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peace-for-levi · 3 years

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And They Were 'Just' Roomates? [Levi Ackerman x GN!Reader]

Synopsis: Levi and reader are roommates and he is stuck with his feelings while you are dating Zeke Jaeger. Two years after graduating university, they now live together and Levi is still stuck pining for you whilst you're with Zeke... until you break up.

Tw: alcohol consumption, reader is a drunk, emotional mess, some drunk making out, levi being a diehard SIMP and Zeke being kind of an asshole.

This was part of july prompt event 'Roommates', hosted by @anlian-aishang ! thanks for hosting this!

From fellow students, to friends, to work colleagues, to roommates and… well, that was it, right?

Levi Ackerman walked down the hallway of the apartment, his hands trailing against the architrave. Leather satchel was thrown around his shoulder that was full to the brim of English papers and his other hand had a glass of water. He was wearing a buttoned up blue shirt and grey slacks and his nice shoes. One would say he was dressed nicely… but could the same be said about his roommate?

“[F/n].” He called out to you through the door after knocking.

It was Friday morning, and anyone would be in a good mood on a Friday, right?

Wrong; not you, anyway. After what happened last night, you traipsed into the apartment late at night and the sight of you made Levi stand up from the sofa and pause the nature documentary he was blindly watching while correcting papers. You walked through the door with the spaghetti straps of your dress hanging down your shoulders, your mascara dripping down your face from your tears and your eyes red-raw as you continued to gasp in massive strokes.

It was an ever-evolving situation with your ex, Zeke. He had grown increasingly angrier and more jealous of your living situation with your friend. Loads of fights and resentment from him towards you and the raven-haired man you lived with had you questioning your feelings towards him. And perhaps towards the end, your love for him had run out… You don’t know how they zapped up so quickly; you and Zeke had once considered marriage and a life together, and it was going well even when you and Levi moved in together initially. After all, Zeke was over at your apartment basically all the time.

And perhaps he noticed the way the raven-haired man looked at you, or the way his hand rested on your shoulder a bit too much, or the way he had your takeaway order memorised.

Perhaps he had figured out Levi’s secret feelings for you…

But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt when he dumped you in public last night. At you two’s favourite café. At the place of your first date.

And so you wandered in late last night sobbing your heart out, instantly throwing yourself onto the couch next to Levi, despite you knowing he wasn’t the most touchy-feely person out there. Still, to your surprise, he wrapped his arms around you after a few seconds and rubbed your back in circles as you cried. You looked and felt disgusting; fat teardrops and snot dripping down your face, and yet he still chose to hug you

He was just such a kind person. Such a kind friend. A kind roommate.

He wasn’t an idiot. He had been listening to you cry yourself to sleep for the past month now, watching you intently type away on your phone when you two were probably having another fight. He heard you crying and yelling over the phone during arguments from your bedroom. After all, he had his failed relationships too. He knew the process and the path this was taking. And you were there at his side when his relationships had failed.

Being roommates and teachers at the same school did have its perks. Levi had rang ahead of you and told your principal you were taking a sick day.

Levi sighed when you hadn’t opened the door. He wasn’t running late by any means, but he loved to be early. Loved it.

They’re alive… right? Yeah, of course, he said to himself. He leaned down onto the door handle - hands being full and all - and pushed inside.

Curtains were drawn shut, your takeaway from last night knocked over on your desk, teddies and various gifts from the relationship were torn apart on the floor… Levi did his best to walk around every obstacle in his way until he came across the bundle of sheets and blankets. He walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down. He peered down at the floor below him and saw all the tissues you had tossed out over the side.

You wasted the entire box of tissues - the lavender scented tissues and that were his favourite! - but he’d lecture you another time. You were clearly not having a good time.

“[F/n]...” he called out gently. You shrivelled up in response and he sighed for the umpteenth time. “Will you at least crawl out of your blanket prison and drink some water? Damn it, I can’t have you getting dehydrated from your crying last night.”

Oh, but he couldn’t resist the urge to lecture you even the tiniest bit!

“And you used all my good tissues… Erwin got those for me.”

“Erwin can take those tissues and shove them up his ass!” you yelled.

Levi’s face softened at the fact you were still so miserably looking. You didn’t show it on your face - in fact, you looked totally emotionless and empty - and you didn’t respond to his advances. He peeled away the covers and saw you lying in a fetal position clutching your phone, eyes staring at the text messages intently. He snatched your phone and typed in the PIN - you two were that close that you knew each other’s PINs - and he saw you had been texting Zek And he had sent a few messages back.

Zeke: You still don’t know why I dumped you? Are you that slow?

Zeke: I have seen the way he looks at you. I have seen the way you look at him and the way you smile at him. You two are so-called ‘roommates’ but don’t pretend I have forgotten you two’s history in college! How can you two ever expect to be just roommates?! Never contact me again. What a damn waste of two whole fucking years.

The raven-haired man shook his head and he made the decision for you to block his number and delete all media and traces of him from your phone.

“You’re not texting him anymore,” he told you, “He wasn’t good for you. He was never going to be good for you, [F/n].”

Your hand reached out for your phone and you plugged it back in to charge it and you rose from your lying position. Good heavens, you looked… not good. The bra you had worn to bed was poking out of your camisole and your hair was a mess. Levi reached forward and pulled the strap up, being careful to not let his hands linger too long.

You didn’t seem to be in the mood for talking, and he didn’t blame you. He was just trying to look out for you, as a roommate… right?

He pressed down on his knees as he stood up and stretched. He reached down for his leather satchel and told you when he’d be back and to try not to let this take up more of your sick days. “Drink your damn water, too.” He warned.

Levi left with a ruffle of your hair and you collapsed back into bed, pulling the covers back over you. He procured his blazer from the coat hanger that he normally wore over a button-up and put it on. He felt around for the keys and wallet in his pocket and hurried down the stairs to the carpark. He opened the door to the car and buried his face in his palms.

Was he really not that subtle? Had Zeke seen through it all?

How could he help himself… not when he had been hiding his feelings for you for over two years now… He thought that by being roommates and by living with you, he secretly hoped your living styles would conflict, or you two may not have clashed as friends but maybe living together would be too difficult…

...Or was that all an excuse just to be closer to you? After all, you were two freshly out of college looking for an apartment each, but when he told you he found a nice enough place that was decently priced - and how he was your best friend - how could you say no?

Levi wasn’t one to fake innocence or naivety; he knew exactly what Zeke was referring to when. By which you two had drunkenly hooked up four times throughout your degree. And so started the intense feelings he had for you.

He remembered his feelings started out so innocently. You two were in the same education programme and you took a few modules together and naturally by spending more and more time together, you two got closer. Feelings developed and were repressed time and time again. You’d go out together all the time on walks in the middle of the night or grab a drink at the end of exams, but by not giving this a label, nothing came out of it. You two were just hanging out - not dating - and over time, you convinced yourself that that was all you two would ever be: just friends. Friends with feelings for each other, but friends nevertheless.

And this worked until you two got obscenely drunk at your twenty-first birthday party in your dorm, and woke up in the same bed together the following morning, clothes strewn about and his muscular arms wrapped around you.

And you both told yourselves that it would never happen again, and that it was a one-time thing. That you two would remain friends and never cross that boundary ever again.

Until it happened again not too long after… and again and again and again.

And you two both knew the last time that you two weren't even all that drunk…

He shook his head. No, he couldn’t allow this to clog up his mind and leave him feeling mentally congested. But of course his mind couldn’t help but wander to how good you looked - not including today - or how kind you were. And he recounted the sounds you made and the way you moulded to his touch those few times.

Fuck, I’m in too deep, he says to himself as he begins to drive.

By the time the clock ticked five in the evening, he checked his phone again having not checked it for a few hours. He was sitting in his car now and removed his blazer. He was sitting in the private teachers’ carpark but that didn’t stop a few people knocking on his car window. He would get startled initially but he would give a lazy wave of his palm.

[F/n] [L/n]: Hey Levi. Sorry for all the tears last night. But a few friends have invited me out to get my mind off of… everything. I’ll be heading out at around 5 for a meal and then I’ll be back a few hours after that I think!

Levi shrugged. At least you told him you were going out so he didn’t have to worry.

Alright, see you then and be careful. Don’t lose your keys while you’re out, he texted back.

A notification came through right away.

[F/n] [L/n]: You’re too mean! :( You have no faith in me bestie?

He rolled his eyes. No, he texted back and put his phone onto the phone holder and headed home. He was happy you managed to crawl out of bed as it is, never mind you heading out with your friends. This would do you some good. You normally hung around with the same friends from college too and he knew they’d take care of you in this more fragile state.

Good, he didn’t have to worry about you not eating properly - because, no, Ben and Jerry’s did not count as a meal - or you staying in your duvet prison. He could go home and relax and watch his favourite series he was watching. Perhaps he’d order food or do some yoga…

Wow, he was so easily pleased.

Normally you would text your roommate every couple of hours or so. By 10PM rolled around and no update from you, he eyed his phone and placed it down again. You were fine, surely. He just needed to know you still had your keys so that he didn’t have to stay up waiting for you.

They’re fine, hopefully, and I’m getting tired, he said to himself, his eyes fluttering shut. He reclined onto the sofa more, head connecting with one of the plump cushions and sleep overcame him for a short while.

Or so he thought.

He woke up again when he heard a crowd of young people parading outside the alleyway where his apartment block was located. He inhaled sharply and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm and leaned over to check his phone. Damn, still no update from you.

He stood up from the couch and knocked on your bedroom door. “[F/n]?” he called out. No answer.

Okay, clearly it was more than just a meal. You were probably out drinking. No, he wasn’t going to fret.

You didn’t drink too often, but if you were ever emotional while drinking, you were definitely wild and more prone to danger. As soon as the intrusive thoughts began, his phone began to ring. He could feel his palms sweating already. He wiped them off the slacks of his pants he had not changed out of and answered the phone.

“H-Hello? [F/n]?”

“Hi, this is Levi, right?” the female voice came. A little bit slurred but the person seemed okay. “We took a few classes together in college, it’s Christa Lenz.”

“Ah, Christa, yes. Is [F/n] alright?”

Christa seemed hesitant at first. “Um, well… no. Not really. We had a meal and whatever and they were fine then, and then another girl, Sasha, suggested a few drinks. [F/n] seemed up for it and it was all going okay. A bit tipsy but they--”

“Get to the fucking point.” He snapped.

“--[F/n] saw Zeke enter the bar around an hour ago, and they panicked and drank a lot more… Like they downed seven shots already.”

“Is [F/n] okay? Are they awake or conscious?”

“I mean… we’re outside Trost Bar now not too far from your place, but we’re sitting down because they feel nauseous standing. That, and they’re crying a lot. Uh. They’re kind of a mess right now.”

Christa didn’t hear Levi say anything else, but once she heard the footsteps, the door opening and the jingling of keys, she knew he was on his way. Levi momentarily stopped and ran back inside your apartment and grabbed a bottle of water, some painkillers, an empty shopping bag in case you needed to get sick and a few other essentials. He raced back down to his car as fast as his legs could carry him to rush and collect you.

He stepped on the gas. Thankfully, Trost bar was no more than a ten minute drive away but that didn’t mean he was going to take his sweet time.

He could recall the bar vaguely, it was an ideal location for students. It was spacious, but it was also popular so people crammed into it leaving little to no space for anyone else. The bar is hundreds of conversations all trying to compete with the rock music that dominated the atmosphere. It would boom in the speakers and there were speakers everywhere. At first he was confused how he could recall so little else about it but he remembered how much the loud music used to deter him and he’d only ever stay for an hour at a time.

He slowly came to a halt when he found your friend group sitting with you on the pavement. He parked across the road and after looking both ways, he ran across to you. Christa looked up, followed by Mikasa and Sasha. You on the other hand had your head buried between your legs. Levi knelt down and pulled your face into his hands.

“Sheesh, you’ve seen better days.” He remarked. You were clever to have worn waterproof mascara but everything else smudged and rubbed away. He pulled you up by your hands and slung your arms over his shoulder. “Thanks, you guys. I appreciate this.”

He walked you over to his car, but he heard the not-so-silent remark from one of your friends.

“There’s no way they’re just roommates, right?”

He only sighed, sat you down in the seat and passed you the shopping bag he brought from your apartment. He went round to the boot of the car and got you a bottle of water before sitting into the front seat. Leaning over to the glove compartment, he tossed your makeup remover wipes at you with the simple command “wipe” and he pressed on the accelerator.

You could say he was prepared, for sure.

An inexplicable feeling of anger had overcome the short man once you saw you in this drunken, emotional state. You would be able to see it in the way his thin brows had knitted together and the way his teeth ground against each other. Even in your drunken state, you could tell he was driving a bit faster than normal.

The ride home was silent, the tension was palpable. You finished removing the makeup and most of it had gone. Levi noticed you toss the wipe on the floor in your half-sleepy, half drunk state. Under normal circumstances he would have snapped at you to pick it up. Not tonight, though.

“Leviiii…” you drawled, your speech still slurred. When you didn’t get the response, you poked at his muscular thigh repeatedly until his hand reached down to seize your wrist. “You’re-” followed by a hiccup, “you’re angry at me.”

He was angry and he was trying to piece his emotions together. He felt anger towards you for drinking yourself into this state rather than dealing with your emotions in a more healthy way. He was thankful and appreciative that as a roommate, you never drank too often so he never had to come collect you like this, but he hated being held to that title.

Maybe he was angry he was only your roommate. Or he was angry at himself for being jealous of Zeke and angry that he wasn’t the one who got to wake up to you in the mornings after a night of euphoric, raw passion. Because, wow, that man had to grit his teeth and put on headphones many times when Zeke came over.

He was angry at Zeke for upsetting you this much and getting you so upset in the first place. For being so awful to break up with you in the place you two had your first date. He was angry at the thought of not realizing how much more you deserved. If Levi had gone to the bar, he was sure his first would have connected with the bearded-man’s jaw at some point. He was angry that Zeke never appreciated you the way he would have, even if he wasn’t the most emotive or touchy-feely person.

“I’m sorry, Levi…” you murmured, and Levi found himself slowing down. He didn’t want you to apologize, but the tone in your voice that was laden with guilt made his heart lurch forward. He saw a hazy light in the distance and began to glide towards the side of the road. In your blurry state you could make out where he was taking you to. “Levi?”

“Get out.” He said, plainly.

You blinked a few times as you prepared to get out of the car, knowing you’d probably wobble a bit. The dimly lit sign of the OPEN above the diner did make you suddenly hungry.

“I need coffee.” Levi muttered as he opened the door for you.

“Y-You could have used m-mine…” you mumbled, speech still slurring but you were becoming more lucid now.

He could have used yours, but he knew how nice it was to get some fried food after having a few too many drinks. Plus, he knew that you have gotten quite sensitive before when drunk or even a bit hangry. He walked to the double doors that were polished so clean you couldn’t see the glass. He walked in ahead and opened the door and held it open.

When the pair of you sat down, you ordered a cheeseburger and a vanilla milkshake which came with a side of fries. The already forming hangover was starting to hit but the smell of fried food was doing well to neutralize it for now. Fluorescent lights kept the counter lit and the slight hum that came from them was giving Levi a headache, but he tried to zone in on the jukebox in the corner that was playing some classics from the 70s. Still, Levi’s anger continued to brew and he knew he’d pop if he didn’t get home to sleep away his turbulent feelings. Once the food came, Levi quickly stood up to go to the bathroom and you eagerly ate, too engrossed in the saltiness of your burger and the sugar of your milkshake to even realize he had gone. He did swipe a chip from your bowl though and dipped it into some tangy garlic mayo once he came back, once he had shoved something into his pocket. You eyeballed him for a second.

“You didn’t actually go pee, you paid for me.” You deduced.

“You have no proof.”

“I can check your online banking,” you said, leaning over to swipe his phone. You heard him mutter something about how you didn’t know his PIN or login-details. “Two, five, one, two...” you whispered, the date and month of his birthday.

Levi only blinked and leaned over to snatch his phone. “Just shut up and eat your food.”

You munched in more tense silence. Once you finished, you two left and walked back to Levi’s car. Given how no one chased after you two, that confirmed that Levi had paid.

The more you babbled on the way home, the harder Levi gripped the steering wheel. The sooner you get over this breakup, the better for him. He knew it was just drunk rambling but he was getting so obscenely frustrated. He was tired, he wanted to sleep.

When you two arrived back home at the apartment, he walked inside and held the door open for you. If anything, he needed the paracetamol more than you now. He walked over to the counter to get a glass of water for himself until you beckoned him over.

You weren’t an idiot, you knew he was pissed. And you hated going to bed if you knew someone was angry at you.

“Sit next to meeeee!” you called out in a sing-song. You patted the seat next to you. “You’re so grumpy! Can we talk about it?”

“No. Don’t wanna talk about it. You’re drunk.”

“Am not!” you cried, standing up.

Levi leaned back against the countertop, chugging on the glass of water. “Oh, yeah?” he challenged. “Go on, then. Stand on one foot, hold it for thirty seconds.”

“Nooooo problemoooo…” you replied. You raised the sole of your foot to touch the side of your knee and calf and brought your hands into high prayer. You were doing it… you were doing it…

Until you stumbled and fell after four seconds.

“Hammered.” Levi declared.

You pouted. Okay, if he wasn’t going to talk, you’d have to make him. And what better way than to try to cheer him up?! You sprang to your feet and ran around behind the opposite side of the countertop, before crawling on top of it. You heard Levi beginning to question your actions but he had no time to react when you wrapped your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist. You just managed to force Levi into giving you a piggy-back.

“Smile for meeeee!” you beamed, pulling at his lips.

“Fuck off!” he yelled as he walked you over.

“Pleeeeeeeease!”

“NO! Get off me!” he cried, louder this time and flipped you onto the couch. “Fucking hell, you’re so fucking annoying and dense and you never know when to shut the fuck up!”

His uncharacteristic outburst shocked you as you looked up at him with doe eyes. He was tired and fed up, and he was feeling his jealousy simmering over. Like, hell, this never would have happened if you were never dating that furball to begin with. You never would have drank yourself silly. Even if you were dating Levi and you broke up, he could safely say he’d hate to hear you drinking away your emotions. He hated seeing you so upset over a man and he had to listen to this for over a month. For the past two years of him sitting with his feelings, he’s had to see you with a man who never appreciated you and you didn’t see just how much you deserved. Even if you didn’t find it with him, he was so convinced that anyone would have treated you better than Zeke.

In fact, he didn’t care if you never looked at him the same way he did you; just as long as you were happy with someone. He’d get over it eventually, even if it killed him in the process.

But how many more men would come and go because they could never accept the fact you lived with your best friend - your best friend you have been intimate with?

He’d never be able to forget those moments with you. Especially the last time you two slept together.

You two were basically sober, and yet you still wound up with Zeke not too long later…

Maybe hearing it from you as to why you could never give him an answer. He was your best friend after all… why couldn’t you tell him you weren’t interested?

He stood before you as the thoughts circled in his head like a never ending merry-go-round; one that had a scratchy, out of tune melody but still droned on and plagued him. He glanced up at you and saw your eyes were now beginning to water.

Shit, he forgot how easily sensitive you were when you were drunk.

"You know, Levi… I think you're so mean and grumpy at times, and that you don't understand me!" you cried. Even though you were deep in your feelings and a slobbery mess, you still threw your arms around him, always finding comfort in his arms.

Levi sighed and relented, guiding the two of you down to the sofa and he waited for the emotional, tearful outburst to pass. You sat on the right and he made what could be considered as a potentially suggestive gesture to rest his hand on your thigh. But that was it, he just rubbed your leg up and down as you continued to bawl and be a mess.

"Yeah, perhaps I don't understand you…" he murmured once you begun to calm down.

You sniffled and looked up at him. "What?"

"I don't understand you at times, [F/n].."

You blinked owlishly. "I don't get it. What are you referring to?"

Gosh, he was going to lose it. He knew he was going to lose it but he knew you couldn't help it if you were still confused, even if you were beginning to sober up.

Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it, don't say it...

"Why him, why Zeke, huh? You knew I loved you two years back. I still do. I knew at the very least liked me. So, fuck-- why would you even tough it out with him that long if he made you so unhappy?"

Fuck, he said it.

“Why couldn’t you at least tell me you didn’t like me back?” he asked, smoothing his black hairs back. “It’s been both great yet simultaneously agony living with you.”

You were silent, uncomfortably silent. He wanted to just tell you to forget what he said, but how could you? Not when he openly confessed.

Why did you get with Zeke… He never captured your heart the way Levi did in the first place. You tried thinking back to two years ago, but your mind was still fuzzy. It was a shame he did this while you were still a bit drunk, but at least you’d be most honest this way, no? Drunken words are sober thoughts after all.

At the time, were you, perhaps, scared to get romantically involved with your best friend? Was the timing of it all too wrong, close to graduation, where afterwards Levi planned on moving away? Could you have coped with long distance after being with him for the four years of your undergraduate?

“Maybe because I knew we were graduating soon and you wanted to study more out of state…” you murmured. “Maybe because you were my best friend and that would have made things messy… And if you were going to leave, I guess I needed to find someone else because I assumed nothing would happen…”

Levi looked at you as he spoke. Sure, that was the original plan - to move away - but he realized he’d be better off finding a job first to pay him part of the way and maybe take a sabbatical of sorts a few years from now to further his education. And it just so happened you two both ended up applying and getting accepted at the same highschool. And that you had been dating Zeke for four months now so what could he do except live with it.

“Maybe I was scared you only liked the times we were physical together and nothing more…” you added.

Levi sighed heavily. He had watched you the entire time as you spoke before turning to look at the countertop in the dimly lit kitchen area. He pressed down on his knees as he went to stand up. “Look, I’ll just--”

“N-No!” you interjected, grabbing him by the hand. “Stay.”

Levi’s eyes widened marginally and he sat down again, not shaking away your hand. Your lower lips trembled as you continued to stare at him, and he back at you.

You leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. It lasted just a second and there was no time for you to savour it.

“I’m sorry, Levi.” You mumbled.

But before you could babble another apology, Levi raked his fingers through your hair and placed a kiss to your lips.

“Don’t be. But fuck, wow, we really need to work on communication. Even if we are just roommates.”

You shook your head and you quickly moved to straddle him. This action shocked Levi to his core, evident by his wide eyes but they quickly became clouded with lust as you ground against him and leaned in for a soul-sucking kiss. His hands found your hips and his mouth moved in tandem to your own. He let you explore the recesses of his mouth with your tongue and he could only respond in kind as he removed the jacket you were wearing. He could tell you were definitely eager by the way you hand cupped his cheeks and smoothed over them constantly, pushing yourself in for more and more.

He was displeased at how much you had dominated him so quickly and had his head spinning and was quick to tighten the grip on your hips and pushed you down onto the cushion of the sofa. The two of you continued to kiss and grind against one another, your fingertips raking across his back. You arced your head back as Levi moved to leave sloppy kisses against your neck, sucking and biting occasionally until he was sure to have at least left some sort of mark in his wake. You pulled his head back to yours and bit on his lower lip. He let out a soft yet animatlistic groan and it only spurred you further. Every blissful noise that escaped you made his blood overheat and left a burning desire in his bones.

Fuck, he wanted this so badly. He had been waiting so long. It was just perfect; you fit and moulded to him perfectly. He’d love to take you right then and there on the couch but his conscience just wouldn’t allow him.

You weren’t entirely sober.

This could all change in the morning.

He groaned and pulled away once your fingers tried to pull at the fly of his slacks. He was quick to grab your hand and sit back up. He looked down at you again. “I respect you too much to do this now, not until I know you want this as much as me.”

“But, I do--”

“You’re drunk, you’re not able to properly say you want this or to consent. I can’t allow myself to do this now. It’d be different if you weren’t.”

“I can sober up quickly, look!” you pestered. You closed your eyes for a few seconds before they opened again. “See? Sober!”

He scoffed. “You just counted to five with your eyes closed and opened them again. The answer is no, [F/n].” He said, and stood up. “I’ve waited too long for you not to properly enjoy this anyway…”

You couldn’t help but blush at his last words. “Alright, roomie, will you at least come to bed with me then?”

He scoffed but you could see him smiling amidst the murky darkness of your apartment. “I guess so.”

You two pattered down the hall, you stopping to remove your heels halfway. You opened the door to your bedroom and changed while Levi put on his nightwear. You shuffled into bed in just a vest and cotton shorts and Levi was soon to follow. He extended an arm and you sidled up next to your roommate.

“Depending on how this weekend goes, you and I may just need to take a sick day on Monday also.” He uttered after a few minutes of both your eyes being shut.

“What do you mean?” you asked, yawning.

“I haven’t had you in two years, ‘s been far too long…” he replied. He knew that alone would get you to blush so he settled in closer to you. He smirked and said, “sleep well, roomie” before heading off to dreamland.

You, however, continued to fantasize for the next hour or so before sleep overcame you too.

Was this the right decision to make after getting out of a long-term relationship just a day ago? You couldn’t tell. But you did realize back then when you were kissing him that there was something that was never there with Zeke. Maybe it was more love, or it was sensitivity. Maybe it was more attention to detail and consideration. Maybe it was the pining and the restraining he had to do that left to unbridled passion.

Well, you had a whole weekend to yourselves now - and perhaps Monday, too - and you were already excited for what was in store tomorrow.

Once your hangover goes away, of course.

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going-dead · 3 years

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Phasmophobia

Danny was very sick of tourists coming to explore Amity park. Like very sick of them, especially the ‘ghost hunter’ ones. In the end they just caused more problems than the actual ghosts, getting in the way of the fights causing Danny more stress and injuries than normal. Not to mention they sucked at their so called jobs. He was pretty sure even a single elementary schooler of Amity was a better ghost fighter than all of the tourists combined.

But at the moment it was the dead of winter and probably one of the coldest weeks of the year. So only the stupidest of self proclaimed ghost hunters would venture out to hunt ghosts in weather like this. While it was nice not having to worry about danger prone tourists Danny still was miserable, he could deal with the cold just fine in fact he preferred the cold. The problem was that It was the holiday season, the worst time of the year. At least the ghost attacks were less frequent as they all prepared for the Christmas truce party.

Still he supposed it could be worse. His parents weren’t fighting as much this year, though that was probably due to the fact they were still treating him like he was made of glass half of the time after he told them about the whole half dead thing. Danny figured that was due to the fact they blamed themselves for the portal incident, causing them to coddle him to an almost tortuous degree. It was as if they expected him to disappear if he was so much as bumped in the wrong way. It had gotten a bit better at this point at least, if things continued as it did at the beginning Danny was pretty sure he’d rather have them still be shooting at him. Now they only tensed up when he left the house instead of not so subtly stalking him all day.

At the moment Danny was sitting on the counter in the kitchen with his mom while she was cooking dinner. “Danny dear get off the counter that’s where the food goes not you.” Maddie said shooing him off the counter with a spatula.

Danny floated off in a huff, “This is ghostphobic mom. The counter is a perfect seat.”

Maddie rolled her eyes, “The term would be phasmophobic, and no it’s not it’s; I don’t want your butt all over where I’m making our dinner-phobic.”

“Fine transphobic then.”

“How about asking you to set the table? What would that be?”

Danny mulled it over for a few seconds. “A reasonable request I suppose.” He phased his hands though the cabinets grabbing the plates. Honestly he could have just as easily grabbed them normally but he was still trying to get his parents used to him having powers. “Oh by the way Sam, Tucker, and I are hanging out tomorrow to celebrate winter break starting and school being out for two whole weeks.” “Alright sweetie, but be safe okay?”

“Of course I will be mom.”

“I mean it Danny, please.”

Danny sighed “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to text you regularly to let you know I’m safe. I’ll be fine and stay out of trouble, I promise” Maddie nodded seemingly plated at least for the time being.

The next day Danny was really regretting making that promise. The day started out so well too. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were walking along the park trail. Danny was walking a few steps in front of the other two, subtly making the path easier with his powers. The only people out insane enough to bear the cold were people who had to go to work and teens who were bored out of their minds.

“All I’m saying Danny is that if you want to choose that class you should choose a race other than human for once. Hellspawn would be the best option in your case.” Tucker argued.

