#you better believe my pansy ass turned on a light to make sure it was her

[mysdrymmumbles]

I know it’s kinda dumb, but I really like the idea that all dogs go to Maldraxxus. I know it’s not real, but what the fuck. It’s not like there’s any proof of what’s over there anyway. And I like the idea that the Queen Floof is hanging out with Grandmaster Vole or his equivalent, borking at the arena contestants and being absolutely as loud as Vole is as she sits next to him, little glowing red eyes in a sea of fluff. 

And everyone will love her because she has the patience and determination to wear down their defenses that are on a whole other level. She will wear them down like she did Jessie, like she did my mom.

All shall hail and love the Queen Floof, Borky Terror of the Afterlife.

[theeslytherinslut]

A Shit Tutor (1/4)

Pairings: Draco Malfoy x reader, Draco Malfoy x slytherin!reader, 

Word Count: 1,903

Warnings: language, Draco’s an ass (surprise)

Request: “Can you write a fic where draco is asked by a professor to tutor a fellow student but he falls for her? Thank you and I absolutely LOVE your work!!”

A/N: This is just the first part of what will likely end up being a 3-4 part-er! Hope it’s intriguinggg :) Also this is clearly a sort of alternate universe in which there’s no war, no Slughorn, and Snape still teaches the N.E.W.T.s class 

Part 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With an exasperated sigh, you shoved the cauldron away from you, pulling your hand back as it spilled and destroyed the table beneath it. 

“Oh, come on!” you hissed, more colorful words longing to leave your mouth. 

“Y/L/N? I don’t recall instructing to burn through the table,” Snape sneered, coming to stop at your table as he swept through the room. Snickers could be heard from the other side of the room, and you seethed in your chair. 

A Slytherin who couldn’t make a simple decaying drought to save her life. 

A Slytherin who seemed to be in the wrong place in Potions. 

“It was an accident, sir,” you breathed, forcing yourself to bite your tongue. 

“I should hope so. This is your,” Snape paused and thought for a moment. “fourth try? Is it not?” 

“It is,” you said through clenched teeth. It seemed his House favoritism only extended to those who excelled in his class. 

“How you managed to scrape an O and squeeze into my N.E.W.T.S class I’ll never understand,” Snape shook his head, his voice drawling. 

“Me neither, Professor,” you said--really, it had been luck. The potions you had been tested on you just happened to be actually decent at, that, paired with intensive studying and an aptitude for testing, you’d scraped an O. 

“Malfoy!” Snape suddenly barked out, causing you to jump. 

“Sir?” he called from the other side of the room--the side from which the snickers sounded. 

“Come and help Ms. Y/L/N before she burns through this very floor,” Snape sneered before, thankfully, whisking away to another table. 

Draco then began packing his things into his bag, and seconds later, was sliding into the seat next to you, his smoldering pine-like scent filling the air, making your head spin. 

“Sweet Salazar, what the bloody hell did you do?” Draco laughed, peering into the cauldron. 

“Evidently not the right thing,” you grumped, struggling not to enjoy the light sound of his laughter as it was at your expense. 

“Clearly; I mean, I’ve seen mistakes, but that is just embarrassing,” he scoffed. Shocked at his blunt curtness, you were stunned silent.

“Scourgify,” he said, and with a wave of his wand, your cauldron was cleared of the bubbling goop you’d managed. 

“Y/N? Right?” he asked, pulling out his scale and setting it on the table. 

“That’s right, only been in the same house for 6 years,” you said scornfully. 

“There’s a lot of people in Slytherin, can’t expect me to know everyone's name,” Draco shrugged, looking unbothered. You just rolled your eyes at him, not wanting to speak with him any more than necessary.

“Here, split these vertically,” he said, pushing a pile of caterpillars at you. Pulling your onyx blade from your bag, you did as he asked. “If you can manage that without fucking it up.” 

“Oh, that’s nice,” you sneered at him, narrowly avoiding slicing open your finger as your hands shook with anger. “I did manage to get into this class, you know. I’m not completely helpless.” 

“I’ve no idea how. Longbottom could do better than that mess.” he sneered.

“Fuck you, Malfoy,” you hissed. 

“Whew, language, Y/L/N,” he grinned. Rolling your eyes and gritting your teeth, you resolved to silence for the rest of the class unless absolutely necessary. The next few minutes were quiet work, Draco pausing to give you instructions every few minutes, his long fingers working quickly. And before you knew it, it was over; the massive bell reverberating throughout the castle, signaling the next period. 

“Alright, that’ll be the bell. We’ll pick back up here tomorrow. Leave your cauldrons. I’ll deal with them,” Snape commanded. At his words, Draco began packing quickly, looking back at Zabini, who seemed to be mouthing something at him. 

“What?” Draco said quietly, leaning forward and looking intently at Blaise, evidently trying to read his lips.  

“See you tomorrow, then,” you said, turning to him. But Draco was already halfway across the room, having left without a second glance. Stung, but knowing you were ridiculous for expecting any less, you shook your head at yourself and quickly left the room, your emerald-lined robes billowing behind you in your haste. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the dungeons the next day, your foot anxiously jumped up and down, dreading Draco’s comments about your ineptitude with this potion, and dreading Snape’s snide remarks. You watched him as he jostled Crabbe across the room, grinning about something. His pearly teeth gleamed against his pale skin, lit sparingly by the fire bubbling beneath the cauldron in front of him. 

“Wands away, Goyle,” Snape snapped, pulling your attention from Draco. The paper airplane Goyle had been supporting with his wand fell pathetically, and with a wave of his own, Snape set it ablaze and it disappeared in seconds. “Well, go on—no need to wait for instructions. I gave them at the end of last class. Get your cauldrons and get to work.” 

Draco rose from his spot next to Blaise and strutted his way over to your table, smirking as he did so. 

“Hello,” he said, almost politely. 

“Er, hi,” you said cautiously.

“Didn’t manage to develop some actual talent overnight, did you?” he sneered, pulling out his things. 

“Not really. Didn’t manage to develop some decency either, I see,” you tossed back--determined not to let him get at you again. Sure, he was a Slytherin, but he wasn't the only one. 

“Ooh, touchy today, are we?” he grinned spitefully. 

“Just tell me what to do,” you spat, wanting to get the class over with. 

“How very submissive of you, I do like that in a girl,” he said thoughtfully, winking at you. 

“Godric, you’re an ass,” you breathed. “If you’re looking for submission, perhaps you should go back to your goons; I’m sure the both of them are utterly lost without you. Or Pansy, I know the simpering slag could think of nothing better than being bossed around by you all day. Personally, I can’t think of a more proper hell, but we all have our differences, I suppose.” 

“I think you just managed to insult four people at once,” Draco said, looking thoughtful. 

“I’m pleased you can count. Now, what am I supposed to do?” you sneered, crossing your arms. 

“Whatever I say, love,” he grinned, winking. “Chop these up, finely, and stir them into the potion, stirring counterclockwise five times.” 

“Alright,” you said, taking the pile of seedlings from him. His pale hand stopped yours and held it still. 

“Ah, ah,” he chided, shaking his platinum blonde head at you. “Repeat it back to me.”

“What?” you scoffed, incredulous. 

“Repeat what I said back to me; should I say it slower?” he said, cocking his head to the side. You were so angry, a hysterical laugh bubbled from your lips; your chest positively on fire with anger. 

Seconds from exploding, you saw the knowing smile growing on his face and closed your eyes, willing yourself to calm down, willing yourself not to take his bait. A surely insane smile on your face, you opened your eyes. 

“Chop these up, finely, and stir them into the potion, stirring counterclockwise five times,” you repeated word for word. 

“Excellent, you might have hope yet,” Draco taunted, meeting eyes with Blaise from across the room and grinning. 

Draco Malfoy, the Prince of Slytherin, what a complete and utter sodding wanker. It’s no wonder the little shit didn’t have any true friends; who the hell could stand him? Catching your friend's eyes from her seat across the room, you mimicked stabbing yourself in the throat with your knife, earning a snicker from her. The little interaction with a friendly face calmed you immensely. 

“Now what?” you asked, turning to Draco and steeling yourself for another smart remark. 

“The last step. I’ve ground up the moth wings already,” he said, standing to tip a container of fine, shimmering dust into the cauldron. With a whoosh, it turned an inky blue, and he smiled. It was rather nice, his smile. He was almost handsome--alright, he was downright gorgeous--when he wasn’t being an absolute prick. 

“Staring, Y/N?” he grinned, his grey eyes flitting to yours and winking. A flush of embarrassment flooded your face, and you dropped his steely gaze, your silence answer enough. 

“S’Alright, if I saw me, I might stare as well,” he shrugged, grinning cockily at you. 

“You’re disgusting,” you whispered, seconds before Snape appeared soundlessly behind you.

“Ah, much better, excellent, Mr. Malfoy,” Snape praised suddenly, causing you to jump slightly. 

“Thank you, sir,” Draco simpered, smirking proudly. Several sets of eyes rolled around the room, and you found comfort in that you weren’t the only one he caused to do this. 

“Do you see how it’s an inky blue? How it’s not corrosive? How it isn’t burning through the table?” Snape snided, turning to you with a malicious glint in his eye. 

“Yes.” you seethed through clenched teeth, unable to trust yourself to not mouth off if you opened your jaw. 

“So, what did you do wrong? What catastrophic mistake did you make to produce the most abysmal potion I’ve yet to see in my N.E.W.T.S class?” he asked, eyes alight in your anger.

You could feel every eye in the room on you, and to your complete horror, you felt angry tears pricking at your eyes. Blinking rapidly, determined not to show such weakness, you tilted your chin up and glared into the blank, black eyes before you. 

“It was the moth dust, sir. It wasn’t ground fine enough, and she only stirred 3 times,” Draco answered for you. Despite your shock, you held your ground and glared up into Snape’s eyes. 

“Thank you, Mr. Malfoy, but I believe I asked Y/N. If she can’t make a proper decaying drought, I should hope she’s at least intelligent enough to recognize her mistakes,” Snape said, his voice icy. 

“If I knew my mistakes, sir, I wouldn’t make them. Would I?” you seethed, unable to hold it back any longer. As if you were going to let Draco Malfoy protect you. Surprised hisses and gasps sounded throughout the classroom, and you knew you’d fucked up. 

“Detention. 3 days. With Filch,” he sneered, getting closer to you as he spoke, daring you to say anything else. 

“Delightful,” you quipped back, a fake smile on your face. 

“And 10 points from Slytherin for cheek. Making me take points from my own house, disgraceful,” and with a billowing wave of his cloak--he was heading back up to the front of the room.

“Tuesday, we will begin working on a lovely, tricky little potion known as Felix Felicis; you’ll be in partners,” he said, looking around the room before stopping on a pair of tittering Ravenclaws, “And I’ll be choosing the partners.” 

The small class visibly deflated at the prospect of Snape choosing partners, causing Snape to grin lightly, and with that ominous note, he ended the class. 

Desperate to get away, you left everything on your desk, only ensuring you had your bag before racing from the room, the frustrated tears falling freely now. 

“Y/N!” you thought you heard Draco call--but surely you were mistaken, unless he wanted to further embarrass you or rub it in. Before he could do either, you burst into the girl's restroom and out of sight.

[sorry-i-ship-drarry]

Hair dye and braids

For you @iamactuallya-cat . I tried my best I promise and I'm still not satisfied

It was a typical November in London, with soft raining which hasn't stopped in the past 2 days . Harry was sitting outside on his porch he had constructed, wearing a light brown sweater with a coffee and music playing on the player. He was thinking about the article in the daily prophet about Harry's new revelation by Rita Skeeter. It was only a few days ago when Harry had came out to the world despite the fact that his friends knew for the longest time that Harry was bisexual but the amount of howlers he's been getting all day was annoying to him. It disrupted his fine evening. He remembered Draco calling him the first thing in the morning

" it doesn't matter what that annoying slimy head says Harry. She doesn't know anything about you. Your friends does and that's all that matters. We still love you for who you are and you know that. She can go on about how it might've been a public stunt but Nobody thinks that Harry "

" it doesn't matter Draco. I don't care-"

" you know what you need, you need to show her in the face that it doesn't matter. You do exactly what you like. Dye your hair if you like , wear a dress if you like, paint your nails if that be it. The politics would soon die out -"

" Draco i- I need to be alone right now. Hope you don't mind " and harry cut the call with a sigh.

All his life, Harry had been someone people expected him to be and less of who he actually is. Somedays he thought it was better to just go along with the flow, be exactly what people wanted him to be to avoid people hating him more than they normally do but someday's he felt like he was too much of what people wanted him to, to the extent he kept other people's opinions first and last his own. He had understood it the hard way that no matter what happens there's always going to be people who doesn't like you. When a man like albus dumbledore he looked up to could be hated then who was he in this pitiful world.

Harry soon caught a glimpse of his reflection on the French window by his side, he saw what people wanted to see, he didn't see himself but what people made him. He frowned at his own reflection. When he looked in the mirror he didn't know who he saw, it upset him. Harry ran his hand through his hair thinking the same thing over and over until he realised he's thinking of people who isn't here with him when he's lonely. They're out there, maybe on a date, maybe enjoying a trip with their family, doing something somewhere and they weren't thinking of him. And then he realised, it was he himself who thought what people thought. It was one version of him telling him what people thinks of him when in reality nobody really cared. Nobody really even cared about someone until it was life or death. He looked out only once before he collected his coat, wore his shoes and left.

" yes I called on my way over for an appointment " Harry asked the receptionist. He gave him a charming smile Before he asked him about his name and lead the way inside.

" I think I like this one " Harry examined the magazine carefully before putting it away and nodding, that's what he wanted. He had decided and now there was no going back.

It was 3 days later when Harry was applying his perfume when he heard the door bell rang. Harry immediately went to open to door to find Draco.

" we need to get - wo- y- you look different " Draco stuttered when he finally landed his eyes upon Harry.

Harry smiled at draco and let him in.

" I went for a bit of change and I know we decided to go for black or grey but I felt like dark green suited the best with the new look but you know it almost looks black. What do you think? You think Ron and mione would like it?" Harry asked as he walked into the bedroom to check once again in the mirror .

" i- " Draco cleared his throat and spoke , gaining his voice again " I thi- I mean they won't mind. I think they'll love it " if Draco hadn't turned around Harry would've definitely seen Draco trying to contain his Infuriating blush.

" you know you still haven't told, how do you like it ?" Harry asked smirking putting on the cuffs of his sleeves.

Draco opened his mouth but only incoherent words came out. Out of surprise himself raised his eyebrows and tried again " do you want me to get you something to drink. I don't think your throat's fine Draco " Harry asked lightly grasping Draco's elbow but Draco Only closed his eyes and shook his head.

" what made you dye your hair blue ?" Draco finally asked after a few moments

" well it was actually your suggestion. You told me if I wanted to dye my hair I should do it or if I wanted to paint my nails or wear a dress , I should do it. I only went with hair dye but I'm planning on applying nail paint whenever I get a chance. I still think the dress part should be reserved, I don't think I would like it very much but I liked the hair part. Besides it's not even the entire hair, it's just the roots " Harry explained as he now sat down and started putting on the shoes.

" I didn't think -"

" that I'd actually do it. Well I didn't think I would too but guess here we are " Harry replier smiling.

" and now your braiding your hair " Draco sat down putting his hands in his face, exhaling.

" is everything alright Draco ?" He asked leaving his hair to fall out.

" i-" he cleared his throat again

" are you sure, you don't need me to get anything to drink?" He asked again

" I'm fine Harry. I think the room is a bit less ventilated. Don't you think. We should open the windows. Oh but no it's raining outside-"

" Draco " Harry held Draco's hands when he kneeled down in front of him " breathe. It's fine. I am still getting you water,okay " Harry smiled at him.

Harry soon returned to the room with a glass of water in his hand and gave it to Draco and resumed trying to braid his side. Draco remained silent for the rest of the time and watched Harry getting ready, which didn't take more than 10 minutes but Draco was sure if he opened his mouth nothing coherent would come out. He would rather stay silent than sound like a monkey trying to explain Harry how he looked.

When Harry was done, the last thing he had to do was put on his coat and when he did so he turned to Draco and raised an eyebrow asking him how he looked.

Draco inhaled then gave him a big smile " like you'll steal Every man and woman's heart "

" well there's only one heart but that also works " Harry chuckled and soon enough they left.

The more Draco looked at harry at the party, little by little he lost his sanity. The man looked perfect, beyond perfect if it were possible. The way his thick eyelashes Settled on his prominent cheekbones and they way his lips looked the perfect amount of red, the way his lips turned into a beautiful smile any time someone would say something nice , the way his green eyes reflected with the suit he was wearing, it was all beyond perfect . Draco couldn't take his eyes off Harry, he looked just like the man of his dreams but then again he already was the man of his dreams just today he couldn't contain himself even a little bit with his hair dyed light blue with braids and the Slytherin-ish green suit. How could he, Harry looked flawless. There was something so different about Harry today, he seemed confident in the way he stood, the way he carried himself and the way he had rolled up his black sleeves, it seemed so reckless yet so beautifully confident, like he didn't care about the world anymore. He remembered Harry in suit from before, the way his suit used to look lousy on him or the way they didn't cling perfectly to his body but today, everything about his body looked so put out like he was showing it off to the world, the way his pants were just so perfectly fitting and how it put out Harry's ass that he never really had a view of and the way his shirt was clinged enough to show that Harry worked out. He could list everything about Harry that looked perfect but Every time he saw him he saw a different part of him that made his heart to skip a beat. Draco wondered how had his heart had not stopped beating yet !

" you are basically eye fucking him at this point Draco " he heard pansy say following Draco's line of sight.

" how can anyone not ? Just look at him pansy. That man is way out of my league " Draco sighed and finally took his eyes off Harry, decided he had stared enough and staring was only Making all of it harder on him.

" well to be honest, for the first time potter does like someone who is out of your league. He could even woo me today and I'd gladly go along with him. Has his arse always been this delicious ?" Pansy narrowed her eyes trying to see his arse properly but Draco immediately covered her eyes with his hands.

" now a woman can't even watch porn " pansy sighed and leaned back in her chair. Blaise laughed at her comment which only made Draco groan. It was true though, eye fucking could Only go this far.

" I'd like to present a toast to my beautiful best friends" Harry had got up on the stage with a glass of champagne still looking mighty as ever.

" if I could talk about how I had to see them pining after each other for years I would but Hermione made me promise to give a sentimental speech on her engagement. So mione this one's for you. I never believed love could be found in one person but when I look at the two of you, I see the way you two look at each other, like you're each other's halves and maybe you are. If fate exists then I think you both were and will always be destined to be together. Happy engagement to my parent's cum friend's. I couldn't had done anything without you guys. I love you guys so much and no not that way Ron" he ended his speech with a raise of a glass.

" that man can talk too " pansy smirked.

