*tries to write a post about the last 60th Anniversary special*

*is too overwhelmed with Feelings to string two words together in a coherent manner*

... anyway thank you RTD for reconciling me with the entire concept of found family after fandom at large tried its best to sour it and poison it in so many different ways.

*whipes tears away, still smiling and a bit dazed*

Phagophobia Pt. 20

Word Count: 1,701

Summary: It's rushed and not quite right, but I guess that's why they call it a rough draft.

This will serve as the ending to Phagophobia for now. What can you expect from here? I've started on an actual outline for the rewrite, so keep an eye out for posts of that as I go along. As for actual new chapters showing up, I'm estimating six months out? In the meantime, there should be some bonus stories and more detailed field guides for Coven agents to look forward to.

Whether you've been following this story from the beginning or came upon it recently, know that I appreciate the heck out of you. Seeing others get excited over the characters or show interest in bits of lore, as rough as this project is at the moment, helps keep me going. 

Like Isaac, we still have a long road ahead of us but we'll keep working toward a brighter future. Together.

Content Advisory: Awkwardly witnessing an argument between exes, alcohol mention

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It was the longest walk he’d ever endured. The only mercy was Dimas staying a couple paces ahead so they didn’t have to speak. Luckily, whatever message Dimas had received on his tab proved accurate. An elegant, familiar model of black car sat in the shoulder of the main road with its hazard lights blinking. The driver side door popped open. A blonde person tall enough to comfortably lean one elbow on the roof watched their arduous approach. Black lipstick made it easy to track the smile growing across the stranger’s pale face.

“Well. You boys look like hell, but I have to say you smell delicious.” Vestiges of a drawl closely related to Kinslayer’s softened the edges of each word.

“Before you even try, Mergus already said no to eating anyone.” Renato reached for the handle of the front passenger door.

The driver snapped their fingers and glared at him. “You get in the back. Your boy-toy can sit shotgun. I’m sure we’ll have plenty to chit-chat about.”

“He’s not—”

Trademark bloodborn fangs appeared in the newcomer’s glossy goth smile as they turned to Isaac. “Did he stab you yet? Shove you off a building? Although I guess it’s still pretty early in the relationship for that, isn’t it?”

“You’ll have to excuse Oleander,” Dimas cut in. “She’s still bitter over me being happier with a goldfish than I ever was with her. And, apparently, because I shot her once just to kill someone about to stake her in the back.”

“Oh, so the whole shoving me from three floors up thing was just for funsies. Glad we cleared the air.”

A wave of nostalgia for riding to his death with Quinn and Zamora washed over Isaac. He sighed and gingerly slid into the front seat. The squabbling bloodborn followed suit shortly after. Thankfully, the crushing percussion, wailing guitars, and guttural lyrics that blared from the sound system saved them all from further conversation as Oleander flipped the car into an illegal u-turn and sped back toward the city.

When Isaac snorted awake again they’d parked in front of the clocktower. Oleander unclipped her seatbelt, but Dimas interrupted.

“Don’t bother. We won’t be more than fifteen minutes.”

“Hm. Awfully quick turnaround for both of you washing up and packing. Or are you going to scrub each other’s backs in the shower to save time?”

“We’ll have to stop somewhere before dawn anyway. We can clean up then. For now, we’re just grabbing a couple of bags.”

“Yeah, right. More like grabbing each other’s—”

“Ollie, wait in the fucking car, all right? Please?”

She twisted around to pin him with a basilisk-grade glare while Isaac pretended to be part of his seat. From the corner of his eye, he watched her reach out, wipe or scrape a sample of blood off of Dimas’s cheek, then stick that finger into her mouth. Whatever she tasted made her snort and turn back around.

“Fine, whatever. One second over fifteen minutes, though, and I’m leaving your asses behind. You can explain to Mergus why you’re running late.”

Isaac followed Dimas’s lead in exiting without comment. It wasn’t until they’d passed through the revolving glass door and into the privacy of the elevator that the wall of silence between them crumbled.

“Ollie will rip your throat out just to spite me,” Dimas blurted as they passed the seventh floor. “Don’t get caught alone with her.”

Isaac flinched as he reached into his pocket, cuts on his fingers and bitemark on his arm throbbing. “Would you rescue me if I did?”

In the shiny brass-plated doors Dimas’s reflection twisted like he’d swallowed something slimy and still wriggling. “I think we both know the answer to that already.”

The lines of his face relaxed, though, when Isaac nudged his arm. Dimas looked down to see his folding knife and rosary being offered back to him. He reached for them. Logically, Isaac recognized his cue to let go. Instead, he held on, their fingers a hair’s breadth away from touching. Dimas’s expression thawed fully as their stares met. He took a breath, lips parting.

A shuddering stop and cheerful ding announced their arrival. Isaac’s hand jumped away like it’d been stung. He fled the elevator the moment the doors opened.

And ran straight into another conversation he wasn’t ready to have.

“Oh, you were right!” Dorian told Kinslayer from where the two of them sat side by side on the loveseat. “They’re home. And they look terrible. Please tell me most of that blood isn’t yours.”

Kinslayer polished off the last of Dimas’s vodka before slamming the bottle down on the coffee table. They pushed themself onto their feet and flung their arms wide, grinning. “My favorite cousin and bookworm! How good to see you, alive and in one piece even.”

Renato lifted his eyebrows at Dorian. “You let them in?”

“She had the elevator code and seemed to know both of you.” They folded their arms across their belly. “Plus, I had no idea when…if…you’d be back. Ott made for good company while we waited. Even if she did drink all the vodka.”

“Aw, I’ll make it up to you, freckles. I’ll bring you some moonshine good enough to open up your third eye, even if it’ll be seeing double the whole time.”

“Or some mimosas and a big breakfast to keep it sleepy and closed instead?”

“Ain’t as fun, but sure, suit yourself.”

“As much as I’d love to stay and chat,” Renato interrupted, “Agent Soto and I on a tight schedule. We’ll explain later, but Ki—Ott. May I ask another favor of you?”

“You know you can, cousin.”

“Help me protect Dorian. They’ll be following Soto and me north but need to stay out of sight. Between the two of you I’m sure you can more than manage.”

Kinslayer glanced over at Dorian. “How about it, freckles? Mind if I tag along?”

“Not at all. I’m doing the driving tomorrow, though.”

“Not much of a plan, but it will have to do for now.” Shoulders slumped, Renato rubbed his hands over his face. A crimson snowfall of dried blood drifted to the floor. “I’m going to pack a couple of bags and then we’re off. I’ll contact you both as soon as I can.”

Then he disappeared up the stairs, leaving Isaac with the other vampire who’d almost-but-not-quite eaten him. At his own insistence maybe, but still.

“Bookworm,” they said.

He kept his eyes on their sand-sprinkled hiking boots, but his body was already rooted to the spot. “Uh. Hi.”

The boots went into motion, headed right for him. Isaac’s palpitating heart plugged up the back of his throat. He knew, somehow, that Kinslayer wouldn’t hurt him. They weren’t the one he couldn’t trust.

Kinslayer’s next step stumbled. Another spike in his pulse spurred Isaac out of his silent panic. He helped steady them with one hand on a shoulder and the other below their ribs. The smell of brine, liquor, and rain rolled off of them, salty, sharp, and sweet. Their dark shirt stuck to their skin, soaked with something hot and wet. Isaac’s palm came away smeared in red.

“You’re hurt,” he whispered.

“I’ll live,” they replied. “Jury’s still out on you, though. For a squishy little bookworm you sure pick a lot of fights.”

“What happ—”

“Not enough time, like your bloodborn said. It’ll have to wait.”

“Even if you still owe me an answer?” Isaac sucked in a breath when he realized he’d said it out loud. Apparently, it was going to take a while before the filter between his mouth and brain grew back.

Kinslayer let out a low laugh. “Brat. This isn’t a simple transaction anymore.”

Right. When was anything? “What is it then?”

A hand gripped him under the chin, forcing him to look up at last. Their eyes were still as black and lightless as staring into the barrel of a rifle. A wave of warm numbness dissolved the bundles of tension across Isaac’s shoulders. His breathing slowed.

He blinked. Then again in surprise. Isaac put a hand to his chest. His heart continued to beat, relaxed but steady.

“It’ll be what we choose to make of it,” Kinslayer told him. “Together.”

They released his chin and took a step back as footfalls came down the stairs. Dimas, wearing fresh clothes, reappeared with two suitcases probably worth more than Isaac’s entire wardrobe in hand.

“Agent Soto? Ready?”

“Oh. Um, yeah, ready.” He gave the most awkward wave of his life to a beaming Dorian and gulped at the smirking Kinslayer. “I’ll, uh, I’ll see you around?”

Getting into the elevator again came as a strange relief, but he took it.

As the lights for the floors counted down, Dimas half unzipped one of the suitcases and pulled out a dark blue shirt with mother-of-pearl buttons.

“Here. You might be a tad wider across the shoulders and narrower in the hips, but it should fit.”

Isaac hesitated. The shirt looked like it might curl up and disintegrate like a rare flower if he so much as breathed on it. Dimas, misinterpreting, mustered a smile that managed to be equal parts annoyed and amused. He turned his back to give Isaac privacy. Or as much as the shiny brass walls would allow anyway.

Shit. Path of least resistance it was. Just this once—he was too tired to explain. Isaac gingerly peeled off his old, blood-saturated shirt and shrugged into the new, fresh one. It wrapped around him, soft and light as the wings of an angel (though, a little snug when he stretched his shoulders, true). He finished buttoning it to the collar before the elevator doors slid open.

Dimas turned around and looked him over. Amusement won total control over his smile. Lightning-quick, he reached out and popped open the top button of the shirt.

“Live a little, Agent Soto,” he said, stepping out into the lobby, luggage in tow. “If nothing else, it will spite everyone who wants us dead.”

Isaac tried to glare, decided it wasn’t worth the energy, and threw his ruined shirt into the trash on the way out.

Noticing You - e.m x fem reader Part Four

TW: perv!Eddie (if you squint), little angsty, Eddie being just mmm, fluff,

word count: 3747

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part one part two part three part four part five part six part seven

Sunday flew by and suddenly it was Monday again. I'd spent the entirety of yesterday in what felt like a daydream, still unsure of what happened yesterday. A part of me felt like it was still a dream, the other part, 

Well, I wasn't sure what was going on in that part of my brain. 

I was tempted to fake being sick to avoid going in and seeing him in homeroom, but before I could Dustin came barrelling in with a grin on his face, and what can I say? The kid brightens up my day. 

"I saw Eddie at the arcade yesterday, he said he could drive us to and from school!" He said excitedly. My stomach churned, I could push everything down and out of the way if I only had to be around him in homeroom and biology. But how was I supposed to stop feeling things when he was going to be at my house almost every day for 5 weeks? And it's not like I can't speak to him, he's doing Dustin and me a massive favour. It's either a 20-minute ride with Eddie or walking the 45-minute journey to the school. Dustin would want to walk with me instead of taking his bike, which isn't fair to him. 

The only other option was the school bus, and that in itself was more torture than anyone should endure. And mom would never let us borrow her car 5 days a week for 5 weeks. Even though she rarely leaves the house. Just sits on the couch watching The Price is Right and petting that stupid cat. 