“Says the dude playing the race for furries.” Danny shot back turning his head to look back at his friend.

“Hey! The beastmen race is a perfect fit for my class, they have an exp boost for trickery and magic skills it’s the best for playing a character who mains in ambushing with traps.

“Boys boys stop arguing. Danny will be fine playing as a human he’s just gonna have to spend more time grinding. Also he’s right, beastmen are so the furry option.” Sam cut in.

“Whatever, I just don’t understand why he always plays the most boring race in every game he plays. I mean why would you want to play as a human when you could be a fantasy race like an elf or something.”

“Well that’s easy for you and Sam to say you both are still hum-,” Danny was cut off mid sentence by his ghost sense and a glowing red circle surrounding the group. He hardly had a chance to go ghost before being fully enveloped by the light.

When Danny was finally oriented enough to open his eyes he vowed to never complain about getting motion sick while his dad was driving again if it meant he would never have to go through that awful experience again. It felt like getting sucked into the Fenton Thermos if it was the size of a straw and being spun in a blender all at the same time. He looked around seeing if his friends were brought along with him. And just his luck, of course they got pulled through whatever the hell that was too.

“Ugh, you guys okay?” He closed his eyes again and focused on stabilizing his core and getting the last of the nausea to leave.

“Bleh I think I’m gonna hurl.” Sam groaned from beside him.

Danny heard Tucker shift beside him. “Yeah I’m good, I guess all that time staying up late playing VR games kinda helped against motion sickness. Landed on my arm though so definitely going to bruise later. Where are we anyway?”

That actually was a good question, Danny lifted himself off the ground literally, using legs to stand was lame anyway. The sight he was met with was both confusing and surprising. Looking down he saw that the three of them were in some sort of red magic circle or something, with candles lit around it. Looking past that was the part that was surprising. He was expecting this to be the work of a ghost but standing in a circle around the three of them were six humans in different colored robes. He couldn’t recognize any of them though, they must have been from out of town or just total shut ins. He was pretty sure he recognized where they were though, it was the basement of an abandoned building next to the mall, Sam was super into urban exploring the year before and it was one of the first places she dragged the two boys to.

“Haha uhh hey didn’t know there was a costume party going on, I would have dressed up, looks like you got all the colored robe thing going on though. Would my hazmat suit work instead of a robe?” Danny looked at the group around him and cracked an uneasy smile. Maybe it was some sort of accidental ghost summoning or something, it wouldn’t be the first time. Though the fact it brought his friends along pointed to it either being on purpose or something much more powerful, or both.

The man in the black robe turned to a woman in a white one. “Why did the spell bring two kids along with it .”

Danny tried to ignore being called an ‘it’ not like his parents didn’t do it before they knew about his identity. “I’m not the murder clown and I do have a name you know.” But his words seemed to fall onto deaf ears.

“I did the calculations right if that’s what you’re trying to imply, as you can see the subject did appear in the circle as planned. We probably just underestimated how much power the sacrifice would provide with the addition of the solstice.” White robe snapped. Great, this was totally just what Danny needed at the start of his winter break. Not only did they seem like ghost hunters they were the crazy obsessed culty ones.

“Either way the goal was achieved in the end, we have the ghost boy.” Black robe pointed to two men, one in yellow and one in blue robes. “Take care of the two bystanders, but don’t kill them. After all we shouldn’t kill our soon to be followers.” Yeah that wasn’t concerning at all Danny thought.

The one in the yellow grabbed Sam and the one in the blue grabbed Tucker at the black robed man's command. Danny assumed that probably meant the black robed one was the one in charge here. “Hey! Get your hands off me you freaks!” Sam yelled, struggling against the man’s grip.

But Danny’s friends didn’t have a chance against people twice their size. Before either of them could struggle more the two men slammed their heads to the ground in almost unison, knocking them out almost instantly. It happened so fast all Danny would do is watch on in horror. He felt like he watched their now limp bodies for ages, their chests shallowly rising at least giving him the relief of knowing they were still alive. But the sight of small puddles of blood forming around their heads snapped him out of his horror and into a rage.

Danny placed his feet to the ground turning to look at the two in the black and white robes. “Why?” He seethed, “You said they were accidentally brought along when you were trying to get me here. Technically in a way this falls onto me. So tell me, why?”

The man in the black robe seemed taken aback from being confronted so suddenly. The woman in white didn’t seem to have the same problem, maybe they both were in charge? Honestly though Danny didn’t care at this point. “We will take over the little town you haunt. After we do that we will find out where all the ghosts are originating from and then make them into our soldiers so we can take over the country and then the world. To do that we obviously needed you out of the way since you seem to be the only one capable of combating the other ghosts that come into this world. Or you would just defeat our pawns before they could take true action. So we found a way to summon and trap ghosts, then brought you here so we could get you out of our way.”

Honestly Danny was disappointed hearing that more than anything, his rage almost completely disappeared after hearing the plan. “Hold up that is the stupidest plan I have ever heard.” And that was saying something seeing as he dealt with Vlad's plans on a weekly basis. “First off you do realize it would be very hard to get or even force ghosts into your service if you don’t offer them, anything in return. Not to mention how some ghosts have almost godlike powers and you expect to overpower them? Also I am not even close to the only one who can fight ghosts. Everyone in Amity Park has at least some know how when it comes to ghost fighting. They sell basic ghost protection equipment at the supermarket. I just happen to be better suited than everyone else because I y’know can like fly and go intangible when chasing them. Using ghosts to take over the world is so stupid do you even know how to properly catch a ghost? Seriously this is like next level dumb, not to mention how did you even know the summoning would work if it didn't you’d just all be standing in a darkly lit room looking dumber than you already do.”

That seemed to anger the white one a lot. Apparently she didn’t like her intelligence questioned. “Why you little-.” She stomped her foot. “This plan was thought through down to the smallest detail. You want to know how it worked huh? How about asking your friend over there. I wonder what happens when the dead are killed? You will find out soon enough.”

Danny looked over to where we gestured and his refound taunting attitude vanished. Laying over in the corner inside a smaller less complex looking circle was a ghost or the ectoplasmic remains of one at least, the core was completely destroyed. Judging by the fact that the ectoplasm was red it probably had a fire core before it was destroyed. From the lingering ecto signature Danny doubted the ghost was even sapient. It was most likely the remains of something like a blob ghost or the ghost of an animal or even a weaker ectopus. Still all he could do was stare at the remains in horror.

“Of course summoning you was harder so we used that thing for its ghost energy to help power the circle. Instead of chalk we used it’s ectoplasm to ensure the strength and longevity of the seal to hold you in the circle.” The woman smiled as if she achieved something great. Achieve something she did indeed, but it certainly was not what she intended.

The rage Danny felt before came back in full force. Before with his friends he at least knew they would recover, all three of them got injured fighting ghosts more often than they should. But to injure a ghost to the point where not even their core remained was something so taboo that only the most despicable ghosts would do. Even Skulker kept the cores of his prey stable enough not to fade away completely. A ghost's form could be completely destroyed but as long as their core remained they would reform back where they first formed in the Ghost Zone. The only ghosts Danny could think of who would go out of their way to destroy a core were some of the ancients like Pariah Dark or Nocturne.

Danny finally managed to tear his eyes away from the ghost's remains to lock eyes with the woman. She and the black robed man took a step back out of instinct. Looking into his eyes they felt the feeling every animal of prey felt when it knew it was being watched, being hunted. The temperature in the room dropped and frost started to crawl across the walls. Danny took a step towards the two leaders before pausing to reconsider and turning and starting towards the two men standing above his friends.

Then men in yellow and blue robes looked to the man in black for guidance, unsure of what action to take. He looked uncertain as well but shook his head. “There’s no way it can pass through the seal, we tested it.”

Danny's eyes flicked over to the man then back to the two who hurt his friends and gave them a predatory grin, his teeth now looking slightly sharper than usual. He made no sound as he stepped over the circle with ease closer and closer to the two men. They both reached for their weapons, small bats, apparently they were the muscle of the group, and swung at the approaching ghost. Danny simply went intangible causing the two to overswing and hit each other instead, knocking the wind out of them both and causing them to drop their bats. While they were catching their breath Danny grabbed them by their hair and knocked their heads together. Their bodies crumbled to the floor just a few inches from the teens they did the same to just minutes before.

The one who had yet to say or do anything, dressed in red, made her way towards Danny while his back was towards her. Just as she got within arms reach of him she slipped and fell. The temperature had dropped even more at this point causing the ground surrounding Danny to ice over. Danny hardly acknowledged the large thud behind him simply trapping the fallen woman up to her neck in ice as he walked past and headed towards his final two targets.

When first summoned by the group Danny could, within reason, probably be passed off as a weirdish looking human excluding the glow around him. But now as he stalked towards his prey that was no longer the case. His chest no longer moved like it was breathing. His feet made no sound as they made contact with the ground. His eyes, non-blinking, no longer had pupils or even whites to them just a void of endless ectoplasmic green. His ears were pointed almost bat like. The tips of which, along with his lips, were tinted blue. His hair, normally white like snow, now was just the white that came from complete absence of any color. The hair was defying gravity almost as if it was underwater while smoke like wisps trailed off from his hair as he moved. His mouth was twisted into an emotionless smile splitting through his cheeks showing needle like teeth all the way back to where his molars would have been, there was no tongue or throat behind them, just another endless green void. The skin of his neck that was showing past the hazmat suit was marked with lightning like scars. The glow around him seemed to absorb all the light in the room.

The man in the black robe looked between the approaching horror and his partner before running towards the exit. Danny moved so fast it was almost as if he materialized right in front of the man. The man stumbled back falling down in shock but still tried to scramble away from him crossing his chest as he did so. Just as Danny started to raise his arm towards the man he paused and lurched back.

He looked down at his chest where an ornate knife was now lodged. Holding onto the hilt was the woman, she gave the knife a final twist before letting go and herding her partner into the corner farthest away from Danny. Danny showed no pain as he grabbed the knife and pulled it out, the blade was dripping with ectoplasm, and dropped it on the ground. The wound in his chest already healing, filling with more ectoplasm to replace what was lost.

The smile that was marring Danny’s face was replaced with a scowl as he made his way towards the corner where the two were cowering. Placing a hand on their necks he lifted them both up against the wall and started slowly burning their skin with an ectoblast. He let them go, letting them fall to the ground only when their screams of pain turned silent as crushed vocal cords and burnt throat muscles took their toll. Both cult leaders looked up at him in horror faces pale. "What's wrong?" Danny smiled, "It looks like you've seen a ghost."

The woman looked at him in fear as she grasped at the raw skin of her throat, which now was covered in blisters and charred in some of the worst places. “Wha-, what, what are you?” She managed to rasp out before coughing up some blood.

Danny let out a dark chuckle, his voice echoed over itself. “I-,” he snarled, “am a Phantom .”

After Danny sent an anonymous tip to the police about the cult, he brought his friends back to his house. Of course his mom freaked out after he stopped responding to her texts and even more when he phased into the living room with an unconscious Sam and Tucker. He was pretty sure she was about to break out the BOOmerang if she didn’t hear from him for much longer. She was more than willing to take the two of them to the hospital to get them checked out.

Danny made a quick stop into the ghost zone to tell Clockwork to spread the word to other ghosts to be on alert and that there were humans that were trying to summon and capture ghosts. After telling Clockwork what happened, in much more detail than the briefest summary he gave his mom, including how he probably went a bit overboard with dealing with the cultists. He also admitted he didn't regret it even if he did go overboard. They hurt his friends and caused a ghost to completely fade, and in Danny’s opinion they deserve whatever came to them. The whole story caused Clockwork to also start fretting over him making sure to let Danny know that his reaction was a completely normal response to someone threatening something that falls within his obsession especially since it happened in his haunt of all places. Danny swore that his ghostly mentor could be worse than his own parents sometimes especially when it came to reassuring him about his more ghostly tendencies.

Luckily after being released from the hospital it turned out the worst Sam and Tucker suffered were concussions that would heal in a decently short amount of time. That didn’t mean they weren’t complaining about it though.

“Stop laughing about my suffering Danny! I won’t be able to start playing Fantasy War Online VII until my two week tech restriction is lifted by my doctor. It was bad enough I had to go to a hospital but to be taken away from my lovely devices as well is just too much.” Tucker lamented.

“Quit complaining and suck it up. I’m on the restriction too Tucker.” Sam pointed out.

Tucker huffed. “Yeah well you’ll probably manage to catch up to all the people who are getting it on release day easily, since you’re scarily good at MMO’s.” He flopped back onto Danny’s bed. “Hey at least this gives us more time to convince Danny to play something other than a human for once in his life. Like I said before the hellspawn is the perfect race for the build you’re going for.”

Danny just rolled his eyes. “And like I said before, I like being a human.” “Whatever dude just don’t complain when I utterly beat you if we end up fighting because you wanted to be the lamest most boring race ever.”

Danny shrugged. “Somehow I’ll cope, I just think it’s nice to be seen as normal and not scary.”

Sam laughed. “Danny you are the least scary person like to ever exist. The only things scary about you are your grades and your wacky parents. I doubt you could be scary if you tried.”

Danny looked out the window watching the stars as they started to appear in the sky. “...Yeah I guess you’re right.”

#guess who back with the phics #danny phantom #phic #My fic #my phic

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blacknight1230 · 4 years

Text

Halloween Treat

Jim Hopkins Imagine (Bully: Scholarship Edition)

You switch costumes with Pete, resulting in Jimmy enjoying your Halloween costume.

Twas the night before Halloween. Your most favorite holiday spent at Bullworth Academy. The campus was decorating with glowing jack-o-lanterns, spooky ghosts and bats, and toilet paper hauntingly hanging from the tree branches. And best of all, the student body had free reign to wreak havoc this autumn night. Of course, no one was in there costumes now, a full twenty-four hours until you could do so.

So, you were walking back to your dorms from the mess hall, when you saw a disgruntled Pete on the steps to the main school building. “Hey, Petey, what’s wrong?” you asked the small boy. “Oh, (Y/n), hey” he greeted, hurriedly getting to his feet. “Is everything okay? Is Gary picking on you again?” you questioned, worried about your friend. Pete just nervously shifted from foot to foot, not saying anything. “Petey, come on, talk to me. You’re worrying me,” you begged. “It's stupid, really. It’s not even a big deal,” Petey whined, avoiding eye contact with you. “Well, it obviously is if your this uptight about it. Come on, Pete o’boy, tell Momma (Y/n) all about your troubles. I promise I won’t laugh,” you pestered, poking the young boy repeatedly in the arm. “Ok, fine. It's about my costume,” Pete admitted, finally giving up. “Your costume?” You were confused now; how could Halloween get-up make his this miserable. “You see, I already picked out my costume for tomorrow night. I was really excited about it, but now I’m afraid to be seen in it!” Petey explained, pacing around as he stressed over the situation. “Why? Your costume can’t be that bad,” you tried to reassure Pete. “Ha-ha, well, it's not exactly something Gary or Jimmy would where that’s for sure,” he said, voice shaking. “Then what is it?” Petey sighed and glumly ushered you to follow him.

He led you over to the boys’ dorms and inside the building. You ignored the dilapidated surroundings and B.O. smell as Petey brought you to his room. It really shocked you how Bullworth treated the boys living conditions compared to the girls. Anyway, Petey brought you into his small room and closed the door, before turning to his wardrobe. He opened it up, showing you his costume hanging on the inside of wardrobe door. You didn’t say anything when you saw the bright pink, furry bunny suit. It even had a puffy tail and ears attached to it.

Pete noticed your silence, frowning even more. “Now you see what the problem is. I can’t go out in that! I’ll be the laughing stock of the school and a prime target for the bullies!” he freaked out. “I don’t know what to say, Petey. Do you have another costume to go out in?” you questioned. “Nope. And I have to wear a costume tomorrow. Gary will notice and make fun of me for it.” You took a seat on Pete’s bed, the springs of the mattress squeaking as you put your weight on it. “Well, you’re definitely in a pickle.” “Hey, tell me about it.”

Petey sat next to you, head in his hands. You lightly patted him on the back, “There there. You’ll get through this.” “If only I could switch my costume out with someone else,” Petey mumbled into his hands. A light bulb went off over you head, an idea popping your brain. “Petey, I think I might have an idea,” you excitedly told him. “Wha-, how?” “Just trust me, Petey. Give me your costume and I’ll have another one for you by tomorrow,” you explained. The young boy was hesitate for moment, but he eventually got up and grabbed the accursed bunny suit, handing it to you without a word. “Thanks, Petey, I swear, I won’t let you down!” YOu rushed out his room and towards the dorm hall’s exit, Petey wishing you a disgruntled good luck. Looks like I have a night of work to do, you thought.

~ Time skip ~

It was officially Halloween. And everyone was celebrating like crazy. Pranks ensued as the prefects partied away and the teachers stayed in their lounge. You were walking the school grounds in the costume you spent all night sewing and hemming. A couple of guys ogled your form as you walked past, while the girls complimented you on the costume. You could only smirk as you sucked on a lolly-pop, making your way over to the front of the boy’s dorms. When you got there, you saw Gary, Jimmy, and Petey gathered on the steps to the dorms’ entrance dressed in their costumes.

Garry was dressed up as a Nazi SS soldier, without the symbols and armband. I got to remember to scold him later, you thought, frowning at Garry’s choice of dress up. Meanwhile, Jimmy was dressed up as a skeleton, with black and white face paint, and Petey was dressed up in the Grim Reaper costume you gave him. It was actually the costume you planned on wearing and as it wasn’t gender specific, Petey could wear it without being worried about Gary making fun of him. But Gary being Gary was still pestering poor innocent Petey.

“Come on, Femboy, where’s the bunny costume I got you? Don’t tell me you go rid of it,” Gary threatened. “No, Gary, I traded it with someone and they gave me this,” Petey protested, his voice muffled from behind his skeleton mask. “Don’t lie to me, Petey. You know I don’t like liars. No one would take that damn bunny costume,” Gary said while rolled his eyes. You decided it was time to make your presence known.

“Hello boys,” you called out to them. All three of them turned to look at you, eyes widening at the sight of you. You stood before them in the tailored bunny suit, having cut off the legs and sleeves of the one piece. It was now a sleeveless, booty short one piece with a cinched waist and a lowered neckline. You accessorized the look with hot pink fishnet thigh high stockings and fingerless pink fishnet gloves that end below the elbows. To complete the look, you wore white combat boots and sexy bunny makeup. All three of the boys just stared at you, mouths wide open. Gary was the first to snap out of it, a wolf whistle coming out of his smirking mouth. “Look at you, (y/n). Say, are you going to be our little Playboy bunny for the night?” he teased. “Knock it off, Gary,” Jimmy snapped suddenly. Gary, for once, backed off.

Instead his attention was focussed back onto his Big Prank, as he liked to call it. He forced all four of you to follow him to the side yard of Harrington House, where Chad and the other Preppies lived. It was only then did he explained his twisted little plan. “Ok, here’s the deal. We’re going to feed Chads dog a bunch of this rancid meat then wait for him to take a dump then -” Gary started, a sick smile on his face as he explained the prank formed in his evil little mind. “Man, what the hell. I’m out of here,” Petey cried in disgust, interrupting Gary. He ran away disgusted, Gary just shouting, “Whatever, Pete.” “This prank is nasty, even for you,” you sneered. “Let’s just do this, guys. I’ll explain everything later,” Gary huffed.

You all turned to look around the corner of the archway leading into the side yard, where Chester, the aforementioned dog, was running around. But there was little problem in this ‘brilliant’ plan of Gary’s. Chad was in the yard, playing with the Staffordshire Bull Terrier via frisbee. “Shit, now what do we do,” Jimmy questioned. “What do you mean ‘what do we do’? We fight him, of course. Geez, Jimmy, are you really that much of a pea brain?” Gary snapped. Jimmy opened his mouth to retort back but you stopped him before he could. “Pipe it down, you two. Let me handle this,” you hissed. Without another word, you sauntered up to Chad, seductively swinging your hips.

“Hey, Chad,” you greeted in a sing-song voice. “Oh, ah, hey there darling,” Chad replied once he saw you. You could already tell he was in the palm of your hand as he looked at you with love struck eyes. You were pretty sure it was because of your costume, for without it Chad and all the other boys never would have spared you a second glance. Using your sex-appeal to your advantage, you continued entrapping him in your web. “Oh, nothing. I’m just so bored and lonely tonight. Will a nice strong gentleman like you help me?” you drawled, trailing a gloved hand down Chad’s chest. Sweat started to accumulate around the prep’s hairline and he struggled with his next words. “I would love to, darling. What you wanna do?” “Oh I think I have an idea. You just have to follow me to somewhere a little more private,” you practically whispered into his ear. Chad tensed up and swallowed a lump in his throat, but he allowed you to take his hand and pulled him away from the side yard.

You were just about lead into the space between the left side of the preppies’ dorms and the fence when Jimmy came up behind Chad hit him on the back of the head. The force of the blow caused Chad to fall to the pavement, knocked out cold. “Jimmy! What was that for?” you hissed. “I thought that was your plan. To lure him away and knock him out,” Jimmy said, a faint blush on his cheeks. Before you could figure out why the teen was blushing, Gary hurried past the both of you to Chester. “Who cares what the chick was going to do? We got what we needed,” he voiced over his shoulder as he kneeled down to the dog. “Here you go boy. Have a little trick for a treat. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum,” he said to Chester as the staffy ate the meat. Immediately after finishing, Chester started whining as he squatted over the grass. “That’s gross!” Jimmy exclaimed as he crossed his arms in disgust. “Poor little guy,” you worried, holding your nose as the barely digested meat exited the poor pooches rear end. As soon as Chester finished with his business, Gary gathered the fecal matter into a brown paper back.

“Score! Alright let’s go to the teacher’s lounge,” Gary ordered. The three of you ran towards the main school building, entering by one its back exits onto the main floor. Jimmy placed the bag of doggy doo in front of the door of the teacher’s lounge. As soon as he set it down, Gary lit a match and brought it close to the paper back. “Are you sure this is a good idea, Gary?” you distressed. All you could think of was possible setting the building on fire. “Don’t worry. It will be funny,” Gary threw off your worries. “Just pulled the fire alarm, Jimmy, and watch fun begin.” Jimmy did as Gary said, striding up to the nearby fire alarm on the opposite wall. He looked around before grabbed the handle and pulling it down.

The air filled the sounds of alarms as Gary, Jimmy, and you hid around the corner. “What the hell is going on?” you heard one of the teachers shout from within the teacher’s lounge. The door opened to reveal Mr. Burton, who once he saw the paper back on fire, tried to put it out by stomping on it. He successfully put out the small fire but now the bottom of shoes where covered in disgusting, half-digested, port-a-potty smelling dog shit. Mr. Burton screamed and gagged as he tried to get the animal turds off his sneakers. You all couldn’t help but laugh as you all ran away and out the side exit, rushing away from the scene of the crime. Next thing you knew, you all were by the front of the academy’s gates, near the dorms.

All of you struggled to breath, hands on your knees as you hunched over from both laughter and the sprinting. “That ... was the most brilliant ... and hilarious ... prank I’ve ever seen!” you complimented Gary. “Even I have to admit, that was a great prank, Gary,” Jimmy confirmed. Gary got a wicked smile on his face, immensely enjoying being complimented on his ‘superior’ brain. “Thank you, thank you, hold your applause, please. I know you all love me,” he boasted, mock bowing to you guys. “Ok, don’t get so full of yourself,” Jimmy sassed. “Whatever, man. You two have fun jacking each other off. I’m going to steal some candy from the nerds,” Gary answered back. He ran off before you and Jimmy could yell at him.

“Well, tonight was surprisingly fun,” you turned to Jimmy. “Looks like my first Halloween in Bullsworth is a success. It's a bummer that its ending already,” Jimmy replied. A light bulb went off over the top of your head, an idea forming in your mind. “Who said it was over? Follow me,” you announced. You sprinted towards the girl’s dorms, motioning Jimmy to follow you. You heard the sound of Jimmy’s footsteps following you as ran to the right side of the building. Quickly and efficiently, you climbed up the lattice bolted to the brick wall and up to the open window on the third floor. Once you stepped foot in the large attic space, you helped Jimmy climb in behind you.

“Whew, you are surprisingly fast,” Jimmy huffed out, struggling to catch his breath after the sprinting and high climb. “Thanks, Jim. Come have a seat,” you acknowledged his compliment. You led Jimmy over to a small area of the attic where you had a pile of comfy pillows and blankets, a tiny tv with a built in VCR situated next to the wall. Fairy lights were struck through the rafters above it, barely lighting up the windowless area. You sat on the pile of pillows and turned on a battery operated camping lantern, finally allowing the both of you to see clearly what you were doing. As Jimmy took a seat next to you, you pulled out a bowl filled with candy. “Want some?” you offered the teen. “Where did you get these?” he questioned, grabbing a handful of assorted candy. “My parents sent me a care package of sorts. They know how much I love Halloween,” you explained, picking out a single piece of (favorite candy). “Wish my mom did something like that. She’s too busy hanging out with her 5th husband on their honeymoon to even think about me,” Jimmy complained. You could see thinking of his absent mother really upset hi, their relationship not on the best of terms. You nudged Jimmy on his costumed shoulder, trying to get him out of this little funk. “Come on, let’s pick out a movie to watch. I have a couple to choose from,” you said. Jimmy gave you a warm smile as you pulled a small pile of VCRs.

The night continued with you and Jimmy stuffing your faces on candy and popcorn as you watched movies from within your secret chilling out spot. You were in the middle of the first movie, a classic slasher film, when Jimmy said something. “Hey, (y/n), back when you were distracting Chad, were you really going to ...” he trailed off. You pulled your eyes away from the TV screen, studying Jimmy. He was sitting on a couple of different colored pillows, leaning back on one of his outstretched arms and feet kicked out in front of him. He was refusing to look you in the eye, signaling that something was up. “What? Oh, that!” you realized what he was talking about. “No! Absolutely not! I was just trying to lead Chad away so we could get what we needed for the prank.”

Jimmy looked relieved, the tension in his shoulders releasing as he let out a sigh. “Ok. Good. I just thought maybe you had a thing for him or something,” he explained. “Jimmy, do think I really would let anyone get with me like that?” you sassed. “Pff, well you are dress up as a more modest Playboy bunny. Any boy would fall for you dressed like that?” he replied, rolling his eyes. It seemed he was trying to change the subject. “Oh, so does that mean you like my costume, Jimmy? Has this little bunny gotten to ya?” you teased. Jimmy’s cheeks got red, as he no longer had his skull face makeup on. He started to stutter out half formed words, his tongue all twisted. You liked seeing so flustered like this. Seeing how you made him this way was kind of cute.

Since meeting Jimmy that faithful school day you started to grow some feelings for the short stocky teen. Seeing how he stood up to bullies, student and faculty alike, and how determined he was to rise to the top in order to survive the hellhole that is Bullsworth was most likely the cause. As well as the way he was so kind to you despite not really fitting in with the cliques of the student body. Heck, you weren’t even that close to Petey and Gary before Jimmy came along. Jimmy brought out the best in you and you loyally followed him on his chaotic adventures, even if they weren’t something you could see yourself doing.

So, your heart fluttered in your chest as you watched Jimmy struggle to find words to talk to you. “I - I actually do like your costume,” he finally admitted. Your heart soared and you tried to hide the impact his compliments had on you. “Really? What do you like about it? It’s nothing specially,” you bashfully replied. “Well, first it brings out your figure without revealing too much. It’s eye catching,” he revealed sheepishly. You could feel yourself blushing under your halloween makeup, it badly hiding your pink cheeks. “Thank you ...that means a lot coming from you,” you replied, flushed.

A stiff awkward silence followed, both of you trying to focus on the slasher film on the tiny TV. You reached over to grab a handful of popcorn without looking, but instead of grabbing the buttery treat, you ended up grabbing Jim’s hand as he also reached for the popcorn without looking. Your breath hitched at the feeling of his warm rough hand in yours, secretly reveling in the sensation. Your eyes trailed down to your conjoined hands, up his arm, and to his face. You were meet with dazzling brown eyes staring into your own. The world seemed to stop as you gazed at Jimmy’s freckled filled face, traces of his face paint still lingering on his skin from where he failed to wipe it off. You noticed the distance between you two was slowly disappearing as subconsciously leaned into each other. “Aw, fuck it,” you heard Jimmy mumble before closing the little distance between you two.

