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shewhohangsoutincemeteries · 3 years

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oasis

Peter Quill x Reader

Prompt: “can we share the blanket?”

Summary: quill catches you building a blanket fort to surprise groot with, and surprises you by helping. the two of you decide to test it out before the crew get back, and he shows you a side of him you haven’t really seen before.

Warnings: smut, fluff, hint of angst, oral sex (female receiving), vaginal sex, adult language.

Word Count: 4,486

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You were humming quietly along with the dulcet sound of the Fleetwood Mac you’d left playing over the ship’s speakers, enjoying the way it echoed lightly down the metal walls of the corridor towards you. You made your way down to the cargo bay of the Benatar, your arms piled high with the sheets and blankets you’d just pilfered from your bunk. You cursed quietly to yourself as the toe of your slipper caught on a seam in the floor, tripping you up slightly as you went. Still, it did nothing to dull your good mood.

You dumped the blankets on the floor once you reached the quiet corner of the cargo bay you’d selected earlier, joining the stacks of pillows you’d already brought out between two shoulder-high storage crates. You smiled, pleased with yourself, releasing a happy sigh before setting about your self-appointed task. You never got hours like this, peaceful, simple moments without the sounds of crewmates arguing or the clattering of metal on metal. You loved your life with the Guardians, but that didn’t mean that you didn’t sometimes crave the quiet.

You bent over, searching through the stack of blankets for the biggest.

“Not that I mind the view, but you wanna tell me what you’re doing with my bedding?”

You jumped, startled, before arching your neck to look back over your shoulder. Peter Quill was standing behind you, leaning his shoulder against the ladder to the cockpit with his arms folded across his chest. He’d removed his jacket since re-boarding, the short sleeves of his tee shirt showcasing the muscles in his arms. He had an eyebrow raised in wry amusement, a trademark smirk on his lips. You rolled your eyes at him before turning back to what you were doing, unsure if you’d imagined his gaze lingering over your backside.

“Your bedding is safe. This is all from crew quarters,” you assured him. Both you and Mantis struggled with the cold of the ship when you were off world, so you’d made it a mission even before she’d joined the crew to always have more than enough blankets on board. They’d kind of become bulky souvenirs of the planets you visited, and you usually kept them stacked in a locker in the corner of the bunk you shared with her and Gamora. Thankfully now that you’d all upgraded to the Benatar, you had more space – while Quill, as captain, still had his own private quarters, there was now an extra bunk for Drax, Rocket and Groot to use. You glanced down at the pillow in front of you. “…and a few from the medical supply crate.”

“What, you finally got sick of hearing Drax’s snoring through the wall?”

You turned around to face him properly, sitting cross-legged on the floor. “Are you kidding? It’s like white noise to me now. I don’t think I could ever sleep again without an active sawmill present.” Quill chuckled. “What are you doing back? You guys only left like an hour ago.”

He shrugged. “Xandar gets boring fast.”

It was your turn to raise a brow. “There’s a whole planet out there full of gullible idiots, pretty women with loose morals, and plentiful booze. What more could you want?”

“Wow.” he snickered. “I feel seen.”

You laughed, shaking your head. “So? Why couldn’t all the wonders of Xandar’s seedy underbelly hold your attention, Star Lord?”

He ignored the question, the easy smile still on his lips. “The hell are you doing, Y/N?”

“Why don’t you come join me and find out?”

He gave you a smirk, the glint in his eyes mischievous. “Can we share the blanket?”

“I think there’s more than enough to go around,” you said dryly, and his smile widened. Your impatient answers to his flirty remarks always seemed to entertain him. Which was probably why he kept doing it. “But that would be the idea.”

“Huh?”

You pulled one of the pillows to your chest and wrapped your arms around it. “It’s a surprise. For Groot.”

“Is he sick of Drax’s snoring?”

You rolled your eyes good-naturedly, standing and shaking out one of the largest, heavier quilts. You flung it over the crates, letting it hang over them like a canopy. “I’m building him a pillow fort, jackass.”

“A pillow fort.”

“Yup.”

“A pillow fort.”

You gave him an exasperated look. “Quill.”

“Why exactly?”

“C’mon, dude.” you said, tossing a pillow at him. He caught it, one-handed, with a grin. “Didn’t you ever build a pillow fort as a kid?”

Peter was quiet for a moment before he made a show of rolling his eyes and shrugging. Still, a small smile teased at the corner of his lips. “Want a hand?”

***

You sighed in satisfaction, wiping your hands together as you surveyed your work. The two of you had, on his suggestion, shoved the crates back against the wall, and in the little alcove you’d created together was one hell of a pillow fort. You’d draped sheets and blankets over the entire thing and layered more over the metal floor. Pillows had been thrown into haphazard piles, making the whole thing seem like some kind of gaudy, cozy nest. Quill had surprised you by rigging the string of lights he and Rocket sometimes used to do repairs at night to a much lower brightness and had hung them around the makeshift tent like the fairy lights you’d had as a kid.

“I think it’s safe to say that we nailed it.” you said proudly, holding up a hand. Peter grinned beside you, slapping it with his own in a high-five. “Groot is gonna love it. Storytime was always better in a fort when I was a kid.”

“Wanna try it out?”

You grinned widely at him, and the two of you dropped to your knees at the same time. Peter held the ‘door’ open for you, letting it drop closed behind him as he crawled inside after you. You turned to collapse happily among the cushions, sighing contentment as you stretched out languidly. Peter took a similar position beside you; the two of you barely fit inside, his shoulder bumping against yours. You bent your knees and drew them up towards you to bring them inside the fort, and you hooked one over one of his. He had his bent as well, and your foot dangled a couple of inches off the floor. He tucked his hand behind his head, looking over at you with an amused smile.

“Comfy?”

Peter looked up, considering the fort. “Y’know, I don’t think we made it big enough.”

You furrowed your brow, turning your head to look at him. “What d’you mean? Groot and I will be fine in here.”

He shrugged. “I’m just sayin’, we barely fit in here as it is…”

“Why, Peter Ignatius Quill,” you said teasingly, laughing when he cocked an eyebrow at you. “Are you saying that you want to join us for story time?”

“You know that’s not my middle name, right?”

“I blanked.” you admitted with a shrug. “What is it?”

He laughed loudly, the sound breaking through the peaceful bubble the two of you had created between the blankets. “It’s Jason!”

“My bad,” you giggled, shying away from his as he reached out to poke you in the side. “It was the first thing I thought of!”

“Think of something cooler next time!”

“Alright, alright…” you surrendered, turning your head towards him and reaching over to prod his arm with a fingertip. “But don’t dodge the question. Are you – the big, bad, space pirate leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy—saying you would like to come read children’s stories with me and Groot?”

“It is such a turn on when you start describing me like that.”

You rolled your eyes. “Shut up.”

“Seriously, I get all tingly, all the way down to my—"

“You’re still avoiding the question.” you said pointedly, cutting him off. He breathed a quiet chuckle as you did, his bottom lip catching between his teeth. “Story time?”

“Well, why not?”

“You know we’ve moved past picture books, right?”

He smacked you lazily on the bicep with the back of his hand by way of retort, letting his hand fall back to rest on his stomach. He interlocked his fingers above his belt buckle, the picture of casual relaxation. Your leg was still thrown over his, your calf pressed against his inner thigh. His gaze returned to the canopy above, and you studied the angle of his jaw absentmindedly, your eyes tracing along the dusting of strawberry blonde stubble that seemed darker in the muted light. “I spent a good chunk of my quality time building this stupid thing, I should get some use out of it.”

You raised a cynical brow, amused. The two of you never could help but poke at each other with childish barbs and banter, maybe even more so than the two of you dished it out to the other members of the crew. Maybe it was a reflex at this point, but it was still always entertaining. You affected an offended tone as you spoke again, even with a smile on your face. “Well, if you think it’s so stupid, why’d you spend all this time on it?”

“It’s not…” Peter sighed, shaking his head. “Sorry. It’s not stupid. It’s just…”

Your brow furrowed as you watched him struggle to find the words. You sobered, surprised that he hadn’t caught you in your joke. Instead, he seemed… flustered. “Quill?”

“You know, I forgot about it ‘til now.” he said ruefully, almost disbelievingly. He raised a hand to run his fingers through his hair. “…I used to build these when I was a kid.”

“Yeah…” you said slowly, confused. “I mean, a lot of kids did…”

He sighed, shaking his head. “No, I mean when my Mom got sick.”

“Oh.”

It was all you could think to say.

“It got… it got really hard, once she was hospitalized.” he said, a small, sad smile playing on his lips. His voice was soft and thoughtful, almost as if he’d forgotten you were there. Even so many years later, you could hear the thread of pain in his words. He reached up to touch his fingers to the edge of one of the blankets. “I built one of these one night, and basically never left it. I’d tuck myself away in it for hours with my Walkman and just ignore the rest of the world. Got to the point where I didn’t even come out for meals; Grandpa had to drag me outta there every day for school.”

You hesitated a moment before reaching over slowly and covering his hand with your own. “Peter…”

His eyebrows twitched upward as he looked down at your hand in surprise. You felt his hand turn under yours, his fingers smoothing almost carefully over your skin as he took hold of it. He looked up, turning his head to meet your eye. “You never call me that.”

You could feel the rise and fall of his stomach against your fingers with each breath he took. The edge of his belt buckle brushed against your knuckle; a stark coldness compared to the surprising heat of his body. You meant your response to be cavalier, dismissive even, at this sudden change in the atmosphere between the two of you. Instead, it came out softly, barely more than a murmur. “Sure, I do.”

He shook his head, a small smile curving at one side of his mouth. Even though neither of you had moved, he seemed so much closer to you now, the two of you shoulder to shoulder. “No, you don’t. Not really. Closest you’ve ever gotten was tacking ‘Ignatius’ on it just now.”

You shook your head in amusement, smiling back at him. “It was a joke.”

His thumb brushed rhythmically over the back of your hand, his head turning to look back up at the blankets above you. “Sure it was.”

“What do you care?” you said teasingly. “I didn’t think you liked your first name so much, Star Lord.”

He shrugged the shoulder pressed against yours, meeting your eye again. His eyes were dark in the dull light, shining with amusement and affection. They were almost magnetic, and you felt warmth rise in your cheeks as your gaze fell to his lips briefly. You felt his hand squeeze yours, and there was a charming, knowing quirk to his lips that made your heartbeat quicken.

You swallowed as he leaned towards you, and when he spoke, his lips were barely an inch from yours, his voice was so soft that you almost didn’t hear it over your own heart.

“I don’t mind it so much when you say it.”

Peter’s lips met yours, brushing against them in a chaste, whisper of a kiss. It was soft and gentle, his nose bumping against yours. His tongue touched your bottom lip as you parted them to breathe, his thumb still smoothing circles over your hand. You felt a shiver tingle its way up your spine, and his other hand came up to slide over the leg still thrown over his as he rolled onto his side to face you. His tongue slid languidly over yours, and you could feel his smile as he kissed you more deeply.

You exhaled shakily against his lips as his hand smoothed up your thigh, and he gave a light snicker as you parted, his forehead pressed against yours.

“Apparently you really like it.” you said after a moment, your voice unsteady. He grinned, his hand still trailing slowly up your leg, and your breath caught as it teased down to your inner thigh. He moved to kiss you again, but you pressed your free hand to his chest. “Peter.”

He smiled softly and reached up to tuck hair behind your ear, his fingers trailing along your jaw. “Yeah?”

“What exactly are we doing?”

He smirked, his face moving towards yours again. “Want me to draw you a diagram?”

Peter kissed you again, his hand on the side of your neck. You let it linger for a moment, your fingers curling in the front of his shirt and tugging him closer. Peter responded eagerly, his hand moving down to take hold of your hip and pulling you towards him. You rolled onto your side, and Peter slung your leg up over his hip, his hand sliding up the back of it. It lingered just below the curve of your ass, gripping your leg almost possessively.

You felt his hips press suggestively into yours, and you couldn’t help but whimper against his lips, your hand tugging at the hair at the back of his head. Peter chuckled as you did, and you pulled away, embarrassed by your reaction.

You moved your hand to his shoulder, avoiding his gaze and looking down at his chest. You took a steadying breath, willing your heart to stop pounding. “Peter.”

You could feel a quiet laugh in his chest, his hand moving up to your waist. You shivered as his fingers ghosted up under your shirt to tease at bare skin. “Y/N.”

Your lips parted, intent on questioning him again… to ask what you were doing, where this sudden change in your friendship had come from… to ask what would happen later, if you didn’t stop. But then you felt the gentle, affectionate brush of his lips against your forehead, and suddenly, you didn’t feel the need to talk anymore. Instead, you met his eyes for a moment before you kissed him again, cupping his cheek in your hand.

Peter smiled into the kiss, the hand on your hip moving to the small of your back, urging you closer to him. The cold metal of his belt buckle was a stark contrast to the heat of his body, and your ran your other hand down his stomach to the hem of his shirt. He groaned lightly into your mouth as your fingers crept under his shirt to caress the smooth skin of his stomach. You traced your nails over the muscles, and they twitched in response.

His hand moved to your ass, squeezing it eagerly and urging you closer. Peter slung his hips into yours, and you whimpered into his kiss at the feeling of him hardening against your thigh. Your hand moved to his side, and he broke the kiss with a light laugh, his face falling to the crook of your neck.

You grinned widely. “Are you ticklish?”

“Pfft, no!” he scoffed obnoxiously, wriggling away from you as you ran your fingertips across his waist again. “You—”

He caught hold of your hands, forcing you onto your back and straddling your waist. He pinned them on either side of your head, a cocksure smirk on his face as he looked down at you. “Now you’re in trouble.”

You snickered, wetting your lips with your tongue. You pushed your hips up into his suggestively. “Yeah? What are you gonna do about it, Star Lord?”

His grin widened, interlacing his fingers with yours and moving them above your head as he bent down towards you. His nose brushed lightly against yours, his mouth hovering teasingly above yours. You arched up to kiss him again, and he moved out of reach playfully, instead trailing kisses along your jaw and down the side of your neck.

He lingered over your pulse point, and your eyes closed, a light moan escaping you as he sucked a mark into your skin. “Oh, well, that just sounded… cute.” He murmured against your skin, releasing your hands, and tugging your shirt up over your stomach. “But, that’s not what I’m looking for.”

He moved down to press kisses down your stomach, and you ran a hand through his hair. He leaned into it as he undid your jeans with practiced ease, and your hand tightened reflexively as he tugged them roughly down your thighs. Goosebumps erupted over your legs, his nose ghosting over your stomach and his teeth catching the waistband of your underwear and snapping it against your skin teasingly.

“And what exactly are you— Oh!” you jerked under him as he forced your legs apart and bit your inner thigh, his hands gripping tightly at your hips as he lathed his tongue over the mark he left behind.

“Closer…”

“I’m not ticklish, Quill.” you told him, rolling your eyes as you caught on to what he was trying to do. “But I— fuck, Peter!”

You bucked under him as he pushed your underwear to the side and rolled his tongue against your clit, your hand tightening in his hair. He snickered at your reaction, the sound devolving into a groan as your nails scraped against his scalp, his stubble agitating the sensitive skin of your inner thigh as he brought you undone with his tongue.

The lights danced behind your eyelids as Peter slid two fingers inside you; tucked away in your little oasis and feeling everything he did to you made your heart flutter and your stomach tighten. You grabbed at the pillow under your head as you rolled your hips up into him, your chest heaving. “Pete—fuck, don’t… God, I’m gonna—”

He sucked on your clit and you came, arching up against him and your thighs clenching around him. You moaned aloud as you did, too loud for your little hideaway, eyes squeezed shut and toes curling. Peter continued to slowly pump his fingers inside you as he moved up to kiss your hip softly before straightening into a kneel between your legs. He watched his hand, his thumb circling lightly over your clit. He broke into a wide smirk as you twitched at the sensation, his eyes travelling up your body to your face. “Yeah, you love it.”

You bumped your knee hard against his side by way of retort and he finally withdrew his hand with a grin, holding your gaze as he licked his fingers clean. “You’re an ass.”

“Yeah?” he ran a hand up your thigh, his other unbuckling his belt. “What are you gonna do about it?”

You pushed yourself up onto your elbow, fisting a hand in his shirt and dragging him down for a kiss. It was long, and languid, his tongue sliding over yours, his hand on your hip and his thumb hooked in the waistband of your underwear. You broke away to tug at his shirt pointedly and he straightened to pull it off. Your eyes followed the muscles of his arms, your hand smoothing over a pectoral as he leaned down to kiss you again. He dropped the shirt to the side, moving to remove yours as well.

You stopped him, urging him back down onto the cushions. You swung a leg over his hips slowly, running your hands down his chest before pulling off your shirt. Peter’s eyes dropped heatedly to your chest as you unclipped your bra, his lips parting. He looked almost awed as he stared up at you, his face cast in shadows by the dull lights above you. Your spine tingled at his expression, and you held his gaze as you ran your hands over your chest and rolled your hips slowly over his.

Peter’s head fall back against the pillows at the sensation, his eyes closing and a soft groan slipping between his lips. The sound was intoxicating, as was the feeling of the hard length of his erection pressing up against you. You bit your lip, brow creased as you slowly continued to grind against him. His hands slid up over your thighs, squeezing them rhythmically with every roll of your hips.

You scratched your nails lightly down his stomach before unfastening his pants and wrapping your fingers around his cock. His breath caught as you did, leaving him in a shaky sigh as you stroked him, moved your underwear to the side and slowly sunk down onto his erection. “Jesus Christ, Y/N…”

“Yeah,” you said breathlessly, offering him a cocky smile of your own. “You love it.”

He laughed quietly, taking hold of your hips as you began to fuck yourself onto him slowly. You leaned forward to take hold of his biceps, enjoying the feel of the bulging muscles under your hands as you rode him. He encouraged you to grind against his pelvic bone and you whimpered; you could feel him stretching you wonderfully, each corkscrew of your hips sending sparks dancing up your lower back.

“Fuck, you feel good,” he muttered, watching you with half-lidded eyes. He ran a hand up your side to your ribs, his thumb resting along the curve of the underside of your breast. “You’re like… fuck, you’re like…”

“Having trouble finding the words there, Star Lord?” you teased quietly, your head lolling back, your eyes closed. You moaned as he pinched your nipple, rolling it between his fingers.

“Can’t help it,” he replied, exhaling slowly as you down to press kisses to his collarbone. His hand moved to your hair, bunching by your ear, and you felt his lips brush the top of your head. “None of my blood is exactly rushing to my brain right now.”

“I’m flattered,” you joked lightly, nipping playfully at his throat.

“But I can say: you call me that again, and this’ll be over a lot quicker than it should be.”

You giggled into his neck, kissing him headily before straightening again. You ran your hands up your sides, bouncing languidly on top of him. Each rise and fall had him sliding against your g-spot, and you bit your lip, your eyes rolling back as his hand returned to your sex. He circled your clit with his thumb and you moaned brokenly.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’ve got fucking fantastic tits, sweets?”

You whined, cupping your breasts and squeezing. Your hips jerked as he pinched your clit, and he swore, thrusting up into you. “Somehow, it – oh, fuck, Peter—”

“God, you’ve got the sweetest voice,” he sat up, his free hand ghosting up your side and gliding over your chest. You shivered at the feeling of it, falling against him, your hips never stopping. Peter’s fingers quickened on your clit as you wrapped your arms around his neck, and he murmured in your ear as you tightened around him, an intoxicating mix of sweet nothings and cursing. You ran your fingers through his hair, clinging to him s you felt your orgasm approach.

Peter wrapped his other arm around your waist and bit down on your shoulder, and you came with a cry, hips stuttering against his as each wave of it hit.

Peter hooked his fingers under your chin and raised it gently from where your face was buried against his neck, pressing a kiss to your temple… your cheek… your forehead… the tip of your nose… as you came down, before cupping your face in his hand and capturing you in another breath-stealing kiss.

You rode him unsteadily as your hips shuddered with aftershocks, your thighs squeezing around him. Peter grunted against your lips, his moan muffled as he came, still buried inside you.

“Y/N…”

You kissed him again, your chest heaving against his, eyes fluttering open as you finally caught your breath. “Mmm?”

He grinned at you, pushing hair out of your face with a careful hand. “Yeah. You love it.”

You shoved at his chest, smiling as he laughed in response. You climbed off of his lap shakily, your face warm. “You’re such a—”

Peter let himself fall back against the pillows again, refastening his pants but not bothering with his belt. “Heartthrob? Casanova? Sexual—”

“Deviant?”

Peter smirked, reaching up to ruffle your hair. You ducked away from him, smacking at his arm as you found your bra and clipped it back into place. “Where’re you going?”

“The last thing we need is for the crew to come back and find us like this,” you pointed out, tugging on your pants and the first shirt you grabbed. “Rocket’ll never let us hear the end of it, and Drax’ll be… Drax.”

“That’s a good look on you.” Peter said, his hands tucked behind his head. You looked down at yourself; you’d pulled on his shirt instead of your own. You flushed, but he caught hold of your wrist before you could pull it off again. “Leave it.”

You smiled down at him softly, tucking hair behind your ear. “Isn’t that just as obvious?”

Peter’s hand moved down to your hand, delicately interlacing his fingers with yours. “Would it be so bad?”

“You… you want the others to know about this?”

He pushed himself up onto his elbow, his free hand sliding against the side of your neck and giving you an affectionate smile before pulling you down for a soft, lingering kiss.

tags: @peterquillthecutest @lovely-dreamer19 @wittyforachange @wefracturedmotivation @january-echoes @glossyloner @capitalnineteen @youclickedthislink @s0ftness @bombardia

if you would like to be tagged in future stories for quill or any other character, please let me know :) don’t forget to like/comment and please reblog :)

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angryschnauzer · 3 years

Text

Full Mast - Part 2

Summary: Your idyllic life as a trophy wife of a rich lord is suddenly disturbed with the arrival of a pirate ship and a kidnapping that goes wrong... leaving you in the care of a band of pirates that seem to treat you better than your husband ever did.

Part 1,

Fandoms: Henry Cavill, Sand Castle - Movie, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Night Hunter, Hellraiser Hellworld

Pairing: Captain Syverson x Female Reader, August Walker x Reader, Walter Marshall x Reader, Mikey (Hellraiser) x Reader.

