#but like my uncle died last summer and i’m still not sure how i feel
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As You Wish - Eddie Munson x Reader, Part 6
A collaboration with the incredible and amazing @munson-blurbs 💜
Summary: It’s your first official date with Eddie, and what’s almost as exciting as that is seeing how the boys react to the news
Note: I will never get used to the kind comments and sweet words you send me over this series. It truly makes me so incredibly happy. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Warnings: smut, p in v, mentions of oral, age gap, older!eddie, Eddie’s breeding kink should be a given at this point tbh
Words: 8.5k
[As You Wish masterlist]
Eddie knocks on the door of the trailer he grew up in, shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking on the balls of his feet. It seems like an eternity before his uncle opens it, a huge grin on his face at the sight of his nephew.
“Ed!” he says, holding the door ajar so Eddie can walk in. “What brings you back down to Forest Hills?”
“Can’t a guy just visit his uncle without needing something?” Eddie teases, leaning against the counter, careful not to get any grease stains on it. “I, uh, did need to talk to you, though.”
A concerned frown tugs at the corners of Wayne’s lips. “Y’okay? The boys good?”
Eddie nods, all-too aware of Wayne’s omission of Brittany. “We’re all fine,” he clarifies, “but Brittany and I are definitely splitting up. I filed the divorce papers, then she filed custody papers.”
“Shit,” Wayne mutters, rubbing his palm over his coarse gray beard. “‘M sorry, kid. This kinda stuff ain’t easy, even when you know you wanna end things.” He puts a hand on Eddie’s shoulder and squeezes. “You’ll find the right one for you.”
Eddie’s cheeks tinge pink, and he has to avert his gaze from his uncle. “I, um…I think I already did,” he sheepishly admits, massaging the back of his neck to relax his nerves.
Wayne’s eyebrows shoot up, but he can’t say he’s all that surprised. “The babysitter?”
“How did you—”
“I may be an old man, but my eyesight is just fine,” Wayne jokes, “and I could see the way you looked at her at Ryan’s birthday party last summer. Like you damn near worshiped the ground she walked on.”
Eddie lets out a nervous chuckle and nods his head. “Yeah, that’s pretty much how I feel about her.”
“She’s good with the boys,” Wayne says. “It was nice to see.” Nice for them to have a maternal figure who loves them is what they both think but don’t say aloud.
“They love her,” Eddie agrees. He opens his mouth to continue, but his uncle cuts him off.
“So do you.” It’s not a question. It’s a knowing statement from the man who knows Eddie better than anyone. It didn’t take much observation for Wayne to see the possibilities of what could be. Of what are, now.
“I really do,” Eddie answers. The lovesick expression on his face makes Wayne smile. He’s not seen that look on his nephew’s face since he was in high school. Even then, Wayne thinks, he didn’t light up quite like this.
“Take it slow though, boy.” Wayne didn’t give a shit that Eddie was in his 30’s now; he’s still going to call him “boy” because he’ll be Wayne’s boy until the day he dies. “You don’t want to rush into anything. That’ll just be trouble for everyone involved.”
“I know,” Eddie says. “I, uh, actually want to take her on our first date this Friday.”
“Do the boys know?” Wayne asks.
“Not yet. But they will. I'm not going to lie to them about where I'm going and who I’ll be with. They get that from their mom, and I will make damn sure they know I’ll never lie to them.”
“Good man,” Wayne says with an approving nod of his head. “Can’t imagine their mom feels too keen about watching the boys while you go on a date, though.”
“To be honest, I wouldn’t give a shit how she felt about it. But fortunately for everyone, she’ll be out of town. So, that’s another reason I stopped by. Wondered if you could watch the kids. It’d be up at the house still since I’m staying there while Britt’s gone.”
Wayne’s face lights up. “You know I never need an excuse to spend time with my grandkids,” he chuckles. “Now I just gotta figure out what kinda candy I’m gonna get ‘em hopped up on just in time for you to get home.”
“You’re the best,” Eddie says gratefully, pulling his uncle in for a quick hug. “I owe you one.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Wayne appears to brush off the compliment, but he’s beaming on the inside. Being a grandpa is his favorite thing in the world. “I’ve been meaning to stop by, anyway. Made a little something for those two rugrats.” He disappears into his room—what used to be Eddie’s room—and comes back with two of his woodworks: a miniature bookshelf with an R carved on the side, and a small box with an L on the lid. “Figured Ryan could use another place for his books, and Luke can put his Hot Wheels in here.”
“Someone just earned himself a #1 Grandpa mug for his birthday.”
“Hey, rugrats.”
Eddie strolls out of his bedroom—former bedroom, and down the hallway. The muffled sounds of some animated movie he knows he’s seen before become louder the closer he gets to the living room. Both boys are sitting at a Scooby-Doo themed table and chair set that Luke had gotten for his last birthday. They’re sitting too close to the television, but Eddie decides to let that slide for now. As he gets closer, he sees the boys are drawing, peacefully sharing a single crayon box for once.
“Yeah, Daddy?” Ryan asks without looking up from his art. Eddie picks the remote up off the couch and turns the tv off. Luke’s little head snaps up and his curls bounce as he swivels his body to stare in his dad’s direction.
“Hey,” he protests.
“Just for a minute, calm down.” Eddie sets the remote down on the coffee table and comes to stand between the boys’ chairs. He’s not entirely sure what it is they’re drawing, but there’s a brown patch that Eddie thinks is the dog that Luke is always drawing and wishing for. Someday, pal. I promise. “I want to talk to you both about something.”
“What is it?” Ryan asks, scribbling furiously with a red crayon.
“Hey, can we take a break from the drawing for a bit?” Eddie drops a hand to Ryan’s shoulder and his oldest son looks up at him for the first time.
“Why?”
“Just so I can talk to you for a minute.”
Ryan sets his crayons down and turns on his seat to face his father better. Luke copies his older brother’s actions and the brown crayon that was in his hand rolls towards the middle of the table.
“Are we in trouble?” Luke asks.
“No,” Eddie says with a shake of his head. “I just wanted to let the two of you know that I have a date on Friday night.”
Both of Eddie’s sons just stare at him. For a moment, he wonders if he actually spoke out loud or just imagined it in his head. Luke seems completely unfazed by the news, like he just wants to get back to his coloring. Ryan, on the other hand, looks a little skeptical. Eddie was prepared for this reaction, but he knows that as soon as the boys know who his date is with, they’ll be jumping for joy—quite possibly literally.
“A date?” Ryan asks. “Like, with a girl?”
“A lady,” Luke corrects.
“Yeah,” Eddie says, now truly getting nervous for the first time. Ryan continues to stare at him, and Eddie isn’t sure how to read the usually open little boy.
“So,” Ryan starts, “does that mean we get to spend time with—”
“Grandpa Wayne is watching you.”
“Why?” Luke whines, obviously bothered by the fact that someone who is not you would be watching them. That says a lot to Eddie because he knows how much they love Wayne. It takes most of Eddie’s nerves away, hearing that the boys’ first instinct was that they get to spend time with you if he’s going out. Actual excitement bubbles up within him and it’s almost impossible to keep the smile off of his face. A part of him almost wants to keep the boys in suspense—this is just too good.
“Because,” Eddie finally says, “I’m taking her on the date.”
Eddie watches their faces, eager for the reaction. Ryan processes the information first and lets out a gasp. Luke takes a few seconds longer, but then he’s standing up from his chair—knocking it over in the process—and his eyes widen as far as they physically can.
“You two are going on a date?” Ryan asks, voice high and excited. “Really?”
“Really,” Eddie confirms with a chuckle.
“Oh my gosh,” Luke gushes, his small hands coming up to run through his curls. “Yes!”
The obvious love and excitement these two have towards you only further solidifies an idea that has been floating around his head lately. That you and he were meant to be together. Eddie knew that his sons had a far better childhood than he had, but he could still see the struggles they had living with a mom who never cared like she should. Eddie tried to make up for it, but there’s only so much one parent can take on from the other. He’d wonder if it was some bad karma of his that his kids didn’t get to have the happy little family that Eddie always dreamed of. But now there’s you. And all three Munson men adore you to the moon and back. And what's crazier to Eddie is that you love him back just as much. The boys? Sure, they’re easy to love. But you love three of them as a whole. Eddie can’t wait to tell you how they reacted to this news.
“You guys are happy about this, I take it?” Eddie asks.
“Uh, yeah,” Ryan says, launching himself out of his chair and wrapping his arms around his dad’s waist.
Eddie lets out an oof as the weight of his son knocks him back a step. But he’s quickly returning the hug.
“Our super-secret plan worked!” Luke says.
Raising his eyebrows, Eddie turns his head to look at his youngest son.
“Secret?!”
“Okay, how about this?” You hold up a little black dress for your roommate to inspect.
Jess tilts her head in consideration. “Too clubby,” she determines, and you roll your eyes with a dejected sigh. “Think…romantic but sexy.”
“Fine,” you grumble, rummaging through your closet. “Does this one pass the test?” You show her a floral lilac dress with a small slit up the side.
“Perfect!” Jess determines, grinning as she grabs a pair of strappy wedges from the closet floor. “Wear these with that, and he’ll be putty in your hands.” She pauses. “Actually, he basically already is. But, still, you’re gonna look hot.”
Your cheeks burn at the compliment, as well as the thought of Eddie turning into mush when he sees you. “Yeah, yeah. Let me get dressed; this show ain’t free.”
“It is for Eddie!” she trills, but leaves and closes the door behind her.
You finish applying your makeup just as Eddie rings the buzzer. “Jess, I’ll be back later!” you call out. “Thanks again for the wardrobe help.”
“No problem! Hope you get laid!”
Same, you think, opening the door to find your handsome date standing in front of you. “Wow,” you breathe out. He’s wearing a dark green button-down shirt, black slacks, and his signature leather jacket. His hair is pulled back into a low ponytail. Your palms become slick with nervous perspiration at the mere sight of him.
“Wow, yourself,” Eddie smiles, pulling you in by your waist and kissing your lips. It starts off gentle, but he gradually deepens it, grabbing your ass and giving it a squeeze. “If we don’t leave now, I’m not gonna let you leave the bedroom,” he growls in your ear, punctuating his statement with a quick smack to the soft flesh of your bottom.
“Let’s get going, then,” you say, grabbing his hand and leading him to the car.
You’re filled with anticipation; the secrecy of the evening is driving you insane. “How long until we’re at this mystery location?” you ask, trying to keep your eagerness at bay.
“Soon.”
“Okay, but what’s ‘soon’?” you press. “Like, five minutes? Half an hour?”
Eddie chuckles. “Jesus, you sound like Luke.”
Your jaw drops and you cross your arms over your chest. “Did you just compare me to your five-year-old son?”
“Are we there yet?” Eddie exaggeratedly mimics in a high-pitched voice.
“I do not sound like that!” you protest through your giggles.
“I do not sound like that!” he echoes, keeping the obnoxious tone.
“Now who’s acting like a five-year-old?” you retort, laughing as he scoffs at you, putting your mind at ease. It’s Eddie, your Eddie, and no matter what he’s planned, you know it’ll just make you fall further in love with him.
Eventually, Eddie pulls onto a highway, and you head in a direction you’re unfamiliar with. All it does is make you even more curious, but you know that Eddie isn’t going to be answering any questions. As if it’s his way of telling you not to say anything, he turns on the radio and fiddles with a dial until he comes to a song he likes. His hand doesn’t go back on the wheel, though. He reaches over and takes one of your hands into his own. Butterfly wings stir inside of you as he brings the back of your hand up to his lips. After pressing a few kisses to the skin there, he laces his fingers with yours and rests them comfortably on the center console between you.
It feels like forever until you reach your destination. According to the clock on the truck’s dash, it was just under half an hour, though. Gentleman as always, Eddie comes around to your door to open it for you. He even offers his hand to you to help you out of the car. Once he’s shut the door behind you, he doesn’t let go of your hand again. Honestly, it wouldn’t bother you if he never let it go.
The parking lot of this mystery date spot is pretty crowded on this Friday night. As the two of you get closer, you inspect the large red brick building. It’s old enough looking to be charming, but not derelict or decrepit. Green foliage adorns the outsides, a few benches every couple of feet—mostly occupied at the moment. The other people you see are dressed at the same level as both you and Eddie so the little worry that you’d be over or under-dressed finally fades away.
Above the front door, there’s a white and gold sign that says “Scott & Ollo’s.” Eddie holds the heavy brown door open for you and, regrettably, you have to let go of his hand to step inside. You don’t have to go long without his touch, however, as he steps up behind you as soon as you both enter, his hands resting lightly on your waist. The first thing that you register is the music. It’s loud—not overbearingly so, but enough where you can tell its live music instead of a recording being played over the PA system. Next, you take in the waiters in their all black attire that are buzzing between tables covered in white tablecloths and an array of foods—that smell delicious, you also notice.
“Hello,” the hostess greets you and Eddie as you walk up to her podium.
“Hi,” Eddie says, keeping one hand on your waist as he speaks to her. “Should have a reservation for two. Under the name ‘Munson.’”
Your eyes are flitting around the space and Eddie watches you with a fond smile on his face as the hostess searches for his name.
“Ah, here we are. Right this way, please,” the hostess says.
Eddie once again laces your fingers together and guides the two of you through the decently filled restaurant. As you walk, you notice that the restaurant is arranged in a circular fashion, and that people at the tables keep looking in towards the center of the room. You try to crane your neck to see around some of the patrons, but you’re unable to see what they see. The hostess leads you down a few steps that lead down to another landing where tables are laid out. From here, it’s easier to see what has everyone’s attention. The middle of the restaurant has a live band playing and a dance floor that a few couples currently occupy.
“Here you are,” the hostess says as she presents your table. She sets a menu down at each place setting as Eddie waits for you to sit in your seat so he can push it in for you. “Your waiter will be Harris and he’ll be right with you.”
“Thank you,” you say before she steps away. Now seated, you let your eyes take in everything a little bit more. The small lanterns on the middle of every table, some women looking longingly at the dance floor while the men they’re with look terrified of it. At the grand chandelier that hangs over the whole space, the crystals on it reflecting the light all around. “Eddie, this place is beautiful. Where did you find it?”
“A buddy of mine from high school proposed to his girlfriend here. I’ve never been but they both said it was incredible. So far, they’re right.”
“And are you actually going to dance with me?” you ask with a small giggle as you pick up your menu.
“Getting to hold you close to my body while we listen to slow music? Hell yeah.”
You shake your head fondly at how unromantic he makes it sound; but you know that’s just him messing around. There’s no way he would’ve chosen this place to go if he didn’t want to have a romantic evening and dance with you.
“Should we get some wine?” Eddie asks.
“Sure, but you’ll have to order it.”
“Why would—oh, right,” Eddie says with a chuckle. “Sometimes I forget your age.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” you ask.
“I don’t really think of it one way or the other. You’re just…you. My person. Not my person who is twelve years younger than me, just my person.”
His words have your heart picking up speed, and it’s quickly pumping heat up towards your face. His person. It felt not too long ago you could only dream about Eddie ever saying that to you.
Eddie lets out a soft chuckle and you look up to see what’s so funny. But he’s just smiling at you.
“What?” you ask.
“You haven’t stopped smiling since we walked in the door,” Eddie says. You hadn’t noticed, honestly. But now that he points it out, you can feel the tightness in your cheek muscles at the long-held grin.
“You just make me really happy,” you tell him, love practically radiating out of your every pore. Eddie sets his menu down and reaches across the table to take both of your hands in his own.
“Baby, you’re it for me. Always. Don’t forget that, okay?”
The only response you can give is a nod, as you feel the emotion welling up behind your eyes. After taking a moment and clearing your throat, you think you’re able to speak.
“You’re my forever.”
Harris comes and takes your orders: Eddie gets a New York strip, medium rare, and you choose the chicken florentine. They’re delivered on intricately garnished plates; so beautiful that you’re almost afraid to eat.
“Been awhile since I’ve been to a restaurant that didn’t serve a Happy Meal,” he jokes, dragging his knife through the tender cut of meat.
“At least you have your kids as an excuse,” you tease him. “Before that, you were just a grown man eating a very tiny pouch of fries.”
Eddie laughs, popping a bite of the steak into his mouth. “Speaking of those two,” he starts, “I told them.” About us, is what he doesn’t say, but he doesn’t have to.
You offer him a nervous glance. “What…were they okay with it?”
“Oh, yeah. They were only upset that you weren’t watching them until I told them that you were my date.” He chuckles at the memory of their excited little faces, leaning in to add, “and did you know that their ploy to get us together was a secret?”
Clapping a hand over your mouth to keep your giggles from escaping, you widen your eyes. “I think we can cross ‘CIA agent’ off of their list of future career choices.”
“And professional poker player,” he agrees, running his thumb across the back of your hand. “But I really can’t believe my luck. Y’know, how much they love you, and how much you love them.”
“Of course I do,” you tell him. “Even if you and I weren’t together, I’d adore your boys. They’re great kids, Eddie. The best. Because of you.”
Eddie stands slightly to reach over and kiss your forehead. “I love you so fucking much,” he declares. Part of him wishes he had a ring so he could propose right now, make you his forever.
Once you’ve finished eating, Eddie’s by your side and offering his hand.
“May I have this dance?” he asks. He keeps his tone serious, but he waggles his eyebrows as he says it.
“Such a gentleman,” you smile, placing your palm in his. You can feel every crease and callous, and you’re immediately overtaken with a sense of safety and belonging. “Of course you may.”
He leads you to the dance floor, taking you into his arms. Your left hand rests on his right bicep, and your right hand takes purchase in his left. His free hand is soon pressed to the small of your back so the two of you can sway impossibly close.
The band plays the opening chords of “Something,” by The Beatles, and your face lights up with joy.
“I love this song,” you tell him, adjusting your stance so your left hand can travel to the nape of his neck.
Without missing a beat, Eddie says, “I’ll learn how to play it for you.” Shit, he thinks, I’d go home and figure out the chords right now if I wasn’t on the best date of my life.
You’re not totally convinced, tilting your head in disbelief. “Even though it’s not metal?”
“Only for you, my love.” His response is sincere, and you rest your head on his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat. If you had to take bets, you’d guess that yours was beating in perfect tandem.
After you’ve finished dancing, you both agree that you’ve worked off some of your delicious dinner and have room to split a decadent dessert. You settle on a piece of cheesecake with cherry topping and Harris serves it to you with two forks. Eddie tuts you when you go to take the first forkful, but when you look at him in confusion, he spears a generous bite of the dessert and holds it up to your lips. A bubbly feeling floats through your body as you open your mouth and accept it from him. It’s amazing how the littlest things Eddie does give you full body reactions.
Once the cheesecake is devoured and the bill is paid (which Eddie snatched up the moment it hit the table cloth), Eddie offers you his hand and you walk out of the restaurant and into the chilly evening. There are no clouds in the sky, revealing the black canvas dotted with tiny diamond stars and a luminescent moon. You’re so busy taking in the view, you didn’t even realize Eddie shrugged out of his leather jacket until he’s draping it over your shoulders. It’s pure instinct to clutch it tighter around you, wanting Eddie’s scent and essence as close as can be.
The band can still be heard outside, muffled, but clear enough to tell that they just started playing Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” The two of you are approaching the first row of cars in the parking lot when Eddie tugs on your hand, pulling you to a stop next to him. Before you get the chance to open your mouth and ask what’s wrong, Eddie wraps one arm around your waist and tugs you up against his chest. He takes your left hand in his right and laces your fingers together as he begins to sway from side to side.
“Wanted one more dance with my girl tonight,” Eddie mumbles, giving you a warm smile.
“Dancing in the moonlight? Who knew you were such a romantic, Munson,” you tease. He leans in and nips at your earlobe, causing you to giggle.
“You would’ve thought you’d caught on by now,” Eddie retorts, giving your hand a light squeeze. Letting your eyes slip closed, you lean in and rest your head against the juncture where his neck meets his shoulder.
“This is perfect,” you say, tone dreamy and light.
“You’re the best dance partner I ever had, Sweetheart.”
The words bring a smile to your face, and you press a light kiss against Eddie’s throat before looking up at him. “Hey, can I tell you something?”
“Course baby,” he replies, his hand that’s on the small of your back tracing patterns over the material of your dress. “You can tell me anything.”
You pick your head up and look at him from beneath your eyelashes. “I’m not wearing any panties.”
That’s all Eddie needs to hear before he’s taking you by the hand and tugging you to the car.
“Slow down; I’m in heels!”you protest between giggles, but Eddie is not about to waste precious seconds that could be spent inside you.
You assume he’s going to drive home as fast as he can, which is why you’re more than confused when he opens the back door instead of the front. He slides in and pats his lap with a mischievous grin.
“In your car?” you balk teasingly, already ducking into the vehicle and draping a leg over his. “Eddie Munson, you’re a little horndog.”
He doesn’t deny it; he simply closes the door and bunches your dress to your hips. You certainly weren’t lying: there are no panties to be found. He inhales sharply at your perfect pussy on display like this for him, and his burgeoning erection twitches behind his fly. “Fuckin…holy shit,” he manages, letting his middle finger graze your glistening folds. “And already wet f’me, hm? Was it my dance moves?” He gently bites your earlobe, and you shiver at the sensation.
“Was…just you, baby,” you breathe, bringing your lips to his neck and trailing kisses along the side. His hands grip your bare ass, and you use the leverage to grind against the seam of his pants. “What’s got you so worked up?”
Eddie fumbles with his belt buckle, finally unfastening it with a relieved sigh. “‘S you. So fucking gorgeous, and all mine.” He whimpers when your fingers brush up against the outline of his cock while you unbutton his pants and tug down his zipper. “Tell me ‘m yours, please, baby.”
“You’re mine,” you whisper in his ear, taking in the new sensation of his cotton boxers on your throbbing clit and rubbing yourself against it needily. “All mine, only mine.”
Instinctively, Eddie finds your hole and slips a finger inside. “Bounce on it,” he instructs, pouting when you shake your head. “Whas’ wrong?” Shit, he thinks, was car sex a bad idea?
But you chase away his worries when you tell him, “Need more. Another finger. You’re too big for just one, Eddie.”
He happily obliges, making you feel full in the second-best way he knows how. With that, you take what you need, holding onto his shoulders as your pussy grips his thick fingers. He’s plunging them in and out of you as you ride them, the two of you working in perfect tandem to bring you to your release.
Eddie knows every last inch of your body like the back of his hand, and he curls his fingers slightly to drive you over the edge.
“F-Fuck, ‘m coming!” you moan, and it must be louder than you realize, because Eddie laughs and lets out a sshh.
“You’re gonna get us caught, pretty thing,” he warns you, but he doesn’t slow his pace. “I’ll have to tell the cops that I just couldn’t help myself; ya looked too damn gorgeous tonight. Had to be inside you.”
The thrill of being discovered has your orgasm crashing over you, and you cry out Eddie’s name as it hits. He removes his fingers from your pussy, popping them in his mouth and swirling his tongue around to lap up your slick. It’s enough to nearly make you cum again.
“Gotta feel you,” he mutters, taking his cock out of his boxers and into his hand. Pre-cum leaks from the tip, and if you had more room, you’d lean down to lick it off. “Gotta feel you around my dick, sweet girl.”
“Mhm,” you squeak out, aligning yourself over his length and sinking onto it. Inch by inch, you take him inside you as he stretches you in the most delicious way. The thick vein that runs from base to tip is heaven against your walls, and you steal a second to just feel him before you start moving.
His hands grasp your waist, sinking into the plush of your ass as he helps you ride him. “Thas’ perfect,” he growls, nodding as you bounce on his cock. “You make me feel so damn good. We were made for each other, I fuckin’ swear.”
The tempo is slow at first as you ease into it, trying to balance the fullness within you and the newest setting for your trysts. Gradually, you pick up a bit of speed, and he matches it, balls slapping against you.
“I love you,” you tell him, adding the promise of, “I’ll always love you.” You brush his hair from his face and kiss him passionately, tongue brushing his. When he pulls away for a breath, he gives your lower lip a little bite.
“I’ll always love you,” he swears. “Always, always, always.”
You can feel how close he is, and you’re right there with him, so you pull the trigger. “Prove it,” you murmur. “Fuck me so full that your cum drips out of me. Or maybe I’ll keep it inside me and get nice and knocked up for you.”
A string of swear words leaves his lips as he spills into you. “Oh, fuck yes, holy fuckin’ shit. Wanna get you pregnant, y’gonna look s’good havin’ my babies.” He presses his hands into the plush of your thighs. “Cream my cock, baby. Show me who makes you cum.”
Just a few more bounces is all it takes for you to cum again, flopping against his chest as you take big, heaving breaths.
“Can’t believe I scored on the first date,” Eddie jokes, and you bite his shoulder in retaliation. “Ow!” He rubs the spot dramatically. “C’mon, baby. Let’s get home, yeah?”
“Don’t wanna move,” you mumble, smiling as Eddie chuckles and kisses your scalp.
“Faster we get home, faster we can fuck on a nice, cozy bed,” he murmurs, trailing a fingernail up and down your arm. “And I can go down on you like a goddamn gentleman.”
The next morning, you’re barely awake and pouring yourself a cup of coffee in the kitchen when two rambunctious boys burst in.
“You’re here!” Luke cheers—which sounds more like shouting, this early in the morning. You and Eddie had talked about how it might look having you in the house when the boys woke up. But you figured they wouldn’t ask questions, and if they did, Eddie was ready to provide a long explanation on how something was broken in your car, and he couldn’t work on it while it was dark outside.
“Hi,” you say, voice still groggy from sleep. You shuffle over to the table and take a seat. A Munson boy takes a seat on each side of you, and you let out a chuckle. “Can I help you?”
“How was it?” Ryan asks.
Shrugging your shoulders, you bring the Garfield coffee mug up to your lips and take a sip. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“Oh, come on!” Luke whines. It’s hard not to smile and play it cool, so you just take another sip of your coffee.
“What is all the racket?” Eddie walks into the kitchen, the palm of his hand rubbing at his right eye. He’s wearing blue plaid pajama pants hung low on his hips and nothing else. You know there’s nothing beneath them because you watched him put them on as he rolled out of bed. He had tossed you a pair of his sweatpants to put on since you’d only been wearing a pair of panties and one of his old t-shirts.
“Daddy!” Luke calls, making Eddie wince at his volume.
“Take it down a few notches, kid.” Eddie ruffles his youngest son’s curls before walking over to pour himself a cup of coffee.
“How was the date?” Ryan asks, eyes looking back and forth between you and Eddie.
“Date?” Eddie asks. He walks over and takes a seat at the table before taking a casual sip from his mug. “Did someone go on a date last night?”
“Luke, you had a date?” you tease, poking him in the ribs. He gives an overdramatic roll of his eyes and runs his hands down his face.
“No! You two did!” he says.
“Oh, that’s right,” Eddie says, looking at you now. “I do remember seeing you at a restaurant last night.”
“You guys are the worst,” Ryan sighs, slumping down in his seat. It makes both you and Eddie chuckle.
“It was a wonderful date,” you tell them, deciding to end their misery. Now that they sense they’re going to get some answers, the boys are very alert and paying attention. It reminds you of how your childhood dog would react when you asked her if she wanted a treat.
“Was Daddy a gentleman?” Ryan asks. Eddie scoffs, as if insulted by the insinuation that he would be anything but.
“Of course he was.”
“What did you eat?” Luke asks. Leave it to him to ask about the food.
“I had steak,” Eddie says. “And…other things.”
Heat comes to your cheeks at the way he eyes you over the brim of his coffee cup. Giving him a light kick under the table knocks the smug smirk off his face, though.
“Like potatoes,” Eddie says, though you expect it’s more to appease you than anything.
“Ryan said I look like a potato,” Luke adds.
Coffee almost shoots out of your nose, and you have to quickly cover your mouth so you don’t spray the table with joe and creamer. This was life with the Munson men. Unpredictably hilarious and quite honestly the best thing you’ve ever had in your life.
“You don’t look like a potato,” Eddie responds.
“He did as a baby!” Ryan rebuts.
Eddie rubs his thumb and index finger over his eyebrows as he lets out a sigh. “It’s too early for this,” he mumbles under his breath.
“Are you going out again?” Ryan asks, and you’re thankful for the subject turning back on track.
“I don’t know,” you muse, tapping your fingernails against the porcelain mug. Both Ryan and Luke frown at your response. “I haven’t been asked yet.”
“Daddy, ask her!” Luke chides.
“Pretty sure I did ask,” Eddie says, raising an eyebrow at you. You know what he’s referring to, but panting out “fuck, when can we do this again?” while you’ve got his dick down your throat doesn’t count.
“Did you? When?” You smirk at him, backing him into a corner. Now he has no choice but to ask you properly. Eddie’s eyes narrow at you, and you can practically hear him saying you’ll pay for this later.
“Fine,” he grunts. He takes another sip of coffee before setting the mug down and clearing his throat. “My darling, would you like to go out with me again?”
It feels so infinitesimal to be asking for a second date. This is something teenagers do in high school, not adults with someone whose body you’ve already memorized or when you’ve already declared you’ll love them forever. But it makes the boys happy to hear and he does want to take you out again.
“I would be honored.”
Your reply still causes Eddie to break out in a beaming smile and reach across the table for your hand. Happily, you lace your fingers with his and don’t even notice the two boys watching with glee.
“Can we come?” Luke asks.
“Luke,” Ryan groans, “that’s not a date, then.”
“Did you kiss?” Luke asks, ignoring his older brother. Suddenly, Ryan is leaning on the table, eager to hear the answer as well. You see the heat you feel in your face reflected in the pink of Eddie’s cheeks.
“Boys—” Eddie starts before being interrupted by both of them whining.
“Daaaaad!”
“Come on!”
Trying to stifle your giggle, you give Eddie a nod to let him know it’s okay with you if he tells them. Receiving your signal, Eddie nods his own head in reply and shifts in his seat.
“Yes, we kissed.”
Both boys cheer; Ryan throwing his arms in the air and Luke dancing in his seat. You laugh in amusement as you watch them. The fact that they’re almost as happy as you are about you and Eddie being together warms your heart in a way that’s new. It feels as if a new compartment of your heart has been unlocked and all of this love is flooding into it.
“Okay, okay,” Eddie says, trying to calm the boys back down—even if he’s still grinning himself. “We’re all going to the Harrington’s today, so after breakfast I want you both to get dressed.”
“Uncle Steve’s?” Luke asks. “Why?”
“For a play date.” Eddie shrugs and rises from his seat. “More coffee?”
“Yes, please,” you tell him. He picks up your mug and presses a kiss to the top of your head. Neither boy misses the act of affection, and it feels like a surge of adrenaline spikes your blood. You’ve always been so careful not to let the boys know what’s going on between you—ever since that very first night. But now, getting to be so open about it, knowing they’re going to start seeing you as their dad’s girlfriend instead of their babysitter…it’s a lot. It’s not bad, but it’s a bit overwhelming.
“Yeah,” you say, shifting in your seat under their gazes. “You can play with Theo and Natalie for a while.”
It doesn’t escape your notice how Ryan flushes at the mention of Natalie’s name. You force yourself to bite back your smile but make a mental note to bring it up to Eddie later.
“Alright, Munson’s,” Eddie says as he places your coffee mug back down in front of you. “What do we want for breakfast?”
“Pancakes!” Luke says.
“Daddy burns those,” Ryan reminds him.
“Good thing I’m here,” you say, standing up from your seat.
“Sweetheart, you don’t have to do that,” Eddie says, ghosting a hand against your waist.
“I want to,” you tell him. “Sit.”
“No, let me help you at least.”
“Okay,” you agree. “Can you help me get everything I need together?”
“Course I can.”
Ryan nudges Luke across the table. The younger brother raises his eyebrows in question. Ryan nods his head in the direction of you and Eddie. Luke turns his head to see the two of you moving in tandem to get things out of the cabinets that you’ll need. You share passing words, gently touching or brushing up against one another as you work. It’s so domestic and comfortable for the two of you. But to Ryan and Luke, they’ve never seen something so peaceful. An activity as simple as making pancakes was a potentially explosive event in their lives up until now. It’s the first time both Ryan and Luke are realizing this is how it’s supposed to be. It’s meant to be, “can you pass me the flour?” instead of, “Jesus Christ, where did you put the goddamn pan?” like they’re used to.
The boys stay silent, just watching you and their dad help one another and him make you giggle. It’s possibly the warmest moment they’ve ever felt in this house. Ryan has the sudden urge to hug both of you, but he doesn’t want to interrupt the moment and have it stop. Luke watches in awe at the easy smiles you and Eddie give one another, never shooting the other a glare when they aren’t looking. It’s happy and it’s soft and it’s warm and tingly in a way he didn’t know existed. He’s never been so happy to have to wait for food to be made.
“Luke,” Ryan whispers, never taking his eyes off of you two.
“What?” Luke’s gaze never falters either.
“Daddy’s so happy.”
Luke nods enthusiastically. “And it’s all because of our super secret plan.”
Eddie rings the Harrington’s doorbell not once, not twice, but five times.
“Will you stop that?” you snap, but a smile dances on your lips. “You’re like a child.”
Eddie doesn’t have the chance to retort before Steve swings open the door. “Munson and Munsonitos! And, uh,” he stammers when he gets to you, “Lady Munson?” he tries, nervous to see your reaction.
Eddie wraps his arm around your waist. “Lady Munson, huh? Kinda like the sound of that.”
The four of you pile into the living room, and Steve encourages the boys to head into the family room where Natalie, Theo, and Danny are playing. “Amelia’s napping, but she’ll be awake and demanding Uncle Eddie cuddles soon,” he promises, laughing when Eddie huffs impatiently.
Steve walks over to the old record player a little too nonchalantly, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. “Let’s set a little mood music, shall we?”
Your boyfriend catches on before you do. “Nope, Harrington, no way. Absolutely n—”
Whoa oh oh oh oh oh oh
Whoa oh oh oh oh oh
Uptown girl
She’s been livin’ in her uptown world
“I hate you,” Eddie grumbles, but his eyes give away his true feelings.
Steve doesn’t buy it, either. “Look at that shit-eating grin,” he teases. “You can’t even listen to this song without making eyes at her.”
“Harrington, I will throw all your hairspray in the dumpster if you don’t shut up.”
You’re spared from breaking up their ridiculous fight when Nancy comes in the room, twisting the cover onto a bottle. She waves you over, and you dutifully follow, not wanting to witness whatever nonsense the two men were about to engage in.
When Steve realizes that there are no women around, he leans in and whispers to Eddie, “I told you, didn’t I? Came to your work and said you should be fucking the babysitter.” He crosses his arms over his broad chest and shakes his head. “Overachiever that you are, you went for the whole relationship.”
“Overachiever, huh?” Eddie muses. “Never heard that one before.”
“I figured. She probably only says you’re not so tough, just because you’re in love with an—”
“HARRINGTON, I SWEAR TO GOD.”
You and Nancy can vaguely hear the end of Eddie shouting something at Steve, but you’re both in the playroom now and the kids drown them out. Ryan and Natalie are using an array of crayons and markers to create masterpieces that are surely destined to hang on the refrigerators of their respective houses. Luke, Danny, and Theo are playing with Legos and Hot Wheels. The three young boys try to make obstacles for the toy cars to overcome out of the small plastic blocks.
“I can’t lie,” Nancy says as the two of you take a seat on the couch at the far end of the room. “Steve and I were really impressed by the way you handled Theo and Luke’s candy bar argument.”
The praise catches you off guard but brings on a smile so large that it hurts your cheeks.
“Oh, um, thank you! It wasn’t anything major,” you tell her. The music playing in the other room suddenly switches off and Nancy lets out a melodious chuckle.
“I told Steve not to play Billy Joel,” Nancy says with a shake of her head, “not unless he wanted Eddie to kick his…” she trails off as she looks at the kids, “…butt.”
You’re not sure what to say in reply to that. Nancy knows the friendship between the two men far better than you do, having over a decade more of experience with them. Anything you could think to add would be so generic or minuscule next to any of her anecdotes about them that it would be obvious you’re just trying to fill the silence that is becoming more awkward by the moment. But you need to say something.
“So,” you start, Nancy’s full attention coming back to you at the sound of your voice. “You saw the Innocent Man tour? How was that?”
“Oh, wow.” Nancy blows out a breath and looks down at the floor as if she’s trying to conjure up the memories. “It was forever ago…but from what I remember, it was amazing. He just kept singing and singing.”
Just imagining that brings a smile to your face.
“Sometimes, I like to just focus on the piano keys and drown out everything else. Helps me clear my head,” you explain.
Nancy nods along. “I find myself doing that when I’m driving. If I ever play it at home, the voices of four children drown it out and it’s a little harder to clear my head.”
“You really are a great mom, though,” you tell her. “I can see how much your kids adore you.”
“Thank you,” Nancy says, a bit of emotion snaking its way into her voice. “And having a partner like Steve is the best.”
As if the sound of his name being spoken somewhere in the house summons him, a loud commotion comes from the room you’d left the two men in.
“Munson, let go of my nipple!”
“Not until you apologize!”
You and Nancy share an amused glance before shrugging at one another. Ryan even hears the ruckus and looks in that direction. When he sees that neither you nor his aunt are reacting, he goes back to his drawing.
“Well, most of the time he’s the best,” Nancy says.
The clock is ticking until Eddie and Steve come back in the room, but there’s something you feel the need to get off your chest while it’s just you two women there.
“I have to be honest with you, Nancy,” you start. “I was so intimidated by you. Like, almost scared of you.”
“Of me?” Nancy asks, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “Really?”
“Well, yeah,” you say with a huff of laughter. “I mean, just meeting you at Ryan’s birthday I could tell how sophisticated and intelligent you are. And then when Eddie talks about you — because as I’m sure you know, he loves talking about his friends — I heard how well accomplished you are and all that you’ve achieved and while being a mother of four. It’s beyond impressive.”
“That’s really sweet, actually.” Nancy gives you a shy smile and a touch of pink coats her sharp cheekbones. “But I promise, I’m a nice person. There’s no need to be afraid of me.”
For the rest of what you have to say, you find it harder to look Nancy in the eye as you speak. Your hands fiddle with a loose thread on your jeans as you cautiously glance back and forth from your thigh to the woman sitting next to you.
“Plus,” you say before you can lose your nerve. “I know how I look from an outsider’s perspective.” You risk a glance over at the kids, and even though they’re busy playing, you still lower your voice. “Young babysitter starts working for a family and then the parents are separating and I…ya know. With an older man. I know what people are going to assume when they look at me. And I don’t care, I really don’t, because I love him. And he loves me. But I care what the people in Eddie’s life think. What his family and friends think. Of me.”
Nancy lets out a sigh and there’s a sympathetic look in her eye as she nods her head.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have some of those thoughts when I first found out about you two,” she confesses. “Not long, but longer than I’d like to admit. But you know what I said to Steve once we got home? That if you’re the light that lit a fire under Eddie’s ass to get him to dump Brittany, then thank God.”
Questions you want to ask Nancy about Brittany fly into your head in rapid succession. It doesn’t sound like the two of them were close. Does everyone hate her? It’s not hard to believe at all, but you’d love to hear it from a perspective other than Eddie’s. But between not wanting to look like a gossiper and the fact that the guys make their way into the room, you keep your mouth shut.
Nancy must share this sentiment, and possibly doesn’t want to discuss Brittany much in front of the kids, because she changes the subject as the men settle into seats around you.
“You’re in school, right?” Nancy asks you.
“I am,” you reply. “Finishing up my basic education courses.”
“Do you know what you want to do once you graduate?”
“Not a clue,” you admit with a sigh. “Right now, I’m really enjoying babysitting.”
“The kids love you,” Nancy gushes, leaning forward and resting her hand on your arm. “Not just Luke and Ryan—Natalie and Theo couldn’t stop talking about you, either.”
A sense of pride swells in your chest and you can’t help the bashful smile that grows on your lips.
“They’re all such great kids,” you say.
“Would you happen to have time to add the four great Harrington kids to your schedule?”
Having Nancy ask you that question makes you feel about fifty pounds lighter. Not only is she acknowledging you as part of Eddie’s life, but also has enough trust and faith in you to watch her children. The acceptance by her, Steve, and the kids makes you more emotional than you would’ve thought. It takes a moment for you to compose yourself to answer without your voice trembling.
“Of course!”
Your shoulders sag in relief and you hear a familiar tune being hummed behind you. Turning in your spot to look behind you, you see Steve perched on the back of the couch, a smug smile on his face. It takes your brain a moment to realize it’s Uptown Girl that he’s humming. Letting out an overly dramatic irritated groan, Eddie lunges at Steve, who shrieks and covers his chest.
“Stay away from my nipples, Munson!”
Nancy sighs and shakes her head.
“Would you look at that? There’s two more kids I didn’t account for.”
#eddie munson#eddie munson x reader#eddie munson x you#eddie munson x y/n#older!eddie#eddie munson imagine#eddie munson fic#eddie munson fan fiction#eddie munson fanfic#AYW#AYWS
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Whumptober Day 4: Fun Uncles
AO3
Written for the prompt: Shock
Nineteen years ago…
When the last mourner leaves there’s an air of finality. Like now that they’ve finished with the funeral, Dad is really dead.
Zenkichi, Tsuru, and Mom all just sort of sit around the family room, not saying anything, until someone’s stomach growls.
“Tsuru, could you please make some dinner?” Mom asks.
Tsuru wordlessly gets up and heads into the kitchen, but soon enough there’s a loud crash and the sound of plates breaking.
“Damn it, Tsuru!” Mom snaps, and Zenkichi follows her into the kitchen, where Tsuru’s standing, surrounded by shards of ceramic.
“Sorry, I was just—”
“I don’t want to hear it! Go grab something to clean this up.”
Tsuru hangs her head and runs out.
“That girl, she doesn’t know how lucky she is, beautiful, never has to worry about her weight, if she could be bothered to behave properly men would be lining up to marry her,” Mom huffs. “Couldn’t even wear proper clothes throughout the whole ceremony.”
“Mom, it’s hot out. You know Tsuru doesn’t do too well in the heat, especially not decked head to toe in black. Dad certainly wouldn’t want her collapsing from heatstroke just because of him.”
“Even more reason she should focus on being a proper housewife! She can’t even go out, so she could damn well learn to keep house.”
“Ok, ok, I think we’re all tired,” Zenkichi says. “How about we just call Oishi’s and get some food delivered. One less thing to worry about.”
Tsuru comes back in with a broom.
“You’re bleeding,” Zenkichi says as Mom snatches the broom out of Tsuru’s hands.
She starts sweeping the mess, and Zenkichi pulls Tsuru into the bathroom where they keep their first aid kit.
“I can do it, it’s not that deep,” Tsuru mumbles.
“Eh, come on, let me do it.”
“How mad is Mom?”
“She’s stressed.”
“Sure, but how mad is she at me?”
“Look, it’s been a long day, she’ll be over it in the morning. We’re gonna call Oishi’s and get some delivery.”
“Can we go pick it up?” Tsuru asks. “When you leave, I won’t have anyone to go out with, might as well spend as much time as I can outside of this place.”
“Why don’t you ask mom? Or one of your friends, didn’t you mention—”
“She doesn’t know about them,” Tsuru says, “for a reason.”
“Tsuru, you’re being dramatic.”
“No, I’m not. She’s worse when you’re not here.” Tsuru sighs. “Hurry up and get a job already so I can move in with you in Tokyo.”
“I still have five more months of training at the police academy. I might not even be stationed in Tokyo, you know.”
“I don’t care. Anywhere is better than here. Anyone is better than her.”
“She’s our Mom.”
“She sure doesn’t act like it.”
“You know she’s only like this because she’s worried about you, right? Now that Dad’s dead, she’s worried no one will take care of you if she dies.”
“Won’t you be around?”
“Well, you know how she is, she thinks that when I’m a family man, I’m not going to have time to look after my baby sister.
Tsuru kicks him. “I’m not a baby, dummy.”
“Sure sound like one, calling people dummy.”
Tsuru cracks a smile for the first time since Zenkichi came home for the funeral. “I guess if three years difference makes me a baby, you can carry me all the way to Oishi’s.”
“Yeah, no.”
“Come on!”
“No.”
Present
According to the forecast, the day they leave Sapporo is the hottest of the summer, and Yusuke can definitely feel that.
He feels like he’s wading through soup with all the humidity.
“Yusuke? Are you alright?” Morgana asks while they pack up.
“The heat,” Yusuke says. “And I’m sore from our fight with Shadow Mariko yesterday.” His neck and shoulders hurt, but they’re nothing compared to the pressure in his chest.
“Why don’t you rest for a bit then,” Haru says.
“I don’t want—“
“Nah dude don’t give us any of that ‘I don’t want to be an inconvenience’ crap,” Ryuji says, “rest a bit, we don’t mind.”
Yusuke’s too tired to insist otherwise, so goes to sit on the bench.
He sees Inspector head over to them.
“You kids almost ready?” he asks, but strangely it’s being drowned out by the ringing in Yusuke’s ears. Everything sounds vague and distant, and he can’t follow the conversation at all.