Jimmy’s lips met yours roughly, a little ‘Mmm!’ escaping from you. You couldn’t help but grab onto his stocky shoulders and melt into the kiss, quietly sighing as you did so. You could feel Jimmy’s hands move to grip your waist, everything feeling hot as stereotypical kissing noises filled the attic as you two moved your lips against each other. He taste like candy, you thought to yourself as a hand threaded through his short orange hair.

You could have gone on forever connected this way, but you were both human beings who need air to survive. So you unhappily had to separate from each other, gasping for air as you did so. You trailed a hand gently down Jimmy’s freckled cheek as he looked at you with hooded eyes. You could see the longing within them, one of his hands slowly moving off of your hip, it leaving a lingering touch. “J-Jimmy ...” you stuttered out, not knowing what to say. “That was great. God, how could I not have done that sooner?” Jimmy wondered out loud. “Done it sooner?” you pondered, brain all fuzzy from the kiss. “(Y/n), I like you, a lot. And after seeing Chad’s hands all over you ... I couldn’t handle it,” Jimmy confessed. You thought you died and went straight to heaven. No way your crush was confessing to you. “So, I what I’m basically trying to say is ... will be my girlfriend?” Jimmy finally asked.

You couldn’t stop yourself, planting a kiss right on Jimmy’s reddened lips. You felt Jimmy freeze up from the unexpected action, pulling away from the stiff boy to give him your answer. “Of course, Jimmy. I would be stupid not to,” you said, smiling from ear to ear. A similar smile broke out on Jimmy’s face, reaching out to you to pull you into another kiss. You happily let him, the smile still on your lips as were locked in a passionate embrace. Jimmy pulled you closer as you practically sat on his lap, his hands firmly holding you in his arms. “Best Halloween treat ever,” he chuckled, before proceeding to a makeout session. Best Halloween treat, indeed.

#bully #bully scholarship edition #bully video game #bully rockstar #jim hopkins #jimmy hopkins #jim hopkins imagine #jimmy hopkins imagine #jim hopkins x reader #jimmy hopkins x reader #bully imagine #bully scholarship edition imagine #bully x reader #bully scholarship edition x reader #bully video game imagine

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amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines · 3 years

Text

Reggie//i can't let you go now that i got it

Request: your last reggie mantle imagine was soooooo cute it was.... BIG FAV i'm still grinning! could you please do one where reader and reggie have been best friends their whole lives? she's super protective and sweet to him and like? she's been in love for years but has been hiding it well?? she gets him to come away with her to college because 'screw this town' and they live together? but eventually she starts going on dates and it makes him realize he's in love with her too?? mutual love confession

hey! so before you go any further trigger warning mentions of abuse, specifically around reggie and his dad. it’s not in detail but it is mentioned a few times so don’t read if that upsets you. the last thing i want you to be is sad. i hope you all have a good day anyway, whether you’re reading this or not! (title is from Børns ‘electric love’)

- For 18 years

- Reggie Mantle has been the only constant in your life

- Even when you were babies he was there

- Your mom’s sat beside each other in baby class, cooing and awing over each other’s kids

- All while 6 month old you stole 6 month old Reggie’s toy

- And then he cried so hard he vomited on not only himself but you as well

- Which then made you cry even louder

- And then your mom’s were asked to leave

- So instead

- It became a weekly thing for your mom to take you to The Mantle’s

- While her and Mrs Mantle gossiped and drank tea

- You and Reggie would hit each other with various stuffed toys.

- As you got older

- The weekly visits turned into daily ones

- Especially when you moved three houses away from him

- You and Reggie started to see each other more than your own parents did

- Your mom still went over once a week

- But when she arrived you were always usually there

- Either stood in the kitchen getting a snack

- Or lying on Reggie’s bed watching an awful movie he just ‘had to show you’

- They usually involved a hybrid of two animals

- Sometimes mythical, sometimes not

- But in all of them they were usually taking over the world

- They also always had the same four actors in

- But despite how much you protested

- ‘reggie? are you being serious? we watched this one last time.’

- ‘no, we watched molemaid last time. this is medusamaid. they’re completely different’

- ‘oh, sorry. my mistake’

- You actually secretly loved them

- Because they made him happy

- You would watch in awe as he laughed at stupid jokes

- And how his eyes would always light up at a particularly gruesome part, no matter how badly CGI’d it was

- You also listened to the countless of theories as to how ‘hurrik9’ is clearly the prequel to ‘hellhounds’ because ‘they’ve got the same main character! it doesn’t matter if they’re not played by the same person. y/n, they’ve got the same name.’

- You also listened to him complain about the inconsistencies between ‘werewombats 1’ and ‘werewombats 2’

- ‘no matter how much the director stands by the decision to make them turn on each other, despite the first film clearly stating that that’s the last thing they’d do.’

- But the thing you loved the most about it

- Was that he was only ever this way with you

- You’d been sworn to secrecy when you walked in on him watching ‘dinocano vs uniquake’

- And you promised never to tell anyone about his secret passion

- Or the fact that he had a stack of notebooks filled with plots and mini scripts for his own films.

- Reggie may have gotten popular

- But to you, he’s still the same Reggie you’ve always known.

- Whose scared of clowns but won’t admit it

- And cried when watching Edward Scissorhands but if anybody asks it was you

- And who hates hot chocolate, but its the only thing he’ll drink when he’s sick

- He also only eats pink marshmallows in months ending in R

- And white ones every other month

- But in December he has both...because its Christmas.

- Yeah, you and Reggie are best friends

- Always have been, always will

- But it doesn’t stop you from wanting more.

- It doesn’t stop the longing looks when you think no one is watching

- Or the lingering touches whenever he hugs you

- It doesn’t stop your heartbeat picking up whenever he walks into a room

- Or how you forget how to breathe whenever he looks at you

- You look forward to everyday, even if you have a pop quiz or homework you only remembered the night before

- Because he’s going to be there to make you smile

- Even if he isn’t doing it on purpose

- You look forward to the countless of texts he sends

- No matter how weird or ridiculous

- Like when he text you at half three in the morning to ask if birds were real because somebody told him they weren’t.

- You then got a text straight afterwards telling you that it would be great idea for a plot

- And you still answer every single one

- No matter how stupid they are

- It’s really a wonder how you get any sleep with your phone being on loud all the time

- But it’s worth it

- Especially when you get texts like

- ‘he’s done it again’

- Reggie’s relationship with his father complicated to say the least

- You remember when you were younger they used to be best friends

- Reggie idolized him

- And you’d have conversations in Reggie’s tree house, about how much he wanted to be just like his dad when he grew up

- But when he did grow up

- And started to develop a personality that didn’t just revolve around football

- Reggie no longer wanted to be just like his dad

- He wanted to be the furthest thing from him

- The first time it happened

- Reggie tried his hardest to hide it from you

- And for the first time in 8 years

- You went two days without seeing each other

- On the third day though

- You’d had enough

- So you went round to see him

- But when you asked his mom if he was in

- She lied and told you he had just gone out

- Even though you could clearly see him trying and failing to hide on the stairs

- So you did what any normal friend would do

- You climbed through his bedroom window

- With about as much grace and steal as you could muster

- Which surprisingly, wasn’t a lot

- And you gave him the fright of his life

- ‘what the hell are you doing here?’

- ‘you’re avoiding me’

- ‘i’m not. i’ve just been...busy’

- ‘doing what? fighting?’

- ‘what?’

- ‘your eye’

- ‘oh yeah...that’

- That was when you knew something was wrong

- You’ve known Reggie your entire laugh

- And you know the three things he’ll always boast about

- Girls, football and fighting

- ‘what happened?’

- When he told you

- You couldn’t believe what he was saying

- You wanted to find Marty Mantle and give him a black eye...see how he likes it

- But Reggie begged you not to do or say anything

- ‘it’ll only make it worse’

- ‘but its wrong. he should be locked up’

- ‘who’s going to believe me?’

- ‘me’

- ‘see...it was only one time anyway’

- So you agreed, reluctantly

- And you so wanted to believe it

- But then a few weeks later he turned up to school with a bust lip

- A month after that another bruise around his eye that he tried to hide behind sunglasses

- And by the time graduation rolled around

- Both of you had lost count of the sunglasses and excuses

- For three years he’d been trapped in a house with a father who thought hitting was the same as love

- And a mother who pretended it didn’t happen

- But now college was round the corner and that meant a chance for both of you

- Or at least thats what you thought

- ‘you didn’t get in?’

- ‘i didn’t get in.’

- ‘to any of them?’

- ‘nope’

- ‘reggi-’

- ‘it’s fine. my dad has always wanted me to work for him. i guess this will make him happy. even if i am the cleaner’

- ‘reg-’

- ‘please go’

- That summer was the longest one of your life

- It was even longer that the time Reggie had to get his appendix out and so you couldn’t hang out for a 3 weeks.

- For two and a half months

- You heard nothing from Reggie

- You text, called, DM’d and even E-mailed

- But you got nothing

- You went round at all times of the day to try and talk to him

- And every time Mrs Mantle answered and told you he was either out or busy

- Doing homework was her favourite excuse

- And Reggie has only ever done homework when you were doing the majority of it

- You even tried climbing in through his window again

- But he locked it

- So you watched every morning as he dragged himself into his dad’s car

- Wearing a stiff suit and a miserable expression

- No matter how hard you tried to get to him before the left

- How fast you ran or how early you got to his house

- They were always long gone before you managed to get anywhere close to him

- You missed the midnight texts about nothing

- You missed his stupid jokes

- You missed watching an entire room light up whenever he walked in

- You missed the way he made you feel, even if he was unaware of it

- You even missed watching his god-awful movies

- You just missed him

- And when he missed your leaving party

- That was the final straw

- At 7am the next morning

- You shoved the last of your boxes in the back of your car

- Said goodbye to your parents

- And drove away

- Three houses down the street

- Making sure your parents had gone back inside before stopping

- You sat outside for a few minutes

- Trying to think of what to do or say

- You knew his mom would answer the door

- And that you’d get the same excuses

- You also knew from the past few experiences that his window would still be locked

- So you threw rocks at his bedroom window in the hopes that when he’d check to see what it was, he’d leave it unlocked

- And he did!

- You watched from behind a bush as he hung his head out the window to look around

- His brow furrowed and hair messy

- Clearly he’d just woke up

- You couldn’t help the smile twitching at your lips

- You’d missed that face

- Climbing the window was a lot harder than it used to be

- Mr Mantle had taken the ladders away

- Another reason as to why he sucked

- But you managed eventually

- And you almost died only twice

- Which is good

- It’s better than three

- You landed on the carpet with a loud thud that made him jump half way across the room

- ‘y/n. what the hell are you doing here?’

- ‘it’s moving day. and i must say i’m very disappointed at the lack of preparation on your part. have you even started packing yet?’

- ‘it’s not funny y/n’

- ‘i know. do you see me laughing?’

- ‘i’m being serious y/n. just leave’

- ‘no’

- ‘what?’

- ‘the last time you told me to leave, i listened and i didn’t see you for two months, so no’

- ‘what about college’

- ‘what about it?’

- ‘it starts in three days’

- ‘i know. and if we stand here any longer we’re going to miss it. so get packed and lets go. it’s a nine hour drive and i’m not doing all of that alone’

- ‘you know i can’t go’

- ‘says who?’

- ‘my dad, every single college i applied for and me’

- ‘listen to me reggie. you are my best friend, you have been since we were babies. there’s not a part of my life you haven’t been in. do you really think that would stop at college?’

- ‘we didn’t spend the summer together’

- ‘and it was the worst summer of my life’

- ‘same...but that might have been because i was spending 12 hours a day in an office’

- ‘rude. but i’ll take it!’

- ‘i did miss you though. it was weird not seeing your face everyday’

- That makes your cheeks heat up and you have to force the flutter in your chest to go away

- ‘it always cheers me up’

- There it goes again and you want to claw at your chest until it’s no longer there

- Hope is a terrible thing to have when you’ve been in love with your best friend for your entire life

- ‘you always cheer me up’

- Oh dear...

- ‘i love you...a-as a friend. this summer has been the longest and most depressing for both of us. i don’t want to live the rest of my life like that. i need you reggie. so please pack your bags, say screw you to your dad and to this town and lets go’

- ‘what about money? where am i going to live?’

- ‘we’ll figure that out on the way there. just hurry up’

- And he did

- You and Reggie threw the majority of his belongings into any bag you could find

- He took all the money he’d been saving out of the poorly disguised fake plant

- And wrote a nice little note for his parents

- You also may have added a few choice words to it

- But what Reggie doesn’t know won’t hurt him

- And the two of you climbed into your car and never looked back

- The 9 hour car ride was the most fun you’ve ever had

- It was like you were trying to fit the entire summer you’d lost into those few hours

- It was filled with off key singing

- And stories of your summer

- His favourite being about Archie being tricked into going skinny dipping by himself

- You laughed loudly like nothing had happened

- And cried silently because everything had

- Thankfully when you arrived on campus, it was already night

- So you managed to sneak Reggie into your room

- And when you nervously told your roommate

- She just grinned at you

- ‘it’s fine, my boyfriend will probably be staying over a lot too’

- ‘oh, he’s not my boyfriend’

- ‘we’re not together’

- ‘...okay’

- She said with a knowing smile and you and Reggie shared a look

- And a year filled with adventures started

- Reggie got a job as a bartender with a little help from Veronica

- And you started your classes

- But nothing is ever easy

- At least not when it involves you or Reggie

- It turns out hiding a whole human is a lot more difficult that you anticipated.

- It involves Reggie squeezing into your closet

- And a whole team of people to get him to and from the showers

- But it was also difficult for another reason

- Because it was easy to hide your feelings from him when you lived in separate house

- But now you’re sharing a room

- And a bed

- And every time he would wrap his arms around you

- And pull in for a half asleep cuddle

- You’d forget how to breathe

- You’ve never been more excited to wake up

- Because he’d be all messy hair and parted lips with just a little bit of drool coming out of them that it would be cute instead of gross

- And when he said good morning in the same deep, tired voice

- You wanted to live in that feeling forever

- But then 2nd year rolled around and everything changed

- It all started when you moved into your own apartment

- You knew you had to but there was a part of you that hoped you could keep everything the same

- You found a tiny, two bedroom flat that you could both just about afford

- Reggie was so happy to have his own room

- ‘i won’t have to sleep next to you and your freezing cold feet anymore’

- ‘i’ll just sneak into your bed when your fast asleep and put them on you then instead’

- ‘i thought we were supposed to be friends’

- It took a few weeks to get used to an empty bed

- But eventually you started to sleep properly

- And it was quite nice to have your own space again

- It meant you could study without having to listen to ‘nighthawk nightmare’

- Honestly, you don’t really know what the plot of that one is

- But you’ve still seen it 7 times

- You may be in love with him but it doesn’t mean he can’t be annoying sometimes

- And you were happy with going back to admiring from afar

- Your heart can’t get broken that way

- In fact a small part of you thought he felt the same way

- That one glimmer of hope you felt a year ago

- Came back all of sudden

- And soon

- You became aware of the lingering touches

- And the gifts he’d buy you just because

- He also asked what you wanted to watch for your movie night

- And he’s never, ever done that unless you were sad or sick

- And even then, when you broke your arm a few years ago, he chose the film

- The way he looked at you suddenly felt different

- You would feel him staring, but when you would check he would always be scrolling through his phone

- And you’re sure the was a little bit of flirtiness in his tone whenever he spoke to you

- But just because you think you can’t be burnt if you stand far enough away from the fire

- Doesn’t mean that the sparks can’t jump out and get you anyway

- Because all of sudden Reggie started bringing girls home

- And every time you saw a t-shirt that wasn’t yours on the sofa

- Or a pair of shoes discarded by the door

- You felt yourself die a little

- After a few weeks of this

- Something in you snapped

- You’d spent the majority of your life pining after some boy who saw you as nothing more than a friend

- And sometimes a small part of you thought as just an escape route

- So you moped for a few weeks before deciding it was finally time to move on

- Reggie would only ever see you as a friend

- And that’s fine

- The only way to move on, is to move on.

- So you waited for the right guy to move on with

- And there were a few

- But none of them were right

- Until you met Daniel

- Sweet Daniel with curly brown hair and dimples

- Who studied history

- And spent his days sitting in the coffee shop on campus

- For a few weeks the two of you spent your short interactions stealing glances and exchanging shy smiles

- That evolved to small talk with flirty undertones

- Until finally he asked you out

- And you said yes

- And you kept saying yes to each date afterwards

- They were fun too

- He’d take you to museum's and on picnics and at night he’d pick you up and you’d go star gazing

- He would make you laugh when he’d tell you a joke

- And make you blush when he’s whisper in your ear while staring up at the sky

- But he wasn’t him

- And that killed you

- It doesn’t matter how many time he takes you to watch some unknown indie film thats supposed to be the greatest thing ever made

- It has nothing on standing outside the only cinema in town that’s showing ‘sharkcano vs tigerana’ in the freezing cold with Reggie wearing an absolutely ridiculous costumes that Reggie threw together last minute and somehow roped you into wearing too.

- But what hurt even more was watching how Reggie acted around you when you and Daniel started dating

- He looked hurt whenever he saw the two of you together

- And you would watch him roll his eyes whenever you mentioned him

- Until eventually he would just avoid you all together

- Do you know how hard it is to avoid someone when you’re living in the same 2 bedroom flat that barely gives two foot to yourself?

- It’s hard

- But Reggie finds a way

- Eventually you’re more roommates than friends

- And you really don’t know how much more you can take

- You feel like you’re about to break

- And Daniel can see that too

- So on Friday night he invites you to go drinking with him and his friends instead of staying in and moping

- ‘bye, i’m going out’

- ‘wait’

- The speed of which he runs from his room and into the living room where your stood, startles you to say the least

- ‘what?’

- ‘don’t go out with him.’

- ‘why not? what ever george has told you about is a lie. george does that. he once told a bunch of people that you streaked in an old people’s home and almost killed his grandmother’

- ‘because he isn’t me’

- You’ve dreamt of those words

- Built them up in your head for years

- But in all of your daydreams, there’s never been a scenario like this one

- Not one where you’re about to leave to go on a date with another guy

- ‘reggie? what are you talking about?’

- You need to make sure he’s saying what you think he’s saying

- Because you can feel yourself hoping again

- And you know if he doesn’t mean what you want him to

- You don’t think you’ll be able to recover

- ‘i love you y/n. you’re my best friend, you always have been, you always will be and i love you.’

- ‘reg-’

- ‘please tell me you feel the same way’

- ‘i-’

- In your head you had a full oscar worthy speech planned out just in case this ever happened

- But now you’re here in the moment.

- You have no idea what to say

- ‘it doesn’t matter. just leave’

- ‘no’

- ‘what?’

- ‘do you really think i’m going to walk away from you after that? when have i ever walked away from you?’

- ‘i-no’

- ‘i love you too by the way. if you care’

- ‘shut up...wait really?’

- ‘yes i do. i’ve loved you for as long as i can remember so are you going to just stand there or are you going to kiss me?’

- ‘i’m definitely going to kiss you’

- ‘good’

- And he does

- He’s standing in front of you before you can catch your breath

- His hands reach up to cup your cheeks

- His lips part as he stares down at you

- And you’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he’s looking at you

- Like you’re everything good and light in the universe

- And like he’s also been waiting just as long for this moment

- Maybe he has

- Maybe he’s been waiting all his life for this

- He just didn’t know

- You feel whatever breath you had left leave your lungs

- His lips are soft against yours, but he gets his point across

- And you’ve never been happier

- All the heartache and tears

- The laughter and stupid jokes

- The 3am texts

- The constant worrying

- The early mornings and late nights

- The damage to limbs from trying to fit in tiny closets

- And the scrapes on your ankles and bruising on your legs from crawling through his bedroom window

- They’re all worth it

- ‘are you still going on your date?’

- ‘what do you think?’

- ‘good. because they’ve just released werewombats 3’

#reggie mantle #reggie mantle imagine #reggie mantle x reader #reggie mantle x you #reggie mantle x y/n #reggie #reggie imagine #reggie x reader #riverdale #riverdale imagine

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astringofmadhousefloozies · 3 years

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Surprises

Surprises of all kinds, found after a shopping trip goes wrong. Content warning for coarse language, sexuality, threats of violence, mentions of suicide and incest, and copious amounts of headcanons.

As always, there is more in my Twisted Wonderland Fanfiction tag, and send me a message if you liked it, I crave positive feedback.

~*~*~*~

TXT: where the fuck are you guys it's already quarter past

After a few minutes, you got a ding.

M: idia doenst want t leave something about a person see you aftr he needs freind

Oh goddammit, it's so fucking hard to get him out and about. At least Mal was with him.

You looked to Grim at your feet. "Looks like it's just us, buddy."

~*~*~*~

It was just you and Grim browsing through the dollar store, when a boy in a ratty shop apron came up to you. "Ma'am?"

You turned to him, and he coughed. "Uh, Miss. You're not supposed to have pets in the store."

Grim bristled at him. "I'm not a pet!"

Poor kid, he looked so startled. And you decided to make it worse, because yanno, why not. "How dare you refer to my son as a pet! Does he look like a pet to you?"

He looked between your face and Grim's, confusion growing. "Wh-"

"I know the resemblance isn't the strongest, but honestly! How could you say such mean things about him!"

Grim, bless him, actually caught on and decided to play along for the chaos of it. "Why are you being so mean to me? My mom works hard to keep me happy! She said I could pick out a toy today!"

The confusion had turned to anger. "That's not your kid! You're too young and he's an animal!"

Grim looked up at you, mock tears in his eyes. "I'm your kid, right? I'm not adopted like the boys at school say?" He started sniffling. "I'm not adopted, right?"

You clapped your hands over Grim's ears and glared at the now horrified shopboy. "Look what you've done! I hadn't told him yet!"

He just fled in horror, and it was all you could do to keep from laughing.

~*~*~*~

The village on the island wasn't the worst appointed. Being equidistant between two prestigious magic schools, it had a few places worth going, and after hitting up your personal favourite, you went to a small park, settled down on a bench, and started unwrapping your prizes.

You have a love for gashapon machines that bordered on a serious problem. In your biweekly trips to buy snacks and supplies to stock up your miserable, beautiful dorm, you easily fed 3000 madol (which you think was about thirty-five dollars or so at home, but couldn't be sure) into the long rows of machines in the drug store, coming out with tiny keychains, figures, and various useless but wonderful little totchkes that you kept lined up in rows in your bedroom. The joys of tiny presents! And the containers were useful too; for a creature who heavily insisted he wasn't a cat, Grim lost his shit like one every time your rolled a ball with a bell inside across the floor.

You were marveling over a tiny, perfectly realistic jellyfish on a phone strap as someone sat down heavily beside you. "Is that," they pointed to Grim poking his way around the cattails by an ornamental pond, "yours?"

"... Yes?" You turned to examine your seatmate. Charmingly strange looking, they sat impeccably robed in forest green velvet and squinted at you from behind perfectly round sunglasses. Flat-faced and thin-lipped, they reminded you of a toad, with their roundness and severe expression.

"Ah, then you are the one I am looking for. You're the pet of the prince."

"I'm a friend of his. Is that a problem?" You decided to keep opening your prizes, and pulled out a heavy ball from the bottom of your bag.

"His Highness does not have human friends."

"And yet, I am." This one, unwrapped, was the chase in the set: a tiny cauldron the size of a thimble that seemed to be actual cast iron. The chill of it was pleasant in your hand, and instead of returning it to your bag, you left it in your lap.

This presumptive stranger leaned in. "You're a diversion. A distraction from what he should be learning. Instead he plays with mortals and lets them forget their place."

"If it was so important that he didn't play with mortals, then why was he allowed to attend here?" You got a cheap set of rings on a goldtone chain in this one. Boo. You'd wanted the miniature necklace of the set for your doll. "He's very happy with the company of us all."

"Too happy. He forgets his place." The toady eyed the glittering paste gems before looking away. "Above you. Instead he crawls into your lap and serves you like a dog."

You froze. "Now, where did you get that idea?"

"We have sources." They leaned in further, smiling. A barely perceptible line of triangular teeth, sparsely placed and translucent in tone. "Foul things happen to the unwanted lovers of heirs, don't you know?"

"I am a wanted friend."

"You're a parasite who should flee."

You realized something, and turned to face your strange benchmate. "Why are you threatened by me?"

They scoffed. "Why would we be threatened by you?"

"If you weren't," you said, dropping your voice as your leaned in, "then you wouldn't be here trying to put the fear into me." They leaned back, glasses slipping off their nose. The eyes in their face were exquisite, shining gold and black speckles with a ring of gold around an oval pupil. You could help but laugh. "Pretty eyes. You really are a toad. Who sent you? The Thorn Witch? Can't be, I'm not worth her time and if I was, she'd've sent a fucking letter."

"We're a concerned party, preventing our future king from making the mistake of dealing with filth."

Well, that one pissed you off. You grabbed their wrist, feeling bumps and warts on their skin through the fabric, and pressed the tiny cauldron to the back on their hand as they started screeching.

"You," you looked them dead in their impossibly lovely eyes, "You go back where you came from, tell them I'm not a threat to whatever stupid bullshit they're worried about, and never bother us again. Or I will make you swallow this and you'll beg the precious prince you're so damned worried about to burn you alive to stop the pain."

You'd never seen anyone run so fast in your life when you let them go.

"Hey, Grim! We gotta go."

~*~*~*~

TXT: MAL SOMEONE SENT ME A TOADY SAYING I CAN'T BE AROUND YOU ANYMORE

TXT: MIGHTA BEEN YOUR GMA BUT I DON'T THINK SO

~*~*~*~

"I'm gonna kill that fucker."

"Killing them might start an international incident. If one hasn't happened already. You burnt them with iron, Yuu."

"I should have done worse! Whoever the fuck they were, that's two friends they've tried to threaten to stay away from you! That we know of!"

It turns out that the mystery toady had been the person to scare the piss out of Idia the night before. Not that they'd gotten far into their leave-the-prince-alone spiel, Idia had simply kicked them square in the stomach and fled, assuming another kidnapping attempt.

"It wouldn't have been my grandmother. In the last letter I got from her, she said it was very nice that I was making friends. She said to keep making them, even."

"She'd probably care if she knew you were sleeping with said friends." Idia was curled into the corner of his bed, and from the looks of it hadn't slept since his own encounter.

"No she wouldn't."

"You sure about that?"

You'd said that that was only going to happen once. Everyone agreed. But when all three of you settled in to play a game or watch a movie, hands moved and bodies flushed and you all seemed to find yourself tangled and gasping. And it didn't seem to require all three of you - you no longer had the strength to say no to Mal's obvious advances, and you'd walked in on your boys more than once. At least you were still friends? Really, really close friends?

"She wouldn't."

"Could they be worried about heirs?" That seemed logical. Even if no accidents were happening, they might not know that.

"That's not possible."

You raised an eyebrow. Everything worked right, and you all knew it.

Mal looked back at you. "Yuu, I hatched from an egg. I could have you both five times a day for a decade and all there would be to show for it is you couldn't walk. I cannot have children with either of you without magical intervention."

Idia made a truly impressive death rattle before mumbling something about the end of his bloodline, and you just nodded. "Makes sense."

"It's quite interesting, really, it requires numerous spells and potions, that if not kept up on, the babe will-" Malleus placed his hands together, back to back, and mimed the motion of tearing something open.

You flinched. "That's awful, goddamn."

"I have a direct ancestor who took a great deal of human women as breeding stock and simply let them be eaten from the inside out. That's what started one of the earlier human/faerie wars."

"... Wow."

"I am not proud of her."

"Can we please talk about anything else?" Idia looked ready to be sick. "I don't want to think about any of this."

"Sure, let's grab one of your doujins."

~*~*~*~

"So you're already engaged?"

"As soon as it was clear I would survive to adulthood, yes. Idia, what is this series?"