A/N: This is a CRACK FIC. After a brief discussion with @nuggsmum about the cheap romance novels that you could find in the 80′s and 90′s, i called upon the awful storylines, plot holes, and general cheesyness of those books that walked so fanfiction could run. Read the warnings please.

Storyboard note: The only artwork i could find that was suitable to show a Henry-like character included the woman seen above. I tried to crop as much of her out as possible, the story itself does not describe the female reader at all.

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Unprotected Sex, Vaginal Sex, Oral Sex (F Recieving), Blowjobs, Multiple Blowjobs, Multiple Partners, Implied Age Gap (but never confirmed). Pretty Poly Pirates.

Only the finest organic free range typos for me, allowed to run wild and free.

Full Mast part 2

Standing in the grand cabin you took in your surroundings; the large table that was half covered in maps, the scattered chests and crates, the large four poster bed with messy linens. You wondered if the Captain had many other women between those sheets, or whether he kept his liaisons to his time on shore. At the mere thought of the man that had just taken your innocence you felt your stomach clench and another wave of arousal coat your already soaked petals.

A quiet knock at the door drew your attention, smiling when you saw Mikey come in pulling a large chest and setting it down in the middle of the room;

“So err… Captain says there should be some stuff in here that will be ok for you, so umm… help yourself Miss…”

“Thank you Mikey”

The young man must be at least 20 yet a blush covered his cheeks as you spoke to him, and with a nervous smile he nodded his head and left the room, half tripping on the rug as he did so before slamming the door shut.

Stripping out of your ruined clothing you saw a pitcher of water and a bowl on the side, using it to wash the Captain's seed from your thighs. Crossing the room in just your silk stockings you opened the chest and pulled out a number of items, gauging what would fit. Looking around you set the items onto the large bed, pulling the covers straight as you made your choice and a thought came to mind.

Sy stood outside his cabin, his hand hovering over the door handle. What had he gotten himself into? When he’d heard that his old friend Walter was having issues on the island, he’d set sail immediately and between the two of them and his right hand man Walter, they’d come up with a fool proof plan; kidnap the lord’s young trophy wife, demand not even a ransom - just what they were due, return her unharmed. Instead he ended up with another officer onboard, a woman on his ship that was said to bring bad luck, and the puzzle of what the hell to do with her now it had been made abundantly clear that her husband didn’t want her back. Taking a deep breath he entered the room, expecting the worst…

“Darlin?... Don’t be mad…”

He looked around the room, surprised that at first he wasn’t pelted with whatever wasn’t tied down, but when he couldn’t see you at all he frowned.

“Captain, over here…”

His jaw dropped when he saw you, kneeling on his bed, bare save for your stockings and a smile. Crossing the room he came to stand at the foot of the bed, licking his lips as his gaze traversed your naked body;

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes…I don’t know what i was expecting, but it wasn’t this…”

With a single finger he beconned you towards him, watching as you moved until you were up on your knees, his large hand at the back of your neck and you were kissing again, his glorious tongue exploring your mouth as your hands clung to his shirt. Deliberately falling back on the bed you pulled him with you, his mouth making its way to your breasts where he lavished each one with full mouthed kisses, his tongue laving over the hardened peaks before pressing a trail of kisses down your stomach before settled at the apex of your thighs;

“Gotta be the prettiest little Puss i’ve seen in a long time, bet you’re as sweet as a peach too…”

His tongue swiped a wide path through your folds, your fingers clawing at the sheets as his beard tickled you and he did to you things you’d only read about in the secretive books that were hidden in the depths of your husbands library.

“Oh Captain!” you gasped as his tongue dived into your soaked entrance, his nose rubbing at your sensitive clit and you could feel your stomach tightening with anticipation of the inevitable. Seemingly in no need of air he continued to work the thick muscle inside of you, driving you closer and closer to the pinnacle of pleasure until the point of no return was met and you came with a cry, your legs clamping around his head.

Finally he pulled himself free of your grasp, climbing up the bed until he was nestled between your thighs, his hardness pressing against your soaked core. Holding himself up on his strong arms he looked down at you beneath him;

“This time i’m gonna take my time and savour it…”

Your hands found their way to his breeches, unbuttoning him and gasping as his hot flesh sprung into your palm, heavy and weeping with need you guided him to your entrance. As he plunged into your depths the world seemed to fade around you; you’d had a taste of heaven and now you wanted more;

“You’re so big…”

“You want me to slow down Darlin?”

“No! It feels… so good…”

With practiced skill he rocked into you, slow but rough thrusts that had his length hitting a spot deep inside you’d had no idea that existed. The man had probably fucked his way around half of the Carribean but for a barely touched blossom as yourself he cherished the way your petals opened around him.

He continued to fuck you closer and closer to orgasm, feeling your body tighten around him and tremble, he slid a hand between your bodies and rubbed at your sensitive pearl, a grin spreading across his face as you came again with a shout of his rank;

“That’s a good girl, so fucking good… almost there…”

He quickly pulled out and spilled his seed over your stomach, watching as rope after rope of his creamy seed patterned your body, before he fell to your side, his chest heaving. Covering his eyes he let out a shaky breath;

“What the fuck have i gotten myself into…” He peeped out from between his fingers, smiling at you before pulling you in for a sloppy kiss, finally resting his forehead against yours; “Wait there a moment Darlin, i’ll get you cleaned up”

You’d dressed in front of your Captain, watching how he admired your choices from where he sat at the long table;

“Wasn’t expecting you to go for breeches…” he commented as you fastened the half length velvet garment, your stockings beneath the knee length trousers. A loose shirt with a wide leather belt fastening it at your waist was the only other garment you put on, standing in front of him and doing a little twirl; “Very nice… and practical”

“I spent ten years of my childhood aboard spice ships, running up ladders and rigging in skirts was a recipe for disaster.”

You crossed the room and sat across his lap;

“So, how is this going to work? You gonna drop me at the next port, leave me to my own devices? Wait until we’re in shark infested waters and throw me overboard?”

“What? Now why would i do that to a pretty little thing like you?”

“Well I know you didn’t end up with the outcome you were hoping for, and now you’re stuck with a ransomee that isn’t due any ransom”

He let out a sigh;

“I wouldn’t do that… it ain’t your fault your husband had the balls of a eunuch. No, i’m sure we can find a use for you, even if it’s just warming my bed… did you have an education?”

“Of sorts. Whenever we docked in Grace Bay i’d see a governess. I can speak spanish, french, and italian” you nodded to the maps spread over the table; “... and i can chart courses and know the currents of the Indies better than anyone that ever sailed on the spice route”

You gently stroked his beard;

“So Captain, what do you want me to do?”

“All of the above and more…” he stroked your cheek; “I won’t always be able to please you in bed, and from the signs of it you’ve got quite a carnal appetite...So, firstly you can call me Sy when its just us or the officers. When we’re on deck it’s Captain like everyone else. Secondly, if you want it, my officers could do with a bedmate, if you don’t mind sharing?”

Your eyebrows shot up so far you were surprised they didn’t meet your hair;

“Share me with your officers? Who…”

“There’s the Constable - who you’ll know from town - Walter Marshall, and the Armoury Officer - August Walker, and you’ve met Michael, he’s first mate”

“O-Okay”

“You’re alright with that?”

Stroking his beard you leant forwards and kissed him;

“Yes, yes I am. I’ve always wanted a little more adventure in my life, and now here it is”

“Well, you can be the one to decide when you want to go to the others, i’ll leave that move to you… i wont say anything yet”

“Thank you Sy, let's tell them Friday night. You can tell them.”

“Anything for my little Rose” he pressed his face to your neck and inhaled; “Still smell as sweet as that rose garden…”

“You can call me Rose if you like?”

“A new name for a new start?”

“Something like that” you grinned at him.

You’d spent four nights in the arms of Sy, some nights just falling asleep in each others arms, other’s you would fuck until dawn. That particular morning you’d taken him in your mouth and he’d taught you how to suck a man, working your tongue and lips over his hot flesh until he’d flooded your mouth with his thick salty seed. He’d held your jaw as he finished;

“Now be a good girl and swallow it”

You gulped down the mouthful before smiling;

“Tasty”

With a laugh he kissed you, before giving your naked ass a cheeky spank as he rolled out of bed;

“You gonna join me on deck?”

You stretched and sighed;

“I’m gonna try and find that earring i dropped when you had me bent over the table last night…”

Sy entered his cabin just as the ship’s cook was leaving, nodding to the meal he’d set out;

“Creole Stew tonight Cap’n, bread and ale like always”

“Thanks. Have you seen Rose?”

“No Sir”

Nodding Sy entered his cabin with a weary sigh, it had been a long day and all he really wanted to do was crawl into bed to sleep, grateful it was Friday which meant August took early watch on deck the next day, but he had dinner with the other officers and he hadn’t seen you for the last few hours, last he knew you were still on the hunt for your lost earring. Leaving the door ajar he sat at the table and started to eat, moments later Walter and August joining him.

“Where’s the others?” Walter asked as he sat, helping himself to a large chunk of bread

“Mikey is in the crows nest, he’ll be down shortly” August confirmed; “Haven’t seen Rose for a while though”

“Rose?”

“Sy’s bit of fluff. Decided as its a new start onboard she may as well choose a new name. Apparently its because Sy say’s she smells of Roses”

Walter snorted out a low laugh;

“She’s gonna be smelling of Sy sooner or later”

Sy listened to his two oldest friends banter back and forth, unaware of the surprise he was about to get. Hearing quick footfalls coming along the corridor he looked up to see Mikey at the doorway just as two soft hands pressed to his thighs from beneath the table. He nodded to Mikey to take a seat, before leaning back and peering down to his lap, hiding his surprise when he saw you on your knees beneath the table, hidden from the view of the rest of the party by the many overhanging maps and the low candle light.

Grabbing a chunk of bread he stayed leaning back but parted his thighs wide, wide enough to allow you to unfasten him and pump his hardening length and slip him into your mouth.

“Dig in boys, its gonna be a spicy meal tonight!”

As you worked quickly with your new found skills, sucking on the bulbous head as you fondled his heavy ballsack with your free hand, working quickly and silently as the men above you talked amongst themselves. You could feel Sy’s leg start to tremble, his hand sliding beneath the table to hold your head in place, and as you relaxed your jaw you felt his hot seed flood your mouth.

“WOO!” he exclaimed above you; “This stew is HOT!”

He took a deep breath and slapped his hand on the table with a laugh, before you tucked him carefully back into his breeches and you continued with your plan.

“Sy, we need to consider restocking the armoury” August started; “Scuttling the boats used up a lot of ammunitionnnnnnnnn”

Sy looked up and smirked, August looking at him wide eyed but recovering quickly, clearing his throat;

“Anyway as i was saying… umm... wow, the stew… the spice really hits after a while doesn’t it…”

August scrunched his face and rested his hand on his fist, before grabbing his tankard of ale and taking a large gulp, some of it spilling from the sides of his mouth as he spluttered on the liquid that did only a little to hide the groan. Sy shovelled another mouthful of stew into his mouth to hide his grin as August sat back in his chair, a half glare on his face.

Walter frowned at both of the older men;

“I have no idea what you two are on about, this stew is fine”

August wiped the slight sheen of sweat from his brow, before finally sitting straight and digging back into his meal;

“Walt, just wait, it takes a while to hit you but when it does… ooooh boy it takes your breath away”

The big bear of a man frowned and shovelled another mouthful in, before his eyes went wide. Swallowing awkwardly he nodded, shifting in his seat;

“Oh… oh yeah… its hitting… wow, its a good burn, ya know…” taking a leaf out of August’s book he grabbed his tankard, taking a gulp as he fidgeted in his seat, both Sy and August doing poor jobs of hiding their smirks, whereas Mikey was sat at the far end of the table without the slightest clue as to what was going on;

“Seriously? You guys must be getting old, this stew ain’t spicy”

Sy raised his tankard to his son and grinned;

“Just wait, it’ll hit ya… anyway, i got an announcement to make”

The three other men looked at Sy, Walter’s gaze faltering now and again as his focal point seemed to change, but he shifted in his seat and leaned his elbow against the armrest of his chair, his hand sliding beneath the table as he muttered about ‘cramp’, when in fact his large hand was holding your head in place as he pushed deeper into your throat. Sy cleared his throat and continued;

“We all know the events at the island did not go to plan. We’re down on funds and supplies, and we’ve increased the crew numbers with those that helped with the land mutiny… we’ve also of course got Rose to consider, she never asked for any of this, but we have come up with a solution of sorts”

“I think i might know what that solution could be” Walter panted out, his face contorting into something that resembled a grimace as he muttered about spiciness and cramps again before with a sigh a smile spread across his face; “Ooooh that’s it… the cramps are going…”

“Anyway” Sy interjected with a wry smile; “Rose can speak numerous languages, can read and chart maps, she’s probably the best educated of everyone on the ship”

Just then Mikey squeaked and jumped in his chair, a thud sounding beneath the table;

“S-s-sorry... my knee hit the table”

Sy nodded with a smile;

“No problem Son, carry on. So Rose will also be here for other duties, but only for the officers at this table tonight” he paused; “And i think you all now know what those duties will be”

August nodded as he eagerly mopped up the last remaining morsels of his stew with a chunk of bread;

“That sounds a fucking brilliant idea Sy. She has the greatest tits...” at that moment Mikey let out a groan and his head thudded against the high back of his chair; “... and i think we all now know she’s got a fucking brilliant mouth on her”

There was little point in denying what had just happened, the very fact it was still going on and Mikey had so little control of his reactions as you were sucking his meaty dick, having just done the same to the other three men in the room from the darkness under the table. In fact the three older men started to chat away candidly as you lavished Mikey’s beautiful cock with your tongue, before taking him in hand to move your mouth down to his tight ballsack to suck on the warm globes. His athletic thighs had parted enough for you to get much closer than you had done with the other three men - all of whom had thighs that could crush a coconut - and it meant that the top of your head could now be seen in his lap by the other men.

“Grab her hair Mikey” August shouted from behind his refilled tankard; “Get deep down in her throat, its fucking amazing, feels like she’ll suck your soul out of your dick”

You felt Mikey's hands curl into your hair, holding your head in place as he started to rock his hips up, filling your mouth and throat. Gripping hard to his thighs you could feel him start to tremble, preparing yourself for the flood of seed and as he came with a cry, looking down at you as you stared back with wide innocent eyes that completely ruined him.

Finally he released his grip on you, and as you looked down you smiled at what came into view. Seconds later you were climbing out from beneath the table, turning to smile at the rest of the men as you fastened the earring to your lobe;

“Look Sy, i found my earring!”

Walking around the table you took the tankard of ale that August held out for you with a smile, before sitting across Sy’s lap;

“I think they like the idea”

Sy looked at the men around the table, his trusted friends and family and smiled;

“I think they do, my sweet Rose”

He clinked his tankard to yours and you both drank, the joyous laughter filling the room as the night continued.

__________________________________________________________

I do not run a tag list. Instead please visit @angryschnauzerwrites and follow that blog and put it onto notifications. You will then get an alert when i post new stories.

Masterlist can be found on AO3, link here.

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duhragonball · 3 years

Text

Disinterpretation

I finally finished the Sarah Z video about “pro vs. anti”. It’s pretty long, and I ended up watching it in chunks over several days, but I think it’s worth watching, especially if you’re sort of partially connected to online fandom, but not enough to be aware of all the lingo.

As I expected, the whole thing was vague and confusing because the people involved in the conflict made it vague and confusing. In theory, the full terms would be “pro-shipping” and “anti-shipping”, but it seems like it’s more about particular kinds of ships that could be considered controversial. But that’s a slippery slope, and apparently the whole conflict mutated into both sides deciding that every hypothetical relationship between fictional characters is either equally valid or equally dangerous.

Long story short, it’s just purity culture, which was what everyone on Tumblr was calling it around 2012. But now, if you’re a sane person who genuinely asks: “Who gives a fuck about Voltron?”, these people will jump your ass and accuse you of being on the side of their enemies. “Children have died over the importance of Lotor/Hagger! Your callous indifference proves that you yourself must have murdered children!”

I think what Sarah Z really hit upon in this video was that media consumption has become so ingrained in our culture that people feel like it has to go hand-in-hand with our morality. That is, it’s not enough for me to watch Star Trek, I have to justify Star Trek as evidence that I’m a good person. Maybe this is where the expression “guilty pleasure” comes from. Conversely, it’s not enough for me to not watch Dr. Who, I have to somehow convince everyone that Dr. Who was invented by the devil.

I’m pretty sure the Reylo ship has a lot to do with this, since it’s kind of understood to be a dark, problematic concept, and fans either embrace its flaws or recoil in horror because of them. Star Wars itself is a dumb story about space wizards, so people try to give the debate more weight by linking it to freedom of self expression and/or enabling real world harm. Suddenly it’s not enough to just think two actors would look cute making out instead of fighting. Now it’s this battlefield for the soul of civilization or something.

I grew up in the 80′s, when “concerned parents” and grifters would accuse the Smurfs and metal bands of promoting satanism and witchcraft. I used to hear stories of teens going out into the woods in the middle of the night to do occult stuff, and all I could ever think about was: “Why would anyone bother wandering out in the woods in the middle of the night?” Which is why “concerned parents” turned their attention to things that were closer to home, like Saturday morning cartoons. It had nothing to do with the content; it was just about finding a safe, accessible target for their hysteria. Some people want to go on a crusade without leaving the house, so they pick a fight with Papa Smurf instead of confronting the real evils in the world. Even as a kid, I knew this was a con, because I’d watched the show for myself and knew it was too saccharine to be threat to anyone.

The pro/anti folks have tried to disguise this with a lot of terminology. I wondered why they seemed to reluctant to use the full terms “pro-shipper” and “anti-shipper”, and it’s probably a couple of things. First, the word “shipper” is basically an admission that this is pointless bullshit that doesn’t matter, and they’d like to avoid that connotation. Second, they seem to have decided that this goes beyond shipping itself, into practically anything else they want it to involve. It’s all part of the con, which is to make you believe that it’s “us vs. them”, and you can be part of “us” by curating specific attitudes about Steven Universe.

Seriously, “about Steven Universe” is such an incredible punchline. You can make anything funnier by adding those three words to the end of a sentence. “Do not interact if you blog about Steven Universe.” “Hey, what’s up, YouTube, this is SSJ3RyokoLover69, and this is going to be kind of a serious video about Steven Universe.” “Mrs. Johnson, the results of your biopsy are in, and I have some bad news about Steven Universe.” It’s a fucking kids show. “Oh no, all the characters look like the characters in all the other kids shows!” Yeah, that’s because it’s a kids show. Marvin looks like Garfield, this isn’t new.

The common denominator here seems to be that both sides try to wrap themselves in the flag of vulnerable groups: impressionable minors, trauma survivors, harassment victims, etc. The “pros” want to protect those people so that they can feel free to explore weird subject matter on their own terms, and the “antis” want to protect the same people from being exposed to weird subject matter that they might not want to see. It’s all about establishing a moral high ground. Back in the day, it was called “sanctimony”.

But people get roped into this, because at their core, people want approval, and this stupid conflict offers them a sense of community. As long as you support the cause, whatever it may be, you’ll have this online friend network that appears to support anything you do. But if you deviate from their norm, you’ll be cast out. Does this sound familiar?

To use a more familiar example, I still sometimes find people clamoring about Gochi vs. Vegebul. I’ve never understood this, because both ships were canon, and I never saw much direct evidence of a war between them, but people would still talk about how crazy the Vegebul shippers were, and how crazy the Gochi shippers were, and it was like some huge thing going on just over the hills. It’s the same idea, since the idea that you could like both or neither never seems to occur to anyone involved. I never gave a shit, because I used to see the same dumb agendas in the Harry Potter fandom.

Okay, so let me take you back. It’s 2005 through 2011, and I’m hateblogging all seven Harry Potter novels, because fuck you, that’s why. The funny thing I encountered was that occasionally fans seemed to want to pretend like my bashing of certain characters was proving them right somehow. They were like “See? He hates Ron Weasley too! That proves that Seamus Finnegan is the coolest guy ever.” The Slytherin stans would do this all the time, because I would constantly take the piss out of the Gryffindor characters for being self-important dopes. I think they just liked hearing it from an outside perspective. But I had to keep reminding them all that I hated all of them. Every character from Harry Potter sucks ass. Voldemort was my favorite, but only because he was the one guy who wanted to kill all of the others. But he sucks too because he failed.

And the shippers were the same way. I’d say something shitty about Ron, because Ron sucks, and some smartass Joss Whedon fan would be like “Yes! Boost the signal! That is why Harry/Hermione is the best ship!” And I’d be like “No, Harry and Hermione suck at least as bad as Ron does. They’re all terrible and I hate them.” I really do think there was some sort of Stockholm Syndrome going on with Harry Potter books, where everyone secretly knows they suck, but the fans sort of latch on to one or two characters and go like “Well, he’s not as shitty as the rest.” Like finding spaghetti in the trash and picking out the meatball with the least amount of lint on it. Then you’d go and start a flamewar with some other starving person over whether your meatball is shittier than theirs. This is what people mean when they say to read another book.

Anyway, the big thing I picked up from Sarah Z’s video is “disinterpretation”, a term coined by MSNBC columnis Zeeshan Aleem. The Twitter thread is worth a read, but the short version is that he once remarked that a Julia Louis-Dreyfus routine wasn’t very good, and someone got mad at him for insinuating that women are incapable of being funny. They just took his dissatisfaction with one performance by one comedian as being a universal condemnation of women comedians in general. And this sort of thing is all over the internet. Everyone sees what they want to see and then they take it as permission to overreact.

I ran into this myself a while back, because someone saw who I interacted with on Twitter and decided that they’re all bad guys and if I have any interaction with them, then that makes me a bad guy too. At the time I tried to play it cool, but the more I think about it, the more it ticks me off. And over the course of that conversation, it was said that I don’t talk about myself much, and that’s kind of funny, because all I ever do on social media is write long-ass blog posts like this one. I don’t expect anyone to memorize them, or even read them all the way through, but when I write all this stuff and someone goes out of their way to say they don’t know anything about me, the message is that they just didn’t pay attention to what I was saying, and they didn’t bother to try.

