#its sad leaving my grandma but it feels good to be in my own space <3

[soulmvtes]

showering and then getting into your own bed with fresh sheets >>

[astrojulia]

Disclaimer: These general free readings are made in good faith for entertainment purpose.

Warnings: Lord... you all are really depressed... or my cards loves some sad themes...

Hello Siren, how are you? I know it took a long time for this reading to come out... But I need to organize a lot of things before reading the cards... I hope you like it!!

How to pick a pile

When you have different cards to choose from in pile 1,2,3… look at each of those cards. Wait until someone reminds you of a memory. Perhaps a character’s outfit resembles one of your own. It is this pile that has its message. What if they all remind me of something? Go for the one with the strongest memory, one might look like her earring but another might be the favorite candy you got from your grandma when you vacationed at her house. But what if none reminds me of something? Take a deep breath and wait a little longer, without charging yourself or creating worries. Relax, some will awaken some memory in you, I promise! .

Credits: Piles images: here.

Pile 1 - Hello Kitty

It sounds like you've been through a rough patch lately, but you're determined to find new solutions and try things you've never done before. You're taking some brave chances and facing fears that would have held you back before. Good for you! It's important to keep moving forward so you don't get stuck in a rut.

Right now, your spirituality and faith are what's going to get you through. No material possessions can really help at this point, so keep holding on to what you believe in. I know it can be tough, and you might feel like giving up sometimes, but don't. You've got this!

It seems like some innocent choices you made in the past have led you here, but don't beat yourself up over it. We all make mistakes. The important thing is that you're taking responsibility and doing what you can to make things better.

The next few months might be challenging, and you may experience some heartbreak and loss. It's okay to feel shaken, but remember to turn to the things you know to be true. This is the start of a new beginning, and I know it might not be what you had in mind, but sometimes the best things come from unexpected places. You'll come out the other side a different person, with new dreams and goals. Even with all the challenges you'll face, I have a feeling your future self will be the happiest and most content yet. It's like you're seeing the beauty in the little things in life, and that's a wonderful thing. You're the rainbow after the storm!

Pile 2 - My Melody

Hey, it looks like you've been through a lot lately - a breakup, leaving your job, and maybe even finishing or dropping a course. But now, you're feeling hopeful about the future and excited about the possibilities ahead. You're not sure what your next steps will be, but you're open to exploring what you can do with what you have and how it can lead to something great down the road. It's a liberating feeling to have some free time and space to figure things out.

It seems like you've been putting a lot of energy into your life and personal growth, and now it's time to take a step back and let things unfold. Maybe you're feeling like you've done all you can for now and it's time to wait and see what happens next.

Over the next few months, you might start to see the results of your choices, but they may not turn out exactly as you planned. It's okay to feel disappointed or frustrated, but try not to be too hard on yourself. You did your best, and sometimes things don't work out the way we want them to. Just remember that this is all part of the process, and even if it's not a perfect outcome, it's still progress.

Pile 3 - Kuromi

I sense that you're feeling very down lately. It seems like you're constantly at odds with those around you, and that you're stuck in a rut with limited options. Your dreams for the future seem out of reach, and you're becoming increasingly disillusioned with reality. You might even be wondering if you're dealing with depression. If that's the case, I want to encourage you to seek help from a professional institution. There's no shame in asking for help, and it's important to prioritize your mental health.

It sounds like you've experienced a lot of loss, whether that's people or material possessions. The world crisis has affected us all in different ways, but it seems like it's been particularly hard on you. You may have found solace in spending more time on the internet or daydreaming, but ultimately, that won't bring you the happiness and fulfillment you crave.

Over the next three months, it's important that you take time to work through your emotional baggage. This will be a personal journey, but know that you're not alone. I'll be back soon to share some self-esteem lessons that I hope will help you. However, I want to stress that seeking help from a professional therapist should be your first priority. It's okay if you don't connect with the first one you see - keep searching until you find someone you trust.

It might be helpful to take some time to yourself, to retreat to a peaceful place where you can reflect on your life and what you want for your future. Don't be afraid to seek out new opportunities or to explore different paths. You have the power to create a better life for yourself, and I believe in you. Remember, hope is still alive - hold onto it and work towards a brighter future.

Pile 4 - Pompompurin

You seem to be in a really good mood today! It's very likely that you've recently entered into a serious relationship, started a new job or course, or started pursuing a new sport. But for many, it's a new love that's got you feeling all giddy and full of excitement! You're in that exhilarating infatuation phase of a relationship, laughing and smiling more than usual, and feeling grateful that it happened even faster than you expected.

It's obvious that you've been dreaming of this moment for a while now - you went from waiting patiently for it to happen to texting all of your friends that "he texted me 'Hi' today."

Over the next 3 months, you might notice that the initial excitement starts to fade away. This is because your new commitment will gradually escalate, and you will come to understand that this is something real that needs investment and seriousness. Although your partner can be the best, you can't be childish and think that it's just all fun and games. You will communicate more, maybe have an argument or two in the process, to put your points of view and realize that you both are different. You will mature and question whether this is the right relationship for you, and whether what you want now is what you'll want in the future. You'll be faced with some tough decisions, and desires will take over everything else, but you'll have enough wisdom to understand everything that happened and come out stronger and wiser.

Pile 5 - Cinnamoroll

Hey siren! It sounds like you might be feeling a bit confused right now and seeking some guidance. I totally understand - decision-making can be tough, especially when it feels like you have to leave something behind. It's important to remember that sometimes in life, we can't have it all and that making a choice means accepting the consequences that come with it.

It seems like you've been putting in a lot of hard work to get to where you are today, and now you're reaping the rewards all at once. It can definitely feel overwhelming, like when you plant too much in a farm game and all the crops grow on the same day, and it's the last day of the season! (If you got that reference, let me know in the comments, LOL!)

But the real question on your mind is whether or not you made the right choice. The good news is, you still have some time to figure things out over the next few months. No matter what you choose, though, you should be proud of your accomplishments and feel content with your achievements. Remember, the journey doesn't end here - you still have a lot of work ahead of you, but you know what you want and that's an important first step in achieving your goals.

Pile 6 -Pochacco

You are surrounded by barriers, voluntary barriers that you have put up to protect yourself. Where you are is comfortable, and you are provided for, but at what cost? Where are your diversions, your growth? You are protected, but also trapped. You have everything you need, but what will you do with it? Are you afraid of things happening again? I do believe that you've been through a lot, that the world has been cruel to you for no reason. You were hurt, used, and discarded in your innocence, and where you are now, there's no way that can happen again.

You always had to be on the lookout, on a battlefield where you had to be always rational, always attentive because there was no one to help you, no relief. And finally, this relief has come, hasn't it? You're now in a world where you don't need barriers to survive because you're protected.

In the next 3 months, this will fall apart naturally, and you will be removed by hook or by crook from this world. You know it's not for you. You always had so much courage to face the world, hoping that these people were only fleeting and that you would find better companions in the future. Where are you now? Hidden where these companions cannot find you. So, yes, you're going to leave, and you're going to have to relearn how to live in that world you left behind and create new worlds for yourself too. I know you've learned a lot in this isolation, and it's time to put it into practice. Your life in the tower will come to an end, and you can start preparing to say a final goodbye to it. It's okay; it won't hurt you.

[tomatopastaandpineappleonpizza]

the mehendi metaphor

A few days after my heart got broken for the first time, I went to my grandma's house, a space of warmth, a place that i enjoyed when I was both a little girl, and still do today: the proof being drawings on the wall that i did as a child, that, when I look at it now, are mere scribbles. which my grandma chose to leave unpainted despite having her house rennovated. She is the personification of love... which was exactly what I needed to mend a broken heart. My eyes were perpetually flowing with tears; I listened to sad songs, anxiously sat by my phone waiting for a text back, and completely shut myself out from the rest of the world. It was the day before diwali. My grandmother cajoled and coaxed me, trying to get me to come talk to everyone and wondering why I was so upset. When I finally relented and came out of my bubble, my grandmother sat me down on her old sofa with lace covers, and asked if I wanted mehendi on my hands. I agreed, because I like orange. My mother approaches us, taking a photo of my worn out self, awkwardly smiling, stretching my palms out to show off my mehendi. I sent a photo of my newly orange-coloured hands to that boy. He said it looked bad, which made me feel bad. I still thought it looked beautiful, though.

Every time i brought my hands near my face, the faint smell of the mehendi leaves would be inhaled. the smell was strangely comforting, the dark red hue on my hands was like the anguish I was feeling. everything was falling apart, and it was all my fault.

I went shopping, to buy a dress. A beautiful long, white dress. when I was in it, i realised that the mehendi was becoming lighter by the day. I decided i'd make it a metaphor: as the color fades, you become happier. though it bears the memory of bad days, it serves as a reminder that things will always become better. time heals, and the slow-fading orange hue on my hands proved it.

Eventually, the colors disappeared from my skin. Now, only my nails were stained orange. I had made new friends. They were all great. I finally felt like myself after a long time.

A few months pass: Those friends I made weren't very permanent. Like always, instead of fighting with them, I just grew farther and farther apart from them, until they couldn't be considered my friends anymore. After my final exams, I cut my nails, and for the first time in months, I didn't see the lingering tinge of orange.

I was free, and I was happy. Time had run its course, and many things had happened. Though the outcome wasn't the best, I was still reminded of all the good things (and bad things) that happened during the time the orange hue adorned my fingers.

I highly reccomend trying it. it's like your own personal hourglass. Once enough time has passed, you will realise how strong you are for facing the things you thought you never could.

[olivieblake]

Here is me expressing to you my love for Saints and Liars (although not all of it because again space and time, but I hope I can express my love for this story effectively through words and virtually but hopefully one day in person it is super special to me and I hope you can feel that in this). Oh and spoilers of course. (Also I’m hoping part 1 of this went through it said it was received but then tumblr glitched so fingers crossed but if it didn’t please let me know I will resend it)

Saints and Liars: Dare I say this is my favorite story out of all your anthologies (so far at least)? I really think it is. Honestly I think I enjoyed this as much as I do your full length novels. THIS STORY IS PERFECTION. Cecily and Porter are EVERYTHING to me I’m actually obsessed with them and they altered my brain chemistry. Thank you for them.

Please enjoy a direct quote from my notes app the second I read the summary: “A WITCH GETS TRAPPED WITH THE MAN SHE’S PRETENDING TO DATE I’M ALREADY OBSESSED BASED OFF ONE SENTENCE IN THE SUMMARY I’M A HOE FOR FAKE DATING”. Also them being from a Midwestern town? Love. (okay so technically I am not from the Midwest because I am from good old and weird Pennsylvania and I’m sure if you asked a Midwestener they would probably say no and that’s fine. PA is a weird state we don’t have a geographical home other than the mid-atlantic because we also are not considered the east coast since we don’t touch the coast but clearly if you are from Philly you’re practically an East Coaster like Jersey is right there? These questions have haunted me all my life so I am very sorry for the side rant I will get back on track now. However, I am from the very western side of the state and I grew up like an hour or less from Ohio so I personally feel like some of the midwest culture/values exists in my town, so it was cool to see it!). I wanted to put this one on its own since it’s longer plus it’s not as organized as the others but I apologize for annoying you with all the many asks this time.

I don’t know what to title this section of this part of this so I’m just going to say extremely relatable content that I feel like you went into my brain and just took out of me:

“I do feel sad,” she mumbled in concession, glancing at anything else but his face. “And guilty, too. I’ve been gone for so long. I guess I just always thought time stopped around here, but obviously it doesn’t. I don’t know.” She eyed her hands. “I feel selfish for being upset but it’s hard.” “You’re allowed to have some sort of conflict about it,” Porter said,”

"And maybe," Porter continued, "you shouldn't bother feeling guilty. You're here now," he pointed out. "Why waste this time with her worrying about the things you could have done? Just...I don't know." He shrugged. "Be here. You know?"

“Porter cut her off, taking her face in both hands and giving her a long, searching look. “Don’t feel sad about time lost,” he said to her. “Just don’t waste a moment.”

Cecily and her grandmother’s relationship reminded me a little of my own in a sense. These three quotes were really relatable to me because I have also felt the same guilt she had about needing to leave the little town she grew up in. For me, I always wanted to leave for college and go out of state for myself, and I did and it was one of the best experiences I could have had for myself. But, at the same time my grandmother’s health was declining and she needed full time help since I was in about 5th grade or so? Growing up I used to be one of the people that were responsible for her on certain weekdays and weekends occasionally so I felt guilty for leaving in that sense. While I was at college it continued to worsen to the point where she needed help with all activities of daily living and every Christmas we all would be told “well this is probably Grandma’s last Christmas” (she lived way longer than the doctors thought she would and lived a full life, I can’t say her last years on the Earth were her truly living anymore but she was 96 and was surrounded by love and a true matriarch anyway side rant over again). With her being one of my favorite people, leaving each time for school knowing there was a huge chance she wouldn’t be there the next time was hard and I felt guilty that I wanted to be away from that place. So it became a big struggle sometimes and I don’t think I’ve really seen something like this expressed in words before but reading these quotes I was like wow YES THAT WAS WHAT I WAS FEELING.

Then the whole second part of just being here now and don’t feel sad about time lost and not wasting a moment was also how I dealt with being back in my town and getting to see her more often. I took every opportunity I could to go back up and say hi and make goofy faces at her to get her to smile and be a full time caretaker when they needed someone to fill in. Although sometimes I was a banker and not her granddaughter during the last 6-8 months of her life when I could be around her still felt meaningful to me and I’m glad that I could just be there with her without thinking about all the times I wasn’t. Anyway I am like tearing up writing that all but it felt cathartic. Also sorry sometimes I feel like we are friends so I just share my life.

Anyway, just yeah thank you for putting words to some emotions I felt.

Okay so some of my favorite moments that are way less heavy: From the second this man asked her to prom and she thought it was an obligation I was already screaming that IT’S NOT HE IS CLEARLY IN LOVE WITH YOU and I screamed when the idiot didn’t tell her that he would miss her. Evelyn cracked me up the entire book, her lines were 10/10, she is so funny. I love Porter, but the second he came up with his “plan” for revenge I literally wrote down “okay buddy sure, good luck with that you are clearly just going to fall back in love with her”. Porter is so smooth and has game truly I’m in love with him (he became one of my biggest book boyfriends bless you for him). Elenaor telling Porter to call her “Grandma Eleanor” ughhh I love it. His pretend poetry! Cecily just smiling at herself watching him work in the kitchen. HIS ENTIRE BODY ANGLING TO HER WHILE SHE TALKS AND BEING HIS ONLY PRIORITY AHHHH. THE WHOLE SCENES WITH THE STORM AND THE CAR ACCIDENT WITH HER IN A RED DRESS AND THE FORCED PROXIMITY AHHH SO GOOD (I’m literally screaming again just thinking about it). THE WHOLE SCENE OF THEM IN THE LIBRARY DRINKING ABSINTHE TOGETHER ON THE FLOOR AND EYES EACH OTHER UP WITH THE FLICKERING CANDLES UGH I WANT A FAN ART OF IT SO BAD (one day I will commission it that’s a promise) I’M OBSESSED. Him hating her boyfriend for no reason, ugh one of my favorite things. THEN THEY WENT TO THE GYM WHERE PROM WAS AND DANCE TOGETHER and him resting his chin on the top of her head and her resting her cheek on his chest while they are dancing (dance scenes are my kryptonite you literally do not understand how much I loved this scene I will also one day commission a fan art of this scene too). How he tucked her in his jacket!!! THE MOST IMPOSSIBLE MAN SHE’D EVER MET. Him remembering what desk she sat in during physics this many years later ughhh my man was down (and is down) so bad. THE WHOLE SCENE OF HIM TELLING HER TO BREAK UP WITH HER BOYFRIEND BECAUSE HE KNOWS SHE WANTS TO BE WITH HIM UGHHHH. Another direct fun quote from around this time in my notes: “PORTER IS SO FUCKING HOT I CANNOT I’M IN LOVE WITH HIM CECILY PLEASE JUMP HIS BONES “ I know it doesn’t really have to do with her but the fact that she was like “see you in physics I guess” which traumatized him and then him becoming a physics teacher was great (plus they did see each other and have sex in the physics classroom so full circle moment). “What do you want?” “You, Porter”. Him now knowing he can’t win unless she’s happy and trying to make long distance work ugh loved. He doesn’t want it to be pretend he wants it to be real and so does she ahhh. Forehead kisses and promises!!! Her grandma not being sick and just wanting her home because she was bored was so funny hahahah I did not expect that and I love it and her so much. His internal monologue stop “don’t go and please, if you do, take me with you” SO GOOD. SHE CAME TO SAY GOODBYE THIS TIME UGH. The frequent flyer miles!!! THE ENDING WITH HIM ASKING HER TO PROM AND HER SAYING YES THIS TIME (IN A RED DRESS NO LESS) UGH WHAT A FULL CIRCLE MOMENT I LOVE THEM SO MUCH YOUR HONOR LIKE SO MUCH

They had me literally kicking and screaming and giggling I love them so fucking much. They make me insane for real. I went on a deep dive and found Chmura’s three arts from this story and I DIED. They (her drawings and CecilyPorter) are BEAUTIFUL.

If you or anyone in your family ever needs an organ or anything I will happily give you one in exchange for a sentence more of CecilyPorter, I am desperate for more crumbs. Also so random but I am planning to take a picture with this story in a red dress with some (possible) absinthe-all depends if I can find a small bottle if not we shall pretend. I’m hoping to look hot in this (however, I am not a hot person so we will see if I can fake it for some pictures). Either way though I’m treating it as my birthday dress up as well as a way to celebrate this story. I’m planning to post it on my shared booksta as bday post (I’ll be 25 which seems crazy but I also have spent my whole life desperately wanting to be 30 so I am finally getting closer) so I will be sure to tag you of course to see the final product haha.

(Also cue me patiently waiting for Neelam’s fake dating book so I can scream about it because you write it so well)

Some quotes I enjoyed/reactions to them (there are a lot I really tried to narrow this down I promise):

“I have a boyfriend," she said again. "His name is Ansel. He's an artist." "That's great," Porter replied lazily. "What kind of art does he do?” "Murals, mostly. Street art." "Ah.” “Ah?" she echoed, turning sharply to him. "What's that supposed to mean?" "It's just a sound, Cecily," Porter said. "It typically indicates acknowledgement." "Oh, stop," she grumbled, rolling her eyes. "You totally did it with a...a thing." "A thing?" "Yes, you did a thing, you had an...inflection-" "Do you want me to have an inflection?" She glared at him, watching his mouth quirk with suppressed laughter.” KICKING SCREAMING OH MY GOD THE “DO YOU WANT ME TO HAVE AN INFLECTION” AHHH AND HIM BEING JEALOUS LOWKEY STOP AHHH

“You're okay, We’re okay.” His fingers had laced tightly with hers. HE WAS SO CONCERNED WITH HER AFTER AND THE “WE’RE OKAY” AND HOLDING HANDS AHHH I LOST IT FOR REAL

“Like my mother always says: if she can’t make time fun, she can at least make it hard to remember” LOL

“In answer, Porter merely slid the bottle from her hand, taking another deliberate sip, and she, to her dismay, couldn't not watch him. (Blame the absinthe, she thought, for whatever she'd say next.) "What if you'd gotten out?" came courtesy of lowered inhibitions, and Porter let his eyes slide pointedly to hers. "What if you'd stayed?" he countered, and she swallowed. They sat in silence for a moment or so, her heart thudding and her mind racing, and then gradually, an actionable thought occurred to her.” OH MY GOD OH MY OH MY GOD I’M SCREAMING AHHH

”She matters to you” “Not just recently. Always.” “Everyone has a light and yours is brighter around Cecily.”...“Cecily makes everyone’s light brighter.” GRANDMA ELENAOR KNOWS THAT HE HAS BEEN IN LOVE WITH HER HIS WHOLE LIFE

“A job is not a life, Cecily” amen Grandma Eleanor

“Cecily nodded, sobering a little at the reminder. "I'm sorry to disappoint you," she began, but her grandmother cut her off with a shake of her head. "Go see the world, Cecily. Your happiness is all you owe me. I only ask that you remember where your heart is,” she said, reaching for Cecily's hand. "So long as you follow where it leads, my dear, you can never disappoint me." Cecily laced her fingers with Eleanor's, holding her grandmother's hand.” this quote makes me miss my grandma

“I just think you should know you’re not alone, that’s all. And don’t worry about your mom. She loves you; she wants you to be happy.” He swallowed carefully, adding, “And just because your version of happy and her version don't look the same doesn’t mean you need to feel guilty about it.” VERY TRUE

“Unhelpfully, Porter recalled at that moment how Cecily’s kiss had tasted like every happy memory he’d ever experienced all compiled into one, limitless moment. She had been the warmth of familiar autumn spices and the heat of July all at once. She had been bright and crisp and tender and soft and he had been trying for days to forget, even for a moment, that nothing had ever passed his lips with such unshakeable perfection as the breath he’d taken from that kiss with Cecily Ayers, who was now looking at him as if she were seeing him clearly for the first time.” WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO WRITE LIKE THIS. LIKE IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL.

“It was only when she felt the comfort of knowing they were twined together at every possible axis of contact that she realized he'd been trying to pull her close, to keep her there, his lips finding her ear to say with painful gravity, "I missed you." She shivered, burying her face in the crook of his neck and breathing him in. She may not have missed him before, but oh, she thought with sudden anguish oh, she would miss him now. "Stay with me," she whispered, and felt his solemn nod before he drew her lips to his again, kissing her to mindless oblivion.” ughhhh my loves

“Cecily felt drunker than she had on Maggie Callahan's absinthe for the entirety of breakfast. Porter had taken every opportunity he could to touch her-hands on her waist while she sliced some fruit, a wink while he flipped the pancakes, lips against her shoulder while she charmed the dishes clean, fingers floating up her spine as he handed her a plate-and all of it was positively intoxicating, equal parts excitement and joy.” domestic cecilyporter are adorable!!!

“This was it, wasn't it? This was what had been missing with Ansel, with every other person who'd never managed to fit into all the little spare parts of her life. They had all been the wrong shape, too saturated one way or another to blend with everything she was. There was something about Porter, some shade of him that seemed to complement every little hue of hers. He felt like home, and for the first time, that seemed boundless instead of limiting. For the first time since her father had passed away, Cecily found a place she belonged in Saint Sturm, and not even her mother’s exuberance could ruin it.” THIS QUOTE OH MY GOD HIM BEING THE RIGHT SHAPE AND SHADE AND HUE AND HIM FEELING LIKE HOME AND THAT WAS BOUNDLESS AND SHE FELT LIKE SHE BELONGED UGHHH I LOVE LOVE LOVE

“Miriam’s not here, is she?” she asked tentatively, and Eleanor chuckled, shaking her head. “No, not now,” she said, “but try not to say her name too many times or she might spontaneously appear.” LOL

Anyway typing all of this made me miss this story a lot. I might need to reread. Thanks again for this I will always be indebted to you.

-Amanda ❤️

okay so flashback, when I realized I needed to write another story for witch way and it was going to publish around the holidays and I didn’t know what to write and I just wanted something easy, I was like okay, I shall simply STEAL elements of mr blake’s life and hometown and how it feels to be home for the holidays (cue “tis the damn season,” also in case you didn’t already know mr blake is from a tiny town in iowa three miles from the minnesota border. it has a lot of problems—an article recently came out about the way rural america fails women—but it does make a good setting, especially because the car accident from the story REALLY HAPPENED TO ME and it was terrifying). and it turned out to be exactly what I wanted, which almost never happens. we did it joe!

anyway it’s a very tropey story but what I fell in love with while I was writing was the multigenerational aspect with the various women in the coven/family, and I have always wanted to revisit that. so it’s nice to know the story is so loved, because aspects of it definitely are alive in my head waiting for the right occasion! also yeah porter can get it

[creativeashproductions]

Elysium // Luke Patterson

Summary: The boys of Julie and the Phantoms need a hail Mary to dethrone Downslide from opening for Panic! At the Disco. While Willie is done to help his blue eyed crush and his friends there’s one issue: Willie can’t drive the bus. Moving a bench is one thing but driving an entire tour bus?  There’s only one person who can and Willie’s not sure where she is after year of no communication

Warnings: Swearing, angst, talk of death (it’s a ghost show, why is this a warning??), mention of assault, violence, and fluff.

Words: 11.5k

A/N: This is why I haven’t posted much in the last week. I’ve been writing this massive fic that I refused to turn into a series. My god, 11k words. I don’t think I’ll be doing this again. Enjoy and comment if you figured out who Rudy is!

Masterlist

There wasn’t much in the afterlife that you enjoyed after time spent in the limbo between the living and dead. Listening to songs before they were released lost its appeal just as much as dancing on stage with the ballet companies around the world, of being an unseen extra in shows and films being filmed.

Then you found a purpose a couple, well it could be more than a couple, years ago when you found a lost soul. William Young, Willie to his friends, had been sitting on the curb staring at the pavement entirely still as he had for two days.

The time from the last breath you took to walking the streets of Los Angeles was a blur in all honesty. The years bled together as you stayed stationary in a world that kept on spinning and changing, growing up. You had watched your friends hit new milestones you could only daydream about. Friends that graduated college and built new lives on the ashes of memories that included you.

Today’s walk was an attempt to escape your friends’ greying versions standing in front of a once vibrant sculpture. It happened every single year, but this one hurt the most. Listening to your friends recall stories of all the adventures you did together.

From being drunken idiots jumping off cliffs into that one lake the summer of freshman year. Or making a bonfire on the school’s roof with all the entryways blocked, rather stupid with the exits being blocked as well. Sneaking into concerts and stealing that one car that came close to sending you to boarding school.

The rebellion that still lived in you had mellowed in the five individuals with the adult responsibilities of family and work. Martha had removed all piercings but her lobes while Chase quit dying his hair colour. Jordan now had three children and a bought house.

Seeing the group no longer young had made your feet swiftly move from the memorial for a walk. The only thing that stopped you in your tracks was tripping over something in front of you.