"Nyan Neko Sugar Girls. It's not that great storywise, but it has great gags." He reached over and grabbed the next one in his pile. "It's not that unusual. My mother wanted Ortho to marry my cousin Alecto when they grew up, before..."

"Before he made a lifestyle change?" That seemed the politest way to put it.

"Before she went to the criminal ward."

You shut your book with a soft thump. "What?"

"I remember the trial." Mal sighed. "Strychnine in the sugar bowl at Sunday dinner. I made sure to get the newspapers sent to the palace."

"Mother was heartbroken over it, until she realized that the wealth of that entire Shroud branch defaulted back to us." Idia shrugged. "It's sad. She was just eleven. I still send her emails."

"Idia."

"Mm?"

"Why the fuck would an eleven year old poison someone?"

"My uncle said she couldn't get a puppy until her grades went up."

"What the fuck." You'd lie down if you weren't already doing so.

"It's the curse." He sighed. "We thought she might've been from an affair? But that proved it."

"My dearest Shroud, you can't guarantee it was from the curse." Malleus turned a page. "It might have been trauma from her mother's death."

You could see more bad history incoming. "Oh no."

"Alecto was from Uncle Jo's first marriage, to my dad's cousin Alita. She had a sister, but when her mother drowned herself, she only took-"

"Is this normal for your family? Or is that just some exceptional bad luck?"

He leaned in, lamplight eyes flashing. "Out of all the Shrouds of my generation that are still capable of inheriting, I'm the most mentally sound."

Both you and Mal had to stop and really consider the implications of that.

"So, Mal. Yours isn't that closely related?"

"Fifth cousins at most when they're finally born."

You sat up. "What?"

"I'm supposed to marry the third grandchild of the Hollyoak Baron. They're a well-respected family, and of snake fae descent so little aid will be needed for conception. His eldest child is in..." He had to think about what words to use. " I believe the term is 'middle school'?"

"They really planned it that far ahead?"

Mal shrugged, the movement rolling down his whole body. "I cannot complain. It gives me a very long time to learn how to be a husband before I have to be one."

"But what if you don't like them?"

"Marriage is chiefly a contract to produce heirs. I'll learn to like them, and ideally love them."

"And if you don't?"

"I'll still treat them as kindly as I can."

"And I suppose you'd take a lover."

"Maybe. They can too, as long as all the children are mine. For legal reasons," he added.

Idia, snapping out of his thoughts, tapped Mal's shoulder. "Does the Hollyoak Baron have any friends who are toad faeries?"

It was Mal's turn to sit up. "That... He could be worried that if I have favourites at school, I'll resent my betrothed for not being either of you. Or that I would attempt to break it off entirely."

"That still doesn't tell us how he found out about..." You gestured around the room.

Idia rolled his eyes. "All that would have to happen is any one student from the Valley of Thorns writing a letter home."

"But -"

"Malleus, you're not shy in your affections. At all."

"Yes I am," he bristled.

~*~*~*~

"Mal?"

"Mmph?"

"You have to put me down. I have class."

He made a slightly different mmph and shook his head.

You tried to pat his head, but your arms were securely pinned to your sides. "I know they're fantastic, but you have to stop."

He still refused to remove his face from your chest, making a noise that could have been purring if it cane from anyone who was a proper mammal.

"Mal, we're blocking traffic."

He still wasn't putting you down, instead swaying slightly in place.

A familiar long-fingered hand with dark nails reached from behind you and tugged at Mal's lapel. "Malleus, please stop, it's ten AM and everyone is staring."

Mal finally put you down - only to switch targets, wrapping his arms around Idia's waist and pulling him flush, fixing him with such a look of besotted fondness that you immediately felt like you were intruding.

"You look beautiful today."

Idia immediately burst into a ball of pink flame.

~*~*~*~

"... Perhaps I am a bit obvious."

Idia stared up at his ceiling. "You'd be at home in my otome games."

You chimed in. "What would be obvious, in your mind?"

"Very easy. I finish the paperwork declaring you Lord and Lady of the Bedchamber and have you officially ensconced as Court of Thorns royalty, ensuring you're both taken care of for the rest of your days."

"... Finish?"

"It seemed the easiest thing to do if either of you chose to visit my homeland."

You swatted his leg. "And you didn't think to ask us first?"

Mal was starting to clue in that he had once again overreached himself. "... Surprise?"

"I'm okay with it."

You glared over at Idia. "That's not the point."

"Look, if I ever get disinherited, I have a place to go. He won't make me go outside if I don't want to. I'll bring Ortho. It'll be great."

"They don't even have dial-up over there, Idia. Lilia told me he had to get all this stuff installed to play his MMOs."

Idia pointed at Mal, easy smile turned to outrage. "How dare you try and trap me!"

It honestly seemed like Mal and Idia had switched expressions, the look of worry on his face so strange. "It's a protective measure! If you're titled, people will get in trouble if they try and remove you!"

"That's still... wait." The gears were turning in your head. "If you finish that paperwork, whoever sent Mixter Toad is going to get in so much more trouble."

Everyone went silent as they considered this.

"... As soon as I get the official permission from my grandmother. She won't like it very much, but if I explain..."

Idia turned to Mal. "You were going to make your human fucktoys official members of the Court of Thorns without telling your grandmother, the queen. Who has a notable and often justified dislike of humans."

"No?"

"Mal."

"I simply prepared ahead."

"Mal."

"I - "

"Malleus." You leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You're so goddamned stupid. Love you."

He didn't say it back with words, but you got the message loud and clear.

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland fanfiction #idia shroud #malleus draconia

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lifeofkaze · 3 years

Text

An Art of Balance #27

Orion Amari x MC

A/N: Greatest thanks to @carewyncromwell for being the best beta reader ever and knowing my characters better than I do! <3 Also, please don't be mad with me, okay? *ducks from angry Charlie fans*

Word Count: ~ 3.100

_________________________________________________

Chapter 26: Skewed Perceptions

To distract herself from her mind crushing thoughts, Lizzie wandered the sunny grounds for some time. She had no particular destination in mind but it was still too early to meet Charlie at the Reserve and the thought of returning to the castle made her feel positively sick. All that was waiting for her there were Rowan, the nasty rumours and the judging stares of her peers. The thought alone had her throat tightening; out here, under the open sky, she at least felt like she could breathe more freely.

The fresh air and sunshine helped restore her physical energy, but Lizzie didn’t feel better at all. She had no eye for the budding flowers lining the pathways or the blinking of the sun on the surface of the Black Lake. All she could focus on was keeping the broken pieces of her heart together. Orion had looked so resigned when she had informed him of her decision, and even though he had been quick to keep himself in check, the flash of disappointment shining in his eyes hadn’t been lost on her.

Every time she thought of him, the longing for his company grew almost unbearable. The realisation of what she had thrown away before it could even have a chance to begin threatened to suffocate her.

Lizzie was blinking back the tears that just didn’t want to stop welling up in her eyes, but she refused to cry any more of them. She had brought this upon herself after all and had done the right thing in the end. Maybe the pain tearing at her insides was the just punishment for all the lies she had told to the ones she supposedly held so dear.

After some more aimless wandering, Lizzie directed her steps towards the Creatures Reserve. She had just passed Hagrid’s hut, when the faint sound of her name had her stop and turn around.

Skye was jogging down the steps that led back to the castle. Apparently, Penny’s Pepper-Up Potion had finally kicked in; Skye was looking a lot fresher than before; her face had a healthy colour from running and her movements were full of her typical vigour, a stark contrast to Lizzie’s sorry state. But she highly doubted any potion in the world would have helped her feel better anyway.

“Jameson,” she shouted again as soon as she was within earshot. She quickly caught up with Lizzie, her breath not even unsteady. “There you are, I’ve been looking for you.”

“Well, now you found me,” Lizzie answered wryly, not really in the mood for a conversation. She hadn’t seen Skye since that morning, when she had shut a door in her face to keep her from prying.

Skye put her hands to her hips and looked her up and down. “We need to have a word.”

Lizzie couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Seems like I’m doing nothing but talking today.”

“You’re going to tell me what the hell’s going on right now,” Skye huffed, bluntly ignoring Lizzie’s sarcasm. “Rowan and Penny are acting all weird and I heard that moron Everett talking shit about you in the Common Room.”

Her green eyes flashed angrily. “Gave him a bloody piece of my mind. He’s been badmouthing you all over the school, it seems.”

Relief washed over Lizzie at hearing Skye’s words. Of course, having a teammate spreading stories about her was awful, but at least it hadn’t been Rowan’s work after all. Lizzie felt yet another pang of guilt at having suspected her in the first place.

“What did he say?” she sighed. She did have a good guess, but wanted to hear it from Skye herself.

“He said you’ve been messing with Weasley and the captain at the same time.” She snorted in disgust as she continued. “Called you a few very nasty things as well, but I’m pretty sure he won’t repeat those anymore.”

Lizzie rubbed her temples; the pain hammering behind them was starting to come back at her words, spreading down into her jaw and neck. “Do I even want to know what you did?”

Skye’s expression didn’t even flinch. “Probably not; so please tell me risking eternal detention was justified and he’s deranged and made everything up.”

Lizzie felt like she was being caught in a continuous loop when she replied with a vague “Well, kind of.”

Skye’s eyes went wide and her face quickly changed colour. ”What do you mean, kind of?!” she gasped incredulously and gripped Lizzie’s shoulders. Her headache was intensifying quickly as Skye started shaking her.

“Relax; not like you think,” she hurriedly replied to calm Skye’s panic. “There’s nothing going on between Charlie and me. No meddling outside of the team, don’t worry,” she couldn’t help but add sardonically.

Skye was silent for a moment as she let the information sink in. Her eyes narrowed. “So that was Orion’s coat this morning?”

Lizzie bit her lip and as she wound herself out of Skye’s grasp. “Do you really need an answer?”

But Skye wasn’t having any of it and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You bet.”

With a sigh, Lizzie started recounting what had happened after she had left her and Penny at the party yesterday for the second time. With how often the scenes had played in her mind, it felt like close to the hundredth time, though.

Skye’s jaw dropped at the same rate that Lizzie grew more miserable. It felt like poking into an open wound that had just stopped bleeding again and again.

When Lizzie reached the point where Rowan had caught her and Orion kissing – the thought alone sent her emotions into overdrive again and had her cheeks blush dark red even now – the sympathy on Skye’s face quickly turned to worry, flowing seamlessly into something resembling a mild panic. It was only then, when she felt the tears trickling down her face, that Lizzie realised she was crying again.

She wiped at her eyes angrily but it was no use; the tears were spilling down her cheeks and she couldn’t help the sobs shaking her body.

Lizzie didn’t recall having cried in front of Skye ever before; up until when Skye had opened up to her about her father, they had never gotten so personal before. They would have rather cheered each other up straight away, than ride out their breakdowns together. It felt like crossing an invisible line; neither of them was used to comforting the other through some serious heartache.

“Blimey, Liz…” Her tone was unnaturally uncertain. She laid her hand on Lizzie’s back in an awkward motion and started patting it clumsily.

Lizzie had cried so much already, she was honestly sick of it; Skye’s crude attempts at cheering her up made her smile despite herself. She straightened her shoulders and wiped her eyes; Skye was visibly relieved to see her regain her composure.

“I’m alright, don’t worry. Thank you for standing up for me to Everett, in any case.”

Skye grinned and elbowed her into her side. “We’re mates after all, I’ll always have your back.”

Her smile faded a little as she continued cautiously. “So, what’s the deal with you and the captain now? It’ll rattle the team like hell, you know.”

“No, it won’t, whatever happened between him and me isn’t going anywhere; I had to promise Rowan.”

“Oh,” was all Skye managed as a reply, the wind taken out of her speech on team ethics before she had even begun. She was clearly looking for the right words to say but didn’t find any.

“Perhaps it’s better for all of us that way,” she finally said.

When Lizzie raised her eyebrows doubtingly, she quickly clarified, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really, truly sorry for you guys, but I told you there’s a reason the Pro League wants their players to stay on friendly terms. Getting involved messes with the head.”

Another grin formed on her face, looking maybe a bit too jaunty, but Lizzie knew she was doing her best to cheer her up.

“Look on the bright side, Jameson; now that that’s out of the way, we all can completely focus on smashing Gryffindor and finally get our hands on that bloody Cup. You’ll see, no feelings, no distractions.”

Lizzie’s head was still spinning from Skye’s words as she finally made her way to the Creatures Reserve. Usually, she would have dismissed Skye’s attitude with an eyeroll or a snarky comment, but she couldn’t help the thought that perhaps this time Skye was right.

It was not like her situation could get any worse, so why not put her focus on something that she could actually control for a change?

She found Charlie right at the edge of the Forbidden Forest; he was sitting on the ground surrounded by an assortment of Wiggentrees, several Bowtruckles climbing up and down his back, shoulders and outstretched arms.

When he saw her approach, he gently placed them back onto their branches and got up with a warm smile.

“Hey Shortcake, how did it go?”

Her mind was still preoccupied with processing everything that had gone down since she had last seen him, so Lizzie didn’t immediately catch on with Charlie’s meaning. “What?”

“You said you wanted to get to the root of the talking, remember?”

“Oh yeah, right,” she mumbled absentmindedly. She had totally forgotten about what had made her seek out Rowan in the first place. “According to Skye, it was Everett, our moron of a Beater.”

Confused, Charlie tilted his head. “Why would he do that?”

Lizzie could only shrug; to be perfectly honest, she was past caring at this point. “He’s jealous, I guess; he couldn’t land with me when tried, so that’s probably his comeback now.”

“But why tell you’re with me?”

“Because it’s the best way to get back at me and Orion at the same time,” she sighed. “He can’t stand the fact that I prefer someone else to him.” She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “As if he had ever been an option.”

“I know he’s your teammate and all but, damn, what a bloody jerk,” Charlie huffed. “He’d better learn to live with his injured pride now that you and Amari are finally going places.”

Much to his surprise, Lizzie’s face fell at his words. “No, we aren’t,” she declared with a defeated voice. “I called things off with him for Rowan,” she explained at Charlie’s astonished expression.

“I’m really sorry to hear that.” His face softened with sympathy at Lizzie’s apparent distress. “How do you feel now? Do you want to talk about it?”

Lizzie knew she would start crying again if she had to dissect her feelings one more time, even if she knew Charlie genuinely cared. So she swallowed the lump building in her throat, straightened her shoulders and put on the most light-hearted smile she could muster.

“I’m alright; it was the right thing to do in the end,” she stated with a firm voice.

Charlie’s eyes didn’t leave her face for a second. “Are you sure? You know you can always talk to me, I’m here for you.”

When she shook her head, he offered her a tentative smile. “What are you going to do now? Things are bound to get really weird, aren’t they?”

Lizzie groaned; she hadn’t even thought that far ahead. “I don’t even know how to look Orion in the face at the moment; just imagine how awkward Quidditch practise is going to be from now on.”

“Well, I can’t complain too much about that tight-knit team of yours getting rattled,” Charlie winked jokingly in an attempt to cheer her up; he couldn’t stand Lizzie looking so miserable. “Maybe that’s exactly the advantage we need against you in the final.”

He knew immediately his joke had been misplaced when he saw the incredulity forming on Lizzie’s face.

“Good to hear at least someone knows how profit from my heartache,” she hissed at him. Her eyes had narrowed dangerously and her whole posture was suddenly tense. Where she had been downcast but still relaxed before, she now radiated an angry, aggressive energy.

“Woah, hold on, it was only a joke.” Charlie raised his hands defensively but Lizzie continued glaring at him.

“It’s not a joke to me!” she exclaimed, her raised voice scaring the Bowtruckles further into their trees in a scurry. Her eyes were flashing furiously; all the frustration and suppressed anger at herself, Rowan and the whole situation was breaking it’s way at Charlie’s expense.

Charlie’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What’s even going on? I thought you said you were alright?”

“I am alright!” she shot back immediately. “The only thing not alright is you being perfectly happy about this shipwreck of a situation.”

Before he could stop himself, a disbelieving laugh escaped his mouth; Lizzie’s accusation was too absurd. “What in Godric’s name are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?”

But Lizzie was working herself into a rage. “Oh, come on Charlie,” she huffed, “both of us know you don’t like Orion and never have. But now you don’t have to worry anymore, nothing is going change any time soon; you’ll have me all to yourself.”

“Stop being so full of yourself, girl; arrogance doesn’t suit you much. This is not true and you know it.”

He had never seen Lizzie so livid before. He regretted having made his joke in the first place, but her aggressive tone was starting to make him angry as well.

“Is it?” she sneered. “That’s exactly the reason why I didn’t tell you anything in the first place. I knew you’d never understand, all you care about is us playing with magical creatures for the rest of our school years. But that’s not how it goes, Charlie; things are changing, people are changing!”

Her words hurt him more than she could possibly know. “All I ever did was support you and set your head straight when you needed it,” he responded through clenched teeth.

“Yes, tell that to yourself,” she snorted dismissively. “I thought you were my friend, but instead of showing a bit of compassion, you have nothing better to do than to make fun of me, while everything actually suits you perfectly!”

He felt his face go red at her accusation. “I can’t believe you’re saying that! As if I’d ever be capable of playing you like that; you’re my best friend!”

His voice had grown considerably louder as well; they were facing each other now, both of their eyes shooting daggers. Charlie couldn’t remember a single time he and Lizzie had screamed at each other.

Now, as she was looking him up and down, her beautiful face twisted into an angry sneer, he almost shuddered at the coldness in her eyes. “Your best friend, huh? I’m not so sure about that one right now.”

Charlie had heard enough. “You know what, Lizzie? Maybe you’re right, maybe people are changing. I feel like I don’t know you anymore these days.”

She flinched at hearing her actual name out of his mouth; Charlie almost never called her anything but affectionate nicknames.

He gathered his bag from the ground and slung it over his shoulder in a furious motion, not even trying to conceal his hurt and disappointment anymore.

“You have changed a lot this year, but certainly not for the better. You want to get rid of these rumours?” He barked a humourless laugh that echoed back from the dark trees. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure people won’t see us together anymore.”

With that, he pushed past her and left her standing alone amongst the scared looking Bowtruckles.

Lizzie immediately regretted lashing out at him, all of her anger blowing out in an instant. The hurt in Charlie’s voice was palpable, every word feeling like a slap to her face. It was bringing her back to her senses.

“Charlie, wait!”

But he was already rounding the corner of the path leading back to the castle without so much as looking back at her.

She wanted to run after him and apologise, but she knew it would have been pointless. There was no use in arguing with Charlie when he was angry; he needed time to cool off first before she had a chance to get through to him again.

Lizzie stared at the bend in the path where he had vanished out of her sight. Charlie had been the only one of her friends who had stuck with her all the time, not even judging her once, and she had nothing better to do than let her frustration out on him.

Feeling suddenly deflated, Lizzie leaned against the nearest Wiggentree and closed her eyes. If it wasn’t for the pain still gnawing at her head, she would have been convinced all of this was nothing but a nightmare. But she knew she wouldn’t wake up out of this one.

When she felt a slight tickling against her cheek, she opened her eyes again and looked down to find one of the Bowtruckles had climbed from his branch onto her shoulder. It was raking its long, spindly fingers against her face and looked at her curiously, probably hoping for a little snack.

Lizzie held her hand out and the little creature started climbing it, wandering up her arm onto her other shoulder. She watched it absentmindedly as she thought about how many of her friends she had managed to disappoint in less than a full day.

She had betrayed Rowan’s trust; she had turned away from Orion without even giving him a say in the matter; she had ignored all of Skye’s warnings and probably plunged their team into disarray; and now she had deeply hurt Charlie by unfairly questioning his motives.

Lizzie buried her hand deep in her pockets after she had set the Bowtruckle back onto its branch and reluctantly turned her steps back towards the school.

Her eyes being firmly fixed onto the ground, she tried to ignore the scattered groups of students enjoying the beautiful weather as she was nearing the castle gates. On a normal day, she would have been among them, enjoying some downtime with her friends, eagerly looking forward to their final match in pursuit of the Cup. She couldn’t have felt further from this normality she craved like nothing else.

All of a sudden, she felt very alone.

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #quidditch #orion amari #charlie weasley #lizzie jameson #skye parkin #aob #art of balance #the quidditch squad

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criminallyfanatic · 4 years

Text

secrets and lies

Aaron Hotchner and Y/N Y/L/N haven’t seen each other since Y/N mysteriously dropped out of Law School right before finals. 16 years later and the meet again as she joins his team at the BAU. Will Aaron finally find out why she left? (set around season 6 time)

aaron hotchner x reader

warnings: some swearing and mentions of murder, just your usual criminal minds antics

a/n - I haven’t written in so long so apologise if it’s not great :) also I have no idea how law school in America works so apologise for any inconsistencies there

“You have an excellent record Agent (Y/L/N), the BAU would be lucky to have you.”

She scanned over your file one last time before settling it on her desk, turning her eyes to you.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity maam” her eyes seemed to stare through you, sizing you up and you shifted slightly in your seat.

“Good. I’m sure you’ll fit right in, with such an impressive history. You’ll start with Agent Hotchner’s team monday morning.”

One mention of his name and it felt like your heart stopped. No, this had to be some sort of mistake.

“Is something wrong, Agent (Y/L/N)?” Her brows furrowed in concern, no doubt noticing the sudden tension that seemed to fill your whole body.

“No, it’s just … when I applied for this job I was told I would be placed on Agent Walters team maam.” please let it be a mistake. Please.

“I’m afraid you were misinformed. This position is on Agent Hotchner's team. Will that be a problem for you?”

YES

“No, not at all. Thank you so much, for this opportunity.”

FUCK

Just open the door. It’s simple. Just push the door open and walk in. He’s probably not even here. And if he is, he probably wouldn’t even recognise you. Or even remember you. Yeah …

Fuck

“Hi!” you jump as someone taps your shoulder, clutching your chest as your heart thunders against it “Oh my god i’m so sorry!”

You turn, coming face to face with quite possibly the most vibrant woman you have ever met. She offers you a tentative smile, her eyes full of concern, scanning your face for any sign of anger or fear.

“I’m so sorry,” she reaches out a hand and lays it on your shoulder, “are you alright?”

“Yes. Sorry. Lost in my own head.”

She appears relieved, happy she didn’t cause any permanent damage.

‘Hi, I’m Penelope Garcia” She reaches out a hand for you to shake, her smile returning tenfold. It almost seems to emanate light, like she makes everything around her shine. It was infectious, and you soon found yourself with a similar smile on your face, all awkwardness forgotten

“Y/N Y/L/N”

Her eyes seem to triple in size at the mention of your name, her grip on your hand tightening.

“Oh my gosh you’re the new agent! I just saw your name come through on the system. It’s so great to meet you. I’m Penelope Garcia, the technical analyst,” She’s shaking your hand again, this time quite vigorously, “Come on, let me introduce you to the rest of the team.” taking the hand she was shaking she now leads you through the impenetrable glass doors and into the bullpen.

“Guy, come meet (Y/N)!” with her free hand she waves at a group of agents all huddled around one person's desk. At her call they all turn to look at you, and all of a sudden the anxiety of meeting new people suddenly overwhelms the fear of meeting an old friend. “She’s the newest addition to our wonderful team.”

Quite suddenly you're enveloped by a swarm of agents, all introducing themselves to you, asking you about your past, your family, your life. And it’s nice. Overwhelming, but nice. They’re all so friendly, and you can tell they’re all so close. Like a family. It puts you at ease and soon you’re laughing along with them.

“Have I missed a memo or something?”

The voice comes from behind you, and it feels like someone is pouring a bucket of ice cold water down your back. You feel the tension come flooding back and you daren’t turn around.

“Hotch, have you met the agent joining our team?”

Everyone is staring at you, expectant. Your move.

Just turn around. Get it over with. Like ripping off a plaster.

You can feel his eyes on you, burning holes into your back. JUST TURN AROUND

You turn around.

“Hey Aaron.”

You could practically hear the gears turning in everyone's heads.

You knew Hotch? How did you know Hotch? HOTCH HAD A LIFE BEFORE THE BAU?

You drowned them out, focusing entirely on Aaron. For a moment, you could see every emotion on his face, written plainly for you to read. The fear, the surprise … the regret. You always were good at reading him. A moment later he was back to his cold exterior. Unreadable. Unknowable.

All at once his body jumped into motion. He moved the last few steps towards you, reaching out his hand hesitantly, as if not quite sure how to approach this situation.

How do you approach this situation? If only he knew just how weird it was

You took his hand, it practically enveloped yours, and it was so warm, familiar -

PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER

“It’s good to see you again (Y/N)”

“Likewise”

The stares of the other agents came from all sides, clearly trying to decipher just what was happening here. The silence was deafening, the noise of the bustling bullpen just background to the tension and confusion mounting in this one area. You were just waiting for the first brave agent to speak up, to ask the question they all wanted to know the answer to.

“So how do you two -”

BEEP BEEP

The shrill sound of the tech analysts phone thankfully cuts off the question that Agent Prentiss had begun to ask.

“Sorry guys, guess the getting to know you party’s over, we have a case” says Penelope, pouting slightly.

Ahh saved by the bell

Despite this, no one seems quite ready to leave just yet, much more happy to linger here and figure out this puzzle. It’s Aaron who moves first.

“You’re welcome to sit this one out if you want to get acquainted with your surroundings first.”

“Thank you, Aaron, but I’m ready. Let's get to work.”

He throws you a swift nod and moves past you, climbing the stairs to the walkway above. Slowly, the other agents follow suit, until you’re left alone with Penelope.

“Hey, are you alright?” she gently rests a hand on your shoulder, “You seem tense?”

“I’m fine,” you shake your head, trying to clear the thoughts racing through it, “Just first day jitters.”

She offers you a small smile, satisfied with your answer. You can tell she’s just dying to ask how you know Aaron, but not quite sure how to bring it up, like she doesn’t want to hurt your feelings.

“We knew each other. In law school. In case you were wondering.”

“Have you seen him since?”

“Nope. 16 years since I last saw him.” sixteen very long years

You can tell she knows there’s more to it, but she doesn’t want to push. Not on your first day. You expect that in a couple weeks you will be grilled in depth about your relationship with Aaron, what he was like in College, how well you knew him. But for now she simply nods, happy with this snippet of information she will likely file away and research as soon as she gets back to her office.

“Come with me Agent (Y/L/N), we have a case to solve.”

The case was pretty standard, If you could call a case that. 5 women had been murdered, all brunets, all young and attractive. No doubt some sick bastard had been dumped or rejected at some point in their miserable lives and decided to take it out on anyone who looked the slightest bit like her. All you had to do was catch him. “From looking at the geographical profile I've deduced that his comfort zone is between these three points, so the odds are that he lives somewhere in here.” “We could increase police presence in these neighbourhoods, might make -"

you missed the end of the police chiefs sentence as you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket.

INCOMING CALL: SOFIA

You feel someone's eyes on you and look up to see Aaron’s questioning gaze. You flash the phone at him and he simply nods his head. You slip quietly from the room, trying not to pull any attention away from the discussion happening around the table, and duck into an alcove.

“Hey sweetie”

“Hey mom.”

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to say goodnight. How’s the case going?”

“It’s good. Well, not good, but it’s certainly going.” you can feel those eyes on you again, and you resist the temptation to look round. Not now, please not now

“Well, I don’t want to keep you if you’re busy, just wanted to touch base.”

“Ok, well goodnight sweetie, I’ll see you soon. Love you”

“Love you too. Oh and mom.”

“Yeah?”

“Kick some bad guy ass.” You laugh at that

“Ok, I will certainly try.” You hang up the phone, still grinning slightly as you glance at the picture on the screen. You and Sofia had spent the day at the beach and she had snapped a picture of the two of you as the sun set, ice creams in hand. You missed her.

There was a flurry of movement from the room you had just left, everyone grabbing their things and moving to the exit.

“What’s happening?” you managed to snag Reid’s arm as he walked past. By the look on his face it wasn’t good.

“They’ve found another body.”

You felt your stomach drop. You weren’t smiling anymore.

Dumped. Like trash. Just something to be thrown away. That’s what he thought of these women. You stared at her body, all crumpled on the floor and you felt the anger bubbling in your stomach. If you stared long enough she started to look like Sofia. A bit older, a bit taller. But the similarities were still there.

