#m is for marauders

[shubblelive]

remus lupin has once again infiltrated my mind and i fear i am incapable of shutting the heck up

[writtenbymoonflower]

Dinner

You have a panic attack and your boys comfort you. poly!maruaders x fem!reader

cw: panic attack, negative self talk, swearing, mention of raw chicken (ew ik)

1.7k words (it's long i'm sorry)

You never thought you would cry over chicken, but here you were. You knew that you had been having a lot of busy days as of late, there were a million things swimming about in your head. But you were managing it well, or at least you thought you were. But then it all came down.

You had bought a pack of chicken earlier in the week to cook for dinner one night. It had been on clearance so you knew it was  on its way out, but you thought you would’ve had more time. You opened your fridge so you could begin cooking before your boyfriends were going to get too hungry, when you realized that the meat was out of date by a whole three days. It was something so small, yet, it sent a billion anxious thoughts jumping around your head like they were on pogo sticks, and most of them were not very nice. 

How could you be so stupid? You should’ve checked the date. If you hadn't been so lazy earlier this week you wouldn’t be wasting this food. Now there was nothing to cook and your boyfriends would go hungry. They would likely end up resenting you for being a shit girlfriend and being so-

“Dolly? What are you doing over there?” Usually Sirius’ voice was a comfort to you, but right now it just added to your misery. It reminded you of all your failures and why you would never be good enough for anyone. 

Tears started filling your eyes. You tried to still your shaking hands and even your breathing, but it was all too much. They were going to realize your mistake and were going to be angry. His footsteps were painful and your other boyfriends’ laughter in the other room made you wince. When Sirius finally was facing you, your attempt at a facade fell apart. He knew you too well and apparently your body just decided to give over to panic because you suddenly couldn’t catch your breath. You tried to mutter out an apology but your voice was caught in your throat and your pulse was hammering. 

“ Hey.” Sirius’ dark brows scrunched in concern, his gray eyes searching your face and scanning your body for any injury. “What’s wrong?” His voice was raised in panic as you stood and shook. 

Apparently Sirius’ voice triggered your other two boyfriends to barrel into the room, but you refused to look at any of them, opting to hold the chicken package behind your back and stare at the ground. James thought you looked like a small child standing in front of a broken glass, ready to be reprimanded and punished. It made his heart ache. 

“Baby,” Sirius continued to beg for a response. “What’s happened? You’re scaring me.” Remus placed a soothing hand on his partner’s back while James scooted past the both of them to grab your shoulders and stoop to see your face. 

“Hey, hey, hey. Sweetheart, can you look at me?” James spoke softly. He was just as concerned as the other two, but James was better at keeping his head, even though inside he wanted to sob seeing you like this. You swallowed thickly and looked up at him. 

“There you go.” Remus whispered encouragement from behind James. Your chest was still heaving and you were still crying, but now they could read your face better. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I-” You choked out, hoping that if you spoke about your failure early enough they might forgive your mistake.

“Hey, not right now. Just focus on me, honey. I think you’re having a panic attack, I need you to try and steady your breathing.” James motioned the other two over, Remus getting behind you and pulling you both to the ground so he could rock you in his lap. Sirius and James sat and each took one of your hands, James putting the one he was holding on his chest, while Sirius put the other on yours. (After throwing the chicken on the counter, opting to ask questions after you could speak again.) You stifled another sob from wracking your body. 

“We’ve got you, sweet girl. Just copy Prongs’ breaths, yeah?” Sirius used his free hand to tilt your chin up to meet the eyes of the two boys in front of you. You could feel James’ chest rising and falling as he took deep, exaggerated breaths. Your first few were shaky and clumsy, but soon you were finally able to get a comfortable amount of air in your lungs and your tears slowed to a stop. You still felt guilty, but at least now your head wasn’t so loud. You pulled your hands back into your lap.