Then Inspector Hasegawa seems to nice him and the Inspector’s immediately concerned
He opens his mouth to say something that’s probably “Kitagawa?!” but Yusuke can’t hear it specifically because he’s too focused on the way everything’s spinning.
~
“Niijima, call an ambulance. Sakamoto, help me lie him on the ground,” Zenkichi says.
“Wh-what’s—” Niijima stammers but Zenkichi doesn’t have time for this.
Sakamoto helps him lay Kitagawa on the ground. “Good, now raise his feet slightly above his head,” Zenkichi instructs.
“Ok.” Sakamoto does, and there’s a small crowd coming to the scene, but Zenkichi doesn’t even have to tell Amamiya to keep them away.
Kitagawa still isn’t responsive, but starts taking gasping breaths that are fewer and farther between, so Zenkichi moves to perform CPR.
Old habits really do die hard. It’s been years since Zenkichi spent his summers taking CPR training, but his hands move on his own at the right rhythm.
He feels Kitagwa’s ribs cracks, and Sakamoto winces in sympathy, but Zenkichi isn’t bothered. He keeps going until Kitagawa’s eyes flutter open, just as the ambulance arrives.
Zenkichi follows the paramedics, who give him a questioning look, but Zenkichi doesn’t want to bother with it.
“I’m his uncle.”
The paramedic nods and lets him in.
Eighteen years ago…
There’s an inexplicable feeling of dread when Zenkichi comes home. No movement, not from Tsuru in her art room nor Mom in the living room.
His visit home was supposed to be a surprise, but he didn’t expect them to be out.
After waiting a second, Zenkichi grabs his gun before heading inside.
He feels some sort of relief when he realizes the door is still locked and has no sign of being forced open.
Unfortunately, he relaxed too soon.
Because when he enters, he sees his mother’s cold, dead, body at the bottom of the stairs, surrounded by days-old dry blood.
Zenkichi wants to scream, cry, and throw up all at once.
Instead he runs upstairs to check Tsuru’s room.
It’s completely empty, but there are signs of a fight with broken canvases and paint cans that look kicked over. Normally, Tsuru’s window is always locked, but now it’s wide open and there’s the remnants of what looks like a sheet tied to the table.
Other than that, there’s no sign of Tsuru in the house.
Present
There’s a whirr of activity that eventually settles with Zenkichi sitting in the hospital room with Kitagawa.
A doctor comes in. “Hello, you’re his uncle?” she asks. “Have you contacted his parents?”
“No, they passed away,” Zenkichi says. “But I’m responsible for him at the moment.”
“Do you have his medical information?”
“No, but his mother suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.”
“Of course, probably complications from the heat. Make sure he’s rested and hydrated and doesn’t stay outside for too long. You administered CPR?”
“Yes.”
“You did a good job. Cracking the ribs is a normal occurrence so I don’t want you to think—”
“I know, I did it to his mother too,” Zenkichi admits. He’d been absolutely panicked when she collapsed during a school picnic and spent the whole time inconsolable until his father explained he hadn’t made it worse.
“Ah, well I just didn’t want you worrying you did something wrong. You saved his life.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
“Do you know of any medications he’s taking?”
“No, I’m sorry.”
“Well, I’d like to keep him for a bit just to make sure there’s no complications. I’m sure you’ve noticed but he’s severely underweight and suffering from anemia. We might end up keeping him overnight.”
“Alright, thank you.”
The doctor leaves and Zenkichi practically collapses into the nearest chair.
God, he’s more exhausted than he’s been in a long time. They’ll probably end up staying in Sapporo an extra day and—
Oh. Oh no.
Zenkichi pulls out his phone and calls Akane.
“Where are you?” Akane asks as soon as the phone picks up.
Zenkichi sighs. “Look, I’m not going to be home tonight.”
“WHAT?! What are you doing?!”
“I’m sorry! I don’t want to do this, but your cousin had a heart attack.”
“Huh? Grandma and Grandpa didn’t—”
“No, on my side of the family. My sister’s son.”
“Are you serious? You can’t come up with a better lie?! You only mention your sister sometimes and I sure as hell haven’t met her.”
“It’s really, really complicated. I promise I’ll explain tomorrow.”
“Yeah, whatever. See you.” The line clicks, and Zenkichi throws his head back. Why is his life like this?
“Is that your daughter?”
Zenkichi snaps his head up, and Kitagwa’s awake.
“Kitagawa!”
“Lying to the hospital is one thing,” Kitagawa says, “but there’s no need to lie to your daughter for my sake.”
It’s funny that for all Kitagawa inherits from his father, he makes the exact same look as Tsuru did when she caught Zenkichi in a lie.
Daring him to try and dig himself deeper.
“Er, right.” Zenkichi scratches his head. “Look, Kitagawa. I wasn’t… exactly lying.”
“So what you told the doctor was true? You’re my uncle?”
“You’ve been listening in that long, huh?”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
The way Kitagwa’s glaring at him, Zenkichi feels a pang of nostalgia. Honestly, it’s been so long, he even misses Tsuru being mad at him. “I wanted to tell you, I just didn’t know the right time. It’s not like I can just walk up to someone I’m investigating and say ‘hey, I’m your long lost uncle!’”
“Are we still just people you’re investigating at this point?”
“Well…”
Kitagawa’s frown gets deeper. “Fine. Did you know my mother died? Why did you never come to pay your respects?”
“That’s… I didn’t think she’d want me there. Or to have anything to do with you,” Zenkichi says.
“Then tell me why. I think you owe me that, at least.”
Zenkichi takes a deep breath. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Eighteen years ago…
Zenkichi hasn’t slept in weeks. If he’s right, he’s tracked Tsuru to Tokyo of all places. Supposedly someone’s seen her working at this ramen shop, so Zenkichi settles in to a seat by the door, and waits all day.
His tab is pretty expensive by the time Tsuru shows up, slipping in discreetly by the back and relieving a stressed-out high school student. She goes to talk with the owner and locks eyes with Zenkichi.
They stare at each other across the shop for a second, before Tsuru whispers something quickly to the owner, clearly apologizing, then heads over to Zenkichi.
“Let’s go outside,” she says, and Zenkichi lets her lead the way out.
They go around back, and the second they’re out of sight of any cameras, Zenkichi pulls her into a hug.
“Are you ok? You’re not hurt, are you?”
Tsuru blinks at him. “W-wow, I thought you’d open with yelling.”
“Who’s behind this? The owner?”
“W-what? No, behind what?”
“Who kidnapped you?”
Tsuru groans. “Oh, ok is that how Mom’s dealing with it? Of course not, it’s never her fault.”
“Tsuru, Mom’s dead.”
Tsuru’s face goes pale. “W-what? W-what happened?”
“Blunt force trauma to the back of the head, what do you mean ‘that’s how she’s dealing with it?’”
“I wasn’t kidnapped,” Tsuru says. “I ran away.”
Zenkichi feels his eye twitch. “What?”
“I ran away.”
“What do you mean you ran away?”
“I couldn’t stay in that house anymore, so I ran away.”
“On your own?! Tsuru, do you know how worried I’ve been?! Of all the stupid little—”
“Stupid?! Are you kidding me, I tried to tell you so many times, but you never believed me?”
“What about the canvases then?”
“Mom broke them! She’s been breaking them for years when she’s mad at me!” Tsuru snaps. “And I could never bear to throw them out, so I kept them and left them in my room so she’d remember why I left!”
“I thought someone had broken into your room because you felt like being dramatic?”
“Gah! This is why I didn’t talk to you!”
“Tsuru I haven’t slept in weeks trying to investigate your disappearance and mom’s death.” Suddenly Zenkichi stops, and he steps back from her. “...did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Did you kill Mom?”
“What? Have you gone crazy?”
“You had a fight, you pushed her down the stairs, and then you panicked.”
“First of all, that’d have to be a pretty hefty shove, and as you’ll remember I can barely throw a ball 30cm. All my life it’s been ‘oh no Tsurur you’re too small for that, yu’re too weak for that, you can’t do that,’ but now you think I can shove someone with 30 pounds on me hard enough to send them down the stairs?!” Tsuru gasps. “Besides, If it was an accident I would have called you.”.
“You didn’t call me when you decided to run away to Tokyo!”
“Because you’d tell Mom, and it wouldn’t be safe for—” Tsuru clutches her stomach and looks away. “That’s different, ok?”
“Then maybe when you left you left the window open and someone broke in and killed Mom,” Zenkichi says. “Either way you still killed her.”
“That’s— that’s not true.”
“Come on, we’re going to the police station.” Zenkichi says, grabbing for her wrist, but Tsuru snaps it back.
“What? N-no, I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I’m betting you were hired under a fake name,” Zenkichi says. “You may have tampered with a crime scene.”
“I told you I didn’ kill Mom!”
“Well I can’t believe you now, can I?” Zenkichi says. “I thought you’d tell me about something like this, so how can I know you’re being honest with me now.”
“You’re not even working Mom’s case. They wouldn’t let you.”
“Oh so you want to call an officer and wait for a police car?”
“You’re just doing this because you’re mad at me!”
“No, I’m not, I’m acting as an officer of the law, and since you were the last one to see Mom alive, you’re a suspect, and should be interrogated.”
Tsuru looks down on the ground and mutters something.
“What was that?”
“...I hate you,” Tsuru says without raising her voice. “I’ve been so worried I was wrong not to trust you, and here you are proving my right. I hate you! I hate you so much!” Then she walks off.
“Where are you going?”
“To the police station, that’s what you wanted right? Then once they explain you’re ridiculous for thinking I could kill Mom, then I’ll decide if I ever want to talk to you again.”
Present
Yusuke doesn’t know how to feel after Inspector Hasegawa— should he call him Uncle?— finishes. He grasps for the first thought he can force into intelligible words.
“And after that?”
“I got chewed out for accessing information on a case I wasn’t working on to track down your mom, she showed her train ticket to prove she was already gone by mom’s ETD, and then she never spoke to me again,” Inspector Uncle Hasegawa says.
“Were you still angry with her?”
“I held out for a year being stubborn. Then I didn’t know how to talk to her.”
“Did you know about me? Did you know she’d died?”
“Yes. It’s not like I was stalking her or anything, but I… kept tabs on her. When she died, I’d heard you were living with a family friend, so I figured that’d be better for everyone.”
Yusuke would be lying if he said he didn’t see Hasegawa’s side of things. It’s not like he’d know what to say.
But another part of him is stewing in an ice cold rage. Madarame had always said he should be grateful, that Yusuke had no other family who would want to take him in. Was that just another lie or an accidental truth considering his uncle had never even tried to reach out to him after his mother’s death.
His mother’s death stands out as the one sharp point of the haze of his early childhood, and he remembers it being just him, Madarame, and a few other mourners. If Hasegawa had been there, he never spoke to Yusuke.
Though, given the look on Hasegawa’s face, now’s not the time to go into that.
So Yusuke swallows his rage. “Can you send the doctor in? I suppose I need to give her my medical information.”
“Oh, sure, of course. I’ll go tell your friends everything.”
Inspector Uncle Hasegawa gets up, and something in his bearing makes Yusuke feels as though he’s only added to the weight the man has been carrying all these years.
#uncle zenkichi conspiracy board#alto writes#whumptober#day 4#yusuke kitagawa#zenkichi hasegawa#child abuse tw#ask to tag#hospitals#heart attacks#medical stuff i probably got wrong I'm so sorry
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Bex's Book Corner #19 - part 2
And here's part 2 of my June reading roundup - these are all the contemporary books I read last month:
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
Having read and loved this author’s well-known debut, Red, White and Royal Blue, I was looking forward to this. I’m happy to say it lives up to the hype.
Our heroine Chloe Green is a young queer girl at a private religious school. It’s not an easy place for her to be, but it’s the best school in the area. She’s managed to find a niche with her outsider friends. Now high school is almost over and Chloe is this close to being valedictorian.
The only thing that stands in her way is Shara Wheeler: the popular daughter of the school principal. Their relationship is that of academic rivals. Then, out of the blue, Shara kisses Chloe - and then she disappears.
Shara leaves behind a series of clues to the last 3 people she kissed - her boyfriend, the boy next door, and Chloe. They work together to find her… but naturally, they also find FEELINGS along the way!
I like to call this bisexual belligerence - bi-ligerance for short. It’s when a bi girl is overly competitive with another girl, only to realize it’s because she has feelings for her. At first I wasn’t sure about Shara’s motivation, but the more we got to know her in her absence, the more compelling the story became.
Overall this was a very enjoyable read - McQuiston has done it again!
Popsugar Reading Challenge: A sapphic book
Similar Books: Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, You Should See Me In a Crown by Leah Johnson, Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
Content Warnings: religious intolerance and homophobia (challenged)
2. Debating Darcy by Sayantani DasGupta
I’m back at it again with the Austen retellings.
This time around, the story of Pride and Prejudice is reimagined with Lizzy Bennet and Mr. Darcy - called Leela Bose and Firoze Darcy - are competitors on rival speech and debate teams.
Leela’s ragtag public school team is pitted against teams from private schools, which I thought was an excellent way of re-contextualizing the class conflict from the original novel. The Bennet family is reimagined as Leela’s teammates: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are the teachers in charge. Mrs. Bennet still suffers from overactive nerves - another fun aside from the book. The Bennet sisters are now Leela’s teammates, as are the stand-ins for Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas. The Bingley siblings are on the rival team, along with the odious Mr. Wickham. The esteemed Lady Catherine makes an appearance as the elocution coach.
Another thing I loved about this retelling was the diversity: Leela is desi and Darcy is biracial. Wickham - Jishu in this version - is the same ethnicity as Leela. But Jishu is every bit as villainous here as he was in the original. He’s reimagined as a serial sexual harasser, which casts an unflattering spotlight on the problem of sexism and harassment in the real-life speech and debate world.
Overall this was a cute retelling that made excellent usage of the academic rivals to lovers trope.
Popsugar Reading Challenge: off-challenge
Similar Books: Pride by Ibi Zoboi, A Taste for Love by Jennifer Yen, The Code For Love and Heartbreak by Jillian Cantor.
Content Warnings: sexism, sexual harassment.
3. The Guncle by Steven Rowley
This was a very wholesome story about a gay uncle - aka guncle - who gets more than he bargained for when he has to look after his niece and nephew for the summer after their mother dies and their father goes to rehab. Always the fun uncle, Patrick has never had to look after the kids for an extended period of time. He’s a washed up actor who is semi-retired in Palm Springs after his successful show went off the air. He’s been going through the motions of life since his partner died. Gradually Patrick and the kids find their own ways to cope with their grief and figure out how to move forward.
I teared up several times reading this book. It was deeply satisfying and cathartic. You will laugh, you will cry. I know I did!
Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book that fulfills a prompt from a past Popsugar Reading Challenge - in this case, it’s “A book that should be made into a movie”. This would be such a good movie!
Similar Books: Content Warnings: grief, death of a parent, death of a loved one, addiction
That wraps things up for June reads! I'll be back next month to talk about another Austen retelling: The Murder of Mr. Wickham! Am I reading Austen retellings to make up for whatever BS is going on with the new Persuasion movie? Maybe. I'm doing what I need to do to cope.
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Special To Me: Fred Weasley
requested by @fantastic-fans
a/n is it obvious I have a special spot for goblet of fire fred/george aka long hair times, uh yes. would i want it any other way? uh, no. sorry to my cedric stannies out there - but i think the transition from the fourth to fifth movie where their hair had been chopped off hurt more than cedrics death.
Pairing: Fred x fem!reader / Potter!reader
Summary: Reader struggles to feel significant compared to her twin brother (Harry Potter). These feelings make it hard for her to deal with her growing crush on Fred.
Word Count: 14.9K (i said i liked the idea and yes i did)
Warnings: a tad of angst and self deprecating thoughts (if you are struggling feel free to dm me and talk)
“But…” My eyes looked across the Great Hall table at Harry. His eyes were as wide as mine, shock was evident on his features much as my own. Had the situation been less serious we would have been teased about it, but this was anything but a laughable situation.
I felt Hermione’s hand on mine and she squeezed gently. I could see her looking at me through the corner of my eye but my eyes did not leave my twins. Again? He was constantly being pushed around, things being thrown at him but this year but we figured, this year would be ok.
“Blimey Harry, mind telling us how you didn’t grow a beard but put your name in?” George joked. I barely processed it and before I could punch him Dumbledore spoke again.
“Harry Potter, would you please come up here?” Harry looked at me, then to Ron and Hermione.
“I didn’t put my name in.” He rushed out. His voice was shaky and his eyes began to gloss over. “I didn’t. I swear I didn’t.”
I couldn’t respond. I was still just shocked.
“It’s ok Harry, we know. Go up there.” Hermione urged. She squeezed my hand again which grounded me. I hadn’t noticed that she hadn’t let go until she did that. My hand squeezed back. Not faltering but squeezing harder as I watched Harry walk up to Dumbledore, he tripped a few times but caught himself. My gaze didn’t leave him even after he went through the door at the edge of the Great Hall with the other champions. I sat there frozen.
“Love? Did you know he put his name in the cup?” Fred’s voice took me out of my trance. I stopped peering over Hermione’s head and turned to my side. His hand came up and held my shoulder, rubbing gently.
“No, I didn’t,” I spoke. My mind was racing a million minutes a second. I couldn’t stop thinking of our first night back at Hogwarts. Harry and I sat on the floor of the common room, a comfortable silence between us. We had both agreed that this year was going to be good. We both agreed that we were going to have a relaxed year, not push ourselves but enjoy the time at home before we went back to Uncle Vernon. He promised to stop worrying me, of course, I knew that it wasn’t his fault but it still made me feel some sort of peace. “He said he didn’t.”
I could feel my eyes tear up. I’m not sure if it was the anger, the confusion, or the fear that set in that was causing it. “Oh don’t cry…” Fred pleaded. His hand that was rubbing my shoulder moved and he pulled me into his chest. I dropped Hermione’s hand and balled my hands around his sweater. He squeezed me tighter to his chest and rubbed my back as I came undone in his hands. I pulled back so my head was no longer pressed against him.
“Why is it always him?!” I nearly shouted. Friends who weren’t watching me come undone before definitely were now. Ron scoffed at my remark and rolled his eyes.
“My thoughts exactly.” He spoke snarkily before grabbing his things and leaving. My teary eyes watched him walk away. I looked at Hermione hoping maybe she understood but she held the same confusion as me. She sent me a sympathetic look before collecting her own things, squeezing my shoulder, and running after Ron.
“Foul git…” George mumbled. He brought his hand around Fred to give my shoulder a squeeze and send me a sympathetic gaze. I returned it and rested my head back on Fred’s chest. His arms were still holding me and that I was thankful for, he brought me in closer and sighed.
“Do you think they are going to make him play? People die in this competition...” I whispered to him.
He rested his head on top of mine and whispered back. “I’m not sure. It’s always something with you Potters isn’t it.” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing, he was right, sadly it was always us.
I brought my head up to look at him. If he wasn’t holding me I would’ve collapsed, his face was much closer than I thought and our noses almost touched. My face was flushing, I could feel it but I continued.
“Talk a lot yourself, Weasley. I could argue that you have more going on than us.” His smile was intoxicating, I couldn’t refrain from smiling back. Just like that my mood lightened. This was one of the many reasons I loved being around Fred Weasley, he just brings so much happiness into the world. In the worst situations I couldn’t help but find myself smiling because of him.
“Oh, you could? Because...” He leaned in after trailing off, my breath hitched. I was frozen as he leaned in so his lips ghosted over my ear. “You, are all I got going on.” He whispered, my face flushed and I could feel him smirking at me, confident in his ability to make me flush at the smallest things. I pushed my face into his chest again.
“I just want one quiet year,” I spoke into his chest. His arms tightened around me as he began to rub small circles into my back.
“I know. I know.” He spoke into my head. I could feel the vibrations of him talking in his chest. And even though there was hell all around us, I felt safe. I felt safe with him holding me. I tried to push down the bubbling in my stomach. This was our thing, we flirt, we joke but we are friends. He’s comforting a friend, that’s all. I pushed the thoughts aside, getting overwhelmed again wasn’t going to help my already anxious mood.
“We should, erm, go back to the common room.” George’s voice took me out of my trance. Untangling myself from Fred I looked around. Almost everyone had left the Great Hall. A few people stayed finishing up their meals or conversations. Looking around I saw Cedric’s friend group waiting for him.
“Come on, Harry can meet us in the common room,” Fred said standing. He and George outstretched their hands. I rubbed my eyes and rolled them at them before standing and wrapping my arms around theirs. “Attagirl.” Fred said after I linked our arms, earning a laugh from George and jab in the side from me.
Sitting in front of the fire I let my mind wander. Hermione could be heard in the dorms arguing with Ron and I didn’t really want to get in the middle of it. Behind me, Fred and George were talking about a prank they were planning. All around the common room, there was chatter, everyone was doing something, talking to someone, but I couldn’t bring myself to join.
Harry’s name was picked from the cup.
I tried to think back on the day. I was with him practically the whole time, the times I wasn’t Hermione and Ron were. None of us saw him put his name in the cup yet his name got picked. People died in the game.
“This challenge isn’t for the weary of the heart, mind you, be absolutely sure you want this before entering your name. The rules have been altered but in the past champions have died. I do not expect any of us will be saying goodbye to our friends but I would not take this lightly.”
“Too bad they have the age limit, Harry you would win that thing so easily.” Ron piped in between bites.
“I think I have enough things trying to kill me in challenges I didn’t sign up for. Don’t think I would enter even if I could.” Harry shot back. He smiled at me from across the table and I remembered our promise, I smiled back.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Hermione asked softly, sitting down beside me. Her voice brought me back to the present as her knees hit my legs that I was hugging to my chest. I sighed and leaned back onto the couch where Fred and George were sitting, bumping Fred’s legs slightly.
“We agreed to have a quiet year,” I spoke slowly, a stark contrast to the thoughts inside my head that seemed to be swimming at 100 mph. “Quiet and good. And I understand this isn’t his fault. He didn’t put his name in but he is so tired ‘Mione. I don’t know how much of this he can take.” My voice began to break and tears welled up in my eyes for the second time that night. I was so tired of watching him get broken down to nothing and then being expected to piece himself together again. After last year where we met Sirius, we had hoped that we would be able to run off with him, live with him maybe. But the ministry is still doing everything in their power to capture him, so Harry and I had to go back to Uncle Vernon. Sirius sends us letters and communicates when he can but it still hurts not having him around. It especially hurt Harry. He had this whole life in the countryside dreamt up where we lived with Sirius and after Peter got away he was shattered. That summer I made sure to take more blows from Dudley. Usually, I got away with it being a “lady”, Aunt Petunia made sure to teach her son not to hurt girls, Dudley never saw me as a girl though, I don’t think Aunt Petunia did either but I wasn’t going to argue with it.
“Hey, don’t cry. Listen, tiring yourself isn’t going to help him. If you want a quiet year come hell or high water I will do everything in my power to make sure you get that.” She smiled and looked into my eyes, her eyes held a sense of security I longed for.
“Oh ‘Mione,” I wrapped myself around her in a tight embrace. I knew she wasn’t expecting it but she hugged me back slowly. “Thank you.” I whispered. She nodded into my shoulder.
A few hours passed and I calmed my swimming mind with the work I had been putting off over the summer that was going to be due at the end of the week. Small introductory papers going over what we learned last year. Not difficult but time consuming.
“I think I am going to head to bed.” Hermione spoke. I looked up, it was just us two. George was gone and Fred was sprawled out on the couch behind me, snoring slightly. I giggled at the sight of him, his long legs trying to stay on the couch.
“All right ‘Mione. I think I’m gonna stay and finish this. Wait for Harry to get in.” She nodded and rubbed my shoulder as she stood.
“Wake me up if anything happens or you need to talk.” I nodded and she set off up the stairs. I stood too. Stretching after being curled inward onto myself my joints began to hurt. I walked around the common room blowing out stray candles and tidying up slightly. I went back to my position in front of the couch to finish my potions essay on the new ingredients we learned last year highlighting their properties and effects.
“This is rubbish.” I laughed to myself reading the first few paragraphs. I honestly didn��t remember much from last year. I suppose that's what happens when you meet your criminal godfather and your friend's rat turns out to be one of Voldemort's henchmen.
While making notes on the margins of my essay I heard the portrait hole open. I turned to see Harry walk in, Fred turned slightly but didn’t wake. He didn’t register my eyes on him and he walked wearily towards the boys dorm entrance.
“Harry?” I whispered. He turned around, his pained face made a small smile when he recognized me.
“Oh Y/N!” He rushed over to me and collapsed in my arms. His body wrinkled my papers but I didn’t mind. I was just as fast to grab him back and hold him tightly. Soon I felt my neck grow wet as he heaved in my arms. I rubbed circles into his back and held him tighter.
He pulled back. “Erm, sorry.” He sniffled and rubbed at his face.
“You never have to apologize to me.” I sent him a comforting smile. “They’re making you play?” Although it was a question it sounded more like a statement. Deep down I already knew but I didn’t want to admit it.
“Yeah, so much for a quiet year I guess.” He let out a forced laugh, it sent a wave of pain to see him so broken. He stared at his hands in his lap and sniffled a few times. I looked back at the fire.
“I wish we were the chosen one’s.” I said quietly. “Just to take some of the burden off of-”
“Do not ever say that.” He cut me off. I turned to him, his red eyes were wide and his face was full of grief. “Never.”
“But Harry-” I tried but to no avail he cut me off again.
“No. I mean it. Half of the time the one thing that keeps me going is knowing that you are ok. Y/N if you had to fight this battle too I think I would break. I want to keep you safe.” He spoke slowly. His voice was lower and I could tell he genuinely felt this way. He grabbed my hands and I nodded.
“It’s not fair, it's always you.” I countered. I knew he was right but I didn’t want to stand idly by while he risked his life for me. “I understand you want to protect me, so you have to understand that I want to do the same. Harry this isn’t just your fight. We will fight with you, you just got roped in as our leader. I will do everything in my power to take even a miniscule amount of that burden off of you.” He was quiet. I looked into his eyes but his eyes were staring at our hands. His eyes were swirling much like how I imagined his head to be right then.
“When I lost you at the World Cup there was a split second I thought you died.” He hung his head even more if that was possible. “I couldn’t bear it Y/N and I knew if it happened it would've been my fault and-” This time I cut him off. I hugged him again and I felt him shake in my arms. I was mentally cursing the world for putting its weight on his shoulders. It wasn’t fair to him.
I pulled back enough so he could see my face. “Never in a million years blame yourself. It’s not and never will be your fault ok. Besides that only proves my point, this isn’t your fight alone.” I gestured to the sleeping form on the couch behind us.
That night rang through my head as I did so. I had linked arms with Hermione and Harry. The twins and Ginny were behind us. We were all trying desperately to find cover and we got pulled in different directions. Hermione’s arm became unlinked with mine and she trailed off with Ron and I got pushed down with Harry.
Scrambling to get up I looked around and Harry was gone. I began to scream his name but too many people were running and my yells were drowned out in the screams. Immediately I felt my body tense up and shake as panic set in. I figured my best shot was to go in the direction we were headed before I got split up from everyone. Trying to push through the crowd was hard, I was shoved around and soon I was sure my shoulders were bruised from the sheer amount of times I got shoved backwards by someone.
A loud scream echoed in the space. I looked around trying to find its origin when a couple tall men ran right into me. They didn’t even register it as they ran right on top of me. Digging their heels into my skin and kicking me. I tried to move when one of them kicked me directly in the head. I crawled into myself, cradling my head and waiting for the group to pass. The burning sensation in my shoulders now spread to my neck and I could feel the blood on my hands as I held my head.
I stood up shakily, nearly falling again as a wave of dizziness swarmed me. My vision was spinning but I tried my best to trudge forward in the direction I thought was the right way.
“Y/N.” I blinked, I know I just heard my name but I can’t see anyone around. “Y/N!”
My head injury must be getting to me. I looked at my feet which were having a hard time moving forward when I heard it again. I tried to turn around but something caught me.
Right then my feet were hoisted off the ground and my abdomen was squeezed. I yelled out and elbowed towards my back trying to fight off my attacker. I was set down and before I could run away strong hands were spinning me around. Immediately recognizing him I jumped into Fred’s arms and he lifted me up. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist. The pain I was feeling faded to the back of my mind as he held me.
“I thought we lost you.” He whispered in my ear. “Never do that again.”
“I didn’t try to.” I whispered back. He laughed shallowly.
“I know, just, I don’t want to lose you.” He whispered. His grip on me tightened. The familiar feeling of butterflies erupted in my stomach, something I always felt when he was near. Even though he had been running around he still smelled like cinnamon and fireworks.
“You didn’t lose me Freddie. Never have, never will.” I whispered back. My grip equally tightened trying to communicate the feelings I have felt for a while.
He squeezed me again then set me down. I stood on my shaky legs trying to remain balanced. “Let’s go.” he whispered. Keeping up with him on a normal day was hard; this was damn near impossible.
Fred was tugging at my wrist, he had linked our hands together so I wouldn’t get lost again. I followed him, tripping every now and then but he always caught me. After what felt like hours we managed to the woods where we met with Hermione, Ron, Ginny and George. Immediately Hermione hugged me.
“I can’t breath.” I barely muttered to get out between pants.
“I thought that you had been trampled or…” She trailed off and looked behind me. I turned around but only saw the forest. “Where’s Harry?”
“I thought he was with you?” I looked around. Each Weasley held a similar look on their face of confusion as they looked between themselves then back to us.
Ron walked up to us. “I’ll go find him.” He squeezed my shoulder and looked between me and Hermione.
“I’m coming.” Hermione piped up.
“Me too.” I said brushing myself off. They both looked at me like I was insane. “What?!”
“Y/N, you’re bleeding.” Fred said. I had forgotten he was still next to me. He gently grasped at my cheek to turn my head towards him as he inspected the cut on my forehead.
“I bet you all are bleeding. So what? I’m fine, I'm coming.” I pulled out of his gentle touch, immediately feeling cold.
“Your neck is bruised…” Hermione spoke. Again I could feel Fred’s hands on me. He trailed his fingers down the side of my neck, slightly pulling on the collar of my shirt as he inspected my injuries. I could hear him hiss while looking at them but I kept my eyes on Hermione.
“Y/N you could barely keep up with me on our way here. Just stay, please?” Fred’s hand had continued its tour of my body and it brushed my arm as he reached down to grab my hand. I finally peeled my gaze toward his. He was beautiful, his eyes were pleading, his grip tightened slightly so I hung my head in defeat.
“Please be safe.” I looked between Ron and Hermione. He nodded and she smiled before they ran out toward the direction of screams and fire.
I watched them until they disappeared behind some trees.
“Come sit love.” Fred said and he pulled me over to a tree trunk with a base to barely fit the two of us. Once I sat he began inspecting my face again, then my neck and shoulders. Occasionally I would flinch or gasp as he uncovered a new injury or an especially tender bruise, immediately mumbling a ‘sorry’ he would halt his actions before continuing.
He slouched against the tree beside me. I could feel his gaze on me but I kept my eyes trained on the forest where Hermione and Ron had walked out of a few minutes ago.
“You look horrible.” He said. I turned to him with a look of disbelief.
“Gee thanks, only nearly got killed a little while ago.” I shot back. His eyes widened as he realized what he said.
“No! No! Not like that. You’re beautiful I just mean-” I didn’t hear what else he said as I burst out laughing. He looked so panicked it was both heartwarming and hilarious.
“I’m messing Freddie. I know what you mean.” I brought my hand up to ruffle his hair. He huffed and rolled his eyes but he was smiling. I finally looked around us. Across from us a few trees to my right Ginny and George were snoring and leaning on each other. I giggled at the sight and realized how tired I was at that moment.
I yawned and tried to shift around to a comfortable position, something this tree was not allowing me to do. Fred watched me and snickered to himself. I looked up, catching him trying to stifle a laugh as I tried my third position, but gave up and turned so my back was against the tree again.
“Maybe I could get comfortable if your big butt wasn’t in the way.” I shot at him playfully. Looking towards him.
“I’ll have you know I have a tiny butt.” He said leaning down so we were eye level.
“Your butt looks big from where I’m sitting.” I shoot back. He rolls his eyes and smirks at me.
“If my enormous arse is taking up so much of your room why don’t you just sit on me then.” He patted his legs. “According to you I have enough butt to share so I figured I might as well.”
He raised his brows at me and it hit me he wasn’t joking. My face warmed up and I prayed he couldn’t see it under the layer of dirt on my face. “Well?” He asked, smoothing out his trousers.
I mustered up my courage and crawled on top of him. I sat on him sideways and rested my head in the crook of his neck. His arms wrapped around me immediately. I sighed into him. My pain and uncomfort drifted away as my eyes drifted shut.
“Fred?” He moved his face so he could see me. I didn’t move my head, just brought my hand up to rest on his chest, he understood and rested his head back against the tree.. I could feel his heartbeat in his chest and it made me smile. He hummed in response. “Thank you. Not only for getting me tonight but all the times you just…” I trailed off. I didn’t think before I spoke but I knew what I was trying to say so I continued. “You always make me smile. Thank you.”
His arms tightened around me, and he placed a kiss onto the top of my head. I could feel myself blush so I pushed my head farther into his neck.
“Of course Y/N. Anything for you, love.” I smiled at the nickname. I felt safe as I drifted off. Even the distant screams didn’t disturb me, I focused on Fred’s heart beating under my hand and his hands rubbing small circles in my sides.
“Still haven’t properly thanked him for that.” Harry’s voice brought me back to the present and I smiled at him. That night was terrifying yes, but it's also something I think fondly about in retrospect. It showed how we all cared for each other, jumping up to protect one another, a lot of times I don’t feel like I fit in, that I’m the annoying sister who's included because she doesn’t have any friends. But after that night I realized I do have friends and they are all around me.
“You really should. Poor bloke carried me while I slept and took care of my cuts.” I looked over my shoulder and smiled at Fred’s sleeping figure.
Harry laughed and nodded. A comfortable silence fell between us as we stared at the fire.
“It’s gonna be ok Harry.” I spoke, my voice sounded confident, more confident than I felt inside.
“I know, just gotta get through it first I reckon.” He smiled at me. I nodded and smiled back. “I’m gonna head to bed, love you Y/N.”
“Love you too.” As he walked away I gathered my papers and tried to get them to lay flat but to no avail they were crumpled. I groaned and threw them in my bag and began to walk upstairs.
I ran down the stairs remembering Fred. He was still curled up on the couch snoring softly. I laughed to myself and gently woke him up.
“Fred, love, you should go upstairs.” He groaned and turned to face me. His long hair was a mess and his face was peaceful, he looked amazing, even then.
“Did Harry come in?” I nodded and he groaned again this time while standing, when he stretched his shirt rode up ever so slightly exposing his midriff. My cheeks burned as I looked at his toned torso and the small trail of ginger hair that stopped at his trousers. “Are you alright?”
I looked up to him and swallowed. His eyes showed genuine concern and I mentally slapped myself for drooling over him right in front of him. Luckily though, he didn’t notice.
I nodded. “Harry and I talked, we’re gonna push through.”
“With my help of course.” He smiled down at me.
I rolled my eyes but I couldn’t help but smile back. “I figured that was implied.” I said smugly, poking his chest.
“It better be.” He whispered. His voice was deep and drowsy and it sent a wave through me that made me shiver. I swallowed and looked back up to him.
“Goodnight Fred.” I leaned up on my toes to kiss his cheek. He looked at me stunned. I couldn’t tell if he was blushing from shock or embarrassment so I turned around and walked up the girls dormitory stairs. Why did I do that?
Barely audible I heard him yell after me. “G-Goodnight Y/N!” I smiled, falling asleep thinking of Fred. The weight of my conversation with Harry was gone, I felt dizzy like I was floating. All because of a certain redhead downstairs.
-
“Dragons! You have got to be joking.” I yelled.
We were steadily approaching the first task. When Hermione wasn’t studying she was helping Harry and I figure out what the tasks were going to be. Hermione was trying to split her time between us and Ron, I was trying to split my time between them and the twins, to say I felt overwhelmed was an understatement. Classes began to pick up in workload and I could barely imagine the stress that Harry was feeling.
“You could be a howler with a voice like that.” George quipped from his usual spot on the couch. I looked up at him and sent him a glare, he put his hands up defensively. “I’m right, it’s a compliment, look you would be much more effective than those damned things, that scared me!”
I rolled my eyes. “Your poor mum has sent you so many howlers, your saying not once did they scare you?” George shrugged and I looked back to Harry in front of me.
“He’s lying you know.” Fred whispered to me. I was sitting on the floor in between his legs where I usually sat. I turned my head to see him better. He glanced at George before leaning down to me again. “I once saw him cry after we got sent one. He was real torn up about it-”
Suddenly George hopped on Fred. I moved away from the couch partially to get a better view of them fighting and partially to not get hit by the flying limbs.
“Ugh would you two stop it! We have a real issue here!” Hermione stood up and hit them both with the book in her hands. George rubbed the back of his head where she had hit him as he sat back down and Fred hissed as he cradled his leg. They both sat back down, George glaring daggers into Fred, occasionally muttering something about him being a ‘Lying git’.
Hermione sat back down next to Harry.
“Is this what the brown dragon looked like?” She asked, pointing to a picture in the book. Harry examined it for a minute before speaking.
“Sure looks a lot more like it than the other ones.” Scratching the back of his neck he looked at her but she was busy reading about the dragon. They started to argue on if Harry had seen scales or skin and I tuned out, looking back over to the twins.
Fred caught my eye and he motioned for me to come back, sitting in my normal position again I smiled as he began to run his fingers through my hair.
“Does it matter much if its scales or skin? I mean, it's a dragon, they have a list of traits they all share, why don’t we tackle that before anything specific.” I interrupted their argument. They both looked at me. Hermione looked like she had swallowed something sower and I laughed to myself at the expression she had. She was about to speak before Harry intervened.
“Brilliant. What’s a common theme?” Hermione rolled her eyes and shut her book aggressively. She picked up spare parchment and a quill and started making a list.
“Well the fiery breath is something to be concerned about.” Fred said. I nodded along with him.
“And the massive talons that will rip you to shreds.” George added. Hermione glared at him and threw a pillow at him. “I’m not wrong!” He said removing the pillow from his face, everyone except Hermione laughed.
“Distraction and Execution. That’s what you need to plan on. I’ve watched these idiots do the same things over and over again and it’s always worked.” I said lifting a hand to point at Fred and George. “Well mostly worked but that’s not the point.” I laughed, George leaned over and flicked my shoulder and Fred ruffled my hair.
“Just use a strength of yours mate, what are you good at?” Fred asked.
Harry looked down at the ground in front of him, muttering things to himself and moving his hands. “I think I’m a fair flyer.”
My jaw dropped “Fair!?” He looked at me worriedly.
“Harry you’re an amazing flyer. Fair barely sums it up.” Hermione said. He looked at us smiling but then his smile dropped.
“I’m not allowed a broom.” He said running his hands through his long hair. I frowned.
“You’re allowed a wand, use it.” Fred said. His hands now rested on my shoulders as he leaned in to talk to Harry. Not even thinking I brought my hand up to rest on his. I noticed when he squeezed my hand. I looked up and he smiled at me, I smiled back, relaxing my hand as his wrapped around mine.
“Oh and I’m supposed to hop around with my wand between my legs and hope that makes me fly?” He said rather exacerbated. I knew it was getting to him but now I noticed it. The dark circles under his red eyes. His nails were unkempt, he was picking at them because he was stressed.
“No mate, use a summoning spell.” Fred spoke again. He looked at Fred like he was insane.
“There is a spell for that?” I laughed along with the twins, Harry didn’t believe him.
“There is a spell for everything, uh here.” George lifted his wand while talking. “Accio quill.” Just then Hermione’s quill jumped from her hand and into George’s. Harry watched bewildered. “Here you go, sorry about that.” George said bending over to hand Hermione her quill back who was currently glaring at him. I laughed to myself, poor girl needs to loosen up.
“So if I said ‘Accio Firebolt’ my broom would come to me?” Harry asked. George and Fred nodded and I laughed at his excitement.
Our good banter went quiet as the portrait hole opened. We all turned toward the sound seeing Ron walk in. He looked at all of us avoiding Harry, I sent him a small smile and gestured to the empty space next to me. He stopped for a moment, looking torn, then he looked at Harry and scoffed and rushed up to his room.
Harry focused back on the floor suddenly finding it really interesting. It must suck to have to room with someone so mean I thought.
“Don’t worry, he’ll come around.” George spoke obviously trying to diffuse the tension.
“He better!” Hermione nearly yelled. We all looked to see her face turning red. “He’s acting like- like-” She looked around suddenly at a loss for words. “A huge baby!” She finally exclaimed. We all nodded, not trying to further poke the bear.
“I’m going to go talk to him.” She huffed and ran up the dormitory stairs. Harry yelled after her, trying to tell her it wasn’t worth it but I don’t think she listened. Soon enough he had disappeared up the stairs too, leaving me with the twins.
We sat in a comfortable silence for a minute before I felt Fred’s hand slip from mine. I tried to not act disappointed as I let my hand fall back into my lap. Suddenly I felt two hands firmly grasp my waist and I was being hoisted up onto the couch. I squirmed out of Fred’s grasp who was laughing at my red face. George was laughing too but I was focussed on Fred.
“And what was that for?!” I yelled.
“There’s space on the couch, figured you got tired of the floor.” He said in between chuckles.
“Well you could have asked!” I smacked his arm playfully at his antics. I couldn’t even stay mad at him, his smile was too intoxicating.
“Besides we wanted to let you in on-” Fred started.
‘A very special and-” George continued.
“Secret plan.” Fred finished.
I looked between the two. The both held a very serious look on their face which I couldn’t help but giggle at, it was so out of character for them to be serious.
“You two will be the death of me won’t you?” I asked.
“Maybe.” They said in unison which made me laugh harder than before.
-
It was the day of the first task, I was seated in between Fred and Hermione in my usual seat at breakfast shoving food in my mouth as fast as possible.
“Y/N, please slow down, you are starting to look like Ron.” Hermione said, obviously a little disgusted. Ron’s head whipped up from across the table where he was chewing down on his sausage.
“What?!” He asked. Hermione rolled her eyes and I laughed in between bites.
Once I was satisfied I looked at her. “Sorry, I’m trying to get down to the field as fast as possible to see Harry and also help these two.” I pointed behind me. Their very special secret plan was a portable gambling station to bet on the players. I told them that it was kinda messed up they were betting on our friends being put in life threatening situations, something they rolled their eyes at. After a few promises of chocolate frogs and butterbeer for ‘the next month’, I agreed happily.
Hermione looked at the twins with a disapproving look that they didn’t catch. Her seriousness made me laugh. “See you out there?” I asked. She nodded and I stood up wrapping a scarf around my neck and dragging George away from his bacon and out to the field.
I walked around the pitch, directing people to where Fred and George were collecting bets and finally found where the champions were. I poked my head into the tent and tried to find my twin.
“Y/N?!” I heard a whisper. I whipped my head around and Harry was sulking in the corner of the tent. I motioned for him to come over, he glanced at the other champions who were too busy stretching or meditating to notice my presence before he walked over. As soon as he was in reach I engulfed him in a hug causing us both to stumble a bit.
“You ok?” I searched his features while holding him at arm's length. He nodded and swallowed.
“A bit nervous.” He scratched the back of his neck and looked at the floor.
“You got this, out of all the people in this tent you definitely got this.” I whispered. Right then I saw Dumbledore walk in the tent. “I should go.” He nodded and I gave him one more swift hug before running back to the stands to find the twins.
I stayed with them helping them count money and sharing candies I had stuffed in my pocket. More and more people began to fill the stands and I looked around for Hermione or Ron but saw neither. I brushed it off, they would come, they are probably just fighting.
“Hey Y/N! Mind if I sit here?” I looked up to see Neville bundled up tightly. His overgrown hair was swaying slightly against his forehead but was mostly held down with his ear muffs. I smiled and nodded, shifting to make more room on the crowded bench. In doing so I sat flush against Fred with less than an inch of room between me and Neville. We both smiled at each other again before focusing on the arena, waiting for it to start any minute now.
“Hey Neville?” I asked, turning toward him. He looked back at me quickly like I had caught him taking cookies out of the candy jar. “Did you happen to see Hermione on your way down here?” He instantly relaxed, probably thinking I was going to ask him to move. His eyes trailed away from mine as he recounted his steps.
“Yeah I did, she wasn’t walking towards the stands though she was heading toward the field.” I nodded, glad that she was around but slightly upset she didn’t come sit with me like we agreed.
“And Ron?” I asked after a brief moment of silence. His face contorted the same way it had moments earlier as he thought back.
“I saw him standing outside the entrance to the stands, he wasn’t moving though.” I rolled my eyes.
“Thanks Neville.” I smiled again even though anger was burning up inside of me. Ron had continued to play this game long enough, he needed to get over himself and help out his friend. His constant bickering and absence was obviously getting to all of us, especially Harry.