So I’m a little jaded from that, because I got called out for a bunch of stuff I didn’t even do or say, and apparently that’s just a thing that happens. People will reject you for completely arbitrary reasons, not because of anything you actually said or did, and you’re left thinking you made some terrible mistake. Except, no, I’ve seen it happen to other people, people a lore more conscientious than I am, and if they can’t satisfy the bullshit purity standards, then I never stood a chance. If the game is rigged so I can’t win, then I’m not going to play.

And it’s that same condition that probably draws people into these online holy wars, because if you declare yourself for the pro or anti side, at least then you’ll have a posse backing you up. Only they don’t support you, they support your willingness to support them. Once your commitment to their agenda wavers, even in the slightest, they will turn against you.

Sarah Z suggests that both sides of the war drop the pro and anti terms, since they lost all meaning long ago. But that just invites a new set of useless terms to perpetuate the same cycle. Her more useful advice is for fandom people to broaden their horizons. She got a lot of flak for tweeting “Go outside” once, but the ironic thing is that it’s sound advice. I had lunch with my mom yesterday and it was just nice getting away from things for a while. People need to do that more often, and unfortunately it feels like it’s harder to do than ever before.

But “go outside” isn’t just a literal thing. It can mean going beyond your usual haunts, reading the same books, watching the same shows, rehashing the same conversations. I think the reason this stuff always revolves around “shipping” is because there seems to be this deep-seated compulsion to pair fictional characters off like this, and for a lot of folks it’s the only way they can consume a story, so they do. And they do it lot, and there’s a lot of them, and they do it the same way every time, and lo and behold the same old conflicts start up. So maybe “go outside” should mean “go outside of that cycle once in a while.” Just a thought.

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halothenthehorns · 3 years

Text

THE YULE BALL

Sirius was practically brimming over with excitement as he went to read about Harry's first real date. Even if it wasn't with a girl of his choosing, this was still a really big moment for his pup, that they were going to get to hear about first hand!

Harry was paying no mind to his loads of holiday homework,

"I doubt anyone is," James agreed.

nor was seemingly anyone as the Gryffindor tower was packed to the brim with holiday stayers. One recurring commotion were students randomly sprouting feathers, as Fred and George's Canary Creams seemed to have taken off.

Causing all five of them more pleasant chuckles, they really hoped they'd get to keep hearing more about that.

It didn't take the students long to be leery of any food handed to them by a stranger, as well they should be for some time as George admitted to Harry they were already working on their next thing.

"Yes!" Sirius cheered, nearly bouncing in his seat in hopes for this.

Harry made a mental note never to accept so much as a crisp from Fred and George in future.

"Can't believe you haven't learned that lesson already, honestly," Remus shook his head at Harry.

He still hadn't forgotten the Ton-Tongue Toffee.

"Neither have I," Lily agreed mercilessly.

Winter had fallen on the castle with the usual amounts of thick snow and icy windows. The Durmstrang ships riggings were freezing over, and the Beauxbatons carriage looked like an iced pumpkin out on the grounds. The house-elves were keeping spirits up with meals full of rich foods and savory stews,

"Don't even Sirius," Lily scolded before he could look pleadingly towards the kitchen. "We've only just had breakfast."

Sirius pouted and grumbled something as a few choice dishes came to mind, but kept going nonetheless.

with Fleur being the only one to complain of such things.

Lily scoffed deep in her throat, and here she'd actually given the girl some credit after her handling of the dragon. Clearly her personality still wasn't looking any better.

Speaking loudly in her french tones about how this food was to hearty,

"Who complains about the food!" Sirius demanded like someone had just insulted his baby. "I've said a few bad things about my school, but never that!"

"Clearly she doesn't appreciate the house-elves attempts," James sniffed in agreement.

which Harry heard her saying loudly as he passed, Ron trying to keep ducked down behind him,

"Poor thing probably doesn't want to be seen by anyone for a while," Remus winced.

as Fleur said to anyone who'd listen about how this would affect her fitting into her dress.

Hermione grumbling about how full of herself that one was, but Ron blatantly ignored that by launching the question at her of who she was going with.

"Didn't he already ask her that?" James chuckled.

"I hope she gives an original response every time," Sirius smirked.

He kept springing this question on her, hoping to startle her into a response by asking it when she least expected.

Causing all five of them some more snickers, half hoping that worked as they were curious, but mostly knowing it wouldn't and just enjoying the show.

Hermione just frowned at him, stating she wasn't telling as they'd just make fun of her.

"Is it a Slytherin?" Remus yelped in surprise.

"Can't think of anyone else who would make her think that," Lily raised a sharp brow.

Sirius on the other hand snorted and stated, "please, Ron would make fun of anyone who Hermione went with if it wasn't him, even Harry."

"He's just having some fun," James agreed with a shrug.

Malfoy overheard this, and laughed cruelly about why anyone would ask her to the ball.

"And I'll bet anyone you asked turned you down laughing," James snapped back at once.

Not a chipmunk like Mudblood.

Sirius felt his nose wrinkle with distaste as he forced himself to say that, really wishing Harry would pull that kids tongue out of his mouth at some point.

Harry and Ron went for their wands, but Hermione superseded all of them by calling out a greeting to Moody.

"That timing," Lily grinned victoriously.

Malfoy went paler than usual and turned on the spot looking for the danger, but Moody was still at the staff table finishing dinner.

"Even better!" Remus laughed outright.

Hermione gave Malfoy a scathing smile as she called him a twitchy little ferret, all three friends laughing as they left for the stairs.

"Oh I hope Moody never leaves now," Remus praised, shoulders still shaking.

While the others agreed that was the second best option, they all knew they'd want one other person in there more.

Ron though, was still staring at Hermione as their laughter settled down, telling her her teeth did look different.

She tried to play it off, asking different how, and Ron repeated they just were.

"Different how?" Lily repeated in surprise, Harry hadn't said anything about it.

Harry just shrugged for an answer, he hadn't spotted anything unusual.

Hermione pointed out she wasn't exactly going to keep those sabers Malfoy had given her,

"It would have been a point of conversation though," Sirius couldn't help but smirk.

but Ron insisted they were much more straight and normal sized than before that hex.

"Oh," Remus said with the hints of a smile starting to appear.

"I don't get it," James cocked his head to the side. Maybe it was because he'd only ever heard descriptions of her and never seen her, but he wasn't sure what was going on here.

Sirius didn't either, but he was hoping the book would explain better.

Hermione full blown grinned, and Harry saw it to, it was a different smile.

"Always love it when that side of her comes out," Lily agreed absently as she listened intently for what Hermione had gotten up to.

She finally admitted that when Pomfrey had held up a mirror and told her to stop when they were back to normal, Hermione had just let her go a bit longer. Her parents weren't going to be happy, as dentists they felt magic shouldn't mix with teeth and they'd been happier with her braces, but- she cut herself off when she spotted Pigwidgeon.

"Aw, I kind of wanted her to keep going," Sirius pouted even though he was laughing his butt off towards the end anyways.

"Can you blame the poor thing," James demanded while still chuckling. "Who hasn't tried to use magic to fix some physical problem. At least this sounds doable, I've always wondered how many times Madam Pomfrey's had to fix some idiots attempts to use an Engorgio Charm on his-"

"Okay James," Lily quickly cut him off, "if she never told you the number, then making one up isn't a solution."

James stuck his tongue out at her while Harry tried to remember how to breathe past his laughter and Sirius moved on.

Ron's owl was twittering loud as ever sitting on top of an ice encrusted banister, a note tied to his leg.

"Sirius replied," Remus pointed out.

"Thank you captain obvious," Sirius snorted, "what I was going to ask was, why is Pig in the middle of a corridor? He should be waiting for Ron in his common room if he missed breakfast."

"Guess he found him earlier than that," Harry shrugged.

People passing him were pointing and laughing,

Lily couldn't help a twitch of unease, feeling that wasn't really safe as anything Sirius sent was dangerous in itself and shouldn't be on display, but they were all in such chipper moods lately she didn't want her paranoia to drag anyone else down.

and a group of third year girls even stopped to coo at how pretty the little thing was.

Ron stormed forward and snatched up his owl in one fist, scolding his pet for not bringing the letter straight to its recipient! Pig was still hooting shrilly at all the attention while the group of girls looked scandalized at Ron.

"Oh he ain't hurting him," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Ron snapped at them to scram, still holding his minute owl in his fist while doing so, who seemed to be enjoying his wingless flight through the air.

Sirius had to read just a little bit louder over more laughter that caused.

Once they had left he handed the note over to Harry, then the three left to head up to Gryffindor tower for some privacy. Everyone still at dinner, Harry read the note aloud that started with Sirius' congratulations on getting past that dragon, whoever had put his name in the Goblet wouldn't be feeling so sure of themselves now.

"Thank you Sirius," Remus rolled his eyes with sarcasm, not disagreeing, but still wishing his friend wasn't trying to rub that in. Harry was still in danger, and Padfoot encouraging that was as bad as Ron.

"Well I'm not wrong," Sirius shot back.

Sirius had been going to suggest Harry send a curse at the dragon's eye, its most vulnerable spot,

"After, you know, he got his screaming fit out of the way, that's still pretty good advice," James chuckled, still feeling a small spot in him vibrating with worry as he remembered Sirius' reaction, or lack there of in this case, regarding those dragons. That feeling wasn't fading until he knew exactly what Azkaban had done to his brother.

Hermione interrupted to remind that's what Krum had done.

"Thank you for the insert Hermione," Lily snorted.

Going back to Sirius' note that said how impressed he was.

Harry beamed with pride, unbelievably feeling that washing through him like never before. He couldn't really remember a time from his past where someone who meant something to him like Sirius had said that to him, and it felt remarkably good. Sure the four around him had tried to do so sporadically, but he'd never let himself take it to heart, always thinking they were just saying things to be nice. Maybe it was because of the way Sirius had put it, maybe it was just that memory being reestablished, but Harry was certain that was the first time he'd ever felt like this before.

Then he followed that up with the warning for Harry not to get complacent.

"There's the paranoia I was waiting for," Remus chuckled, and was pleased to see James join in as quick as Sirius this time. He'd long since noticed the father attempting to smother his agitation towards Sirius the past few times he'd come up, and Harry's obvious glee at receiving such praise from his godfather was likely to get under James' skin as much as anything, but James really did seem to be trying to shake it off today.

Reminding this was only the first task, and to keep his eyes open especially around the person they'd previously discussed, and to keep out of trouble.

"Well you've just turned into a right old killjoy," Remus shot at Sirius, a gleam of revenge shining in his eyes as he held his hand out expectantly. "I've never heard such a thing from a Marauder, I think I'm going to need your card back."

Sirius happily stuck his tongue out at his mate for that, stating back, "never happening, you'll have to remove my hand to get it."

James was laughing without remorse at the pair, so Lily had to be the voice of reason as she cut in, "can you two kiss and make up for that later? I actually want to get to the ball already."

Harry groaned in true disagreement, but Sirius was certainly excited enough to get back.

He signed off, and Harry tucked the letter away with a spot of annoyance as he compared his Godfather to their DADA teacher.

"I'll take that as a compliment!" Sirius agreed pompously.

"Still proves my point," Remus' smirk widened.

Sirius had to fight with himself for a moment to convince himself not to have a poke at Remus turning on him about this, as he knew he deserved.

Both kept telling Harry like he walked around with his eyes shut all the time.

"You mean you don't!" James demanded, now eyeing Harry like he'd gone mad. "It makes for some great fun!"

"You'd know," Lily agreed, "weren't you the one who claimed you'd gone temporarily blind as an excuse that time you 'accidentally' hit Keramik with that babbling curse."

"A true tragedy that day," James agreed solemnly much to the not very suppressed amusement to those around him. "Thank Merlin it wore off, who knows who else I might have hit without meaning to."

Hermione soothed he was just looking out for Harry, and suggested he'd stay out of plenty of trouble if he'd get to work on that egg.

Ron brushed her off, saying it was the holidays and they needed to have some fun, then he invited Harry to a game of chess. She agreed for now and watched several recklessly brave pawns and a violent bishop own Harry.

"Wizard's chess really is the best," Remus agreed, though with some lingering hatred at the reminder as it was usually a rat who played with him the most often, James and Sirius didn't always have the patience to play the game through.

Harry woke on Christmas day with someone having large eyes staring at him nose to nose.

Harry startled like that had happened all over again, and the others looked pretty unsure as well. Was Ron trying to be funny, or?

Harry screeched Dobby's name in shock as he scrambled back, making the elf fall off the bed.

The small amount of fear that had appeared evaporated with plenty of laughter now that they understood. Even Harry looked mildly more relaxed though still too wide eyed as he shook himself from that shock.

He snapped at him not to do that!

"Why was he?" James demanded after a healthy chuckle.

"Second time he's done that actually," Lily reminded with smile, "so I think that's just how he thinks you're supposed to be awoken."

"Well someone needs to show him otherwise," Harry grumbled as he rubbed at his chest.

Dobby quickly apologized, saying he'd only wanted to give Harry a Merry greeting.

"What a festive morning," Remus chuckled.

Reminding Harry had said Dobby could come visit.

"Apparently next time you should clarify, when you're awake," Sirius offered helpfully.

Harry agreed it was fine he was here, still feeling his heart rate return to normal as he cautioned in the future just to poke him or something to wake him up.

All four of them were still laughing mercilessly into their hands, Sirius having the worst problems as he tried to read around his laughter. Harry was rolling his eyes at all of them, glad they found it funny, since it hadn't happened to them.

Harry's dorm mates were peaking through their bed curtains sleepily at Harry,

"It's so good to hear Harry's scream of terror just roused them all to his side," Remus smirked.

"Considering the last time Ron did and it wasn't a big deal, you can't blame them for not reacting this time," Sirius tried to mock, though that memory still didn't sit right with him considering the end results, so he quickly kept going to avoid the nasty looks he was getting for bringing that up.

Seamus asking with a still sleep heavy voice if someone was attacking Harry.

"Absolutely," Harry forced out a laugh to try and get past Sirius' awkward comment, "and your quick asking will scare them away."

Harry told them it was just Dobby,

"Actually I tend to find that a cause for concern more often than not," James snorted without really meaning it.

and told them to go back to sleep, but then the boys spotted their presents.

"The most important part of the day," Remus snickered.

All of them quickly got down to unwrapping their gifts, and Harry's attention went back to Dobby who asked if he could give Harry his present now?

"Aww, he got you a present," Lily cooed. "Here I thought he was just up there to collect that sweater from Ron."

"I'm stunned he even thought to do that," Sirius raised a sharp brow. "That's not common of house-elves at all."

"As we've well established," James reminded, "Dobby is not the usual house-elf."

Harry agreed uncertainly, lying on the spot about how he'd gotten Dobby something as well.

"Did we miss a bit where this came up?" Remus asked lightly, watching Harry's suddenly scrambling face as he was clearly struggling how he was going to get out of this.

This was a lie, as it hadn't occurred to him to get the house-elf anything,

Sirius mock gasped with an affronted look at Harry, scolding, "really now, after all he's done for you."

"You're mouth's going to leave you without any presents this year," James tried to threaten.

Even if Sirius couldn't take the joke seriously, it didn't stop him responding, "shove it Prongs, don't you have Santa's sleigh to be pulling."

but he quickly went to his trunk and cobbled together a pair of nasty old socks that had once belonged to his Uncle.

"Talk about a regift," Remus snorted.

"Yeah, I think that was more insulting than anything," Sirius agreed.

Harry still felt pretty bad he hadn't gotten Dobby a proper present, but he had sort of just had it sprung on him, he hadn't even been expecting him to be there this year so he hadn't a chance to do otherwise.

They were even more worn than a normal pair, as Harry usually kept his Sneakoscope tucked away in them for over a year now.

Then all five of them flinched at such a sharp reminder of Harry's last year being brought up so unexpectedly. They'd honestly forgotten about the thing, as the last time it had been mentioned was this time last year when Ron and Hermione had been having a fight over the cat...now they came back and realized that every instance of it being mentioned had been in the presence of one foul little, certainly untrustworthy rat. They were all berating themselves, wishing they'd paid more attention to Ron's gift and what it could have meant, but they all knew they still never would have guessed the end until it was far too late all over again.

Sirius had to take several slow, very deep breaths to remind himself why he wasn't pounding down the streets right now trying to give a long and slow death to that good for nothing ruin on their life, and instead kept reading very loudly past the moment.

He pulled his Sneakoscope out of them and quickly handed them to Dobby, apologizing for them not being wrapped.

Lily forced out a too high pitched giggle she didn't feel, that nasty pit of a feeling coming back to her after so long feeling harder to shake now that she'd had to think about it again.

Dobby was more than delighted with the gift, exclaiming how socks were his favorite clothing!

"Can't imagine why," Remus muttered under his breath. He'd meant to say it louder, but had unintentionally reverted like he always did when he felt tension around him.

Lily heard him anyways, and managed a laugh again that this time was almost normal sounding.

James, looking for any excuse not to burst into tears or fire up like a volcano, quickly latched out and demanded, "and just what is so funny over there?"

"Nothing," Lily quickly tried to appease so they could move past the awkwardness of this for good, "Remus has been over here muttering under his breath like a little nit."

"Ha, Moony did that to me all the time," James grinned, eyes actually managing to lit up on such a good topic. "He'd sit there and make sarcastic comments under his breath about whatever a teacher said, and I'd laugh my arse off. Then when the teacher demanded to know what was so funny, I'd repeat what Remus said, then I'd get in trouble while the student's laughed."

Lily appraised the pair of them, before smiling and not saying a word. Honestly, she had never noticed that.

Sirius forced the biting tension out of himself no matter how much he wanted to do otherwise, at least recognizing his family trying to act like nothing had happened and forcing himself to do the same.

Happily telling that he had seven pairs now, but then telling Harry whoever he'd gotten his socks from had made a mistake, they gave him two of the same.

"Oh no," Sirius deadpanned, "how could you stand for such a travesty Harry!"

Harry did honestly laugh at the dry wit, the genuine noise finally cracking away the poison for now.

Ron mock scolded Harry for not noticing that,

"Oh lookie there," James smirked, "Sirius is mimicking Ron again, I missed that."

"I didn't," Lily rolled her eyes, "he enjoys it far too much."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Sirius pouted at her.

then offered Dobby his maroon socks along with his sweater so that Dobby could mismatch them properly.

Lily still had to repress a sigh of agitation his mother's hard work was just being tossed around like that, she really wished Ron would appreciate this more, but again it was going to such a sweet cause she couldn't hold it against him either.

Dobby was getting overwhelmed as he praised Ron for being such a kind a great wizard like his greatest friend Harry Potter.

"Least Hermione hadn't come in to hear that one," Remus snorted.

Ron tried to brush off the praise, even if he did look rather pleased.

"We all know he loves his attention," Sirius rolled his eyes with just a touch more ire than was called for, Ron's little attitude before still not totally forgotten, but certainly being eased the longer he kept behaving like normal.

Then Ron opened his gift from Harry, and shouted his thanks for the Chudley Cannon hat, jamming the orange color over his red hair.

"Now where's my picture of that?" James snickered at the lovely mental image.

Then Dobby handed Harry his gift, which were socks.

"You give what you get," Lily chirped in a sing song voice.

Dobby explained that he'd made them himself, he'd bought the wool from his own wages!

"Naww," Lily beamed, Dobby really was just the sweetest little thing.

Harry saw that they were Quidditch themed, one being red with broomsticks, the other green with Snitches.

"Actually, you could consider that a matching pair," James smirked.

"Anything Quidditch related will always be taken with gratitude," Sirius agreed sagely.

Harry managed to get out a thanks to Dobby as he pulled them on, and the little elf looked likely to cry with happiness at the sight.

"Aww," Lily couldn't, and wasn't trying to stop, a coo again. Even the boys couldn't stop a pleased look about themselves at Harry responding like this, he really was just such a good kid.

Harry was flushed and muttering under his breath it really wasn't that big a deal, it had just been the right thing to do.

Dobby couldn't stay long after that, telling how they were already working on Christmas dinner as he waved them good-bye and sprinted out. Harry went after his other presents then, finding the Dursleys had sent him a tissue,

"Think they're still bitter about that grate?" James crinkled up his nose, the tendons on his arm standing out showing he wanted to do much more than make a crude comment.

"I know I haven't forgotten," Sirius' smile held no pleasantries even if that was a good memory to him.

"Least it wasn't a used one," Harry shrugged, the others unsure if he was trying to be sarcastic or not.

Hermione a book called Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland,

"I want to hear about you reading that the next time she complains about you not doing work," Remus chuckled.

Ron, a bulging bag of Dungbombs;

"Ron handing out the real presents there," Sirius smirked.

Sirius, a handy penknife with attachments to unlock any lock and undo any knot;

"I guess you could have sent him something worse," Lily shook her head fondly at him.

"I'm honestly disappointed he didn't send another Firebolt," James chuckled.

Hagrid a large assortment of candy, and Mrs. Weasley a green sweater with a dragon stitched into it.

"That's not funny," Sirius grumbled with a pout.

"I love it," Harry shrugged, thinking back fondly on all the sweaters he kept getting from her, warmth spreading through him every time he got a new one.

Lily forced the smile to remain on her face even at the small little prick of annoyance she got that she couldn't be the one to do this for her baby.

Harry and Ron went downstairs after that to find Hermione in the common room where they all ate breakfast.

Remus felt another stunning blow to the gut as he realized that was all the presents he'd received, with one stand out. It never ceased to bother him how much he'd just melted back out of Harry's life, not even sending so much as a pence to Harry for Christmas when even the Dursley's had sent him some crap thing just to show they hated the boy. Merlin Sirius was on the run and he'd still been doing better than him! Thankfully he didn't think the others noticed, for now, but he more than hated himself enough for all of them anyways.

They spent the morning having a great time celebrating and playing with Wizard Crackers, which exploded and left gifts behind. After lunch the boys all went out onto the grounds for a snowball fight, but at five Hermione declined watching anymore, saying she had to get ready.

"Think that's the first time I've heard Hermione acting like a girl," Sirius groaned with a suffering sigh. "Who needs three hours to get ready?"