" apparently he's the most eligible bachelor in the entire party, hell he might be the most eligible bachelor in entire Britain. Why does he have to be like this pansy? This way I'm never getting him even in a million years " Draco groaned as he drank his champagne again and resumed eye Fucking Harry.

Draco soon discovered that his line of Vision grew smaller and somewhat more magnified . He almost spit his drink when he realised Harry was coming towards him.

" hi pansy, Blaise and you, the man who's been staying away from me all night " Harry sat down in front of Draco smiling.

" was just gossiping about my lonely life with them and boring them " Draco told him

" well, you're not the only one. Wanna dance ?" Harry asked so causally as he tugged his suit closer to his body that Draco almost didn't catch it . He was almost confused whether he should be listening or simply looking at harry.

" what ?" Draco asked still shocked

" come on let's dance " Harry offered Draco his hand and hesitantly Draco took Harry's hands.

" you sure ?" Draco asked forgetting all about how good Harry looked but simply concerned about the way Harry just approached, knowing how it would create a Chaos soon and there would be another article about Harry.

" absolutely" and harry meant it.

When Harry and Draco reached the stage, it was a surprise how easily they had aligned without difficulty and so in a very delicately perfect way with Harry's hands rested upon Draco's waist while Draco's hands were hanging Around Harry's neck.

" it's a nice song isn't it ?" Harry asked slowly swaying to the music while looking at Draco.

" it is " Draco smiled

" how was the conversations with people ?" Draco asked not looking away from his face.

" frankly boring . I had to listen a lot about how little they knew of Ron and Hermione and someone's excitingly boring work trip . Nobody's as interesting as you " Harry shrugged his shoulders.

" oh is it so ?" Draco smirked. Harry tightened his grip around Draco's waist " yeah "

" who's your next dance ?" Draco asked. Harry looked at him intently before making Draco turn his head to the side.

" him" Draco followed Harry's line of sight almost disappointed of knowing the fact that he was on borrowed time until he saw his reflection in the mirror.

" we look good together don't we ?" Harry asked . Draco nodded biting his lower lip " yeah "

" I saved the dances for you. I was asked 5 times tonight for a dance you know " Harry told him looking in Draco's eyes.

" and why is that ?" Draco Whispered softly.

" because I wanted to do this " Harry replied looking at Draco's lips, pulling him closer so that they were almost pressed against one another " may I ?" Harry asked for consent. Only when Draco had given him a yes Harry had kissed Draco. It wasn't a rough or a hard kiss, it was sweet and passionate. It held something that would've said I've waited so long for this but there wasn't any urgency like they had all the time in the world to do it again. Harry's had slowly unconsciously tightening around Draco's back and Draco's hands resting upon Harry's neck. All those years of pining after each other Harry and Draco had finally Poured out everything in that one kiss. All those weeks of waiting to make a move on another only to be left with disappointment, all those times of watching each other from a distance , all those moments of waiting for the right moment had finally paid off.

" you can kiss too potter" Draco said teasingly as they separated from the kiss, pressing their foreheads together.

" I can do a lot of things malfoy. Maybe tonight you could see a few of them" Harry smugly replied but before Draco could've said anything else, Harry had kissed him again. This time with much more passion than before.

" get a room " Blaise yelled from behind them leaving them startled.

" we might zabini " Harry winked at Blaise..

" you want to leave early ?" Harry asked when he turned to Draco still breathless from all the kissing.

" only if I get to touch your hair " Draco smirked

" who do you think I did the braid and hair dye for " Harry asked him mischievously.

Harry realised in all his time with Draco that the world didn't matter anymore, what people thought of him didn't matter anymore as long as he knew the one man he wanted loved him just right. For there can be no love without hate , he settled with the one man he had once hated. Maybe sometimes hatred can turn into love and sometimes not and harry was perfectly fine either way.

Side prompts I've worked on - habits of my heart

Requests open for this

[lilac-den]

Hello dear author! How would the ROs react if they came home from a mission to find the MC asleep in their bed snuggling one of their shirts? Thank you!

Cracks knuckles. . . I’mma assume relationship-stage. . .

Zeus: The mission had been tough, as with many other mission. Zeus is a soldier, a dedicated fighter. No iota of complaints have ever crossed their mind.

But this time? It’s the first they ever feel irritated to have this mission drag so long.

Zeus is a clean-cut method for the company to utilize - a top weapon agent in their arsenal. But even they can’t stomach the haughty attitudes of those who belittle the responsibilities at work. That, and the fact they’re also the reason they have drag the mission far longer than it should.

Even Ares was scowling over the governmental agents slacking their asses off. If it wasn’t for Zeus and co, this mission would have gone for a week instead of five days straight. Zeus has already made a promise to spend the whole weekend, and they plan to keep that promise.

The keys rattle and click against the lock, allowing Zeus to step into their apartment with an exhausted sigh. God, they smell. It won’t do good to visit their beloved in such a state. Stripping their suit jacket off, they made their way into their room...

Only to blink upon the sight before them.

There was [Name], all curled up on their bed with their shirt in their grasp. What was once a neatly clean bed, with settled and smoothed out sheets, is now all wrinkled about and the sole chaos in a room of the organized structure.

A light tinge warms their torso.

It’s so strange - that seeing something that disrupts their usually fixed atmosphere be so fulfilling. It’s as if the exhaustion of the mission is lifted, all for the thought of peace with their lover’s sleeping, quiet state.

Zeus allows themselves to step closer, sitting onto the edge of the bed and reach out to brush their forehead. Brows knit, most likely from the feel of their gloves, before beautiful orbs blink open.

“Good morning, [Name],” Zeus says, monotonous and stone-faced. An issue with those who try to approach them, Zeus doesn’t excrete ‘emotional reveal’.

But [Name] flashes that smile - sleepy but joyful. Was it from having a pleasant dream? Or perhaps [Name] believe their dream is of this moment.

“Welcome home...”

Regardless, Zeus knows the yearning they felt for [Name] is mutual.

Hermes: “Fucking assholes, thinking they’re so brilliant...”

The unsettling curses flow out of Hermes as natural as a raging river, their fingers frustratingly flipping through their set of keys as they frown, only to click their tongue and flip once more in reverse.

The mission has taken a massive toll on Hermes - sure, it’s a success but it would have been three days earlier if those scientists from the governmental branch have more brain cells. They completely disregarded Hermes’s suggestion and simply went ahead with their own ideas, singling them out.

Clearly, that didn’t turn out well due to how that simply put them through a grueling demotion and put Hermes in charge of the issue. While there isn’t any other problem to be found, Hermes has grown irate at the time that’s been wasted to the point each of the scientists couldn’t even dare to make a peep of gossip.

The only pro coming out of this is the fact Hermes had earned some vacation days - specifically this weekend.

The idea of spending the weekend with [Name] provides some small mood boost; it had been the only thing that kept Hermes going with those so-called top-notch thinkers.

But when Hermes steps into their apartment and enters the bedroom, they eye the body that lies on their bed.

Pajamas adorn the frame of their beloved, with a small note of bedhead and a black, very familiar T-shirt wrinkling in their grasp as they smile obliviously in their sleep.

[Name] fits so perfectly on their bed, Hermes almost forego taking a short shower just to climb in. Curse outdoor bacteria.

Thankfully, [Name] didn’t wake up while Hermes was showering - considering how it’s massively early and Hermes has spent last night driving back home, being the night owl they are, they could sleep like the dead.

A common thing their beloved has mentioned during their brunches.

Dressed in their sleepwear, Hermes climbs into the sheets, careful not to move the shirt away from [Name], and wraps their arms around [Name] to let themselves settle into the comfort of their own bed.

“Hng...” Hermes’s ears perk at the sound that erupts after merely five minutes before they feel the body in their arm twitch, “Oh...Hermes, when did you come back?”

A sigh leaves them and they find themselves sinking into the softness, a heavy load of exhaustion upon them. Who knew the sound of their voice can make them crumble to instant relaxation? “Just now.”

A gentle touch on the head. “Tough mission?”

“Mm.” Hermes gives a noise of confirmation, relying on the stroking sensation through their hair for its warm properties. The body shifts, which leads to Hermes’s brows knitting together.

“Haha...!” A soft laugh escapes their beloved, a sound that leaves them fuzzy with delight. “Did you miss me too?”

“You took my favorite shirt.”

[Name]’s voice has a pause before concern fills it. “Am I not allowed to?”

The remembrance of [Name] cuddling with their shirt resorts to Hermes tightening their embrace. “Consider this punishment.”

A short laugh leaves [Name] again. “Seems more like a reward.”

Hermes gives out a sort of grumble and leans in without another thought, burying their head into the crook of [Name]’s neck. [Name] doesn’t speak another word, but the fingers that pet along their hair turn into a hand stroking from scalp to the back. A satisfied noise escapes with a minuscule smile.

Clearly, the one getting a reward here is Hermes.

Dionysus: “God, what a week.”

It’s one thing to go undercover as a hotel staff - it’s another to carry that role and attempt fixing most of the problems in said hotel. First had been a Frenchman and Englishman arguing over some preference of which country is better (Ironically - the Frenchman believes England is better while the Englishman believes France is better). Then, there was a lack of staff, which means more tasks to do than what most usually do.

It doesn’t help that Dionysus was in that situation because of some corrupt billionaire who couldn’t stop keeping it in his pants. Including the rare virus, he had spread to his ‘friends’.

It was just an absolute mess. Dionysus wasn’t sure how they’ll stomach seeing another messy bed.

After unlocking the door to their apartment and entering it, they lock the door behind them and head for the bathroom in their bedroom; Dionysus could go for a relaxing bubble bath. But when they step into their bedroom, they freeze with wide, shock eyes.

Lying on their bed, with a vibrant orange PJ shirt in the grasp of familiar hands, is the librarian in all their sleepy glory. Dionysus has always left their curtains open, so the sunrise’s rays are already shining into the room without making contact with the librarian’s blessed face.

Their heart melt. They smile widely and step closer to the bed. Bending down, they plant a kiss onto their beloved’s forehead, something which leads to forcing a groan out of their sleeping beauty.

Eyes blink towards Dionysus, blearily taking them in as the first thing they see - something Dionysus plans to keep doing.

A dazzling smile courses through their lips, flashing beautiful teeth. “Morning, sunshine.”

“Mnngh...” [Name] groans out, grabbing the blanket and curl out, though not turning away from Dionysus and simply rub their cheek into the shirt’s fabric. “No morning - too early...”

A humorous laugh leaves Dionysus as they bend down to leave a dozen more kisses. “Not even for some breakfast?”

A pause. An eye peeks open. “...Mngh.”

In translation: Always for food.

“Alright, I’ll make some animal pancakes.” Dionysus begins to move, but blinks from the slight tug on the end of their suit jacket. Turning back, they spy the hand that clings to it before lifting their head to face the smiling beaut. “What’s wrong?”

A wide grin appears and the librarian lifts themselves up, planting a light peck on Dionysus’s cheek. “Welcome home.”

The poor soul’s heart implodes from the cuteness overload.

Ares: “Fucking pansy shits, acting like kids with scissors...”

Ares just isn’t taking any more shit from the governmental branch. It’s bad enough they’re given weapons - now they have people wielding them, flailing about with a magnum, refusing to take better maintenance with them. If it wasn’t for the fact this was an undercover mission, Ares would have wiped their asses with armor-piercing rounds from an AK-47.

They make their way into their apartment, dumping their duffle bag onto the end of the coat hanger as they strip off their jacket, frustratingly untying their tie. It doesn’t make shit better when they had to have a long drive under the hot, fucking sun and get home just as night falls.

They couldn’t even visit that cadet of theirs on the day of their return - fucking bastards.

“I swear, I’m gonna beat the shit-” Their words stop short upon stepping into their room to eye the form occupying their bed.

The little hacker actually took over their bed.

With their shirt.

In their PJs.

Did they miss Ares that much?

“...Heh.”

A shark-like smile appears on their face and they step into the bathroom. Even after their shower, the cadet is still sleeping. Fully dressed to sleep with dried hair, Ares sighs and climbs into the bed before wrapping their cadet’s body.

“Fucking sap.” Ares mumbles, closing their eyes as a brief smile appear on their face.

???: The apartment door opens and closes without missing a beat, the figure tiredly stepping into the dark flat despite how it’s early morning.

Footsteps tread silently to the bedroom. And there, ??? makes the discovery of the figure on their bed, the brief moment of alerted panic shifting to a calm fulfillment; should have known their tweety bird misses them.

??? steps closer to the bed, reaching up to gently squeeze the bridge of the librarian’s nose. Watching their nose wrinkle, ??? nearly snort with amusement before kneeling onto the ground and fold their arms onto the edge of the bed, resting their chin on their folded arms to continue admiring the blissful sleep of their lover and how that smile - that bright, dazzling smile - make the world whole once more for ???.

(Bonus)

After a decent amount of time, ??? finally moves. They pull one of their larger drawers open and pull out a trumpet. They don’t really play instruments; it was mainly to annoy a notable friend of theirs. Licking their lips with eyes glinting with devious intent, they open their mouth...

Needless to say, ??? enjoys their method of waking their early bird.

[honeybeewriter]

Flowers to cows

Country AU! Tenya iida x G/N reader 

AN: I'm frustrated and upset about my work and pay for the week. I feel unpaid and unappreciated. I’m in need of some country boy lovin and who better than iida. You'll have to fight me to get the country au out of my hands. I might do HC’s for the country au let me know if y'all want that. ALSO this is my first time writing for iida so be easy on me .

Word count: 1545

Back in highschool, you got your first job as a florist, all throughout school you kept that job, many things had happened during those years. To name a few: when you accidentally ordered too many of one flower, that time you smacked a customer with a bunch of ferns because he was being hands, or or that time you met the love of your life. That memory was your favorite. 

It was an autumn afternoon,months after graduation, you were setting out pumpkins that the local kids had carved for the shop. The flower truck arriving on time to the minute, you greeted the driver as usual “Hiya tenya, what do you have for me today?”  The tall male walks to the back of the truck and pulls down the tailgate “Only the best flowers for my favorite shopkeeper” as he sat the tailgate down there laid dozens of sunflowers, bright yellow to warm red, along with wheat grass. “Tenya Iida you out did yourself this year! These are beautiful! Be a sweetie and help me unload them” 

You both grabbed a bunch of sunflowers in your arms. Iida watched your form lean against the gate of his truck, a warmth flooded over him as you stood back. The way your (e/c) eyes catch in the sun's light to how your (h/c) hair ruffled in the autumn breeze or maybe it was the way you smiled softly as you gaze at the flowers in your arms, like a newborn child. Iida knew right then after all those years of delivering flowers to your shop, he had to make you his. “Tenya? Can you bring those in please?” You called out to him, you had already walked away while he had been daydreaming “R-right!” 

Iida enters your shop and is flooded with the scent of asters and pansies along with a mixture of other flowers, washed over him, effectively calming his nerves. The male sat the sunflowers down on your work table “So (y/n) i was wondering, would you like to go out for lunch this afternoon, i don’t have any other delivers tod-” You let out a chuckle as he talked, he was kinda taken aback by your laugh; but turning around with a big smile on your lips “Tenya it took you 3 years to ask me on a date” your eyes hold so much happiness within them “Of course i would love too” From then on it was history 

Years have passed, the original owner of the flower shop has given the keys to you and retired. That shop was your pride and joy. Iida was still out in the field making his money by selling to businesses and to people around town. He made enough money to keep you comfortable but you insisted on keeping your shop.

A few regulars would always stop by to buy flowers, but at the rate of growth of town it would only be a matter of time before your shop goes under. Nobody is in need of fresh flowers, you're heartbroken. Iida notices that your mood is no longer chipper as it was, why was his partner so sad? They could always talk to him, so why weren't they? 

Days came and passed each day you would come home in a slump, working yourself to the bone, and for what.. A few 20 dollars here and there at a time. You would always come home and your husband would be on the couch asleep. He works so hard, you would kiss his cheek before going to the kitchen looking for food, and just eating whatever leftovers there were. 

The summer rolls around, hot days and cool nights. Today was no different, the same old couple that came in to buy their weekly bunch had just left, when two suited men entered your quint shop. 

“Hello gentlemen, how may i help you?” You ask with a warm smile, inside you were shaking like a leaf. You knew why they were there, you couldn't keep up with payments. Iida in the past has offered to pay off the shop but your pride wouldn't let him. 

“I think you know why we are here (y/n). We were patient, the money you send us just isn't enough darlin. Under the bank, we are taking the shop, please have all your things out in the next week.” They hand you the notice and leave with sorrow in their eyes. They knew your shop meant everything to you. But no money? no payments. no payments? no shop.

You sobbed as you hung up the ‘Everything must go’ banner outside. People quickly bought out the shop on the same day. A few hundreds in your pocket, as you locked the door for the last time. You rested your head against the glass door “Goodbye friend” tears dribbled down your cheeks as you began your walk home. 

Your husband had gotten word from his business men that your shop had closed down, so instantly, he knew you were heartbroken. So he made a plan, he knew it wouldn't fix it but he knew he had to make you happy. Tenya had been super busy the last few months getting things ready for planting, so he had not been able to give you the attention you needed. 

As you reached the front porch of your cozy country house, Iida let out a long whistle to catch your attention. You look over to the side swing, your heart skipped a beat. Iida sat with a bunch of sunflowers in his arms. 

“Hey Sunshine” A nickname he had given you a long time ago. It still makes you smile. “I know you just lost your shop, I know how much you loved that place, shoot darling, that's how we met. So many years ago, You remember That day?” Iida stood up and walked over to you, setting in flowers on the shoe rack that was set by the door. “How could i forget?” you spoke softly as iida takes your hand, guiding you off the porch, before your off the final step he yanks you softly into his arms. 

The deep blue night blankets over the sky, little stars blink like fireflies in the tall grass. iida holds you close to his chest as he kisses your lips gently. You feel your body relax in those farmer arms. You both pull away as iida sets you on your feet. “Sunshine, look. I make enough for the both of us, so you don't have to work” You pouted “darlin you know i can't just be a housewife, i have to keep busy.” Iida listens with a soft smile. “Well, if i remember correctly all them years ago you mentioned something” 

“Huh? Tenya iida what did you do!” You laugh, you've said a lot of things in the past so what he was referring to, got you by the ass, cause you sure don't know. Iida takes his cowboy hat that was too big for you off, and places it on your head. It fell over your eyes. “No peeking okay?” He guides you gently around the house, past the small pond and around to the back of the house. 

Slowly he took off the hat from your eyes, you blink softly as your eyes come back into focus. In front of you stand a trailer, you give your husband a confused look. “Go on, go check it out” The moment you heard the ‘Moo’ you whipped your head back to your husband 

“You didn't” a smile wiggled against your lips. “Did what” He played coy with a smile on his lips. You race over the trailer opening the big metal door, infront you laid a young white and black calf. “Baaaaby” you whined out looking back to your husband. “Is it ours?” He nods watching you wiggle in excitement over the calf. 