“There you go,” Remus soothed from behind you. “Atta girl.” He pressed gentle kisses all over the side of your neck. You could see the two boys in front of you visibly relax at your now calmer state. “Good girl, you did so well. I know that was scary.” Remus turned so you were sitting sideways in his lap and you could see all three of the boys sitting around you. 

“ Thank you for helping.” You said sheepishly, looking down at your fidgeting hands. “I’m sorry I did that, I know it was a lot.” 

“None of that.” Sirius said firmly. “It’s not your fault, baby. You didn’t do it to be bad, you have nothing to be sorry for.” 

Wrong. You thought to yourself, remembering the spoiled food now sitting on the counter. 

“Can you tell us what happened, lovely?” James ducked his gaze to meet yours, his brown eyes were sad and confused and swimming with all too much love. 

You really didn’t want to admit your mistake, but they deserved an explanation for your erratic behavior. 

“It’s really nothing that bad.” You tried to console, as if you weren’t the one shaking on the floor not two minutes ago. “I was just-” You swallowed hard again. “I was being stupid.” You went back to picking at your nails. Your self-deprecating comment made Remus raise an eyebrow and Sirius lightly pinch your thigh. 

“You weren’t. You’re never stupid, be nice.” Remus (lovingly) scolded. 

“I was just, I bought this chicken.” You struggled to keep your breathing even. “I bought this chicken earlier this week and I was going to cook it, but I was too lazy these last few days and I fucked up and I-” You bit hard on your lip to keep from crying again. James desperately wanted to reprimand you for your self-cruelty, but he settled for grabbing Sirius’ hand and squeezing, not wanting to cut you off. 

“Go on, sweetheart. Take your time.” James spoke even softer. 

“I let the chicken go bad. I wanted to cook tonight but when I went to grab the chicken it was bad and I just- I just felt bad because I can’t do anything right. I had all week to make it and now I can’t cook for you all and I just- I just feel bad.” You took another deep breath, still not wanting to meet their eyes.

“Oh, my baby.” Sirius lunged forward, wrapping you in his arms before you could even process what was happening. Remus huffed grumpily over you being stolen from his lap, but let it go. “That’s what you were all worked up about? That’s why you were all scared?” You nodded, your face still stuck in the crook of his neck. 

“It’s okay,” James soothed, now smoothing a gentle path up and down your back. “That happens to everyone, sweetheart. It’s not something you need to be mad at yourself for. You didn’t do anything wrong, and you weren’t lazy. You’ve been busy and tired. It just happens.” James thought he could cry, his girl was so hard on herself that she was all panicked over something like this. 

“Exactly.” Remus said. “It’s nothing we can’t fix, dove. We can go to the store tomorrow and you can make it then.” You started to protest, wanting to go tonight but you were quickly cut off. “Tomorrow.” Remus was firm, but no less kind. “You aren’t doing any work tonight. You need to rest. We’ll figure something out for dinner, it’s no trouble.” 

You were going to argue but you figured it was a losing battle. 

“Thought you would be mad at me.You should be mad at me. I fucked u-” You couldn’t even finish the sentence before James squawked, Sirius sputtered, and Remus inhaled sharply. Sirius forced your head out of his neck to look at you. 

“What?!” He looked genuinely offended.

“Lovely,” James was the one who formed a full sentence. “We would never be mad at you for something like this. Never.” He grabbed your chin to make you look at him. “Look at us, sweet girl. No ones mad at you. We care about you, not a pack of chicken. It’s not worth you being this mean to yourself, nothing is.” He pouted during the last sentence. 

“Also,” Sirius said, still being very gentle. “I’m pretty sure this isn’t just about chicken, dollface. You’ve been really stressed lately.” 

“And you’ve been really hard on yourself. You always have been, but it’s gotten worse.” Remus’ voice sounding sad. You knew he was right though. 

“I know.” You sighed, dejectedly. “I’ll try to be better.” You gave them all a tight-lipped smile. 

“That’s what we mean!” James whined. “You don’t need to ‘be better.’ You just need to be gentle with yourself.” 