“Ouch.” You hissed rolling onto your back with a moan of pain that faded with the sniffles.

Curled into his knees, sitting on the curb was a teenage boy about your age. Long hair curtaining his profile you found your eyes grasping the cracked helmet that spoke for itself abandoned by his side.

“Your kinda a hazard there.” You simply spoke sitting down next to the distraught teenager, “Heads up, I suck at comforting people.”

At his silence, you spoke once more, “I’m digging the tie-dye. Did you do it yourself?”

“This is some kind of stupid coma dream right?” The boy’s voice was husky from crying and disuse, “I’m probably in some kind of hospital with a tube down my throat.”

“I’d say yes, but it would be a blatant lie.” You spoke twirling a loose thread on your jeans while the stranger gazed at a spot on the street.

His dark brown eyes bloodshot as he remembered the car honking mere seconds before he heard the sound of a thud. He recalled struggling to breathe with his broken ribs and his screams being illustrated with bloodstains.

He remembered thinking how he had just bought that board a week ago with his allowance.

“Am I really dead?”

“Yes. We’re are a couple ghosts in a lively city.” You informed him with one handheld in the space between your ethereal forms. The teen hesitantly placed his hand in yours with a firm shake.

“William but call me Willie.” He softly told you, catching sight of the patch on your jean jacket—one of many from both when your grandma owned it and then when you did.

“I’m Y/N. Let’s blow this disappointment. I’m gonna teach you everything you need to know.” Brushing off the invisible dust on your jeans, you held your hand out to him, “We’re about to make the afterlife our bitch.”

A stark contrast to his former hesitance he immediately grasped your hand to tug himself off the curb. The forlorn skater didn’t question the board in your hand or how he could possibly even touch his own board. He didn’t wonder how it wasn’t in pieces like it had been when he first got hit.

That rebellion that ended your life flared again in the presence of your best friend with crashing Justin Bieber’s house. Of rearranging items in classrooms to freak teachers out and sitting in the cars turning the radio on and off. Haunting the living until the friendship fractured under the influence of a powerful ghost.

Caleb Covington had bewitched the skater with promises and extravagant gifts until Willie had taken the offer.

“He’s not like you said he was! I think you should give him a chance!” Willie cried following you around the place you had taken to be home.

“Willie he’s a bad guy! He butters you up until you give him what you want! That’s when you see his true colours. All he wants is your soul to power his magic and spread his reach!”

“I got to talk to my sister!”

“Your sister is five years old! It’s not Covington that gave you the opportunity. She won’t remember the experience as anything other than an invisible friend!”

“There are so many people at the Club that we can talk to. Aren’t you tired of the same routine and people we see?”

Willie’s pleading brought your full attention to the skater avoiding your gaze, “William Young…you took his offer.”

Willie tore his gaze from the art on the wall to find yours blatantly glaring at him with a bucket of random colour in your hand.

“The Club is going to France to tour around the country for a while. I’m dead, so I might as well make the best of it. Besides who gets to skate through the Louvre!” Willie beamed, watching as a small smile, found its way on your face at his excitement, “I’m sure Caleb would let you come to the Club tonight!”

“Willie, you are my best friend, but I’ve already seen the Club. It’s not my style, and I want nothing to do with it.”

That interaction was one of the very few speckled through the years when Caleb discovered who you were. No matter his offers, you never took the deal and when he saw how close you and Willie where he kept the skater busy. The Club didn’t appear in Los Angeles for a long time until Willie’s distance seemed too great to bridge.

“So, you need a way for the slot to be empty?” Willie asked the trio of ghosts all spread around the area.

Unfortunately for Luke, the only person they could get help from was from the very guy that placed them in a predicament. While Alex was the one spearheading the conversation with the long-haired skater Luke was glowering in his direction.

“The Orpheum was the thing we never got to do. We spent hours practising and performing with one goal-“

“Play the Orpheum and get distance from our parents. Well, at the time that streetdog and becoming legendary was my main focus.” Reggie recounted the feeling of suffocating in a house filled with fighting. A home he wished still stood, now dead all he wanted was to see his parents.

“We almost did it too.” Luke pouted relaxing his glare at the skater who openly sent apologetic gazes at Alex’s bandmates.

“So, we need to get rid of the opening band.” Willie nodded to himself, thinking about ways before he caught sight of the abject horror on the band. The skater’s eyebrows raised, “I know I deeply fractured the trust, but I’m not suggesting murder.”

“Okay. Good.” Reggie whistled relaxing his tense posture while Luke grumbled under his breath an insult that in turn got Alex’s arm into the guitarist’s ribs.

“Your best bet would be getting the bus out of LA. The band will probably celebrate the upcoming gig.”

“Could you make the bus disappear?” Alex hesitantly questioned shifting in his now vintage sneakers. The blonde-haired drummer flushed slightly under the endearing smile from the skater. The feelings create a confliction within Alex under Willie’s issue, leading them straight into a madman’s hands.

“I can move a bench, turn sirens on, but a bus is outside my paygrade.” Willie openly admitted showing his hands deep in his pockets, “The only person other than Caleb that has enough power-“

“-is he just as evil?” Luke demanded crossing his arms to glare at the male that had unfortunately caught the interest of Alex.

However, Luke couldn’t blame Alex for falling for this guy because well, Luke saw the teenage ghost’s appeal. Willie was attractive, but he wasn’t the type of person Luke would fall for. Plus he had initially made Alex incredibly happy, and Luke would never blame Alex for that.

“She is as different from Caleb as one can be. She uh…she taught me everything about being a ghost. Actually, found me where I died.” Willie cleared his throat as the guilt and sadness reared its head from deep within him. The guilt of leaving his little sister to grow up without him and the sorrow of not growing up with the girl.

It wasn’t often Willie allowed himself to remember the little girl, barely five when he died, who was always dancing. His little sister adored the colour purple and anything shiny and more than once Willie had let her dress him up. Willie’s greatest regret is that he’d never have that interaction with her. God, she’d be around his age now and in high school.

“Okay, so where is she?” Reggie clapped his hands, bringing the skater out of his thoughts and back into the present.

Luke saw the hesitation in Willie, “There’s a catch, isn’t there?”

“Kinda?” Willie trailed off bouncing on the balls of his feet, “I haven’t seen her in years now. Last time I saw her we fought about the whole joining Caleb thing? I’m not even sure if she’s still in LA.”

“Of fucking course,” Luke grunted shoving both hands in his hair taking a few steps away from the other ghosts.

First, he dies, then he gets caught up in some bullshit revenge plot, then makes a deal with the devil without realizing it, and now their one chance is going up in flames. Luke Patterson was livid with the universe and the shitty hand he had been dealt, but at least he had his friends with him.

“It can’t hurt to look for her?” Reggie innocently offered with a shake of his shoulders, “It’s not like we have any other option.”

“Did we ever even have options?” Luke hissed, causing Willie and Alex each to flinch with the different guilt they carried.

Alex was guilty of going to Willie for help when getting back at Bobby was the biggest thing. Willie was guilty of ignoring his instincts on keeping Alex as far from Caleb as he could be he just wanted to impress the drummer. It’s not like Willie had many options for dating, and well, Alex was the first to get his entire focus.

“Dude. Stop. No one saw it coming.” Reggie bumped his hip against the annoyed guitarist, “Let’s find this ghost and get our shot at playing.”

The quartet of dead guys didn’t have high hopes of finding the girl in question, but it seemed the universe took pity on Luke Patterson. Just two hours into their search on the edges of the city limits an individual was walking.

The person’s stature leaned against a smashed concrete wall of the skeleton of where a building once was. The only thing the group could make out was a faded jean jacket with splotches of colour. Her ankles crossed as her back leaned against the cement, oozed laid back confidence. Coming closer, Luke noticed the sunglasses perched on top of her head and the lips painted dark.

“What do you need Willie? I heard you were looking for me.” The husky voice drew Luke in the most. The lead guitarist of Julie and the Phantoms enamoured with the girl.

“How’d-“Willie’s question was cut off as you simply tapped your right index finger against your temple.

“How do you think you managed to get here?” You inquired pushing off the cement to stride over to the group. To Willie’s surprise, he was tugged into your embrace before swiftly pushed away, “Come on. We should head in before someone catches us.”

In the dark as much as the other three ghosts, Willie dutifully followed you past the pieces of cement littered around the area. Gasps of surprise sounded as the once empty space became filled with buildings. It was not as extravagant as the hotel the Club worked out of, but it was hidden from the living and dead eyes.

“Where did this come from?” Reggie gasped astounded by the people once hidden from his view, moving around the area. 

“This is Elysium. Don’t judge the name I lost the right in a poker game with Susie and Rudy. I’m Y/N.” You informed the group leading them to the gate where two people stood stoically guarding it, “Rudy was hellbent on calling it Valhalla.”

“This is Luke, Reggie and Alex.” Willie gestured to the awed trio of musicians only lingering on the blonde. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see the attraction between the skater and the blonde; finding a date in the afterlife was a lot harder than the living.

Nodding a greeting to the two ghosts, you lead the group to a building painted a pretty turquoise blue colour. The sign above the double doors a stark white with calligraphy writing simply stating Elysium Management. It was a building set up like an administrative office of three stories, and you led the group right up to the top floor.

“Just a heads up…Rudy is a little suspicious of people.” You admitted standing outside a door with a nameplate the only descriptor, “He’ll come off a little gruff and rude, but when you get passed that he doesn’t shut up.”

“I can hear you through the door dumbass.” The words were called out from the office door opening.

The man standing in the entry wore a crisp white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His honey-brown eyes lit up with a teasing look before it shuttered at the sight of four strangers behind you. Rudy had valid reasons to not fully trust people after the shitshow in his hometown when he was alive.

“And you’ve brought strangers.” Rudy deadpanned with a sigh concluding his sentence as he stepped back into the office. It appeared like the world repositioned itself on the young man’s shoulders once more.

“I should be done within the hour. We can go over everything.” You informed your business partner and friend. Receiving only a nod from Rudy, you closed the door to his office, cutting off the view from your guests.

“He’s..uh.”

“Standoffish? Rudy keeps his past to himself, all he’s ever revealed is that he’s from a town a few hours away.” You spoke, opening the door to your own office decorated differently from Rudy’s more sterile black and white aesthetic.

Your office had splashes of colour with vintage posters of both music and film framed on the walls—a plush couch in the corner with a basket of blankets next to it. Instead of sitting behind the dark desk, you chose the couch instead. As you settled in the corner, you flicked one finger bringing an extra seat over.

The motion shocking the three boys accompanying Willie who had seen the abilities himself.

“Okay so why did you want to search for me?” You questioned the skater leaning back in the seat.

“When did this all happen?” Willie countered gesturing to the office in a building settled in the middle of a ghost town. A literal ghost town.

“There’s an empty lot in LA that used to house an abandoned apartment building that Rudy and I both called home. Of course, it was torn down, and we kinda knew that there’s wasn’t a place that didn’t have the threat of being annihilated at some point.” The memories of those unknown days trickled into your mind among the more positive ones, “We wanted a home. A place to call our own.”

“A week or so later a skittish pixie of a brunette crashed into us full speed. Susie had a certain ability that Caleb desired to have under his thumb. There are so many ghosts he had manipulated into selling him their soul. Rudy and I both wanted to stop Caleb from having that chance for everyone.” You continued, “Can I show you?”

The moon shone through the light clouds as a duo wandered LA’s streets in different mental states. The only home you had known had been unceremoniously ripped down with no future plans in place. Your entire life had been in that apartment in a building you had once thought only you inhabited. You had been unaware that on a separate floor, Rudy had been dwelling.

The two teens in starkly different clothing grew close with each other through the whole being the dead thing they shared. The mission was to find another place too, use but the feeling of home being ripped away tore at their hearts. The apartment was a place Caleb Covington hadn’t been aware of.

Your thoughts threatened to turn darker as a force knocked you onto your bac—aA short brunette groaning in pain to the left of you. The girl was Gwen, who would become very important to both Rudy and you.

I’ve always been a little different than most people. I can move things short distances, but I developed a specific talent. I can get inside people’s minds to plant, remove or alter memories or simply talk and read their thoughts.

The sound of your voice in their heads freaked them out more than they would like to admit. The intrusive tickle of something in their brains unsettling as you made a more present entry so they could feel it.

“What?”

“This is why I can’t be anywhere near Caleb. The whole reason he gives people stamps and takes their souls is because of me.” You fully admitted clasping your fingers in your lap, “He couldn’t cope with the fear of another ghost leaving so added a stipulation to joining his Club.”

“How did you come to create Elysium?” Alex inquired leaning forward in his seat to rest his elbows on his knees. Luke and Reggie followed his posture as the anticipation built.

“Everyone deserves a safe place. A place as far away from Caleb as possible and we do so for free. No fee is required, and ghosts are free to come and go as they please. They are welcome as long as their unfinished business keeps them in this plane.”

It sounded like a sweet deal to the group of teens, but they had other commitments, “You can tell us more, but we need your help.”

The pleading in the messy-haired brunette tore at your heartstrings like the one time Willie brought you to his house. It had been shortly before your friendship fractured, a few years ago. He had brought you to a suburb for low-income families and straight to the backyard where a twelve-year-old year danced.

The dead skater boy and the rebel sat in the patio chair on the tiny porch nestled in the postmark sized backyard. A quintet of pre-pubescent girls danced on the lawn to some bubblegum pop song. The Young girl was submissive to a more confident girl even when the venue was the Young girl’s home.

“The girl to the left is my little sister Kayla. She’s twelve now, it’s been seven years since I died.” Willie’s brown eyes saddened at the dancer who had a spark of maturity in her eyes, “I check in every once in a while. These are Kayla’s friends. The bossy girl is Carrie, and while the band is a group, she is the unofficial leader of the band Carrie’s Constellations.”

 “She looks happy.”

“Kayla’s always been bubbly in personality, but she had questionable friends.” Willie outright admitted keeping his eyes pinned to the girl that had grown up in a blink of an eye. Her dark hair concealed by the gaudy purple wig; the colour assigned to the teenager.

“It’s nice that she still enjoys dance.” Willie finished reaching out to grab your hand in his and just like that Willie transitioned back into carefree, “I found this really cool skatepark I think you’d like.”

“We don’t have a lot of time.” Alex winced as the three musicians flinched as a sudden purple spark of colour lit up their midsections.

Like a tentacle, your mind reached into the quiet raven-haired boy with the leather jacket. Beyond the imagery of docile golden retrievers and steaming plates of food, you found the regret and fear in the boy. Stepping into a recent memory, you watched their experience at the Hollywood Ghost Club.

“You’ve met Caleb.” You sighed roughly pushing your index finger between your brows feeling the familiar ache.

“It was a stupid decision,” Luke spoke up, tearing his focus from the mysterious girl that ultimately had the power in her hands. The entire plan was weighing on the decision you would give, “Either we join his house band, or we don’t exist.”

“Hm.” You spoke as the kaleidoscope of colours in Luke’s eyes glittered under the sterile lights of the room. It was difficult to look away from the enthralling teenage ghost, but the emotion wafting off Willie was concerning.

“They died before they could perform at the Orpheum. We’re banking that getting the opening slot with giving them the push into crossing over.” The long-haired skater leaned closer, “I know we haven’t talked in a while, but I can’t do much.”

“So, you want to pull ’09 incident again?” You completely ignored the trio on the couch staring directly at the sheepish skater with raised eyebrows, “Only this time without the train?”

“Train?” Alex whispered, looking between the two long-time friends with interest and then next thing he knew Alex was in the backseat of a van crushed between Reggie and Luke equally confused.

Chicago, Illinois 2009

William Young and Y/N Y/L/N were complete hellions in the ghost world, creating havoc that fascinated the living population. The recent event being the highjacking of a van filled with drunk teenage boys. These boys had been the sole reason a young girl was recovering in a hospital with life-threatening injuries. The scene changed to a hospital room with Willie and Y/N watching a girl with massive bruising laid.

It had hit both Willie and Y/N hard catching the tail end of the new report, Willie thinking of how that could have been his sister. Even if Kayla was only five years old, having a sister set things more in perspective. For you it was a flashback to when you were alive and thus led you to the ICU room for the girl.

Slipping into her unconscious mind was easy but while the injured teen appeared peaceful to the hospital staff, she was anything but. The poor girl’s mind replayed the traumatic incident over and over like a movie; keeping in the shadows, you gently repainted the portrait with lighter and brighter images. 

For Willie, he watched as you wavered on your ghostly feet and smoothed out the features of the girl. The heart monitor subtly changing as the injured girl relaxed, and suddenly your interference heightened her chances of survival.

“I got it.” You spoke to Willie with a heated glare on your features and when the ghostly musician trio blinked they were back in the van.

Your hands gripped the van’s steering wheel with Willie turned in the passenger seat to watch a group of living boys scream. To the living eyes in the van, no one was in the front seats but whispered words spoke into their minds.

You’re going to go straight to the police and tell them what you did. You’ll hand over the photographic evidence and demand the worst punishment. You’ll leave the girl alone, or we’ll come back to finish our job. You will pay for the hospital bills if the family agrees. 

The boys trembled with the putrid scent of urine permeating the enclosed vehicle. The distant sound of a train echoed in the distance as the van stopped on the tracks. No matter how much the living boys moved the doors refused to open, and the windows remained unbreakable.

“WE promise!” The ringleader cried, slamming his shoulder against the door with the train’s bright lights illuminating the van.

“Let us go!” The other screamed, slamming his bruising hands on the window.

Alex was flinching at each slam of fists on the glass, leaving smears of blood. Knuckles broke from the window. At the very last second, your foot slammed the gas pedal taking the van millimetres from the train screeching on the tracks.

You and Willie stared at the stationary train lit up from the van’s headlights with the rhythmic flashes of the red and blue police lights. The van’s seat arrangement was different with the ringleader in the driver’s seat. 

The three ghost musicians standing unseen behind the duo but in the real world out of the dreamlike memory you knew.

Elysium, Present Day

“Holy fucking shit.” Alex cussed out of breath, leaning back on the couch with shaking limbs and fear in his bloodless veins.

Luke’s eyes blinked owlishly at the boy that he had once thought could never do something as terrifying and torturous. He was afraid to even ask the outcome of the life-threatening incident you did on the assailants.

“That is the reason for the train.” You barely glanced at the shaken trio to stare at who had once been your partner in crime, “Willie, I have responsibilities here. We just opened a new division for the children we house here.”

“It would take a few hours.” Willie pleaded, positioning his hands into a pleading position turning on his charm. The puppy eyes you had always struggled to say no to as if you weren’t the type of person easily capable of staying strong.

“We’ll do anything.” Luke pleaded just as much recalling the countless times he had charmed himself out of situations, “Please help us.”

“I’ll have to make arrangements with Rudy and Susie, but I might be able to pull some strings. I’m really sorry Willie, but I’m gonna need to erase your knowledge of this place. There are too many people depending on this setup.”

Outside the Orpheum

Outside the legendary venue, three out of four band members for Julie and the Phantoms walked up to the marquee. Hopefully, the letters for Downslide would be changed into their band name just under the main act. Everything was riding on Willie and Y/N’s capabilities. Trusting the skater was challenging to do and more so someone they didn’t fully know.

“Look, don’t worry, guys. Willie said he’d get us on that marquee.” Alex soothed his friends on each side of him. All three wearing concerned expressions at the place that hopefully was their last stop before crossing over.

“This is gonna work, right?” Reggie questioned with his hand confidently sliding into the pockets of his black jeans. The relaxed posture a juxtaposition to the anxiety and nerves on his flushed face.

“It has to.” Luke’s lips pursed into a pout with his words tinged with a dialect different from his best friends. The faint souvenir from the place he spent a few years growing up before moving to LA.

Luke’s words were highlighted by the groans of pain as that flash of purple courtesy of Caleb’s death stamp appeared. All three hunched over clutched their chests breathing through the pain; Luke was the first to unfurl his form.

“Whoa!” You gasped flashing underneath the marquee beside Willie. Rushing to give Luke support without even a second thought.

When the aftershock faded, the guitarist stood straight up with a thankful smile that boarded on adoration.

“Are you guys, okay?” Willie asked, keeping back with the swell of guilt that happened, seeing the familiar symptoms of post-shock. He had felt them a time or two in the time he had sold his soul to his unfortunate boss.

“Yeah, it’s nothing we haven’t felt before,” Alex replied, rubbing his hand over the baby blue shirt he had chosen today. His blue eyes doing their best to avoid looking into the puppy-like ones of the skater, “How’d it go?”

“Well, when that opening band wakes up, they’re gonna find their bus 200 miles outside of Vegas.” Willie proudly announcing turning on his heel to show off the Downslide jacket he took from the lead singer. His fist extending to bump yours instinctively before he did so with Luke.

“With no chance of getting back in time.” You snickered in response living on the adrenaline and nostalgia of the rebellion. With Elysium, you had turned around your life, “Meaning-“

“-there’s probably a promoter upstairs right about now freakin’ out.”

 “Nah. This is Hollywood, man.” Willie scoffed with a wave of his hand matching the one you supplied, “I’m sure he’s being very professional.”

As Willie finished his sentence up in the promotor’s office out of earshot of the ghosts stood a very pissed adult. His finger-wagging his finger with teeth clenched, his flushed skin a juxtaposition to the cheery blue Hawaiian style shirt. Frank Wolfe couldn’t believe how stupid his once opening band was.

“What do you mean the bus drove itself into the middle of the desert?” Frank questioned progressively growing more and more frustrated. His assistant Tasha casting concerned looks to her typically collected boss, “BUSES DON’T DRIVE THEMSELVES!”

Tasha flinched at the sudden loud growl of the sentence but more so as Wolfe starting slamming the phone into the cradle. Her fingers halting on her keyboard, going over the list of frequent acts. Unfortunately, the five acts had other commitments causing Tasha to fear tonight. The blonde lady was worried Wolfe could have a breakdown once more.

While Willie snickered to his own words, your eyes, not your mind, could read that Alex wanted to talk to the skater. With only a teasing jab of your elbow in Willie’s ribs you shuffled around the drummer to join Reggie and Luke away from the ‘will they won’t they’ couple.

“So, can you do me a favour?” Luke hesitantly questioned you with his inquisitive eyes a greener colour in the sunlight. His attractive eyes took your full attention with a simple tilt of your head, “Julie’s family means a lot to us, and could you keep an eye on them?”

“And Carlos,” Reggie interjected rocking on his polished pleather boots he had spent ages on finding for his rocker aesthetic back in the ’90s.

“-Julie’s little brother.” Luke supplied at the confusion painted clearly on your pretty features. His green eyes scoured your face as he always did that flushed both his and your faces red.

“Yeah, of course, I can.” You firmly told the two dead boys each standing tense in front of you.

You could easily see the love they held for the living family that had come to mean so much in such a short amount of time. Since first meeting them you had always gotten the feeling that their living years weren’t the best. For Alex, it was living in the ’90s as a young gay teenager during a terrifying time for the LGBTQ+ community. Reggie flinched at the raised voices, and Luke had longingly stared after the happy families milling around the Elysium.

“Did you ever find out what your unfinished business was?” Reggie inquired fixing a strand of his dark hair that had fallen onto his blemish-free skin. Your smile faltered at his question; nonetheless, you answered.

“I did.” The two words carried a sense of pain with them. Your eyes unfocused recalling the euphoric feeling of seeing the breathtaking white light of the peace exuding from the beyond and the agony of denying crossing over.

“How-“

“Hey! Y/N!” Willie called out to the young denim wearing ghost with his beaming grin, “Don’t go stealing buses without me!”

Luke swore he could see your laughter in the air, just as endearing as the smoky quality your voice carried.

“Don’t go glitter bombing criminals.” You returned as your best friend dropped his board to skate off to wherever he was needed. It was bittersweet to reconnect with him knowing that it could be the last time.

When Caleb found out, not an if but a when Willie had a hand in helping his desired band it was high chance Willie would be gone. Caleb was all too powerful, and when he was betrayed, it never ended well.

“I need to get back to Elysium. Susie’s arrival is tonight. Good luck with tonight.” Your words were accompanied by a hug for each of the boys. The one with Luke lingering the most, “I wish you could play for the kids.”

“Yeah. Me too.” The brunette, messy-haired boy’s words carried a hidden desire simply to be in your space more. The teenage ghost helps those in limbo while wearing a jean jacket with patches from many decades. The jacket creating an unknown time you had lived.

“Goodbye, boys.” You told the trio before you poofed away from the busy streets of Hollywood where the band had come full circle in death.

��Are you guys, okay?” Reggie inquired his best friends, forgoing his casual personality for the layers underneath. His blue-green eyes filled with only concern.

Alex and Luke shared a lingering look, “Yeah. We’re okay.”

The dining hall was filled with long tables and chairs populated by the ghostly forms of everyone currently living at Elysium. It was reminiscent of a British book turned film series of youth with magic abilities. The series had been a favourite of a former resident.

“Incredible.” Susie breathed staring at the joyful people having a place to call home. Making the limbo between life and death more bearable.

“We’ve done well. You smiled, wrapping an arm around her waist, “It’s so nice to have you back.”

Elysium was so much more than you could ever hope for. It kept growing and growing with more ghosts. Since the founding of the haven, new developments continuously happened with one resident’s unique ability.

Harvey had joined the haven a year into the founding bringing the ability to gift the residents with the capacity to eat. During his life, Harvey had been a renowned chef and the dream to make food it carried into his death. As long as Harvey cooked the food with his volunteer staff ghosts were able to eat it.

“Harvey has outdone himself again,” Rudy announced his arrival at your side with his arms crossed, displaying his corded muscles. The constellation of moles on his face standing on his pale creamy skin.

“Rudy!” Susie squealed, throwing herself into his arms with the same glee that came each time. Susie and Rudy since their first meeting had a special bond as chosen siblings who bonded over heartache.