“I can't believe you remembered me saying if I ever closed the shop I wanted cows.” you slowly eased into the trailer, careful not to startle the calf. Iida leans against the frame watching you pet and coo at the small animal, a loving gaze rest on his face. 

“Now will you stay home and let me take care of you?” he joins you next to the calf rubbing your shoulder softly leaning over to you. 

“You drive a hard bargain.. Yes only if i can get another one” You smile as you lean closer to him “easy there sunshine… of course we can” He kisses you gently cupping your cheek in his warm callous hand. 

The flower shop owner chapter of your life has ended but now it's opened the next chapter. Things will be okay.

[ofwolvesandbutterflies]

the constant

Pairing: Nakamoto Yuta x Reader

Genre: suggestive fluff

Tags: gang!au, partnersincrime!au

Warnings: brief mentions of violence, mature content... the whole works

day 15 of 30 days with NCT

Synopsis: in which you and yuta have a love/hate relationship in the way that yes, there are times you’d stop at nothing to rip his throat out... but you’d still kill anyone who’d try to kill him.

// tryin’ to be with you is crazy // (x)

--

[23:44]

Out of all the things that were supposed to happen today, you would have never expected to be at yet another lavish party, posing as Yuta’s arm candy in an effort to catch any piece of information that could help total the yakuza your group had been having trouble with for years. On top of that, nor did you expect to have his hands teasing the edges of your thin party dress up little by little, sloppy, open mouthed kisses coaxing moan after moan from your glossed lips. 

Today was supposed to be your day off. No guns, no violence, no blood, no sex, and no Yuta. Forget the perfectly tailored leather pants that hugged you in all the right ways and concealed so many dangerous gadgets, the hidden knives up your sleeves, and the eternally loaded gun always ready in your holster. Today was all about comfy sweatpants, oversized long sleeves, and all the unhealthy food you fasted from during the work week at the 127 syndicate. 

The aroma of slow baked chocolate and the tiniest hint of vanilla wafted through the air, bringing a genuinely happy smile to your watering mouth. Nothing could ruin this afternoon. And then, your phone lit up, vibrated against the wood grain of the table you sat against with a ring you wished meant something - someone - else. You stuffed a piece of brownie in your mouth before pulling the device up to your ear. 

"Where you at, baby girl?" Yuta's relaxed voice floated through the phone speakers like honey; smooth, sickeningly sweet, and so very easy to get addicted to. Yuta was cocky, he was confident. You supposed it was part of his charm as the infamous womanizer of the gang. Nevertheless, having to hear that almost every hour of every minute of the week was definitely part of the reason hearing his ring tone never hesitated to spark irritation in the very depths of your being. He continued. “Just thought I’d let you know I missed seeing your ass this morning at the 07:00 meeting.” Your lips curled back into a sneer, swallowing the rest of the brownie chunk you had just stuffed into your mouth.

"How nice of you to call in on my day off, sweet cheeks." Shoving the freshly baked plate of brownies back onto the counter, you hissed at your partner, not even bothering to cover the annoyance in your tone. "Thought you had another - what was it you rather me call them again? Oh right - another rendezvous this afternoon. 

"Oh, that’s right. I did have something planned. If I remember correctly, it was with this hot piece of multi-million dollar eye candy, Bae Joohyun. And I was looking forward to it, too. Would’ve been an easy couple thousand.” An over exaggerated sigh pushed its way out of your partner’s infuriatingly soft lips. Had the handsome blond been right beside you, a sure smirk would have appeared on his face, challenging you, taunting you. “Too bad it got cancelled. Jealous, babe?"

"Never in a million years, dickhead,” the scoff elicited a sigh from his end of the call. “Now what do you want?"

His answer was quick, sharp and you could practically see the shit-eating grin seeping into his voice.

"Jaehyun said to be back within the hour. He and ‘Yong have a thing for us to do sometime soon. And by 'sometime soon' I mean by the end of today." Good thing you had put the brownies away a few minutes ago, the news surely would have shocked you into choking on a piece of chocolate-y heaven. Your eyes widened and your back stiffened. This must have been important. Jaehyun and Taeyong never called you or any other member in on a day off unless it was imperative to the success of the crime syndicate. “Y/N? You still on?” 

"Wha- wait, Yuta, what’s going on?” Adjusting the phone so that it was in speaker mode, you quickly pulled your hair up into a sleek ponytail and ran about your studio apartment in a rush to get your work-outfit on. Pressed button down? Check. Sexy pants? Check. Dark shoes, sunglasses, and mask? Check. “Why today? Wh- I mean, what details are we working with here? What type of stuff do I need?" 

“They didn’t give me much to work off of, babe, just told me to tell you to get your ass up and over to the company in 15 minutes.” The pet name flew over your head to go completely unnoticed as you stripped down to change. Gone was the playful banter the two of you shared on the daily. Yuta’s work voice was on which meant he was serious. You bit back a groan, hopping around on one foot as you tried to stuff your other foot into the pant leg. 

“You said within the hour. Fifteen minutes?! Really?" 

"The sooner the better, Princess. You know Jae doesn't like to be kept waiting." 

Grumbled complaints fell upon deaf ears and you stuffed your company wallet and ID into your purse. “Fine. I’ll see you in fifteen.” 

“Make that ten.” 

“Oh my fucking- Yuta!” 

--

Getting to the party had been no problem. Slipping in unnoticed hadn’t been a problem, either. Hell, even convincing everyone you were another escort and that Yuta was part of a new development in one of their small eastern groups was easy money. However, getting the information… had been posing a problem. 

The rough prints Taeyong had provided the two of you with said the meeting room was more centrally located in the house. While the information you were going off of was limited, the moment the two of you wandered past the crowds of low ranking footmen and into barren hallways where only a few, higher class gang members stood guarding a door, you knew you had found what you were looking for. 

A surge of confidence welled up within you and you started toward the group of men over in front of the door. You could take these pansies. However, a hand, warm and calloused from years of fighting, tugged you back into a familiar chest before you could do anything. Within seconds, his lips were on your neck, kissing and sucking dark bruises into your skin with leisure. Albeit a little taken aback, you followed your partner’s lead and tilted your neck to grant him more access.

“Ahh… Yuta…” Leaning back into his body, you crained your neck so you could shoot a hooded glare up at your partner. “As much as I love how needy you are at the most inconvenient of times-” 

“Easy, princess,” Yuta murmured, smile evident in the way his voice lowered, deep and sensual against the shell of your ear. You suppressed a delicious shiver at the sensation of his hands sliding up and down your arms. “Sorry about the sudden contact, there are just a couple of guys to my five o’ clock that were looking. But those goons over there? There’s three of them, two of us. We can’t rush them like this.” 

“Gr… Fine.” All of a sudden, he paused to spin you around and slam you up against the wall of the hallway, only loud enough to garner the little bit more of needed attention to the two of you. With his hands on either side of your head and his teeth teasing the flesh of your neck, you couldn’t decide whether to glare at him or kiss the dumb grin off his lips when he wedged his knee between your legs. 

“How about a little... distraction?” Your eyelids fluttered when kissed you again, immediately understanding what he meant. You knew well this was all a part of the job, rolling your core up into the evident arousal forming in your partner’s pants, biting back a moan when he bent down slowly, eyes flickering over your shoulder to check on your audience... But damn, the way his clothed hips met yours had you moaning your partner’s name louder than you originally meant to. 

“Oh my go- Yuta, oh fuck…” One last kiss and he pulled away, sparing you a knowing smirk before turning towards the sound of footsteps near your position. All three men surrounded the two of you, eyes trained solely on your partner.

“HEY.” A giggle threatened to slip from your mouth when you heard how high one of the guy’s voices was. 

“‘Sup, man?” Yuta cocked his head, running a finger over your lips playfully before grinning up at the frowning male glaring at him, the shorter one. “Need something? Another drink? You need a light? Oh shit, have you tried any of the girls over here-”

“Cap it, dickwad,” another guy growled. You noticed Yuta’s smile drop ever so slightly and your blood began to boil. No one called Yuta ‘dickwad’ except for you. “You got 10 seconds to find another hallway to fuck this bitch in before I-” 

“She’s not a ‘bitch’,” your partner grumbled before the other idiot could finish his sentence. The other man stopped and glanced at his friends in disbelief, as if he couldn’t believe a ‘low-ranking foot soldier’ dared talk back to him. You fought the urge to go for your knife when he grabbed Yuta’s collar, sneering. 

“Care to repeat that, dumbass?”

“Sure, old man,” Yuta growled, eyes narrowing as he squared his shoulders in front of you. “Don’t. Call. Her. A. Bitch.” 

“Why you little fuck-” he didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence, though. Because Yuta had already kicked him in the gut and threw a well-squared punch straight into his jaw, knocking him out cold. The other two rushed at him, dark eyes glowing with something dangerous - but they, too, were on the floor, unconscious within seconds.

“Come on,” he called, stepping carelessly over the unconscious bodies and towards the door. “Door’s open.” For a moment, all you could do was stare with your mouth agape at your partner. You had worked with him for the past 4 years and while so much of your time together was spent arguing, bickering over trivial things… There were moments like these that reminded you he still cared in his own way. Releasing a breath, Yuta’s shoulders visibly relaxed and he pulled the recording device out of his suit jacket. 

“Wait- Yuta!” you spoke, hurrying over to your partner’s side. He turned and paused mid-stride, eyes refusing to meet yours just like the way they did every other time he did something for you. “What the fuck- I mean, what was that- I mean, wait. No. T-thank you. You… You didn’t need to beat them up.”

“Pfft, who said I was doing it for you,” he shrugged, voice back to being cocky, slinging an arm around your waist to pull you closer to the door, still avoiding your gaze. “Those guys- they were just assholes in general, they don’t know how much shit you put up with. They deserved that.” 

“But still…” You trailed off, knowing he wasn’t just going to take a compliment like this. So instead, you turned towards him, cupped his chin and pressed a sweet kiss to the frown disfiguring his beautiful features. And he stopped, grabbing your waist to pull you to him once more, soft lips caressed yours. It was all part of the job, that much you knew. Playing coy, acting dumb, kicking ass, skipping days off, and kissing random strangers. 

But the one constant you could always count on was Yuta. Your annoying partner who would always, always have your back.

[paulisweeabootrash]

2020 mini-review pack

Di Gi Charat (1999)

Episodes watched: 7

Platform: VRV (Hidive)

Di Gi Charat (pronounced like “carrot”) is a series of fast-paced 4-ish-minute shorts nominally about Dejiko and Rabi-en-Rose, rivals trying to be Earth’s greatest idol.  Who are, respectively, a catgirl and a bunnygirl.  Oh, and also they’re aliens?  That’s... uh... certainly a premise, I guess.  The actual show consists of self-contained gag-filled episodes with no ongoing story, in almost a sitcom kind of way, throwing the characters into situations without context, but with a stable “baseline” situation (unlike, say, Pop Team Epic, where the characters serve more as stock personalities playing different roles in different sketches).  Dejiko is a snarky schemer.  Rabi-en-Rose is a snarky schemer whose main activity seems to be bothering Dejiko at work.  Puchiko is a small and quiet child and behaves accordingly.  And Gema is... something?  I have no clue, honestly, and neither does the fan wiki.  Other recurring characters fill stock roles such as “manager” and “otaku”.  A lot of the humor centers around poking fun at fandom.  It’s a show by, for, and about otaku from an era before our current internet culture, and since I’m a millennial and not from Japan, that makes it unusually hard to evaluate.

W/A/S: 8/2?/5?

Weeb: Chibis.  Catgirls.  Idols.  Kappas.  Kawaii verbal tics.  Akihabara.  Low-detail background characters who look like blobs or thumbs with faces.  Kanji left on-screen but untranslated.  Particular sorts of highly-exaggerated facial expressions we may have become familiar with through emoji, but which still haven’t made their way into American media generally.  This is ludicrously Japanese.

Ass: This really isn't that kind of show.  Although it is certainly designed for adults, as evidenced by the presence of phrases like “naughty doujinshi”.

Shit: The art is fun.  It has style shifts from comic strip to watercolor painting to mainstream 90s anime, and looks better than some of its contemporaries that were, uh, “real” shows.  The opening takes up about a quarter of the total runtime and gets annoying quickly (but that's because it’s clearly designed for being part of a broadcast block, not binge-watching).  Still, unless I’m missing hidden cleverness on account of not having the background knowledge, there’s not much to it.  It’s just okay.

-----

First Astronomical Velocity (band, active 2011-present)

Platform: Spotify, surprisingly

Okay, this one is a bit different, and I’m jettisoning the whole format for it.  Remember how I said the music-centered episodes of SoniAni were actually pretty good, even though the modeling-centered episodes were so offputting I never finished the show?  Well it turns out that First Astronomical Velocity, Sonico’s band, has released several IRL albums.  Physical copies may be a little hard to come by, but official uploads of a lot of their music can be found on Youtube and Spotify.  Do your musical interests include at least two of: string arrangements that would be at home in a particularly sappy movie soundtrack, 90s-00s alternative rock, synthesizer beep-boops, and that constricted cutesy Japanese women’s vocal style (you know the one I mean)?  Then this is for you.  They’re a pretty good... uh... alt-pop-rock band, I guess is what I’d call them.

-----

Interspecies Reviewers (2020)

Episodes watched: the entire 12-episode season

Platform: I plead the 5th.  But it’s getting a video release soon, so it will finally be legitimately available in English!

I started this year with a plot-light fanservicey animal-people show, and now I’m ending the year with... a plot-light fanservicey animal-people show.  But unlike Nekopara, this show had me cracking up, eagerly clicking “next episode”, and not complaining about the premise.  I’m sure a lot of people do have a problem with this show’s premise -- which centers almost entirely on various forms of sex work -- and I understand and respect that they will want to skip this show.

But for the rest of you: Interspecies Reviewers is a wildly-NSFW comedy about a group of fantasy world adventurers who gain fame and fortune reviewing brothels of different species.  I expected excessive nudity and fantasy tropes, but I didn’t expect to also get serious thoughts.  Like showing, in the golem and Magic Metropolis episodes, some of the unsettling problems that are looming IRL as deepfakes and sex robots are in development -- note especially the contrast between consensually and non-consensually basing automata on real people in those episodes.  Or the discussion in the last episode of how much riskier sex would be in a world without magic (i.e., ours).  This is a much smarter and more interesting show than you’d expect, considering that it has so much sexual content that it got dropped by two of the networks airing it and even its US distributor.

W/A/S: 5/10/4

Weeb: Although heavily influenced by the Western fantasy media canon of European mythology and Tolkien and tabletop RPGs, familiarity with the tropes of fantasy anime will help you “get” this too, as will familiarity with the -sigh- character dynamics and censorship practices of hentai.  Especially because it’s a comedy, there are probably also instances where I have completely missed topical references or wordplay that a Japanese person would get, but I can’t think of any specific instances right now of “there was clearly supposed to be a joke but I missed it”.

Ass: Look, this could not possibly have more sexual content without unambiguously becoming porn.  Genitals are (almost) always carefully hidden by viewing angle or conveniently-placed glowing (something lampshaded in one episode as an actual feature of one of the species they review), but otherwise, expect lots of nudity and almost nonstop crude humor.  Do not watch this with children.  Do not watch this with your parents.  Do not watch this with friends you don’t know well enough to know how they’ll react to something like this.

Shit: This show is better-made than it deserves to be.  It’s pretty dumb at points, but it’s fun enough to make up for it.  The art is consistent and pleasant, and the opening and ending themes are extremely fun, but it’s not a serious standout in any of those departments.  Also, I swear the background music is stock music, but I don’t remember what other show(s) I’ve heard it in before.

Stray thought: Crim is a precious and relatable cinnamon roll and I love them.

-----

OreSuki OVA (2020)

Platform: Crunchyroll

So, I know I didn’t cover the whole season in my initial review, but I still want to mention the hour-ish-long finale of this show, which was released straight to streaming.  Short version of the rest of the season: Joro starts to actually fall for Pansy, but a new challenger, Hose, appears.  He is irritatingly attractive and effortless at maintaining the right persona for the situation, leading Joro to describe him as “the main character”.  Hose is the sociopathic manipulator Joro wishes he could be, and Pansy, who has a bad past with him, clearly wants nothing more than for Joro to stand up to him.  But, since this is OreSuki, it’s not going to be handled simply.  No, instead, strap in for a grand finale of Joro and Hose competing in, and trying to manipulate through rules-lawyering, an absolutely ludicrous competition to win the right to date Pansy.  And, on top of it, we also get to finally see how Sun-chan got to be the way he is and what happened at that pivotal baseball game that set off the whole plot.  What has Joro learned from the experiences of the past season?  You’ll see!  And you’ll facepalm about it!

Really, you must watch this if you watched the regular season.

W/A/S: 6/5(!)/4ish

Weeb: Basically the same as I said before.  Gags referencing other Japanese media, anime and otherwise, and it's better if you’re familiar with the high school romcoms and harem comedies Joro thinks in terms of.

Ass (and slight content note): -sigh- Why does the camera need to be there?  Also, Joro, you just committed a little bit of sexual assault for the sake of this contest.  Stop.

Shit: I want to rate this overall better than I did the regular season because I think it’s an excellent finale overall because, even though it ends in a very “let’s leave everything unresolved” way that’s common in media that rely on absurd relationships to propel the plot, it does so in a way that makes sense in character.  I personally think it would’ve been stronger if it had, well, confirmed its title, and at least some of the other “challengers” had lost interest in Joro, but I guess they probably want a Season 2, since they have so much more source material to work from.  There are... oh god 14 light novels?!  That is too many.

-----

Your Name. (2016)

Platform: DVD

Two high schoolers -- small-town girl Mitsuha, from Itomori, and big-city boy Taki, from Tokyo -- find themselves in each other’s bodies for a day.  They both think at first it must be a very vivid dream, but when it happens again, and they start finding clues like notes they don’t remember writing and comments by friends and relatives about their out-of-character behavior, they realize the body swap is real.  This begins a relationship of mutual understanding that nobody else can really understand -- or would even believe (except Mitsuha’s grandmother, who is... familiar with this phenomenon) -- and the plot then pivots to a tense adventure where they use their connection, some crucial information Taki has, the skills of Mitsuha’s friends, and the intervention of Itomori’s patron deity, to save the town from an impending disaster.

And that’s all I’ll say about that, because I really do think this is something you should go into blind.  My only remaining comments are that (1) the red string of fate is critically important imagery, and is particularly interesting to me here because, if I took a particular scene correctly, Mitsuha made her own red string of fate from sheer necessity, which is a very different twist on that trope, and (2) I am now curious about the history of the body-swapping phenomenon in-universe.

