there was no point. He stared him down until Roman finally nodded.

He ate his lunch while Janus quizzed him on formulae for the exam that afternoon. When he was done, Janus handed him a raisin biscuit; when he looked at him in askance, the other shrugged and said, “I heard that squashed flies are lucky in some parts of the world.”

-

They met outside Roman’s house at four, Roman squinting in the summer sun, Janus sporting a large pair of sunglasses. Janus was also carrying his satchel, and when Roman asked what was in it, he opened it to reveal two bottles of water and another blood sandwich. Smart.

The clear plastic bag that had gotten Remus kicked out of the house was in Roman’s back pocket, but he didn’t mention it yet.

Roman tried to ignore the anxious glances Janus gave him every few minutes as they walked into the trees, as though he was expecting him to just keel over any second. He withstood a full ten minutes of silence and furtive looks before finally speaking up. “I’m not going to, you know.”

Janus noticeably startled - or pretended to, at any rate - and then gave Roman a thoroughly unconvincing look of surprised innocence. “Not going to what?”

“Collapse again. I’m not going to, so you can quit watching me like I will.” Roman picked up the pace a little.

“I’m not watching you as though you’re about to collapse,” Janus protested, walking faster to keep up with Roman. How annoying.

“You are. You keep looking at me, and your forehead goes all scrunched, like somebody’s planning on planting root vegetables in it.”

Janus made an exasperated noise, and Roman glanced briefly over his shoulder to see him tugging at the cuffs of his gloves and then adjusting his beanie. Why was he still wearing that thing? Wasn’t he roasting?

“Fine, I was watching you. It’s scary, alright? Watching someone you care about just crumple up like that.” Roman deliberately ignored the fact that Janus was trying to imply that he cared about him. Actually, he internally scoffed at the words. Janus had been rather heavy-handed with the beguiling today, first stroking his hair and saying they were friends, and now saying he cared about him. Not at all up to his usual subtle standard.

The repeatedly exaggerated care was making Roman irritable and snappy. "It won't happen again. I'm not fragile."

"I know you're not, R- Roman." Janus sighed. "Sorry." And that managed to make Roman feel even worse, even though he knew that Janus was just trying to manipulate him further.

"Whatever," he snapped, speeding up again until he was moving at a run.

Janus kept pace with him without complaint, even though Roman could hear his breathing becoming more and more laboured as they headed deeper into the forest. By the time they stopped in a small clearing by a stream, he was gasping for breath.

"It's nice here," Roman said gruffly, and Janus doubled over, his ragged inhalations the only sound in the quiet space.

It took approximately three seconds for Roman to stop feeling some perverse satisfaction over having managed to make Janus suffer, and to start feeling guilty. He didn’t want to feel guilty, of course - but it wasn’t something he could help.

Taking the three steps back toward him, he took Janus gently by the arm and guided him to a large rock, where he sat, wheezing. “Sorry,” Roman murmured. Flipping Janus’ satchel open, he pulled out one of the water bottles and opened it, then handed it over and watched Janus take a few small sips.

It was a few minutes before Roman was able to hear birdsong over Janus’ gradually slowing breaths, and a while after that before Janus cleared his throat - it sounded painful - and returned the water bottle to his bag. He offered Roman a nervous smile. “If you were trying to turn my lungs to mush, Princey, you’ve had quite a good go…”

“Sorry,” Roman muttered again, and this time he accepted the apology with a nod and a wave of one gloved hand.

“You’re forgiven. It’s not your fault, really.”

“It’s Remus’?” Maybe Roman sounded a little overeager in pushing for more information, because Janus gave him an undecipherable look.

“I was going to say that it was mine. I could have just stayed walking at a sustainable pace.”

“Well, I’m flattered you tried to keep up,” Roman made himself chuckle, pressing one hand against his chest. Janus wouldn’t have let him run off on his own: the other had made it quite clear that he thought he was about to faint in the middle of the forest and be eaten by rats if he wasn’t around.

This time, the look Janus gave him was like the surface of a hot spring: placid on the surface, but Roman could tell that there was something simmering below.

The thought occurred to him that maybe Janus had allowed himself to be dragged into the middle of the woods because the trees and lack of witnesses would give him ample opportunity to reveal whatever heinous thing he had done to Remus, and that he had enough material to blackmail Roman into driving a second car into a pole if he wanted him to. Clearing his throat, Roman took a step back (he had been hovering in front of Janus like a wrong-doing child waiting for a telling-off) and then waved a hand at the trees. “You know, I come out here a lot.”

“You do, huh?” A slightly teasing tone had entered Janus’ voice, and he was smirking despite still being red in the face. Some strands of his brown hair had fallen across his eyes, and he reached up to tuck them under his hat. “Never would have guessed, what with the way you were so tentative about bringing us out to this charming clearing.”

Roman allowed himself to pause, tilt his head, chuckle as natural a chuckle as he could manage, and then continued. “Yeah. It’s peaceful out here, y’know? Relaxing.”

He glanced back at Janus to see that he had stretched out with his back against the rock - like a snake, basking in the sun, waiting for its moment to strike. “It’s certainly very calm when I’m not puffing like a steam train…”

“It’s pretty private, too.” Roman moved closer to him and, ignoring every instinct that warned him that getting closer to a viper was a horrible idea, sat down to lean against the rock as well. “A good place to think, or spend some time alone, or…”

“Yeah?” There was a nervous, softly excited note in his companion’s voice now (how was Janus so good at controlling himself? It just wasn’t fair), and when Roman looked at him out of the corner of his eye he saw that the late-afternoon sunlight was turning Janus’ tanned skin golden. He should be framed and hung in an art gallery, he mused privately.

Or framed and hung for as punishment for his crimes.

“It’s a nice place to smoke a bit.”

Surprise flickered over Janus’ features - genuine surprise, cracking through the carefully built mask. “You smoke?”

“Ah! No,” Roman pulled the bag from his pocket and waved it, hurrying to clear up the misunderstanding. “It’s just weed. Not cigarettes. Those things kill. And smell gross.”

“Yeah. My dad smokes. It’s a disgusting habit…” Janus closed his eyes briefly, tilting his face to the sky. From where he was sitting, on Janus’ right, Roman couldn’t see the scarred side of his face. It was possible to believe that Janus had never gotten involved in the crash that had ignited his life as though it were a field of grass.

“Mine used to,” he agreed, hands already working to roll two joints into shape and pulling Remus’ keychain from his other pocket. He offered one to Janus, who raised an eyebrow slowly at him.

“Are you actively trying to kill me, Wang?” Roman blinked, and Janus waved an exasperated hand in the direction of his throat. “Given the smoke damage, I don’t plan on inhaling anything other than oxygen for a very long time.”

Roman blinked again. He hadn’t thought of that. His dumbfounded expression must show on his face, because Janus’ expression softened again. “Don’t worry. I had a feeling you’d be planning something like this, so I came prepared with my own refreshments.” He reached into his satchel and pulled out a metal flask that Roman hadn’t seen when he had grabbed the water bottle.

“A proper boy scout,” Roman commented, and they both chuckled, Janus out of amusement, Roman out of relief. If Janus was going to help, then getting him to talk was going to be even easier than he had expected. He returned both joints to the ziploc bag and stuffed it back into his pocket, but didn’t put the keys and their attached lighter away.

“Well, cheers.” Janus raised the flask to his lips and took a large gulp, then offered it to Roman, who accepted. The metal was cool, and he could feel rough lines on one side. Flipping it over, he saw that the shape of an octopus had been roughly scratched into the face of the otherwise smooth flask. He smiled absently at it. It reminded him of the doodles Remus had used to do, back when they were still a family, back when he was still friends with Virgil. Roman would find a piece of paper and use an orange felt-tip to draw a four-legged shape, and then scribble around its head in red in a rough approximation of a lion. Both his best friend and his brother would draw blobs with eight legs, one in green and one in purple. The green octopus would have curly legs, often spreading over the entire page and wrapping Roman’s lion in its grip; the spider would sit quietly on the edge of the page, and they’d look away, and when they looked back Virgil would have added half a dozen more. The three of them had gotten in so much trouble when their drawings had made their way first onto the floor and then the wall of the kitchen.

He seemed to remember that being his idea, but now that he thought about it, Roman was certain that Remus and Virgil had taken the brunt of the punishment for it.

Roman raised the flask to his mouth and swallowed as much as he could in one go, using the burn of whatever Janus had brought - was it tequila? He couldn’t tell - to jerk himself back to the present. Then he took another, because it didn’t taste bad.

That, of course, was when he regretted taking such a huge mouthful. Roman already knew he was a lightweight, and he needed his wits around him for what he was about to do. Janus smiled at him, took the flask back, and took another sip. “It’s bourbon,” he supplied.

“Whiskey? Isn’t that stuff expensive?”

“Came out of my parents’ liquor cabinet. They won’t notice it’s missing.” Janus shrugged and took another sip, then handed it back to Roman.

Which was good, because Roman wasn’t sure what to say to that.

They sat there in a sleepy sort of silence for a while, passing the flask between them. After his mistake with his first mouthful, Roman was careful not to drink any more, only tilting the thing until the whisky touched his lips and then lowering it again, pretending to swallow.

He wasn’t sure whether Janus was drinking any. It certainly looked as though he was, but Roman wasn’t sure if the flask was getting any lighter or not.

That would be amusing, wouldn’t it? Both of them sitting there, pretending to drink in the hopes of getting the other to get sloppy and reveal some secret or other.

Eventually, Roman came to the conclusion that he was going to have to say something. Otherwise, they would just sit here until it got dark, and then they’d go home, and the entire day would have been an unprecedented disaster. He cleared his throat, and Janus lowered the flask to look at him.

“I… Wanted to talk to you.” He started, and was surprised when his words were met with a broad smile.

“Me too. Do you mind if I go first?” Well, that wasn’t what Roman had expected at all. He shrugged, wiggled a hand in the air in a ‘go ahead’ motion, and then watched Janus take another gulp of whiskey. What was Janus about to say? Was he about to confess?

No, he wouldn’t be confessing. He was about to open with an easy request, for Roman to stop digging for the truth and to become his little puppet, and close with blackmail. Roman sat up a little straighter, the warmth in his stomach partially sunlight, partially alcohol, partially triumph.

“Roman, I…” Janus hesitated. Wow - he was putting a lot of unnecessary work into this. “I… It’s my fault, Princey. I blackmailed Remus until he believed the only way to free himself was to drive both of us to a fiery end. I don’t regret it. And now I’m going to blackmail you, because I still need a pawn in my evil plans for world domination. I don’t care if you never want to talk to me again - you’re my minion now.”

Only maybe that wasn’t what Janus had said. Maybe what Janus had actually said was, “I… I like you, Princey. A lot. I have for ages now, and I… Well, I was hoping that with us becoming friends, maybe you’d be open to… I don’t know, trying something. You - You don’t have to, of course. I won’t pressure you. And I’ll understand if you don’t want to talk to me ever again.”

Roman gaped at him, the words refusing to sink into his brain. “... What?” He was saying that a lot at the moment, it seemed.

Janus chuckled nervously and pressed the flask into his hand. “I have a crush on you, Roman. I’m asking if you want to try dating, or something.”

Roman looked down at the flask, wondering if he had somehow drunk enough to be hallucinating. Sure, a couple of weeks ago he had suspected that maybe Janus might like him, but he had ruled that out as an option. It was all just… Acting. Manipulation. Janus wasn’t being sincere.

“Roman? Ro? You okay?” A yellow hand was waving back and forth before his eyes, and Roman brought his focus back to the man sitting next to him. It was a trick, right? It had to be. Janus had been hurting Remus, he was using this as a way to get closer to Roman to hurt him as well. It was the only thing that made sense.

“I’d… I’d appreciate it if you said something now, Ro.”

Janus was playing with the cuffs of his gloves again. Roman just kept staring, waiting for the catch, for the trap to spring shut around his ankle.

“Anything. Yes. No. I hate you. I like you too. You disgust me. Anything, Ro, just stop staring at me like that.”

It was taking a considerable amount of effort to make words come out of his mouth, and Roman bought himself a few extra seconds by lifting the flask to his mouth and taking another mouthful. It burned on the way down - again - and helped bring him back to himself. Again.

Janus looked almost afraid now.

Janus looked almost afraid, and Roman didn’t like it.

“Is this… Is this a trick? Some sort of sick joke?”

Now Janus looked offended - no, he looked hurt, and that was worse. Taking the flask back from him, Janus shoved it into his bag and stood up. “I… Take it you don’t feel anything, after all. That’s… Alright. I won’t bother you again, Roman. It’s been nice knowing you.”

No - no, Roman couldn’t let him leave! He had to ask him - had to ask him - pushing himself to his feet, Roman grabbed at Janus’ sleeve, missed, and found that he was squeezing his hand. There was a vulnerable look on Janus’ face when he turned, so raw that something inside of Roman cracked painfully open, and the maggots within him writhed, although they were more sluggish than usual. Maybe that was the effect of the alcohol.

“Roman?” Janus asked, voice hopeful.

Roman spoke at the same time, the words tearing themselves from his chest in a torrent of anger and fear, blood and worms and guilt, vengeful wrath and desperate plea, alive. He just wanted Janus to stop lying, just wanted to stop feeling like the villain in this stupid, stupid tale, just wanted fix everything Janus had broken, that he had broken, and stop feeling bad about doing what needed to be done. “Why’re you hurting Remus?” He didn’t want the words to come out like that, faintly slurred and all at once, but he couldn’t stop now that he had started. “Why’s he scared’a you? Why’d you have to hurt him - what d’you want from us?!”

The apprehensive, excited look on Janus’ face slipped away, taking the world around them with it and smashing into fragments at their feet.

Taglist:

@bloodymari-0666

[weasleydream]

All different

Wow, two posts in two days, I’m on fire! Kidding, just need some George love <3 and I just read a prompt which gave me this idea so here we are, enjoy!

Masterlist 

(gif not mine)

“It’s amazing how fast the world can go from bad to total shit storm, don’t you think?”

As hard as it can be to imagine, Fred, George and I were contemplating the night sky one last time before the beginning of the battle. I was wrapped in George’s arms and we were both sitting with our backs against the wall of the Astronomy tower. Fred stood a few meters away, his eyes lost on the immensity of the black lake in front of him. But he was Fred freaking Weasley, unable to stay serious for more than five minutes, and he shared with us his incredibly poetic thought. I felt the vibration in George’s chest when he chuckled. 

“Very inspiring, Fred. You’re impressing me.”

Fred grinned and turned his head back to the lake. I snuggled closer to George, and he gladly tightened his grip around me. None of us would say it out loud, because we didn’t want to make the others freak out nor did we went to disturb the almost peaceful atmosphere, but we were afraid. How could we not be? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would soon be here, it would be the great final of this war. Of all of them. 

But there’s no gain without sacrifices, especially when your enemy is a powerful wizard. I had so much to lose tonight, things against which my life didn’t worth anything. I would have said I wanted nothing more than to win, and in a way it was true, but deep down, it wasn’t my only wish. I needed nothing more than to see George witnessing the next sunrise, to hear Fred’s awful deep thoughts attempts, to meet once more all the Weasley family and see they are all safe and sound, and the list goes on and on. 

A violent shiver ran down my spine and George’s arms pulled me a bit closer to him. No word was needed, I knew what that meant. It’s going to be okay. We are going to be okay. But I also knew the lump in his throat prevented him from saying anything. 

“Hey, don’t you listen to me?” Fred was looking at us with a well practiced false hurt look, an hand clenched against his heart. “I just made a very good joke about the Giant Squid and you didn’t even hear it.”

I tried to smile at him, but miserably failed. Instead, I felt the tears burning my eyes. It wasn’t really the moment, and I tried my best to blink them away. Seeing my state, Fred made his way toward us and sat right next to me. George kissed lightly my hair. 

“Let them out, Y/N.” murmured Fred. “You’ll feel better. And you won’t be blinded when you’ll have to hex some Death Eaters.”

I chuckled and wiped my tears. 

“How do you do this Fred?” murmured George. 

The twins were looking at each other, a loving look I had practically never seen between them. 

“I think of why I’ll fight tonight. Who I’ll fight for. While I keep that in mind, I know I’ll do my best and I’ll be okay.” 

“And who do you fight for?” asked George. 

“Come on Georgie, you know that,” smiled Fred. “For you. For Y/N. For our family and our friends. And for me, of course.”

We didn’t say anything after that. I didn’t know for the boys, but I tried my best to focus on the persons I wanted so badly to protect tonight. George. Fred. Ginny, who was a good friend of mine. Molly, who was like my second mother. My own parents, both muggles who hadn’t a clue of what was happening. I felt like a new strength boiling in my veins. I suddenly understood what Fred meant: while this fire kept burning inside me, nothing could stop me. 