"You will when I give you a black eye and you try to hide it," Lily snapped pleasantly.

Sirius elected to ignore that.

Ron asked what she needed three hours for, and payed for his lapse by George nailing him in the head. After Ron shook the snow off, he still called after her who she was going with, but she ignored him as she went inside.

"He's going to find out in just a few hours now," James chuckled, "can he really not wait tell then and nail his brother back?"

Once seven came around, the boys headed back inside as well, having to get past a drunk Fat Lady to get inside their tower.

"Paintings can get drunk?" Harry asked mildly.

"Sure," Sirius shrugged, "they're constructs of real people after all."

Harry really wanted to ask at some point for details about these portraits and just how human they supposedly could get, how they were made and everything, but knew that would take so long now wasn't the time.

The boys all got ready, clearly feeling self conscious, though none more so than Ron. There was just no other way to describe his dress robes, other than as a dress.

"That poor kid," James said in honest sympathy.

"I get that his mum didn't have the money to go all out," Sirius agreed with a wince, "but did she have to make it as bad as possible?"

Lily couldn't find it in herself to snap at them for that, she couldn't help but agree she did feel bad for Ron about this one.

In a desperate attempt to make them look more manly,

"There's a lost cause before it started," Harry chuckled.

he'd cut off the lacy cuffs and frill, but that only left little strings behind.

Dean was muttering to the pair of them how they'd gotten the best looking girls in their year?

"If they were so good looking, how come they weren't asked out first thing," Sirius snorted.

"Maybe they kept turning people down," James shrugged.

Both boys suddenly realized Remus had gone a bit quite, but they weren't really sure what that agitated look was for, and thinking it may still be some lingering agitation at the rat they weren't going to pester him about it.

Ron tried to say with gusto it was animal magnetism, while picking at a thread.

"Right," Lily drew the word out with pure derision, still honestly having wished Ron had just bailed out on this night he was annoying her so much.

The common room looked odd to Harry without the usual amount of black uniforms, instead everyone was done up in all bright colors. He caught sight of Parvati, wearing a pink dress with gold bangles. Thankfully, she wasn't giggling when Harry greeted her.

"Yet," James smirked.

Harry just gave him a look for that, wondering how long she would last and it started up in this room again as well.

He politely told her how nice she looked, who thanked him then told Ron her sister would meet them down in the Entrance Hall. Ron hardly acknowledged this before demanding where Hermione was.

"He so clearly cares," Lily snorted.

Parvati just shrugged,

"You know, I honestly forget sometimes they're roommates," Lily admitted, as she thought Parvati should have known if she'd left already.

as she asked Harry if he was ready to go. He agreed, while mentally wishing he could just stay in the common room.

"Nah, that's too obvious," Sirius smirked, "you should go down to the Chamber or something, no one can drag you out of there."

"Giant basilisk for a date, that's lovely," James rolled his eyes.

The Entrance Hall looked like a new place with so many people that should have been familiar, but looked so different milling around. Parvati led the way to her sister, wearing a matching dress of design and accessories, but was instead turquoise. She greeted them politely, but Ron didn't even give her a glance as he said hi back,

"Ron's clearly just as enthused about this," Lily rolled her eyes, though honestly she was hoping to look past this and hear about the dance already. She was honestly jealous Hogwarts had never done anything like this while she attended, it sounded like it could be fun if Harry got past the awkward part.

but quickly went down behind Harry in an attempt to hide from Fleur,

"Just imagine if Ron had showed up with her on his arm," James cackled, "they'd make quite the pair."

who was looking even more splendid than usual in a long silvery dress, the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, Roger Davies, as her partner. Ron waited until they were out of sight before craning around again, demanding of no one where Hermione was.

Lily couldn't help a small little smile to herself, still wondering if Ron even realized why he was asking so much. No friend should be this worked up over who their date was.

Harry caught sight of a group of Slytherins instead, one of which was Malfoy wearing some highly polished black robes that made him look like a pastor.

"Really?" Sirius snorted, "I'd imagine him looking more like a vampire."

"Remember Trocar," James pointed out with an old laugh, "I still swear he's one."

"The best teachers are the monsters," Sirius chipped in with an obvious look at Remus.

He glared balefully back, but did indeed give himself a mental slap and forced himself to stop wallowing for now. Just because he was a terrible person in this skewed future didn't mean that of him now, he hoped. Sirius was never going to Azkaban on his life, so that in turn should mean his useless self would never turn into that, and he'd just have to get over it in the meantime. For now he focused on something much more pleasant and snapped back at his friend, "you referring to me or Snivellus?"

Harry tried, and failed, to turn his snort of laughter into a cough. Sirius, looking remarkably pleased with himself for keeping Remus back on focus, kept going now with a smug look.

Pansy as his date was hanging onto his arms in frilly pink cloth. Crabbe and Goyle seemed more similar and troll like than ever, wearing moss green robes, both without partners.

"Probably too simple minded to even form the question," James scoffed.

The front doors spilled open then, releasing more people into the stream, Krum in front with a pretty girl Harry didn't recognize in blue.

Harry felt something trying to smack him between the eyes when his eyes had passed over that girl, like he really should go back and take another look.

Behind them, the grounds of the school had been magicked into a sort of low maze wall, bushes having been constructed into a path, filled with hundreds of real fairies lighting the way to a stone Father Christmas with a reindeer fountain.

"Oooh," Lily's eyes lit up like their own Christmas. "Now why don't they have that up year 'round, that sounds lovely!"

"Sounds like a great place for some fun," Sirius remarked with quite a different grin.

Lily's smile slipped into a scowl at him, did he have to ruin everything she said.

Harry hadn't noticed the exchange one bit, something very horrid indeed wanting to pop into his mind at any mention of a hedge maze, even one as small and tame as this.

Professor McGonagall made her appearance, announcing the champions come to her side. Harry and Parvati went over to her, Harry noticing McGonagall was wearing a tartan red dress with an ugly thistle on her hat.

"Well don't tell her that," Remus smiled kindly, "I'm sure she tried very hard."

"Really though, I hope someone invited Colin so he could be taking pictures of all this," James groaned with longing. Descriptions weren't cutting it for him, he wanted to see all of this in action!

She had them wait by the doors to the Great Hall before slipping inside. Fleur and Roger had themselves closest to the door, the guy not even seeming to notice he was so dazed by his good fortune he hadn't taken his eyes off Fleur yet.

"Well that's, sweet," Lily grumbled, thinking those two pinheads were still nicer to think about than who she knew Harry was undoubtedly going to spot in a few moments.

Cedric and Cho were close at hand, and Harry quickly looked away so he wouldn't have to watch.

"Hey, you didn't describe how Cho was dressed," Sirius pouted, "I was rather enjoying all the colorful wardrobes." He was looking at Harry in a very obvious way that stated he was not going to keep going until Harry told.

Harry groaned, knowing Sirius was just doing this to further tease him that he noticed such a thing, but finally admitted, "it was royal blue, with some kind of rhinestone pattern."

Sirius gave Harry a winning smile which Harry did not return, so he turned back to the book still laughing far too much in Harry's opinion.

His eyes next fell on the girl next to Krum. His jaw dropped.

"Wow, she must be prettier than Fleur," Remus smirked.

It was Hermione.

"What!?"

It had been a while since all of them had yelped in shock at once, but Sirius had hardly gotten her name out before his face fell in shock so he didn't get much of a chance to laugh at the display.

"Are you telling me that seeing Hermione in a dress really made her unrecognizable," Lily demanded as she eyed Harry who still looked like his face wasn't moving from that open mouth any time soon.

"That's what you caught on," James scoffed, suddenly looking scandalized. "I can't believe she's there with Krum! The Bulgarian champion! Harry warned her he could have a hand in this Goblet mess to begin with, and she's possibly letting him get closer to my son by going on a date with him?!"

"Oh stop being so dramatic James," Lily scolded, a small frown showing she couldn't shake that thought off herself. "Krum's done nothing suspicious so far to warrant anything than a close eye."

"Which is exactly what Hermione's doing, in a different kind of way," Remus muttered.

Lily scowled at him next, thinking all of these boys were picking on her far too much.

She didn't look one bit like her normal self though. Her usual thick bushy hair had somehow been slicked into one elegant bun. She was even holding herself differently, though that could have been the absence of her usual stack of books not weighing her down. Her smile seemed lighter, the recent reduction of her teeth more standout than ever.

"I can't even picture it," Remus stated, blinking slowly with his head cocked to the side.

"The first description we got of her was this bushy haired kid babbling on about books," Sirius agreed, "I'm having processing issues seeing anything else."

"Why do you think it took me so long to recognize her," Harry shook his head, "I'd been staring at that for over three years."

She greeted them happily, but Parvati just gazed with unflattering disbelief.

Lily had an unrestrained, very fond smile on her face for the bookish girl so clearly trying to make something of herself tonight, she wanted to smack Parvati and anyone else who tried to treat her otherwise.

Harry's date wasn't the only one. As the Great Hall was finally opened and Krum steered her inside, his own fanclub were giving Hermione looks of deepest loathing.

"Well them I'll believe," James snorted.

Pansy and Malfoy couldn't even seem to find a single insult to throw at her as she passed.

"First time for everything," Remus chirped.

Ron didn't even seem to notice as he was caught still wandering through the crowd.

"Probably still looking for her without recognizing her," Sirius laughed, now really not wanting to wait until he could hear about Ron's face when he did! That could get priceless!

The champions were led up to a high table where the judges were already seated.

Harry released another groan as once again, he was being put up for all to see.

Decorations like never before hung against the walls, giving the place a gossamer glow. The Hall had been removed of it's usual house tables, and instead there were hundreds of smaller tables seated for people, each placed with lanterns.

"As much as I hate this thing involving you," Lily smiled, "I can't deny this place sounds lovely, I really wish I'd got a chance to see this at school."

"I'm honestly glad it didn't," James shot back, "as you know you wouldn't have gone with me unless it was in our seventh year, so most likely I would have ruined the night."

"At least he admits it," Sirius chuckled when Lily gave him the stank eye.

Harry didn't take it in much as he was more concentrating on his feet and not tripping around, Parvati was steering him so forcefully he felt like a show dog as he kept up.

"At least someone's enjoying themselves," Remus snorted.

He once again saw Ron and Padma, the first of whom was now watching Hermione with narrowed eyes.

"Well, I think he recognizes her now," Sirius said in surprise, that hadn't been the expression he'd been expecting.

Padma was looking sulky.

"Can't blame her if she ditches him at this point," Lily grumbled, jealousy or not, Ron was being rude.

Dumbledore greeted them warmly, but Karkaroff was wearing an expression close to Ron's as he eyed his champion.

"Well that's actually interesting," James cocked his head to the side. "Either he's still being a really good actor and didn't put his champion into getting in close with one of Harry's friends, or he's being a pompus arse who doesn't think Hermione's good enough for his Quidditch champion."

"I can't decide which is more depressing," Remus told him, "so let's let it go for now."

Bagman was wearing bright purple attire smattered with stars and clapping right along with the students, Maxime had donned a flowing lavender silk attire and applauding as everyone as well.

"I didn't hear Hagrid in there," Lily said in surprise.

"Yet," Sirius smirked as he had no doubts.

Crouch however, was not in attendance.

"Well I can't say I'm disappointed," James' frown deepened.

"But that is really odd," Lily blinked spastically.

"Unless he's on his deathbed, it's not like him to not make an appearance," Remus explained for Harry, "he's all about appearances."

Harry had noticed they'd made a few comments like this before, and wanted to ask for more details, anything to keep talk off this stupid dance, but Sirius was honestly bored with the topic of him and wanted to keep going so didn't notice Harry.

Instead, in his seat was Percy.

"What!" Was yelped in shock.

"Yeah, not joking," Sirius promised as he eyed the page like he wished it was.

"Why on earth is Percy there?" James demanded in disgust, he'd been enjoying not having to hear about that Weasley.

"In Crouch's spot," Remus added suspiciously, that couldn't mean what he was thinking, Percy was still too young.

Sirius remained stumped for a moment longer before a nudge from Harry convinced him to keep going in hopes Percy would explain.

As the champions took their seat, he was giving Harry a pointed look which Harry took as taking a seat next to him.

"No," James groaned at once. "Stop being polite already, I don't want to listen to his mouth!"

"You were just wondering why he was there," Lily pointed out, "how easier could it get then sitting down and asking him."

"I wasn't that curious," Sirius groaned, right in line with James.

Percy was wearing brand-new navy robes,

"Must be nice to have his own money now," Remus muttered to himself, his pity for Ron's situation still smarting on the boys behalf.

and an expression of such smugness that Harry thought it ought to be fined.

"I'll get right on that," Lily chuckled.

Before Harry could even ask, Percy was already explaining that he had been promoted, in tones as if he was announcing his ruling as supreme ruler of the universe.

James couldn't deny a bit of a laugh for that though, pompous as he was, he did believe he'd worked hard to get there.

Sirius didn't look nearly as indulgent at the expression as he kept going, Percy agitated him enough that he couldn't pretend to be excited for him if he tried.

He was now Crouch's personal assistant, and was here tonight to represent him.

Harry asked why it wasn't Crouch himself, not looking forward to spending a whole night listening to cauldron bottom reports.

"Like Crouch would be any better," Remus rolled his eyes, "he'd have spent the time going over who those cauldron bottom reports were for."

Percy told how Crouch had not been feeling well as of late. Since the World Cup in fact, he'd been handing a lot of responsibility over to Percy. Crouch had suffered quite a bit at the hands of Blinky or whatever that house-elves name was.

Percy was not endearing Lily to feel too happy for him either, he was starting to act as bad as Crouch in that he found anyone less important than him unworthy of his time, or even learning their name. He really should know how that felt.

It had cost him some drops in his home comfort though, and a man his age couldn't afford that without taking some health problems. That revolting Skeeter woman buzzing around wasn't doing them any favors,

Harry couldn't help but nod in agreement with that at least, finding it an interesting choice of words.

well all in all, the poor man deserved his quiet Christmas. Percy was very glad indeed Crouch knew he could entrust this task to him.

No one in here liked Crouch enough to really spike up concern for this, but it was admittedly depressing to hear about a man coming to the end of his life like this.

Harry had to fight down the urge to ask whether Crouch still called him Weatherby,

"I don't think he could get away with promoting him if he was," James snickered.

"But thank you for the reminder," Sirius chuckled.

but resisted the temptation.

"You've far more restraint than anyone here," Remus shook his head.

Lily didn't even have it in her to deny it.

Instead Harry turned his attention back to the room at large, and saw that there was no food in sight, but instead menus in front of everyone. There were no waiters though, and it took Dumbledore glancing over his own and stating 'pork chops' to his plate to make the food appear.

"Oh," James blinked in surprise, "Now that's rather clever."

"Can you imagine how that works," Lily said with honest curiosity. "The magic must resonate it down to the kitchen, where the elves have the meal prepared."

"Actually it sounds like an even better idea than our usual buffet style," Sirius agreed, "I imagine less goes to waste, or has to be stored and such."

"It must be giving the house-elves a real workout though," Remus offered, "they'll be running around to make sure all the meals get to proper places rather than just sending it all up at once."

The thought hadn't even crossed James and Sirius' minds, but Sirius had already grown bored with this and wanted to move on before he could bother to come up with an argument for Remus.

Now caught on, the rest of the room began ordering their meals as well. Harry glanced at Hermione to see how she'd feel about this new method, as surely it meant more work for the house-elves, but for once his friends attention didn't seem to be on S. P. E. W.

"Bless my soul," James smiled even wider. "Has the girl finally found something human to distract her?"

"Leave her be," Lily giggled as she knew exactly what he and the others were thinking right with her. "She's allowed to have a night off from trying to change the world."

She was deep in talk with Viktor Krum and hardly seemed to notice what she was eating.

"Naww," Sirius cooed at once before all the boys broke out into smatterings of giggles. Lily rolled her eyes indulgently at them, but at least they'd moved on from thinking of Krum as some suspicious ploy. Really, was it so surprising to them Hermione could have a pleasant date?

It now occurred to Harry that he had never actually heard Krum speak,

"Ah, nope, hadn't occurred to me either," Remus admitted in surprise.

but he was certainly talking now, and very enthusiastically at that.

"Harry I think your dates being ignored," Sirius informed Harry, fighting back a laugh as he realized how long Harry had been focused on everything but her, now he was even listening in on his friend instead of engaging the girl.

Harry ignored him.

His thick accent didn't curb his enthusiasm as he described their castle back home, much smaller than this one apparently, but the grounds were even more vast. All of the mountains and lakes, you could fly around them for days!

Karkaroff interrupted before he could go into further details, scolding that if he kept at it, Hermione could figure out where they were hiding.

"So," Lily shrugged, "she still couldn't get in without attending the school."

"Don't go giving her ideas," James smirked.

Dumbledore chuckled, asking Igor if this secrecy was really necessary? Why wouldn't he want visitors?

"Most magical schools don't," Sirius shrugged, "we're too secretive by nature."

Karkaroff was not amused as he told back that he was not the only one who prided himself on thinking that he jealously guarded the secrets of his halls, that they alone knew all the hidden notes of their schools, and had every right to protect that.

"I might agree with him if he wasn't some Death Eater scum," James muttered bitterly, unable to hear this man's name without that image coming back of his slimy arse getting out of Azkaban, leaving Sirius in there when one deserved it infinitely more than the other.

Dumbledore did not agree, peacefully explaining that he in no way thought he knew all of Hogwarts secrets.

"Hum," Sirius tisked, "guess Dumbledore doesn't have our confidence."

"I wish you didn't have your confidence," Lily snipped, "don't make me get a pin cushion to deflate that head of yours again."

Just last night he'd been out in the castle seeking relief, and had come across a marvelous bathroom he'd never seen before.

Remus made a deep throated noise as he tried to suppress his laughter that Dumbledore had somehow turned this conversation into finding a loo!

When he'd gone back to find it later, he couldn't find a trace of it. Perhaps it was only available at a certain time, or at a specific phase of the moon, or was only available when one had an exceptionally full bladder.

By the end no one had a straight face, and in fact Sirius was cut off by his own laughing fit from this. It was James who tried to gasp for air first and state, "okay, Dumbledore wins, I don't think we know about that."

"You think maybe he's right?" Lily asked with honest curiosity, "and there's a place in the school that only appears when you've really got to take a piss?"

"Or any other option he provided," Remus nodded agreeably, "that school has magic built into the walls, it really wouldn't surprise me to learn if some things only exist when you need it most."*

Harry felt a tingling in the base of his skull, somehow Remus phrasing it like that and Dumbledore's experience really should have been clicking together somehow, but Sirius was getting over his laughing fit as well to keep going.

Harry snorted into his plate of goulash.

"I'm sure that made it taste better," Sirius nodded in absolute agreement.

Percy frowned,

"Can he do anything else," James rolled his eyes.

but Harry caught Dumbledore's eye and they shared a smile.

Fleur on his other side was having a one sided conversation, criticizing Hogwarts to Roger.

Lily wasn't the only one with a scowl in place at that declaration. Hogwarts was their home, and they were more than sick of this pretty girl constantly complaining about it. Sirius in particular was really feeling the shine wear off from this princess, she could keep that long blond hair if she'd use it sow her mouth shut.

Mostly going over the decorations of this place, and how they didn't even compare to Beauxbatons, who had large magical ice sculptures that never melted of course, and diamond statues, and nymphs that serenaded them at their meals.

"Sounds like you're all spoiled rotten to me," James grumbled.

"I'd think that would get annoying," Remus huffed, "who needs to be sung to to eat? Does it help with digestion?"

"With luck it would make the sound of her complaining dim slightly," Sirius sniffed.

They didn't have any of that ugly old armor around,

"Hey," Sirius yelped in pure indignation, "that armor has personality!"

"Plus, some of our best ideas came from those seemingly innocent bits of metal everywhere," James beamed. "I can't count how many times we jinxed one to chase down and hug passing students."

"I'm sure Fleur would have plenty to say about that as well," Harry smirked. For some reason he wasn't as put off about Fleur like he saw the others were. Something about her resonated in him as friendly, though she wasn't showing a drop of that now.

and if a poltergeist had even dared entered, he would have been kicked out like that!

"Hey," all three Marauders yelped at that injustice.

"Peeves is awesome," Sirius insisted like he was trying to throw it in some french girls face now.

Lily on the other hand would give her that point at least, even the boys when pressed would admit that Peeves wasn't all good for fun, he could be quite a nuisance.

She'd smacked her table for emphasis there at the end, and Roger, who clearly hadn't taken in a word but instead kept gazing at her open mouthed

"Wow, such intrigue," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Does that really work," James demanded, raising a curious brow. "Just sit there gawking at them, is that how Davis got her to go with him? How come that never worked on you love?"

"I'm starting to wonder if Fleur wasn't the one who asked him out," Lily shrugged, ignoring the second part as he knew full well why she hadn't been endeared by that.

quickly snapped to attention and agreed at once, mimicking her table slap.

"Such riveting conversation, how does he do it," Sirius grumbled.

At the other end of the hall Harry spotted Hagrid

"There's something fun to think about," James smiled again. "Bet he's counting down the minutes until Maxime doesn't have to be up there anymore."

wearing an old ugly suit while gazing at the top. Maxime caught his staring and gave a wave back to him.

"Aw, now there's a romance which'll surely bloom tonight," Lily giggled.

"About the only one it seems," Remus snickered.

Hermione was now trying to teach Krum to say her name properly, he kept mispronouncing it as Hermy-own.

"Those accents can cause some interesting variations," James agreed with chipper. "Once met a Spaniard fellow who called me J'ames all day no matter how many times I corrected him."

She pronounced each syllable of her name clearly, Her-my-oh-nee.**

He tried mimicking it back, but it came out as Herm-own-ninny.

She passed that as close enough, while meeting Harry's eyes with a grin.

"It's not like Hermione to settle," Sirius grinned, "I'll bet she'd never have let Ron get away with that."

"Trust me, she didn't" Harry smirked, "Ron once tried to shorten her name and she ignored him for three hours. I'm sure it would have been longer, but he actually apologized for it."

After all of the food had been consumed and taken away, Dumbledore took to his feet and used his wand to make a stage appear, along with a full set of instruments, including a bagpipe. Moments later, the band the Weird Sisters came in, all wearing hairy suites and ripped clothing.