You closed your eyes, shaking your head slightly, trying to clear yourself of that mental image.

No. She’s at home. Safe.

“Are you alright?” He’s looking at you with that air of concern again and it’s almost too much. You can't bring yourself to look in his eyes, instead opting to look at the wall just over his shoulder.

“Yeah I’m fine.”

“If you need a minute, a break…”

“I’ll be fine Aaron.” You look at him then, feel the full force of his gaze and it overwhelms you. He can see it in your eyes. His eyebrows furrow and you can see he’s trying to read you, trying to figure out just what's wrong.

Everything. Everything’s wrong. And you don’t even know .

You feel the tears start to well in your eyes and you force yourself to look away. You can see out the corner of your eye as he begins to reach for you and you hold up your hand.

Please no. Don’t touch me. I don’t think I could bare it. Then it would be real.

“I’m fine Aaron. Really. It’s just a lot is all.”

“(Y/N) -”

You walk away before he can probe any deeper, moving to the mouth of the alley, breathing deep from the crisp night air. The tears still sit, threatening to fall and you try to hold them back.

Not here. Not now. Keep yourself together.

You feel him coming up behind you again, and you spin, your fear and sadness turning to anger.

“Aaron I said I’m fine -”

“Woah don’t shoot it’s just me.” You see Prentiss holding her hands in mock surrender. She lowers them, huffing out a laugh, but regarding you with that self same look of concern.

What is this look? A BAU special?

“I’d ask you if you’re alright but I don’t especially feel like getting my head blown off. That being said … Are you ok?”

Just like she did a moment ago you let out a small laugh, shaking your head slightly.

“Oh god, this isn’t a great first impression is it?” You feel like an idiot. You’re first day and already you’re practically having a breakdown.

“Don’t worry about it. We all have our moments, our limits. It’s what makes us human.” She lays a comforting hand on your shoulder.

You can see why they’re all so close. They look out for one another. See when one is hurting. Like a family.

Family.

“We’ll get him you know.” She pulls you from your thoughts and you glance back to her, eyes focussing on the here and now.

“I know.”

You share a small smile and you begin to truly believe it.

And catch him you did. You had figured out he was stalking and abducting women from their homes. He saw them at work, in a coffee shop, at the mall. One look and he already knew he wanted to kill them. The trick was finding them after he had abducted them. And without any physical evidence to even hint to who this man might be it seemed an impossible task.

But he slipped up. He left a trace. Whether that was the increased police presence, the fact that the FBI were there or just the fact that he was getting sloppy. It didn’t matter. You had DNA. And a name.

Charles Manes. We're coming for you.

For a man unhinged he was surprisingly easy to take down. He just gave himself up, that shit eating grin on his face as he did it. The last woman he had abducted was laying on the floor, bound and gagged. You ran over to her, pulling the rope from her body and helping her to sit up. She began sobbing and you held her against you as she cried, rubbing soothing circles on her back.

“You’re ok. You’re safe now.”

The paramedics took her from you and led her outside, ready to take her to the hospital. You followed after, stopping by the front door and leaning against the frame, taking a moment. You felt a presence beside you and turned to see Rossi watching her get loaded into the ambulance.

“We did good.” he said, not even glancing towards you, “She’ll be alright.”

“Eventually.” You took a deep sigh, feeling yourself start to relax. A commotion made you both look and you saw Charles fighting with the officers trying to load him into the police car. It seemed Aaron saw too as in a flash he was by their side, helping to get him in without causing any more damage.

You felt your body tense, felt Rossi glance at you questioningly.

“Everything alright agent?”

How do they do this? They barely even know me! Stupid profilers.

“Never better.” You said, glancing back at him over your shoulder as you made your way to the SUV’s, to the rest of the team.

“We got him,” Prentiss clapped you on the shoulder as you passed, headed to the second SUV, “let’s go home.”

You had to admit, travelling by jet was quite the experience. What wasn’t as fancy was the great pile of paperwork waiting for you at the other end. You’d only just started but already you were swamped.

You sat at your desk. Penelope had laid out your things whilst you all were away. “I just wanted you to feel more at home here when you got back”. It was sparse, but functional. She had even left you a post-it note with a cute message on and a unicorn stress toy, “You didn’t have any pictures, so I wanted to liven the place up a bit, I hope you like it.”

Right. No pictures. Wonder why.

The paperwork loomed and you tried to stay focused, eager to go home, but as the words began to merge into one another you knew it was time for coffee.

Another long night it is then.

You thought about calling Sofia, letting her know you would be late back. Would she even still be up? Who are you kidding, of course she is.

Might as well call her. A break from paperwork might do me some good.

You reached into your desk drawer to take out your phone.

“Y/N can I speak to you for a moment in my office?”

Maybe not then.

He was looking down at you from the walkway, not quite meeting your eyes. He seemed fidgety, like he couldn't decide whether to cross his arms or put them in his pockets or lean against the bannister.

Nervous. Interesting.

“Of course.” You walked up the stairs to where he stood and he motioned for you to go inside and take a seat. He lingered by the door for a moment before pushing it closed and making his way around the desk and sitting in his chair, hands steepled before him on the desk. He regarded you for a moment and you felt your heart skip. It felt like he was x raying you, like he could see into your mind, into the thoughts racing about in there. You shifted uncomfortably in your seat, trying to escape his gaze, or at least prompt him into talking. Anything to break the silence.

“I just wanted to check in on you, your first case and all. You’ve done some exceptional work and I can see you being an excellent asset to this team.”

“Thank you. I can see that I’m going to enjoy working with this team.”

He simply nodded, nothing more to say, but you could see in his face he wasn’t done. Not really.

Is that really all you want to say? Come on Aaron spit it out. I can see it in your eyes. Maybe this will make it easier on the both of us, if we just blurt out what we have to say at the same time. Or would that wreck you even more? Either way I’m the bad guy. But I can’t keep this to myself. You need to know. You want to know. So just ask.

“Why did you leave?” he blurted it out suddenly and it shocked you, and by the look on his face it shocked him too

“I’m sorry what?”

He gained back some of his composure, steeling himself before asking again.

“Why did you leave law school. Right before finals you just up and left. No letters, no reason just there one minute gone the next. I tried to find out something, anything but no one knew-” You could tell he was working his way up to something.

Come on. Ask me. Make this easier on me. Blame yourself, so when I tell you the truth it will hurt less. Because you know why. Or at least part of it.

“If you left because of what I did I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to drive you away. It was stupid and immature and if that is why I am truly sorry.”

Oh god, I thought if I heard you admit it, it wouldn’t hurt as much to tell you the truth. To hurt you like you did me. But it’s worse, so much worse. Because you’re sorry. And I’m the villain. The one who didn’t tell you.

You could feel the tears falling down your face, slipping onto the hands wound tightly in your lap. His face was breaking too, and you couldn’t bare to look at it a moment longer.

“Y/N -” he reached across the desk for you but you held up your hand to stop him, just like in the alleyway.

“Please. Don’t.”

“If this is because of me I’m so sorry. If you want I can get you a transfer. If you can’t work with me we can sort this out.”

That's right, the cowards way out. Just keep avoiding this conversation till you eventually die.

Just tell him. Get it over with. Rip off the bandaid.

“Please stop. Just stop. It’s not your fault. I mean, it was, partly, but it wasn’t. And when I tell you why you will probably hate me, and can take that. I deserve it. And if you want to transfer me out, get rid of me I understand. But when you left me, to go back to Haley it broke me. I hated you. I hated you with everything I had and I thought the best way to punish you was to just not tell you. But over the years I’ve realised how stupid I was, how selfish and foolish I was to not tell you. All because of some petty relationship drama.”

His look of confusion morphed into one of understanding and horror. Like he had connected the dots in his head but wasn’t quite ready to admit to what they all added up to. He was as far away from you as possible. Like you stood before him with a bomb and he was waiting for it to go off. And you were.

“I was pregnant Aaron. I was pregnant and I never told you. I just left. And I’m so sorry.”

Your whole body was shaking as you dissolved fully into tears, not daring to look at him, to no doubt see the anger and the disgust written on his face. Disgust at how stupid and selfish you were.

Not telling someone they have a daughter. How evil can you be.

You heard your name spoken softly from the chair beside you. You hadn’t even seen him get up. But he reached for you again, and this time you let him, let him pull you into his arms, rest your head against his chest as you cried and cried, spilling tears onto his white shirt. He rested his chin on top of your head, rubbing soothing circles onto your back, rocking you slightly.

No. This is wrong. This is all wrong. You should hate me for what I’ve done, I’m despicable.

“Aaron.” You brought your head up from his chest, finally looking at his face. He didn’t look angry or disgusted, he just looked … sad.

“It’s alright.” He gently brushed some of the tears from your face, one hand coming to rest on your cheek, “It’s ok.”

“It’s not ok Aaron. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I kept this from you.”

The hand on your cheek fell away, coming to rest instead on your hand, holding it in his.

“You must hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Well I hate myself.”

“This isn’t your fault”

“Isn’t it?”

“I screwed up. We both did. But I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me about this. I drove you away and I broke your heart. We both made mistakes. But we can fix them now.”

The way he said, the way he seemed to stare into your soul, made you truly believe you could.

“Tell me about them. Tell me everything.”

And so you did. You told him everything about Sofia. How excited she was to go into her junior year next year. How she liked to eat pancakes on saturdays and drink tea because it made her feel fancy. You told him how she cries at soppy movies and how you would always make time for mother daughter dates. And he listened to every moment of it, every little detail. And it pained you that he never knew any of this. That he never got to see her grow up. But maybe now he could get some of that time back. Still have a relationship, make some memories with her.

“I want to meet her.”

“I want that too.”

And you felt some understanding pass between the two of you. That whatever had happened in the past was over with. Now, what was important, more than anything else, was family.

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner fanfiction #Criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfic

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ourloveisforthelovely · 4 years

Text

Secrets Part 2

Harry Potter AU

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader

Link to Chapter 1

Rating M- trigger warning

Credit: Song at the beginning: The Suffering by Coheed and Cambria

______

Is there a word or right to say Even in this old-fashioned way? Go make your move, girl, I'm not coming home

Would things have changed if I could've stayed? Would you have loved me either way? Dressed to the blues, day to day, with my collar up

Decision sits, so make it quick A breath inhaled from an air so sick I cursed the day I had learned of the web you spun

If it was up to me I would've figured you out Way before the year clocked out Oh, I hope you're waiting

If it was up to me I would've never walked out So until the sun burns out Oh, I hope you're waiting

Arriving back at James and Lily’s, you ignored the looks of worry that was on your friend’s faces. You walked to the refrigerator in search of a drink. Maybe all of you could go to bed and no one would remember what happened.

“So are we going to talk about what happened?”

James asked. Sirius nodded.

“Yeah, I am curious myself. Why my brother? He’s a scary dude. Well, not really scary, more like a punk but here we are.”

You turned and gave him a frown.

“Yeah, here we are.”

You muttered as Remus stood up.

“I deserve some information. Regulus Black is pissed at me. I hope voodoo dolls don't work because I will be seriously fucked!”

You had to admit. Remus was the right one here. The poor guy was the one hell of a night!

“Fine, Regulus and I have been dating for a while. He didn’t want to tell anyone because of the little shop of horrors that he was born into. I got sick of the secrecy and wanted an actual relationship. We had some words. I told him to man up and act more like Sirius.”

Both Sirius and James winced.

“Ouch.”

Sirius said, sitting down.

“I’m surprised he didn’t come over and threaten to kill me over that.”

James stood just glaring at you. Lily, meanwhile, was soothingly telling him to choose his words appropriately.

“Go ahead.”

You said, defeated. James motioned to Sirius.

“I thought that you two had something going on!”

Both Sirius and yourself looked at each other before saying “gross” at the same time. Sirius held a hand up.

“She’s like my sister!”

You nodded.

“What he said. Look, James, I love Regulus. I have for a long time but you don’t have to worry about it because he will never talk to me again now. I hope you are happy.”

You turned and walked from the room without another word. The alcohol was beginning to wear off and you were starting to feel a lot less cocky now. You wanted nothing more than to go to your room and cry.

The next few months were a repeat of that night. You tried to pretend that the pain of losing Regulus wasn’t there. Every day you went to your job as a ballet instructor with hopes that some magical event would cause you to stop “feeling.” If you could be a hollow shell that had no feelings, you would be ecstatic.

Your evenings were spent being a zombie in your bedroom. Every night you promised that you weren’t going to pull out the photo of Regulus that you kept hidden in your drawer but you always did. You would stroke your finger over his well-sculpted face and sob.

James, Sirius, and Remus were on “suicide watch.” One of them always seemed to be hovering over you. When you started crying Remus would shove chocolate at you. Sirius would give you a hug and James would run to get Lily. Lily was the one that seemed to be the most helpful. She didn’t fuss when you sobbed. She would sit and stroke your hair. Instead of trying to cheer you up or change your feelings...she listened.

“We didn’t date long, Lily but we went through so much. Everything went downhill after I had a miscarriage.”

Lily’s mouth dropped. That was the last thing that she had expected to hear! You were the responsible one.

“You were pregnant?”

“I didn’t get far.”

You said. The memory itself was too painful to think about. Lily’s hand wrapped around yours.

“How did Regulus react?”

You sighed, now you had to face the memory…

You sat on the bed in a fit of tears as Regulus paced the room. Neither of you had said a word to each other since the doctor told you that you were no longer pregnant.

“It's for the best.”

Regulus said, finally. You looked up totally heartbroken. This was the coldest thing that he had said to you in the history of your relationship.

“How can you say that?”

You snapped. Regulus brushed his messy curls away from his face before kneeling in front of you.

“Y/n, we do not need a baby. We are both 18 years old. Our families don't even know about us and this war...it just isn’t smart. Things happen for a reason. Please accept it and move on. This will be just a way that we can be injured. I promise, we’ll have a family someday...just not today”

Lily sighed as you told her the story. She knew that James had no idea about this. If he had, her husband would have gone after Regulus. James would have never accepted the fact that Regulus was so callous with your feelings.

The next afternoon, you stood at the market. Your attention was on a magazine article that Rita Skeeter put out blasting some poor soul.

“I need a certain kind of spice. I don’t understand why you are making me come with you. I know that you can read.”

Your eyes widened hearing Walburga Black’s voice. Looking up, your heart instantly ached the moment that you saw Regulus and Walburga across the room. Regulus looked miserable as his mother fussed about anything that displeased her.

My love…

You thought, trying to resist the urge to go to him. The poor thing looked exhausted. He stood looking a bit more disheveled than you had ever seen.

“Regulus, isn’t that James Potter’s sister? She is extremely beautiful.”

You didn’t dare lookup. The last thing that you wanted was to lock eyes with either of them.

“Mother, you don’t like her family.”

“Shut up. She is one of the few pureblood girls that aren’t taken.”

You couldn't help but wonder if they thought that you were deaf. After a few moments of listening to their mid-level banter, you turned to go the other direction. The less that you had to hear Regulus’ gentle voice the better you would be.

“Y/n Potter, excuse me.”

You muttered “hell” under your breath before turning to face Walburga who had walked over to you. Regulus stood behind his mother looking beyond humiliated.

“Mrs. Black, hello.”

You said, uncomfortably. Walburga grinned.

“You’re looking well. I have heard that you are a ballerina now. My husband took me to the show that you are in. You did well.”

You nodded ignoring the way that Regulus was looking at you. Clearly, he had no idea that your career was moving so far forward.

“Thank you. I’m glad that you enjoyed the show.”

Walburga remembered the reason for her conversation in the first place.

“This is my son, Regulus. I believe the two of you were in the same year at school.”

You finally looked up and met your ex’s uncomfortable gaze. He muttered I’m sorry” under his breath.

“Yes, we knew each other at school...somewhat.”

Regulus put his head down. What you didn’t know was the guilty from the break up was eating him alive. Since that night at the bar, Regulus had been one miserable son of a bitch. All he wanted to do was sit around and do nothing but his mother made sure that wasn’t happening. She didn’t care that he was having nightmares of you dating Remus Lupin. Dating, screwing and marrying him...anything that you could possibly do with Lupin.

Lupin would never be able to love you or care for you as you deserved. Regulus knew that he could. He had the money to give you anything that you wanted. Lupin would probably just keep you barefoot and pregnant. Regulus would have been fine with no children, however, he knew that would never be accepted. He had to have an heir.

Now here you stood looking more lovely than ever. Everything about you made the man in Regulus go crazy! Regulus wanted nothing more than to reach over and kiss your hand. He could woo you easily and make up for all of the wrongs that he had done in the relationship.

Walburga’s voice pulled Regulus from his thoughts.

“I’m having a party next week. My husband and I would love to have you come. We would be inclined to give a large donation to the ballet that you work for.”

You stood, fighting the urge to laugh. When Walburga made a comment about Regulus and yourself knowing each other it took all you had not to say,

“Yeah, we know each other but I also am best friends with your eldest son...you know the one that you forgot about?”

Walburga didn’t give you a chance to reply before putting a golden envelope in your hands.

“The party starts at 7 pm this Thursday. We can’t wait to see you.”

She turned and wrapped her hand around the lapel of the dark coat that Regulus was wearing. You stood with your mouth open in confusion as she tugged her youngest son along with her.

“What the hell just happened?”

______

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jvdes · 3 years

Text

david? it’s gretchen. i’m just returning your call about your niece.

alternatively titled: we’re all here for a fucking reason, you know. you don’t get sent some place like this for no fucking reason.

tw: violence, abuse, alcohol, vomit

it’s october 23rd, 2020, and it’s not like she’s not trying. you can say what you want about jude - a liberty nobody’s been willing to pass up before - but she is trying. contrary to popular belief, jude doesn’t, like, get off on being in a lousy fucking mood. she doesn’t like being miserable, it’s definitely not her big fucking goal. it’s just, misery seems to love her. but she’s a fighter, and she’s not gonna lay down and take it - she’s not gonna let it swallow her whole. not without a struggle, at least.

so, it’s the anniversary of her mom’s death, but she’s making an effort, you know? and at 8:30 pm, she’s sober, she’s made it to the weekend without getting in trouble at school, and she’s pretty dead set on pretending that nothing is as fucked up as it is, or she’ll at least die trying.

she’s even - get this - displaying a little bit of school spirit.

2:07 pm

“are you going to the football game?” clara wilkerson had asked in sixth period chem lab, and jude tried not to laugh. it was important that she didn’t laugh, because clara, her chem lab partner, was pretty damn hot. she was smarter than jude, a pretty brunette with big green eyes, and she seemed to think jude wasn’t a total waste of space, so, you know. big win for jude, who was hoping that, sooner or later, she might be able to get in clara’s pants.

“i dunno if that’s my thing,” jude had shrugged. she had nothing against sports, and she had nothing against standing around outside at night, but it still wasn’t an activity she’d ever been dying to partake in.

“what?” clara feigned shock. “watching the eleven meanest guys in our school homoerotically tackle the eleven meanest guys from our rival school while sipping watered-down hot chocolate that burns off your taste buds? what’s not to like?”

“well, when you put it like that,” jude laughed.

“exactly. it’ll be fun, you’ll see. here, give me your hand,” she instructed, and jude handed it over with a skeptical look. clara proceeded to write her address on jude’s hand, which was maybe some kind of weird power play and/or mating ritual, since clara had jude’s number, and could have absolutely just texted it to her. “so, you’ll pick me up at 6:45?” clara asked. and jude, to her credit, agreed.

10:38 pm

it’s not like it was easy, pretending that it wasn’t the day that it was, that there wasn’t that heat beneath jude’s skin. pretending that she was distracted, like it was okay. nothing’s ever easy, right? and it wasn’t okay, not exactly - there was the clipped tone of some of her jokes, a little too high, a little too thin. something inside of her chest at the center, aching a little.

but it was almost okay, or she could almost pretend that it was almost okay, and it was really nice to not be at home. it was nice to have someone to laugh at her jokes, nice to be standing around in the cold autumn night under the too-bright stadium lights.

and now, as she braces herself against the wind, walking through the parking lot hand-in-hand with clara, she thinks that maybe she almost had fun. “you’re smiling!” clara announces gleefully, and jude looks over at her. “told you it’d be cool. like i said - what’s not to like? you, me, a bunch of screaming teenagers around us; it was fun.”

jude grins over at her. the parking lot is busy, now, hoards of kids moving en masse from the bleachers, body heat between them in the sharp, cold breeze. “oh, sure,” jude agreed. “i’m all about football now. you’ve converted me.”

so it’s kind of nice. except - well. they’re walking, and there’s this plane overhead. and it’s such a small thing, jude knows that, but her smile fades all the same, because it’s like this bitter fucking reminder. like the world is mocking her for being stupid enough to think that she’d ever be okay, that she’d ever be able to make it through a night without spiraling, least of all tonight. for being stupid enough to think she deserved that much in the first place.

without thinking much of anything at all, she turns to kiss clara then, under the distant whirr of the plane, as if maybe the noise of their breathing will be enough to drown it out. it’s their first kiss, jude’s hands on clara’s hips, like blood on blood alone will be enough to ground jude, enough to let her forget. like if she couldn’t just say it ( any of it, what plagues her ), then being touched can be enough to anchor her to the ground. always a valiant effort with her, right?

but then they’re standing in a flood of light, a truck full of boys stopped in front of them. the boys in the back whistle at them, and the one driving hangs his head out of the window, face an ugly sneer. jude recognizes him, of course - just some asshole, like all the boys are, but she knows him; he beat the shit out of her at a party for talking to his ex, and jude had ended up in the hospital with 47 stitches. “moved on from your regular sluts, bright?” he says, and jude pulls away from clara. clara rolls her eyes, but jude, she squares her shoulders and flips them off, squinting in the light.

“they’re just being jerks,” clara said quietly, “let’s go.” jude’s car isn’t that far away. they could just go. they could just walk away. but when was jude ever going to leave well enough alone? that heat, that raw anger pulsing beneath her skin, barely contained all day, waiting for any excuse to slither out of her like a sickness. just give me a fucking reason. isn’t that what she’s always thinking?

“the fuck did you just say?” jude challenges, and clara tenses beside her, gripping jude’s arm through her jacket.

“just surprised you found someone willing to be out in public with you,” he said, opening the door and approaching them. he moved toward them in that quick, confident way that boys seem to always have about them. he was close to them now, so close, and fucking with them. fucking with them just because he could, just because he saw them, because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and boys love seeing if they can scare girls. “not that i meant to interrupt,” he adds, skeezy, gross. “go on. go ahead, i’m happy to watch. we can all have a little fun here, right? after party, yunno,” he continues, and jude can smell the alcohol on his breath, that’s how close he is to her.

she doesn’t stand down, though, not even as clara’s nails bare into her skin even through her jacket. it’s that wicked, wild heat inside of her, that vicious anger. ( you’re like a feral fucking dog, clara will yell at her in a few minutes, once it’s all been said and done. ) “he’s not worth it,” clara whispers, “we can just walk away.”

jude does not just walk away. “get back in your shitty fucking truck, and get the fuck away from me, or i’ll kick your ass,” she says, trying to feel taller than she really is. he has at least five inches on her, maybe more, but she crosses her arms anyways.

( she must know by now, though, that there’s no way this is going to end well, right? maybe she had been trying, maybe she had been sober and not in any trouble so far, but she must know now that the choice to not walk away is the fatal one, right? which just goes to show, she knows: anything that happens next is deserved. anything that happens next is just her doing it to herself. )

“oh, yeah. ‘cause we all remember how well that worked out last time,” the boy says, and that’s enough.

“jude,” clara says, “walk the fuck away.”

the high school parking lot hasn’t been redone since 1976, and the concrete parking blocks are falling apart, crumbling where they stand, chunks of concrete strewn around the parking lot. maybe, if anybody’d cared enough to try and fix up the parking lot any time in the last 20 years, there wouldn’t have been a chunk of concrete at jude’s feet. and without a chunk of concrete at her feet, she certainly wouldn’t have sent it flying through the windshield of the truck. but there was, and she did, and so the cop that parked in the high school parking lot during school events came over, and jude wound up being driven home in a cop car.

but she’d tried, you know?

11:21 pm

not that it mattered. not that she’d say so to her uncle, who dragged her inside by the collar, a hand on her neck she could just not shrug off. “what in the everloving fuck is wrong with you?” he asked, as soon as the door was shut behind them, closing out the cool autumn air and leaving room for only guilt.

it was a question that she was uninterested in answering, so she raised a middle finger behind her as she climbed the stairs. she moved to slip into her bedroom, but he followed her like a shadow, gripping her by the arm before she could manage. she whipped around, and she wanted so desperately to be calm, but she wasn’t. “have you got any idea how fucking lucky you are, jude? that they’re not pressing charges, that you’re here right now, and not in a fucking cell? jesus christ! and you’re looking at me like you’re pissed off. who the fuck do you think you are?”

jude glared up at him, chest heaving, eyes dark and wild. what a miserable fucking question. “i think,” she began flatly, “that i’m a future player for the Mets.” there was that vein on his neck again, and she knew, of course, that she was only making things worse for herself. that’s what she does best, but it’s okay, everyone - she’s going to get what she deserves. “it was a good throw,” she added, “you should have seen it. you would have been proud.”

“did you think of that on the way home?” he asked quietly. he, too, was trying to pretend he was calm, and doing a shitty job at it. “how long did that one take you, jude? ten minutes? twenty?”

“i thought of it on the fly, actually,” she answered, and he laughed - an unpleasant, humorless, bitter little laugh in the quiet, airless space of the house. “it’s a talent. a calling, even.”

“your calling is being a destructive piece of shit. good for fucking nothing, i swear. have you ever taken responsibility for a single thing in your goddamn life? no. everything is always somebody else’s fault, right, jude? just like your fucking mother. you’re not a future player for the Mets. I’ll tell you where you’ll be in two years, jude. you’ll be dead, or you’ll be in jail. you wanna talk about being proud? your mother, she was no prize, but even she would be so fucking ashamed of you.” it’s the way his voice bleeds into a vocal fry when he’s angry, the way his eyes burn.

she closed the door to her room behind her, and david let her. she allowed herself a minute or two to get herself together, shaking on her bed, before she slipped out of her bedroom window, into the cold night.

12:12 am

she’d tried, right? but that had gotten her nowhere, so obviously, it was a total waste of time. that’s what she was thinking as she sipped shitty vodka from the little bottle she’d pocketed from the skeezy liquor store down the street: what a waste of fucking time.

tonight was always going to end this way, wasn’t it? there was no reality where she drove clara home and kissed her goodnight; jude didn’t deserve that. there was only now, here, leaning over the railing of the overpass, vision drunk and swimming, thinking about what a waste of fucking space she was. she polished off the bottle, then flung the bottle into the street, closing her eyes and listening for the cracking noise of glass meeting asphalt.

maybe i’ll go get high, she thought, then turned around and started walking against the wind.

2:08 am

david bright stood around the corner of the wall, a metal baseball bat in his hands. it was the anniversary of his sister’s death - or had been, until midnight - and somebody had broken into his fucking house. well, broken in was a strong word to use, since he’d forgotten to lock the deadbolt in lieu of who had greeted him at the door the last time he’d opened it, so a bobby pin or a credit card was enough to jimmy it open. still - he could hear the culprit moving around in the dark, and from where he stood, he could see the front door, still wide open, swinging lazily on it’s hinges, letting in a draft, an open square of darkness in the wall like a missing tooth.

he was going to handle it, though. he’d had a bit to drink, but you don’t play piano for years without learning some hand-eye coordination, and whoever it was that was stumbling around his house after leaving the door wide open behind them, he could handle them. he was a man who handled things, wasn’t he?

he could see their shadow, swaying in the night, in the moonlight, and he turned the corner, swinging the bat as he did, proud of himself for catching the intruder off guard.

jude swore as the bat hit her shoulder, and, far from sober, that one hit was enough to send her slipping to the ground, landing on her ass.

david saw her, then - that flash of red hair, the wide, frightened eyes, the jacket that had belonged to his sister. he’d deny it, of course, even to himself - he’d thought she was an intruder, right?