I turned to Fred. “Why does your brother have to be such a git?” I asked. George whipped his head around stunned and Fred laughed.
“I don’t know, I guess I took all the good genes and George got stuck with the bad ones.” He said not even looking up from the tally sheet in his hand.
I took his hat off his head and flicked his forehead. “I meant Ron you daft dingus.” This time he looked at me, more because of my actions instead of my words. From behind him I could see George relax and laugh out of relief. He held his signature smirk as he grabbed his hat from my hands and began straightening it out.
“Don’t know, but I don’t think you should worry about that right now.” He said coolly.
“And what should I be worrying about Freddie?” I shot back. My anger began to reside as we fell back into our natural banter.
“This!” He said while pulling his hat over my head. I tried to fight him off but his grip was much stronger than mine. Finally I dropped my hands and slumped in defeat. I could hear his muffled laughter as he began to pull his hands away. I began to pull the hat off when he stopped me halfway.
“No, it looks better on you.” He held a genuine smile as he fixed the hat and smoothed down my hair. I could feel my cheeks warm up and I smiled back before turning my attention back to the field instead of him. My stomach began to stop doing flips as I looked around. Dumbledore was walking up to his box in the stand with the Minister.
“Must be about to start.” I heard Neville say in my direction. I nodded not even sure if he was looking at me as I stared at the champion tent. Just as Dumbledore began to speak, a very angry Hermione pushed her way into the stands sitting on the seat in front of us.
I maneuvered my way down to the stand below me and grabbed her shoulder. Her face was red and her breathing was rapid, I couldn’t tell if it was from the speed she was walking or whatever just happened. I looked at her silently asking about what happened.
“That wench that works for the daily prophet made an accusation saying I was having a love affair with Harry. She saw us hugging and took a photo. Now it's going to be plastered in a Newspaper for the whole school, much less the wizard parts of London to see.” I sent a frown her way. I knew immediately who she was talking about. Rita Skeeter was one of the Daily Prophets biggest reporters. Upon reading any of her articles it is clear that she doesn’t report she gossips and almost half of the things she publishes aren’t true.
I squeezed her shoulder slightly. “You know the only people who read her column and believe it are old ladies who have nothing better to do.”
Her eyes met mine again and I could see just how upset she really was. “What if Ron reads it, he’s going to think me and Harry have this secret relationship and he’s never going to forgive us.” Her eyes began to well up. I pulled her into a hug and she hugged me back. We both stayed like that until cheering brought our attention back to the field. Cedric had just walked out of the tent, all our heads turned as a giant Green dragon roared opposite him. Hermione grabbed my hand, squeezing it every time there was a loud noise or big gust of fire.
“How is Harry going to do this?” She looked at me after Cedric had jumped down behind a rock, nearly missing the giant fireball the dragon sent his way. I sent her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand.
“He’s got this.” She turned back to the field. “He’s got this.” I repeated it again, and a few more times after that trying to convince myself that he would be ok.
Sure enough he was. We were all in the common room, I was smiling up at Harry who had been hoisted up by Fred and George. They were going off about something but I wasn’t paying attention, too happy seeing Harry happy for the first time in the past month. He was smiling, really smiling.
I didn’t notice the egg being passed around until it was back in Harry’s hands.
“Do you want me to open it?” The common room roared. I myself cheered too, heavily anticipating whatever the next task could be. He twisted the top and a scream louder than the one the whole common room produced was let out. Harry fell off the twins shoulders as they backed up and plugged their ears. Harry scrambled on the floor and quickly shut it. The room filled with gasps of relief as we all unplugged our ears. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Fred. He looked at me worriedly and I just nodded, silently communicating that I’m ok. I mirrored his expression and he nodded too. I looked around and saw George standing on my other side and did the same. He nodded and rubbed at his neck.
The room filled with chatter as everyone gave their guess as to what that noise was. A few votes rang for banshee and someone yelled out the cruciatus curse, the room erupted into argument at that. I stood there silently, slightly amused as Dean and Seamus started arguing. I leaned into Fred’s touch slightly which resulted in him slinging his arm around my shoulder. I smiled and looked up at him. His face was slightly pink, and he looked down at me too and flashed me his famous smile, stomach flipped when I looked at him. My cheeks burned up and I cast my gaze back down to the floor and leaned into him more.
Suddenly the room went quiet. I looked around puzzled, following everyone's eyes I saw what caused the interruption. Ron stood in the doorway, he looked scared, kind of like he was about to puke but I came to know that as his nervous face.
“All of you, uh, go back to your knitting. This is going to be awkward enough without you nosy sods listening in.” Fred shouted above the crowd. The only noise through the common room was footsteps as people began to make their way out. Fred began to walk pulling me with him. I turned my head around and sent Harry a thumbs up before falling back in step with Fred as we went up the steps, George and a few other people were behind us. I didn’t pay attention to our accent to our destination as we walked up the stairs. I tried to strain my ears to hear if the boys downstairs were fighting again or making up.
I finally looked up when I was pushed down. I looked around, I was sitting on Fred’s bed, he was laying on his back next to me, George was shuffling some papers around on his desk and Lee Jordan, who I recognized from the Quidditch games, was sitting on his bed reading a book. The realization hit me and I turned to Fred.
“You brought me to your dorm?” I asked. He lifted his arm from covering his eyes as he looked at me. He propped up on his elbows, smirking.
“Do you not want to be here?” He asked, raising his brows. He cocked his head to the side causing his long hair to shake a little bit. I felt myself blush and get nervous again. I tried to push the feeling away so I could reply.
“N-No I don’t mind.” Mentally cursing myself for stuttering in front of him I decide to try and cover it up. “Just surprised you managed to get me past the charm on the door is all.” He scoffed which caused me to smile smugly. “I’m going to assume a seventh year did that huh?”
He rolled his eyes and smiled at me. I found myself smiling back before I even processed it was happening. “Actually,” He drew out the word as he brought himself into a sitting position. “You can thank Georgie over there for that.” My eyes nearly popped out of my head, as I whipped my face between Fred holding in his laughter and an unbothered unaware George, still moving papers around on his desk.
“George Fabian Weasley!” I nearly shouted. His head snapped around as his wide eyes met my own.
“How do you know my middle name?” He asked, narrowing his eyes.
I ignored him and pressed on. “Who is she?” He looked between me and a snickering Fred, confusedly. “Who did you break the charm on the dorm door for.” I pressed. He rolled his eyes and went back to his papers. I looked at Fred who was laughing even harder now.
“George! Tell me!” I tried with my best authoritative voice but he didn’t budge, he didn’t even show any sign he heard me at all.
I looked at Fred pleadingly but he just continued to laugh.
“‘She’,” Lee spoke, not looking up from his book. “Changes by the week.” My jaw, once again, dropped. Fred was now on the floor having fallen off the bed from laughter. “Hm, actually it changes more by the day.” Lee added. My head whipped around at him. His eyes met mine from over his book, he shrugged and looked back at the pages. My head was spinning.
“My quiet little George…” I started.
“Yeah he’s not very quiet.” Lee spoke again. This revelation earned him a swift kick from George. By now Fred had mostly calmed down, still laughing in between pants and pulling himself back onto the bed next to me.
“You little minx!” I yelled at George. He looked up from his papers and swiveled in his chair so his body was facing me.
“Oh I can assure you darling, I’m not little.” He winked and turned back in his chair. I swear I felt a small part of me die as Lee and Fred erupted into laughter. Fred returned to his position on the floor, laying on his side, howling with laughter as he grasped at his stomach.
-
The next few days passed by and things were going back to normal, mostly that is. I was now more aware of half of the student body ogling George, if that wasn’t revolting enough a few times I had caught him flirting with different girls. I always took him for a soft and caring type, but I could argue he had more confidence and outgoing personality than Fred and that was a tough thing to beat. I guess I never picked up on it due to our different class schedules, only seeing him at lunch and in between periods, but after seeing him in the act a few times it made sense, he was caring and flirty. More so than Fred, but he was good at hiding these interactions, probably an attribute that contributed to half the Gryffindor girls falling for him. The privacy he provided, partially, I assumed, to avoid teasing from us, made girls feel special. I understood, if he wasn’t one of my best friends and I wasn’t falling for his brother I probably would be after him too.
All classes had been postponed today. It was a month until the next challenge so none of us really knew what was going on. I assumed that we were all going to be scolded for something as each house was instructed to meet in their tower at 12 for a ‘Special Presentation’ at breakfast.
Walking up to the specified room in the tower with Hermione I asked her what she thought it was. She shrugged and huffed something about it being ridiculous they cancelled all of our classes. I laughed and shoved her slightly.
“Loosen up woman.” I giggled as she glared at me. Before she could start her rant Ron and Harry walked up to us. Harry walked in step with me and Ron wiggled his way between me and Hermione.
“I don’t know what you and Y/N were talking about but she’s right, you do need to loosen up.” Harry and I laughed immediately knowing what was happening next. Hermione slapped Ron on the shoulder, scolding him and calling him Ronald. “Bloody Hermione, you’re only proving my point.” He said grabbing me and switching our places, I stumbled a bit but fell back in step with them. Hermione huffed and walked ahead of us, Ron followed shouting apologies that only made her walk faster. I laughed again, happy things were all back to normal.
“So?” I turned to Harry. He mirrored my expression happily laughing to himself as he turned to face me. He raised his eyebrows at me, urging me to continue. “When do you think they will finally get together?”
He began to laugh again so I jabbed in the ribs with my elbow. “I’m serious.” I whined.
He stifled his laughter. “So am I, honestly Y/N, Ron is such a ditz he’s not gonna realize he likes her until after we graduate.” I hummed and turned my head so I was facing forward again.
“I have more faith in him than that.” He just laughed at me again. Once we reached the rather large room I noticed McGonigal separating the boys and girls into different sides of the room. I left Harry and sat next to Hermione. Filch was busy trying to set up a record player, the occasional scratch was heard as his shaky hand tried to place the needle just right.
I looked around and saw Fred and George whispering to themselves against a wall. George said something and Fred pushed him away and gave him a weird look. He turned back to face McGonigal when he made eye contact with me. He smiled at me, I sent him a smile back. I mouthed ‘do you know what's going on’ to which he shrugged. He opened his mouth to say something back when George pushed him, George had a look of disbelief on his face and I watched them bicker. It felt like watching a sitcom on mute and I laughed as the both waved their arms around while explaining their points. My attention snapped back to McGonigal as she cleared her throat, her shaky voice filled the expansive room as she explained that Hogwarts would host a ball on Christmas eve.
Hermione looked at me, eyes wide with disbelief and my palms began to sweat. A ball? I had no clue how this was going to play out, or what it even really consisted of. All I knew in that moment was there was only one person I was interested in going with. I looked across the room to him, his brown eyes were already locked on me. My stomach backflipped. He was looking at me? His eyes looked immediately to the floor after catching mine. I could see George snicker from beside Fred but my eyes didn’t avert his. He was probably just scanning the room. My heart sank as I realized. I looked away but not before his head looked up and we caught eyes again. I felt like his eyes held the key to the universe. My face heated up and as my head screamed at me that this couldn’t possibly mean anything I tore my eyes away from him and focused on the speech McGonigal was giving.
I barely heard anything she said, making out ‘well mannered frivolity’ I gave up and gave into my thoughts. Focusing on the words swimming through the sea of my brain instead of the ones coming out of her mouth. I was still staring at the floor when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“You ok Y/N?” Hermione asked. I looked up to see most of the students already gone and the last few shuffling out. I nodded.
“Just thinking about what I could wear.” I lied coolly. She gave me an odd look before pulling me up and locking our arms together. She spoke excitedly about the ball all the way back to the dorm. I nodded and hummed, not registering a word she said.
-
“So…” I looked up to see Fred sit next to me at breakfast. He usually skipped breakfast or showed up at the last minute before class. Hermione and I had agreed to meet at breakfast an hour early and study for our potions exam. There were a few other people from all houses sitting about eating breakfast, the atmosphere was really quiet and calm, or it was until my favorite ginger showed up.
“So?” I asked him, placing my quill down and shutting my book. He put his elbows on the table and rested his face in his hands, smiling. “It’s quite early for you isn’t it.”
He held his lazy smile as he nodded. “I heard you were going to be down here, couldn’t pass up the chance to tease you.” He winked at me. I rolled my eyes at him trying desperately to kill each and every last butterfly flapping their wings in my stomach at that moment.
“Tease me about what exactly?” I asked mirroring his position.
“Who are you taking to the ball?” The question stopped me in my tracks. I froze. The ball was two weeks away and I didn’t have a date, much less a dress. Fred’s ‘teasing’ was scaring me, what were his motives, why was he interested in who I was taking, was he going to ask me? The questions filled my head and I forgot to answer.
“Y/N?” His voice had brought me back to reality. Fred was staring at me with a concerned look.
“At the moment, nobody. Why are you asking?” Fred’s concern dissipated as I answered. He smiled momentarily before shrugging.
“Just wanted to take the piss out of him is all.” He looked away from me at the food and began stacking up his plate.
“Why would you do that?” I asked, sitting a little straighter. He cleared his throat and continued to stack his plate. Without looking at me he spoke.
“You deserve someone special is all, I know the guys in this school and not many of them can be coined special.”
I was taken aback. Where were these words coming from. I couldn’t tell if this had a romantic protectiveness or a platonic one. I pushed farther.
“Who are you taking to the ball?” I asked. This was it, this was the moment I was either going to be ecstatic or heart broken.
He smiled at his plate and looked over to me. “I have someone in mind. Haven’t asked her yet though.” He returned to his food, shoving some toast in his mouth.
“May I ask why?” He stopped chewing for a minute then hastily swallowed.
“I really like her, and well, erm, I don’t want to muck it up.” He didn’t look at me, he was looking at his hands. I was shocked. We trusted each other but it was rare he was truly vulnerable, especially of his own accord. I slipped my hand into his and squeezed slightly. His eyes traveled up to mine.
“I’m sure that whatever way you ask she will love it. You’re a special guy Freddie, you will think of something.” He smiled at me. I hope my hint didn’t fall on deaf ears and he understood what I was trying to communicate. “And a tip, you can never go wrong with a chocolate frog and some flowers.” He laughed and squeezed my hand before letting go.
He ate while I continued to study and it was comfortable. I enjoyed his presence but mentally I was screaming. After the rereading the third paragraph for the fifth time I felt a shift beside me. Fred was standing up and collecting his things. He grabbed his bag and looked at me, I smiled and gave a little wave.
He grabbed my shoulder, leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. Leaning in, he whispered a thank you and took off down the Great Hall. I watched him disappear out the doors, completely stunned. Suddenly I was whipped around and faced with a shocked Hermione.
“You better tell me what that was about.” She said sternly.
As a smile crept onto my face I looked at her and let out an airy laugh. “Honestly ‘Mione, I don’t know.”
That day had passed and some more, it was now the weekend before the ball. I was still dateless but I still held out hope as Fred was as well. Hermione had nagged me all week to tell her what was going on, once I finally confessed she screamed an ‘I knew it’. As much as her teasing got annoying it was quite nice being able to talk to someone about it and share the little moments I had with someone, we often spent our nights trying to decode what Fred had said to me and Ron to her. She told me about Krum and his incessant pestering, he had asked her three times before she said yes, giving up hope that Ron would ask.
I tried to keep her spirits up, Krum was much more of a gentleman and he was kind. It was better than nothing.
“Morning!” Ginny yelled bursting through the room. I shrieked and pulled my pants on faster, trying to cover up. “Sorry!” She yelled and covered her eyes. I laughed as she slowly moved her hand to make sure I was covered before fully looking at me.
“It’s dress day!” She squealed. I smiled back, Ginny was attending the ball with Neville. Hermione and I knew she fancied Harry but just like Ron he never mustered up the courage to ask her so she went with a friend.
Hermione knocked on the door before coming in. I walked over and nudged Ginny. “Did you see that? That’s what normal people do, knock.” She rolled her eyes and nudged me back making me laugh. Ginny was a dear friend of mine, her and I shared a similar sense of humor and she often told me secrets about the twins so I could torture them. She noticed my liking for Fred long before Hermione, Since her first year she’s been teasing me about it. I didn’t mind though, it was nice coming from her. She always ended a brutal joke by calling me her favorite sister.
“Are you two ready? The train is going to leave soon.” Hermione pulled us out of our moment and we nodded, happily skipping down stairs.
“And where are you three lovely ladies headed.” George spoke from behind us at the portrait hole. Fred ran up behind him pulling on his F sweater and trying to fix his hair as fast as possible. He looked up and I waved, he returned my gesture with a smile.
“Probably the same as you.” Ginny said turning back around, she pulled me with her. Her speed and strength nearly made me fall down the stairs.
“Mind if we join you?” I heard Fred ask. Immediately I got excited and nervous at the same time.
I started to say yes when Ginny cut me off.
“To buy dresses?” She snorted. I sent her a glare she didn’t see. Still being pulled down the stairs I couldn’t turn around and non-verbally answer without falling flat on my face.
“Just to Hogsmeade in general.” George replied.
I looked to Ginny pleadingly. We already had a similar conversation with Harry, then Ron, who we both turned down saying it was a ‘girls trip only’. She caught onto my stare and rolled her eyes.
“On the train then you leave us, we won’t have your boyness ruining our girls day.” Finally we reached the bottom of the steps. I turned to see George rolling his eyes and Fred pouting. I managed to shoot them a thumbs up before Ginny grabbed my arm and pulled me forward again.
The train ride was fun. The boys talked about their plan to stalk up on Zonko products and Honeydukes candies. I reminded them of their debt to me to which they reminded me of my ‘girls day’ so we agreed it would be paid on the next trip. Fred was uncharacteristically quiet. He spent most of the ride looking out the window and messing with his hands. I placed my hand on his bouncing knee looking up at him. His head whipped around to face me, eyes wide.
“You alright love?” I asked quietly, in case he wasn’t I wouldn’t be announcing it to the whole compartment. He nodded his face curling up in a sweet smile that my stomach tie itself in knots and my breathing faltered.
“Never better love.” He replied. His hand came and softly wrapped itself around mine. I smiled looking at our intertwined hands. He continued to look out the window for the rest of the ride but he was no longer fidgeting or shaking his leg.
Arriving at Hogsmeade we said our goodbyes and separated. I dramatically reached my arm out for the twins as Ginny and Hermione pulled me towards the dress shop. They laughed at my performance before turning around walking towards the many shops George said they would be visiting. Turning myself around I noticed both Ginny and Hermione staring at me.
“What?!” I shared a glance between the two.
“What were you and Fred whispering about on the train?” Hermione asked.
“We all saw you holding hands by the way.” Ginny pretended to gag after she said this, making me laugh.
I groaned. “Nothing really, he didn’t ask me if that’s what you are wondering.” I threw my face in my hands. Hermione gently peeled my hands away.
“He will, don’t worry.” I tried to smile at her but I could barely muster one up.
Ginny unlinked her arm with mine to open the door to the dress shop. Walking in I saw at least three levels, all lined with beautifully made gowns and skirts. I heard both Ginny and Hermione squeal as they lunged toward some rack up front. I laughed but squealed myself as I looked around. Everything looked so magical, as a witch this shouldn’t surprise me but I had never seen such beautifully made gowns before.
I looked through the racks, not thinking much or really liking anything enough to try it on. Moving up the levels I continued my search until I found it.
There was a mannequin in front of a display, every few seconds she would twirl or strike a pose, displaying her clothes. She was wearing a black corset. It stopped under the collarbone, the sleeves were made of a sheer fabric and had an intricate design sewn in them with lace, they covered the whole shoulder and puffed out a bit. The skirt was white. It had many layers, all the same length but with ribbon sewn across the semi sheer fabric so it looked tiered. I immediately knew this was the dress for me. I quickly scanned the racks trying to find my size in the skirt and corset.
I tried it on and paid as soon as it was off. Hermione caught me coming out of her dressing room. She ran up to me.
“You got yours already?” I nodded and gestured towards the woman who was delicately wrapping it up to place it in a bag. Her eyes widened and fear set into my stomach, what if she hated it.
“Oh Y/N! You are going to look so beautiful!” She wrapped me into a hug that I eagerly returned before slipping off into another isle. I walked back to the cashier and took my bag from her thanking her.
“Would you mind telling those two I went to the Three Broomsticks.” The woman nodded and I smiled at her.
I made my way back to the front of the shop. I was excited about my dress and the dance I had forgotten I didn’t have a date. Lost in thought I bumped into someone while leaving the shop.
“My bad!” I said backing up to let them through. I recognized them as three Hufflepuffs’ a year above me.
“No worries.” One of them said walking past. I let them pass before going back to the door to leave. As I did I caught part of their conversation.
“Did you see Fred ask Angelina out in Honeydukes?! It was the cutest!”
“Oh I know! And how he spelt her name out with jellybeans, it was adorable.”
I froze. My body felt cold and heavy all at the same time. Using the little strength I had left I turned around.
“I’m sorry, did you say Fred? As in Fred Weasley?” The girls whipped around and nodded frantically. One of them went to say something but I cut her off already having heard too much. “Hm, cute.”
The cold air hit my face as I walked away from the shop. It didn’t help the stinging in my eyes or pain in my lungs and I trudged forward. I made it to the Three Broomsticks and tucked myself in a booth in the corner. The room was empty except for a few Ravenclaws reading so I turned back around and stared at the wall as I felt myself push over the brink. Tears streamed down my cheeks with their own ferocity. I shook as silent sobs wracked through my body. I stayed there, crying and heaving for I don’t know how long. Eventually I put my head down as my eyes dried, unable to form any more tears I stared at my shoes.
How could I be so stupid to think that he liked me? My eyes welled up again, something I wasn’t even sure was possible and another sob wracked through my body. This one made noise so I quickly bit my tongue to stop myself for notifying anyone around me. The pain was overwhelming but I didn’t stop until I tasted iron on my tongue and my mouth felt more wet than usual.
I sat there swallowing my blood and trying to breath normally. Eventually I felt a presence. I looked up to see Hermione and Ginny standing over me confused.
“He asked Angelina. He never liked me.”
They both looked at each other and then me. I relayed what happened to them and they comforted me. I sat with my head on Hermione’s shoulder sniffling and kicking my dress under the table.
Not any good now.
We sat there until the next scheduled train time. Only being there for a few hours we were one of the only ones to return that early. I trudged back to the common room where Ron and Harry sat on the couch. They watched us walk in, Harry immediately stood up after seeing me. I tried to walk past him but he caught me in his arms. I didn’t bother to hug him back. I just stood there, feeling uncomfortable and cold. He pulled off of me when he felt me not hug back, still holding onto me he looked between Ginny and Hermione.
“What happened?” I stood there, cringing slightly as they went over what happened. Harry looked back at me and sent me a sympathetic smile.
“Oi, since when did Y/N like Fred?!” Ron asked from the couch. I felt like I could fall over right then. Wanting nothing more than to disappear I moved my head and sent him a glare.
“Are you really that thick Ronald? She’s liked him since they met and your idiotic brother just broke her heart. Honestly if you paid any attention to the people around you instead of the food on your plate you would notice these things. Maybe even notice when someone is interested in you!” Hermione huffed out. She turned red realizing what she had said and looked away from him.
“Who fancies me?” Ron asked sitting up. Hermione huffed again and hugged her bag to her chest storming upstairs.
“I’ll kill him.” Ginny said from behind me.
“Not without me you aren’t.” Harry said. The two smiled at each other.
“I’ll help, he can be bloody awful sometimes, still need to get him back from turning my hair green.” Ron said leaning back.
I looked at him. “No offense Ron but are you completely unaware of anything that just happened or are you choosing to be a git?” His eyes widened and he raised his arms defensively.
“Don’t take your anger out on me! I didn’t break your bloody heart.” As the words left his lips he muttered a small ‘oh’, realizing his actions weren’t helping the situation at all. He jumped off the couch and gave me a small awkward hug before stepping back and patting me on the head. Any other day I would have been amused at his cluelessness but today I didn’t have the strength.
Harry looked at him like he just strangled a puppy. He swiftly smacked him on the head.
“I’m gonna, erm, go now.” I said. I gripped my bag tighter, the dress seemed to gain more weight the more I resented it. I walked over to the stairs when Harry called my name again. Turning around so I could see him he looked at me with the same intensity he did when we talked after his name was chosen.
“I meant what I said. I’ll kill him.” I smiled before muttering a ‘whatever’ and waving them off. Too emotionally drained to say or do anything about his protectiveness. I felt like an idiot, I felt like I had climbed one of the biggest mountains only for it to cave in and swallow me whole and throwing me into the deepest and darkest part of the earth. I was now below ground at this point.
I spent the next few days in my dorm. Hermione would bring me food and ask me to come hang out and enjoy the break but I always waved her off, I either had a book to read or an essay to do. She would give up and walk out of the room eventually. She knew why, I was too afraid of seeing Fred, knowing well Harry, Ron, and Ginny have told him everything by now. I couldn’t take the extra embarrassment, I hadn’t fully recovered from my last blow. The dress had been discarded under my bed. Still in its wrapping and the bag I just threw it out of sight.
Taking a bite out of my toast I flipped through pride and prejudice. I envied Lizzy for having her affections returned. Getting lost in the book was one way I managed to escape. I snuck out late at night, surely when everyone was asleep to go sit in the common room for a change of scenery, a few times I walked up to the astronomy tower and looked at the stars. Besides being deathly cold it was peaceful. Learning from past mistakes I made sure to bring blankets or an extra jacket when I ventured out. I had a few goodies and pillows stuffed in an empty cabinet so I didn’t need to lug all my things out at once. The astronomy tower had become my space. I really enjoyed it there, it was quiet and peaceful and not once was I disturbed, that could have equally been due to the time I would go but no matter to me, it was my space.
A knock at the door pulled me away from the world that had engulfed me in my book. I groaned, signaling to whoever was out there that they could come in. The door didn’t open, they just knocked again. I groaned, louder this time, nothing happened so I threw down my book and toast and walked to the door. I opened it expecting to see Hermione but Harry was there instead.
“Harry?” He didn’t respond, he just engulfed me into a hug. Finally he pulled away and looked at me. I knew he was judging my appearance but I didn’t care much, I wasn’t leaving my room so there was no need to look good or try. I wore old clothes that barely fit, my eyes were red from my lack of sleep and there were definite bags under them. My hair was thrown up into a messy bun, the lack of effort evident as it barely held up.
“Y/N…” He took me in. Not letting him eye me up and down I turned and returned to my scrunched position on my bed and picked up my book. Harry stood in the doorway awkwardly. Any other time I would have laughed at him for his lame social skills but I didn’t have the energy today.
“So, what brings you here?” I asked, not looking up from my book. I wasn’t reading it. I just didn’t want to see the way he looked at me. His eyes were full of pity and I didn’t want that. I just wanted to sulk alone and he was throwing a wrench in my plans.
“I haven’t seen you in days.” I hummed a response and picked up my toast. “Y/N you gotta get out of here.” I put my book down and looked at him.
“Have you gone mad?” I was suddenly angry. How could he tell me to do that. Throw myself back out there and get destroyed again. “I am not leaving this room until classes pick back up.” I huffed. He walked over and sat at the end of the bed.
“You and I are going to hang out with Ron and Hermione today. Ginny agreed to join. We are going to visit Hagrid and walk up to the Shrieking shack, we all miss you. I think Hermione is going mad not having you around and Ginny keeps complaining that her favorite sister is missing.”
I smiled before the pain set back in. She only called me her sister because she knew I liked Fred.
“Harry I’m sorry. I can’t. What if he’s there, I feel like a total idiot and…”
He cut me off. “Y/N, I will drag you out of this bed if you do not get up and come with us. We miss you ok, if anything happens we will be there.” I groaned and threw my head in my hands. I knew this was going to happen. I was going to lose one of my friends because my feelings got in the way. Ginny kept asking me to stay with her at the burrow, I could never agree now. Fred hates me. Tears welled up in my eyes, it was a feeling I was very familiar with lately.
I nodded giving in. I stood up and pushed through some drawers trying to find some appropriate clothes while holding in my tears. Watching me get up he walked toward the door.
“Today will be brilliant, I promise.”
My attempt to dodge the plans didn’t work. After Harry shut the door I showered, got dressed and tried my best to cover up the signs I was crying. I looked tired but if you didn’t look too closely I looked nice. I walked over to the door but ended up standing there. I was afraid to move, afraid to see him, afraid of him seeing me. I didn’t have the courage to ask if Harry spoke with him. He probably did, I didn’t want to hear my second hand rejection. After about ten minutes Harry opened the door. I looked at him furiously shaking my head no.
“I thought this might happen.” Hope swelled up as I thought he would give in and leave me alone. “Ron! I need you!”
“What?!” I yelled. He sent me a sympathetic look before turning back to the door. I looked at the doorway where Ron had just made his way up the steps.
“Nice to see you Y/N.” He greeted as both Harry and him starting walking towards me. Realization struck at what they were planning on doing and I scrambled to get away. Ron and Harry picked up their pace and cornered me. I gave them both a pleading look, silently asking for them to leave me alone. “Sorry.” They both repeated the phrase as they locked their arms under mine and pulled me toward the door. I squirmed a bit and tried to fight but as we passed the door I figured it was no use. They were both much stronger than me.
I made it to the bottom of the steps where Hermione and Ginny were whispering. Ron and Harry let go of me and stood in front of the entrance to the dorms like deranged bouncers.
Hermione looked up and ran towards me, engulfing me in a tight hug. “I miss you.” I nodded and patted her back, just trying to get this day over with.
Meeting with Hagrid was nice, his warm house always felt comforting and I stayed curled up in an armchair with Fang the majority of the time. I didn’t talk much unless someone had talked to me. When we left Hagrid patted my back gently and gave me a small smile. “I hope yer feel better Potter.” I smiled back and nodded. His gruff voice gave a hum and I jogged up to the group who were a little ways ahead of me.
The way to the Shrieking Shack was filled with talk over the next task. Hermione and Harry talked about the egg. Ginny hung onto my arm as we navigated across the uneven ground stabling each other. Eventually after watching Ron fall for the third time I grabbed him and locked our arms. He smiled at me and I smiled back. It didn’t feel as forced this time. The heavy feeling on my shoulders lifted as we walked. Their company mending small parts of my soul in a comfortable silence.
Standing outside the fence of the Shrieking Shack we all hesitated before we continued. We knew what it looked like but it was still slightly creepy. Hermione brought up a few times how it would be cool to explore the house. Ron disagreed immediately, Harry was indifferent but I was, or used to be, bloody excited. The closer we got the harder Ron’s grip became on my arm and the slower his movement became.
“Merlin Ron, speed it up would you?” He looked at me swallowing, nodding he did as I asked. Looking forward Harry and Hermione had turned and were staring at me, I realized I hadn’t spoken since we were at Hagrid's. I just shrugged and urged them forward.
“So, who is going in first.” Ginny asked as we all stopped outside the front door.
“I’m bloody not.” Ron replied grumpily. We all shared a laugh at him and got quiet again. I felt like everyone was staring at me so I shrugged.
“Move aside then.” Harry smiled as I pushed the door open. The house grumbled as I walked in. The familiar moving feeling set in as I took a few steps forward. Looking around I saw soft light filtering in through one of the rooms, I walked toward it. I walked into the living room, it was the only room that looked nice. The rest of the house was destroyed but this one had been fixed up. Small candles were floating in the air and the fireplace was roaring. The couch was stocked with a ton of blankets, the table in front of it had a shelf filled with a few books, games and a basket. On the top of the table were chocolate frogs and green daisies. I felt out of place.
“I think we are interrupting someone’s date.” I called back, still admiring the room. When I turned around no one was there.
“Y/N.” Turning back around I saw Fred walking towards me. I felt my breathing halt and my eyes tear up. I looked around the room, anywhere but him, expecting to see Angelina pop out of wherever he was.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to disrupt your d-date. I will be going now.” I turned around and tried to run to the door. Before I could even step away he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to him. The sudden action caused me to become flush against him. He wrapped his arms around me like I was going to break, holding me gently but tightly against his chest. I was frozen in place, I didn’t breathe, I just waited for him to speak.
“Y/N, I didn’t ask Angelina, George did.” The breath I was holding in suddenly released. I felt relief wash over me, then like a thousand bricks, guilt hit me. I pulled my head away to look at him and pulled my hands up to rest on his chest.
“You didn’t?” My eyes were still teary and he was slightly blurry. One of his hands came up and cupped my cheek, his thumb brushed away a stray tear.
“No, I-I wanted to ask you. Then you left and I thought you found out about it and left to avoid me, that was, until I got back and got tackled by Ginny and Harry.” I laughed at the thought of them tackling him.
“You want to go with me?” I blurted out, realizing what he said. He smiled at me, the arm around my waist tightened.
“If you will have me, yes. I understand if you don’t want to, after I made you cry.” He looked sadly at the floor, his smile gone. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down into a tight hug. He reacted immediately, wrapping his arms around me tightly.
“Of course I want to go with you Freddie.” I spoke into his neck. He squeezed me and lifted me up spinning. I squealed and held onto him tighter instinctively wrapping my legs around his waist. One of his hands trailed down under my thigh to help support me in the new position. He stopped spinning and I pulled away to see him.
Some of his long hair had fallen into his face. I lifted a hand and brushed it away and tucked some behind his ear. His smile grew brighter and his face got a little warmer. I let my hand fall slightly, cradling his jaw. His eyes looked into mine and in that moment I felt complete. As we stared at each other I watched as his eyes would dart from my eyes to my lips.
“May I?” He asked and leaned his head closer to mine. I didn’t answer verbally, I just closed the gap between us. Our lips moved against each other trying to find a rhythm and balance. Once we did it was perfect, our lips moved against each other in sync. He squeezed my thigh causing me to gasp, he used that to his advantage as he slid his tongue into my mouth and I let him, grabbing tighter onto his neck. I ran my fingers through his hair and tugged slightly at the hair at the bottom of his neck. The moment was perfect.
For two seconds.
Immediately we heard whooping and cheering along with a loud banging noise. Fred tightened his grip on me as we looked around. Turning we saw Ginny, Ron, and Hermione cheering. Harry was there banging on the window. Fred put me down and I laughed at them. Fred ushered them off which they did. Harry didn’t leave before glaring at Fred and mouthing a threatening ‘I’m watching you’.
He turned back to me. “Should I be worried?” He asked.
I shrugged. “No, I don’t think so, unless you break my heart.”
“Good thing I wasn’t planning on it.” I smiled up to him. Standing on my toes I pecked his cheek before pulling him to the couch. Fred had prepared a small station with books and games for us to pass the time as well as a whole meal tucked away in the basket.
“This is beyond perfect Freddie, I don’t know how to thank you.” I said looking around. It was all just so amazing I was afraid I was dreaming. I looked back to the boy in front of me. He was looking at me, smiling.
“You can... thank me by agreeing to my girlfriend.” He said scooting closer to me on the couch. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I brought my hand up to his chest.
“Did I not already?” I asked. He laughed but looked back at me expectantly. He wanted a real answer. “Yes!” I rolled my eyes at him but didn’t stop the smile spreading to my face. He smiled back and we kissed. This one lasted much longer not being interrupted and already having a rhythm down. When we pulled apart for air we were both panting slightly.
“I wouldn’t mind doing that more often.” He said, smirking. I smacked him playfully and reached over to grab a chocolate frog. The rest of the day was spent eating and talking and enjoying each other's company. We didn’t pick up a book or game Fred had prepared, too infatuated with each other.
#fred weasley#fred and george#fred weasley x reader#fred weasley fanfiction#fred weasley fluff#fred weasley fic#fred weasley imagine#george weasley#weasleys wizard wheezes#weasley twins
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the JGY amnesia Fic
[AN: Someday I will come up with decent titles for my fics... but not now XD I hope you like this fic, the premise is that the issue with XY and NMJ happens before JZX’s death, and so the argument and the stairs moves up in the timeline! And JGY hits his head and gets TV-show amnesia, and remembers no one, not even himself, but is otherwise his sharp, suspicious self...]
He wakes up sure that he is dying, nothing else could hurt so sharp, agonizing pain radiating out from the back of his head, stabbing sharply every time he is swung, and he forces his eyes open. The light burns, but he can make out an earth green and brown collar, and a strong jawline. He is being carried by this man.
He doesn’t know who this is, but he feels… safe. Even though every step this man takes makes his eyes water.
He blacks out.
*
His name is Jin Guangyao. It rolls smoothly off his tongue, but sits wrongly in his mind. “Temporary amnesia,” the doctor had informed him, when Jin Guangyao could not tell him the answers to any pf his questions; not his name, or the date, or where they were.
A fancy young master in white-and-gold robes, who introduces himself as Jin Zixuan, is the one who sits by his side and tells Jin Guangyao the basics of his life. There is such an obvious lack of detail that it leaves him intrigued. And Jin Zixuan looks ashamed when Jin Guangyao asked if he was Jin Zixuan’s uncle. “No, I’m your older brother,” he says. “We… we share a birthday, but you’re a day younger.”
Jin Guangyao watches him for a moment, and wonders at the source of his brother’s shame. “I’m a bastard, aren’t I?” he asks.
“My father legitimized you!” Jin Zixuan protests. “You’re my brother.”
Jin Guangyao smiles at him. This man is clearly naïve, but has no ill-intent. The man who had named Jin Guangyao Jin Guangyao, however? He is yet to ascertain that.
*
Jin Guangyao’s memory doesn’t return within the first week. With his head injury healed, though, he’s allowed to leave the infirmary which allows him to collect a lot more useful data.
There is a lot of work piled up in his room. Disorganized, as if someone had gone through it to take the important paperwork to work on while he is <infirm>. That he was assigned so much work that was non-essential makes him wonder if he was actually pretty low on the social ladder, here. He goes through all of them anyway, most of it is useful information, painting a picture of Jin sect’s activities, and the sorts of projects that they allow to drag on for weeks. Jin Guangyao has left meticulous notes in a separate notebook about how to put everything into a more sensible order. That such reworking was required
His accessories, or lack-there-of, are even more enlightening. There’s also a scholarly-sort of hat, and only a few cheap hair ribbons. Nothing at all like the intricate jade hairpins or crowns with intricate metalwork and precious stones that Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun wore daily.
Jin Guangyao’s place here is… obvious.
He wonders who the man who had picked him up after his injury, was. No one tells him, not even Jin Zixuan, he just pats Jin Guangyao’s hand and says, “Don’t worry, you’re safe now.” The implications of that are obvious, of course, that the stranger was the one who had hurt him. And yet it’s a subject no one speaks of, of how Jin Guangyao had fallen down the thousand steps of Koi Tower, and he hadn’t asked after the first two times. He stays wary, watching everyone. Someone had tried to kill him, and he doesn’t even remember which of his acquaintances might want him dead.
*
Lan Xichen arrives two days after his release from the infirmary, Lan-Zongzhu, according to everyone else. He’s beautiful, the most beautiful person that Jin Guangyao has ever seen. Since he remembers all of a week, this doesn’t sound like a compliment, but Jin Guangyao could probably search for decades and not find anyone more beautiful. It would not be fair.
They have tea together, after Lan Xichen – “Call me er-ge, you are my sworn brother, A-Yao,” – has checked him over worriedly, and checked his meridians, and pressed his fingertips gently to the back of Jin Guangyao’s head, to where his head injury had been, and ascertained that he truly is well.
“They did not tell me you were injured,” he says. “Da-ge had to, and this is the week of new students for the summer lectures, I could not leave. Jin Zixuan promised me you were well, though,” he says. Sincerity shines through him, and Jin Guangyao wonders what on earth he, an unwelcome child in his own family, could have done to make this man care for him.
So he asks.
Lan Xichen describes a heroic young man, who gave him shelter when he needed it most, who had smiled and laughed at him, and helped him with chores he could not do, and gave him the strength to fight a war. Lan Xichen tells him that this kind young man had gone into a war that did not affect him, only to help, that he had turned spy against a raging mad man, and finally taken off his head.
“So that is why my father took me in,” says Jin Guangyao. There’s a flicker of pain on Lan Xichen’s face as Jin Guangyao tells him what he’s surmised about how he’s treated here. “Did you know?” asks Jin Guangyao.
“I suspected,” Lan Xichen says softly. “But you were too proud to tell me. You insisted you were happy here. I visited when I could, but I never… I’m so sorry.”
Jin Guangyao reaches out to pat Lan Xichen’s hand, it feels so familiar, even if Jin Guangyao can’t remember doing it before. He must have, Lan Xichen’s sad face cannot be borne. “I’m sure I didn’t want to bother you, er-ge. You’re overworking yourself even now.” The signs are there, even behind his flawless composure. “You look so tired.”
“I had to come,” says Lan Xichen. “I was so scared that you…” He trails off, then turns his hand, holding onto him tightly. “If you don’t remember your place at Koi tower, do you want to return with me until your memory recovers? We’re still reconstructing, but Cloud Rececsses is still an excellent place to ”
“This Jin Guangyao is honoured, but what if it doesn’t?” asks Jin Guangyao practically. “I can’t just leave my home like that.” More quietly, he adds, “There must have been some reason I didn’t leave before.”
“You never said, exactly, but I believe it was because of your mother,” says Lan Xichen. “She wished that you would gain your father’s recognition, and a place at Koi Tower.”
“Do you know anything about her?” Jin Guangyao is not an idiot, he knows from the snide remarks, the way that people try not to touch him that he is of low birth, that his mother’s occupation was. That. He wonders if Lan Xichen will lie to him.
“She was an educated woman,” he says. “A renowned beauty. You’ve told me that you take after her, in many ways. She was skilled in the arts. She never taught you art but she was your master in calligraphy and music. She loved you very much and wanted you to have a good education because she knew… she knew that A-Yao is so incredibly smart and destined for greater things.” He squeezes Jin Guangyao’s hand. “Her life was not easy. She suffered, but she loved you. She would be proud of you, to know how much you achieved.”
It should matter, it does matter, Jin Guangyao’s heart squeezes, but it is from sympathy for what Lan Xichen is feeling. The dark honey-gold eyes are bright with tears. Clearly Jin Guangyao had loved her very much, before. But Jin Guangyao cannot find in him any love for a woman that Jin Guangyao cannot imagine. A woman with his face, a prostitute, but educated, talented. And ambitious to have Jin Guangshan’s son.
“My father did not take her in, I gather?”
“He did not. She died of illness shortly before I met you.”
“Thank you for telling me,” says Jin Guangyao.
*
Lan Xichen stays an entire afternoon, and readies himself to leave at dusk. Jin Guangyao accompanies him to the sky-pavilion on Koi Tower that the Jin disciples use to take off from.
There’s a last nagging question that Jin Guangyao hadn’t managed to slide into the conversation, as it meandered into cultivation theory and Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen had tried to piece out some kind of pattern in what kinds of cultivation knowledge he had retained, and what he had forgotten. It had been an interesting exercise.
“Er-ge, before you go,” says Jin Guangyao. He looks around cautiously, but no one is near enough to overhear. “You’re older than Jin Zixuan, aren’t you?” he asks, and Lan Xichen nods. “So our da-ge… you never said. Is he… did he die during the war?”
“No!” cries Lan Xichen. “A-Yao no, he’s not. He’s fine, he just could not find time to visit.”
Lie.
It’s the first time Lan Xichen has lied to him today, but Jin Guangyao is certain of it.
“No one talks about him, and I couldn’t find any letters from him. I did find a few of yours. No one even says his name. Who is he?”
“Nie Mingjue,” says Lan Xichen, sounding defeated. “Of course you would think to ask, but his name is Nie Mingjue.”
Everything falls into place. Jin Guangyao has seen some Nie disciple couriers on their way to private meetings with his father and the Jin council of elders. Hard faced and angry looking, they kept to themselves and departed the moment they could, without staying for a meal or entertainment.
“You think he pushed me down the stairs,” says Jin Guangyao.
“No,” says Lan Xichen. “We know he did. He kicked you down the stairs. He–”
“And you believe that?” asks Jin Guangyao.
“Of course I do,” says Lan Xichen. “Da-ge was the one who told me. I knew that things were difficult between the two of you, recently, but I had not imagined… It does not matter, we are looking through the records now, so that you can be free of your vows to him, and even if we can’t find something, he won’t visit Koi Tower again, Jin-zongzhu has forbidden it.”
“Oh,” says Jin Guangyao, mind whirring. “Okay then.”
“Is A-Yao afraid we’re covering something up?” asks Lan Xichen. Jin Guangyao is not sure what gave it away, he thought he’d kept his face smooth.
“Naturally I trust er-ge,” he says, smiling up at him. “I just remember him, vaguely. He picked me up. He saved me.”
It’s Jin Guangyao’s first memory, pained and fragmented though it is.
“He did take you up to the infirmary right after,” Lan Xichen agrees. He looks faintly puzzled, like he’s not sure why that matters to Jin Guangyao.
“I understand,” says Jin Guangyao. “Nie-zongzhu would of course regret his action after his moment of anger.”