“It’s just hard.” You admitted. 

“I know it is, baby.” Sirius empathized. Then his face morphed into his usual grin. “How about, we all lead by example. I know I can be very nice to you.” He took your cheeks in both his hands and started pressing kisses all over your face. You giggled wetly, trying to squirm out of his grasp. “There, like that. Nice.”

“I don’t know how she is gonna do that, Pads. It’s hard to kiss your own face.” Remus attempted (and failed) to keep the amused tilt out of his voice. 

“Oh no!” James dramatically gasped. “I guess we’ll just have to.” He beamed, taking your jaw in his hand to smear even more kisses on your cheeks.

[juniperpyre]

and like sirius used be to be masc one. remus was soft and quiet and submissive. when an angrier characterization of remus became popular (due to atyd, which please note is a characterization i agree with, see my angry remus post) the popular characterization of sirius became softer and more fem. why can't both be masc? why can't both be fem? why can't both be neither? i do not think that irl gay masc/fem couples are reproducing heteronormativity but i do think y'all are

[yourgalgremlin]

The Marauders fandom:

“Canon Divergent”…?

Nah bitch, this is a “CANON DIVORCE”

We’ll dismantle canon with our bare hands, throw out the shitty plot holes & rebuild it way more gay! They can’t stop us!

Viva la revolución!

[bimoonphases]

@wolfstarmicrofic September 4 - prompt 4: Muggle [word count 727]

Remus had known it was a bad idea from the start. But it had been the last day of the summer holidays and he knew that in less than twenty-four hours he would be bound for another school year of pining after one Sirius Black with no chances at all, so when Jason had winked at him over the hedge of his parents’ garden he had left aside the book he had been reading and had followed him to the empty building of the village school, where they had as usual climbed up to the abandoned attic. Still, the sheer stupidity of that idea had become evident some minutes before, when he had been rearranging his tie in their crowded train compartment and Marlene had leaned over, her eyes sparkling.

“Is that a hickey, Remus?” she had said, way too loud.

And of course, everyone had turned to look at him. He had felt his cheeks heat up and had passed a hand on his neck, cursing internally the fact he had been too caught up in the moment to tell Jason to not leave visible marks.

“Are you dating someone?” Lily lowered her book and turned to him, beaming.

“No, no, I’m not,” he said quickly. “It was just a summer thing, it’s over.”

He risked a glance at Sirius, who was staring at him with a blank look on his face, his head in Mary’s lap while she was braiding his hair.

“Pity,” Mary smiled. “You’re quite a catch, any girl would be lucky to have you.”

“Or boy,” Lily pointed out.

“Same difference,” Mary shrugged. “Anyone would be lucky to have our Remus.”

“Yeah, we all know that,” Sirius said from her lap.

“So anyway, who was it?” Peter asked over his chess manual.

“Yes Moony, tell us more,” James tossed aside his Quidditch magazine. “Did you break the heart of a witch or wizard who happened to pass by your village?”

Remus sighed, seeing there was no escaping his friends.

“It was just a boy from my parents’ neighbourhood and I told you there were no hearts involved,” he heard Sirius snort at that. “And he’s a Muggle.”

“Of course he is,” Lily nodded, looking back at her book.

“What do you mean ‘of course’, Evans?” Sirius sat up.

“Face it Black, we Muggles are way better than all of you lot in the snogging department,” Lily smirked.

“Damn right we are,” Marlene nodded, high-fiving Mary over Sirius’s head.

“You wound me, Evans,” James dramatically placed a hand over his heart.

“Then my job here is done,” Lily smiled. “Besides, me and Remus have Prefects rounds to do,” she added, getting up.

“Come on, it can’t be true,” Sirius said. “Surely it depends on the single person?”

“I can confirm Muggle girls kiss way better than witches,” Peter piped up.

Remus rolled his eyes and adjusted his Prefect badge on his robes, following Lily outside. But as soon as they had started down the corridor, their compartment door opened again.