W/A/S: 4?/2/2

Weeb: As mentioned above, symbolism of the Red String of Fate shows up throughout the movie, as do the occasional distinctly Japanese quirk like a wildly out-of-place vending machine or a café with dogs, and but for the most part it’s a cross-cultural story of understanding and dealing with someone else’s life, and of forming a connection other people don’t -- can’t -- truly understand, and to some extent of divides between urban and rural and modern and traditional that I think could play out in any country with just the local symbolism tweaked.  The significance and content of Shinto beliefs and practices depicted, particularly kuchikamizake, are made pretty explicit, so although foreign to the vast majority of the non-Japanese audience, I feel like this movie also has nearly no barrier to entry for people not familiar with the cultural context, so I don’t want to rate it very high on this scale.

Ass: Look.  It involves teenagers switching bodies.  What do you think they do?  Especially Taki?  But it’s played for laughs, not titillation.

Shit: This movie is beautiful and punched me in the feels and was very satisfying.  The closest I have to a complaint about any aspect of it is that the musical breaks that I guess are supposed to mark acts of the movie almost make it feel like binge-watching a short series instead of watching a single self-contained movie.

[therainroguefanfiction]

⁂ Moving Metal #2: Wheel of Power

📑 Table of Contents | ◂ Previous 

━━━━━━༻���️༺━━━━━━

Believe it or not, it took us a full day to reach Highway 35, and by the time we did, the sun was beginning to set. The sky was alive was dark red and orange, swirling together like an angry blaze. Sandstone covered the ground we drove on, kicking up dust something horrible. I had to roll up the window pretty quickly, all while ignoring the ‘I told you so’ look from Taro who had warned me about the window just an hour prior.

I turned up the AC because of how hot it was outside. The middle of summer in the desert at sundown. Can you imagine my struggle?

“Hey, Taro! Wylde’s here!” Monkey’s voice came over the radio, followed by loud coughs as said Maniac sped past us. Unfortunately, Monkey didn’t have the Taro warning system like I did and his window was down. “Hey! This isn’t a race!”

“It’s always a race.” Came Mark’s reply, making me resist the urge to slam my head against the dashboard. He really was impossible. He increased his speed, slamming his car into the female from Teku before hitting his brother’s car from behind. He quickly claimed the lead even though, as Monkey stated, it was not a race.

About ten minutes later, a building came into view. It was square, probably about three stories tall, and looked like it could fall apart with just a gust of wind. The walls barely covered the metal piping that held the building together.

A dark-skinned man with dreads stepped out of the shadows like some super villain, but when he spoke, his voice was something you’d expect from a hero. The man and Vert exchanged pleasantries.

“Vert. It’s been a long time.” The man had some type of accent, but I couldn’t place it for the life of me.

“Good to see you again.”

Monkey stepped forward. “Is that Tezla?”

I rested my forehead against Taro’s shoulder in place of a facepalm. I had been told the exact same stories that Monkey had and I knew that this man, whoever he may be, was definitely NOT Tezla.

“My name is Kadeem.” The man said with an air of pride. A few more notches North and it’ll border arrogance. “Who are you?”

“He’s just a freaky little Metal Maniac, Kadeem.” Kurt’s comment made both Taro and myself tense up and push away from the car.

I growled in annoyance. “Better a Maniac than a pansy Teku!”

“Yeah!” Mark agreed, slinging his tattooed arm over my shoulder. “Metal Maniacs are the best! Like me, Taro and Jae, huh?”

“Real drivers are Teku!” Kurt argued back.

“Let’s test that then, aye?” I cracked my knuckles as I stepped forward, daring him to move. The Metal Maniacs are multi-skilled, you see. Not only are we badass at driving, we’re damn skilled at beating the snot out of people.

Kadeem’s laugh broke through the tension. “Yes, I see how it is.”

He and Vert started to speak to one another, but I was too angry to care as Kurt an I stared each other down. He may be older than me, but I know I can beat him in a fight, and man did I want to beat his ass. I inched forward, but Taro grabbed the back of my shirt, pulling me back to our side and giving me a look that clearly stated ‘knock it off’. I scoffed in annoyance, shooting the Teku one last glare before looking away. The day will come when I can beat that prick’s ass, but today is clearly not that day.

“So, if this is so important, it must pay a lot. Right?” Monkey’s question caught my attention, seeing as how I want to know the answer as much as he does.

Kadeem only laughed in response.

“Is that a yes?”

His laughter grew louder.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. The horrid combination of heat, anger and now this guys laughter had finally weighed down on me, gracing me with a splitting headache I knew would be near impossible to get rid of. I barely registered Taro gently pushing me toward the passenger seat.

Though it doesn’t happen very often, sometimes I get overwhelmed and when I do, I get these crippling headaches that render me… well, pretty much useless. Taro has been there for most of them, so he knows what to expect by now.

When the pain finally subsided enough for me to open my eyes, I found that we were in the middle of this strange rock maze. I faintly made out the sound of Kadeem ordering us to stay behind him.

Taro glanced at me.“Still with me?”

I grunted in response, trying to force myself to get a grip. I avoided looking out the window since the swirling of colors didn’t help my headache and only served to make my eyes hurt. Instead, I chose to stare at the back end of the Spinebuster, who happened to be in front of us. Before I realized what was happening, we had flown off the edge of a cliff and through a camouflaged opening in the side of a large rock formation.

We drove down a narrow hall before it opened up to this huge dome with a track twisting and turning towards the ceiling. I had never seen anything like it in my life. And just like that, the amazement overwhelmed the pain inside my brain. Taro opened my door but ordered me to stay put just to be on the safe side. I did as I was told.

“Woah, check it out.” Vert seemed just as amazed as I am, which seemed a bit strange considering what he must have witnessed during the World Race.

A bright yellow light shot out from the center of the dome, forming a man’s face. I knew instantly that the face belonged to Tezla. “Welcome… to the Acceledrome!”

His voice was loud and bounced from wall to wall, rattling my head.

“Gelorum and her drones have the wheel of power. Before the wheel was taken, I discovered that it’s more than just a source of power. It’s the key to something much bigger than Highway 35. Countless new tracks and unique new worlds that I call, the Racing Realms.”

Jeez, this guy sounds like a friggin’ commercial or advertisement. Can he get any more melodramatic?

“Reaching the end of Highway 35 was only the first step mapped out for us by the Accelerons.”

Monkey’s vehicle squealed to a stop behind us and I clenched my jaw at the sound, glaring at him as he popped the top half of his body out of his sunroof. “Did I miss anything?”

The group collectively turned to stare at him before looking back to the hologram.

“The journey of discovery… begins here.” The face swirled into a blur before a large ring appeared in its place. Two smaller rings were inside the first, like those Russian nesting dolls. It spun around in a slow circle.

We followed Kadeem to a room with a large table and plenty of chairs. Naturally, the Teku sat on one side, while the Maniacs took the other. Kadeem took the head of the table.

In the center was a miniature ring, an exact replica of the large one.

“Which one is the wheel of power?” The female Teku questioned.

“They are both holograms,” Kadeem answered as a female in overalls entered the room, picking up where he left off. That robot was right behind her.

“Exact three-dimensional recreations.”

“Lani!” Vert smiled. “It’s great to see another Waveripper.”

The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. She certainly didn’t look familiar to me.

“I’m not driving, Vert. I’ve been working with Tezla in the Acceledrome. He didn’t tell me who was coming.” She narrowed her eyes at Taro and it clicked.

Lani… the reason the name sounded so familiar was from Mark and Taro’s World Race stories. She was one of the drivers and apparently she and Taro dated for some time before breaking up. Judging from that look and the tone of her voice, it didn’t end on a happy note.

“Awkward,” I muttered to myself, earning a glare from the man next to me. I coughed and shifted in my seat as the robot started to circle us.

“While studying the wheel, Dr. Tezla recorded a unique pattern of its wavelengths and vibrations.” It explained.

“Yeah, yeah. Scrap the lecture, Gig. We’re here to race.” Mark placed his huge feet on the table, leaning back in the chair with his hands on the back of his head. Typical Mark.

Wait… what did he say? Gig? So I guess that robot does have a name. Maybe I shouldn’t go around saying ‘it’ anymore.

It, I mean, Gig, continued. “The holographic image resonates with the same imminations of the actual wheel of power.”

Monkey looked confused, as usual. “Is he speaking English? He’s speaking English, right?”

“In a very real sense, the image is the wheel.”

“And that means…?” The female Teku asked what we were all thinking. I should probably learn her name, too, huh.

Lani answered, “Dr. Tezla believes the wheel of power has been opening the Racing Realms.”

“My headache is coming back.” I groaned softly.

Taro stood and walked toward the glass wall over-looking the large wheel.

“And that Gelorum’s racing drones have been entering them,” Gig added.

“We must reach the end of the next realm before the racing drones.” Kadeem had become very serious. The change from cheerful weighed heavy on me. It all felt like a dream, but it also felt like everything was about to become very real very fast.

“Why should we? Last time it was to get the wheel for Tezla. What does the doctor want now?” Kurt accused.

Where the hell did he even come from? He was not sitting there a minute ago.

“The drones have already accessed several racing realms.” Gig explained. “Dr. Tezla believes that with each new realm, they become more powerful.”

“Whatever’s at the end of the racing realms must be even more powerful,” Kadeem added.

Monkey laughed and I knew what he was going to say before it even left his mouth. “Well if it’s that powerful, it must be worth a lot of money! Right?”

Kadeem started to laugh again, and I was growing annoyed by it. It’s not that difficult to just say yes or no.

“Why is he laughing?” Monkey asked, sitting back down in defeat.

“Now more than ever, the best drivers are needed.” Gig said just as a loud alarm began to echo through the building.

“It’s moving,” Taro announced. Sure enough, both the large and miniature wheels were now turning, each ring moving in a different direction.

Lani approached the window. “A new realm is about to open.”

“Alright, come on!” Mark sounded like a kid on Christmas, and I found myself smiling. “Let’s go!”

“We need Nitrox,” Vert announced.

The alarm grew louder as we got back to the cars. Those who already have the tanks installed refilled theirs, while the rest installed the tanks themselves.

The smallest ring stopped moving, the symbol on its side illuminating. It looked like a baby snake or a worm… or maybe just a squiggly line.

Monkey picked up the tank of Nitrox, looking between it and Taro. “What exactly does this juice do?”

“You’ll see,”

I raised my brow at Taro’s response.

The second ring stopped.

The third stopped and then a large ball of blue light appeared in the middle of the smallest one.

“The racing realm is open,” Gig announced, barely audible over the screeching of the alarm.

I hopped into the passenger seat and Taro took off before I could even close the door. One by one, the drivers formed a line and entered the sky-high track. A machine sped up the vehicle, the force pushing us back against our seats as the speedometer soared to life, easily reaching almost two hundred miles per hour.

“You must be going three hundred miles per hour when you’ve reached the wheel,” Kadeem announced over the radio.

His words made my stomach tingle as the adrenaline inside my body stirred to life. My lips twitched up as our speed gradually increased. One more machine at the end of the track propelled us past the three hundred mark as we soared into the swirling blue abyss.

I heard the realm before I could see it.

Thunder, loud and angry, rattled the car as the flash of bright light faded. Mark’s cries of there being no track snapped me out of my daze and I frantically looked around. We were falling through the air, surrounded by thick clouds of purple and black. Thunder roared overhead and lightning struck down in the distance. It felt like we fell forever, my heart sinking at the thought that there might not be a track at all. Monkey started screaming and my heart pounded faster against my rib cage.

It felt like an eternity of falling and I briefly wondered if this was hell, when the track finally came into view. My heart rate didn’t slow until the wheels touched the track and we zoomed after Kadeem and Mark, who had landed first.

“Yo, this is wicked.” I stared at the swirling clouds lit up by strikes of lightning, cutting through them like a knife through warm butter. Don’t ask me why, but I’ve always had a thing for storms. They always made me feel peaceful and happy, though a part of me was wishing that it was raining, as well.

“Does anybody know what’s holding this track up?”

I couldn’t tell if Kadeem was being serious or joking.

“Ask the Accelerons,” Taro commented. I found myself grinning at his response.

The track started to turn, creating a tornado down into the clouds. The lightning was no longer in the distance – it was dangerously close now.

The track changed direction again, shooting up into the sky and forming a loop like a roller coaster then plunging straight down in the most wicked verticle line I’ve ever seen.

“Can anybody hear me? What’s the situation?” Lani reached out over the radio.

Monkey was the one to respond and I almost started laughing. “Whatever this dude’s paying us, it’s not enough!”

“Who said anything about being paid?” Gig asked. If he hadn’t been a robot, I would swear that he said that sarcastically.

I howled with laughter when Monkey screamed after hearing the response. I had never felt as alive as I do at this moment. My adrenaline is pumping, working through every inch of my body. I want to drive so badly! Why did I have to leave my car behind and ride with Taro to the race?

After the track straightened out, lightning rods appeared on both sides of the track. Lightning struck down from the sky like a vengeful god, sending power to the rods as they connected with one another through the currents of electricity.

Taro dodged the shocks as they flew from the rods to the track itself, making the drivers swerve back and forth to avoid them. I could see a flash of light hit Kurt’s car, the window shattering as it lost all power. I vaguely wondered if we should help, but the thought was quickly left behind as we passed him. He has his own teammates to help him.

We didn’t just have the lightning to worry about anymore. The farther we got, the harder it became to see thanks to a thick cloud of fog. I could barely see the tail lights of whoever was in front of us.

We were both struggling to see, but I guess Taro’s sight is slightly better than my own. He noticed the car heading straight for us way before I did, and he managed to swerve to avoid it. Unfortunately, the sharp turn of the wheel sent my side of the car straight into one of the lightning rods. The sudden stop sent a jolt through my body as the straps of the seat knocked the wind out of me. Man, having boobs is really inconvenient!

“You okay, Taro?”

He was rubbing his head, growling in anger. He said he was fine, but I could tell that he was feeling the impact as much as I was. Well, you know, except the whole boob-in-pain thing.

“The racing drones are here,” Kadeem announced, and it clicked into place in my mind. That’s what that thing was? Because he sure as hell was not racing!

“Where? I don’t see any racing – ” Monkey’s voice suddenly got very low. “- drones…”

I scowled. “Let’s kick some ass, Taro!”

He nodded in agreement and we took off, passing a broke down Mark on our way. I radioed to make sure he was good, to which he promptly made fun of me for quote ‘worrying about him’. Pft, that’s the last time I ask him if he needs help!

The fog was starting to clear and I could finally see up ahead of us. “Taro, we caught up to the drones!”

Without a word, he pressed down on the gas and rammed the closest one from behind. The force of the impact sent the drone spinning out and we zoomed past. In front of us was Kadeem, with a drone in front of him.

“Good, Taro! We can take on these drones together!”

“I’m gonna pass you.”

I whipped my head around to see that the drone had recovered himself and was now behind Kadeem with another one close behind. Just how many of these things are there?

The drone at the back of the line did something strange – he hit the drone in front of him, sending him off the track. It was then my eyes caught sight of the wire attached to the back of Kadeem’s car, dragging him over the edge.

I glanced at Taro, but he was too focused on the track in front of him. Biting my lip, I decided not to say anything. Kadeem had been racing these realms long before we came along. He’ll be fine.

Right…?

I turned around and shook my head. I had to stay focused on the task at hand. Even if I’m not the one driving, I can still assist Taro.

Three drones were driving in front of us, forming a wall to prevent others from passing. Taro increased his speed and rammed the one in the middle. The force sent the drone struggling for control and in that struggle, he managed to miss a ball of lightning that hit the track.

I screamed Taro’s name, but he didn’t have enough time to dodge it. It hit us head on, encasing the car in electricity and sending us rolling across the track. I could feel the pain surging through my entire body. It was nothing like earlier when he hit the rod. No, this pain was intense and horrible, like I had just shoved a wet fork into a light socket. My body started to grow numb, and I struggled to keep my eyes open.

“Ta… ro…” I managed out, but he was out cold.

I tried to hold on. Maybe if I could stay conscious until the pain subsided, I could recover from it. All I could think about was the unconscious man next to me. I started to remember my life before I met him and the other maniacs, how drastically everything changed after I met them after they took me in. After they became my family.

I tried to reach for the radio, but I couldn’t feel my arm. My body felt heavy like I had a garbage truck sitting on top of every limb. It was becoming harder to keep my eyes open, and I fought as hard as I could. I don’t know how long I lasted, but my body finally failed me and my eyes closed. All of the sounds around me started to fade until there was nothing left.

Nothing but darkness and silence.

Is this where I die?

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

▸Next

📜 Read more by checking out my masterlist 📜

[drawlfoy]

A Short Meeting

pairing: draco x pansy

request: yes! thank you to anon for sending it in :)

warnings: just mentions of war/fighting/minimal gore. i’m not all that into blood so i’ll keep it light if i put any mention in

a/n: i took a few liberties with the canon to write this one. but also i just got in a car crash so i’m kind of shaky so i apologize for any spelling mistakes

music recs: i was listening to insomnia by iamx

summary: i don’t want to give too much away but basically pansy is in a pinch during the war and a certain someone appears

word count: 1,343

Pansy couldn’t tell you how long she’d been hiding out where she was. She had tried to run to the Slytherin common room like Snape had instructed them to, but somehow she’d been split away from the group. With all the adrenaline rushing through her body, she ran right past the corridor leading to the dorms, and it was far too late to turn back now. She could hear the shouts and the spells being fired near the turn she was supposed to take. The chaos was only growing closer.

Keep going, keep going. If either side finds you, you’re dead for.

At first glance, the pureblood girl should’ve sided with Voldemort and the Death Eaters, but her family had deserted last minute by jumping countries and decided that she’d be safe at Hogwarts while they took their extended vacation in...New York? Sydney? For some reason she thought they might’ve taken a quick stop in South Africa along the way, but she couldn’t be sure.

Regardless, no one liked her. To the Death Eaters, her name carried weakness and treachery. To the Order, she was a coward and a bigot. Both seemed to forget who she really was: a very lost, very betrayed 17 year old girl who just wanted her family back. 

But then again, no one wanted to take the time to psychoanalyze Pansy Parkinson. She’d already been pigeon-holed and it was so much more worthwhile to guess how many freckles Harry Potter had on his right ass cheek. Or how Bellatrix took her tea, whichever side one fancied the most.

The commotion was growing nearer and Pansy was being slower. She couldn’t keep running for much longer.

Thankfully, she spotted a broom closet just off to her right, just begging to be used as a hiding spot. She exhaled a grateful breath before yanking the door open and piling objects on top of her.

Maybe they’re right she mused. Maybe I am a coward, hiding under a pile of household objects instead of going out there and fighting for what I believe in.

She cast these thoughts away. How could she fight for a side when both of them hated her? And regardless, she was alive. That’s all that mattered, after all. Maybe afterwards she could owl her family and join them in their exclusive penthouse or beach house or whatever they were living the pampered life in.

Pansy allowed herself to be taken away by all of these daydreams of life after the war, riding each fleeting thought like one would surf a wave. 

Yes, a wave in Hawaii she thought dreamily. Perhaps Mother and Father are there.