“He does,” Lan Xichen assures him. “You should write to him, if you are willing to accept his apologies, but Da-ge is terribly sorry.”
“Thank you er-ge, I will,” Jin Guangyao promises. The relief on Lan Xichen’s face is too pure for this world.
He waves goodbye after Lan Xichen takes off, and steps back into the maze of Koi Tower, mulling over all the new knowledge that Lan Xichen had brought with him. He was right, he should write to Nie Mingjue.
But after some more research.
What could they have possibly quarrelled about so badly?
Jin Guangyao makes his way back to his rooms, keeping his face expressionless at the gilded opulence and overt unfriendliness of his home. He doesn’t understand his past self at all.
Why does he still live here, where he’s so clearly unwanted?
Why did he even care for the acknowledgement of Jin Guangshan, who from even just Jin Guangyao’s few interactions this week and the gossip he’s picked up, is a selfish, disgusting pervert who wouldn’t spit on Jin Guangyao if he was on fire.
Just because his mother wanted him to?
She was a good woman, he hears again, in Lan Xichen’s sincere voice. But Jin Guangyao doesn’t get it. She had to have been a fool, to believe in Jin Guangshan, or terribly cold and cruel to send him to Jin Guangshan knowing exactly what kind of derision would await him here. He is a war hero, and yet he’s treated like a servant.
Jin Guangyao is in the mood to be charitable, so he picks the former.
He still doesn’t know why he stayed.
[You can now read part 2 here!]
#meng yao#jin guangyao#nie mingjue#lan xichen#3zun#fix-it#JGY revaluating his own life objectively#amnesia#the fictional kind
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Can I request Vergil chaperoning his daughter at her prom dance? Thank you! 🙏🏼
So, remember what I said about writing a semi-soft Dadgil? I got really excited to write Dadgil (that isn't the fucking dadV sequel) and this concept is so funny to me but,,,,,, this was a little difficult. I don't actually know anything about dads, or prom.
But!!!!! Thanks for the request!
Dad!Vergil × Daughter! Reader (chaperoneing her junior/senior prom)
Last Dance of the Night
“Are you sure you can’t do it?”
You whisper into the mouthpiece of the phone, shooting glances up the stairs, being able to catch a glimpse of your father straightening himself up in the hallway mirror. “No can do, I know it’s really important, and I'd love to be there but- Hey!”
You jolt back at the sound of your brother's voice through the phone, once again looking up the stairs to check if he heard the loud squabbling coming through the phone. He’s frozen in place, trying to assess something. Before pushing back his hair.
“Anyway, look Bug, I can't. I'm busy.” A sigh leaves your lips as your shoulders slump. “You’re useless.” “HEY-”
You hang up, quickly dialing another number on the rotary. You listen to it dial, half expecting him not to pick up, but it clicks and there's a hefty sigh from the other end. “Devil May Cry.” “Hey, Uncle Dante. I, uh, need your help.” “What happened?”
You tap your foot on the carpet. “Sooooo, prom being tonight, I checked the list of parent chaperones who signed up. And…. Dad's name was there.” There’s silence on the other end for a good minute before a roar of laughter. “Please, you could show up for him, and don’t even have to stay. Sign in, then sneak out the back door. They’ll see that you’ve already signed in and won’t let him in.”
As the laughter continues on and your hope dies, why did you ever think you could rely on your family? The hair on the back of your neck shoots straight up. Oh no. You slam the phone down and turn on your heel. Trying your best to pull a smile that didn’t show how scared you are.
“Hey dad.” His face is blank, there’s no sign of anger. “It’s getting late, shouldn’t you be on your way already?” You nod, swallowing hard and trying to find an excuse.
“Just made a quick call to Nero. Big day, he’s really excited for me. I really should get going though…” He just nods, wrapping a lace shawl around your shoulders. You drop the nervous smile and a real one forms, his thumb rubbing the fabric gently. “You look lovely.”
“Thanks Daddy.” You hop onto your tiptoes, and he leans down just slightly. You press a kiss to his cheek.
You slip out the front door waving a goodbye, knowing full well he was watching you from the window. It didn’t take much power walking to escape his view before ducking into your date's porch. Quickly checking to see if you were followed before you decided to knock.
Their mom opens the door, a delighted smile splits her face. “Oh my gosh Honey! You look so pretty!” She welcomes you in, taking you to their living room. Quickly hurring off to get her child. Looking over their happy family photos you smile melancholy.
There are loud footsteps, and your date stops abruptly, jaws going slack. “Wow…”
-
You both wave goodbye to their mom as you walk to the overcrowded gym. The staff stand in a row on each side of the door, screaming and cheering as all of the students make their ways inside.
You cringe as teachers in their 40’s fake enthusiasm, their only real joy being that most of you will soon either be gone for the summer and the others leaving at the end of the year and be some college professor's problem. Your eyes scan the room before ducking behind a wave of people. “*Babe, what the hell?” “My dad.”
Their eyes widen as they look through the crowd, finding him quickly before returning their gaze to you. “Why didn’t you tell me before?” your face warms. “I was caught up in the moment!” You two try to walk casually to a table and sit down.
God the decor was bad.
If you’ve ever seen the 70’s version of Carrie, where the prom decor was aggressively cheap and 70’s… That, but worse. The gym still smells like last week's basketball game, and no plug in air freshener is going to erase that.
Kinda smells like your uncle's shop.
You both keep your heads down. “What did you tell him?” “Last week I told him that I didn’t have a date, and that I was going with a group of friends because we all couldn’t get dates.” They narrow their eyes. “Babe, why?”
“He pretends he doesn’t but… he worries a whole lot about me. I knew he’d stalk you if I told him the truth. But hey, you aren't a boy, so maybe he won’t react badly.” Their eyes widen and you shiver, it’s that icy stare you know all too well. They swallow, before straightening their collar. “What about our plan to sneak out?”
You look around at the four different doors. “We’ll find a way, give it an hour.”
“I figured out a way to get out, but I do want to dance with you first. I just need to use the bathroom first, wait for me, okay?” you nod and watch as they walk past a crowd of people and seemingly disappear.
The lights dim and time passes, things eventually become more lax. You wanted to move around to try and get a escape path (and to experience what you can of prom), but your date refuses to get up at all, especially to dance and make something of the time you have.
They clear their throat and start to get up, leaning down and whispering.
And you wait.
And wait, and wait. Maybe, maybe they did disappear. Looking over the groups and couples dancing, and those who were still sitting like you, they were nowhere. Not in here at least. You sigh, sinking down in the uncomfortable metal chair.
More time passes, and nothing. You start to wish you’d just gone with some friends, maybe then you wouldn’t have gotten ditched and actually had a good time.
The clock ticks on, and it's becoming more obvious that the staff are getting ready to kick everyone out. The D.J. has been playing straight slow songs for the past 20 minutes, and you’ve had to watch couples and friends slow dance together and two people get crowned king and queen.
You tried your best to seem happy, like you were enjoying yourself.
Pulling out your phone you see a notification from your dates account. They posted 7 minutes ago. It’s a video of them and their friends fucking around outside of a conveniance store in prom suits and dresses. You feel yourself tear up, slouching lower in the chair. The lights and people become blurry, c’mon, you don’t want to cry.
A hand comes to rest on your shoulder, you look over your shoulder to see your father looking down at you. “Y/n.” “Hey Dad.” You say, no longer having anything to hide. Not that you can hide anything from him for long.
He takes the seat your date had, lips pressed shut in a permanent scowl, just like normal. It didn’t scare you, that's just him. “It seems your companion abandoned you.” You scoff, pulling up your shawl. “Yeah…” “You’re upset.” “That obvious?”
You laugh at your own joke. If he’d been your brother, he would’ve laughed too. But he sits there awkwardly, not knowing how to comfort you in this situation. “They couldn’t even give me one dance before they left me either.”
The current song playing stops and you can hear a few people whine at the idea that the next would be the last of the night.
A hand is extended to you, your fathers, he stands waiting. It's not an option, it's a demand. You take it, getting up and following him.
The song starts and he starts to dance, but you trip over yourself. Stepping on his feet several times.
“Sorry… I forgot how to dance.”
Both remembering too-small tiaras being shoved in his hair, little feet with sparkly plastic princess slippers on his, and a random song playing in the background. Trying desperately to teach you how to dance after you’d begged him to.
Forgot.
You watch him smile, just slightly. The darkness giving him the anonymity to do so.
He never did, but you had so much fun.
“That's fine, just do what you used to.”
You step onto his feet, making you move the same as him. A question burns under your skin before you chew your lip. “You’re not mad at me?” “For?” “Lying about who I went with.” There’s a low growl like sigh. “We will deal with that later.”
You nod, not worrying about it now. Resting your head on his chest, closing your eyes, tears streaming down your face now... All of what happened melts away, the safety of your father makes it go away. He always does.
#devil may cry#devil my cry x reader#vergil sparda x reader#vergil x reader#dadgil#daughter reader#Vergil x daughter reader#prom#vergil sparda#Big brother Nero#Nero is present for like a second#same with dante#requests
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I was rereading the iconic reunion at baltimore and this came to me and I can't not write it (even though I have a half finished chapter waiting to be written for a fic for a whole different fandom but who cares right)
in which neil regrets realizes that the feds were on to something when they talked about witness protection program. brace yourselves, it's angst time bby. please bear with me, I don't write stuff like this, content and format wise.
so everyone knows what goes down in baltimore. everyone knows that famous college exy striker for the foxes neil josten has been the son of the butcher of baltimore all along, and that smth happened after he was kidnapped and tortured that resulted in the butcher and some associates to be killed. everyone knows that neil walked out alive, injured but alive. so when a few weeks, months later, associates of the butcher start getting raided and taken in custody, everyone knows exactly who opened his little mouth and revealed everything he knows (bc there's literally no one else who could know this stuff and would be willing to share with the fucking feds, no one has a death wish)
It's a slow process. It starts with the feeling of not being safe, which is ridiculous, because he hasn't been quite as safe as he is right now, with the foxes, his family, and most importantly with Andrew. They're on summer break, technically speaking, even if they're at campus for practice because they gotta train the new foxes. They're barely doing anything than hanging out together and training, but still Neil can't shake the feeling that something is wrong, that someone is watching him, but he doesn't say anything, because it doesn't make sense, he's just being paranoid, there's no need to panic.
Neil can swear he's being watched. He feels the dread whenever he's out of the dorm, when he's out running, when they go out to eat something, when they go to the mall, on their way to practice, at Eden's. But when he looks around there's no one looking, it's been weeks and nothing has happened, he hasn't seen anyone.
Neil can tell Andrew is growing suspicious of the way he checks out a place, the way his eyes trace every corner, every exit, because he's starting to fall back in old habits, and he knows Andrew hates it. But Andrew doesn't ask, he knows that Neil will speak when he feels ready, so he lets it go, even if he can't quite let got of the worry clawing at his heart.
But everything keeps going normally, things are fine, everything is fine fine fine. Neil doesn't talk about it, but it's fine really. Until it's not fine at all, but it's also too late to talk now because his head is fuzzy and throbbing, and he feels like he might throw up and he feels pain even if he's not sure where the pain is coming from. But he can't do anything now, he can't tell Andrew how he's been feeling dread for weeks, because a man whose name he doesn't even know but whose face is awfully familiar is standing right in front of him where he lies on the floor, and the situation is also awfully familiar.
Stop being a martyr. Oh Andrew would kill him. If Neil gets out of this alive, Andrew will kill him, because he left again. He didn't want to, he really didn't. He was out on a run while Andrew was in therapy with Bee and Aaron, a couple miles away from fox tower, when a car pulled up right in front of him, two men wearing hoods and sunglasses stepping out and standing in front of him. He came to a halt, trying his best to keep calm because who the hell were these men and what did they want and for fucks sake can this just stop? It would have been smart to turn around and try to get back to the tower but he can't ever keep his mouth shut can he?
"Look I don't know who you are, I don't care what you want, but you're in my way, so move away if you know what's best." He intended to go for more sarcastic, but he was doing his best not to panic, so that had to do.
"You're coming with us, get in the car, or we'll do this the hard way." Their voices said they wouldn't hesitate, but Neil laughed anyway, that smile he knew was the Butcher's resting on his lips. Anything to make the men leave. He opened his mouth and then- "The Minyard twins are at Dr. Dobson's office. Reynolds, Walker, and Wilds are at the mall. Hemmick, Boyd and Day are in the dorms. The newbies are at the dorms as well. Come with us the easy way and we'll let them walk out of their respective places alive, Nathaniel."
And he was fucked. Of course he hadn't been safe, he would never be safe. In fact no one he cared about would ever be safe. He should have known better. But he wasn't going to let the foxes be harmed.
"How do I know you won't kill them anyway?" The snark was gone, the smile vanished. His face was blank and dangerous, because he'd done this before. "I don't even know who you are, you're obviously not the big guys, and I don't remember seeing your faces."
"We don't want to attract unnecessary attention. All we care about is you. If you come, you spare us all the trouble. As for who we are, let's just say someone is pissed at the piece of shit that ruined everything."
"The Butcher's friends then. I can't argue with that, it's a habit of mine to fuck up. Ichirou won't be too happy if something happened." He played his strongest card but fuck it. The Moriyamas owed him protection, Ichirou himself had made a deal with him.
"The moment they turned their backs to the Wesninski and made a deal with Hatford, those Japanese shits mean nothing to us." These were desperate men apparently. If the Moriyamas were nothing, the FBI was even less. "Time is running Nathaniel, decide. You or them?"
Andrew would kill him, but they'd talked about it before. Neil had told Andrew. If it means losing you, then no. He would not put himself first. Hell, he'd told the others before, the Foxes were all he had, he wasn't going to risk them for himself, not for anything. He needed to keep them safe.
So now he's lying on the cold wooden floor of some house or shed or whatever, drowsy from whatever they drugged him with once he got in the car, and in pain after being beaten for the last hour or so. He didn't bother asking the man (who is obviously in charge and sent the two men) for a name, and honestly he still doesn't plan to. What was the point of that anyway? He just looks up at the cold brown eyes of the man standing over him, Neil's face as neutral as he could keep it despite the fear of not making it out alive threatening to pull him under. The man just stares at him, calculative eyes and cruel smile, and Neil can't take it.
"What, so you're just gonna stand there? I have better shit to do." He hears the slur in his voice, wonders if it's just the drugs or something else. A concussion is likely. He's met with silence, so he closes his eyes and lays his head down. Fuck he's tired of these situations. He truly will never be safe, no one will-
"You know, I was expecting so much more from you Nathaniel," the man says with a laugh, "I was told that you'd put up a fight, I thought this would be fun. They said you'd beg for your precious life, but you haven't even made an effort."
Whoever his source was, they definitely do not know Neil, or Nathaniel for that matter. Not only is he not going to risk the men hurting the others, but he isn't going to fight, not against so many of them, not when running would be more likely to get him out alive. He isn't going to let them know that. "First go fuck yourself, and second, this isn't remotely close to entertaining to what I've been through, maybe if it was more interesting."
What does Andrew say? Regret is worthless? It seems right, because he can't find regret in what he said, even if his face is a bloody mess (what's new?) and his body shakes with shivers, after his head is held underwater so many times. No, he doesn't regret it. Instead he finds himself laughing a hollow thing.
"Y'know at least others have had a point, this time it's just for the fun of it, and it's not being much fun." His voice cracks a couple times, hoarse from coughing up water.
"You're right though, it is for fun. You cost me absolutely everything Nathaniel. Did you know the feds and the Moriyamas have been after us for months? Hunting us like we're rabbits, all because you decided to be a dipshit and open your mouth. You should be dead. You should have died ten years ago, back in March, anytime. All your existence caused us is trouble. And ratting us to the feds wasn't enough was it? No you told Ichirou all of the Butcher's men were loose ends, too." The man took a deep breath, composing himself. "So yes Nathaniel, this is for fun. This is payback, you've cost many lives, this is retribution for speaking, and I'm gonna enjoy seeing you have fun for as long as I can."
At some point, after hours, he's left alone in the dark, in the cold. He knows he’s in pain. He’s pretty sure his arm is broken, and so are several ribs. He knows he should be in a lot of pain, but he's just numb. Regret is worthless. Because even if he feels even worse than how he felt last winter at Evermore, he doesn’t regret it. He can’t be sure the guy’s men were truly going to kill the Foxes, but he doesn’t regret coming here to make sure the others don’t suffer more than they already have because of him. He wonders if Andrew will forgive him. He didn’t leave proof that he didn’t want to leave this time. Would Andrew think he left them - him? God, he hopes not. Would Andrew look for Neil or leave it thinking that Neil wanted to leave?
It doesn’t really matter, though. Neil is so tired. This time isn’t like when he was on the run or when he went to Evermore or when Lola took him. While with the Ravens, Kevin knew he was there at least, if anything were to happen, a person would know where to look somehow. At Baltimore, several people knew the most likely place to find him; Uncle Stewart, the Hatfords, Kevin again. He has no idea of where he is, or who took him, and no one knows he’s been taken in the first place. No one will ever find him.
Maybe it’s better that way, he thinks. No one will have to deal with the burden of him or his disappearance or his death, because no one will know. The simple thing would be to assume he ran. He hopes they assume he ran. Maybe they’ll be hurt, but haven’t they been expecting him to run? They won’t make it to championships without him considering Jack is an awful striker, but Kevin will manage. Andrew - Andrew is the one who expects him to run the most, maybe he’ll take it nicely. Neil hopes he takes it nicely. Guilt blossoms among the nothingness in his chest, but he can’t take it back, and he doesn’t want to. It’s better this way. No one will find him, but that’s fine. He wonders what the Moriyamas will do. He doesn’t want to think about that. He thinks of Andrew, the kisses, the care, the love, the nights spent together. Thank you, you were amazing. He wishes he could tell him how much he cares one last time. He feels something wet slip down his face. He can’t tell if it’s water, blood or tears. He sighs. He thinks of Andrew, and his eyes slip close.
#aftg#all for the game#tfc#the foxhole court#trk#the raven king#tkm#the king's men#neil josten#nora sakavic#andrew minyard#kevin day#I'm so sorry#I don't write stuff like this I mean it my angst is very different#fanfiction#also no I didn't kill neil#it's just a goodbye of sorts#aftg fanfic#no this is not betaed or revised for that matter#half of this was written while I was in class#I was going for a prompt and ended up writing almost 2k words instead lmao#sorry I write a lot in my tags#andreil#not really but it's there
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The Daughter of the Dog | 1
Fred Weasley x SirusBlacksDaughter!Reader
Summary: That fateful night that would wrongfully land him in Azkaban Sirius Black left his three-year-old daughter at the door of her godfather, Remus Lupin. Now as she enters her fifth year at Hogwarts she is a-fronted by her peers and their outward fear of her presence.
Warnings: bullying, cussing, slow burn relationship, bullying, asshole teachers (Snape.)
Word Count: 4.3k
A/N: If y’all like this I’ll continue on with this :)
chapter one, chapter two
“Remus you can’t make me go to school this year. Everyone there already hates me, and now that dad is all over the Daily Prophet, it’ll all just be worse,” you made your case to your godfather for the hundredth time this summer since your father had broken out of Azkaban.
“Y/n, you have friends who will have your back,” Remus said, he felt terrible, and he knew you were right, but he also knew how important it was for you to be at Hogwarts. “I’ll be there, and Dumbledore and McGonagall will make sure nothing happens.”
“Gryffindor’s aren’t as nice as you think they are,” you retorted. “And I do not have friends, that’s a joke. Everyone despises me, even some of my bloody professors hate me,” you were particularly referencing Snape who’d had it out for you since your name had been called for sorting your first year.
“That’s impossible, of course, you have friends, what about the twins?” he asked, and you ignored him. It was true that you were close with Fred and George, but you felt that virtually everyone other than those two Weasley’s hated you.
“I’m glad you, dad, and Uncle James were just so popular when you went to school, and everyone just bloody loved you, but it isn’t the same for me,” you said, finally deciding you were done with the argument and storming upstairs, you knew that Remus wasn’t going to budge about his decision, but you’d put up as much of a stink as you could, and being that September 1st was only a week away you figured your case had failed.
Remus let you storm out, you were fifteen, and he understood that you were going through a lot. Not only were you a teenager and dealing with all of the joys of puberty, but you were the daughter of an assumed murderer, which couldn’t make school much fun. He could only imagine the ways your peers used that to torment you. He couldn’t forget the minuscule things James and Sirius would agonize Severus Snape over when they had been in school. On top of all that, twelve years ago, your father had left you on Remus’ doorstep with a note on your forehead that read:
‘Peter rated out James and Lily, I’m going to Godrics Hollow, if anything happens, take care of Y/n, she doesn’t have anyone else.’
He was right, your mother had died at the hands of Lucius Malfoy before your first birthday, and her parents had died long ago, Sirius didn’t want you anywhere near his parents, neither Sirius nor your mother had living siblings, and Remus was your only named Godparent. You grew up with both of your parents, and all of your family ripped away from you. You had been left only with good memories of the man the world was trying to tell you was evil and a note you had used as evidence of his innocence.
Despite everything, Remus didn’t mind having you around in the least, you were a carbon copy of your parents, just an absolute firecracker, and he loved you just as much as your parents had. While he anticipated his situation to be a problem it wasn’t, as whenever necessary, Molly Weasley would take you in for however long Remus needed. However, your third year, you took a page out of your father’s book, and while at school, you learned how to become an animagus on your own, so that when you returned home that summer, you were able to stay with your godfather though all of his sessions, and help. Remus found as you grew up that you took care of him as much as he took care of you, he was eternally grateful to have you in his life. Now, with everything going on in your life and all the trauma you had ensued, he couldn’t blame you for lashing out. He just wished he could be of more help.
You didn’t argue with Remus about going to school again, and on August 31st, you begrudgingly packed up your trunk in anticipation of your journey to Hogwarts. You and Remus lived in a house you had inherited from your mother in Burford, West Oxfordshire, it was far enough outside town to be safe for Remus, and it was protected with old magic as it had been in your family for centuries. Being that it’s only over an hour-long drive to London, Remus usually drove you to King’s Cross, but since he was going with you to Hogwarts this year, you both took an early train to London, arriving in perfect time to catch the Hogwarts Express.
When you boarded the train, you split ways with Remus as you were due in the prefect compartment so that you could do your rounds. Prefect duty was another thing you were dreading this year, you were sure that no one would be willing to listen to you considering your situation, and you genuinely had no clue why Professor McGonagall wanted you as a prefect anyways.
During your round, you found that your assumptions were correct, no one would listen to you, and you only found yourself getting angry every time you noticed a copy of the Daily Prophet with your father’s mugshot on the cover. He hadn’t aided in the murder of your Uncle James and Aunt Lily, he hadn’t a reason to, James had been his best friend. Not only that, but nobody knew half the story you and Remus knew, but of course, no one wanted to listen to you, and the only evidence you had was the note he had left on your forehead, which was, of course, deemed unreliable. You were sure Peter was out there somewhere, and you were optimistic that if you could find him, you would be able to clear your father’s name, but you had no clue where you could start.
You past by the compartment Harry, Ron, and Hermione frequented to find your godfather sleeping in the corner, that man did love his naps, although you were curious why they had chosen to sit in a compartment with a sleeping professor in it, but you brushed it off. The three had a knack for making odd decisions that never failed to land them into trouble of some sort.
You continued walking down the corridor, keeping to yourself, not finding anyone to be breaking any severe rules. You had decided that as a prefect, your policy would be that if it wasn’t happening in front of you, you wouldn’t report it. After experiencing Percy Weasley’s tyrannical rain, the last thing you wanted was to subject other students to such tyranny. You remained in your thoughts till you passed by Draco Malfoy’s compartment, where the door was wide open.
“Oi! Black!” You heard Malfoy yell as you approached his compartment. “Surprised, they let you come this year considering your murderer father is loose.”
You elected to ignore him and continue walking, biting back the insults you wanted so badly to throw back.
“Or I guess you’re nothing like your father, more the chicken type like your pathetic moth-”
You swung around, resisting the urge the pull your wand out and land a nasty jinx on the prick, “You’re one to speak Malfoy, considering your father is a cowardly murderer who hides behind money and lies. Now, if you want to lose another twenty points from Slytherin before we even arrive at Hogwarts, I suggest you keep running your mouth,” you said without breaking a sweat, silence from Malfoy and his posse following. “I thought so,” you said before continuing on your round.
You made it to the end of the train and turned around to do your final walkthrough you intended to stop into the section Remus was in and see if he had awoken. As you walked down the corridor, you noted the cold fog that rolled alongside the train, the ride to Hogwarts was rarely this cold. As you approached the compartment door, the train came to a screeching halt, and you were thrown up against the door, startling its occupants. You hurried to your feet and entered as Harry Potter opened the door.
“What’s going on?” Ron Weasley asked. You stood back against the door as the lights in the train flickered out.
“I know just as much as you do,” you said, trying your best to push aside any fear.
From his seat, Harry was giving you a weird look. Meanwhile, Ron pressed himself against the window that had begun frosting.
“Ouch, Ron, that was my foot,” Hermione complained.
Ron ignored his clumsiness, concerned with whatever he saw outside the train, “There’s something moving out there.”
With that, the lights turned on and then off again, the train rocking and ice encapsulating the carriage. No longer trusting your own legs, you rushed to take a seat on the bench Harry and Remus were on, though you kept your distance, still grimly aware of the rumours that had been flying around the train regarding your father. Although, your thoughts were stopped as the train halted again, and your breath turned to ice.
“Bloody hell! What’s happening?” Ron cried.
All of your heads turned to the carriage’s door as a lanky robed creature with a hand like that of a skeleton’s slowly eased opened the door. As it approached, you could feel nothing but true sadness echo through your body and mind. It was a coldness you felt would never leave you. The thing you recognized as a dementor entered, looming off of the ground and ignoring everything but you and Harry. The dementor paused as if unsure of which one of you was worth its time. Discerning what was happening and uncertain of what else to do, you rose to your feet to act as a barrier between Harry and the dementor. As a result of your action, and your misery now clear to the creature, it started to feed off of you. At some point, you saw a blast of bright light, but the second it and the dementor disappeared, your fainted, falling to the floor.
“Y/n, Harry?” you heard Hermione’s voice as your eyes flickered open. “Professor are they going to be alright?”
You rose to a seated position to find yourself lying on the floor, Harry on the bench above you, Ron crunched in his corner, a very concerned Hermione Granger hovering over you, and Remus ready with a bit of chocolate as always.
“Here, eat this, it’ll help,” he said as he offered you and Harry the chocolate which you graciously took.
“What was that thing that came?” Harry asked.
“It was a dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban,” He explained to Harry before looking at you, “It’s gone now,” he assured before turning back to Harry to finish answering his question. “It was searching the train for Sirius Black.”
You swallowed your bite of the chocolate quite loudly, uncomfortable with the information at hand.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to have a little word with the driver,” Remus rose, leaving the chocolate bar with you. “Eat, you’ll feel better.” Remus assured Harry before leaving and heading to the front of the train.
You broke the chocolate bar in half and gave it to Harry, “It does help.”
“Harry fainted just after you did,” Hermione explained. You had quickly noticed before fainting that the dementor didn’t affect Ron or Hermione half as much as it had you and Harry.
“What exactly happened?” Harry asked as he took a bite of the chocolate.
“Well, after Y/n fainted, you went rigid, we thought you were having- well a fit or something,” Ron explained.
“Dementors feed on feelings of depression and despair,” you explained.
“Is that why-”
“You felt like you could never be happy again?” you finished Ron’s thought and nodded. “Exactly.”
“But someone was screaming,” Harry said, the memory alive in his eyes. “A woman.”
“No one was screaming, Harry,” said Hermione.
“I heard screaming too,” you said, looking over at him. A silence settled over the carriage once more, causing the reality of your parentage to come crashing over you yet again. You shakily rose to your feet, not exactly well just yet. “I should be going- prefect, duty- let me know if you need anything else.” And before anyone could protest, you were out of the compartment and walking back down the train corridor.
Before you could very much think about it, you entered Fred and George’s compartment, quite unsure of where else you might have been welcome.
“Y/n!” The twins chimed when you entered.
“Sit,” Fred started
“Yeah,” George said.
“We’ve got a question for you,” they finished together.
“A question, for me? Now, what would that be?” You asked as you squeezed onto the bench in between the two despite the empty one just across from you. Although, you assumed Lee Jordan had been sitting there and was just off to use the loo as his bag was up above that spot.
“We’ll show you, but you’ve got to promise us you won’t show anybody,” George said as he pulled something out of his pocket.
“Anybody,” Fred echoed.
“I won’t show anybody, promise,” You spoke in the same playfully serious tone as the twins while George placed a blank piece of folded parchment onto your lap.
Fred placed the tip of his wand onto the map but caught your eye and held eye contact with you as he said, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good,” winking at you as he finished.
Before you maroon lines and lettering unfurled, curling onto the parchment.
‘The Marauders Map’
A smile found its way onto your face as you realized what was before you. Your eyes lighting up as they followed the script that started to write out names you recognized instantly.
‘Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot & Prongs are proud to present,’
Your smile widened, you knew exactly what this was. Remus had told you plenty of stories of his and your fathers’ school antics, and the Marauders Map was often mentioned.
“Now, Black,” said George.
“That smile seems to say something,” said Fred.
“We’ve got a feeling,” they continued in unison. “That you know who created this masterpiece.”
You looked up at the two of them, your smile not at all lost. “What’s it to you?” you asked. Of course, you knew, but you loved messing around with them.
“Pure curiosity,” Fred smirked.
“Even if I do know who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are, why should I tell you two?” You asked.
“Because you looove Fred,” George said, and you shot him a glare that easily could have killed him right where he sat. “Because we’re your favorite people at Hogwarts?” He said, quick to edit his sentence.
“Alright, but I want you to let me in on all of your pranks this year. Think about the benefits of having a prefect on your side,” you said, then smoothly leaning forward to allow the twins to deliberate in peace. They caught on in a matter of seconds.
“She’s not wrong,” started Fred, and he rested back against the seat.
“And she’s quite smart,” continued George, following his twin.
“And she has information we want.”
“And you do love her,” George teased his twin.
“And we can trust her,” Fred added in an attempt to ignore George’s jab at his long-standing crush.
“Alright then,” the twins said in harmony, and you all resumed your previous positions. “Who is it?” They asked you.
“Peter Pettigrew,” you started. “Remus Lupin, James Potter,” they breathed in, obviously not having expected to hear the name of Harry’s dad. “And Sirius Black.” You said, your chest swelling with pride.
“Your dad!” started Fred excitedly
“Was a marauder?” They asked at once, and you nodded.
“Well, that makes you pranking royalty,” George said and mocked a bow.
“I would say it does, now I am excited to be working with you two gentlemen this year.”
“We are honored to be in your presence, oh Queen of the Pranks,” Fred got off of his seat and turned to give you a proper bow, prompting another giggle from you, which you didn’t notice Fred blush bright red.
“Boys we have some work to do,” you said, offering your hand as you had seen Queens do before to Fred. He took your hand and gently placed a kiss on it, this time causing a soft blush to rise to your cheeks.
Your train ride continued to be full of playful banter between the four of you, the boys full of questions about your dad’s time at Hogwarts, and you were excited to answer them as best you could. Although in the end, you couldn’t help but be entirely grateful that Fred and George hadn’t written you off along with the rest of the school, even more thankful that they hadn’t also written off your dad. When you arrived at the school, you shared a carriage with the twins, Lee Jordan, and Angelina Johnson, none of whom seemed bothered by your presence. It appeared for the moment that this year wouldn’t be too bad. You expected to resume your spot on the quidditch team as a chaser along with those before you, and the pranks you had already begun planning with the twins occupied your mind.
“Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!” Dumbledore caught the school’s attention as he assumed his place at the post at the top of the hall. “I have a few things to say before we become befuddled by our excellent feast. First, I’m pleased to welcome Professor R. J. Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Good luck, you, Professor.”
At this, the twins turned their eyes from Dumbledore to you, clearly asking if that was the Lupin you had said to be Moony of the Marauders, to which you confirmed with one nod.
“Wicked,” they said in unison, and you winked at them.
“As some of you may know, Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher for many years, has decided to retire in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. Fortunately, I’m delighted to announce that his place will be taken by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid!”
You, along with few others who knew and appreciated Hagrid, applauded at this news as Hagrid rose from his seat and jovially waved at the school, although he nearly toppled the staff table, sending goblets over the side of the table.
“Finally, on a more disquieting note, at the request of the Ministry of Magic Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the Dementors of Azkaban. Now, whilst I’ve been assured until such a time as Sirius Black is captured.”
Whispers filled the Great Hall as you swallowed the nerves that rose in your throat as best you could
“Well we’ve got his daughter right over there. Why don’t we just give ’em her! She’s probably a murderer herself!” You heard a boy from the Slytherin table yell quite violently. His idea was supported by a few cheers from those around him and a girl who was sitting next to him following up.
“Yeah, how are we supposed to know she isn’t scheming to sneak in her murderous father to kill us all!” The girl yelled, and you could only feel yourself sinking into the bench as every Hogwarts student’s eyes were now on you.
“Oi! Pucey, watch it, or I’ll hex your ear off!” George quickly stood and yelled in your defense.
“That! Is quite enough!” Dumbledore boomed. “I will not have Miss Black questioned or judged for her being here. Anyone who wishes to contest this may bring it up directly with me.”
With that, Dumbledore continued on with his speech in particular regard to the presence of the dementors, but his words respecting you did nothing to ease the anxiety boiling in the pit of your stomach. At this point, you were wondering why you hadn’t followed in your mum’s steps and gone to Beauxbatons.
“Are you alright?” Fred asked, noting the color that had drained from your face.
“I’m fine,” you muttered.
Fred could tell you weren’t fine, and why should you be? He could feel the hostile looks coming from every corner of the room, some even coming from the professor’s table. He wanted to help in any way he could, and he knew that the most he could do is have your back for the time being.
When Dumbledore finally called this year’s feast to an end, you rose to your feet as Percy had asked you and Robert Greene, the other fifth year Gryffindor prefect, to walk the first years back to the common room.
You rose to your feet, “Your darling brother has decided I’ll be escorting the first years back to the common room, so I’ll see you back there after?” You honestly did not want to be left alone tonight and was hoping to spend more time with the twins.
“We’ll find a good spot by the fire,” George said, and you smiled at him, grateful.
You left and rounded up the first years, some of whom had no clue who you were and some who were clearly afraid of you and clung to the front of the line where Percy and Robert were. But you brushed it off. It wasn’t half as bad as Pucey calling you a murderer in front of the entire school. The walk didn’t last long, and Percy capitalized the whole thing to flaunt his power over the eleven-year-olds allowing you to remain silent and with your thoughts. You split when you made it to the common room, sure that Percy was so wrapped up in his spiel that he wouldn’t miss you.
“Black!” George wailed. “We’ve missed you dearly.”
“How could you dare to leave us for so long?” Fred cried, and you giggled at their antics, sitting on the couch next to Fred.
“I’m very, incredibly, sorry for the time I have spent away but do know that you were each on my heart and in my thoughts the entire time we were apart,” you joined in, causing Fred to laugh, which brought a shade of pink to your cheeks, recently you found how his laugh made the butterflies in your stomach ruffle their wings.
“Anyone else wanna know why Dumbledore’s let a murderer’s daughter live in our dorm?” you heard Seamus Finnigan say loudly enough for the entire common room to hear. “It makes me feel unsafe I don’t know about you.”
“Yeah if he comes to Hogwarts, this’ll be the first place he comes.”
You sharply rose to your feet and turned to face Finnigan, “Actually you’re right Finnigan, I’ve been in contact with my dad, who has been in Azkaban my entire life, planning to come to a school and kill a bunch of children. I am so so bummed you’ve found out my plan. So everyone keeps an eye open while you’re sleeping. I might just appear over your bed in the middle of the night, ready to murder you.”
As you were speaking, Fred and George stood to defend you. Meanwhile, Seamus’s face fell white with fear at your words.
“Anyways aren’t you meant to be a Gryffindor, Finnigan, aren’t you meant to be brave? Because speaking behind people’s backs is about the most cowardly thing someone can do,” you said, anger rising in you. Although, you did not notice Professor McGonagall enter as you were talking.
“She deserves to be here just as much as the rest of you,” Fred boomed to the now silent common room.
“Good evening, everyone,” McGonagall cut in. “I was planning to come up tonight to ensure that Miss Black was being respected as a peer and as a prefect although that clearly hasn’t happened,” she said, shooting a look at Seamus Finnigan. “As she just said, it is expected that you as Gryffindors conduct yourselves with bravery and with understanding for your peers. Should any of you feel that you do not have to listen to or that you are above Y/n because of her parentage, you can come to me for a detention. I will not permit any intolerance of her presence. Is that understood?”
A few people started slowly nodding, causing the rest of your housemates to nod in understanding of what Professor McGonagall had to say.
“Good, now I will be taking ten points from our house for Mr. Finnigan’s comments,” a groan fell over the room, “You shall also be meeting me for detention in my office tomorrow night at seven. However, ten points to Miss Black and ten points to Mr. Weasley for standing up for oneself and for one’s friends.” With that, Professor McGonagall left, leaving the Gryffindors in silence.
“Go about your nights,” Percy called to the house, and everyone dispersed, although you heard the drama start to circulate, no matter what McGonagall said, you knew that you would never escape the judgement of your peers.
“Merlin, and classes haven’t even started yet,” you huffed as you collapsed back onto the couch next to Fred.
“We’ve got your back, Y/n,” Fred said as he put a comforting hand on your shoulder.
“Promise,” you implored.
“Promise,” he assured.
chapter two
#Sirius Black's daughter#au#fred weasley#fred weasley x reader#fred weasley fanfiction#Sirius Black#Harry Potter#harry potter au#daughter of the dog
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Think you can write down a story of how rick spinning jerry around?
A/N: sure. here you go. i guess, this takes place in the universe, where jerry is blessed to stay divorced and just enjoy himself. he and rick still have an affair, but unsurprisingly, rick still ‘hates’ doing ‘normal people things’. like you know...
“I can skate.” said Rick, while clinging to the wooden border like his life depended on it. His long legs shook, and he looked every bit defensive, and offended. As if this mere situation was beyond unthinkable.
“Okay.” Jerry replied from his place, watching him with badly masked amusement. Skating was one of few things, that he was good at and it really stroked his ego, knowing that Rick - the almighty and the god-that-walks-among-men - couldn’t do this one, simple thing.
“The f-fuck you smiling at?” Rick’s brow furrowed and almost let go of the railing, but remembered himself at the last moment, and went back to gripping it with all his strength. “Th-there is nothing funny about it - about this.”
“I don’t know, Rick.” Jerry said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Looks pretty funny from where I stand. Because I stand and you just -- well, you cling.”
“Ha-ha, very - very comedic, Jerry.”
“Maybe, I should film it.”
“Don’t y-you dare.” Rick eyed him suspiciously, when Jerry made a show of actually starting searching for his phone. “H-hey, pull that hand out of your pocket. Don’t - don’t you even think about it. I’m serious, Jerry.”
To be fair if their places were reserved, Rick would have picked fun at him non-stop by now. But Jerry wasn’t this petty. Or well, he didn’t feel this petty today.
“Alright-alright, relax, gee. I won’t do anything.”
In the end, Jerry had to take pity on Rick. It was pretty cold outside and he still wanted for some skating to happen, even if in Rick’s case, it'd be more of attempting to skate, he suspected.
He slid closer to the old man, trying to be decent about it, but it was hard to hold at least some of that mirt back. Not often, he got a chance like this. Rick tended to always know what he did and he aced it, like no one else. But Jerry got a nice glimpse of something, that Rick wasn’t actually able to do and for that alone, he felt kind of special.
“Come on, I will help you.” Jerry offered, watching Rick struggling with accepting this as an act of kindness and not something else. An evil plot or whatever, he was this paranoid about. “It’s - come on, Rick. I want you to have fun too.”
“We could have fun - we could have fun watching tv and fucking.” Rick grunted, looking less than amused. “Why th-the fuck you always want to do some boring - some divorce man things?”
Jerry let out a sigh, massaging his temple.
Rick never got why Jerry wanted for them to go out, but the thing was that Jerry really missed doing it. Unlike Rick here, he couldn’t just abandon his kids, when they were little. For at least ten years, he was stuck in an endless job and babysitting routine. And then, after Summer and Morty became teens, he couldn’t really do much aside from golfing. It was either always a family vacation or him getting a backlash for borrowing money from the family account, for something ‘selfish’.
Being here meant a lot for him. Skating was pretty relaxing and he was good at it, so what else could he ask for? Jerry wasn’t very hard to please, when it came to simple pleasures in life.
“I used to do it with my uncle.” Jerry finally said, avoiding eye contact. “He took me out skating every winter and we just -- we just had fun.”
Rick’s expression went from irritated to deadpan. “So it’s - this is a nostalgic thing?”
“Yeah.”
“Why haven’t you - why haven’t you done it sooner?”
Jerry shrugged, suddenly too hot inside his puffy jacket. As if exposed to the weather or something else. “Didn’t really feel like doing it, after he died. Just didn’t - I don’t know, ah -- it just didn’t feel right, I guess.”
Maybe, it was a bit too distracting to say or not something, that he should have said at all, but Rick’s pose was slightly more relaxed now. He seemed to consider his answer, before he suddenly grabbed Jerry’s elbow to stabilize himself.
He was making progress. Jerry spent the last twelve minutes trying to lure him on ice. Apparently, all that he had to do was to tell the other man why it was important to him.
Huh, and you think that you know a guy.
“You - you just know how to guilt trip me, don't you?” Rick seether, finally separating himself from the safety of the border, and stepping on the ice with his full weight. “Th-that’s something, Jerry.”
“I wasn’t guilt tripping you, Rick.” Jerry huffed out an abrupt snort, because he really didn’t. It was more of just a random fact to share. “I just haven't felt like doing it right until now. So it’s kind of your own fault.”
“H-how is this my fault?” Rick hissed, barely able to stand straight, mostly just looking at Jerry’s legs and how he moved them, what kind of motions he did. It was a miracle, that they didn’t fall down yet. Rick was surprisingly heavy.
And also surprisingly clumsy, when it came to skating.
Who could have guessed.
“You weren’t drunk today, so I picked an activity-”
“Bullshit.”
Jerry clicked his jaw shut, staring at Rick with the same amount of amusement, he did before. “Said someone, who yelled that he knew how to skate.”
“I do know.” Rick protested, too close to his face, but still having troubles staying upward on his own. His legs kept on shaking, almost knocking him over. “I said th-that I know how to skate, Jerry. Not that I can do it. Th-there is a difference. It’s all in the - in the context. Not the text.”
“Oh.” Jerry breathed out with fake delight. “This surely changes everything.”
“Shut up and - and show me how you - how you do that.”
“It’s not all that difficult.” Jerry told him, tugging Rick along.
“It shouldn’t be if y-you -” Rick throws a dirty glance his way, “if even you can do it.”
Jerry ignored the remark, but it was fun to pull at Rick’s arm, making him do a small half-spin, an inch away from topping down.
He did hit his leg, though. One of Rick’s knees was pressed on the ice. He was clearly startled, but not enough for Jerry to feel bad about it. The younger man smiled at him, for once higher than his ex father-in-law. “You were saying?”
Rick’s eyes met his and he knew, that it was on. If Rick didn’t want to do something, he wouldn't. But if Jerry could make it look like an activity, that he could win or do for sports, then Rick would just fall for it everytime.
For someone, who called himself genius, he was oddly childish at times.
But at least, this was enough for Rick to actually start putting effort into the lesson. Jerry was amazed and low-key jealous of how fast Rick got the princip, when he really tried. In nearly two hours, he went from not knowing what to do, to someone who looked like they did it for at least an year.
“Huh, it was easy.”
Jerry huffed. “Sure was.”
“Wh-what, are you jealous of grandpa’s natural ability to nail it?” Rick asked him, all while skating backwards too. Poser.
Jerry’s lips twisted in scowl. “No.”
But yeah, he kind of was.
“No need for th-that, Jer. I’m having fun, you know?”
“Oh, you do now?” this was predictable, but still, Jerry kind of imagine this evening going differently. “So only when you’re the best is it fun, huh?”
“Yup.”
Rick suddenly stopped in front of him, and Jerry only by sheer miracle didn’t run into him, avoiding the collision at the last moment.
“What are you-” Rick’s arm sized up his elbow and drew him back. Jerry panicked. It was his turn to cling to Rick, blinking owlishly at his smirking features. “Hey, be careful!”
Rick didn’t reply and instead guided them both toward the center of the rink. He still held Jerry’s elbow, before moving his hold on his hand. It was - were they holding hands?
Jerry looked at it with a half-wooby smile. Half in confusion and half in shock. It was weird and it never happened before. Rick fucked him, and kissed him, and fingered him, but he never did something like this before.
“Um, Rick?”
“Pay attention, J-jerry.”
