#look at how their bullied by the teachers who would benefit from changes to the outdated rules | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

madaboutmunson · 2 years

Text

Don't Stand So Close To Me

Word count: 8.6K

Pairing: Eddie Munson x AFAB OC

Summary: Lyra just managed to get herself expelled from her fancy private school and landed at Hawkins High 6 months ago. Determined to graduate she keeps focused on her work and hasn't made any friends yet. The one constant in her daily school life is one Eddie Munson, who she's been trying to keep at a distance for the benefit of herself and him.

Warnings: Fluff, arguing, mild bullying

Part 2 | Chapter list | Eddie Munson Fanfiction Masterlist

Lyra wasn't new to Hawkins but was fairly new to Hawkins High, having transferred from a private school about six months ago due to an 'inappropriate incident' with one of the class technicians who just happened to be the headmaster's son. So naturally, they kept their position, and Lyra had to change schools.

Despite being here for nearly six months already, Lyra hadn't made that many friends. She just felt as though after what happened at her previous educational institution, she best just get on with her work and graduate. Of course, what had happened wasn't entirely her fault, but she did recognise that it wasn't something that could have happened to just anybody.

Lyra loved to learn and revelled in being intelligent, but her kryptonite was when someone taught her something she didn't know. Guided her to a new piece of knowledge. To be bested by someone in smarts, but not belittled, just sent shivers down her spine.

That's why the incident occurred the way it did. It would have been fine if it had been a teacher and Lyra pairing. Teachers were much older, and it was their job to know more, but a typical jock-type guy who just happened to be an expert in chemistry, who was only four years older, when Lyra just happened to need assistance with a project, and the teacher had a Bunsen burner emergency.

All the pieces just fell into place, and the series of interactions that followed had caused a wildfire in Lyra's endocrine system for this, Curt, ultimately leading to her expulsion.

Walking down the hall one average Monday morning, she noted how It still felt strange to not be in uniform. Stranger still to be around swarms of people also not in uniform. Walking down the hallways was like being visually assaulted by hundreds of personalities, or lack thereof in some cases.

Though it was a lot more fun for someone obsessed with analysing human behaviour to pick apart these glaring displays of teenage peacocking and figure people out very quickly.

Lyra knew you had to look beyond the glaring adverts and find the subtext. For example, a group of letterman's jackets and cheer uniforms. One might argue that the team outfits made them all one unit, a want to be the same, to fit in. While that was correct for the most part, the more minor differences identified a person. For example, a bracelet that stands out to scream quietly 'I'm not like the others, a haircut that only they had originally but now thirty per cent of the school copied, shoes not as bright white as their teammates, or the tell-tale scuffs on knuckles from nights of frustration.

Finally approaching her locker, Lyra's daily nemesis, she takes out a pen and shoves it on the side of the door before unlocking it and then frantically wrestling it to open. Why couldn't they just replace the dumb thing was beyond her.

"You know...there is a much cooler way to open that." A voice says from behind the door.

"Yes, Eddie, I'm sure there is, but this is the only way I can do it, ok?" Lyra says, rolling her eyes behind the door, exchanging her books and closing the locker back up.

"Well...I'm only saying because..." He starts to say, and Lyra joins in with him

"...it used to be my locker," they say in a duet. Eddie frowns a little at Lyra, imitating his voice.

"You must tell me this at least once a day, Eddie," Lyra says before walking away.

"Well! Excuuuuuuse me for trying to help!" he says after her with wide eyes.

Lyra turns back, nods her thanks at him, and continues her walk to class. She probably could use his help, but she couldn't risk it. Having just been expelled, and, ok, if the worst happened, she wouldn't get expelled about it, but her parents would probably disown her if she started swooning over the devil incarnate.

At lunch, Lyra drops by the resources office to photocopy some of her maths tuition posters to put around the school.

The place was buzzing with the people who ran the newspaper. It must be either a scandal or their deadline had moved. Either way, it wasn't Lyra's concern. All she needed to do was weave her way through them and get to the copier.

Finally, at her destination, she puts in the poster, taps in the number and hits copy.

OUT OF TONER

Lyra stops one of the newsies bustling past, "Hey, the toner is out. Could you maybe replace it or point me to where it is, so I can replace it?"

They roll their eyes and peer around Lyra, "Eddie!! Did you finish the toner and not replace it...again??!!"

Lyra turns and follows their eyes, "Look, man, I was gonna replace it, just as soon as I'd finished writing everyone's names on the character sheets, alright? I wasn't just gonna leave it." Eddie says in a poor attempt at sincerity.

Lyra looks over Eddie, who already has a bag on his back and lunchbox in hand. He had no intention of replacing the toner. In fact, he was just leaving.

Lyra rolls her eyes, "I can do it, just show me where it is, ok?"

Eddie waves his hand in front of him so Lyra can squeeze past into the supplies cupboard. She looks around the shelves for something that might resemble a toner cartridge. In truth, she had no idea what to do, but she was sure it couldn't be complicated if Eddie could do it.

"It's that one there," a voice says behind her, a ringed hand pointing over her shoulder at one of the boxes on the shelves.

"Thank you, Eddie. I can take it from here." She says sharply, firmly grabbing the box from the shelf.

As she turns around, Eddie has one hand on his hip, the other in a thinking gesture, with one finger tapping on his mouth, "Hmmm...how about you just let me do it, and then the news nerds will get off my case about it?" He suggests.

"How about no, ok? I can figure it out," Lyra says a little defiantly.

Eddie narrows his eyes at her, "What is with you?" He folds his arms, "Is it because you're such a smarty pants you don't think you need help and would rather waste time trying to figure it out? Or is it you just don't want my help, personally? Or some other dumb reason?"

Lyra pulls the card, "Is it because I'm a woman? That's why I need your help with a machine?" She folds her arms in response.

Eddie catches on quickly, "No, actually. It's because you said you'd figure it out" he paces towards Lyra, "And also I need to stay on the right side of these hacks, so I can keep using their stuff for Hellfire" he raises his eyebrows at her and says quietly, "So don't try and pull that sexist shit on me, ok?" He finishes with a smarmy closed-mouth smile.

Lyra barges past him, saying nothing. Once back at the photocopier, she reads the instructions and tries to follow them.

"Not as easy as you thought, huh?" Eddie says, looming over her.

"Would you just piss off, Eddie?" she says through her teeth in annoyed hushed tones.

"Oooooooh", Eddie pretends to shudder and smiles broadly, "No. I don't think I will." He pulls out a character sheet from his bag, tears it, and throws it in the waste paper basket. "Now, would you look at that? I'm gonna need another copy now! Guess I better wait until the copier is fixed," he shouts for the room.

"Munson! Haven't you sorted it out yet?" The editor shouts over the hubbub at him.

"I'm trying to. But, unfortunately, Lyra here has her panties in a twist about doing it herself. I could have fixed this ages ago!" He bellows back across the room.

Lyra tenses her mouth, "I've almost got it, actually!" She shouts up. She hadn't, not at all, but she needed him to go away, or at least back away. Unfortunately for Lyra, only the opposite of her wishes came true.

Eddie shakes his head at her, "No, you don't, not even close."

He stoops down next to her and takes the cartridge from her hands, flipping it over in his hand with an effortless spin. "See, you've got it the wrong way here, easy mistake to make and also...."

Lyra feels her heart rate pick up, holding her breath to imprison a sigh. She's absolutely done for. The intensity of his stare on the project and how his tongue pressed against his top lip in concentration had absolutely entranced her.

The back of the arm of his leather jacket brushes against her torso, sending a tingling sensation through her body, as he reaches into the copier and flicks something with his knuckle, "That needs to be set there before you can..."

He was so close to her right now, his arm still lightly pressed against her body, his facial profile directly in front of her, and his long tendrils of hair spilling over the shoulders of his denim vest.

It took all the power she had not to inhale deeply, to capture this moment, to capture him. Instead, she clasps one of her hands in the other as if to restrain them.

He pulls off a plastic tab with his teeth. Lyra's eyes fall and focus on his mouth, those two perfect pillowy pink lips, still with the tiny plastic tab between them. At this distance, she could probably count every ridge on them or the few hairs above them that he'd probably missed shaving that morning.

Her mind wondered for a moment about the duality of his face, areas that would almost be too soft to stand running her fingers across, directly next to the coarseness of his facial hair or textured skin.

Luckily for her, his eyes are still on the copier, he's not aware of the thorough inspection he was undergoing, and he shoves the cartridge into place with a click, flicks the switch back, and looks at her, "easy as that, see?"

Their eyes meet for a split second before she hurries hers away and nervously swallows.

Lyra is frozen in place, but having torn her eyes away, she has enough gusto. She clears her throat and stands up, eyes focused on the copier, "Ok, well, I would have got there eventually. I'll just get these copies done and be on my way", she says coldly.

Eddie is gobsmacked and just stands there for a moment, frowning and silently gesturing at the copier until his voice eventually returns, "I believe the words you are looking for are 'Thank you."

Lyra is busy trying to remember why she was here in the first place...the posters, right...yep, that was it...and trying desperately not to think about any of the slow-motion replays of what just happened. Instead, in her mind, she just repeats to herself, 'It's just Eddie', 'He annoys you every day' as she taps in the number of copies and hits copy.

"Well?!" Eddie emphasises expectantly.

His demand for gratitude does the trick, and her body and brain settle again, "Yes, of course. Thank you, Eddie" her tone is almost apologetic as she gathers up her copies and makes for the exit.

As she walks away, she cannot resist a look back. Eddie, still at the copier but thankfully not looking at her, is frowning, a look of confusion on his face. Maybe Lyra had been too soft in her thanks, she'd let the wall crumble a little, and Eddie was not used to that from her.

Being on the receiving end of interactions with Lyra, Eddie mostly got sniped at, batted away, condescended to, eyes rolled at, cursed at, but thanks, without sarcasm, no.

Lyra hurries down the hallway to the toilets and takes a moment to collect herself, 'there is only the afternoon to go. Everything is going to be fine. You've just gotta get through...'

Lyra slumps her head forward in hopelessness at the realisation it was Drama next, in fact, not just next but past the end of school, getting everything ready for the performance next week.

If there was one class you couldn't escape, Eddie, it was Drama. He thrived in there, not having to sit still, improvisation. Plus, when he was engaged in the class, the teacher adored him, which just added fuel to the Eddie attention fire.

Lyra decided to head to class early and catch Mr Cooper before anyone else arrived.

"Excuse me, Mr Cooper, I'm sorry to bother you before class, but..." Lyra starts

"Ah, Lyra! Eager to get started, are we?" Mr Cooper was a stout man with combed-over mousey brown hair and glasses that magnified his eyes tenfold.

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about, sir. It's a bit of a request of a delicate nature." She says awkwardly

Mr Cooper's eyebrows raise as he waits for her to continue. Lyra's brain is racing with excuses until it finally lands on one that potentially might work, "So I was wondering if I could just work on the scenery today. On my own. I just...well...I'm feeling very irritable today and don't want to take it out on the rest of the class. Plus, it will get us a little ahead for next week, right?"

Mr Cooper's eyes are wide, and his cheeks flush a little as he stumbles over his words, "Well...er...but of course...and...um very considerate of you Lyra...thank you. Do you need anything? A hot water bottle, perhaps? I can send for the nurse."

She waves her hands at him, "Nope. No need, all good here. It's more the mood than anything else" she gives an awkward work-type laugh, "Thank you, sir. I really appreciate it".

Lyra happily scampers backstage, finds a pair of overalls to throw over her clothes, grabs a tool kit and some paints, and gets to work.

She hears the bustle of class filter in, chairs scraping into the start of the class circle.

Mr Cooper's voice rings out, "So, as we're all aware, the production is next week, most of you being cast or backstage. So we'll put it to the vote....er Eddie, I haven't told you what we're voting on yet."

"Oh, I'm not voting, just we're missing our prompter slash seamstress slash lighting assistant," Eddie says a little louder than necessary.

Shit. He must suspect she's hiding out back here.

"Well, Eddie, if you must know, Lyra is working on scenery today", Mr Cooper starts, and there is the sound of a chair scraping, "Eddie!! I really wouldn't go back there! She said she was feeling unwell and wanted to work alone. So if you could take your seat please, we can get on with the lesson or rehearsal. Which is what we were about to vote on."

"Well, I vote for rehearsal, but back to the important matter here. According to that very informative play we did last month, one of the first signs of drug addiction is withdrawing from others, and if it's alright with you, Mr Cooper, I'd much prefer to check on her. Just wanting to make sure I've been an observant peer, you know?" Eddie has managed to push the correct sequence of Mr Cooper's buttons. He knows he can't refuse him. Otherwise, it makes a mockery of the Just Say No campaign, and he's actually showing that he paid attention.

There is a small silence, and then a scraping of a chair and scampering of sneakers on the wooden stage as Mr Cooper continues his vote. Lyra shuts her eyes, bracing for impact.

"There you are! What are you doing back here?" Eddie says quietly.

"I could ask you the very same, Munson." She mirrors his volume but with a hint of annoyance

"Well, I asked first, so..." He folds his arms and taps his foot.

Lyra stands up with a hammer in her hand, gently tapping it against her other palm, and stares him down, "All I wanted to do today was to work alone", she says coldly, "We are behind on the scenery because Clara was sick last week with Mono. Is that a good enough reason for you, Eddie?!"

Eddie purses his lips, tilts his head and narrows his eyes at Lyra, "You do know Clara is in Hellfire Club, right?" Lyra's stomach drops. She had completely forgotten there were any girls in Hellfire at all, "She wasn't out sick with Mono last week. That was Alan, who, now correct me if I'm wrong, helps you out with the costumes. So if anything, you should be rushing us all through our fittings."

"All the costumes are fine. We're way ahead of schedule. The scenery, on the other hand", Lyra gestures at the blank plywood backdrops, "So maybe Clara could have spent a little less time playing Merlin and a little more time as Picasso?" Lyra adds with a dash of snide.

"Anyway, why are you back here....concerned citizen?" She laughs.

Eddie smirks, pinches his thumb and forefinger together, and uses them as physical bullet points, "First of all...Lie-ra, Clara isn't a mage. Second, I just came to give you the maths tuition poster you left in the copier. Thirdly I don't think you have a clue about building structurally sound scenery. Fourth, if I were to ever so gently bump this backboard right now, it would topple over," he glances around the back of the board and looks back at her, "and take all the other boards with it. Then lastly, you don't intimidate me with your little hammer there. If I were a hard candy, maybe I'd be worried," he laughs.

"You wouldn't dare!" Lyra says through gritted teeth.

"Oh! But I would because I will get to the bottom of your weirdness earlier." He hovers a hand in front of the backboard whilst goading her with his facial expressions.

"You'll only piss off Mr Cooper and get kicked out." She says, folding her arms.