“Moony! Moony, wait!” Sirius’s voice said.

“I’ll wait for you in the next carriage, Remus,” Lily rolled her eyes.

Remus sighed and turned around to face Sirius, trying his very best not to let his eyes linger on his lips.

“What?”

“Is it really true?” Sirius asked. “That Muggles are better at kissing than wizards?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Remus gritted his teeth. “I’ve never kissed a wizard.”

“You really haven’t?” Sirius liked his lips.

Come to think of it, the one of the day before wasn’t the dumbest idea Remus had had lately. No, the gold medal would have to go to the fact that without even thinking he reached out for Sirius’s shirt and pulled him closer, for once staring into those silver eyes without blushing.

“Do you want to help changing that?” he whispered.

And as Sirius nodded, he closed the gap between them, finally planting his lips over the other boys’, who made a strangled sound and pulled him even closer.

“You were right,” Remus said, when they came up for air. “It does depend on the single person.”

“I don’t really care,” Sirius panted. “Kiss me again.”

Lily would be angry at him for missing his prefect duties, but Remus didn’t care at the moment. Maybe it wouldn’t be another year of pining after Sirius Black again after all.

[aka-notokay]

Rereading "Only the brave" from @solmussa got me crying in my bed at the break up i knew was coming since chapter 1.

I HATE IT THERE THIS IS MY FAVORITE FIC EVER.

[backtotheshitshow]

Wood & Words (part2)

Woodworker! James Potter and Princess! Reader.

Warnings: angssssst. James being kind of a dick? Kinda proof read.

Part1 part3

For the third day in a row there was a knock on the wood shed door.

Upon entering the shed Y/n was surprised to find James not in the middle of his work but leaning against the wall gazing at the book she had given him.

“Oh your majesty. Good morning.” James said closing the book quickly and placing it on his work bench.

“Good morning Mr Potter, I see you’ve been practicing.” She smiled.

“Oh um yes:” he glanced over at the book with an annoyed expression.

“And how is that going for you.” She smiled rocking on her heels with excitement.

“I believe I had enough for today.”

James had been studying the same couple of pages for two hours this morning and had picked up none of it. The words made no sense and the sentence all mushed together.

James had a tendency to get irritable when he was embarrassed or self-conscious.

It was only natural that he was fed up after two hours of not learning to read a single word. He looked up at the princess, frustrated.

“Oh I see. Are you having trouble.” She asked.

This only made James more frustrated. “I’m not having ‘trouble’ I’m not a child.” He said bluntly.

He turned to his work bench, it looked as though he was working on the shelves of the book stand.

“I didn’t mean it that way..” she scrunched her brows growing slightly annoying at his dismissiveness towards her but she tried to stay calm . “Would you like me to help, perhaps having someone else explaining things will benefit you.”

James did not respond to her. He continued sanding one of the shelf slats.

“Mr Potter?”

“I’ve told I don’t want your help. I’ve excepted the book as a gift and now I’m studying it. Is that not enough for you?” He said not taking his eyes of his work, his voice filled annoyance.

She looked at his profile in shock, why was he being so rude.

“I’m only trying to help.” She sounded both hurt and angry by his out burst.

“Perhaps it’s best if I just leave you be then. l’ll return in a week to fetch those things I asked you to make…I won’t bother you beyond that.” She was quick to turn on her heels and head for the door.

James saw how hurt she was at his reply. He’d felt embarrassed, but he hadn’t meant to cause the Princess so much distress.

In one abrupt motion, he stepped forward and grabbed her hand, stopping her from leaving.

“Wait!” James froze when he realized what he’d done. Touching the princess without permission not to long ago would have gotten him hanged. Thankfully those rules do apply anymore but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t face serious punishment if she reported it.

He was embarrassed but he didn’t dare pull away, even if it was probably the more appropriate course of action.

“Let go of me.” She said in an annoyed tone.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I shouldn’t have touched you. Forgive me.” James rambled.