Jerry’s brow knitted in question, that he had no time to ask. Rick abruptly pulled him forward, jerked him to the side and then, spun him around.
Needless, to say he was dizzy in a second.
But it didn’t stop there.
Rick seemed to be pretty focused and entertained, by circling him and forcing Jerry to do a spin, after spin. From just dizzy he slowly went to might-puke-now.
“R-rick!”
“Enjoy th-the moment, Jerry!”
“I c-cant’ - s-stop that!”
Everything was spinning, and Jerry’s hands tried to uselessly grab at Rick’s jacket, while his legs had troubles with staying on track, and not fail his balance.
The last spin made Jerry nearly trip backwards, but Rick got a hold of him at the last second, rotating him with enough force to send Jerry’s body twist to the left instead. His back hit the border and Jerry wasted no time relying on it. He blinked, but the picture kept on jumping around, and this is how he saw Rick skating toward him, slow and deliberate.
He was out of breath too, but it didn’t even matter now.
“It was fun.”
Jerry sucked frosty air through his mouth, closing his eyes for a moment, hoping that it would restore his vision back to normal. “For you, m-maybe.”
“Y-you seem to have fun too.”
Rick laughed, and Jerry felt his body pressing against him. He cracked his eyes open. The world still spins a bit, but Jerry’s face momentaly went red. They - they did it before. And Rick was in his face more, than he can remember lately, but there was something heart sizing about it every single time.
Maybe, he was an idiot. Too easy and too trusting, but while Rick’s smirk looked less than friendly, and more suggestive, Jerry gave him an unsure lift of his own lips.
“How about we take - take all that spinning someplace else, Jer?” Rick asked, boxing him in place. “W-we can - we can do some of these wicked trickst there too, eh?”
“Um.”
“I mean, I feel kind of - kind of cold.” Rick’s lower half jerked against his and yeah, alright. Yeah, Jerry could see where it was going. “Wanna something to warm up.”
“Y-yeah, sure.” Jerry said, being sandwiched between Rick and any kind of surface always made his own mind wonder. Besides, they were skating for at least three hours. It was enough for the first time. “Let’s - let’s do that.”
“Glad, th-that you can use your brain sometimes.”
If this was someone else. Jerry would have hated to see them smiling with such self-satisfaction. But since it was Rick, he decided that he could let it slide. Him being dizzy and almost vomiting aside, it was fun.
It was nothing like his childhood memories, but it wasn’t the point to begin with. In the end, it was nice to relearn how to love something with a new person at your side.
#ask#jerry just digs old pricks alright#jerrick#ficlet#and idk if this is fluff or not#it was a while since i wrote them
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Happy 28th!
I’ve read so many awesome fics this month! Make sure to check them all out.
As always, all my love to all the authors in this fandom ♥
➻ don't want to fight you | starryharry | enemies to lovers - enemies to friends to lovers - pining - mutual pining - angst - fluff slow burn - no smut - 124k
Louis hates that it’s familiar. He hates that sparring Harry is familiar because they train together. He hates that he even has to spar Harry at all, because Harry is good.
Louis wonders what his life would be like if him and Harry didn’t hate each other. He can’t picture it, really. The incessant bickering that often turns into real arguing, the nasty looks, the eye rolls, the middle fingers. It all feels very necessary at this point.
Or, the one where two fighters can also be lovers because routines are never permanent.
➻ we are ghosts amongst these hills | louisgaynkles | Soulmates - reincarnation - historical - slow burn - angst - fluff - 84k
Harry spontaneously buys a house in Yorkshire because the universe, or fate, keeps leading him to it. What he didn’t know, is that his new house comes with a past that seems to be mysteriously tied to his own life. Before he knows it he finds himself travelling back in time, stuck in the middle of a century old love story.
Featuring Louis as a farmer with a passion for gardening, Zayn as the heir to the local manor, Niall as a pub owner with a secret, and a truly underappreciated Liam.
Based on Mariana by Susanna Kearsley
➻ through the wheatfields and the coastlines | thepolourryexpress | farms - cowboys - angst - implied/referenced homophobia - implied/referenced gun use - humor - smut - 53k
“You’re not from around here, are ya?” Hot Cowboy asks, tracking his little lamb with his eyes. Louis frowns slightly, having thought he was doing pretty well at not sticking out like a sore thumb. It’s not like he’s not from around here — it’s not his first summer he’s spent at his grandparents'. But he supposes that the Manhattan city lifestyle that he’s used to is always going to shine through.
“I’m visiting family for the summer,” Louis explains, cheeks a little pink. “Trying to get some work done without distractions.”
Or, alternatively, the one where Louis needs inspiration, and a certain cowboy and his lamb are the perfect distraction.
➻ An Irrationally Strong Bond Between Two People | jishler | dystopia - friends to lovers - angst - first time - 18k
Before The Advancement, most human lives and careers were plagued by irrationality and a lack of productivity. This was largely the symptom of what scientists refer to as “interpersonal passion,” which included two separate (though often conjointly occurring) phenomena: “love,” and “sex.” “Love” was a pre-Advancement word which referred to an irrationally strong bond between two people, which caused its sufferers to prioritise their fellow “lover,” as well as the integrity of the malignant bond itself, over vital things such as workplace productivity. Taken every two weeks in pill form, The Drug immediately removes interpersonal passion from the human psyche. Children’s friendships do not have the capacity to develop into full-fledged “love” since they are not yet adults. Every person over eighteen takes The Drug gladly, grateful that it allows them to be productive, clear-headed, and rational members of society.
A few weeks before Louis’ eighteenth birthday, Harry and Louis fall in love.
(Based on the book Louis writes in indiaalphawhiskey's Our Lives, Non-Fiction.)
➻ And When It's Time | larryftnoctrl | Soulmates - soulmate-identifying timers - 6k
Louis wants a soulmate, Harry loves his free will. They don't exactly go hand in hand.
Prompt: AU where you have a countdown on your wrist for when you're going to meet your soulmate and if you miss it the time will reset. Louis/Harry keep having awful luck and always are missing their time until one day they don't. Maybe the other one is scared/has anxiety about meeting their soulmate? Maybe one time they're in a relationship so they intentionally miss their time? Who knows! But they finally meet :D
➻ made for lovin' you | cuddlerlouis | a/b/o - enemies to lovers - hate to love - soulmates - hurt/comfort - angst - fluff smut - 53k
“I’m in,” is all Louis receives. He blinks a few times, making sure he’s reading this right.
“For real?” he asks, just to be a hundred percent sure.
“Yes,” pops up. “How do you wanna pursue?” The alpha adds, like he’s on a special mission or something.
“I’m gonna call us a cab to go to mine. Once I know it’s here, I’ll leave and join you there,” Louis explains. “I’ll text you to go around five minutes before it arrives, so it doesn’t look suspicious, and our friends don’t notice us leaving together.”
“Noted.”
So Louis does, and ten minutes later, he’s sat in the backseat of a cab, next to Harry Styles, the person he hates the most but unfortunately still finds attractive. They’re on their way to fuck in Louis’ flat.
Splendid.
-
Or the one where a quick, horny decision ruins Louis’ summer plans, but may also lead to unexpected discoveries. Featuring the road trip of dreams, misunderstandings, and a bit of fate.
➻ deFENCEless | solvetheminourdreams | neighbors - enemies to lovers enemies to friends to lovers - gardening - fluff - humor - banter - no smut - 27k
"I moved here first," Louis says with finality, crossing his arms over his chest.
Harry shoots him an unimpressed look before leaning forward, leaving only a tiny gap between them.
"Then get the fence first," he whispers, lips a mere inch or two away from Louis'.
When Louis butts heads with his new neighbor who loves to garden a little too much, all he can do to protect his yard (and heart), is keep on building up his fence(s).
➻ Canyon Moon | delsicle | a/b/o - werewolf - soulmates - childhood friends - friends to lovers - arranged marriage - mutual pining - hurt/comfort - angst - 41k
For as long as Louis has remembered, he has been promised to be mated to Harry, his best friend and the future pack alpha. But Louis’s heart belonged to the forest and to the hunt more than he could ever imagine it belonging to Harry.
Then Harry’s father dies in a violent accident, and Louis’s future alpha disappears on the wind.
An A/B/O Lion King AU
➻ only guilty of loving you | sweetrevenge | a/b/o - strangers to lovers - blind date - soulmates - fluff - angst - mutual pining - smut - 22k
After Harry gets set up with his co-worker's alpha friend Louis, he's expecting some pleasant conversation, free dinner, and maybe a new friend. What he doesn't expect, however, is that Louis' arrival in his life begins a life of crime Harry never knew he had in him.
A You've Got Mail!AU with a twist.
➻ 'Til Everything Changes | lovelarry10 | a/b/o - older characters - brokend bond - loss - falling in love - fluff - implied mpreg - smut - 57k
Harry’s nose twitched as he caught a scent on the breeze, one that sent a shudder through his whole body. His eyes closed subconsciously, and he lost himself in the heady scent, the vanilla top notes, and the more woody undertones, making every hair on Harry’s body stand on end. That was how Harry discovered this man was an Alpha.
“Jaz, Harry, this is my Uncle Louis. Lou, this is my girlfriend Jasmine, and her dad Harry.”
"Lovely to meet you,” Louis grinned, leaning in and kissing Jasmine’s cheek quickly, a respectful Alpha gesture. Harry held his breath as Louis stuck out a hand, taking it almost reluctantly, certain the Alpha would pick up on his own scent and the nerves flowing through it. “Hi, Harry.”
“Hi,” Harry said, his voice low and raspy, still affected by Louis’ scent. “Nice to meet you.”
~~~~
Harry’s an Omega who has been alone for too long. Louis’ an Alpha who is scared to find love again.
Thanks to the meddling of Harry’s teenage daughter and her boyfriend, the two seem destined to meet, and it might just change everything they thought they knew about their lives.
Will they find what they didn’t realise they’ve always wanted in each other?
➻ Mind Over Matter (You Under Me) | youreyesonlarry | ice hockey - hurt/comfort - angst - fluff - major character injury - pining - unrequited love hospitalization - smut - 74k
It’s dark outside when Harry finishes practice for the day.
--------
Prompt 21: Harry stopped playing hockey (after 10 years of a professional career) because of a severe injury. The dream he worked so hard for vanished in the blink of an eye. His family insisted that he had to go to physical therapy, even if it only helped his health. Cue to personal assistant Louis, the most efficient and kind PA one could hire
➻ Rooms on Fire | softfonds | a/b/o - actors - famous/famous - friends with benefits - secret relationship - 34k
Ten years ago, Louis helping Harry through a heat was the start of a romance that ended in heartbreak. Now, Harry's marriage is over thanks to his husband's very public infidelity, and Louis is fresh off a Golden Globe win. The last thing they both expect is to be cast in the same movie.
➻ Stumbling Into Your Arms | sunshineandthemoonlight | a/b/o - strangers to lovers - college/university - fluff - 7k
Suddenly, Harry’s nose was brushing against Louis' neck, where his scent was overwhelming.
Harry jerked his head to the side and took a deep breath of air, trying to clear his nose of Louis’ scent. ‘Don’t get slick, don’t get hard, don’t get slick’, he repeated to himself in his head, like a mantra.
Louis and Harry are university students heading home for the holidays. Harry quickly becomes enraptured by the attractive alpha standing across from him in the train carriage, who has a heavenly scent and a gentle smile.
➻ Little by Little | nonsensedarling | mpreg - non traditional a/b/o - exploring sexuality - exploring secondary gender norms - gender identity strangers to friends to lovers - mutual pining - fluff - slow burn - 65k
Harry Styles is an omega who works at the London Planetarium, has lived in the same flat for ages, and is happy enough on his own. When he gets home from his first (horrible) attempt at dating in years, a new pregnant neighbor knocks on his door after smelling his cooking. He and Louis quickly become close, but their friendship gets complicated when Harry begins questioning who he is and what he likes.
Or Harry discovers figuring out who you are is more complicated than a potato metaphor.
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Office Neighbors - Part Ten
a/n: okay A LOT happens in this part, lots of tension, please don’t be mad at me (reblogs and feedback are super helpful!)
warnings: angst, fluff, and smut
words: 17K
masterpost
“They’re gonna know.” You say as you frantically try to fix your smudged makeup on the car ride back to the cabin.
“They’re not gonna know.” Harry chuckles.
“They’re gonna know!”
“How would they know?”
You make a scoffing noise at him.
“Let’s see, my mascara has run down my cheeks, and my hair looks awfully fucked up. We’re also later than we said we’d be.” You look at him and reach your hand out to smooth out some of his hair.
“We’ll just tell them we got a bite to eat. Just go straight to our room. The lights will probably be dimmed when we get in anyways.” He takes your hand and kisses it. “It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s embarrassing, I don’t want them to know.”
“What’s embarrassing about having a quickie in the car?”
“It’s like we were teenagers with no self-control.” You mutter.
“Was kind of nice to do something so spontaneous. Suppose it was my fault for making things difficult in the gondola. If Mum and Dad scold us, I’ll take the blame.” He smirks.
“But if you do that, they’ll never let me see you again! You’ll have to start sneaking in through the window.”
“It’ll be worth if it means I get to see you.” He winks and you start laughing. “Oh! Just say you laughed so hard you cried if they ask.”
“They’ll never believe that! You really are a narcissist if you think you’re that funny.” You smirk. Harry glares at you and it makes you laugh harder.
“Yeah, I’m not funny at all.” He says facetiously.
You take a deep breath once you’re back at the house. The lights were definitely dimmed, so maybe no one would really notice how fucked up you looked.
“Hey, you two.” Paige smiles. She was all snuggled up with Noah on the couch. “The kids are in bed already, they were exhausted. You should have seen it, Harry.” She pouts. “Noah had to carry both of them off to bed, and Andy even let me tuck him in, it was so sweet.”
“He sure is cute when he’s drowsy.” Harry agrees. “Well, we’re gonna go to sleep to, so-“
“How was the gondola ride?” Noah asks.
“It was great, I would highly recommend it.”
“Maybe we should take everyone tomorrow night since it’s our last night.” Noah says to Paige.
“Yeah!” She squints over at you. “Are you feeling alright, Y/N?”
“You know,” Harry puts his arm around you, “she got a little nauseous on the way down, it’s why we’re a little late coming back, I had to drive slower. So we’re gonna head to bed now.” He smiles and starts walking with you to your room.
“Hmm.” Paige says. “She goes to bed early a lot and now she’s nauseous.”
“You think she’s pregnant?”
“Maybe.” She shrugs. “We’re all going out for dinner tomorrow, we could see if she orders a drink or something.”
You and Harry scurry into your room, and you feel like you can breathe again.
“Nice save.” You say to him as you start to get undressed. “Mind if I use the bathroom first? I have to pee so bad.”
“Go for it.” He chuckles.
Once you’re both settled in bed you lay your head on Harry’s chest with a sigh. He rubs your back as you both slowly drift off.
//
After getting some skiing in, and taking the kids tubing, you all get ready for a nice dinner in the small resort town. It was a Chinese food place that offered buffet, so it was perfect for everyone. The kids loved piling up their plates. You did order a cocktail, so that squashed any thoughts Paige and Noah had of you being pregnant.
The kids talk about what they liked most about their week away, as do all of the adults. The food is excellent, and everyone has a good time.
“Andy, did you wanna come back with us tomorrow, or go with Dad and Y/N?” Paige asks as Harry and Noah quietly squabble over the check.
“Um, well, I think Brandon wanted to hang out tomorrow night, so I’ll go with Dad.”
“Alright, honey. What did Brandon do over break?”
“His family goes skiing at Loon.”
“What about Caroline?”
“Mum, why is this turning into twenty questions?”
“It’s not, baby, I was just-“
“Well, stop.” He picks around at the peas on his fork.
“Andy…” You put your hand on his shoulder. “She was just asking you a question.”
“She doesn’t need to know every little thing.” You give him a look, and he rolls his eyes before he looks at Paige again. “She stayed home, went sledding a few times, and her sisters drove her down to the mall, okay?”
“There’s a boy at Hebrew school that thinks I’m cute.” Rachel says. This catches Noah’s attention, which means Harry wins the bill, just like he wanted.
“What?”
“Yeah, you know David? He told me so.”
“Rachel, you’re way too young for boys to be telling you that you’re cute.” Noah frowns.
“But it’s okay for Andy to have a girlfriend? He’s only a year older than I am.” She huffs.
“Okay, what do you say we head out, yeah?” Harry says. “Everything’s all set.” You and Harry stand up as does everyone else.
“You get everything you want.” Rachel mumbles to Andy as they leave the restaurant.
“What are you talking about?”
“Everyone’s extra nice to you, and then when it comes to me I have a ton of rules to follow. It’s not fair.”
“Sorry your dad is more strict than mine, that’s not my fault.”
“No, it’s because I’m a girl and you’re a boy, and boys get whatever they want.”
“Rach, I-“
“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes.
Everyone gets in their cars to head back to the cabin, and Andy follows Rachel into the bunk room.
“Do you really think I get whatever I want?”
“What does it matter what I think?” She sits down on her bed and looks at him. “You know, I’m glad you’re going back with your dad for the rest of the weekend. It’s better when you’re not around.”
“Do you really mean that?” He sits down next to her.
“You don’t care.” She looks away. “You don’t even like me, Andy.”
“That’s not true…I like you.” She looks at him and gives him an unconvinced face. “I do! Look, I know when you and your dad first moved into my mum’s house, I wasn’t-“
“You literally asked to move out a month later. I was excited to not be the only kid around because my dad works so much, and you just left! You’re not the only one that feels sad sometimes, you know? And I hate it when you say ‘my mum’, guess what? She’s mine too.” She crosses her arms and Andy’s eyebrows raise. “You can be such a brat sometimes.”
“You sure are just letting it all out…”
“Yeah, I’m gonna keep letting it all out. You’re not even nice to my dad half the time, do you know how much that bothers me? He tries so hard to make sure you’re happy, and you don’t even care.”
“Maybe he should try less then. I don’t need him trying to impress me.”
“No, but it makes Mom happy to see you happy, so that’s why he does it. Y/N does the same exact thing.”
“No she doesn’t.” Andy scoffs. “Y/N’s my friend, she understands me.”
“You just like her because you like your dad better.”
“That’s not true!”
“Yes it is! It’s so obvious, and you don’t even care how much it kills Mom!” Rachel stands up and so does Andy.
“Stop calling her that! She’s not your mum and she never will be!”
“Newsflash, this summer she officially will be and there’s nothing you can do about it!”
The two of them stare at each other angrily. Rachel had never really spoken up to Andy like this before. Guess she was sick of his shit.
“You’re a spoiled brat.” She spits. “You never speak to Mom nicely, or it’s rare if you do.” She starts tearing up. “You have no idea how lucky you are to have a mom that loves you as much as she does, and now you have Y/N. I may have been little when my mom died, but I miss her every single day, and your mom…well…she takes a lot of that way.”
“Shit…it was around this time of year…wasn’t it? When your mum-“
“I don’t wanna talk about.” She wipes a few tears away. “You know what’s really annoying? I still feel like that you’re basically my brother. I just wish you felt the same way about me.”
She goes into her dresser, grabs her things for bed, and goes into the bathroom to do her thing.
“Kids! We have ice cream for you!” Paige shouts.
Rachel comes out in her pj’s and looks at Andy.
“Well? Are we having ice cream?” She says.
“Wait…” He puts his hand on her shoulder. “I’m really sorry.”
“No you’re not.”
“I am…I…guess I don’t always realize when I’m being rude. I’ve been coming around to things a lot more. I’m happy that Mum is marrying your dad because he makes her happy. That’s all I want for her, for both my parents. I know how lucky I am…and…maybe I didn’t want a sister at first. When you both started coming around more, I felt like I was being replaced. Like Mum liked you better because she finally had a daughter or something, and then when you moved in…I took the easy way out and ran to my dad instead of dealing with everything. But…it’s the best thing I could have done. I’m a lot happier with him.” He smiles at her. “Isn’t this what brothers and sister do? They fight sometimes…”
“You don’t see me as a sister…”
“Sure I do.” He shrugs. “You’re my annoying little sister, and I’m your bratty older brother. It’s perfect.” He throws an arm around her. “Come on, let’s go get some ice cream.”
“Okay.” She smiles and walks with him. “Sometimes you need to remember that we’re on the same side.”
“Yeah…we are, aren’t we?”
“Was everything okay in there?” Harry asks. “Thought I heard shouting…” He sizes the both of them up.
“Oh! We were just fighting over who could use the bathroom first, Uncle Harry.” Rachel giggles. “I won, though.”
The kids smile at each other and sit down at the table to make up their bowls of ice cream. After everyone’s done, Andy helps Paige clean up in the kitchen.
“Mum?”
“Yes, honey?”
“I’m sorry for being rude at the table earlier…”
“Oh…well, I’m not going to say it’s alright because I really don’t like it when you speak to me that way. You do it your father too, and I really don’t like that.”
“I know…I don’t know why I do it, it just happens. I feel really bad about it…” He looks up at her, and she smiles at his sweet face. “I…I love you, Mum.”
“Oh, baby, I love you too.” They throw their arms around each other. “I hate that you’re getting older. Your attitude is only going to get worse.” She chuckles.
“And you’ll still love me?”
“Of course I will, do you promise to still love me?”
“Yeah.” He smiles up at her. “I promise.”
//
It was a great week away, and you enjoyed bonding with everyone, but you were happy to be heading home.
“Har, just drop me off at my place, yeah?” You say as he takes the exit for your town.
“Oh…really?”
“Yeah, I wanna do laundry, and I need to go grocery shopping, and then I need to get some work done.”
“You can literally do all of that back at my place.”
“Harry, I’d like to go back to my place.”
“Okay.”
Harry gets out of the car to help you with your things once he’s pulled up to your complex. He walks you up to the door.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“What?! No, babe, I just, you know, it was a really social week. I’m tired and I have things to do. It’s nothing personal.”
“Alright.”
“I love you.” You smile. “I had such a good time. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” He nods and lets you kiss him goodbye, but you knew he wasn’t thrilled you weren’t coming back over. “Please don’t be upset.”
“I’m not.” He kicks some rocks on the ground. “Was just sort of hoping to be alone since Andy’s going to the movies with Brandon later.”
“Come over later then.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” You smile. “We can, uh, finally use that candle.” You wink at him and go into your building, leaving him completely flustered.
Harry smiles and gets back in the car.
“Dad, I’m gonna need some extra money tonight…”
“Oh? Gonna load up on snacks at the movies?” He chuckles.
“No…we’re going on a double date, and I’d like to offer to pay for Caroline like how you do for Y/N.”
“A double date at the movies?! You can have the money, but there better not be any funny business. I want a full synopsis from start to finish, and-“
“I’m not going to make out with her, no worries there.”
“Good…it’s not nice to swap spit like that in such a public space.”
“So, you’ve never made out at the movies?”
“Uhh, well, I was a little older than you so-“
“Enough said, I don’t need to know.”
Harry and Andy get into the house and put some of their things away. Harry ends up laying down on his bed for a bit to read and relax, and Andy comes in lay down next to him, twiddling his thumbs.
“What’s up, buddy?”
“Nothing…does something have to be up?”
“No, but you don’t exactly come in to snuggle with me anymore.” He smirks.
“You can read me like a book, Dad.” Andy sighs. “I’m nervous for my date…”
“Why?”
“What if Brandon and Molly start kissing, and then Caroline expects me to kiss her?”
“You could tell B beforehand to maybe cool it with that stuff. Kids your age really shouldn’t be doing that as it is. Do you want me to talk with his parents?”
“No, that would be so embarrassing!”
“What movie are you even seeing?”
“The newest Pixar movie…”
“Alright, I bet it’ll be fine. If it gets weird at all, just call me, and I’ll come get you.”
“Thanks.” Andy says with relief. “I’ll probably sleepover at B’s after the movie, is that okay?”
“Sure.” Harry shrugs. “Just text me and let me know for sure. I’m gonna go to Y/N’s after I drop you off.”
“How come she didn’t just come here?”
“She just needed a little alone time. She gets tired when she’s been really social.”
“Have you talked with her about moving in at all?”
“I have, yeah…we talked about a lot of things a couple of weeks ago. She was thinking maybe July when her lease is up, how would you feel about that?”
“Yeah…why would she wanna wait that long?”
“She has a lot of work to do on her PhD. You may not remember when I was working on mine, but it’s a lot of hard work, and sometimes she needs her own space to get that work done. She’ll be done next May, though. We’re gonna paint together during our spring break, and we’re gonna go furniture shopping soon. Oh! She even wants to take you on a little day trip to Boston sometime soon.”
“Really? That would be so much fun! We haven’t been to Boston in forever.”
“I know! See, it’s all working out. She just needs some time and I wanna make sure I don’t put too pressure on her.”
“I’m really glad she came with us this week. She was so much fun when we went tubing.”
“Yeah, thought she was nearly gonna bounce outta that thing.” He laughs.
“Were you just reading in here?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Do you mind if I just lay in here for a bit? Forgot how comfy your bed is.” Andy yawns and pulls one of the quilts up over himself.
“Course.” Harry smiles and smooths some hair away from Andy’s face.
//
“Andy, thank you so much for paying for my ticket, that was so sweet of you.” Caroline tells him. “At least let me pay for the popcorn.”
“No worries, I got it.” He smiles. “Do you want to, um, share a slushie?”
“Sure.” She blushes. “I like getting the blue and red mixed.”
“Me too! It tastes like grape.”
“Yeah!”
They both giggle as they get into the snack line. Brandon and Molly were just getting their snacks. Brandon’s parents were off seeing a movie that was for adults. They all go in and grab their seats. The boys sit next to each other, and the girls sit on their other sides. Brandon almost immediately puts his arm around Molly and she giggles. Andy rolls his eyes and tries to get comfortable. Caroline reaches for his hand and he smiles as he takes it.
“You have a little tan from skiing.” Caroline points out. “It’s cute.”
“Oh, uh, thanks. The goggles will do that.” He leans forward to take a sip of the slushie. “I…missed you while I was gone. I’m sorry I didn’t get to call you much.”
“Oh! That’s okay. I know you were busy. I missed you too.” She smiles and leans in to give him a kiss on the cheek. “How were things with your…do you call her your step-sister?”
“Yeah, and her name’s Rachel.”
“Since when do you refer to her as your step-sister?” Brandon butts in.
“We had a heart to heart.” Andy shrugs. “She’s not a baby to me anymore, she’s pretty cool, actually.”
“Oh, well, that’s good, I guess.” Brandon says. “I’m glad you guys are doing better.”
“Me too.”
The theater gets darker as the previews come on, and they all pay attention to the screen. Andy felt at peace, he wasn’t sure why he was so worked up before. This was totally chill.
//
Harry shows up to your place with a bottle of wine and pizza. He lets himself in, and is very confused when he sees all the lights off.
“Y/N?!” He flips the lights on and sets everything down in the kitchen. “Baby?!” He goes down the hall and sees the light on in your office. “Babe?” You were passed out with your face in a book and a highlighter in your hand. Harry sighs and comes over to lift you up.
“Huh?!”
“It’s just me!”
“You nearly made me shit myself, Harry, Christ. You can just so easily pick me up?”
“You’re not that heavy.” He chuckles and sets you down. “I was just gonna tuck you in.”
“Well, I’m awake now. Sorry, I was working and I must have fallen asleep.”
“I brought pizza…and wine, but we don’t have to-mph!”
You tugged Harry close to you by his collar, and slotted your mouth over his.
“Pizza and wine sounds incredible.” You grin. “You always know exactly what I need.” You walk out of the office and he follows you. “Oh, and you got the white, you must really wanna get busy.”
“Why do you always think I have an ulterior motive?” He grabs two plates and two glasses.
“Because all men do. Sex is always on your minds?”
“And it’s not on yours?”
“Well, it wasn’t until I started dating you. Now I just always feel absolutely feral.” You smirk as you bite into a slice of pizza.
“Feral, huh?”
“Mhm, although, as a woman I can hide it much easier. I don’t have to worry about an appendage getting excited.” You take a sip of wine and so does Harry.
“No, but…” He comes over to stand behind you to speak into your ear. “You do have to worry about your panties getting wet.” His fingers trail down your body and up under your shirt. They skim the waistline of your sweatpants.
“That would involve me having to wear panties.”
“How do you feel about cold pizza?”
“Love it.”
“Fantastic.” Harry takes the pizza box and shoves it in the fridge, and then grabs you to throw you over his shoulder.
“Harry!” You squeal.
“You know me, I get a little excited.” He chuckles as he carries you into your room. “Babe…” He puts you down. Your room was a fucking mess.
“Okay, before you say anything, it looks like this because I’ve been going through my stuff.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t wanna do it last minute when we eventually move in together. Plus, I have a ton of clothes I don’t wear anymore that I can donate…I’m sorry, you must think I’m so messy.”
“I don’t.” He tucks some hair behind your ear. “I just hate that you’re basically staying here for your home office. You have no problem using mine at the house.”
“But what if we both need to work at the same time?”
“Plenty of room for your desk up there, baby.”
“I feel like we’re rushing and it kind of scares me a little.”
“There’s still no rush…move when you’re ready.”
“You say that, but I know you hate it when I’m here…and I sort of hate it too. I prefer sleeping next to you.” You bite your bottom lip.
“So do I.” He sighs. “What about…over spring break?”
“We’re supposed to paint, moving will take so much work. I don’t know what I wanna do with all my furniture yet…I was thinking of bringing some of it to the consignment shop.”
“What if we put your living room furniture up in the loft? It could look really nice up there, and the TV could go into the basement.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I want you there, and so does Andy. I know it’s stressful and scary, I’m a little scared too, but I want this. I just want you around.”
You pout up at him and wrap your arms around his neck. You hug him close to you.
“I’ll think about it, okay?”
“Sounds good to me.” He kisses you. “Now, I think we came in here for a reason.”
“We sure did.” You peck his lips and let him go. “Take your clothes off.” You go over to your side table and take out a candle and a lighter. “Feel like getting a little freaky?”
“Will it hurt?” He asks, already taking his shirt off.
“Harry, you have a fuck ton of tattoos and you’re scared of a little wax?”
“What kind of wax is it?”
“It’s, like, rose oil. It doesn’t hurt, it’ll just feel warm. You can use it for massages and stuff too.”
“Are you telling me you’re offering to rub my back?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, I’m in.” He smiles and strips down to his boxers. He gets on the bed and lays on his stomach. He puts his glasses on the night table.
You sit on top of his bum and let the candle burn while you get some lotion on your hands. You knead Harry’s shoulders and work your hands down his back.
“Feels so good, baby.”
“Are you ready for the wax?”
“Yeah, go for it.”
“Okay.” You feel giddy. You get off him and take your clothes off. “Flip onto your back, and get your underwear off. If I’m naked, you’re naked.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He smirks and does as you say.
You straddle him and grab the candle. His hands grip your hips, and he squeezes you in anticipation. Your pour the wax, carefully, onto your chest and let it drip down onto his. His mouth hangs open as he watches. It sort of mimicked his come dripping down your body, and that pleased him very much.
“Do it again.” He says.
“You liked it?”
“Yeah…it’s really sexy.”
You smile and pour a little more over your chest and watch it drip onto his. You stick your hand in the wax and let the droplets fall from your fingertips onto his torso. You watch as his stomach tightens.
“Not too hot?”
“No it just feels like warm water…I thought the point of these were for them to hurt a little.”
“That’s what some people use them for. I just like how warm it feels on my skin.”
“Yeah, it does feel kind of good. Do a little more.”
You pour just a little more onto him and set the candle down. You lean down and kiss him, and his hands slide up your back. You suck on his bottom lip and grind yourself against him, making him groan.
“Gotta get a condom.” He mumbles against your mouth.
“Yeah, we probably should.” You say into his ear as you kiss on his neck. “Or…you could pull out and come on back.”
He smiles and nods at you. You get off him and lay on your side, looking over your shoulder. He gets on his side behind you, and lines himself up with you so he can slide in.
“You wanted it like this, huh?” He asks as he grips your hip and rocks in and out of you.
“Yes, Harry.” You hook arm around his head so you can grip his hair.
His hand on your hip slides to your clit, and he rubs slow circles on you. You moan out from the feeling. He sponges his lips on your neck, biting and sucking on your tender skin. You both were grunting and panting. Feel Harry raw was like nothing else, and this angle was sending you.
“Fuck, oh my god.” You moan and your head rolls back against his shoulder. “Say it, Harry, please.”
“You’re such a good girl, Y/N.” He says right into your ear.
“Whose good girl am I?”
“Mine, you’re my good girl.”
“Fuck, yes, I’m yours, I’m all yours.” You start panting more as he rubs your clit faster. “Fuck, I’m gonna!” You arch into him as you release around him.
“Y/N, I need to pull out, I can’t hold it much longer, baby.”
“Okay.” You breathe.
He pulls out and you roll onto your stomach for him. You hear him grunt and groan and you gasp when you feel his warm come shoot onto your back. You look over your shoulder and smile at him.
“Better than the candle?”
“Way better.”
“Let me go get a rag, be right back.”
“I have a better idea.” You say as you get up. “Let’s go take a bath together.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” You peck his lips. “Let’s just enjoy each other tonight.”
//
The movie was great, and Brandon’s parents let Andy and Brandon wait with Molly and Caroline to be picked up from the theater before driving them home. Once they’re at Brandon’s, they get settled into their pj’s and with some video games.
“That was a good movie.” Andy says.
“Yeah, it was really funny. We’ll have to all do it again.”
“Definitely. Would you ever wanna go to the pottery painting place? Y/N said she would take Caroline and I there.”
“You know, not everything needs to be a double date, Andy.” Brandon rolls his eyes.
“I thought you liked double dates.”
“I do, but…I don’t know, I don’t always need to hang out with Molly. I like when just you and I hang out.”
“Me too, I feel like we haven’t done anything just the two of us in a while.”
Brandon pauses the game and looks at Andy.
“Yeah, it’s like…girls have taken over.”
“I don’t even wanna hear it.” Andy laughs. “When you first dated Molly she was all you talked about, and you wanted me to go out with Alexis!”
“I just wanted you to feel included, and I missed you.” He shrugs.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah.”
“How come you guys broke up in the first place? Couldn’t have been that bad if she wanted to go back out with you.”
“She…she thought I liked spending time with you better, and she wanted me to basically not be friends with you anymore, and I chose to be friends with you instead of being her boyfriend. When I asked her to the dance I didn’t think we’d be full on back together, but I guess we are.”
“And does she still have a problem with me?”
“We haven’t talked about it.”
“I can’t believe you chose me over her.”
“I always will, Andy. You’re my best friend.” Andy blushes at that. “Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah.”
“Why haven’t you and Caroline kissed yet? I know you said you didn’t want it to be public, but…”
“Y/N said it was okay not to rush into things.” He shrugs. “I just don’t feel ready for that.”
“You two act like you’re just friends…”
“Friends don’t hold hands and kiss on the cheek. I wanna kiss her, it just hasn’t felt right. Like…I feel like I wouldn’t even know what I was doing.”
“It’s not difficult.” Brandon laughs. “You just sort of smoosh your lips to hers, stay there for a few seconds and then pull away.”
“No way, I’ve seen enough movies to at least know you have to move your lips a little. What if she wants to open mouth kiss or something?”
“Like with tongue? It’s not that gross.”
“You tongue kiss with Molly?!”
“Sometimes.” Brandon shrugs. “It’s nice.”
“I feel like you know everything.” Andy rolls his eyes.
“Well, Andy, when you’re twelve you sort of just figure it all out.” He smirks.
“You’ve been twelve for a month, get over yourself.” Andy laughs.
“Seriously, though, kissing isn’t that scary.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“You know…if you ever wanna, like, know how to do it so it’s good for her, I could show you how.”
“Like…practice?”
“Sure.” Brandon shrugs. “Only if you wanted.”
“Wouldn’t it be like cheating on her, though?”
“Not really, it’s not like it would count.”
“So…you’d show me how to kiss?”
“Yeah, what else are friends for?”
Andy’s heart was racing. Deep down he sort of knew he shouldn’t be doing this behind Caroline’s back, but Brandon was offering something he really wanted on a silver platter and he wasn’t sure he wanted to pass it up.
“Okay, show me what to do.” Brandon scoots closer to him, and furrows his brows. “What?”
“Your hair is just kinda in the way, here.” Brandon reaches forward and pushes Andy’s hair back. “There.” He was blushing and so was Andy.
“Thanks.” He swallows.
“You’re sure about this?”
“Yeah, I wanna know how to do this right.”
“Okay…so…basically, you just sort of…” Brandon cups Andy’s cheeks and leans in closer. “You’re okay?”
“Yeah.”
Brandon nods.
“So, you close your eyes and pucker your lips, but not too tight.”
Andy closes his eyes.
“Like this?”
“Yeah.” Brandon smile, but Andy obviously doesn’t see it. “I’m gonna do it now.”
“Okay.”
Just as Brandon’s about to press his lips to Andy’s, there’s a knock on the door, they both scoot away immediately.
“Boys, it’s getting late.” Mrs. Stewart comes in. “Time for bed.” She smiles and closes the door.
Both boys start laughing.
“I think we should go to sleep like your mum said.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah…I mean…I guess Caroline and I will just figure it out together when it happens, but thanks anyways.” Andy rolls out his sleeping bag.
“You know you can sleep on the bed with me…”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because…one morning when I slept over I woke up, like, ugh, see I do this thing when I sleep where I hold onto something. Like, I have a body pillow at home, you’ve seen it. The same thing happens to my dad, I don’t know why. So one time when I was here I woke up holding onto you and I don’t wanna do it and make you uncomfortable.”
“It didn’t.”
“Wait, you…you knew that happened?”
“Yeah, I just didn’t say anything because I didn’t wanna make you uncomfortable.”
“It didn’t weird you out?”
“No…should it have?”
“I don’t know.”
“Girls do that and share beds all the time. Molly told me that her and Alexis do it all the time.”
“Oh.”
“Sleep on the floor if you want, but you can share my bed with me.”
“Well…I guess if you really don’t care if it happens…”
“Andy I was willing to kiss you, I don’t really care if you accidentally hold me in your sleep.”
“Okay, then, uh, I’ll sleep on the bed then, but I’m gonna use my sleeping bag still.”
“Whatever works.” He shrugs. The boys both get into bed, and lay there staring at the ceiling. “What we did, well, what we almost did…that should probably stay between us…”
“I agree.”
“Pinky promise?” Brandon raises his pinky.
“Pinky promise.” Andy locks his pinky with Brandon’s and they rest their hands together on the bed, neither of them letting go.
//
You and Harry enjoyed a nice, long bath together, and then went to bed. You felt unbelievably cozy in his arms. Yeah, you were definitely going to be moving in sooner rather than later. This is what you wanted every single night, and he felt the same way.
The next morning you wake up with Harry’s hard-on pressing into your ass. You know he’s awake when he starts grinding into you, and groping at your breast. You smile as he kisses on your shoulder.
“Someone’s awake.” You giggle and he hums his response.
“Very much so. Is this alright?”
“Very much so.” You say his words back at him.
“What do you say we-“ Harry’s cut off by the sound of his phone going off. He groans and grabs it. “What’s up, Andy?”
“Dad…you were supposed to pick me up, like, fifteen minutes ago.”
“Oh, shit!” Harry sits up immediately. “I’m so sorry, I’ll be there soon, just hang tight.”
“Where are you?”
“I had a sleepover of my own…I’ll be there soon, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Fuck, I’m late picking Andy up. I never set an alarm, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, baby, go get him.”
“Are you staying here today?”
“Yeah, but I’ll come over to sleep tonight. I wanna finish up the work I was doing last night.”
“Okay.” He smiles and kisses you quick before throwing some clothes on. “Text me later, I can have dinner made.”
“Sounds good.” You smile and watch him walk out.
Harry picks Andy up, and Andy gets into the car.
“I’m so sorry I was late, you know that never happens.”
“It’s okay, where’s Y/N?”
“She’s at her place, she’ll be over later though. She said she may move in during spring break instead of waiting until July.”
“Really? That’s great! Um…do you think if I called Mum…like would you care if I go to her place?”
“Not at all, I’m sure she’d love to have you home. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just feel like being with her, I guess.”
When they get inside, Andy goes to his room to call Paige.
“Hi, honey, how was Brandon’s?”
“Good…are you busy today?”
“Not really, why?”
“Could you come get me? I wanna stay with you tonight.”
“Yeah! Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine, I just feel like I miss you, Mum.” Andy had spent an entire week with his mother, and he really didn’t want to wait another week to see her again. “Got used to being around you and now you’re not here, so-“
“I can be over in a few hours, does that work?”
“Yeah.” Andy sighs. “That’s fine.”
“And you’re sure everything’s fine?”
“Yeah, I just wanna come hang out with you…”
“Okay, baby.”
Andy hangs up and gets up to close his door. There was one more call he needed to make before going out to the living room with his father.
“Andy?”
“Hi, Y/N.”
“Is everything alright?”
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
“Well…it’s a bit odd for you to call me…oh my god, is your dad okay?!”
“He’s fine, chill! I just needed to talk to you about something and I’m going to Mum’s later.”
“Oh, you are? I’m coming over for dinner…”
“I know, I just feel like being with her.”
“Alright, well, I’m glad you’ll see her then…so, what’s up?”
“Something happened last night.”
“At the movies?”
“No, after, at Brandon’s…”
“What happened?”
“We almost kissed.” Andy groans.
“What?!”
“Yeah! We were talking about kissing, and I told him I was nervous about kissing Caroline because I don’t know what I’m doing, and he…he offered to show me how.”
That sly son of a bitch. You think to yourself.
“Andy…you’re dating Caroline.”
“I know! We didn’t kiss, his mom knocked on the door and told us to go to bed. And when we went to bed we fell asleep holding hands.”
“How do you think Caroline would feel if she knew about that?”
“She’d probably feel bad.”
“Right.”
“I really like her, Y/N…but maybe I just like her as a friend, and Brandon as more than a friend. I like having Caroline around, we have a lot in common, and we have fun together.”
“Maybe now just isn’t a good time for you to be dating anyone. It’s not fair to anyone involved, you know?”
“I guess so…but I don’t wanna hurt her feelings.”
“You’ll hurt her more if you do something behind her back with Brandon.” You sigh. “Think things over at Mum’s…maybe you could even talk to her about it. She may have better advice than me, your dad could too.”
“No, they won’t understand.”
“They could if you tried talking to them.”
“But I like just talking to you about this stuff.”
“And I feel so honored that you feel comfortable with me, Andy, I really do…I just think this is starting to get heavy, and you have so many people that love you and care about you that just want to help. I’m one of those people, but so are your parents.”
“It’s just awkward to talk about…”
“I know, sweetheart. None of this is easy. Could you just try? For me?”
“Yeah…I’ll try…thanks Y/N.”
“You’re welcome.”
Andy hangs up the phone and takes a deep breath. Harry was up in his loft, and Andy goes up to join him.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Mum said she could be here in a few hours.”
“Okay.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.” Harry turns around and gives Andy his full attention while Andy sits down on the loveseat, pressing a pillow to his chest.
“How do you breakup with someone?”
“Oh no, you don’t like Caroline anymore?”
“It’s not that I don’t…I just think I…Dad, Brandon and I almost kissed last night, and I don’t wanna do anything behind her back because I like her and I don’t wanna hurt her feelings.”
Harry gets up and sits down next to Andy. He puts his arm around his and rubs his shoulder. He wasn’t entirely sure what to say.
“Have you and Brandon talked at all about how you both might feel about each other?”
“Not really.”
“I know it can be awkward, but it seems like he may like you the way you like him.”
“The times Caroline and I have almost kissed I’ve felt really scared, but I didn’t feel scared with him.”
“I think you’re right to end things with her, I’d hate for your first kiss to be a dishonest one.”
“So…you don’t care that it was almost with Brandon?”
“Of course not! We’ve talked about this, Andy. No matter who you are or who you wanna be with, I’ll still love you. I just want you to be happy.”
“What does it mean when you like boys and girls?”
“Um, well, the term is called bi-sexual.”
“Is it normal? I feel like such a freak.”
“It’s very normal! A lot of people like boys and girls. You’re not a freak, Andy. You also don’t have to have it all figured out right now.”
“Everyone keeps saying that, but it doesn’t make me feel better.” He sighs and leans into Harry more.
“I know…but I promise, at some point, it will get better.” Harry smooths some hair away from Andy’s face.
“It will?”
“Yeah.” Harry smiles. “You know when I was younger, I used to be afraid to paint my nails, or wear things that were seen as girly, and then when I got to uni I just stopped caring. I grew my hair out really long, and just did what made me comfortable, and it helped me really realize who I was. Now I don’t care what people think when they look at me. I do what makes me happy and comfortable, and I want the same for you. I don’t know if you kids have easier or worse nowadays. Things are more accepted, but you also have all that social media and cyber-bullying.”