( of course, maybe he always knew it was her, even before he grabbed the bat, even before the first swing. why else would he not call the police? )

he’d heard her voice, though, after he’d hit her for the first time, but he swung again anyways, like it was a movie he was watching, like things were already in motion, like they were outside of his control. so he swung again, his position readjusted to hit her in her new space on the floor, and there was that loud, sick and vicious sound of metal hitting skull. a horrific thud.

instinctively, slowly, a wounded animal, jude curled into a ball, arms above her head in defense, and he swung a final time, leaving an angry red mark on the soft flesh of her skin. “stop!” she slurred in the darkness, tasting blood.

jude saw, even through her swimming vision, that single flash on his face, that crack in the facade; an expression so familiar it made her feel sick. that horror. what have i done? anger that’s gotten the best of you. a burning under your skin. some things run in the family, she thought dizzily, terribly, and then, it was like it had never happened, and despite what had all just transpired in no time at all, despite the smell of alcohol coming so strongly from the both of them, he was calm again.

“you forgot your key,” he said, maybe as a question or maybe as a statement, and he took a shuddering breath. they stayed there, jude gazing up at him.

to david, her glassy, dilated eyes seemed to look right through him, a fever-bright stare that seemed to burn into his skin like a brand. ( had she always looked that much like delilah? with those fucking eyes, so fucking green? jesus. )

it was quiet for a long time before he finally said, “something needs to change, jude.” jude laughed, so quiet and so weak it was almost a rasp. and how.

without saying any more, he turned around, disappearing into the hall with footsteps that echoed in jude’s mind, making her head ache furiously. she sat there as he left her behind, body aching like one complete wound.

shame and anger spun in dizzy circles around her head, and it was a long time before she thought she’d be able to make it upstairs to her bedroom. she dragged herself up, eyes closed, her only true sense the metallic taste of blood. he’s going to kill me, she thought, as she closed her bedroom door behind her. he’s going to kill me one day, and i’m going to let him. and that will be on me.

she wants to break something. she wants to break. she wants the room to stop spinning, she wants the pain to stop, for the pain to get worse. FUCK! this is something she owes to herself. letting men do what they want to her - since when is that her? and her uncle was right, she knows; her mom would be so fucking ashamed. jude is so fucking ashamed.

something needs to change. she barely stifles a sob. i am so fucking spineless. holy shit.

she barely made it to the bathroom, but she did, vomiting vodka and stomach acid as she clung to the porcelain. please let me black out, she thought. please let me black out. i don’t wanna remember this. please let me just forget this.

she did black out. when she finally managed to stand on two feet, to crawl out of bed and drag herself into the bathroom to vomit again, she saw her reflection in the mirror, the skin of the right side of her face an angry swell of black and red, and she thought to herself, i must have been in a fight at a party or something. just a fight, or something like that. some stupid fight.

#／ JUDE . ABOUT !#wilds.musings #this took me like 4 days and its STILL very bad.... embarrasing #n e ways....

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marvelousell · 4 years

Text

The Agreement (Part 7.)

Pairing(s): frat boy!fwb!Tom x reader, frat boy!Harrison x reader

Summary: Tom is a typical frat boy, his love for partying, drinks and girls are bigger than his ego. Y/N is a whole different dimension, she keeps her circle small, and even though she knows her best friend Tom is a total douche, she can’t say no to the little deal that was sealed between the two of them.

Word count: 3.2k

A/N: okay well I loved this part so much and I can’t wait for more Tom and Harrison 😭, I hope you like this one and I would appreciate it if you leave a comment, reblog or send a feedback!❤️

My tag list is open for this series!

Warnings: mentions of smut, swearing, mentions of alcohol, angst if you squint

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6.

Masterlist

“Why can’t I say no to you? You need to stop that.”

“Stop what babe?” He asked, acting like he didn’t know what you meant.

“You’re so unbearable sometimes, but I still love you.” You responded with a giggle, standing up to go get your pyjamas.

It was a normal thing. You two always said to each other ‘I love you’, however at that moment, after those words it was that unfamiliar feeling in the pit of his stomach that bothered Tom.

Maybe it’s just the alcohol running through his veins?

Or is it maybe because he is horny and you’re looking extremely arresting tonight?

He didn’t know, but it was for sure something that didn’t occur often.

Tom tried to suppress the tingle that he felt, it was probably a stupid moment of his.

But was that it? Was he confident in what he thought?

You interrupted the monologue in his head, wondering what got him so distracted.

“What’s on your mind that made my ceiling so interesting all of a sudden?” You chuckled, making yourself comfortable next to him.

Tom’s eyes landed back on you and your body in the oversized shirt.

“Nothing. Nothing..” He repeated, tapping your knee.

“Going to tell me about tonight? How was my man?”

“From where do I start?” You asked yourself, smiling as the date crossed your mind.

“It would be nice if you start from the beginning.” He replied, receiving a look from you.

“He is really nice Tom.” You began, stopping to look at him that had his gaze focused on you.

“We went to this place that was so out of this world honestly, it was just me and him there, Harrison really threw himself into this and I really loved the time we had spent together.” You continued, playing with your fingers nervously.

It was the same feeling that came back to him, making him now worried.

What was that? He wasn’t that drunk to feel sick or anything?

“I told you he liked you that day at Harry’s, you just panicked.” He put his hand on your thigh that was resting on his legs.

“Yeah, Ann said the same. You know I really had a great night, I wasn’t enjoying a boy’s company like this in a long time.”

“I’m happy to hear that Y/N, both you and him would make a great couple.” Tom replied, watching you get all shy and beatific when he mentioned him and the possibility of you two becoming a couple.

“And I’m happy to finally see him content around someone after what happened with his last one.” He added, the words slipping from his mouth accidentally.

Last one?

I mean yes, he certainly had a girlfriend but why was she so important?

“Last one?” You asked curiously, wanting to know more about what he said.

“Mhm, Emily. But that’s not my thing to tell you.”

“Why? We’re best friends you know we can talk about everything.” You tried to get something out of him, but that was just impossible.

“Sorry sweetheart, your boyfriend is going to tell you. If he feels the need to actually.” He answered,

“He is not my boyfriend.”

“Yet.” He added, raising his eyebrows.

“We don’t know.” You didn’t want to admit it.

“Oh we sure damn know he is going to ask you to be on the second or whatever date. Harrison is a big romantic, he believes in love, future and all that sweet shit and he assuredly doesn’t take girls out if he doesn’t see something with them.” Tom began, the annoyance audible in his voice.

“Well I hope he likes me in that way because that would be really nice and all.”

“Because I really like him too.” You added, mumbling quietly but it was like a loud roar in Tom’s ears.

Why did he even come here in the first place?

And why is everything annoying the shit out of him?

Tom didn’t want to answer. He just apologized because of his behaviour, and after all you and his best friend had a great night and what kind of person would he be if he didn’t at least pretend to be happy.

“So..Want to tell me about Sophie? What happened and all?” You coughed, breaking the silence, not wanting the conversation to end.

He looked tired yet still good-looking. He had that something that you couldn’t resist. Even though he didn’t let you dream alone about your incredible date, and he was here half drunk, you wanted him to stay with you. Here on the couch, him and you having a conversation in the middle of the night with his hand on top of your thigh.

If only this was all real. With him coming because he couldn’t go a minute without you and not because he wanted something from you.

You couldn’t help but think about his reason why he came to you tonight.

Was he just in the mood?

Or he just wanted to talk about his night and he was so drunk he couldn’t go back to his place?

Was that really what’s going to bother you tonight?

Tom is just a friend, and he will never feel the same so you just needed to focus on a boy who showed you not just how much he liked you, but how someone should be treated.

“Sophie…Nothing to tell here. We went to the coffee shop, and holy fuck how can she be that annoying.” He started, letting out a loud huff.

“She began to kiss me, thanking me for the sweet date and the coffee shop I chose. I just went straight to the point because a normal talk was unworkable, told her she needs to stop the stupid fantasy inside of her head because me and her would never happen. I mean c’mon me and a long term relationship?” He laughed, but you didn’t find it comical.

Yeah Tom and anything more than sex would be a true phenomenon.

If he didn’t want Sophie that looked like a model from a magazine why would someone like you strike something inside of him to change his mind.

“So she was furious and said I would regret what I said and that I didn’t know what a great opportunity I lost. Sounds like bullshit to me if you ask me.”

“I don’t get it Tom, why wouldn’t you date her? Okay I know Sophie is super annoying and full of herself, but then someone else? There were many girls that were pretty good.” You asked, wanting to know the cause that made him think relationships were a nonsense.

You were feeling a little bit uneasy, not sure if you wanted to hear his answer.

“Why are you asking me that?” He turned his head to look at you, a little thrown off by your question.

Was he prepared to say everything? Not really.

“Because I think we’re best friends since we were in diapers and we always told each other everything.”

“But still I feel like I don’t know you that well. Don’t get me wrong I just can’t figure it out why does a relationship scare you that much?” Your brows knitted, waiting for him to speak.

“I just don’t do that okay?” Tom replied, his voice stern.

“No shit? Didn’t know that. I’m serious why? Did something happen?”

You looked at his clenching jaw, his mouth shut. The theme clearly woke up some old feelings of his.

“Why does it matter Y/N? It’s not like I’m going to change what I think and do.”

“Fine, I’m sorry that I wanted to know more about my friend.” You uttered, voice flat, you didn’t want to push it.

The memories rushed to Tom’s head. He didn’t think about that for a long time, and you bringing it up now made him dumbstruck.

“You really want to know why?” He finally found the words, turning his figure to yours.

Tom’s face had a sombre expression, but he still tried to look as tranquil as he could.

You were used to a flirty, euphoric Tom, not a serious and possibly a hurt one. Although you were silent, not answering his question, Tom knew you wanted him to continue.

He wanted to tell you a million times but he wasn’t a type to have talks like that. At least not now.

Tom hated to see people around feeling sorry for him and giving him sympathetic looks.

He was a guy that had a reputation, a cold-hearted frat boy that only sleeps with girls, nothing more. Feeling all soft and miserable for a girl wasn’t fitting into his description.

Deep down there was a guy that would love to have someone by his side, to enjoy a date night with his girl, to feel something.

However he didn’t believe in that, or at least he convinced himself that he didn’t believe in love.

“Well we should go back to high school yeah?”

“I was so fucking crazy about this beautiful girl with those irresistible green eyes, and you know I was a shy guy but still owned a little confidence.” He laughed as he remembered.

“She was in my arts class, I found her really captivating and seems like she found me as well because we would share glances during every class and it was enough for me to ask her out.”

A girl in high school? How didn’t you see or suspect anything? You two were inseparable.

“The date went amazing, we really liked each other and we were so similar. I could so see myself being with her, but she obviously didn’t see herself with me.” Tom talked, feeling himself getting tetchy.

“She wanted the relationship to be a secret, because she didn’t like people to talk and watch or whatever shit she said. It was fine with me I liked her or at least I thought so. The two of us worked just fine and I was okay with the whole secret thing because I could enjoy my time with her without anybody being nosy about it.”

That explains a lot now Tom.

Still you were hurt that your best friend didn’t tell you a thing.

“Everything went well until she began to talk shit about me to others and to me also out of the blue. She said I was a dick, that I didn’t show how much I cared and that it’s visible how much I fancy an another girl.”

You were silent during the whole story, your eyes glued on his lips.

“She just broke up with me, told me I was an idiot and that’s all. The next day she was all happy and content with this guy from the football team, so I suppose she was dating him or something while she was with me.”

Oh dear Lord.

“And that’s the poor story of mine and why I don’t believe in love nor relationships. Look at me living my best life without a worry if someone will make a fool out of me again.” He finished, lifting his arms in the air.

You were still quiet, shocked.

Tom was a nice guy you knew it, but still the things he does weren’t right just because of a girl that didn’t see the beautiful and caring person that he was and still is.

“I’m so sorry about that girl Tom. I know that the last thing you want is me saying sorry, but I truly am. I’m sorry you felt that way, like you were the one that wasn’t good enough. She let you believe that love is a stupid thing not something everyone should be happy about, and that was a shitty move.” You stated while his eyes were still fixed on yours.

Your hand moved to his, squeezing it reassuringly.

“Just because you met a person that doesn’t know the true value of love, doesn’t mean you need to lose hope in it. Don’t be so afraid to let love into your heart, you’re a lovely person Tom.” You finished, giving him a small smile.

Tom’s heart stuttered, the same feeling from before made an appearance again. You two would always talk, but tonight the words that were coming from your heart were something else.

They were something he did never hear, but always wanted to. They were making sense, but would he risk it all and start again with his love life? He wasn’t sure.

But he was sure that he wanted to kiss you at that exact moment.

Tom just needed to feel your soft lips against his.

And he did it, without hesitation.

His lips crashed with yours, his hands holding your face deepening the kiss. You kissed him back, feeling a bit lost.

Was he horny or just confused?

Your body relaxed in his hands, both of you hungry for more.

You shifted to his lap, his hands travelling to your hips.

Tom’s heart was beating rapidly, your lips that were moving against his were making him question everything.

He could feel your hand going down to his pants, but for the first time he just couldn’t and didn’t want to feel you in that way.

“Hey..” He broke the kiss, breathing slowly, staring at you now.

“Hey.” You whispered, laughing along with him.

“I just, we don’t need to do this tonight.” Tom began, his hands heading to your cheek.

“Why? Isn’t that what you wanted?” You asked confusingly, still having a smile on your face.

“Y-yeah I know, but I just want to watch some movie with you and have a chill night, is that okay with you?” He questioned, still not sure how he turned you down, looking like that in his lap.

“Sure Tom, no problem.” You pressed your hands on his chest, ready to get off of his lap.

He stopped you before you could go back to your seat next to him, kissing you once more slowly.

“Thank you love.”

You were taken aback with this, it was something you didn’t expect from Tom.

It was just in the heat of the moment, he opened up to you so he just needs some time now.

A silly kiss, nothing more, nothing will change between the two of you.

“Can you please not tell anyone about the high school thing and girl. You know..” Tom asked, before making himself comfortable with you underneath the blanket.

“You know that all your secrets and our conversations are safe with me, don’t worry.” You leaned your head on his shoulder, eyes on the television trying to find something for you two to watch.

“I know. You are the best love.”

A smile crept across your face, unaware that Tom’s eyes were focused on you and not on the television.

You two spent nights like this frequently, but this night felt different and he couldn’t comprehend why.

The only thing that mattered was how good it made him feel.

Tom was so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the movie starting. If he was totally frank, he didn’t even want to watch it, it was an excuse just to be with you here.

You were distracted as well, clearly not interested in the movie. Tom and Harrison were running through your mind making you occupied.

Both your and Tom’s thoughts were interrupted by your phone.

You hesitated, not wanting to look at your messages in front of him, you just wanted this moment to last longer with no one making it weird.

“Harrison?” Tom asked, trying his best not to look at your phone.

“Harrison it is.” You replied, looking at your screen that lightened your face.

Hey, just wanted to say good night, hope you sleep tight beautiful. x

The wide smile forming on your face was something that Tom couldn’t unsee, and the message too.

It was stupid from him, but he was too curious.

He remained quiet, letting you text him back. After all who was he to say anything?

He was just drunk and the memories messed with his mind. Tomorrow everything will go back to normal.

“Hey wake up.”

“Tom you need to wake up, it’s seven thirty I’m going to be late and you too if you don’t get up!” The faint voice of yours woke him up.

“Shit, what did you say?” He asked, stretching himself before standing up.

“It’s seven thirty Tom, go to the bathroom freshen yourself and whatever you need to do.” You rushed through your living room and kitchen grabbing everything what you needed.

“Slow down babe, it won’t be the end of the world if you don’t come on time once.” He ran his hands underneath his shirt, making his way to the bathroom.

“Y/N, are you ready? Open up!” Anna’s voice behind the front door made you froze in place.

Shit.

“Y/N?!” She knocked on the door, waiting for you to answer.

“Just a minute Ann, I need to dress myself! Just a minute!” You panicked, sprinting to the bathroom. Luckily Tom was just entering it.

“Anna is in front of my apartment!” You whisper yelled.

“So? Let her in.” He answered calmly, not knowing why were you panicking.

“Let her in? You’re here!”

“And? It’s not like she doesn’t know I come here often.”

“It’s not that! It’s the fact you came here after my date, and that would be weird. I don’t know, just stay here in the bathroom and don’t make any noise we’re going to leave in a second, okay?” You felt horrible after you said that, not wanting to hide him.

“Yeah, yeah. See you later.” He said, slamming the door.

“Asshole.”

“Oh you’re alive!” Anna exclaimed, wrapping her hands around you.

“Sorry, I was so worn out after yesterday that I just drifted off to sleep.”

“No worries, gonna tell me everything during the ride c’mon let’s go.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” You exhaled.

“Not gonna lock the door?” She asked, chuckling at how lost you looked.

“Oh no need to, he..” You stopped talking, cursing to yourself how stupid you were.

“Oh the door? Sorry I-I didn’t listen, silly me.” You stuttered, locking it.

“Wow, Harrison really made you go all crazy. You’re so in love.” She continued to laugh, making her way to the car.

“God thank you.” You whispered, glancing at your door hoping Tom won’t unlock it right now.

“I’m listening miss.”

“Yes right. Well I don’t know Ann, I’m tongue-tied, he really impressed me.” You spoke softly.

“We went to a place where we could be alone, it had a beautiful view on everything. We drank some wine, laughed shared a few kisses and God Anna he is a dream come true.” You giggled at how excited you sounded.

“What did I tell you? I knew it he was so into you! Harrison is a real treasure Y/N, he deserves a beautiful person like you.” She almost jumped from her seat, happy to hear you had a great evening.

“I know Ann, the things he said to me? Honestly he is a lovely one, everyone should have someone like him in his life.”

“Even though he was screwed over, he still has a heart of gold and I’m happy he finally found someone who won’t break his heart all over again.” She gave you a short smile.

I hope that won’t happen Ann, I hope.

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thecrownnet · 4 years

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October 3, 2020

Series four of The Crown takes on Princess Diana: exclusive pictures and interviews Charles has found a wife, Andy’s got a racy new girlfriend and Thatcher’s coming for tea... Megan Agnew gets an exclusive tour behind the scenes of the most wild and lavish series yet

Lasers. That’s what helped Emma Corrin understand Princess Diana in the latest series of The Crown. When the cameras were rolling, she imagined that lasers were pointing at her, as if she were in a spy film or a bank heist drama. It was her way of imagining hundreds of people staring right at her. Lasers helped her with the iconic Diana head tilt. She pretended she was shying away from them.

Corrin could also draw on her own trajectory as a 24-year-old actress. Before landing her part in The Crown, she was an unknown. Suddenly “there’s a huge amount of pressure”, she says.

When I visit the set at Winchester Cathedral, which is pretending to be St Paul’s, the paparazzi arrive to catch Corrin pretending to be Diana. She’s dressed in a replica of the outfit they papped at the actual royal wedding rehearsal almost 40 years ago. Every time she moves between buildings and trailers, Corrin has to be shielded with umbrellas. Life imitates art imitates life.

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Almost every person Corrin has spoken to since getting the role has their own “Diana moment” — they might once have waved at her car in the street, been a pupil at a school she visited or knew someone who sat next to her at a dinner. Diana was one of the first celebrities to whom people laid claim. “Everyone has this ownership,” says Corrin. She was, and still is, the People’s Princess. But Corrin is trying not to think too much about it. Public expectation has been “overwhelming since the beginning”, she says. She wants to do Diana “proud”. “I know that’s strange and cheesy, but I feel like I know her.”

Emma Corrin as Princess Diana/ NETFLIX

The first television series of The Crown, which aired in 2016, was at the time the most expensive in history. Each series since has been estimated to have cost upwards of £50 million. The first two covered the first decade of Elizabeth II’s rule to wide acclaim, but series three — in which Her Majesty Claire Foy was succeeded by Olivia Colman — had mixed reviews. “The jewel in Netflix’s tiara has lost its shine,” said one. It was “okay”, said another.

Now, with series four’s reported £100 million budget eclipsing the Queen’s own sovereign grant last year of £82.2 million, The Crown is barrelling straight into the Eighties era of celebrity glamour and modern party politics grit. Peter Morgan, the show’s creator, is taking on two of the most controversial public figures of the past 50 years: Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher. “The word ‘iconic’ is overused, but in the case of these two women quite justified,” Morgan says. Both have passionate fans and detractors. “Writing them was a bit of a high-wire act, but it was exhilarating.”

We meet Diana as a teenager, scampering around her huge family home in Northamptonshire. She is young and apologetic. The Prince of Wales, at that time dating her eldest sister, is rather distracted. A number of years later, Diana is leaving her relatively modest flat in Earls Court and her job as a nursery school assistant to move into Clarence House — but finds herself in solitude. Bored and lonely, 19-year-old Diana rollerskates down corridors to Duran Duran and sits all by herself in her chamber. One night, after finding out about Prince Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, she gorges on puddings and makes herself vomit them back up.

Behind the scenes: the latest series of The Crown/ NETFLIX

*Spoilers*

It is a dark moment that Corrin wanted to get right. She listened to real-life accounts of people who had suffered from bulimia and talked with experts from the eating disorder charity Beat. Diana herself said that it was the most “discreet” way of harming herself: “Everyone in the family knew about the bulimia,” she said in recordings from the 1990s later made into a Channel 4 documentary.

“Drawing on my experience,” says Corrin, “not that I’ve experienced that kind of self-harm, but mental health in general, it can lead you down a very dark path when you’re struggling to cope, when things feel out of control. Diana very much doesn’t have the love and comfort and attention she needs from the man she loves or the family, who aren’t really acting as a family to her. There is a build-up of emotion she can’t deal with and making herself sick is a way of taking back control.”

When Josh O’Connor, who plays the Prince of Wales, first read the script for this series he thought: “Oh God, how can Charles be like that to Diana? But he feels wronged. He feels like she has an addiction to the spotlight,” he says. “I have to feel sympathy for him in that world. This is a family who have an intense inability to be emotional and he has inherited that awkwardness. In this series there’s an awful lot of Charles trying to explain himself and not being allowed to. He’s trying to say that if he can be with Camilla, then at least two of the three people can be happy. As it is, there’s three miserable people.”

The Crown works differently to other shows in that the “writers’ room” is not made up of writers but researchers, who constantly feed back to Morgan, the king of The Crown. It means that for each word eventually spoken on film, there are pages and pages of briefing notes. Annie Sulzberger, head of research, started this series by hiring a young team. “I wanted people who did not grow up believing one or the other [Diana and Thatcher],” she says. “You have to be curious enough and ignorant enough, I suppose, to write the kind of work we need.”

This series will span the Thatcher years — 1979 to 1990 — and will include the assassination of Charles’s great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, by the IRA, Charles and Diana’s wedding, and the Falklands War. Once the team has laid out a timeline, Morgan picks out the events he wants to feature. The research team starts to hone in on each, getting increasingly “micro” in their investigations. In the making of this series, one of the team spent two weeks researching the label on a bottle of wine from which a character briefly swigs.

Dress rehearsal: Josh O’Connor and Emma Corrin act out Charles and Diana’s wedding run-through/ NETFLIX

As the show has progressed, the fact-checking work has multiplied, thanks to the tabloid journalism of the 1980s. “It’s not just about words being printed,” Sulzberger says, “but who wrote it. Diana will become very close with a journalist called Richard Kay and feed him information, and Charles’s team will do the same. So you need to start unpicking the biographies of all the writers in order to know that what you’re doing has some objectivity.”

Did the team speak to any of Diana’s family or friends? “No.” Do the producers give any material to the Palace to see beforehand? “No. We have no connection to them that would result in editorial shifts. These are real people, these are real stories and we are filling in the moments that aren’t recorded — private conversations, moments of reflection, philosophical moments.”

When I ask Morgan if it’s true that he meets high-ranking courtiers four times a year, he is keen to clear up that he doesn’t. “I have never had any discussions with anyone actively working at the Palace,” he says. “The two worlds, the royal household and The Crown, exist in a world of mutual deniability, which I’m sure is every bit as important to them as it is to us.”

Corrin, though, did speak to Patrick Jephson, Diana’s private secretary, who appears as a fictionalised character in this series. “I got a sense of her joy from him,” Corrin says. “He said she was so naturally happy. When she joined the royal family, she had come from living with flatmates in Earls Court and she was a very normal girl. Patrick said she was still full of that girlish silliness, very down to earth.”

The couple themselves at the real thing in 1981 MIKE LLOYD/SHUTTERSTOCK/REX

The executive producer Suzanne Mackie says that “particularly now” The Crown team feels a sense of responsibility “to living people, people’s children, people’s parents. Obviously what we don’t do is engage on a fact level with the royal family. We have a tacit understanding that they need distance from us and we need distance from them.”

It is a cold day in January and I am watching Charles and Diana’s wedding rehearsal in Winchester. About 75 per cent of the show is filmed on location around the world, over the course of seven months. The rest is filmed at the show’s base, Elstree Studios, just north of London.

Today in Winchester Cathedral there is a crew of 78 and a cast of almost 200. The sight is as epic as the show’s budget would suggest. Between takes, Corrin sits on the stone steps by the altar, scrolling on her iPhone with one hand and biting her fingernails on the other. Even before the clapperboard snaps shut, the resemblance between her and the princess is uncanny.

Sidonie Roberts, head buyer and assistant costume designer, has a timeline of photos of Diana covering the wall of her studio at Elstree. Roberts is devoted to the cause. She travels to Paris to buy buttons from the same shop the Queen’s dressmaker uses (it sells more than 30,000 types of button) and to Soho to rummage in basements for fabric. Last year she was in a Bangladeshi fabric shop in Brick Lane, east London, when she saw a roll of material right on the very top shelf. “It was still in its plastic, but I just knew — that’s Diana’s colour,” Roberts says. She got a ladder, climbed to the top, pulled down the fabric and bought it for £3.50 a metre. When Roberts got back to the studio at Elstree, she unrolled it and saw a stamp at the bottom: “The Lady Diana Collection, made in Japan.” Roberts did some research. It was real silk, from a collection made in the princess’s honour.

In the corner of the studio an assistant is gluing tiny pearls to Diana’s flat wedding shoes. She has been decorating them, exactly like the originals, for a day and a half. “We’ve had a long conversation about the size of those pearls,” says Roberts. David and Elizabeth Emanuel, who designed Diana’s original wedding dress, donated patterns to the show, which were used to make the new version. With its 25ft train, it took ten people to get Corrin into the dress. In the show it is seen in full, and only from behind, for no more than 15 seconds.

Paying their respects: Olivia Colman as the Queen and the rest of the royal family at the funeral of Lord Mountbatten/ NETFLIX

Corrin is masterful at inhabiting Diana’s coyness — hunching her shoulders towards her ears as she walks, the smirk, her intonation. Diana’s voice was the “polar opposite” of the royals’, says William Conacher, The Crown’s dialect coach. “She moved her jaw twice as much, so her voice was more forward, open, easier to access, and I don’t think it’s especially revelatory to suggest accessibility was her shtick,” he says. “She used a minor key that made her seem vulnerable. Despite the Queen’s and Prince Charles’s accents being ‘stiffer’ to listen to, I think it comes entirely naturally, whereas I find Diana’s voice more studied. I think she spoke to have an effect.”

What sort of research did Colman do for series four’s Queen? “Yeah, I don’t do research,” she says when we speak on the phone in the summer. “The research team on The Crown is a bit like the British Library. It’s extraordinary, and when they kick in, your computer can’t really cope with the amount of stuff they send you.” Was there something in particular that the team sent her that made things click? “No.” There is a longish silence. It seems Colman’s royal duty is waning. “They’ve got every image and film of the Queen ever made. I’ve also got three kids, so I can’t spend all my time going through all of it.”

As she wraps up a second series of The Crown — Imelda Staunton will take over for five and six — Colman knows that she would “really not like” to have the Queen’s job. “There are very few people who are forced into a job and have no choice about it,” she says. “She’s done it with dignity, for decades, bless her. It’s amazing.”