“It’s alright James..” she sighed. The sound of her calling him by his first name was sweet to him.

James was speechless for a few moments, having not expected to hear the Princess calling him by his name, again.

It was a nice reminder that she did in fact viewed him as an equal.

“You’re not bothering me. I just…I get embarrassed rather easily when it comes to my... illiteracy, You've been nothing but kind and I’m so very sorry for my behaviour." He explains.

“I…if you don’t mind I would like you to help me.” He admitted looking away from her.

“You do?” Y/n had the biggest grin on her face and look of hope in her eyes. James simply nodded.

“Come sit outside then.” She grabbed his hand and the book, pulling him outside quickly. After a few steps she took a seat on the ground near a tree.

She pulled him by his arm to sit next to her.

“Okay now where was it that you were up to?” She asked pending the book and scooting closer until their shoulders touched.

“Page 6, I believe.”

Y/n tuned to page six. ‘Silent Letters and Homophones.’ She simply smiled.

“Ahh I see…you know I’ve had several private tutors and to this day I this find these to be a pain in the back side.” She confessed.

“Really?” James asked raising an eyebrow. Her confession made him feel a little better about how hard he had found that section to understand.

“Yes I mean your telling me, that when they made the English language no one sat and thought ‘hmmm maybe we don’t need three different theres or a silent k at the beginning of knock.’ It’s ridiculous.”

James only laughed. Y/n began going over a few pages with him explaining the topics as best she could.

“Does…does that make sense?” She asked.

“So ‘ee’ and ‘ea’ are the same?” James responded chancing at the book from over the princess shoulder.

“Yes.”

“Then what’s the point of having both.” James said

“I don’t know..” she laughed turning towards him.

Their noses were only a few short centimetres apart. She examined the specks within his hazel eyes. He had such kind eyes.

“Thank you for helping me, I’m sorry I was so harsh.” He whispered to her not breaking eye contact.

“It’s no problem at all.”

They held there places, a thick tension sat in the spaces between the two, for only a second he glanced down, the princess’s lips ever so slightly parted. He leaned forward, the tips of the nose just grazing each other….

“Y/n!! “ the voice of her mothers lady in waiting, Ms Anne, startled the both of them. “Where are you it is almost supper?!”

“Christ. Where did the time go?” Y/n was quick to her feet. “I’m sorry I must go.” She said dusting off her dress.

“No it’s alright.” James said.

His head felt cloudy. still a bit dazed by how close they had been only moments ago.

Within the blink of an eye the princess was dashing away. He watched has her hair moved along with her in the light breeze. She always look so heavenly.

…..

The following morning Y/n was preparing for the day. She thanked her lady in waiting for assisting her with her dress and sat at her desk.

"Good morning my dear." The queen entred the room.

"Oh good morning mother. Lovely day outside don't you think?" Y/n said with a happy smile.

"Yes it is. Planning on taking a stroll are you?”

"Yes actually I was.” She smiled.

"Hmm, Off to see Mr Potter I suppose." The queen gave a little smirk of amusement.

Y/n's face dropped, her mothers comment caught her off guard. "I- mother it's not... I can explain. He's simply..."

"Oh yes simply making a book stand correct?" The queen smiled with a light laugh. Y/n only nodded.

“That’s not what Ms Anne seems to think. “ the queen took a seat in the edge of y/n four post bed.

“Ms Anne?!”

“Yes she said you too seemed very close when she came across the two of you yesterday afternoon.” The queen said with a smile.

"Mother I-"

"It's alright my dear. You never did seem suited to all those stuffy princes anyway."

"Mother it's not like that. There nothing.....romantic about the situation." Y/n explained.

"Perhaps not. However have a sneaking feeling you're not happy about that" the queen stood once more.

Y/n looked to the floor. As usually her mother was right. "Mother I've known him for three days."

"Your grandfather meet your grandmother at breakfast and had proposed to her by supper time. If anything you two are dragging this out." They both laughed.