Eddie chuckles, "No, see, in any other class, you'd be right on the money, but Mr Cooper likes to let the punishment fit the crime. So let's say I was to break one of these" he pokes a board gently and it creaks for a moment before wobbling back into place, " I'd have to spend time fixing it, wouldn't I?" Eddie's eyes sparkle with mischief, and Lyra starts to feel increasingly nervous.

"Ok, well...um...we don't have to do that, alright. So what is it you want to know?" She asks quickly. Eddie's eyes lock on Lyra.

"Now that was a quick turnaround of attitude. The second one today, in fact." Eddie smirks as he puts his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "Which is exactly what I'm curious about, to be honest", he says, scanning Lyra carefully.

Lyra scoffs, "I have no idea what you are talking about, Eddie." She lies, "I don't say what you wanna hear. You plague me. I do say what you wanna hear. I'm being weird."

"It's the change in your tone", he explains, drawing out his words, and taking a step toward her.

Lyra panics and jumps to ridicule. She puts her hands to her sides and imitates a robot, complete with a monotone voice, "Does. This. Suit. You. Better. Eddie?"

"A humour defence mechanism....interesting", he smirks and hip bumps the back boards. Sending them all crashing to the ground in a domino effect.

"Oops!" He says, covering his mouth in a cutesy way and lifting his one heel off the floor

Lyra is about to lose her temper at him, but before she can, someone gets there first, Mr Cooper, "What the blazes is going on back there?" He bellows.

Mr Cooper rounds the corner and is relieved that there is actually some distance between the two of them, "Sorry, Sir, total accident. I'm happy to fix it up." He turns one of the boards around to show the drama teacher, "It was pretty fortuitous this happened now rather than on opening night, though, right?"

"Well..." Mr Cooper is swayed by his favourite pupil's charming smile, "alright then, but I want no more disturbances for the rest of the afternoon, got it?"

"But sir..." Lyra starts to protest.

"No, no, Lyra, I won't hear of it. He's broken it. He can fix it. Undoing all your hard work like that, he can at least help out." Mr Cooper adds, walking away.

Lyra's mouth becomes a tight line. Eddie's smugness is taking up most of the air backstage right now.

They work a few metres apart for the next hour or so, not speaking to one another but not in silence. Eddie makes conversation with his tools, sings or hums parts of songs, and even practices his lines in several accents.

Lyra keeps focused on making the board she has more structurally sound. She gives her board a hard push, and this time it doesn't topple over. It just moves back on its wheels. "Perfect," she says happily, marvelling at her workmanship.

The sense of achievement is another thing Lyra relished. It filled her with a fuzzy glow of joy that few other things could replicate.

"Perfect? Really? Lemme See" Eddie pounces on the opportunity to converse once Lyra utters a singular word.

She hears him run across the stage, but before she can stop him, he's launched himself at the edge of the board. Then, to both of their surprise, he simply rolls away, gripping onto the side of it rather than causing any damage to himself or the board.

The surprise on Eddie's face as he rolls past Lyra makes her erupt with laughter, and as Eddie scoots back on the backboard, his look of alarm has melted to a smile and occasional soft laughs of his own.

"It's a damn good job, Lyra. I'm gonna ask if we can rewrite a scene so I can sail in on it" he theatrically puts his hand to look into the distance before dismounting from the board.

Lyra is wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. It wasn't even that what happened was that hilarious. It was more an explosion of real emotion rather than having to keep things hidden.

Eddie, still smiling, puts his hands in his pockets and kicks at the floor a little, his eyes looking between it and Lyra. "I guess I'm not so bad to be around, huh?"

Lyra catches her breath as her laughter dies down. She feels almost guilty. Sure she'd wanted to keep her distance, but not at the expense of his feelings. She had been sure he was so cocky that it wouldn't have dented his ego in any way, but clearly, her behaviour had at least caused a scuff to it.

She looks at him and gives him a half smile of apology but says, "Maybe I should get to painting", and hurries away to get the pots and brushes.

The regret she feels for hurting someone makes her want to explain, but how could she possibly without outing herself as a complete weirdo, mainly because of earlier at the photocopier.

Maybe she could be a bit nicer from here onwards but still keep her boundaries.

She gathers up the equipment and heads back to find a distinct lack of Eddie, and she almost feels a little disappointed. Which was a curious feeling to have. She would have expected relief to be the more prominent one.

Lyra sketches out a background along the boards, lays on the first layer of colour and grabs an apple from her bag to snack on whilst waiting for it to dry.

She looks over the landscape and tries to design the next phase in her mind. Where all the highlights and shadows might go, maybe some embellishments to make it more three-dimensional.

She grabs some newspaper and screws it up into roundish shapes for some of the cartoon tree leafy areas. Using some glue to help them hold their body and starts painting them green in a little production line.

When she gets back to the start, she adds a darker green to all the crevices and decides to repeat the process but with a lighter green on the highlights. Just as she starts, she hears the familiar jangle of chain and zipper tags.

"Eddie?" She turns to see the metalhead jogging back towards the stage with a big brown paper bag.

Lyra looks at him in confusion.

"Well, I said I was gonna help, but I just had to meet someone, and then I made a snack pitstop," He says, a little out of breath, places the bag down on the ground between them, slides off his jackets and kneels on the floor next to it observing her work.

"Trying to give the trees a little more pizzazz, but the highlighting is trickier than I thought", she motions at the thin lines she's added to some of the higher-up edges.

"Ok, well, these are very nicely done, but there is a quicker way to do this, but it has a lot less finesse. Dry brushing, you heard of it?" He chuckles and adds quickly, "And please, it's just a suggestion. I am not trying to make you mad" he holds up his hands close to himself in a show of passivity.

Lyra eyes him suspiciously for a moment. Eddie was always trying to make her mad. Finally, she changes the subject, "What snacks did you get, then?" Eddie eyes her curiously, and his chest raises a little sigh, but he answers the question anyway.

"Erm...well, I got some apples, candy, chips and sodas. Just you know, ones everyone likes, I didn't know what you would like."

Lyra looks in the bag, and there is a mixture of items, most things Lyra liked at least. Eddie's eyes move between the bag and Lyra's expression. "Wow, thanks, Eddie. Let me just..." She scans the bag, adding up approximate prices, reaches for her wallet, and hands Eddie the money. He puts his hands up in refusal, but Lyra frowns and juts the money at him again.

"Just take my half for the cost. The kind gesture is still one hundred per cent yours" Eddie begrudgingly takes the money, but there is a slight smile exchange when he does so, making him grin down at the paints.

"So...dry brushing..." He starts to explain before Lyra cuts him off.

"Look, I can't tell you exactly why because it's private, but I just wanted you to know that it's not personal. It's not specifically you, ok? You aren't awful to be around at all. But, honestly, I'm a little ashamed I made you feel that way. So apologies for that. I will try my best to be kinder, but maybe you could listen to my boundaries the first time too? Is that fair?" She blurts out quickly.

Lyra doesn't look up from stirring the white and light yellow paint into the green to make a lighter, more vivid green for the highlights. Though she thinks she can feel his eyes on her, she dare not look over at Eddie's expression.

"Hey, how did you know to put the yellow in too? Not many people do that, but it keeps the green from getting muted when it's lightened." Eddie asks, sounding impressed.

"Just paying attention in art class, I guess", Lyra shrugs, handing over the mixed paint to him.

"Yeah, bet you learn loads more at private school, huh?" Eddie says, grabbing some paper towels and a brush.

Lyra is taken aback, "You know I went to private school?" She quizzes him.

It's Eddie's turn to shrug, "Yeah, you know, people talk. Plus your outfits and the way you talk sometimes". He says casually.

Lyra would much like to question this further, but it felt like dangerous ground. Before asking a question, if you had the time and thought, you should always ask yourself what you hope to gain from the answer. She knew that probing further into his analysis of her was purely to feed her own ego, so she resists.

There is a few seconds of silence, almost like Eddie is leaving space for her to ask more, but when it doesn't happen, he takes the dry brush, dips the tip of it in the light green mix and begins wiping it on the paper towel.

"What....are you just wasting paint right now?" She says, bewildered.

"A little, but probably not as much as you think. Watch this." Eddie continues to drag the brush along the paper until it leaves the faintest of green streaks and then lifts the brush to the green paper mounds. With a flick of his wrist, the tips of the bristles lightly glance along the most protruding parts of the paper, adding a faint remnant of light green paint as if it were touched by sunlight.

"And you know you can add more if you like, it's a little scrappy, maybe, but the effect is pretty cool, I think", Eddie says, eyes fixed in concentration on the "leaves" as he passes the brush over them.

Lyra would like to reply. She knows she should because she's leaving the silence in the air for far too long, but watching this guy was affecting her. She couldn't deny it.

How could someone so brash, draped in rough denim, chains and metal rings, be so delicate? The display was almost graceful. Every brush stroke caused a new body part to be drawn into focus. Whether it was the way, his rings caught the light, as the bones and tendons in his hand appeared and disappeared under the skin of the back of his hands. Or if it was the way the muscles in his arm flexed as he moved through the stroke.

Her eyes follow him as he moves towards and away from the project, checking it from different angles. Shifting his weight from one leg to the other, making that hip sway outwards. His concentration forces his tongue to his lip again, and Lyra's focus is drawn to his mouth like a moth to a flame.

His mouth moves, but she hears nothing. The mouth turns into a big smile "Earth to Lyra?!" She hears this time as he tilts his head at her and laughs.

"Sorry, zoned out for a minute there...paint fumes..." She smiles back and shakes it off, "I think it looks great...the painting of the leaves", she adds, quickly grabbing a brush of her own and copying what Eddie had done earlier, so there was hardly any paint on the brush.

As she applies it, she's a little too heavy-handed, leaving a much bolder line of paint than hoped. She adjusts her grip on the paintbrush and tries again, it's better but not quite as good as Eddie, but it's getting there.

She hadn't really taken Eddie as a perfectionist, but she could sense energy from him of urgency whenever she messed up the paint. It doesn't take long for him to appear beside her with his hand hovering above her paintbrush, "May I? Please?" His words were coated with a bit of desperation.

She hands him over the brush, and he shows her again, "Like that, see?" He hands the brush back, and she tries again, but being under his examination flusters her a little, and she slips up.

"Ah, fiddlesticks!" She says, frowning and stepping backwards.

Eddie chuckles to himself and scoops up her paintbrush holding hand in his. He closes in on her side so that his arm aligns with hers and guides the brush stroke faintly over the edges of the paper construction, "More like that", he says softly.

Lyra feels his arm hairs tickle against her skin, and it's all she can do not to physically shudder because he's so close he'd feel it. He's so close she can hear him breathing, and for a split second, she shuts her eyes just so she can listen to it more clearly.

Lyra is more than aware. She had hoped not to get in this precarious position again. Though at this point, she wasn't sure if she was just trying to convince herself of that. So, she takes control of the brush and mimics the motion exactly.

"By Jove, I think she's got it", Eddie says enthusiastically and moves away from her releasing her hand. Lyra busies herself, just repeating that brush stroke over the rest of the display where needed, leaving silence to fall between them again.

"So you're a painter then?" Lyra throws a question over to Eddie without looking.

"A painter as in I paint things, yes, rarely pictures though", Eddie answers, tidying up some of the paints and putting them back on the trolley.

"What do you mean by rarely pictures? What else would you paint, fences? Cars?" She laughs a little while adding finishing touches to the last lot of leaves.

Eddie re-emerges from the wings, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, and scratches his head before folding his arms, "So like yeah cars, banners, Erm miniature figures". the last item is spoken a little quieter than the rest.

Hearing the awkwardness in his voice Lyra looks around the board at Eddie, his arms folded, looking at her with a forced look of not caring.

"Feeling defensive about these figures, are we?" She smiles.

Eddie purposefully unfolds his arms and starts talking animatedly with them, "You know of all the things people could give me shit for around here. It's always the most harmless thing that gives me the most grief. But, yes! I like painting figures for my game because it adds to the experience for the players and me, and it's also very relaxing. So I ask you, is that so bad?"

Lyra looks wide-eyed at Eddie's rant, "I am not judging you, Eddie. I just didn't know what else you might paint, and then when I looked over, your body language was all closed up." Lyra gives a slow blink and softens her gaze from surprise to sympathy, "Clearly, it's something precious to you, and I, for one, think that's pretty shit that people give you a tough time about it."

"Well, I wouldn't have used the would precious. That makes it sound a bit childish, but yeah, I like it." He adds with a slight pout.

"From what I've heard about hellfire club, I would be expecting something far more demonic than childish", Lyra adds with a laugh.

"Well, I guess some are, but that's because they're the bad guys, you know, there are heroes too. It's just a fun game to get lost in for a few hours a week, you know, it's not all sacrificing firstborns and speaking backwards," he says, finishing his spiel in a creepy voice.

Lyra rolls her eyes, "Ha, ha, very droll. I've seen the people with hellfire shirts on, and honestly, I figure the only thing getting sacrificed at that club is self-respect and maybe some moon pies" Lyra puts the teasing out there but immediately worries if it was too much.

"Sorry, Eddie. I'm just not totally used to not mocking you just yet" she looks up at Eddie, who is smiling broadly, his dimples carved deep into his cheeks.

"Oh, don't worry, Miss Lyra. I'll be sure to let you know if you cross a line." His hands go to his pockets again as he paces around the stage, looking for any bits and pieces to tidy away.

"So despite you constantly telling me to go away, you've actually noticed the shirts and who I sit with at lunch?" He asks in leading away, almost a little coaxingly.

"Well, let's see. To be honest with you, it does pay to know your enemy, so yes, I did, but even if I hadn't, it's not like we don't get a tabletop performance every now and then in the cafeteria, is it?" She smirks as she speaks, "But, I don't think I'm the only one being watching people at lunch, Eddie" She turns her eyes to him and then looks down at the brown paper bag on the ground.

She picks up the last of the paints and puts them back, "Even though you told a whopper saying you didn't know what I liked." She adds before moving behind a screen to remove the dungarees from over her clothes and hangs them back up.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I just got the most popular things," He says with a little break in his voice.

Lyra smiles behind the screen and decides to stay quiet. To see if the knowing silence would break him.

Eddie is quiet for a few moments before erupting into confession, "Ok, I admit it. I know the snacks you like, ok, because I was trying to observe you to gain a common ground or a gift so you wouldn't hate my guts. And who doesn't like snacks, right?"

"Is that important to you? That people don't hate your guts?" She asks as she walks to grab her jacket.

"Well, some people are a lost cause, you know, but ah, some people, it would be a real shame if they did because, you know, they might be interesting to get to know."

Eddie lays the trap, and Lyra's Ego can't resist.

"What makes a person interesting enough for that, then?" She screws her eyes shut as soon as she asks, knowing she's been got.

"Oh, well, I guess the type of person that takes down Jason Carver and Mrs Poole on the subject of Satanism, fucking effortlessly, by the way."

"Yeah, that might not have been the smartest thing to do on my second day here, to be honest," Lyra says, putting on her jacket and sitting down at the brown paper bag, reaching in for an apple. "It was just they were so stuck on the literature and crazy side of Satanism, they wouldn't see the other side of it, which is essentially nonconformity, and living your life to the full, right? I don't practice it myself, but at my last school, it was healthy to debate things like that, here not so much."