Rudy had died, leaving his best friend and his strawberry blonde girlfriend in the living world back in their dark hometown. It was just one tidbit he had revealed throughout your friendship. The only physical connection to his living friends was the three picture on his desk of a group of people.

The first picture had a lean version of Rudy with his arms thrown over a Hispanic boy with a crooked jaw and glimmering brown eyes. The Hispanic boy had his arm around a pretty brunette girl with deep dimples and wavy brown hair. The two boys wore a sports uniform of some kind holding lacrosse sticks.

The second picture had Rudy and the Hispanic teen again but with a beautiful petite strawberry blonde. Along with them was a brunette with blunt chin-length hair and hardened features besides a shorter blonde male with blue eyes.

The last picture was of Rudy with the same Hispanic boy wearing graduation caps and gowns with two beaming adults. The male adult wore a tan shirt adorned with a star on his left pec and dark brown pants. He had to be Rudy’s father with similar features. The woman was of Hispanic descent with laugh lines, and thick dark curly hair pulled into a half do; obviously the Hispanic teen’s mother.

The pain in Rudy’s face each time he saw the pictures closed off a desire to ask him about the people.

“Hello, Susie.” Rudy chuckled, wrapping his arms around her small stature, “How was Europe?”

“Why don’t you ask the five newcomers I found before Caleb?” Susie teased gesturing to the ragtag of new ghosts immersed in conversations.

“Family?”

“A boarding school had a fire. Those five were in the fire when it happened and the only victims out of seven that didn’t cross over.” Susie’s tone faded into a melancholy tone with her small arms wrapping around her middle. Faded brown eyes staring at the younger of the five seeing herself in them.

“That’s terrible.” You whispered, staring at the table with one finger picking the patch of a band from the ’70s, “I can’t imagine how scary that could have been.”

“Yeah.” Susie softly spoke, pushing a strand of her hair off her temple just as equally sad for the way that death had no qualms of how it took.

The youngest ghost in Elysium had been a three-year-old toddler who passed over quickly when he was found by the deceased mother. The two had been separated at death and luckily shared the same unfinished business of finding each other.

“Miss Reynold’s has twelve spirits that finished their business.” Rudy softly informed his two partners. Soft smiles formed on their faces at the happy news of Elysium’s goal being accomplished again.

“May they find everlasting peace and serenity.” Your words intertwined with Susie in perfect sync of the motto coined after the first crossover, “I suppose the Serenity will begin planning?”

“Have the Serenity ever not performed their duty?” Rudy raised one dark eyebrow with a rhetorical question. E/c and faded brown met recalling the countless times Elysium had hosted a celebration for those who found their unfinished business.

“That is-whoa.” You gasped stumbling at the scream echoing in your mind accessorized with the vintage sound of a band.

Calloused hands grasped your shaking form from collapsing onto the ground from a proverbial psionic shove. Agony slammed your brain flickering into an old fashioned club filled with people in both colour or black and white attire. You caught sight of baby pink, deep royal blue and bright red suits. The pained screams of a skater in a dark room overtaking the music in the Club.

“No.” You whispered clenching your hands on your head, feeling the dread building in the pit of your stomach.

The joyful voices in the hall muted while your body flickered with the deep instinct to leave the haven for the one place that utterly terrified you. It was the familiar touch of Susie and Rudy that kept you from finding the one person that meant the world. Willie’s soul was on the cutting board, and Caleb obsession with performing was the only reason Willie still existed.

“Willie.” You whimpered tears rolling down your flushed cheeks, feeling the panic in the skater’s mind.

“Susie help me.” Rudy stonily spoke ushering the distraught girl from the busy hall into an empty room.

Your shaking body finding purchase on the plush sofa with Susie holding one hand in hers and Rudy brushing the sweaty hair from your forehead. It wasn’t often your psionic abilities left you in such a state, but the distance proved difficult.

“Shit.” Rudy grumbled frowning, “This is bad. Y/N, we need to get you to Willie. You’re flickering, and the distance isn’t helping.”

“You want to take one of Elysium’s strongest ghosts straight into Caleb’s domain? You know how much he wants her in his Club.” Susie hissed to the co-founder of the haven they had to take extraordinary measures to protect, “It won’t work! You’re throwing her to the dogs!”

“Susanne I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t necessary. Besides, we always have a plan.” Rudy retorted narrowing his whiskey eyes at the younger girl, “I’ll take her to get Willie, but you need to stay here to make sure everything runs smooth.”

“Are you sure you can-“Susie cut herself off with a nod as Rudy displayed the reason he could do it, “Okay, yep, you can do it.”

Rudy came back into her vision in his signature position with one eyebrow raised, and his arms crossed. The reason why Elysium worked so well was Rudy’s ability to erase an object from the view of anyone. He could make himself invisible to anyone and in practice, developed it to hide items and location. With his ability, Elysium was permanently hidden to anyone outside of his power. Illusions were his unique ability.

“You aren’t the first person to doubt my capability.” Rudy informed the other ghost reaching one hand out. With his fingers caressing your temple, he snapped his fingers, transporting you and him away from Elysium.

The empty room of Elysium’s dining hall was exchanged for the business streets of Los Angeles, bringing an improvement in your body. Pushing away from Rudy, your eyes frantically scoured the unfamiliar area for any hint of Willie.

“He’s close.” You exclaimed closing your e/c eyes to focus solely on your sixth sense kicking in. Rudy’s gasp snapped your eyes open to see his eyes pinned on your feet where a glowing neon purple smoke wisped.

“What is that?” Rudy demanded crouching to touch it, but it was like nothing was there. His whiskey brown eyes meeting your confused gaze.

“I have no clue, but I feel like I have to follow it.” Robotically your feet started walking following the smoke through the streets.

Rudy was silent as you came upon a park swallowed by the darkness of the night with the moon barely showing through the clouds. The odd purple smoke the only offering of light so far from the path with street lights.

“Of course we have to go through a park.” Rudy grumbled, “Nothing good ever happens in wooded areas at night.”

Lifting your eyes from the smoke, you looked at a deeply unsettled Rudy lost in the past only he knew. His mind recalling traipsing through the forest with his asthmatic best friend in the middle of the night. The last night before the unknown took over his life. Oddly enough dying and returning as a ghost was the most normal with everything that happened with his friends alive.

“You can go ba-“

“We’re not splitting up,” Rudy growled plainly scowling at your hesitant features. Rudy’s slammed the door closed on his past life.

Sensing unease Rudy’s calloused hand reached over to slide into yours in platonic support. You continued your mission, unaware that three certain ghosts in breathtaking suits were searching for you. 

Alex, Reggie, and Luke, affected by the purple jolts, failed to find the one place where their plan B could work. What Julie hadn’t known was that the guys had a plan just in case the Orpheum wasn’t their unfinished business. The three would go to Elysium to accept their fate and ensure Julie believed they crossed over.

With no Elysium in sight, the boys returned to the Molina garage hoping that one thing would go their way: Julie would go straight to bed.

The glow purple smoke trailed through the city park into an older part of Los Angeles before it stopped. Where the smoke stopped was a vast empty space surrounded by trees.

“Well, that’s a little anticlimactic.” You grumbled crossing your arms, “Willie’s somewhere here. Do you think Caleb has an underground lair?”

Rudy cast an unamused expression at you, “From past experience. No, that’s not likely. He probably has an apartment downtown. An underground network of caves in the woods is more shapeshifter style but still not true.”

“One: You’re rambling. Two: What the hell kind of life did you have?” You questioned furrowing your eyebrows at his rather odd piece of information.

“An old one.” Rudy spoke, staring ahead, “Besides, I think we should check out whatever building is hidden from our sight.”

“Hid-“Your mouth halted when Rudy roughly gripped your shoulders to twist you to face the empty space.

“Close your eyes. Trust your senses.” Rudy spoke softly, “Or pay attention to the slab of concrete in the middle of an empty space with well-kempt grass.”

Your palm slammed your forehead with a resounding thump in the night with distance lights from surrounding buildings. Rudy squeezed your shoulders as he stepped to the side once more in turn, closing his eyes.

“Walk in my mind.” Rudy stated for the first time in your friendship, allowing you to look in his mind. Your hesitance was met with another squeeze of comfort in his calloused grip.

Your tired eyes closed as your mind timidly stepped into the rather breathtaking mind of Rudy, who felt guilt the most. While Susie’s mind was like a summer day spent at a lake with brightness and gorgeous field of flowers, Rudy’s mind was different.

It was dark in Rudy’s mind but not as if evil, but as if he had been touched by the darkness and painted permanently. There’s was the odd whisper of childlike laughter intermingled with the full adult laugh of a woman; the laughter overshadowed with the sound of funeral music. You felt the lose near that memory. Rudy’s mind was painful to be in and drowning in the feelings he had.

Your breath caught seeing a door you assumed was of his childhood room with a name you couldn’t pronounce for the life of you.

“My parents named me after my mom’s dad.” Rudy spoke through his mind with a soft smile on his face, “I couldn’t say it, so I called myself Mischief. I stopped using it when my mom died, and I went by a shortened version of my last name.”

Your eyes watched as the door disappeared, and the reason you were in his mind came back to the forefront. Your eyes watched the image forming of a vintage hotel rippling in the air before it solidified. The size reminded you of a castle, and it felt like you were storming it.

Without any more mental interaction, you stepped out of Rudy’s mind back into the real world. The very same hotel in plain sight to both Rudy and your surprised elation.

 “Honestly didn’t think that would work.” Rudy breathlessly laughed, staring at the hotel once hidden to them. A dark comparison to Elysium.

“How do we play this, Rudy?” You inquired looking over at him, “This is very different from stealing cars and scaring teens.”

“Easy. We blend in.” Rudy responded, holding one hand out to grasp yours in which you noticed your attire had changed, “Perks of illusion? I can alter our own perception of ourselves.”

“Oh, wow. That looks expensive.” You replied, staring at the diamond bracelet on your wrist matching the necklace you wore.

Rudy’s attire had changed from his normal button-up with the sleeves rolled to be layered under a charcoal grey vest and jacket. Sleek matching pants to his coat and the dark black-tie matching the elegant black dress you wore. He had taken pity on your footwear to fit your ability to walk and for the fancy place.

He even had diamond cufflinks that matched you, but the wedding rings on your fingers took you aback. Your widened eyes staring at him.

“Tonight we’re Mr and Mrs Martin,” Rudy spoke choking on the last name he gave as it was the upscale name toppled from his lips.

“Okay. This is a test of our abilities.”

“This is if our plan A of being invisible doesn’t work. The one thing we know for sure is that Caleb has never seen either one of us.” Rudy soothed your nerves with a half-smile,” Let’s get Willie out.”

Your arm slipped into the crook of his to walk to the front door, “I feel like a spy. I feel like that Naomi Roma-“

“It’s Natasha Romanoff. Have you ever seen one of the marvel movies?” Rudy demanded walking up the entrance with a pained smile, “You’re like my best friend and when he wouldn’t watch Star Wars! Never caught one of my references!”

“Okay! Sorry, we can watch the movies when this over.” You grumbled as your heels clicked in the foyer of the hotel. The inside made you feel like you were sent back in time to the roaring ’20s.

“Oh damn, this is nice,” Rudy whispered, staring at the chandelier in the extravagant lobby of the last place you wanted to be.

While on the outside the two ghosts appeared cool, calm and collected they were anything but. Both a wreck inside from the perilous errand they had done that could very well be the ending of Elysium. Rudy nudged you to begin finding Willie with your mind, but you didn’t need to.

That same glowing mist was on the ground pulling you in the direction of a dark hall away from the route to the Club. Rudy kept his eye out, a characteristic carried into the afterlife from his time with the FBI, as you followed the mist. The hall continued to get more and more dark as the walk continued.

 Finally at the end was a blood-red door.

 “I swear to god if he kills his Club members, I’ll lose it.” You hissed to your arm candy, “What if he’s really H. H. Holmes disguised as a former magician? His door is blood red!”

“Have you been using your serial killer colouring book again?” Rudy demanded stuttering his steps to place his whiskey brown eyes on you. The sheepish expression on your face was enough of a response to gain the look of disbelief could have sent you into hysterics had the time not been too serious.

With a grin belying the situation, you twisted your wrist to open the door to hopefully where Willie was being held.

“What a cliché. He’s keeping Willie in the basement?”

“Will you shut up!” Rudy hissed right back with a clenched jaw entering the somewhat unfinished basement. It was cold even to your dead standards where the cold didn’t bother that much.

At the bottom in front of a desk with only a small lamp as illumination sat a vacant-eyed Willie painstakingly detailing a fabric. The lush purple velvet fabric was bougie, to say the least, and rather outlandish for the skater.

“Willie.” You softly coaxed the teen to glance up from the fabric you found to be something Caleb would wear. Willie’s brown eyes barely met yours before they returned to the sewing needle in his hand and the tiny beads in the bowl.

“Caleb is actually forcing him to be his personal seamstress?” Rudy scoffed,d stepping right up by your side to look at the work.

Both trying unsuccessfully to coaxed Willie out of the stupor he was engaged in the sudden poofing wasn’t heard.

“Mrs. Young taught both Willie and Kayla how to sew. She’s quite the seamstress, reminds me of my old one.” Caleb wistfully responded with a smarmy smile on his face, “Well if it isn’t little Y/N and whoever she brought. Nice threads.”

“Let him go.”

Caleb’s index finger caressed the corner of his mouth so gently to ensure the stage makeup didn’t budge. His clear ocean blue eyes turning thunderstorm navy as his lips parted in such a bone-chilling sinister grin.

“Let him go? He tried to take my new house band from me. He thinks that those boys not crossing over is his punishment. I think that adorable but so very wrong.” Caleb shrugged, dragging his finger down the bicep of his puppet.

“What can we do to- “

“You see after he’s done fixing the tuxedo jacket I’m going to tie him up on the table and slowly strip away his soul piece by piece. No, Willie won’t get the quick and easy zap erasing him. I’ll personally see it’s the most painful thing he experiences and I’ll do so happily.”

“Willie! Wake up!” Rudy shouted, shaking the skater’s shoulder frantically with his focus never entirely leaving the mad man. The whiskey brown eyes panicking at the odd displaced feeling of reliving his living life.

“That won’t work.” Caleb chuckled crossing his arms, “It’s rather amusing you think you can beat me. I’m Caleb Covington! I’m persuasive enough for hundred of memberships to financially benefit the Club.”

“And I’m Y/N Y/L/N bitch.” You snarled viciously throwing your mind into the nefarious narcissistic mind of the washed-up magician. 

Caleb Convington had started to bore his audience with the same tricks at every previous show. The lack of interest depleting the attendance numbers and severely hurting the financials. So Caleb decided to broaden his talent by copying the likes of Harry Houdini.

He had a knack for both the dramatics and swindling his audience to be tricked by the illusions he created. The heightened popularity increased Caleb’s thirst for status and fame, so he overestimated himself.

Surrounded by adoring fans and journalists, Caleb had his assistant lock him in a safe with no key, to the audience’s knowledge, and push the safe into the river. Unfortunately from the infamous magician and escape artist the safe warped due to the material it as made out of. Caleb Covington died drowning in a safe at the bottom of the river.

You flinched feeling the emotion at the time Caleb had died and the feeling of disappointment at not leaving a legacy. Your continued your trek in the struggling mind of a man who viewed himself as invincible. You caught glimpses of a young Caleb with his family and the moments of tragedy that shaped him.

You saw his first taste of power in death and the content since the first time he erased a ghost from existence. It sickened you more as you reached the point where Willie came into Caleb’s path.

I’m unique, Caleb. Unlike you with the illusions and empty promises, I have real power that you could only dream of. Hearing your thoughts and planting my own words is just the tip of the iceberg.

Caleb screamed in response holding his aching head as you cruelly ripped every memory of Willie from his mind. The screams echoed not only in the basement but through the hotel the Club worked out of.

“Stop!” Caleb pleaded, shaking his head back and forth. The anguish was un-fazing to both the lucid people in the room. Rudy too busy trying to wake your best friend from the trance he had been placed in.

“I can alter memories. Remove them and even plant memories of my own design. You may take from people, but I give to people. I refused to give you anything.” You circled the man seeing double from outside and inside his mind.

I’m everything you wish you could be.

Your last action in his mind was searing a burn that flashed across his entire body from a nerve stroked. With the heat equivalent to magma in his veins, you burrowed to where Caleb controlled the souls. With a smear of your fingers, Willie’s soul was released from Caleb clutches.

“C’mon. Get Willie.” You told Rudy sending Caleb into an empty trance as if he was no more than a wax figure. Rudy eased the skater up from the desk while you exchanged Caleb to sit on the chair holding the needle, “We need to leave. I’ll get rid of any speck of Willie in memories.”

“I didn’t even get to punch the guy.” Rudy pouted, dragging his feet up the stairs away from the magician.

“That’s a good thing. I’m sure Caleb would be more pissed about his nose being damaged than losing Willie.” You scoffed helping the man urge Willie to walk up the stairs and then down the hallway to the entrance.

As you walked you brushed the minds of every individual in the building, all members in attendance, you gently removed all traces of Willie. By the time you reached the edge of the park, you had relaxed.

“We should get him to Alex, they didn’t crossover. I can still feel their imprint.”

“He’d be safer at Elysium to lay low.” Rudy replied, keeping on eye on the skater and on anyone he could see.

With only a nod, you ushered the ghost to teleport both the skater and himself back to the safe walls of Elysium. As he did so, you reached out with your mind to the blonde-haired sweet male in adoration with your best friend.

Clicking his place was easy enough for your draining power after the taxing bond with Willie’s absent presence. Instead of walking as you would generally choose you poofed on the cement pad in the backyard of a home. The surrounding skirt of the backyard encased with plants and flowers.

“Hello?” You called out in the darkness. The soft, mumbled words had your feet moving in the direction.

Standing in a circle mesmerized at the purple tattoos lifting off their skin was the boys of Julie and the Phantoms. The teenage beautiful Puerto Rican girl stood across from Luke with Reggie and Alex on each side.

“Alex?” You called out to the boy wearing a baby pink vintage tuxedo that complimented his skin and hair exquisitely. The outfit definitely screamed that Caleb had something to do with it, especially with the missing fanny pack.

“Y/N?” Luke gasped turning to see you in incredibly fancy attire matching his gorgeous blue suit modified to having no sleeves. The anticipation of eating at you to find Reggie rocking a red suit with butterflies on the fabric.

“I’m sorry you didn’t crossover.” Your words soothed the sad teenagers that had accepted their fate only to have no control again. An introduction was brought between you and Julie when the living girl elbowed Alex.

“Not that we mind but what are you doing here? How did you get here, and why are you dressed up?” Luke inquired, pushing his hands into his suit pockets, engrossed with your gorgeous appearance.

“Well when you crash a fancy Club with a narcissistic founder…any means to blend in is necessary.” You responded, “As for your second question.”

Your finger tapped your temple before continuing to speak, “I’m here because Alex deserves to know. You all do.”

The boy in baby pink frantically stepped forward, “What happened?”

“Maybe it’s best, I just show you?” Your brows furrowed to your own question accompanied by your lower lip being bitten by your teeth. The red lipstick not budging as it was an illusion as well.

“Hu-“Reggie grunted as he spiralled with his two dead bandmates into the scene that had sent you on your determined mission.

The rough action of being drawn into your memories as jarring as the first time and just as scary. The maniacal magician pacing the dark basement simply to heighten his dramatic speech. Alex’s heart clenched at the vacant look in the skater’s eyes with the faintest tinge of purple in the gorgeous brown.

“I feel like I got carsick.” Reggie moaned leaning over to clutch his midsection once you released the ghostly trio. Reggie would often gain a look of disbelief and horror from the blonde drummer, but his entire brain was centred on Willie.

“Rudy took Willie back to Elysium where he’ll be safe. If you want, you can join us.” The words were offered to both the dead and living currently in the room.

Opting out, Julie retired to her bedroom to calm down from the rush of performing at the Orpheum of all places. Besides she felt like going to Elysium was best for the three boys, and maybe they would move there. Julie would miss them, but she knew they’d always come back.

Susie was quick to hug you tightly as you stepped through the gates with the dead members of Julie’s band. The boys changed out of the tuxedos they had dropped off at a donation centre, Reggie had wanted to burn them. After living on the streets for a short while, Luke understood the need for clothing, so the clothing was taken to shelters.

“I’m so glad you’re okay. Rudy told me you overexerted yourself again.” Susie spoke with a deeply furrowed brow oblivious to the puppy dog look from the bassist in red flannel.

“If I didn’t, Willie would be gone.”

“You’re pale yet flushed cheeks. I can see you have a fever. You need to rest.”

“I need to soothe Willie out of the trance that psychotic prick put him in.” You scoffed shaking Susie’s hand off your shoulder to sidestep her, “I’ll rest when he’s fine.”

“I-“

“At least gab something from the cafeteria for energy.” Susie’s brown eyes dimmed at your typical brush off. The same routine of overusing your powers and not recharging correctly, “He’s in Cottage A!”

The boys were on your heels as you power-walked through the streets of the ghost city with one location in mind. The living streets with homes of all style and colours appeared passed the bakery, the school and the clothing stores.

“You can eat?” Reggie whispered as a little ghost girl licked an ice cream cone walked by.

“Harvey adored cooking for people when he living, so he continued in death. Harvey can make food for ghosts, and so can his staff if they work in his kitchen. His pastry chef provides baked goods to Flora’s Bakery and makes the best ice cream.”

 “Oh my god.” Reggie practically squealed wholly flabbergasted by the almost perfect place you created, “How do you pay for things?”

“We don’t. What Harvey doesn’t grow in his garden, he can make ingredients out of thin air. We all have some kind of job we do. Everyone has a role in fulfilling to keep Elysium running.” You simply spoke keeping your eyes on the cottage with the robin’s egg blue door.

As if he knew Rudy flung the door open elated to see you standing there. Both of you still wearing the illusioned attire. IN milliseconds he wiped the illusion away, returning you back into your street clothes.

“How is he?”

“No change.” Rudy replied, following your steps in the living room. The skater was staring blankly at the wall.

“Willie!” Alex cried, rushing over to kneel beside the boy that had so swiftly stolen his heart without him realizing. The emotion in his word didn’t get a microscopic flinch from the formerly so-called enemy.

“Everyone be quiet.” You demanded forcibly staring each person in the room down for a mere second. With the desired silence continued, you ignored the headache forming in your head to step into the skater’s mind.

William Young was screaming to be released by the prison of his own mind Caleb had forced him into. He had felt the restriction on his soul lifted and the mist of purple leaving his brain, but he was still stuck.

He could barely breathe with the weight on his chest. Willie didn’t like feeling stuck in one place as he was a wanderer at heart. It was a reason why he had joined the Hollywood Ghost Club with the promise of travel.

Willie come back

In his mind, the sound of your voice firstly grounded the young man as a mirage of your form flickered. Your eyes screamed worry while the smile was one of relief.

Caleb can’t hurt you anymore. Come home.

The spectators watching see your flinching wavering expression and the tensing of Willie’s facial muscles. Everyone sat on the edge of their seat as the two pairs eyes opened in synch of the yells of hurt.

What they didn’t expect was your eyes to roll into the back of your skull and you to collapse onto the floor.

“Y/N!” Willie cried, stumbling off the couch onto the cold floor where your body lay prone, “Wake up!”

It seemed everyone forgot the little detail of being dead.

 “She’s fine.” Rudy remarked, shaking your arm with such gentle care matching the four guys’ care in the room.

Your eyelids fluttered open under the bright lights of the unused cottage still waiting for an owner.

“Susie was right.” You grumbled allowing Willie to help you sit up against the blue velvet couch. Your mussed hair adorable in the eyes of the guitarist utterly enamoured with everything about you.

“She usually is.” Rudy mused, thinking of the many times she had proven everyone wrong, “She punched me for not bringing you home.”

“Gotta love her.” You snorted turning to face the four ghosts awkwardly gazing around the room. It was barren of personality with the lack of inhabitants. The yearning quickly found in the boys’ eyes, “You know this isn’t the only cottage in need of people.”

“What do-“

“You’re welcome to live here. I know you three live in that studio, but here you can have a real bed. You can eat and having your own place. You can come and go as you please.” You offered without looking, Rudy.

“I don’-“

“If you don’t want to live here, it’s okay, but the option is always there. Willie, we make plans for a skatepark-“

“Oh, you had me from the start.” Willie beamed tugging you into his arms, “I missed this. I missed you.”

 “Me too.” You murmured into his warm embrace equally relaxed at knowing he was safe again. Your eyes clashing with the soft blue had Ideas songwriting already filled with lyrics of a pretty girl wearing a jean jacket with patches.

The lyrics turned into songs both in the studio and the cottage that Luke, Reggie and Alex accepted in Elysium. It had been a spirited discussion with Julie on moving to Elysium, but the boys were always there when she wasn’t in school. Often Elysium hosted a concert for the residents with the visitation of Julie.

Your reciprocated attraction with the messy-haired hazel-eyed guitarist flourished into a serious relationship. Luke took on the role of teaching how to play the guitar and songwriting. Alex took of mediation while Reggie worked with Harvey.

Willie quickly took on designing the skatepark he taught at while also taking a position at the ghost school.

“Morning.” The soft whisper roused your sleep into the golden glow of the morning light and chirping birds.

The growling aspect of his voice coming from only just waking up. The sight of Luke’s bleary eyes was heartwarming.

 A year into moving into Elysium, Luke had asked if you’d like to move in as he was the only one in the original house. Alex had moved into the little cottage with Willie three months into the relationship while Reggie was going back and forth between Susie’s room and his own place.

“Morning.” You hummed leaning forward to kiss his cheek.

“You know I thought my life ended when I died. That I could never find someone and have a family. That I couldn’t share my music with the world. I was wrong.” Luke murmured as he cupped your cheek in his hand, “The band is growing more and more each day. I found the love of my life, and we have a family with everyone. I haven’t felt like I had had home for so long, but I get it now. You’re my home. I love you.”