“There are plenty of other kids in the school that know who they are already. There’s even a trans kid in my class. No one cares, she’s really nice. I guess I just wish I could have it figured out like them.”
“These things take time. I know it’s not exactly the answer you wanna hear, but…”
“No, I get it.” Andy sighs. “I’m sorry I haven’t really been talking to you about all of this, it’s just so awkward to tell my dad I like boys…”
“I suppose.” Harry chuckles. “But just know I’m never gonna judge you, and neither will your mother. She’s just as understanding and accepting as I am. If she wasn’t we never would’ve gotten together.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, she needed help with her nails one night and I helped her. Next day she kissed me.”
“Wow…Mum made the first move?”
“Technically, yeah, but I used to flirt with her all the time. She knew I liked her, but she had just broken up with someone else so she was taking some time before jumping into something else. I know it seems like Mum sort of stands in the shadows, but she’s one of the strongest people I’ve ever met.”
“And what about Y/N?”
“She’s very brave and strong too. It take a lot of courage to move somewhere new and start over just to get another degree. I tell her all the time how proud I am of her.”
“Is she your person?”
“Have you been watching Grey’s with Mum again?” Harry groans.
“No! Okay, sometimes we watch it together when I’m home, but I wasn’t thinking of that when I asked the question.”
“Yeah, Y/N’s my person.” Harry nods. “I think we complement each other nicely, and she’s great with you. That’s the most important thing to me.”
“I like her a lot. Sometimes I wish I could have the relationship I have with her that I have with Noah…”
“You can, you just have to work at it. Meet him halfway a little more.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“Andy, I’m always gonna be your father, your dad, Noah’s not going to replace me in any way, but I think it would be good to let him in a little more. He’s not going anywhere, you know?”
“Right. Maybe I could ask him to watch a movie with me this weekend.”
“I bet he’d really like that.”
//
Paige picks Andy up, and he’s quiet in the car at first. He was drained from all the talking, but he knew he needed to fill her in on things.
“Mum?”
“Yes, honey?”
“I don’t really wanna talk about it anymore, but I like boys and girls, and I think I like Brandon more than Caroline, so I need to break up with her, and I’m scared, but I know it’s the right things to do, so I’ll do it.”
“Oh…oh my, um, okay.”
“Do you…do you still love me?” Andy’s voice cracks just as Paige pulls into her driveway. She turns around to look at him.
“Of course I still love you! You never have to worry about that.”
Andy nods and gets out of the car. Paige hugs him immediately before going inside. Once Andy’s put his things away in his room he comes down to the kitchen and smells something delicious.
“What’s for dinner?” He asks.
“Well, since we knew you were coming we decided to get some of those spinach raviolis you like, and Rachel requested garlic bread.” Noah says.
“You did that for me?”
“Course, buddy.” Noah smiles.
“Thanks, Noah, that was really nice of you.” Andy sits down at the table next to Rachel. “Hey.”
“Hi.” She raises an eyebrow at him. “I thought you wanted to stay with your dad this weekend.”
“I did, but…I sort of missed Mum, so…”
“Must be nice to do that when you can.” She mumbles.
“I was gonna ask your dad if he wanted to watch a movie together tonight, would you wanna join?”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, sure, but why?”
“I’m trying to make more of effort. I’ve been acting like a baby.”
“I believe I said spoiled brat, but baby works too.” She smiles. “I think a movie is a great idea.”
“Hi, precious.” Lydia comes to the table and gives Andy a kiss on the top of his head.
“Hi, Gram.”
“Alright.” Paige says as she puts everything on the table. “Everybody dig in.”
“This looks really good.” Andy says. “Thank you.”
“More than welcome.” Noah says.
“Would everyone be up for watching a movie tonight?” Andy asks.
“Sure, honey, what do you feel like watching?” Paige says.
“It doesn’t matter.” He shrugs.
“How about Ratatouille?” Rachel says.
“Oh, I like that one.” Andy says.
“Ratatouille it is then.” Noah smiles.
“Andy, after dinner, there’s something I wanna talk to you about. Noah can set up the movie.”
“Okay.”
“What is Ratatouille about?” Lydia asks.
“It’s about this rat named Remy who’s really good at cooking, and then he hides under the hat of this guy who isn’t good at cooking, and he helps him cook in this fancy restaurant.” Rachel explains.
“Perhaps I’ll read something instead.” Lydia chuckles.
After dinner Paige goes into Andy’s room with him, and sits on his bed.
“So, what’s up?” He asks her.
“Well, the wedding’s going to be in July, as you know.” Andy nods. “And I’ve been fleshing out some of the details. There’s something I’d like you to do.”
“What, Mum?”
“If you felt comfortable with it, I’d like you to walk me down the aisle and give me away.”
“I…I thought you wanted me to walk Gram down the aisle.”
“I did at first, but Uncle Ned is gonna do it.”
“You really want me to do it?”
“I can’t think of anyone else I would want to give me away at my wedding, baby.” She smiles at him.
Andy’s eyes well up. This was the breakthrough he had been needing. He knows his mother loves him, but for a while he felt like she was moving on without him.
“Okay, Mummy.” He says and they throw their arms around each other. “I’d be happy to.” He snuggles into her and she holds him close, rocking him gently.
“You have no idea how happy that makes me.” She kisses his cheek. “I love you so much, Andy.”
“I love you too.” He looks up at her. “I’m really sorry Gramp won’t be there to do it, but he’ll sort of be with us, right?”
“Right, baby.” She blinks a few tears away. “Well, I think Noah said something about ice cream sandwiches, so we better get down there.”
Everyone gets comfortable on the couch to watch the movie.
Paige: I asked Andy to walk me down the aisle, and he said yes! Thanks for sharing him this weekend
Harry was knuckle deep fingering you when Paige texted him, so it took him a bit to respond.
“Oh! Andy’s gonna walk Paige down the aisle at her wedding.” Harry shows you his phone as you both get settled into bed.
“That’s great! I’m glad he went over there.”
“Me too. Let me just text her back.”
Harry: Amazing! And no worries, he really wanted to hang out with you
Paige: I can bring him back to you tomorrow so you don’t have to
Harry: you sure?
Paige: yeah, it’s no trouble :)
Harry: alright, thanks
“Okay, putting this on do not disturb.” Harry sighs.
“Are we, um, going to the wedding?”
“Slow down, we?” Your face drops and he starts laughing. You smack his shoulder and he laughs harder. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. We’ve been invited, but I haven’t made up my mind yet. It’s going to be a little tough for me. Maybe we’ll just go to the reception, skip the ceremony.”
“Whatever you wanna do is fine with me.” You give his hand a squeeze. “It would be cute to see Andy walk her down the aisle.”
“You know I was nervous Paige was gonna ask me to do it when she was still a little vulnerable after Nathan died. I’m really glad she didn’t.”
“I feel like that would be crossing a line.”
“Just a wee bit.” He takes your hand to kiss it. “I think she forgets where the line is sometimes, but it’s hard to correct her.”
“If she had asked you to do it, would you?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “I would have told her to ask Andy. I’m glad she thought of it on her own.” You both slide down in the bed and you rest your head on his chest while he cards his fingers through your hair. “So, you wanna get married at some point.”
“Correct.” You giggle.
“What kind of wedding do you think you’d want?”
“Something small, honestly. Just close friends and family.”
“I like the sound of that. No sense in blowing an arm and a leg on it.”
“Exactly! I’d love for it be in the fall so it’s not too hot, like, at a nice gazeebo in a park. Oh! And I could really see myself in, like, a white pair of slacks and a blouse.”
“You wouldn’t wanna wear a dress?”
“Not really.” You shrug. “I mean, I could change my mind, but I like the idea of doing something a little different. I’d do the veil and all that.”
“You’d look lovely no matter what you’d wear, baby.”
“Thanks.” You kiss his chest. “What would you want?”
“Pretty much everything you described, something simple with close friends and family. I love the idea of having it in a park. We probably wouldn’t be able to do it in the fall because of school, but maybe in the late spring when the weather feels the same? We could have a nice reception at a local hall so people could dance, or we could rent a tent or something? Lots of really good food, buffet style so people can just take what they want.”
“And we could get assorted cupcakes, I like when weddings have those.”
“Me too, it’s just enough dessert.” He looks down at you and tilts your chin up, pressing his lips to yours. “When do you want to get married, Y/N?”
“Oh, god, I don’t know, baby. Probably after I get my doctorate. As simple as things would be, it would still be a lot to plan along with my work, you know?”
“Mm, definitely. Although, you wouldn’t be planning it on your own. It would be our wedding, so we’d both plan it.”
“You’d really wanna help with all that?”
“Sure! Seems like it could be fun.” He smiles. “And then…I mean, when do you think you’d wanna start having kids? I know I’m still young, but I wanna be too old that I can’t even play with them. That was the most fun part about being young with Andy. I had all the energy in the world when we’d go to the playground and stuff.”
“I’d say by the time I’m thirty would be good, but I mean, if it happens sooner I wouldn’t be mad.”
“Even if we weren’t married yet?”
“Yeah, I mean, ideally I’d at least like to be engaged, but if I got pregnant before we got married it would be fine. Is it weird that I’m not really worried about it?”
“So if you missed your period you wouldn’t freak out?”
“I mean right now I would, I’m way too busy for a baby, but once I’m done with my work I could definitely handle it.”
“I love hearing you talk about wanting to have a baby with me.” He kisses your forehead.
“It’ll be so nice to feel you come inside me.” You bite your bottom lip as you look up at him.
“I’m sorry, did I not make you come enough times earlier? Are you still in the mood?” He smirks.
“Mmm, maybe?” You slide your leg over his and lightly grind against it. “I wouldn’t mind if we went another round…we need all the practice we can get if we’re gonna make a baby at some point.”
“I like the way you think, darling.”
//
During the beginning of March, you and Harry work to get the living room ready for painting. Andy was a big help, and it was fun to watch how serious he took painting. You played music and had a pretty good time getting it all done. Many hands make light work.
Noah came over to help move some of the furniture. The couch and love seat needed to be moved to the basement to make room for the new furniture you had ordered. That was a fun day too, Andy had a ball flopping down onto the different couches. You found a set that had recliners. You also went a curtain and blind store to update some other things.
Then came yours and Harry’s spring break, it was time for you to officially move. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to your apartment. It had been an excellent place to live, but Harry’s house was home now. You set up the loft to have both of your desks and you both loved that no matter what you’d be office neighbors. Andy was a huge help with moving too. He honestly needed the distraction. Things with Caroline…weren’t great.
“Andy, it’s sweet you wanted to go for a walk after school, but it’s a little chilly.” She laughed.
“Sorry, I just wanted to talk privately. Wanna go sit on the swings?”
“Sure.” She shrugged and they walked over to the school playground. “So, what’s up?”
“Caroline, I’m really glad you’re here, and I’m happy we’ve gotten so close, but I don’t think I can be your boyfriend anymore…”
“Wh-what?” Her eyes welled up and her bottom lip quivered.
“Please, don’t cry.” He reached for her hand, and she let him hold it.
“I thought we were having fun…”
“We were! I…I’m really confused about things right now, and it wouldn’t be fair to keep dating when I’m not one-hundred percent sure.”
“What are you confused about? Do you like someone else?”
“I really like you, a lot, Caroline, but there is someone else I also really like, and I liked them before you came here, and I thought that feeling went away, but it didn’t. I’m really sorry.”
“Who is it?”
“I don’t wanna say…I haven’t talked to them yet.”
“Well, this isn’t what I thought we’d be talking about at all…”
“I…don’t wanna stop hanging out with you, though. I like when we do stuff together, you’re so much fun, and-“
“So you just wanna be friends?”
“If you’re okay with that.”
“Um…I think it’s gonna take me some time to wanna be friends, Andy. I feel…really blindsided.”
“I didn’t want to hurt you, I feel terrible.” She nodded at him and stood up, so did he. “Will you think about it? Being friends?”
“Yeah…I mean, I don’t wanna lose you. You were the first person that talked to me here and made me feel welcome.”
“I don’t wanna lose you either.”
She threw her arms around him and they hugged.
“I hope things work out with the other person.” She whispered.
“Me too.”
Things were awkward at school for a bit, especially since people wanted to know why, but Caroline was coming back around slowly to Andy. Anyways, he was just thankful for the creative distractions of painting and rearranging furniture. It made him happy to see his dad so happy too. He could tell Harry was trying to contain his excitement of you moving in.
Things with Brandon were…a tad strained too. It was a little awkward after the almost kissing thing, and even though Brandon was there for Andy after breaking things off with Caroline, he still seemed to be with Molly, and Andy was more confused and annoyed than ever.
The topic of Andy’s April vacation had come up, and Harry and Paige agreed to split the week so that both of them would only have to take a few days off from work. That’s when you and Harry decide it would be good to take Andy to Boston for a little trip. You could spend a few days at Julian’s hotel for next to nothing, and Andy could meet your parents. Harry could meet your friends too, maybe not in the bar atmosphere you were hoping for, but they could meet him nonetheless.
Things were going really well. You were able to get more work done than you thought at the house, and your classes were going incredibly well. Living with Harry was a breeze. He was such a chill and easy going person. You never had a relationship where you could communicate with someone so easily. You rarely fought, and it made for a really happy and healthy environment for everyone.
You were having a peaceful Saturday morning, working away up in the loft while Harry was downstairs reading on your new couch. He loved the recliners.
“Hey, Dad.” Andy plops down next to him.
“What’s up?” Harry closes his book to give his son his full attention.
“So, um, my birthday is a month away, as you know.” Harry hums his response. “My grades have been really good again this year, don’t you think?”
“They’ve been exceptional, I’m really proud of you.”
“Thanks…so…you know how you and Mum usually get me something?” Harry nods at him. “Well, there’s really only thing I want this year.”
“Oh? And what might that be?” Harry sits his chair up straight so he can turn to face Andy.
“A smart phone.” Andy mumbles.
“Hmm, are you turning thirteen this year?”
“No…I’m turning twelve.”
“Right, that’s what I thought. So, no smart phone, Andy.”
“Dad, please?”
“We had an agreement. Your mum feels the same way, I’m sorry, my hands are tied.”
“What’s the difference between now and one more year?”
“If a year doesn’t make a difference, then you can continue to wait.”
“Ugh, you’re being so unfair!”
“Don’t raise your voice at me, I’m being perfectly reasonable. There must be something else you want?”
“No, that’s literally all I want.” Andy huffs. “All of my friends have them, why can’t I?!”
“First of all, smart phones are very expensive, your phone now only costs thirty dollars a month. I’d have to add your line to mine, and that could be over one hundred extra a month. Second of all, I don’t care what your friends have, it’s not happening.”
“You get paid like ninety grand a year!” Andy stands up. “No way money is the issue. I’ll get a paper route or something to help pay for it.”
“That’s really not a lot of money to make when you own a home and have a child. You can wait another year. What do you even need one for right now? You have your own laptop, you have all the internet you could need.”
“I wanna be able to go on Instagram like my friends can!”
“Instagram?!” Now Harry’ standing up, and you can’t concentrate on your work anymore, so you stand up and lean against the banister to see what’s going on. “Who said you’d even be allowed to download all of those apps when you get a smart phone?!”
“Are you kidding me?! That’s the whole point!”
“You won’t be allowed to have any of that until you go to high school!”
“You’re living under a rock, Dad! Everyone my age uses this stuff! I wanna be able to see what my friends are posting, I’m always left out of the loop! I can’t even group text properly!”
“Who do you need to group text with?!”
“My fucking friends!”
Harry was fuming now. You had never seen him like this. You creep down the stairs to maybe see how you could help. You had never seen them fight like this before. Usually it was playful. This was very serious.
“Give me your phone, now.”
“What, why?”
“Because I said so.” Harry holds out his hand for it, and Andy reluctantly gives it to him. “You want a phone so badly for your birthday? You can have this back next month.”
“What?!”
“You heard me.” Harry puts the phone in his pocket and crosses his arms. “You can use the landline if you need make calls.”
“What if Mum needs to text me or-“
“I’ll tell her what’s going on, and she’ll either call me or she’ll call the landline if she needs to speak with you.”
“I can’t believe you’re getting upset over a simple question! I just asked for a phone!”
“We’ve been over this a million times! You’ll get one when you’re thirteen, and that’s final.”
“And you’re really going to take my other phone away until my birthday next month.”
“That’s right.”
Andy was fuming now. He looks at you, almost pleading to say something to his father, but you bite your inner cheek and look away.
“You’re being unfair!”
“I think I’m being plenty fair! This phone isn’t even yours, it’s mine! I pay for it, don’t I?”
“Harry.” You finally step in. “That’s enough.” He turns to look at you with raised eyebrows. “Andy, you shouldn’t talk to your father like that…I don’t like hearing you use cuss words. Also, the rules have been pretty clear, you need to wait another year for a smart phone. Try to think of something else you may like for your birthday, yeah?”
“But-“
“I think you should go cool off in your room for a bit.” You nod in that direction.
“You can’t tell me to go to my room, Y/N.” He scoffs.
“Actually, she can, so go.” Harry says.
“Everyone’s against me! Jesus Christ.” He grumbles and storms off to his room, slamming the door shut.
“I wish you had stayed upstairs, I was handling it.” Harry says to you.
“Were you? Because it seemed like you were throwing daggers at him. You can’t say that to a kid.”
“What?”
“That his property isn’t really his because you pay for it. That’s like saying his room isn’t really his because this is your house. My dad used to say shit like that when he’d get really mad at Phil and I. It doesn’t exactly make for a safe environment when you don’t think anything is yours.” You bite your bottom lip. “Did you really need to take his phone away?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he was acting like a spoiled brat, and I can’t stand it when he does that. Maybe that’s on Paige and I for rarely saying no, but I’m saying no now and he needs to respect that.”
“And you’re really not going to give it back to him until his birthday?”
“That’s right. It won’t kill him to be a little unplugged. If I need to get in touch with him at school I’ll just call the office, and he knows he can do the same. The secretary has a community phone for the kids to use.”
“You didn’t flip out until he mentioned Instagram, why?”
“Because he’s too young for all that. If he gets one then I’ll need to get one.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ll need to monitor what he’s posting.”
“Oh my god.” You shake your head. “You know what that leads to? Him just making a finsta that’s private and all his friends will follow him on there, and he’ll post whatever he wants and have the real fun, and then he’ll post what he thinks won’t get him in trouble on whatever account you follow him on. Come on, Harry, only helicopter parents do shit like that.”
“What in the fuck is a finsta…?”
“It’s a fake Instagram. Look, instead of doing that, we could just talk to him about the importance of privacy settings, and what’s appropriate to post. Instagram can be a lot of fun for kids, you can post aesthetically pleasing photos, although it’s not as fun as it used to be. I remember when I got mine, like, god almost ten years ago, people just used to post cool pictures of food, now it’s a place for influencers and models, which is really annoying, but-“
“Y/N, please, you’re giving me a headache.” Harry sighs. “I’m his dad, so what I say goes.”
“Right, and I’m just the woman who lives here that fucks you, is that it?”
“Don’t twist this into an argument between the two of us, it’s not necessary.”
“You picked a fight with him for no fucking reason, Harry.”
“He started getting-“
“I don’t care! You’re the parent, like you said, act like the adult you are. You could have handled that ten times better, but instead you chose to be petty, and for what? I know it’s scary that he’s growing up, and maybe right now you can protect him by not getting him the phone, but you can’t protect him from every little thing. What you should do is teach him how to properly use all of that stuff so he doesn’t get hurt. Don’t talk to strangers applies in the real world as it does virtually, stuff like that.”
“Wow, been living here a month and you’re an expert on parenting, that’s incredible. You should really write a book on it.”
You narrow your eyes at him. Harry had never, not once, spoke to you like that. Something had really crawled up his ass today, and you clearly hit a trigger for him. This had to be about Andy growing up, and Harry being sad about it. You look him up and down and smirk before going back upstairs to your work. If he didn’t want you to be involved, then you wouldn’t be involved.
After a couple of hours, Harry knocks on Andy’s door.
“Come in…” He mutters as Harry enters.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Can we chat?”
“Are you gonna yell at me again?”
“Are you gonna yell at me?”
“No.” He mumbles, and Harry nods. He sits down with Andy on his bed.
“I know I was harsh earlier, and I know it seems unfair that I’m being so firm about this, but I’d appreciate a little trust here. You do not need a smart phone yet, trust me. All of those apps and stuff just rot your brain. Right now you read before you go to bed, and you’re able to relax. Smart phones are really tempting and can keep you up for hours if you’re not careful. I just think you could handle it better a little later on.”
“My friends are able to take pictures and post them, and then someone always has to show them to me. It’s embarrassing.”
“I’m sure you’re not the only one in your grade that doesn’t have one.”
“You’re probably right, but it’s still annoying.”
“I know.” Harry sighs. “Here.” Harry gives Andy back his little phone. It was the kind that slides open to have a keyboard to text. “You have no reason to really be punished, you didn’t do anything that would warrant not having your phone.”
“Thanks.” Andy sets it down on his bed.
“Social media can be really scary, and I know you think it’s fun, but it can turn to not so fun fast, and my biggest fear is that something could happen to you because of it.”
“Dad, I’m not gonna talk to anyone I don’t know…”
“Well, I should hope not.”
“Is Y/N mad at me? I shouldn’t have said that to her…”
“No, she’s mad at me actually for how I handled things. I’m sorry I said that too about the phone being mine. It’s not, it’s yours…and I don’t mind footing the bill.”
“It’s okay…is she still working, can I go see her?”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind the visit from you.” Harry smiles. “Can we agree that you’ll get the phone next May? Please, I don’t want to keep having this same fight.”
“Okay.” Andy nods. “But there’s something else I want then.”
“Name it.”
“Ariana Grande is touring again soon, and I’d like to go to her concert.”
“Do you wanna bring a friend?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” Harry sighs. “I’ll see what I can do, alright?”
“Really?!”
“Yeah.”
“Oh my god!” Andy squeals and lunges himself onto Harry for a hug. Harry chuckles and hugs his son back. “And don’t worry about having to chaperone, Y/N told me if Ari ever toured here again she’d take me.”
“Thank god, I really don’t think I could sit through it.”
Andy rolls his eyes to get up and go see you.
“Y/N?”
“Hey.” You smile at him.
“I’m sorry about earlier.”
“Oh, please.” You scoff. “It’s fine, I would have said the same thing. Did you and Dad figure things out?”
“Mhm.” Andy grins. “He’s gonna try to get tickets to see Ariana Grande for us!”
“That’s great! Better than a phone, huh?”
“Way better.” He comes over to you to hug you, and then he heads back downstairs. The Styles men, you were starting to notice, are a special breed.
You don’t’ say much to Harry for the rest of the day, although you could tell he trying to butter you up. He made lasagna for dinner, one of your favorites. You mostly spoke with Andy at the table. You wanted a formal apology for what he said to you, that was it. When you had still barely spoken to him by the time you both got into bed, he sighs heavily and looks at you. You raise an eyebrow at him.
“What do you want to hear, that you were right?”
“No, I want to hear you say you’re sorry for being a facetious little shit when I was just trying to help. I’m fully aware that I don’t have as much experience parenting as you do, but don’t discount me like that. I’ve been in that kid’s life long enough now, also I’ve read a few parenting books since we started dating so-“
“You have?”
“Of course I have! I went into this blind, I had to do some research, Harry.”
“I’m sorry I said what I said to you, I was frustrated that you…that you just read the situation to a T. I’m petrified of him growing up, it sucks. I hate it and there’s nothing I can do to stop it, and I have control of the phone thing, so I flipped out when he challenged me on it.”
“I didn’t like hearing you yell. You never get that mad.”
“I have my moments, you’re just more privy to them now.” He sighs. “It’s hard for to stay calm sometimes when he starts yelling at me. It’s only going to get worse, so I know it need work on keeping my cool.” You nod your head. “I gave him his phone back.”
“You did?” You features soften.
“Yeah, it was stupid of me to have taken it in the first place. He didn’t really do anything wrong.”
“I’ll always respect your decisions, I mean, you’ve been doing this alone, sort of. But I want you to remember I’m your partner in this, we’re a team, babe.”
“Yeah, we are.” He smiles. “I really am sorry for speaking to you like that.”
“It’s okay.” You shrug. “You backed me up while he was still in the room.”
“I’m glad you butted in, who knows what else I would have said if you hadn’t. I feel like for so long, like, because he wanted to be with me, and I got used to it, I didn’t really discipline him as much. I wanted to keep him happy so he’d want to stay. It was so hard for years only seeing him for small chunks of time. I’ve been trying to form better habits.”
“And you’re doing a great job, I think you’re doing as best as you can. I just want you to know it’s not all on your shoulders anymore.”
“Thanks, baby.” He kisses your cheek. “So…we’re good?”
“Yeah, we’re good.”
“Good, I couldn’t stand the silent treatment.”
“I just didn’t really know what to say to you, honestly. Upside is I got a fuck ton of work done.” You chuckle.
“Oh, well, thank god for that.” He laughs. “So, you’re not gonna deprive me of the booty tonight, then?”
“No, you can still have some booty.” You giggle and shift down in the bed, and turn over so he can wrap himself around you. The sound of his sigh makes me you smile. “I feel like even if I was so mad at you that I didn’t want you to hold me, you would in your sleep anyways.”
“My plan is to never make you that mad, so we don’t have to worry about that.”
“Oh good, I’m glad you have a plan.”
“Goodnight, Y/N.” He kisses your cheek again before really getting cozy with you.
“Goodnight, Harry.”
//
Since you were going for a few days, you decide to drive down to Boston. You were a little worried that it might be awkward sharing a room with both Harry and Andy, but neither of them seemed all that concerned. Julian said he’d hook you up with a good size room, so that put you at ease.
“What are we doing first, Y/N?” Andy asks excitedly from the back seat.
“Well, first we’re going to check in to the hotel to drop all of our things off, and then I was thinking we could go to the aquarium, would you like that?”
“Yeah! I haven’t been there in forever. Can we do the touch tank?”
“Of course.”
Harry puts his hand on your thigh as you drive. He was over the moon about doing something just the three of you. Even though you all lived together now, a trip would be a good bonding experience.
“Holy shit.” You say to yourself when you go inside the room. “He gave us a full suite! Look, there’s two bedrooms.”
“Sick!” Andy says as he runs in, and claims one of the rooms.
“Well, this is a pleasant surprise.” Harry says. “We’ll have to make sure to say thank you.”
“Definitely.” You text Julian immediately to tell him how amazing he is. “Okay, bathroom break and then we’ll head to the train?”
Andy didn’t get to go on the train very often, so hopping on and off was really exciting. He got to use the tube in London, but this was still fun for him. His eyes light up when you get the aquarium. He waits for you and Harry to get your tickets before going up to the touch tank that was on the outside of the building.
“They brought us here for a class trip when I was in the fourth grade, I think this and the penguins were my favorite part.” He tells you as he gently touches the various animals in the tanks. “It’s so cool.”
Once Andy’s had his fill, you all head inside. He nearly squeals when he sees the penguins, and Harry takes his phone out to take some pictures, chuckling to himself.
“What?” You smile at him.
“Nothing, he’s just gonna sleep so well tonight.” He kisses your cheek. “I’m really glad we’re doing this.”
“Me too. I thought this trip could be sort of educational for him, so I got us tickets for the museum of science tomorrow.”
“I thought your friends were meeting us tomorrow?”
“They are.” You grin. “It’s going to be fantastic.”
You and Harry hold hands as you walk through the aquarium with an enthralled Andy. You stop off for a quick snack in the small food court, and keep going.
“What are we doing for dinner tonight?” Andy asks.
“Bud, you just had a bag of chips and a candy bar…” Harry says. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hungry for more?”
“I’m not, it just got me thinking about food later.”
“Happens to the best of us.” You chuckle. “We’re going to have dinner at my brother’s place so you can meet my family, how does that sound?”
“Wow, really?” Andy asks with wide eyes.
“Mhm, and brother is a really good cook, so you’re gonna eat well tonight.”
“Are your parents gonna be there too?” He asks.
“Yup.” You smile and so does he.
After the aquarium, you all go back to the hotel to freshen up before hopping in the car to go to Phil and Julian’s. You were happy it was a Sunday evening so Phil didn’t have to physically be at the restaurant. Andy gets a little shy as you walk into the complex, sticking to Harry’s side.
“Hello?” You say as you key in.
“Hey!” Julian says as he greets you. “Come on in, hi, Harry.” He smiles. “And oh my goodness, you must be Andy! Hi, I’m Julian.”
“Hello.” Andy says, politely shaking Julian’s hand.
“Phil’s made so much food, you’d think it was Thanksgiving all over again. A little birdy told us you like pasta, Andy.”
Andy’s smile grows as you all come into the kitchen. Phil had made homemade raviolis and bolognaise, along with a meatless option for you and Harry.
“Hey, everyone.” Phil smiles as he strains the raviolis. “Mum and Dad should be here any minute, think they got stuck in traffic.” He looks at Andy. “Hi, I’m Phil, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Hello.” Andy shakes his hand as well. “So…you’re Y/N’s big brother.”
“That’s right.” He throws an arm around you. “She drove me nuts growing up, but now I don’t know what I would do without her.” He kisses your temple and lets you go. “You’re on April vacation, right?”
“Mhm.”
“Must be nice to just have an entire week off, enjoy it while you can.” Phil chuckles.
“Babe, do you want me to get the table set?” Julian asks.
“Please, that would be great. Garlic bread’s almost done and then we can put it in that nice basket you got.”
Julian nods and gets to work. A knock on the door signals that your parents have arrived, and you go to open it for them. It’s hugs and kisses all around, and then they say hello to Harry.
“Good to see you both again.” Harry says to them.
“Same to you.” Your dad says.
“Andy, c’mere, I want you to meet my parents.” You say to him and he stands in front of you. “Mum, Dad, this is Harry’s son, Andy.”
“Well are you’re you just the most precious thing!” Your mom says. “Y/N’s sent us some pictures of you, but they don’t do you justice. Look at those curls!”
“Oh, thanks…I use a special mousse for them.” Andy says shyly. It makes both of your parents laugh.
“Andy, we heard you enjoy painting.” Your dad says to him and Andy nods. “Well, we couldn’t help ourselves, especially since we also heard your birthday was coming up soon.” He takes a bag from behind his back and hands it to Andy. “Go ahead and open it if you like.”
Andy looks up at you and you nod. He opens the bag and gasps.
“Whoa! It’s that washable paint stuff! Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.” Your mom says. “We saw it and just had to get it.”
“Okay, dinner’s ready, let’s sit.” Phil says.
Everyone sits down at the table, and the conversation stays around Andy. He answers questions about school, friends, what his favorite subject is, what he does for fun (other than painting), and he talks about how much he likes living with Harry.
“Sometimes I miss my mum, but I like living with Dad more. It’s just calmer.” Andy shrugs. He was thoroughly enjoying the food as well.
“Can’t be much calmer with Y/N there now.” Your dad chuckles. “With the way she’s always running around like a chicken with their head cut off.”
“I do not do that…” You mumble.
“Sure you do honey, you always used to run around the house never able to find anything, and we’d tell you not to run because you always had socks on too, and one time you completely wiped out!”
“Wow, I didn’t realize we’d be telling embarrassing stories about me tonight.” You roll your eyes.
Andy thought it was interesting seeing you interact with your parents. You sort of did what Harry did, in that you acted like a kid again. He also liked observing Phil and Julian. Maybe things would get better.
//
The next day, after enjoying a nice breakfast at the hotel, you all head to the Museum of Science. Claudia, Nora, Darcy, and Mark would all be meeting you there. The three of you wait inside for them.
“Y/N!” Nora squeals and runs over to you. You open your arms and you hug each other. Everyone else comes following from behind.
“I swear she turns into a cheetah when she sees you.” Claudia says.
“Oh, shut up.” Nora says, letting go of you. She looks at Harry grins. “Well, well, well, look who have here.”
“It’s so nice to meet you all.” Harry says.
“Oo, boy, that accent.” Mark giggles to Darcy.
“This is my son, Andy. We’re both excited to spend the day with you.”
“Hello.” Andy says. He was feeling a little shy, but less so than last night.
“He’s so handsome!” Nora says to Harry. “Not surprised though.” She looks Harry up and down.
“Okay, enough flirting with my boyfriend.” You say. “Harry, Andy, this is Nora, Darcy, Claudia, and Mark, my best friends in the world.”
Everyone gets properly introduced, and you all head inside to the main area. Nora and Mark loop arms with Harry, and it makes you giggle as they walk with him, and talk his ears off. Claudia and Darcy do the same with Andy, and he loves it. Everyone helped make all of the science and exhibits extra fun for Andy. His favorite part was the lightning show.
You all were pooped by the time you got to the planetarium. Andy sits in the middle of you and Harry, and Nora sits on your other side. You two giggle and she makes you laugh so hard you cry while trying to be quiet during the show, which makes your other friends laugh too. Harry enjoys all of it.
“Okay, we were thinking Mexican for dinner, does that work for everyone?” Mark says.
“I love tacos.” Andy says. “Sounds good to me.”
“Yeah, we eat Mexican all the time.” Harry says.
“Great! You’ll love this place. They have the best margaritas.” Claudia says.
Andy was eating good this weekend. He wondered if you did this a lot when you used to live here. All of the adults order drinks, and Harry lets Andy get a virgin pina colada for his drink. Everyone got all different types of food. Luckily the restaurant had a kids menu with more traditional Tex-Mex that he was used to.
“So, Harry, talk to us about this cabin. Is it used in the summer?” Darcy asks.
“Yeah, it’s great for all seasons.” The friends all look at each other. “You all will have to come up some time this summer.”
“Oh, well, we wouldn’t want to impose.” Nora scoffs. “But I have to say, we’re incredible house guests.”
“Good to know.” Harry smiles. “So, what do you all do for work?”
“I’m a preschool teacher.” Claudia says.
“I’m an executive assistant to this CEO downtown.” Mark says. “At a marketing firm.”
“I’m an insurance agent.” Darcy says.
“And I also work in higher ed, but I work in Alumni Relations.” Nora says.
“Did you all go to school together?” Andy asks.
“Nora and I became friends in high school, and went to the same undergrad, that’s where we met Darcy and Mark, and then Claudia and I met in grad school, and she and Darcy, um, saw each other for bit…”
“But we realized friendship was the way to go.” Claudia says.
“That’s right.” Darcy says. “And we’ve all just been a little group ever since.”
“That’s kind of how my friend group is. My best friend is Brandon, and we have this other friend Tyler. And then Caroline became friends with us because she and I were boyfriend and girlfriend, but now we’re just friends.” Andy explains. “It was awkward at first, but everything’s normal again.”
“It can definitely be awkward.” Mark agrees. “You’re in sixth grade, right?”
“Mhm.”
“My god, the drama.” Claudia snickers to Darcy.
The group asks Harry questions about how he got into academia and how he ended up in New England. It was a great conversation all around. The food was excellent and everyone seemed to be meshing well. You and Nora had got up to go to the bathroom together, it was a chance to consult.
“Well?” You say to her as you both wash your hands.
“I can’t find a single flaw, Y/N.” She says. “I mean, on the outside, ten out of ten, that man is gorgeous, but he can also carry a conversation. He’s not one of those condescending know-it-alls, you can tell he’s really listening. God, and that Andy…so adorable.”
“Right? Sweetest kid ever.”
“You can tell how comfortable he is with you too by how comfortable he already is with us. He was shy at first, but he opened up. Living together has been going well so far?”
“Yeah, for the most part it was seamless. I’ve never felt this sure in a relationship before.”
“Clearly! I don’t think you’ve ever lasted this long in one.” She jokes and you roll your eyes. “I like them both a lot, well done.”
“Thanks.” You smile and walk back to the table with her.
“Well, this has been fun, but every night as to come to an end at some point.” Darcy says.
“Yeah, not all of us have a week off.” Mark says.
“Hey, I’m using vacation time same as you.” You say. “But I appreciate you all coming out today.”
“It was so nice to finally meet all of you.” Harry says.
“You both better come back down soon. We can show you a really good time nightlife wise.” Nora says.
Harry nods, and Andy says goodbye to everyone before you all go to your separate trains. Andy can barely keep his eyes open as he sits on the train between you and Harry. His head falls to Harry’s shoulder, and Harry pouts down at him.
“M’gonna have to carry him.” He says to you. “What a treat.” He puts his arm around Andy to keep him comfortable.
“I didn’t realize just how much walking we did today.” You chuckle and run your fingers through Andy’s hair.
“Think that big meal we just had did him in. It’s alright, he’s having a great time.”
“Are you going to be able to carry him?”
“Oh, sure. He’s not that heavy.”
“I know…he’s just getting lanky.”
“He’s due for a growth spurt, that’s for sure.”
Once you reach your stop, Harry’s able to pick Andy up bridal style and carry him out cuddled to his chest. It was one of the sweetest things you had ever seen. You weren’t always pricy to the more tender moments between them, and you were living for this one.
“I’m just gonna get him settled into his bed.” Harry whispers to you once you’re in the hotel room. You nod and go start your nightly routine.
Harry’s able to get Andy changed, and tucked into bed. Just as Harry kisses his forehead, Andy fidgets.
“Dad?” He mumbles.
“Shh, go back to sleep, buddy.” Harry coos.
“M’having a lot of fun with you and Mum.” He yawns and rolls over. “Goodnight.” He mumbles again before passing out.
Harry’s eyes widen and his mouth falls open. Did Andy mean to say that? Why were people always making confessions to him while they were half asleep? He slowly leaves the room and heads into yours. You were just sliding into bed.
“He all set?”
“Yeah, I’m just gonna go do my thing.” He points to the bathroom and you nod. You had gotten your period yesterday, and you were sort of thankful so that there would be minimal funny business. It wasn’t necessary on a family trip.
“Are you alright?” You ask as Harry gets into bed.
“Yeah…he just…he mumbled something in his sleep, that’s all.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he was having a lot of fun with us, um, just made me happy to hear.”
“Aw, he’s so sweet.” You peck Harry’s lips and settle down into bed. “Love you, baby.” You yawn.
“Love you too.” He says as he spoons you.
On your last day in the city, you and Harry decide it would be fun to bring Andy to the Quincy Market Place so he could do a little shopping. He nearly sprinted when he saw the Newbury Comics. You spent quite a bit of time in there, and Harry let Andy pick out a couple of things he wanted.
“Do you guys mind if I go into The Loft?”
“I thought you didn’t really shop for clothes.” Harry says to you.
“I don’t, but they’re having a sale, and I’d like to go check it out.”
“We can go with you, Y/N.” Andy says.
“So, I’m really annoying to shop with.” You laugh. “Go on to another store. I can meet you in, like, fifteen minutes?”
“Sure, let’s meet outside The Loft.” Harry says and you nod.
You really did hate to shop for clothes, especially with other people around. You were extremely picky and indecisive.
“Alright, where should we go? Need a bathroom break?” Harry asks Andy.
“No, I think we should go into one of these jewelry stores.”
“Why?”
“So you can look at rings, duh.” Andy scoffs.
“Oh, Andy…I…”
“Rip the band aid, Dad, come on, let’s just go look.” He tugs on Harry’s arms towards a jewelry store and they start looking around. “She only has, like, two rings she always wears, so this one definitely needs to be good.”
“Are you telling me you want me to propose to her already?”
“She’s living with us, why not?”
“It’s a big deal to marry someone.”
“But you both want to, right?”
“Well, yeah, we talk about it enough.”
“Okay, then. No harm in looking.” Andy shrugs. “She likes wearing silver…”
“I know.” Harry nudges him. “I have no idea what style she even would want…”
“She wears that necklace you got her every day, I don’t think she’ll care that much.”
“True, I got lucky with that one.”
Harry’s eyes scan over the various rings as the women behind the counter watch him. Nothing was really catching his eye until he saw a silver band with small diamonds studded in it, and large square diamond in the middle.
“Hey, what about this?” Harry asks Andy. “It’s…elegant, like her.” Andy tugs Harry’s shirt down so he can whisper in his ear.
“Take a sneaky picture of it so you can just order a similar one online.” Harry nods and does so swiftly before leaving the store. They both walk over to The Loft where you were standing already.
“No luck?” Harry asks when he doesn’t see any bags.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” You shake your head. “Trying clothes on while bloated was not a good idea, let’s just leave it at that.”
After a bit more walking, and a quick lunch, you all decide it’s time to hit the road. Just like last time, you drive through the city, and pull over at the rest area to let Harry drive the rest of the way. Andy was conked out in the back seat. You hold Harry’s hand as both of your arms rest on the console.
“This was a great few days.” Harry says.
“I know, I almost wish we just took the whole week off from work.” Harry chuckles at that and nods his head. “Is Paige coming to get him tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna let him sleep in, and then she’ll come grab him while we’re at school.”
“Alright, sounds good. My family loved meeting him by the way, so did my friends. I got a ton of text messages saying so.”
“Ah, so you have all the official approval you could need then?”
“I’d say so.” You nod. “I think my parents are still a little uneasy about it, but they’ll get used to it.”
“It was really nice of them to get him that paint.”
“They’ve been dying to become grand-parents, so I’m not surprised that they jumped on the schmooze train.”
“Still, they didn’t have to do that.” He squeezes your hand. “It’s not easy to just treat someone as your own right away.”
“He doesn’t make it difficult, trust me.” You bring Harry’s hand up to your lip to press a kiss to his knuckles and he sighs.
//
With Andy at Paige’s for a few days that guaranteed no one just walking in, as soon as your period was over, it was like Harry went feral. It reminded you of that first weekend you actually slept over where he just wouldn’t let you leave the bedroom. He tried to be subtle about it, but he wasn’t very good at it.
“Feel like taking a break?” He says to you one night as you’re working.
“Do to what?” You say to him without looking.
“Me.” Your hands freeze over your keyboard, and you slowly turn to look at him. “You looked so pretty today, and I barely had time to tell you with all my advisees coming in and out.” He tils your chin up so you can look at him easier. “What do you say?”
You look at your computer quickly to save whatever you’re working and then you reach for the button on his jeans, but he backs away.
“Let’s get comfortable, darling.”
“You know, a break implies that this will be quick.”
“I meant break as in you’re done for the night, was I not clear?”
“Harry…”
“You’re going to burn out if you keep coming home and working until an ungodly hour.”
“I can’t help it.” You pout up at him.
“Come on, come down to the bedroom with me. We don’t have to worry about being quiet tonight…”
“Alright.” You sigh and get up to go downstairs with him.
Once you’re in the bedroom he cups your jaw and starts kissing you. It’s slow at first; soft. Your hands splay on his chest as he licks into your mouth. Before you can meet his tongue with yours he pulls away and nuzzles his nose to yours.
“Baby.” He whispers with a smile, and that all about melts you into a puddle.
He kisses from your cheek to your jaw to your neck, feather light, causing goosebumps to grow on your covered skin. You tug at the hem of his shirt, and he steps back so he can take it off. He reaches for yours and you lift your arms up. He cups your bare breasts (who wears a bra at home?), and kneads them as his lips find yours again. He gets you on the bed, and kisses down your chest. He tugs at your leggings and wriggles them down your legs along with your panties.
“Yours too.” You toe at his jeans and he smirks at you. He does as you say and gets rid of his jeans, leaving him in his boxers.
“Happy?”
“Yes.”
He goes back to kissing on your body, nipping where he feels like before sucking a bruise into your inner thigh. You grit your teeth and try not to buck your hips towards him. You gasp when you feel his tongue on you, sucking and swirling around your folds before he makes his way to your clit. He moans into you and your hands grasp at his hair. You bite your bottom lip as two fingers slide inside you, and you grind against them.
“Feels so good, don’t stop.” You say to him as he sucks on your clit and curls his fingers inside you. Your legs were starting to shake around him. “H-Harry.” You groan as your head rolls back. He keeps his pace steady, not changing a thing so you can get there. “Oh, fuck!” Your chest heaves as you release around his fingers.
He sucks his fingers into his mouth and looks at you with a smirk.
“What?” You breathe.
“Can I put the handcuffs on your for a change?”
Your eyes widen as you look at him. You really didn’t like being the one restrained, and it just looked better on Harry the times he’d let you cuff him.
“Um…maybe use one of the scarves, I don’t like the handcuffs on me.”
“But you’re okay with the scarf, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He nods and goes into the drawer to get it.
“I’m not even gonna tie to you to bed, I’m just gonna put your wrists together.”
“Alright.”
“Sit up for me so I can tie them behind your back.”
“Oh?” Your eyebrows raise as you do as he says. He ties your wrists together and sits on the edge of the bed. “What do you want me to do, ride you?”
“Please.” He puts his arms out for you to help you. “Can I just come on your stomach?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
He helps get you lined up, and you sink down on him. You use your knees on either side of his thighs to help you move up and down. You could feel yourself trying to reach for him, but you couldn’t. He sits back with the palms of his hands flat behind him on the bed as you bounce up and down on him. He watches how the features on your face change as you basically use him.
“Harry, please put your hands on me.” You groan.
“Only because you asked so nicely.” He reaches for you but stops when you speak.