"Yeah, but that line you said really fucked them up...yeah, that was it when Jason was all red in the face, foaming at the mouth the way he does about God, and he shouted..." Eddie theatrically embodies an enraged Jason Carver, almost launching himself over a table and pointing at a non-existent person, spittle flying everywhere.

"...he shouted, 'Well, some of us are too busy trying to make this world a better place, the way Jesus intended it, and don't have time to read about crazy devil worshippers' and then you were like..." Eddie runs around the table, pulls up a chair crossing one leg over the other, and looks at his nails, looking very calm in his seat.

"...and then you said, 'And yet they do take time out to learn alllllll about you.' My god, that boy froze in fucking space and time. If you'd gone up to him and said 'Boo' he probably would have pissed himself." Eddie can hardly contain his joy, reenacting the scene.

"Well, I just meant that they are usually quite well informed on Christianity because that's the people that challenge them most of all, and in some ways what they wish to push back against when it's forcing people into moulds they can't fit into" Lyra adds to defend herself.

"He still glares at me in the halls", Lyra adds with a laugh.

"Ah, don't sweat it. He's been like that with me for years." Eddie says reassuringly, sitting on the other side of the bag and grabbing a soda.

They both look over the backboards, admiring their handy work, "Not bad, not fucking bad" Eddie raises his can to Lyra, who hits her apple with it in a cheers-type motion.

"Yeah, not bad for two people that absolutely should not be working on the scenery", Lyra laughs, looking over at Eddie for a moment before moving her eyes back in front of her. He's leaning back on his elbows, his slender frame at an obtuse angle with its lower half and his dark curly hair draping over his shoulders like a portrait of Charles II.

"Maybe tomorrow you'll let me help you with your locker?" He says, gently taking a sip of mountain dew and not tearing his eyes from the scenery display in front of them.

Lyra lets out a small laugh, "Oh, don't get ahead of yourself now. You've gradually worn me down throughout the day at this point. Tomorrow morning I will be fully topped up with fury."

Eddie nods a few times, "Ok, ok. Fair, but at least I know you don't hate me. So there is that, I guess."

Lyra checks her watch, sighs and gets to her feet brushing down her clothes. Eddie jumps to his feet, hurriedly putting his jackets on, picks up the grocery bag and rustles through it, handing over half of the snacks to Lyra.

She goes to take them but then thinks better of it, "You know what...maybe save these for...um...tomorrow." Eddie pauses for a second, smiles and shoves the items back in the bag.

"Sure, tomorrow." He shakes his head as his smile widens and raises his big brown eyes to meet Lyra's, "Tomorrow sounds good."

They might stay that way for a second too long when Eddie speaks, "Do you need a ride home? It's no trouble." He offers pleasantly.

"Um...no...I actually have someone picking me up tonight. Normally I'd get the bus, but you know, staying over and all," she says a little awkwardly.

"Oh, ok...well yeah...of course...I just offered because of the whole bus situation," he says, a little disappointed.

"Yeah, my folks only let me stay late if they know Phil can pick me up that day." She explains, "He works for my Mom and Dad, so they know his schedule already" she pauses for a bit, "but I could walk with you to the parking lot, you know, as we're both heading that way."

Lyra swears she hears a crestfallen sigh from Eddie, but when she turns to him, he's wearing a smile, "Yeah", he nods, "makes sense".

The short walk outside is mostly awkwardly quiet, with occasional accidental bumping into one another's arms while navigating the smaller areas of the school, followed by apologies, the rolling of eyes and small laughs.

They get to the parking lot, but the only vehicle present is Eddie's van.

Lyra turns to Eddie and extends a hand, "Well, goodbye for now then."

Eddie looks at her hand, confused, then looks up at Lyra with raised eyebrows, "I know you're not new to the town, Lyra. But there is no way I'm gonna leave you here waiting on your own. This town is crazy. People go missing all the time."

Lyra's stomach drops. She didn't want Eddie to see this, to see Phil, to expose her secrets. But it was clear he wouldn't budge, and Lyra didn't have the energy or want for another argument today.

"Tell you what, how about a compromise. You wait in your van, and you can still see I'm perfectly safe from there. Sound good?" She offers as an alternative.

"Oh, I see", Eddie nods, "Phil's the jealous type, is he?"

Lyra's brow contorts with amused confusion as she looks at Eddie. Then, finally, she shakes her head and laughs, looking at the parking lot entrance.

Eddie leans into her personal space, imitating a posh voice and playfully mocks the situation, "Or are you afraid he's gonna run and tell Mummy and Daddy about the ruffian he's seen you awful close to after school?"

Lyra gently pushes him away, laughing, "You're an idiot," she says outwardly, but can't deny the next swallow is difficult, having felt his body through his t-shirt for a moment.

Eddie rests on her hand for a split second, laughing before he backs away, straightening up. Lyra feels his laughter vibrate through his chest where her hand is, and the sensation through her fingertips makes her want to press her hand flush against him, but he's already moved away.

Lyra gestures to Eddie's van, "So? Compromise?"

Eddie pulls a face like she's just made the most ridiculous request in the world. Lyra responds with raised eyebrows and a nod towards his van again.

Eddie rolls his eyes, exhales loudly, slaps his hands on his knees, and stands up.

Lyra can't resist a chuckle at his dramatics, which ignites a smile on Eddie's face.

"You don't give away too much with your words, do you?" Eddie asks almost suspiciously, with a smirk, "I'd bet, sometimes, they don't even say what you mean. Do they?" the gentle way he utters that last question amplifies the raspiness of his voice.

The pleasant sound and observation catch Lyra off guard, "Um...well...I...er..." She tries to say something, but it's almost like Eddie just noticed a chink in one of the many walls Lyra built around herself and took a sledgehammer to it.

"Oooof!" Eddie laughs, wrapping his hands around his torso. "Well...maybe-" Eddie starts before he's interrupted by the crunch of gravel and the sound of an engine.

"Shit!" Lyra mumbles under her breath and takes a few steps back from Eddie.

Eddie glances at her retreat and frowns a little before he draws himself up to his full height, pulls on his jacket and vest sharply to adjust them, and juts out his jaw with a severe look on his face.

They watch the all-black, tinted windowed Chrysler Executive approach. as it pulls up in front of them, it stops. The driver's door opens, and a tall, broad-shouldered, cropped red-haired, suited man gets out and walks around the car.

Lyra glances at Eddie, who gulps nervously but does not change his stance one iota. She looks back to Phil, who nods at her, and opens the car's back door for her, eyeing Eddie carefully. "Miss Lyra?" Phil's deep Scottish accent booms out kindly.

Lyra awkwardly walks to the back seat, smiling at Eddie and giving a wave as she passes him.

Eddie's expression changes from serious to a thoughtful head tilt, and then a huge toothy smile, "Tomorrow then?" He shouts after her.

Holding onto the top of the back seat door, Lyra looks confused at him, "Well, of course, I would never dream of skipping school. Now hurry up to your van. You can see I am quite safe." She says with a hint of sharpness, her words a little more pronounced than usual.

Eddie pushes his lips out, hollowing his cheeks and narrows his eyes that are smiling at their corners. He hunches his shoulders, slowly moves his hands into his pockets, and starts an off-beat walk, with intermittent spins around to look back, toward his van.

Lyra ducks into the back seat as Phil closes the door, resumes his position in the driver's seat and starts up the car again.

"Um...Phil, would you mind if we waited for my friend to leave first? He says it's dangerous around here." Lyra asks a little bashfully.

Phil smiles and nods in the rearview mirror, "Aye, of course, Miss Lyra."

Eddie starts up his van, and whatever music he's been listening to blares out at full volume as he places the brown paper bag somewhere in the van.

"You've never mentioned a friend before, Miss Lyra. Are ye new acquaintances?" Phil asks, looking at her in the rearview mirror again.

Phil had been in Lyra's life as far back as she could remember. His primary job had been chauffeur, but Lyra knew there was much more to him than his job title. The most information she had gotten from him about his past was that he used to be in the navy. She had seen him intercept a gun from someone more than once, only to calmly assure the said person that walking away was their best option.

Phil never lost his temper, ever. When the secret of what had happened between Lyra and Curt had been exposed, Phil had rushed to the school to collect her. Only to be met with a screaming headmaster and their son who was denying everything he could, despite being caught in the act.

Phil had been the one to stand in front of her, to protect her from the verbal tirade, to shut down the spiteful comments and retrieve a conversation of facts from all sides.

Phil had then been the one who pulled up at a pharmacy on the way home. Phil had been the one who spoke to her parents and dried her tears of relief and confusion in the days that followed. They shared no blood, but their bond was one of the strongest in her life.

She looks back in the mirror at Phil, "No, he's been bugging me since day two here. I have his old locker. I'm usually pretty mean to him, to be honest." She laughs a little with embarrassment.

"But not today, I guess?" Phil smiles in the mirror.

"No. Well, at least not all of today" Lyra smiles back and looks out the window as Eddie's van finally leaves the parking lot.

"Mm-hmm", Phil makes a noise of understanding and starts driving home.

Most of the drive is quiet until they get close to home, "Miss Lyra, I know it's not my place to tamper in your affairs. I just wanted to ask, is he a student?" Phil asks tentatively

"Yeah, we're in a lot of the same classes. We're just new...um... friends, that's all," she assures him.

Phil relaxes a little and nods with a smile before pulling up to the gate, punching in the code, and entering the main driveway.

He stops the car outside the front door and walks around to open Lyra's door. She looks up at him, "Thanks for picking me up today, Phil. I wouldn't have got so much scenery completed if you hadn't"

Phil gives her a half smile, "Yeah, well, don't make me regret it, ok?"

Lyra smiles back warmly and walks inside the house.

The warmth of her smile soon fades on entering the coldness of her home. On auto-pilot, she exchanges her shoes for pair of slippers devoid of personality from the closet on the left. She checks the other sets of beige slippers, which are still in their places, indicating no one else was home.

Lyra checks the fridge and sees a green leaf salad with her name literally written on the top of the container. The chef must have prepared this earlier. Lyra grabs a water, heads upstairs to her room and starts setting out her desk for homework to commence.

As she sat down, she looks out her window onto a wooded area and couldn't help but wonder what Eddie was up to right now. If his mind was swimming with maybes? Or had he just gone about his evening, as today hadn't phased him at all? Maybe it was just nice to not be snapped at for once?

#eddie munson #stranger things #eddiemunson #eddie stranger things #eddie the freak munson #stranger things fanfiction #fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie x reader #romance #eddie x oc #eddie munson oc #eddie munson fluff #eddiemunsonfanfiction #eddie munson fanfiction

26 notes · View notes

the-brothers · 12 hours

Text

Three - Five Months

You were grounded for a month for slapping an eight-year-old that day at the park. While Pops was proud of you for sticking up for your younger brothers, he was disappointed that you used violence on someone younger than you. And man, was that kid's mom pissed. She was close to pressing charges. Luckily your father was a respected man in the city and you hadn't had any violent outbursts prior.

In the following days Pops started looking into why kids might be calling Ace such a terrible name. He and Sabo were not willing to give any explanation so his only hope was this parent teacher conference.

"Ace is still reading at a first grade level. So when he reads aloud some of the students tease him. I stop them of course, but I can only stop what I see." Mrs. Flores explained.

Pops was furious.

"If the boy isn't reading at the same level as the other kids why wasn't I informed? Why haven't you worked with him? He's been here for three months being forced to be less than the rest of the class."

"Honestly I don't think this school has the resources to help him." she replied honestly, "And Sabo should be in advanced classes. I don't normally recommend pulling kids from this school but I think your boys would benefit from a private education. The Carter School may have some vacancies. There, Ace can have a tailored curriculum and Sabo can move forward comfortably."

That week the boys were enrolled in a private academy and separated for assessment testing. Sabo, as it turned out was far more advanced than kids their age. The academy wanted to move him forward from third to fifth grade. Pops was worried about it at first already having one son bullied, but the staff assured him it was quite common there and there would be other students his age in the advanced placement courses.

Ace's testing revealed something more surprising, dyslexia. No wonder he was reading at a lower level, it was just hard for him to figure out how to pronounce words correctly when the letters weren't in the right order.

The orphanage hadn't bothered to tell Pops that Ace didn't start speaking until he was almost five and that he'd only been speaking in full sentences since he met Sabo a little over a year ago.

Immediately he was placed in a class with kids who had the same issues and Pops hired a tutor who was certified to teach kids with learning disabilities.

The change for Ace was almost immediate. He wouldn't stop talking and was suddenly interested in your books and story time with Luffy every night. Now you had a bigger audience at story time so you moved to your room, Ace didn't fit in the recliner with both you and Luffy. Occasionally you could coax your freckled brother into reading a few passages out loud to practice for school. He was still slow and stammered over his words but every week you could see subtle improvements.

One night you heard something just outside your open door while Ace had taken over a paragraph. Sparing a few glances toward the doorway between assisting Ace, you didn't see anything out of the ordinary. A few moments later you heard something slide against the wall and looked over to see a little hand, palm down on the hardwood floor for support.

Sabo.

You took over for Ace as he yawned widely. Eyes swaying over to the other brother camped outside your door quietly listening until Ace and Luffy drifted off to sleep. Hearing their snores and you closing the book Sabo got up to slink back to the boys shared room. This continued for the next couple of days. You weren't sure how to address it.

___________________

"He just isn't very trusting because of foster care, lass." your father sighed over his breakfast as you sat in your favorite booth at your favorite diner.

"I guess, but he won't even give us a chance." you whined stirring your coffee.

"He will," Pops looked at you seriously, "as I've said to you and your dense brothers - you have to have patience with him. He'll come around. We won't give up on him."

"Ok, ok... I'm trying." you waved your hands in front of you.

"Maybe ask the boys if he has any interests you can appeal to." he suggested.

"Ah," you leaned forward placing your elbows on the table,"I've caught him listening in on our story times and I wanted to ask you if I could take the boys to the bookstore today."

"That's a great idea, lass. You can go but don't stay out too long."

"Aventure!" Luffy cheered from Shanks' shoulders.

"Ad-venture, kiddo." the redhead corrected.

"Das what I said!" the four year-old protested.

"I see," Shanks chuckled, "sorry, sorry."

"Alright, guys, Pop's gave me enough money for all four of us to pick out a book."

You stood with your boyfriend and brothers outside of the bookstore giving them instructions.

"Can we get whatever we want?" Ace asked.

"As long as it's something to read, a comic, manga or book, it doesn't matter. But we're not spending book money on snacks."

All three kids frowned at your limitations.

"If you guys behave and listen to your sister I'll take you to McDonald's after." Shanks promised earning cheers from the raven haired boys.

"Please stay near Shanks or me," you continued sternly, "I will page you and embarrass you in front of the entire store."