Fuck it, I don't have another option. 

Jumping out of bed with a loud sigh, I walked over to my bathroom. 

"Was that a sigh?" He asked me. 

"Dustin I'm about to get undressed to take a shower. If you don't leave in the next 20  seconds you'll be scarred for life," I said, pushing him out of the room and closing the door. 

"Why'd you sigh?" He continued to stand outside the door even after I walked into the bathroom. Turning on the shower to drown him out, I played how today would go in my head over and over again. 

Maybe if I never left the shower, I'd never have to think about any of this ever again. 

Drying off, I went to my wardrobe and picked out stuff to wear, finally settling on a black knee-length Dakota pinafore dress, a white round neck top that showed a little bit off but not loads, and a pair of white sneakers with those white socks that have the frills around the top. I brushed the curls through my hair, careful not to activate frizz mode as I tied it up, leaving two pieces loose before hearing a knock on the door. 

I think Dustin answered before Eddie even had his hand off the cheap bronze spray-painted knocker. I swear one of these days that kid will learn how to act like a human being, but apparently, today was not that day. 

"Hey, Eddie!" Dustin exclaimed, unable to hide the excitement that he was friends with a senior from his voice, before launching into something or other that could last ten to fifteen minutes. I walked out of my room and just observed them for a while before finally cutting him off so he could breathe.

"Hi Eddie," I said nervously, hoping that it wasn't apparent in my voice. His eyes scanned me up and down, lingering a bit longer on my legs and chest before racing back to my eyes, almost like he was surprised to see me. I had spent a bit of time thinking about my outfit but I hadn't chosen this for him. 

Not consciously anyway. 

"There's a bit of time before we have to leave, have you um," I started, unable to tear my eyes away from his, "Have you eaten?" 

He mumbled something that only himself and the wind could hear until Dustin piped up.

"Dude, stop whispering, do you want food?" To which Eddie just mumbled a vague positive reaction. I walked into the kitchen followed by the two boys, or rather the one boy and the grown man, and started taking things bowls etc out for cereal. 

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SHORT EDDIE POV: 

Knocking at the Henderson house that morning I wasn't sure what to expect, maybe a quick thank you from both of them before they climbed in the car and we drove to school in silence maybe? Whatever I was thinking it wasn't what happened. 

Dustin answered the door in his usual chipper tone going on about hellfire and some arcade game. I don't want to admit it because I barely know the kid, but he makes me smile. Then she walked out.

Her dress just about reached her knees, and her shirt hardly showed anything but hugged her in all the right places, leaving me wondering about what was underneath. You could see the hint of a pale pink bra strap, under the tank top strap, but just barely. Her chest seemed to sit just perfectly in her top, giving away just a hint of cleavage. Her legs looked like they could go on forever, and before I could stop myself I was picturing all the ways I'd like to see them. 

Most of which I'm not proud to admit thinking about, especially the ones that brought my silver cuffs to mind.

I mentally shook my head before darting my gaze back up to her eyes. 

I hadn't even heard what she was talking about until then, but when she asked me if I had eaten, it was like I had lost control over my words.

"I think you'd know if I had," I mumbled, thankful that it was practically inaudible. 

Dustin knocked me out of my daze when he asked me again if I wanted food, and although no words came out, the jumbled noises sounded positive, and so we made our way into their kitchen. 

Watching her from behind was hypnotic, but watching her bend down to grab cereal boxes from the cupboard was something else, and before I knew it I was adjusting my seating position, trying to look anywhere but at Y/n. 

Jesus H Christ, what was she doing to me?

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Y/N'S POV

After placing the bowls down in front of them, I turned around to get the cereal, feeling his eyes burning holes in my back. Was it my clothes? Was something wrong? My skirt reached below my fingertips, I double-checked before I put it on. Oh god please tell me I don't have a stain on it.

I pulled the Lucky Charms box and set them down on the counter, Dustin reaching for them eagerly and almost dumping the entire contents into his bowl.

"Jesus Christ Dustbin, if you end up in the nurses' office because you're not feeling well you're going to have to sit there all day, and I'm not leaving class to hold your hand until mom comes to get you," I told him, earning an eye-roll and an exaggerated groan in response, "Eddie do you want coffee?"

"I do-" Dustin perked up.

 "I'll stop you right there Dustbin, no. I'm not putting the poor students at Hawkins High through the ordeal that is you on caffeine." 

This earned a chuckle from Eddie, "Black, please. Also, Dustbin?" He asked curiously, leaning forward and resting on his elbows. 

"When Dustin was born I was about 3 and had a developmental lisp, so instead of calling him Dustin, I called him Dustbin. A year or so later the lisp went away, but the nickname stuck around, most likely forever." I smiled a bit, before eating my cereal, recalling how he hated that nickname.

"I mean Dustybun is great, gotta give props to Suzie for that one, but nothing tops Dustbin in my eyes." Earning myself a glare from Dustin and a smile from Eddie. 

Looking at the clock, I saw we had about 5 minutes left before we had to leave, and Dustin wasn't even fully dressed yet. 

"Seriously Dustin? You've got Hellfire tonight and you don't even have your shirt on. Go get it, now. It's hanging in your wardrobe." 

"I can take care of myself you know." He starts to protest as he's putting on his shoes. 

"Dustin you just attempted to put on two left sneakers."

"Yeah well, you're distracting me!" He calls as he walks into his bedroom to put on his shirt. 

I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths, before handing Eddie a coffee mug, my fingers brushing his hand. 

"Thanks," He gripped the handle of the mug and took a drink. 

"I'll be out on the bench, Dustin should be out in a few minutes," I said, grabbing my book bag and sitting outside on the swing in the crisp morning air, the chill causing goosebumps to spread up my arms

Less than a minute later I felt the weight shift on the swing and looked across to see Eddie sitting beside me, looking straight ahead while holding his mug. 

"So," I spoke quietly, not entirely sure what to say, 

"So," he repeated, equally as quiet. 

"Dustin's pretty funny. It's nice having someone around the club that's able to take a joke. I'll deny it if you ever tell him this but he's quickly becoming my favourite member. But like I said, I never said that." 

"Well if you ever tell him that I said he's my favourite person, I might just have to let your secret slip." I chuckled at him. 

He held out his little finger, "Ok, well I guess we should pinky promise to never tell him how great he is. Kids' ego is big enough."

I looked at him to see if he was serious, and found him already looking at me. Hesitantly, I gripped his finger in mine, the feel of his cold rings sending shocks through me. "Deal," I said. 

Suddenly we were both laughing, almost clutching our stomachs. I've no idea why, It was such a weird thing to find funny. Dustin came out to us clutching our sides, and his confused look sent us off again. 

"What's so funny?" He asked. 

"Nothing Henderson. C'mon, let's go." Eddie said as we both stood up, and we got in his van and headed off to school. 

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"When were you gonna tell me that you started dating Eddie Munson?" Robin said excitedly, grabbing at my shoulders and acting like a kid on crack just before I could head into biology.

"We're not, I just dressed differently for once and suddenly everyone's talking about me. I feel like I should get changed."

"No way, you look hot," Robin said, spinning me around, "I think I heard some girls in the bathroom call you a biker nerd." 

Ever since getting to the car park that morning, I felt off. Since I stepped out of the van people were looking at me, that was when I knew something was definitely wrong with my clothes, no one ever cared about me when I was wearing sweaters and jeans.

-That Morning-

 The storm was still lingering in the air from the weekend, and as we were walking through the parking lot Dustin had run off to catch up with Mike and Lucas. I gripped my arms to stop from shivering, having left my cardigan at home that I was meant to bring in my bag. 

Suddenly I felt a pull on my hand, and the shocks started back up again. Eddie stopped me and shrugged off his jacket, before pulling back on his denim vest. "Here," he said quietly, stepping in front of me, his body so close to me I could feel his breath on my face, his long hair brushing against my face as he looked down at me. 

He put his jacket on my arms and over my shoulder before he started fixing up the collar. His hands brushed my cheek and neck, sending shivers down my spine. When he was finished, he turned his head to look at someone, an unrecognizable look in his eyes. I was too busy staring at him to see who he was looking at. 

"Hang onto it, I'm driving you home later I can get it then," he said, a little louder than expected. That was when the heads turned and the rumour mill started up.

"I'm going dress shopping with Robin, so it'll just be you and Dustin." My voice felt like it was barely above a whisper, my face heating up from his warm breath.

At least I hoped it was from his breath and I wasn't blushing like crazy.

"Okay, well I'll just get it from you when I can." His voice was quieter now, matching my own. He seemed to look everywhere but my eyes. 

Please god just look in my eyes.

People had seen me getting out of his van, walking with him through the parking lot, getting close and now I was wearing his jacket, it seems people will make a big deal out of anything. 

I'll admit, a warmth spread through me as his hands brushed my shoulders and face, something I never felt before but also something I wanted to feel for the rest of my life.  

-Present- 

"I also heard he squared up to Jason Carver when he gave you his jacket. I think the exact quote was 'Jason was like, totally undressing her with his eyes and Eddie went full jealous freak and practically made out with her in front of him while giving Jason the bird' and I had a feeling that wasn't true. Still, then you were wearing his jacket so I had to assume the best." Robin grinned like a child on Christmas morning. 

"In what world is that the best scenario?" 

"The world where you and Mr Munson are dating and making out in broom closets. Or doing more than making out," She side-eyed me, "Whatever it is you're doing in broom closets, make sure he wraps it before he taps it," She laughed as we walked into class "OW! What was that for?" 

"You know what, now stop being an idiot." 

----------------------------------------------------------

Classes dragged on and at last, the bell rang signalling the end of the day. 

I made my way to my locker to get my homework things before meeting Robin outside. Her Dad was taking us both to look for dresses for homecoming, despite Robin's constant protests about not wanting to go. 

I didn't mind too much, I'd saved up a bit of money so I could buy my dress. I was going to have to look in the bargain bin or the sale section. I've seen the prices of the dresses they advertise in the windows, and I'd have to work double shifts for almost 6 months just to come close to buying one.

I'd scraped together $200, that should get me something halfway decent at least. 

Clambering into the back of the Buckley family car, small talk was exchanged and polite laughter at awful dad jokes was shared. I hadn't been able to pull my thoughts together all day, each of them scattered around like puzzle pieces. Almost as if I was there but not quite. It was scrambling my brain.

When we arrived at the dress shop, I was in awe of the colourful fabrics and their different styles. Robin may not be a dress person but even I could tell from her face that she was as stunned as I was. We split up in order to divide and conquer.

Wandering the aisles, I ran my hand along the silky fabrics, each one more vibrant than the last. Which was the problem. I loved them all so much.

There were a few girls giggling and jumping around near the front of the store, causing Robin to shoot me an amused glance across the aisles. 

An older woman approached me with a kind look on her face, most likely so that she'd be deemed friendly enough for me to buy something for her.

"Can I help you with anything?" She asked sweetly. 

Realistically, I knew nothing about dresses or dances or what I should wear, so of course, I was going to take her up on her offer. 

"So my budget is $200, but I'm hoping to get accessories as well, so maybe $150 on a dress? I know it's not much." 