“Don’t be cute with me.” You smirk at him. “Or next time I’ll just have to tie you to each bed post again and ride you like this. Remember how much fun that was for you?” Your lean forward and ghost your lips over his, making him shudder.
“Okay, sorry, I’ll touch you.” He pouts slightly. His hands slide down to your ass and he helps you move on him.
You slot your mouth over his and lick into him. He moves you so you’re grinding back and forth on him and you moan into his mouth.
“Like that, baby?” He says to you as he sponges kisses to your collar bone.
“Yes, fuck, keep going.”
He looks up at you as you squeeze your eyes shut and bite your bottom lip. Your head rolls back, and you squeeze around him.
“That’s it, baby, be a good girl and come for me.”
Your mouth falls open, and you cry out as you reach your high. Those were the magic words, and they worked every single time. Harry pecks your lips before lifting you off of him and settling you on your back. He has you place your arms comfortably above your head, your wrists still tied together. He throws both of your legs over his shoulders, and thrusts back into you. He looks down to make sure you’re alright, and you nod at him to let him know he can keep going. Both of your moans and groans fill the room, along with the sound of his skin slapping against yours. Your clit was throbbing, and you need to give it some friction, but you knew Harry wanted your hands to stay put.
“H-Harry, please, could you, ah!” His tip your g-spot. “Fuck, please, rub my clit.” You groan.
He drops one of your legs so he can do so properly, and you moan out with relief. He thrusts were fast and deep, and it was going to send you over the edge any second with him rubbing you as well. Your eyes roll into back of your head when your orgasm reaches.
“Harry.” You whimper as you come down from your high.
He lets your other leg drop, and he comes down to you, chest to chest. He sucks on your bottom lip as he rocks in and out of you, and you wrap your legs around his waist. His hands come to yours, and he pushes down on your wrists as he continues to fuck you. You were breathing heavily underneath him, and you couldn’t help but look up at him and just watch. He looks down at you too, and it’s insanely intense, but neither of you can think to look anywhere else.
Harry keeps one hand on your wrists as the other snakes between the two of you. He rubs circles into your clit, and moves his hips in the same motion. Your mouth falls open and the whiniest moan comes out. He smirks at you.
“Harry, fuck, I’m gonna come again.” You groan.
“Yeah? Just feels that good, huh?”
“So good, baby, so good.” You start panting. “You treat me so well, Harry. I love you so much.”
“Fuck, I love you too.” He kisses you sloppily, teeth clanking and everything.
You moan into each other’s mouths as you come to your fourth release. You squeeze him a little too tightly, and he nearly loses control.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit.” He says as he pulls out, coming immediately onto your stomach. You were in such a daze you almost told him he could just come inside you, but that was the orgasm talking. “Fuck, baby.” He breathes and kisses your forehead. “Let me go get a rag.” Harry comes back with a warm washcloth to clean you up. “Feel like watching a movie, darling?”
“Sure.” You giggle as he cleans between your legs. “I can do that you know?”
“I know, I just feel like it’s the gentlemanly thing to do. I made a mess, I should clean it up.”
“Remind me to thank your mother some time for raising your right.”
Harry chuckles at that and tosses you one of his shirts before putting on a pair of boxers. He opens up his armoire and grabs the remote for the TV, and gets into bed while you go properly clean yourself up.
“What do you feel like watching?” He asks as you get back into bed.
“Something funny. Hmm, how about Step Brothers?” He scrunches his face at you. “Come on! It’s funny.”
“It’s mind numbingly stupid…”
“That’s the point.” You rolls your eyes at him. “I’m not watching another documentary, Harry, I’m just not.”
“But you learn so much from them, and they’re fascinating.”
“Maybe to you, I find them to be boring as all hell.”
“You can’t tell me the documentary we watched about prohibition was boring!”
“The only interesting part was when they got into the speak-easies.”
“You said you enjoyed the whole thing, you even laughed at certain parts.”
“Faked it.” You smirk and he gasps.
“You didn’t.”
“I did. Faked the whole thing.”
“Why would do that?”
“To keep you happy of course.” Your grin grows as he glares at you.
“Better be the only thing you’ve faked.” He says as he puts Netflix on to watch Step Brothers.
“Harry, you’re nuts if you think I would fake an orgasm with you. I’m not in the business of doing that anymore.”
“Anymore?” He raises an eyebrow at you.
“Did it a lot when I was younger, it’s the fastest way to get someone else to finish when you’re not super into it. I used to not be as vocal as I am now. Sometimes it takes a girl a while to feel comfortable enough to find her voice in the bedroom.”
“Fair enough.” He says as he puts his arm around you, pressing his lips to your hair line for a few kisses. “I love how vocal you are.”
“I know you do because you like hearing how good of a job you’re doing.” You look up at him and start laughing.
“What?”
“Do you get a stiffy when you read your good course evaluations?”
“No, I do not!” He starts laughing. “Why would you even ask me that?”
“Because it just seems like something that would happen to you. All of that praise must go right to that big head of yours.”
“Do you wanna watch this fucking movie or not?”
You burst out laughing as he holds you closer to him, pressing play on the movie. You kiss his cheek and settle down.
“And by the way”, he starts, “I enjoy American documentaries because there’s a lot I didn’t learn in school growing up, and it helps me know what some of the students are talking about. I get a few history majors now and then and I can happily say I can carry on a conversation with them.”
“Harry, it’s okay to be a nerd all on your own, you don’t to blame it on your students.” You give his chest a little pat, and gives your hip a pinch. “Aw, I’m just teasing, sweetheart.”
“Teasing is my thing, get your own.”
#harry styles#office neighbors#harry styles imagine#harry styles fic#harry styles fanfic#harry styles series#harry styles x reader#harry styles x y/n#harry styles y/n#harry styles smut#harry styles angst#harry styles fluff#singledad!Harry#professor!Harry
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On Family
An excerpt from Memoirs of a Flesh Eater, never published
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One question that I see asked in the news a lot is why there are still any ghouls left. We have a distinctive, high-impact feeding habit that requires us to stay within human society, where we are both outnumbered and outgunned. This has essentially been the case since the development of automatic firearms, and you’ve continued to develop more and more effective methods of killing us since then. How are we not extinct?
The talking heads always have lurid theories to propose. My personal favorite one, which comes up every couple of years or so, is that the government is secretly breeding us so that they have an excuse to send secret police out into the general populace for nefarious purposes pretending to be exterminators. As if they’d need the excuse {Editing Note: I’ve gotta keep my political views out of this except where they directly pertain to ghouls. No unnecessarily alienating people}. The most commonly accepted one seems to be that we just have a lot of children to compensate for our high mortality rate. Spatha calls that an R strategy, I think. Scarlet calls it the Rabbit Theory. Whatever you call it, it’s wrong. Our species has survived off the strength and compassion of our families.
Contrary to popular impressions, our “nuclear” families are pretty small. My understanding is that 1-4 children is the typical range. I’m the only confirmed only child in my friend group. Scarlet’s the youngest of three, Scorpio’s a middle child, Spatha avoids talking about her home life, and Kestrel doesn’t know her biological parents. There’s a couple of pressures that keep our family sizes small. First, it’s challenging to feed too many ghouls at once, especially ghoul children, who we don’t want worrying about where they’re going to get their meals. Second, the majority of ghoul parents are going to end up as single parents before their kids are fully grown. Either one of them is going to get killed, or they’re going to have to separate to go on the run from the exterminators; and, of course, we do still break up and get divorced sometimes.
These pressures are exaggerated by our general lack of an extended family. It’s not that all of our aunts and uncles get hunted down - even if they did, we’d still have cousins - but it’s not safe for us to have traceable extended families. When exterminators identify a ghoul, the first thing they do is put out a bulletin for all known blood relatives. The most common tactic to avoid this is, when multiple siblings make it to adulthood, at least one of them changes their identity and moves away. This isn’t always done, but it’s done often enough that document forging is a widespread and well-respected profession in the Society. It’s useful for dodging exterminators in other circumstances too. My mom and I changed our names and moved cities after exterminators killed my dad when I was 4.
Between that and the sheer number of out-and-out orphans in our Society, it should come as no surprise that we’ve developed a new family structure to fill in the gaps. The terminology we use for this structure is variable, but the term I’ve always used is “household”. A household is a sort of adopted extended family, typically formed by and centered around one particularly resourceful ghoul called a patron. The patron takes whichever ghouls they choose under their wing, introduces them to each other, and helps them coordinate their talents and resources so that they all have everything they need. Most obviously, this means making sure they all have a supply of flesh, but there are numerous other kinds of support a household can provide. I doubt I need to emphasize again how valuable a reliable source of companionship and safety is, but patrons typically have access to connections and contacts that can help the other members of the household accomplish their goals.
My household, for example, was founded by our patron Yaga. It consists of her, her adopted daughter Kestrel, my mom and I, my friends Scarlet and Scorpio and their immediate families, and four other older ghouls. There’s also Spatha, who has been reluctant to fully join the household but acts like a member in most contexts. Three of our members have reliable flesh sources, and Yaga coordinates with other ghouls to find supplementary sources to ensure that she always has a surplus on hand. This keeps all of us well-fed and lets her distribute the rest to those in need in exchange for favors and cachet that the rest of us can use for our own advancement. In turn, the rest of us pitch in for odd jobs here and there, mostly on flesh-gathering jobs of one kind or another, and we look out for each other. I’ve done a bit of babysitting with Kestrel, for example, and Yaga was able to get me and Scarlet summer jobs to save up for college.
Babysitting, by the way, is one of the most valuable services a household can provide to a ghoul parent. Given our mortality rate, it probably isn’t a surprise that there’s a good bit of cultural pressure to have children, and have them quick. Ghoul children are… a lot. When we’re newborn, we’re pretty much like human babies. Ghoul babies can nurse from ghoul mothers for awhile, which is a relief. They need to switch to flesh before their teeth come in, though, so that means flesh slurry, which is more complicated to make than you might think. For best results, you want a mix of blood, muscle tissue, organ tissue, and bone, especially marrow. We get better at pulling all our nutrients from just flesh as we mature, but babies aren’t as developed. Getting those varied tissues is a little more complicated than just getting flesh. Bone especially is challenging - more mature ghouls have no need for it, and it’s honestly kinda gross. You just have to hope that whoever you’re getting flesh from can start holding some bones for you. Not every source has easy access to bones.
{Editing Note: I think I wrote bone too many times - it looks fake now. Bone. Bone.}
We get our ghoul teeth at the same time as our baby teeth. Our ghoul teeth fall out and are replaced too, but we keep growing new ones our whole lives, kinda like sharks. Funnily enough, I don’t think we grow extra human teeth, which seems like a strange way for evolution to take us, but what do I know, I’m not a biologist. At that point we can start eating regular flesh, and parents have the unenviable task of explaining to toddlers that they can’t just slide their teeth out whenever they want. Our other features come in a bit later - claws between 4 and 6, eyes with puberty. Let me tell you, the claws hurt coming in. I couldn’t hold a pencil for a month. My mom told the elementary school that I was deathly sick so she could keep me home, but I think Scarlet just pretended he’d broken both his hands and went in splints. I don’t envy him - stretching my claws did a lot to relieve the pain.
I’ll admit freely that, by our standards, I had a pretty charmed childhood. I fit into human society pretty easily, I had a mom who loved me and could provide for me, a patron and household to help pick up the slack, and ghoul friends my own age. I had the discipline to keep my true nature hidden from my human peers, and I don’t think I was even particularly traumatized by the pressure of performing humanity that much. I can safely attribute that to the fact that I had safe spaces throughout my life to let the charade drop. Most ghouls at least have that. Most, but not all.
Our integration into human society also means that we inevitably become entangled in human society. We become invested in the lives of our human peers, we befriend them, care about them. Sometimes we fall in love with them. Eating people seems like kind of a big secret to keep from a potential romantic partner - I certainly couldn’t manage it - but some ghouls form romantic relationships with humans nonetheless. Maybe some of these human partners eventually discover the truth and are willing to overlook it for the person they love, but I doubt it happens often. I’ve certainly never heard of it. I’ve heard of it going the other way, though, a human partner discovering the truth and reacting poorly. Someone always dies when that happens. I personally know a few ghouls who’ve dated humans, or are seriously involved with them. Frankly, it scares the hell out of me. I get that the heart wants what it wants, but some wants aren’t worth the risk.
{Editing Note: That last line feels… tense. Emotionally charged. Why? And should I change it?}
In my opinion, the gravest of these risks is what happens when a human and a ghoul decide they want to build a life together, but kids are already in the equation. The human-ghoul mixed family is probably the most toxic environment that a ghoul child could be raised in and conceivably survive. All that pressure of hiding your true nature from your peers as you grow up? That feeling of isolation that follows you everywhere you go among humans? All of the most crushing emotional turmoil I’ve described in this book so far? Imagine if there was no relief for that even at home with your family. I frankly have no idea how ghoul parents manage to feed themselves and their children without being caught, or how they manage to perform humanity so flawlessly and constantly that their literal immediate family never catches on. I don’t know how those children manage to survive to adulthood, but I imagine they have some seriously fucked up mental health problems by the time they do. Factor in the suspicion that they would inevitably face from our Society when they finally are able to join it properly - after all, who more likely to become a Judas or be Lost than a ghoul raised by humans? - and I’d be willing to bet most of them don’t make it out of their twenties.
Before we move on entirely from families in general and mixed families in particular, I’d like to take a quick aside to talk about “half-ghouls”. You hear about them in horror media fairly often, the biological child of a human and a ghoul. Authors love to ascribe all sorts of traits to these hypothetical creatures - greater and more monstrous than the sum of their parts, supernaturally strong and vicious, impossible to detect within human society, sometimes with traits that are blatantly impossible, like telepathy or mind control or just plain magic. All of that is obviously untrue, but it’s something of a point of contention as to whether or not a “half-ghoul” is even possible. None of the ghouls I’ve talked to seem to agree about whether it can happen, and a search of human medical literature was similarly inconclusive. Humans, at least, seem to think that it might be theoretically possible, but have never been able to verify it by observation or by medical experiment. Of the ghouls I know that have been romantically involved with humans, none of them have ever gotten a kid out of it. It’s one of those things where we just don’t know. If it were possible, I’m not even sure what the implications would be.
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no matter what – p.lahote
[warnings: one or two swears, angst, and a flashback to bullying]
summary: in which paul couldn’t protect y/n | clearwater!reader| requested!
word count: 8,561
masterlist
Every summer you came from Washington, D.C. to Forks, Washington. You were originally born in Forks, but you, your mom, and dad relocated to D.C. when you were eight, leaving behind your family. Of course, you were distraught having to leave your cousins, Seth and Leah; you were basically their sister. Your parents had you do everything together, you even wore matching outfits, as if you were triplets despite being three years older than Seth and three years younger than Leah. It was the summer the year your Uncle Harry died that changed your life. Well, actually, it started when your mom got a new job in France.
She told you the middle of your junior year that you would have to pack up and move to Europe.
You were happy for her, of course, but you wanted to finish school before they dragged you off to somewhere new. So, you spent the rest of the school year making plans and you were hoping they wouldn't fall through.
Your grandparents were more than happy to let you live with them in Forks so everything sort of fell into place. You'd be back home, finishing up high school, and you'd get to be around most of your family.
It was hard to say goodbye to your parents but you were excited to be back in La Push. Whenever you were there, you never felt out of place. As if you were stumbling everywhere else except when you were in the small village.
You got to your grandparent's house on a Friday, 8:30 in the morning, bright and early.
"So what are your plans for the summer?" Your grandfather, Peter, asked.
You just walked through the doors of the house and were about to drag your suitcases upstairs.
"Well, I hope to find a job but when I'm not working, I'll either be here or with Leah and Seth. Ya know, the usual," You shrugged and gave them a small smile. "Can't be away from my family for too long."
"Such a sweetheart," Your grandmother, Julia, cooed. "Are you going over there today?"
"Yeah, for lunch. And then I'm all yours for dinner," You nodded and grabbed the handles of your suitcases. You started on the stairs but stopped at the first step. "You know, I'm really happy to be here. Back home."
"You're not going to miss your parents?" Your grandpa questioned.
"I'll miss them; heck, I miss them already but I love Forks. Also... you guys cook and they don't," You teased before turning and continuing upstairs.
You walked to the room you always stayed in whenever you visited: your dad's old room. All the rooms were pretty small, especially compared to the room you had in D.C. but this room made you happy. You kept most of the decorations up, not wanting to ruin the nostalgia of it all, and just filled the drawers and closet with your clothes.
Lunch came quickly and all your clothes were unpacked. Your parents were going to send the rest of your things over so that would be your task for next week.
You practically jumped down the stairs trying to get to Seth and Leah. You bid your grandparents a quick goodbye before bursting through the front door and into Leah's arms.
You squeezed her tight as she laughed and you pulled away and pulled in Seth. At first glance, you didn't realize how different they looked.
"I missed you guys so much it's crazy," You squealed, but it was muffled since your head was in Seth's shoulder. You pulled away and got a good look at them, your eyes growing wide.
They had matching tattoos which you'd admit was kind of cute, but it still took you by surprise. And Seth was no longer scrawny and five foot eight. He was at least six feet now, still lanky, and his hair was cut down super short. And Leah who was also five foot eight was now maybe five foot ten and her hair was in a short pixie cut.
"OMG, you guys cut your hair. And are these tattoos? Guys, what the fuck happened? You guys got these after the funeral?" Your happy demeanor was snatched away and replaced with concern, your arms crossed over your chest, and your eyes narrowed.
"It's a bit of a long story," Seth chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.
"Okay, well I live here now, I have all the time in the world. Are you, like, going through a phase? Should I call for an intervention?"
"No, it's not like we're going drugs," Seth scoffed but kept a playful grin on his face.
"Y/N, let's not be so dramatic. Come on before mom starts calling," Leah shook her head before going to the car.
"Alright alright," You eased up and put your hands in the air as a sign of surrender.
You sighed and tried to wrap an arm around Seth's shoulder but once you realized he was six feet tall, it was a little bit harder to do. But to make you feel better, he wrapped his arm around your shoulder and squeezed you tight.
"You sure you're not on steroids?" You teased and looked up at him.
"Positive!" He laughed.
You got to the other Clearwater house in town and were practically bouncing in excitement.
"Hi, Aunt Sue! How are you?" You asked as you kissed her cheeks and hugged her.
"Better now that you're back in town," She replied and rubbed your back. "A little birdie told me that you're staying for the school year."
You nodded and pulled away so you could sit at the kitchen table. Seth had brought in the chair that was specifically for you when you came to visit and you thanked him.
"'Little birdie' as in Grandpa. That man can't hold water," You shook your head.
Leah came and sat next to you after she finished setting up the plates. Seth sat across from her, and once your Aunt was done placing the food at the table she sat at one end. The other end was your Uncle's spot that remained empty.
Leah squeezed your hand once she noticed you staring into space. You blinked back tears and looked at her and the soft smile that adorned her face.
"You should come to the beach tomorrow and meet our friends," Seth said, an attempt to get your mind off of things.
"Yeah, sure, that sounds good. I just bought a new bikini," You nodded and forced a smile.
You didn't realize how hard it was to be here without your uncle. And now your home felt a little empty. But maybe a beach day would help.
Around noon the next day, Leah was driving you and Seth to the beach, though it was a quick walk from where you lived.
You grabbed your beach bag and followed behind Leah to the group of people you saw huddled on the sand. You thought you'd be surrounded by boys all day until you spotted Emily, your other cousin.
"Y/N!" She gasped and pulled you into a bear hug once you got close enough.
"Hi, Em! I've been doing so much hugging lately, but I could never forget you give the best ones," You smiled and hugged her back.
"Hey!" Seth interjected.
"Seth, don't get jealous," You teased and shoved him lightly once you were released from Emily's arms.
"Never, I know I'm your favorite cousin," He smirked. "Guys, this is our cousin Y/N, the one that visits every summer. She's gonna be living here until she graduates."
Seth addressed everyone and then introduced them all to you, except for Jacob. You guys used to hang out as kids too. He'd sometimes come over with another girl from Forks and the three of you would play together.
You smiled and waved at them all, your eyes met with all of theirs but you were stuck on the last boy Seth introduced. Paul.
He had brown eyes, short black hair, and had almost the same build as Seth but was muscular. He was definitely a La Push boy and he was perfect to you.
"I can't have anything..." You heard Leah grumble from behind you, making your eyes move to look at her.
You felt the heat rise to your cheeks, embarrassed at the fact that you were staring at him. But he was staring back so maybe nobody else would think it was weird, but that was unlikely.
Seth sat on a towel and pulled out down next to him, giving you a bright smile. You always loved Seth. Your parents told you that you had to warm up to Leah, but ever since you met Seth, you were two peas in a pod. But Leah, she understood you on a level no one else did. Somehow you got lucky with the best of both worlds.
"So, what do you plan on doing once you graduate?" Emily asked and moved your bag from your lap and set it with the other bags.
"I'm taking a gap year in France!" You spoke excitedly.
You felt everyone's eyes fall on you, making your smile fall slightly. You didn't exactly enjoy being the center of attention, especially since you didn't know the group too well.
"Y/N, you never told me that," Seth spoke up.
"Uh, yes I did. You just don't listen."
"That's a bit far don't you think?" Emily asked and you just shrugged in response.
Sure it was far, but it's not like you were leaving anything behind here; you'd see everyone the next summer.
"Yeah, but I like traveling and it's only for a year. then I'll be back in the states for college. Maybe the east coast, they have a bunch of schools to choose from."
Your eyes searched for Leah's but they found Paul's instead. They were distant and cool but once he recognized you were looking at him, they softened.
You looked away quickly and found Leah's eyes, practically pleading for help.
"I'm hot," She said, not too loud so it wasn't an obvious diversion but it was loud enough that everyone heard. "Come to the water with me?"
She was looking right at you and you nodded. You stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the water.
You slipped off your flip flops and let the water hit your toes as you sighed.
"Thanks," You mumbled.
"Yeah, that's kind of what big cousins are for, saving your butt.”
You stood in the water for a while before grabbing your beach towels and laying them out. You were a bit away from the group, but Leah didn't mind.
You stripped from your shorts and tank top so you were only in your swimsuit. You laid on the towel next to Leah and tanned for maybe an hour two. You tried to learn a bit more about the group, specifically Paul but Leah had no real interest in talking to or about them, so you just let it go. But as you tanned, you watched them talk and play soccer, or talk as they scarfed down some sandwiches Emily made.
You were back in the water, now playfully splashing each other. All day you felt eyes on you that you just couldn't shake but for some reason, it was bothering you now. It reminded you of when you brought up your plans for next year and everyone kept their eyes on you, not breaking contact.
"So, is there a problem with me going away next year?" You asked Leah after getting one last splash in. "Why was everyone looking at me?"
She was silent for a moment as if she were stuck in her thoughts, having an inner dialogue with herself.
"It's just a little... complicated," She shrugged, making you roll your eyes.
"You know, you've changed a lot, Leah. I used to be able to read you like a children's book but now... I guess I'll accept that some things change and some things are need-to-know," You huffed out and started to walk back toward the sand. "I think I'm ready to head home now."
You started packing your things, not wanting to be there any longer. And you felt bad you were cutting Leah's day short, but honestly, it didn't seem like she wanted to be there anyway.
"Y/N, you're leaving?" Seth asked as you walked over to where he was stretched out.
"Yeah, I'm tired," You nodded and forced out a yawn. "It was really nice to meet you all."
From the corner of your eye, you see one boy who you remember to be Jared, nudge Paul, causing him to speak up.
"I can drive you home, I was just about to head out anyway," Paul said, looking you right in the eyes.
It was the first time he had spoken to you directly and something about it moved you to a sense of euphoria. Like, if he ever stopped talking the world around you would crash and burn. If he ever stopped looking at you the way he did, the way his eyes softened at the sight of you, you would disappear into thin air. It was a pull and connection you never felt before and you never wanted to stop feeling it.
You looked over at Leah, to get her approval but she was looking at Paul cautiously before looking over at you. She nodded and you turned back to him and nodded.
He didn't bother packing up whatever things he brought, he just stood up and motioned for you to follow him.
You waved goodbye to the others and ruffled Seth's hair as you left. You were walking to his right when you noticed his tattoo.
"Leah and Seth have that tattoo too," You blurted out.
He looked at you and down at the tattoo as if he forgot it was even there.
"Oh yeah, we all have one," He shrugged.
"What's it for? Like does it mean anything?"
"It's just for our little group."
It was a vague response, his tone was similar to Leah's. Maybe it just wasn't your business. And though you were annoyed with Leah, you weren't annoyed with Paul. You never wanted to be on the outs with him so you just accepted his answer and got in his truck.
It was weird that you were nervous since you felt connected to him but you also felt the need to impress him.
He pulled up in front of your house and you turned to smile at him.
"Thanks for bringing me home, I really appreciate it. I'll see you around?"
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out again soon. I was thinking of a picnic?"
He was nervous, you could tell. It was the first time he hadn't looked at you all day. He was facing you, but looking everywhere but at your face.
"Just the two of us?"
"Yeah, unless-"
"Sure, just text me a date and time and I'll be ready," You cut him off.
He nodded and let a victorious smile rest on his face as he handed you his phone.
You saved your number in his phone before handing it back and getting out of the car.
"Bye Paul," You smiled and grabbed your bag, resting it on your shoulder.
"Bye Y/N."
You shut the door and walked up to your front door, unlocking it. You turned back and waved at him before slipping inside the house and letting out a sigh of happiness.
"Was that a boy?" You heard behind you, making you jump.
"Grandma!" You gasped and held your chest.
"So who was that?" She teased.
"Just a boy."
"Right," She hummed with a raised eyebrow and turned to leave you alone.
Definitely not just a boy.
A picnic on the beach was your and Paul's first date. He picked you up, picnic basket in hand, and you guys walked through the woods and to the beach. He brought a big blanket for you both to sit on as you talked and ate the sandwiches he packed.
You played in the water, laughing vibrantly as you splashed each other. You attempted to make sandcastles but failed and decided to just walk up and down the sand.
"So," He started.
"So," You mimicked and looked at him.
"When did you move away?"
"When I was eight. If you're trying to remember me, I promise we wouldn't have been friends," You chuckled and shook your head.
He titled his head to the side and stopped walking.
"And why not?" A playful smirked rested on his face, and you stopped walking simply at the sight of it.
"There's no way I could've been separated from Seth at that point. Like no way. And if it wasn't Seth, it was Leah. And I only knew Jacob because our dads hung out. But I was just a weird, clingy kid," You shrugged.
"So, it's not just because you think you're better than me?" He teased. You scoffed and put a hand on your chest.
"Please," You scoffed and shoved his shoulder gently.
You kept walking down the beach, this time walking back toward where the blanket was. And as you were walking, Paul picked up a stick and wrote "Paul + Y/N" in the sand with a heart around it, making you giggle.
If anyone else had done that on the first date, you would've run for the hills and never looked back. But it was Paul so it was okay.
And when you started spending more and more time together, like going bowling or to a museum, no one questioned it.
The date to the museum took you completely by surprise. You mentioned once or twice to your cousins how you wanted to go visit the museums in Seattle, but you never got around to going.
You two walked around, holding hands, and admiring all the art. It was intimate and quiet, and it was really about enjoying each other's company.
"You stole our cousin!" Seth burst out as you and Paul walked into Emily's house.
You waved to everyone else who sat at the kitchen table or around the kitchen.
"Did not," Paul brushed him off and set a hand on the bottom of your back.
"Good morning to you too, Seth," You smiled.
"We just came to take a nap before lunch. So, if you all don't mind," Paul said and ushered you toward the living room.
"Why don't you guys just do that at your own houses?" Jared spoke up, contorting his face in fake disgust.
You looked at Paul and he looked at you before you both turned back to face Jared.
"Nah, I don't think so," Paul shook his head.
"If it's all the same to you, we're gonna go take our nap now," You hummed and used your thumb to suggest you'd be in the living room.
You let Paul lay down first and then you climbed on top of him and rested your head in the crook of his neck.
"What do you think we're gonna have for lunch?" You asked as your eyes began to get droopy.
"Mmm, maybe burgers."
"Doubt it."
"Okay, if I'm wrong, I'll carry you for the rest of the day."
"You were probably gonna do that anyway," You chuckled and closed your eyes.
"Yeah, that's fair."
You drifted off as he drew shapes on your back. You listened to his heartbeat and the quickness of it. Usually, you'd hold your breath so yours would match up, but yours was beating just as fast as if you had been running for miles.
"I don't smell any burgers," You mumbled as you woke up. You sat up and pecked his forehead before standing up and reaching your hand out for him to take. "Did you sleep?"
"Maybe for an hour," He shrugged and took your hand, following you into the kitchen.
You sat at the table and Paul took the seat next to you. Your hands still latched together, rested on the table in between you two.
"Do you guys have to hold hands at the table?"
You gave Jared a sly smile before moving your hands onto your lap and giggling.
"Why are you being such a downer today?" You asked Jared, your voice holding a playful tone.
"Me? A downer? Please! I'm an upper!"
"Since you're such an upper, why don't you join us on our walk after lunch?" Paul challenged eyebrow raised.
"I'd rather not third-wheel. Thanks for the invite though."
"Your loss."
"Doubt it."
—
"Okay, when does a joke become a dad joke?" You asked, looking up at who you considered to be your boyfriend.
"Uh, I don't know," He shrugged but was smiling sheepishly.
"When it becomes apparent," You giggled.
After lunch, you two left Emily's and headed into the woods. You had no idea where you were going or if there was even an intended location but you were happy to just be hanging out with your favorite person.
"That was a good one," He nodded. "Okay, um... what do you call an ant that had been shunned by his community?"
"A socially dissed ant! Come on, everyone knows that one," You laughed.
"Alright, alright. What do-"
Before he could finish, his head snapped from facing you, to now looking in front of him.
"Paul?"
He ignored you and looked ahead, his eyes scanning the area. He looked back at you, his face serious and his tone reflected that.
"Y/N, run back to Emily's and don't stop. When you get there, just wait for me to come back," He said and kissed you on the cheek before backing away from you.
"Paul, what's going on? What's wrong?" You asked, your face displaying your confusion.
"Just go," He demanded and though it wasn't harsh, you knew he meant business.
He started running ahead and just as you were about to turn around and run back to Emily's it was as if some huge wolf came and ate the boy that was right in front of you.
It was huge, five times larger than Paul, with dark silver fur. And when it turned to glance at you, you recognized its dark eyes and they were pleading for you to listen.
You quickly turned around and ran back to Emily's. It was already hard enough jumping over logs and pushing branches out the way, but with the rumbling of the ground, you were struggling. You saw seven more gigantic wolves going the same way as the dark silver wolf, which you assumed was why the ground was so shaky.
But were they going after him? If your eyes weren't deceiving you, that wolf was Paul. But for as long as you've known him, which was maybe about a month and some change, he's either with his friends or with you, no time for him to get into any trouble.
You burst through Emily's front door, clearly scaring her since she practically jumped out of her skin.
"Hey, are you alright?" She asked, placing her hands on your shoulders as you panted.
What would you say? You just saw your boyfriend turn into a huge wolf and saw seven other wolves running in the woods? The thought of even saying it aloud was ridiculous. And even though Emily was very understanding, you knew this was too crazy to tell.
"No, yeah I'm okay," You nodded and plopped into a chair by the table, your hands behind your head as you tried to regulate your breathing.
But as much as you tried to calm down, you couldn't stop your leg from bouncing and you couldn't keep yourself from biting your nails. You were so worried you didn't realize that it was only you and Emily in the usually full house.
Emily tried talking to you, but you were so lost in thought that you would only him in response. You were never quite sure what she was talking about but you thought humming was a sufficient answer along with nodding or shaking your head.
You couldn't even look at her. If your eyes were on the door, waiting for any sign of Paul, they were watching the clock and watching as the time slowly went by.
When you finally spot him, he's shirtless and wearing khaki shorts (the ones he was wearing earlier was a mud brown). You jump from your seat and through the screen door, into his arms. And without missing a beat, he caught you and held you close.
"Yeah, let's just forget we exist," You heard Seth in the back but you couldn't tear your attention from your counterpart.
"You okay?" You whispered.
"Yeah, are you?"
You nodded in response and let the silence and your nerves settle. You knew he was safe since he was in your arms and you could hear his heart beating against his chest.
"What was that?" You breathed out and peeked up at him.
He looks over at Sam as if they were speaking to each other with just their eyes, before looking back at you.
"Let me drive you home," He suggested and you nodded immediately. Being with him wasn't something you had to think about.
You pull away from him and turn to Leah and Seth.
"We're still on for breakfast tomorrow?" You asked and wrapped around Paul's waist, snuggling into his side.
Leah glanced at Paul and then back at you before nodding.
"Yeah, we'll come get you."
Paul ushered you to his truck, helping you get in before getting in himself. The ride home was quiet and you watched the trees, hoping to see the silver wolf staring back at you. Hoping that you weren't crazy and that the impossible remained impossible.
"I know you have a lot of questions," Paul started as he parked the car in front of your house.
"More than a lot."
He sat silently, mulling over what he was going to say, before going into great detail about everything. From the legends you grew up listening to, to shifting, and finally to imprinting.
"And you expect me to just take this in with ease?" You questioned.
"Not at all."
"The only reason why I'm not laughing and calling you a liar is only because I saw you turn into a huge wolf right in front of me. The imprinting part I can believe with ease; that makes the most sense."
"We're soulmates," He nodded, smiling bashfully.
"More like twin flames but yeah sure," You nodded. "And you saw a... vampire today? That's what you were chasing?"
"Yeah, we don't know why they're here. They're not with the Cullens. But you don't have anything to worry about, we chased them to Canada." His eyes met yours, noticing the concern in your eyes, and reached a hand over to rest on yours. "Everything is fine. Everyone's safe."
You nodded reluctantly and sighed, pulling his hand to your mouth to kiss.
"Stay safe, please," You mumbled and held his hand to your cheek.
"Always."
"I'll text you when I get back from breakfast, you can come over."
He nodded happily, a big grin danced in his face as he leaned over to peck your lips.
"See you tomorrow."
"Bye dork," You giggled as you got out the truck and walked inside.
Tomorrow came quickly and you and Seth were now seated across from Leah at a diner.
"So, what did the big, bad wolf tell you?" Leah asked while wiping the syrup off her mouth with a napkin.
"Everything," You shrugged, as you stuffed your mouth with eggs.
You slept on what Paul said, occasionally pinching yourself to make sure you weren't dreaming. There wasn't anything you could do about it, so why stress about it?
"And how do you feel?" She continued, eyeing you as if trying to read you and see through your calm demeanor.
"Fine. Normal. You don't have to hide anything from me anymore so that's good," You hummed and sipped at your water.
"I'll be back," Seth mumbled.
He stood up and walked over to the bathroom, leaving you and Leah alone.
"So, I know I've been keeping things from you, which isn't like me at all but it's just because of this whole pack thing. Only select people are supposed to know about it," Leah explained.
"Yeah, I know. Paul told me."
"Why are you acting like this isn't a big deal? Why aren't you angry or upset or sad?"
"Because I understand why you couldn't tell me. It's not your fault, Leah. What's there to be upset about?" You uttered, trying to get her to understand what you were thinking. "You're still my cousin and I still love you. That's it."
"That's it," She nodded and gave a smile that didn't show any teeth. As if she were still holding back. But it wasn't your place to force it out of her. She'd talk when she was ready.
When you got back home, your grandparents were at the store but you knew they wouldn't mind Paul being over. So, as you promised, you called him and invited him over.
You were upstairs in your room, straightening up when you heard banging on the side of the house and then saw Paul standing next to the window.
"So you... climbed up the side of the house... instead of ringing the doorbell?" You questioned, arms crossed over your chest.
"Less work for you," He shrugged and pulled you into his arms, pecking your forehead.
"So thoughtful," You giggled and pulled away so you could lay on your bed.
"How was breakfast?"
"Good. I brought you some pancakes, they're downstairs."
He laid next to you on the bed and poked your cheek, making you roll your eyes in faux annoyance.
"You're going to school on the Res?" He asked.
"No, Forks High," You shook your head. "I figured, I didn't need to be around Seth all the time. Give each other some space."
"How perceptive."
"And then I'm going away once I graduate, you knew that though."
"What about me?"
"Do you want to come? Meet my parents and eat escargot?" You smiled.
His face was suddenly hard, on the brink of sadness and frustration. Your smile immediately dropped once you noticed his expression and you were ready to comfort him, your palm softly rested on his cheek.
"I can't leave the pack right now. Things need to die down before I can just up and leave," He rolled his eyes hostilely and moved your hand from his face.
You frowned and your eyebrows furrowed to match your anguish.
"Okay, well, we'll make it work," You tried to open the conversation to compromise.
"You're not even sure where you're going to college."
"P, it's not the end of the world. We'll figure it out."
It seemed the more you talked, the more upset he got but being silent and sweeping things under the rug never made anything better.
"You say that now but once we're thousands of miles apart, you're going to see it's not as easy as you're making it seem. We're not a regular couple. Long-distance is already hard but with an imprint, it's much worse. The emptiness and misery will become overwhelming-"
"Well, what do you want me to do Paul? Put my life on hold? We will figure it out. We have a whole year before I go-"
"I need to go."
He abruptly got up from the bed with a red face, slightly shaking but not too much.
"Where are you going?" You sat up, practically talking to his back since he was facing the window.
"For a run. I'll be back later, maybe."
He left your house the same way he came, not bothering to look back at you. It felt as if he were talking to an enemy if you hadn't known any better. But you knew he was just disappointed and frustrated that he couldn't pause time and replay this past summer. And you understood why he felt this way. Somethings are just so good, you never want them to change. But life isn't easy and we can't always have things go our way.
You had never been around a Paul that wasn't either in a positive headspace or worried. Worried Paul didn't shut down the way he just did. He was gentle and soft-spoken.
You sighed and fell back onto the bed, rubbing your temples.
Did that count as an argument? Because if so, that would be your first. It was usually smooth sailings but you had only known each other for a month, so of course, you tried not to step on each other's toes.
You jumped up at the sound of feet landing on the floor in front of you, thinking Paul came back. But you were met with a woman with olive skin, red eyes, and short, curly, black hair. She stood about 5'3" and had an aggressive nature about her that pulled you to your feet, triggering your fight or flight response. Her face was squared, with a flat nose, her cardinal eyes hooded.
"You were with the wolf the other day. You're his... mate," She broke the silence, speaking the last word with either mix of interest or disgust (you couldn't tell which). Her voice drew you in; it was smooth and tantalizing.
You stayed silent and didn't think to move a muscle. To move meant, you wanted to be chased in her eyes and you knew you couldn't outrun her.
She slowly took steps closer to you and continued, "You're pretty for a human."
You confirmed that her voice was full of disgust. The way she said "human" and how her top lip curled as she did so, was not a reflection of interest.
As she moved closer, you knew time was running out and maybe that's what made you speak up. You'll never know the real reason, it was a shock to both of you.
"Paul will be here any second. But if you do happen to succeed in whatever you're planning, you need to know: he's not going to stop hunting you until he has your head."
Your voice was oddly steady and full of confidence you didn't know you had. Maybe because deep down you knew it was true and you weren't just trying to keep the clock running.
She chuckled as if entertained by your words, as if she was able to look through your charade. But now she was standing a few inches away and if anything gave it away, it was your heart beating rapidly.
You heard a bowl from outside, making your eyes flicker over to the window, then back to the trespasser in your room.
You almost let out a breath of relief, but that might've meant you weren't scared anymore, and then she might not show any mercy. You didn't want to antagonize her.
"I wonder if... he'll still love you if you're one of us. Red eyes, skin as hard as a rock, and as cold as ice-"
"I promise you, he will."
"'m not too sure. I'd like to test it out though."
In the blink of an eye, she was gone and you were on the floor, letting out a blood-curdling scream. Your whole body felt like you were on fire, you laid on the hardwood of your floor, flailing around and screaming while you held on to the center of all your pain.
And while screaming out and crying for help, the tears puddling on your floor weren't from the pain, but from the memories as your life flashed before your eyes.
"Mom, he's so pretty," You mumbled in awe as you peered over into your Aunt Sue's arms and watched your little cousin look back at you.
"Isn't he," She smiled at you and you nodded energetically. "But we have to head home, to give Aunt Sue and Uncle Harry some space with him."
You nodded sadly but obediently and moved from your aunt's side to your mom's. You reached up and grabbed her hand, gripping it tight and leaning on her leg.
You waved as you followed your mom out of the room, your eyes filling with tears.
She must've heard your sniffling as you neared the elevators because she paused and looked down at you.
"Hey, what's wrong Little One?" She asked as she crouched to your height.
She held both of your hands and tried to look you in your eyes, but you kept your head down, trying not to let her see your tears.
"He's jus' so p-perfect and I don' wanna leave h-him," You spoke between hiccups.
She gave you a fond smile and let go of your hands to wipe the tears from your chubby cheeks.
"We can go back for a couple of minutes but then we have to go meet your dad and Leah. They're waiting for us in the gift shop, remember?"
"Okay," You nodded. "I promise I won't cry when we leave this time."
"Oh baby, it's okay to cry. Sometimes we love things so much that we cry. You two might be soulmates; meant to meet and be there for each other. An irreplaceable bond. That's how I feel about you."
"You love me so much you could cry?" You gasped, eyes widening at the fact that an adult you admired so much cried just like you.
"Yep! I love you more than I could tell you."
You hugged her as tight as you could in your little arms, so full of immeasurable happiness
"Love you too, Mommy."
You couldn't imagine leaving them behind. Your parents always showed you so much love and support, you were beyond lucky to have them. But your mom was a goddess in your eyes, even if you have grown apart. Your feelings will never change. But what would they tell her once you're no longer you?
And Seth. No matter what Sam decided, he'd find a way to see you and spend time with you. You knew he'd never let you spend eternity without him.
But Leah was tricky, as she always had been.
"Y/N, what are you crying about now?" She huffed as she sat down next to you on the porch.
You both had come home from school, Leah was in fifth grade and you were in first.
"Nothing, Leah," You mumbled and turned your body completely away from hers.
"It's not 'nothing' if you're crying? What's the matter?"
Her tone was more gentle this time and she put a hand on your left shoulder. You leaned into her hand subconsciously and wiped a tear that fell from your eye.
"Is it those kids in your class?" She asked.
You hesitantly nodded. You didn't want to hear the whole "stand up for yourself" speech again but you also didn't want to keep this to yourself anymore.
"Just been picking on me because of my shoes," You muttered and looked down at your feet.
These were your favorite shoes, but now they were dirty and worn out. You still wore them though since the value was still there in your eyes. You loved those pink light up shoes and couldn't bear to part from them.
"I like your shoes," Leah shrugged.
"Thanks."
You didn't know if she actually liked them or if she was just saying that to appease you. You guys' parents always were telling her how her influence and approval meant a lot to you, even if you never showed it. She was your big cousin and you adored everything about her.
And because your big cousin said she liked your shoes, you wore them again the next day. Sure, you were subjecting yourself to another day of teasing, but if Leah liked them, screw what the other kids thought.
You stomped your feet and watched the colors on your shoes shine as you stood in the lunch line.
"Really? The beaten-up shoes again?" You heard behind you.
You say was officially ruined. Bigmouth Iara Lyons had to come in and ruin your whole mood. Her and her little snotty-nosed posse.
You kept your head straight and ignored her as your mom suggested. Your dad wanted you to hit her, even if it meant him having to come and pick you up from school, but you couldn't bring yourself to do it. But Leah was Leah and wasn't afraid to step up to anyone.
"I know you can hear me, Clearwater!" Iara kept going and you could feel her amber eyes burning a hole through the back of your head.
"Clearly, she's ignoring you."
That was Leah's voice. A voice that made you gasp and turn around. This was a confrontation you needed to see.
"And you are?" Iara raised one of her fine eyebrows, a hand on her hip.
"Leah Clearwater. Stop messing with my cousin."
You now stood behind Leah, somewhat cowering behind her, but still able to be seen.
"Or else what?"
Leah pushed the girl down without hesitation, making you cover your mouth with your hand. You didn't know if you wanted to gasp or laugh, so you settled for gasping now and laughing later when you were home, replaying this scene right before bed.
The other two girls with Iara looked at Leah with wide eyes and then down at their friend who was looking for them to defend her.
"Or else, I'm gonna do more than push you. You're a first-grader with a mustache, worry about that instead of her shoes," Leah snarled.
The whole lunchroom was looking at Iara and Leah now, wondering what their next moves would be, but you knew it was Clearwater: one point and Lyons: zero. You win.
You watched the tears well up in Iara's eyes as she scrambled to her feet. She stood in front of you for a moment, not knowing whether she wanted to run or stay but chose the former. She ran out of the lunchroom, her friends reluctant to follow after her, leaving you and Leah.
You saw Leah let out a sigh before turning to face you.
"Now, if you make me do that again, I'm going to push you too. Got it?"