"Well this sounds like fun," Sirius grinned, "I particularly want to hear which one plays the bagpipes."

They picked up their instruments, and Harry had been so busy watching he'd almost forgotten his part to play

"Least you weren't dwelling on it," Remus chuckled.

until Parvati caught his attention by hauling him to his feet and dragging him to the dance floor while Harry tripped over his robes.

Harry groaned, knowing that was probably just the start to his night.

"Relax Harry," James tried to sooth, "at least it won't get so bad as your Valentine."

Harry did not look soothed.

The band began a nice slow song as Harry tried avoiding all eyes from those such as Dean and Seamus,

"Why don't you hang out with them more," Sirius snickered as he watched Harry's miserable face. "They sound like they know how to have a laugh."

Harry was too busy ignoring him to answer the rhetorical question.

while being steered around by Parvati, who had his hand like a vice.

"Guess I don't need to ask who's steering," Lily grinned.

It wasn't as bad as it could have been while revolving slowly on the spot, his eyes kept going in every direction to avoid any one person watching him, and soon they were joined on the dance floor by other couples so the champions weren't alone.

Harry could already feel himself relaxing again, at least that hadn't been as excruciating or long as he'd been dreading.

The others were honestly happy for him. Despite their teasing, it was good to see something just mildly normal like Harry having to dance for a few moments without anything memorable at all happening.

Ginny and Neville were close by, Ginny wincing frequently as Neville troded on her feet,

That spiked Harry's interest, not anything bad against Neville really, but just thinking to himself that if he'd cut in he knew he'd have tried his hardest not to be stepping on her feet as well. Then his mind fritzed, and he wasn't even sure what he'd been thinking anymore.

and Dumbledore was waltzing with Madame Maxime.

"I'll bet Hagrid was taking notes," Remus muttered.

Dumbledore was much shorter than her, not even reaching her chin, but the two moved with grace as they moved through the crowd. Mad-Eye and Sinistera were doing an odd two step, the latter doing her best to avoid that wooden leg.

Lily couldn't stop several spurts of giggles at all of these lovely mental images Harry kept catching, her wish still holding that she was going to go up to school and beg them to have more events like this.

Moody complemented Harry's socks as they passed, his magical eye at the hem of Harry's robes.

Sirius looked rather disturbed as he read that part, grumbling, "why is he looking?"

"I'm just impressed you kept those on all day," James snorted.

Harry gave an honest grin back as he agreed they were a present from his house-elf friend Dobby.

Harry rolled his eyes at all of their chuckling, ignoring that pestering feeling telling him he should have kept that to himself.

Parvati whispered to Harry as they twirled farther away how creepy Moody was, that eye shouldn't be allowed.

"And I agree," Lily murmured with a slight shake. It didn't matter he was a teacher, that thing felt like too much of an invasion of privacy.

Harry didn't respond as the finale note of the song played, and he let go of Parvati at once.

"Well don't enjoy the moment or anything," Remus snorted.

He offered to go sit back down even as she protested she really liked this next song, but Harry quickly fibbed and said he didn't as he dragged her away. The next number was far more upbeat, and they had to skirt around Fred and Angelina who were using such wild moves, many people had to steer clear in fear of injury.

"There's the best way to do it," James declared with only a fond roll of the eyes from his wife.

Harry quickly found Ron who was openly glaring at Hermione and Krum still on the floor. Padma was still beside him, but none too pleased about it as she kept giving him disgusted looks for still ignoring her.

"You know, sometimes I don't think we give Trelawny enough credit," Sirius mused as he grinned down at the page.

He received nothing but blank stares from his friends, so Sirius shrugged and properly explained, "remember back in her first class, when she made the comment Ron would do something to Parvati. I think she got the wrong twin is all."

"Why do you remember that?" Remus demanded as he usually phased anything that fortune teller said right out of his mind.

Sirius' smile wasn't as easy going as before as he stated, "what can I say, she's had an impact on me," before going on loudly.

Parvati sat down on Harry's other side, but moments later a Beauxbatons boy came up and asked her for a dance. She asked Harry if he'd mind, but he hardly noticed the question, his eyes had found Cho and Cedric.

Lily gave a sad little chuckle at that, stating, "oh yes, he's simply going green with worry."

Harry wasn't paying her much more mind than he'd given his date, he was still trying to count down the pages until this stupid night was over.

Parvati snapped at him to just forget it, stalking off with the other boy.

Hermione came over moments later, collapsing into her seat and fanning her face as she exclaimed how hot it was,

"Only for those not sulking," James pointed out.

"I wasn't sulking," Harry huffed back, "I was just-" he cut himself off and winced as he realized he didn't exactly have a word for what he was doing.

and that Viktor had gone to get them drinks.

Ron was not any more pleased to have her nearby, demanding of her if her date had asked her to call him Vicky yet?

"If he's already asking for nicknames on the first date, I think she'd have a clinger," Sirius stated.

"You know Ron's just being a prat," Remus scolded him, "now would you stop trying to give us dating advice and move on."

Sirius stuck his tongue out at him first before doing so.

Hermione looked shocked at his tone, asking what his problem was?

Ron snapped back if she didn't know, he wasn't going to say.

Lily had to press her hand firmly to her mouth to stop a storm of titters, she couldn't believe Ron had just said that with a straight face, a straight up girl line.

Hermione stared at him, then at Harry, who shrugged.

"Either you're being oblivious, or staying out of it," James patted Harry's shoulder, "either way, I commend you."

Harry was shaking his head slowly, neither confirming or denying either option.

She tried to ask Ron again, but he exploded at her how she was here with a Durmstrang! He was the competition, he- he cut himself off as he tried to find words for Hermione's crime, before concluding that she was fraternizing with the enemy!

"Melodramatic much," Lily sighed.

"Well he's not wrong," James shrugged, though winced when his wife gave him a nasty look for that.

"Well he's not," Sirius defended his mate, and Ron. "I did warn them that something could be going on with the Bulgarian people, and that's who she goes with."

"Don't be stupid," Lily spat, "Ron would be acting like this towards anyone who wasn't him spending time with her right now."

Sirius gave her a calculating look, but wasn't going to argue that back.

She told him he was being an idiot, they weren't enemies. Where was this attitude when he'd arrived,

"There's a difference between enjoying a celebrity around, and mingling with them," James scoffed.

when Ron had wanted his autograph?

"Um, having an autograph is far different than having a date," Sirius frowned like he thought Hermione was being daft.

Ron had a model of him up in his dormitory!

"And?" Remus demanded curiously, "he was a Quidditch nut before this mess started."

"Are you lot really on his side?" Lily scowled at the lot of them. "Hermione hasn't done anything wrong, and Ron's acting like a ponce saying otherwise."

James quickly threw his hands up in surrender, saying "hey, we're just saying Hermione hasn't made a valid point yet, but Ron has."

Lily narrowed her eyes shrewdly at him as she stated, "you know full well Ron's only mad because Hermione's out with anyone but him, when he only realized at the last minute she was an option. He's being a child."

"Well he is a child," Sirius reminded, though quickly went back to reading when Lily looked likely to smack him any second.

Ron ignored all of that by asking when all this had started, up in the library?

Hermione agreed, demanding what of it?

Ron asked if she'd tried to get him on her spew campaign, and she snapped that no, Krum had actually been coming up there for weeks to try and pick up the courage to ask her out.

"Aww," Remus couldn't help but grin, then rolled his eyes at his friends scandalized looks like he seemed to be switching sides. "What," he shrugged, "think back, and every time he was there, he'd see her and Harry working together. It's no wonder he couldn't bring himself to ask with him around. Plus Skeeter's article, and Krum wouldn't know better it wasn't true, I pity the guy."

"Then why did he ask her if he thought she was with Harry?" Lily asked of no one.

"Maybe Hermione will say," Harry quickly tried to pacify before anyone else could strike up another argument, he really didn't want to sit around analyzing his friends love life.

Hermione was getting angrier the longer this kept going while Ron kept at it, pointing out that as Karkaroff's student, he could be doing this just to get at Harry.

Hermione looked like Ron had slapped her.

"It sounds even worse when he says it," Lily groaned for the poor girl. "As if she wasn't pretty enough just to be asked out on a date without having Harry for a friend."

"He didn't mean that at all," James rolled his eyes, "and I know you were thinking the same thing earlier."

"Well can you blame her for thinking Ron meant that," Lily snapped, "after the way he joked about her and Neville days before?"

Sirius was getting rather bored hearing her bicker at them about this, it's not like they'd ever insult Hermione's looks for any reason, and this was just some teenage drama she was working herself up over, so he ignored whatever spluttering comment James tried to make to keep going.

Next time she spoke, her voice was quivering as she stated that for his information, Krum hadn't said a word about Harry!

Ron switched tactics at the speed of light.

"At this point, I'll agree with Lily though," Remus sighed, "Ron's just looking for a fight, doesn't matter the bloke."

That was only one of Lily's points, they seemed to be missing the bigger picture that Ron was being as rude as possible in showing that he was just jealous of the whole instance, but at least they weren't trying to defend Ron from that part.

Pointing out that Krum was instead hoping to get Hermione's help with that egg.

Hermione turned to Harry, insisting he should know that was never the case, she wouldn't help another champion.

Harry hadn't a moment to answer as Ron snapped she had a terrible way of showing it.

"Funny how Harry wasn't the one who got to answer," Sirius snorted.

"I don't really have a problem with who she went with," Harry shrugged, "I found it odd sure, but ah, not like Ron did."

Hermione nearly shouted at him that the whole point of this tournament was foreign wizards making friends!

"Actually no, Hermione's full of it on that one." James shook his head at her.

"If they wanted to set up foreign friends, there are far better ways than tournaments where you're supposed to beat the other school," Remus agreed.

Ron snapped that it was the opposite, winning!

People were really beginning to stare, so Harry tried to sooth Ron that he didn't care who Hermione's date was,

"You'll do anything to avoid attention tonight, won't you?" Sirius raised a brow, thinking that was quite brave of Harry to step in then.

"Hermione was really getting angry at him," Harry winced, "and I'd seen what happens when that got bad, so yeah, I did try."

but Ron ignored Harry too.

"Clearly his goal of defending Harry is the sole topic of this," Remus smiled.

Instead telling Hermione to go back and find Vicky already.

Hermione stormed to her feet and made a quick get away, Ron watching with a rather satisfied face.

"Well at least he enjoyed himself," Sirius sighed with his head cocked to the side, they hadn't exactly resolved anything.

"Honestly, at some point I think Ron enjoys arguing with people," Lily groaned.

Padma inserted herself by asking Ron if he was going to dance with her at all.

"Did she really just ask him that, after all that?" Lily did a double take.

"I honestly have no idea why she bothered," James agreed.

Ron snapped no at her without even looking at her, and Padma snapped right back that was fine, getting up and leaving towards her sister and her new date. They hadn't spoken for a moment when the Beauxbatons boy summoned another friend to him so fast, Harry swore he used a spell.

Causing four collective chuckles at Harry, who always seemed to find a spot of humor after a tense moment.

A new voice asked where Hermione was, the butchering of her name giving it away.

"If he'd just showed up five seconds earlier," Sirius smirked.

"We'd have had an even larger scene," Remus finished for him, though at least he seemed pleased that wasn't what happened.

Krum was holding two butterbeers and looking at them in confusion, but Ron said back waspishly that they had no idea, Krum had simply lost his her.

"Making him think he was ditched," James nodded, "that's kinder than I would have been to him."

"Don't get me started on you," Lily told him with a straight face, "don't think I wasn't well aware of how many times in school you did something much subtler, but with much more force to anyone who asked me out."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," James declared saintly, not even bothering to hide a flashing grin when she kept staring.

Krum was definitely picking his surly attitude back again as he told that if they did see her, to tell that he had drinks before wandering off.

Percy arrived then, congratulating them on making friends with Krum.

"Not the word I'd use," Remus shook his head.

"Sad if Krum had come with anyone else, Ron probably would have used that time to try and properly talk to him," Sirius agreed.

He was rubbing his hands together and looking extremely pompous,

"I swear that's in every description he's ever had," James scoffed.

happily chatting about how that was the point of all this, to make international cooperation.

"Could he have said a worse thing right then," Lily raised a brow at his poor timing.

Harry was not remotely pleased when Percy sat down beside them, and instead went back to looking at the dance floor. Dumbledore and Sprout were having a dance, as were Bagman and McGonagall

"Now there's some potential for fun," Sirius'' brows crept up in surprise and glee.

"Eww," Lily crinkled her nose at him, "glory Sirius, can't two adults ever just enjoy each other's company?"

"Tell me Quidditch fan McGonagall wouldn't at least have been the one to ask star player Bagman for that dance?" James challenged with the same look as Sirius.

She didn't argue the point.

Maxime and Hagrid were cutting a wide path around the dance floor as they waltzed through the students,

"Was waiting for that one," Sirius chuckled.

and Karkaroff was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh that's encouraging," James frowned.

"Lighten up, I'm sure he's not the only one to vacate the moment he wasn't supposed to be there," Remus tried to brush off his own worry.

"I kind of wanted you to keep talking about dancing partners," Sirius pouted, as he loved laughing at the mental images of all his old teachers cutting loose like that.

After that song ended, Bagman gave McGonagall a pleasant kiss on the hand, before making his way out of the crowd. He didn't get far before the twins caught him.

"Probably looking for that sponsorship," Remus chuckled, "they've only got a year left."

"Well they've already made a good impression, so they're off to a great start." Sirius agreed with cheers.

Harry already had his head cocked to the side, something nagging at him about the twins and Bagman again he just knew he should be putting a finger on.

Percy was watching this as well, hissing his displeasure about his brothers accosting a senior Ministry member.

"This little brat never ceases to annoy me," James grumped. "He goes from disliking him to calling him high ranking at the flip of a switch."

"Disliking him doesn't negate his status," Lily defended with a shrug.

They had no respect for anyone.

"It's not like they're mauling him," Remus rolled his eyes, "they're trying to have a chat with him. Percy needs to get a grip."

Bagman shook off Fred and George fairly quickly, however,

"Aw," all five of them pouted, wondering what had Bagman so distracted he wouldn't take time to talk to the twins like he had over the summer. Harry was so distracted by his disappointment for the twins, he completely forgot what he was supposed to be remembering about this.

and came over to Harry's table. Percy quickly apologized for his brothers, but Bagman laughed that off, saying they'd just been asking about some contacts Bagman had promised them regarding Zonkos.

"Oh, well alright then," Sirius agreed festively.

"That was rather short for all that," Remus still had a curious look on his face, "you think they've been corresponding outside of just talking?"

Harry jolted when he heard that, now positive that was exactly what he'd been trying to think up earlier, though for some reason he was sure it was more one sided...

James had noticed Harry, but rather than trying to force him to say something instead said, "I'm sure that's it, the twins aren't the shy type and it's smart of them to be setting this up as early as possible."

Percy did not look pleased at the news, and Harry had the feeling he'd be reporting that to their mother.

"Oh that bleeding killjoy," Lily groaned. "What good would it do? The twins are allowed to have their own life."

"See, we can agree on some things," James told her lovingly.

Bagman was looking at Harry and clearly trying to change the subject before Percy could keep going, but Percy got their first by saying how pleased he was with how this tournament had been going. His department had been more than satisfied with the results, excluding that little hitch of course, his eyes flickering to Harry,

"Hitch?" Lily said sharply.

"I called it far more than that," James muttered with mutiny.

had been a tad unfortunate,

"Unfortunate," Remus agreed with an ugly taste in his mouth.

but ever since things had been smooth sailing.

Bagman agreed it was all in good fun,

"Fun?" Sirius snapped, "Merlin, can't these two pull their heads out of their arses already, Harry's right there and he'd never say anything so mild about this mess."

Harry certainly agreed with Sirius, but he wasn't going to go correcting someone like Bagman either, and he'd long since grown used to just ignoring whatever Percy said.

then asked about Crouch? Percy at once kept up his happy little spiel about all the work Crouch was leaving for him to do, including a conference he had with some Transylvanians-

Ron whispered into Harry's ear for them to get out of there while they could.

Lily was the only one who looked remotely upset at this, in fact the boys looked relieved. Lily enjoyed hearing about these types of international affairs though, it would have been a nice change of topic from the constant problems revolving Harry, but recognized she wasn't going to get a say in the matter.

Harry quickly agreed as the two slipped away and went out to the entrance hall.

"I'd almost feel bad for Bagman getting stuck with that," Sirius snorted.

"If he hadn't been such a prat to Harry so far," James finished in agreement.

Lily actually felt bad for Percy, as she had no doubts that Bagman would slip away sooner rather than later, and apparently Percy hadn't brought his own date like his girlfriend to chat with. He was clearly looking for someone to talk to.

They instead began traipsing the grounds, the low hedges taking on height the farther in they went. They hadn't gone too far when they heard an unpleasantly familiar voice,

"Well this can't be good," Remus sighed, as that had yet to start them on a pleasant conversation.

saying how there was nothing for Igor to be fussing about.

Karkaroff's voice returned very hushed and anxious as he told Severus there was nothing to be pretending about,

"Well you're doing a terrible job of it, talking out in the open grounds," Harry muttered to himself, then looked around in surprise at all of the suddenly pale faces. Clearly he was missing something, but before he could ask his mother hissed, "no. He swore he'd never go through with that! I, those were rumors, he-" she spluttered herself off with pure indignation.

The Marauders had equally ugly looks on their faces, and it didn't take much for Harry to piece it all together. Karkaroff was a confirmed Death Eater as far as Sirius was concerned, and that was proof enough for them. Now he was going around talking to Snape about something, clearly something bad. Karkaroff was talking to someone he trusted, a fellow Death Eater. Was that presumptuous though? Harry didn't think so, something deep inside him was far to settled on the notion already. Harry hated Snape of course, but even he was mildly surprised to hear that he really had gone and joined Voldemort's crew. That is of course, if he was understanding this right, because would Dumbledore really higher a Death Eater?

This small bit had been more than proof enough for everyone else without any other type of confirmation.

"I can not believe how disgusted I am by this," Sirius snarled, his eyes going darker by the second as he stared at the pages. "After everything, I really am insulted at myself for how surprised I am we were right all along, he is a Death Eater."

"Was," Remus corrected half heartedly, he had a look on his own face that spoke volumes of how tired he already was on hearing about this.

"Excuse you," James snapped, "once one always one!" His face had flushed an ugly color in shock as he glared down Remus; who quickly cast his mind around and realized another Death Eater James' mind would have landed on, and so quickly explained himself;

"Oh come now, you really think Dumbledore would higher him if he hadn't reformed in some way? I doubt he ever got far past initiation, he and Karkaroff were probably brought in at the same time, but Karkaroff was caught and probably has no idea what Snape did to convince Dumbledore he wasn't a Death Eater anymore. Merlin, we don't even know what possessed Dumbledore to hire this guy, though I still bitterly hate whatever that is." He had in no way implied that he'd ever forgive and forget Snape of anything he'd been doing to Harry so far, let alone any person who'd ever helped Voldemort, and that meant anyone.

Lily's lips were still trembling to much to add in, though in hate or regret none of them were really sure. She may have long since renounced him as her friend, but had only recently truly begun hating him for the way he'd been treating her son, Sirius, and Remus. They had no real clue how this news was affecting her, and though James ached desperately to ask her, he wasn't entirely sure if he would like the response he'd get. What if she tried to defend him? Remus was only trying to vouch for Dumbledore, and that was nothing new even if it did irk him a lot more than ever before, but at least Dumbledore was still worth it on some level. He'd still be given a chance to defend himself. If Lily really tried to justify Snape to him though...

Sirius was watching her like a bomb fixing to go off, and finally the silence had rung for so long it seemed to register in her. She spoke very slowly and clearly, enunciating each word, "I am going to murder him the next time I have the pleasure, but please don't stop on my account. I want to hear what has Karkaroff in such a tizzy, it could only make my day better."

James unbelievably relaxed, but really, some things never died, he was just thankful Lily and Severus' friendship had been one of them that had.

this had been growing clearer for months, it was a serious problem!

Sirius couldn't help a violent snort of laughter at Karkaroff's choice of words, happily opening his mouth to make a crack before Lily interjected in honeyed tones, "If you actually start mocking this situation right now, I swear I will make your innards your outers. Are you really going to sit there and laugh about two Death Eaters prowling around school?"

Thoroughly chastised, Sirius still couldn't help a petulant little scowl at her for ruining his fun, but wasn't going to deny either he had something more pressing to be reading.

Snape's curt reply was to tell Igor to flee, Snape would explain his absence, but he was staying right here.

They rounded the corner then, both with ill- tempered faces. As they passed one bush, a pair of students came tumbling out, and Snape took off ten points from both the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students who'd been caught.

James muttered something under his breath about Snape being the opposite of cupid or something, but Harry didn't want to ask for details.

Then they caught sight of him and Ron, and Snape demanded what they were doing?

Ron snapped back they were walking, asking if that was a crime now?

"Never let Ron change that snappy tone," Remus stated mildly.

Snape snapped at them to keep walking then, before he did so himself with Karkaroff hot on his heels.

Ron asked what had them so worried?

"Nothing good," Sirius ground out.

Lily couldn't help but suddenly get the jitters, her mind unhelpfully flickering through all that had happened to Harry this year, and how they were suspecting Karkaroff had something to do with it. It was the last thing she ever wanted to hear that now Karkaroff had back up with Snape. And yet, her mind kept nagging at something, how Snape had tried to protect Harry in his first year, stopped Quirrell getting the Stone. There was no longer any real if in her mind, Snape had really turned in with all his real friends at school, but then why hadn't Quirrell come to Snape for help back then? Why, in fact, had Snape tried to stop Voldemort through Quirrell? It wasn't adding up, but it didn't really change anything inside her either. Even if she ever did get an explanation for him, she knew it would never be good enough, not after he'd gone and smashed every last promise to her for the last time. Sev was gone.

Harry asked his own question, since when were he and Karkaroff on first name terms?