“Remember the first time we got a detention together?” suddenly asked George. 

Of course I remembered. How could I forget the day that changed my Hogwarts years, and probably my life?

Argus Filch was holding tightly my wrist while mumbling he had enough of these little monsters and complaining about the time when the chains were allowed. For a terrified first year like me, it was kind of, well… terrifying. He dragged me in a room I had never seen before, where shelves were aligned and covered with trophees. 

He handed me a rag, a bottle of elbow grease and left without stopping mumbling. I kept looking at the bottle without exactly knowing what to do until a voice made me jump. 

“It will be easier if you open the bottle, you know.” 

The boy who had talked was a first year too. I immediately recognized his bright red hair and his mischievous smile. Soon, his twin appeared and I couldn’t help but staring at them, trying to find something to tell them apart. 

“It’s not really polite to stare like that.” said the second twin. 

“I know, I’m just trying to find something to tell you apart.” I mumbled. 

The twins looked at each other before laughing. 

“Good luck!” said the first one. “Even our mother can’t always do it.”

I looked carefully at them both, trying my best to find something. Finally, I noticed a small size difference. And one of them had a slightly rounder face than the other. I proudly told them what I had just discovered and they nodded. 

“Well done. I’m George, and this is Fred.” The tallest said. 

“I’m Y/N.” 

“A Y/H, aren’t you?” 

“Exactly.”

I didn’t really process how we ended throwing oil at each other’s face, but our laughters where a bit too loud for three people in detention. Filch had come back as fast as he could and had given us another detention for the following week before chasing us. 

“Why were you here?” asked Fred while we were leaving. “You don’t seem to be the kind of girl who loves making troubles.”

“You’re right. Some stupid person left Dungbombs in the corridor and Filch saw me walking in the same corridor.”

I saw the guilty look on their faces and they didn’t need to tell me anything. 

“Let me guess...You are the stupid persons?”

But it didn’t matter, because I had just found my two favourite stupid persons in the world. 

“How can I forget how dumb you looked with your closed bottle in your hand, Y/N?” mocked Fred. 

“Shut up, I just didn’t know what to do.”

“Yes, what could you possibly do with a rag and elbow grease in a room full of trophees? It’s a mystery.” laughed George. 

I groaned to show them I was upset but in fact - and they knew it perfectly - I was incredibly grateful. These two boys, and George more than Fred, let’s admit it, were the only persons on this planet that could make me laugh just before a battle. Resting my head on George’s shoulder, I looked up to the stars. 

“Remember when we passed our OWLs in Astronomy?” I murmured. 

“Yes, it was a total mess.” chuckled George. 

George and I had been together for almost a year before our OWLs. It hadn’t changed my friendship with Fred, and we were known as the Mischievous Trio of Hogwarts. But even the best pranksters in the universe needed to study, and even if I had begun my revisions roughly a month before, the twins came to me totally panicked a week before our first day of exam. 

“Y/N you need to help us!” George had grabbed my shoulders. 

“Yes, Mum is going to kill us if we don’t have good grades!” added Fred. 

“That’s not my problem.” 

I wanted to show them I disapproved, but my cheerful voice and my playful grin indicated them they had already won. I had quickly given up, trying desperately to make them remember five years of magic in less than a week. 

The fist half week of exams had been an approximate success for the boys but the night we had to climb to the Astronomy tower for the exam was the funniest I ever had. 

First, Fred had realized he had forgotten his telescope. He had hurriedly cast a summoning charm and had almost knocked Lee out. After that, George had accidentally bumped into the wizard tasked with watching us, which made him drop the subjects. When the exam had finally started half an hour later, the time to restore the calm, George passed next to me muttering he had forgotten to go to the toilets. My laugh lasted a bit too long, and after that, the twins had sent me plenty of panicked or desperate looks whenever the wizard didn’t see them. They had eventually accepted their bad grade in Astronomy, and the last two hours were full of grimaces and stupid jokes. 

“Mum has almost killed us but it was worth it, what a night!” Fred was almost crying from laughing. 

Suddenly, a strange sound echoed in the castle behind us. I jumped, still wrapped in George embrace, and he pulled me closer to him as if he wanted to protect me. A heavy silence fell everywhere around us, and we quietly got up. We approached the little stone wall in front of us and watched without a word the magical barrier forming above us. 

George’s hand made its way to my hair and I turned toward him, grabbing his face without losing a second and kissing him like never before. I felt the tears burning once more my eyes and used all my will not to let them roll. George was clenching my jacked, and I was slightly pulling his hair. My lungs were burning from the lack of air but I couldn’t pull apart, it would feel like it would be the last time and it would be too difficult. Finally, George broke the kiss and rested his forehead on mine. 

“It’s okay.” he murmured. “Don’t worry Y/N, we’ll be okay.” 

I looked up and met his teary gaze. I nodded, unable to say anything, and I saw George looking above my shoulder. I turned around; Fred was smiling at us, but his eyes were full of worry. 

“Listen,” he started with a voice he tried his best to control, “we stick together. Understood? We stay all together, always back to back, and it will be okay.” 

George let out a weak Don’t worry while I threw my arms around Fred’s neck. He patted my back and let me go, before engulfing his twin in a brief hug. 

I had taken back my place between the boys, all three of us looking toward the skyline, and I suddenly saw all the things that had changed here. 

“It’s strange,” I murmured, aware of George’s gaze on me. “How day by day everything is the same, but now, everything seems so different.”

And different things would always be, because we all had so much to lose. And we lost so much. Maybe not the war, but we lost friends, family. 

We lost Fred. 

Things would always be different.

[sxfterhearts]

11. [3:21 pm]

The leaves rustled above your head in the warm spring breeze, a pleasing melody that drifted into your ears as you sat under the tree, waiting. The late afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves, creating a mosaic of shadows on the ground around you. You closed your eyes, basking in nature’s gifts. In a distance, the school bell sang in a high-pitched voice, signalling the end of the school day for the rest of the students.

As it was already Friday, your entire year was allowed the option of either staying in school for study period or to go home and revise for the national exams. It came as no surprise that most students preferred to go home and engage in other activities not related to studying, such as window shopping or catching up with friends over a hearty meal.

You couldn’t blame them, though. This year was the most stressful academic year yet, and it was totally understandable to take a break once in a while. However, you couldn’t afford this luxury as you had a Chemistry test next Monday, and you stayed back to attend tutoring sessions with your teacher.

All your classes had ended. On a normal Friday, you would already be on the bus back home with your best friend who lived across the road from you, a cup of bubble tea in each of your hands. But today wasn’t a normal Friday.

Today, someone promised to meet you after school – a boy. Now, this came as quite of a surprise to you because, for one, you went to an all-girls school. The only males you came into regular contact with was your male teachers or your father.

Another thing was that you didn’t know who this someone was. He had passed a note to you via your friend, under the instructions of her boyfriend, who attended the all-boys school close to yours. All you knew about this mystery person was that you were to wait for him at the park outside your school, and that he had careful, immaculate handwriting.

Also, he was late. The note said he would be there at three. It was nearly twenty past, and you were starting to think about leaving.

You drummed your fingers against your thighs absentmindedly, humming along to the song playing through your earbud in your right ear. Out of habit, you took the left earbud out to listen. Along with the cheerful notes of your song, there was also a bird chirping somewhere in the tree. A car honking, probably to urge students to cross the road quickly. The school bus groaned as it opened its doors to eager students, looking forward to the start of the weekend. A dog barking on the sidewalk. Rushed footsteps, muted by the grass.

The footsteps increased in volume by the second, until finally, it stopped. You were acutely aware of tired panting as the owner of said footsteps caught their breath. The patterns created by the leave’s shadows ceased to exist. The person must have been standing behind you, you concluded.

“Noona,” A voice called. You turned your head, looking up at the towering figure that was Kim Yugyeom. “Sorry I’m late, it’s just,” A pause for a deep breath. “Practice ran overtime, the hyungs didn’t let me leave until we absolutely nailed the choreography.”

“Kim Yugyeom? You wrote me that note?” Confused was an understatement.

The boy standing before you was someone you’ve only seen three times in your life. The first time, when you went bowling with your friends and they invited their boyfriends, who extended the invitation to their group of friends. The second time was during your interschool basketball competition, where some of the boys from their school came to cheer your team on. The third time, not too long ago, was accidental. You stayed a bit too late at the community library to study for a midterm and missed the last bus home. Just as you were pacing around the bus stop, about to call your parents, the boy spotted you across the street. He recognised you as a friend of his hyung’s girlfriend, and had kindly offered you a ride home. You politely declined at first, but then you remembered that your mum was babysitting your cousin’s daughter and your dad was working overtime that night. You accepted gratefully, promising to pay him back in the future with a drink. Yugyeom assured you there was no need for that, and spent the rest of the car ride making light conversation about school. Honestly, you didn’t think you would see him again so soon.

“Yeah…” He loosened his tie slightly and undid the top bottom. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he explained, “I didn’t want to text you or anything because I haven’t asked for your number. I mean, I could’ve got it from Jackson hyung, but I didn’t want to invade your privacy like that. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all.” You shook your head quickly, touched by his thoughtfulness. “But, I have to ask, why did you want to see me?”

“About that…” Yugyeom looked down at his feet, sporting a small grin. “I’ll tell you later. Do you want to go for bubble tea? There’s a shop near my school where I can get a discount.”

It was as if he read your mind. Getting bubble tea on the way home was your tradition on Fridays, and your best friend was sad that you had ditched her for a boy. “Sure, I go there every Friday anyways.”

“Really? How come I’ve never seen you there?” He helped you up on your feet as you slung your backpack over your shoulders.

“It’s probably because I go after school ends, I stay for study period with my friend. When do you go?” You walked past the school gates side by side, your hands on your backpack straps, his in his pockets.

“Ah,” His face lit up in realisation. “These past two weeks we’ve been staying til seven or eight to rehearse, that’s probably why. And before that I’d go right after the lunch bell rings and head to the basketball courts.”

You nodded. The walk to the bubble tea shop was short, consisting of questions along the lines of “how are you?” and “what subjects do you do?”. To be honest, you didn’t know much about this boy. Yugyeom was a friend of your boyfriend who studied in the all-boys school affiliated to yours, a year below you. He lived and breathed dance, and was always drinking iced-chocolate.

Today, you also learned that he was a part of a dance team before high school, had an older brother, and couldn’t stand the taste of coffee. You, on the other hand, were an only child, consumed two cups of coffee daily, and was also in the same dance team a few years back. It has been awhile and you’ve long since given up on your dreams of professional dancing, but you vaguely remembered thinking Yugyeom looked oddly familiar when you first spotted him across the bowling alley. There was no way you would’ve recognised him though, as the two of you were a year apart and placed into different groups.

The sweet fragrance of brown-sugar coated pearls filled your nostrils as you stepped into the store. You greeted the girl behind the counter, your classmate who recognised you from your weekly trips.

Turning to the boy beside you, you asked, “What are you getting? It’s my treat.”

Searching for his wallet in his pockets, he furrowed his eyebrows. He urgently patted his blazer pockets, trouser pockets and back pockets. A sigh left Yugyeom’s lips. “I’m gonna kill Bambam next week…” He muttered. “It’s alright, noona. My friend has my wallet. You go ahead.”

“You sure?” You quirked your eyebrows, finding his flustered expression cute.

“Yeah, I feel bad. I made you wait and now I can’t even buy you a drink. I’ll make it up to you next time, okay?”

“Don’t worry about it, Yugyeom. Go take a seat first, I’ll join you later.”

You gave your full attention to the cashier, giving her your regular order, a large Pearl Milk Tea with less ice and less sugar. She gave you a teasing smile as she keyed it in. You weren’t particularly close, but you were in the same study group for Chemistry and chatted briefly about the upcoming test while she prepared your drink.

Once she was done, you sipped happily on the sweet concoction while making your way towards Yugyeom, who had taken off his blazer and was sitting with his back facing you. You were curious about the purpose of his meeting.

“Noona, you’re done.” He put his phone away and looked towards you as you took a seat. “What did you get?”

“Just the normal milk tea. Are you thirsty? You can have some.” You offered, pushing the drink across the table.

“Thank you,” He smiled sheepishly. “I’ll only have a sip.” Before you could stop him, he picked up the drink and placed his lips on the straw. You watched, surprised, an unused straw in your hands.

“I was going to give you another straw…” You mumbled.

Yugyeom’s eyes widened. “Shit, I’m so sorry. I thought-” A panicked look flashed across his face. “It’s just, me and the hyungs, we share drinks all the time. I didn’t think you were saliva conscious. Should I get you another straw?”

“It’s okay,” While his actions alarmed you because, yes, you were saliva conscious, his words made you forgive him. “You didn’t know, it’s fine. I have another straw here.” You poked the straw through the drink when he handed it back to you hastily.

“I’m sorry, next time I’ll buy you another one next time, large, with any topping you like. You can choose the most expensive ones too.”

“Yugyeom, it’s fine.” You reassured him once more with a smile. “Now, what did you want to tell me?”

“Right,” He smiled mischievously. “Our school’s senior ball is coming up soon, and the student council asked us to do a performance. The hyungs and I, that is.”

“That’s great! I don’t mean to sound rude but, what does that have to do with me?” You wondered where this was going. It wasn’t uncommon for boys in their school to ask girls in yours as their ball date, but you didn’t know why he mentioned the performance specifically.

“See, we have a plan. We as in, all of us except for Jaebeom hyung. You know, the one with four piercings who sticks out his chin when he’s angry?”

You laughed at that, flashing back to bowling night, when Jaebeom’s team lost to yours by a point and all the boys made fun of him for his angry chin. “Yes, Lim Jaebeom, the b-boy?”

“Yes, him!” Yugyeom was clearly excited that you were engaging in his storytelling. “The thing is, he asked your class president to be his date for our ball, with our help, of course.”

“Last week, right? The entire school heard about it.” You laughed fondly at the memory. The class president was also your close friend, so she gave you and the girls a detailed account of what went down. “Who would’ve thought, your school’s bad boy and our school’s star student.”

“Jaebeom isn’t a bad boy,” He defended. “He just dresses like one. Deep down inside he’s a softie who loves cuddling while watching romcoms. Anyways, that’s besides the point. The rest of us are trying to help him to ask her out as his girlfriend.”

“What?” You exclaimed, surprised by the news. “He’s serious about her? He wants to be with her?” It was hard to determine whether he had serious feelings for your friend, because he seemed like a player. “Are you sure about this, Yugyeom? I know the two of them went to the same kindergarten and primary school, but does he really feel that way about her?”

“Yeah!”

“Positive? How do you know? You didn’t get his consent for this plan of yours…” You trailed off, uncertain. You didn’t want this to be some sort of big show to put on in front of the entire student body, for the sake of popularity. While you were happy for your class president that she was asked as his ball date, you didn’t want her to get heartbroken by such an act.

“Didn’t you notice the way he looks at her? There’s been at least three other girls who confessed to him this semester and he’s turned them all down. Every time she comes to watch our performances, Jaebeom always tells us about how he made eye contact with her from the stage. He is the only girl he talks about, ever.” He rebutted, clearly passionate about defending his friend.

“What about that girl?”

“What girl?”

“The one he posts on his Instagram stories, that girl… Nora?”

A part of Yugyeom was slightly jealous that you followed Jaebeom, and not him. “Nora is his cat, Y/N. There is no other girl. And since when did you follow his Instagram?”

“His cat?” It made sense, you suppose. “I don’t, I just saw a screenshot.”

Yugyeom leaned forward, interested by this new piece of information. “Wait, so you’re saying she screenshots his stories and sends them to you?”

“It’s common. That’s what girls do, Yugyeom.” You smiled, watching him put the puzzle pieces together in his head. Your reluctance to agree, in case your class president got hurt, and her talking about Jaebeom with her friends. It made sense.

“She likes him?” He asked, hopeful.

“Doesn’t matter, I’m not saying anything.” You sipped silently on your drink, chewing the pearls while Yugyeom’s mind raced.

“But you should tell me! It’ll make the plan so much easier.”

“What is the plan, anyways?”

Yugyeom launched into this elaborate explanation about how at the end of the performance, there was going to be a surprise couple’s dance, and after the song finishes with Jaebeom taking centre stage while twirling his date, the boys would hold up cardboard cut-outs of the words “Be my girlfriend”.

You nodded. It wasn’t a bad idea, albeit slightly cheesy, but you knew your friend was into that. “Does each of the boys have a date to the ball?”