The funeral of Lord Mountbatten took place in 1979 BENTLEY ARCHIVE/POPPERFOTO/GETTY

If there were rumours of Elizabeth II being unhappy about the last series of The Crown, I can’t imagine she’ll be too chuffed about this one. Series four’s Queen is colder and more distant, and the effects of her duty on her children more obvious: Charles is heavy with melancholy, Anne feels unheard, Edward is portrayed as a spoilt bully and Andrew is dangerously arrogant.

Speaking of Andrew, there is a subtle nod towards recent events. At one point the prince discusses a young American actress he is dating. The actress had recently played a 17-year-old who must entertain several “old predators who seduce the vulnerable, helpless young Emily”. The real prince dated the actress Koo Stark in 1981, who had starred in The Awakening of Emily, which had a near-identical plot.

In series four, the pivotal relationship between the Queen and Margaret Thatcher begins well. They are respectful of one another as no-nonsense working mothers, but tensions arise — not least, over tea etiquette at Balmoral.

In preparation for her role as the Iron Lady, Gillian Anderson met Charles Moore, Thatcher’s biographer, as well as secretaries who worked with her. “The only way for me to go about sitting inside of her was to find the reason behind her actions — growing up, what she learnt from her father, how much she truly believed that she was the answer and as long as we all took the sour medicine now we’d be able to turn around this country, completely shutting her eyes to the people that she was turning out on the street.”

Anderson eventually “settled into” the body of Thatcher. “She walked very fast, always up ahead,” Anderson says. “She would power forward in front of presidents. With [Ronald] Reagan she would supposedly be alongside him, but was walking ahead. Always walking ahead of [husband] Denis, telling him to catch up.”

Thatcher’s barnet also features. In one scene she spends an asphyxiating four seconds hairspraying it in preparation for a showdown with the Queen. The hairdo took endless camera tests before Morgan was happy with it. “It essentially meant destroying it so it had an overprocessed ‘frothy’ quality,” says the hair and make-up designer Cate Hall. “To treat a wig so badly was against all of our instincts — they’re so expensive — but I’m grateful now that we went through the process with Peter, with him saying no, more, it’s not right, try again.”

Clash of the titans: Margaret Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson, is filmed meeting the Queen, played by Olivia Colman, in a memorable scene from series four/ NETFLIX

Series five will have a whole new cast. Colman says she is “not the sort of person who keeps the shoes of a character they played 20 years ago”. But Helena Bonham Carter is going to miss Princess Margaret. “She does pop out [in everyday life],” she says. “The other day I was at some public event and there was the normal scramble of people and I just told them, ‘No, shut up.’ The finger came out, which is very her, and I said, ‘Shut up and wait. Don’t get hysterical.’ So I’ve got the bossy side of her.”

Originally Morgan said there would be two more series after this one. Then he changed his mind, describing series five as “the perfect time and place to stop”. Now there are two more again (“To do justice to the richness and complexity of the story,” he reneged). The show is creeping closer to the modern day. It is now said to be ending in the 2000s, spanning, perhaps, Charles and Diana’s divorce, the deaths of Diana, Margaret and the Queen Mother, the marriage of Charles and Camilla, and the teenage and twentysomething princes. “I want to end it close enough to present day to feel that we have completed a long journey and distant enough to feel historical,” says Morgan. “I have a specific incident in mind, but until I’ve actually written it and seen if it works, I can’t commit to discussing it.”

On set with Mackie, I mention Harry and Meghan. “Too often,” the couple posted on their Instagram page that month, “we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring.” Is it possible, I ask Mackie, for the royal family to humanise themselves while still justifying their existence as something mightier, more important, regal? “That’s where you go wrong, as a public figure, letting light in on the magic, especially as a monarch,” she replies. “You have to be an ideal. After years and years of that subjugation of self in order to put duty first, you, the essence of you, is buried somewhere. The Queen is a tiny little person inside many, many Russian dolls.”

Series four of The Crown is available on Netflix from November 15

#olivia colman #helena bonham carter #gillian anderson #the crown #the crown spoilers #tobias menzies #josh o'connor #emma corrin #princess diana #ben daniels #erin doherty #emerald fennell #charles dance #marion bailey #the crown netflix

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calypsoff · 3 years

Text

Sixty Eight. Part 2

Watching Chris walk off in a huff and go to bed sad is actually making me smile, I should not feel like this but it’s just funny that he assumes I would do nothing for him, but he is basing it off what happened with Drake but I do forgive him for it but it makes me smile that he’s upset, it sounds so evil “he’s really upset” Mel said in a whisper “he is very hurt, close the door” I pointed, Mel is walking over to sit next to me “you nasty, like you being so cold with him” Mel closed the door “he’s not there anyways, he has gone upstairs” Mel made her way over to sit with me “the thing is I have said to him, I do forgive you but in his mind he doesn’t think it. I haven’t mentioned anything to him about his birthday, I’ve been very formal and just kept it neutral, but it will be bigger the surprise. Shall we start doing the house up? I am excited to see his face though, I have spoilt him a lot. Like when I found out what happened in Canada I wanted to say fuck it no, but he’s a good guy, he didn’t mean it but I also got him something big too” I have spoilt him too much I think “what else did you get him?” Rorrey asked “a Rolex, I got him a Rolex because I feel like he’s with people that have money and I want him to keep with appearances and I want him to have all these chains and stuff, I got him a Rolex on top of the party and cars so he’s getting very spoilt. This is why I said for nobody to give him anything, he has a lot already and he doesn’t need it. Just being there is nice enough so yeah” I breathed out smiling “that’s sweet you know, he’s going to appreciate that so much, Chris is a very thankful man. Humble too, he seems to me like he never cares for the riches and things. He goes out pretty simple and I have seen the man wear that Gucci jacket every time we out. Humble, I like him so I got him a gift because I wanted too. Just a little something for the man” I cooed out “hope you wrote that love letter in his birthday card” Rorrey laughed “you’re annoying, I see why he went to sleep” rolling my eyes at my brother.

We have done the house up; well I say that. Half of the balloons popped because they are being stupid but it’s twelve and I feel bad he went to sleep so I am just here going through pictures of him, I wanted to do a throwback but no, I am going to post one from our honeymoon I took of him at the bar, just the way he looked at me in that moment and he knew I was taking a picture of him. Just that smile, wow I love him “you smiling hard but not help us?” Looking up from my phone “I am making a heartfelt post about my husband, now hush” they can wait for whatever they are doing because I need to finish this, looking back down at my phone, I sighed out heavily because where do I start with this post, I don’t want to do too much either. Let me keep it cute ‘I just want to wish my husband the best birthday. My best friend, a father. I could write so much but I will save you all the sick show lol. I love you’ I didn’t want to overdo it so this will be the shortest but I wrote what I wanted in his birthday card, looking up from my phone “you emotional” Noella said, nodding my head “just weird, I’m not alone like I always thought I would be. Just makes me emotional. A man can love me” I chuckled “I’m fine, let’s get this done” pressing send on the post, I just think to myself how lonely I really could have been because men saw me as nothing. I can’t see myself without Chris and that is really scary for me, I have always been scared of men in general because of my father being the man he is so I get scared when I actually think how deep in love I am.

This is cute, we have decorated the stairs, the hallway. The living room, we have a cardboard cutout of Chris in his high school jersey, it’s so cute. Just how I remember him, poking my lips out to the side of the cardboard cutout as Mel took the picture “done” I laughed moving back “I mean he was skinny but boy he was very skinny then, imagine a young me crooning over him” Mel snorted laughing “if I was there I would be like sister no, let’s go for the bigger men” taking my phone from Mel, walking off laughing at the picture. He was a little short here too, look at me leaning down to him with my bump in the way. Adding a caption ‘How I met your father ;)’ pressing send “aye! Come on now” these bitches out here twerking on it “we playing” waving them off “y’all have fun, I’m going to bed. Night y’all and see y’all in the morning” waving them off, I need to sleep, or I will be miserable thoughtout the day and night because of the party. Walking up the steps, I am very proud of the handy work. We all put in the effort to do it up, all we need now is Chris wakes up or he just randomly comes down, but I hope not. I have some more teasing to do with him, reaching the top of the steps. I am so tired actually, I was tired of watching girls lusting over Chris, like they keep on saying do all country niggas look like you, oh you fine. Like leave my husband alone, it was annoying, but Chris didn’t care for it. Pushing open the bedroom door, as expected he is asleep. My poor husband fell asleep in annoyance of me, well I did need to get him back for the pain I went through, but he really needs to catch up on when I am trolling him and when I’m not, if like I would do that to him unless he did cheat then I would divorce him. Peaking over at Chris asleep, pouty baby is so cute asleep. I want to ride him.

I am more excited about his birthday, I think it’s more to do with the fact I know but I woke him up before him, this is how much Chris is depressed about his birthday, he is such a drama queen for nothing “done sulking?” He slumped onto the bed “you’re so miserable, honestly. Open my card, get up and read it” he groaned out getting up from the bed “breastfeed me or something, this is wack” side eyeing him as he got up “don’t be so negative, it’s not nice so appreciate what you get” he sat up on the bed “mhmmm ok” he took the card from my lap “thank you Robyn” he sighed out, he is so miserable. My smile grew, he is going to be so shocked tonight because I have invited so many people, I have gone above and beyond for him and I wish I could tell him, but he will find out eventually “aye! It’s me” he turned the card to me, a picture of Chris and I together “I look so slim there” I complimented myself “yeah, you have added some pounds” rolling my eyes, watching him open the card as I reached over my side table and grabbed the Rolex box “no money in this either, Rihanna broke already” he laughed “To Poppa, oh wow. This is a story” he cleared his throat “to Poppa, I want to wish you a happy birthday. The day you were born I know our stars aligned and our path would have crossed no matter when or how, it would have happened. You have been the light of my life, and I mean that because the fame isn’t anything to me because I was lonely. You love me when I was unloved and never once questioned me on why I felt that way and waited until I opened up to you, you never said to me the word love when we were just silly teenagers, but you sure did show it, now you’re never shy to show me that or say it to me. Thank you for loving me Chris, this your first birthday as my husband and I couldn’t be happier, love twin” Chris looked up from the card “don’t say that you’re always loved Robyn” biting on my top lip, I am so emotional “but a man, a male to love me just for me” Chris moved from his position and over to me “don’t think that, men are fickle like that. Thank you, you got me choked up though” he kissed my cheek “thank you, love you twin. Stop the emotions, damn” he moved back “that was sweet, thank you” he said it again “I come with a gift too, this is from me and your daughter” holding out the box and card “really? Oh wow” he took the box and card “this holds weight, damn” Chris grinned, he knows I don’t play when it comes to him.

Watching him with my phone in hand open the card “awww what!” He turned the card to me and I quickly took a picture of his reaction “you like?” I smiled wide “Happy Birthday from the bump, man. Look at the scan picture, she is so beautiful. Thank you” cropping the picture because ain’t no way any bitch is seeing my man in his boxers, they can see chest but his excited smiley face when he saw the card, just shock. Adding a caption ‘Happy Birthday from the bump!’ Pressing send “Happy Birthday dad, I can’t wait to meet you and for you to share your love with me, I know I will be safe in your arms. Love Baby Fenty-Brown” Chris sniffled “that’s amazing, emotional here. Wow, my daughter already got me choked up. Thank you to my beautiful ladies’ wow” I am proud of myself, I got him good “you happy baby? It’s ok, you can cry” he is trying to hold it back” he wiped his eyes “I am good “thank you, I really appreciate it” I cooed out “I know you do Chris, it’s ok” he picked up the Rolex box, I got him an eighteen carat gold Rolex, Diamond bezel and shoulders, ruby dot hours. Diamond dials. It was never cheap that, but it’s from his daughter and me so he better appreciate it “it’s big” he started ripping the wrapping paper from it, I love watching people open gifts. He stopped opening the paper and gasped looking up at me, he is excited. His eyes have lit up “no way” it reminds me of when I got him that Gucci jacket “for me!?” he placed it on the bed and he rolled off the bed “what you doing?” watching him run around the room, giggling at him as he went into the walk in closet and back out. I yelped out as I thought he was going to tackle me, but he jumped over me and back onto the bed “no way! Are you serious!?” I laughed nodding my head “open it poppa” he plopped down onto the bed “I can’t even, Robyn oh my god” he ripped it all open “Rolex!? This is a legit Rolex; I don’t deserve you Robyn. Oh my god, this is too much. What” he is so overjoyed, I am happy “this is from me and baby” he opened the box “oh my god, no way” he shook his head staring at it “Robyn this is crazy, wow. I can’t even, thank you. Oh my god. This is amazing” he crawled over to me “thank you so much, oh my god” hugging him back.

Chris is very excited, like to see him like this is so cute “Rorrey really got me this!? Like this is crazy, now I look like the man of the house, look at me” he came out in the Versace robe “I will let you think that, are you done playing in your robe?” he is here twirling and shit “I am so amazed, oh my god. Wait till I show my mom and dad, they are going to be extra amazed” he is like an excited child and it’s cute “thank you” Chris wrapped his arms around me once again and pressed a kiss to my cheek “it’s ok, come. Let’s go downstairs now, damn. You can show Rorrey the robe, I am sure he will be proud” Chris not moving out of the room, he finally moved. Walking behind him out of the bedroom “I feel so much better, like I really do. I went to bed all sad and shit, like I felt nobody cared” I cooed out, wait till he has his party, and he can see how much people do care “wait?” Chris pointed at the stairs “go down” I laughed “you lied to me all this time, you just tortured me for what” I shrugged “go down then, you know I am slow” Chris went rushing down while I of course made my way down slowly, Rorrey is awake he did text me asking. Also my mother is awake because she mentioned she will make breakfast for him; she is so sweet. I can hear both Rorrey and Chris, they are both kids “you flexing! See when we go on holiday, cigar and robes, we going to be living! I got you, you’re coming with me!” I would say yes to that, it’s with Rorrey too so I don’t mind that “what you think?” I grinned making my way to Chris “dope, thank you. Everyone, like this is amazing, and Monica’ food too!” I can smell that food strong.

“Morning Melissa, you came extra late. We ate whore” Mel side eyed me “who’s fault is that, last minute thing my ass but happy birthday Chris has Noella not gave you our gift yet?” Chris shook his head “I don’t want anything now, I am good. Honestly Robyn got me a Rolex, that is enough for me” Mel cooed out “that is cute, you sure it’s real” I snorted laughing “I am joking, honestly” she is such a bitch “Chris, don’t listen to her. It’s real, very real” Mel sat down at the table with us “we are going for a meal tonight actually so you need to look cute, not so much birthday meal but I can’t be bothered to cook” my mother doesn’t approve of my ways of saying things, she says I am being mean but I’m not “that’s cool, I can find an outfit. I can wear my Rolex too, that is amazing. It’s my birthday so I will pay for the meal” I grinned “how sweet of you, but I have an outfit for you to wear so just wear that” Chris is so happy, here I am trying to make out we ain’t doing anything else “I think Robyn should stay home, mommy you hear what she did, she made him go bed early on the eve of his birthday because she just acted like it meant nothing” Rorrey is a snitch “that is your husband Robyn, stop it. Jokes can hurt feelings” I sighed out “Rorrey shut up, honestly. I didn’t do anything, look how happy he is, I know how to make him happy” I don’t know why Rorrey has to set my mom off for nothing.

#chrianna fanfiction #fanfiction #chriannaff #chrianna #chrianna ff #fanfic

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captainscanadian · 4 years

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Hope | Bucky Barnes x Reader (Part 3)

My Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Summary: When an old friend stops by, you decide to revisit your past for the sake of writing inspiration.

Word Count: 2100+

Pairing: (Eventual) Doctor!Bucky Barnes x Patient!Reader,

Warnings: Heartbreak, Bullying, Alcohol, Death

A/N: This fic was my entry for @wkemeup‘s 4K Writing Challenge. I DON’T DO TAGLISTS!

If anyone asked Rosie Bender what she valued the most in her life, she would always say that it was the people who had been a part of it. Regardless of whether she had just met the person or if she had known them her whole life, she had always believed in keeping people close.

Being the social butterfly that she had always been, it was often a wonder why she hadn’t managed to leave this boring old town. But she had to blame her love for a certain Rebecca Barnes for keeping her in her hometown.

Becca had been the reason why Rosie and Bucky had gotten close. Although she had been in the same year as the man during high school, she had never really hung out with him. Truth be told, who would have hung out with him? Considering that he was the guy who had humiliated his best friend in front of the whole school, she had loathed him with a certain passion.

Back then, all he had cared about was hanging with the popular kids - and Rosie, as social as she was, she was considered one of the weirdos. But now, she had no choice but to accept that Bucky was an inevitable part of her life, being Becca’s brother and all.

But that did not mean that this nurse could ever forgive her friend for the dickhead he used to be. While she hadn’t been close to you back in high school, she had certainly felt bad for you after the incident. A part of her had wanted to be the friend you would have needed at that time, though she had been unsure about approaching you when literally everyone had made you the joke of the school. How could she have gotten you to trust her when Bucky of all people had caused you so much pain?

Nevertheless, Rosie found herself walking up to your front door that morning. Whatever the issue that you had with Bucky, it was between him and you. She was not going to get involved in his business anymore.

But she was not someone who could keep away from you, especially knowing that you’ve been back in town after a whole decade and that you were staying alone in your childhood home. She was certainly glad about your return to Shelbyville, that too in time for your ten year reunion.

So, there she was, holding a basket of baked goods in her hand as you opened the door, her heart beating against her chest as she grew slightly nervous of how you would treat her, but giving you a smile nevertheless. “Hello, Y/N!”

“Rosie… what a surprise.” You raised your eyebrow. “What brings you here?”

“I’m sorry to show up at your door unannounced. I’m sure you’re busy… with whatever you’re doing, painting the house- Nick told me that you were, not that I’ve been stalking you or anything.” She bit down on her bottom lip as she drew a sharp breath. “I just… I just wanted to stop by, because I didn’t get to speak to you the other day when I saw you at The Tavern, seeing that you pretty much stormed out of there… but I brought you some cookies?”

You could not help but chuckle softly at how she was fumbling with her words. “Rosie, it’s okay… I really appreciate you coming by. I’ve been here a few days and it’s starting to feel lonely.” You admitted, accepting the basket of cookies from her and stepping away from the door to let her in. “Why don’t you come on in? I apologize for the mess. I still haven’t finished with the painting, you know, it’s just me.”

Certainly relieved that you hadn’t shut the door in her face, the nurse stepped inside of your home and looked around. She hadn’t really been inside of it before, but from the way Bucky and Becca had described it, she understood that the pop of colour that she was now seeing was your doing. “I think it looks great.” She smiled, turning over to look at you. “It’s good to have you back here, Y/N.”

You wouldn’t call Rosie Bender your close friend, but you had been acquaintances back when you were in high school. When your mother had been sick, she had been her nurse for some time and they seemed to have gotten quite close. “Thank you.” You smiled back at her as you led her towards the dining room, which had remained untouched by your attempt at home improvement and therefore lacking the pop of colour. “I don’t know if I can say that it’s good to be back, but it’s lovely to see a familiar face and not feel a certain sense of murderous rage.”

Chuckling softly at your words, she nodded. “Oh I can imagine…” She could not help but agree, for she had been a witness to your worst nightmare on that dreadful day. “So, for how long will you be in town for?”

You shrugged your shoulders as you set down the basket of cookies. “I don’t know, really. I actually came out here to get some writing done for the last book of my series, but I saw the state the house was in and decided to fix it up.” You replied. “I’d say I should be here for a few months. I’m hoping to stay until I can meet my deadline.”

She nodded, understandingly. “I have to say, I’m a huge fan of Hopeless. I’ve read all three of your books. It’s one of my favourite series.”

“Oh you’ve read them?” You asked, taken by surprise that she had actually read your books. Not that you wouldn’t have wanted anyone from your past to read your works, but you had assumed that the people you had left behind in Shelbyville wouldn’t have been willing to take a chance on your works.

“Your mother used to have me read her the first book every night when she was first admitted.” She replied with a sigh. “She used to tell me that she wanted a part of her daughter to be there with her, and that if you couldn’t be there in person, your book would do. I only started reading them for her, but somewhere along the line, I fell in love with Hope Anderson and her own quest for love.”

“And that reminds me…” You took a step towards her as you smiled, feeling your eyes glazing over for a moment. But you told yourself that you weren’t going to cry. “I never got to thank you in person, for taking care of my mother while I was gone. I know now that I’ve missed out on a lot of time that I could have had with her, but thank you for being there for her. I’m sure she really appreciated that.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Y/N.” Rosie shook her head as she pulled you into a hug. “I was only doing my job, and I knew… I know what happened. I know why you left. I guess I kind of figured that you wouldn’t want to come back to what you left behind and I did my best to be there for your mother, because I knew you couldn’t.”

You finally let the tears slip as you accepted her warm embrace. “I should have been there… but I couldn’t, I never wanted to come back here.”

“I know…” She rubbed your back, gently. “But I’m sure your mother’s watching over you now. She’s probably glad to have you home again, Y/N. She wanted you to have the house. She told me that it’s why she never wanted to leave, no matter how many times you asked her to move out to LA. Now that you’re back here, and… you seem to be putting your personal touches to the house. I’m sure she’s happy, wherever she is.”

Leave it to Rosie Bender for being so warm and comforting, just as she had been on that day ten years ago. Even though you weren’t friends, she had been someone who treated you like one.

“I’m so sorry, I don’t know… I’m still a sobbing mess, aren’t I?” Pulling back from the hug, you were quick to wipe away your tears. “Can I make you some tea? I wasn’t expecting any visitors but I feel like it’s rude not to serve you anything.”

“How about I make the tea and you help yourself to some cookies?” She chuckled softly as she walked towards the kitchen to put on the kettle.

You nodded, grabbing yourself a snickerdoodle that still felt warm against your tongue as you took a bite. You immediately recognized them; they were Winnifred Barnes’ secret family recipe. “So, you and Becca, huh?” You asked, turning over to look at her. “How did that happen?”

“Believe me, I didn’t see it coming either. I’ve known her since we were kids, but we never… we never realized that we had feelings for each other until we both finished college.” She replied, laughing softly. “You know what they say, sometimes the love of your life would be right before your eyes and you wouldn’t have any idea.”

Now she may have said that on purpose, but she certainly played it off like an absentminded thought.

“Yeah… you wouldn’t have any idea.” You agreed.

Rosie poured two cups of tea before looking up at you. “Y/N, are you coming to the 10 year reunion next weekend?” She asked, curiously.

She wondered if you even knew about the reunion, considering that she had left multiple voicemails to your LA office but you hadn’t returned any of her calls about whether you would be attending the reunion.

“I wasn’t planning to.” You admitted, shrugging. “Do I really want to go there when I know that the people who made my teenage years miserable will all be there under one roof?”

“You know, the Maximoff twins RSVP’d.” She informed you, cracking a smile at the thought of those two. “I don’t think those two would really qualify as people who made you feel miserable.”

“I see enough of Pietro and Wanda back in LA.” You clarified, laughing softly at the thought of the two people from high school whom you had still kept in touch with. “Wanda works for my Publisher and Pietro is a frequent guest at my book launch parties.”

“Connie Chapman would be there.”

You raised your eyebrow. “What?”

“She RSVP’d too, just thought I’d let you know, in case you needed a reason to be there.” She replied, setting down a mug in front of you before pulling herself a chair. “The invite still stands. I understand that you might not want to be there, considering what happened during senior year. But I would really appreciate it, if you could come… and show those people that you’re much more successful than all of them could ever be.”

As you sipped your tea in silence, you pondered if you should really attend your ten year reunion. Surely, your senior year happened to be the worst years of your life - and you had wasted four years with a certain Ivan Petrov who couldn’t have bothered to put a ring on it. Not even your relationship with the ex-boyfriend who had inspired the plot of your second novel had been as bad enough as your senior year of high school. Was it really worth revisiting those memories for one night?

Considering that the working plot of your fourth novel currently revolved around Hope Anderson revisiting her high school days and that your writer’s block had still gotten you to the point where you were killing the time by painting your house, you could certainly use the experience for a little more writing inspiration. The book was not going to write itself, and you couldn’t really figure out what to do with Hope and Jason’s story without having them attend their ten year reunion and face some harsh truths about their past.

You were well aware that Bucky would be at the reunion. Having run into him at The Tavern, you had avoided having any kind of confrontation with him by drowning yourself in alcohol and dashing out of there before either of you could address the elephant in the room. But you knew that it was not best to avoid him for any longer. You needed to find closure for that chapter of your life, so you might as well find it at your ten year reunion.

“Fine, I’ll be there.” You finally spoke up, making Rosie look up from her cup of tea with wide eyes. “I can’t promise that I’ll actually enjoy myself. But I don’t think I should be hiding away from those people for any longer.”

What even was the point of hiding anymore?

#kas4kwc #hope #aj writes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes series #doctor au #doctor!Bucky

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velvetthunder1999 · 4 years

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All the time on Earth

Part 12 - The Third Task

Summary: George introduces you to his mum, and comforts you after the third task. Separating for the summer leaves both of you feel quite miserable.

Warnings: Little fluff, little angst, death (Cedric’s)

Word count: 3.5K

George Weasley x Reader

Masterlist

You had already been up for an hour now but you couldn’t move. George was still asleep on top of you, pinning you completely to the bed. He burried his face into your neck, his arms and legs hugging you in his sleep. You were terribly uncomfortable by this time, still wouldn’t move for the world. You were gently stroking his hair while he peacefully rested in your arms.

Yesterday was the last day of your O.W.L. exams. For the last month you were a complete mess, studying day and night, barely sleeping, feeling sick after eating, feeling guilty after you dared to take a break from all the learning. And finally, it was over. You finished with everything, and now you had one wonderful week ahead of you that you could spend at Hogwarts. Last night you, George, Fred and Lee sneaked out and got a bunch of food and drinks from the kitchen, having a small sized party just for yourselves in one corner of the common room. Then, when the other Gryffindors weren’t paying attention, George brought you up to his dormitory and you spent the night with him in his four-poster.

The boy next to you let out a sigh and cuddled even closer to you. You smiled to yourself and gave a small peck onto his hair. He groaned pleasantly and raised his head a little, placing small, sleepy kisses on your neck.

“Morning, love.”

“Morning?” you said, smiling down at him lovingly. “It’s almost eleven.”

“Fred and Lee?”

“Already gone.”

“Mm,” he said, leaning closer. You turned away your head.

“No, I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”

“Me neither,” he said and kissed you sneakily on the lips. You smiled.

“Such a baby.”

“I know.”

He raised his hand and gently brushed your locks out of your face. “Wish we could always sleep like this.”

“You mean squashed together uncomfortably in a single-sized bed?” you chuckled. “Nice dreams, you have.”

He rolled his eyes and pressed a small kiss on the tip of your nose.

“Witty.”

Your rumbling stomach made him look up again.

“Breakfast?”

“I think we’re a bit late but lunch starts in an hour.”

“Great.”

He pressed a sloppy kiss on your cheek before he got out of bed. You instantly started to miss him.

“You excited?” he asked. The third task was this evening.

“I guess, so,” you said, sitting up. “I think Harry’ll be really happy when it finally ends.”

“Yeah,” he said, opening his trunk, searching for clothes. “And we made nice money. Not much but it’s a start. During summer we can start mass producing some of our stuff.”

“Mm…” you said, not really excited for summer. George looked at you with great concern, then sat down next to you onto the edge of the bed.

“It’s just two weeks. I talk to mum when I get home, Fred and I pass the apparition exam and we’ll take you back to ours.”

“I know,” you said. “I just don’t want to be trouble for your mum. I know she has to… feed a lot of kids already.”

George chuckled.

“Mum’d rather feed a hundred kids than let one have a bad vacation — Hey, look.”

He reached into his trunk and pulled out a red sweater with yellowish lines across it. He examined it with great resentment.

“My quidditch jumper. I really wanted to play this year. Probably won’t even fit anymore.”

He glanced at you.

“Do you want it?”

“What?” you asked, surprised.

“Yeah, I have to buy a new one anyway, this one’s too small. Here, it’s yours.”

You took the jumper from his hand and pulled it over your head. Even if it was too small for George, he was still pretty tall, and the jumper reached way below your waist. You rolled up your sleeves.

“It looks good on you,” said George, taking you all in with glimmering eyes.