"Don't be silly lovey, I'll show you some things and you tell me if you like them." She was really selling that friendly old lady trope. 

She showed me an array of dresses, each beautiful in its own right.

I've never been into the idea of flowy dresses and slow dances, but suddenly I could picture myself there. In the school gym under some stupid streamers and a disco ball, awkwardly swaying to some stupid song like True by Spandeau Ballet. 

And I desperately tried to push away the thought of the arms I was in as it played. Strong, muscular, tattooed arms wrapped around my waist. I shuddered and pushed them to the furthest part of my mind, locking them away.

My heart leapt when she pulled out the next dress, this beautiful midnight blue chiffon with a bejewelled lining crisscrossing under the bust and along the straps.

It reached the floor, and I knew in my heart of hearts that this was the one. 

"This is it," I stuttered, reaching forward and touching it, almost afraid that it would be snatched up by someone else

Robin appeared behind me as I ran my fingers along it. "That's your dress." She said. I was at a loss for words, and all I could do was smile and nod. 

Daring to look at the price tag, my soul sank. It was at least $50 over budget, definitely not something I could stretch to. The sales lady must've seen my defeated expression because she immediately perked up. 

"Oh dearie me, I completely forgot to put the 50% off marker on this dress. It's supposed to be $125," she said, and I wondered if was it an act after all, "Would you still like the dress?"

I wanted to hug her, even if it was only over a stupid dress. She brought the dress up to the till and scanned it through, the price once again showing $250 before she started doing something on the screen and changing the price.

Robin was holding a simple light red silk dress with a high neckline and no sleeves. She was going to look gorgeous in it. The cashier scanned hers too and lowered the price, before shooting us a knowing look. 

As we left the store, I felt like I was on cloud nine. Robin's dad dropped me home, and she gave me a nudge in the ribs as we both saw Eddie's van parked in the driveway. If her father wasn't there I may have muttered obscenities at her, but I really wanted her folks to like me. 

Walking in the door, I saw my mother playing house, something she only ever does when we have company over. Turning into the living room I saw them both sitting there, Eddie's head buried in one of Dustin's comic books.

"Hi sweetie, Dustin brought a friend over!" 

No shit sherlock. 

"Hi mom," I said, leaning up against the door, "Hi guys."

Their heads shot up as I spoke, both of them smiling at me. I caught Eddie's eyes with his stupid, dumb, beautiful smile. He gave a small wave.

"Hi Y/n, how'd dress shopping go?" Dustin asked, breaking the silence.

"Well, I got a dress Dustbin." 

"Can I see it?" 

"No, not until the night of the dance," I said, poking my tongue out at him. 

"That only applies if you have a date, and you don't have one." He mimicked my expression. 

"Only because no one asked me," I folded my arms across my chest and pointed a finger at him. 

A voice interrupted us, it was quiet but still decipherable. 

"I find that hard to believe," Eddie spoke before he lifted his eyes from the comic book, they grew wide and he stared off into space. 

Silence followed, none of us breathing a word. 

"I'm gonna, uh" I stammered, "Go get changed," I said, thinking of any possible reason to leave the room. 

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Hearing Eddies van pull out of the driveway, I collapsed on my bed.

 I felt like I was taking a breath after holding one in for so long. Staring at the ceiling, I replayed his words in my head, asking myself over and over again why he said them. Was there any meaning? Was he just being playful?

Eventually, after giving myself a headache, I got up to hang up my dress in my wardrobe. As much as I try to avoid it, my eyes find the box buried in the back. 

Giving in to every fiber of my being, I pulled the box out and looked through the junk. They used to symbolize so many happy memories, of days out in the back garden with Dustin and I soaking each other with the hose. Family days out, singing in the back seat of the car and laughing. 

But despite all those memories flooding back, they were replaced just as quick with images of me playing hide and seek with Dustin in an attempt to get away from the noise. Of day trips and car rides turning into screaming matches and arguments. 

I didn't realize I was sitting on my bed, crying over the box until I felt him wrap his arms around me. 

"He's not coming back. He's long gone." Dustin whispered, moving the box from my hands.

"hey, I'm the older one," I sniffled, "I thought this was my job," I give him a nudge in the side, throwing my arm around his shoulder and ruffling his hair. He scrunches up his face like he did when we were kids. 

We sit like that for a while. Completely silent, but a thousand words being spoken. 

We fall asleep on my bed, both of us too tired to move. Dustin's snores woke me up every once in a while, but I wouldn't trade them for all the peaceful slumbers in the world.

Not a single one.

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part one part two part three part four part five part six part seven

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10/15/2023

Well, it was raining yesterday, so I didn't go out for the jogwalk. I did today, though! It took me until like 10:30 but I did do it!

I was also up until nearly 1am last night...reading a fanfic. A Slayers fanfic. A 60+ chapter Slayers fanfic, currently unfinished, in the year of our lord twenty twenty-three. I have no excuses. I make it a policy to almost never read unfinished fanfics, for one. I also knew exactly what I was getting into when I saw the chapter count and just shrugged and went YOLO I guess?

Okay, so it all started with Anime Weekend Atlanta announced, less than a month out from their con by the way, a whole slew of new guest announcements. The schedule is out now and it's less than two weeks to the con so I think they're done doing that now, but I digress. They announced Veronica Taylor as a guest. Well, years ago I already had the honor of meeting her and getting her to sign my VHS copy of Pokémon The First movie, so I don't necessarily need her autograph on any more Pokémon stuff. But of course she's in plenty of other things, including Slayers, which is one of my absolute favorite media franchises, period. So naturally I have to get her to sign for Amelia! And Lisa Ortiz, the voice of Lina, will be a guest at a convention I'm going to in March, so I can get her to sign, too! Fantastic!

And then, because I haven't really thought about Slayers in a long time, my brain went I should cosplay from Slayers again. I've been wanting to for a while. I cosplayed Filia (from TRY) waaaaaaaaaaaay back in the day, maybe I could remake her? (I do still want to do that, FYI, talk about obscure characters though am I right?) Or despite being so tall, I've always liked Lina's character design, she'd be great. I can probably pull that off before Khromakon in March, but absolutely not before AWA. But do you know who I could pull off before AWA?

Yeah, so I actually cosplayed Xelloss all the way back in high school. I never wore him to a convention, and it was a very bad cosplay. Technically, my first cosplay. (Technically, because my actual first cosplay was a very, very very bad closet cosplay of emperor Hotohori from Fushigi Yuugi the year prior, my junior year of high school. Our high school banned Halloween costumes but a gaggle of my stupid friends and I decided to see if we could get away with just wearing regular clothes but clearly being in cosplay. So I was Hotohori, a friend braided her hair and was Duo Maxwell, etc. etc.)

Anyway, my aunt made the cloak for me, and I still have it all these years later. The rest of the cosplay would be easy, because of how skilled I am now. I can 100% do this cosplay in time for AWA, and it'll be fun! He's a pretty recognizable character from a classic anime, so while I'm sure The Kids won't recognize me, I'll get at least a few people excited to find someone else that remembers Slayers. And hey, I already cosplayed one evil purple-haired anime prettyboy this year (Okada Izou) so why not two?

So anyway, I made a deal with myself. I would go to no more than three thrift stores after work one day and see if I could find a yellow turtleneck. If I could, I would proceed with the costume. If I didn't, oh well, it's not like I don't have a closet full of cosplays to wear. And wouldn't you know it, I found the turtleneck at the third Goodwill. So I ordered a wig, and now I just need to do a few minor alterations and possibly make the staff.

And so, with Xelloss Metallium now fully on my brain, I remembered that, oh yeah, Xelloss/Filia was one of the OTPs for me back in the day. One of the very first ships I got really, really invested in. And I wondered if, in the fifteen or so years since the least time I probably looked, any good new Xel/Fil fics had been written. I mean, the last time I was really invested in the ship, Evolution-R and Revolution hadn't even come out yet! A03 didn't exist yet! What was the harm of taking just a little, tiny peak at A03, right?

And that's how I ended up binge reading a 60+ Slayers fanfiction, in the year of our Lord Of Nightmares 2023. I'm not even done reading, but I've got shit to do today!

Time: 21:41 Weather: 63, sunny Humidity: 60% Song of the Day: Ghost, Mystery Skulls

The Man with the Metal Arm (Part 13)

Here’s Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Black!Reader

Word Count: 4.2k

Warnings: Cute, slightly suggestive, mention of ex, plot thickens

A/N: Heeyyyy, how y'all doin?? 😎 I know it’s been more than a while since I have written, and I apolagize for that. School, as always, got me all the way fucked up, luckily summer courses have started which are shorter and (for me) all online soooo. Also my 21st b-day is coming 🥳 so you know I’m excited for that. Anyway, I started writing this like half way through TFATWS bc Bucky with personality was good inspiration. Anyway, hope y’all enjoy. Love you all!💛❤️💛❤️💛

Man with the Metal Arm TAGS LIST: @storibambino @cutiepiemimi13 @this-chan @elaindeereads @letsshamelessqueen-m @lokislilcaribbeanprincess @shakzer00 @lahjatheblackbrat

UNIVERSAL TAGS LIST: @beautifulwisdom2001 @thottio @jetaimeamore @mixedfandxms @here-for-your-bullshit

Requests are Closed, if you want to be added to the tags list for this series or wrting with Bucky in general, just ask.

Masterlist

A couple weeks later you find yourself moving around your place, picking up dishes here, wiping off a surface there, moving to the music of your 60s Playlist that played to the lone earphone in your right ear. Louise was taking a nap in her room and has been since 4 that afternoon. It was now 6 pm. Were you gonna regret it later when all she'll want to do is play or watch a movie or dance to music at 11 pm? Possibly. But right now all you know is that the house was quiet, everyone you know and love are safe, and tomorrow was one of the few Saturdays you had off and all you were planning to do was watch TV in either the comfy pajamas you own or in your underwear. You still had to choose, and maybe you could just have Peter watch Lou. If so you should text him now. Your thoughts began to drift, wondering if May would be there to help Peter, wondering if you could plan some sort of day out with her and Imani soon, but the thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when you hear a knock at the door. You quickly move over to look out the peephole, swiftly pulling back to open the door when you see that it's Bucky.

"Hey, how are you doing today?" Bucky chuckles as you jump into his arms, squeezing his neck in a tight hug. "Woah there, we just talked last night."

"Yeah, but I haven't had affectionate contact, or any physical contact for that matter, from the man that I love for 3 weeks. I'm touch starved, you can’t blame me.” You speak into his neck, taking hefty sniffs of the cologne you love so much and rubbing your face on his few day old stubble. Bucky continues to hold onto your clinging body as he takes a few steps inside your place to close the door.

“Fine, I guess. Where’s Louise?” Bucky sets you down and lightly pulls at a few coils that stuck out of your pulled back puff as you continue to rub at the stubble that adorned his face and study his tired eyes. He always looked tired, even if he had a full night's sleep.

“Taking a nap.” He cocks an eyebrow at your word with unsaid concern. “I know she’ll be up all night, but I’ve gotten so much done.” You whine, gesturing to the kitchen. That doesn’t stop Bucky from looking around the entrance and the living room, which is currently slightly cluttered with Lou’s toys and coloring apparatuses. “I know, I’m not working as fast as I should be, I may have taken a couple short naps here and there.” Bucky just sighs and gives you a lingering peck on the forehead before moving around you to start picking up toys.