“Well, not exactly… All the hyungs do, except for me.” He said in a soft voice.

“Your plan’s not going to work then, if you don’t have a date.” You stated matter-of-factly.

Yugyeom struggled to meet your eyes. “That’s sort of where you come in.” You froze. “Do you want to be my date and dance partner for the ball?”

You looked at him in disbelief. Sure, you were flattered that he asked you. You had watched their performance videos in the past and Yugyeom, although the youngest in their dance team, was undoubtedly the most experienced dancer. Being his dance partner meant you had to be at a certain level of dancing proficiency to be able to keep up with him. You were also somewhat amused that he asked you to be his date.

“I know it’s a lot to ask, and we don’t really know each other that well, but this is solely because of Jaebeom. I promise I won’t try to spike your fruit punch or make any unnecessary advances. We’ll just be partners for the night, and then we can carry on like nothing happened.” Yugyeom reached his hand out for a handshake, hopeful. “Besides, you’re one of the most competent dancers I know.”

“You’re just saying that to make me say yes,” Your eyes crinkled into crescents as you laughed. “Okay, I’ll do it, partner.” You clasped his hand in yours, shaking it firmly.

Yugyeom returned your eye-smile with his own, pumping his fist in celebration (for more reasons than one).

part 2

[erekiosuncreativeideas]

The Part-Time Puppeteer - Chapter 02

<= Chapter 1

Summary : Lukas meets some new people and discovers that almost no one is this studio has manners. Also available on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/23828971/chapters/57463666#workskin

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

YOOOO NEW CHAPTER I had started it a while ago and left it to rot until I posted the first chapter. And... I ended up writing 90% of this chapter in less than 48 hours. My old self would be so, so impressed with my current productivity.

Also.... You cannot IMAGINE how eager I was to post this chapter, mainly because of one character I fell in love with. You'll probably guess who it is by the end of this chapter. The drawing is mine, like usual. Mike's (awesome) design belongs to @levshany​.

If you like this story, don't hesitate to leave a comment or a kudo, it helps me so much !! I get so inspired and happy when I read your reaction, I'm so thankful for everyone reading my stories ! (after my 2 years long writing and art block, it feels absolutely wonderful)

Happy reading !!

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chapter 2 - “Excuse me?”

Lukas’s family wasn’t exactly poor. His father worked in an office and his mother was a junior high school teacher, and both gained enough money to maintain the household and guarantee a higher education for Lukas. However, when the young man had announced to his parents his wish to study law in a famous university, uncertainty fell on his family. They could afford to send him to a less renowned university, though Lukas had always been a very good and serious student. The more his parents thought about it, the more they felt like they would waste their son’s potential if they refused him the future he wished for. Compromises had to be made and all the household began to think about ways to finance Lukas’s studies. Eventually, Lukas decided to take a part-time job in order to help his parents to deal with the financial situation he put them in.

Lukas was a perfectionist, even if that lead him to stay awake a few nights just to be absolutely ready for a usual test or a more important exam. Sleep was an issue for the young man: it was always in the way of his revising sessions! More often than not, he found himself falling asleep quite often during his less important lectures.

That’s why, at the present moment, Lukas couldn’t help but wonder if he was dreaming or truly awake.

All around him, people were moving very quickly, carrying extinguishers and buckets full of water. The young man didn’t have to think more as his arm was grabbed by an older stagehand, pulling him towards the huge fire in the centre of the room.

-“What are you waiting for? Use your goddamn extinguisher!” pushed the man while pointing to the flames. It seemed enough to pull Lukas back to reality and he obeyed. He joined the other stagehands trying to put the fire out and brandished his own extinguisher. He had to fiddle with it a little bit until he was able to disable the lock. Once it was done, he started spraying the flames with the extinguishing foam. The heat was almost unbearable and the proximity and movement of people around him made him even more nervous. A deafening fire alarm rang in the room, making his head hurt. He couldn’t believe that his first task as a stagehand would be to put a fire out! It wasn’t one of Lukas’s phobias, thank goodness, though it was still a very stressful experience to him. As if his student life wasn’t stressful already!

Fortunately, the flames soon disappeared under the foam, to Lukas’s great relief. He put the fire extinguisher on the ground, his arms sore for holding such a heavy object for so long. He was sweating a lot, both from the effort and from the heat. He dried his forehead with his sleeve, not caring if he was putting sweat on it. That was the least of his problems at the moment.

The student’s inner monologue was cut short as a voice was raised despite the commotion in the room:

-“Alright, people! Five-minute break, you deserved it!” The words came from an imposing dark-haired man, whose expression looked severe. He was wearing a beige shirt as well as black pants with braces. The man had a broad face, just like his shoulders.

Lukas let out another sigh of relief. No more than an hour had passed since his conversation with both of the directors and he was already glad to have a break‌. He couldn’t help but wonder if this job really was a good idea, after all… Yet, he pushed this idea out of his head: he needed the money, so until he found a better job, he would have to deal with this one. This was only temporary.

The man from before waved at him, asking him to come closer. The student was a little surprised but supposed that this person was the one in charge of all the stagehands. Lukas hadn’t been properly introduced to any of his superiors or to his job at all, in the end. It made sense that it would only happen after the huge fire. The young man obeyed and approached the other, trying to avoid bumping into the other stagehands walking all around him. He would never get used to crowded places.

-“Hell-”

Lukas didn’t get the time to introduce himself as his first word was cut short by his interlocutor:

-“Yeah, good morning,” said the man, not even looking at Lukas, his eyes scanning a document he had in his hands instead: “You’re a new stagehand, aren’t you?”

The student was frustrated at the manager’s lack of manners but decided to put his pride aside. This was only his first working day, nothing was going to be perfect, obviously. He extended his hand, forcing a polite smile on his face as he tried to answer:

-“Yes, my-”

-“Your name?” demanded the man, cutting him short once again.

Lukas could feel his annoyance start to appear on his face, though he did his best to hide it nonetheless. He certainly didn’t want to lose his job after all the trouble he went through to get it! He took a deep breath and replied, with the calmest tone he could manage:

-“I’m Lukas, Lukas Pryce.”

He didn’t see the need of saying anything else, as his interlocutor was likely going to stop him in the middle of a sentence. He took his hand back, well aware that the man wasn’t going to shake it. It apparently was the right thing to do, since said man finally looked up from his document to stare at him, examining him from top to bottom. The student didn’t like being scrutinized this way, though he did his best to stay silent and unmoving, waiting for the other man to talk again.

-“Yeah, okay. I’m Kaleb, I’m the one in charge of everything that’s happening in the backstage. I’m also your boss, but I guess you pretty much figured that out.”

Lukas only nodded, not wanting to be interrupted again. The manager rummaged through the papers he was holding and handed one of them to the student, who examined the first sentences written on it. It was a job contract.

-“You were hired on the spot, weren’t you?” questioned the man, though his tone showed it wasn’t really a question. Maybe it happened a lot more than Lukas first thought.

-“Yeah,” he replied while reading the paper he had now in his hands.

-“Well, okay, so… Technically, you’re not hired yet, so go fill that while the others and I clean this mess. Once you’re done, come back and give me your contract. Then I’ll give you some things to do until we figure out what particular position you’re going to get. Got it?”

Lukas nodded again and walked away. He spotted a white and blue folding table and chairs in a corner of the room, probably for staff breaks. Most of the seats were occupied, though some of them were still free. Thus, the student joined the seated members of the studio and put the paper down. He took a pen from his shoulder bag and started filling the document. Well, finally a calm activity! At least, minus the hubbub all around him.

However, as he was about to fill one of the last section, someone nudged him with their elbow. Surprised from the sudden contact, Lukas lifted his head, looking for the person who tried to catch his attention. His eyes fell on a young man who seemed to have the same age as him. He had black and white hair and was wearing a red turtleneck, as well as black glasses. He had a kind expression on his face. Was he a stagehand just like him? He didn’t seem to help the others, so probably not. Maybe an actor, then? His face was familiar to the student, so it could be the case.

-“You’re a new stagehand?” asked the mystery person, smiling warmly at him. Lukas couldn’t help but feel reassured at the nice expression: finally something good in this unbelievable day!

Lukas smiled back and pointed to the form he was filling:

-“Yep. Just got hired an hour ago,” he laughed, thinking back at the improbable interaction with the two movie directors. Lukas then extended his hands, not wanting to be impolite just like his new manager: “I’m Lukas.”

His interlocutor took his hand -finally, someone who had manners!- and shook it, still smiling.

-“I’m Mike. I’m the lead designer for puppets and costumes. Well, more puppets than costume these last few days…”

The mention of puppets caught the student’s attention. So, he wasn’t an actor, then. So, that still didn’t explain why his face seemed so familiar to Lukas. Why did he feel like he had seen this person somewhere before?

-“Puppets?” he repeated, amused.

-“Yeah. The team I’m in is working on a kids’ TV show, featuring puppets and stuff,” explained Mike: “But it’s only the beginning for now, they’re still looking for actors for the main cast.”

-“I had no idea this studio was making kids’ shows,” replied Lukas, amazed: “I only heard of it through the Conductor’s and DJ Grooves’s movies.”

The puppet maker laughed at his enthusiasm and shook his head:

-“Actually, that’s a first. You know how they have a hard time working together, right?” Lukas nodded and Mike continued his explanations: “Well, this time, instead of fighting over the direction, they’re trying to see if they can each focus on different aspects of the projects. The Conductor will lead the action scenes while DJ‌ Grooves will write and compose most of the songs and soundtrack. I mean, it’s already supposed to be the case usually, but they can’t help but focus on the other’s job anyway. This show is another chance of them minding their own part of the work and see how it turns out.”

The student rose his brows, surprised. Well, from what he knew about the subject, each one of their collaborations ended up having direction problems. It was quite a shame since they always had very good ideas, at least, probably before one sabotaged the other’s work.

-“Why a kids’ show, though?” questioned Lukas with a voice full of curiosity.

-“I guess it’s just a precaution process. Better to fail on a kids’ show rather than on an eagerly-awaited blockbuster, isn’t it?” supposed the costume designer.

-“Yeah, you’re right, it makes sense.”

The student looked around him, watching the stagehands cleaning the remains of the scene. He had no idea what they had been filming, but most of the props had been destroyed in the incident. They likely lost any footage in the fire which certainly wasn’t going to improve the tensions in the studio. The young man turned back to his new friend and finally asked the question he was scared to voice:

-“Uh, is it… Always like that?” he wondered, gesturing to all the people working behind them, wincing at the idea of having to deal with such problems on a daily basis. Mike laughed and gave him a sympathetic smile before replying:

-“Pretty much, yeah, sorry.”

Lukas felt the usual pain in his stomach appear from the sudden rise of stress. Not only did he have serious and important studies to deal with, but he would also need to do the same in his free time? Now, working here didn’t seem like such a good idea after all… His nervousness must have been quite visible because the other man put a hand on his shoulder to try to reassure him:

-“Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay, it’s not so bad!”

“Yeah, right,” thought Lukas sarcastically, probably showing a bit of this emotion unconsciously.

The costume designer stared into space as if he was trying to find something to say before lifting his head again, smiling at him widely:

-“Hey, wait, maybe you could work with us!” offered Mike, suddenly very inspired and motivated: “We haven’t started filming yet but we’ll definitely need stagehands soon! Plus, it’ll probably be way less wild than working on the Conductor’s action movies or DJ Grooves’s musicals. Not that I’ll have a lot to say in the matter, but I can still recommend you.”

Lukas opened his eyes wide at the suggestion. Wait, could it really be that easy?

-“You… You’d do that? Really‌?” The young man couldn’t believe it: how lucky was he being today? It was too good to be true! Karma was soon going to collect his debt at this pace…

-“Yeah!” exclaimed Mike, almost happier than Lukas himself: “You seem nice, plus you don’t have a lot of experience. It would be better for you to start working in a smaller and calmer team.”

Lukas was about to thank him for the offer when he was interrupted -again- by a loud noise coming from behind his back. The student turned around, curious about what could have caused such a loud sound. He was surprised to see a man entering the room, having slammed the door as an entrance. His hair was black and white and he was wearing a long green coat as well as black pants. The man was wearing converse shoes and round glasses. However, Lukas’s eyes widened not because of the man’s appearance or entrance but because he knew who it was. This guy was a very famous actor, one that Lukas knew very well because he had seen him in several movies by now. MJ, that was his acting name. Just like The Conductor, MJ had done his best to keep his real name a secret, for reasons most people didn’t know yet.

And suddenly, Lukas understood why Mike’s face had seemed so familiar to him: they both had the exact same face!

The student turned back to his friend with a confused expression. There was no doubt about it, he hadn’t imagined it: apart from their haircut and clothes, they looked absolutely the same. Lukas was about to ask about it but Mike forestalled his question:

-“Yeah, we’re twins,” he explained, though it was possible to see some weariness on his face. This was surely not the first time someone had asked about it. The student felt a little guilty, though it was a bit too late for that.

-“I had no idea MJ had a brother, let alone a twin,” admitted the young man, quite embarrassed.

-“We agreed to keep it a secret. I'm not a fan of the celebrity life like my brother is. I feel ill-at-ease in crowded spaces.”

Lukas rose his eyebrows, taken aback, and threw a glance at their surroundings. Welp, apparently, they didn’t have the same definition of “crowded spaces”, if all of this wasn’t bothering him. Maybe Lukas was just shier than most introverts? It was strange because he didn’t think he was much of an introvert until now. Yeah, sure, he spent a lot of time studying in his room, but it wasn’t because he didn’t like people or anything. Or so he thought. Now that he was actually in a place like this, he wasn’t so sure of it now. It did make him uncomfortable‌.

Even more, now that he knew that there were famous actors near him.

-“Hey,” greeted a voice behind him, very similar to Mike’s one. Lukas turned to the origin of the said voice and felt his heart sink in his chest when he realized that MJ had come to them. Fortunately, the actor wasn’t looking at him but at his brother. Lukas didn’t know how he would have reacted otherwise. He knew celebrities were people like everyone else, yet he couldn’t deny the sensation of stress he had at the idea of meeting one.

-“Hey,” replied Mike, with a softer tone, smiling at his twin. If they looked the same, their attitude seemed to be different. From the way MJ stood and dressed, he looked like a very assertive extrovert. Mike, on the contrary, seemed to be the complete opposite: with his red turtleneck and his very straight posture, he was the perfect image of the introvert concept.

It was like two sides of a coin: both looked like the other, yet they were not the same on many aspects.

MJ noticed the student’s stare and glanced down at him, absolutely unimpressed.

-“And who are you again?”

The actor’s tone was everything but nice or curious. The other sounded like he just asked that question because Lukas was in the way. No need to say that the young man’s frustration grew again: apparently, people had some problems with manners here. He still put his pride aside, deciding that replying to the provocative introduction wasn’t worth it. Instead, he extended his hand for what seemed like the tenth time that day:

-“My name’s Lukas,” he answered in the nicest way he could manage, then decided to be polite, for both of them at least: “I really like your movies, they’re amazing!”

His interlocutor smiled back while, in the corner of his vision, Mike looked away in embarrassment. What for? Lukas’s confusion intensified as he heard MJ’s answer:

-“Why, thank you!” replied the other, though it sounded too exaggerated to feel sincere. The latter didn’t shake his hand back either. Then, he looked above Lukas’s shoulder to read his soon-to-be-filled job contract: “Oh, are you a new stagehand?”

The question was asked in a particular way that made the student ill-at-ease. He couldn’t help but suspect the other’s niceness was completely faked. Though, he tried not to think about it and continued the conversation:

-“Yeah, I got hired a bit earlier. I helped to put out the fire.”

MJ looked around him as if he was only noticing the remains of the incident just now. His face immediately changed from cordiality to utter disgust. The sudden change unsettled the student, who didn’t know how to react. Next to them, Mike looked even more ill-at-ease than before. Why, did they have a bad relationship? Lukas couldn’t help but wonder, until MJ spoke again, making him come back to reality:

-“Okay, so this is all very interesting but-”

-“MJ, please don’t,” warned Mike, now frowning at him. Lukas had the impression that he was in the middle of a battlefield. This was extremely uncomfortable for him, who had no idea what to do with himself in the meantime.

-“What, I’m just socializing, as you told me to! Isn’t it what you want?” nagged the celebrity mischievously. Mike only glared in response. Well, this was officially more than awkward.

-“So, as I was saying…” continued the actor innocently, as if nothing just happened: “I need a coffee, two sugar lumps, no milk, and take it to my dressing room. And quick. Thanks!”

Lukas stared at the other with bewilderment.