Luffy laughed while the older boys rolled their eyes and entered the store with you.

Shanks took Luffy to the little kids story corner while you showed Ace and Sabo comics and chapter books. Allowing them to browse you stayed nearby to look for the next installment in a series you were reading. When you came back around the corner Sabo was flipping through a chapter book with colorful dragons of all kinds painted on the cover. His green eyes scanned the first few pages with interest, until he realized you'd caught sight of him. Quickly he shut the book and returned it to the shelf.

"I found what I wanted!" Ace called making his way to you with a graphic novel.

"Me too!" Luffy chuckled from his perch on your approaching boyfriend.

"Sabo?" you asked collecting the other's choices.

"I'm good." he replied curtly.

"Maybe next time then." you smiled, "Why don't you guys go get in the car with Shanks and I'll go check out."

"Sure thing," Shanks pecked your lips earning gags from all three kids, "Quit your shit ya brats."

A few nights later, after their baths Luffy and Ace wandered into your room hoping you'd read from their selection.

"Let's read from a different book tonight," you suggested pulling a novel from your night stand as the boys settled in.

"Dragons?" Ace questioned catching sight of the cover.

"So cool!" Luffy cheered,"Will you still do the voices?"

"Of course." you chuckled ruffling his hair.

As you began to read you heard the familiar rustle outside your open door.

Mustering up an exaggerated silly voice you continued to read, "I am Draven, the Dragon King."

"F/N, shishishi," the youngest chuckled at your antics, "You sound like a old lady not a king."

"What? That's how he sounded in my head." you smiled glancing up from the page to see a little blond head peering around the corner.

He wasn't smiling but you could see the amusement in his eyes. Your gaze moved back to the page as the youngest grew impatient for you to keep reading.

The more you used that ridiculous witch voice and mispronounced the king's name the further Sabo inched into the room before finally interrupting you.

"You're doing it all wrong." he grumbled crossing his arms over his chest, "His name is Daaaaven, with a long a. And he doesn't sound like an old hag."

"If you can do it better, by all means." you held the book out.

He looked at you hesitantly before giving up and climbing over his already passed out freckled brother. Once he settled you placed the book in his lap allowing him to take over.

Luffy giggled excitedly burrowing into your torso while Sabo read.

Pops yawned walking through the house turning off lights and picking up toys the boys had left lying about. He passed the boys room peeking in to find their beds empty. Quirking a brow he moved further down to see your bedroom door still open, the soft yellow light from your lamp spilling out into the hall. He chuckled shaking his head seeing all three boys snuggled up in your bed. Dog-earing the page he closed the book and placed it beside the bed before switching off your light.

If anyone could get through to that kid it was you.

#the brothers #marco the phoenix #shanks #whitebeard one piece #whitebeard pirates #thatch #sabo #monkey d. luffy #portgas d ace #one piece #mdni #lyndsyh24

1 note · View note

readyplayerhobi · 3 years

Text

Jung Hoseok and the Magic to Happiness | 02

; Hufflepuff Teacher!Hoseok x Reader

; Genre: Fluff, future angst, future smut

; Word Count: 6.5k

; Synopsis: An unexpected issue with your Ministry of Magic job leads to you taking the role of Transfiguration Professor at Hogwarts. It’s here that you meet your best friend’s younger brother for the first time in years, the Hufflepuff Head of House, Jung Hoseok. While you contend with seeing him once again, Hoseok tries to show you that he’s very much a man and no longer the gangly teenager you once knew.

; A/N: After almost three months of no writing...I finished this chapter :) I hope you enjoy...please leave me feedback in the form of comments or an ask. The long break has made me worry about a bit about whether people will even read my stuff anymore lol

Last Chapter ; Next Chapter

The next two months pass by with only a few growing pains in terms of teaching. You’d discovered pretty quickly that a group of twenty students could easily turn into pure and utter chaos. Particularly when one of them accidentally turns another into a turnip.

That had not been the best first-week experience if you were being honest.

There had been a few minutes when you’d been convinced

But you were certainly getting used to everything. It was odd being on the other side now, being the one who commanded attention from the students. You had an almost desperate need to be liked by them at first, but the other professors had quickly dissuaded you from that. They were not your friends, and you’d learnt that if you gave them an inch then they’d take a mile.

It had been pleasant though, and you were certainly enjoying everything. There was nothing better than the smile on a student’s face when they got a spell right, with the knowledge that you’d been the one to teach them that.

The comments you’d been told on your first note about the house stereotypes had also proven to be true. You’d never seen so many Slytherin’s chatting happily with Gryffindor’s and so forth. Whole friendship groups were made up of varying houses and none appeared to be left out. Nor had you seen any house related bullying as there had been in your day.

Once typical insults of a Slytherin being home to a Death Eater had vanished for the most part. The one time you had seen it, hurled by a Hufflepuff of all things, had resulted in complete outrage amongst all the students. It had warmed your heart to see the younger generations working in far better harmony than yours or your previous generations ever had.

Chaeyoung had become the equivalent of your work best friend, bringing her marking over to your office and spending time chatting happily with you. Seokjin had also become a close friend or at least as close as someone could get in only two months. The two of them were fascinating, coming from vastly different lifestyles.

Her family were practically magical royalty in France, though she’d moved to the UK whilst only a child to live with her grandparents after the deaths of her parents. As such, she’d ended up attending Hogwarts and had been in the year below Hoseok. Despite her initial French upbringing, she had no hint of an accent though she’d spouted fluent French to you when you’d queried her language abilities.

She also spoke Spanish, which had led to her initially getting a job as a translator at a magical exporting company. It had amused you thoroughly that it had been based in Devon, along the southern coast of England with France just over the narrow Channel Sea. Chaeyoung had laughed at the time, acknowledging that the mild weather was much nicer than the temperamental mistress you had to contend with here in northern Scotland.

It hadn’t proven to her liking though, and she’d soon ended up applying for the vacant History of Magic position. She’d been quick to explain that she’d taken up an extra qualification in her chosen area and that she wasn’t just randomly picked. You knew from Jisoo that muggles had a different way to education, but there were no real universities here in the wizarding world.

Chaeyoung studied hard enough and was very knowledgeable about her chosen area, so you didn’t see too much issue regarding it. And she was a popular teacher, helping to turn a subject that many would often find dull into something fun and interesting.

Seokjin, on the other hand, was older than you. He was 36, with a wife of ten years and two young sons. He’d trained in astronomy in the Ministry and had brought his skills to Hogwarts three years ago. You’d ended up bonding together over your dual experiences in the Ministry; both lamenting over the different departments and positions you’d had yet the same bureaucratic headaches.

He was a joyful sort with a smile always on his face for you and his students along with a genuine passion for the stars and the universe. You knew that he made it a goal to read much of what the muggles were doing, his fascination with the fact that they’d been to space bordering on an almost obsession.

It was no surprise to you that these have been the two that you had ended up so close with. Both had the experience of working outside of Hogwarts and that seemed to make you all different from the other professors. Everyone else had interned here immediately after finishing before taking on their chosen role.

Jimin came from a long line of auror wizards and witches that stretched back centuries. This meant that he had extensive knowledge of the Dark Arts inherited from their wise teachings. His mother and father still worked in the Ministry, which meant that he’d slipped into the Defence Against the Dark Arts position with ease.

Which was a good thing as it had remained an awkward position after the Second Wizarding War. It was a role that was often hard to fill as some many witches and wizards felt that it would be best to ignore that the Dark Arts even existed. If no one knew about the Dark Arts, and all the horrific violence and devastation that had occurred with them, then there wouldn’t be any need to defend it.

That was, of course, a most ridiculous idea and Hogwarts had firmly resisted any such attempts to whitewash both the history and the concept of the Dark Arts. By not acknowledging what happened, and teaching to both understand why it happened alongside how to protect against it, then it would just happen again.

But it remained an exceptionally unpopular position due to the intimate knowledge of the Dark Arts required. To know how best to protect against the Dark spells, you had to know what the Dark spells were.

You had experienced at least three professors during your tenure as a student.

That had all changed five years ago though when Park Jimin had finally taken over when his predecessor had packed it all in to go and study the famous dragons in Romania. The handsome silver-haired professor was young, but he had won over the staff of the prestigious school with his astonishingly good spellwork.

The fact that he had also made short work of their hearts was because he was also incredibly good looking, much to his benefit when it came to dating you were sure.

Jimin wasn’t just a pretty face though; he was the best dueller in the school. From what you’d been told, he had yet to be bested. Which honestly, was to be expected from someone with such a prestigious bloodline as his.

But not only that, he’d proven to be sweet and kind to his students with a backbone of steel as well. While there may be no true bad blood between houses now, Slytherin still garnered an air of suspicion from other houses even to this day.

Given the preponderance of dark witches and wizards that the house had produced over the years, it was a well-earnt suspicion, unfortunately. Still, you didn’t believe that the bad decisions and choices made by people long ago should have any bearing on your current students; all of them born long after those terrible events.

Jimin had proven to be an excellent example of why you should never stereotype people based on what others had done. In your opinion, he was an exceptional teacher and had taken on the helm of the Defence Against the Dark Arts role with the clear mindset of not only helping to protect his students but also to try and prevent them from making poor choices.

It was a tough subject to teach as it meant constantly walking a narrow line while also steering students true through narrow and murky waters. There were plenty of students who might find themselves a little too fascinated in the concept of the Dark Arts, after all.

According to Chaeyoung, Jimin tried to combat this by making sure to teach them about the history of the Dark Arts. From what you understood, he held no punches in making sure they all knew the horrific acts of murder and sacrifice that had been committed to preventing students from romanticising a dark part of wizarding history.

Not only that, but he made sure to teach about the most infamous dark wizards in history; the Death Eaters and Voldemort. This was all to ensure that they did not repeat the mistakes of the past. He took his role seriously, whether it was through spellwork or simply enriching the minds.

Despite his relative youth, you’d come to know him as passionate and hard-working with a true love for his students. Whether they be in Slytherin or Gryffindor. It was just one of the many things that you had come to grow to love about Hogwarts in your short time here so far, the way the school had adapted and grown so quickly.

Hogwarts was a castle that had been built from stone carved centuries ago and housed ancient treasures of the wizarding world, but the Battle of Hogwarts had been a turning point for many. No longer did it constantly look at the past with pure pride, and to many - ignorance, but instead looked to the future as well.

It sought to teach well-rounded wizards and witches that would enrich the community. Which meant it had attempted to modernise itself as much as it could. Of course, it didn’t match the sparkling modernity of steel and technology that the muggle world had developed over the last two centuries but it was improving itself and working to develop new magics that would mirror some of the advancements that the muggles had made.

Perhaps the only thing you’d found a little awkward to embrace was teaching itself. You’d been eager to begin but had quickly realised that teaching was much more complicated than you’d imagined. For all of the good things that Hogwarts was doing lately, it seemed odd to you that they didn’t even bother teaching their professors to teach.

A few discussions with some of the others had revealed that they also had this issue when they’d started. It seemed to have been easier for those who hadn’t spent too much time away from the school after they’d graduated but it had been a long time since you’d been schooled here. Teaching methods had changed and you’d struggled to maintain a healthy balance of actually teaching, answering questions to help students, having open hours to encourage students who were struggling to have extra tuition and finding time to mark the essays that you handed out.

In short, it had been a very steep learning curve for yourself. Thankfully, your students had given you the benefit of the doubt, which meant they’d been very accepting of any mistakes you’d made. You’d also worked with the other professors to establish a good teaching plan for each of your lessons while also cross-referencing to ensure students weren’t loaded with too much homework.

It was more work than you’d expected, which made you understand how naive you’d been. But you found it to be satisfying work and the reward of seeing students learn and retain their knowledge throughout their lessons was better than anything you’d done in your previous job. And that was to say nothing about the pure wonder and joy on the faces of the first-year students when you had begun their education.

Underlying all of your experiences so far though was one Jung Hoseok. Whilst you’d become quick friends with Seokjin and Chaeyoung, Hoseok was a strange enigma to you. He was friendly and always willing to help you whenever you got confused over something or were feeling a little stressed.

His job as the Care of Magical Creatures professor meant that you rarely saw him during school hours. A large portion of his time was spent outside in the Forbidden Forest or in the custom-built buildings that housed many of the fantastical creatures that he cared for. You knew that he did have a classroom though. It wasn’t anywhere near yours but it held a lot of the smaller creatures that didn’t do so well in the Scottish climate.

Hoseok’s commitment to his job was commendable as he often spent a lot of hours outside. Which meant that as the months slowly shifted to winter, he was finding himself in the cold and rain a lot more often than not.

More than once, you’d spotted him outside when peeking through one of your classroom windows and noted him completely drenched as the rain poured down. It made you cringe each time you saw it, knowing that his robes would be heavy with water. But he never complained about it, even though he was the only professor who also had to work on the weekends.

On top of that, he was also busy with being the Head of Hufflepuff. From what you understood from your talks with Jimin, it meant always being available outside of learning hours for his House students. Whether they wanted to talk about a problem they had or simply needed advice, he was there to help them with whatever they needed.

It also meant that he had to attend every Quidditch game, and you wondered how he managed to cope with such a full schedule. You felt exhausted after a week of just your normal work but knowing how much extra he put in was mind-blowing.

Despite this though, you’d noticed over time that Hoseok always made sure to be present for every meal in the Great Hall. And much like the first meal you’d shared at the top table, he always sat next to you. You hadn’t thought anything of it until Seokjin had casually mentioned one day while you’d been at Hogsmeade with him and Chaeyoung that he’d never sat in that place before.

His old spot was actually on the other side of the table, next to Taehyung and Jimin. Seokjin hadn’t even thought anything of his comment but it had caused you to pause, wondering why Hoseok had felt the need to change his position. At the time, you’d simply shrugged and pointed out that you’d known him when he was younger and that his sister was your best friend.

It only made sense that he wanted to be there to help you out and make sure you were okay.

But that excuse started to falter when you thought about the fact that he never mentioned Jisoo to you. Hoseok didn’t mention anything of the past that you both shared. Instead, he would talk about Hogwarts now and your jobs or ask about what life was like at the Ministry when you’d been there. Those topics often led off onto little tangents and you’d both find yourselves chattering away with each other as the meals went on.

The others would get involved too when they could, but there was something...singular about Hoseok’s focus. And that was to say nothing of how he always made sure to walk you back to your quarters after dinner. There was never much talk that happened then, instead, the two of you simply enjoyed the architecture and decoration of Hogwarts as you found different ways to get back, the company exquisite in its silence.

A comfortable silence that you hadn’t found with many other people.

Chaeyoung was convinced that Hoseok liked you. You’d tried to debunk that theory by pointing out that he’d fancied you when he was younger and it was probably just the allure of an older girl who was more accessible to him than others. You were always around given your friendship with his sister and he’d probably just transferred his teenage hormones onto you at the time.

If anything, he was probably embarrassed about how obvious he was back then. Poor Hoseok had never been subtle in anything.