She thought that perhaps the war had stopped once the chaos had quieted down, but she knew better than to leave her spot. The war had probably moved to another part of the castle, but even so, there could still be people rounding up scragglers. And she was safe, so safe, in her cozy little broom closet. She felt an odd vibe of immortality, tucked away with random items covering her from view. It felt like she was a little girl again who was afraid of the dark, pulling blankets over her head and feeling invincible in her cocoon of softness.

This security only lasted for another few seconds, though. The broom closet handle was ripped open violently and someone else stepped in, casting a quick lumos and peering around.

Pansy couldn’t believe her eyes. She hadn’t seen him since the middle of the previous school year. It had been over a year. 

The time did not treat Draco Malfoy well. She had never seen his platinum hair so unkempt and ruffled and his face so dirty. 

“Pansy?” His voice, though hushed, was full of alarm. “Why aren’t you in the dorms?”

“Dunno.” It seemed like a rather trivial question. Did it matter why she wasn’t there? She was here. And that was that. “I generally prefer private rooms when I’m hiding from a war.”

If he had found that funny, he didn’t show it.

“It’s dangerous here. You need to get out.” His face was just as stone cold as she remembered, but  as she looked into his eyes, she noticed a glimmer of fear.

“And go where, Draco?” she asked incredulously. “My house? That’s currently being used to hold your prisoners? Or the Dining Hall, perhaps? The one that’s already blown to bits? Or to my parents? Whose whereabouts I’m not even aware of anymore?”

“Oh.” Draco’s eyes widened. “I thought you knew...where.”

“No.”

The two sat in silence for a few moments. The memories of Pansy’s shameless attempts at flirting made a reappearance. The most recent had been when she was 16--just a year before--when she’d instructed Draco to lay his head in her lap and carded her fingers through his fine hair.

So embarrassing. He was so clearly never interested. How could she’ve been so naive to chase after boy that never cared about her anyways?

“I’m sorry about that,” he finally told her.

“So what now?” She pushed. “You’re gonna take me to your fellow Death Eaters? Let them see how cowardly I am, hiding away in a closet like this?”

He winced at the term “death eater”. 

“No.” 

The silence embraced them again, just as awkward as before.

“I am sorry, you know.” 

Pansy jumped at the sudden tone change. Draco sounded...remorseful, something  she’d never expected from him.

“For what?”

“For leading you on for...I don’t even know how many years,” he muttered, passing his wand back and forth from both hands, causing the light omitted from it to shake. “That was pretty shit of me.”

“I should’ve stopped trying,” Pansy confided in him. “I knew you didn’t care. It was just so hard to leave you alone.”

The silence returned, much more comfortable this time. Pansy never thought she’d be here--sitting in a broom closet with a Death Eater in the middle of a raging battle.

“Come here.” Draco’s voice came off as surprisingly strong, and she looked up to see him motioning to her with his free hand. 

“Why?”

“I have some things to make up to you.” 

Once Pansy had scooted over to his side of the closet, he distinguished his wand--even though it didn’t really look like his wand, now that Pansy was looking closer--and set it on the floor next to them. He adjusted to sit cross legged.

“Put your head here.” He pointed to his lap while Pansy squinted to see exactly where.

He couldn’t be serious. 

Slowly, she lowered her head down, letting it settle in between his crossed legs. She felt his hands encapsulate her head, his fingers stroking her hair in a fashion very similar to what she did.

“What’s gonna happen to us, Draco?” Her voice didn’t sound like hers.

“I don’t know. You should find your parents and get out as soon as you can. As for me....” Draco paused, his hands stopping as well. “We’ll just have to see what happens.”

Pansy accepted the weak answer, shutting her eyes and just enjoying the moment as it came.

“This is the last time, isn’t it?” Pansy asked. She already knew the answer. “I mean, for the two of us?”

Draco was quiet for a few moments before answering.

“Yeah.”

They stayed like that for a while. Pansy wanted to believe that he was doing this out of desire, but she had a feeling that this was just to settle the guilt inside of him. He was paying his dues.

Yells began to sound outside again, accompanied by screaming and blasts. Draco exhaled sadly, running his fingers through Pansy’s hair one more time.

“I’ve got to go.”

“Okay.”

He stood up awkwardly, brushing off his pant legs and retrieving his wand from the ground. Before he opened the door, he turned back and caught Pansy’s eyes one more time. 

“Stay safe, Pans.” 

With that, he stepped out and shut the door behind her, leaving her alone with the knowledge that she’d never see him again.

[wandlores]

In Her Eyes

Pairing: Harry Potter x Pansy Parkinson Words: 3,247 You can also read this on AO3.  This is for the anon who requested I write about my children awhile ago! I have missed writing about them, so it was almost nostalgic for me. I hope you all enjoy it. x

If Harry saw another article in the Daily Prophet from Rita Skeeter talking about his new lack-of a sex life, he was going to scream. The lack of sex wasn't even what mattered, it was the fact that Ginny no longer wanted to be with him.

He wallowed in his own self-pity for weeks in various pubs across Britain; it was easy to escape when you could just apparate anywhere in the country. He understood Ginny's reasoning; she needed time to herself. He was all she had really ever known in a mature relationship. She loved him, but that wasn't enough. Sometimes people had to find their own way, and Harry respected that. Especially after everything they had lost in the years past.

So as he took another shot of Firewhiskey in the Hog's Head, he eavesdropped on other people's conversations to ignore his own internal dialogue. There was a girl sitting across the bar. She never looked in his direction, and Harry did not mind that at all. It was new for him. She kept downing shots and raising her hand for more. Aberforth gave her more with no objections. Harry watched as Zacharias Smith and another wizard he was unfamiliar with approached the girl as they waked into the pub. Her bleach blonde ponytail whipped around as she turned to look at them directly.

"So where's your lover boy?" Zacharias taunted, "I figured he would be here."

"Not now, Smith," the blonde replied, "I would prefer to drink without hearing your voice."

"And why is that?" The wizard Harry didn't know ask, "Because he finally dumped your ass for some new fine ass?"

The blonde stood up from her seat to defend herself, but she didn't draw her wand. Harry was not sure what came over him, or why he suddenly felt the need to defend this stranger, but he made his way over to them. Without looking the girl in the eye, he kissed her cheek and wrapped his arm around her waist. He half expected her to push him off, but she didn't. It was probably because of what he said next.

"Hey babe," Harry said casually, "Sorry it took me so long. I got you another shot."

He offered his full shot glass to the girl, and she tentatively took it. She still avoided Harry's eyes, but Harry watched as her red lips touched the rim of the glass.

Zacharias Smith started laughing. That's all Harry could focus on. He felt his eyes turn into slits. Harry had never liked Smith, and this was just adding to his reasons not to. He knew what it felt like to be taunted like this poor girl and-

But his thought process was interrupted once Smith finally decided to speak.

"Harry Potter is dating Pansy Parkinson? I cannot believe this shit!"

Harry was about to pull away from the blonde in surprise to look at her, but she kept him pinned to her side.

She turned her head to finally look him in the eye, and he recognized her now instantly. He would remember those blue green eyes anywhere. They were the same eyes that stared him down in the Great Hall for years. They were the ones that tried to turn him over to Voldemort with no remorse. Chills ran up Harry's spine. She had just dyed her hair. He could not believe this.

Harry wanted to take it back and protest, but Pansy spoke before he could.

"There's a thing called forgiveness, Smith," Pansy replied smoothly, "Maybe you should try it out sometime."

Harry watched as the stranger rolled his eyes and Smith huffed.

"Whatever," Zacharias retorted, "But I cannot wait to see the articles Rita Skeeter comes up with about this. They have been following your sex life for weeks, Potter."

Harry knew he should have replied, but he didn't know what to say. So he kept quiet, and he just glared at Zacharias quietly.

Pansy moved her hand down his arm and grabbed his hand. Harry had the urge to push her away, but he needed to keep up their ruse. He may have hated Pansy Parkinson, but he himself did not want to look like an idiot in front of Zacharias Smith of all people.

"Let's go, hun," Pansy said, "We don't need to deal with these assholes."

Harry nodded in fake agreement, and he followed her out of the pub. He could hear Zacharias laughing as they walked away, and he could feel Aberforth Dumbledore's eyes trailing after them.

Once they made it outside, Harry dropped Pansy's hand and backed away from her.

"Oh, what is it, Potter? You don't want to date me now?" Pansy asked. She had a devilish grin spread across her face as she went into her bag and grabbed a Muggle cigarette to light it up.

As she took a puff, Harry glared at her. He hadn't stopped glaring ever since he saw Zacharias Smith.

"I-I thought you were someone else," Harry told her, "I definitely wouldn't have done that if I knew it was you-"

Pansy rolled her eyes and started walking down Hogsmeade. It was after midnight and the streets were dead. Harry decided to follow her.

"Saint Potter," Pansy drawled before she took another puff of her cigarette, "Who would have thought you were my savior? Just so you know, I could have defended myself. People have been mocking me about Malfoy for weeks. Just because he cheated on me with that whore Astoria Greengrass. I'm a strong and independent woman, and I definitely don't need the Chosen One acting all high and mighty in my honor."

"Then why did you keep up the ruse?" Harry challenged her, "You could have said I was full of shit and got a good laugh with Smith and his lackey."

Pansy stopped in the middle of the street and turned to look at him. She was about his height, Harry realized, and smoke was billowing in the air between them. She dropped her cigarette to the ground and put it out with her boot.

"Because I think we can help each other."

Harry perked up his brow and didn't say anything, he let her continue.

"I see the shit Skeeter has been writing in the Daily Prophet about your break-up with Weasley. I get what it is like to have someone over-analyze your lack-of sex life. For once, I finally understand what is bad about being in the spotlight. So why don't we fool them all? Let's keep up this ruse, give Skeeter a run for her money, and come back later with an article of our own saying we fooled them all. It can be a wonderful story about how a Slytherin and Gryffindor become partners in crime to take down evil. Wouldn't that be beautiful?"

Harry could hear the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"As appealing as that sounds, I will have to pass," Harry told her, "Working in close proximity with you is enough to make me sick."

"You kissed my cheek just fine," Pansy commented, "And I saw the way your pupils dilated when you looked into my eyes, Potter. I'm not stupid."

Harry felt himself blush.

"I-I am not attracted to you," Harry replied defensively, "And I don't like to lie to people."

Pansy ignored the last part of his statement, "I never said it meant you were attracted to me. There are many reasons pupils dilate. I was more hinting at the fact that you could even look me in the eye. You haven't for years, not since you-"

She stopped talking, and Harry knew why. She was thinking of the same thing; the night he took down Voldemort. Harry swallowed.

"If I take you up on this offer," Harry explained, "I don't want it to last for long. Two weeks, tops."

"It needs to be at least a month to make it convincing," Pansy argued, "You are definitely not the type for flings, and the public knows that."

"Why would you-"

"Ginny Weasley is obviously the only person you have slept with."

"That's not-" Harry tried to stammer, but Pansy gave him a deadpan stare.

"Draco might have been my one true love, but we had many break-ups. I have definitely slept with my fair share of men and women."

Harry was intrigued by her women comment, but he let it slide.

"So what do you say, Potter?" She asked him one last time, "Are you in?"

Harry knew he was crazy to do this, but if it meant getting Rita Skeeter off his back, how could he resist? He had nothing else better to do anyway.

"I'm in."

Harry was woken up the next morning by someone banging on his door. They did not stop after one knock either, they kept doing it until he yelled that he was getting up. It was the worst way Harry could have started his day.

As Harry rolled out of bed, he mumbled to himself angrily as he stubbed his toe on the way to his door. When he opened it, Pansy Parkinson was standing there.

Her newly dyed blonde hair was up in a bun, and she was wearing a black low-cut summer dress. Harry tried to look anywhere but her chest. She didn't ask politely to come in, she just pushed past him and Harry rolled his eyes. He quickly looked outside his front door to see if anyone had seen them, but it looked like no one had. He shut the door and turned around to see Pansy sitting on his couch.

"Good morning to you, too," Harry greeted her sarcastically, "This couldn't wait until the afternoon?"

"It's noon, Potter," Pansy told him, "I tried sending you multiple owls. When you didn't respond, I took matters into my own hands."

Harry looked over at the window sill above his kitchen sink. There were multiple letters piled there waiting for his reply. They all displayed an elegant scrawl. She hadn't been lying.

"What do you want? Can't I at least get a day to think our whole agenda over?" He asked her.

She pulled the Prophet out of her bag and held it out to him. He grabbed it from her and opened it to the front page.

It was a picture of Pansy and Harry holding hands as they walked out of the Hog's Head with the caption, "The Boy Who Lived with the Girl Who Wanted Him Dead?"

Harry rolled his eyes and handed it back to her, "They could have come up with a more creative title at least-"

"That's what I said."

Harry snorted and Pansy laughed. After they finished, it was awkward to realize they had agreed on something for the first time in their lives and even had a similar sense of humor. Harry tried to ignore it.

"So what now?" Harry asked her, "I'm not necessarily the strategic type that takes advantage of situations-"

"That's obvious. Granger was always the brains behind everything."

Harry scowled, "I also contributed-"

"-with brute force."

Harry didn't reply to that, he just stared her down. The intensity of her look made him uncomfortable, but she didn't look away. She was clearly studying him, and Harry hated being a case study. He had been one his whole life.

"I figured we could plan out our public appearances," Pansy finally started, "Let's go out tonight. I made us a reservation."

"Already?" He asked her, "How did you already-"

"Some people get up before noon, Potter. Grown adults, that is."

Harry glared at her again, but she ignored him.

"Just be ready at six tonight. I'll meet you here. Dress nice. I'll give you more of the plan later as I think of it. You clearly aren't someone to brainstorm with."

Harry was about to protest, but she stood up and apparated out of his living room on the spot.

What had he gotten himself into?

It was 5:55 pm and Harry was a nervous wreck. He wasn't sure why he was nervous. This wasn't a real date. He convinced himself it was because it was going to be all over the news again in the morning. But Harry was used to being on the front page, it was nothing new.

Harry put on his suit jacket as he heard the light knock on his door. He took a deep breath as he went to open it.

Pansy Parkinson was in front of him wearing a tight red velvet dress. She was wearing the same lipstick from the night before, and her blonde hair was down in long waves. Harry had never seen her with long hair before. She had always had it cut short during their days at Hogwarts. He must of have been staring at her for too long, because she pushed past him into his flat and said, "Close your mouth, Potter. You're drooling."

Shaken up, he touched his fingers to his lips to see if she was being serious. Of course she hadn't been.

As he turned around, she was staring at him again.

"You clean up well," she commented, "I'm surprised."

"You do too," Harry blurted, "I mean- for a bitch."

Pansy snorted, "How original of you."

He felt his neck heat up and awkwardly crossed his arms, "So are we going to go now or not?"

"Yes," she told him, "But you're clearly a mess and horrible at this kind of thing, so just follow my lead, alright? I have no idea how you saved my ass last night on the fly at the bar-"

"So you admit I saved your ass?"

She rolled her eyes as she linked her arm through his, "I'm not admitting anything, Potter."

As she led him out of his flat to apparate to the restaurant, Harry grinned.

Once they made it to the restaurant, Harry could hear their whispers. It was apparent that the whole wizarding world now knew about his relationship with Pansy Parkinson. He grinned to himself as he imagined their shock when they came out with the truth.

Pansy laced her fingers through his as they approached the hostess.

"Reservation for Parkinson," Pansy told the girl. The girl looked at Harry like she was starstruck, so Pansy snapped in her face.

"Yes, I know my boyfriend is beautiful and has the most distracting eyes in the world," Pansy commented, "But we'd like our table."

The girl glared at Pansy as she grabbed their menus. Then she smiled at Harry and said, "Right this way."

Pansy chose a table in the back that was still visible to everyone else in the restaurant. They would just be unable to hear their conversation. She was smart. It would leave people wondering. Harry thanked the hostess as they sat down, and he watched as Pansy crossed her legs.

"You'd think you have never seen a girl before, Potter," Pansy teased as she looked down at her menu, "You can't keep your eyes off me."

Stumbling on his words, Harry replied, "I-I'm just playing my part well."

He watched Pansy's lips turn into a grin as she continued to look down at the menu, but she didn't say anything.

After the waiter came and took their order, Pansy whispered to Harry, "Take my hand."

"What?" He asked her.

She rolled her eye and did it herself. She grabbed his hand so it was on top of the table for everyone to see.

"Now talk to me about something, anything," she directed him, "But use hushed tones, it needs to look sensual."

Pansy leaned forward in her seat so their heads were closer together. Harry gulped as he got a closer look into her eyes.

"Why did you dye your hair?" He decided to ask.

"Why do you think?" She asked him, "So people might not recognize me when I go out. The Draco scandal was just-"

"Overwhelming?"

Pansy nodded, "But I'm over it now. It has been a few weeks."

"I get it," Harry told her, "When Ginny just up and left-"

"Why did she leave?"

Harry wasn't sure why he was telling Pansy Parkinson these things, but he realized he needed to talk about it, so he continued, "She needed to experience more of the world. All she had ever known from a serious relationship was me. I mean, she dated other guys before but-"

"I was that girl to Draco a few years ago," Pansy admitted, "That's what I think made him cheat on me with Greengrass."

"Astoria always seemed decent-"

"She's a slut."

Harry didn't say anything more, but looked down at their interlocked hands. Her nails were painted red like her dress and lips. He wasn't sure what else to say, so he just took a sip of his wine. He felt Pansy's eyes on him.

"What is it?" He asked her, "Why are you always staring?"

"I'm trying to figure you out," she told him, "You perplex me."

"How so?"

"I thought I always had you figured out in school, but now-"

"Now what?"

She hesitated, but she was about to respond as the waiter came up with their food. She let go of Harry's hand, and suddenly, he missed her touch. But he tried to bury that thought down, too.

Their dinner date went as planned, and they walked down Diagon Alley hand in hand as the sun went down. They didn't say anything for awhile, but they heard the whispers of other wizards around them. Their plan was going to work, Harry could see that now.

Once they turned the corner and were alone, Harry finally decided to ask Pansy, "Did you really mean what you said to the hostess? That I'm beautiful and have the most distracting eyes in the world?"

He was teasing her, and he hoped she caught that in his tone. He watched her roll her eyes, but she didn't look at him.

"There is always some truth to lies," she responded vaguely, "I had to keep our ruse up."

Harry wasn't one hundred percent sure what she meant, but he just nodded. They walked in silence again until they reached his flat. When they reached his front door, she turned her body so she was facing him. She was so tall that they were eye-level again, and all Harry could think about was how her eyes made him think of the sea by Bill and Fleur's home. How had he not noticed all these things about her before?

"Goodnight Potter," she told him, "I'll see you tomorrow. Or I can give you the day off?"

He realized she was asking him if he wanted to see her again so soon. He realized he did. He smiled at her but looked down at the ground. He wasn't ready for that kind of vulnerability just yet. "Yeah," he replied, "I'll see you tomorrow."