“What are you doing for dinner?” Bucky stands and turns to look at you, stretching and groaning as he does.

“I ordered pizza.” You smile, rubbing his jaw as you head back to the kitchen.

Right as Bucky closed the door after accepting the pizza from the delivery person, almost as if it was staged, a small voice came from the door of Lou’s room.

“Do we get pi- BUCKY!” The little girl with her hair still askew, sprints to Bucky and clings onto his right leg.

“Woah there, Puff. Let me set this down first.” You watch through the pass-through from the kitchen as Bucky limps over to the living room table. “What is it with you and your mom and clinging to me today.” A squealing giggle is earned from his comment before he finally sets the pizza down, swiftly picking up Lou in return and swinging her around.

“Is Uncle Steve and Uncle Sam coming, too?” Lou runs her little hands through Bucky’s hair as Bucky’s eyes met yours before he made a choice decision.

“Uh, no. I thought it could just be you, me and your mom.” Lou’s hands stop what they’re doing and Bucky watches as tears well up in her eyes. The next moment consisted of a hard toddler yank to Bucky’s hair, that had you running in to pull her off of him and setting her on the ground.

“What in the world, was that?” Your voice was stern, but it wasn’t a yell, and it definitely held your four year old’s attention.

“I want to see Uncle Sam and Uncle Steve.” Lou inexpertly crosses her arms and scrunches her face. The attitude doesn’t go fully unchecked when you change your stance to match hers, shifting your weight to one side and crossing your arms, but instead your face sported a cocked eyebrow.

“Fix your tone, little girl.” Silence rests between the two of you, with Bucky standing off to the side, not knowing what to do. “Now,” you squat down at first to meet your daughter's eyeline, but when your knees begin to fail on you, you go for a straight kneel before you continue. “I know you like when Steve and Sam come around. They are a lot of fun aren’t they?” Your question receives a small head nod which allows you to continue. “Your Uncle Steve and Uncle Sam love you very much, but they can’t always be here. I will see if they can come over soon, but you cannot do this again. When you want something, you ask nicely, and if you can’t have what you want right now, what you just did is a no-no. Now apologize to Bucky for pulling his hair.”

“Sorry Bucky.” Lou’s voice trembles as she walks over to Bucky. He picks her up onto his hip and hugs her close after using his unoccupied hand to help you up off the ground.

“Hey, kiddo. It’s okay. I’m fine.” Bucky’s calm voice soothes her before the crying even starts.

“Hey, let me take her. Can you go get some plates?” Bucky nods and hands Louise off, but fluffs her hair once before he goes to get the plates. “I love you, babygirl. So much.” You bring her close to kiss and take a whiff of her scent that honestly hasn’t changed since she was born. “You want some pizza?” Lou nods lightly so you set her down on the couch and head back the kitchen to get everyone something to drink, right as Bucky comes back with the plates. “Show Bucky what piece you want.”

A couple hours later, two empty pizza boxes laid empty on the table and a tired four year old layed asleep with her head on Bucky’s thigh and her feet occasionally kicking you. “Thirteen hours of labor and this is the thanks I get.” You grumble under your breath after receiving one last kick before standing up to clean the dinner dishes. You take one last look at Bucky and his loving gaze on your daughter before heading back to the kitchen. As you put the cups in the sink you laugh at the devious thankfulness you have for your daughter's temper tantrum and crying earlier because that never fails to knock her out and hopefully her circadian rhythm will take over.

“I’m gonna go put her down.” You jump out of your thoughts when you hear Bucky’s voice behind you at the entrance of the kitchen. “Oh, sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. I was just, in my head.” You shake the water off your hands and turn around. “Uh, yeah. Go ahead and put her down, if you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all. Uh, do you want me to wrap her hair?” He gently adjusts her on his hip, freezing when she shifted in her sleep.

“Nah, not necessary. It might wake her up, and I don’t want her to wake up. I might regret this choice later but right now, I don’t care.” You finish your spiel with your lightly bubble covered hand against the counter behind you. Bucky just slowly nods and heads back to your daughter’s bedroom.

Fifteen minutes later, you found yourself in your room, quietly making out with your boyfriend. He sat on the foot of your bed, hands gripping your ass as your tongues fervently danced together. Once the moment to come up for air came, you took that opportunity to push Bucky back onto the bed, and then sent a welcomed attack on his lips that had him pulling you closer than what would be considered humanly possible. After some time, his lips moved down to your neck, the scratch of his facial hair sending goosebumps all over your body.

“Ah, James…” The words quietly drip from your mouth, and the vibration from his chuckled response causes you to moan quietly.

“Oh, it’s James now. Okay.” His right hand begin to trail up and down your torso, gently lifting your shirt until its finally up over your head. He flips the two of you over and sits back on his heels to get a look at you. “Say my name again. Please.” His voice is deep, sultry, and you watch as he slowly gets up from the bed and move to the foot of the bed, lightly griping your leggings.

“James.” Your words start Bucky’s removal of you pants, hooded eyes keeping your gaze on his, but after a few seconds the removal stops.

“Again.” You do as told and he continues, slowly pulling at leggings with help from you shimmying. This repeating continued until your pants are finally off, but a small detail that Bucky didn't pay attention to was how your words began to slur together and fade off, and how your shimmies became less vigorous, so by the time Bucky had removed his own shirt and pants, all he saw when he looked up was you asleep, head fallen to the side and a small amount of drool already escaping from your mouth. “She did seem pretty tired.” Bucky goes into the top right drawer of dresser to get one of your big night shirts then reaching into the adjacent drawer filled with his own items that he brings over whenever he stays the night for a pair of pajama pants. He pulls on your night shirt for you and tries his best to tie on your scarf before finally climbing into bed next to you, pulling you into his body before finally falling asleep.

Lou’s little feet pad along the wooden floor, first to your side of the bed to attempt to wake you up, but when the effort led to a fruitless reward, she moves over to where Bucky was laying.

"Bucky." Lou begins to shake at his back which was currently facing her direction, and once she sees him stir slightly she continues. "Bucky, wake up Bucky." She climbs into the bed and sits on her tucked under legs and starts to play with his hair again. He got a rather drastic hair cut a week ago, and she's just been trying to familiarize herself with the style. The light touch of her fingers and the sing-songy way say repeated his name eventually had him awake enough to flip over and look at her.

"What's up, Puff?" He wraps an arm around her as she pushes the Rouge hairs on his forehead out of his face.

"I'm hungry." Her focus still on Bucky’s forehead.

"What time is it?" Bucky tries his hardest to stall fully getting out of bed, but deep down he knew it was a frivolous effort.

"Time for breakfast." She now begins to lightly tap out a beat on Bucky's head, so he answers quickly to get it to stop.

"Okay, okay. Go turn on something for us to watch. I'll be out there in a second." The child immediately leaped of the bed and ran to the living room, giving Bucky room to look at his phone on his night stand for the time. 6:00 am. He slowly makes his way out of the bed, pulling on his shirt that was still sprawled out on the floor and heads out to the kitchen to start breakfast, but not before giving you a light peck on the forehead.

Your internal alarm clock had you stretching and reaching for your phone at 8:45 am. It just so happened that as you scrolled through your notifications, eyeing texts from Imani and Sherry about their dates with Steve and Sam respectively, you nose catches a whiff a heavenly smelling breakfast, and the equally heavenly sound of both Louise’s and Bucky’s laughter from outside your bedroom door. So after going through and responding to said texts, you get up and pull some shorts on under your nightshirt and head out to the kitchen.

"Hi, mommy! Me and Bucky are making breakfast." Lou's little head pops out from around Bucky’s torso. “He let me pour the waffle dough.”

“It’s called batter, Puff.” Bucky turns his head to smile at you. “Morning.”

“Morning.” You walk over and lightly kiss his lips then look over his shoulder to see the waffle iron closed and steaming. “Be careful, baby.” You feel your child’s, now daunting, curls, and watch them bounce as she nods to display that she was listening.

“Hey, we should go on a date tonight.” You blink from behind the refrigerator door, watching as Bucky unknowingly lifts Lou off of the step stool and moves the waffle iron next to the sink but back toward the backsplash.

“Uh… okay. Where did this come from?” You grab orange juice from the fridge and close the door, reaching in the upper cabinets to grab cups.

“It would be a redo of our first date.” You totally forgot the night was cut short due to Louise being sick. The part of the date that had occurred was nice, and having him there to help you was also great, but it did suck that a whole portion of the night had to be cut.

“Oh yeah. Well, uhh, if you have something in mind, I just have to see if I can get someone to babysit at such short notice.” You finally sit down at the table with your plate filled with a waffle, a couple pieces of bacon and some eggs.

“Well, I can tell you that Imani and your other friend, uh-ah-Sherry, yeah, they won’t be available.” You look up from scrolling through you phone with a playfully cocked eyebrow.

“And you know this how?” You take a bite of waffle, eagerly awaiting his answer.

“Well, Sam is still trying to woo Sherry, and apparently,” He raises his hands in defense before continuing. “Apparently, Imani has been keeping Steve very busy.” You nearly choke on the waffle your were chewing on trying to stifle your laugh, but the noise and the subject at hand earned your daughters attention from the living room.

"Do I get to see Uncle Steve and Uncle Sam today?!" Her question came out as an excited squealing as she whipped her head back to look at you two.

"Uh, no, babygirl. Not today, but you might be able to hang out with Peter. How does that sound?” You watch as a bright smile spreads across your daughters face and her curls begin to bounce as she hops up from her spot at the coffee table.

“Peter! Yay Peter! My boyfriend!” You and Bucky both stop and look at each other, stifling your laughs.

“You like Peter, huh?” You finish your text asking Peter of he’s free to babysit tonight, and take another bite of waffle.

“Yeah, he’s my bestfriend!” You nod, still holding in a chuckle as Louise smiles brightly.

At that moment you receive a text back from Peter:

Peter Parker (Babysitter):

I would love to watch Louise tonight! I just have some homework to do that I can do while I watch her. But is it ok if I come over there to watch her? May has a date tonight.

Perfect, now you don't have to take Lou there then come back and you can just leave from your place instead. You answered Peter confirming plans and then look back up at Bucky. "Wait, where exactly are we going? I haven't seen you make any reservations recently." You finally place your phone down to finish your breakfast.

"We won't need them." He just give you a toothy grin as he gets up from his seat to clean up his spot. Then you watch him with your signature cocked eyebrow as he comes around to give you a kiss on your scarved hair. "Always so skeptical."

"Fine then Mr. 'I Got This', what should I wear to this date that you got all planned out?" You get up from your spot to clean your dishes and Bucky heads to the living room to say bye to Louise. He thinks for a second before answering.

"Remember the outfit you wore when we took Louise to the giant Toys R Us? The outfit with the cardigan and the jeans?" You nod from your spot as you continue cleaning dishes. "Something like that, kinda casual."

"Well, thank you for being so specific." He nods and finally gets to Louise, whose focus was being held by Saturday morning cartoons, in this case it was Looney Toons.

"Hey, Puff. I'm heading out but I'll be back tonight to take your Mommy out, okay?" He picks her up so she could be at eyeline with him.