“What?” The student was just astounded and didn’t know how to react at first. Did he hear that right?

MJ waved hypocritically at him, his true personality finally exposed. That’s why everything coming from his mouth had seemed so insincere! Just as he was about to turn away to leave, Lukas stopped him, full of mixed emotions such as confusion, surprise, but mostly irritation:

-“Uh, excuse me?” retorted the young man, absolutely offended.

MJ faked not hearing him, leaving the student and his bottled emotions seated at the table. Who did that guy take himself for?

Next to him, Mike sighed, rolling his eyes. He shook his head at Lukas in a tired way:

-“Don’t mind him, he’s like that with everyone. Except me I guess. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the coffee.” The other stood up and gestured to the forgotten paper on the table: “you should complete that and give it back to Kaleb. I’ll speak to him as soon as I can. For now, just do as he says.”

Lukas agreed, still astonished by the interaction he just had with this so-called actor. Welp, guess he knew who was the evil twin between the two, now.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Welp. Guess who ABSOLUTELY LOVED writing MJ ? You can read more about him here (warning : SPOILERS)

Chapter 3 =>

[beyondconfessor]

The Infernal Contract [6/16]

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Lilith/Zelda Spellman

Summary: Sabrina may not understand, but Prudence was a part of her family now.

N.B.: Also posted on AO3

"What the Heaven, Aunt Zee?" Sabrina spat. "You can't just-"

"And yet I did," Zelda said. She'd found Sabrina in the library and informed her of the witch's oath that had been made between herself and Faustus. True to form, Sabrina had thrown a tantrum about it. "He had Leticia, Sabrina, what in Satan's name was I supposed to do?"

"Not that!"

Zelda drew in a breath. She shouldn't expect the girl to understand the complicated weaving of marriage and politics, and yet it was nonetheless irritating when Sabrina acted in such a naive way. "With the oath, we can protect all four of them from his hand, at least. That's no small thing."

"That doesn't mean he won't find some other way to hurt them. You've just bought time."

"In fairness," Nicholas Scratch said, drawing the attention to him. "A witch's oath is binding. He won't be able to directly or indirectly hurt them. Though it will have likely made the two of you his new targets."

Zelda rolled her eyes to that. She and Sabrina both could handle Faustus. It was the others she worried about, especially Prudence, who would do anything her father asked of her.

"So we're just meant to wait and see if he does save Ambrose, or what, he'll be an oath breaker?"

"Breaking a witch's oath," Zelda said tightly, knowing she'd had to discussion with Sabrina before, "can have painful, and even deadly results. It would also mean that I would no longer be bound by my side of the oath."

"What if he doesn't care?" Sabrina asked. "What if he just thinks, screw-it, and lets Ambrose get executed?"

Zelda laughed. "Believe me, Faustus is about to get everything he wanted. He's not going to risk his ambition over one warlock getting away."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because it's the most prosperous path. What we should worry about it is his bruised pride. He'll likely hold off on retaliation until he thinks we've forgotten about it, and then he will try to strike against us."

Sabrina looked to her Aunt, disbelieving. "Isn't that all the more reason why we should take Leviathan to the Council?"

"And risk Leticia and Prudence? I think not. This is the best option. It buys us a lot more time than you realise, and if we're very, very lucky, he'll be so distracted with his new duties, he'll stop caring about what the likes of us do."

Sabrina looked ready to argue. Her hands had balled into fists, and she was jutting her jaw up at her, willing to find some third option in this mess.

"Sabrina, it may not feel like it, but this is a win."

"How can you call this a win?"

"Because I've seen what losing looks like." She cast a look around the table of books and sighed, knowing that her niece was not studying as she should be. Whatever it was, she wasn't sure she wanted a part in it as she caught the title of a well-known demonology book. "Try not to get into any more trouble. As Mr Scratch said, neither you nor I will be protected by this oath. I would suggest wearing a protective charm of your Aunt Hilda's devising and being more subtle in your meddlings, lest you get expelled again."

Sabrina sighed, slumping back in her chair. For the moment, at least, she seemed resigned to listen to her. However long that would last would depend on how fast it took her dear niece to come up with some half-cocked idea.

Such was the life of a teenage witch.

"How long until we know about Ambrose?" Sabrina asked.

"I expect within the next few hours, no later than eleven."

"What will you do until then?"

"Wait, as will we all," Zelda gave Nicholas Scratch a look, one that reminded him that if any harm came to Sabrina, she would personally reign all of Hell upon him. He had the decency to pale at her look and return to reading.

Taking her leave, she exited out of the library and headed towards the staff room of the Academy.

Now that that matter was dealt with, she just had to manage the fact that currently, she had banished the familiar back to Lilith (being the safest place away from Faustus), which would only serve to pique the woman's interest and likely cause a reunion between them again.

Something she both dreaded and anticipated with interest.

Zelda made herself a pot of tea and sat in the armchair by the window, attempting to busy herself with the curriculum for her classes (now that they would likely be behind by a few days) while avoiding her thoughts around Lilith, Ambrose, and the looming execution.

Faustus would fix it. Being the interim Anti-Pope, he could pull out some commune with the Dark Lord or even a high order. Whatever the cause, gossip would strike-up amongst the coven, likely whispering about Faustus playing favourites, but Zelda didn't care. Her family was everything.

And the last little gossip of the coven ended up so wonderfully six-feet under in her backyard (thank you, Hilda). So at least this time they might be more discreet.

She flicked through her lessons, cutting out filler lessons in the future to add a more extensive revision of the earlier topics given how the weeks had been going.

And yet, despite all of the work she busied herself with, in the quiet of the room, she found her self looking up the grandfather clock and checking the time more than she would ordinarily.

A few of the other teachers flittered in the room, but once they noticed her occupancy, they would quickly filter out. Whether it was to avoid an uncomfortable discussion, or due to their fear of her since Shirley's departure, she didn't know, but she was thankful or it all the same.

The idea of spending the next few hours making social pleasantries with the faculty only brought a tension headache with it.

Zelda turned through the pages of her diary, re-wrote her plans for the coming months (previously involving dinner parties with other covens). She'd pull back prep for exams, move marking to tonight, which meant double next week, but so be it.

Before the wedding, she would often do the same to Faustus' books, flicking through the mess of his schedule and making some semblance of balance and order in it. Likely, she would continue to do so only because if he missed a meeting, it reflected poorly on herself, but she would place in half the effort than usual.

A knock disturbed her from her thoughts, and as Zelda looked up, she watched as Prudence looked around the doorway with a soft look on her features.

"Lady Blackwood, may I have a word?"

Zelda closed her planner, setting her pen aside and gestured to the seat across from her. Prudence walked over and smoothed her skirt down, sitting across from Zelda.

Prudence's face was wounded, no longer the mean-girl image she projected, but that of the very young witch she was. Slowly she lifted her chin and looked up at Zelda, a storm brewing behind her eyes. "Why?" she asked with a brittle voice.

"Why did I go against Faustus?" Zelda asked.

"No. Why did you extend your oath to me?"

Zelda blinked, uncertain of why the girl asked her. "Why wouldn't I?" she asked back.

"But-" and she stopped herself, swallowing to even her words and smooth the pain from them. "I'm not your blood, and I'm not some defenceless child."

"And why should that matter?" Zelda asked. "When I chose to marry Faustus, I chose his family as well, and that includes you, Prudence. And no, you're not defenceless, but that doesn't mean I won't do my best to protect you as I would your siblings."

"I noticed Sabrina wasn't in your oath."

"He wouldn't have accepted it if she was."

Prudence's hands curled at the hem of her skirt, her shoulders tensing as she warred with herself, and then as soon as it came on, she calmed herself of whatever storm raged within her (though Zelda could guess, having witnessed Ambrose weather the same). All that remained was the bowed head and eyes lifting to meet Zelda's.

In the quiet between their words, Prudence looked very small, and Zelda remembered that it'd been a long time since any authority had cared for her as an individual.

"Blood isn't the only thing that makes a family Prudence. Agatha and Dorcas are not your blood, but they are certainly your sisters in all the ways that matter."

"They've...become distant since my father acknowledged me as a Blackwood."

Zelda raised an eyebrow, wondering if this was the epicentre of Prudence's pain. "I wouldn't worry, they likely fear you're abandoning them. It will pass."

"But I wouldn't. They should know-!"

Zelda raised her hand, and the fight left Prudence as she bit her tongue and waited for Zelda to speak.

"What you know and what you feel doesn't always match up. You know that better than most."

Prudence nodded, though Zelda could still see the tension she held in her shoulders, unwilling to believe her sisters could ever consider her as having abandoned them. "I miss them," she admitted. "And the times I have reached out, I feel as if they're far away in their trickery. With Ambrose-" She cut herself off then, shame washing over her face.

"When this is over, Ambrose will forgive you," Zelda informed her. "He, of all people, will understand why you've done what you've done. As to your sisters, I would suggest that you spend time with them. Remind them that you love them. That's all they want."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I can't," Zelda admitted. "But it's what most of us want from our sisters when we feel them abandoning us."

Prudence sighed, her shoulders slumping before she gave a small nod, "Thank you, Lady Blackwood."

"You're quite welcome," Zelda said, though she felt herself cringe at the title used against her. "Perhaps once this has all settled down, we can dine as a family should."

"You're going to stay with his Unholiness, then?" Prudence asked. "Do you even love him?"

Zelda paused, wondering how much she should reveal to the girl. Afterall, Prudence was mature enough to understand that most marriages were built out of convenience, politics, and negotiation. At the end of the day, she and Faustus were still able to benefit one another so as long as the world wasn't aware of their conflicts. And yet, Prudence was still a child, and it seemed callous of her to break any remaining childhood naivety she might have of love and marriage for herself.

"Your father and I will have many conflicts to work through, at the end of the day, we swore an oath to the Dark Lord and must abide by it. It's the only way to make a marriage work."

"Even though he-"

"Whatever he's done, Prudence, it would do well for all us to continue to work together as a family."

A knowing look came over the girl's face, as she understood what Zelda inferred. "I see," she said. "And where am I to sit in this?"

"What a question. You're still his daughter, his firstborn. Where else would you be?" Zelda rose then, deciding that the conversation would only circle back over everything addressed. "Come now, it's almost lunch, and I'm sure you're as famished as I am."

At twenty-three and a half hours since the Council had set their time limit, Ambrose was released. A nonsense declaration was made in the church to the effect that new evidence had come to light showing Ambrose's innocence in the matter, but given that Faustus seemed smug, it was evident that he'd bespelled his way through his side of the oath.

It would do, she supposed. A temporary fix on either side, no more or less.

Once Ambrose had stepped down from the dais and collapsed into Hilda's arms, Faustus spoke briefly, mentioning an old story that was a parable for betrayal against the Dark Lord. Although it might look to the other churchgoers that Faustus was speaking of Ambrose's story, Zelda knew well enough that he meant it to be directed to her.

A warning to remind her that he still had the power (supposedly).

Zelda adjusted her skirt and knew then that she would need to return some semblance of normality between her and Faustus. Should the other church attendees realise that their relationship was fractured, it would only be a matter of time before someone else lined up to take her position.

With the end of service, came the coven's rising and filing out of the church.

Zelda waited for two beats to pass before she pushed up from the pew and made her way over to Faustus. He smiled at her warily, allowing her to kiss his cheek before looking at her with a long, unblinking stare as if he expected her to strike him under the ribs with a knife and must wait with rapt attention to her next manoeuver.

Nonetheless, Zelda smiled delightfully to him, as a doting wife would, especially with the Council standing behind in whispers with each other. She did consider that knifing him underneath his ribs would possibly soothe the rage in her chest, but decided against it in the end.

Besides, she had no such knife or dagger her upon her person.

"How wonderful you were," she purred, watching from the corner of her eye as the Council politely turned away. She didn't believe for a second they weren't listening in.

"I see you had time to write a new sermon."

"I thought it was judicious, considering the last few weeks," he said, raising his brow at her. His voice was warm towards her, familiar, but neither of them was fooled by it.

"I'm impressed. You seemed to hold the entire coven's in rapt attention."

"As it should be, lest we fall from the Dark Lord's grace." Though there was a flicking smile on his lips before it turned bitter. "Was that all?"

For a moment, Zelda remembered why she'd once enjoyed Faustus' company. She enjoyed the games they had played with one another. In the foreplay before their trysts, they had often enjoyed ancient games of strategy against each other, using the moment's of each other's turns to debate politics, philosophy and Satanic verses. It'd often resulted in heated debated and ended in copulation.

It was a shame that he'd sullied that all with the Caligari attempt.

"I had a conversation with Prudence today given recent actions. I believe she should move into our chambers on the weekends," she said.

"You believe?" he said, his tone was still warm but now edged with something sharper. Faustus laughed, low and cold, and Zelda saw the Council's eyes flicker to them. "Is that so, Lady Blackwood?"

"It would do her well to have more direct guidance behind her. A maternal touch, as well as paternal."

"She has the Academy," he reminded.

"We're a family now, Faustus. It would do well to remind that to the others. Perhaps we could even have a dinner party with the other priests of the Church of Night."

Faustus' annoyance ceased, and his expression softened to that of interest as he studied Zelda. "The other covens?" he inquired of her. It wasn't entirely unknown that most covens rarely interacted outside of the meetings with the Council and the occasionally shared holidays.

"We hardly see them, and I'm sure the other Priests would love an opportunity to dine with their Anti-Pope and listen to his doctrine. The event would be smoother if all of your known family were a part of that."

"I see. And you would organise this?"

"With approval from yourself, of course," she smiled. "I know how busy you are between the Church and the Academy, but I would not finish this without your sign off."

Faustus stared at her, holding the anticipation as he pretended to play with the pros and cons in his head.

"So be it," he agreed.

Zelda nodded, kissing Faustus cheek again and ensuring she laid a hand flat against his chest as she did. "I expect I shall see at home, once you finished your duties then," she asked.

Faustus nodded, his face honestly softening for a moment as he looked at her. Zelda smiled at him, holding their eye contact longer than one usually did before she slowly turned away and sauntered through the rows of pews, and exited out of the church's doors, knowing her husband's eyes were following her departure.

As she exited, a young warlock re-entered the church, having hung around until Zelda had finished her conversation.

Faustus would often stay behind for any private conversations the coven may want to have with him, allowing him to offer confidential guidance to those that required it.

Had Zelda not placed a wedlock curse on him, she might have been worried about his straying gaze. With the curse firmly in place, she didn't need to worry about any warlock or witch cozying up to Faustus for guidance.

It was near midnight now; the moon was waxing with next week being the full moon.

The half-light spilled over the members of the coven that remained standing outside, gossiping with one another. As Zelda walked past, many of them quietened. She knew they were likely discussing the Spellman family and its lucky graze against death once again, but Zelda couldn't care less.

They could gossip and wonder about the luck that must come with cosying up with his Unholiness, but Zelda would stand unabashed by their whispers. When she finally rose to the position she desired, when the coven looked to her with reverence and desire, maybe she would show them mercy.

Her family was down the path, to where the car was parked in an ill-used parking lot (often a hotspot for teen debauchery). She could see Sabrina leaning against the car, arms folded and Ambrose wrapped up in Hilda's arms, a look of relief on his face as her sister wrapped a knitted cardigan over his shoulders.

Zelda walked over to where her family was, feeling her chest ease as she confirmed again with her eyes that Ambrose was alive and well, and she hadn't hallucinated the entire event.

Gossip would likely ripple for Ambrose's overturned sentence until the next Big Thing happened, but for now, it would be a hot topic of discussion. No doubt, Ambrose's status of top boy would be removed, and he would have some of his freedoms stripped from him, but he was alive and with them.

It was all that she asked.

"Auntie," Ambrose said, stepping forward and hugging her. He smelt of the damp, stone and dirt, but she didn't mind as she hugged him back, clinging tighter than she usually would. She could still remember when her nephew had been eight years old and had barely come up to her shoulder. He would run down the gravel path of his home and hug her around the waist, no matter how many times she'd advised of despising it.

Now he was about a foot tall than her. He still hugged her the same way, as if he was a small boy and had a thousand things to tell her at once.

"Look at you," she said, pulling back to stare at him. "I promised you we would find a way out of this."

Ambrose nodded, profound exhaustion draining any further action. She could see the glassy look in his eyes and knew right now that what he needed was a warm fire and Hilda's lavender cocoa. She looked to her sister, who stood awkwardly beside Zelda, giving a faraway look.

"Hilda," she summoned, giving her sister a sharp look and directing her to Ambrose.

"Oh!" Hilda said as she finally caught her eye. "Yes, well, come now dears. How about we go home, have a nice warm bath and some hot cocoa before calling it a night."