Your cheeks warmed up at the adoration Luke displayed in his expressive hazel green gaze just as it had since day one. The awe fell from his lips before you pressed a kiss to his lips, only one of the many in the eons to come.

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[asleepinawell]

Book Recs

I was gonna do one of these at the end of the year, but I’ve somehow managed to read 26 books this year already (12 novellas, 14 novels), almost all featuring queer authors and/or characters so this is already a long list.

Note: There’s a few on here I was kind of meh about, but in most of those cases it was a ‘book might be good but it’s not for me so i’ll mention it to put it on people’s radar anyway’ type of thing. Insert the usual necessary tumblr disclaimer about all of this being only my opinion and your opinions are valid too etc etc.

In order of when I read them:

Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir - Fantasy novella from the author of gideon the ninth that’s a twist on the classic princess trapped in a tower waiting for a prince story. Quite fun. (novella)

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht - Dark fantasy about revenge and magic. m/m couple but like I said it’s pretty dark and twisted all around so definitely not a happy queer romantic story. My opinion was interesting premise that could have been executed better and probably should have been a full novel to embellish on the world building potential. (novella)

A Memory Called Empire & A Desolation Called Peace - Arkady Martine - Probably tied with murderbot as the best things I read this year. Scifi, f/f couple, wonderfully done exploration of what it means to fall in love with a culture that is destroying your own. More of the many queer anti-imperialist books that have come out recently and certainly some of the best. The second one is a direct continuation of the first. (2 novels)

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson - This is the third in the Baru Cormorant series (The Masquerade) and was my favorite so far. The second and third book were originally one book that got split I believe and the second book didn’t stand alone as well (though was still great), but the third book really made up for that. Dark fantasy world starring a queer woc whose country and culture is destroyed by the imperial forces of that world colonizing and assimilating them. She vows revenge and decides to work her way up within her enemy’s ranks to enact it from within and bring an empire to ruins. Really really fascinating study of so many different aspects of our own world and the systems which enable and allow bigotry and how bigoted and violent narratives are used to control minorities. This is definitely a darker series and I was particularly impressed with some of the commentary on the racism prevalent in non-intersectional feminism as depicted through a fantasy world. Can’t wait for the last one to come out! (3 novels, 1 forthcoming)

The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells - There’s six of them--5 novella and a novel--and the first is All Systems Red. Told from the point of view of a self-aware droid/android that is rented out by a corporation to provide protection in a dystopian capitalist hellhole future that isn’t that unlike our current capitalist dystopia but is in space. Muderbot hacked the chip that controlled it and instead of going rogue just wants to be left alone to watch its favorite tv shows. Murderbot is painfully relatable and the books are both funny and poignant. Highly recommended. (5 novellas and a novel).

Winter’s Orbit - Everina Maxwell - This was a m/m romance novel with a scifi backdrop of royal intrigue. Generally I’m more into scifi with a queer relationship in the background than vice versa, so it wasn’t my favorite, BUT I think it was still well written and someone looking for more of the romance angle would enjoy it. Has all your favorite romance tropes in it, especially the yearning. (novel)

The Divine Cities - Robert Jackson Bennett - Three book series. I’m very conflicted about this one. Set in a fantasy world where an enslaved nation overthrew the country enslaving them and now rules over them. It’s a story of what happens after the triumphant victory and within that it’s also a murder mystery tied into the dying magic of the conquered nation. It also has a six foot something naked oily viking man fist fight a cthulhu in a frozen river. The second book was by far my favorite, mostly due to the main character being brilliant. My conflict comes from the fact I don’t feel like the story treated its women and queer characters well. Like it had really great characters but it didn’t do great by them overall. That and the third book didn’t live up to the first two. But still definitely worth a read, can’t stress enough how cool some of the world building was. (3 novels)

Into the Drowning Deep - Mira Grant - This might be the only one on here I disliked. It’s got a doomed boat voyage and creepy underwater terror and monsters and a super diverse cast of characters, but I just didn’t enjoy the writing style. While having a diverse cast is great, there were a lot of moments where it felt like characters were pausing to explain things about themselves that felt like a tumblr post rather than a normal conversation you might have while actively being hunted by monsters. I also bounced off all the characters. But a lot of people seem to have liked it so if you’re into horror and want a book with a f/f main couple then maybe you’ll enjoy it. (novel)

Dead Djinn Universe - P. Djèlí Clark - Around the early 1900′s, a man in Egypt discovers a way to access another world and bring Djinn and mysterious clockwork beings called Angels through. As a result, Egypt tells the British to get fucked and Cairo becomes one of the most powerful cities in the world. So Egypt, magic, djinn, a steampunk-ish vibe, oh and the main character is a butch queer woman who enjoys wearing dapper suits and looking fabulous while she investigates supernatural events. Her girlfriend is also mysterious and badass. And she has a cat. There’s three novella (one of which technically might be considered a short story) and then the first novel. You should absolutely read the novellas first (A Dead Djinn in Cairo, The Angel of Khan el-Khalili, The Haunting of Tram Car 015). Super fun and imaginative series. (3 novellas and a novel, more forthcoming)

River of Teeth & Taste of Marrow - Sarah Gailey - From the book description

“In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true. Other true things about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two. This was a terrible plan.”

Queer hippo riders!!!! Very much a western but with hippos. Main couple included a non-binary character. Loved the first one. The second one I was more meh about due to one of the characters I was supposed to like having obnoxious man pain that a woman had to take the brunt of the whole time. Also there were less hippos. But queer hippo riders! Definitely read the first one, and they’re both novellas so no reason not to read the second as well. (2 novellas)

A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Becky Chambers - I may be the only person who hasn’t read the long way to a small angry planet at this point, but I did grab her new novella and I loved it. It made me want to go sit out in the woods and feel peaceful. The world it’s set in feels like a peaceful post-apocalypse...or diverted apocalypse maybe. Humans built robots and robots gained sentience, but instead of rebelling they just up and left and went into the wilderness with a promise that the humans wouldn’t follow them.The remaining human society reshaped itself into something new and peaceful. It’s the story of a monk who leaves their habitual monking duties to go be a tea monk and then later wanders into the wilderness and becomes the first human in ages to meet a robot. Very sad there’s no fan art yet. (novella, more forthcoming)

The March North - Graydon Saunders - This was such a weird book that I’m not sure how to explain it. The prose style is hard to get used to and I suspect a lot of people will bounce off it in the first chapter. There’s no third person pronouns used at all and important events get mentioned once in passing and if you blink you’ll miss them. Set on a world where magic is extremely common to the point that rivers sometimes run with blood or fire and the local weeds are something out of a horror movie and most of the world is run by powerful sorcerer dictators, one country banded together (with the help of a few powerful sorcerers who were tired of all the bullshit) to form a free country where powerful sorcerers wouldn’t rule and the small magics of every day folks could be combined to work together. The story revolves around a Captain of the military force on the border who one day has three very powerful sorcerers sent to them by the main government with the hint that just maybe there’s about to be a big invasion (there is) with the implication of take these guys and go deal with this. The world building is extremely complex and very cool...when you can actually understand what the fuck is going on. There is also a murder sheep named Eustace who breathes fire and eats just about everything and is a Very Good Boy and belongs to the most terrifying sorcerer in the world who appears as a little old grandma with knitting. It had one of the most epic badass and wonderfully grotesque battles I’ve ever read. But yeah, it is not what I would call easy reading. Opinions may vary wildly. I did also read the second one (A Succession of Bad Days) in the series which was easier to follow and had a lot more details about the world, but overall I was more meh about it despite some cool aspects. The chapters and chapters of the extreme details of building a house that made up half the novel just weren’t my thing. (novels).

The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah Johnson - In this world parallels universes exist and we’ve discovered how to travel between them, but the catch is you can only go to worlds where the ‘you’ there is already dead. This turns into an uncomfortable look at who would be the people most likely to have died on many worlds and how things like class and race would fit into that and what we would actually use this ability for (if you guessed stealing resources and the stock market you’d be correct). The main character is a queer woc who travels between worlds with the assistance of her handler (another queer woc) who she has the hots for. She accidentally stumbles on a whole lot of mess and conspiracy and gets swept up in that. Really enjoyed it. (novel)

Witchmark - C.L. Polk - Fantasy world reminiscent of Victorian England (I think?) where a young man with magical gifts runs away from his powerful family to avoid being exploited by them. He joins the army and fights in a war and comes home to try and live a quiet life as a doctor, but a murder pulls him into a larger mystery that upturns his life. Also he’s extremely gay and there’s a prevalent m/m romance. This one was a fun-but-not-mind-blowing one for me. (novel, 2 more in the series I haven’t read)

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon - This was one of those that everyone loved but I couldn’t get into for some reason. I tried twice and only got about halfway through the second time. It’s got dragons and queer ladies and fantasy world and all the things I like, but I wasn’t that invested in the main story (which included the f/f couple) and was more interested in the smaller story about a woman trying to become a dragon rider. There are few things that beat out a lady and her dragon friend story for me and that was the storyline that felt neglected and took a different turn right when we got to the part I’d been waiting for. But, I know a lot of people whose reading opinions I respect who loved it, and if you like epic fantasy with dragons and queens and treachery and pirates and queer characters then I’d say you should definitely give it a try. (novel)

Bonus: I didn’t read these series this year, but if you haven’t read them yet, you should.

Imperial Radch (Ancillary Justice) - Ann Leckie - Spaceship AI stuck in a human body out for revenge for their former captain, but that summary does not come close to doing it justice. Another one examining imperialism and also gender and race.(3 novels)

Kushiel's Legacy Series - Jacqueline Carey - This is two series, six books total, and starts with Kushiel's Dart. Alternate universe Renaissance-y Europe in a fantastical world where sex isn't shameful and sex workers are respected and prized. Lots of political intrigue and mystery. A lot of BDSM and kinky stuff too (the main character is a sexual masochist, oh and also bi!). I first read this series when I was fifteen or sixteen and it definitely made a big impression on me. Same author also wrote the Santa Olivia series which I’d also recommend. (6 novels)

The Locked Tomb (Gideon the Ninth) - Tamsyn Muir - I mean, if you follow me, you know. If you don’t follow me you still probably know. I’d have felt remiss to have left them off though. Lesbian Necormancers in Space. Memes! Skeletons! Biceps! Go read them. (2 novels, 2 forthcoming, 1 short story)

Books On My To Read List:

Fireheart Tiger - Aliette de Bodard

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water - Zen Cho

Black Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse

This Is How You Lose the TIme War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee

Also, if anyone has any recs for scifi/fantasy books starring queer men (not necessarily having to do with a queer relationship) and written by queer men I’d love them. There’s a lot written by women, and some of them are great, but I’d love to read a story about queer men from their own perspective.

[tefilovesreading]

Long overdue. Charlie Gillespie x OC

A/N: I’m really happy to finally share this one, it took me a while to finish it but I’m proud with the final result. I hope you love it as much as I do. 

Summary: Charlie and Olivia used to be best friends, until he left their hometown to pursue his acting career without saying goodbye to his best friend, ruining their friendship. They meet again four years later.

Word count: +6k

Warning: some swearing, mention of a panic attack, angst???? 

Special thanks to my lovely @theamazingtomholland​ for helping me out and your sweet words! Also thanks to @thelawiswiththerose​ !!

MASTERLIST 

When Olivia was just a kid, her grandfather used to joke about how she would grow up to become a historian because her memory was amazing,and she believed him. Until she realized that she had an excellent memory only when it came to things that matter to her or that made her the young woman she was now. She remembered meeting her current best friend on April 7th,four years ago. She knew her heart got broken for the first time on March 31st when she was only fifteen, it was a Monday, and she didn’t cry because she needed to get through her classes. Or how she lost a piece of herself when her grandpa died when she was just five years old on May 31st.

She unlocked her phone and felt her heart get a little bit heavier when she saw the date on the screen:

August 26.

Four years ago, when they both were eighteen, things were easier for sure, at least for Charlie. Olivia wasn’t doing bad either but seeing her childhood best friend kiss another girl in front of her wasn’t something she enjoyed. How could someone watch the person they’ve loved for years kiss someone else and not feel like they were getting their heart crushed little by little?

They spent the day with their friends, celebrating Charlie’s last birthday near the river before he moved to Toronto to pursue his acting career a week later. Olivia could still remember how happy he looked sitting next to the bonfire; his arms wrapped around his then- girlfriend laughing about something his friend had said. Sat just across from them, giving the couple and herself some space, she knew her heart was going to break again that night. And it did because he ditched her at the end of the night when he was supposed to make sure she got home safely just like he promised her parents he would.

She remembered how scared she felt walking back home in the dark by herself even when she knew their neighbourhood was safe and she wasn’t far from her house. But she was terrified of darkness and Charlie was the only one in their group of friends that knew it. Olivia cursed his name over and over again for putting her in that position, for leaving her alone, and thinking about the reason made her feel sick. Of course, she knew why he left without telling her but admitting it out loud wasn’t something she was willing to do.

Her phone vibrated in her hand and she rubbed her eyes, making her put that memory away. It was her mother letting her know that their flight had just landed, and they were ready for their two weeks in the Caribbean.

“Seems like it’s gonna be just us, Peanut,” she whispered to the black dog curled up next to her on the couch. Scratching the dog’s belly, she turned her attention back to the TV where Meryl Streep was singing Money, Money, Money.

Her stomach growled, remembering that she barely had eaten something and it was already dinner time.

Noises outside her house caught her attention, they sounded a lot like laughs, instead of making her way to the kitchen, she went to the closest window and peeked outside just enough for her heart to drop.

He was there laughing without a care in the world, his hair falling back in messy waves that her fingers suddenly needed to touch.

Closing the curtains before her neighbors could see her, she wiped furiously the lonely tear that managed to escape from her eyes before it could leave a trail down her cheek.

What was he doing here? He was supposed to be in Los Angeles, not here. She made sure not to be in town whenever she thought he could come back, spending numerous mother’s days somewhere else, or making sure she wasn’t home for his mother’s birthday. Christmas was easier because her entire family gathered up in her grandma’s house every single year. But he never came back to their hometown for his birthday, until this year.

The anger she felt after his birthday four years ago came back like an earthquake, making her body tremble with the feeling she kept bottled up for so long.

It wasn’t just the fact that Charlie left her on her own when he promised to take her back home. He didn’t apologize the day after for leaving her alone or the day after that one. Hell, he didn’t try to talk to her that entire week and when the week came to its end, he just left, not even saying goodbye to her.

Charlie moved out and never looked back. As if he completely forgot about the girl that was his best friend since they both were eight years old. The same girl that stood up for him whenever the mean guys at their school made fun of him for not getting the part after his first couple auditions. The same girl he spent so many summers playing with, countless winters playing in the snow with her until they felt like their fingers were beyond frozen.

That was what she was hurt and mad about. He forgot about her existence and all the memories they ever made together. And Olivia couldn’t do the same because even if she hated to admit it, she still loved him, maybe not like she used to, but she still had love to give to the boy standing outside the house she used to spend so much of her free time when she was younger.

And because the universe was against her, the dog ran towards the front door, barking at it and letting her know that she wanted to go out for a walk.

“We can’t go now, baby,” she shushed Peanut, but the small dog didn’t try to pay attention to her words and kept barking and spinning in excitement. She wanted to go out now and not even a treat would make her change her mind, “you are so stubborn, Pea.”

Peanut was a small dog, but her barks were resonating all over the house, breaking the silence and she knew it was about time someone came and ringed the doorbell to make sure everything was alright. A fast exit, that was what she needed, she could put her earbuds on and pretend she was going for a run, give them a small nod if they still were outside and get out of there as fast as she could.

She put her sneakers on, put on some music, opened the door, and tugged lightly on the dog leash to make her dog walk. Not looking at the people standing in the driveway was a difficult task, because she never stopped greeting the rest of the Gillespie family. How could she? It wasn’t their fault that her friendship with Charlie went to shit.

“Hey!” Meghan called her and turning her head slowly she nodded at them and pointed to her earbuds as if she were on the phone.

Charlie looked at her and realized she was avoiding his eyes, not even acknowledging his presence. Looking at the way her features had changed, turning her into a beautiful young woman, the childish features were long gone, which let him know how long it has been since the last time he saw her in person.  Her long light brown hair was now up to her shoulders and a few shades lighter. Watching her walk away made his heart ache in a way he didn’t feel since he moved out.

“I didn’t know the Gibson still lived here.” The words came out loud enough for his sister to listen to what he said, and she punched him in the arm.

“She made sure to be out of town every time you came home, dumbass,” making a grimace he nodded, not wanting to talk about the subject, “I still don’t understand what happened between you guys, you were really good friends, and I was sure you liked her as more than a friend.”

He rolled his eyes, knowing damn well Meghan wasn’t going to just drop it, “it’s none of your business.”

“My guess is you told her you liked her, and she rejected you,” Patrick said with a knowing look on his face. Charlie snorted and shook his head.

“Again,” he warned, “drop it, guys.” His brother held his hand up and went inside, leaving him alone with his younger sister.

“All I’m gonna say is you should try to not mess with her, Charlie,” Meghan held him by his arm, making sure he was paying attention to her word, “it was awful to see how sad and broken she was when you left and I know you said it’s none of my business, but I was her friend too and she pushed me away for whatever the fuck happened between you two.”

“I won’t, Meg,” he promised, guiding her inside so Olivia didn’t have to see him once she came back. But if he was being honest, he didn’t want to see the pain in her face she failed to hide when she saw him standing next to Meghan.

Sprinting back to her house, Olivia let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Charlie wasn’t outside anymore. She didn’t really know how to feel, sure she felt as angry as she did four years ago but seeing Charlie in person after so long brought a feeling she didn’t know how to describe. And of course, she wasn’t blind and knew that he looked even better than he did before he left, so that didn’t really help her situation.

Looking back to his house one last time, she caught him in the window, and he gave her a small smile she didn’t return. Instead, she unlocked the front door and slammed it shut. If Charlie thought that she would act as if nothing happened, he was wrong. Not even his smile could erase how betrayed she felt. 

After a long early walk with Peanut the next day, she hoped she wouldn’t have to go out and run into Charlie again. The feeling that he was going to try and approach her the next time they ran into each other gave her goosebumps. Olivia knew that talking things out would make her feel a lot better, but she wasn’t ready to do it. He would want to know why she was so angry and hurt and that meant she would have to tell him she used to be in love with him and how betrayed she felt when he left without apologizing, leaving behind their friendship as if it meant absolutely nothing to him.

With an iced tea in one hand and a book in the other, she made herself comfortable in the hammock her father hanged every summer. Peanut was trying to catch her tail and the only noise Olivia could hear were the birds above her.

She lost track of time and Peanut’s barks brought her back to reality. Crouched in her garden was Charlie, trying to get the black dog to stay put so he could pet her, but she was too excited to see someone and was running around him and barking.

“What are you doing here?” her voice came out hoarse, her body too tense with Charlie just a few feet away.

“I wanted to say hi,” he responded without looking at her and still trying to pet Peanut.

“Peanut come here,” Olivia commanded, and the little dog ran up to her owner, “you need to leave.”

“C’mon, Liv,” Charlie stood up and looked at her with puppy eyes, “I just wanna talk.”

“Olivia,” she corrected him and picked up her dog, “you need to leave now.”

“Why?” he demanded to know once he saw her walking towards the door. She turned around stunned by his audacity.

“You have no right to be here, Charlie,” he raised his eyebrows, taken back at her harsh answer, “you don’t get to call me Liv or come into my house so I’m telling you again. Leave. Now.”

“Just listen to me, please,” Olivia shook her head and went inside, slamming the door behind her.

She was able to take a couple of steps away from the door when she had to kneel, feeling like she was about to pass out, her heart pounding fast in her chest and her lungs barely being able to hold air inside them. Peanut licked her face trying to calm her down, but the tears kept falling down her cheeks.

“Liv, please.” Charlie’s voice sounded worried on the other side of the door. “Let me in.” A whimpering sound came out of her mouth and the next thing she heard was the door being open.

She wished Charlie’s embrace could comfort her and calm her down, but she kept crying into her hands. Her heart too fragile now that Charlie was everywhere, his smell, his touch, and his voice were too much for her.

Charlie picked her up and took her to her bedroom. A strong feeling of nostalgia took over him when he saw the room hadn’t changed much, probably because she also moved out and moved on with her life after he left.

“I’ll get you a glass of water and then I’m gonna leave, I promise.” A scoff was all he received.

“As if you knew how to keep one,” she muttered with bitterness when she heard him leave her room.

He placed a glass of water on her nightstand, “do you want me to call my sister to keep you company?” she shook her head and closed her eyes too tired to keep fighting against him.

“Are you feeling better?” Charlie asked again and wiped a tear from Olivia’s cheek with his thumb. With a small nod, she turned her back to him. “Liv, I really wanna talk.”

“Stop calling me Liv, please.” The mattress shifted when Charlie sat beside her, not wanting to leave yet.

“I’ve never called you Olivia.”

“Charlie.” Her voice sounded raspy and incredibly tired and he couldn’t help but feel guilty for making her feel like that. “I really need you to leave me alone and let me get my shit together. Please.”

“Right,” Charlie stood up quickly and looked around not really knowing what else to say, “I’m sorry, Olivia. I never meant to make you feel like I cornered you or something.”

She didn’t respond, and when she heard the front door closing, she covered her head with a pillow and let out a scream. She hated to feel so powerless, so confused and so hurt. It felt like he just decided to reopen a wound that took too long to close and now it was painfully bleeding again.

It was heartbreaking to see her sobbing on the floor and not being able to calm her, to tell her that he never meant to leave like that.

“Where were you?” his sister questioned when she saw him with guilt all over his face, “Charlie, I told you not to mess with Olivia. What did you do now?”

“I don’t know.” He did though. He knew what did just a few minutes ago and what he did four years ago.

“Is she alright?” the hazel-eyed boy nodded and then shrugged, rubbing his palms over his face, feeling the frustration take over his body.

“I needed to talk to her, but she shot me down the moment she saw me, and then I think she was about to have a panic attack or something. She was better when I left.”

Charlie didn’t remember seeing her like that when they still were friends, Olivia was so determined and optimistic, not as impulsive as he was but always open for a new adventure or a trip with him and his siblings. But then, he started to have feelings for his best friend and decided that it wasn’t worth it to ruin their friendship and buried those feelings by getting a girlfriend just to act as if he wasn’t in love with Olivia. He knew it was mutual but what was the point of dating if he was going to move to Toronto and she was going to stay in New Brunswick.

Leaving her after his birthday four years ago was one of the things he regretted the most. He knew damn well she was afraid of the dark and yet he broke his promise. Charlie tried to put some distance between them so it wouldn’t hurt as much once he moved out, but he ended up messing everything.

“She didn’t even let me call her Liv, Meg.” His sister sat next to him and hugged him.

“We stopped calling her like that after you left,” she explained feeling sorry for him, “I guess it reminded her of you too much since you were the one that gave her the nickname.”

At lunchtime, Charlie made his way to his ex-best friend’s house with a portion of his birthday cake and the Tuna Pasta Salad his mom cooked for lunch. It wasn’t like he was planning to have lunch with her, but if getting her lunch and dessert gave him another shot, he’d even consider getting her breakfast the next morning.

He opened the backdoor just like he just did when they were younger and went straight into the kitchen, hoping she wouldn’t catch him sneaking into her house.

“Fuck it,” he whispered when he didn’t hear noise upstairs. With the food now in a tray, Charlie went upstairs.

Liv was in the same place she was before he left earlier. The Scottie lifted her head when he entered the room but didn’t bark at him and curled up again next to her sleeping owner. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he put the tray down and let out his breath.

“Hey,” his voice broke the silence they were in and Olivia moved in her sleep but didn’t wake up, “I got you food, Liv,” He said again this time a little bit louder.

“What?” she questioned; her mind fuzzy with sleep to understand what was happening.

“My mom made lunch and if I’m not wrong, it was your favorite.” The answer was simple, but why would he even bother to get her lunch if she told him to leave her alone.

“What time is it?” she asked again sitting up in bed rubbing her left eye with her hand.

“Time for you to eat,” the boy pointed to the tray next to her and stood up, “I brought you cake, I thought you’d like it.”

“Thanks?” Charlie let out a soft laugh and left. “Charlie!” She called out and he came back with a hopeful look in his eyes. “I made it,” Olivia pointed at the cake and his cheek started to turn pink in embarrassment.

“You made my birthday cake.”

Olivia shrugged as if it was nothing. “Meg asked me to,” she grabbed the fork and continued, “you know it’s my job, right?”

“What do you mean?” Charlie sat again in the bed taking every chance to keep the conversation going.

“I have a bakery.” She had a fucking bakery, and he didn’t even know. How would he? He never made questions about her, but he thought his family would tell him such a big thing. “Thanks for the food.” And that was his sign for him to leave.

“Thanks for the birthday cake.”

Olivia had her own bakery and made him a birthday cake, it was her job but still, she knew it was for him and made it anyway.  That had to mean something, right?

Charlie was right, it was her favorite meal. She could have graduated from one of the most prestigious cooking schools in Canada but not even her fancy cooking school could beat Jeannette’s salad. She remembered Jeannette telling her that the magic was in her secret ingredient when she was younger and after all this time, she still wasn’t able to figure out what it was.

Her phone vibrated with a new notification and she smiled when she saw a picture of her parents with cocktails in their hands. She hated the fact that she’d have to leave a couple of days before they came back, but she needed to go and pack the few things she still had left in her old apartment back in Vancouver and move all her stuff across the country and into her new apartment.

The doorbell woke up the puppy from her nap and ran towards the door, letting Olivia know someone was outside.

“You would never think those barks belong to such a tiny animal,” Meghan chuckled when she opened the door and Peanut started to jump around her.

“Oh, I know, I get startled sometimes and she’s only eight months old,” she let the girl in not before giving the house across the street a nervous look.

“Char and my brothers went out,” Olivia nodded and thanked her quietly for the information, “I was bored so I thought you’d want to hang out.”