“And it smells like you,” you said, kissing him on the cheeks. “That’s a win-win.”

George dressed quickly and you folded the jumper into a nice pack; even though you loved it, it was way too hot today to wear such clothes. You placed it carefully in your trunk, then George took your hand and you went down to the Great Hall.

Ron and Hermione had just finished with their exams, and were about to sit down to the Gryffindor table to Harry. Next to them you saw a tall, long haired man, and with him a kind faced, plumpy woman. You stopped dead in your tracks.

“What?” asked George in concern. Then he looked at the table. “Hey, mum’s here!”

He started walking but you stopped again.

“Y/N, what is it?”

“I wasn’t expecting to meet your mum today!” you hissed nervously. George laughed and kissed your temple softy as Fred and Ginny sat down to the table, too.

“C’mon, love, she’s gonna love you more than Fred and I combined.”

He squeezed your hand and you followed him to the little group.

“Hey, mum! Hey Bill! What’re you doing here?”

“We’re visiting Harry on the third task,” the woman said. “It’s so nice to see the castle again!”

“Uhum,” George said. Then he gently pulled you closer because you were determined to hide behind him. “Mum, this is Y/N.”

You waved nervously. Mrs Weasley looked at you with a kind smile.

“Hello, dear! I didn’t know you were a friend of Fred and George’s!

Fred snorted with laughter.

“Mum! They’re not friends!”

Mrs Weasley gave a confused look at his son. Then she looked at George and you again, finally seeing that he was holding your hand. She froze for a second. Then she jumped up from her seat and pulled George into a tight hug.

“Georgie!!! I can’t believe it! I am so happy, you always just with those pranks, I would’ve never thought…!

“Muuum!” George’s ears went red like a radish. “Stop, you’re choking me…!

“And you!” Mrs Weasley let go of George and now looked at you, pulling you into a warm hug, too. “My dear, I am so glad to meet you!

“It’s really nice to meet you, too, Mrs Weasley,” you said, while Ginny and Fred were holding back their laugh behind their mum’s back.

“How long has this been going on?” she asked.

“Forever,” said Fred, rolling his eyes.

“Y/N just finished with her O.W.L.s, mum,” said George, quickly changing the subject. “Probably gonna get ‘Outstanding’ for everything.”

He looked at you with pride in his eyes. You shook your head, smiling.

“Where do you want to work later, dear?” asked Mrs Weasley.

“Er — I’d like to get accepted to the ‘International Magical Trading Standards Body’ at the Ministry.”

“Trading?”

“Yes, I think I’d be quite… good at that.”

George squeezed your hand and you had to fight a laugh.

“Oh, but that’s the same department as Percy’s!” said Mrs Weasley excitedly. “You know, my other son is working at the Ministry as well. He was Prefect and Head Boy — ”

“You already earned a good point in mum’s eyes,” said Fred, rolling his eyes again. “Percy’s the golden child.”

“Fred!” said Mrs Weasley, scolding.

After that, meeting with Bill was not a big deal; he smiled at you happily, shook your hand and he hit George in the back a few times to congratulate him. Then you all had lunch, like a big family.

After you finished eating, Ron, Hermione and Ginny went on to their next exams, while Harry, Bill and Mrs Weasley decided to go for a walk around the castle. You, George and Fred went down to the lake, throwing pieces of food into the water for the Giant Squid.

You sat down in the grass, leaning sleepily against the trunk of a tree. You were watching the twins as they played with the squid, tickling its tentacles whenever it reached out for them. You smiled to yourself. It was such a nice day.

When dinnertime came the whole school was vibrating from anticipation. When Harry stood up to join the champions, the Gryffindor table cheered with applause. And then everyone started make their way to the maze, the used to be quidditch pitch.

You walked with Ginny, looking for the best place to sit. You both wore a red and gold line of facepaint on your cheeks, not like the twins who wrote everything onto their faces what they could think of.

When Harry and Cedric entered the maze you all cheered, then not much later Krum and Fleur disappeared as well. The crowd fell silent, shivering with anticipation in the setting sun.

“Enjoying the show, ladies?” Fred leaned closer as they sat down with George next to you.

“Yes, it’s amazing, watching bushes for an hour,” said Ginny. You laughed.

“Who do you think it’ll be?” asked George.

“Harry,” said Ginny. You grinned at her and she elbowed you in the ribs.

“Bouncing nougat, Y/N?” said Fred, holding a bag out for you. You shook your head.

“No, thanks. I’d rather eat some popcorn.”

“Really? That’s pretty basic,” he shrugged.

“Excuse me?” you said frowning at him. “What is that suppose to mean?”

“Careful now, Freddie,” said George grinning, not taking his eyes off the maze while chewing on a nougat.

“I’m just saying, muggles tend to stick to the basics.”

“Good thing she’s not a muggle, then,” answered Ginny in a dry voice. Fred shook his head.

“No, that’s not what I meant! Y/N, I know you’re brilliant, I’m just saying sometimes you really can see how they miss magic.”

“Really?” you raised your eyebrows. “Muggles have done many things wizards can’t even dream of doing.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Like sending a bloody rocketship to the moon.”

There was a sudden silence from all the three Weasleys. Then George shook his head in denial.

“That’s not true!”

“Yes, it is. Wait — ” you started laughing. “Wait, don’t tell me you didn’t know this! That’s unbelievable!”

“It’s not funny,” said Fred pouting. “It’s not even true, you’re just making this up to tease us!”

“Look!” Ginny, alongside with a handful of people, pointed towards the maze. “Red sparks!”

“Someone must be in trouble,” said George. “Maybe their rocketship has got stuck.”

“Oh, shut up. When I’m home I’m gonna collect the articles and prove it to you.”

“Who do you think it can be?” asked Ginny. Fred shrugged.

“We’re about to see.”

The teachers who flew above the maze on broomsticks were now coming back, helping the dirty clothed, tired Fleur to the ground. The crowd gave her a polite applause.

“That’s four galleons and two sickles to us,” mumbled Fred.

Now it was completely dark, torches alongside the seats and the maze were set up to light the ground. People were more eager by the second. Some already stood up in their seats, ready to be the first who sees the returning champion. For half an hour nothing happened. And then suddenly a blue light was forming in the middle of the grass, the portkey lit up, and there came Harry, with Cedric.

You stood up and started cheering and happily joined the crowd that was rushing down from their seats towards the Hogwarts champions. Everyone seemed to be in awe, trumpets and horns were playing joyful music and every face was just bright with ecstasy…

And then you saw it.

Someone screamed. And the music stopped.

You had no idea what you were seeing, still, you knew exactly what it was. Harry was holding him… it to the ground, reaching for it when Dumbledore tried to pull him away.

“He’s back! He’s back! Voldemort’s back! Cedric, he asked me to bring his body back! I couldn’t leave him. Not there!”

He was sobbing. You stood there, shocked, staring at the empty eyes of the boy who an hour ago was waving to the crowd. You started backing away, bumping into George and stepping on his foot. He put one arm around your chest. You grabbed it tight, unable to think.

“The body must be moved, Dumbledore!” said Fudge. “Too many people…”

And then Amos Diggory started screaming. He ran down the isle, pushed people away as he made his way to his dead son. He kept on wailing in pain like a never ending nightmare.

Moody took Harry away. For minutes you just stood there until you felt someone pulling your arm. You felt yourself walking but couldn’t see where you were going. You were just following the hand leading you.

“ — I have to. Fred, George, take care of Ginny. And Y/N! I visit you as soon as I can! Don’t leave the common room!”

You saw stairs before your eyes. Then you felt yourself climbing them. Loads. Then someone mumbled something, a portrait opened, and you stepped inside the common room.

It was like when a bubble pops. You took a sudden breath and looked around, students all around talking, some crying. You turned your head to Ginny; she was already in Fred’s arms, tears running down on her cheeks. You felt shortage of air. You couldn’t breath. You started panting.

“Hey…Shh,” George took you in his arms and held you tightly. He kept whispering in your ears in a quivering voice. “Shh… it’s alright… breathe, Y/N… breathe…”

You raised your head to look him in the eye. His face was pale as winter snow. You needed a few long seconds before you finally were able to inhale enough air to speak. Your voice felt weak and scared.

“What… What did he mean…”

“I don’t know,” he said, fear in his eyes. “I don’t… Mum,” he said looking at Fred. He nodded. “Mum said to wait for her.”

“I want to sit down,” sobbed Ginny and Fred lead her to an armchair in the corner. George took you there as well, sitting down and pulling you in his lap at once. You rested your head on his chest. You couldn’t close your eyes. All you could see was Cedric.

He’s back! He’s back! Voldemort’s back!

You tried to focus on George’s heartbeat and breathe alongside with it. It was extremely difficult.

The four of you were sitting in the corner for a long time, when McGonagall finally appeared. Her face was pale, lips in a thin line, her voice shaky when she spoke. The common room went quiet at once. “Mr Potter is alright and now resting in the hospital wing. There is nothing much we can do today about… about Mr Diggory’s death. Professor Dumbledore will share further information later. Now, please…” her face changed expression, almost looked like a worrying mother as she looked at her students. “Please, try and get some sleep. We will give you further notice in the morning.”

And she left. Ginny was now not crying, she was sitting still, staring at the people in the room. You locked eyes with Fred who was sitting on Ginny’s armrest. You had never seen his face like this. He stared at you for a bit then he said in a kind tone, “How’s it hanging, Y/N?”

You didn’t say anything. You couldn’t. You did a weird gesture which was inbetween a headshake and a nod, and you leaned back onto George’s chest. He was gently massaging your wrist.

People started to take McGonagall’s advice. Fewer and fewer stayed at the tables, but you four were holding on. Mrs Weasley said to wait for her, so you did. Ginny closed her eyes, you weren’t sure if she was sleeping or not. You also drifted away a few times, waking up suddenly. After two in the morning Fred and George started talking in a low whisper. It was half past three when the Fat Lady swung open and Mrs Weasley stepped in.

All four of you looked at her in great anticipation. It was only you in the common room now.

“How’s Harry?” asked George.

“He’s sleeping. Ron and Hermione stays with him. I’ll go back, too, I just need to say a few things first.”

“What’s gonna happen, mum?” asked Fred.

Mrs Weasley took a deep breath, ignored the question and started saying something else.

“Now, listen to me. What I say now is going to stay strictly between us. From now on, your safety is more important than ever. Because… Because He Who Must Not Be Named is back.”

Ginny’s lip trembled. Mrs Weasley continued.

“Now, certain things will be handled during the summer. But we’ll talk about that when the time comes. Now I want you all to take care of each other, and don’t listen to anything anyone but Dumbledore says. We need to be careful. It seems as the Ministry is not on our side.”

You felt as though it was just a horrible dream. A terrifying, sickening dream.

“I need to leave tomorrow, but I’ll pick you up at King’s Cross, as ususal. Y/N” she looked at you. “You are more than welcome to spend the summer with us. Hermione’s coming, too.” She looked back at her kids. “We’re going to sort everything out with your father when I’m home.”

She stood up, kissing Ginny and hugging Fred. Then she patted your hand.

“Go up and sleep. All of you. I need to go. And take care of each other!”

And with that she left the four of you alone.

——

After the memorial for Cedric you had nothing else to do than packing your trunk and saying goodbye to your four-poster for another two months. On the train back home you sticked closely to George and Fred, not wasting a minute that you could still spend with the twins. You were in the same compartment with Harry, Ron and Hermione and played cards all the way to King’s Cross. The twins even told them the story of Bagman, who now was apparently on the run because of his huge debt.

When the train stopped, you prepared yourself to leave to the muggle world, but every step felt as heavy as a mountain. The twins quickly caught up to you after talking with Harry about something. Your stomach hurt with anxiety as you walked through the barrier.

You weren’t looking for him just yet; first you went to Mrs Weasley who hugged you and told you again how she was looking forward to have you over the summer. You thanked her and managed to force a smile on your lips.

“Are they picking you up, dear?” she asked. You nodded, finally glancing over the crowd, looking for that specific face, that specific frown, that specific scornful expression.

You spotted it and your stomach dropped.

“Well… I guess I’ll see you, Mrs Weasley.”

“Goodbye, my dear.”

“Bye Y/N,” Fred hugged you quickly, nothing much, nothing over the top. He grinned at you. “See you soon.”

“Come here,” said George while everyone said goodbye to Harry and Hermione. “Write me as soon as you’re home. And tomorrow. And after that. And…”

“After that?” you laughed weakly. “I only have one owl, you know.”

Peanut was looking at you from his cage. George shrugged.

“I guess I have to write back to you every single day, then.”

He gave a small peck onto your hand, then placed a tender kiss on your lips as well.

You knew if you had to look at him again, you’d never be able to leave. You turned away, waved to Ginny and pulled your trunk towards your father who was waiting by the entrance. He was just standing there, watching you approaching him. He looked like a statue.

“Good afternoon,” you said. You got a grunt in return.

“Let’s go, girl. I’m not carrying the bird.”

“I know.”

He started walking and you followed him to the car. You opened the trunk and put all your stuff inside except the cage. Just about when your father was getting in the car, you heard footsteps on the pavement.

“Y/N!”

You jerked your head towards George in fear.

“I forgot to give you my…”

Your father looked at the boy and his wand hanging out from his pocket.

“…adresss,” he finished in an uncertain tone. You stepped forward quickly and snatched the piece of parchment out of his hand.

“Thank you,” you said quickly and pushed him away. “Now go. Please.”

You did everything so that your father would not cause a scene in the middle of the street. George looked at you, confused. Then he saw your father, too.

“George, please, go,” you begged him, whisper-shouting. “I’ll write, please, go!”

He backed away slowly, now giving a sly eye to your father. Then he turned away and you finally were able to sit into the car.

“Foul people,” your father said as he started the engine.

You pressed your lips together and looked out the window, fighting your tears.

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the-hopeless-haze · 4 years

Text

Rebel Rebel (Part 1?)

Pairing: Janis Sarkisian/reader

A/N: okay this has been sitting in my drafts for months and I have no idea if I��m gonna continue this but fuck it???? Sorry for all the people who followed me for Barba lmao (I am continuing that don’t worry) but idk I just figured I may as well post this??? I have more of this written and I know how I wanted it to end but the middle is just not working and that’s why I never posted. But I just listened to Dead Girl Walking and I was reminded how gay I am for Barrett sooooo 😂 here you go? You’re welcome?? I haven’t edited this or looked at it since March so this may be a mess but... yeah

It was eighth grade, nearing the end of the year and you were anxious, unsure of why. Would your friends still be your friends next year? High school was going to be a lot different, you could just tell.

You saw your two best friends, Regina and Janis talking to each other down the hallway, where their lockers were, so you headed down there. Regina was probably inviting Janis to the end of year pool party she’d been planning. It was going to be so great to at least be with all your friends one last time, even if high school might take them away.

As you got within earshot, though, you realized Regina was being anything but nice.

“But are you a lesbian, Janis? I can’t have a lesbian at my pool party,” you hear Regina’s high pitched voice chirp. “You understand that, right?”

“Regina... I—“

“What? So are you?”

“Why are you asking me this? Did I do something?”

“I need to know. Don’t you get it? You not wanting to answer is pretty suspicious.”

“I am a space alien and I have four butts!” Janis yelled and ran down the hallway, leaving Regina to laugh. She makes eye contact with you. “Wow, I dodged a bullet with that, huh?”

“Why did you do that?”

“Don’t you get she doesn’t fit in? I mean, she likes girls, first of all. Second of all... she doesn’t get this stuff. Don’t you want to be popular in high school? I can get you there. We’re on top here. Everyone knows us. But this is child’s play.”

“But that was mean, Regina!” you said, your tone accusatory.

She shrugs her shoulders. “Sometimes you have to be mean to get what you want. And we’re not going to get it with her.”

“But she’s our friend!”

“Was...our friend. Don’t you care that she’s a dyke?”

You sighed, defeated. You wanted to tell her, no, you didn’t care... but you knew she’d stop being friends with you too. And her talk of being popular and being on top of the world... it sounded good.

You had many regrets about this day, and if everyone has a couple turning points in their lives, this was your first.

——

Regina was right, though. She got you everything you had thought you’d always wanted, but you never felt good enough and a lot of the time, you’re miserable. You’re constantly worried about your weight, whether you got enough instagram likes on your 1000th picture with the plastics, as you’d been dubbed, and whether or not you were dating one of the hottest guys at school.

Who would’ve thought the hottest guys were so dumb? You didn’t like any of them, really, and the second they asked to get in your pants, you dropped them like flies. So you’d gotten a rep for being somewhat of a prude, which Regina would sometimes scold you for.

Regina just got meaner as time went on, and sometimes you regretted not turning on her the first day she showed her true colors, when she’d sharpied all over Janis’s locker “SPACE DYKE” and even included it in the burn book she made over the summer once yearbooks came out. Regina would flirt with boys that she thought you or Gretchen liked, just to show you she could have them. Jokes on her, you didn’t like any of them, but you had to pretend or there wouldn’t be any gossip or any of the infighting that Regina seemed to love. It was the beginning of sophomore year now, and it was beyond exhausting.

And oh, the parties that started now! You hated them, just an excuse for everyone to get shitfaced and girls to make dumb decisions that made boys so happy even though everyone was too drunk to really remember them the next day. Regina is hosting one tonight, and here you are, in your skimpy, skin tight blue dress that you had to buy with babysitting money— since there’s no way in hell your mother would buy that for you. A sophomore hosting a party was unheard of, but Regina has a huge house and her parents went on vacation for their anniversary. She’d use whatever she could to her advantage.

All she wanted was to climb that ladder, and she didn’t care who got hurt in the way.

But here you were, dancing with the hockey player you were dating now... or was it football? You didn’t even care. You vaguely remembered his name was Mike and you told him you needed to go to the bathroom. You headed to Regina’s room and locked the door, thankful you got there early enough that there was no one trying to hookup.

You got lost in your phone for a while, and you found Janis’s Instagram profile. It was private, but there was her profile picture. She was so pretty now, not the awkward girl who tried to dye her hair blonde and wear pink just to fit in. She wore dark makeup in the picture and she wasn’t looking at the camera, and it fit her so much better. Even her hair, which she had let just grow out from the blonde she’d dyed it, looked great. You nearly send a follow request and then think better of it.

You remembered having hobbies, painting at Janis’s house until your hands were covered in paint, and you remember laughing so hard you couldn’t breathe.

Sometimes Regina was a good friend. Sometimes she was a great friend. She was there for you when your grandmother died over that first summer without Janis, and she held you while you cried... and you cried a lot. But sometimes she was mean to even you and it was exhausting. You know she cares about you, but you know she’d turn on you, too, if you gave her what she deemed enough reason to.

You can’t remember laughing like you used to in a long time. You can’t remember being passionate about anything for a while, either. The only time was in your classes, really, you loved chemistry but you had to keep it under wraps because if it got out you were too nerdy... well, that’s social suicide.

The thing about being a plastic was that you couldn’t be anything or do anything too extreme. You had to just be a shell of human being, a shell of a hot girl, just to appease everyone. The money you spent, or had your parents spend, on your bleach blonde hair and your makeup and your hot clothes and your nails and your purses and your shoes... and the hours you spent at the salon and the mall with Regina and Gretchen and Karen, it was completely exhausting. And then you weren’t allowed to have a personality outside of all of this, it was just, clothes! Makeup! Shoes! Boys! Parties! Popularity!

All things girls were supposed to care about, but really, there was no girl left in you to care anymore. You slip off your heels and lie down on the bed, remembering Regina holding you. That felt nice, her slender arms around you, her chin against your shoulder, and she smelled so good, like a hair salon and vanilla and cinnamon and... you just wanted to cry. Why couldn’t she be like that all the time?

The pillows smell like her shampoo and you inch up to place your head on them, ready to fall asleep, the bass from the speakers downstairs lulling you.

You awake twenty minutes later with your phone blowing up from Regina. “Where’d you go? Party’s not fun without you 😘” her most recent text said. Your eyes burn from the makeup you fell asleep in and you blink a few times before replying, telling her you were in her room and not feeling well.

“Bummer! I’ll be up in a few xo” she texts back.

You answer the door when she knocks, and you smile when she hugs you immediately. “(Y/n)! I’m sorry you’re sick! Did you drink something Kevin made? Because don’t.”

“No... I just... I don’t know. I’m sick of the parties,” you grumble as you pull away from the hug and sit back on the bed. She follows you, her pink dress clinging to her every curve, riding up a little as she sits down.

“Why?” She laughs. “This is what high school is about! You’ve gotta have fun. You’re only hot once.”

“But this... it’s not fun to me. It’s not fun to get wasted and have guys try and get in my pants and watch girls throw up.”

“But we can get everything we want. It’s what I always told you,” she says, rubbing your back, but her voice is hollow.

“I don’t have everything I want! I don’t even know what I want anymore, but I’m not happy. Are you? What are you getting out of this because I don’t understand.”

“Respect. Love. Fear. It’s all I ever wanted, really,” Regina says. “People either love me or hate me but they think about me. They think about you, too. Everyone who’s a sophomore knows us, and most of the upperclassmen do too. Doesn’t it feel good?”

You sigh. “I guess, sometimes, it does. But most of the time it doesn’t! I don’t like it, feeling like I have to do everything perfectly because everyone’s watching. And it’s only going to get worse because next year we’re juniors...”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m not entirely happy either. I don’t like Jack.”

“Then why are you dating him?”

“Because. Free popularity and all I gotta do is be seen with him.”

“But... doesn’t he ask for more?”

She laughs. “Sure he does! But you have to be strategic with that.”

“Right..." you say, slightly sarcastically. You didn't really know what she meant.

Regina places a hand on your knee. “I know it’s been hard for you. But it’s going to be okay.”

“Do you wanna... just lie for a minute? I know you have to go back to the party—“

“No, I can stay for you,” she says, smiling softly. There was the Regina you wanted to be friends with all the time.

You both lean back on the bed, and her arms wrap around you tightly, her chin nestling on your shoulder. Here, you were happy.

“It’s all worth it, all the fighting to just get to the top to sit like this with you,” she says quietly. “We could never be made fun of for this because we can’t be touched.”

“What?”

“Don’t you get it? I... I don’t know how to say it. Just... trust me, okay?” You nod, not sure what she meant, but then she’s leaning over and turning your cheek toward her and she’s kissing you.

Regina George is kissing you.

It’s a quick peck, probably because she’s not sure how you’d react but it’s still the best kiss you’d ever had in your life. You don’t make any rational thoughts in the next few moments and you’re not sure if she kisses you again or you pull her back in, but all of a sudden she’s on top of you and kissing you harder, and slowly, the confusion sets in.

It almost feels too good to stop, but eventually your brain starts working again. “Regina... I... are you okay?” you ask as you pull away. “Are you drunk?”

“What? No. I wouldn’t get drunk at my own party, what kind of slut does that? No, (y/n)... I want you. Didn’t that feel good?”

“Yes... but... you kicked Janis out of the friend group for being a lesbian. Why would you do that if you were gay? You always said she had a crush on you. Why would that have been such a bad thing?”

Regina sighs and flops over to the other side of the bed. “I’m not gay. I mean. I don’t know. I definitely didn’t know back then but I knew Janis just didn’t fit in even if we took away all of the gay stuff. But if we talk about the gay stuff... then yeah. I was confused. Super confused. I didn’t know if I liked you or her and I knew I wasn’t supposed to like either of you. And then I saw the two of you together and you just... you had something I didn’t have, just genuine friendship, and maybe she had a crush on you. Either way I was jealous. And I had to get the two of you apart.”

“Regina... that’s awful,” you say.

“But then I tried to be nice to you! I just wanted to be friends. I mean, I didn’t think I wanted to sleep with you or anything. I just wanted to be friends. Karen and Gretchen are just stupid and I just don’t feel comfortable enough around them to be like this. To let go of the persona.”

“You haven’t been entirely nice to me, Regina. Plus you started this off by ruining my friendship with Janis.”

“I know. I shouldn’t have done that, but I was so... angry whenever she was around. I just... we could pass for straight. No one would know.”

“Regina... I can’t,” you say, biting your lip and trying not to cry.

“Do you... do you not like girls? Is that it? I’m so stupid,” she says bitterly.

“No, Regina, it’s not that, I mean... I don’t know if I do. But it’s just... I’m tired of living like this and I don’t want to have this secret to worry about. All we need is for Gretchen to find out...”

“But she wouldn’t. And even if she did, do you think she’d cross me? Cross us?” She grips your wrists. “Please.”

You start crying and you know you’re not going to be able to stop. If the circumstances were different, you’d love to date her. You think. “Regina. I don’t want to be popular anymore, and for that to happen, we can’t be friends and we... can’t do this.”

“But—“

“If you want to drop it... then... if you want to give up being popular, being fake... then... then yes. Come out. Apologize to Janis. But I’m leaving, and I’m not leaving with baggage.”

She nods. “I... I understand. It’s okay. But I need this! They’d tear me apart if I came out and I can’t be... I can’t be outcasted. I’m exhausted, too, you know? But it’s... it’s better than the alternative. I hope you don’t come to realize that.”

“Regina...”

“No, it’s fine. I really get it,” she says, smiling. “But I’m going to have to spread a rumor, something so they don’t question why you left the group.”

“I know. Just say I’m gay. It’s your trick.”

She starts crying then, sobbing, really, and your heart lurches. You lean over to hug her.

“You don’t have to be so mean.”

“Yeah. I do. Because if I’m not it’ll turn around on me. My mom... she’d never understand! I just... okay. I understand we can’t... be seen together if this is really what you want. But can you at least text me once in a while? So I know how you’re doing?”

“Of course,” you say. You hug her one last time, and she kisses your cheek. You leave the house with your head held high but your heart sinks as you realize this is the last time you’ll step foot in there.

——

Regina is meaner without you. She is hostile to Gretchen and Karen, and you can tell if they adored her at all before, that’s completely gone and they follow her out of fear that she’d make their lives a living hell.

Maybe it’s because she did go on and start the rumor you were a lesbian. Fair enough. You weren’t entirely sure about that label yet but it gave you enough freedom to maneuver this without having lame guys hit on you anymore. That may have stopped anyway since you weren’t competing with Regina for hottest in the sophomore class... but at least it stopped.

“So... looks like she did the same thing to you after all, bitch,” a female voice says as you slam your locker shut. You jump and look to your left to see Janis there... and your breath catches. She was all the more beautiful in person.

“Yeah,” you frown. “But hey... are you mad at me?”

Janis scoffs. “Kinda. But I know you weren’t to blame now. I mean, she did the same thing to you! And I hate Regina more than I could ever hate anybody. Also Damien made me talk to you.”

“Damien?” you ask. “Wait... that guy in musical theater?”

“Yes...” Janis says slowly. “How do you know?”

“He’s really good! I’ve gone and seen every play. Like, and sat in the back. But I’ve gone.”

“Wow. That surprises me. But you did used to love that sort of thing in middle school.”

“I think I made you listen to the Mamma Mia soundtrack at least 80 times.”

“Oh yes. Wait... did you know that they’re putting it on this year? It's the spring musical."

“What?”

“Yeah. Maybe you could audition now that the plastics aren’t holding you back. You have like one day to make up your mind though. I do scenery. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

“Where do you sit at lunch?”

——

It was an awkward reintroduction and the words are never spoken. Is Janis gay? More importantly, are you gay, or bi, or something? Does wondering if another girl is gay make you gay?

But aside from the utter confusion of possibly having a crush on your ex best friend, you’re enjoying life as an ex-plastic. You’re auditioning for the role of Donna, but even if you don’t get it you’re going to get a part since so few people actually signed up to audition. You’re drawing again, too, even if you were never as good as Janis.

Regina hasn’t texted you yet, but you’re thankful. If she did too soon you’d get pulled back from the progress you’ve made. But you’re also worried about her, and your heart lurches whenever you make eye contact with her at lunch and she looks away quickly.

But this was how life was going to be from now on, so it was time to get used to it.

#janis sarkisian #janis x reader #janis sarkisian x reader #janis ian #janis ian x reader #mean girls #mean girls broadway #mean girls bway #Yeah I made Regina gay #what about it???#that's my headcanon #no one in this musical is straight ok #idk i feel weird posting this but fuck ittttt

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