He glanced back up and watched as she hesitated, but she slowly leaned forward and kissed his cheek, just like he had done to her the night before. Her cheeks were rosy once she pulled away from him, and when she stepped back to apparate home, he swore he saw a faint smile spread across her face.

Maybe this ruse wouldn't be so hard to keep up after-all. Maybe Pansy was right about what she said to Smith the night before; he should try forgiveness out sometime, especially when it involved Pansy Parkinson.

[jenanigans1207]

With Great Hexpectations [Drarry]

Wow, can you believe it? I write things other than Klance? Sounds fake, I know!

I actually started this a long time ago and never finished it. I just discovered it in my google docs, loved it and decided to go for it. So if it seems a little disjointed at one point that's likely my old writing style meeting my new one. I think it's pretty clear to tell where that is. (Also I forgot how I was originally planning to end it and had to make up a whole new ending so...) Also I wrote this in present tense which I almost never do so I'm sorry if there are a few slip ups in there to past tense!

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy! 

I'm sorry for the terrible title, too, by the way. I know it's terrible but I hate titles and they're hard so here we are.

i.

Everyone knew. They never said anything, of course, but it was no secret. On nights when Draco didn't make it back to the Slytherin Common Room, nobody wondered where he was. He was safely tucked away in bed next to none other than Harry Potter, staring at the ceiling and fighting off feelings of remorse.

He had done a lot of things in his life; a lot of things he regretted terribly. More than that, though, he knew there were a lot of things that were going to be asked of him— things that would take away what little humanity he had left. Fear consumed him and he was suddenly freezing, despite the heavy blanket thrown over him and the warm body pressed to his side.

Draco begins to wonder how it is that the Chosen One could possibly love him— him, the antithesis of everything Harry stands and fights for.

Just as these thoughts are starting to overwhelm him, he feels himself being pulled to his left. He turns his head to see green eyes staring back at him from under a mop of sleep-mussed hair. Harry hoists himself a little higher in bed and pulls Draco the remaining distance to his chest, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and running his other hand from the top of Draco's head to down between his shoulders in a slow, soothing motion. Draco lets out a shaky breath and buries his head in Harry's chest without a word.

It always happens like this: Harry wakes up just as Draco is about to be consumed by his negative thoughts and his fears (Draco has no idea what wakes Harry every time but Merlin's Beard is he always thankful for it), pulls him close and just whispers quietly to him.

"It's alright," Harry murmurs against his ear, the soothing motion of his hand not wavering. "Stop being so hard on yourself. You're not a bad person."

"Yes, I am." Draco chokes out, his words thankfully muffled by Harry's shirt.

"No," Harry coos, tightening his grip around his lover's shoulder, "You're not. You're a good person and I promise you, we will get through this together."

Draco lets Harry's comforting words lull him to sleep.

ii.

"You know, you sure spend an awful lot of time with Potter now," Pansy drawls, leaning her elbows on the table and staring at Draco over her plate of breakfast. Draco doesn't know what to say in response to that, so he sneers instead. "Are the two of you dating now?"

"I—" Draco stops and thinks for a moment. Were they dating? They studied together, they went to Hogsmeade together, they shared a bed, for Merlin's sake, but they had never actually discussed whether or not they were dating.

Pansy, seeming to understand where Draco's thoughts were taking him, raised an eyebrow, "You haven't talked about it? What do you do when you're up in Gryffindor tower all night, then?"

Memories of the previous night flash through Draco's mind. He knows Pansy is thinking of something much dirtier, but he lets her keep her images. Telling her what actually happened somehow felt wrong— like he would be letting her in on one of their most intimate moments. Harry always told him there was nothing to be ashamed of, but Draco still wasn't willing to share that soft side of Harry with anyone else.

"Oh look," Pansy leans back, "Here he comes now. Looks like you'll finally get your chance."

As if on cue, Harry walks up to the table, rucksack slung over one shoulder, tie crooked. "Ready to go? We need to work on our Herbology assignment."

Professor Sprout, seeming to have a sense of humor, had paired the two up for a Herbology project in which they were charged with raising a plant together. "Sure," Draco muttered, grabbing his own rucksack, shooting Pansy a final look and trailing Harry out of the great hall.

iii.

They had been sitting in silence in the library for twenty minutes. Harry, to his credit, was at least attempting to work on the Herbology assignment. Draco was staring blankly at his book, mind wandering frequently back to what Pansy had said. How had he never thought to clarify this with Harry?

"Potter, are we—" He began, only to cut himself and turn slightly red.

Harry looked up from his book, green eyes questioning. "Malfoy?"

For a long time, Draco had bristled every time Harry referred to him by his last name. It still made him feel like they were enemies. He had said so to Harry at one point and Harry was more than willing to give Draco a try, but that felt even more wrong to both of them and Harry kept slipping up and saying Malfoy anyways, so they had agreed to just stick with what they knew.

"That is, er, I was wondering..." Draco averted his eyes back to his textbook, the intensity of Harry's stare making him more nervous than he already was. "You know, we spend a lot of time together and we do all these things, but are we, you know... dating?"

Harry’s eyebrows rise in surprise and Draco curses himself for asking. He should have just left it alone, but now he’s gone and spoiled a perfectly good thing. Typical.

“Well, yeah.” Harry replies, sounding amused. “At least, I thought we were.”

This time it’s Draco’s turn to look surprised. He clears his throat and meets Harry’s gaze head on. “Yes, well, so did I. I was just… checking.”

It starts as a small tilt of his lips but soon Harry isn’t just smiling, he’s outright laughing. Laughing so loud a few people glance their way in the library and shush them. Harry clamps a hand over his mouth and tries to muffle his laughter while Draco stares on, a mixture of anger and bemusement at his apparent boyfriend’s laughter.

Finally, when Harry composes himself again, he reaches out and grabs Draco’s hand on the table. Draco considers pulling it away, but they’re dating and everyone already knows anyways, so there’s no reason for him to. “I’m sorry,” Harry says, the smile still on his face, “I just thought it was one of those things, you know? That went without saying?”

“Right, right,” Draco replies, “I knew that.”

And that was that.

iv.

Except, that wasn’t that.

Because, even though Harry said they were dating and seemed completely okay with the fact that it was unofficially official, Draco isn’t okay with that. He is dating Harry bloody Potter, and Harry deserved the best. So, he had began planning almost immediately and now his plan was ready. His only problem was getting Harry to go with him, but he had an idea for that, too.

“Hey Potter,” Draco calls as he caught up to Harry in one of the hallways.

Harry turns to look at him, his two best friends flanking him. They still couldn’t go a full day without antagonizing each other— Draco suspected they never would be able to— and that worked perfectly for him. “What do you want, Malfoy?”

“I saw you try that spell in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Pretty Pathetic, I’d say.”

“Oh yeah?” Harry challenges, taking a step towards him, “And you think you could do it better?”

“No, I know I could.” Draco remarks, his infamous smirk adorning his lips.

“Why don’t you prove it then, Malfoy?” Harry snaps. He is closer now and Draco can see that it is friendly rivalry reflecting in his eyes, not the old hatred. Still, Harry couldn’t turn down a challenge when presented with one.

“Fine,” Draco says. “Tonight. Room of Requirement.”

“Why there?”

“So that way nobody else has to watch you get your ass kicked.”

Harry chuckles dryly, “You just don’t want anyone else to see you lose,”

“We’ll see, Potter. When you’re limping tomorrow, they’ll know who won.”

“You’re on,” Is all Harry says before stalking off again.

v.

The hallway is cold, and Draco paces back and forth in front of the door to the Room of Requirement. The doorway had appeared for him after a few moments, but he refuses to enter without Harry. He had sent Harry a note in their Potions lecture to specify the time. Draco had come a few minutes early but Harry is still a few minutes late.

Finally he comes marching down the hallway, wand in hand. Draco is relieved to see that he is alone.

“Ready to lose, Malfoy?”

Draco doesn’t say anything. Instead, he steps aside and gestures to the doors with a flourish. Harry squares his shoulders, throws the doors open and barges in. Draco follows him in and nearly runs headfirst into his back when Harry stops suddenly. The doors swing shut behind them and fade back into the wall.

“What is all this?” Harry asks, looking around.

The room is simplistically beautiful— and stereotypically romantic. The lights are dim, save for the candles that filled the room with beautifully flickering light, and rose petals are scattered all over the ground. Sitting in the middle is a table, decorated with a simple red tablecloth and a vase of roses in the middle. Two chairs sit in front of two plates of delicious looking food, and two goblets sit next to the plates, filled with wine.

Draco reaches out and grasps Harry’s hand, “This is all for you.”

“For me?” Harry asks, turning to stare at Draco with wide green eyes, “But why?”

Instead of answering right away, Draco leads Harry to the table and they take their seats at opposite ends. Draco looks across the table at Harry and thinks for a minute that he’s so lucky— and it’s such a rare thought that it startles him.

How is he lucky? He’s indebted to Lord Voldemort, cursed more people than he would ever like to admit, and likely going to die at a very, very young age. And yet, somehow, he had won the heart of the Chosen One— the hero of all heroes. He somehow managed to get Harry Potter to sit across from him in the Room of Requirement and stare at him with loving green eyes over a romantic candlelit dinner. That’s how he’s lucky.

Corralling these thoughts, Draco finally speaks. “I know you’re fine with how things are, Potter. But I wanted to do it right. I wanted it to be officially official.”

“Wanted what to be?” Harry presses.

“Us,” Draco answers honestly. “I want to officially ask you and so I’m bloody well going to.” Their eyes lock across the table, “Harry Potter, will you be my boyfriend?”

Even in the candlelight, Draco sees the way Harry’s eyes water. “Yes,” He whispers breathlessly.

And Draco is instantly on the other side of the table, hands gripping Harry’s face and kissing him because now they are actually dating. Harry Potter, his boyfriend. Harry is laughing and kissing him back and for a moment, Draco has never been happier.

Finally they separate and eat the meal laid before them. They talk idly over dinner and Draco realizes how nice it is just to be close to someone. As they head to the door, however, Draco stops Harry.

“If you ever tell anyone about this, Potter,” He warns, and Harry grins, “I swear to Merlin I’ll hex you.”

Harry only replies with a kiss before they slip back into the real world.

vi.

Harry’s already going to be late to class. He’s in the bathroom, washing his hands in a rush when he hears the door shut and the unmistakable sound of a spell being cast. He glances up in the mirror just in time to see Draco turning away from the door and walking further into the bathroom.

“What are you doing here?” Harry asks, “We’re going to be late to Transfigurations. McGonogall’s going to kill—”

Draco doesn’t pause or slow down at all. He continues striding into the room confidently, roughly grabbing Harry’s shoulders and throwing him against the nearest wall. Harry opens his mouth to protest but is met with a searing kiss instead. Draco presses firmly against Harry, his hands holding Harry’s head in place as he continues to press kisses against his lips and jawline. Harry instinctively reaches up and laces his fingers through the silky blonde locks. Draco always complains when Harry plays with his hair, insisting that he has to look presentable since Harry’s hair is always an incorrigible mess.

Finally, there’s enough of a break that they can talk, “What’s this about?”

Draco meets his eyes, “I know you told Granger and Weasley” he says.

Harry freezes for a moment before smiling sheepishly, “Honestly Malfoy, you couldn’t expect me to not tell anyone.”

“I believe I promised to hex you if you told anyone, did I not?” Draco pulls away just as suddenly as he arrived, flourishing his wand. Harry faintly hears the door click open. “You better watch your back, Potter.”

vii.

The rest of the day goes on without event and Harry forgets completely about the threat of a hex looming over his head. He hustles out of his last class of the day, nearly darting through the hallways to get to the Great Hall in time for dinner. He’s not particularly hungry— he had a free period just two hours previous and ate then— but he doesn’t want to miss the daily routine of eating with Hermione and Ron.

He’s just about to enter the Great Hall when he faintly registers a voice calling his name. Before he has a chance to figure out what words follow his name, his feet freeze to the ground and he nearly topples forwards. He pinwheels his hands for a moment before stabilizing and looking around.

Across the entrance is none other than his blonde boyfriend, wand out and smug grin on his face. “I thought I told you to watch your back, Potter.”

“Malfoy!” Harry roars, pinning the boy with a malicious look. “Undo the hex right now.”

But it’s too late. Students are gathering and chuckling at the Boy Who Lived. Draco crosses the hall slowly, circling around Harry as if to admire his handiwork. Harry is outright fuming by the time Draco comes to a stop in front of him, smug grin having spread even wider across his face.

“Aren’t you going to head to dinner, Potter?” Draco drawls, laughter lacing his voice. “Oh, wait.”

“Let me go, Malfoy.”

“No,” Draco says, before adding, “But maybe I’ll feel more generous after I eat.”

He turns to head to dinner and Harry all but growls after him. “If you don’t let me out, Hermione will when she comes along.”

A moment passes before Draco backtracks and leans in so close to Harry that his lips are brushing his ear. “No, Potter, she won’t. I’ve had a little chat with Granger and I think you’ll find that you’re at my mercy tonight.”

A slew of negative phrases runs through Harry’s mind but Draco has already retreated into the Great Hall and taken his seat, preventing Harry from using any of them.

viii.

It took Draco nearly an hour to finish eating and exit the great hall. In that time, Harry had come up with his revenge and was nearly giddy to use it. Nearly the entire student body had walked past him, a few offering to free him from the hex but he always refused. If Malfoy wanted a public battle, he was going to get one. Harry would absolutely rise to that challenge and he intended to win.

“Well, would you look at that,” Draco drawls as he finally exits the great hall at last, his tie hanging a little looser around his neck. Harry refuses to focus on that, “So much for being Mr. Popular, huh? Not a single person bothered to undo this hex on the Chosen One.”

“Yeah,” Harry agrees, trying his absolute best to bite back a grin. “I guess nobody likes me as much as you do.”

Instantly, Harry sees the color draining out of Draco’s face. His pale hair and skin make his eyes pop out even more than usual. “Surely I don’t know what you mean, Potter.”

“Oh give it up, Malfoy, the whole school knows we’re dating.” Harry replies breezily, reaching forward to try and grab a handful of Draco’s robes.

“Yes, that may be but—”

“I guess I should say they assume we’re dating. I don’t think they know about the room of requirement, though. You remember: the candlelight, the flowers, the romantic dinner set for—”

Draco is immediately in front of Harry, faces so close that their noses are practically brushing. At this point Harry can’t stop the grin from spreading across his lips as the crowd of students that has formed around them watches on with unadulterated glee. He can hear the whispers spreading around them now. Harry didn’t care— he was used to being the subject of gossip. He supposed Malfoy was, too, but it seemed to burrow a little deeper under his skin. If Harry had to guess, he would say it was because the rumors about him that normally spread were awful and entirely untrue.

“Don’t you dare—” Draco hisses.

But Harry is undeterred. In fact, it spurs him on. He is nothing if not competitive, after all and Draco, of all people, should know this. “Don’t I dare what, Malfoy? Tell the school how I feel about you? I’ll shout it from the rooftops if I bloody well want to. I’d like to see you try and stop me.”

Draco reaches into his robes and pulls his wand out, hastily muttering under his breath and freeing Harry from the hex. Harry adjusts himself, finally able to move again, but he doesn’t go anywhere. “Just go back to your common room, Potter.”

At this point nearly the entire great hall has emptied out and pooled around them in a large circle. Harry can see Hermione and Ron nearby as well as Crabbe and Goyle no doubt waiting for a command from their fearless leader. It is exactly like so many situations they’d found themselves in before— except this time it isn’t hatred welling up in Harry’s gut. It isn’t animosity, disgust or even disdain. The feeling that was slowly uncoiling inside of him is entirely different.

He looks across at Malfoy and all he sees is Malfoy in the middle of the night, hair messy but eyes wide awake. He thinks of Malfoy smiling down into his textbook after reading a note Harry had sent across the classroom. He thinks of the weight the other boy carries on his shoulders and the way the world constantly and consistently underestimates him. Harry is the chosen one, but he isn’t anywhere near as strong as Draco and he knows it. He looks at the situations Draco has been thrust into and wonders how he would’ve handled them. Surely not as gracefully.

“No,” Harry says in a moment of boldness. The feeling in his gut is slowly seeping into every inch of him, making him ignore the weight of all the stares on his back. He meets Draco’s gaze head on and he can see the question in his eyes, can feel him wondering exactly how Harry is going to embarrass him next. Harry smiles, dropping his voice so that it’s clear it’s meant for Draco and only Draco. “I loved our date in the room of requirement. I love our study dates. I love waking up to you in the middle of the night, Malfoy. I love it all and I’m not going to apologize for that and I’m not going to shy away from that and if you want to hex me again, feel free to do so because I won’t take it back.”

“Potter—”

But Harry isn’t done. “I will say it every day if I have to, but I love all of those things. And most of all, I love you, Malfoy.”

The words slip out suddenly and Harry almost wishes he could take them back, Not because they’re untrue but because he feels like it should have been said more intimately, in private sometime between just the two of them. But then he remembers that he’s Harry Potter and this is his supposed nemesis, Draco Malfoy and, even though he may not like it, he realizes that a public declaration is the absolute epitome of them as people and certainly as a couple.

Draco is staring back at him, shell-shocked, lips parted in surprise. The entry hall has gone silent as they watch on, waiting for Draco’s response. Hair can feel his breath coming is shallow bursts as he waits for some sort of response. As the seconds tick on, he finds himself wishing he were facing a dragon during the triwizard tournament again because that was infinitely less stressful than this.

Finally, finally Draco moves. He closes the already miniscule distance between them and catches Harry in a kiss nearly as searing as the one they’d shared in the bathroom earlier in the day. Harry finally grabs that fistful of robes he’d been reaching for earlier, tugging Malfoy until they were flush together and kissing him back with all the fervor in the world. As Draco threads his fingers into the hair at the base of Harry’s neck, the entire hall erupts into cheers around them and Harry can feel the smile on Draco’s lips as they kiss again.

And, finally, that really is that.

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

More Than He Bargained For (Part 1)

Summary: Jensen and the reader both have exciting days filled with good news...

Masterlist

Pairing: Ex-Bodyguard!Jensen x reader

Word Count: 2,800ish

Warnings: language, mentioned smut

A/N: A little sweetness before the angst hits...

“Hello,” you said with a grin when Jensen walked into the kitchen after work on the chilly December day. He cocked his head, giving you a smirk as you washed up at the sink.

“You’re home early. I thought you had shooting until seven,” he said, bending down to rip off his socks and toss them by the stairs. You shrugged, tip toeing from behind the counter to give him a big hug when he stood up.

“We wrapped a little early today. There was a big meeting with the network executives,” you said, Jensen raising an eyebrow. “Early renewal.”

“Really? That’s great, honey. It’s only December though. Isn’t that like super early for a TV show?” he asked, setting his bag on the ground so he could pick you up and spin you around.

“Ratings are higher than ever. Everyone loves making it,” you said. He set you up on the counter, leaning in and giving you a slow kiss. You started to laugh when he wouldn’t let you pull out of it, a buzzer going off as he tickled your cheek with his scruff. “Jensen! Dinner’s going to burn if you keep that up.”