"Okay. Where are you taking her?" Lou's hands wander back to Bucky's hair, the little hands rubbing at the short hair bringing Bucky a sort of peace.

"It's a surprise. But I'll tell you all about it right after, promise." Lou nods at Bucky's words then gives him a kiss on the cheek goodbye, that being Bucky's cue to set her back down. "Alright, I'll be back to pick you up around 7, alright?" Bucky's keys jingle as he pulls his shoes back on.

"Okie dokie, love you." You speak to him from the sink thought the pass through.

"Love you too. Both of you." And with these words he leaves, leaving a hopeful feeling for tonight's festivities.

It was now 6:30, and you were still stationed in the bathroom, a bit past starting your make up.

"Ms. Y/L/N, can Louise have some ice cream? She keeps asking and I just wanted to check." Peter pops his head into the bathroom. "You look very nice by the way."

"Thank you, Peter. Um, has she eaten all of her dinner yet?" You go back to dusting some shimmery maroon eyeshadow along your eyelid.

"Well, it looks like it, but I have an odd suspicion that she hid her broccoli." Peter responds, still only having his head poked into the bathroom, holding onto the door frame.

"She would do that." You sigh, giving your eyes and hand a break. "Lightly grill her to make sure she did eat her broccoli. If she did actually eat her broccoli, then yeah she can have ice cream. 2 scoops."

"And if she didn't eat the broccoli?" Peter's face contorted to a questioning expression.

"Hold out on he a bit. She'll crack and eat the vegetables. Then you can give her some. Have you had anything to eat? Dinner or anything?" You go back to swiping on eyeshadow, now a deeper brown color.

"I got a small pack of powdered donuts before I got here, but I really haven't had anything since lunch." You stop again watch look at him, chuckling as he begins to cower under your gaze.

"Peter, go eat some food. Fridge is open to you, okay? I don't want you starving while you're over here." You take glances back at him using the mirror, smirking at the smile growing on his face.

"Okay, I will. Thank you Ms. Y/L/N." Peter's head finally disappears from the door frame and you hear the boy questioning your four year old, knowing either way he will most likely just give her ice cream.

Eventually 6:30 became 6:55 and you found yourself fixing little bits of your appearance in your full length mirror, checking out your outfit, which comprised of a dark brown cardigan, a basic flowy white t-shirt, leggings and black calf high boots. "This is gonna have to be casual enough." Just as you speak to yourself in the mirror, you faintly here the knock at the door and Peter letting Bucky in.

"Hey, Peter. Thanks for watching Louise tonight." Bucky keeps his attention on Peter as he limps over to the couch with a squealing four year old clung to his leg.

"Oh, it's no problem at all. I love watching her." They both look towards your room when you ask for a couple more minutes then go back to their conversation. "Um, I actually have a question for you, if you don't mind?"

"Kid, I am not helping you with your history homework again. Don't you have the inter-" Bucky begins to rant before being cutoff by a now more nervous Peter.

"No, I actually was wondering if you could help me with this girl at school. You know getting her to notice me." Bucky just cocks a curious eyebrow at him and he continues. "Well, when you and Ms. Y/L/N started dating you weren't t-the most approachable, ya know,"

"Thin ice, kid." Bucky has now put some of his attention into helping Louise color a page in her coloring book.

"S-sorry, it's just, I was wondering, well, hoping you had some pointers to help me talk to her." Bucky hadn't noticed until now that Peter has moved to the other end of the couch which wasn't far from where he sat but the increased distance was noticeable, so be took a breath and gave his advice.

"Don't overthink it, and stay relaxed. That's really all the advice I can give because Louise is the only reason I got the opportunity to talk to Y/N. So, yeah…" Bucky's eyebrows furrow when he sees Peter frantically typing into his phone, about to ask what it was, that was until you exclaim your emergence from your room.

"Ta-da! This casual enough?" You hold out your arms and quickly step to turned around, displaying not only your outfit, but your dangly "diamond" earrings, and your hair, currently in its natural form but done up a bit.

"Perfect. Absolutely perfect." Bucky walks over to you with his arms open and give you a light kiss while gently pulling you towards him by your upper arms. While he was coming towards you, you got a glance of his outfit, dark jeans, burgundy quarter sleeve henley, and leather jacket, a common combination for him that he wore so we'll.

"Well you look great too. Shall we get going?" You go over to the pass though to grab your purse and then the living room to give Louise one last kiss. "Be good for Peter. Love you, babydoll."

"Yes ma'am, love you too mommy." She grabs your face with her little hands to pull you in for another kiss, and then goes back to coloring. "Thank you again Peter. We should be back around 11:30."

"Okay. Bye Ms. Y/L/N. Bye uh- Mr- B- uh…" Peter frantically looks back and forth between the two of you, and you just stifle a laugh and look towards Bucky.

"It's just Bucky kid. We've been over this." He leads you out the door by the small of your back. "Have fun you two." Finally, you and Bucky were out the door and off to the mystery date location.

"So you having fun?" Bucky asks as you two sway back and forth, slow dancing to the music of an acoustic guitar being played on the stage of a small amphitheater-like area decorated for a date night event.

"Who knew eating a box of pizza in the car and then slow dancing in Central Park would be so romantic.?" You lift your head from Bucky's chest to scan his face, admiring how soft he looks in the light glow of the twinkle lights above. "I like your hair like this." You run your finger up and though his short hair, scratching his scalp and eliciting a deep groan from him.

"You did that on purpose." A mischievous grin grows on his face as his grip tightens slightly around your waist, one hand beings to slip down to grip your butt. "I will not hesitate to bring you back to the car. You owe me from last night anyway." You playfully hit his arms, making him laugh then go to kiss your nose.

"I was tired. You can't blame me, blame my severely messed up circadian rhythm." You giggle your last few words due to the tickle of Bucky's stubble on your neck as he begins to sprinkle kisses up and down.

"You smell good. You always smell good." His kissed being to move along your jaw.

"You have never smelled me after a 12 hour shift, huh?" Bucky's lips finally reach yours, starting with light pecks and ending with deep passionate kisses boarding on inappropriate frenching.

"Woah there, I'm sure you could take this party somewhere more private. Thinking about it, you weren't one to be very modest were you?" That voice. You know that voice. You hate that voice. No, it can't be.

"Trevor." Is all you say, not looking to the man standing a few feet from you and Bucky, seeming to be with someone.

"You know this guy?" You can tell by his voice that Bucky was on edge, hugging you close to him and turning you away.

"Unfortunately. Bucky, this is my uh- ex-husband."

CHAPTER 10:

"You look nice, Deku" Uraraka smiled, her hands held behind her back as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet in a childish manner, looking at her green haired friend. "Is there anyone in particular you're trying to impress?" she gave him a knowing look that Izuku stuttered and blushed to.

"No! O-of course not" he immediately denied and averted his eyes when that only seemed to make Uraraka's smirk widen. Izuku knew he was a terrible liar and Uraraka could be very scary sometimes. "But um, hypothetically speaking.. if I /were/ trying to impress someone- which I'm not- but hypothetically speaking do you think they'll.. you know. Be impressed? Hypothetically."

Uraraka looked her friend up and down. Izuku's fashion sense has definitely improved since the beginning of their first year. Both Tsuyu and herself had made sure to teach Deku and Todoroki a thing or two about dressing themselves since they were completely clueless sometimes. Midoriya was wearing brown, cuffed corduroy pants with a forest green oversized short sleeve button up, a lighter green long sleeve underneath that to create layers. The red shoes were never going away though and Uraraka gave up in trying to get him to wear another pair of shoes. He looked good and Uraraka noticed how his hair was a bit neater too so he obviously put a bit of extra effort into trying to style his curls. In fact, looking around the common room it seemed that Deku wasn't the only one who put a little extra effort into their appearance today. Half the boys there looked like they were going off to a party instead of a casual class outing. Even Iida looked like he was trying out a new hairstyle. No glasses either.

"Umm, Uraraka-san?" Izuku waved his hand in front of the girl's face to get her attention. She zoned out for a bit there and she blinked, turning to face him again.

"Oh, right! Well, /hypothetically speaking/ right?" she smiled and he nodded, "I think they'll be very impressed." Deku beamed and her eyes shifted to Todoroki who was just arriving downstairs. "Oh, look! There's Todoroki-kun. Let's go talk" she grabbed Deku's hand in hers and took him with her. He looked very good! Todoroki's aesthetic was more of a simplistic/classy style with neutral colors. This time he decided to switch it up and was wearing a white t-shirt with an unbuttoned, loose fitting pale blue and white striped dress shirt over that. He had black jeans and white sneakers too. He looked very good. "Oooo~ is there anyone /you're/ trying to impress, Todoroki-kun?" Ochako teased.

"Yes."

Ochako didn't expect such a direct answer but giggled anyway at her blunt friend. Deku on the other hand didn't find it as funny.

"Is Bakugou here yet?" Shoto changed the subject and looked around the common room but didn't spot the explosion quirk user anywhere. He felt a little disappointed.

"No, Kacchan isn't here. Neither is Kirishima-kun" Izuku really tried to keep the bitterness out of his tone. He knew that they were best friends but did they really have to be glued at the hip 24/7? Deku doesn't like the way he starts to feel when he thinks of those two together but he can't help it.

"Oh" Shoto mumbled. There was an awkward silence where no one said anything for a few seconds until Uraraka couldn't stand it and broke it.

"So how are you feeling, Todoroki-kun? Are you still tired or are you feeling a bit better from earlier?" Ochako questioned. That got Izuku's attention and he turned to Todoroki with a curious expression. Was he sick? Todoroki didn't mention anything to him today. He wondered why he didn't tell him.

"I feel better, thank you. I'm excited to be going out with my friends" he smiled briefly and Izuku returned it. After that things started to go back to normal as they talked about what stores they wanted to go to and if they had anything in particular they wanted to buy. The common room was filled with brief conversation before the 'ding' of the elevator was heard and everyone turned to look at a nervous Kirishima standing on the far opposite side of a bored looking Bakugou. Izuku felt a knot form in his throat and Todoroki felt his heart skip a beat, their faces heating up a little at what girl Kacchan was wearing. He looked good. Hell, even if he was in his normal body and wore that he'd look good.

"You're here!" Mina rushed forward to hug her two friends in a crushing hug which Kirishima gladly returned. The girls may or may not be feeling smug at how everyone reacted to seeing Bakugou. Yeah, they did that.

"I said I would go with you extras, didn't I? Now let go, pinky" Bakugou groaned. She smiled wide before stepping back.

"This'll be so much fun!" Mina jumped up and down.

"Everyone please form a single file line for attendance! As class president I must make sure everyone is accounted for before we vacate school grounds" Iida made sure to grab everyone's attention by speaking loud and clear as well as waving his arms about. Where he pulled the clipboard from no one knows but Iida started to check off names in the class roster to submit to Aizawa sensei once they come back in a few hours. "Alright. Everyone is here. We can go now" he nodded in confirmation.