"Got it," You nodded, a proud grin on your face.
That day made you proud to call Leah your cousin. But now you were at a crossroads. Would you still be allowed to hang out with her? Would she still want to be around you? Or was this the line that you never knew was drawn?
The night of your bowling date with Paul, you two were laying in your bed, holding hands. Your eyes were closed as you started drifting off, and he must've thought you were sleeping, but you perked up at the feeling of Paul kissing the top of your head.
"You are the most important person in my life. I'm so happy you're here with me," He whispered into your hair. "Forever."
You smiled softly and pulled him closer to you, literally wanting to be attached at the hip.
It was as if you were dreaming. This affection was something some people could only dream about. But here it was in the palm of your hands. Your body was flooded with a certain happiness you had never known. A happiness that can only be obtained by being in the presence of Paul Lahote.
But would you ever feel this happiness again? Did the trespasser rob you of a happiness that only a few were lucky to experience?
As your body felt like it was being torn apart, limb by limb, and tossed into a fire, every memory you relived tore your heart the same way before everything went black.
—
You ignored the migraine and the aching feeling of your body and pulled yourself into a sitting position.
The spot next to you was empty. If Paul was next to you, you would've assumed it all to be a nightmare. But you woke up alone, dazed, and confused. So where was he?
You took in your surroundings and recognized you were in your room. Nothing looked touched, but the floors were clean and your window was shut and locked.
You stood up and your vision immediately got fuzzy, but you grabbed onto your headboard to keep from falling over.
You took baby steps toward the stairs, keeping a hand on the wall so you had something to leave on. You gripped the railing tightly as you walked down the steps. You tried to be quiet, as to not disturb your grandparents but you weren't quiet enough to go under the radar of a shifter.
At the bottom of the stairs stood Seth, a comforting smile graced his face.
"Where's Paul?" You asked, pausing in the middle of the stairs.
"That's the first thing you ask? Of all the questions you might have, that's the one you ask?" He chuckled and held a hand out for you, gesturing for you to keep walking.
But you didn't laugh, giggle, chuckle. You kept walking down the steps and once you reached your cousin, you placed a hand in his.
"Where's Paul?"
You turned to look into the living room where you saw the rest of the pack and your grandparents sitting, waiting for you to make your grand entrance. Seth was at the stairs, Leah was right behind him and the others sat on the couch and in chairs, eyeing you carefully but still smiling.
"He just went to use the bathroom, Sleeping Beauty," Leah answered, attempting the smoothen the tension.
Paul walked in, your eyes watching him carefully and his doing the same to you.
"Are you okay?" You asked him.
He didn't look hurt, just a little out of place, mentally. It was weird because he seemed completely fine and he would seem like that to a normal person but to you, he wasn't himself. He was standoffish, normally he would've been the first to greet you. He would've been in your room, if not in your bed, at your desk, and if not there in Seth's spot. Normal Paul, wouldn't have missed you waking up. It made you feel like something was wrong.
"Am I okay? Are you okay?" He asked, almost appalled that you asked about him.
"Am I... myself?"
"You're yourself," He nodded and glanced at your body once more, but this time he stopped at your left wrist.
You looked down at your wrist to see what he saw. And that's when you saw it. It was huge teeth marks from when the nomad bit you, still red and fresh. It wasn't actively bleeding but it couldn't have been more than two days since the incident.
"Don't we have patrol to go to or something?" Paul coughed, making you take your attention off your wrist.
You looked up him and then over at Sam who nodded. You frowned and went to inch closer to Paul, but instead decided to move backward and stand between Seth and Leah.
Paul was the first to leave and the rest of the pack stood and walked toward the door, but wishing you well as they left. Sam handed you a bouquet and told you that Emily would be over later.
You nodded and walked over to the couch, placing the flowers on your lap.
"Do you want to be alone?" Your grandpa asked, trying to see where your head was at.
"Just Seth and Leah, please," You nodded.
Your grandparents left the room and your cousins came and sat on either side of you.
"How did... how am I still normal?" You asked.
You heard Seth gulp loudly, making you look over at Leah. She sighed and mumbled something about always being the bearer.
"Paul... heard you scream and came right to you. We were waiting for her to come out but he couldn't ignore your screams. He brought you over... to the Cullens," She paused and shuddered before continuing. "Carlisle sucked the venom out."
"Oh," You nodded slowly, taking everything in.
The incident wasn't anything you'd ever forget but it was coming back to you in flashes. And you remembered how you told the woman that nothing would change you and Paul's relationship.
"What's that frown for? We took care of her, Y/N," Seth asked, nudging your side.
"I was just... so confident that no matter what happened, Paul's feelings wouldn't change for me and here we are."
You smiled sadly, tucking your lips in your teeth. After shrugging, you leaned your head on Seth's shoulder and closed your eyes.
"Maybe I should've just went to France," You mumbled.
The exhaustion hit you like a ton of bricks and before you knew it, you were back to sleep.
You kind of figured you'd be back in your room when you woke up. You expected the three of you to be squished in the bed, napping as if you were, five, eight, and eleven again. But you woke up and it was Paul laying beside you, staring down at you like he was waiting for you to wake up.
"Hey," You greeted him.
"Hey."
"You okay?"
"Are you?
"Yeah."
"Then, yeah I'm okay," He responded and paused for a moment, glancing into your eyes, reading you. "There's no way I can explain how sorry I am that this happened to you-"
"It's not your fault, Paul."
"They went after you because you were with me. I couldn't even keep you safe. I'm sorry and I will forever be apologetic," He stopped again, closing his eyes and collecting his thoughts. "You might not remember but you weren't just screaming, Y/N. You were screaming my name. Not just crying out random wails, but crying out for me. I should've been there, I should've never left. Now the sight of you withering in pain and calling for me will forever be engrained in my mind. The pain you were in... it was because I left."
What he said didn't change how you felt about anything, but it made you think about how you had so much faith in him. It was news to you that you were screaming for him, specifically, but you also weren't surprised. You believed he would come and save you and he did. Because he was your Paul and he would always be there.
"No one could've known she'd have a vendetta against you and come after me, Paul. This is no one's fault, I need you to come to terms with and believe that. I feel safest in your arms, don't ever forget that, please."
Maybe it was the imprint, but he let it go, tentatively of course. But what mattered was that he let it go for right now and kissed your forehead.
You let an arm drape around his waist and he had a hand drawing shapes on your back. You sat for a while, enjoying each other's presence, after being separated for two days. And though you didn't want to pick a fight, you just had to know.
"If-if I were changed though, would you still-"
"No doubt about. You're still my Y/N, no matter what."
[AN: okay so I wanted to address two things. one, I don’t want y’all to think the soulmate thing is weird so I’ll explain. soulmates are anyone, whether romantic, familial, or platonic, that you feel an instant connection to. basically someone that was meant to be in your life, whether they stay or leave. so that’s how I saw seth and the reader. ALSO, I didn’t really go into depth about the relationship between the reader and the rest of the pack but I just didn’t feel like that was super important for me to focus on. but yeah everyone is on good terms, I just didn’t go super into depth about that. lastly, I’ll probably go through and edit this once more, I just wanted to post it finally. anyway, hope you all enjoyed !]
#stylesluxx#paul lahote#twilight#paul lahote x reader#twilight x reader#twilight imagine#wolf pack imagine#Paul Lahote angst#Paul Lahote blurb#paul lahote fluff#paul lahote imagine
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Futures Past pt14 / On AO3
three conversations as Nie Huaisang's time in Gusu comes to an end
Summer had finally come to an end, implacable heat replaced by a more pleasant warmth as the world took on new hues. It also meant that the final few exams of the year were fast approaching, though Nie Huaisang felt unconcerned. He’d been ordered to fail after all, not that he thought he could have succeeded even if he’d tried.
Comforted by that permission to not study, he was currently laying in the grass in the back hills of the Cloud Recesses, enjoying the afternoon sun. A history book, chosen for the promise of the many scandals it revealed about a past emperor’s reign, laid forgotten on his chest, Nie Huaisang having realised that the contents were far more serious than he felt like dealing with at the moment. At some other time he might have taken a nap, encouraged by the warmth, but he’d found it difficult to sleep since that visit of his future self a few days earlier.
Just as Nie Huaisang was about to pick up his book again, Su She finished his series of sword forms and came to lay on the grass as well. He was sweaty and looked tired, but appeared quite happy with himself. Su She had confessed that he’d made a real leap forward with his cultivation since teachers and other disciples stopped constantly putting him down, something for which Nie Huaisang felt as proud as if it had been his own progress.
They stayed silent for a while, just basking in the sun, enjoying that beautiful day, until Nie Huaisang found that his recent worries were too heavy on his chest and he had to share them.
“Su-xiong?”
Su She made a noise to signify he’d heard, but couldn’t be bothered to speak. He looked comfortable, and had closed his eyes as if he might succeed with the nap that eluded Nie Huaisang. It was almost a shame to ruin that.
“Do you think people can be so evil that nothing will redeem them?”
The silence changed around them. After a moment Su She sat up to get a look at Nie Huaisang. Finding him looking serious, Su She’s initial puzzlement quickly turned into mild irritation at being dragged into a discussion like that on such a pleasant afternoon.
“Gusu Lan’s principles state that…”
“Not you as a Lan disciple,” Nie Huaisang cut him with an impatient gesture. “You as a person. Do you think people can be so evil that there’s no going back for them, that nothing they could do or say would ever compensate for what they’ve done?”
Some of Su She’s irritation eased away, glad as always to be given a chance to voice an opinion that wasn’t that of his sect, and he laid down on the grass again.
“That’s a pretty intense question,” Su She said after a moment. “I guess there’s got to be a limit to what’s forgivable, yeah. I’m not the best to decide what that’d be though. I’ve been told I have an issue with holding grudges. But I think yeah, in general, there’s got to be a moment where a bad person becomes so bad there’s no going back and they just need to be eliminated.”
It wasn’t the answer Nie Huaisang had been hoping for, but it didn’t exactly surprise him either. He thought the same after all, if only because a person such as Wen Ruohan existed, proving to him that some people had to be beyond redemption.
“Then do you think…”
“What’s wrong with you today? Was this morning’s lecture about ethics again?”
“It was about the proper way to address people depending on family and allegiance links, and I fell asleep. No, this is something else. I’m just thinking about stuff lately.”
“Like good and evil? That must have been a pretty nasty nap you took.”
Nie Huaisang shrugged. “I just wonder what makes a person bad or good. Do you think some people can be bad from birth? Just, they’re born and they’re evil, and there’s no way they’re ever going to be anything but evil.”
It really bothered him, the things his future self had said during his last visit. About Lan Xichen, about Su She, but mostly the way he’d spoken of that Xue Yang boy, as if that child were no better than a cockroach needing to be squashed before it could proliferate.
“I think there’s definitely people who think that about some other people,” Su She said. “I’m pretty sure if you asked some of the other Lan disciples, they’d say I’m like that, just because I have a temper and I don’t hug their knees quite enough and I ask too many questions during some lessons. I guess it’s easier to hate someone if you tell yourself they’re the worst and they deserve it.”
“You’re not evil!” Nie Huaisang cried out, reaching out for his friend’s hand. “You’re not! I’ll fight anyone who says you are!”
Surprised by that outburst, Su She blinked a few times then snorted, pushing away Nie Huaisang’s hand.
“I appreciate it, but it didn’t go so well last time you tried to fight for my honour.”
“I’ll still fight all of them!”
Su She laughed, but appeared quite happy to hear that. Even now that other Lans gave him less of a hard time, he still liked being reminded that Nie Huaisang was on his side, just as he made sure Nie Huaisang knew the opposite was true as well.
That was why Nie Huaisang was telling him about his thoughts, rather than going to Lan Qiren or even Lan Xichen who surely might have more elaborate opinions on the matter of good and evil. Su She might not have read quite as much, but he was also less likely to judge Nie Huaisang for asking that kind of thing. Besides, since Su She’s opinions were often less polished, they felt more honest than if he’d quoted great thinkers of the past.
“But really, do you think a person can actually be evil from birth?” Nie Huaisang insisted when Su She had stopped laughing. “Like. Like a child, but they’re evil. Do you think that’s possible?”
Su She grabbed a strand of grass, and started twisting it between his fingers.
“Maybe. But like I said, people will mostly say that about someone they don’t like, or someone that doesn’t play by their rules, or else they’re not from a prestigious family and they’re just doing what they have to survive.”
He paused to pluck some more grass to play with, and started constructing a knot with it.
“I have a great-uncle I’ve never met,” Su She explained. “He owned a farm before he died where he worked hard, until there was a very bad drought and hard work wasn’t enough anymore. My grandfather often said that people called his brother evil because he did some bad things to feed his wife and children, and some of it really was pretty awful I guess. But nobody ever called evil the magistrate that wanted to force him to pay his taxes instead of buying food. My great-uncle was executed for his crimes and everyone said he’d always been evil and vicious even though they used to praise him as a good man before, but the magistrate got a promotion for making sure taxes were still paid and he got called virtuous. And that’s… I don’t know, I feel there’s something not right in that, you know?”
Nie Huaisang nodded, his eyes fixed on the grass knot that Su She wouldn't stop twisting between his fingers.
His older self had said that this Xue Yang he had to kill was an orphan, and a thief of some sort even though he was just ten.
It would be harder to be virtuous and noble for someone who didn’t have anyone to turn to. Nie Huaisang had his whole family behind him, all the education anyone could have, he knew about ethics and rules, and he still found it hard sometimes to make the right choices. He was too lazy and selfish to ever be really good, and apparently he wasn’t going to improve with age. So how could a child on his own, without books or wise elders, learn to be a good person, especially if like Nie Huaisang they’d been given a bad personality?
“Ok, I have another question.”
Su She sighed, and threw away his grass knot.
“Is it a weird one again?”
Nie Huaisang grimaced.
“Yeah, that one is pretty weird,” he admitted. “So, imagine there’s a very evil person. The most evil you can think of, but you don’t actually know them, it’s just that someone told you that person is very evil. And, for some reason, you’re given a chance to go back to when they were a little kid, and that person who told you this other guy is evil also tells you that you should take the chance and kill the evil person while he’s a kid to save other people. Would you do it, or would you try to… I don’t know, maybe try to make that kid grow up around better people so maybe he doesn’t turn out so bad?”
“Those questions are getting really specific.”
“Just answer. Do you think it’d be right to kill that kid?”
Su She fell silent for a moment.
“Do I trust the person who told me the kid will be evil later?”
Nie Huaisang considered that question.
“Yeah. I guess for the sake of the argument, you trust that person,” he said, even though he wasn’t quite sure how much he did trust his older self.
“And has the kid done anything evil yet?”
“No, but he’s done bad things. Maybe he stole some stuff. But also, he’s an orphan, you know?”
Su She sat up and gave his friend a sharp look.
“Really specific again. I guess… I guess it’d be wrong to kill him though. I mean, it’s like you said, why not try to put him in a better place instead? If he’s just a kid, and he hasn’t done anything bad yet… I don’t think it’s really fair to punish someone for something they haven’t even done yet.”
“Right? I think so too. People should get a chance before they’re punished. They’ve got to have a chance to learn!”
Su She nodded, but look more and more suspicious.
“So, is this all about someone in particular, or…”
“I’m just wondering stuff,” Nie Huaisang quickly said. The truth was too weird for anyone to ever believe, even if he tried to tell someone. Su She would just think he was crazy. Maybe he was, anyway. “I’ve got to think about something during boring lessons, right? I mean, don’t you start thinking about weird stuff too?”
“Sometimes I think about leaving the Cloud Recesses and creating my own sect when I’m bored,” Su She replied.
Nie Huaisang sat up, a grin on his face.
“Really? What would it be like?”
“Like Gusu Lan, but better,” Su She retorted with a smug smile. “And I’d get to sleep half a shichen later in the morning. You’re welcome to join us if you’d like, since you know how to play the guqin now. You can be my right hand man.”
Nie Huaisang’s grin only grew larger. It sounded like a delightful idea, and he eagerly dropped all his earlier thoughts about ethics and morality to instead make Su She talk about the sect of his dreams, until it was time for dinner.
-
That had to have been Lan Qiren’s most boring lecture to date. Quite the accomplishment, Nie Huaisang thought. Another accomplishment, and one far more impressive, was the fact that he’d managed to stay awake through all of it. It was really hard lately to pay attention, especially now that he didn’t need to. His grades during tests had been so consistently low that he couldn’t have passed even if he tried, so he really should have been allowed to skip those last few lessons and go have fun somewhere. He was going to hear all that stuff again in a year, wasn’t he?
If he hadn’t feared the Lans’ punishment methods, Nie Huaisang would have skipped all these stupid classes and ran off to Gusu for some fun.
If he hadn’t feared his brother’s wrath, he would also have stopped bothering with homework. But Lan Xichen had hinted to him, not unwisely, that Nie Mingjue might be a little less angry if he could be shown proof that his brother had really tried to learn. And considering the stunt Nie Huaisang was thinking of pulling with Xue Yang…
So, Nie Huaisang had stayed awake in class, and he’d been handed back some previous homework with a grade so high he’d actually asked Lan Qiren if there hadn’t been a mistake. Lan Qiren had told him that if the grade didn’t please him, it was always possible to lower it, so Nie Huaisang had kept his mouth shut after that.
The rest of the lesson had passed surprisingly fast after that, and soon enough Nie Huaisang was free again, with a whole afternoon ahead of him. He had new homework to deal with, sure, and it was something that would be graded again, but that didn’t feel urgent. Sadly, Su She had already warned that he wouldn’t be free to hang out that day, due to being allowed to go on a Night Hunt with some other Lan juniors, something he’d been very excited about. That meant Nie Huaisang would have to stay on his own, or go bother Lan Xichen.
The second option felt surprisingly compelling, even though they’d already see each other in three days for his music lesson. Lan Xichen was sure to praise him for his good grade after all, and Nie Huaisang quite enjoyed being praised, as he’d discovered. If more people praised him, he might start feeling like doing something to deserve it.
Nie Huaisang had just decided he’d try to see if Lan Xichen had time for him when Jin Zixun grabbed him by the elbow and started pulling him away from everyone else.
"How come you had a good grade on that essay?" Jin Zixun asked with unwarranted suspicion.
Nie Huaisang, who had briefly wondered if he was going to get punched again and was getting ready to escape, relaxed and allowed the other boy to drag him away.
"I'm actually very smart, thanks."
"You're only smart on homework and never on quizzes," Jin Zixun retorted. "Is your merchant friend helping you?"
That earned him a light kick to the shin, which he didn’t appear to feel.
"Don’t call him that!” Nie Huaisang warned. “And, no, he's said he doesn't want to think about learning when we hang out."
"Then it's Lan gongzi who does your homework for you."
That hit a little too close. Stung in his pride, Nie Huaisang’s freed himself from Jin Zixun’s grip and stopped walking, arms crossed on his chest.
"He doesn't! He just corrects my drafts! And lately most of what's in my essays is all my own, actually! I only fail in quizzes because I panic and because I don't have enough time."
It was something he’d realised during his music lessons with Lan Xichen, actually. Nie Huaisang needed to do things at his own speed, or else he couldn’t do things at all. It wasn’t a problem with Lan Xichen who allowed him to take breaks and even have a snack if he struggled too much to focus, but Lan Qiren and the other teachers hadn’t taken it too well when he’d tried to eat candies during quizzes, or when he started doodling during an exam because it helped him focus. It also fell into deaf ears when he pleaded to be given a little more time when, by some random chance, he actually did know the answer to a question and had so much to say that the allotted time wasn’t enough.
By comparison, homework was easy. Especially when Lan Xichen allowed him to come into his room and work there while he dealt with his own work. The company of a studious person really helped.
"Fine,” Jin Zixun said, grabbing his arm again. “Then you're going to help me with my essays. I’m just barely passing and if I don't get a good grade on the last set of homework, old man Lan is going to make me come back next year."
Jin Zixun started pulling again, but Nie Huaisang resisted this time.
"Why should I help you?"
"Because your grades are so bad you're sure to be sent back next year, and then we'd be stuck together again."
"I need to think. I don't care that much about being stuck with you. You're not the worst person I know."
"I'm… not?" Jin Zixun asked, sounding so shocked that Nie Huaisang snorted.
"Not even close to it," Nie Huaisang assured him, thinking of his future self. With that point of comparison, a lot of people had become almost agreeable to him.
"Oh. I'm not sure I have another argument in my favour," Jin Zixun admitted. "Usually that one is enough."
Nie Huaisang snorted again. He could imagine that a lot of people would do whatever Jin Zixun asked of them, just so he’d stop talking to them for a little while. He was, after all, a complete prick, without skill or above average good looks to compensate. Still, Nie Huaisang felt a little sorry for him.
Besides, he was convinced that his future self would hate to see him waste time being nice to someone whom he didn’t deem useful, and that really sealed the deal.
"Okay I'll help,” he sighed, as if conceding to something that cost him a lot, when in truth he didn’t mind that much. “But only because I'm sorry for you."
"Hey!"
"And I'm just helping,” Nie Huaisang warned. “You're still doing the actual work.”
“You’re just lazy,” Jin Zixun complained, pulling again on Nie Huaisang’s arm who, this time, willingly started to follow him toward the cabin where the Jin disciples stayed.
“I sure am,” Nie Huaisang agreed with a bright smile. “And I’m also thirsty, so let’s have tea while you work!”
Jin Zixun complained and grumbled and called him spoiled, but still did serve him what had to be the best tea he had on hand as they worked together.
-
A loud, discordant rang through the otherwise silent room until Nie Huaisang put down his hands on the guqin’s strings to silence it. His eyes prickled with tears yet unspilled. It was a simple enough melody, and he’d worked on it all week, wanting to surprise Lan Xichen with his progress by playing for him something they hadn't worked on together. Even the other Nie disciples, who fluctuated between indifference and annoyance at his new obsession with music, had praised him for playing it so well the night before.
But now he was there, in Lan Xichen’s room, trying to actually play that damn melody, and his fingers just refused to obey him.
“Give me another chance,” he begged, quickly pressing the back of his hand to one eye, just to make sure he hadn’t actually started crying. “I swear I can play it! I worked so hard on it, I’ll show you!”
“If you say you can play it, I believe you,” Lan Xichen replied. “You’ve had a rough day, it’s normal to be affected. Let’s put away the guqin for now and have some tea instead. It’ll do you good.”
When Lan Xichen got up and turned around to go boil water, Nie Huaisang felt a few tears of frustration fall on his cheek which he quickly wiped away. It was stupid, and it wasn’t fair, and he hated that things could impact him life that.
“It’s not like I thought I had any chance of passing anyway,” he hissed, hands clenching into fists. “I knew I was going to fail, it’s stupid that I’m upset about this!”
“Knowing something and actually experiencing it aren’t the same,” Lan Xichen replied. “It’s normal to be upset, Huaisang.”
Nie Huaisang shrugged, and wiped another tear. What did Lan Xichen know about failing anyway? He was always stupidly perfect, always did everything well, a favourite of every teacher, admired by all their peers, far more handsome than a boy of eighteen had any right to be, with a cultivation level that only Nie Mingjue, a freak of nature, could surpass. It was easy for Lan Xichen to say being upset was normal, when he’d probably never failed anything in his entire life.
By the time Lan Xichen returned to the table with a teapot and two glasses, Nie Huaisang was sulking, though thankfully he was too angry at himself to cry anymore. Lan Xichen took one look at him and went to fetch something else. He carefully put a little wooden box in front of Nie Huaisang, then started pouring tea for both of them.
“Take one,” Lan Xichen encouraged, nodding toward the box. “Take as many as you like, in fact. Just don’t tell anyone about them. I’m not supposed to have those.”
Intrigued, Nie Huaisang opened the box and discovered an array of cheap candies, which made Nie Huaisang grin against his will.
“What happened to the rules about avoiding unhealthy foods?”
“Wangji would have a fit,” Lan Xichen sighed, eyes glancing toward the door, as if just by mentioning his name, Lan Wangji might appear out of thin air to scold them. “But I know I can trust you to keep the secret.”
“No choice, you’ve made me an accomplice,” Nie Huaisang replied, grabbing one piece of candy. It was disgustingly sweet, almost making his jaw ache.
So he reached for another, his fingers briefly brushing against Lan Xichen who’d done the same. Nie Huaisang quickly removed his hand, startled at the sensation of warm skin.
“Lan gongzi, what if you adopted me as your new little brother?” Nie Huaisang suggested to try and pretend he hadn't had such a strong reaction just from an accidental touch. “I promise to be a very good didi. I will never get upset at you for wanting to have a little fun sometimes, and I’ll never denounce you to Lan Qiren either. And you will be my nice Lan-gege… ah ! Better yet, you'll be Xichen-ge! Always kind and patient, and you won’t mind at all that I’m bad at everything because I’m very sweet and funny.”
“A tempting offer,” Lan Xichen replied with an odd smile. “Wangji certainly never calls me ‘ge’ because he finds it too informal, whereas I think I quite like it, so I might adopt you just for that. But alas, Mingjue-xiong would be heartbroken if I stole his beloved brother from him, and so I must decline.”
Nie Huaisang took a sip of tea and sighed deeply.
“I don’t think he’ll mind at all. As it is, he might just disown me himself anyway.”
"Your brother will understand," Lan Xichen replied while taking another candy. "He'll be angry at first, but it won't last. If it worries you so much, I can write to him and tell him how hard you've been working. It's a shame homework doesn't count more toward passing, or I do think you'd be graduating."
Nie Huaisang shrugged. It was always like that: if he was good at something, it was always something which didn't matter. Even being skilled at music… what good was that to anyone, in the end?
"What if he doesn't forgive me though?"
"He will," Lan Xichen replied with confidence. "You are his precious little brother, I don't think he could ever stay mad at you very long."
Nie Huaisang thought of his older self, so convinced that Nie Mingjue despised him, and sighed.
"Maybe someday he'll get tired of forgiving me. Maybe someday I'll… maybe someday I'll do something that's too much," he muttered, thinking of his plan regarding Xue Yang. "I'll go too far, and then he'll hate me. And if he hates me, I'll…"
"Your brother loves you," Lan Xichen said. "He loves you as much as you love him. I don't think there's anything in the world that could change that."
That sounded like a challenge. As it happened, Nie Huaisang had given that topic a lot of thought lately, and he'd reached a conclusion.
"I can think of at least two things I could do that would make him hate me," he announced.
"Is that so?" Lan Xichen asked with a smile, as if he really believed such a thing to be impossible.
That gave Nie Huaisang some comfort. Lan Xichen was Nie Mingjue's best friend in the world, as close to him as he was to Su She. Lan Xichen had to know Nie Mingjue better than anyone else did, even if things were fated to start going bad between them someday.
"I could betray him to Wen Ruohan," Nie Huaisang said. "He'd never forgive that."
Lan Xichen took a sip of tea and nodded.
"Not if you did it on purpose, no. But I also think it isn't in your nature to willingly side with his enemies, and he would forgive you if you were tricked into it."
"Xichen-ge has a very high opinion of me, I feel undeserving."
"I'm only stating the truth. Now, what's the other thing you think Mingjue-xiong wouldn't forgive?"
"Marrying into Lanling Jin."
Lan Xichen chortled.
A real, honest to god, ugly laugh. He tried to hide it under a cough, but it was too late, Nie Huaisang had heard it and it delighted him. So even the ever perfect first jade of Gusu Lan could laugh like that!
"Well? What do you think of that one?"
"I think you're right this time," Lan Xichen agreed, still coughing. "It might be too much for him. In fact, I'll even say you'd deserve it."
"What? Xichen-ge, how cruel!" Nie Huaisang lamented, one hand over his heart. "Maybe I’ve found my one true love, and…”
“So all Jin Zixun had to do was break your nose and now you want to marry him?”
“Oh that’s pushing the joke too far,” Nie Huaisang said with a grimace, quickly bringing one hand to his nose, following the bone with one finger to try and feel the break. “He’s not my type at all, and anyway we’re both brats, it wouldn’t work out at all. Still, in theory, if I were to marry into Lanling Jin…”
Lan Xichen only smiled more widely.
“Would you, though?”
“Why not? There’s got to be a few that are decent. I mean, Zixun is occasionally almost tolerable, he can’t be the only one.”
“Oh, certainly there are some very fine people in that sect. I was talking more about the fact that you’d have to wear yellow for the rest of your life. Is that really something you could put up with?”
Thinking of the way those Jin disciples dressed, Nie Huaisang gasped and pressed both hands to his mouth to silence a cry of horror.
“That’s a good point! It’s not even a nice shade of yellow, either!" he cried out, trying to picture himself wearing it. It would be awful, he quickly decided. "I think it would wash out my complexion and make me look sickly. Maybe if it were a touch closer to brown, or even better a bit greenish, maybe I could consider it, but I really can’t marry into a sect that favours such a dreadful colour. I guess I’ll… why are you smiling?”
Lan Xichen, once more hiding his face behind his sleeve, turned away as if it might help dissimulate his grin.
“Because you are quite funny," he chuckled. "I don’t think anyone else would consider it a deal-breaker for marriage that they don’t like another sect’s colour.”
“Easy for you to say, Xichen-ge, you’d look good in any hue! Some of us have to be careful!”
Lan Xichen lowered his hand, his face suddenly serious once more except for a certain glint in his eyes.
“Huaisang, you really sell yourself short sometimes. I think you’d look quite good in any colour,” he eagerly said, before breaking into a fit of giggles as he added: “Any colour except Jin yellow, that is.”
It wasn’t even that funny, Nie Huaisang thought as he started laughing too. But Lan Xichen’s unexpected hilarity was too contagious to be resisted, and he’d been feeling down all day, so he just went for it and enjoyed the moment. It took them ages to ever calm down.
When they did though, Lan Xichen suggested that perhaps Nie Huaisang might try again to play that song he’d practiced.
This time, he played it perfectly, better even than he’d ever done before.
#nie huaisang#lan xichen#su she#jin zixun#xisang#some very light flirting is starting to happen at long last!#mo dao zu shi#mdzs#jau writes#double time travel
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Peace: A Kol Mikaelson Imagine
Request from Anon: Peace feels like a song for Kol - thank you xx
So requests are fully open again! Just a quick reminder that I'm only taking song imagines for Folklore, although everything else is good to go! Hope this is okay for you lovely, and enjoy x
Want to hear the song? Find a link to it just below:
Peace
Our coming-of-age has come and gone
Suddenly this summer, it's clear
I never had the courage of my convictions
"Are you going to be okay?"
You were lingering by the door when you heard Freya's question to Kol. It was a crucial moment in Mikaelson family history, one where they would separate to protect Hope, each sibling keeping a piece of the Hollow in their soul.
Kol had almost been too late in answering Freya's message, and you remembered how he had sped down the highway. You put your hand on his knee, on his shaking leg, his knuckles white as he gripped the wheel. “We're going to get there, Kol. We'll make it. "
It warmed your heart to see him rushing to get to his family, to save the little girl who had stolen all of your hearts. You knew that you would never be able to have children of your own with him, but the image of him in the role of an uncle made you smile. You weren't teenagers anymore, adults in a relationship, really thinking about these things.
He moved one hand off the wheel and put it on yours, clutching onto your fingers. He had always adored your optimism, your bravery when it came to making decisions. “I know we will, Y/N. I just don't want to be too late. "
And you weren't, getting there just before Freya turned herself into a vampire. You had chosen to stay out of the way, letting brother and sister embrace for what could be the final time.
As long as danger is near
And it's just around the corner, darlin '
You could sense him, the danger that radiated off him, and so weren’t surprised to see Klaus Mikaelson come around the corner. The hybrid looked tired, drained, and you felt your heart break a little to see the seemingly invincible Original in such a state.
He was saying goodbye to his daughter, to his family, knowing that although he was protecting them, he would never see them again. He looked at you, raising his eyebrows. “So Kol showed up then?”
“He’s in there with Freya.” You gestured to where Kol stood still talking to Freya, slightly frustrated that after all these years, Klaus still didn’t expect to his younger brother to do the right thing. “You don’t give him enough credit, you know that?”
“Excuse me?”
“He’s a good man, Klaus. I know he messes up from time to time, and I know he hasn’t been particularly well behaved over the years, but he cares. About all of you.”
Klaus took a step towards you, and smiled.
“You’re the one who brought out the good in him, Y/N, and I thank you for that.” You didn’t know what to do when Klaus Mikaelson pulled you into a hug, but it wasn’t long before you hugged him back.
'Cause it lives in me
No, I could never give you peace
From your spot by the doorway, you watched as Vincent prepared the spell that would separate the Mikaelson family forever. They were a family, Kol’s family, your family, and it would be difficult to see them apart.
Even if you hadn’t always got along.
Kol had always told you that he had found peace since he met you, and when you first looked upon the chaos that was the Mikaelson family, you understood what he meant. He had told you that he felt calm whenever he was with you, part of his soul at rest, a part of you living within him.
You were the cool breeze in a blazing heat. His moment of sanity in the madness of being a Mikaelson.
That madness was disintegrating before your eyes, and you knew that, although he would never admit it, Kol would miss it. It was as much a part of him as you were, and it had become a part of you too.
You had always believed that as long as you had Kol, you would be at peace yourself, no matter whatever threats faced his family. But now, the prospect of spending a life alone with him was real, and as delighted as you were, part of you was hurting too.
Hurting because you knew he was.
But I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm
If your cascade, ocean wave blues come
All these people think love's for show
You had stopped listening to the conversation between Kol and Freya, not wanting to eavesdrop on what was a private conversation. Vincent had finished preparing the spell, and now the courtyard of the Mikaelson compound was quiet.
There were so many memories here, hidden in the walls, ones that you had made yourself.
You remembered dancing with Kol over the concrete tiles, remembered him pressing you up against ivy covered pillars and kissing you, igniting a fire within you that continued to burn to this day.
A life alone with him. A few months ago, it would have sounded like a dream, and it still did. You only wished it could be under different circumstances, with the possibility of visiting this old, ancient house, still present.
Maybe you would move down to the beach, spending your evenings listening to waves crash against the shore. You imagined your legs tangled with Kol’s as you lay in the sand, your head on his chest as he kissed the top of it, carelessly, lovingly.
It would be a bittersweet ending to your story, but you would make the best of it.
Your head snapped up when you heard your name, Freya Mikaelson talking about you. You turned, head peeking through the doorway again, hoping you wouldn’t be noticed.
But I would die for you in secret
The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me
Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
You watched as Freya looked at her youngest brother with concern. She had always been a friend to you, the first of the siblings to sympathise when you and Kol had left New Orleans, ready to start a life of your own.
She had told you that you made Kol happy, that you were doing the right thing, that you provided peace and tranquility whenever he needed it. She had thanked you for loving him like he deserved.
You hoped you would live up to such praise in the years to come, hoped that you would be able to look after him, to lead him on the right path when none of his siblings could. Looking over his shoulder, Freya smiled at you, and Kol turned to face you.
You smiled at him, at the twinkle in his eye as he gazed at you with such adoration, your heart ached. You would have died for him, anything to make him as happy as you were when he told you he loved you.
Kol turned back to his sister, and she pulled him into a tearful hug. “Tell me you’re going to be okay. Both of you.”
“As I’ve told you,” you could hear the laughter settling in Kol’s voice, “we’ll be fine.” He turned to look at you one last time. “We’ll always be fine as long as we have each other.”
For the first time since you had arrived at the Mikaelson compound, you felt what Kol felt when he was around you.
You felt peace.
Masterlist
Folklore Masterlist
#the vampire diaries#tvd#tvd imagine#tvd imagines#the originals#to#the originals imagines#the originals imagine#Kol mikaelson#kol mikaelson imagines#kol mikaelson imagine#kol mikaelson x reader#nate buzolic#nate buzz#Nathaniel Buzolic
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Lovers Among Us - atla smau
masterlist / part 17 / part 18 / part 19
a/n: Zuko and Y/n’s conversation under the cut!
With both crutches under your arms, you made your way to the door and opened it. Sure enough, Zuko was standing there just as he said. You caught a quick glimpse of him leaning against the hallway wall with his arms folded, but he immediately straightened up when his eyes met yours. You felt your stomach drop a little and you had the sudden inclination to worm your way back inside the room where your friends sat still watching the movie. Surely, a man with razor hands and a decaying face who kills you in your nightmares is less frightening than this leap you’re about to take. Zuko must have felt your apprehension though because he held the door wide to help you through it and rested his hand on your shoulder to guide you across the threshold.
“You know, once I get a boot instead of these crutches, this will be a lot easier,” you said, more of an attempt to calm the hurricane of butterflies boarding up in your gut. “I could probably kick Sokka pretty hard with the boot, now that I think about it.”
Zuko didn’t respond; he only smiled. You would not have thought much about such a small smile, but recently everything about Zuko seemed to become a permanent fixture in your mind.
For the first time, you noticed just how small Zuko’s smiles actually were. So small, in fact, that if someone were not looking close enough, they may just assume his face was resting in his typical trademark scowl. How wrong they’d be though, you thought. They’d just be searching for his smiles in the wrong place. His real smile was in his eyes. There was a glow and warmth in his eyes. It was both inviting and comforting like a steady fire on a cold winter day. Zuko quirked an eyebrow, which you noticed immediately as you had just then registered that you had been staring at him through that entire internal monologue. Suddenly the carpeted hallway became very interesting. And the heat on your cheeks? Definitely from the temperature in the hallway. Or the strain of crutching around. Yep. That’s it completely.
You were quiet the rest of the walk to the car. You were quiet for the car ride to the Jasmine Dragon. While you said nothing, your decided to be quite the chatterbox. In addition to noticing and now appreciating all of Zuko’s little quirks, you also began to reflect on memories of your friendship with Zuko. You remembered when you first became friends with him and almost pulling an all nighter just texting each other. You remembered going to the farmer’s market with the gang, and splitting up to cover more group. Zuko stayed with you and carried all the fresh produce you picked out. For months the two of you kept up an inside joke about the man at the cabbage stand. You remembered how much you missed him when he went home to the Fire Nation one summer. You remembered the instant joy you felt when he came back early and being stricken with concern when he said he won’t be going back home for awhile. You remembered when Iroh was sick and had to be hospitalized for some time and Zuko called you at 3 in the morning just so completely lost. You remembered how you did the same thing when your grandmother was died. He rushed over to your room immediately and just hugged you until you felt something again. And you did feel something back then. But what, you didn’t know. So you pushed it aside and carried on.
The car door opened, jolting you out of your thoughts. You turned to see Zuko offering his hand. “We’re here,” he said, and you took his hand which guided you out of the car. He had already taken your crutches out from the backseat and handed them to you.
Silently, you thanked the heavens for giving you a best friend who has his own set of keys to his uncle’s tea shop. It was late and the Jasmine Dragon had closed hours ago. While you still wished Freddy Krueger would just come and kill you now, you were glad that you and Zuko would at least have some privacy. He gestured for you to take a table while he flipped on a few lights and shuffled to the back to brew up some tea. Of course, he returned after some agonizing, nervous foot-tapping moments later with your favorite blend.
“So,” he said.
“So,” you echoed.
“I’m sorry for walking out earlier.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
It was quiet for a moment and you desperately sought to find something interesting to fixate on other than Zuko thrumming his fingers on the table. The tea. The tea is nice. Good, although Zuko definitely added too much honey. You smiled though, knowing that despite his subpar tea making skills, he always remembers what you like. You could have been happy just sitting there, but Zuko broke the silence.
“What are we doing?”
“Well, I’m trying to stomach this overly sweetened tea. What are you doing?”
“Y/N…” This time Zuko’s eye did not smile at your attempt for lightheartedness. Try as you might, this was going to be a serious conversation.
“I don’t know, Zuko.”
“You have to know something,” he scoffed. Looking up, you caught him rolling his eyes and leaning back in his chair so that he could cross his arms again.
“Don’t you scoff at me. You got us into this mess.”
“Me?” he asked incredulously. You could practically hear the yell he was biting back. An opening. He was frustrated. You could convince him that this wouldn’t work. That you’re better off as friends because your friendship has already survived fights and your stupidity. But anything more? What kind of stress could that put on the both of you? What if it created cracks in the foundation?
“Yes, you. If you hadn’t walked out and caused a scene, we’d be enjoying a movie night or killing Sokka again.”
“I just apologized for walking out!”
“And I said you have nothing to apologize for!”
“YOU JUST SAID I CAUSED A SCENE!” His voice rose and his hands fisted through his hair. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he tried again. This time his voice was much softer, gentler.
“Why are you pushing me away?”
A worthy counterattack. You could feel his tugging on your heart strings. But you are a fortress, you will not crumble. This is for the best of your friendship, you reminded yourself.
But then he looked up and you looked away quickly. He moved his head to try to recapture your attention.
“Y/N,” your name on his lips was almost a whisper, a prayer really. You hesitantly looked back at him. “Ask me when.”
“When what?”
“When I knew that I love you.”
You felt your eyebrows shoot up towards your hairline and your jaw slackened in shock. Immediately, that hurricane of butterflies roared again. In your stomach. In your heart. In your throat. Can a fortress withstand an army of thousands of butterflies?
“When?” Your voice was faint, but you heard the simple question fall from your lips.
“I don’t know,” he answered.
“Zuko!” you groaned and facepalmed. “Why would you have me ask you that then?!”
“Because it wasn’t just one moment,” his voice had not changed from that soft tone. “There were so many moments that made me realize I love you.”
You could only gulp down a couple butterflies before he continued in a passion of communication.
“The first time I heard you laugh. When I see you hug my uncle. When you cried snot on my shoulder after watching Coco. I can’t narrow it down to one moment. All I know is when I’m with you, since I’ve met you, I’ve been genuinely happy. Hell, I look forward to just sitting next to you in class—“
“Why?” you interrupted.
“Why do I like sitting next to you in class?”
“No. Why do you love me?” Your voice was so quiet that a pin dropping to the floor would make more noise.
“I don’t think I could pick one reason either.”
“Try. Please.”
He paused for a moment to think, to choose the right words. All through his thinking, his eyes never left yours.
“You know me,” he said finally. “You listen to me and… you care about what I have to say. You know what will make me smile or what to say when I’m upset, even if I don’t want to talk. You know what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking. I love the way you lo—“ he caught himself and looked down at the table. “I love the way you care about me.”
Silence invaded the Jasmine Dragon again. It settled for a while between the two of you and you digested Zuko’s words. He said you know him but you have absolutely no idea what to say next.
“Okay,” Zuko the silence breaker spoke again. “I did all my talking. It’s your turn now.”
“My turn?” It was your turn to ask incredulously.
“Yes, your turn.”
“I don’t have anything to say.” Zuko’s words may have collapsed an area of the fortress but you began rebuilding brick by brick.
“Bullshit,” he almost laughed, but there was no mirth in his voice. “You wouldn’t have come to the door if you didn’t have anything to say.”
“Zuko, I--” you began, only to get cut off again.
“Don’t lie to me,” he said seriously. “Actually, I still have my fifth rule to use. Rule #5 is Y/n has to be honest with me.”
“Really?” you deadpanned. “Of all the possibilities, that’s what you come up with?”
“If it gets us to have this conversation, then yes.”
It was quiet again. Avoiding his gaze again, you look down at the table. Now you were most definitely pushed up against your last wall. A white flag would have to be raised. You were only tried to think up the words for your declaration of love surrender.
“Zuko, I--” you tried again. “I’m afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No,” you had to laugh. “No, of course not. I’m afraid of losing you.” Your honesty suddenly gave you a second wind, quiet and shaken voice be gone. Now you were animated in your best attempt to express yourself. “What if, what if we don’t work out?” you pleaded for him to understand. “What if it doesn’t work and you stop loving me and we start to hate each other and then we don’t want to even be in the same room as each other and then our friends will have to take sides and then the whole group falls apart?”
Zuko took a moment to take in your plea. You could tell her was considering what would be the best response. “Do you think that would happen if Sokka and Suki break up?”
“I already told Suki I’m taking her side no matter what so....”
You both laughed, and seeing Zuko smile again relieved some of your nervousness. It was so easy to talk to him. So easy to be honest with him.
“I guess it depends then,” Zuko started up the conversation again. “If you maybe... felt the same way about me.” A small smile formed on his lips again but this time there was hesitancy in his eyes. You felt the urge to start rebuilding the fortress again but you promised to follow Zuko’s fifth rule of honesty. There was no turning back.
“I do,” you replied surely and you made it a point to make eye contact with him. You noticed the hesitancy slip away and the warmth and glow of his eyes returned.
“Then you’re not going to lose me. If it doesn’t work, then fine. I’m your best friend first and foremost and you are mine. But I love you. And I want to see where that takes us.”
It wasn’t the first time he said he loved you during this conversation but for the first time, you felt complete ease overwhelm you. As if this was exactly where you were meant to be. With the person you were meant to be with. Fear and insecurity had washed away.
“Okay,” you smiled. “I love you, too.”
a/n: lol more to come, but back to screenshots for part 19 :) hope you enjoyed!
taglist (open, just send me an ask!):
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