“Oh, sure,” she smiled at Charlie’s sister and felt guilty for all those times she said no whenever Meghan invited her over to hang out like they used to do, “I wanted to go to the farm and pick some fresh berries. I don’t know if you wanna go with me.”

“I don’t know,” Meghan scrunched her nose, and the gesture reminded the older girl of Charlie. If she didn’t grow up with them, she could’ve thought they were twins, “I’ll go only if you make me muffins.”

“That’s unfair,” Olivia said playfully, “I’m gonna change and we can head out.”

“I’m gonna stay right here so I can play with this cute baby,” Meghan cooed the dog and sat on the floor to play with her.

Running back into her room, she changed into some overalls and a top. She wanted to be comfortable on the farm and be able to move around without worrying about her skirt getting caught in the branches.

“I swear you and my brother are the only people I know that love wearing overalls,” Olivia’s cheeks blushed at her words, remembering very well how often Charlie used to come over wearing overalls and no shirt underneath.

“They’re comfy,” she said looking at her outfit with slight embarrassment.

“You look great, Liv.” Her eyes darted back at Meghan and decided not to make a big deal about the nickname.

“Your car or mine?” she questioned, picking up the keys and her bag.

“Yours, I don’t feel like driving.”

When Charlie landed his first role, he would spend a lot of time out of town filming, and eventually, both girls became closer. She could never compare her friendship with Meghan with the one she once had with Charlie because they were inseparable, they spent so much time together she was sure she had her first period when they were playing over at his house and both freaked out because they didn’t know what to do. Later that day he came over to her house with a chocolate bar and a single flower.

“My mom said you’d probably want some chocolate, so I got you your favourite.” She remembered the eleven years old Charlie said with his cheeks burning red.

She sighed at the memory, realizing how even such an important milestone in her life somehow involved the boy that was messing with her head lately.

“So…,” Meghan started once they both were on the road, “Charlie almost threw a tantrum because none told him you had a bakery.”

Olivia chuckled just imagining Charlie pouting with his arms crossed over his chest, “he never asked you guys.”

“It’s not that he didn’t ask about you,” She bit the inside of her cheek getting a little bit uncomfortable with the conversation, “I guess we all decided not to tell him about your life like he didn’t really deserve updates about you.”

“I get it,” stopping the car at a red light, she smiled at the girl sitting next to her, “I’m glad you didn’t have to deal with questions about me because if he wanted to know something, he should’ve asked me himself.”

Not like she’d have answered his calls or texts because she didn’t know if she would have. She thought she might have answered if he had reached out for her, but he never did.

Hanging out with Meghan was like breathing fresh air, both girls laughing and messing around while they picked fresh blueberries, their fingers getting tinted with the fruit’s juice. Snapping the last picture with their blueberries, they went back home.

“Can I post this one?” Meghan asked, showing her the picture where a smiling Olivia was holding a single blueberry in front of the camera while Meghan stuck her tongue out. 

“Sure, I like it. Send me the others so I can post one too,” she commented, looking at the picture quickly before turning her attention back to the road ahead.

Once they got back home, Meghan took place in one of the stools in the kitchen, while Olivia got everything she needed to bake. She was about to start the mixer when her friend got a text and cursed under her breath.

“Everything alright?” she wondered with a raised eyebrow, confused at her friend’s reaction.

“I have to teach a dance class and I completely forgot about it,” with an apology written all over her face, she stood up and gathered her stuff, “I’m sorry, Liv, but I need to go or I’m gonna have a bunch of angry moms complaining about my absence.”

“Yeah, sure. Go don’t worry,” Olivia assured her with a chuckle, “I’ll take these babies to your house once they’re ready.”

“You’re the best. Thank you!” Meghan stated before running back to her own house.

Deciding it was better to put on some music while she baked, she went to connect her phone to the Bluetooth speaker when the back door opened, and Charlie waved at her with a shy expression on his face.

“Meg said you could use some help with the muffins.”

“Uhm…” Olivia frowned her brows slightly, knowing this was Charlie trying to apologize and make things better, “just put on some music,” she handed him the speaker and started the mixer.

She wasn’t sure how she felt with him sitting on the stool his sister was on just a few minutes ago, but the burning anger she felt the first day she saw him was missing. But they were far from being friends again, she told herself.

“How was your hike?” The words left her mouth quietly as an attempt to make small conversation and feel a little less observed by him.

“It was great, we got a bunch of nice pictures,” and there it was, she smiled to herself when she heard the excitement in Charlie’s voice, “we had to come back earlier because Pat’s bike got a flat tire, but it was fun.”

“So, you guys went cycling,” she stated the obvious just to make him talk about his little trip. God, she missed the way Charlie used to tell her about his day and how excited he was about little things, the same excitement he had now as he told her about the perfect spot that he found to take pictures and how he promised to a couple that he would send the cute picture he took of them as soon as he could.

Charlie used to remind her of a puppy, filled with excitement and energy and she let out a chuckle when she realised he was just like he was when they were teenagers.

“Did I miss my own joke?” he questioned, tilting his head with amusement. 

Olivia shrugged, without bothering to look at him, too busy with her task, and said, “you’re just like a puppy, Charlie.”

“You used to tell me that a lot back then,” he pondered biting his lower lip, the energy in the room shifting at the mention of the friendship they used to have.

“I know.”

She didn’t know what else to say because she didn’t know how she felt about their interaction. Or the fact that Charlie was sitting there, just a few feet away from her just like they used to be when they were younger. Him watching and telling her stories while she busied herself with a new recipe.

“I’m glad one of us actually became a chef,” Charlie spoke again, breaking the silence. The girl didn’t respond, she poured the mix into the muffin cups not letting his words disrupt her. Once the tray was in the oven, she turned around and crossed her arms over her chest, feeling the nostalgia wash away and the resentment took its place.

“Some of us stick to what we said, Charles.” The bitterness in her voice made the boy close his eyes, knowing very well the course this conversation was about to take.

“How many times do I have to apologize, Olivia?” She scoffed and shook her head in disbelief.

“You haven't said sorry not even once, Charlie.” Sure he said sorry for getting into her backyard without permission and invading her space the past two days, but he never apologized for the shitty move he did four years ago.

“You don’t even let me talk!” He argued back.

“Oh, come on, Charlie!” Olivia rolled her eyes and pointed a finger at him, “don’t start with that bullshit because you had a whole week to apologize for leaving me on my own when you said you’d walk me home, but you chose to stay quiet and then leave the town without even saying goodbye.”

“Shit, Liv,” he whispered when he saw her eyes welling up with tears, “please don’t cry.”

“Do you even realize how bad I felt when you left without saying goodbye?” she questioned drying her cheeks with the back of her hand, “I saw you get in that car with all your belongings and I waited for you to come and say goodbye, to text me or call me but you just left and now you come here as if nothing happened.”

“Liv, I’m sorry,” he told her, standing up so he could get closer to the girl that was facing him with hurt in her eyes, fighting to hold back the tears from falling. “You need to believe when I tell you I’m fucking sorry for doing that.”

She jerked away from him when he tried to hold her. “Thanks for the apology,” Olivia inhaled deeply, the scent of Charlie’s cologne too intoxicating now that she was trying not to fall apart in front of him.

“If you want me to go, I’ll go,” he mumbled, understanding she probably needed some space.

“I’ll take the muffins to your place once they’re done.”

Charlie stood there, right in front of the girl that once was his partner in crime, but now they were practically strangers to each other and that was all his fault. He wished he could hold Olivia in his arms and tell her over and over again how deeply sorry he was for being such a coward, for leaving her without an explanation. He just wanted to take away all the pain he already caused her and somehow still manage to hurt her again. With a heavy sigh, the boy turned around and headed back to his house.

She sat in one of the stools, trying to calm her heart down and process whatever just happened. Charlie apologized but the annoying feeling that she needed more than just an apology didn’t leave her chest. An explanation would be good, maybe that way she would be able to actually forgive him and understand why he did it because right now, she didn’t really see them being friends again. Not when she was still holding a grudge against him.

Standing outside Charlie’s front door, with a tray full of freshly baked muffins in her hands, Olivia decided to go through the side door. She was met with nothing but silence while she made her way into the kitchen and saw a figure sitting with a guitar near the river through the window. Unlike her house, Charlie’s backyard was next to the river and the woods, where she remembered playing hide and seek with Charlie and Meghan when they were little.

She left the tray on the kitchen counter and headed to where Charlie was sitting. It was weird walking around his house, after all, she avoided the Gillespie family as much as she could when Charlie left and kept their interaction to a minimum, and hadn’t been inside in a long time.

“Hey,” she said softly, taking place next to him, “I brought the muffins.”

“Thanks, Liv,” he gave her a small smile before he continued playing a soft melody on his guitar. 

“I still don’t understand why you did it,” Olivia managed to say after a few minutes of sitting together in complete silence. 

“I didn’t want to, it just happened and then I fucked up things even more by not saying goodbye,” he explained and looked at her, “I thought I could just sneak out with Quinn because your house wasn’t far, I mean we were right here that day, and I wasn’t really thinking.”

“But that doesn’t explain why you didn’t talk to me that week before you left.”

He placed the guitar by his side, turning around to give Olivia his full attention, she looked at him with a mix of sadness and shyness in her brown eyes. 

“When I left with Quinn we were going to her place and hook up, I’m sure you know that, but we didn’t ‘cause I called her Liv right before we did anything,” her cheeks blushed at his confession but unable to believe his words entirely, “that’s why we broke up soon after my birthday, and I was so fucking embarrassed about my feelings…”

“You were embarrassed because you liked me, way to go, Charlie,” she interrupted him slightly offended. 

“I didn’t say that, let me finish,” He demanded getting frustrated with the conversation, “I was embarrassed because I called her your name because I was thinking of you in a moment I shouldn’t have,” he paused unsure of how Olivia was going to react at his next word, “that’s when I realised my feelings for you were a lot stronger than I thought and I got scared because I knew I was leaving.” 

“Charlie,” she told him, confusion laced in her voice “did you even like Quinn?”

“No, not really. I kinda forced myself to be with her ‘cause I didn’t want to ruin our friendship” Charlie answered and then let out a sad laugh, “I guess it didn’t work out as good as I thought.”

“You know I liked you, right?” her voice was barely a whisper and her stomach fluttered when she saw him smile at her and nodded in response, “was I that obvious really?” When Charlie nodded again she covered her face with her hands in pure embarrassment.

“I’m really sorry, Liv,” he apologized again, and she rested her head on his shoulder, “if I could take all that back I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

“I guess I understand now,” Charlie could hear the soft smile even if he wasn’t seeing her face, “don’t get me wrong, it hurt like shit to see how you moved on as if I didn’t exist, but I get that you were scared and we both ended up messing up our friendship.”

“Do you think we’ll ever be able to be friends again?” Olivia turned around, meeting his gaze and sighed. 

“Maybe?” she answered, scrunching her nose unsure of it.

They stayed like that for a while, Charlie’s gaze moving from her eyes to her lips from time to time, debating if he should just go for it or not. It was her that took the initiative and leaned in, pressing their lips together in a kiss that, just like the apology, was long overdue. 

“I’ll take that as a no,” he murmured against her lips before kissing her again, leaving the shyness behind and cupping her face between his hands pulling her closer as if that way they could make up all the time they spent apart.

They both pulled away when they heard his older brother hollering at them from the balcony and Olivia laughed when Charlie flipped him the middle finger. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

Of course, they still needed to talk a lot and find a way to work things out now that their feelings were out on display. But she had a good feeling about giving them a new shot, because, after all those years, they still managed to find their way back to each other.

[wondernimbus]

ottery st. catchpole — cedric diggory

pairing: cedric diggory x female!reader

request #1: Hi! Do you mind writing a Cedric x reader fic where y/n loves and is the best baker? She hands him a treat and he finds himself slowly falling for for her (idk smth really cute please!) Thanks :))

request #2:  Can you write Cedric and the reader sharing their first kiss together? 🥺

a/n: decided to combine two requests since i thought they’d work well together! 

The muggle village of Ottery St. Catchpole was a fascinating place.

The first time Cedric had gone there at age eight, he'd thrown on an odd assortment of muggle clothes: a pink strawberry-patterned shirt, overly large bell-bottoms from his father's closet, and a pair of flip-flops. He learned quickly that that was not the kind of attire that would get him unnoticed by the Muggles—rather the opposite, actually, as he earned odd stares everywhere he went. But there were no "ordinary" Muggle clothes in his closet and nor did his father, so the next time he went to the village and came across a clothesline hanging unguarded outside of a Muggle house, he snatched himself two shirts and a pair of jeans and made sure to leave a thank you note under their door.

Free to wander the village without skeptical stares of Muggles following him everywhere, curious, eight-year-old Cedric made sure to explore every inch of it from the park to the chapel to the tavern.

But his most favorite, perhaps, was the bakery.

It was a quaint little place, tucked away in the corner away from the bustling main road. Its battered sign read "Old Corner Bakery", and underneath it there was a window display of the most delicious, succulent-looking pastries Cedric had ever seen in his life. It looked—though he would never let her hear him say it—even better than the ones his mother would make at home.

And so one day, Cedric, oblivious to the workings of the Muggle world and the fact that their currency was very much different from theirs, walked through the door, marched right up to the counter where his tiny head only barely peeked out from, and held up a single golden galleon. "One of those, please," he told the old lady behind the cashier, pointing at a mouth-watering custard tart on display.

The old lady reached out for the galleon, baffled. "What is this?"

"For a custard tart," replied Cedric, handing it to her.

"I've never seen anything like this," she said in wonder, holding the galleon up to the light. "Good grief, is this real gold?"

Cedric frowned, puzzled. "It''s a galleon."

The lady's face fell. Scowling, she handed it back to him. "So it's a toy," she sniffed. "I would tell you to scram, but I've seen you pass by here ogling at my pastries once or twice before. I'll give you one for free. What was it you wanted again?"

Cedric, although a little confused by how she wouldn't take his galleon, beamed in delight. If it was for free, he wasn't going to complain.

And so Cedric walked out of the bakery a few moments later with half a custard tart in his hands and the other half already snug in his stomach. He wondered to himself if all Muggles were like this; if he went to that shop near the town square, would he get more stuff for free?

He tried, and needless to say, failed.

The next day, Cedric came back to the bakery bearing two sickles. As happy as getting free food made him, something about exploiting an old woman's kindness didn't sit right with him. If she didn't want the galleon, maybe she would take a sickle instead.

But when he walked through the bakery doors, he found that the old woman was nowhere to be seen. Instead, in her place behind the cashier, there was a little girl about his age.

"Welcome to Old Corner Bakery!" she beamed, childish face shining brightly. "How may I help you?"

Cedric drew towards her, a pout on his face. "Where's the old lady?"

"The old lady?" she asked. "Oh, you mean grandma!"

He nodded.

"She's in the kitchen—baking, you know. I handle customers like you when she's too busy and I'm not doing homework," the little girl explained, grinning.

"Oh," said Cedric. "In that case, I want a cauldron cake!"

She tilted her head to the side, brows furrowed. "What's that?"

"A cauldron cake," he repeated. "Have you not got those here?"

Bottom lip jutting out in thought, the little girl scratched her head and hopped off of the stool she was apparently standing on to look over the cashier; as soon as she did, she disappeared behind the counter and into the kitchen. "Grandma!"

The familiar voice of the old lady replied, "Yes, dear?"

"Do we have cauldron cakes?"

"What?"

Cedric waited patiently by the counter, hands fiddling with the two sickles he held in his hands. "Cauldron cakes, grandma!" the little girl yelled louder.

"Never heard of 'em!" the old lady replied from the kitchen.

A moment later, the little girl was clambering back onto her stool behind the cashier. "I don't think we have those here," she told Cedric, and then, in a curious tone, "They sound delicious, though! What are they?"

A wide smile stretched across Cedric's round face—he looked as though he'd been waiting to be asked that for centuries. At a rapid pace, he began to gush, "They're chocolate cakes shaped like cauldrons and they've got melted chocolate in them and sometimes my mum uses this spell so that the chocolate doesn't run out and you can keep eating forever. She takes off the spell sometimes, though, because she says if I keep eating I'll get as fat as dad."

The little girl giggled, but then, with her eyes wide, asked, "Did you say spells? Like magic? The kind wizards and witches use?"

Cedric's eyes grew as wide as, if not even wider, than hers. He took a quick step back and cleared his throat, eyes darting around the bakery in panic. He'd forgotten, for a moment, that she was a Muggle—he'd almost revealed the secret of the wizarding world to her and defied his parents' warnings!

"Um," Cedric stammered, stuffing his two sickles back into his pocket. "Nevermind. Sorry!"

And just like that, he dashed out of the bakery, leaving the little girl staring after him, thoroughly intrigued.

—

Cedric did not go back to the village the next day under the irrational fear of accidentally revealing the wizarding world's biggest secret; that magic existed. Obviously, an eight-year-old wizard letting such a thing slip to yet another eight-year-old Muggle would little affect the wizarding world, but Cedric, childish and oblivious as he was, did not want to take any risks.

And so it took him a week before he mustered up the courage to go back into the village. He hadn't been planning to go into the bakery—he only hoped to catch a glimpse of the pastries by the window—but he found that the little girl was sitting outside on the front steps, munching on a piece of bread.

Mere seconds from legging it, the girl looked up and their eyes met. "Hey!" she called out, perking up. "I know you!"

Cedric froze from where he stood several feet away. He thought it'd be rude to bolt when she'd already noticed him, and so he walked forward tentatively, half-expecting her to start badgering him with questions about wizards and witches and magic. But she only patted the empty space next to her and beckoned him to sit down, that same cheery smile on her face that Cedric had seen a week ago.

He sat next to her on the stone steps, crossed arms propped on his knees as he turned his head to look at her. She was tearing the bread she held in her hands into two halves, the other half of which she handed to him.

"Thank you," said Cedric, taking it.

"You're welcome!" the little girl replied, face positively glowing with the warmth of a thousand suns. Taking a bite out of her now considerably smaller chunk of bread, she tilted her head and said, "I don't think I've ever seen you at school before."

He took a bite out of his own, eyes skittering away to look at the pavement. "My parents teach me school stuff at home," he told her. It wasn't a complete lie, although he guessed that the things that she learned in her Muggle school were a stark contrast to the magic he learned from his mum and dad.

"Oh, that sounds fun!" the little girl said, beaming. "Don't you get sad, though? Not having any kids your age to play with? Assuming you don't have siblings."

"I don't," replied Cedric through a mouthful of bread. It was some sort of strawberry crumpet. "I'm an only child. I suppose it does get lonely, sometimes, but that's why I go out here—to the Mugg—I mean, the village."

She nodded, mouth moving to form an o shape. "Neat. So you don't have homework?"

He shook his head. The girl's shoulders slumped and a frown quickly found its way onto her face. "I wish I didn't get homework," she said sullenly. "They give us a whole stack of it over the summer. I hate it."

Cedric bit the inside of his cheek. He didn't quite like the frown on her face; something about it made him feel unsettled, like something had gone wrong in the world. He nudged her shoulder with his. "It can't be that bad," he said, offering her a tiny smile. "There's.. there's worse things than homework. Like—I don't know—losing ekleksiti or whatever you call it.. or unintentionally fumbling with the Quaffle and messing up your team's goal.."

"You mean the football?"

"Yeah.." Whatever that was.

She giggled, turning to smile at him. "You're funny."

There was something about her tone of voice—along with the overall aura that she carried—that awfully reminded Cedric of summer days playing Quidditch outside with his family and warm wind in his face and lying in the grass seeing the clouds drifting above him.

It was that feeling that made it easy for Cedric to forget almost immediately about his illogical fear of exposing the magical world. It was what had him smiling back at her, round face just as bright and filled with the kind of mirthful innocence only children would have.

—

Cedric came back to the bakery the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. Both the little girl—who he learned was named [Y/N]—and her kind, albeit slightly cranky old grandmother, grew fond of him. The latter would make sure to bake him his favorite custard tarts, and [Y/N] would sit with him by the front steps of the bakery, talking about every tiny thing their brains came up with.

"Have you got a favorite movie?" [Y/N] asked him one day.

"A favorite what?"

"A movie. Don't tell me you've never seen one!"

Cedric scratched the back of his neck, abashed. "I don't think so. Is that a Mu—I mean, what is it?"

Looking utterly astounded, [Y/N] began to ramble on about moving pictures and fairytales and stories.

"I've seen moving pictures—but you're telling me they don't talk to you?" quizzed Cedric dubiously.

Frowning, she nodded. "The pictures talk to each other. Sort of. Although it would be cool if they talked to us, don't you think?"

Still trying to wrap his head around the concept of images that don't talk to you but talk to other images whilst following a story of sorts, Cedric rubbed his forehead. "This is giving me a headache."

[Y/N] giggled, shoving the last of her custard tart into her mouth. "Let's go see one one day! A movie, I mean. It'll be fun!"

Prying his palm away from his face, Cedric nodded and couldn't help but grin right back at her. The excited gleam in her eyes shone with the promise of more than just one day seeing a movie; it glowed with the promise of a friendship that would last for a long, long time. That gleam of promise was reflected in Cedric's own gaze, and rest assured it would stay there in the rest of the years to come.

—

Three years seemed to pass by in a blur of endless chatter, ridiculous inside-jokes, and shared pastries out by the bakery's front steps. The pair grew and their friendship did so along with them. Cedric learned to grow cautious about what he had come to call his "magical secret", although he suspected that [Y/N] had started to grow skeptical along the way despite her never bringing it up.

When his letter from Hogwarts arrived, Cedric knew that he had to tell [Y/N]—that, or make up some excuse. Or perhaps invent something akin to the truth, but not quite.

And so it went like this: "My parents are sending me to school."

[Y/N]'s eyes widened. They were sitting in their usual spot out by the bakery's stone steps, identical biscuits in their hands. Out of nowhere, she smacked Cedric's shoulder; he turned to face her, clutching the spot where she'd hit him. "What was that for?" asked Cedric, eyes as wide as hers.

She smacked him again, bouncing with the excitement of a five-year-old child waking up on Christmas day. "That's great!" she squealed, stuffing her biscuit in her mouth and chewing frantically. "I can introduce you to all my friends and we'll get to see each other everyday and not just on the weekends!"

Cedric's heart sank. "Um.."

"And we can do homework together and I won't have to walk back home alone and—"

"[Y/N], I'm not going to your school."

She paused. Her face fell and drooped into a frown so disappointed that Cedric had to tear his gaze away. "What—where are you going, then?"

He scratched the back of his neck, lips pressed together in a weak grimace. "Somewhere far."

[Y/N]'s brows were furrowed. "Where?"

"I don't know. Somewhere in Scotland, I think. I'll be back home for the summer, though."

Her shoulders had slumped, and so had Cedric's. The disappointment was evident in the sulky lines of her face and it was making Cedric feel all sorts of things he normally wouldn't feel around her; incredibly downcast being one of them. He'd known this day was coming one day or another, and so would the day he'd have to leave and not see her for several months—the day that loomed only a week from then.

"When are you leaving?" asked [Y/N], gaze fixed on the pavement, a pout on her tiny face.

"Next week," replied Cedric.

He couldn't bear it. He poked her side, which immediately led to her jumping up and frowning at him. (He'd discovered over time that it was a big tickle spot of hers.) Once he'd gathered her attention, he said in a quiet voice, "I've got a secret. Do you want to hear it?"

Still looking somewhat sullen, she nodded. [Y/N] would never pass up a chance to discover some big, mysterious secret, no matter her mood.

And just because he wanted to cheer her up, along with the fact that he knew he couldn't keep this from her—his best friend of three years who knew everything about him from his favorite pair of socks to his biggest fears—he leaned in, eyes wide, and whispered in a hushed tone, "I'm going to a school for wizards."

She drew back, brows pulled in together in the middle in pure incredulity as said, "You're joking."

"No," said Cedric, grinning. And then, in that same hushed voice, "You have to promise me you won't tell anyone, okay?"

Still looking utterly bewildered, [Y/N] nodded slowly, gaze locked with his.

"I can show you magic, if you like."

At this, her eyes grew wide and a moment later she was nodding excitedly. "Where? When? How?"

"Right now!" replied Cedric, relieved at the smile that split her face and replaced the disappointed frown from before. "Wait here, okay? I'll be back!" And then he sprang to his feet and dashed off.

Cedric was true to his word; he came back half an hour later bearing a mysterious purple package in his hands. [Y/N] was still sitting patiently where he'd left, and she looked up at him calling her name.

"What is that?" she asked, hands reaching out for the box, which Cedric handed to her. Turning it over in her hands, she saw the words "Chocolate Frog" written across the paper lid in shiny golden letters.

"Open it!" Cedric urged, sitting down next to her.

And so she did. Carefully opening the lid of the octagon-shaped box, she let out a loud shriek as a chocolate-colored pair of squirming frog legs poked out from behind it. Out of surprise, the package fell from her hands and onto the pavement, but Cedric's instincts were quick; he hurriedly hopped off the steps to grab the package, hands firmly clamped around it as he brought it back to her with a wide smile on his snickering face.

"Guess you don't scare easy, huh?" he grinned, teasing. "It can get away if you don't hold onto it as soon as you open the package. See, watch."

Heart still beating rapidly, she leaned over with wide eyes and a curious gaze, watching as Cedric carefully opened the lid. He caught something that, sure enough, looked like chocolate—but it was moving in his clasped fist.

"A chocolate frog," said [Y/N], eyes the size of golf-balls.

"Yep," said Cedric, bringing the still struggling treat to his lips and taking a huge chunk out of it. "Don't worry—it's not an actual frog. Just shaped to look like it."

Gobsmacked, [Y/N] stared as he handed her the bottom half of the chocolate frog, the legs of which was still squirming. "That's—woah," excitement bubbling in the pit of her stomach at having witnessed actual magic (albeit in the form of the so-called chocolate frog), she brought it to her mouth, where it instantly stopped moving and dissolved into a creamy mess of delicious chocolate.

Eyes glinting with the same elation that was in hers, Cedric sat down next to her and pulled a card out of the box. He handed it to her.