The class had to take the bus to go to the mall so Iida stayed by the door until everyone was inside before going in himself. Bakugou was planning to sit with Kirishima but the redhead as soon as he was in the bus went and sat beside Sero instead. Katsuki was confused since they always sit together and even Sero was looking between the pair in confusion. "You don't mind, right Bakubro?" Kirishima awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. Bakugou just shrugged and moved on to find an empty seat to which Kirishima let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

"What was that?" Sero questioned once Bakugou was out of earshot.

"What was what?" Kirishima turned to him.

"That. You always sit with Bakugou so why all of a sudden did you decide to sit next to me? I don't mind but I was a little caught off guard, man. You know, you've been acting weird ever since the night we played games in my room. Is everything cool?" Sero had an idea of what was happening but he wanted to hear it from Kiri himself.

"Yeah, everything's good. I just need to sort some things out for myself first" he explained and Sero nodded, leaving it at that. Kirishima appreciated that about Sero. He knew if it was Mina or Kaminari they wouldn't stop pestering him about it. Kirishima just wanted some time to hopefully figure out why he was all of a sudden feeling so weird around Katsuki.

On the other end of the bus, towards the back, Bakugou found an empty seat. Everyone else seemed to be already sitting with someone else but he didn't really mind it. Once seated, Bakugou put his elbow up on the edge of the window and looked outside. He felt someone slightly tap his shoulder though and looked up to a shy Koda. 'May I sit here?' he signed and Bakugou raised an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes and signed back 'go for it' and Koda smiled a little, quickly sitting down beside Bakugou. Aizawa did mention that because of his quirk, he may experience hearing loss in the future if he didn't take the proper precautions so Bakugou has been taking JSL classes from Koda since the beginning of their second year and developed a somewhat mutual understanding with the guy. He really wasn't all that bad, just a little quiet. And while they weren't friends friends, Bakugou knew that if he ever needed a quiet place to study or just hang out for a bit without talking, he could go to Koda's room. The same went for Bakugou. If Koda ever wanted to spar or wanted pointers to help in improving his fighting skills, Bakugou is available.

Now that everyone had a seat, the bus began to move. The ride was going to take approximately fifteen to twenty minutes so he just wanted to use the break to relax. Bakugou could tell Koda wanted to say something based on the way he would look at him every few minutes but then look away though. "What is it?" he finally asked a little less than halfway into the trip and Koda shook his head. "I know you want to say something, now what is it?"

Koda looked hesitant at first but then signed 'how are you feeling?' with a sincere look. Maybe if it was someone else Bakugou would have told them off for getting into his business but Koda was someone who earned his respect and admiration throughout their time together in UA and who he saw as an equal.

"Why do you ask?" he asked instead, a bit defensive, and Koda responded by signing 'this is a big change and I was just wondering how you were doing.' Bakugou shrugged. "It isn't something I can't handle. Besides, today is the last day of the quirk so I should be back to normal by tomorrow morning" Bakugou mumbled, adding in a "thanks" as an afterthought. Honestly speaking, Koda has been the only one who's asked him how he felt about this whole quirk situation. The rest of his classmates all just seemed to be having fun with it and while he didn't mind, it was nice to be asked.

'You're always welcome to come hang out with me and my bunny if you ever need quiet time,' Koda offered. 'He told me he misses the angry blonde boy with the warm hands" he joked. Bakugou smirked a little with a "tch, sure whatever. Tell 'im I miss the furball too" leaving his lips. After that Bakugou and Koda fell into a comfortable silence where Bakugou closed his eyes to rest for the few minutes they had left on the bus ride.

Everyone else in class 3-A never thought they'd see the day where they all wished they were in Koda's place. The anivoice boy was sitting perfectly still so as to not wake the pretty blonde that had leaned his head on the other's shoulder sometime along the trip and was now sleeping peacefully on him.

[word count: 1775]

( this fan art isn't in correlation with the story chapter but oH MY GOD LOOK HOW PRETTY GIRL BAKUGOU IS- 😩)

I came for Baranski, I stayed for Baranski - a quick Christmas On The Square review someone* actually asked for

(* thank you, anon)

Disclaimer: I am in no way a professional of any sorts when it comes to film and I'm not a journalist either. The last movie review I've written was probably for a school assignment in eighth grade. I didn't do research for this and I've watched the movie exactly one time, so this is just for fun.

It was a Sunday, Sunday the 22nd of November, nearing the end of the train wreck of a year that is 2020. I woke up on an air mattress around seven am, my head aching, my throat itching with pyrosis and light nausea, it was still dark outside behind the closed blinds in front of the windows, when I slowly realised where I was, one of my best girlfriends sleeping next to me in her bed. I had crashed at her place after a warm, fuzzy evening of mulled wine, tacky Christmas movies I would never watch alone (Christmas Chronicles and Holiday Calendar, which I quite honestly didn't enjoy at all, but the company made it fun anyway), doing our nails, wearing the fun kind of face masks for a change and smoking too many cigarettes, as the soft pain in my head informed me right now. She woke up an hour later and the morning went by with coffee and reheated pizza for breakfast, when we decided to watch another movie and I realised that it was THE Sunday I'd been waiting for through Zoom interviews and Dolly Parton twitter memes and the infamous wig gate that will be briefly discussed in the following, and so we clicked on the small icon in the Netflix menu that said "Christmas On The Square".

And oh boy, was it a ride.

To start off, I should mention that I have a hard time watching most modern day American Christmas movies, as I noticed quite vividly again when I watched the two aforementioned Netflix productions last night. The character development is always foreseeable to say the least, the plot lines are plain clichés hunting each other like they're the kids in The Hunger Games, and the writing is generally so bad that you can join the actors in reciting the entire scripts on your first watch. I watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas once a year while I'm gift wrapping and pause every fifteen minutes to shamelessly stare at forties Christine Baranski (I think we should all turn away from the birth of Jesus and instead count our years based on Christine Baranski's date of birth) in flamboyant nightgowns and short Christmas themed dresses, looking so fabulous that every interpreter of Santa Baby ever could only dream of it, I watch Love Actually at least five times a year to lust over Hugh Grant, cry with Emma Thompson and miss Alan Rickman, I enjoy Bridget Jones, which I would definitely consider a Christmas movie, and that's it. That's my yearly Christmas time entertainment routine and I can barely tolerate anything beyond, because I'm still traumatised from the time when I was around five years old and on a holiday family visit where had to sit through National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, the dumbest movie I have ever seen (my apologies if you like it but also, who hurt you?), with my cousins. I hated it. I hated every minute of it. And it scarred me for life.

But this was a Christine Baranski movie, I knew she was going to play the lead and so I was pretty much as excited about this as I could. And the fact that Dolly Parton wrote the whole thing didn't hurt either. As I said earlier to my friend I was watching it with, I have the pop cultural taste of a fifty year old gay man, a quality I am most proud of, and this simply ticked off all my boxes.

I expected something similar to a Mamma Mia experience that wouldn't cause me to crave packing my bags, give Covid the finger and run off to Greece. Light-hearted entertainment, easy to stomach, uplifting music and so little plot that the simplicity feels like a creative choice. That's what my pained, hungover brain knew it could cope with and that's not what I got.

The movie started and I was immediately in the zone. I saw Christine Baranski's name in the front credits (an experience that never fails to make me scream "Yass Queen" at the screen, regardless of where I am and who I'm with, as if I'm the sobering result that pops out of the package when you order Jonathan Van Ness on Wish), the setting was wonderfully corny (I grew up watching Gilmore Girls once a week, so give me warm fairy lights and a gazebo and I'm perfectly happy) and as my friend wondered whether Dolly Parton, in her exaggerated homeless attire that didn't make her look shabby at all, was green-screened into the setting because she stood out so much (which she was because the background dancers were dancing in slow motion, but to be fair, we were probably still a little too drunk to notice that from the start) and I told her I thought that it was just the natural glow someone who's Dolly Parton simply carries with them everywhere they go, I was happy. This was the movie I was prepared for. A movie in which the most problematic thing would be stereotypical characters and the wig they hid Christine's real, flawlessly handmade by God herself hair under.

And then, around five minutes in, Christine Baranski's childhood love interest was revealed as she pressed her perfect pointy nose against the window of his shop and sang about her unrequited love.

And suddenly, things started taking turns at a pace I was still way too sleep-deprived for.

Suddenly, in the middle of my general amazement at seeing Christine Baranski do literally anything and laughing loud at her impeccable comedic delivery, there were unresolved daddy issues, hanging prominently at the wall in her marvellously designed house (she literally says "Daddy" at one point and I couldn't help but think that only someone with her vocal skills could keep from making it sound cringe-worthily kinky). One moment, I was clutching my chest above my heart while she was bonding with little bartender Violet and munching on pretzels while downing some whiskey in that elegant way only Christine Baranski can bond with ten year olds who had it rough, eat pretzels and down whiskey, and the next she felt responsible for said girl's mother's death (which she kinda was too, but I'm not the boss of her). I was still busy making fun of how the very annoyingly, but when you're snacking on pizza with extra cheese at nine in the morning also highly funny, slow talking pastor's name was Christian, and suddenly there was a cancer scare.

It was a lot, a hasty sprint from major issue to major issue with a hint of comedic relief every now and then, and it didn't get any less until the very, rather poorly resolved, end.

The entire, constant up and down was followed by the movie's peak of suspense, the near death of precious Violet, something I couldn't even get too invested in because I was still so busy worrying about Christine's MRT results (I was truly fucking worried), not to mention that I hadn't even started to really process the sudden revelation of the love child and how it had affected her character's actions until this point. Was her constant tendency of pushing people away, as we've seen most clearly with her angel in training assistant who's name I cannot recall right now, the result of her broken trust in her father who practically ripped her son away from her after she had just given birth to him? Was it a result of her never getting the closure she needed with plaid flannel wearing Carl she was clearly still in love with? Maybe both? And what of the many issues was it that made her so incredibly shaken up when Violet blamed herself for her mother's death? Was it 'just' due to the fact that the closed pharmacy was on her, or was there more to it? Was it because she had grown up without a mother herself? Or did I miss a major piece of information because I was momentarily distracted, dumbfoundedly staring at Christine's very blue eyes? No time to ponder on that, little Silverinia, because here comes unconscious Violet in an ambulance, WEE WOO WEE WOO WEE WOO!

I'm not going to go in depth about what plot lines I thought were especially carelessly handled and why, real standouts were the sudden forgiveness towards her father who had still acted like a shitty asshole even though he might have had his reasons, because giving the baby up for adoption just wasn't his choice to make, and the fact that I kind of didn't buy how quickly Regina managed to forgive herself, especially for Violet's mother's passing, considering how deeply her tall, slim, dare I say angelic and entrancing figure was buried beneath the weight of all her issues. It felt rushed and incomplete, but that's as detailed as it gets because my major point is something else.

I think this movie made the great mistake of trying to be more than your average, flat, happy ending Christmas movie. I think no one involved thought it was possible to make it a big hit if the only real plot would've been great Dolly Parton music, fun ensemble dance choreographies, Christine Baranski's outstanding acting skills, fun settings and costumes and a redemption arch with as little plot as it could possibly take to make Christine likable to those who aren't already lost forever in the rabbit hole of being obsessed with her (poor fuckers, can't relate). They didn't notice that with the legends that were involved, they could've easily gone the Mamma Mia way. And I think that's why they tried to include heavier plot lines than most creators would've chosen, experiencing loss at an early age, struggling to find closure, dealing with sickness, teenage pregnancy, parents forcing their choices on their children when they affect their childrens' lives first, adoption, and the fear of losing your kid.