Despite your defence, Chaeyoung had simply given you a look that you hadn’t been able to interpret. Nor did you understand the subtle glances and smirks that she exchanged with Seokjin whenever Hoseok sat next to you at the dining table. It was like there was a silent conversation happening between the two of them about you, only you weren’t included in it.

Thankfully, you weren’t the type of person to be too influenced by other’s thoughts and opinions. So you didn’t let Chaeyoung’s opinion on the subject impact upon your burgeoning friendship with Hoseok. So even though there was a voice in the back of your mind telling you that there was something more, you ignored it and chose not to ruin the fledgeling friendship you had.

You’d felt a sense of relief though that Chaeyoung had been too busy with marking papers to attend dinner last night, which meant that she hadn’t been able to overhear your conversation with Hoseok last night. The two of you had been discussing his lesson plans for the next few weeks and what creatures his students were going to be studying.

He’d suddenly gotten an odd look on his face before grinning. If there was one thing you had learnt upon being back at Hogwarts, it was that Hoseok’s smile was perhaps one of the prettiest things you’d ever seen. Which was why you’d smiled back at him immediately, even though you had no idea what he was so happy about.

But he hadn’t made you wait and had instead asked if you were tonight. You’d acknowledged it and confusion had been written all over your face but he’d just given an enigmatic shrug. All he’d said after that was to meet him at the entrance of the Forbidden Forest an hour after dinner.

Which was why you were now standing in the dark. Your robes were wrapped tightly around you but it did nothing to stop the way you shivered, jaw tight as a cold wind rushed through the trunks of the trees before you. Part of you wanted to run back to the castle if only to grab your winter coat, but you didn’t want to look like you’d stood Hoseok up.

Though you did wish he’d turn up quicker rather than later.

Huddling under your cloak more, you clasped the edges together with your hands and pushed it up to cover your mouth and nose. It didn’t do a whole lot against the cold, but it was better than being exposed to it. Even though the wind wasn’t strong, it was still enough to cause your robes to flap, the sound loud against the quiet of the grounds.

The only other sound right now was the wind as it howled through the Forbidden Forest, making the already dark and ominous area look even scarier. Even though you were now an adult, there was an underlying fear of the forest before you. Perhaps it was because it had been firmly ingrained in you as a student that this area was off-limits or something.

Still, you wouldn’t want to go walking around in it on your own anytime soon.

The sight of the trees suddenly moving ahead of you made you gasp quietly, body freezing in position as you squinted to try and see what it had been. You knew that the forest was full of many magical creatures; not all of them gentle and kind.

Swallowing hard, you stayed in place to try and avoid attention, gaze skittering around as you tried to find that shape once more. A branch cracking caused you to flinch, your hands tightening into fists around the material of your cloak and you had to clench your jaw to stop any noise from escaping.

The black shape formed once more ahead of you and you almost shrieked in fright, getting ready to run away until you saw a sudden flash of brighter colour. Frowning, you let your hands unclasp themselves until you realised it was a yellow scarf and realisation flooded through your body.

“Bloody hell!” You cursed, the syllables being spat with indignation. Hoseok looked up in surprise, his own eyes widening in surprise before concern etched itself onto his face when he saw the dual outrage and fear on you. Striding forward, you met him just as he was about to cross over the boundary of the trees onto the grounds of the castle and poked at this chest, a scowl on your face.

“You didn’t think to warn me you were going to be coming from the forest! Merlin’s beard, I almost ran away because I was afraid it was something that was going to hurt me.” Hissing at him, you realised belatedly that you had to look up to him to do this. Damn him and his growth spurt.

Still, he at least had the decency to look a little sheepish.

“Sorry, I didn’t think it might seem a little scary. I was just coming back from checking on the centaurs; I haven’t been able to meet them in a while and wanted to see if they were okay.” His explanation was logical but it still made you scowl.

“Why aren’t you carrying a light or something?! Do you always just gallivant around the Forbidden Forest in the dark? Aren’t there dangerous things here?” You pepper him with the questions quickly, each one causing his brow to rise higher incrementally. It’s a good job that it’s dark because you don’t notice the way the corner of his lips quirks up in amusement at your tirade.

“I don’t use one in there, not normally. I know my way around very well. I have worked in this forest for years now. But I do have lanterns dotted around in case I need one and I can always use a lumos spell, like now. I figured you wouldn’t want to journey in the dark.” At that, he pulls his wand out of a pocket in his robes and mutters the spell, the tip lighting up with bright white.

Narrowing your eyes at the sudden influx of light, you’re momentarily startled by just how handsome Hoseok looks in the light. It casts an almost blue glow to him, his normally sun-kissed skin looking paler than you’ve ever seen it before. The shadows on his face only serve to highlight the sharp angles of his features while his eyes almost glitter.

It’s only then that you realise you’re staring, quickly averting your gaze away and focusing them on your hands instead. At that moment, another harsh wind blows through and you shiver in response, your shoulders lifting as you try to curl in on yourself.

Gripping your cloak once more, you’re too distracted to notice what Hoseok is doing. The only sign is the light going a little wonky for a few moments before you’re startled by the sudden feeling of softness on your neck.

Letting out a small ‘eep’ of surprise, you jerk away only to see Hoseok staring at you with wide eyes, his scarf no longer wrapped around his neck and instead being held out to you. The Hufflepuff colours look washed out in the odd light and you pause, giving him a confused look as you glance between the scarf and him.

Brows raised, he lifts the item before giving you a slow smile. “You’re cold. You can wear this if you want. It’s not as chilly in the forest but I don’t want you to get poorly because of it. I should have warned you, sorry.”

It seems like all he’s done is apologise so far and it makes you feel bad, causing you to nod your head and take the scarf from him. Wrapping it around your neck, you immediately feel a little warmer and you can’t help but take a deep inhale of the scent woven into the soft fibres. It’s a more concentrated form of what you get to smell every meal time; citrus and something with a slight hint of spice.

For a second, you wonder if it’s a cologne it’s bought himself or if perhaps it’s something a woman bought for him. It suits him, either way.

“Are you ready? You don’t have to come if you’re feeling uncomfortable or anything…” Hoseok trails off, biting his lip in an almost nervous way that makes you feel a little odd. Pushing the thought away, you hum and glance behind him into the forest. Your curiosity was too much and so you nodded firmly, giving him a gentle smile before gesturing for him to start walking.

Without another word, he turns around and begins to walk once more. You notice casually that he’s following a path cut into the forest, the ground level and even compared to the wildness all around you. Alongside the sound of your boots on the dirt, you realise that there are a few other noises all around you.

The gentle hoot of an owl is overwhelmed by a shriek far away, causing a chill to run up your spine. Shuffling forward a little quicker, you almost reach out to Hoseok as a tinge of fear takes over. As if he can tell, he turns around and gives you a concerned look.

“What was that?” Whispering, you glance around and wonder if you should talk loudly. Hoseok looks in the same direction as you do before shrugging slightly.

“Could be anything. This forest is full of creatures, both magical and mundane. Might be a bat or could be something else. Don’t worry though, there’s not usually anything dangerous around this part of the forest. It’s too close to the edge and the creatures that can do the most harm prefer to remain deep within the forest.” It’s almost casual the way he slows to walk alongside you, giving you the safety of his presence but you notice it all the same.

Not that you comment on it, of course. But you appreciate it nonetheless.

Giving him a noncommittal sound, you continue until he takes a sudden turn off the path. The forest floor is dense with foliage and tree roots, causing you to trip a few times. Hoseok helps you along, reaching you to hold your arm to keep you upright when you trip over one too many roots and you get the sense he’s enjoying this.

Maybe it’s because he lets out a soft chuckle when you swear loudly, scowling down at the deeply embedded rock that you’d accidentally kicked. Despite the fact your best friend’s little brother is leading you deep into a scary, dark forest, you don’t feel any concern about him. What could be in the forest, sure, but not him.

He gives off a sense of security that surprises you. All those years ago, Hoseok had been the perfect example of an annoying little brother to Jisoo. Always irritating her and doing things with the sole purpose of being a pain, which in turn meant doing those things to you as well. But now he seemed dependable and you got the sense that you’d want him with you if anything bad happened.

“Okay, we’re almost there. Now, I need you to stay very calm and don’t make any large or sudden movements. You might scare her.” Staring at him in alarm, you suddenly realise that you’ve not even questioned what he’s wanting to show you. Not that he’d have told you, you’re positive of that, but his instructions make you feel a little uneasy.

Upon seeing your face in the light of his wand, he gives a small smile and rests his hand on your arm reassuringly.

“Don’t worry, I promise, you’re going to like this. You’ll understand what I mean.” Frowning at him, you watch as he starts forward once more and realise he’s heading into a little clearing. Sighing deeply, you realise that you don’t want to stand there on your own so you follow him slowly, almost hesitant to see whatever he’s bringing you to.

You swear, if it’s one of those obscenely large spiders that’s supposed to live in this forest then you’re going to jinx him with something he’ll still be suffering from in a year.

The clearing is small and almost circular, though the position of some trees makes it seem a little broken in places. Long grass that is almost bouncy cushions your feet and you wonder if flowers would grow in the daylight, the canopy of trees above broken and allowing more sky through than elsewhere.

During the day it would get a lot of sunlight, but at the moment you couldn’t help staring in awe at the moon as it glowed brightly, it’s full body visible against the black of the sky. A few stars twinkled serenely alongside it, looking peaceful and creating a beautiful image.

A pale, ghostly colour catches your attention from the corner of your eye and you find yourself pressing to Hoseok a little closer. His back is strong and solid against your hands as you tense in concern, peeking around him to try and catch what it was.

What you see causes you to gasp out loud, letting go of Hoseok’s robes abruptly as you take a wide step away from him to get a better view.

Long, sinewy legs move through the forest in an almost dainty manner, picking their way through the undergrowth with care and precision. There’s almost no sound as the creature moves towards the clearing, only the softest rustle of leaves that can’t be avoided. It’s fascinating how quietly it can move given its size and you wonder if it’s some magical ability that allows that.

Within moments, the shape coalesces into a clearer image as it passes through the edge of the trees on the other side of the clearing. A silver coat practically glows under the moonlight, giving the creature an ethereal feel that makes you feel that it’s not even real. That you’re just seeing an apparition instead of a real animal.

The horn on its head is long and spiralling, ending in a deadly point while the pale white mane and tail flow in elegant waves towards the ground. Golden hooves paw softly at the grass, glinting slightly.

A unicorn.

“Merlin’s beard…” You whisper, pressing a hand to your mouth before looking at Hoseok. “A unicorn...that’s a unicorn!”

They were rare creatures, even rarer now due to being hunted over the centuries by both muggles and wizards. Muggles thought them a myth now while you knew the rumour of the powerful properties that unicorn blood had. You hadn’t even known the Forbidden Forest had unicorns in them.

“It is. I haven’t named her, seems a little wrong to name her. They normally don’t really like men but I found her when she was injured two years ago. She was dying and I helped nurse her back to health. Unicorns have great memories and we’ve kind of become...friends? Or as much of a friend as you can be to one.” He finishes, smiling as he watches the unicorn snort almost in agreement.

Her eyes are a deep black in the moonlight but you note they look almost friendly and kind. Hoseok’s hand on your back pushes you forward slightly, causing you to start and look back at him with wide eyes.

“Move slowly...hold your hand out to her so she can see it and smell it. Be careful and like I said...no sudden moves. You’re a woman so she’s more likely to accept you anyway, but she’ll let you know if she’s not happy.” Gulping, you nod and take a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, you try to stop the trembling in your limbs.

Whether it’s from excitement at finally getting to see your favourite magical creature in the flesh or fear of being gored to death by that dangerous horn, you don’t know. But you follow Hoseok’s words, trusting him to be right.

Slowly, you walk forwards with your hand out, palm side up. Each step you take, you stare intently at the body of the unicorn to try and catch any movement that might be viewed as hostile. Given she had four legs, there was no way you could outrun her but you’d at least like to say you had a head start.

Despite your worry, she makes no threatening moves. If anything, she seems cautiously curious; her ears pricked forwards towards you and her eyes remaining focused solely on you. Not a muscle in her body moves, only the chilly wind blowing through her mane and tail.

Finally, you’re almost within touching distance of her. But instead of carrying on, you stop. Something inside you tells you that it’s a good idea to do that, to let her come to you and accept you. So you remain standing there with your palm held out to her, watching her closely.

Nostrils slightly darker than the rest of her body flare wide a few times, likely taking in as much air as she can to smell you. It isn’t enough though and she slowly extends her neck out, her refined head stretching out until you can feel the hotness of her breath. Not moving, you let her investigate until finally, she takes one careful step forward and presses the velvety softness of her muzzle into your hand.

Smiling, you let her increase the pressure before turning your hand and gently stroking her. There’s a moment of almost curiosity in her eyes, not that you can tell what a unicorn is feeling, before she lets out a huff of air and leans her head into your touch, obviously enjoying the feeling.

Your smile turns into a wide grin as you run your hand along her face slowly, letting her get used to the feel of you before you gently scratch at her chin. Almost instantly her ears flatten and you feel a pang of panic, but she just lifts her head and lets out a nicker of contentment, giving you a better position.

“She likes you.” You hear from beside you, and you turn to see Hoseok patting the unicorn’s neck.

Turning away from you momentarily, the mare lets out a soft whinny as she looks behind her into the forest. Frowning, you crane your head to try to see what she’s looking at. Soft footfalls being and you look at Hoseok in confusion, tilting your head at the sight of his grin.

Before you can ask him what’s going on, there’s a high pitched neigh and the mare turns her head back to you, butting at your hand gently. Glancing to her side, your jaw drops once more and you can’t help but squeal lightly.

A foal is standing next to her, it’s coat fluffy with baby fur and a beautiful golden that contrasts completely from its mother. There’s no horn on its head, only a tiny nub that will one day grow long and tall. Gangly legs look too long for its body and the short, fuzzy tail make you coo in delight as it flicks it from side to side eagerly, those big eyes staring at you as it almost dances in place.

Looking at its mum, you almost ask for the permission with a hand raised in the foal's direction and you could swear the unicorn almost nods. Slowly, you move towards the foal and stroke along its short neck, marvelling at how soft and fluffy it is. The foal snorts, its entire body wobbling from the movement and you giggle in delight, completely awed by the sight of them both.

“She had this foal only a month ago, so he’s still pretty small. But he’s a sweetheart and so friendly. As you probably know, he’ll keep that gold coat for two years before paling out to silver.” Hoseok says casually, still stroking the mare and smiling at her fondly.

For a few minutes, you’re too busy playing with the foal to pay attention to his words but they finally sink in.

“What do you mean, as you probably know?” Neither of you had discussed unicorns so far during your mealtime talks, so you didn’t know why he’d think that. Sure, you’d been taught about unicorns in school but that had been so long ago and it hadn’t even been a full class on them.

Your love of them had meant you’d learnt much more about them, absorbing all the information you could find in books when you were a teenager. The fact that you were finally standing here, stroking not only a unicorn but also her foal was something that you’d always wished you could do. Given how rare they were though, you’d never expected it to happen.