[Y/N] stared down at the small card in the palm of her hands. "Woah," she said again, voice a stunned whisper. Imprinted on the card was a photo of an old man whose beard stretched all the way down to his waist. He was wearing sparkling magenta robes and looking straight at her, a gentle twinkle in his wizened, old eyes. An odd name was emblazoned under his picture—"Albus Dumbledore"—but then he reached up to adjust the spectacles on the bridge of his nose, and [Y/N] let out another surprised gasp. "He moved!"

Cedric was grinning. "Magic, I told you!"

Exhilarated, [Y/N] looked back down at the card in her hands. The old man—Dumbledore—winked at her through his half-moon spectacles. "Is he—" she swallowed, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart, "Is he a wizard?"

Cedric nodded, beaming. "And so am I."

For a few seconds, [Y/N] could do no more than open and close her mouth in pure shock. All of this was a lot to take in—but perhaps her being of the mere age eleven helped, because while the ordinary Muggle adult would have downright refused to believe it, an imaginative young girl like her who had yet to discover the world took the news kindly.

"I'd show you more magic," Cedric said bashfully, "But I don't really know how to yet. That's why I'm going to Hogwarts—the school I was talking about, you know—so I can learn how to use magic. Spells and potions and all of that stuff."

At this, [Y/N]'s lips once more drooped with the threat of yet another painful frown, but she picked it back up with a small smile. "Here," she swiveled around to face him on the steps, knees knocking with his. Holding her pinky finger up between them, she said, "You promise me you'll write, okay? And you have to tell me about all the stuff that you learn there and all the other wizards and witches you meet—there are witches, right?"

Cedric nodded, lips pressed together in a tiny smile as he laced his pinky finger through hers. "I promise. Expect there'll be owls knocking on your window every week or so."

Her eyes widened once more. "Owls?"

He grinned. "We use owls to send letters and stuff around."

"Oh. Neat."

They broke out into a fit of giggles. "Okay," said Cedric, pulling his pinky finger away. "But you have to promise me you'll keep it a secret."

[Y/N] nodded earnestly, a look of the utmost seriousness crossing over his face as she pressed her palm to her chest like she was swearing an oath. "I'll take it to the grave with me, Ced," she said, eyes sparkling. "Trust me."

—

And trust her he has done, for the past few years of his life. Cedric would leave on the first of September every year, but not before bidding her farewell and promising to write at least once a week. To make up for the time they've lost, he would spend almost every day of the summer and winter break with her. His parents understand; he has long since told them about the Muggle girl at the bakery who his heart has grown close to. And perhaps it is his parents who first notice when the friendship that he has with her begins to blossom into something else. Something more.

"Out to meet with your friend already?" asks his father upon catching Cedric already on his way out of the front door. It's his first day back home from his fifth year at Hogwarts, and he has barely even finished unpacking his bags.

Cedric grins. He is a young man of age sixteen now, no longer the tiny eight-year-old boy he once was when he first met [Y/N] all those years ago. And yet despite all that has changed—despite his broader stature and the fact that he now towers over his father—he is still the same compassionate boy he has always been; the one who has always had a love for pastries and a certain girl at the bakery, although he doesn't quite know it yet.

"She's waiting for me," says Cedric, oddly exhilarated. His heart beating with the anticipation of seeing her for the first time in several months, he waves a brief goodbye to his father and dashes down the hill leading to the Muggle village of Ottery St. Catchpole.

He goes down the same path he always has; past the small patch of trees at the foot of the hill, through the town square, and finally, in front of the bakery. The door is propped open as though it has been waiting for him to enter, and voices waft out onto the street from the inside.

A smile already having found its way onto his face, Cedric takes the front stone steps two at a time before stepping inside.

"Be careful, grandma—oh, no—no, let me do it."

"It's fine, I can—Cedric, dear boy, you're back!"

A tray of freshly-baked cookies are set aside on the counter before a familiar elderly Muggle woman rushes at him and envelops him in a hug, mitten-covered hands wrapping themselves around his middle—the farthest she can reach him at his tall height and her own short legs. Cedric meets [Y/N]'s gaze over her grandmother's shoulder; she is leaning on the counter, lips pressed together in a barely-suppressed smile as her eyes shine with the kind of light that reminds Cedric of everything good in the world.

It takes a while for [Y/N]'s grandmother to stop fussing over him. When she does, she disappears behind the kitchen with the promise of coming out with a fresh batch of his favorite custard tarts.

And then he and [Y/N] are left alone in the bakery, where Cedric wastes no time and hugs her as close to him as he can. He wants to tell her that he'd missed her—terribly so—but he knows that she knows, and so he just holds her to him and hopes that the words come across alright.

A moment later the two of them are outside of the bakery, sitting on the same stone steps they've perched themselves on so many times before.

"So let me get this straight: you intentionally didn't write about the fact that there was a mass murderer inside your school because you didn't want me to worry?"

"Well, the matter was taken care of—"

"And there were soul-sucking demendoids or whatever you call them roaming the castle and you didn't mention it to me in your letters because you—"

"I didn't want you to worry, yes."

[Y/N] stares at him, deadpan. "And I suppose if you suffer a horrible death you won't care to write to me either because you don't want me worrying."

"Well, if I were dead, I'd hardly be able to write to y—"

"Oh, you get my point!" says [Y/N], rolling her eyes, but she's laughing as she shoves him lightly on the shoulder. Sighing dramatically, she shakes her head. "You learn a few magic tricks and suddenly you cut me out of your life."

Cedric scoffs, but his annoyance is only about as convincing as [Y/N]'s, as he has a smile of his own on his face. "I leave a few details out of my letter and suddenly you want to end our friendship."

"I don't want to end it," protests [Y/N]. "I just don't want you keeping out the bad stuff from your letters just because you don't want me to worry. If anything, I want to hear more about the negatives than the positives so I'll know that I'm not the only one having a hard time."

Cedric raises his brows, the smile on his face drooping as he angles his head to look at her face from where she's leaning on his shoulder. "Why? Tough time at school?"

She shrugs, shifting a little. "Kind of. It's ridiculous, actually. My best friend—well, second-best, since you're first—thinks that her boyfriend," she makes a face, "likes me. She didn't talk to me at all during the last few months of school and I highly expect she'll still be an arse about it when we come back after summer. Rubbish, really." Cedric has fallen silent. When she looks up at him, she finds that there is a frown on his face, so immediately she reassures him by saying, "You don't have to worry, Ced. I've got other friends. Better friends—wizard friends. Or friend. Just the one."

Cedric raises his eyebrows at her. His mood has dampened a little; it shows in the disappearance of the crinkled smile lines around his eyes and the way his lips have tugged down.

"Oh, come on," says [Y/N], sitting up straight. "Don't look so bummed. I've told you it's not a big deal."

He looks away, and then, quietly, "I just don't like the idea of you having a hard time."

A grin slowly stretches across her face. A moment later, she starts laughing. "Always so caring, aren't you?" she teases, reaching out to poke his cheek.

Cedric rolls his eyes, clutching her hand and prying it away from his face. "Whatever," he mutters, making a face at her. She giggles and does one right back, and just like that, they're laughing again.

It's incredibly easy for the innocent, youthful part of Cedric to come to the surface during times like these, when he sits down in front of the bakery with his best friend at his side as they return to their naive, childish shelves and bond over everything and nothing with all sorts of pastries clutched in their chubby hands. Cedric finds that, no matter how much time has passed, [Y/N] still feels the same: warm and comforting and reminiscent of home.

—

Time passes as it has always done, and sooner than both Cedric and [Y/N] would have liked, the day of September comes looming above them a mere week away.

They are on one of the many hills surrounding the village of Ottery St. Catchpole—their favorite one, actually; the one that has a perfect view of the village if they sit at the very top, which is what they are doing. The night sky looms above them as they do as they have always done: talk. And whenever they lapse into silence, they bask in the comfort they have always found in one another.

At present, they are laying on their backs on the grass. Usually, they'd be pointing out random shapes they each notice in the clouds, but it is nighttime and only wisps of smoke from the village chimneys drift across the dark blue canvas. There are only a few stars visible through the pollution hanging in the air; "I could count them all on one hand," says [Y/N], arm stretched upwards as though reaching for the sky. "Bit sad, really. I remember when we were kids there were still a lot of them. Sort of."

Cedric, with his gaze similarly glued to the stretch of sky above them, lets out an exhale. "We can see the stars at Hogwarts," he tells her quietly like they're sharing a secret, which, in a way, they are. "We don't even have to go to the Astronomy Tower to see them—when we look up, they're right there. Right above us. It's.."

He trails off.

"Ethereal?" [Y/N] suggests, tone hushed.

Cedric nods. "I wish I could take you to see them, but. You know."

"I'm a—what was it you guys called us lame, non-magical folks again?" she rolls onto her side to face him, arm tucked underneath her head as her eyes narrowed playfully.

"A Muggle," Cedric says, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "And that doesn't make you lame. It just makes you.."

"Non-magical," she snorts.

"Doesn't matter," mumbles Cedric, shifting to turn on his side as well. "You've got a different kind of magic." And his tone is teasing, but there's a hint of underlying emotion hidden beneath that he wonders if [Y/N] picks up on.

"And what's that?" [Y/N] asks, feigning a haughty look. "Is it my—let's see—supernatural charms? Or my mystical beauty?"

Cedric laughs. "Something like that."

Facing her, mere centimeters away, Cedric sees that moonshine is dancing across the skin of her face; he sees the very stars they were speaking of gleaming in her eyes, and all of a sudden the atmosphere changes and he can't quite breathe properly.

The look on his face doesn't go amiss. The playful smile on [Y/N]'s face falls and reveals underneath it something more—something that has Cedric's heart beating wildly in his throat and his lungs seizing up in his chest.

Ethereal, Cedric thinks to himself as his gaze locks with hers and he finds himself drowning in the sea of constellations inside her irises. The stars at Hogwarts hold no competition to those which he sees in that moment in [Y/N]'s eyes. He wonders if they have always been there, waiting to be noticed, or if they have only just surfaced now.

And then Cedric finds himself leaning in and somewhere in the middle, she meets his lips with her own.

They pause for a moment, as though giving each other time to pull away if they want to, but neither of them do. And he really can't quite tell who moves first—him or [Y/N]—but they let each other's lips begin to whisper over one another's in gentle, slow carresses. They string up, unhurried and soft, one kiss flowing into the next with endless patience and want, and [Y/N]'s lips are inviting and alive and Cedric almost doesn't want to pull away, but he has to, eventually, and so he draws back, eyes blinking open.

He wonders, for a moment, despite the fact that she'd kissed back, if he had gone too far. If he had crossed the line that had always rested between them that made the difference between friendship and.. whatever this was.

But then familiar crinkles appear around [Y/N]'s eyes as she smiles at him. "I believe I've discovered my magic."

Cedric takes a brief moment to respond. Letting out a quiet exhale, he keeps his gaze fixed on hers as he furrows his eyebrows a little and asks with a tiny smile of his own, "What's that?"

She grins and jokes in a hushed, almost theatrical tone, "Seduction."

Cedric's face relaxes into a proper smile and he leans forward, pressing his mouth against [Y/N]'s for the second time. He feels the happy curve of her lips and feels his own curving up in response until they aren't really kissing anymore; just smiling against each other's mouths.

Ethereal, Cedric thinks to himself again, not for the first time that day. Absolutely bloody magical.

—

The muggle village of Ottery St. Catchpole was a fascinating place, but perhaps the reason why Cedric thought so was not because of the buildings and the bustling streets themselves, but because of the little bakery owned by a Muggle grandma and a girl whose heart Cedric knew even better than his own.

When the first of September comes around and brings with it the inevitable need to say goodbye, a pair of friends bound together by the passing of time sit on the front steps of the Old Corner Bakery, joking and talking and making promises to write. [Y/N]'s grandmother has insisted on Cedric bringing along snacks in case he gets hungry during the train ride, hence the paper bag full of custard tarts he clutches in his hands.

"I think she loves you more than I do," says [Y/N], watching her grandmother disappear back into the bakery, weeping.

Cedric laughs. "Tell me something I don't know."

And then suddenly it is time to say their farewells, and Cedric is hugging her goodbye but it doesn't feel like enough, so he pulls away, places his hand on the back of her head, and presses a kiss to her forehead. He would press their lips together but he knows that will make it harder to say goodbye, so for now, he settles for this.

"You promise me you won't leave the bad stuff out of your letters, okay?"

"You can count on me."

So Cedric waves goodbye to her with the same gleam of promise from all those years ago sparkling in his eyes like stars that have yet to die out. He can't promise to stay, but he can promise that he will come back—and he will. He always will.

a/n: whether or not cedric comes back to ottery st. catchpole next year is entirely up to you (cough triwizard tournament cough)

[xmalereader]

Billy Hargrove X Male Reader

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|| Masterlist ||

| ONE — TWO —

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Summary: Reader is new to Hawkins, his parents had just moved into the new house and are trying to start over from there old lives. But what if reader can’t? He’s still a messed up kid who’s tired of pretending to be happy...and that damn mullet head of a ghost won’t stop following him around!!

Warnings; Slight angst, slight fluff, death, supernatural power, mentions child abuse, ghost billy, child neglect.

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“Home sweet home!!”

“Yay...home sweet hom-Ugh.”

His mother was taking this moving idea a little too much, they have just moved into there new house thag was located in Hawkins. He hates to admit it but he would rather go back to the mental hospital instead of moving here with his parents.

“Come on sweety! Lighten up a bit!” His mother coos out as she pinched his cheeks. He swats her hands away and glares in anger, turning to see his father already taking boxes inside their new house.

“How can I lighten up when this place looks like a hell hole?” He mutters out, walking back towards the car to grab a box of his own things and take them inside to his room room. Apparently they had four rooms, one too many rooms for a small family of three.

The only reason why his parents bought this house was because of him. He was the reason why they had to move, his parents Can pretend to be all happy and cheery for the moving when in reality they were dreading it. He can sense it from a mile away, he’s just waiting until they finally crack to the point where his mother would start whining and his father would possibly start drinking again.

“Only two more month, two more months.” He whispers to hismelf. In two months he’ll be eighteen and then he’ll have the ability to move out and get the hell away from this place and from his parents.

He makes his way upstairs to his new bedroom, setting down the boxes by the doorway he gives the room an exam, taking in the space and wondering how long he’ll be here before he decided to either run away or buy his own apartment.

The good thing so far is that he was finally alone!

“This place looks nice.”

Never mind, he takes it all back.

He frowns deeply as he turns his head to the left to see none other then Billy Hargrove, a dead bad boy that he met on the first couple of days that him and his parents were exploring Hawkins.

“I thought you left, but turns out that you decided to stick with me.” He grumbled out, walking over to his bed mattress and falling face first into it, letting out a deep groan as Billy stands by the doorway watching him.

“I hate to admit but, it’s a little lonely when you don’t have someone that can see you.” He says, walking over to the bed mattress and sit down next to him.

Y/n lifts his head up to narrow his eyes at billy. “Still, you had to stick with me.” He says again, turning onto his back as he stares at the ceiling. “What’s Hawkins like?”

“Shit.”

“Excellent.” He kicks his feet up and jumps off the mattress, walking towards the nearest window that was located in his bedroom. Piping the window open he looks outside to see the roof top which brings a wicked smirk on his face.

“What are you doing?”

Y/n begins to climb out of the window. “What do you think? I’m getting the hell out of here!” He’s able to climb through and step on the roof, closing the window behind him as he quietly makes his way towards the nearest tree.

“You know your parents will find out that you left.” Billy was alreayd at the bottom waiting for him as he looks up from the ground to see y/n climbing down the tree. “I don’t think they’ll care.” He grunts as he lands on teh soft grass and dusts his hands, smiling a bit in victory. “Besides, they’ll be happy to know that I’ve left or let alone get lost in a new town.” He mutters out, looking around as he sneaks away from the house and heads down the side walk. Awhile ago he saw an arcade when they were heading towards the house, the place looked full and he wanted to check it out.

“I didn’t think that your parents wouldn’t care, I mean...they looked like they really cared when you guys were moving in.”

Y/n shakes his head. “Thats just for show, they knew that the neighbors were watching us so they play it off happy when they are out in public. Treating me like the perfect son they have,” he explains. “But once we are indoors it all goes back to normal; my parents ignore me and are too afraid to even try to help me.”

Billy stops in his tracks as he takes in the information. “You said that you were once in a mental hospital, why did you get sent there?”

Y/n turns to look over his shoulder to give him a look that meant, ‘are you dumb.’ Billy at first was a little offended but instead of saying anything back he simply sighs and continues to follow the young teenager towards the arcade. The walk there was silent until y/ breaks it, “I was sent to the mental hospital at a young age, I think I was ten? Almost eleven?” He raises a brow at his own question but is quick to brush it off. “Anyways, my grandma died when I was little. I never understood her death so I wasn’t really upset about it but...a couple of days later I saw her in my living room and I would talk to her. At first my parents thought that I was talking to a friend that I invited but once they took notice that I was speaking my grandmother they freaked out.” He kicks a few rocks and bends dowm to pick up a stick. Swinging it around as he chuckles, “I continued to see my grandmother but I also started seeing other dead people—ghosts, actually. My parents started to freak out about it so they sent me to a mental hospital.”

“You were only ten!” He hears billy exclaim.

Y/n can only shrug with his shoulders and swing the stick around, he turns around quick to point the stick in Billy’s face. “”Enough about me, tell me about you! So, how did you die?”

He was quick to get to the questions.

Billy was s little dumbfounded by the question, his fingers fidget nervously as he steps away from y/n’s threatening stick. “I dont want to talk about it.” He says.

“Thats not fair, you know too much about me! Now, its my turn to ask questions.” He turns around to continue walking, spotting the arcade as he grins. “Lucky for you, we are here.” He tosses his stick away and rushes down to the arcade, seeing other teenagers and kids entering and exiting the building. He brushes by people as he enters the building, smiling widely as he sees the arcade full of people around his age.

He slips his hands in his pockets, walking around the place to see if he can find any empty game to play with.

“Dammit all the game are taken.” He mumbles to hismelf as he turns around to see billy staring at a few kids younger than him.

He slowly makes his way towards him and eyes the kids, noticing how they were screaming at each other as hey challenged each other on the game they were playing.

It takes him awhile to notice that billy was staring at a certain red headed girl. “You know them?” He asks softly.

“Yeah...those are my sisters friends.”

Y/n hums. “Let me Guess, that’s your little Sister?” He points towards the red head as billy nods in reply, watching his own sister play in happiness with her other friends.

“Maxine.” He heard billy whisper out.

Without thinking, y/n is moving towards the group of kids as he ignores Billy’s protests. Stepping closer to the group he comes to a halt and clears his throat. “Hey guys!”

The small group stops playing and turn there heads towards y/n. “Uh...hi?”

Y/n gives them a grin before turning his gaze towards the red head. “Your Maxine right?”

“Who’s asking?” She gives him a death glare which causes y/n to chuckle nervously and put his hands up in defense. “I’m not here to cause trouble just wanted to ask something.” He says.

The group of boys are giving him weird looks but he’s used to it, nothing affects him anymore.

He opens and closes his mouth. “You used to have a brother named Billy right?” He questions and noticed the look in her eyes, he can see them well up in sadness.

“Yes...” she whispers out.

Y/n is silent, not knowing what to say next as he looks over his shoulder to see billy staring at him. Giving him a desperate look that could either mean, ‘dont go’ or ‘please don’t do anything stupid’ but, y/n being y/n he never listens.

He sighs to hismelf and turns back to look at the girl. “I knew your brother Billy, he was...a little annoying to be honest—“ he chuckles out and kept his gaze on his shoes as he continues to speak. “But he was a great guy...he may seem like a pain in the ass but deep down he cares, he cares for you Maxine.” He lifts his head up to meet her eyes, noticing tears filling up her eyes. “Billy wanted me to tell you that he misses you and that he hopes that your happy and—and to continue on with what you have...he’s really proud of you.” With that he steps away from the group and leaves the arcade before they can start asking him questions.

He didn’t know how to feel about this situation, he barely even knew billy but yet somehow he feels like he’s known the guy forever.

“Hey.”

He’s pulled out of his thoughts by billy, who’s standing by his side and giving him a small nod. “Thank you...for everything.”

Y/n slowly smiles in return. “Your welcome, for everything.” He repeats back as the two make there way back to the house.

[hypnomicimagines]

That fluff alphabet really is super cute, wow. If you're feeling up to it, could I request G, K, M, R and Z for Gentaro or Samatoki? (Whoever has the least requests the moment you decide to take this one on, please. I simp hard for both and cant make up my mind)

Aohitsugi Samatoki: 

G = Gentle (Are they gentle? If so, how?): 

Samatoki is gentle in his own way but overall, you don’t think the word really suits him. He’s more rough around the edges when it comes to love and he can be very direct when he wants to be, even if he also skates around certain topics as he fears what the outcome might be (he’s no pushover but he’s not rushing to lose you either). He handles you and your heart with far more care than you ever suspected though, knowing his gentle side mostly comes out when he’s putting the effort into being romantic. 

K = Kiss (How do they kiss? Who initiated the first kiss?): 

The emotional weight and intensity that are in each one of Samatoki’s kisses leave you always feeling satisfied if not a bit exhausted, putting forth all your effort into the more passionate ones as you don’t want to disappoint. It also almost always leads to more if you want it to and Samatoki is always raring to go even if you’re in his office or out in public together. He at least has the tact to kiss you chastly when you’re around others and in crowded public spaces but you can always tell by how he lingers that he hungers for more. 

Samatoki did without a hint of hesitation. He knew he wanted this more than anything and you’d be showing the same signs, staring at his lips all night and flirting so hard he wondered how he hadn’t realized you had feelings for him before. It’s so incredibly surreal to finally be kissing someone he loved, someone he had been pining over for months, and he’s almost afraid to blink in case it all dissolves away before his very eyes. 

M = Memory (What’s their favourite memory together?): 

The time you spent an entire day inside a thrift store slowly carding through each and every item to find a totally new wardrobe. You seemed more excited than him when you found the store that was practically a warehouse, excitedly jabbering on about all the hidden gems that might be there. He couldn’t say he was extremely interested in finding some of these ‘hidden gems’ and thus started the journey of finding interesting new articles of clothing, finding stuff for Rio and Jyuto too (which you wanted to get for them more than him). You even walked out with matching hawaiian style shirts and you were so happy Samatoki knew he’d wear the ugly thing out in public just to see you smile. 

R = Rainy Day (What do they like to do on a rainy day?): 

Samatoki always gets bored and restless on rainy days, finding them to be tedious to deal with as it’s not as though he still doesn’t have to work in the rain. On days he doesn’t feel like going in and just stays at home he tends to cook just due to pure boredom, enlisting you in these activities and making you taste test new things he wants to try out for dinner. You always have a good time when Samatoki throws on the old cooking apron and you admire him from kitchen table as he cooks, trying to hold back all the househusband jokes brewing in your head. 

Z = Zebra (If they wanted a pet, what would they get?): 

Samatoki isn’t really a pet person and he thinks his ideal pet would be something like a snake or a lizard of some sort. The only thing stopping him from getting one is his hatred of bugs but if he found a way around having to handle the squishy bundles of protein for his pet he’d buy one in a heartbeat. Dogs are too high maintenance but cats are lowkey enough that he’d consider them, too. He thinks owning a bird would be funny considering how much Jyuto detests them and would threaten to have it in the front entrance of his office for days he doesn’t want to be bothered by the cop. 

Yumeno Gentaro: 

G = Gentle (Are they gentle? If so, how?):

Gentaro exudes gentleness and you’ll find that when romantically involved with him, things generally remain light-hearted. He doesn’t like to force situations and he’s the ‘sit back and see what happens’ type of person, approaching romance in a rather relaxed way that said there’d be no hard feelings if things didn’t work out. It can be to the point you don’t know how seriously he takes the relationship but heavy emotions wear Gentaro out, it’s why he lies so much because honesty is more exhausting but if you’re worth his time, you’ll get to see this side of him. 

K = Kiss (How do they kiss? Who initiated the first kiss?):

Gentaro’s kisses are gentle in nature, starting off with him pressing his nose against yours and asking in a soft tone if you’d like him to kiss you. When you agree he briefly gives you exactly what you want but pulls away to tease, saying if you want more from him than you’d have to come get it. He’s almost always playful when he kisses you and he always manages to lift your spirits with his kisses; he seems surprised and flustered to hear you admit that but happy kissing you isn’t just self-serving (as his mood is always improved by you giving him a smooch too). 

It was a real 50/50 decision, the two of you having to work together to achieve it in the long run. Gentaro liked to sit back, watch, and wait to see what you’d do, never acting even when you got so close to him you could feel his breath on your skin. It was almost annoying how he managed to hold out and keep it together while you were stumbling over yourself but when you finally tell him to kiss you he does so without complaint. He ends up stuttering afterwards which shows he’s not quite as together as he’d like you to think and you’re pleased that he’s now embarrassed after an entire night of leaving you guessing. 

M = Memory (What’s their favourite memory together?):

Gentaro’s favorite memory was when the two of you were sitting on a bench in the park, holding hands as the sun set while chattering about this or that. There had been a few storytelling sessions where he’d seen how quick you were on the draw when he asked you about random passerby, a lot of laughs shared at the absolutely nonsensical stories of vampires and monsters that you came up with. He said you had a mind that rivaled his and that he’d gladly collaborate with you on a novel some day. 

R = Rainy Day (What do they like to do on a rainy day?):

Rainy days are never boring with Gentaro as he can come up with a story for just about anything, though he’s sad he can’t people watch as he normally does. He’ll bury his nose in a book while sitting curled up on the couch under a thick warm blanket (you want to joke he looks like a very comfortable grandma but you don’t know if he’ll take it well) and if he’s not reading, he’s likely trying to write something using the rain as a type of white noise to help him concentrate. 