Ambrose nodded, climbing into the car without much fight. Sabrina, however, turned to look at Zelda. "You're staying?" she asked.

"I am," Zelda advised. "I have to with my family."

"We're your family," Sabrina insisted.

"I have a duty to this one too." She moved forward to say her goodbyes and watched as Sabrina stepped back, a determined look on her face. "I'll see you at the Academy tomorrow," she said, sweeping her eyes over her niece to Ambrose and finally to Hilda who gave her a small, sad nod.

"How can you just go back, after what ––?"

"Enough, Sabrina," she hissed, lest anyone overheard them. She sent her a sharp warning look, quietly threatening to take her tongue if need be. "We can discuss this at a more opportune time if you wish, but not here."

Sabrina's jaw clenched, but she turned away and thankfully withheld from saying anything further. Hilda took the girl by the shoulder, maneuvering her into the car before looking back at Zelda and giving her a sympathetic look. It was a quiet reminder that Sabrina had never been, and therefore could never bee anything else but heedless and bull-headed about her beliefs. Nonetheless, Zelda knew it only came from her niece's love of her and deep want for their family to be back in the lounge room together.

But that time had ended for them all.

Sabrina may not understand, but the others did, and that would have to do.

Zelda watched them leave and felt the coiled anxiety return to her stomach. She wanted nothing more than to return to the Spellman family home with them. To have the old magic of the Spellman wards seep through her bones, but the Academy's would have to do.

"Your gambit worked," Prudence said, appearing beside her, likely having watched from the shadows to ensure herself that Ambrose was alive and well with her own eyes.

"I expected nothing less," Zelda said, before turning to face her. "You should visit him tomorrow. I'm sure he would be happy to see you."

Prudence shook her head, biting her lip as she did so. "I have places to be," she lied. "Mortals to kill."

"Well, hopefully, you will be free on Saturday? Faustus and I have spoken, and it would be...wise to have you staying with us on the weekends. Since we are to be family now."

Prudence looked at her, a sharp look in her eyes. "I don't need your charity."

"It's not a charity," Zelda assured with a laugh (Zelda hadn't provided anything close to charity in over a century). "It's a matter of pride and position for all of us. You don't need to accept it, Prudence, but I do hope you'll consider it."

A pause stretched between them as Prudence drew in a breath and looked down the road to where the Spellman car had driven away. "I will," she agreed. "Consider it, that is to say."

"I expect nothing less," Zelda nodded, feeling her pride grow in her chest. Sabrina may not understand, but Prudence was a part of her family now. If the only thing that came out of this marriage was a healthy maternal image for the girl, then that was no small success.

She hoped for power and glory too, but Zelda would find that on her own if the marriage failed. After all, she may be a Blackwood in name, but she was a Spellman by blood.

"Thank you," Prudence said, softly enough that Zelda almost didn't hear it.

Zelda nodded, not sure if she meant her gratitude at the saving of Ambrose, for a place in their home, or something else entirely, but whatever the thanks, Zelda took it graciously and offered a smile in return. "I expect I'll see you in class tomorrow?"

"Of course, where else would I be?"

[bup-incorrect-quotes]

Two ghosts I

This is the part one of a fanfic I have been working lately. At first, it was going to be a one shot, but it ending been really long, so I cuted in half and publish the first part now. The second part is allready write, but I need to pass it to a word archive because I write better on a fisical paper...

Also, I need to advise that inglish is not my first language, and even if I have a good manage of it, some mistakes may scape my multiple revisions. So, if you find one, please, tell me and I will fix it.

Disclamer: None of the characters that aperar in this history belongs to me, they belong to TamarinFrog (I don’t @ her because I still feel a little insecure about this) and her comic series Bottle Up. Also, the two principal characters in this are ghosts, and how they die will be treated explicitly (I mean, not in a gore way, but one of then includes a grafic explanation that includes blood), so if you’re not confortable with these kinda thmes, maybe you shouldn’t read it. If you do it, do it under your ound responsability.

Nothing else to say, I hope you enjoy it!

                             ______________________________ 

Well, that was unexpected. Of course, everything looked too easy. She had to grab the musical box and get out the creepy victorian house. It sounded so simple. She should have seen the problem, but nope, she had to did it.

But then, if it was so simple, why she was looking at her corpse, that now was bleeding over the victorian carpet.

                             ______________________________

–Soo…– Daisy looked at her with a playful smile. –It will be really funny. Plus, we maybe meet some cute boys. –

If Tetrox were a rational and responsable, she would definitely said no and go to study for the next week exam. But Tetrox wasn’t.

– Ya can bet I will be there, sugar. – That was her first mistake.

If something could go wrong, it went worst. Turns out the mansion was truly haunted. So, even before they enter in the hall, things started go wild.

At first, they only heard sounds like steps or things falling and broken… Classic horror movie effects. One of the guys that was with them ran away when the big clock of the second floor give the hour with an unholy shriek sound. He was the first, but not the last. In less than 30 minutes, Tetrox was complety alone. Daisy had tried to convince her to go back, but Tetrox was more fascinated with the place than scare. She told Daisy to went back to the dorms with the rest of their partners.

Second mistake.

She should went back when she enter in that room and saw how books and other kinds of small objects were floating in the air, static in different zones of the room. The eyes of the paintings looked like they were following every one of her movement.

She should have go back when that voice on the back of her head started screamming to get the heck out of that place and forget about take something of the room. But she ignored it and spotted a little musical box. That was perfect. And she graved the musical box… and the pandemonium beging.

The temperature of the room dropped until the point she was able to saw her own breath, the eyes of the paintings become holes that droped blood like tears and the things that were floating started to atack her while she ran away of the room.

The panic and adrenaline ran across her blood when the courtains of the corritor tried to grab her, even if she was faster than them. The glass of the Windows were vibrating and the wood floor creaked under her feet.

She tried to went down the stairs as fast as was possible.

That was her third and last mistake.

Her foot sliped and she falled down the stairs, hitting her head with one of the steps. Then, all went black and quiet.

                            ______________________________

When she "woke up" a few moments later, she discovered the scene: her own body on the carpet, in a really unnatural position (probably due to the fall, the stairs were taller than they seemed). The musical box was open, letting a sweet melody cover everything like cruel irony.

And she, she was an spectator of her own dead.

–God dammit! You just couldn't let my things in their place, could you? – A masculine and really annoyed voice sound behind her. She turn around as fast as she could, confused.

A really pale (and handsome, to be fair) man in victorian clothes was there with his arms crossed and looking at her as everything wrong in the universe was her fault.

–Excuse me? – But she stilled a bit in shock.

The man looked at she even more disgusted. –You and your friends broke into my house and try to steal my belongings, ignored my warnings and destroyed my property.– Then, he pointed at her corpse, that was leaking some blood in the carpet. –No one cleans this place anymore, that blood stains will be imposible to clean. –

–Hold on. – Tetrox had to interrupt him. –You were the one doing all lof that shit! –

–Are you even listening? –

–Yes, sugar. And it looks like ya’re blamiming me for this.– She pointed her corpse. –I’m the one who just die! –

–It is not my fault if you are clumsy. – He said in a prepotent way as he smile.

–Excuse me!? Who was the one who was making the things flight against me? – Now she was the one pissed.

–First, you should have left when all your friends left. –

–Yes, just because an asshole ghost doesn't like having visitors! –

–What did you call me? – He looked really offended after her comment.

–C'mon, sugar. Ya're dead, ya don't even need those things! –

–That's not your business! –

–Well, now it's because I'm dead because of yar "haunted house" show! –

–Wait! If this is someone's fault, it is yours! – He pointed at her. –You should have left when ...–

–Yes, when my friends left. – Tetrox imitated his voice.

–How dare you interrupt me when I'm talking! –

–Ya’re not my boss.– Tetrox was tired of the senseless conversation. –Ya’re only screaming at me anyway. –

He looked at her like she growed a second head. She didn’t care anyway, what else he could do to her? She started looking around the hall, that looked way less scary when you know that nothing can hurt you now. Tetrox began wondering if she would be able to go trough the the walls, maybe she should try it. Maybe she could fly now!

–What the hell are you doing? – The male ghost looked at her tired.

–I’m trying to fly. – She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

–Why? –

–Cause now that i’m a ghost there’s no much I can do. –

–You can go away of my house, for example. –

Tetrox grimed playfully. –And I should do that cause…?–

–Because this…– he pointed the walls that surrounded them. –is MY property, and you enter here uninvited. –

–How about no. –

He looked at her as his anger grew. –You are an intruder! This is my property and there is no way I would allow you to stay! – He exploded. At the same time, the things in the room started to fly and the walls started tremble violently. It would be terrifing to saw by some alive.

Tetrox was not.

–Ya can do that as much as ya like. Ya can’t hurt me now. – She smile smugly.

Then everything stop. The anger in his eyes became horror when he realised that she was right. He could do nothing to harm her. She was already dead and he can do nothing about it. He had no way to made her left the place.

–Oh no. – he whispered.

–Oh yes! – She exclaimed laughing.

He looked even paler than before, if that could be posible in a ghost, but he didn’t said anything else. He just floated over the stairs and his shadow got lost in the corritor.

Tetrox just shrugged. She didn’t care, the only thing she wanted was explore the old place with her new abilities.

                            ______________________________

Arnick walked around the rooms. He finally managed to over come his frustration and anger.

He stopped and looked at the older painting like if them could talk. Everything was so quiet, just like it should be, just like always had been during the last century. Without anyone else but him. Maybe she decided to left.

Good, he didn’t need anyone else around that could disturbed his peace.

–What ‘re ya doing? – Maybe it was too soon to said that.

–Thinking – He gived to her a short and cutting response, but he refused to look at her. He wanna made her understood that he wanted to be alone.

–About what? – But looked like she didn’t got the signals. That was starting to made the frustation grow again inside him.

–That is not of your business. – Another cuttind responce. This time, he looked at her with disgusted, trying to got his message inside her head.

But she wasn’t having it.

–Ya have plenty of them around this place. They’re yar family? Yar friends? – Oh God. She never stops talking?

She keeped talking for a while. Arnick tried to ignore her and go away. But then, she started to follow him. Always talking, disturbing his precious silence. After a while, he had enough.

–Could you go away? Your presence is disturbing my peace. – He tried to be polite, but his frustation was starting to be pretty obvious.

–Nop. – She responded with a smile, like he just told her something nice.

If he were alive, he was pretty sure he will be red of fury. –Then why don’t you go to annoy someone who is not me. –

–Cause ya’re the only one I can talk to. – She kept smiling.

Arnick rubbed his forehead. Of coursed, she died just a few hours ago. She maybe was just confused or scared. That made perfect sense! She was probably in denial. And that could be the solution of the problem. Maybe he just needed to made her realised that she had died and she will let him alone.

–‘Re ya ok? Sugar? – She was looking at him a bit strangely. He had been quiet for a long time, not moving or reacting.

–Yes. – He felt in better humor, now that he finally knew how to restore his peace. –I undestand that right now you are a bit confuse. – She looked at him like she know nothing about he was talking about. –Your dead was sudden and you have no idea what to do now. –

–Not really. – she replied as if it was nothing.

He tried again. –Maybe you now feel that, but have you think in the reaction that your parents may have? Losting her daughter at such a young age… –

–Nah, I’m an orphan. –

–I am sorry to learn that, but now is the perfect change to opportunity them again. –

–I didn’t know them when I was alive, neither I know their names or how they looked. – She didn’t looked sad or even nostalgic; she was talking like the conversation were about the clime: boring and uninteresting. That attitude annoyed and scared him in equal parts, if she was alone in the world, she would never left.

–And what about your friends? – If that didn’t work, he would be in troubles.

Luckily, her bored expression changed –Oh… – She looked away for a second. –I guess I should say goodbye… Probably Daisy and Bella are worried about me… – She looked sad and guilty. That was what he need.

–Meh, I guess I will have to wait until someone find my body, then I will said goodbye in my funeral. – And she looked again like the begin of the conversation. –By the way, what’s your name? I’m Tetrox. –

She was smiling again, only this time she was offering her hand to him.

–You… YOU ARE INSANE! –

–And you’re, again, screamming, sugar. –

–How a person could be so careless, so airhead and… – He would have continue, but she started laughing.

–Why are you laughing about? – His voice was full of poison, but she didn’t seen to care about it.

–I never met someone who do such a funny faces when is mad! –

–Do you are aware who are you laughing at? – At that point, he was in the limit of his patience.

–No, cause ya had refused to tell me during the last, I don’t know, 15 minutes? – She had stopped laughing, but her voice kept a mocking tone and a mischievous smile was on her face.

–Well, my name Arnick Samuel Stilton and you better remember because it is the name of someone who is related with the England royalt! –

She was quiet, making he thought that he finally impressed her. But after a moment, she started laughing even more louder than before.

–What is so funny? – If she wasn’t dead, he would have kill her with his bare hands in that moment.

–Your initials spell ass. – She kept laughing, wich made him want to be able to kill himself.

                            ______________________________

She didn’t know how many time had passed since she die, but she expected to be prepared. She wasn’t.

Someone had finally came to take her body, but what she wasn’t expecting that her Friends would be present when that happend.

Joalquil was hugging Daisy, who was endlessly crying. Bella was outsite of the house, with her hands over her face, trying not to cry. Cyan, Marian and Vadelma were with her, trying their best to comfort her. Clem and Winter were also inside, talking with the police and explaning them why Tatrox were in the house in the first place. She only was a bit relieved cause the rest of her friends weren't there to watched the horrible spectacle.

–This is my fault. –Daisy’s crys were definetly the worst.

–You didn’t know this would happend, –Joalquil kept trying to comfort her, –You know how she was. She never listen anybody when something got in her head. –

–I’m her best friend! She would listen to me! I just didn’t insist enough. – More Daisy cryed, worst felt Tetrox.

–I guess this are the Friends that you mencioned. –Arnick had a condescending tone in his voice. –Looks like they care more than you expected. –

–Don’t ya like peace and being alone? Get lost. –She had no time for his complains.

He looked a bit confused, probably cause it was the first time she talked him with that mood.

–If you would had have to live in my time, you would probably have ended internated in a mental sanatorium. Those frame of emotions changes are not normal. –

She didn’t have the energy to deal with this prepotent and emotionless comentaries and the endlessly cry of Daisy. She felt too much stress in that moment, she only wanted everything to disappear, that whats was happening was only a nightmare.

–Ey! –But Arnick seen to had a reason to made her realy clear that all was real, but she tried to ignore him. –Tetrox! Please, listen! – He really wanted to mocked her up really badly, cause he was almost screaming. –For the love of God! You are gonna destroy everything! – What? She wasn’t doing anything.

–What ‘re ya saying… that? – But Tetrox needed no answer when she looked around.

The glasses of the windows were even more shattered than before and somo of then looked like they just plain exploted; the ceiling lamp was dangerously swaying, really close to fall and some of the pictures and bases were broken in the floor.but that wasn’t all, a dense red liquid was coming out of the eyes of the eyes of the statues and portraits that were intact and the melody of the musical box filled the air, even if it didn’t have more string.

Some people had run outsite, but a few still there, frozen of fear. No one said anything for a few minutes, but it felt like hours.

–What happend? –Tetrox felt really confused. Did she that? How? She didn’t mean to.

–Now that you are a ghost, your emotions can afect the place that surround you. –Arnick didn’t have a prepotent tone anymore, probably cause he was worried that she could destroy anything else. –If you start panicking, everything will begin again. –Just as she thought.

–I didn’t want to do that, it’s just I…–

–I know, thei situation must be really stressful, but you have to calm down. – Now, that felt more genuine. –If not, you may do something you would regret later. –

She tried to focus on other thoughts, but since that wasn’t working, she tried to focused in her most happy memories: when her friends planned for her a surprise party (the first in her life), when she finally was free of the orphanage, when she found the prefect dress for the prom dance…

–It looks like is over now. – She opened her eyes (she didn’t noited that she closed them) and take a look around: The lamp wasn’t shaking anymore, the melody had stoped and no signal of the red liquid could be spotted. The people that had stayed in the room seem to be more calm, well, as calm you could be after wittness paranormal activity in direct.

–What… what was that? –Clem was the first alive person that said somthing, but her question was left without answer. The police made them left the place and cordoned off the area.

–I probably should go with them. –When she said that, Arnick just nooded and looked at the floor.

Without waiting for an answer, Tetrox crossed the door and followed the ambulance.