It was a lot and I don't want to say that it didn't work because my friend was crying, like, pretty hard and I questioned my entire existence all through the movie in not the worst way, and I did enjoy it a lot while watching. The "grief is love with nowhere to go" line was a real standout, for example, where the attempt of complexity DID work. It positively gave me fleabag season two, "I don't know what to do with it now, with all the love I have for her." - "I'll take it. It sounds lovely. You have to give it to me." feels, and that's about the biggest praise I can come up with. BUT (and this is written in capital letters because it's the big but) I'm also totally convinced that I wouldn't have enjoyed it if they hadn't cast Christine Baranski for the lead role. In my humble opinion, the hasty, not really at all resolved plot of this movie only worked because Christine Baranski is just a fantastic actress. She quirks a mocking eyebrow and you laugh. She parts her perfectly painted red lips and you immediately hang on them because you don't want to miss a single breath she, a literal goddess, graces us mere peasants of people with. She smiles and you're happy. She laughs and even while she's still laughing, you can't wait to hear her do it again. Her eyes fill with tears and you feel goosebumps on your arms, her voice slightly trembles, a breath hitches in her throat and you feel your heart shattering to pieces. As Chuck Lorre once said, this woman could read you the phone book and you would end up laughing tears because she just gets the job done. She knows what she's doing, she's an absolute pro in her game, and it doesn't matter, not even a little bit, what she's working with, because the work she eventually delivers with it is always at a minimum of 200%. I forced my friend to watch this movie with me because I adore this woman, and I felt for this movie because I felt for her. It wasn't the plot that sadly brutally overestimated itself, it wasn't the songs that I obviously enjoyed, nor the comedic elements that truly made me laugh a lot, it was all her. I came for Baranski, and I stayed for Baranski. This woman can do anything. She can even look graceful in a terrible wig job.

(side note / unpopular opinion: I actually didn't think the wig was all too bad. It wasn't good, actually far from good, but for me, nothing can match the awful wig game of Mamma Mia 2. I loathed that wig, I absolutely cannot stand it. So this didn't feel all that terrible. It definitely wasn't the most problematic part about the movie.)

I enjoyed watching this. It was a nice distraction from all the bullshit in the world. Watching it today was the first thing this year that actually brought me something close to excitement about the holiday season, even though everything will be very different and probably not quite as jolly this year. But it just gave me good vibes and as someone who did not watch this as a film reviewer, that's the biggest part of what leads me to enjoy a movie.

Will I watch this again? For sure. Will I enjoy it when I'm not hungover, having freshly done nails and munching delicious pizza for breakfast? Probably not as much, but it'll still have Christine Baranski in it. Would I recommend watching this? If you share my obsession with Queen B, one hundo. If you don't, probably not.

Crush

Male!Rowan x Bill Weasley

Word count: 2k

Day 4 of @hphm-rarepair-week

The Celestial ball was fun, but now it was over and everything was boring again.

With your brother still missing, the cursed vaults still a mystery, and all the school work you still had to do- you felt tired. But you had your friends, and you were thankful for everything you had.

"Oh man I can't believe the Celestial ball had passed!" Tulip groaned as you, her and Rowan sat in your dormitory and talked.

"Seriously, by the fourth year I thought I would go to the ball with a date.. I mean we're almost fifteen! Isn't that what we're suppose to do?!"

You shrugged. "I used to imagine it too, I think, but I'm too stressed over my brother, the vaults, school work and my own confusion about everything to care about dating" you said, "besides, we're still young. I think society is wrong by pushing romance on teens"

Tulip rolled her eyes, "pfft, your the weirdest boy I ever met.. and that comes from me!"

You laughed a little. "We're all a little strange" you said with a smile, feeling at peace.

Then you noticed your friend Rowan has been awfully quiet. Tulip must've noticed it too since she asked him "what about you, Ro? What do you think about dating?" Rowan blushed immediately but only you knew why..

"Nothing!" He said loudly, panicking, "I don't like him I don't like anybody!" You felt bad for your friend that accidentally spilled his secret. You knew it from the second year but Rowan made you promise him you'll never talk about it to anyone so you just dropped the subject.

But it was too easy to know who Rowan's crush was since Everytime Rowan was in the same room with him he would sweat and blush and act weirder than usual.

Tulip got excited, "ooo didn't knew you were gay but I guess that's kind of makes sense"

Rowan blushed even more now "obviously I-I'm noT gAy..!" He shout, embarrassed.

"You're a boy who's having a crush on another boy, sounds pretty gay to me" Tulip respond and Rowan sight, "you got me there.."

"Tulip, Rowan obviously doesn't want to talk about it.." you tried to save him from Tulip but now she got even more curious

"You two! I would've never guessed it!" She Laughed as you blushed just like Rowan. "N-no! Stop!" You said, feeling embarrassed, "it's Bill! okay? Not me!"

The room got quiet for a moment until Rowan screamed, "How could you?? You promised to keep this a secret!!"

"I'm sorry!" You apologized, ",I was too embarrassed I didn't thought before I talked.." Rowan sight again while you said "and it's not like you were subtle about it.." he rolled his eyes, but you knew he would forgive you anyway.

"Wait hold on" Tulip suddenly said "Bill as Bill Weasley? Charlie's brother? That Grifindor in the sixth year? Our friend??"

"Yes, tulip. It's him" said Rowan, angrily, "are you going to make fun of me now? To tell everyone?" Tulip was surprised, "no of course not! You're my friend why would I do that?"

"sorry I was just scared for a moment.. I don't want anyone to know about this. Especially not Bill.."

Tulip put her hand on his shoulder, "your secret is safe with me. But perhaps you should ask him out?" The last sentence made Rowan laugh, "yeah, right.. like a guy as cool as Bill could ever like an awkward nerdy boy like me.." then he sight again, "I'm going to bed guys. Don't worry about me. It's okay, I'll be fine. Eventually..." And by that he left the room leaving you and Tulip both very confused.

"Poor boy" said Tulip, without any sense of moking in her voice.

"Yeah..." You sight and by that the conversation died and both you and Tulip went to sleep.

In the next day, you knew what you needed to do. Rowan has been crushing on Bill for years now and you really wanted to help him out. So as soon as transfiguration class ended you went searching for Bill. You found him in the training ground, studying on the ground.

"So, bill" you said as you sat next to him. He raised his head, "oh hello! What's up?"

You ignored his question and continued anyway. "Do you like guys?" You asked, making Bill confused about your intentions with this conversation. "Why are you asking? Do you think you like guys?"

"What? No! I'm just, eh, asking for a friend." That wasn't a lie. "Hmm well, you already know I'm bi" he answered and you suddenly remembered how he came out to your friends last year as bisexual.

"Ah, right. That's good." You answered and continued, "and what's your opinions about Rowan?"

"Rowan? Our friend?" He was surprised.

"Is there any other Rowans you know?" You asked, sarcastically.

"He's a nice guy" Bill responded after a while, "I don't really know what he talks about most of the times but he seems cool". in your mind you started to imagine your two close friends having a relationship. And he just called Rowan cool!

"Well..." You continued, "would you like to go on a date with him?" You asked, making Bill raise his eyebrow. "Why would you ask that...?" You just shrug, "no reason. No reason at all..." You knew you sound suspicious but you really wanted that to work. "Maybe" Bill suddenly said, "I guess I might just say yes". Hearing this answer you immediately jumped, "okay good bye!" You shouted while running back to your dorms, to meet Rowan.

"YOU DID WHAT?! HOW COULD YOU???" Rowan screamed at you after you told him what you've done. "Now he hates me.." he said, tears running down his cheeks. You hold his hand, trying to calm him down. "I'm sorry, Ro. I just hate seeing you so sad. I really want it to work for you. I don't even think it's healthy to have one sided crush for that long..." You said, "and besides.. he said he would agree! To go on a date with you! So all you need to do is just ask him!" Your last words made Rowan panick, "WeLL I caN'T dO thAt!" He shouted, panicking.

After almost ten minutes of calming him down you managed to convince him to go and ask Bill. You were waiting for them across the hallway, watching Rowan awkwardly, but happily, talking with Bill. You couldn't hear what they were saying but they both seemed pretty thrilled with the conversation.

"So... How did it go?" You asked when he came back to you, still blushing. "I'm meeting him tomorrow night at the courtyard" he said and you immediately yelled "woohoo" but than he continued and said "but I didn't mentioned it's a date..."

"Nooooo" you groaned, "why didn't you?" Rowan shrugged, "it was stressing me out just to talk to him.. be glad I at least done that!" You could tell that he was still very sweating and stressed but still smiling, too. "Don't worry", you then said, "I'm sure it's gonna turn out for the best".

The next day, you sat with Rowan in your room, trying to find the perfect cloths for him. He was a nervous wreck and couldn't stop rumbling on how much he loves bill. You couldn't not think how helpless he is. So love sick, so pure. At this point you just agreed with everything he said. "Yes he does have the most beautiful eyes. Yes he does have the body of a goddess". After trying on like thirteen different outfits, you finally decided what would be the best for him for a meeting with a friend, that could possibly be a date. "Are you sure? It's more fancy than casual, isn't it?" Rowan asked, stressed, looking in the mirror. You rolled your eyes, "seriously, Ro? This is literally almost the same clothes you wear everyday.."

"hey, I like to think myself as fancy!" He said while still looking at the mirror. He wore his usual pants and buttoned up shirt but with a dark bow tie, instead of his usual house tie. He also had a black jacket with him, in case he'll be cold. Simple but different.

Now it was almost time to meet Bill and you needed to calm down Rowan again. "You've got this, Rowan. I promise it'll end better than whatever you imagine" you said, "unless, of course, you imagine your wedding like I do, then that's definitely what's going to happen" you said with a wink, and Rowan just nod, embarrassed.

When it was time to leave you heard him whisper, "what if.. after all this years he'll just.. reject me..?" He said it with tears in his eyes. "Then.." you said, putting your hand on his shoulder trying to comfort him, "you'll be free and you'll be able to move on." He nod and you hugged him, then he left you to meet Bill.

When Rowan came to the courtyard it was empty so he walked around a few times, trying to calm himself down. When he sat down next to the fountain, he finally saw Bill. He wore his usual cloths but you could tell that he spent much more time doing his hair. And you could tell that he was as nervous as Rowan, which made Rowan less worried, knowing he wasn't the only one.

"Hey" said Bill with a shy smile, his hands in his pockets.

"H-hey" Rowan immediately stood up as his face becoming pink.

"Well, uh.. you wanted to see me, right?" He said while sitting down next to the place Rowan sat before. "I mean it's always nice to see you of course! I'm just wondering.."

"Y-yeah" Rowan sat back awkwardly next to bill, "it wasn't my idea actually" they said and then realized it was a mistake. "N-nevermind! Forget I said it!"

"It wasn't my idea as well" said Bill, smiling. "But I'm glad we did it"

Rowan felt his Face getting warm, "I-its so hot out here, isn't it?? N-not because of you o-of curse! Ohh I shouldn't have said that!" Rowan hos his face between his hands as Bill laugh.