"Alright then off you go... he's probably waiting to see if you'll show up again."

Y/n hugged her mother tightly. "Thank you" she said before darting out of the room and heading towards the castle exit.

————

I love this series so much already.

[nothingtoseeherebyeexx]

have you drawn masc lily to match the fem marauders…

yes i have but ages ago, so i here you go!

(mary and marlene pull this type of shit every year)

Marls *giving the best performance of his life*: hundreds of gingers are brutally murdered every christmas-“

L: “it’s april?”

Marls: “-sign our petition to help put a stop to this madness”

close up of the petition bc you know the marauders were up for it

[lily0evans0gf]

sirius: from now on we’ll be using code names. you can address me as “eagle 1” sirius: mary, code name, “been there done that” sirius: remus, is “currently doing that” sirius: james, “it happened once in a dream” sirius: marlene, “if i had to pick a girl”

sirius: and lily, “eagle 2”

lily: oh thank god

[adreestia]

[juniperpyre]

i'm glad we're talking about how weird people get with their fem!sirius characterizations. i have been a fem!sirius truther for longer than some of these ppl have been alive but god... not like this. sirius is intelligent and cruel and reckless and doesn't care what society thinks, so he'll dress androgynous and wear make-up sometimes. he loves muggle rockstars, like bowie. he wants to imitate them (but will never cop to it). that kind of fem. not a weak, stupid, hysterical kind of fem that's just an amalgamation of misogynistic and homophobic stereotypes

[goblinpuppy35]

David Thewlis

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Bonus Disc - 2004

(Special feature on bonus disc, a rudimentary 360 tour of the defence against the dark arts classroom)

[marlbles]

a wolfstar university crime AU heavily inspired by if we were villains and the secret history with this aesthetic?:

currently in the works from the beginning.

prologue and chapter one are out now! chapter two will be out shortly.

[eekshade]

Dating Barty

Barty Crouch Jr x m!reader

Warnings/Info: headcanon format, i made this for his (fake hc) birthday on Oct 27th, bartylus besties, internalized homophobia, not much else I think

- the two of you are in separate friend groups so you don't talk much until slughorn places you two in a group together

- he is a little mean at the start, soft teasing mostly but if you match is energy then hes immediately smitten, although he doesn't realize it

- the two of you start talking in passing more, small smiles as you pass by, hi's when you linger near eachother

- he asks if you want to study with him

- those little study sessions quickly become routine

- he starts to realize his own feelings

- it takes him a little while to warm up to the thought of liking a guy

- he has such a hard time on your study dates, he doesn’t learn anything so when he gets back to his room he has to re go over everything

- he invites you to hang out with and his friends in hogsmade

- you have to gain regulus's approval before he asks you out for real (he usually doesn't care, but this feels more...feelings)

- regulus is a little uncomfortable that a person he doesn't know is with them, but quickly warms up when you bond over one of his interests (reading, painting, quidditch, etc.)

- after you part ways barty is trying to nonchalantly ask what they thought of you

"I didn't mind him, he's got good taste in [shared interest] at least." -reg

"Yeah, seems like a nice enough guy lol." -evan

- they tease him a bit over this whole thing but he ignores them by walking faster

"You can't hide from your fweelings Barty!" -evan

- hes a nervous reck totally calm getting ready for your guys' (hopefully) last platonic study date

- he dispite his nervous behavior, he's actually quite confident, having watched your mannerisms around him

- he wasted no time asking when you met up

- he said it so calmly you had to do a double take

- you agree of course

- now onto the acual dating!!

- it takes him a while to open up about his family life, you knew it wasn't good for a while because of his jokes about it

- the first time he cried in front of you was when he was trying to explain his family dynamic

- and how because of that he doesn't know what a real relationship looks like, and he doesn't want to disappoint you

- he apologizes when he's done, he isn't use to crying in front of others

- the two of you continue your study dates but they now are in a dorm intead of the library

- they are now mostly barty kissing you all over your face and neck, to make up for all the times he wasn't able to because of him denying his feelings

"Come on focus, the test is on friday."