                               ______________________________

The mansion was really quiet since she left. Everything was the same again, and that was allright for him. She had left maybe two week prior, but he was surprised that she never came back. Maybe she was able to find the peace thet he never could, maybe she found other people to annoy. Whatever was the case, he didn’t care at all. But, for some reason, the house had been feeling more big than ever.

–Whao, ya look even saddest than I remember. Did ya miss me? –

He jumped out of shook and looked at the place the voice came from and she was there, smiling at him like the day before her body was found, like nothing happend.

–What are you doing here? I thought you left. – He was really surprised to saw her there, he thought he would never see her again.

–Well, I also thought I will ever came back, that after my funeral and say bye to my people I will, I don’t know, pass to the after life, I guess. – She didn’t show any sign fo sadnest, but she seem to found it intresting. – But it didn’t happend, so, after messing up with a few people that I really don’t like and going around, I got bored cause I couldn’t talk to anyone. So here I’m now! – Then, out of the blue, she hugged him. –Dis ya miss me? –

–Wha… No! –He tried to free himself, but she was stronger than him. –Let me go! How are you even doing this!? –

–Doing what? –

–Touching me! This is no even posible! – He was never, nor when he was alive, a person that felt confortable with fisical affection, so he didn’t felt really please with the interaction.

–Ya’re blush. –She mutted.

–What!? – His voice was higher than he pretended.

–Ya’re blush! I didn’t know a ghost can do that! –She smiled widely –It looks good on ya, ya almost look alive. – For some reason, his cheeks warmed more.

–Ah?! Just let me go already! –He tried to fight, but she just hugged him tightly and laughed.

He thought that the rest of the eternity was going to be really long.

                            ______________________________

This is the end of the first part. I hope you enjoy it and (I hope) soon I will update the second part.

Have a nice morning/evening/night

[letters-from-the-three-houses]

Oh man, your drabbles feed my thirst. May I ask for Dimitri/Edelgard where they kinda like each other/ flirt but know they shouldn't because of the political consequences.

our first non-byleth scenario! what would their ship name will be? dimedel? edimgard?

i think it’d be cool to mash their surnames together, like blaiddsvelg or hraeyd. bonus points because they mean ‘wolf eater’ and ‘corpse lord’! but it’d be awkward because ‘hresvelg’ and ‘blaiddyd’ encompass the entirety of their royal families

out of curiosity, does anyone else have any ships between the non-avatar characters? i like the idea of ashe/bernadetta, but that might be the crack shipper in me talking

i hope you like it!

edit: i’m more tired than i thought; fixed typos

He just kept thinking about her.

To his defense, he couldn’t help it; she was striking. Whenever she appeared, her presence commanded everyone’s attention. With her stance—strong and graceful. With her gaze—determined and imposing. With the way she looked and walked and bent to no one’s will. No matter where she went, eyes would follow. People would speak. Heads would turn. He wasn’t the only one that was drawn to her.

But he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to feel like this.

Expectant, if he had to name it, wondering when he’d see her next. Like if he stared at a space hard enough, she’d magically appear.

(And he knew it was stupid, but he’s caught himself looking out into space, just thinking about her, more often than not.)

It was troubling.

“Why am I acting like this?” he muttered. What once began as a solo study on blood magic had soon devolved into a daydream about Edelgard—and he was tempted to smack himself with his book the moment he realized. “What does this even mean?”

Oh, he had ideas. But he didn’t want to accept them.

He tried to refocus, but the image of her kept coming back. The way her hair swayed when she walked, how her eyes narrowed when she was in deep thought, how she—

He stood up, chair screeching back as he grabbed his things and left the library.

Gods, this needed to stop. Pacing down the hallways, he distracted himself with other thoughts. He thought about the essay the professor recently assigned. That was due soon, so he noted to start on it sometime this week. An upcoming test, on various leadership tactics that they had been practicing. The theory of reciprocity in blood magic…

Rounding the corner, he bumped into someone.

“Ah,” he said, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. Are you al—”

His eyes widened.

Edelgard.

She noticed just as quickly as he did. “Dimitri,” she greeted, giving him a polite nod. His heart thumped. “What a surprise meeting you here of all places.”

“Huh?” He took in his surroundings, eyeing the corridors until he realized he was heading towards the Black Eagles dorm. “Oh, I didn’t notice. Apologies, I didn’t mean to come here.”

(And a teeny tiny part of his brain said liar, you were hoping you’d run into her.)

“I can see that.” She looked amused, then pointed to the way he came from. “The library is that way, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“The lib—” His eyes fell on his study materials. “Oh—yes. Right, the library. I was going to the library to do some revision.” What? No he wasn’t. He left because he couldn’t concentrate. “There’s a test next week that I need to study for.”

Yes, he drawled to himself. Because studying blood magic would help in a tactics exam.

How deep of a grave could a man dig for himself?

Edelgard, at least, didn’t seem to notice his internal suffering. “What a coincidence! My practical will be in a few days, so I was going there to study as well. Since we’re going the same direction, let’s walk together.”

“…Of course. It would be my pleasure.”

There was a fine line between self-hatred and torture, he thought. A line so small, each foot was on a different side.

“You have Professor Byleth, yes?” Edelgard continued talking as they made their way to the library. “I’ve heard the assignments are difficult. Very theory-heavy, so they say.”

“It’s not as bad as people think,” he said. “There are no trick questions; everything comes from the material. As long as you pay attention, you’ll do fine.”

“Even still, the class average remains woefully low.” She glanced at him. Thump. “Or perhaps not, if one was conscientious enough to pull the grades higher. Diligence is charming, don’t you think?”

He nodded, trying his best to keep his voice from cracking. “There’s always room for improvement. If you keep putting in effort, it won’t go to waste. The only surefire way to fail is to give up.”

“Reasonable point.” Thump, thump. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The walk there was uncomfortable. Dimitri was hyperaware of everything that was happening: the sound of her shoes hitting the floor, the awkward hold he had on his books. What should he say? How should he say it? Were his feet working? Was he walking too close to her? If his housemates saw him right now, what would they think?

At that last thought, he winced, drawing back as he tried to put some distance between them. He had to pull himself together. Whatever…this was, it was inappropriate of someone his rank and status. It was unlike him.

(And yet, he didn’t seem to mind.)

When they reached the library, Edelgard found them a seat by one of the windows, hidden away from view behind a couple of bookshelves. They settled in, strewing their papers all across the table. Book in hand, Dimitri cracked it open, but his eyes wouldn’t keep to the text.

Instead, he studied her lashes—long and pretty—and her eyes—elegant and stunning—and her—beautiful—

She caught him staring. “Is something the matter?” she asked.

He cleared his throat and showed her a random paragraph. “Do you understand what this means? I can’t wrap my head around it.”

“'Blood magic’?” She looked confused. “That’s not part of the curriculum.”

“Yes, well, it’s interesting.”

She raised an eyebrow. But she smiled. And he wanted to say it was fond, like she found something endearing, but he pinched his leg to stop. “There are wise men and there are fools. Sometimes, they are one and the same.” She leaned over to take the book from him, hair draping around the pages. He held his breath. “You must be lucky, because I can’t tell which one you are.”

“…Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

“What else would it be?”

He frowned. “An insult, of course.”

She let out a giggle. Short, hidden behind the palm of her hand. What would it be like if she laughed out loud? “Then imagine it as you’d like. So, what was it that you didn’t understand?”

She knew a lot about the subject, explaining the theory behind how the magic was casted, the effects it had on the user, and how to minimize the drawbacks. At some point, he realized that it was a section that he had already read and understood. But still, he sat there, riveted, hearing the lull in her voice that he’d listen to for hours upon end.

And it made him feel.

He didn’t want to acknowledge it. He really didn’t. It would complicate things, make it harder for himself later down the line. There was too much at stake for him to take this seriously. He couldn’t compromise everything else for the sake of…of this.

But for now, sitting here, watching her face light up as she whispered—to him and him only, without the world as an audience—

Perhaps he could stay a little longer.

a/n: headcanon that dimitri gets flustered when he’s crushing real hard and fumbles around not knowing what to do. edelgard plays it cool and flirts sneakily

[asks are open!]

[nonasuch]

dogfather update: realer talk

The penultimate update! Probably.

As always, everything dogfather-related is tagged with the dogfather and story updates are tagged with dogfather story post. If you get antsy waiting for the next update, check out my AO3 or the zines and comics on my Gumroad.

“To Mr. Draco Malfoy, for having the good sense to ask for help when he needed it, I award ten points,” Dumbledore begins, nodding vaguely in the direction of not blatantly favoring Gryffindor in all things. He promptly gives up the pretense, and drags Gryffindor up from dead last to a first-place tie on the flimsiest of excuses.

Throughout all this, Severus is forced to sit at the high table and maintain a calm demeanor, while the Headmaster upends the point totals with total disregard for fairness or tradition. He is, therefore, in a foul mood by the end of the leaving feast, fleeing the Great Hall and its clashing decorations of red, gold, silver and green as soon as he can manage a decorous exit.

On his way to the dungeons, he has a brief but wildly unpleasant run-in with Black (who is at least dog-shaped for the duration), Lupin, Hagrid, and a pair of Muggles. They ought not be anywhere near Hogwarts at all, let alone be introduced to him with careful politeness, or shake his hand, or thank him for helping to look after their son with entirely too much heartfelt sincerity. By the time Severus manages to extract himself from the pleasantries, he’s sure Lupin is laughing at him from behind his mild expression.

Severus keeps to himself for the last few days of term, rarely venturing far from his rooms or office. He’s rewarded with blessedly little interaction with his students or colleagues. Having received their exam results, the children are too busy celebrating their mediocre achievements to notice the absence of a teacher. As for the adults, he supposes that planning for the reemergence of the Dark Lord is a higher priority than their usual time-wasting efforts at pretending to enjoy his company.

It can’t last, of course. The evening before the students depart, there is a knock at Severus’ door.

Sirius Black is standing in the corridor.

“What do you want,” says Severus. Black looks like he’d rather be absolutely anywhere else, and Severus doesn’t like the twinge of fellow-feeling this inspires.

“I need -- can I talk to you, for a moment?” Black asks. He adds, with apparent difficulty, “Please.”

It’s not as though he’d leave if Severus said “no.” He turns away from the door, leaving it open, and after a moment Black follows him in. Severus sits, and regards the stack of potions journals that had been his original plan for the evening a trifle wistfully.

“Well?” Severus says.

There’s a reason Severus only has one armchair in his private sitting-room, but Black just conjures another and flings himself down into it. “Right,” he says. “Look. I wanted to thank you.”

Severus freezes.

Black is staring down at his hands, and doesn’t notice. “I wasn’t here,” he says. “I wasn’t here, and Harry was in danger. You listened to Draco and you sent for the Headmaster, and if you hadn’t Harry might have died.”

Severus also accompanied Albus down through the trap-maze, and helped him to separate Quirrell from the boy, and carried him back up to the infirmary while Albus tried and failed to save what was left of their former colleague. Unconscious, the boy looked even more like his father than he did awake. But more than even that, he looked horrifically young.

In the days since, Severus found himself revisiting the memories of his benighted childhood with adult eyes. Without the vivid sting of rage and humiliation they carried at the time, everyone looks just as young. As unformed and foolish as his current students, who even now are preparing to leave the castle for a summer of poor decisions and minimal revising.

He can’t say he likes it any better.

Not that he would say as much, and certainly not to Black. “Very well,” he says, as levelly as he can. “Is that all? Your gratitude is very touching, I’m sure.”

“Hah,” says Black, perfectly toneless. “I expect you want my gratitude -- oh, about as much as the invitation to dinner with Harry’s parents I’m meant to pass on.”

Severus genuinely isn’t sure which of those he wants less.

Black reads it off his face, of course. “Yeah. I’ll tell them you politely declined.”

“You needn’t do me any favors,” says Severus.

This time, the sound Black makes is very nearly a real laugh. “I think I’d better, actually.” He stops staring at his hands, and looks up at Severus.

In Severus’ memories, Black never looks at him without some mixture of scorn, contempt, and incipient devilry. This -- is not that.

“Look,” Black says. “The Ministry’s finally remembered that they lost track of Harry once, and got his aunt and uncle killed. They didn’t bother doing anything to protect Tim and Caro while he was at Hogwarts, of course, but now that he’s going home they’ve decided to give a damn about his safety. So Remus and I can’t stay close, the way we ought to.”

Severus fails to see how this is his concern, and says so.

“We’re going after Pettigrew,” Black says. “Properly, this time, not stealing away for a day or two to follow a lead. If I can’t be Harry’s last line of defense, I’m damn well going to go out and find the biggest threat to his safety.”

“Wouldn’t that be the Dark Lord?” Severus asks.

“Dumbledore says he’s not strong enough, without followers,” says Black. “That if he’s just a scrap of disembodied spirit, he can’t hurt Harry.”

“Dumbledore has been wrong before,” says Severus.

“Which is why I’m asking you this,” says Black. “If we can’t finish it before Harry comes back to Hogwarts, I want to know you’re looking out for his safety.”

Ah. There it is. Black does want something from him, though Severus can’t imagine why it’s this, in particular.

“Why ask that of me, of all people?” Severus says. “Your godson thought I was the one after the Stone.”

“His friends did,” says Black, “and he panicked when I wasn’t there and they were sure it was you and not Quirrell. But you’ve been ignoring him all year, when I know damn well you look at him and see James standing there instead. Anyway. Dumbledore trusts you.”

Too close to the mark, on that shot about Potter. If it were Lupin, Severus might not be quite as surprised by that sort of insight, but from Black it feels unprecedented. Perhaps spending all that time as a dog has, somehow, rendered him less self-centered.

“And that’s all the recommendation you need?”

“No,” says Black. “Look. I know you and Lily cared about each other, once.”

Severus says nothing; there is nothing to say to that.

Black carries on talking. He does still love the sound of his own voice, it seems, so not everything has changed.

“It was my idea to switch Secret-Keepers at the last minute, you know. If I hadn’t been so impressed with my own cleverness, James and Lily might still be alive.” He looks up at Severus again, clear and level, nothing in it but but excruciating sincerity. “Do you really think I don’t know what guilt looks like?”

That is beyond the pale, entirely. Severus springs to his feet. “I have work to do,” he says, and immediately regrets it: he does not need to make excuses for himself. He has every right to order Black out if he wants to, which he very much does.

But Black is already retreating. “Sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry. It’s none of of my business.”

“I don’t need platitudes,” Severus spits out. Black has him off-balance, and scrambling for firmer ground. He dislikes it immensely. “Just because you think you’ve learned to act contrite -- I suppose Lupin’s managed to house-train you a bit over the years -- ”

Black’s expression hardens for the first time, a little of the old familiar anger appearing. “Leave him out of this,” he says. “Hate me all you like, but he never did anything to you.”

“I can think of one time he did,” says Severus. “Rather memorably.”

But the outburst Severus expects doesn’t come. Instead Black heaves a sigh, and the anger drains away. “Oh, all right,” he says. “We’re having this out, are we?”

“Oh, by all means,” says Severus. He feels foolish, standing there, and turns away to pace; at least if he’s moving he has an excuse to look at anything but Black. “Do you have a speech prepared? You will excuse me for my lack of counter-remarks, I hope.”

Rather than rise to the bait, Black very nearly smiles. “I do, I’m afraid,” he says. “Or something like one.”

“Plenty of time to rehearse in Azkaban, I suppose,” Severus says.

“Oh, no,” says Black. “That’s not a place you can string a sentence together, much less remember it later. I already had most of it before then, though, and worked the rest out after.”

“Well?” says Severus. “It had better be good, in that case, with so much practice.”

There’s that sincere look again. Severus dislikes it heartily. “I was selfish, at fifteen,” Black says. “Selfish and short-sighted and impulsive. I very nearly hurt you and Remus both, very badly, and I’ve regretted it since about ten minutes after I did it. But you know all of that.”

“Well before you ever did, I expect,” says Severus.

“Probably, yeah,” says Black. “So I’m sorry for it, and I’ve tried to be better than I was. You’re welcome to hate me, though, as long as you leave Remus and Harry out of it.”

This implies that Severus is also welcome to hate Potter. It’s intriguing, in a way, although it’s not as though he needs anyone’s permission to hate James Potter. Least of all Sirius Black’s.

Black never had any talent for Legilimency that Snape can recall, which makes it all the more disconcerting when he says, “And if you’ve got to hate James, go ahead; it can’t hurt him. But Harry isn’t James. You’ll need to remember that, if you’re willing to help protect him, because he’s not going to do the things that James would do.”

Severus has yet to see much evidence of that. But it’s true that he hasn’t been looking.