"It's okay, I know you like me.."

Rowan immediately lift his face, surprised. "You do? But how? Since when? I, uh-"

"Well it was pretty obvious" Bill shrugged, "what about you?" He asked, confusing Rowan. "I- well- since uh.. my first year.." Rowan was almost whispering those last words but somehow Bill still heard them. "Really?? For that long?? Oh wow.."

"I'm sorry I probably shouldn't have said that please just- forget it.."

"No, it's okay.." Bill said, aware of Rowan embarrassment, "I think.. maybe.. I think I want to try it"

"Try what?" Rowan asked, confused.

"Try us" Bill answered with a shy smile on his face, "I'm not sure how I feel yet, but I do like you as a person and I wouldn't mind you being my boyfriend so... If you want to, of course, I think I'm ready to give it a try"

Rowan was wordless. This was something they never really considered. Mostly because they never succeed talking with Bill for more than a few seconds, but also because he considered himself out of Bill's league.

"Rowan, are you okay? I didn't mean to hurt you or anything I'm--"

Bill's words cut off by Rowan's lips crushing on his.

It was Rowan's first kiss and all he could think was, 'i can't believe I'm kissing Bill Weasley!' he was very proud of himself for actually making the first move and being in control of the situation. And he could feel Bill kissing back.

The kiss was short but it was everything Rowan ever dreamed of. His eyes were still closed when he heard Bill saying "I'll take this as a yes". Even with his eyes closed he could tell Bill was smiling.

"Shall I walk you to your dormitory?" Bill asked and Rowan finally opened his eyes, smiling and nodding. And so they did. Rowan could feel Bill's hand on his shoulder the entire walk and couldn't help but think how he is the luckiest guy in the world.

~~~~

That's it! Not the best, but still something...

I kinda like them together and I imagine them having a relationship through Bill's 6-7 years at Hogwarts and then break up in good terms when he graduate (:

College au? I'll let your creativity run free from there ;D (also what the heck, I'm planning on my major/minor to be English too?)

College Freshmen Are Loud

Read it on ao3!  & send in a prompt!

Summary: The noise in Dan’s dorm hall is cutting into his sleep. Phil provides a solution

Word Count: 1.9k

Notes: thank u, ryanne. I love college aus :(( (we should talk majors)

Dan wakes up to the sound of a chair hitting a wall at 2:47 am, and he’s fine until he hears giggles that eventually grow louder. This is the fourth time this week that people on his floor have come back drunk, and honestly, it was annoying the first time. Now it’s cutting into his sleep and he has early morning classes that he wants to be conscious for. He breathes out exasperatedly and clenches his bed sheets for a second before rolling onto his side and covering his ears with his pillow.                It’s pretty effective, but he has to hold it in place and his arms start cramping after a minute and a half. He doesn’t sleep for the rest of the night.—“Are you alright? You look terrible,” is the first thing Dan hears when he enters his 7:40 lecture. If it were anyone but Phil, he’d say it put him in an even worse mood. He manages a smile, despite his brain feeling ten times slower than usual, and slumps down into the chair beside Phil.“Thanks. I got no sleep last night because the assholes on my floor think it’s funny to be extremely loud during all hours of the fucking night,” Dan says, sighing a bit melodramatically. He can’t help it. It sucks and there’s nothing he can do. He’s already tried moving, but there’s no empty singles, and he doesn’t want to even briefly entertain the thought of moving in with someone else. He gets it, he totally does. The idea of having a roommate is exciting for a lot of people; it’s just not for him. At all. He’s having a difficult enough time dealing with having people rooms away from him.“What do they do? Is it really that bad?” Phil asks. He’s smirking but Dan literally doesn’t have enough energy to roll his eyes.“I’m pretty sure one of them broke a window last night,” Phil laughs at that, and the sound makes him smile for the first time that morning. He kinda hates the effect Phil has on him, but he usually just elects to ignore it. There’s no chance Phil likes him. And he’s graduating this year. Surely the age difference would be weird. Does Phil even like guys?He’s broken out of his thoughts by a nudge to his side and he jumps slightly, remembering where he is.“You might wanna start taking notes,” Phil whispers, lines of words already covering his page. Dan can’t stop himself from blushing, but Phil’s attention is back on the professor.Dan sits there for an hour and fifteen minutes, sporadically taking notes and daydreaming before he finally gets to pack up his stuff. He’s thinking about grabbing something to eat before his next class, when a hand comes down on his shoulder.“Hey, if your hall is too loud again tonight, you’re always welcome to stay in my room. My roommate’s never around.” Dan is taken aback by Phil’s offer; for a second he thinks his sleep-deprived brain made it up. He’s silent and slack-jawed for a few seconds too long, and Phil’s face begins to look unsure.“You don’t have to or anything, I was just-”“No, I want to!” Dan says quickly, awkwardly grabbing Phil’s wrist in the process. They both look down and Dan lets go immediately, bringing his hand to the back of his own neck.“I mean, yeah, if I can’t sleep, right, I’ll do that,” he does a vague finger gun motion and hates himself.“Okay, so I’ll see you later, maybe?” Phil asks, and his smile is back but Dan’s heart is still beating a mile a minute.“Yeah, I’ll text you,” Dan sounds breathless and that’s because he is, he just hopes Phil doesn’t notice. He wouldn’t point it out if he did.“Cool,” it’s the last thing Phil says before he turns with a small wave and walks in the opposite direction Dan’s going. Dan feels like his skin is burning off, but he can’t stop smiling.—                He listens closely. It’s a little after 11, and for once he can’t hear anyone screaming, and he thinks that it’s probably because the world hates him. The cutest guy Dan’s ever seen in his life invites him to his room and for the first time since he moved in, these assholes are what? Asleep at a decent hour?                He rolls over in his bed, and closes his eyes for exactly six seconds before he makes his decision. He stands up and packs a set of clothes, and the books he needs for class tomorrow, and steps outside into the cold air.                For as much determination that he had on the walk to Phil’s dorm, when he’s actually outside his door, he hesitates. He brings his hand up to knock a few times, even thinking about going back to his room and just going to sleep because it’s getting late and he needs a few hours, at least.                He finally does it, three quick taps and his heart rate accelerates as he waits for it to open.                “Hey,” Phil says, calmly, stepping out of the doorway and gesturing for Dan to enter. Dan has only been in Phil’s room once for a minute, so he’s never had the opportunity to really look around. His eyes roam over the insignificant details, and he doesn’t realize Phil’s talking to him until he’s halfway through his sentence.                “-never around, like I said. So, that’s a plus, I guess,” Dan blinks, but when he doesn’t respond, Phil turns to face him.                “Uh, sorry, I wasn’t listening,” Dan says, stuttering and blushing. He should probably just lie down and try to forget any of this happening.                “It’s so quiet here,” he says instead, putting his backpack down and attempting to relax. He has nothing to worry about. Everything will be fine.                “This must be a completely new experience for you. How’s it feel?” Phil asks. It seems like it doesn’t matter what Phil does, Dan finds himself completely enamored, which is putting him at a slight disadvantage. He doesn’t think that’s really fair.                “It’s… weird. I think it’s almost too quiet.” Dan had gotten so used the ambient noise of talking and laughing that the quiet was a bit confounding.                “Well that won’t be a problem for long. I’ve been told that I talk in my sleep.” Dan’s eyes widen at the admission and Phil continues, “Not that I would know for sure. It’s not like I’m there when it happens.” Dan laughs, and he has to stop doing that, it wasn’t that funny. But Phil smiles, and Dan forgets his impulses all at once.                “Speaking of sleep, you probably want to do that now. That’s why you’re here.” Phil’s cheeks go pink for a change, and for a moment, Dan thinks it’s refreshing, but then he’s smiling. He can’t seem to catch a break.                “So… what are the…” Dan searches for an appropriate term, but the best he can come up with in under three seconds is “sleeping arrangements”. He hadn’t thought about the implications of the night before going over, and what did he think would happen? Phil only has one bed. Mathematically, only one thing works.                “Sleeping on the floor is no big deal to me, really. It’s fine,” Dan fills in quickly before Phil can get a word.                “What? No, I invited you over so you could finally get a good night’s sleep. I’m not gonna make you sleep on the floor,” Phil says, strongly, not leaving any room for argument.                “Well, it’s your room, so I can’t make you sleep on the floor,” Dan counters. As the last word falls off of his tongue, he understands what he said, what it could be construed to mean.                “Are you suggesting that we share the bed?” Despite his earlier embarrassment and uncertainty, Phil says this with a hint of a smirk on his lips. Dan wants to stop existing, but he also really wants to sleep in the same tiny twin-sized bed as Phil Lester. He’s almost certain that he’s never wanted anything more in his life.                “I mean… what I meant to say was, I wouldn’t have a problem with it seeing as we both just want to sleep, and you know, back support is an important thing. Can’t get that from the floor…” Dan feels more self-conscious with every passing second as Phil’s smug grin reaches more parts of his face. Like his eyes.                “Yeah, I agree. Should we go to sleep then?” Without waiting for a reply, Phil hops into his bed and pats the space next to him. It’s not a very big space, and that makes Dan simultaneously excited and terrified. How were they supposed to negotiate this? There weren’t very many comfortable positions they could find this way. After a moment of fidgeting limbs and rustling bed sheets, Phil’s arm comes to rest around Dan’s waist. His fingers trace a small pattern, and then he tenses.                “Is this okay? It’s the only comfortable place for my arm.” Dan smiles at the concern in Phil’s voice but his heart beat is erratic, and he’s worried Phil can feel it.                “Yeah, it’s fine,” Dan manages, nearly choking on the first syllable. He can’t believe this is actually happening.                “Goodnight, Dan.”                “Yeah, goodnight…”—                When Dan’s alarm goes off in the morning, he attempts to turn over but is stopped. His eyes shoot open and he remembers that he’s not in his room. Phil’s arm is still draped over him, slightly tighter now that he’s tried to move. He wonders how to go about this without it being too awkward, grabbing Phil’s hand and attempting to move him carefully so he doesn’t wake up. But then Phil’s hand squeezes and he breathes in, stretches and freezes. His grip loosens and his breathing stops for a moment.                Maybe he doesn’t know Dan is awake yet. He can play it off like he’s just waking up now. He’s a pretty good actor, he could pull it off.                “You’re gonna be late to class,” Phil says. His sleep-muddled voice startles Dan, and Phil definitely knows he’s awake now.                “Well, maybe I wouldn’t if you let go of me.” Dan has no idea what made him so bold all of a sudden, but he bites his tongue and holds his breath, waiting for a response.                “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Phil says, moving his arm back to his side. Dan feels relieved and disappointed all at once, but he sits up anyway. He’s about to get up to change and then leave when Phil grabs his hand again. He looks back at Phil and his messy hair and his perfect lips.                “You should come back when your class is over. We could get lunch or something.” Dan smiles softly and Phil’ thumb traces nervous circles onto the back of his hand.                “Yeah, sure, that’d be great,” Dan can’t stop his smile from growing and he probably looks stupid, but he doesn’t care.                “I’ll see you later then,” Phil says, bringing Dan’s hand to his lips for a brief second and then letting him go.                Dan never sleeps in his own bed again.