Remus gave Harry a kind smile, at least he seemed to understand what was happening now, and he hadn't even asked, he'd pieced it all together himself. There was no trace of outward confusion in him to show he needed an answer. It only let Remus' mind to keep wandering though, to try and figure out what exactly did Karkaroff have to be so upset about? What was becoming clearer? All he could really think up was the Voldemort mentionings, and how they were all growing more and more terrified that he was trying to make a comeback with the help of the rat. Was it possible Karkaroff was hearing that news, and that's what he was referring to? Why would he be afraid of that though?

They had reached a large stone reindeer now,

Sirius muttered something under his breath regretfully, wanting to make a crack at Prongs, but worried Lily would snap at him again. The bleeding Death Eaters were gone, that part was over, could they please get back to talking about something more pleasant.

with only one path leading off. In the shadows was a stone bench, where Hagrid's husky voice could be heard telling that he'd known from the moment he saw her.

"Oh please go back to listening in on Death Eaters," James groaned, though honestly he was more than happy to give a slight laugh. "I do not want to sit in on Hagrid's love fest."

"Turn around Harry, please tell me you run off from this," Remus agreed.

Harry gave them an absent smile, now worried that he really had walked in on something unpleasant he wasn't going to like.

The boys froze, knowing right away this wasn't something they should be hearing.

"Now what gave you that idea?" Sirius rolled his eyes, pleasantly amused when Lily did nothing more than usual to his commentary again.

Harry looked around for another way to go, and spotted Fleur and Roger half off the path. He pointed this out to Ron as a way to go, Fleur and Roger were certainly busy enough not to notice them,

It was unbelievable that they could actually start laughing again, but Harry's mostly disgusted half intrigued look as he recalled looking at that certainly did it for the lot of them. Most students in the higher grades at least tried to hide these acts, so this was most likely Harry's first time ever watching someone make out, and it was certainly a more priceless and treasured moment than finding out something about Snape, so they were most definitely in at least a good mood again.

but Ron's eyes flipped wide in horror at the sight of Fleur, and he instead pulled Harry deeper into the shadows of the statue.

"Can't even blame him," Sirius said animatedly, "as he was probably hoping that was him a week ago."

"Moving on," Lily told him, "before you put more images into my head I never want."

Maxime's voice responded to Hagrid with a purr, asking what he'd known?

"No, really though Harry, you can still find another way to leave," Remus pleaded without a trace of hope.

Harry sighed with a miserable look at the ceiling, really wishing the more that was spoken he'd done just that.

Harry knew he didn't want to be hearing this, and wished he could stuff his fingers in his ears and start humming loudly, but that wasn't an option.

"I think it's better than the alternative," James shook his head sadly.

"And be found," Sirius corrected James, "no, best wait until they get ah, too distracted as well, and slip away, never mentioning this again."

"There you go again," Lily groaned, "could you not have edited that a bit so I didn't have to picture that!"

Sirius did not look remorseful in the slightest, he enjoyed the agitation it caused Lily too much.

Instead Harry tried to concentrate on a beetle he found crawling on the reindeer,

Harry frowned all of a sudden, some new feeling wanting to rear up and remind him of something other than embarrassment for listening in on this...

but the insect wasn't interesting enough to drown out Hagrid saying how he'd known Maxime was like him, asking if she'd gotten it from her mother or father?

"Oh," James' embarrassment quickly flickered to surprise as he stated, "well this isn't nearly as bad as declaring his undying love."

"Guess they would have been talking long enough by now Hagrid would be curious," Lily agreed.

Maxime tried to play him off, saying she had no idea what Hagrid meant.

"Excusez-moi?" Remus tried, and failed, at a french accent. "If she isn't a half giant like Hagrid than I'm a fish."

"And as you most certainly do not turn into a mermaid once a month," Sirius agreed with a straight face, "I'm inclined to agree."

Hagrid ignored that and happily kept babbling about how he'd gotten it from his Mum's side, she'd been one of the last left in Britain.

"Ooh," Lily couldn't help but sigh softly. This may not be the romance that Harry shouldn't have been listening in on, but it certainly was private enough she still wished more than anything Harry had scarpered. If Hagrid had wanted him to know this, he'd have told him already.

Admitting he didn't remember her that well, she'd left when he was three, but of course she wasn't the maternal sort. It just wasn't in their natures really, and he had no idea where she was now, could be dead for all he knew.

The boys were frowning with some genuine pity as well now. They'd never really thought about it to be honest, but Hagrid was quite right, giants were not maternal of any kind, they had their brood and then left them to fend for themselves. The strongest survived, and Hagrid was the farthest thing from a fully grown giant. That's why he was such an oddity at all, what giantess had fallen for a human to have Hagrid? None of them had ever questioned it to deeply, and they were truly sad to be thinking on it now.

Maxime didn't say anything, and Harry, in spite of himself, took his eyes off the beetle

Harry was certainly distracted enough by Hagrid as well to not even give that thing a second thought anymore, why would he?

and looked over the antlers with interest, he'd never heard Hagrid talk about his childhood before.

He certainly was now as he kept going by explaining his dad had raised him, and he'd been such a tiny thing. By the time Hagrid was six, he could place his dad on a dresser, making them both laugh at the time. Maxime had gone stiff and didn't seem to be responding anymore.

"Don't exactly know how you're supposed to respond to that," James shook his head, the urge to laugh was there at such a thing, but it was certainly sad enough to be kept at bay.

Hagrid didn't seem to notice as he told how his dad had taken care of him until Hagrid started school, but he'd passed very soon afterwards and Hagrid was left to himself.

Remus gave a genuine wince of empathy for that, wondering if it was the curse of all beasts that the parents suffered first. His own hadn't lived long enough to see him through school either.

Dumbledore had been a help to him after that, always kind to him.

"More than makes you understand his loyalty to him," Sirius sighed.

Hagrid blew his nose on his handkerchief then, trying to turn the conversation back on Maxime by asking about her?

Maxime's tone had changed as she stated how chilly it was,

Lily cocked her head to the side in confusion, but that still didn't hide the tense set of her shoulders. She wasn't really...

but the weather was nothing to her now icy tones.

"Oh she's not," James began scowling at once.

She stated she was leaving,

"She's bloody well trying," Sirius growled. She was actually trying to run out on Hagrid, after he'd just told her something like that. She really couldn't give him a moment of sympathy? What was wrong with her?

but Hagrid tried to call her back, saying he'd never met another one before.

Maxime demanded outright, another what?

"Does he need to spell it out for you," Lily's tone was as brittle as it could go. "Why is she being so stupid about it."

"Maybe she's never had to say it out loud before," Remus muttered to himself, he certainly remembered the first time he'd had to admit it to another person, but then again, it wasn't particularly the same. Maxime was being horrid to Hagrid, when he was trying to help. Maxime wasn't a real monster, she just happened to have a different kind of parentage.

Lily gave him a look for that comment, but the others hadn't heard, and Sirius was too outraged on Hagrid's behalf to notice and had kept reading loudly.

Harry wished he could have told Hagrid against saying what he did next, but Hagrid did indeed state another half giant of course.

Maxime shrieked in outrage.

"How dare he?" Lily snapped right back, her every visage saying she'd go toe to toe with Maxime right now no matter the height difference. "What is she playing at treating him like that when he's talking to her. How does she not understand that if anyone could sympathize with her, it's Hagrid!"

Her voice was such that it even drew the attention of Fleur and Roger, making them fall out of their bush.

James sighed, wishing for a moment where he could laugh at that proper, now he was all in a knot about Hagrid. This Yule Ball was turning out as big a mess as the stupid tasks it was so emotionally all over.

Maxime was still speaking in outrage how she'd never been more insulted, she was nothing of the sort! She just had big bones!

"She did not, just manage to say that," Sirius snapped in disgust. "Dumbledore has big bones, Runcorn had big bones! She has giant bones!"

"It's like Petunia had a bad influence on her as well," James agreed with a sneer.

She stormed away, stamping through bushes in her anger. Hagrid watched her go.

Lily made a deep throated noise, whether of hurt for Hagrid like she wanted to go to him and comfort him at once, or go after Maxime and hunt her down for treating her friend like that, nobody was certain, but both were likely.

It was too dark to see his face, but moments later, he got up as well and trudged back to his cabin.

"Poor Hagrid," James groaned for him. "Does it feel like he's had to deal with crap every year, the poor guy needs a break."

"He definitely didn't deserve this one," Sirius nodded.

Harry was at least happy they could finally get out of there and tried to get Ron to come along, but Ron didn't move.

Lily's temper looked about ready to pop on Ron, she'd had more than enough of him lately, but Remus quickly soothed before she could get started, "he had a bad reaction to me when he first found out as well. Don't go yelling at him for something he's processing."

"It's not like it's hard to work out," Sirius grumbled with an ugly look in place, he didn't much appreciate Ron having any reaction other than anger towards Maxime like the rest of them.

"To us it wasn't," Remus agreed, trying, and failing, to keep shame from his face as he stuttered out, "because we, well we ah, had more of an um, practice of-"

"We went out and hung around with someone most people wouldn't put together had a secret," James finished bluntly. "So we had a knack for guessing when others did. It is true most would first think it was some sort of magical accident that would make Hagrid like that unless they spotted the clues we did."

Sirius rolled his eyes at them, but then remembered Lily hadn't even guessed as much until they'd told her as well, so decided against arguing further.

Harry asked what his problem was, and Ron looked astounded at Harry with a very serious expression.

"Why do you keep describing everyone as looking like me?" Sirius asked of Harry quickly, just looking for anything to laugh at again. "You miss me that much pup, you're seeing me everywhere?"

Harry did indeed laugh at that joke and still didn't seem ready to be growing tired of it anytime soon much to Sirius' pleasure.

Ron asked if Harry had known about Hagrid being half giant, and Harry said he hadn't, but then asked so what?

Ron's face at once showed Harry's ignorance of the wizarding world.

"An ignorance that I'm quite happy you have," Lily sighed.

"Had," James corrected with a frown.

Harry gave them quizzical looks, but didn't bother asking as he knew he'd be asking Ron what the big deal was. Clearly he'd had it wrong before, if ever he did think about giants he thought they were all like Hagrid, nobody had ever said anything otherwise.

Brought up by Muggles, there were many times where something should have struck Harry differently in the wizarding world, and apparently finding out your friend was a half giant and the reaction being so what, was one of them; this was not a common reaction of most wizards.

"I want to emphasize that most though," James shook his head sadly. "You know Hagrid for more than five minutes, and nobody should care a lick."

Remus was sitting very far back in his seat, keeping the baby very close to him and avoiding all eyes so that he could be left out of this as long as possible, but he had no doubts his friends would circle back to him on this very soon if this lead where he was thinking it would. They were going to turn on him and remind him that Hagrid being at Hogwarts was as natural as Remus being there, something he still vividly disagreed with.

Ron told Harry he'd explain inside,

"Can't blame him for that though," Lily agreed, "those gardens have already proved the ease of eavesdropping."

leading the way back inside. Fleur and Roger had disappeared again, most likely to a more private clump of bushes,

"Thank you for acknowledging that Harry," James tried for a smirk again, at least that had brought back some fun memories from his seventh year, not that he had plans on sharing that.

and Harry and Ron went back inside the castle.

He caught sight of Parvati and Padma having a grand time with their new Beauxbatons dates, and Hermione dancing with Krum again.

"Ron's clearly just having the night of his life with all these girls," Remus chuckled to himself.

Harry and Ron chose seats as far away from everyone as possible as Harry asked what the deal with giants was?

Ron struggled to explain that they were, well not nice.

"Yeah," Remus rolled his eyes at such articulation, "and werewolves are just kind of unpleasant sometimes."

"You certainly are when you get snappy," Sirius scowled at him, his look more calculating than anything as he tried to guess if Remus was genuinely trying at a joke, or making a crack at himself, a very big difference in Sirius' opinion.

Remus met his eyes but wasn't giving anything away, saving himself from a lecture as he should have known better when he did the latter.

Harry asked why anyone would care, there was nothing wrong with Hagrid.

Ron quickly agreed, but it did explain why he never spoke about it. Ron had always thought he'd just had a bad encounter with an Engorgement Charm.

"I've heard worse ideas," James smiled without humor. Those ideas were usually helped along by the Marauders though, who even having guessed Hagrid's secret, had said no more about it than Remus'. It was his business after all.

Harry still asked what the deal with Hagrid was?

Ron tried to explain how dangerous giants were, they were vicious things that just liked to kill. Thankfully there weren't any left in Britain though.

Harry asked what happened to them, and Ron first said it was the Aurors who had killed most of them off,

Harry's mind boggled at the idea, still unable to grasp how big a 'real' giant even was, and how you could go about killing that. The dragon had seemed nearly invincible, and a true giant seemed to be at least the size of them.

but honestly, they enjoyed killing each other just as much.

Harry switched to talking about Maxime, saying she was kidding herself.

"Least you're grasping the important parts of this," Lily sighed.

Said woman was now at the judges table again, alone, looking miserable.

"Deserves it," three of them muttered, no sympathy at all for the way she'd given Hagrid hell.

Only Remus felt a wince for her, knowing full well how it could feel to have that kind of thing shoved in your face by someone. When his friends had done it to him, he'd tried running for his life, but they'd come after him. Hagrid and Maxime were slightly different, but at least Remus could understand both parts.

Harry pointed out that if Hagrid was a half-giant, she certainly was. Big bones, please, the only thing with bigger bones was a dinosaur.

At least James and Sirius full blown laughed at that, James praising, "thank you Harry for that lovely comparison."

Harry and Ron spent the rest of the ball discussing giants in their corner,

"I can just tell how riveted you are by this whole ordeal," Lily shook her head at him fondly.

"I never wanted to go in the first place," Harry reminded with a frown. "The part about the giants from Ron was the most interesting bit of the night."

"Wonder how different you'd feel if you had gone with Cho?" Sirius demanded with a knowing smile, genuinely wondering if it wouldn't have turned into his pup and her hiding in bushes, but Harry stoutly ignored him again.

while Harry tried his best not to watch Cho and Cedric,

Then Harry groaned and had to fight the urge to chuck that book in the fireplace already, it just had to keep mentioning that!

"Don't get too down Harry," James comforted, "I'm positive you'll get another shot at her."

"Or find someone better," Sirius offered.

Harry finally caved and flicked his godfather in the ear mildly. It wasn't the full blown smack they'd all been expecting when Sirius' picking had finally worn Harry's last nerve, but it was certainly enough to have them all laughing.

it gave him a strong desire to kick something.

"Least he didn't act on that urge," Remus chuckled with an obvious look at Sirius.

Sirius absently scooted just a bit more away from a Harry with a not so subtle smirk.

When the Weird Sisters had played their final song, the whole hall rang with applause while they filed back to the entrance hall.

"I'm guessing you didn't find a new favorite band tonight as well?" Lily asked.

"Nah, nothing more special than I've heard on Muggle radios," Harry shrugged, he'd never found any real interest in music and this night certainly hadn't fixed that.

Most of the passing people were expressing wishes how it had gone on longer, but Harry was not in the same boat.

"Yeah, can't blame you for that," Sirius shook his head in agreement.

Harry and Ron saw Hermione and Krum saying their goodnights. She gave Ron a blistering look as they passed.

"Because I really missed hearing about those two arguing," Lily groaned in anticipation for when this silence broke, neither of them were very good at holding back.

Harry and Ron were headed for the stairs when Cedric called Harry back.

"What, did he come to rub it in or something?" James scowled.

"I don't think so," Lily was frowning as well, though more lightly. "I honestly don't really think he'd even know about Harry's crush, he's hardly flamboyant about it as you love."

James looked nullified, but Sirius' interest was still piqued as he kept going.

Harry could see Cho waiting for him in the entrance hall below.

"That kicking urge coming back yet?" Remus asked pleasantly, "I'm sure you can still find someone in here who deserves it."

"Thank you Moony," Sirius told him with a straight face, "you're ever lasting defense for me always leaves me feeling safe and loved."

"Shove it and keep going," James snorted at the pair of them.

Harry responded back coldly, but Cedric didn't seem to want to speak with Ron there.

"Don't know why?" Lily said in surprise, "Harry'll just tell him later anyways."

"Guess Cedric wants to leave that up to me," Harry shrugged with a still rather foul temper.

Ron left, and Cedric lowered his voice so as not to be overheard as he told Harry for repayment about the dragon, he asked Harry if his egg wailed when he opened it?

"I'd be more surprised if all the eggs did something different," Remus stated.

"It would have been a little more interesting though," Lily shrugged, "after all, if it's all the same puzzle, the champions could feasibly work it out together."

"Clearly that's not the case though," James pointed out before the two could keep going.

When Harry agreed, Cedric told him to take a bath.

"Err, was that supposed to be an insult?" James cocked his head to the side as he tried to decide if he should be getting mad.

"I, don't think so," Lily frowned slowly, "and as he did say he was trying to return a favor, a clue then."

"To take a bath?" Sirius raised a brow, "does soap and water magically fix his egg?"

"Maybe," James agreed thoughtfully, "Like, it's broken or something, and cleaning it will, I don't know, fix it to make the proper noise."

"That's a pretty cheap return," Remus sniffed, "Harry didn't say go poke around the forest and figure it out."

"So he didn't come right out and say it. He's making him work for it," Lily shrugged, "at least he's making an attempt, not everyone would have even done that."

The boys were all still too mad at Cedric for one upping Harry on this particular night to feel real gratitude yet.

Harry did not get it. Cedric repeated for him to take a bath, and take the egg, and ah, mull things over. It'll help.

"This is getting weirder and weirder," Sirius' frown deepened. "He's not even saying to clean the egg, Merlin I don't even know what he's trying to say."

"Have I mentioned how much I dislike him lately," James grumbled, "enough with the riddles man, Harry gets more than enough of that."

Harry may full heartedly agree with his dad, and thanked him for the defense, but was internally telling his gut to shut up and stop wringing itself anytime someone said a bad word about Cedric.

Harry could not think of a reply to that as Cedric tacked on that Harry could even use the prefects bathroom. Telling him exactly where it was on the fifth floor,

Remus let out a surprised little chuckle though, stating, "okay, that right there was his repayment for the dragon. You're going to love that place, best bathroom in the castle."

It took Harry a moment to get past how odd Cedric's comment was to look back at Remus and ask, "you've been in there?"

"I certainly preferred it to sharing with these loons," Remus agreed, "whoever's the worst in your year about hogging the shower, Sirius beats them."

Sirius happily stuck his tongue out at him, running his hand through his hair with great importance as he stated, "I have a higher standard to hold than your grungy arse, had to keep all the attention off of you and my looks were the easiest way by far."

"You suffer so much for me," Remus told him deadpan.

Harry was going to ask how Remus even knew how to get in, but then decided that was a stupid question, as clearly the Marauders had yet to come across any room in the castle they didn't know about.

and even the password to get in. Then he bid Harry goodnight as he went back to Cho.

Lily shook her head as she realized these boys picking at each other had actually managed to distract her, but now the curiosity was right back on what on earth Cedric was up to with that odd insert of his. She did certainly agree with Remus though, if Harry never made prefect, he should get in there when he had the chance, it was more than worth it.

Harry walked back to Gryffindor Tower alone. That had been extremely strange advice.

"That about covered it, yeah," James muttered.

Why would taking a bath help anything? Was Cedric having a go at him?

"Well I would hope not," Sirius snapped at once. "Some payback for what you did for him."

"Doesn't seem his type," Lily shook her head, "no, he was trying to help Harry in his own way, I'm sure of it."

Was he trying to make Harry look like a fool, so Cho would like him even more by comparison?

Remus opened, then closed his mouth, quickly stalling his comment about how Cedric didn't need to do that, he clearly already had Cho's affection. He cared about Harry of course, but he wasn't quite sure how Harry would take Remus making joking comments like that like he would towards Sirius or James.

Sirius had no such qualms and blurted out, "nah, you clearly cover that all on your own Harry, I'm positive Cho's heard all about your lovely Valentine or-"

"What was it you were telling me about some ceiling incident Mum?" Harry spoke over Sirius with a challenging look, "I don't think I quite got that story."

"Read, quick keep going," James hissed and Sirius made quick work of doing so over a smirking Harry.

Remus was watching with self annoyance, he always hated how whenever his werewolf status was brought up he fell back on being a self conscious idiot. Of course Harry wouldn't have cared, he'd already been making and receiving plenty of jokes.

Harry had to wake up an extremely hungover Fat Lady to get inside past her irritation at being woken up.

"Well that's her fault," Lily chuckled much to Sirius' red faced horror, though he relaxed slightly when he realized Lily wasn't saying what he'd been afraid of. "As a house portrait, she really should know better."

She still had a knowing look in her eye that told both boys quite clearly she was fully prepared to give that story to Harry the next time he asked, so neither of them wanted to linger.

He climbed into the common room and found Ron and Hermione having a blazing row.

"Well that's always nice to walk in on," Remus said in only mild surprise, this had only come a little faster than expected after all.

"Here's hoping it doesn't turn into another no speaking one," Lily groaned. She was in fact hoping for the opposite, maybe Ron would finally admit what was bothering him all night, if not to Hermione, than at least to himself so that this could go a bit smoother.

Standing as far apart as they could, Hermione was shouting at him that if he didn't like her choice of dates, she had a solution for him!

Ron demanded what that could be just as loudly, and she screamed back that next time there was a ball, to ask her first, and not as a last resort!

James sucked in air through his teeth, before nodding and saying, "okay, Hermione wins that one."

"No arguments here," Sirius agreed.

Ron mouthed wordlessly as she turned to leave. Ron looked back at Harry, still struggling for speech as he tried to say she'd completely missed his point.

"Ah, no dear," Lily corrected, "I do believe that's you."

"How long do you think it'll take him to catch on?" Remus asked with honest curiosity.

"Hopefully sooner rather than later," James chuckled.

Harry was simply frowning at the lot of them, perfectly clear what they were talking about, but still somehow knowing that nothing really came of this for a few more years to come, something he was honestly quite grateful for.

Harry did not respond, he liked talking to Ron again to much to speak his mind,

"Which is?" Sirius prompted when Harry still hesitated, but did indeed admit

"That Ron shouldn't have gone with Padma, but it was sort of too late by then."

"There are worse ways you could have put that," Lily shrugged.

"Though blunt usually works the best," Remus smirked, "so I'm not sure if even that would have gotten through to him."

but he somehow thought that Hermione had gotten the point much better than Ron had.