“Well, they’re your favourite magical creature, right? Or they were, anyway.” He frowns slightly, unsure if he’s got something wrong and you simply stare at him for a moment.

Had he remembered that from when you’d been at Hogwarts? Given your love of them, it was only natural that he’d known about them back then given how often you’d spent time at his house to have sleepovers with Jisoo. But you’d have thought he’d have forgotten all about that by now.

Jisoo didn’t even remember this as you’d both grown over the years, the obsession of teenagers mellowing out. Unicorns remained your favourite magical creature, but you didn’t hold that deep passion that you did back then. The fact that Hoseok had remembered stunned you into silence for a moment though, causing you to frown down at the foal.

“Yeah...yeah, they are. I...I mean...thank you. For remembering and showing me this, this is amazing. I’ll never forget this, Hoseok.” You’re not entirely sure how to thank him properly, because you don’t know of anyone else who could show you a unicorn like this.

Before you can say anything else or Hoseok can respond, you’re both distracted by the way the foal lets out a squeal and butts his head into you lightly before jumping away. Taken aback, you watch him for a moment for he does it again, his impossibly slim legs wobbling slightly as he trips on a rock.

“He wants you to play,” Hoseok says softly, smiling as he watches you both. Glancing to him, you raise a brow before grinning back at the baby unicorn. Tilting your head at him, you purse your lips before jumping forward and raising your hands in claw motions. Almost immediately, the foal leaps forward before darting back to you and you giggle, already planning your next move.

Yeah, okay, you might be thirty-three years old...but you were going to play with the baby unicorn.

419 notes · View notes

mytvjunk · 3 years

Text

Gossip Girl: S1 - EP 4

We're only on episode 4 and the Julien vs Zoya storyline is already getting tired. Every episode they fight, they make up and continue this toxic cycle of abuse for absolutely no real reason. Either have them join forces or just keep them enemies; because this hot & cold relationship is serving no one. Perhaps the writers need to introduce a new character that brings their circle a different kind of conflict and changes the dynamics of Julien and Zoyas relationship. OR perhaps remove Luna & Monet from the inner circle, as they are the true villains of this show. Remove them from the equation and Zoya and Juliens relationship would flourish. But we all know that's not happening...as they are singlehandedly keeping the drama alive, which is the heart of this show. And at this point, it isn't even sibling rivalry...its just straight up nonsense that's egged on by outside parties and unfortunately Zoya and Julien take the bait every...single...time...which makes them look like straight up fools by the end of each episode. ---Also that whole "I am a bully" scene was all sorts of ridiculous 😆😆 She's taking accountability for her actions but she's not getting any consequences for what she's done...in fact she'll be the one that ends up benefiting from it, cuz she'll look like the good person at the end of it all.

-Let's talk Georgina Sparks! I was so happy they gave us a glimpse of her in that collage of pictures (and also that random pic of Blair) as she was one of my favorite characters on the original series. Also can we discuss hows she's pictured with Putin, Kim jong un and Elon musk just to name a few 💀💀💀Which leads me to believe that she's still up to some wild shit as an adult LOL I wonder if that was a foreshadow to a possible Georgina/Blair appearance later on in the series 🤔 It was also pretty cool (but suped random) how they've included her son Milo in the story. He's even following in mama's footsteps with the schemes & messiness lol

Obie & Zoya - I like them together but I'm not convinced by them yet. They come across more like good friends than actual partners. I wish the writers would've built that relationship up more, because they just became an item after one episode and barely knowing each other....There was no grace period or internal conflict with that fact he was about to date his exes sister and vice versa. I wouldn't be surprised if they breakup before end of season cuz they don't have a solid foundation and Zoya is too worried about the outside drama which Obie wants no part of.

Monet & Luna - Do we care that we have yet to get any sort of back story or insights to their personal lives? As of now, for me, nope. Their entire narrative is Julien. They're like unpaid publicists, who do evil things in the name of Julien and many times without Juliens permission. The writers haven't given them any depth or point of view to make us care...they're just mean for being mean, which when done right can be entertaining to watch, but they're creating conflict and not really gaining anything out of it. But then again, it is only episode 4, so let's see if they surprise us before the end of the season.

The teachers STILL being Gossip Girl- It's creepy as all hell that they've become so aggressively invested in these kids lives just to divulge their every secret; however it is clear that the writers are keeping them as GG, so as a viewer, I've just come to accept it and not give a shit anymore, cuz this show is so obnoxiously camp. And honestly the teachers aren't terrible at it. Kate has a very solid voice & creative way of painting a story...it does help that she has a strong writing background. But honestly if she were to dedicate this type of energy into her writing career, like she does to running the GG account, she could accomplish so much outside of this school.

Aki & Audrey - They're cute but kinda stale together. They're both lusting after Max, while he's just using them as play things, but ultimately I do see them having a threesome at one point...especially now that Aki is discovering more about his sexuality. This is another couple I don't see lasting very long. Their communication is really bad & the chemistry is lackluster. I'm still having a hard time with Evan Mocks (Aki) acting. I don't know if this was the direction he was given or if it's his abilities that are not up to par, but he's scenes are a bit rough to watch. He's stiff & delivers his lines in this monotone lifeless way that's a bit unnerving. But if this is what production wants from him, then he's doing a stellar job! -- Side note, It will be interesting to see how Audrey's world is going to change now that her mother is filing for bankruptcy. I wonder if they'll be any possible power shifts within her circle of friends, when they find out or will she keep it all a secret hmmm

Max & Rafa - I really wish the writers didn't take the route of the teacher/student troupe. Its especially messed up that they decided to trigger their sexual relationship during a time where Max is clearly going through personal issues that's left him emotionally vulnerable. I do wish the writers would've handled his grieving differently. --Also can we discuss how Max looks about the same age as Rafa? 💀 Are no actual teenagers working in Hollywood anymore? Too funny.

With that being said, the writing on this week's episode of Gossip Girl was a special kind of terrible. But because I enjoy mess, I will continue to watch every episode, of every season.

Xoxo

38 notes · View notes

kaiisenn · 3 years

Text

Regular school Au

Noritoshi Kamo is a teacehrs pet, listening to everything the teachers say and following their every command. He was annoying to say the least, reminding the teachers of yesterday nights homework and asking "is that all?" When the class gets a little amount of homework.

"Woah! Y/n , nice one! " Yuji yelled out after your homerun after you returned back to home. You were apart of the joint baseball team in school, since a lot of kids didnt want to join they had to combine the girls team and the boys team. "Thanks Yu, I didnt want to get striked" Yuji nodding his head looks, he turns to look slightly behind you to see Noritoshi coming up to the two of you. "L/n, I have to speak to you for a moment!" Noritoshi speaks out with confidence "Hah? We're in the middle of a game right now." You say putting your hands on your hips "It's fine, Y/n you just batted so it will be awhile for you to bat again and I'll fill in for you on field!" Yuji spoke up giving you a thumbs up and a dumb smile "Thank you, Itadori. L/n if you would come with me." Noritoshi finalized leading you away from the baseball field

Away from the field behind the gym, you against the wall with your arms crossed against your chest and Noritoshi infront of you, he spoke up breaking the thick air between you two "L/n you barely passed your last test, the teacher is concerned for your future grade and wanted me to tutor you. I was thinking we cou-" putting your hand up stopping him from continuing on "Hold up, Hold up! I never asked for your help and I dont need some teachers pet feeling the need to help me just cause the teacher asked you to." You told him voice strict "L/n I dont understand your retaliation, this would benefit you and if your grades begin to slip you might have to resign from the baseball team. Why not give it a try?" Noristoshi asked head tilting to the side, making him look like a confused puppy "Fine" saying the f longer than needed to show your disinterest.

After finishing your game and walking home to freshen up, you shoot Noritoshi a text giving him your address for the study session 'cant believe he made me give him my number, how annoying'.

Hearing the doorbell ring 30 minutes after the text was sent, you walked to open the front door, pulling the door to you revealing Noritoshi in a nice button up with black dress pants "where were you going to?" You asked looking him up and down wondering why the boy was wearing such a formal outfit "I'm going to tutor you." He said as a fact "well so duh, but what's up with the get up?" You asked pointing at his attire, he begins to blush moving his head to look anywhere besides you "I thought I would make a gold first impression... as a tutor" he spoke rigidly "nah it's fine, you can come as bummy as you want. I dont really care, your probably gonna be uncomfortable in those clothes, wanna borrow one of mine?" You asked leading him up the stairs to your room "are you sure? Your clothes might not fit me and o wouldnt want to ruin your clothes" he asked "it's fine, besides o usually have all my house clothes be a lot bigger so it fits me longer. I'm sure something of mine has to fit" opening up y e ur drawer you got a large tshirt and shorts out for him throwing it to him and giving him directions to the nearest bathroom.

When he came back he looked a little uncomfortable mentally but in those clothes he seemed a lot more relaxed "See I knew something would fit you, I mean you are pretty skinny" you told him while looking through your book bag for a textbook , after he sat down next to you the two of you began your study session.

After awhile you three you head back onto the side of your bed and made a loud groaning noise "Arrgghh! This is so boring, cant we take a break? Watch a movie, play some games, eat something! I mean we've been at this for three hours straight.." Noritoshi turned to you brows furrowed "it is important to learn the topic and know it in and out but I suppose a break wouldnt hurt." He said closing the text book and putting the cap on his pen "Ah! Thank you so much Toshi!" You said jumping from your spot to give him a hug, after a couple of seconds you removed yourself from him to go get some snack from downstairs.

While you were gone, Noritoshi put his hand over his heart trying to suppress the loud pounding, wondering if you could hear the way his heart beat out his chest for you. For awhile now the raven haired boy liked you, he would always state at you from afar while you would play your games with your team, watching in astonishment as you would run back to home base with the confidence of a Queen. God how he loved your stubbornness, and your aggressiveness when you came up to someones bully to tell them off, but he also loved your soft side how you would shy away from embarrassment when you answer would be slightly off in math, he wanted to shield you from outsiders eyes and only keep that side of you for him. He loved every part of you, but he knew he would never get the chance to be close with you so when the teacher asked him if he could tutor you, he jumped on the opportunity without hesitation.

"Hey Toshi, I'm not sure what you would like so I made some popcorn and got a couple of snacks and candies for us to eat. Also I brought some games up, I got Mario Cart, COD, Minecraft, and a couple of others in my back pocket" you informed putting all the snacks on the small coffee table you had in your room "Which one do you wanna play" you asked holding up the different games to his face like a fortune teller telling their client to pick a card "I'll try Mario Cart" he answered "Good choice!" You put the disk in and waiting for the game to load you got the rest set up giving him a controller and popping a swedish fish into your mouth.

"Booyah! You just got yoshi'd, toshi! That's 3 for me and 0 for you my friend." You teased elbowing his side "Why dont we make a bet, whoever's wins has to do what the other person wants" you offered him, Noritoshi lighting up at your offer nodded his head and got serious changing his character to princess peach.

After a long and grueling round, Noritoshi was pronounced the winner "Alright you got lucky that round but ne-" you were suddenly shut off by Noritoshis lips colliding with yours! After getting over the initial shock you began kissing back putting the controller down and wrapping your arms around his neck tangling your hands into the hair at the base of his neck. The kiss began to get more heated with Noritoshi pushing you down to the floor and asking for permission into your mouth, with new found access he got to work exploring your mouth with his tongue. But all good things must come to an end when you couldnt breathe you tapped his shoulder twice and he hesitantly pulled away from your lips. "W-Wow, I didnt think you would be so straight foward" you huffed out trying to catch your breath "god I've been wanting to do that forever" he revealed dropping his head to make home in the crook of your neck "is this a confession I smell?" You teased stroking the back of his head with your right hand while your left was drawing shaped onto his back. "God Y/n you have no idea how obsessed I am with you. Everything you do has me going crazy" he breathed out "I could kinda tell, you would always stare at me from across the classroom. Although I also have a crush on you, I didnt think I would have a chance i mean you're so nice, gentle and caring and even though you kinda annoy me when you remind the teacher of homework I could never be mad at you. You're too cute to ever be mad at, like a otter or a big cuddly dog." You laugh kissing his neck

"You mean it? You really like me too?" He asked pulling his head away from your neck "Of course I do" you say bringing his face closer to yours for another kiss, after awhile you two broke away not getting too far from each other though "Wanna make a bet? Who ever wins gets to choose where we go for our next date." You spoke against his lips slightly kissing the bottom "You're gonna lose then dear" he said quickly getting up to grab his controller "No, you're gonna lose!"

Omfg I'm so in love with him ahh Noeitoshi supremacy!!!

-Kaii

#noritoshi kamo x reader #jjk noritoshi #noritoshi x reader #jujutsu kaisen noritoshi #jujutsu kaisen gojo #jujutsu kaisen itadori #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jjk headcanons #jjk anime #jjk x reader #anime x reader #x reader

129 notes · View notes

sanchoyo · 3 years

Text

danny phantom episode 4-7 Thoughts: (under a readmore because, these got kinda long!)

-the outfit danny had to buy for dash's party. CLASSIC 2000S i cannot stop laughing. And also showing up to the party and everyone is dressed like the trio is hilarious. and further proof that everyone looks good dressed goth.

-dash has a closet full of cute lil bear plushies?? LOVE that. adorable. also his response to danny trashing his room fighting a ghost was SO valid if somone BROKE MY BED IN HALF ID BE PISSED TOO.

-technus being like 'oh smart, u should be a tutor!' then later being like 'forget tutor, be a teacher!' :) supportive king <3 I also really like his upgraded suit/design. AND SPOCK CAMEO??? HELLO??

-the music in this show is super. its so funky. I looked it up and the guy who does it, guy moon (awesome name) also did music for other cartoons like fairly odd parents, barnyard, chalkzone, billy & mandy, AND some actual movies like FIGHT CLUB??? the whiplash I got from reading that)

-sam being rich explains a lot about her, actually.

-I know the moral of the episode was supposed to be 'dont ditch your friends for popular people/spend a lot of money on clothes that arent You to Fit In'. but tbh. it wouldve been easy for danny to have been like 'well, okay, ill come but only if my friends can!' but I get. that hes 14. so. not a lot to say there.

-BOX GHOST IS BACK!!!!! also, danny sitting up and wearing the dress/wig/makeup. umm thats how I dress everyday LMFAO. unironically me. (hate the jokes that boil down to 'haha funney man in dress' tho. but this is a look)

-jazz being protective of her brother once again being like NOOO YOU GUYS BETTER NOT STAKE OUT HIS (actually haunted) LOCKER!! shes aware of how people perceive him and she wants to help :( which is also probably why she told dash to invite him to that party even tho she had no interest in going!! she wants to help him out :(

-gotta say im with tucker on the whole 'should danny use his powers to get back at bullies' debate. 100% yes. let him teach kids to fight back. making dash throw his food at paulina out of the blue? no. but when hes actually about to pick on someone? yeah! for self defense? YEAH! if dash and his friends just threw food at him, I think rather than. idk doing sneaky shit with frogs he couldve just threw it back and not pulled punches if they tried to fight. I kNOOWWW its a kids show so they are like 'if u fight back ur just as bad!! violence bad!!' but. theyre HIS POWERS. WHO CARES.