“Fine,” he says. “It’s not as though I would let any of my students wander into harm’s way, if I could help it. You needn’t have come begging a favor. Oughtn’t you Gryffindors have a bit more dignity than this, anyway?”

That attempt at a blow slides off, too. Black used to be much thinner-skinned, Severus is sure.

“I made James and Lily a promise, when they made me Harry’s godfather,” Black says. “It’s my job to keep him safe. It doesn’t matter if I have to do things I don’t like.”

He adds, as if it doesn’t cost him anything to say it, “I spent my first year with the MacIntyres pretending to be a dog. It’s a bit late to put my dignity ahead of Harry’s safety, don’t you think?”

Severus gives up. If nothing else, Black has apparently learned to hold his temper, and Severus is hardly going to let Black goad him into an outburst of his own.

“Oh, fine,” he says. “Very well. Consider it done.” He sits back down. There follows a long and very uncomfortable silence.

Severus isn’t fifteen anymore, either. He can manage a peace offering, even for the likes of Black.

Severus pulls a journal out of his stack and offers it to Black. “Damocles Belby thinks he’s close to perfecting his formula,” he says. “I expect he’ll have it within the year, if these results are accurate.”

Black takes it cautiously, as if it might bite. “He’s been saying that for well over a decade. You really think so?”

“Yes,” says Severus, and waits for the snide remark about his presumption of expertise.

It doesn’t come. Black flips to the relevant article, brow furrowed. “I’ve had to talk Remus out of joining the patient trials half a dozen times,” he says. “Told him to wait until they’d ironed out the side effects.”

“That… may have been for the best,” Severus admits. There were several fatalities in the early trials, he’s heard, though the details went unpublished.

“I hope so,” Black says. “A year, though. That’s something.”

Silence falls again, as Black puzzles over the article. It’s not anything you could call companionable, but the lack of overt hostility, in itself, is notable.

“You know, Lily was going to do an apprenticeship with him,” Black says. “Belby, I mean. After the war.”

Severus does know. He hadn’t realized anyone else did. He would rather face a phalanx of Death Eaters, wandless, than talk about it.

Mercifully, Black doesn’t press the issue. “I’d better go,” he says. “Thank you, Severus. I’ll owe you for this.”

He doesn’t even appear to be gritting his teeth as he says it. It’s fascinating, and a bit eerie. For a moment Severus suspects Polyjuice.

But Black changes into his Animagus form, which rules that out.

Before he can leave, though, Severus has a thought. “Wait.”

Black changes form again, and looks surprised once his shape settles back to human. “Yes?”

“Draco Malfoy sent for you, when he needed help,” Severus says. “If possible, you ought to encourage that tendency.”

“Offer him a sympathetic ear?” Black says.

“Certainly not. His parents already do that, and encourage all his worst impulses,” says Severus. “But the elder Malfoy is highly placed among the surviving Death Eaters. There may be some strategic value in offering his son an alternative path.”

Lucius has been one of Severus’ oldest and most loyal friends, in his way. He won’t be grateful if his son is turned against him. But it would be fitting, perhaps, if Severus has a hand in ensuring that Draco grows to be a better man than his father.

Given Black’s own family history, it’s not surprising that he seems to understand. “I’d be happy to,” he says.

“Very well,” says Severus. There. A favor for a favor, and nothing owed in any direction. He dislikes loose ends at the best of times, which this decidedly isn’t.

On his way out the door, Black says, “Oh, and by the way — thank you for giving Harry those photos. I won’t ask how you got them; I’m sure I don’t want to know.”

He leaves without waiting for a reply.

Severus remains ill at ease long after Black is gone. He feels better after Banishing the extra armchair, if only a very little.

But the students are leaving in the morning. He can regain his equilibrium far more easily in an empty castle, he’s sure. And Black won’t be coming back in the fall, in all likelihood. The thought is cheering.

Severus settles back into his reading, and doesn’t think of anything but potionmaking techniques and ingredient comparisons for the rest of the night. Anyone trying to prove otherwise would be unlikely to survive the Occlumentic backlash.

[worryinglyinnocent]

The Real Housewives of Storybrooke

A ficlet series based on this premise here, following the lives of Storybrooke’s elite wives, with all the scandal, bitching and backstabbing that goes on behind the scenes of high society…

This verse is open for prompts!

====

[Part One][Part Two] [Part Three] [Part Four] [Part Five] [AO3]

====

BELLE

It was late on Sunday morning when Belle opened her eyes to bright sunlight streaming in through the cabin’s bedroom window, and she had to smile at having been so thoroughly tired out the previous day. She and Cameron were certainly making the most of their weekend without Bae, and although Belle loved her stepson as if he were her own, it had been nice to have some time alone to revisit the insatiable appetites for each other that they’d had just after they began their relationship.

The bedroom door opened, and Belle turned over to see Cam entering with a breakfast tray, his robe cinched loosely and showing a delicious sliver of chest. She licked her lips, and he raised an eyebrow.

“Somehow I don’t think that’s in anticipation of the French toast.”

“Well, I’m sure that the French toast will taste wonderful, and after yesterday I think I need to keep my strength up.” She ached, but it was a pleasant ache, the type caused by a day of rediscovering everything that she adored about her husband’s body. “But you’re correct. There are other things on the menu that I’m rather excited to sample.”

Cam handed over the tray before getting back into bed beside her and snagging a strawberry off her plate.

“Hey, get your own!”

Cam just grinned at her and took another berry. “You love me really.”

“Yes, I do, that’s the entire problem.” She continued to eat, feeding bites to Cam as she went along. Once she was done, she rested her hands on her stomach with a satisfied little grunt and gave a giggle as she came to a realisation.

Cam gave her a look over the top of his coffee cup. “What’s tickled your fancy?”

“You, hopefully, soon enough.”

“Minx.”

“You love me really.”

“That, my dear, is the entire problem.” He leaned over and kissed her, licking the sweet syrup off her lips, and Belle sighed with happiness as she pulled away.

“I’d just realised that this is the first time all weekend that I’ve actually thought about getting pregnant.”

“Considering what we’ve been doing all weekend, I consider that to be something close to a miracle.”

Belle laughed. “Well, it’s made me hopeful. Mrs Potts said that she was sure that something would happen as soon as I stopped worrying about trying to make a baby and just started enjoying being with you again. And even now that I’m thinking about it, I’m not stressed about it. Even if nothing happens as a result of this weekend, I’m hardly likely to regret this, am I?”

“Well, I’m certainly not going to.” Cam slipped his robe off and kicked it out from between the covers. “Do you think I can make you forget all about getting pregnant again?”

Belle laughed, welcoming him into her arms with a deep, fierce kiss.

“Let’s see if we can do that, shall we?”

X

Later on, whilst Cam was still dozing, Belle slipped out of bed and grabbed his robe, tiptoeing through the cabin to stand on the deck outside, overlooking the river that flowed at the back of the property. It had been a wonderful weekend and it wasn’t over yet. Idly she wondered how Bae and Emma were getting on with their revision sessions. Exams started next week, but then there would be a glorious summer stretched out in front of them, and Belle couldn’t wait. Tilly had already booked herself in for a visit to her godfather, and by proxy Robyn. No matter what happened biologically as a result of this little love-nest, there was so much in the future to look forward to.

And maybe Mrs Potts’ words would ring true after all. Belle made the mental promise to herself that she would not buy a new pregnancy test this month. If it happened, it happened, but for now, she didn’t want any doubts clouding this moment of bliss.

She felt arms come around her and Cam’s mouth press a kiss to her neck.

“Fancy a dip before dinner?”

Belle unfastened the robe and made to slip it off her shoulders. “I can’t think of anything I’d like more.”

X

REGINA

Roland’s birthday party at the aquarium had been an unmitigated success, although incredibly exhausting. Still, seeing all the children leave with their party favour bags and smiles on their faces made it worthwhile in the end.

Robin came over with a paper cup of coffee from the cafeteria just as the last guest was picked up and left the carpark.

“You know, I love Roland but I’m very glad he only has a birthday once a year,” he said.

“Yes. It’s like Christmas. It happens so infrequently that you block out all the memories of the last one and make all the same mistakes again. And also, because it’s only once a year, you go overboard to make up for the fact he has to wait another twelve whole months for the next party.”

Robin just looked at her with a raised eyebrow and Regina laughed. “Ok. I go overboard.”

“You do. But I’m very grateful that you do. I would never be able to handle something like this on my own.”

He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. Roland, sitting in the entrance area re-enacting Baywatch with plastic dolphins, looked up for a moment and then returned to his game, uninterested in what the grown-ups were doing.

Regina smiled. “Thanks for putting up with my exuberance.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Their moment was cut short by Regina’s phone ringing and she heaved a sigh, fishing it out of her coat pocket. Robin looked at the phone and then up at Regina.

“Is there a reason why you brought your work phone to the aquarium with you?” There was nothing accusatory in his tone, but Regina herself had admitted often enough to bringing her work home with her more than she should, and she’d enlisted his help to try and get her back on the straight and narrow.

“No. Just habit I suppose.” She looked at the caller and grimaced.

“Who is it?”

“Fiona,” Regina muttered darkly. She went to answer the call, but Robin closed his hand over hers.

“It’s a Sunday. Whatever it is can wait until you see her tomorrow. Nothing can be so important that she needs to interrupt your weekend.”

“Unfortunately, your definition of important and Fiona’s don’t always match up, and if I don’t answer now I’ll just spend all evening wondering what it is she wants to talk about. Best to get it over and done with now.”

She answered the call just before it cut to voicemail. Since Fiona was nominally her superior, she would normally put on a bright and polite telephone voice when she dealt with her, but today her greeting was a flat ‘what’.

“No hello, Regina dear? I do hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“Well, now that you mention it…”

“Oh yes, I forgot, it’s little Ronald’s birthday today, isn’t it?”

“Roland, and yes, so if we could wrap this up sharpish so that I can get back to that, which is something I’d much rather be doing than talking to you, I’d be much obliged.”

“Of course, of course. I was only calling to warn you that Belfrey Developments are coming in to discuss their new planning proposal tomorrow morning. It’s a bit last minute, but everything only got pushed through yesterday.”

“What? I thought we’d blocked their planning proposals!” In fact, Regina knew that the council had blocked Belfrey Development’s plans to build over 100 new homes on Storybrooke’s rapidly diminishing green space because she’d headed up the blocking campaign herself.

“Yes, I know, you did a wonderful job on it, darling, but there are powers higher than us at work here.”

“You mean they bribed the head of the council.”

“Now, now, Regina.” Fiona tsk-ed down the phone and Regina really wished that she was in the office at that moment so that she could throw something at her colleague. “Don’t be so cynical. I’ve seen their new proposals and you know, they really would be bringing a lot of benefit to the community.”

“So, they bribed you as well as the head of the council.”

Fiona’s honeyed tone changed.

“I was simply ringing to inform you,” she snapped before hanging up.

Regina smiled. “Well, that got rid of her, but I hate dealing with Victoria Belfrey. Why the blazes couldn’t she stay tearing up Seattle instead of spreading her wings across the country? Is she determined not to stop until there’s not a single blade of grass left in America?”

“Quite possibly.” Robin put an arm around her, guiding her towards the aquarium doors and calling for Roland to follow them. He packed up his dolphins in the blink of an eye and came over, grabbing Regina’s hand and beginning to babble on about how brilliant his party had been, especially the dolphin show, culminating in a heartfelt ‘thank you Regina!’ that made all the stress of hosting the event completely worth it.

Maybe it was time to leave the world of local government behind and go into high-end party-planning as a living. Before she did that though, she was going to have to get through a meeting with Fiona Ebony and Victoria Belfrey. Regina was absolutely not looking forward to Monday.

[nunusbff]

If You Want Love // Min Yoongi (2)

If You Want Love // Min Yoongi ff

soulmate!au

~ yoongi x female reader

~ angst, fluff, smut

chapter index: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 (soon)

playlist <3

masterlist

summary: y/n was in college, only a freshman.. 19 and majoring in contemporary dance and psychology. Min Yoongi was the quiet music major that didn’t talk much with anyone. She worked in the small book store down the street from her small studio, Yoongi visited the small book store on his weekends he had free...

~ Soulmates are recognized through their soulmate saying their name… Once it is done they are able to feel each others presence and feelings and the feeling of wanting to be with them grows stronger each time they are apart. ~

Orphic

(adj.) mysterious and entrancing

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I sighed softly as I woke up early around seven in the morning. My alarm blaring as it usually did every morning yet this time my routine was different. I had to get ready and out the door before nine. Which meant I got only five hours of sleep last night.. As taking up the extra shift would help pay the bills yet also kill my sleep more often than it usually did..  Yet I guess it was all worth it in the end..

An extra paycheck to pay the overwhelming stack of billings that would soon start to pile up.. Then whatever is left over is used to help get some more food and such into my fridge and cupboard. I smiled softly at the positive thought, those were rare in times like this but it was nice. I sighed as I got dressed into a simple outfit that consisted of a baggy t-shirt and boyfriend jeans. I then slipped on my vans and grabbed my backpack and keys heading out of my small apartment. I had about two hours to get my morning done before I had to be at the store.

Taking my phone out of my pocket then taking my earphones out of my backpack I connected my earphones to the headphone jack and put them in my ear. I hit shuffle on my morning playlist and smiled softly as the music flowed through my ears. For as long as I can remember, music has always been something special to me. It’s gotten me through my toughest and more traumatic situations and some I thought I’d never get through.. Yet here I am…

As I arrived at the small coffee shop only twenty minutes from my work I smiled, this little shop has always been my little escape from reality in a way. The employees are so sweet and the customers as so patient and polite and quiet. It’s peaceful and a good place to go when you want to study or concentrate.

Making my way into the small coffee shop I took a big whiff and smiled widely, I then made my way up to the counter and smiled at the cashier. Which happened to be my friend Lucas, who was in my psychology class.

“y/n, same as usual?” He spoke softly smiling at me. I nodded in return as he started typing into the register. Lucas has known me since we started college together.. We met during orientation and decided to keep in contact since we showed the same interest in psychology.

“So how’s work been lately?” I asked after I paid him and he started working on my drink. He shrugged as he started to mix my drink.

“Same old, same old..” I hummed softly understanding, as nothing really changed around here. It was a small area and there were more college kids just trying to make it then old folk. I mean you had your fair share of frat houses and such but nothing to major ever happened around here unless someone got a scholarship or something like that. Other than that it was pretty quiet and peaceful around here… As he set my drink on the counter he smiled at me softly. I won’t lie, when I say I have a huge crush on Lucas but with the whole soulmate thing i’ve kept it platonic rather than romantic with our interactions. “So are you busy later?” He asked me with a hopeful smile and i sighed shaking my head.

“I wish but I took up the double shift at work since the new guy quiet after just a few weeks.” He looked down letting out a huff. He has been trying to ask me on a date for so long but I keep turning him down and I feel bad but.. I have my reasons.. “That and you know I don’t date Lucas, as much as you a great guy I’m just not interested in dating right now.” He sighed and nodded understanding but still evidently hurt by the rejection.

“Well at least we can hang out sometime or I can bring you coffee while you’re at work since you’re working two shifts?” I thought about it for a moment and smiled softly and nodded.

“Why not, i’m working till two am so yeah a coffee would be nice..” He chuckled a smiled at me as I picked up my drink and made went to leave yet right before I could leave he stopped me one last time.

“Don’t forget the test next week.” I stopped and sighed just remembering it. I looked back at Lucas and he smirked as he knew I would have forgotten by now.

“Thanks for the reminder weirdo.” He smiled and I waved as I made my way out of the small coffee shop. Yet the feeling of someone watching me the whole time started to set in as I walked outside I looked back one last time and locked eyes with a boy with mint hair.. Wait.. is he? He can’t be.. No he isn’t the boy from last night.. He.. I shook my head and continued on my way to work.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Min Yoongi?!” I sighed as I made my way to the counter collecting my americano. I smiled as I took a sip of the dark drink making my body shiver from the sudden heat. Coffee was always good in the morning, especially on a cloudy day like this. I made my way back to my table sitting down opening my notebook again as I looked over my notes. My huge music therapy exam was in two weeks and I’ve studying like crazy.. I tried to look for a book on any extra information but I didn’t find anything. I sighed as I looked over my revisions, so much information.. As I looked over my notes and such I heard the chime of the bell on the door of the coffee shop sounds and I glanced up for a moment.

I froze in my stop seeing a girl walk inside, she seemed.. Familiar? I shook my head and looked down back at my notes. As I looked them over I overheard the girl and the cashier talking. I couldn’t help but glance over at them as they talked. She seemed content with whatever they were talking about and he seemed upset. Then I heard a snippet of her rejection and i smirked a bit.