"I know that's true," Sirius agreed as he gave the book to Harry.

HPHPHPHPHP

*In all honesty, no, I really don't think the Marauders understand the Room of Requirements in the same aptitude that Harry does next year. I think they would have found it more along the line like the twins had, a convenient place to hide at one time or something that they never found again, much like Remus had just joked about. Honestly, I doubt any students really do before the DA through Harry, it seemed more like a house-elf secret before Dobby shared.

**Fun fact, JK only added this moment because a lot of people were apparently mispronouncing her name. I saw the second movie before I got invested in the books, so I have a tendency to pronounce them the way the movies do, Cedric's last name becomes one of the most recurring corrections between me and friends for that.

#Harry Potter #fanfiction #reading the books #GoF #Marauders #Remus Lupin #sirius black #James Potter #Lily Potter

3 notes · View notes

strawbewwysamurai · 4 years

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haha glad then i got another req how about exploring abandoned/haunted places/ruins with sanji law paulie and robin?

OF COURSE!!! Oh my gosh, this one sounds fun as heck! Lets see what we got here...! :D

Sanji:

He’s not too keen on haunted places. Not because he’s scared, but because after everything he already goes through against his will, he would prefer to not add on more weird on top voluntarily.

That’s not to say he wouldn’t come along if asked, he absolutely would. He’s no coward, and also loves hanging out with people in doing what they like to do, or plans they make.

He will eventually get really into it once you’ve been exploring the abandoned or supposedly haunted place for a bit though.

Like- really into it.

Flicks his lighter under his chin to create a spooky glow and muses about any of the place’s history in as chilling of a tone as he can possibly muster, with a straight-faced smirk to boot.

It's going to take a bit of shushing and distraction to get him to stop his nonsense once he's gotten himself going. Either that or you better be ready to let the guy quietly tell spooky stories in that dumb voice the entire time you are there.

He's just a dork really, and he's having fun now, so might as well just let him goof off.

He doesn't get spooked easily, no. But should a creepy crawly come scurrying out from the old architecture, he's gone, good bye.

If there's any left over rickety old furniture where you're exploring, he will be climbing it in the next second with a yell, and then falling off of it the next. After all, it's rickety old furniture. It's not going to handle a tall blonde idiot jumping up on it just because he saw a beetle.

It's fine though, and really fun. Between actually getting to explore someplace supposedly spooky, and hearing him tell somewhat goofy horror stories quietly while you explore, you'll want to do it again very soon with Sanji.

Law:

I think he counts as a haunted place himself.

He also thinks he counts as a haunted place himself.

Honestly, he has no problem exploring possibly haunted places, or old ruins in general. He doesn't spook easily and would sooner scare a ghost with his presence than vice versa.

And he knows it.

Do not- I repeat, do not lose track of him wherever it is you end up going with him when spookiness is involved. You will somewhat regret it when you lose him and then hear quiet whispering from somewhere around the corner, and a door shuts behind you.

Yes, he's trying to scare you. No, he won't go too far. Yes, he will make things randomly float around you or crash into walls with his power. No, you cannot stop him now.

He’ll also be actively pretending he’s not the one causing problems on purpose at this present moment. An old vase will fly harmlessly by your head and he’ll feign looking baffled the second you spin around to scold him for it or tell him to knock it off.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. This place is pretty freaky, isn’t it? Told you we should have just stayed home and watched a movie.”

It’s fun as heck anyway, though. His attempts at adding a scare factor to already spooky places is both hilarious and adorkable, so going to supposedly haunted locations with him is always going to be an absolute blast.

Robin:

Oh my goodness gracious, if you're going to any spooky place or old ruins of a long abandoned site, Robin is somehow the best and the worst person to bring along for the fun.

She loves places like such, and absolutely loves exploring every inch of them if given the chance and time to do so.

She could spend hours in anywhere from the ruins of a lost city, to a library that’s been abandoned for two decades. She's not picky.

Always brings a backpack full of history books local to the area in the hopes that they’ll contain even a little bit of history on wherever it is you end up exploring with her that evening. She likes to read up, even if the place wasn’t even all the notable before it was abandoned or left to haunting rumors.

She’ll absolutely take her time exploring the exterior or outskirts of the spooky location, wanting to know every inch of the place before even setting foot inside, where she’s sure it’s even more interesting.

She will pour herself quietly over any little thing she finds, and relay anything she knows about whatever thing shes discovered back to you.

When she doesn't know anything about something, she'll flip through one of the books she brought to see if it'll help her. And if that fails too, she'll just laugh and ask your opinion on what you think the history was behind something.

It’s fun to debate think back and forth with her on the endless possibilities, even when things can take a morbid turn with her.

Typical theories thrown back and forth together, varying in degrees of absurdity, but relatively tame. But then out of the blue, a morbid murder theory pops up, followed by another more tame idea.

It’s funny as heck, you’ll admit. And honestly? You definitely want to go more spooky places with here. Between the impromptu history lessons, and the hilarious back and forth, it makes for a great little adventure with added spook.

Paulie:

Nothing scares this man.

Well, certain things do, but they’re few and far between. And certainly not supposedly haunted places.

He'll come along with whoever invites him just to hang out or see what the big deal is about, but he's not spooked in the slightest.

Also the perfect guy to ask to come with you if you want to go someplace spooky, but are a bit frightened to do so alone.

He’s got you, don’t worry.

If you take him to a haunted house or ruins of a long gone city, he’ll prolly just wander around to see everything, somewhat boredly. He’ll usually just end up following you around, though, giving you his commentary on things as you explore.

“And what’s behind... door number 3?! A BRAAAND NEWWW SHIP-- Just a rat.”

Any attempts at getting him to stop will not work. If you suggest he shut up, he will ask the nearest beetle for it’s opinion on his commentary and if it thinks he should shut up.

“Paulie Jr says my commentary is wonderful and that I should never stop for anyone. I trust their judgement more than yours” “Paulie please’

Alternatively, though, take him to the remains of a long wrecked ship and he'll be super interested.

He will carefully climb all over it talking about what used to be what back when it was whole, marveling at the remaining details not yet entirely worn away, finding a small piece of wood or rigging on the beach to take home with him that won't be missed for the memory.

He will pretend to be a ghost pirate at some point.

No you cannot stop this.

It’s best you realize by now that you cannot stop Paulie.

To be honest, though, you don’t even really want to. It’s fun, and it lightens the mood drastically, taking any edge of scares off of the adventure and leaves nothing but giggles and exasperation. Is he doing it on purpose for this exact outcome? Who knows, but you do know that it’s something you want to do again very soon.

#one piece #nico robin #trafalgar law #black leg sanji #one piece paulie #paulie #peachywrites #I KNOW THIS WENT MORE OF A HAUNTED HOUSE ROUTE BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE THEM REGARDLESS

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rokutouxei · 3 years

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the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

ikemen vampire: temptation through the dark theo van gogh / mc | T | [ ao3 link in bio ]

The challenge seemed pretty simple: to try to befriend the university bookshop’s most sour employee, Theo van Gogh. As a literature major with a boatload of book recommendations on her back, it ought to be a simple task indeed. But as she uncovers what lies between Theo’s pages, the more she finds it harder to become closer to him without having to put the feeling directly into words. What can she learn from Theo about what it means to stay—and how can she teach Theo about what it means to let go? | written for ikevamp big bang 2020!

[ masterpost for all chapters ]

CHAPTER 21 OF 22

—The heartbeat is actually the sound made by the heart valves closing. If you, my love, ever hold a stethoscope to my chest I will tell you to listen for the silence in between. What is and what will always be yours is the sound of my heart finally opening.

- "Letter to the Editor", Andrea Gibson.

interlude ii

In the span of time between understanding and acceptance, Theo half-writes a million letters, all of them suffering the same kind of fate: undelivered. The email gets deleted, the text erased, the sheet crumpled, set on fire. There are too many words he doesn’t have the courage to say, and fuck, he’s not a literature major, after all.

He’s only the arrow shooting forward, not the bow pulling back towards itself.

But every second he spends lost in the memory of her leaves him splitting open, so for the first time in what feels like centuries, he unfolds what he’s kept in his heart the size of his clenched fist. Allows its beating space to unravel. And when he doesn’t have the vocabulary to put it into words himself, he borrows—borrows from others until he finally finds the ones that will feel just right tell.

Until they’re finally just right to tell.

The first letter he ever writes her, he composes outside the gallery of his brother’s exhibit, on the opening day. He’s crouched on the stone steps with a book in his hand, a little poetry book Arthur had dropped by for him earlier that day. For what, the bastard refused to say, but he had that look on his face that Theo hates: that Arthur knows exactly what he’s doing it for.

The first of his letters are spiteful, the words he borrows barbs, promises he doesn’t intend to keep when he rewrites,

I shall forget you presently, my dear, So make the most of this, your little day, Your little month, your little half a year

onto a sheet of scratch paper, one he ultimately throws into a bin before he’s even felt like he’s begun writing anything.

He gathers his heart a little closer for the second one, highlighting a verse in shaky yellow while he’s on a bus ride out of town, on the exhibit’s closing day.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one, Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun, Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; For nothing now can ever come to any good.

But it is not enough. And even after that, there are an innumerable number of letters that still are not enough. He borrows from everyone he’s learned from her: Shakespeare, Frost, Whitman, Dickinson; he borrows from new names, Allan Poe, Silverstein, Neruda, Keats, Siken; he borrows from poetry, from fiction, from plays. From philosophers, from writers, from artists. The words never seem to be enough to cross the gap between what he’s said and what he should have.

He writes the ten-thousandth letter with his heart beating in his chest so loudly he can barely hear his breath,

And I lean down towards you with muscle and wing, as if to a grave stone, (I put the years to sleep)

my lips seek yours... like spring.

longing, the sear of it, the idea of having touch so warm under his skin the world feels all too cold. He misses her like he would a lost limb. He reads the poem over, and over, and over again until he cannot deny it, and when he does not have the will to deny it he sets it on fire, instead.

Arthur asks him why he’s making it so much harder on himself, asks him why he’s putting himself in all this agony for nothing—Arthur talks like he knows everything. And maybe he does, the fool that he is. “Just call her,” the flirt says, “Call her from my number, send her a message—" But Arthur doesn’t know what happened, doesn’t know what it felt like in that rooftop, the words hanging in between him and her, unsaid, said, told in their heads—but never out loud, not enough to make it come to life.

To make it real.

To make it seem like Theo isn’t just writing a story in his head.

One where she’s only an unwilling participant.

Letters are the one thing Theo can hide behind, besides poetry. He can pour his entire heart in that little sheet of paper, tell her all that he wanted to but never could—send it away, and then not have to wait, expecting a response. He considers it the same as writing a message, stuffing it in a bottle, and then throwing it out in the open sea. It would be great if she finds it. It would be great if she’s moved enough by it that she writes back, that she forgives him, that she continues to wait for him even if she’s already so far away.

If only he could get it right.

The millionth letter doesn’t make it past his desk. He hears the poem from a phone in the bookstore: two literature majors reading from a book on the shelf, reciting the lines, Theo barely hears it over their gasps, but when he does he scrambles to put it into writing, thinking, this is it, maybe this is the one that’ll get me across, says,

It well may be that in a difficult hour, Pinned down by pain and moaning for release, Or nagged by want past resolution's power, I might be driven to sell your love for peace, Or trade the memory of this night for food.

takes the pen in his hand and nearly tears the page when the poets say:

It well may be. I do not think I would.

Theo is on his headphones for the rest of the afternoon, hiding in the stockroom stacking books.

He sits and negotiates, negotiates, negotiates with himself over and over again, like this was a case, like this was a business deal, instead of something else, something that’s less rigid, less in-boxes, one without protocol. Arthur tries to talk him into it. Vincent tries to talk him out of it. In, out, of what, Theo doesn’t know anymore, their voices fading into the back of his mind when he begins to really think about this.

About her, about her hands.

About his.

Sometimes, at night, in bed, before I fall asleep, a poet once wrote, I think about a poem I might write, someday, about my heart.

Theo does the same.

Much to his dismay, however, the world does not fall in around him, does not close him off from the outside world no matter how hard he tries, no matter how much it seems like that’s what ought to happen. The semester rolls on. The exams are still hard. The Halloween Party is still the same talk of the university as it did a full year ago, like the world hadn’t turned upside down for him since then.

The universe had even granted him the most effective way to wallow in his pain, the new girl in their little friend group (the one he was only in because of her) whose heart was a mirror of the girl he’d loved. Why is it that those that do so poorly in romance tend to flock together like recognizing the uneven parts of themselves? She is drunk and talking about someone else, but when she speaks about letters the same way she used to, something in Theo’s heart cries out.

Too bad he still doesn’t have the words.

The closest Theo gets to what he wants to say comes in the form of old memories, a scribble of a haphazardly written note on a piece of clean café napkin, in her handwriting, no, there’s no mistaking it. Heart by heart, Louise B written in familiar cursive. A note from a lost time slipped in a returned book, perhaps on purpose, perhaps on accident. He turns the search terms over and over until he finds it, a rush of air exiting his lungs when he gets to the end:

Now that I have your heart by heart, I see The wharves with their great ships and architraves; The rigging and the cargo and the slaves On a strange beach under a broken sky. O not departure, but a voyage done! The bales stand on the stone; the anchor weeps Its red rust downward, and the long vine creeps Beside the salt herb, in the lengthening sun.

Now that I have your heart by heart, I see.

But he doesn’t hasn’t ever had it, not since she’d left, so he doesn’t send it.

Theo doesn’t cry. There is no reason to, he thinks to himself, nothing to be upset about, not when it’s him holding himself back, when this was all his fault. He only sits quiet, repentant. He doesn’t make any mention of her, and when she is mentioned, he doesn’t say a word.

What worth are words now?

This goes on for weeks. And it seems like an eternity later when Vincent catches him sitting in the dining room with that same idle look on his face, that same dull expression, he steps into the light of the older brother Theo has always seen him to be, the older brother he’s always hoped to be—and puts a hand on the shoulder of his lost younger brother, eager to lead him home.

“Theo?”

“Broer.”

Vincent’s voice is soft. Patient. “What are you looking for?”

“I don’t have the words for… this,” Theo says, gestures vaguely at his heart, like pained. “I don’t know where to look for them anymore.”

And his brother smiles like he knows all the answers. (Theo believes Vincent has all the answers.) “There is poetry everywhere, Theo," he says, sounding awfully like her, "Your eyes are focused on the wrong things.”

Like a flash of lightning, he hears it: in the lilt of her voice, the tinkle of laughter, her voice like thunderclouds rolling over a sunlit summer. The poem that found him, instead of the other way around.

You.

Theo immediately goes out to find fancy stationery he knows she likes and gets his best fountain pen and writes; the weight of honesty pins the words solidly onto the parchment. Theo had not known metaphor until that moment, had not understood what it meant when whatever a sun will always sing is you was written, until—

Until it was his heart that was chanting it.

And the day after, he delays the inevitable: seals the letter with glue, sticks a stamp on the upper right corner of the envelope. Theo slips it into the to-mail box without a word, and then exits the post office like he hasn’t left his heart there for sending.

#the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart #ikemen vampire #ikevamp theo

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sinagrace · 4 years

Photo

This summer marks the tenth anniversary since the announcement of The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman’s Skybound imprint at Image Comics, and today is eight years since I left the company as its Editorial Director. I had no intention of waxing nostalgic or posting about this fun and weird chapter of my life, but I’ve been cooped up in an apartment watching my dog as he recovers from surgery… so I’ve got nothing better to do than look at old pictures and post on social media. Being a comic book editor is not an easy job at all. Most folks think it just means emailing people about deadlines and checking for spelling errors, but there’s so much more that goes into the job, especially when you’re working in the field of creator-owned comics. The list of responsibilities is absolutely boring to recount, but I’ll just say that for as mind numbing or menial the tasks may seem, the consequences of going on autopilot and not double checking everyone’s work can lead to catastrophic printing errors with all the blame set on who??? The editor. What’s funny is that I didn’t necessarily want the job. I was really content working part-time on Rodeo Drive and growing my illustration portfolio (I’d been doing the Li’l Depressed Boy with Mx Struble and had finished illustrating a Middle Grade book for Amber Benson at Simon and Schuster). The opportunity to work full-time in comics and learn under a guy as respected as Robert appealed to me. Of his books, I was a fan of Invincible, and more to the point: I really appreciated his brazen defense of creator-owned comics in a Big Two market. Politically, I felt okay giving so much of my life to his journey. At one point in the interview process, Robert asked me if I was familiar with him and his work. My answer was sincere: “I’ve read some of your stuff. I respect you, but I’d never wait in line to meet you.” When I got the job offer, I was still on the fence. My friend Tyler always reminds me that he basically told me to just take the job and decide whether I liked it after I was there. He pointed out that the first ninety days are a mutual trial period for employee and employer. It would totally be fair for me to say in the first three months that the job wasn’t right for me. I’m glad that I listened to his advice, because being present for The Walking Dead’s ascension from beloved bestselling comic book to actual factual international phenomenon was an experience that I deeply treasure and will never have access to for the rest of my life. Even though my main duties were about the comics, I found myself getting tipsy at award show after parties, handling business affairs in talk show green rooms, sitting in development meetings with video game creators, picking up props from creature design workshops, and- the most bizarre scenario of them all- driving my tiny car around big rigs to drop off a pallet of merch at a shipping yard in the South Bay. My first year at Skybound was absolutely crazy, and getting my friend Shawn in the position of Director of Business Development was all too necessary at that point. Between the show’s success and the launch of a handful of original comics, my responsibilities grew to include foreign licensing, copyright filing, convention planning, editing the collected editions, liaising with collaborative partners, and the occasional bit of merchandise design. It was a lot to handle, and I look back fondly on the late nights when Shawn and I would walk down to Pinches for dinner, devouring burritos and chips before putting more hours at the office. We formed intense bonds with the production folks at Image Comics who were putting in the same hours at the Berkeley office. The stress and hard work was always worth it when you’d pull off a miracle like shipping Walking Dead every three weeks on time for a 100th issue to come out at Comic-Con with a smattering of variant covers- including a chromium cover that required multiple printers and so much advance planning. (As I’m typing this, I also am remembering that I was still drawing The Li’l Depressed Boy and working on my graphic novel Not My Bag on the side. Considering I hadn’t done any drugs at that point, I have no clue how I did all of that and still found time to sleep.) Being an editor is a pretty intense grind, and if you’re not a career editor, then the eventual burnout will hit super hard. I loved my job, and I loved the artists Robert chose to work with… for the most part, they were all kind and hardworking folks dedicated to the craft. I met one of my best friends on the job, and I was able to bring in my favorite people along for conventions across the continent. There were extraordinary highs, but the gig was taking a toll on me. I was answering work emails in Texas on Mx. Struble’s wedding day. I worked six out of the seven days I was in France for my sister’s wedding, and still got yelled at for something going wrong. How do you delegate instincts to someone? “Double check the file size because sometimes so-and-so will scan things wonky,” or “zoom in at 300% because the clipping path will look fine in the preview image but the sword is actually creeping into the logo.” I was starting to mess up, and after a point, it became clear that I needed to transition as a full-time writer and illustrator. It’s eight years later, and I’m still so very happy that I took the job. I may have pulled a lot of hair out, but I learned so much about storytelling and the business of making comics from one of the most iconic guys in the business. I always let my editors know how much compassion I have for the work they have to do, and try to never add problems to their already busy days. Some production designers may still hate me, because I learned all the tricks in terms of how late you can push something at the printer… but I’m getting better, I promise!! I know how valuable it is to connect with local retailers and with readers, because they’re all coming from a place of just loving comic books so darn much, and they’re the ones doing the major work in helping build successful titles. Skybound is now a decade old and has a staff of over fifty or sixty individuals pushing the brand to new and exciting places. Robert is still someone I admire for how hard he tries to inject vitality into the direct market. I *still* get people coming up to me saying that they thought I was a girl because of my name in the Walking Dead letters column. For as crazy as the freelance creator lifestyle has been the last eight years, I wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s been scary, and sometimes hand-to-mouth, but I’d never have had the bandwidth to take on all the opportunities that started coming in recent years if I was still an editor, and I wouldn’t have been as great an advocate for myself in business dealings if i hadn’t learned from Robert. HBD Skybound. X.

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theastrophilearchitect · 3 years

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Skyward spoiler-free review.

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson, full rant review, in blog form. Not that it's that long; it was just too long to stick in a wrap-up.

Well, damn.

I mentioned in a recent reads post that I'd read this and had so much to say I was planning a full review, but God only knows whether that or this will be up first, so if it's this one, hi! I read this book.

I'm planning to make this spoiler-free, but if the title of this post doesn't say spoiler-free, it means I'm going to start with a spoiler-free section, then move into spoilers, so if you haven't read this book, don't worry (yet).

Skyward takes place in a (technically dystopian) future in which the remains of humanity upon the Defiant spaceship have crash-landed on the planet Detritus after persecution by the alien race of the Krell. Fast forward several decades, and the Battle of Alta takes place, which allows humanity to drive the Krell back far enough to come together again, and return to the surface. Fast forward a little further, and our story follows teenage Spensa Nightshade, who wants nothing more than to become a pilot and prove both herself and her father, the coward of the Battle of Alta. Then she finds a ship in a cavern - it's broken down, but well beyond any technology humanity has, but fixable. And it speaks.

This book is so well-developed, but that's the basic premise.

So, the story opens, and Spensa gets into flight school. Obviously. The first three hundred fifty pages or so, we're basically just being introduced to a seemingly unnecessary number of characters (which does become less character-soupy as the story continued) and Spensa learns pilot stuff.

In all honesty, it did, even by the end, feel like a few too many characters. For example, Spensa's best friend, Rig, seems unnecessary. His role is as the smart mechanic-guy, and he's fun, but I just don't see why Spensa couldn't be the mechanic. It would've given her a more interesting personality, and just cleaned up our cast of characters.

SPEAKING of Spensa:

'I was Defiant.' What you are, Spensa, is annoying.

At the beginning, Spensa Nightshade is basically your typical I'm-not-like-other-girls. She's smart-mouthed--obnoxiously so--and not pretty, and doesn't fit in, and she's oblivious to flirting. Then, you know, character arcs, and I hate her slightly less by the end of it.