-like my only gripe is that dash really isnt LEARNING ANYTHING WHEN DANNY GETS BACK AT HIM IN THE MOST PETTY INDIRECT WAYS. whatever they had to add a bully psa episode I guess. I hate it and I hate the way cartoons usually handle it because these methods simply Do Not Work. 'aND YouRE USinG YOur poWErs FOR EVill???!' this is Not Evil. even when poindexter takes dannys body, theyre only being 'nice' bc hes stealing soda for them!! bitches deserve what they get (nothing too brutal bc theyre high schoolers but damn, if they pick on danny he doesnt need to be the 'bigger person' he needs to start biting people)

-SAM TRYING TO SMUGGLE FROGS OUT OF THE BIO LAB?? girl in middle school when we had to dissect frogs we could opt out, also, they came to us already dead and preserved...

-sidney's lingo and the fact hes in black and white is sending me. also, danny is a ghost celebrity apparently for being a halfa?? ok. thats interesting to know

-the DENTIST BEING EXCITED ABOUT THE COTTON CANDY FLOOD IS THE FUNNIEST THING SO FAR.

-I LOOOVE the trope of 'wishes gone wrong'. not crazy about the stereotypical genie, or the use of the dreamcatcher looking design. (also, I KNOW theyre scientists but the way theyre handling a cold...are the fentons ANTIVAX)

-the genie. she. whitewished paulina. JKASDFHKJ. (the ghost literally just being hello kitty???? im dying) 'why do i feel that im special and wonderful? because I AM! <3' paulina ilu self worth queen. felt bad for her also getting possessed by (2) boys later who were arguing INSIDE HER. WTF.

-imagine being the guy trapped in his now flying car. he thought danny and tucker were HALUCINATIONS. imagine being trapped in a flying car with two, what you think are imaginary arguing 14 year olds convinced ur gonna die. i WOULD say this dude is gonna need so much therapy, but he seemed totally fine and excited when they landed (I would be happy too if a chicken was on my head. chickens rule) stoner rights

-sam's bat slippers??? iconic. SO cute.

-I think desiree's backstory is so :( do all ghosts have messed up sad backstories?? poindexter's was sad too...cannot imagine box ghost has any kind of fucked up backstory. but what if. his mom got pushed off cliffs by boxes...........a la cruella... anyway her 'no man may lay a hand on me' iconic. ilu

-I know danny has no concept of how much bras cost but my god dont attack tucker with some girls bra. those are so expensive.

-its really. well its not a GOOD THING he went into the portal and got fucked up, but its good danny was the one to do it rather than sam or tucker. because even tho he was being influenced by desiree and kept getting more malicious and it prob wasnt 100% him...he sucked as a ghost like most the people he 'pranked' were innocent ppl just Chillin and he didnt want to help anyone at all. I think danny is the most responsible out of them but also, hes 14 and shouldnt HAVE to feel obligated to fight every ghost. hes a good kid and wants to, but I also feel like he feels like...responsible for the portal turning on?? because his parents did give it up,, but it was an accident and not his fault (if anything, why was the on switch on the inside. why was it that easy. why was there no safety measures. that seems like smth OSHA needs to hear about). like thats my son. hes a good boy. and hes never done anything wrong in his life, ever. if anyone hurts him im killing everyone in this room and then myself. etc.

-danny's curfew is 10PM????? DUDE. when I was 14...shit I couldn't be out that late, I had to be back at like, 8 at the latest, and my parents had to know exactly where and who I was going with, AND i had to call/text them regularly...is this a case of my parents being overbearing, or the fentons sucking??? the only time i could EVER be out that late was if I was at an overnight sleepover or smth...

-the vultures have lil fezes. why do they have fezes...theyre so fuckin funny 'ask him for directions' 'I KNOW WHERE IM GOING' these ghost vultures are my new grandpas. pick them up, put them in the adopt box.

-'I wonder why those guys were trying to waste dad!' THEYRE GHOSTS. YOUR DAD HUNTS GHOSTS. why is that not a conclusion you'd immediately jump to??

-*jazz voice, clearly disgusted* WISCONSIN???

-mrs fenton with the lab coat and leg warmers and PERM. YESSS STYLISH.

-was going to say 'ew billionaire' @vlad but. super valid he used his powers to assumedly steal and cheat to get that money, thats how all billionaires do it! but ew hes a SIMP. and spending your billions on FOOTBALL STUFF?? you are Not Valid overall. I DO respect the fact you have a castle instead of a mansion. in wisconsin. if youre going to be stupidly rich might as well go all out, torches on the wall and all. I DO like his ghost form's little kitty ears. catman. and his cape! every design can benefit from a cape. and how different his forms look, like danny looks the EXACT SAME IN BOTH FORMS ASIDE FROM COLOR CHANGES. vlad's is like,, I could believe they were different people!! also I love the drama. but dude you are fighting a 14 year old. lame. also he was like, telling danny he wanted his mom and him and like, wanted him to renounce his dad?? WHAT ABOUT JAZZ?? bitch. those r MY kids and they are both important and special. I do agree they need better parents but thats not u sir <3

-I thought vlad's 'little badger' nickname for danny came from the football mascot of the packers, but google says they have NO MASCOT?? so now I'm like?? is it because his hair is sometimes black and sometimes white?? I hate to give him props but thats a PERFECT NICKNAME. theyre also tiny and vicious!

-why did I get so excited that Skulker is back!! its been like. 2-3 eps LMAO. AND THE DAIRY KING. ICONIC I LOVE HIM. hes the nicest guy ever :) more nice ghosts please. danny cannot be fighting alone everytime with no ghost buds like every ghost being hostile sucks :(

-mr. fenton knew vlad was controlling him, but a few episodes ago he had no clue danny was doing the same thing...is it something about how malicious the ghost is?? he just seemed to think his memory had gaps the first time, this time he was INSTANTLY LIKE 'GHOST'. then again in this ep when danny did it again he was just slightly confused but not immediately freaking out like he did with vlad possessing him!!

-'my parents will accept ME NO MATTER WHAT' so. so why haven't you come out to them yet, danny?? if you really think that?? if theres no harm, and you're sure??? if vlad is a real problem, wouldnt that make dealing with him easier, to expose him???? SO WHY HAVENT YOU COME OUT YET?? COULD IT BE,, MAYBE YOU HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT WHETHER YOUR PARENTS ACTUALLY WILL ACCEPT YOU??? 🤔 ... 🏳‍🌈 I get why people say He Is Trans. I totally totally get u danny.

-sorta unrelated, but it just occurred to me in one of these eps they go to casper HIGH not casper middle school??? theyre 14?? dont highschools usually do ages 15-18? (I didnt go to hs so I might be wrong, if I am ignore this...) freshmen are usually 14-15, could just be a case of them not turning 15 yet but they will sometime in the school year (I say they because tucker said he was 14 too)? I know the show has 3 seasons, so by the end of it will they be older? thatd be neat but usually cartoon characters stay the same age...I love shows where you can see the characters age and grow up, though...three seasons seems like a long time to spend on like, 1 year...

#sanchoyorambles #danny phantom #me on the first post:#its not a liveblog!#me this time: it kinda is. but not in the same format as my tmm one #i like doing one post for a handful of eps bc it saves time #and crowds my blog less #and also i just like talking abt what im watching lol #dp thoughts

20 notes · View notes

turneverybodyintopuppets · 3 years

Text

Hi. The following is my attempt to systematically hash out the “Mr. Infodump” controversy in the TS fandom. It’s primarily for my benefit, but I’m posting it on the off chance it helps someone else who’s just as confused/dismayed as I was. I’m not attempting to argue for blind absolution (”Thomas is an angel who can do no wrong!”) or cancellation (“He’s no better than the likes of J.K. Rowling!”), just to present as intellectually honest an assessment as I can make of what happened and the degree to which the TS team is responsible.

Laconic: Thomas Sanders, a content creator on youtube, posted a skit in which a character calls an aspie-coded character “Mr. Infodump”. Several fans have expressed hurt and anger over the use of a trait associated with neurodivergence as an insult.

My own initial impression: I’m on the autism spectrum myself, and personally, “Mr. Infodump” didn’t register as offensive to me; in fact, as a huge Logan kinnie, I liked that a neurodiverse trait I see in myself was being explicitly linked to my favorite character. That said, there are many in the community who feel deeply hurt and betrayed, and it would be a) irresponsible and b) close-minded to handwave their concerns. Thus:

[Abridged version: Bolded]

Context for use of the word:

Line from Roman: “I was going for regal sophistication [in last commercial pitch], but Mr. Infodump over here [*gestures to Logan*] wasn’t cooperating.” Defensive tone, alluding to the fact that Logan’s commercial pitch included excessive product information that would leave buyers disengaged.

History: Roman regularly invents nicknames for fellow sides and employs them in a manner that can range from fond teasing to a juvenile way of insulting the side he’s presently bickering with.

Names previously directed at Logan include “Calculator watch,” “Egghead,” and “No-Funsen Honeydew… Doo.” They generally play off of Logan’s tendency toward being uptight, stereotypically nerdy, and eager to furnish the group with information in the capacity of a teacher.

In this particular instance, I doubt anyone would say the word’s use was “malicious,” but it wasn’t “affectionate” either. Roman is visibly preoccupied and defensive in the scene, throwing out a nickname offhand.

Power Dynamic: There is no imbalance of power between Logan and Roman that would indicate anything resembling a bully-victim relationship. Logan responds to the word in the same manner he does Roman’s other antics and displays no particularly hurt reaction.

In-Universe Response: No character corrects or condemns Roman’s use of the term. This may, however, be because Logan is the first to respond, armed with his own complaints about the others’ commercials.

Meta-Level Implications: The audience is not encouraged to agree with Roman’s sentiment that infodumping is a negative trait anymore than they are his other commentary on Logan via nicknames like “Egghead,” because Logan’s role in the story consistently proves it wrong; all that infodumping saved an unconscious Roman from his murder-happy brother, for one, and the audience knows it. Given the posturing and defensiveness that accompany Roman’s delivery of the line, it’s clear the creators were communicating that he was in the wrong to say it. That, and Logan will almost certainly reinforce this by verbally decimating someone in the next episode, as per usual.

I think that last point is key. People will accuse others of infodumping in a negative way IRL—I know I’ve been called far worse for failing to mask—and to pretend that such things don’t exist in fiction is misrepresenting reality. Instead, creators can and should include minority characters (race, sexuality, gender, neuroatypicality, etc.) *confronting* discrimination, dealing with it complexly, and showing both the misguided character and the audience how wrong they are. Logan resonates with me—and other aspies, I think—largely because of how he clearly struggles in dealing with the other sides’ occasional criticism of his eccentricities, but he ultimately remains committed to his identity and ideals. If the TS crew continues to write a show that reinforces the fact that his neurodivergent qualities are what make him strong—and god knows there's not much media that does this well—, they’re doing something incredibly important for us.

The issue here, then, wasn’t the show promoting ableism as a message, because its handling of the conversation here doesn’t. Rather, it was the use of a term that many consider inherently ableist as an insult. So:

“Infodump” the word:

I find this fascinating, actually—Science is discovered. Math is discovered**. Language? Language is unequivocally invented. We’ve create these words with combinations of mouth-sounds, and we’ve assigned them meaning.

But the thing is, people have different backgrounds and experiences that define both who they are and the nuances of the meaning they tie to those mouth-sounds

Basic example of varied mental prototypes: I live in the northeast USA, so when I hear the word “bird,” the first thing that pops into my head is a bluejay or robin. If you ask my friend who’s studying in Brazil, though, he’d likely think of a macaw or toucan.

For me, “spring” = my mom’s pink zinnia garden and “chocolate” = a square of hershey melting against gooey marshmallow. This idea of memories and experience informing word-meaning mapping, of course, extends to a) more nuanced concepts and b) a more subconscious level of understanding. Poetry in particular, I think, tends to play with this to invoke the sensory experiences it does... I could infodump about translated poetry but that’s a whoooollleee other thing and I’m getting off track.

But essentially, an individual’s experience of any given word, to a degree, is subjective. Our dictionary definitions are merely approximations of a collective understanding of that mouthsound-to-meaning mapping, and we have to update those definitions as language evolves (remember when “Google” couldn’t be used as a verb?)

So, what happens if I look up “infodumping”? TVTropes tells me it’s a “type of exposition that’s particularly long and wordy”. UrbanDictionary says its “used to deposit large amounts (usually entire articles) of information in online forums without summarizing or paraphrasing the information.” I reach the resources that explain it in the context of autism and ADHD over halfway down the Google results. The word “infodumping” has quite a few circulating meanings, and the one associated with neurodivergence isn’t as visible as we’d like it to be.

From what I understand, Thomas Sanders and co. merely knew “infodumping” as the practice of talking at length about a subject, like closing a rant with a friendly “aw, sorry for infodumping on ya” and such. This was exactly how Logan opens his commercial, so they stuck it in as a—frankly, kinda feeble—nickname á la the creative genius behind “Mr. Smarty... Pants”. They had no knowledge of the term’s gravity to the autism and ADHD community, because they haven’t been exposed to settings that use that definition.

So, where does that leave us on accountability? If they’re ultimately not producing ableist content, do Thomas Sanders and his team have the responsibility to be aware of how an insult featuring this particular word might be inherently triggering to a community?

Many accounts show that the inclusion of the term caused real emotional harm and as content creators—particularly ones with a relatively young fanbase—the TS team should have taken more precautions. A more diverse staff/writing room may have caught this, given how egregious some fanders found the error. Furthermore, why shouldn’t it fall on neurotypical people in general to “educate themselves” on these issues, as in the cases of other minority groups?

That said, however, can any creative team be reasonably expected to know of any-and-all potentially triggering content? I’ve avoided speaking of Thomas Sanders’ personal character to maintain some impartiality, but a long history of promoting representation and careful content warnings does suggest a genuine commitment to self-correcting. Accepting the well-intentioned criticism of fanders—many of whom are so broken up by this precisely because of the amount of faith they place in the TS team—and taking active steps to change is ultimately the best course of action, and I, for one, will be sticking around to see the results.

#sanders sides #logan sanders #neurodiverse character #infodumping about infodumping #wow ive really peaked huh #ts logan #ts critical #ts criticism #ts discourse #sanders sides discourse

71 notes · View notes

the-fandom-queen · 3 years

Text

Just a number, Never a child

Summary: When Spencer is faced with the opportunity to let his daughter skip grades, he realizes some flaws with his own education

Warning: None? Just sadness

Includes: Angst, Anger, School trauma. References to Past Bullying, spencer is going through it, Introspection, lots of projecting, No beta we die like Maeve, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sad, Hurt/Comfort kinda, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Word Count: 917

A/N: I honestly just wanted to write this because 1) I too am a burnout gifted kid and 2) the way canon handles spencer's public education and the whole timeline and ethics around it really pisses me off and I feel like it was a missed opportunity for angst. Also, spencer's daughter is named after Emily because Spence loves his big sister. This is the link to read on AO3.