“You made me dinner too? Best girlfriend ever,” he said, kissing you as long as he could before he was at the oven, pulling out the dish to set on top of the stove.

“What can I say, you coming home in those sports coats, mmm, they do things to a girl,” you said, Jensen chuckling.

“It’s a private school. I’m surprised I haven’t been fired yet for wearing jeans and a t shirt under this jacket,” he said, taking off the black fitted sports coat, tossing it over the back of the couch nearby. “I’m really surprised Mr. Romano offered me a full time position starting in January.”

“You got in!” you said, Jensen nodding his head with a big smile.

“Oh, did I forget to mention that?” he said with a devilish smile.

“That’s awesome! First grade too like you wanted?” you said, Jensen nodding his head.

“Mrs. Clark won’t be returning from her maternity leave and I’m a hit with the kids and parents apparently. I even have benefits now,” he said with a nod.

“Well look at you,” you said, hopping off the counter to give him a hug. “You got your big boy job you wanted.”

“I had a big boy job. Two of them actually,” he said with a laugh. “Although my parents will be thrilled I’m using my degree.”

“Did you tell them yet? When are we going to tell them? Were you planning a surprise? Maybe we could do a Christmas present type thing. Or maybe-” you said until he put a hand over you mouth with a big laugh.

“I’m 33 years old, Y/N. I was just going to let it happen naturally, you know, like a normal person,” he said.

“Nope. This a big deal and we’re gonna make a big deal out of it because you earned this,” you said, pointing your finger at him as you checked on dinner.

“I got one little job. It’s nothing,” he said, the light flush on his cheeks betraying him.

“Fuck yeah buddy!” said Jared, rounding the corner from the front of the house and slapping Jensen on the back. “I told you that you had that job in the bag!”

“Ow!” said Jensen, reaching behind himself to rub his back. “Dude!”

“Oh, I didn’t hit you that hard, pansy,” said Jared with a roll of his eyes. “You’re out of practice.”

“You try being responsible for fifteen six year olds all day, see what kind of practice you get,” said Jensen. “I got smacked in the nuts with a dodgeball at recess today.”

“Yeah, I’ll take being shot at over that,” said Jared. You cocked your head at Jared, seeing he was barefoot and sniffing the air. “Uh, I smelled dinner and you know-”

“Would you like to join us for dinner, Jared?” you asked, rolling your eyes as you went to the cupboard and grabbed an extra plate. “How did you even survive before you met Gen? She’s been out of town three days and I swear I’ve made all of your meals.”

“MRE’s. MRE’s all the way,” said Jared, Jensen nodding his head.

“The mac and cheese with a little bit of hot sauce? I ate that for a week straight once,” said Jensen, Jared humming in agreement.

“Those things are disgusting,” you said, shaking your head. “I can’t believe you guys lived off them for like years.”

“I heard the Green Berets get better ones,” said Jensen, Jared taking off his jacket and sliding into his usual spot at the counter, one of his signs that the house was secure and he was done with being a bodyguard for the day.

“Nah, just a rumor. The Rangers though, yeah those guys do. I always thought Air Force got the best,” he said. “The top gun guys.”

“They do. All because they can fly fighter jets,” said Jensen, moving around the kitchen.

“I can fly a plane,” said Jared. Jensen scoffed, Jared shaking his head.

“Prove it,” said Jensen. “And it can’t be a paper one, jackass.”

“Y/N, mind if I borrow your private jet?” joked Jared.

“I would never buy a private jet, Jare. TV doesn’t pay that well,” you said, dishing up food on a few plates, Jensen helping grab a few beers from the fridge.

“Yeah, you just have a six year old car that you bought used. You’re rich. I don’t get it,” said Jared, taking a drink from Jensen.

“You’ve met, Y/N. This is the same chick that went back and forth over buying a phone with bigger storage because it was five extra bucks a month. Five. Dollars,” said Jensen.

“I don’t see the point in wasting money,” you said. “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”

“You pay me and Derek for security,” said Jared with a chuckle.

“Yeah, well...you’re for him more than me,” you said, nodding to Jensen, shoving a pair of plates in front of the boys. You forwent your usual spot to sit up on the counter, kicking your legs as you ate from your plate, Jensen’s gaze already on you.

“Y/N,” said Jensen after too long of a pause. You knew they’d done their silent bodyguard thing, exchanging glances and communicating without words. Jensen left that life behind a long time ago but there were certain things he’d never be able to let go, including his need for you to be safe. “What do you mean for him? You mean for me?”

“I don’t know what I meant,” you said, Jared making a tsking sound as he stabbed into his casserole, your head raising up to meet Jensen’s face.

“You know the rules. No secrets in this house,” said Jared. You looked between them both, muttering to yourself. “What?”

“I said I wish I hadn’t have let you keep some of Jensen’s stupid rules,” you said, setting your plate aside, crossing your arms. You stared at your lap for a moment before lifting your head, finding Jensen with his head down, twiddling with his hands. “Hey. Chin up now.”

He half-flinched but he did as told, swallowing hard.

“Baby, we both have good news. Don’t let that head of yours get you down,” you said. Jensen sighed but nodded, biting his bottom lip. “I just...feel that some of the rules that you created and that Jared decided to keep are unnecessary. I think the idea of having a bodyguard is unnecessary. One security guy maybe every once in while for an event, okay but I don’t need one all the time.”

“You almost died. You had a stalker, Y/N,” said Jensen. “You need a bodyguard and we are not having this argument again.”

“I accidentally hired a psychopath. He could have ended up working for anyone. Who I am, the fact I’m an actress, has absolutely nothing to do with what happened,” you said.

“You still get threats,” said Jared quietly, earning a glare in his direction. “You do.”

“Those are the same threats I got well before either one of you came along. They are obsessive fans and nothing more. Hell, I’ve been trained by an ex-special ops guy and an ex-green beret. I can kick both of your asses, at the same time, if need be. I don’t need a bodyguard. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like I did,” you said, trying to relax. Jared pursed his lips, the gears in Jensen’s head working to find the right words.

“Then why am I still here?” asked Jared, holding up a hand when Jensen opened his mouth. “Let her talk, Jensen. Why’d you keep me on then?”

“I told you. He worries,” you said, looking at Jensen, his face going blank. “I know you’ll never stop worrying, Jens. It’s in your blood and that’s okay. I love you and I love that you love me that much that you want to make sure I’m safe. But, Jared, Jensen’s a big boy and he has hopes and goals and he wants to be a teacher. If letting you and Derek hang around me all day gives Jensen some peace of mind when he’s not here, I’ll do it.”

“If you hate it, why don’t you resent me then,” said Jensen, furrowing his brow. You sighed, Jensen’s walls shooting back up.

“I love you, you idiot,” you said, Jensen frowning. “I don’t hate that I have a bodyguard. I just don’t feel the need for it. Jared is like another older brother to me. I adore Gen. Derek’s awesome, even if he’s a little formal. But it makes you feel better that I have a security team so it makes me feel better that you don’t worry so much. Do you get what I’m trying to say?”

“Oh,” said Jensen, a little lost on what to do next, fiddling with his hands.

“I’m not getting rid of them anytime soon, Jens,” you said with a smile. “Although if Jared wants a pay cut, I can totally do that.”

“Hey! I didn’t say that,” said Jared, going back to his dinner.

“That reminds me,” you said, hopping off the counter, giving Jensen a kiss on the cheek that everything was okay as you walked past. You jogged down the hall to Alex’s office, grabbing the envelope off the desk and hurrying back down the hall with it. Jensen looked more relaxed and happy again when you got back, eating a few bites of dinner, smiling as he turned to Jared. You handed the envelope to Jared and went back to your spot on the counter, picking up your plate again.

“What’s this?” asked Jared as he set his fork down.

“Your holiday bonus,” said Jensen. Jared tore it open, eyes wide when he read over the check.

“Y/N, this is too much. This is way too much,” he said, shoving it back in the envelope, trying to hand it back over. “You literally just said-”

“I’m not wasting that money,” you said with a smile. “You earned that. You risk your life for mine everyday. Take Gen on a nice vacation. Buy a sports car. Put it towards a baby and a college fund. It’s yours and I’m not taking it back.”

“To think I thought she was a bitch when I first started working here,” said Jared, tucking the envelope into this pocket.

“I wonder who gave you that impression,” you said, looking to Jensen.

“No idea,” said Jensen, shoveling food in his mouth with a smirk.

“The first words you ever said to me were, ‘She’s a grade A spoiled bitch’ and to keep an eye on her ass,” said Jared with a laugh. “Should have known he just wanted you to himself.”

“Oh, did he say that now?” you said, Jensen shrugging as he took a big bite and swallowed it down.

“Hey, I had a crush on you from the second I saw you,” said Jensen, waving his fork around. You smiled, Jensen rolling his eyes as a light blush crossed his cheeks. “Don’t con me into saying sweet things, asshole.”

“But it’s fun,” you teased.

“Hey, Jared, speaking of fun things, guess what happened to Y/N today?”

“Hi,” you said, burrowing yourself in Jensen’s bare chest late that night, earning a chuckle from him.

“You and pillow talk,” he teased, shifting his hips away. You whined but he shushed you. “We need to clean up.”

“We can do it in the morning,” you groaned, tucking into him tighter. He shushed you and threw back the covers, lifting you up with ease and carrying you into the bathroom. You stood on shaky legs against the shower wall, Jensen turning the water on warm, coming in a couple of minutes later. “Did you put on fresh sheets?”

“Yeah. I made a little mess taking off the condom,” he blushed. “It’ll wash out.”

“You’re too sweet to me, Ackles,” you said, his chest brushing up against your back pushing you both under the stream of water. “I got night shoots tomorrow. All night long.”

“I know,” he said, kissing your shoulder, moving your wet hair to the side. “Let’s go out to eat this weekend. I’ve got winter break for a month starting next week. No more late night sex.”

“But I like late night sex,” you teased. “It’s fun.”

“You’re on winter hiatus soon. We can have it any time of day if you like,” he teased back, brushing his long fingers down your arm. “You weren’t planning on getting out that bed, were you?”

“It is a pretty good bed,” you said as you giggled.

“Mhm,” he hummed, moving to kiss your neck, smiling against it. “Congratulations on the show.”

“Thanks. I’m so proud of you, Jensen,” you said, turning around to look at him. “For everything you’ve done the past year. You deserve this job.”

“Thank you,” he said, kissing your forehead. “I love you.”

“Love you too, Jens.”

You groaned when you woke up around ten in the morning to an empty bed, knowing you’d have to settle for a phone call when Jensen got out of work today. You shuffled downstairs, Jared yawning as he read a book in the family room, giving you a wave.

“What’s on the agenda today, Jare Bear?” you asked, wrapping your arms around his neck, resting your chin on top of his head. “Anything thrilling?”

“You have a spin class at eleven. Back home for lunch. Meeting with Alex in his office to go over possible contract negotiation points at 2 and then we’ll head out to work at five and we are looking forward to a lovely 14 hour shooting day,” he said with a smile. “Wohoo.”

“You’re off the hook for work. Just drop me off and pick me up if it’s not too much trouble. I’m not comfortable with driving after being up so long,” you said, stretching out.

“No problem, boss,” he said, groaning when you ruffled his hair. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, actually. Take Jensen out tonight to Ellie’s dad’s club. Go have a boys night. Let him celebrate his new job,” you said.

“Go get drunk with my best friend. You got it,” he said with a smile.

“I didn’t think you’d have a problem with that,” you said, moving to the kitchen. “One more day and then we’re on hiatus. I cannot wait.”

A/N: Read Part 2 here!

TAGS CLOSED

@baconlover001 @jensenackesl @imissyoualittlemoreeveryday @anokhi07 @akshi8278 @zeusmyster @atc74 @aingealcethlenn @alilianamendez @dancingalone21 @smoothdogsgirl @jaelami @roxyspearing @kickasscas67 @gallifreyansass @untitled39887 @charliebradbury1104 @arryn-nyxx @poukothenerd @idalinette @evyiione @jayankles @flufy07 @its-not-a-tulpa @whit85-blog @mrswhozeewhatsis @extreme-supernatural-lover @blushingokoye @spn-ficfanatic @starry-chaos

@pie-and-pudding @newtospnfandom @hunterswearingplaid @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester @my-squirrel-and-moose @serienjunkiegirl @mlovesstories @dreamchester67 @deansgirl215

[captainkirkk]

i saw those two recent anons about tddk/shipping and bakugou/how much he respects deku/how he was angry when he found out ppl shipped them so. so. i have a lot of thinky thoughts about this, and by extention a new barrage of questions for you! :D firstly, may i tell you how much i ADORE the fact that you made deku the person bakugou respects more than anyone else in the world??? that sits so well with me i don't ever wanna leave this chair. this is my ideal version of this story: bakugou (1/?)

Holy shit, another 10-part ask. The rest of the asks and answers to some of your questions are under the cut. Thanks, and I’m glad you’re enjoying this series!

growing to not only redeem himself and externalise his horrible habits so he can get rid of them and become a better person, but also him seeing deku and going “damn, fuck, shit, this guy is actually an AMAZING HUMAN BEING WORTHY OF EVERYONE’s UTMOST RESPECT, and giving that respect to him is not only 110% deserved, but it is also the least i can do, to akcnowledge the truth of how awesome and strong and KIND he is despite my DECADE-LONG torment, and give this to him. man. FUCK.” (2/?)

like, that’s a 10/10 character moment and i hope kiri was there cheering for him in the background the entire time and handing him his ass when bakugou was being a pansy about admitting this stuff to others and furthering his growth out of bully-land. fuck yeah. and also, i totally get what you were conveying with your response about fandoms, but i gotta agree with the anon on this one thing: tddk is absolutely the brangelina of the hero world, this is a thing now, no take-backs, sorry. (3/?)

and speaking of my faves, here come the questions (don’t worry if you haven’t got everything fleshed out tho!): 1. when did tddk get together? we now know it’s after kiribaku did, but was it during high school? my personal headcanon has always been that they realsie their feelings for each other at the start of year 2, and confess and get together about halfway through that same same year, i don’t like overlong periods of pining :/ 2. who proposed? and how? i dunno abou deku, but i always (4/?)

imagined shouto proposing by going outside, somewhere romantic, maybe by the sea, and using his fire (!!) to light up a bunch of lanterns that float up into the air and form a question mark, and then, when deku turns towards him with this bemused expression to ask what the “question” is, shouto’s kneeling with a ring. cue tears and kissess. if you haven’t got an idea for how the proposal in the history verse went, feel free to use this one, i can vicariously legitimise my ideas that way :3 (5/?)

but getting to the real meat of the stuff: one thing that has always irked me is how, in fics where tddk is together bakugou is always written as being disgusted with them and their romance, or not caring, or being outright derisive and mocking shouto for catching feelings for deku, and when i read history verse and saw your response about how bakugou grew to respect deku more than anyone else, my first thought was: if that’s the case and bakugou worked hard to become a better person, then (6/?)

does that mean he is genuinely happy for them? because he knows about shouto’s past and how terribly he suffered because Endickor, and he obviously knows how much he hurt deku, and so if they found love and everyone saw how good they are together, how much happier they make each other, then surely bakugou agreed and supported them? but if they got together while still in high school that may not have been the case cause bakugou may not have started to change yet. so??? which is it?? (7/?)

something else that made me lean towards the “bakugou is supportive” camp was also that tidbit in history… where you’re mentioning endickor’s trial (THANK FUCK THERE WAS A TRIAL I HOPE HE’S BEHIND BARS AND UNFIT FOR SERVICE FOREVER) and bakugou is described as being pissed that the reporters are hounding shouto, again, i assume, because he knows of shouto’s awful family situation and endickor totally rubs him the wrong way, like “omg if i hadn’t realsied what a dick i was i would have (8/?)

ended up like HIM, FUCK.” so yeah, i like to think he’s happy that tddk is a thing because he knows they both deserve that kind of happiness in their lives and he can see how painfully devoted they are to each other and how much love they have for each other. and he’s happy for shouto too, not just deku. i bet kirishima’s eyes well up every time he thinks of how GOOD and WHOLESOME the tddk relationship is and bakugou rolls his eyes but deep down he’s like “ UGH, same”. this is important. (9/?)

and most importantly: was deku best man at the kiribaku wedding? will baku be best man at the tododeku wedding? i bet he will. i bet he’ll cry and for once in his stupid life he won’t hide it. he won’t need to. everyone will be crying. tddk is just that beautiful. (10/10)

As always, you can have some of the answers. Not all of them. 

Bakugou didn’t make a conscious decision to respect Midoriya. It happened without him realising it. He did, however, make a conscious decision to treat Deku better, to treat everyone better, and to properly make amends with him. 

TodoDeku are kind of oblivious for a while. It’s just … very dumb on both of their parts. It’s less angsty pining, “He’s so amazing and he could never love ME”, and more these two just … not computing that all their interactions have romantic undertones. They’re both laying down hints that neither of them are picking up. They do get together before graduation, though. Thankfully.

Bakugou doesn’t openly admit it, but yeah, he’s happy for them. We’ve already begun to see some of Bakugou’s character development in the manga, and that continues during their time at UA. (He and Midoriya’s recovery goes unspoken for a while. Like in canon, they have small moments of reconciliation and what little they say goes a long way. They have a long, much-needed conversation where neither of them starts shouting, where neither of them gets violent, when they aren't under threat of being killed, in Midoriya’s hospital room after the July Attacks. That’s when they really start being friends again.) So, yeah, Bakugou doesn’t celebrate like the others when TodoDeku finally gets together, and he definitely doesn’t go around talking about how he’s happy for them, but he is glad that they have each other

You better believe that Bakugou has done so much reflecting on the fact that he’s Number Two now, a spot previously held by a very bitter, very violent Endeavour. He’s put a lot of work into overcoming the same power-hungry ideology Endeavour had, and being as patient as he can, and working with the one person in the spot above him, Midoriya, rather than resenting him. Todoroki has a lot of respect for that.

Kirishima is The Most Supportive Boy. He’s so proud of all his classmates, holy shit.

Bakugou says he doesn’t cry at the TodoDeku wedding, but Kirishima was right there. He saw those lone tears escape. You cannot fool him, Katsuki.

[herroyalhighnessqueenmomo]

Locker Neighbor (Billy Hargrove x Plus Sized!Reader Part 1)

Summary:You live a very mundane life in Hawkins with only one good friend until a very attractive boy moves in.The new boy so happens to be your locker buddy and seems to be interested in becoming friends with you.You’re hesitant though because of his reputation that he holds.

Your name: submit What is this?

You stood at your locker you put your books inside.You looked at the mirror in your locker.You huffed after looking at your hair.You wanted so desperately to cut it short like Molly Ringwald but your hair would stick out more than ever.You adjusted your glasses than shut your locker.You jumped seeing an unfamiliar boy leaning on the locker beside yours.He smirked at you.