Now. Let's talk romance.

This book has no definitive romance arc, but, as a YA sci-fi, I was expecting it to, so spent the whole book speculating about who was going to be the love interest (and ultimately got it right). The fact Spensa was established with a male best friend worried me we were walking on love triangle-territory, but we weren't, at least so far in this series. Though no romance actually happens in this book, it does set up the obvious romance arc-to-come, and quite well.

Spensa is, however, one oblivious bitch. Like I said before, she's oblivious to flirting. Granted, this flirting doesn't come from the character who is destined to be her love interest (it would be really embarrassing if after the whole series is released and I've read all the books, I look back at this and find out I was wrong). But by God she is dumb.

Towards the end of the book, she makes a couple of comments in the narrative, 'Why was I thinking about [REDACTED]?' and I'm sat here, reading this, like, GEE, I WONDER.

On the plus side, dumb bitches are fun. Unless they're Spensa Nightshade.

I think I love to hate this protagonist.

Ultimately, my issue with this book was the pacing. It's clearly the set-up for a much bigger series (intended to be four books long, as of 12/03/2021) (That's March 12th, not December 3rd), and does so effectively, but so little that happens before we really start to build to the climax is interesting, and most of this book fell flat. Were it anyone other than Sanderson, I probably would have DNFed it, but I didn't, and now I can't stop thinking about it.

Next up on my tbr is the enormous House of Earth and Blood (aka Crescent City) by Sarah J Maas. I'm not 1000% sure now is the best time for me to be reading a 240K word book, but I'm getting FOMO about this book. After that, I'm delving straight into Skyward's sequel, Starsight, which came out last November. The downside of which is, of course, that I will have to wait until this November for Nowhere. The titles of both those sequels make so much more sense now.

So, if you're debating, should you read Skyward? Absolutely. Assuming Starsight lives up to my expectations. If you're somebody who can't bear annoying protagonists or basically a three hundred-page training montage, it may not be for you, but if you are, like me, a sci-fi/fantasy superfan who loves to hate the pain authors wring upon us, you'll love it. Or at least get pumped up for Starsight.

It would be very disappointing if I look back on this and don't like Starsight.

Great. Now I've worried myself. Good night.

Retrospective from myself a few weeks later: I loved Starsight. So Skyward was absolutely worth it.

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catxtopia · 4 years

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Lips Of a Stranger} Chp. 10

Author: catxtopia

Ship: Billdip ((fluffy))

Characters: Dipper Pines, Mabel Pines, Bill Cipher, Gideon Gleeful

Summary: The Night Vale AU no one asked for.

Author notes: I am back on my bullshit, lets finish this.

Read: ao3

((HOHO Betcha thought you saw the last of me.

Four years late but hey I fricken finished this shit! I sat down literally yesterday after a kind person commented that they still wait for updates on this story (srsly so sorry and you're so sweet holly heck, never say comments don't totally motivate a writer) and finished this. I already had this chapter written many years ago but I didn't wanna post it until I finished the rest (so sorry for my dumb past self). So this one sounds pretty much the same as the rest of the story, however cannot confirm for the rest of the work.

I haven't written in ages, I don't particularly like writing anymore if I am being honest. I am not great at it but I have a lot of ideas lmao. So I just wanna preface that the ending... probably not great lol. I will have a full report on the last chapter, however, on my old ideas for this story and what I thought it could be. There is probably a lot of plot holes and unanswered things but I tried^^;;;

Anyways, I'll upload either every day or every other day depending. But this shall finally be finished lads! (also no beta, we're animals here)))

“You found it!?”

Lying still, yet menacingly, on the kitchen table was a maroon journal with a black number 1 inked firmly in the center. It was larger than an average book and much worse for wear, the red leather was ripped and mystery blotches were smudged in several different locations on the cover. Mabel and Dipper stood around the object that had been of desire for so long. Neither made a move to touch it, treating it like an old relic—which it very well could have been as far as Dipper knew.

“Yeah, it was in this wired compartment in a tree outside.” Dipper scratched lightly at his chin, eyes roaming over the book. His fingers itched with curiosity for he had yet to open and examine the contents inside. He wasn’t sure if he should, waiting for Cipher seemed like the logical option but that required calling the man, followed by seeing him again, and the thought of meeting gold eyes sent his stomach through all kinds of loops. Thus, his phone stayed promptly in his pocket where it felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

“Compartment in a tree, huh?” Mabel repeated, a confused look crossing her face. She, too, moved her hand to rub lightly at her chin in thought. “How’d you come across that?”

Dipper stiffened ever so slightly, and then casted a glance at his intrigued sister. He cleared his throat and shifted to stuff his hands in his pockets roughly. “I just, ya know, fell against it.” He shrugged, trying his best to remain cool—which was, to say, impossible when it came to Dipper Pines.

“Fell against it, hm?” Mabel’s eyebrow slowly started rising.

“Yes, I fell against it!” Dipper sputtered, looking away towards the book again. “The details of how I found the book aren’t important. What is important is that I found it !”

Mabel stifled her giggles as much as her lips would allow. “Whatever you say, Bro bro.” She mused and leaned over the dusty object, intentionally ignoring the tomato that was now her brother beside her. He’d been through enough teasing this morning, she’d let him off the hook this once. “What do you thinks inside?”

Dipper leaned back against the kitchen counter, crossing his arms over his chest. “No idea.” He quietly thought back to the times he and Cipher were looking for said book. A distant memory of going to the junkyard and the words black magic and demons , danced in the back of his mind but he elected to ignore those warnings. If the book really was dangerous, there was no way Cipher would be looking for it. At least that’s what Dipper told himself.

“Are you going to open it?” Mabel quirked a brow, eyes not leaving the book.

Dipper shifted against the counter. “I don’t know, Mabes. Maybe we should wait for Cipher to open it first.”

Mabel pursed her lips and squinted at the book.

There was a long pause, the only sound being whispers from the TV playing in the other room. Then Mabel, with a big intake of breath, announced loudly: “I am gonna open it.” And quickly flipped the front cover open.

“Mabel!” Dipper yelped, but his words fell on deaf ears as the young girl turned another page, and then another. “Mabes, seriously, be careful with it! We don’t know what it is, it could be super old and crumble at human touch! Who knows what—”

As Dipper rambled on and on, Mabel’s quick movements tentatively began to slow. She flipped only one more page before stopping and taking in a soft gasp, voice riddled with distraught. “Oh my gosh.” She whispered breathlessly. Dipper paused in his ranting, staring at the back of his sister's head since he couldn’t see the book around her. “I can’t believe this.”

“What?” He inquired, a drop of unease plopping into the pits of his stomach. Mabel’s shoulders were tense; body rigged with what Dipper could only assume was fear. She looked as though she was witnessing a demon rise out from the pits of hell, or at the very least like her sweaters were being set aflame. And throughout it all, all Dipper could hear were McGucket’s warnings ringing loud and clear inside his jumbled head. “That books bad news I tell ya! Black magic, raising devils, kinda bad news! Nothin good ever came out of that thing.” Dipper cringed at the voice. “What is it?”

“It’s terrible…” Mabel whispered, leaning further over the book. Her hair draped over the yellowing pages, eyes hidden behind thick bangs. “Cipher, he’s…”

“What? What about Cipher?” Dipper stepped closer. He could feel his heart thump a little faster with each step he took towards his sister.

“He’s a…” The girl moved back, turning swiftly to face her brother. Her face was red and cheeks puffed out, eyes leaking frustrated tears and— “ He’s a giant nerd just like you!” She exclaimed dramatically, throwing one hand towards the opened journal and another over her stomach as she doubled over laughing.

Dipper stared, dumbfounded as his sister flopped onto the tabled to keep from falling onto the floor. She was wheezing and stomped a foot every so often, trying to regain her breathing. He couldn’t believe this. “Mabel.” Dipper squinted hard at the girl. The only answer he got was more laughing and a few arm flails. “Mabel, you jerk.” Dipper sighed, but a small smile was tugging at his lips.

“Oh! Oh!” Mabel giggled, laughter beginning to die out into soft gasps. “Oh my gosh, yo- your face!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Dipper rolled his eyes. “You got me.” Behind his ribs, his heart was still pounding with adrenaline. He willed his limbs to stop their jittery shakes and calm the hell down. There was nothing to worry about, Mabel was just being her usual dork self. He looked towards the open book finally, now being able to get a good view of it. “So what’s in this thing, anyways?”

Having calmed down a bit, Mabel slipped across the kitchen in her fluffy pink socks, clamped onto the fridge handle and yanked it open to retrieve a can of Pit Cola. She juggled it in her hands, closing the door again with her hip. As she snapped the can open she explained lightly, “Looks like a dictionary for supernatural stuff to me. Really wired, it’s all hand written and stuff.” She paused and took a big gulp of her drink.

Dipper nodded and examined the scribbles and notes about different creatures. His eyes widened the further he flipped from page to page, completely entranced with the object sitting before him. It was no wonder Cipher wanted this thing, the stories he could produce with the book would be endless!

“This is amazing.” Dipper breathed. Gnomes, Zombies, Ghosts, this book was like a paranormal junkies Holy Grail.

Mabel hummed and jumped up onto the counter. “It makes sense why Cipher would want this. I am sure he will be happy you found it.” She mused, swinging her legs back and forth to the rhythm of a song stuck in her head. “Now you guys don’t have to go searching anymore! That’ll probably be a big nuisance off his shoulders.”

Dipper hummed absentmindedly as he drew his finger along the edge of the book, a thin layer of dust bunched up and latched onto his finger. He pulled his hand back, pinching the ball of dirt between his thumb and index finger till the grains rolled off his skin. He wondered briefly how long the book had been in that tree for, and for what reason.

“No more long hours trekking through stores and the occasional dumpster. I wonder if this old thing will help him with his work, or if that’s even what he wanted it for.” Mabel muttered against the rim of her soda can.

Dipper’s fingers instantly stilled, entire body freezing like someone had pushed a pause button on the boy’s life. No more long hours trekking through stores and the occasional dumpster . The words bounced around in his head several times and every repeat left a horrible taste in his mouth. He gulped and dropped his hand, brushing it harshly against his faded jeans. “Yeah, don’t know.” He bit out.

A minute ago he’d been excited to see Cipher’s reaction to his discovery, because damn it he was proud! And maybe boasting a little in the ego department. Now dread was filling up his core. No more time with Cipher…

Mabel slurped at her drink loudly, oblivious to the way her brother scooped up the book with a hesitant hand. “So, when are you gonna tell him?” She looked up past her wavy bangs, confused to find Dipper retreating towards the stairs at a quick pace. “Dipper?”

.:.:.

Dipper paced along the length of his bedroom, feet scuffing against the hardwood floor. He could practically feel the wood splintering away with each step he took. It was only a matter of time before he’d run a rut in the floor. He could hardly bring himself to care; however, as he gnawed at his thumbnail in a simple attempt to help distract his brain.

This was stupid, Dipper was stupid. He could hardly believe he was even thinking about the train of thought that he was. Not telling Cipher about the book? What kind of nonsense was that? He had to; it was his moral duty to give up the journal to the radio host. Otherwise, everything they’d done together thus far would be for nothing. The whole reason Dipper was being kept around was for the sole purpose of finding the book.

And once you give the book up, you won’t have a reason to be around Cipher anymore , Dipper thought sullenly. He turned once he paced as far as he could towards the door, changing direction to continue shuffling back the route he came towards the triangle window above his bed. It was a vicious cycle, this back and forth, back and forth. All the while he kept his eyes glued on the ground. He paused when his irises caught sight of a neatly folded pile of clothes at the end of his bed. Black jacket, pants, yellow scarf… A flash of blonde hair and the feel of rough bark against his back blurred past his eyes.

There would probably be no more of that once he gave up the book. Dipper lightly drew a finger against his chapped lips. If he thought hard enough he could still feel the pressure Cipher’s smooth lips had left against his own.

“Oh man.” Dipper mumbled aloud. Here he was worrying over some scraps of paper sewn together, while he should be questioning the fluttering in his chest from earlier interactions.

Cipher had kissed him and he’d be lying if he didn’t say he thoroughly enjoyed it. Both Mabel and Pacifica will be delighted to rub it in his face once they find out.

Dipper dropped onto his bed with a frustrated groan. Everything was happening all so suddenly, so fast he couldn’t make left or right of the images flashing before his eyes. And it was all because of that darn radio host with his perfect golden hair and otherworldly eyes. Not to mention his lean body that fit so right against Dipper’s the night before, warm like a blanket and oh so comfortable… Dipper shook his head quickly, expelling any further thoughts of Cipher’s body.

Really, Cipher was too handsome for his own good. It was practically supernatural.

Dipper snorted at the thought and fell back against the bed. He stared up at the ceiling, a soft sigh fluttering past his lips. What to do, what to do. He slid his hands up to rest on his chest and began tapping his fingers against his worn shirt.

“So you tell him.” Dipper muttered to himself. “You tell him about the book. It’ll make him happy, probably further his show somehow and bring in more listeners, which will make his work life better.” His fingers paused in their tapping, then slowly started picking up a rhythm again as he let another thought enter his mind. “Or you don’t tell him, you continue looking for the book as if you haven’t already found it and grow closer. Eventually he’ll forget about the book and move on, which will make his personal life better.”

“You don’t tell him and possibly ruin his career .” A voice that sounded eerily similar to Mabel’s rumbled in the back on his head. Ah, the voice of reason. It was bound to come poking its ugly face in here eventually.

“I don’t necessarily know if it’s for his show.” Dipper grumbled, sinking a little further against his bed. Great now he was talking to himself.

“What else would he need it so badly for?”

“I don’t know, curiosity? For a collection, maybe? His life revolves around the supernatural; it’s not that farfetched to want a journal filled on the subject.”

“So you’d rather keep the object of his desire away from him, in the hopes you become that object for him instead. That’s quite selfish.”

“Well no one asked you.” Dipper huffed and rolled onto his side. He stared aimlessly out the triangular window nearby. The sun had already begun to drip close to the tree line, casting an array of colors throughout his room. It was beautiful, really, all oranges and reds, and the occasional pink glow scattering across the shack's rustic interior. His eyes followed the colorful trail of light right back to the pile of clothes at the end of his bed. He stared at the yellow scarf for a long while before he worked up the strength to reach for it.

The fabric was so soft, softer than anything he’d felt before. It was probably really expensive. Dipper tugged the material fully into his palms and laid back down. He held onto the scarf like a blanket, running the pads of his fingers over the kind stitching. “Maybe he won’t leave once he has the book.” Dipper thought aloud once again. He was starting to make a habit out of talking to himself apparently.

It wasn’t like he wanted to keep information from Cipher, especially news that’d make him happy. The paranoia engraved deep in his soul that the man would eventually forget about him if they had no reason to be around each other was just too overpowering. Even though there was a good chance Cipher liked hanging around Dipper for Dipper and not just for his searching skills. It was a big chance, honestly. You don’t just kiss someone you plan on ditching. Cipher seemed like a better person than that, anyways.

But doubt was always louder than hope.

With a quick glance at the clock—which already read 5:10PM—Dipper decided he’d allow himself to sleep on it. It was already late so there was no use calling up Cipher now; he wouldn’t be able to come by until tomorrow anyways.

Settling on that, Dipper rolled over and closed his eyes. Super wouldn’t be ready for another hour or so and a nap sounded like a pleasant idea in the meantime.

.:.:.

Three days.

It’d been three days since Dipper found the old journal hidden in a tree. The journal, which a certain radio host had yet to know, was within Dipper’s possession. It had been shamefully tucked away in the brunet’s desk under a pile of scrap papers. It wasn’t the greatest hiding spot by any means, but Dipper didn’t feel comfortable leaving the relic under his bed or somewhere in his closet. At least in his desk, the book didn’t face any chances of getting ruined.

He stuck the poor book in the bottom drawer with the intention of returning to it in a week – because a night to sleep on deciding to give the book to Cipher just wasn’t enough. He simply wanted a little more time with the radio host to assure he wouldn’t ditch him. That was reason enough, right? In one week time, the book would be given to the blonde man. Until then, Dipper proclaimed he’d live with the guilt and enjoy some downtime with the host.

And what a glorious three days it had been so far. Cipher had been spending a large majority of the days hanging around Dipper’s work again. They’d continued their little routine, but the silence was filled with a lot more bashful glances and sly smiles. The kiss hadn’t been officially mentioned, but the implication that both of them equally enjoyed it and wouldn’t mind doing it again was pretty clearly expressed.

When Dipper wasn’t shackled to his job at the bookstore – and Cipher by extension – they usually ended up spending time around town or the radio station. Very rarely were they away from each other’s side. Not that either was complaining. However, every so often when Dipper would glance Cipher’s way, he’d feel a ball of guilt nibbling away at the core of his stomach. He couldn’t help thinking about the things he was hiding from the man. It didn’t feel right, but at the same time he couldn’t bring himself to do anything about it.

“Do you like your job?”

Cipher blinked open his eyes and tilted his head a little towards the brunet lying somberly beside him. They’d been lying outside on a patch of drying grass a short ways from the radio station, simply enjoying the last few drops of autumn. The sun was high above them, basking them in a nice enough warmth that they only needed light jackets. Cipher was currently wearing the sweatshirt he had borrowed from Dipper a few days prior, having yet to give it up. Not that Dipper really cared, he felt slightly prideful seeing the radio host wearing something of his.

Cipher shifted his arms, which lay beneath his head. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.” He looked back towards the calm blue sky. “It’s fun, I like being able to talk about whatever the hell I want for a living. I am not the biggest fan of having to hide behind a curtain all the time, but it comes with the job.”

Dipper hummed, mulling over that information. He flicked his fingers against the zipper on his jacket. “Why do you have to be so secretive? I doubt anyone would like… attack you or something if they knew who you were.”

Cipher chuckled and turned on his side, arm bent and hand holding up his head. Dipper moved in a similar fashion so that they both faced each other. “There are a few reasons. Gideon thinks having me be unnamed makes me more mysterious, that not only the show holds secrets but even the host does.” He shrugged. “Plus, I like being able to live my life without interruptions. I would get annoyed pretty quickly if people were stopping me on the streets or spewing nonsense about me in teen magazines.”

Dipper twirled his fingers around a few blades of grass, tugging them lazily as he listened. “And here I thought you liked attention.”

“Oh don’t get me wrong, I do! I would love people bending at my every need, but I have standards. I wouldn’t be able to sit here with you like this if I was open about my identity, and that’s not something I am quite willing to give up.”

“I guess that… makes sense.” Dipper pondered. “So you’re a man full of secrets then?”

“I am a man with many angles and lots of knowledge of various topics, who happens to also like having a private life, so if that makes me secretive then I guess I am. However, since I like you I’ll tell you my secrets,” Cipher leaned forward, lips curving into a seductive smirk. “for a price~”

Dipper’s cheeks flushed a soft pink, “Oh really? And what’s your price, Cipher?” He mused, putting up his best confident front.

“Hmmm,” Cipher’s eyes flickered from Dipper’s eyes to his lips then quickly back again. “I don’t know, it’d probably have to be something really pricey since I’ve got a lot of secrets.”

Dipper snorted and rolled his eyes, “What like my soul?” He joked and playfully wiggled his eyebrows.

If one were to have blinked in that moment they probably would have missed the way Cipher’s eyes widened and sparked with wonder for a fraction of a second. He continued to smirk at his companion before rolling onto his back to stare up at the sky once again. “Something like that.” He hummed pleasantly. “I am sure your soul would be a beauty.”

Dipper scoffed and flopped over onto his stomach, arms crossing beneath his chin. He closed his eyes and snuggled a little deeper in his jacket. “Don’t all souls look the same? Like a smoking white ball.”

“I think you’ve been playing too many video games.” Cipher flicked at the edge of Dipper’s ear, earning a small yelp and glare from the boy. “Souls come in all colors and shapes, kid. The more corrupted the soul, the worse it looks. What the world considers ‘sinners’ usually look black, less smoky, more goopy. Like a ball of hot, bubbling tar. While good people are bright, wispy, and usually emit a color.”

“You seem to know a lot about this.” Dipper mumbled into the curve of his arm.

Cipher chuckled under his breath. “Call it a passion of mine.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence after that, lying happily beside each other with only the whispers of wind and occasional tweet of a bird filling the silence. They lay close enough that their arms brushed and with a little maneuvering their hands slipped into each other without question.

It was nice, being able to be together like this without any distractions. To simply enjoy each other’s company. Dipper really didn’t want to let this go, and yet as he peeked past his bangs at the still figure beside him, he knew that he would.

“Hey, Cipher.” Dipper said just barely above a whisper. He watched the blonde’s eyebrow twitch but his eyes remained closed.

“Hm?”

“I gotta tell you something, it’s kind of important, it’s about the b—”

Just as the words were about to flutter out of his mouth, a shrill ring of a phone smacked Dipper’s train of thought straight from his head. His lips latched shut and eyes looked down at Cipher’s glowing pocket, which the man was quickly moving to reach.

He flicked the device on and squinted at the screen as if it had personally offended him. Whether that was because it had interrupted Dipper or not, the boy wasn’t sure.

“Sorry, just an email.” Cipher’s expression lightened considerably as he turned the screen to face Dipper. “Look at this cat jumping in and out of boxes! Giffy sent it. Cats are so silly!”

True to his word, there was a cat hopping into different sized boxes with a small message from Giffany at the bottom of the screen. Dipper smiled softly at the ridiculous video. Of course Cipher would find cat videos funny, what doesn’t he find funny? Dipper thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that, nope, Cipher could get a kick out of anything.

As he watched the video play through, Dipper couldn’t help his eyes wandering to the corner of the screen where a list of information sat. At the top of the list was a name, one that had Dipper’s heart stalling. “Uh.” The boy muttered very intelligently.

Cipher tilted his head to the side and furrowed his brows at Dipper’s odd expression. “What? Don’t tell me you don’t find cat videos funny. Cause I don’t think this relationship can work if—”

“Bill?”

#it's done bby #two more chaps #shall update tomorrow #billdip #my writing #lips of a stranger #billdip fic #fanfiction #fic

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