Z = Zebra (If they wanted a pet, what would they get?):

Gentaro would love an elderly cat who just wants to live out its final years in peace, having it sit on his lap and tending to its needs. He loves cooing at the fluff ball and only gives it the best care, brushing its hair and humming happily to himself as he realizes, without caring, that he’s become a crazy cat man. He just enjoys the calmness an older cat brings with it and the lack of destruction to his house, amused that Dice doesn’t seem to trust it (nor does his cat trust Dice until he brings a can of tuna as an offering). 

[marvelsdc22]

The Professor And I Season 2 Christmas Special

Intro: Hello, lovelies!! I hope you guys are having a good day/night and that this week is treating you all well!! Here’s a special one for you guys, this series holds a spot close to my heart, so I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!!

Note: Y/N is trying hard to get back to life, but after everything that has happened, they find it difficult to do so, it’s a good thing Lena’s around to help them through this difficult time.

Word Count: 1652

Season 1 Christmas Special S1 Season 2

Its been about a month now since the funeral for your father, you were slowly getting used to your new arm that Lena had helped build for you, some days were better than others, you would get irritated and fight with anyone who would try to tell you otherwise, not only were you not able to have much use with your arm, but your best friend was locked away in a place called the D.E.O. where you couldn’t go since you didn’t have the right clearance, but it was the only way for her to learn how to control her newfound powers, having almost killed you and Alex with them when you guys got into it, to say you were stressed was an understatement.

“Babe, I know it’s hard but-“ Lena tried, getting cut off by your groan of frustration as you struggled to move the fingers on your new robotic arm “Don’t act like you know how this feels! I don’t see you trying to learn to use an arm after losing your own!” You snapped, glaring at her and your features softening when you saw her wince at your tone and avert her gaze “I’m sorry” you apologized, knowing your snapping wasn’t helping anything and looking at the robotic arm, trying to move it again but failing, sweat trailing down your face from trying so hard since this required a lot of strenuous activity “It’s okay… Why don’t you take a break?” She suggested, carefully taking the arm off you so you could rest.

After she set it down on the coffee table of your guys shared apartment, she went over to you and gently cupped your cheeks “I love you, I am so proud of you” she said, looking at you and you bit your lip as you reached up with your right hand and rested it on hers “I love you too… I’m sorry you have to go through this” you apologized, knowing this was no easy task for her either “It’s worth it for you… Why don’t you go shower? Your mom is expecting us bright and early in the morning, so you won’t have time in the morning” she said, looking at you and pressing a small kiss to your lips before she pulled back, stopping when you took her hand “Join me?” You asked, just wanting her there with you since you guys had lost a lot of time together this past semester “Of course” she smiled, leading you into the bathroom.

Once your shower was over, the two of you cooked some dinner, you doing what you could with one arm before you guys cuddled up in bed for the night after dinner “I’m glad we got this place” you said, you guys having went through with your plans to move in together at semester break, having found a great place not too far from the school, but far enough to not raise any suspicion “Me too, it’s nice” Lena said, this being the closest she had ever been to someone and reaching over, gently wrapping her arms around you and pulling you to her, smiling when you nuzzled against her chest as you got comfortable and feeling her kiss your head “Get some sleep, it’s going to be a busy day” she said softly, gently rubbing your back as the two of you fell into comfortable silence.

A few hours later, you woke up with a gasp and sat up quickly, running your hands over your now sweaty face and through your hair that was still wet from the shower “Hey hey hey” Lena whispered, having woken up when you jostled the bed, turning on the lamp on her side before she rested her hand on her back “It’s okay, you’re safe, you’re with me” she said softly, hating seeing you like this, you having nightmares almost every night since you saw your father die “It’s my fault, I should’ve gotten there sooner, I should’ve-“ you rambled, starting to hyperventilate until you felt Lena gently grip your wrists before she moved to sit in front of you “It is not your fault, your father knows this” she promised, looking at your tear-stained face as you locked eyes with her, your breathing slowing down as it went back to normal “Your father loved you and he is watching you from wherever he is, he is so damn proud of you and he wouldn’t want you blaming yourself” she said, looking at you and watching as you let out a sob before you hugged her tightly “I miss him” you cried, feeling Lena tighten her grip on you “I know, baby… I know”.

The next morning, Lena drove the two of you to your mother’s house, being sure to get you your favorite Starbucks drink before you both settled in for the two hour drive, her hand never leaving your leg unless she needed to shift the gear, her driving a manual which she had tried to teach you to drive before, but that was on hold for now until you got used to your new arm which you guys had in the back so you could practice, the two of you going to stay at your mother’s for the week “Do you feel warm enough?” She asked as she stopped at a stoplight “Yeah…” You said softly, the closer you got to your mothers, the harder it was to keep your baring, so you tried not to say much.

When you guys got there and your mother opened the door, the two of you stared at one another for a moment before you hugged each other tightly, you trying really hard to be strong for her as you felt your mother let out a sob “It’s okay, he’s in a better place” you whispered, rubbing her back some as you let her cry into your shoulder, pulling back after a moment and giving her the best smile you could muster before she went and hugged Lena “Come on in, it’s too cold to be standing out there!” Your mother said, wiping her tears and giving you guys a smile before she let you both in.

“When do the others arrive?” You asked, knowing you guys would have a full house for the week since your family didn’t want your mother alone at all during these holidays “Your cousins Sarah and Jesse should be here in an hour, the others will arrive tomorrow” she said, looking at you and gesturing for you to go “Go on and get settled in your room, I’ll be in here when you get all settled” she said, giving you guys a smile before you helped Lena carry the bags into your old room “Mommmm” You whined when you saw she had put your old sheets on, the ones with One Direction on them and hearing Lena let out a chuckle “What? It’s cute” she chuckled, kissing your frown before she set the bag in her hands on the bed.

Over the course of the next few days, you guys were busy with getting last minute Christmas shopping done and decorating, to you just trying to use your new arm, the next thing you knew, it was Christmas day and your mom was cooking in the kitchen with your aunt Shelia and your grandma Betty while your younger cousins were running around in the living room, playing with their new toys “Come with me?” Lena asked, taking the coffee mug in your hand and setting it on a nearby table, leading you to the back porch after you pulled your shoes and large coat on since it had snowed overnight “Lena, it’s cold” you whined, following her as she chuckled, just leading you over to the lake right behind the house “This won’t take long, promise” she said, turning to you and giving you a small smile.

You raised an eyebrow when you saw her sudden nervous composure “Okay…” She finally said, clearing her throat as she pulled a small box out of her pocket “Lena-“ It’s not that! Not yet anyway” she assured you, having seen the panic on your face until she opened the box in her hands “This is something before that… A promise ring, I’m promising myself to you… No one has ever made me feel the way you do and if you’ll have me, I want to use this to show my commitment to you” Lena said, knowing that had been the big issue with the two of you over the semester and she wanted to make it known that you were hers and she was yours.

Staring at the ring, you couldn’t help but start to chuckle, making Lena furrow her brow “I’m sorry, I-“ she apologized, stopping when she saw you pull something out of your pocket “Ironic, we had the same idea” you said, struggling for a moment to open the box until it finally opened, a small promise ring inside it, you watching as Lena stared at it before she smiled and took it out of the box “Put it on me?” She asked, handing the ring to you before holding her right hand out and letting you slip it onto her ring finger, before she did the same with yours “No more questioning us… I’m one hundred percent committed to you” she said, resting her forehead on yours as you smiled “As am I” you said, leaning up on your tip toes and kissing her gently “Can we go inside now? My toes are freezing” you said, causing her to laugh before she pocketed both boxes and picked you up bridal style “Of course, as you wish” she said, giving you a smile before carrying you into the house, while this Christmas was sad, Lena always knew how to make you smile and one day, she would be yours… Forever.

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[omgrachwrites]

The Book of Love - Chapter One

Pairing: Remus Lupin x Ravenclaw!Reader

Summary: After a breakup leaves you heartbroken and miserable, things start to change for the better when you begin exchanging notes in a library book with a mystery boy.

Warnings: lil bit of angst, fluff, lil bit of swearing, Sirius being the best friend ever, Remus being adorable

Words: 2362

Disclaimer: This gif doesn’t belong to me!

A/N: This is for @hp-imagines-07 writing challenge so I hope you all enjoy! I wanted to add more friendship in this to go along with the romance which is why the first part of this chapter focuses on Sirius’ and Y/N’s friendship so I hope that’s okay! Please let me know what you think and if you would like to be tagged, I love you all! xxx

Chapter One

The beautiful summer’s day had started out perfectly, you and your family were staying at your grandmother’s estate over the summer holiday. Your grandmother owned a good few acres of land, meaning that you could have your space if you needed it. That morning you had been mesmerized by the way that the sun rose in the sky, all pink and beautiful, casting a blush of magic over all the land, as far as the eye could see.

Though, that beauty and wonder all seemed to be distant memories now as you stared at the front page of The Daily Prophet like you had been doing for the last few hours. Rage and sadness filled your chest like an inferno. What had you done to deserve this? Blinking away angry tears, you ripped off the front page of the newspaper that read, ‘Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black announce their surprise engagement,’ and you crumpled it up into a ball as you stalked across the lush green lawn.

You finally let out a deep breath, one that you hadn’t realised you had been holding in as you leaned against the white marquee and you tried to concentrate on the sweet smell of the honeysuckle and the cheerful song of the lark. You were startled when you heard a loud crack from across the lawn and you glanced up to see it was your childhood best friend and he was walking towards you with a look of sympathy on his face. Sighing you quickly wiped your eyes, you didn’t want or need his sympathy and you certainly didn’t want him to see you cry.

“What the hell are you doing here Sirius?” you asked, your tone was sharp and defensive as you wrapped your arms around yourself.

An expression of polite surprise flitted its way across his features before his face was transformed with a smirk, “well, you see, I knew you were staying here so I apparated, took my test early you know,” you gave him a sharp look and he sighed, holding his hands up in defence, “I came to see if you were okay. Considering my cousin is now engaged to your ex-boyfriend,” he wrapped his arm around your shoulders.

You sighed as you smiled at him gratefully and you rested your head against his chest, “at least I know why he dumped me at the start of summer,” you shrugged, you had been staring at that front page for hours and you now felt quite numb, “I should have known something was wrong but I guess he wanted to know what it was like to go out with someone who was never good enough for him.”

Sirius tutted at your words and he shook his head incredously at you, “how can you think that way Y/N? You were way too good for that slime ball.”

You giggled at your friend’s words and smiled at him before you closed your eyes and basked in the warm sunshine, “honestly, I’m more annoyed that Narcissa would do this to me, I mean, I know that we weren’t best friends but we were at least friends.”

Sirius’ fingers toyed with the ends of your hair, “you know that you can hang around with me and my friends anytime you want don’t you? Lily and Alice really like you and I know they would love it if another girl joined our group. My friends like you for some crazy unknown reason,” he joked and you pushed at his shoulder, shooting him a death glare.

“Shut it! Otherwise, I’ll hex you and damage that pretty face; I’m a delight to be around,” you smirked, “but really, thank you Sirius. I really do appreciate it but I don’t want to impose.”

Sirius frowned at your words before he shook his head, “Y/N, you’re my best friend, don’t tell James that I just said that,” he chuckled, “you could never impose.”

You felt a sudden wash of affection for Sirius as you beamed and gave him a quick hug, “thank you,” you mumbled against his chest before pulling away, “so how are you?”

Sirius grinned as he shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets, “I’m good, really I am now that I don’t live with my mum and dad anymore.”

You nodded understandingly, you knew just how much heartache and torture that he’d endured in that dark house, “you never have to go back there Sirius. Now,” you smiled, clapping your hands, “do you want to stay for dinner?” you asked as you walked up towards the house.

“Ah yes, my ulterior motive for coming to see you,” he smirked, throwing his arm around your shoulders, “as long as your grandmother doesn’t try and set us up again.”

You made a face at his words and you gagged, it was true enough that Sirius had devastatingly good looks but there had only ever been friendship between the two of you and you both liked it that way, “no offense but you’re like my brother.”

“I completely agree and besides if I made a move on you, Remus would never forgive me.”

You weren’t looking at Sirius but you could just hear the smirk in his voice. You frowned and cocked your head to the side as you thought of the handsome boy with the tousled hair and the stars in his eyes. Remus was one of Sirius’ best friends but you had never seen him as anything more than that, he was an absolute sweetheart though. Besides, after Lucius you didn’t really want to jump into anything with anyone just yet, it wouldn’t be fair to anyone. Though, you did crave the romance.

“You’re so full of shit!” you laughed loudly and pushed him so hard that he stumbled. It was a relief when you walked into the cool house that was alive with so many amazing smells. Sirius sniffed the air with a look of appreciation, “we have a guest over for dinner guys!” you grinned as you pulled Sirius into the kitchen.

He hung back sheepishly, looking uncharacteristically shy but your mother beamed when she saw him, “it’s so lovely to see you Sirius!” she enveloped him into a warm hug and you noticed that Sirius returned the hug just as tight. You all knew that he hadn’t had a lot of motherly hugs.

“Good to see you again son,” your father smiled, the edges of his eyes crinkling as he shook Sirius’ hand.

“Thank you so much for having me,” Sirius grinned.

Your grandmother had been watching this whole interaction with a wicked smirk on her face, “yes welcome Sirius, and please make yourself at home. Who knows, you two might be coming up here alone in years to come.”

Groaning internally, you rolled your eyes and exchanged an amused look with Sirius, “we’re just friends Grandma.”

Your grandmother shrugged, “you can’t crush an old woman’s dream my dear,” she smiled at the both of you before she resume cooking.

Dinner that evening was a joyful occasion; it always was when you were staying with your grandmother. There was lots of laughter and beaming smiles, the only downside was the fact that your parents wouldn’t let you or Sirius try any of the Fire Whiskey. But you were sure that when you got back to school, Sirius would work his charm on the barmaid in The Three Broomsticks and you were be able to procure some.

Ever since you and Sirius were children your parents always treated Sirius with warmth and they had always made him feel like part of the family, and for that you were very grateful. After dessert you gave Sirius a hug as he stood on the doorstep, “I’ll see you at school, thank you for coming to see if I was okay.”

Sirius grinned as he smoothed your hair down, “you’re very welcome, I know that you’d do the same for me, thank you for having me around for dinner,” he hesitated, “think about what I said about Remus, not for me but for yourself. You deserve happiness Y/N and Remus is a great guy.”

You smiled lightly at him, “goodnight Sirius.”

Sirius nodded in understanding but you couldn’t miss the look of disappointment on his face as he turned to leave. You didn’t want to tell Sirius that you weren’t looking to get caught up with anyone. You had always been hopeless in love, perhaps that was why you craved the romance, you craved every part of it like something out of a fairy tale. Though, unbeknownst to you, fate worked in mysterious ways.

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

Remus had sorely missed this, he had missed the hustle and bustle of the magical world, there were hundreds of magical children filling up the platform and he noticed that most of them seemed to be in little huddled groups. There were all whispering about something and they were all looking in the same direction. With a raised eyebrow Remus’ hazel eyes followed their gaze but he didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. He finally found his friends and greeted them with a grin as they began to walk the length of the platform.

“I think that Y/N is going to be hanging round with us more this year,” Sirius said and almost instantly Remus felt heat travel up from his toes and settled on his cheeks, his whole body felt hot and his insides had turned to mush. He had had a crush on Y/N since their third year but he’d never really worked up the courage to talk to her properly.

Lily let out a sigh of relief as she combed her fingers through her long red hair, “that’s great, I really like Y/N. Don’t you Remus?” Lily smirked over at him and he glared back at her, his cheeks felt like they were on fire.

“Yeah o-of course I like her. How come she’ll be spending more time with us?”                    

James raised an eyebrow as he leaned over Sirius to look at Remus, “you did see the newspaper right?”

Remus sighed as he nodded, “yeah I saw it,” the guy she had been dating last term was now engaged to someone who used to be her friend. He couldn’t imagine how sad and angry she felt.

“You’re so full of shit Malfoy; I can’t believe you’d do this!” Remus glanced up as he heard the angry voice and he saw Y/N talking to Lucius Malfoy.

She looked beautiful – but so sad – as she shook her head, turning away from Lucius, still looking over her shoulder at him. She walked right into Remus’ chest and she gasped as she dropped her book on the tarmac. Remus smiled and reached out his hands to steady her.

“Remus, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going, and I should have been,” she flushed and looked up at him with a small smile.

Remus grinned as he shook his head, “honestly, don’t worry about it Y/N,” he bent down to pick her book up and he smiled when he saw the front cover, “The Fellowship of the Ring? The Lord of the Rings is my favourite book series,” he chuckled as he held out her book.

“Thank you,” Y/N smiled as she took the book from him, “it was difficult to get into but I really like it so far,” she smiled with a nod. Her smile was so beautiful that for once, Remus was lost for words and all he could do was smile back.

“So, Y/N. Do you want to sit with us?” Y/N’s eyes tore away from Remus’ face as she looked at Lily who looked very excited. She looked like Christmas had come early.

“That would be amazing, thank you Lily,” she flushed and Lily took her hand in hers, smiling at her.

“You’re welcome; Alice and I could really use another girl in our group. We are overrun by testosterone,” Lily smirked over at her boyfriend who gasped and looked scandalized.

“How dare you?” Frank, Alice’s boyfriend gasped playfully, making everyone laugh as they boarded the train.

Peter groaned quietly as he folded his arms, “please don’t spend hours talking about shopping and boys or whatever. I don’t think that I could take it.”

Remus sighed and closed his eyes, massaging his temples as he took in Peter’s clumsy words. He knew that Peter had the tendency to word vomit when he was nervous but it didn’t make this any less embarrassing.

All three girls gave Peter a hard look before Alice spoke up, “is that seriously what you think girls talk about?”

“Jeez, Pete,” Sirius chuckled, trying to relieve some of the tension as they all found an empty compartment.

For the first couple of hours the compartment was impossibly noisy as the friends played Exploding Snap. Y/N’s fingers brushed against Remus’ as they both reached for a card at the same time. At her touch, goose bumps erupted on Remus’ arms, when Y/N smiled at him gently he had to wonder if she felt it too.

Soon enough, the game grew boring and the compartment grew quiet as the train started to travel through wilder parts of the country. Sirius, James and Peter were concocting a new prank while Lily and Alice were talking about their next Hogsmeade trip and Frank was snoring loudly in the corner. Y/N seemed to be engrossed in her book and Remus took this time to watch her, he watched the shadows that her thick eyelashes made on her cheeks and he watched the way her lips moved silently as she read the words on the page.

Almost as if she could feel Remus’ eyes on her, she glanced up to meet his eyes and raised her eyebrow with the ghost of a smirk on her face. Remus’ heart plummeted in his chest, feeling caught out, all he could do was manage a small smile. Y/N smiled back before going back to her book and Remus let out a slow breath. It was then that he made the decision to be brave and try to get to know her this year.

------------------------------------ 

@smiithys @hp-imagines-07 @pregnant-piggy @reylo-hope @unexpectedurl @siriusblackspam​

[darkelite020]

Bad Batch thoughts & predictions Ep 7

Continuing these written reactions/predictions somewhere cause itd be fun I think to see what actually ends up happening and remembering what I thought at the time so im dumping it here, youre welcome. (Feel free to discuss if you want) if you want to keep up with it im gonna be tagging these as #jay rambles about bb

- Ruby? Did I forget? Who/what is Ruby? -- Oh ok. Interesting bounty I suppose. - Wrecker and Omega have a completing mission tradition? That is SO cute. - Hooded person is here >>  -- I’m still holding out on my rex or ahsoka predicition because I think it would make sense for the sisters to call them since theyre friends with ahsoka and obviously she knows about clones and Rex is/was with her last we saw him... but the hooded persons eyes definitely aren’t ahsokas so I think it’s rex and if it is Im gonna be so happy - “Thats not her ugly side?” FFF Tech you bastard I love you - I SEE THE WHITE AND BLUE ARMORED ARM IM GONNA SCREAM - I’M SCREAMING -- REX I MISSED YOU SO MUCH I’M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU AGAIN AHHHHH --- I KIND OF POKED FUN AT MYSELF THIS WEEK REBLOGGING A MEME OF A GRANDMA SAYING ‘REX WILL BE IN THE NEXT EPISODE’ AND SOME YOUNGER PERSON EXCORTING THEM AND SAYING SOMETHING LIKE ‘OK GRANDMA LETS GET YOU INSIDE’ OR SOME SHIT BUT **VIOLENTLY POINTING AT THE SCREEN** MY LOVE IS HERE - Cid shut the fuck up he is a KING how dare you - Oh no. Oh god. “thats a long story.” Is he going to talk to him about his pov with 66 and about the ship and Jesse AND FIVES OH FUCK -- So it skipped to Rex talking about the end of the war but we didn’t hear really the story itself, and I really hope thats not all we get when it comes to him talking about the people he and at least echo knew. Like if he talked about Fives learning about the chips and not being listened to and that resulted in 66 because of the chips where activated and made them betray the jedi but we get no reaction from Echo I’m going to be pretty disappointed honestly. Like I get the bad batch not really knowing the squad so they have excuses but Echo did, and I really hope they don’t do the thing “Oh well Echo was caught by droids so now he doesn’t care about them anymore” because... that sucks. Like honestly Echo wasn’t even super crazy about seeing Rex either tbh (I get that Echo feels like he doesn’t fit in with regs and thats all fine and dandy) but it kinda feels like he doesn’t give a shit about what he’s gone through with other people. ---Rambling and getting off topic now because I have some shit between Echo and Fives: but if thats the case like we all know it fucked up Fives when he thought Echo was dead so if Echo isn’t the same way about Fives I guess thats just like... depressing and it sucks because everyone sees them as “that duo”. Again we really don’t know what Rex said exactly so its possible it didnt get brought up but if it did...  - Wrecker picking up Rex is so cute but you can see the fucking worry in Rex’s eyes for being picked up by him cause Wrecker would throw him and agjsdb I love it. - Omega straight up being like “youre old” while looking at Rex’s face PFFT no filter kid. - REX KNOWS ABOUT WRECKER -- Good I’m very happy Rex is calling them out on this inhibitor chip shit. ‘Oh crosshair was just an exception’ should definitely not be an excuse. - Oh alright so the glimpse in the trailer was a junkyard and not the same thing. Same kind of ship but not where the graveyard is. Honestly thats kind of a relief. - OH SHIT I WAS TALKING ABOUT FIVES NOW THEY ARE BRINGING HIM UP IM GONNA CRY ABOUT FIVES ALL OVER AGAIN -- wait.... now I don’t know if they know or not about him. - The scenery in this show is really pretty im just gonna go ahead and give some appreciation. - Oh no Wrecker! Pull up the rope!!!!!! He can climb but you can also pull him!!!! -- Thank god. - Omega talking about if something goes wrong? It’s not like theyre all gonna die at the same exact time.... like theyre only gonna do the surgery one at a time so... Omega what are you imagining sis? Like if one person turns? It’s still kind of unlikely that they could defeat the other very talented people in the room. - OH SHIT TECH YELL FOR HELP - HEY THIS HURTS MY FEELINGS DAVE HEY HEY -- LIKE YEAH THEY CANT POSSIBLY KILL THEM ALL CAUSE THE SHOW NEEDS TO GO ON BUT HEY --- Lowkey predicting they could all turn by the end of the show season cause like if they dont beat wrecker and cant use the medical bay then they are fucked. Also especially think this is gonna happen because one of the directors literally said the second half of season 1 is gonna get emotional and holy shit can you imagine. ---- WHAT IF THEY DO AND ITS JUST OMEGA AND REX TEAMING UP TO SAVE THEM HOLY SHIT AND ITD GIVE EVEN MORE OF A MEANING TO THE WORDS “THE BAD BATCH” - Holy shit this fight Wrecker grabbed ECHO BY HIS FUCKING FACE - Ok I was seriously wondering about Omega’s concerns but now HOLY SHIT CAUSE THATS ALL I CAN SAY LIKE THEYRE NOT DEAD BUT OH MY GOD I DIDN’T THINK ITD GO DOWN LIKE THIS - THANK YOU REX OUR HERO - I know we’re all having a moment after Wrecker but can you guys like team up to move him off the table and get your own done like even if its a bit risky cause we don’t need a repeat of what just happened like yeah theres not enough time in the episode for it but still - The *immediate* little head pat “Hey kid” ;-;

- Ok I’m glad theyre getting them out - THE GENTLE REASSURING TOUCHES IN THIS EPISODE *deep breath* ARE GIVING ME SERATONIN  - Wreckers apology ;-; THIS IS SO FUCKING SAD AND CUTE - Rex is leaving already? :( Be safe you funky little space soldier. - Not really surprised the empire is gonna know they were there cause it was only a matter of time but if theyre smart theyd get off planet and back to Cid before the empire gets there to see whats up.  -- Im sure they’ll realize they removed their chips though, I wonder if crosshair will show up (he probably will) but if he does rather its gonna be a fight there between the empire and bb maybe the bb can win and save crosshair or they have to retreat and something else goes on idk. - Would love if Crosshair was saved because he really got the short end of the stick and is being called “the bad batch” but like he’s not even really there with them for the show so far... also you can tell subtly that he doesn’t like being alone which is fucking sad :tm: because all his friends are gone and it hurts even more now because wrecker was talking about how he didn’t want to do things and he was trying not to hurt them and stuff in his apology and you know damn well Crosshair is the same way about his friends he’s probably just a lot less expressive about it.  -- Honestly even bad batch aside can you imagine how terrible all of the clones feel like all the regs over all knowing theyre the downfall of the jedi and thinking that they were trying to resist it too. Like they know whats happening and deep inside theyre themselves but they cant do shit about it. That fucking hurts me.  This is a longer post but this episode was a roller coaster for my emotions.