"The name's Billy,I'm new here."

You opened your mouth to say something but turned around and walked away.He went after you.

"Normally this would be the time where you introduce yourself to me."He stated.

You looked at him."Y/N"

He smirked again."Well Y/N,wanna give me a tour of the school?"

You looked confused then shook your head."I have to get to class."

You walked away quickly and went to your friend Nora."What the hell was that all about?"

"What?"

"The hot new guy talks to you and you walk away like some pansy."She stated clearly sounding frustrated.

You shook your head."Trust me,he just wants to make fun of me."

"You don't know that."She argued.

You rolled your eyes."Of course he would he has jackass written all over his face,why wouldn't he make fun of me?"You asked.

Nora nudged me."Because your like totally tubular."She mocked.

You made a face."You know I hate that word."

"What word?Tubular?"She asked pretending not know.

You laughed and went to your math class.You sat and thought about Billy.He was very attractive you had to admit,but you could tell he would be trouble.After school you went your locker and grabbed your books then went to leave.You were in the parking lot getting ready to walk home when you grabbed by your wrist.You turned around quickly with your fist up.

"Whoa,chill out."It was Billy.

You pulled away."Why are you trying to talk to me?"You asked.

He shrugged pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.You made a face.

"Want a smoke?"

"No I don't want a smoke.That stuff can kill you."You stated.

He burst put laughing."You really believe that?"

"I believe in science."

He laughed again.You shook your head and began to walk away.He grabbed your wrist again.

"Why are you in a rush?"He asked.

"I need a reason for wanting to go home after a few hours of what felt like prison?"I asked.

He smirked."You're funny."

"I'm just honest."You stated while shrugging.You looked around and saw some popular girls whispering to each other while looking at you.Some popular guys were pointing and laughing too.

"I uh...have to go."

"Already?I thought we were having a nice chat."

You didn't respond just walked away.You pulled out your walkerman from your bag and started listening to music as you walked home.You hummed and sang along.

"Hello daddy,hello mom.I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb.Hello world I'm your wild girl I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb."You bobbed your head around till you got home.

Your parents were out.You went upstairs and put your stuff down.You took off your over sized sweater and put on your work uniform.You were a waitress at the local diner.You grabbed your coat and purse and walked out.You got to the diner and got to work.Some customers looked irritated that you were listening to music while they ordered but calmed down when everything came out perfect.You had a rhythm for each order and it helped you concentrate.You got some pretty good tips every once and a while.You were saving up for your own car.It was a normal day for you.However your day seemed to get ruined some girls walked in.The pops you called them,short for popular.

"If it isn't fat ass Y/N.How's work twerp?"Regina the most popular asked.

You sighed."May I take your order?"I asked.

She fake smiled."Sure hon,stay away from the new boy."

"Billy?I barely even talked to him,and I couldn't care less about him.Don't worry, hon you don't have to feel threatened by me."You stated crossing your arms.

Her eyes widened in shock.

"Now are you going to order something off of our menu?We have a strict rule,you wanna wine here,you gotta dine here."You stated.

They all left without saying a word.

You finished your shift and went home.

A few days later it was Halloween.You had no idea what you were going to be dressed as.You were at your locker and were humming.

"What cha humming there?"Billy asked leaning on the other side if your locker.

You slammed it shut."I don't think you'd know it."

"Try me."He smirked.

"If you knew you'd laugh."

"Well then that's even better."

You took a deep breath."You Drive Me Wild by The Runaways."

His smirk grew wider."So you're rocker?You don't look like the type."

You shrugged.

"You going to that Halloween party tonight?Everyone's talking about it."

I shook my head."I wasn't invited."

"Sure you did,by me."He stood straight and crossed his arms.

You thought for a bit then shook your head."I can't my parents would kill me if I went to a party with alcohol."

He raised an eyebrow."Those are the best kinds of parties."

You shook your head."It's not my kind of party.Besides I hate the taste of alcohol."You stated.

Now he looked at you like you grew a second head."I swear its like you're not even human.So if you won't even drink,why can't you go?"He asked.

You shook your head disappointed he didn't understand."My parents trust me,its everyone else who is going to be drunk they don't trust."

"So sneak out."

You stood quietly pondering on whether or not you should follow Billy's advice."I'm just gonna stay home it's not my scene.I should get to class."You turned around and walked to class.

After school you went home.When your parents got home they told you that they were going go out on a date for dinner.They invited you to tag along but you decided to stay home.You got bored out of your mind and decided to go to the party.You just didn't know what to dress up as.Then it hit you.

You were going to dress up as Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street.You grabbed some white pajamas and put them on.You took off your glasses and scrunchy letting your hair go wild.You walked out and went to the party.You looked around.You smiled seeing punch.You took a sip and then spit it out realizing it was spiked.

You were looking for any signs of Billy.You saw him out side drinking from the keg like a maniac.You bumped into Nancy Wheeler who looked emotionally gone.Some random drunk boy came up to you.

"Who are you supposed to be?"He asked.

"N-Nancy Thompson."

He looked confused and so he just walked away.Of course no one knew who you were the movie wasn't out just yet.You got the outfit from the commercials you had seen.

You ended up walking out,regretting ever coming."Hey Y/N!"You turned to see Billy.

He smirked at you."You showed up."

"Yeah I was just gonna go."

"What?You just got here."He protested.

"I know I shouldn't have come."

He shook his head."You need to live a little."

You sighed and nodded.

"Who are you supposed to be?"Billy asked.

You looked down at your lame costume."Nancy from those Nightmare on Elm Street commercials."

He nodded."Yeah,the one with the floating girl in her underwear right?"He asked.

Of course thats what he remembered from the commercial."Yeah."

"So you like scary movies?"He asked.

You nodded.

"Don't you get scared?"

You shrugged."I don't see why I should be.It's not real."

"You're tough you know that?"

"Hey Billy come on!"

He shut his eyes for a sec in annoyance."I have to go.Don't leave,just try to have fun."

He walked away.You saw no one you cared to socialize with so you ignored what Billy said and decided to leave.You went home and went to bed.

The next morning you got up and got dressed.You brushed your teeth and ate breakfast.You walked out the house and started walking to school.

The song of the day for you was Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper.You danced around a bit and bobbed your head.

You got school and went to your locker putting your walkerman inside with your stuff.You grabbed your vogue magazine and stuffed it in your bag.You shut your locker.

"What you got there?"Billy said looking right at you as you shut the locker.

"Son of a-Jesus you scared me.You gotta knock that off I don't wanna die early from heart attack."You stated."It's just a magazine."

He crossed his arms.You showed him the magazine.

"I like looking at the magazines."I stated and put it back in my bag.

"You left the party early."He stated and crossed his arms.

"I didn't know anyone there.I wasn't comfortable."You replied.

Regina walked over and stood by Billy putting her hand on his partially bare chest."I had a lot of fun last night Billy.We should do it again sometime."She kissed his cheek.

You started walking away."See you around Billy."

You still had no clue why Billy kept talking to you,or why you actually kept talking to him too.You didn't mind much by this point.You kind of enjoyed the small locker chats. However you don't think you'll ever have a real friendship.You don't like the reputation he holds and the things you've seen him do.With all the things you've seen and heard,you're still surprised he hasn't made fun of your weight and how you dress.You just liked being comfortable.You wanna dress pretty sometimes but you were afraid you'd look weird.However you just smiled at the thought of Billy being friendly to you.

You shook it off and met up with Nora.”You like him,you really like him.”She stated.

You scrunched your eyebrows together.”What are you talking about?”I asked.

“Oh come on,don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”You gave her a blank face.”Billy,I’m talking about Billy.”You shook your head.

“I don’t like Billy,sure he’s nice to me,but he’s mean to a lot of people and I don’t appreciate that.Besides how in the hell would I expect anything in return when I look like a homeless person.”You replied.

She just turned her head to you and smirked widely.Your eyes widened.”When you smile like that it scares me.”

“Have faith in me Y/N.”

[quadratic-shipping]

So I signed up for the Homestuck Valentine’s event, and my fic is for @turtlegirl110, it’s Meenahx(Vriska) (red), and I had no clue what they wanted so I kind of just did the sort of thing I like in writing. Oh also I’m supposed to tag the event person so @homestuckvalentine. It’s obviously a bit long for Tumblr so there’s a read more so you aren’t subjected to this full terror. It’s also going to be posted to Ao3 under the name “Only She was Real” so that’s a thing too, anyway enjoy hopefully?

Vriska gently laid her head down in Meenah's lap. Her cool grey skin felt refreshing against the scorching sun that beat down harsher than the sound of clicking mandibles waiting to be fed. If she had been out in the sun when she was alive, she'd be roasting, burned and melted onto the shifting sands. She wouldn't be able to stay awake, much less look into the sky to see brilliant hues upon hues of purple and red colliding into a spectacular collage. Assuming that's what sunset's looked like on Alternia anyway. Wispy wimpy excuses for clouds wafted along on a slight breeze that did nothing for her burning body other than remind her that 'Oh yeah, it's too. Fucking. HOT.'

"Yo Serk's, do you wanna get out of this dump? I'm feeling like I'm being damn grilled, and you aren't even pestering me about shit."  as if on cue Meenah piped up, voice ringing clear. Everything about the bubbles felt slightly muffled, the sun wasn't burning enough, the sand was too fine, and there wasn't a sound except for the background noise caused by gibbering morons who really needed to can it. But Meenah? Meenah felt... She made her feel real. She was like a lighthouse but troll shaped and not lame. She rang clear as a shell. Which didn't make much sense, but it was a pun so she'd have to try work it in to their conversation somehow.

"Vriska, are you gonna answer or is the sun frying your brain?" shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit oh yeah talking is a thing she still needed to do. On one hand, it was almost scalding now, and the scenery was boring. On the other hand, Meenah.

"Hey. Um, not to be some sort of pansy ass loser, but if we move can I... Can I lie on you again?" she trailed off quietly, blushing, and began to fidget with the hem of her shirt. A long pause ensued before Vriska looked up towards Meenah, the sun now behind her head casting it's burning glow onto her fishy... Mentor? Crush? Both?  Her goggles only reflected a near blinding light, but underneath them her cheeks too were burning a bright hue of her blood. Meenah slowly lifted a smooth, well manicured hand that Vriska really wanted to be slipping through her hair, to her face. The fish troll grabbed her fuschia eyewear lightly, and chucked them gently, for her, about fifty feet away. They landed with an un-satisfyingly muffled crunch, and Vriska looked at Meenah intently.

"Pfthahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!! What the hell?" the lounging blueblood guffawed. Meenah scrunched her bold pink lips into a pout, puffer-fishing her cheeks out. Vriska sat up, and turned towards Meenah and reached out, cupping her cheeks in a reverential manner. She stretched out her too smooth to be real thumbs to run over and caress deep indentations where the other girls goggles had been sitting for most of her life. The lines cut about five millimeters deep, and were a deep, flaky fuchsia. Lattices of scabs resided in the crevices, and as she stroked them carefully little flakes of skin floated off in a gentle breeze. If it weren’t for the beautiful, glossily glazed milky white eyes staring into her own as they sat there, she might have believed she were even alive again.

The spidertroll thought of how when she was alive she had had thumbs that were rough and calloused from writing and typing and hoisting sales and dragging loot and holding swords. How they were full of nicks and scars from incorrectly handling said swords and burning herself with hot wax trying to use candles instead of normal lights for FLARPing, and getting too close to her lusus. She remembered pinching herself when she managed to get her hand stuck in the mechanical one Equius had built for her. Now her thumbs were smooth as a stone that had been churned out by the sea. And when Meenah lifted her hands to cup Vriska's face, she was disappointed to find that the other girl had hands just as smooth as her own.

It could have been hours or minutes or years or centuries that they stared into each other's unblinking eyes, transfixed by one another, mapping out their faces through touch. Stroking and caressing for however long. Vriska wasn't sure when, but some time while they had been absorbed in staring into each other, the sun had set, and a veil of darkness disguised as night had strung itself up in the area above their heads.

"Why did you take your goggles off?"

"It so weird that I wanted to see you better?" the cerulean girl was pretty sure that she had lit up like a candle. She had felt her face flush almost as brightly flushed as she felt towards Meenah. She glanced away, pulling her hands off of the other troll.

"You know you never answered my question. I mean, not that I want to move but if the sun comes up I think I would and I wanted to know if I could again and I know that's kind of a stupid ass request but- mmf! Mmhuhfghmmmmmmmm!" a strong hand clasped over her mouth and dragged her down to the ground.

"I swear to from the bottom of my fucking heart, if you keep rambling and ruining the mood, I'll personally chuck you to the big green as bait or some shit. Just enjoy your time hanging with someone whose totally baller and also dead, and stare up at the fake ass stars with me because they're pretty like you. Maybe it'll make you happy which I would fucking like you little shit." Vriska went silent, and reached for Meenah's hand, lifting it off her. She grabbed it and intertwined their fingers.

"Ok." they laid there, staring at the sky. It wasn’t the sky, but it didn't matter. They laid there, as the lights blinked and twinkled and shone down on them, piercing the veil of darkness. They flickered to much to be real, but as Vriska laid with Meenah on the too soft sand, in the too quiet world Vshe knew at least one thing felt right. She couldn't help but compare everything to when she was alive but she had a feeling that Meenah would be just as perfect to her no matter where they were. Meenah squeezes her hand and it's real.

[billybangssteve-blog]

(Harringrove fanfic) Chapter four

Hawkins, Indiana

March, 1985

Chapter four - Don't miss a thing

Billy had cried. Not in front of anyone, obviously. After Steve had fallen asleep and all the kids had gone downstairs to explain to Bobby and Ginny, Billy had gone into the bathroom.

Leaning against the sink, Billy drew in a long breath and held it for a while. His knuckles turned white because he was clutching onto the sides of the sink so hard. A minute passed before Billy looked up into the mirror and exhaled a shaking breath. The tears that had gathered in his eyes dripped into the porcelain sink like a faulty faucet, his lip quivered and he held the back of his hand to his mouth, biting down lightly.

For a moment, after hearing that spine-tingling scream, Billy thought that Steve was dead for sure. And when he saw him, crazed and swinging his bat, Billy thought Steve had lost his mind for sure. And when Steve was catatonic in his arms, staring with a vacant look and looking like a ghost, he thought Steve was gone for sure. But no, Steve was fine- well no, he wasn't. Steve was being haunted by monsters from a polar demention and that wasn't okay. But he was stable, he was safe and Billy was going keep it that way.

Because when Billy was a kid, he wasn't able to protect the one ray of light in his life. His mother, Bonnie.

When Billy was 9, he walked in on something. He'd been hanging out with Stan Mason and Daniel Kirk, running away and towards the retreating and charging waves, when he decided to come home early. Now if he knew better, he'd stayed out as long as he could, because when he was a naive and oblivious kid, he didn't notice his mum's bruised up neck and arms.

But that day, June 10th, Billy leaped into the house with his feet encrusted with soggy sand and he dropped his socks and shoes. Bonnie was being strangled against the wall by Neil, she kicked and punched and scratched at Neil's wrists. Billy juat stood there like a dear caught in head lights, eyes massive and mouth agape in horrified awe. When his father had caught sight of him, he released his grip on Bonnie's neck and she sunk to the floor gasping and crying.

"Get to your room William!" His father had bellowed and Billy had done so, scattering to his bedroom and locking the door. He sat on the edge of his squeaking metal framed bed, hands clasped over his ears as Niel's shouts rung across the house. He didn't sleep that night.

A week later, June 17th, the divorce was announced and, after a drugs test on Bonnie came back that she'd  taken cocaine in last two days, Neil was given full custody of Billy. And separating Billy from his mother was a 5 mile restraining order.

After a year of many girlfriends, like Bethany Levin, a 22 year old beach babe, and Eleanor Connolly, a fucking prostitute, Neil Hargrove some how stumbled upon Susan Mayfield. Susan was a widowed woman with her 4 year old daughter, Maxine. She was a quiet woman with a sweet and forgiving heart and she believed she could fix Neil's 'damaged heart'. Bullshit. But Neil never hurt her, or Maxine, and turned his beating habits to 10 year old Billy. Billy got his first proper beating at 14, but till then it was hands being whipped by his belt or forcing him to take a cold shower. That was the beginning of "Respect and Responsibility".

Then they moved after Max had seen Billy making out with his most recent fuck buddy, Robin Akers. Like his father, Billy had started morphing into a sex-driven asshole with superficial charm. But Billy never beat his fuck buddies. The beating he got was the worst and Neil waited a few months till Bill was fully healed before they moved.

"No son of mine is going to be a cocksucking, pansy-ass faggot! Do you understand me, boy!?" Neil had hollered at him in the car on the way to Hawkins, Max had swallowed hard while Susan had timidly tried to calm Neil down.

"Yes sir," he replied in a deep voice, breathing heavily and leaned his head against the window.

"You are so damn lucky that Susan talked me out of moving to Derry, son.  You know why?" Neil spoke authoritively, eyeing him in the rear view mirror and Billy sat up straight under his gaze. Susan looked concerned at Billy then to Neil.

"Neil stop, he doesn't need-"

"Hush Susan, he's going to know why I wanted to move to Derry and he'll get my point," Neil paused, looking the mirror again.

"You listening, boy?" He growled agitatedly.

"Yes sir," he uttered.

"A boy was murdered in Derry this June at some festival, Adrian Mellon, you wanna know why?" His father had a small, sinister grin on his lips and it made Billy cringe. He remained silent.

"Neil-"

"Because he was a faggot! Three boys pummelled the Devil out of the poofter and his gay friend watched it happen!"

Billy splashed his face with cold water and the words still echoed in his head. Dragging his hands down his face, Billy wiped the memories away with the water and tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling. The florescent light flickered for a second and he licked the corner of his mouth. The sound of the tap still running was sending Billy's mind spiralling and he cursed as he turned it off aggressively, watching the water twirl down the sink.

The blond left the bathroom, slapping the light off, and crossed the hall to Steve's bedroom. Quietly, he freaked the door open and peaked inside. He was still asleep. The day had been going agonisingly slow and the sun had only just crept up to the top of the pale sky, spilling brighter light than it had done before through the crack in the curtains. The white light was was painted across Steve's face, along his cheeks and nose, highlighting those precious freckles that Billy loved to kiss teasingly. Steve didn't look peaceful though, he looked exhausted with the black bags beneath his eyes and the irritated skin made them look like bruises.

Sighing, Billy silently strode to the bed they shared and knelt besides it. He looked at Steve and delicately pushed a few strands of his mahogany hair out of his face. Lightly taking Steve's hand into his, Billy lent forward and pressed a soft kiss onto his cheek and rested his head on the mattress, listening to Steve's breathing and watching his face. No way in Hell he was gonna fall asleep, not because wasn't tired but because he didn't want to miss a thing about Steve. Because Goddamn it, he loved Steve Harrington to death and what ever was beyond it.