As she then grabbed her drink to leave he seemed to remind her of a test or exam that was next week it seemed and her face changed from content to stressed very quickly. She sighed and called him a friendly name then made her way out of the small shop yet my eyes followed her the whole way. For some reason I wasn’t able to take my eyes off her, like I was drawn to her…?

I knew she had to be aware of my starring as she turned once she was outside the window of the coffee shop and looked at me for a moment. Her face reading a look of confusion and curiosity as she looked at but then she looked away and continued on her way shaking her head. Who is she… I thought to myself as I looked back at my coffee and sighed.

Maybe I will see her again? I shook my head at the nonsense I thought and continued on with my revisions until my phone vibrated in my pocket indicating someone had sent a message. I pulled out my phone and looked down at it, seeing a notification from Jin. He was telling everyone to head back to the dorm to talk about the huge frat party this weekend.. Honestly I hate parties.. I’d rather stay home but I have no one else who hates parties that I can be with..

I answered the text letting Jin know that I would be there in an hour or so since I wanted to finish my coffee. I sighed as I closed my phone setting it on the table and leaning back taking a sip of my coffee. As I sat there I went over my revisions again, double checking my notes over and over again until someone interrupted me.

“Yoongi Hyung?” I heard my name and looked up seeing Jungkook standing by my table.

“Yes Jungkook?” I asked quietly looking up at him as I sipped my coffee. He smiled at me as he glanced to the open seat in front of me.

“Can I join you?” I shrugged and he sat down joining me, his drink in hand. As I glanced down at my notes Jungkook cleared his throat.

“What is it you need kook?” I asked looking up at him using his nickname, to which he smiled again and spoke with a lot of enthusiasm.

“I just wanted to know if you’re going to the frat party Hoseok and Taehyung are hosting this weekend?” I sighed and set my drink on the table looking up at him the obvious annoyance on my face.

“You know I hate parties kook, it’s never been for me.” He pouted and looked down upset and i sighed. Why is it so hard to say no to him? “I can possibly go for an hour if that makes you happy?” I suggested and he looked up at me and smiled big nodding. He always got what he wanted.. So spoiled..

“Thank you hyung.” He said smiling as he got up and left me with my thoughts and my coffee which was almost empty. Why do I always say yes when he asks me these types of things? I wondered to myself as I took another sip of my americano. I hummed softly to myself as I went back to my revisions.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As I arrived at the small book store I looked around. The streets where empty this morning.. Most people would expect there to be more people out on a morning like this. It was cloudy yet perfect to be out and about. As I pulled my keys out of my pocket my phone started vibrating. Indicating that I was getting a phone call. I sighed and pulled my phone out of my pocket looking at the caller ID seeing that It was Seokjin.. I unlocked the door as I answered the call putting the phone up to my ear.

“Yes Jin?” I asked softly as I made my way to the back of the store to set my stuff down and turn on the power.

“I was wondering… Are you free this weekend?” I stopped for a moment.. I’m working this weekend.. But maybe I can get the day off?  I hummed as I set my backpack on the table in the back room after turning on the power.

“I’m working but I can possibly request a day off why?” Jin muttered something to someone else I’m guessing because it took him some time to reply..

“Well there’s this party-” I cut him off before he could even finish his sentence.

“Jin, You know I don’t do parties..” I said quietly as he sighed. He knew I had a rough past when I came to partying.. It never went well for me.. Ever.. 

“Look, Just hear me out alright?” I sighed and hummed for him to continue, “I’m Inviting everyone, it’s for one of my roommate’s birthday.” I sighed and sat down as he continued on. “You aren’t the only person who hates parties who is going, one of our roommates HATES parties but he will be going so maybe you two can talk?” I sighed but thought it over for a moment.

“I’ll see what I can do, If I can go I’ll call you if not.. Well you’ll know.” He hummed then I heard talking about and Jin groaned in annoyance.

“I’ll talk to you later y/n, I have to tend to some idiots..” I giggled and we said our goodbyes then he hung up and I sat there for a moment thinking about my decisions that I had to make before this weekend..  I mean he did say I’d have someone I can talk to.. But he never said if it was a guy or girl.. Yet knowing Jin it’s most likely a guy.. I sighed and get up from the chair and made my way out into the store sitting down at the register and started my shift for the day.. Which was gonna be all day since I took up the second shift.. Hopefully Lucas can come through with that coffee once I get to the halfway point between the two shifts.. I’m really gonna need it if I plan on making it the whole shift.. Eight in the morning to two in the morning.. I sighed setting my head on the counter. This was gonna be a long long day..

[mentalcurls]

5. Cosa ti eccita?

Episode 5, we’re almost halfway throught the season! This time I talk about that thing Martino says, mother-daughter relationships and my journey to empathizing with Edoardo Incanti (for now) as well as the results of the Bechdel test for this episode, of course!

this episode start so nicely: Martino talking shit about each and every one of Eva’s friends

he manages to be racist, sizeist, a slut shamer, classist and sexist and misogynist all in one sentence with this lovely bunch of derogatory definitions; plus he’s an asshole in general and unsupportive of Eva

Elia is right there with him laughing at all that, probably Peccio is too, Gio maybe cracked a smile, but don’t think for a second that anything but Eva’s face and the thought of the conversation they need to have held him back (I’d like to take this opportunity to remind y’all Gio in this remake isn’t as interested in politics as Jonas is in the og)

this is , from what I read online (I only watched S1 months after it aired), one of those scenes that made people angry and I can see why. It wouldn’t have been enough for me to stop watching, but I get why some people did. I do agree that a scene like that shouldn’t not bother you. I am angry that things like the ones Marti says are accepted without comment, that nobody taught him better, that none of the characters have been taught better, much less better enough for any of them to shut Marti up and confront him about the shit he just said; Eva knows it’s wrong, but she doesn’t even try to explain why to him, because she doesn’t have the words to and she feels like it’s be pointless. Eleonora might have been able to confront him and shut him up with one of her vitriolic answers, but it would have been met most likely with “Oh, burn” comments by the other guys. It’s what it’s like in Italy and I don’t think a show that has professes to be as realistic as possible should be attacked for portraying the realistic comments dumb, ignorant boys make or for not forcing a scene when one of the characters is suddenly knowledgeable and eloquent enough to confront all the issues in Marti’s statement. This are 16 years old. I’m Italian and I was “woke”-ish at 16, kept up with politics even, but I don’t think I’d have been able to to it. What Skam Italia did, in my opinion, to counteract Martino’s words in this scene, is show us that his definitions are false, narrow-minded and based on prejudice by giving us an in into these girls lives. No-one can watch Skam and believe Marti’s words. Unfortunately, in a realistic show set in Italy, that’s all we can ask for.

this is also one of the first times we hear Marti discuss girls with the guys and it projects me straight to ep.1 of S2, when we have the “buste di piscio” comment. For all we love our baby deer Martino Rametta like it’s our collective firstborn and we would die for him, he’s a misogynistic fucker sometimes; thankfully by the end of S2 he’s grown up quite a bit (and I hope and pray that the combo of Filippo, Sana and Niccolò will make him grow even more by the next time we see him).

on a lighter note, IL PECCIO IS IN THIS SCENE, IN THE FLESH!

“Tell me what’s the problem” “I don’t have a problem” “Eh, me neither” YEAH guys, that’s why you’re so warm and affectionate

Giovanni, you hypocrite. You complained you don’t want to be one of those couples that are attached to the hip and you acted like Eva was always bothering you, so you told her to make friends; now she has friends, she’s stopped always catering to you and only you, and you’re gonna act mad? You wanted your cake, honey, now eat it!

so is that “You can stay, the guys are gonna go in a bit” thing Gio trying to build a bridge or him beginning the prep for the lie about wanting to go to dinner with Eva’s parents and then bailing on them to get back at her? On one hand, I don’t want to believe my dear Giovanni Garau would do that, on the other this particular set of circumstances with Eva brings out some of his worst traits

ok, I understand Eva and Eleonora want to know why Sana got mad and threw her drink at Laura to empathize with her properly, since they also are not her biggest fans, but their being really oblivious to Sana’s loud “stop bothering me!” signals

“I had to run away like an idiot thanks to you” actually, Silvia, he left you there like an idiot, while he went to be “the big bad man of the house who will solve all the problems” (btw was the house even his? wasn’t it Chicco Rodi’s party, why was it at Edoardo’s place?)

anyways, the reason Silvia is so mad is because what Sana did is so far from the prim and proper, low-maintenance girl Silvia is trying to be, in Edoardo’s eyes especially, and she’s terrified he’s gonna lump her in with her friend, who’s already difficult enough on her own because she insists on being different

aaaaand Silvia goes for the racist insult; at least this time the other girls tell her to calm down and Ele seems pretty ready to give her a piece of her mind, though she stops at the last minute cause she seems to think that while Silvia is this mad she’s a lost cause

SILVIA ACTUALLY GOT A TEXT instead of sending one, Sana would almost be proud

YAS SKAM ITALIA GIVING INFORMATION ABOUT CONTRACEPTIVES

I mean, sex ed is not bad about sexual health and contraceptives here but it’s always good to show “actual” kids being careful

of course, they’re only half careful, given that they’re thinking of unwanted pregnancies, while ignoring the very real risk of venereal diseases, given that they’re talking about unprotected sex with a boy who’s notoriously promiscuous

still, I want to stress how this is a conversation between girls only; the “burden” of thinking about contraception always falls on girls’ shoulders: Silvia doesn’t think for a minute Edoardo might bring and not mind using a condom and just knows she’s the one who needs to be worrying about contraception; Eva took the pill and is now using the ring so we know she’s the one who’s been taking care of contraception in her relationship with Gio, too. It takes two to tango ladies, so why the fuck do we excuse male half of the couple from this part of sex??

honestly, it’s midday so Eva should get out of bed, but that piece of crostata isn’t the kind of thing I’d wake up for

oh, what a beautiful mother-daughter relationship! I’m kidding, but also not. It’s obvious Eva’s mum is not at home much, but she makes an effort to be there as much as she can: she keeps up with her grades, she badgers Eva so she’ll study and when she has some free time even offer to revise together, she brings her breakfast in bed, she’s there to listen when Eva confides in her. She probably feels bad she’s not up to date with Eva’s personal life and guilty that she’s not there for her daughter as much as she wants to be. And Eva screams at her like a proper teenager, but then she does a beautiful thing and actually apologizes, saying the words “I’m sorry”, and despite still lying she tells her mom a bit about herself (sure, there’s external pressure for her to do so in the form of Gio and of her new friends who want to come by her place, but still), she opens up, she communicates, which is really good cause she seems to have good parents, who for example don’t freak out at the mention of a boyfriend but ask her first and foremost if she’s happy

and Eva, what’s the point of saying “Yes, I’m happy” and looking anything but? You be thankful your mom takes it for embarrassment, cause you were not convincing

aaaand Gio hasn’t gotten any lately because of the fight so he’s horny, cute

Gio meets Eleonora! And it’s absolutely uneventful, but then again, it would be: even considering Marti’s classification, she’s not the weirdest and she’s the least interesting out of the girl squad to Gio, cause he’s already getting some, so he doesn’t care that she doesn’t put out

what is interesting is Gio’s worried face when the free clinic gets mentioned: dude, if maybe you were more involved in contraception and collaterals in your own relationship, then maybe your first reaction wouldn’t be worry

the “Prima volta?” lady cracks me up (also, in case anybody doesn’t know, she’s the same person that asks Marti if Nico’s bottle of antidote is a bomb in S2 ep. 7 and - I’ve read somewhere - the stylist of the series)

when Silvia huffed and looked put out at the mention of the clinic on the bus, I was unsure whether it was a fear thing or a “tsk, plebeians” thing, but it appears she’s genuinely scared: girl, why? I get being embarrassed, uncomfortable, but she’s more nervous than if she was taking the maturità exams

Silvia is not mad at anybody, much less Sana, because good, low-maintenance girls don’t get angry, don’t cause commotions, they’re graceful and compassionate and forgiving and nuisances simply don’t exist for them

the doctor is actually so helpful! in the og she was 99% comic relief, 1% actually helpful, but this doctor is nice and warm and encouraging

Silvia’s terrified/disgusted face when presented with a dildo, that’s not a girl who looks ready to have sex

at least Fede seems puzzled but interested

Silvia just seems so dumb in this scene: she doesn’t speak for herself, she is absolutely floored when faced with a sex toy and a condom, she seems to think that taking the pill for to days actually works as contraception, she doesn’t think of asking Eva to use her home to meet up with Edoardo before telling him yes... tbh she almost looks like she’s a bit drunk

still, she just knows how to manipulate people to get her way. She even brings the doctor on her side.

“Do you think it’ll hurt?” considering how unsure and worried you are, YES

Eleonora changing topics as soon as her sex life is brought into question 😏 but also, her lost face when Eva says sex shouldn’t hurt except maybe a bit at the beginning

THANK YOU ELEONORA SAVA FOR SAYING THE IMPORTANT THINGS THAT NEED TO BE SAID

the disgusted face Silvia makes at the word “turned on”???

ok, how good is it to see girls in media talking about sex and about their fantasies without any shaming whatsoever? (The comparison between getting turned on by clothes and animals played for comedy is a bit unfortunate, but imo it doesn’t ruin the positive, accepting mood of the scene)

*Regina George voice* Silvia, stop trying to make jello happen!

ok, so, my secondhand embarrassment levels are always through the roof during this scene

look how taken aback Eva’s mom looks when she sees Edoardo! He definitely looks nothing like the third year boy she pictured when she imagined Eva’s boyfriend, I mean, she was thinking more along the lines of Laura’s boyfriend, that nice boy Giovanni she’d met that one time…

oh, but poor Edoardo too, he’s planning for a one night stand and suddenly he has to deal with parents?? This was not the plan. Does this annoying, kind of pretty girl who wants to sleep with him think he’s her boyfriend or something? What a nightmare. Oh, wait, she’s not even here, is she toying with him in a misguided attempt at playing hard to get? Wait, she wanted him to go to dinner with her parents? Is this some kind of prank? Did he get the wrong house? WTF

AND THE DAD ARRIVES OH GOD when fathers get involved the situation usually escalates, you can feel Edoardo going “Nope. Nope. Think, Edo. Get out of this NOW.”

ok, the redhead he vaguely remembers from the party, great, now can she explain him what’s going on? No, she’s telling him he needs to leave and slamming the door in his face. (Also, first appearance of the boss Eva we see at Silvia’s 80s party in S2, hello gorgeous!)

and Silvia is hiding on the stairs. Which is cute and not at all “sfigate allucinanti”-like (see ep.3). Just like telling a guy to come over but not at your actual place isn’t. It’s fine having to ask your friend to borrow her place, having to sneak in, having sex in a house you don’t know and where you need to be careful not leave signs of your presence, on the bed where your friend sleeps, with her photos on the wall, her knick-knacks on the shelves, her clothes in the closet. It’s totally cool. Even when the guy you’re having sex with is polite and gets there a few minutes early, so he accidentally meets your friend’s parents and nearly panics and definitely learns this is not your place, you know, that’s stuff that happens and it’s absolutely cool. He just calls you crazy.

so really, I never thought I’d see the day, but I empathize with Edoardo Incanti and I understand him ghosting Silvia (not the whole “Who are you again?” conversation, just the ghosting) because she’s clearly in too deep, he’s know that since her first string of texts, and she’s doing borderline creepy things like borrowing her friend’s house to have sex in? And Edoardo is not interested in a girlfriend, much less a stalker, so he just goes for the path of least resistance and disappears, hoping she’ll get over it soo. (Except of course she doesn’t and she confronts him, so really, what’s the best way not to give her any stupid hope? Being cruel. And that’s what he does.)

back to Eva, Gio cancels and Eva TURNS HIS OWN “Non ho parole “ BACK ON HIM how wild

side note, I honestly really really would have wanted to see Paola’s reaction when, at some point, Eva tells her she was dating Giovanni; I just can’t decide what she’d think

Bechdel test: the episode passes the test. We have Eva and Ele pestering Sana about the fight at the party, then the two of the and Silvia discussing the pill, the conversation about Sana’s father’s patient’s restaurant outside the gyno’s office at the clinic and finally there’s a good 75% of the conversation in Eva’s bedroom, between Silvia, Ele, Fede and Eva herself, that actually passes the test. There’s just a couple of mentions of Edoardo in the middle.

This post is part of my complete series of meta about Skam Italia season 1.  If you’d like to read more of my thoughts about the other episodes, you can find the mastepost linked in the top bar on my blog under SKAMIT: EVA. Cheers!