[cloveroctobers]

ANNA-JULIA “AJ” (JONES) JARLETT

IG bio/info: @/annajj9x_ | 20.1k followers| Athlete | hey peeps can you stop asking me to throw it back cuz the answer will always be no! K thx take it easy 🏳️‍🌈🌻🏒🐶

21 years old

From bath, England

Hockey player as her profession for the past three years

Her position is defense

Their team name is “rowdy alphas”...yeah some team names just didn’t make sense or they’re cringe for no reason at all

Was raised by her mom,(her mom was a teen mom & had her at 17) maternal grandmother, and her paternal aunt (dad’s younger sister, who’s more like a big sister to her at 28)

They’ve made her into the person she is, literally

Her grandmother has a bed and breakfast that they all live in

the house is Victorian style—almost as if they walked right out of charmed! Instead of a big pink house, think yellow AND purple. It was hideous but homey and charming on the inside

growing up in a house with multiple temporary strangers wasn’t odd to aj at all, in fact it felt like the norm. There was always someone around to socialize with so that was quite nice

Her father was a pro baseball player & passed away due to a automobile accident

she has his smile & freckles

aj was also involved in the accident at the age of 6 & miraculously survived with intense injuries

Has scars as a reminder

used to have night terrors because of the accident...it took awhile—years!!! for them to subside

they’re all vague memories now (but the pain is something she’ll always remember) but she preferred it that way

she’s named “Anna” after her mother’s old best friend/roommate and was supposed to be aj’s god mother but she went missing during their uni years

the name“Julia” came from her paternal grandmother who she gets her wide doe eyes from

her athleticism definitely came from her dad

Her mother luckily liked to document things so there’s a bunch of home videos of her dad in them & pictures/scrapbooks that her mom has for safe keeping

She’s more of a klutz, tiny, and wears huge prescription glasses

extremely close to the three most important ladies in her life, so she’s always been able to be open with them about anything!

when she first expressed her interest in liking both genders around 17-18 her paternal aunt was all smirks, “i knew Britney Spears was so your type, yeah?”

more like shakira but Brit was just as pretty

her mother was a “cry baby” so ofc she burst out into tears squeezing aj’s limbs and peppering her face with kisses. She didn’t view her child as anything different... as she shouldn’t & was glad that her daughter trusted them with this significant moment in her life and wanted to be as supportive as she could

got books, watched Ted talks and everything but knew she could come to the source even tho aj was still figuring it out herself

her grandma dipped her head at the new info sitting at the round kitchen table, “been there. had a few broads in my life after and during my marriage with your no good grandad. Thank goodness the bastard died before you even got to meet ‘em.” “Mum!”

what felt like the biggest weight on her chest was lifted. She knew they’d understand but a part of her had a little bit of doubt, she’s heard so many horror stories where those like her didn’t have the support she has and that made her extremely sad to think about

i see her as a person that has/had many friends in secondary. She’s always open to chat and her being on a few sports teams helped her out in her case

very competitive in anything that she does & will guarantee that she’ll beat you. (“ You wanna race to the car from here?”wins. “Who ever cleans the most dishes the fastest gets the last slice of pie.”) majority of the time she’s right but if she loses?? oh don’t let her lose to you, it’s a pity party for the rest of the time ur in her space. Such a sore loser omg

stays active, always working out + has a gym membership and makes sure she goes at least five times a week

she’s very strong, loves leg day & working on her core

she’s about 5’10

loves wearing “gf jeans” since they’re super comfy but doesn’t mind skinny Jeans with rips in the knees every now and then

trainers and chucks are her go-to sneakers

has no issue shopping in the men’s section ‘cause who’s gonna stop her? Nobody that’s who

owner of over a 100 graphic tees + vertical stripped shirts are also her favs, SWEATPANTS/joggers?! How many does she have? A lot. Snapbacks? Plenty. Will she wear them backwards? Obviously.

Physical touch is her love language. She’s comes from a family that has no issue showing their affection by touch. There is NO such thing as personal space and that still stands with aj when it comes to relationships, she sees no other way

It’s what she shows and what she wants in return, if you’re not touching her in some sort of way, then automatically she thinks there’s something wrong or that she did something

Is the jealous type. It has shown in relationships and ruined a relationship or two

Has cheated on a significant other out of pure jealousy & is not proud to admit that

Does have a wandering eye but feels now that she truly understands herself when it comes to relationships, she’ll never act on it again

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I get libra tendencies from her so that’s what I’m sticking with. She likes to keep the peace (unless she’s jealous) , idealistic — always looking on the bright side of things, outgoing, romantic, and professional— especially when it comes to her team; her true leadership comes out, yet she can be indecisive, hates confrontation, self pitying — if things don’t go perfectly how she imagined/planned it to, the world is ending and everyone is out to get her, and can be unreliable—never on time

September libra to be exact

if she’s really in love/taken a interest in you then she gets nervous: blushing, sweaty palms, cracking her knuckles, tongue tied—the whole 9

she’s already defined as a puppy by her coach but when she’s in love? She’s a lovesick puppy!

her fav holiday is Valentine’s Day

thought she was going to be a pro skateboarder growing up but it took one bad fall where she thought she was paralyzed for her to choose something else

she likes her weed on occasion

Obsessed with all types of cheese except cottage, “can I put cheese on this?”

more of a jumpsuit kinda girl or dressy top with jeans & hoops on a night out

has a solid group of mates outside of the hockey team, they’ve all met and hung out a couple of times, as they should since aj feels they’re going to be stuck with her for awhile so why not?

They’re a riot when they all go out, let’s just say that there’s never a dull moment

fav color is periwinkle

enjoys ASMR, mostly in the mornings when she’s waking up. You know how people love podcasts? (Sorry seb & Nicky, she still wants to be on the show soon!) ASMR is her thing

loves tangerines, you can count on it that she’ll have one on her, “where did you pull that from?” “I’ll never share my master plan.” “You’re such a tit.”

Definitely prefers “fresh squeezed” orange juice & will make her own, she has the tools & the strength 😏

Very rare for her to get sick ;) & if she does she’s a complete baby about it

Will fight that she’s sick before she admits it, trying all sorts of horrid remedies & vitamins

loves summer & all things that come with it, the number one thing is leaving bath for however long she can for a new place to enjoy

when she arrived to love island, she was thrilled for the weather. Yes she was looking for love but most importantly a nice get away & that it was (depending on your route that is lol)

closest with seb, vieve, elladine, and tai but don’t tell the others that! (She doesn’t care if you tell Yasmin, honestly)

just because her & seb “dated” and it didn’t work out doesn’t mean they can’t be friends right? It was almost automatic for them to be platonic after it was determined there would be no romance between them, almost like sibs! like those celebs like to say—except this time these two won’t turn around and actually find romance

vieve came with seb so...but no shade aj did like vieve. She gave great advice (while seb sometimes didn’t say the right things unintentionally or what aj needed to hear) when needed, especially from a medical view and is very sweet

elladine was the one who had all the tea & ideas to match, she’s quite organized and always down for DIY’s and could suggest almost anything. If you needed someone to help you get things tidy or match/find your Aesthetic, she’s the friend you call to help

tai was the one she could be a “bro” with, sure elladine has her competive side (or controlling, depends on how you view it) but tai was the one you can run to for much needed “bro hugs”, partying, going to the pubs, playing sports with or against, checking out/flirting with babes, etc...

it was not long after the villa that aj had a revelation with her sexuality & fully owned and labeled herself as a lesbian

She was happy being in relationship with someone else or with herself, life was short and she was young so there wasn’t time to dwell and stress over things so what the hell?! Live your truth the best way you know how ya know?

probably smells like sweet citrus, almond flower, and sea salt

on chest days, she’s a sweets snacker. Loves gummy bears (also with vodka) , swedish fish, sour patch kids, etc...basically shit that sticks to ur teeth

put all her chips into hockey, while it was advised by her Counselors & mum not to do so, aj went about it anyway. She thought about the pros and cons but knew there was nothing else for her. So there were more pros than cons. She was meant to play sports, its what felt right in her soul

Made her feel connected to her father, when she’s on the field she feels that he is with her

 scrunches up her nose when she’s frustrated or confused about something

Doesn’t always grasp concepts right away, she’s a soft dummy but most of us are and that’s okay! We’re all smart in our own ways

Feels like sunflowers are always around her especially if she sees them wherever she is. They must symbolize SOMETHING, therefore she loves them

spf queen. All about it, get with it or let the sunrays ruin ur skin that’s on u

loves a good filet mignon medium-well & is probably the only good thing she knows how to make alongside a salad, baked potatoes, & her oj

sucker for romantic-comedies...it’s basically her life duh!

If she has a dog, it’s a Dalmatian or Great Dane. She needs a companion that’ll keep up with her

loves kissing, it’s her favorite form of intimacy

Quarantine life included the push up challenge for her. Gaining a few pounds in muscle and fat, bothering seb via ft, viewing old letters she wrote to her dad, spending time with her fav ladies since they were now restricted from having guests in their home, and letting boredom consume her + she hated the whole lockdown that came with it, she hated being indoors for long periods of time but she knew that’s what partly needed to be done

Posts a lot of beach, park, outings with her friends & team, moments with her fav ladies, workout videos, and guests at the b&b with their permission and if only she befriends them along the way. She’s just as active on the socials as she is in rl but she’s not obsessed with it, she knows how to live in the now. She’s all about balance!

I also feel like she never keeps her phone charged and it’s always dying on her! She had a car charger but...that’s a jungle. She needs to invest in a portable charger stat

crushing on/finds attractive: Jared Padalecki, Keanu Reeves, Barrett Doss, Camilla Luddington, Sandra Bullock, Adrian Kempe, Harry Kirton, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Naomi Osaka, Ming & Aoki Lee Simmons

who does she listen to? Shakira lol!! Bea Miller, Dua Lipa, Daya, XYLØ, Elley Duhé, Stela Cole, Aloe Blacc, Maroon 5, Lewis capaldi, Charlie Puth, girl in red, Hayley kiyoko, king princess, dodie, & tessa violet

Anthem: Icona Pop — we got the world

[faelapis]

so... i’ve seen a lot of fanart and meta talking about adora having this subversive arc learning to be selfish, and i can’t really agree. 

i get the desire for that, but that is... not what happens. she has a typical insecure hero arc, it just comes with a reward attached. catra nominally acts like adora shouldn’t have to do this, but nothing really comes of that.

adora a) does the selfless hero thing, and b) it’s the right thing to do, with no negative consequences. she survives, gets her cake and eats it too... and that’s a narrative reward for being selfless. she still has to do the hero thing, or everyone dies. it’s more a reminder that other people care about her than any internal arc about selfishness.

what it reminds me of more than anything is when moana’s grandma reminds her that she shouldn’t be under so much pressure. that, too, is not an arc about selfishness. it’s just a small reminder to the kiddos at home that they matter.

and that’s fine! it’s a good message. but it’s not an an elaborate theme. moana still  has to be the selfless hero, or, well, everyone dies, so she can’t choose differently - they would never dare show that. like adora, she doubts herself and can be self-sacrificing, but nothing comes of it. she’s rewarded for being selfless, because being a hero just leads to things... working out. it’s what both needed to be, while being vaguely reminded of their own feelings along the way.

it just feels like a theme because they say it several times, but it does nothing to challenge the typical hero narrative. adora never makes a choice to be selfish, nor is that portrayed as something she should do. adora doing the hero thing is... necessary and praised, in the end. she fixes everything, carrying catra like a prize. it’s sad that it makes her feel pressured, but just kinda sad. not sad enough to change the story. she-ra just activates in time so she can survive, yay for her - but that is, narratively speaking, still rewarding heroic self-sacrifice.

the only modern animation i can think of that actually show and organically build selfishness as a virtue (and selflessness as a double-edged sword with consequences both for yourself and others) is still steven universe, sorry. especially pearl and steven’s arcs. because they’re not just reminders that “you matter, too!” in such a shallow way.

their self-sacrificing actually tears on their psyche in toxic ways and has negative consequences. it is something that needs to end in order for things to get better for them and the world. their dismissal of their own emotions and romanticizing yourself as a hero are actual character flaws, developed over time in ways that leads them to some truly horrifying places when they have their own agency. that needs to be addressed in order for them to grow.

pearl spreads her toxic selflessness to others and only becomes her best self when she starts living for herself, and steven putting himself on such a high pedestal to “fix” everyone both literally and symbolically turn him into a monster. he had to leave - even when others wants him to stay - in order to work on himself, both freeing himself from the toxic purpose of being everyone’s savior and freeing others from depending on him.

that’s selfishness as a value. those are characters who, to me, not only struggle to care about themselves, but where that actually manifests in a character arc.

it’s a consistent theme in SU - not only affecting the ego, but forcing you to confront the terrifying question of who you are without selfless purpose, which may frighten you, because no authority exists to give you a destiny (hey parallel to literally every gem!). everyone from white diamond to jasper are “at their worst” when they think they’re being completely selfless. not because a meaningless life of selfishness is a perfect solution, but because you have to care about yourself. the community has to mutually look out for one another. we can’t put anyone on a pedestal of heroism - that’s what steven and white have in common. it’s scary to live without that selfless purpose, but it’s necessary. 

they basically have to face the absurd and live with it. adora never has to do any of that, she just gets a kitty gf reward for being a hero.

i’m not saying this because i think adora is a bad character or inherently lesser, but i think her arc just... isn’t about selfishness. i think it’s a story of an insecure hero - like moana - who it’s nice to remind that they matter, but that’s all it is. a nice little reminder, in the middle of a fairly conventional hero story. they get to have a happy ending because they’re selflessly heroic, and the proposed negative consequencs of that heroism never manifests. it’s fine.

it’s just not as subversive as i would personally like, but... i don’t think spop was designed to really be subversive or challenging. not everything is. i think it was designed to have its hero acknowledge her own feelings, sure, but it’s first and foremost a power fantasy space adventure with feels and lesbians. and that’s fine. that’s all it needs to be! i don’t say this as a criticism exactly, i say it because i don’t want us to have such a shallow conception of selfishness.

i’ll confess i’m generally not a fan of spop’s plot, but i do like the characters. i’m also amazed the most generic sci-fi bad guy in the history of generic sci-fi bad guys doing a very basic "u should conform" thing is seen by some as The Most Biting Critique of Homophobia Ever, as if "break free from the machiNE" wasn’t a literal apple commercial.

but i digress - i do like adora. i just don’t think the plot is about her “learning to be selfish.” wrong hordak is closer to that, but his existential crisis is more of a background gag, so that doesn’t count. it just leads to where it’s most convenient for it to lead; being over in ten seconds and resulting in being angry with those who hurt you, who only seem to exist for you to Stand Up to Them (tm). spop in general really likes enabling the power fantasy of being better and stronger than those who hurt you, without always earning it. but, again, i digress.

i think my issue is that spop is "deep" for people who think everything they relate to is deep. it’s a cookie-cutter story told in a typical way, it just has insecure lesbians in it. it’s... fine. it’s a marvel movie with feels, but you’re allowed to relate to that. it doesnt have a consistent philosophy or interrogate its own positions on themes like abuse or repression in novel ways, but it doesn’t need to. it just does the insecure hero vs antihero thing in an okay way. 

catra is your basic cassandra zuko AMEM (abused manipulated edgy minion) character who gets help because she’s sad and isn’t “as bad” as the main villain. that’s also fine. i don’t love the execution, i wish it didn’t result in suddenly declawing her personality and stripping her of all need for agency, but whatever. she’s also rewarded for being selfless, not selfish, btw.

i actually do like spop. it’s messy and the plot is thinner than the fandom would ever admit, but, well... it’s still fine. in fact, i think it’s IMPORTANT that lgbt+ people have more basic self-empowerment stories that aren’t as challenging or, frankly, as messed up as your utenas or stephen’s universities. kinda like how every minority story doesn’t need to be “deep”, sometimes you just need to turn crazy rich asians on and have fun with it.

i just want to embrace it for what it is, not what the fandom acts like it is. that’s all.

[weyheyjxlya]

Ｋｅｋｋｏｎ　バ花メ

*•.¸♡ pairing: kita shinsuke x reader *•.¸♡ genre: fluff | farmer!kita au *•.¸♡ a/n: made one out of simp nights hahaha father my children kita listen to the music linked in the lyrics while reading this hehe :3 forgot to tell u guys that kekkon is “marriage” in japanese (quite unsure HAHAHA)

“cause it's you that I dream of the one who gives me love you’re the one I always believed in you are the one who answers my question you’re my inspiration and it's you you’re the one I’m thinking of”

"How bout you marry into this family Y/N?" Kita's grandmother suggested as the two of you are making dinner while waiting for Kita and others finish up their business at the farm "You like it here dear, right?" added by your grandmother who's helping with cutting vegetables. As the word "marry" got its way onto you. Without hesitation, you run. You ran from the thought that you'll be leaving city life. You ran from the thought that you'll be leaving that kingly routine that you've had and will now have a sophisticated routine for your daily life. And you ran from the thought that you'll be marrying your childhood friend, Kita Shinsuke

"Ouch" you squealed as you stumbled upon a rock that you haven't noticed since you've been running for your whole life from Kita who's been playing tag with you for a while now.

~~ Kita Shinsuke. That composed kid that you've met over the time that your grandmother brought you to her best friend's home for a visit. It's the Kita household. Everything's so sophisticated. Right from its ornaments, furniture, etc. Everything's seemed so refined that it wrapped warmth around your heart. It's welcoming and you like it. This visit of yours from the city, you love it very dearly. But there's one thing that you just can't put your hands on. He's emotionless but he goes by the principles. He's not like a normal kid because he's so knowledgeable about cleaning, courtesy, and physical conditioning. As a kid, you thought that this kid is not in the right age. "He must've been older, I think" "He just shrunk back into a child's body but he's older" "This kid is a robot." You've always thought to yourself when you first met him. But when you got bored, you snuck out of the house to check its garden to see if there's something to pass the time with. To your surprise, the robot kid was there. Smiling upon the butterflies that have been flying around the garden. The scenery is picturesque. The subtle sun rays hitting his face like art. Right at that moment, you've had your first crush as a child. Suddenly, without you noticing, your body moved its own and is now holding this boy's face because you've been admiring it since. Now the boy's face is back to its original state. Stoic. Urgh, you've ruined it. But to neutralize the moment you spontaneously asked this kid to play tag with you. And to your surprise, he agreed. 

~~ "Oh did someone got injured?" Kita's grandmother asked "Yes and grandma, could you please hand me the first aid kit?" Kita instinctively asked. He's calm but you can see his worry and a timid trembling of his hands while dressing your wounds. He really is still a child. He did not shrink. He's not a robot, he can feel things. "You're really such a klutz Y/N." teased by your grandmother which you just rolled your eyes with then starts putting back your gaze to this boy who's still dressing your wounds. "But you gotta say goodbye now to your first love, Shinsuke. We'll be leaving in 30 minutes." your grandma teased again as you felt heat upon your ears out of embarrassment and disbelief that your grandmother knows. Girl's instincts it is. "It's done now. P-please take care of it afterward and regularly change y-yer wounds dressing." mini Kita said while stuttering. His head is now directed to the floor. While looking further to the sudden change. You saw his cheeks down to his ears. It's flushed red. But as a kid, you don't know what that is. Leaving the Kita household is sad but it surely left a whole mark in your heart. Its warmth and welcoming presence and that boy, Kita Shinsuke. Hopefully, as a kid, you wished that you could go back there and marry him.

14 years passed. Due to stress in the city and it got noticed by your grandmother. She asked you to come with her for a week to help her best friend back in Hyogo for some harvest. "Ahh, farming. I got an opportunity to be farming," you've thought to yourself sweetly. You've got yourself a breather. So without hesitation, you giddily agreed to your grandmother. Going back to Hyogo, Kita fetched you both at the station. Kita assisted you throughout the vacation. He had been helpful ever since. When you're in distress with something, he'll come up saving and helping you get by. He hasn't changed a little. He's still the same as the boy that you've liked 14 years ago. But one thing changed, he's a man now. With muscular shoulders, a height that's way taller than you, with a refined face that you awe so much. This man, he really is a refined one compared to guys in the city and you fell in love with him over again. This vacation wouldn't be this perfect if it wasn't for him.

"So your grandma’s staying over and you’re leaving tomorrow, right dear? May I ask, do you like it here Y/N-san?" his grandmother asked "Yes, obaa-chan!! Very much!! The kindness from people, unity, and food. Oh so great!" you've answered enthusiastically. "How bout you marry into this family Y/N? Live with Shinsuke." Kita's grandmother suggested as the two of you are making dinner while waiting for Kita and others finish up their business at the farm "You like it here dear, right?" added by your grandmother who's helping with cutting vegetables. "Please consider it Y/N-san. We'd love you staying here. Even the community loves you." "But how about Shinsuke-kun?" your grandmother asked "Just say these things to him and you'll get the answer," his grandmother giggled "Take your time considering this offer Y/N-san," she added calmly You haven't uttered a word as the word "marry" sunk its way onto you.   Without hesitation, you run out of the house. You ran from the thought that you'll be leaving city life. You ran from the thought that you'll be leaving that kingly routine that you've had and will now have a sophisticated routine for your daily life. And you ran from the thought that you'll be marrying your childhood friend, Kita Shinsuke. You wished you could've said yes properly just like in the movies. But the responsibilities back in the city. You have fallen in love with this place. Now that you've received the news that the community also loves you, you've fallen head over heels now. But the thing is how? "Can I fit into this town?"

"Can I also be a refined individual in this town?"

"Can I get used to this life that's away from the city?"

"Can I be a good mother of the house?"

"Can I be a good and perfect person to stand by Kita's side for life's eternity?" Anxious and insecure. You've become paranoid about the things that have been worrying you thinking that it's a lot to take in one sitting. So you just ran until you stumbled upon a rock and fell. "Ouch, what a good timing rock!" you've exclaimed and soon, you've heard steps nearing you. As you looked up, you saw Kita, running towards you and held your hands to help you get up from your little accident. "Are you fine Y/N-san? Are you hurt? What are you doing outside? Did something happen? Why are you crying? You're leaving tomorrow and you're like this?" Kita asked as he wiped your tears from your cheeks as you aren't able to because your hands are dirty. Without noticing, you pulled him to your embrace. Tightly but bearable for him. He's quite shocked by your sudden movement but he reciprocated. He also wrapped your frame with his arms and is now gently patting your back as you cry your tears out. "Everything's gonna be fine in your case," he mumbled in your hair. His presence calmed your very soul down. All your worries have subsided down within his hold. This man deserves the world. "Ha, this is somewhat like a deja vu." you chuckled as you peeled yourself off of him. "You picked me up again as soon as I fell and treated me until I'm better," you added shyly Your heart fluttered as you hear his mini chuckle in response to what you've said. "No matter what goes on, near or far, just remember I'll always be here for ya Y/N-san. I will do my best to help yer with the best that I can." he calmly said with a beautiful grin spread around his face that made you in awe again. "Thank you Kita-san. Let's go back, shall we? They might be worried by now," you've said "Okay, come on let me help you" he offered as you walk back to their house with the night's still young and a tranquil atmosphere lingering between the both of you like it's some safe space for you.

"Are you sure you've got everything with you? I can fetch it up for you." Kita exclaimed "Nope, everything's here," you answered as Kita nodded with your sure response. "Please consider what I've said Y/N-san. I hope for your wonderful response when you return to fetch your grandmother." his grandmother mumbled "Yes obaa-chan," you've answered collectively "May I ask what is that?" Kita asked. "That's our secret Shinsuke-kun," his grandmother giggled "Hmm, something was strange last night Okay, so we'll see you in like three weeks then?" Kita asked "Yes Kita-san, see you," you replied as you gently bowed down to show your gratitude to their family. "Shinsuke would be fine Y/N-san" he cooed You chuckled as you give your thanks to them more and bid farewell as you turn your back as the train stood still in front of you. Fifteen minutes went by and you've realized that you've been better. You can never compare to anything that you've experienced in this place. The place that's like a scenery out of art. The wind that takes your worries away with them. Your time with the community that's so well spent. The time that you've spent with Shinsuke was like the world's best gift for you. And Shinsuke? you've realized that he's like God's tailored gift for you. Kita Shinsuke. You love him and you can't imagine a future without him. Even though he deserves the best in the world, you're now willing to do your best to give it to him. A wonderful life, a wonderful child, a wonderful wife and family that may be imperfect but will do its best, and a wonderful future that no one can ever imagine. You're now willing to do it. You now want to stay here and have this wonderful life and to marry Shinsuke. Luckily the next train stop was like a minute away. Without any wasted moment, you hurriedly got on to the train that’s going back to where you came from and contacted Kita to fetch you and you have something to say.

"So what made you come back Y/N-san?" Kita asked while catching up his breath as he hurried his way back to you. "I've realized something." you've declared with your eyes shimmering like daylight stars "Your grandmother asked me to stay here and live with you Kita-san." "What?" he answered with an indescribable expression that you can't decipher because he's most frequently expressionless. This is kinda new to you and it even pushed your eagerness to know more. "Yes, what you've heard is right and I want to marry you Kita-san. Wait no, I want to stay by your side and build a family in this lovely town with you Shinsuke. I love you, will you marry me?" Nervousness crept its way when Kita just nodded and just directly looked down the floor for quite a while but it exhilarated its way when you've heard sniffles from Kita. He's crying? this is odd Suddenly, you've almost died from shock when Kita pulled you into a hug as he completely embraces you and is now kissing the crown of your head. So he's happy, I'm so glad. "Y/N-san, thank you. I'm so glad. Receiving these words from my first love is like the best gift that the Gods have given me. This is indescribable. Thank you Y/N. I love you too and marry me. No take-backs, okay?" Shinsuke surprisingly exclaimed Locking his eyes onto yours, he pulled you by the waist and he gently cupped your cheeks as he went to kiss you slowly as time stopped itself for the both of you. This is the gift that you can never share with anybody. This is perfect. "I can't wait to marry you Shinsuke," you've said as both of you pulled back but with your foreheads sticking together "Me too Y/N, I love you." Kita cooed lovingly as he grabbed your things to help you travel back to their house to deliver this wonderful news to your grandmothers.

*•.¸♡ taglist ♡¸.•*  @maviiiiic​ @keiyoomi​ luv u peeps omg <3