"Uhh I hink I'll pass." he laches onto where your shoulders and neck connect

"What happened? You used to study all the time."

"I was just doing that to be close to you, now I can be closer" he mumbles into you

- he taught himself how to play the guitar, and loves to practice while you study

- as said prior he knows how to play the guitar, and he really wants to learn the electric guitar but hasn't been able to buy one

- get him one for his birthday/the holidays/just because, he'll try and play it cool but he's actually crying inside

- he always calls reg a nerd for reading so much (and you if you read), but he secretly loves horror books

- cuddle with him while he reads and he'll melt completely

- speaking of cuddling, he switches the positions every night

- he trys to be big spoon to try and be more "masculine"

- but if you force him to be the little spoon once, he is never going back

- he loves you dearly but opts to have a private relationship

- only your and his inner circles knowing about it

- I don't know how to end this lmao

| MARAUDERS ERA MASTERLIST |

[vomits0cutely]

Marlene: gaslighting doesn’t work on me

Mary: ..oh?

Marlene: because I already don’t trust my, terrible, memory and I don’t care what really happened

[thisantithesis]

something i wrote based on this art because i can’t help myself / jegulus, 594 words

It’s a rainy day when it happens.

James is at his favorite bakery, eating his favorite cake, mourning the loss of a beautiful sunny day that would’ve found him spending all his time outside.

As it stands, though, the skies are pouring out harder than they have in months, immediately soaking anyone who chooses to step foot outside. It’s on days like these that James usually finds himself hanging out with friends, all of them gathering together in one place and spending their time laughing themselves silly.

Today wouldn’t have been any different, but James has asked every single one of his friends, all of them giving him the same answer: sorry, I already have plans.

So, that’s why he finds himself at his favorite shop, eating away his sorrows and cursing the rain for ruining his day. He’s mildly upset, not really with his friends because it’s not their fault, and more with the situation as a whole.

James is able to spend time by himself, but he finds it’s always better to be with other people. The silence around him when he’s alone feels oppressive, to the point that it becomes unbearable. So really, finding himself in a public space when he could’ve used his free time to clean any part of his flat that desperately needs it is par for the course.

James is sitting at the window, watching people run along the sidewalks while trying—and failing—to shield themselves from the rain, when he sees him.

He’s the only one not running, covered by a simple, large black umbrella. While everyone else is rushing to their destinations, he’s walking, albeit at a brisk pace, but with a calm air about him.

The sight of the man takes James aback, where he has to blink once or twice more to make sure he’s really seeing this him, because there’s something about his aloof demeanor and piercing blue eyes that causes a wave of déjà-vu to crash over James.

This single moment in time stretches on forever when the man’s gaze flicks towards James’ through the window, a brief flash of emotion bursting through the pale blue. Their eyes meet and lock in place, and if James didn’t know any better he would think they were the only two people left on earth.

Meeting the man’s gaze feels like profound loss and extreme happiness, like home and hurt all rolled into one. The sheer strength of these unknown emotions hit James right in the chest, leaving him breathless and aching. The burst of emotions in the other man’s eyes expands and takes over, momentarily causing a misstep in his gait.

Everything comes crashing back down around James when the man turns his gaze away as he rights himself, breaking whatever connection they had. Time speeds back up to normal and the sound from the shop rushes back in, leaving James stumped as to what he just experienced.

The stranger never turns back around to the window, continuing his brisk walk in the rain as if nothing happened, as if they didn’t just share a very real moment. He has the strongest urge to go and run after the man, to stop him and ask if he felt whatever that just was too, but his thoughts are interrupted when he feels his phone vibrate.

James answers the call, absent-mindedly listening to the person on the other end, all while looking through the window and watching the black umbrella slowly fade away into the distance, inexplicably feeling like he just lost something significant.