Emily Reid was the best thing that could have ever happened to Spencer. From the day she was born he knew that she would change his world for the better, and she has. So of course Spencer just wants the best for her,

Which leaves him in a tough spot.

What is best for Emily?

Her teacher seems to believe it's skipping her from 5th grade to 10th, an opinion she made known in the conversation she had with Spencer at their last parent-teacher meeting.

“Dr. Reid, we are both aware of how gifted Emily is. She knows more than all the kids in her class and I'm worried she isn’t being challenged enough with the curriculum I teach. Which is why I think you should consider having her skip grades.”

The idea itself was not a difficult one to fathom. Emily is very advanced (in part thanks to who her father is) and is definitely more intelligent than the average 11-year-old. Still, Spencer wasn't sure about having her skip so many grades.

Spencer himself had skipped many grades when he was a child and graduated high school by age 12. He knew firsthand the many benefits of it. But that also meant he knew the downsides as well.

Spencer was bullied viciously when he was in high school. He learned very quickly that kids would attack anyone they saw as different, which honestly is the same for most adults.

Besides Emily being a potential target, he also thought about the problems it could cause her to face later in her life. After being pushed so far so fast, Emily could succumb to the pressure around her and fall victim to burnout, something Spencer understands all too well. He remembers the crisis he had when he turned 30, worrying that he wasn’t doing enough with his life and that he was just a waste of potential. He never wants Emily to feel like that.

Sitting there on his couch Spencer tries to think of a way to allow Emily to progress academically without hurting her. As he runs through possible solutions, he realizes they all come back to one thing he didn’t have: Support. Spencer was 9 when he was rushed into high school and 10 when his dad left him and his mother alone. He had no one to lean on. No parents, no teachers, no friends. He was all on his own. And he never fully realized it until now.

Spencer's slow yet sudden realization had filled him with anger. He was a child! And yet he was just out there, unprotected. He doesn’t even understand how he was allowed to be put in such an environment. Schools were supposed to look out for their students, not throw them to the wolves and hope they survive. How was it even ethical for a 9-year-old to be in the same class as 15-year-olds? The short answer is it’s not.

He spends the rest of his night there, on his couch, seething over the past while being terrified for the future. He forgets the present altogether until the alarm on his phone goes off, telling him it's time for him to wake Emily up,

The next few days are more or less a blur to Spencer, who is still reeling from his moment of clarity a couple of nights ago. It wasn’t until JJ caught him in the parking garage that he came back to reality.

“Hey Spence, you’ve been a little out of it lately. Is everything ok?” She asked, concern clear in her voice.

“Yeah JJ, everything’s fine.”

As Spencer turns to continue walking to his car, JJ steps in front of him. “No way mister. I can tell something is up and we’re not leaving here until you tell me what.” She crosses her arms to emphasize her point and watches him expectantly.

Tired of holding it all in, after the last few days and decades of his life, Spencer tells her everything. About how Emily’s teacher thinks she should skip grades all the way to high school. About how he’s scared of what that might do to her and her development. About how it affected him and his development. About how the adults in his life never saw him as a child, but as his IQ. About how he was never protected. About how much it all makes his blood boil. And about how he never wants Emily to feel this way. He doesn’t even remember when he started crying but by the end, JJ is pulling him into a hug and telling him how sorry she is.

Once he has calmed down, Spencer asks JJ what she thinks he should do.

“Talk to her about it. Explain to her your worries and see how she feels. And no matter what, support her.”

And that is exactly what Spencer does.

Once he gets home, he sits Emily down and asks her how she feels about skipping grades. Not his expectation, she finds the idea thrilling. After talking about it some more, they come to a census; Emily would skip two grades, that way she could be challenged academically without rushing her social and emotional development.

That night when Spencer goes to bed, he feels more at ease than he has in a while. He knows there is nothing he could do to change his past, but he is happy to know that he is able to be there for Emily and her future.

#spencer reid #spencer reid angst #Criminal Minds #bau #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid fanfiction

8 notes · View notes

miraculousmarifan · 4 years

Text

Felinette Month 2020 - Day 19: Fallen Angel

Happy @felinettenovember! Can you guys guess what prompts I spend more than one day writing? I almost decided to try drawing the akumatized Felix before remembering that I haven’t drawn in nearly 10 years (maybe I would be better off painting it?) and wasn’t really good at people before that point... So I did this instead!

Almost 1900 words and if requested, this could have a continuation for some resolution later this year or early next year and/or potentially a piece of art to try showing Felix as an akuma and/or the object that inspired his form

Felix was close to flipping tables. Marinette had to be an angel from above with how she was handling being bullied by this Lila girl. How was it that even after the school was notified that Lila supposedly had a disease that made her compulsively lie but wasn’t antisocial personality disorder (?), the teacher refused to step in and help one of her star pupils? He shouldn’t be surprised. This was the same teacher that condoned Chloe’s defacing of Marinette’s present to count as them working together on it, even though Marinette had put actual effort into it. This was the same teacher that tried to convince Marinette to be a doormat, in the name of “setting a good example,” as though that has truly changed people that benefit from wronging others.

What he really couldn’t understand was how her friends weren’t more cautious about the liar. She had temporarily gotten Marinette expelled by claiming that she had not only cheated on a mock test, but also stolen the liar’s necklace, AND pushing the witch down the stairs. The class didn’t believe that it sounded like Marinette and YET after Marinette is returned due to the supposed uncontrollable lying diagnosis, they don’t question Lila's integrity? He couldn’t quite fathom why they wouldn’t take the things she said with a grain of salt after that very public and obvious set of lies, especially about Marinette.

And yet, here he was. Standing outside the classroom, waiting for a phone call from his driver, when he overhears the liar whispering to a few girls from the class. Marinette had been gone for an appointment the last period of school and apparently that wasn’t enough for Lila. He heard Alya exclaim, “That doesn’t really sound like Marinette…” and then a sad reply along the lines of how she knew Marinette was friends with all them but she couldn’t believe Marinette said that to her and just wanted to understand why by asking their closest friends. So on so on. Even with her verbalized doubt, it was clear from the tone she used that Alya believed it possible that Marinette had something to Lila, even if it wasn’t as severe as the liar had made it out to be. Felix didn’t need to be any closer to smell the fake crap Lila was spreading. He was sure it would have smelled over a mile away.

Rose exclaimed how she couldn’t believe how much Marinette was starting to act like Chloe and how they really needed to shake Marinette out of this. Alya volunteered to talk to her about it and encouraged them not to do anything crazy before then. It was the first time Felix felt a decent amount of respect towards Alya. Apparently she is starting to learn not to jump immediately to conclusions when it comes to Lila and Marinette. Unfortunately their other friends hadn’t gotten that much insight from the previous incidents and believed that Lila wouldn’t possibly exaggerate or make up anything and cause drama unnecessarily. Alya told the group that she had texted the girl and was going to head over to their place to hang out later that night.

Alya left, muttering how it sounded too extreme to be what Marinette had actually said. Felix had to give it to her, even if she had too much faith in the Italian, it was nice to see she wouldn’t fully discount her friend without any true evidence. Unfortunately with Alya’s departure, the voice of reason had left these girls and they were left with a snake. Felix decided to move slightly closer, just to keep an ear out for danger.

“I don’t think having a talk with her is really going to change Marinette’s mind. I mean she already knows about my health conditions and she’d rather discriminate against me than admit that I’m just trying to be friends. I reached out in good faith, painting her a picture, and she destroyed it and told me we could never be friends. It was just shockingly mean! She’s so nice to you guys so I thought this would help, especially since we like so much of the same stuff! I can’t help it if Adrien rejected her for me!”

Felix wanted to gag at that reasoning again. Marinette had worked to move on from Adrien long ago and especially hard when he had started dating Kagami over a year ago. She even started having tea and snacks with his girlfriend at least once a month, since Kagami didn’t get out much and Marinette didn’t want her to feel left out. As far as Felix knew, Marinette had long since given up on Adrien and was more focused on her personal projects than on boys, something her friends should have known by now.

“We know it’s not your fault and she should realize that too!” Rose tried to cheer up Lila.

“It’s so hard to imagine her destroying someone else’s art when she preaches about how people shouldn’t touch other’s work! Plus she has to know how much that sucks, after Chloe ruined her present for Ms. Bustier a few years ago…” Alix sounded angry enough to act impulsively and it didn’t sit well with Felix.

“To me, it just doesn’t seem like talking to her is going to be enough for her to really think about her actions, but you guys know her the best!” Lila managed to get a small amount of wavering into her voice, to convey hesitant worry and unsuccessfully attempted optimism through her small shrug. Felix may have thought that some of her lies should be relatively easy to dismiss but he had to admit that sometimes she could be a good actress.

“If we left her a message along with doing something, she wouldn’t ignore it right? Especially if she knows that if she ever does something like that again, we won’t stay friends with her…” Alix suggested. Felix felt his stomach sink. This was going bad but he couldn’t just walk in there right? He waited a moment longer to hear them start planning how they were going to ruin Marinette’s personal art project that she had been working on during her study hall, as it was sitting in a drying area of the art room. He had enough information to go talk to Damocles about what he had heard.

After hearing Felix’s concerns and hearing his stern insistence that this was actually at risk of happening, not just girl’s venting, Damocles accompanied him to the art room to check into the security of the projects inside. By the time the pair arrived though, they were too late. Nobody was in the room anymore, however Marinette’s project was beyond repair.

She had sculpted a human-like angel with arms raised with peace and joy captured remarkably on its face, an orb in its hands being presented to the sky like a holy gift. The wings had been formed into individual feathers and Marinette had just put the first layer of paint on it that day. The base color of the wings was a lovely shade of light pink, her dress had the first layer of white, the skin left a gray tone, with a small amount of darker gray and lighter gray added to certain areas to imitate how light would fall if emitted from the orb. The orb had a strange tone of light blue-green for the base. He had been enthusiastically anticipating her final painting work since she had finished the sculpting step.

Now the angel was missing a wing, the orb that had barely rested on the carved palms was separated from the hands, and the arms were no longer connected. He picked up the body of the statue gently before looking up at Damocles sadly.

“It’s too bad we didn’t get here sooner. I guess we will just have to check the school’s cameras to figure out who did this.” Damocles took a step towards the stand that the statue had previously been set on, picked up the note left on it, and read it out loud.

“‘This is for ruining Lila’s painting. You should’ve accepted her peace offering rather than blaming her for Adrien’s rejection and if you keep acting like this, you won’t have any more friends here.’--” he cleared his throat in displeased surprise, “-- I will need to take this note as evidence in this. Also, we should probably take some pictures of the damages before getting this cleaned up.”

Felix helped set the pieces of the statue on the table next to each other before the principal took out his cell phone and snapped a quick picture of that and of the note. Before the man could leave, Felix volunteered to clean up the classroom as he was sure Marinette would still want the pieces. He was also sure that Damocles would actually proceed with this investigation due to his involvement and firmness regarding the need to supply a punishment. While the punishment would not be sufficient, there would at least be some record of this incident.

Before sweeping up the tiny pieces that he didn’t expect her to care about, he sat down in a chair and held the body of the statue. His fingers ran over the one remaining wing despite the paint smearing on his skin, feeling the texture his classmate had managed for the feathers. It was an amazing work that would be difficult to replicate, if Marinette even decided it was worth doing again. Part of him hoped she would redo the remarkable piece. He felt anger bubbling just below the surface of his sadness, anger that the girls that were supposedly her friends would do this. Anger that their school was not secure for her. Anger that he wasn’t able to protect her, even having heard the plans. Grief over being too slow to protect her. Crushing sadness that she couldn’t trust her classmates, her supposed friends, to even ask her about a situation before trusting another’s words about her. Someone that had very publicly lied to get her suspended just the last school year. He was so busy with his thoughts and the statue that he missed the purple butterfly coming towards him until it settled into the statue.

“Hello Ange Déchu. I am Hawk Moth. The people around you pass judgement on the innocent and work on behalf of the wicked. It must be frustrating to watch them work to break the people you care about. I will give you the power to understand people’s intentions and apply your chosen consequences on them so you can protect the ones you love. In exchange you would give me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous.”

In this akumatized form, he could not only protect Marinette but also help her get revenge on the manipulative witch. She would be his queen, his direction, and she would be able to decide how she wanted to apply justice.

“Yes Hawk Moth. I will deal out Marinette’s justice and get the miraculous for you.” The akumatized Felix, called Fallen Angel, unfurled his black wings and pushed off the ground to fly to Marinette’s side. He would protect her first and foremost. Then they would deal with the witch and her flying monkeys however she saw fit.

#felinette month 2020 #felinette month #akumatized felix #lila salt #alya sort of redeemed?#some bustier salt #damocles actually does SOMETHING #felinette #miraculous ladybug

133 notes · View notes

politalysis · 3 years

Text

# What has happened to JK Rowling?

Growing up in the early 2000s immediately made Harry Potter a huge part of your childhood. Even if you never read the books or watched the films, you can probably name the three main characters. Even if you weren’t interested in Harry Potter in the slightest, you probably know your Hogwarts house. It’s incredible what Harry Potter did for our generation all over the world. Children would stay up on their eleventh birthdays anxiously awaiting a Hogwarts acceptance letter, knowing full well that owl was never going to come. Our imagination kept the dream of going to Hogwarts and learning magic alive anyway. Even now at the age of 23, I can for the most part keep a conversation flowing with anyone who has read the books or even just watched the films. You could even go as far as to say it was our generation’s Lord of the Rings.

JK Rowling came from very humble beginnings. She suffered with depression in her childhood and early teens, and lost her mother to multiple sclerosis in 1990. These struggles inspired her a lot when writing Harry Potter. She channeled her grief and pain into her writing. In 1992, she married a man she had met whilst living in Portugal, but Rowling suffered domestic abuse at his hands and the couple separated a year later. She lost her job and moved to Edinburgh in Scotland, where she had to sign up for welfare benefits, which left her a poor and depressed single mother spending her time writing in coffee shops. When she finished writing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, twelve publishers rejected the opportunity to publish the book. Once someone finally agreed to publish the book, it became the best selling children’s book of the year.

We all know how the story goes from there. Rowling wrote six more Harry Potter books, eight films were made, and Rowling went from a poor vulnerable single mother to a multi millionaire in the space of a few short years. Harry Potter is now a global brand estimated to be worth about $15 billion. The last four books have each consecutively set the record for the fastest selling book in history. Rowling is now the richest author in the world, with a net worth of $92 million. But as well as money, JK Rowling has over 14 million followers on Twitter. This gives her massive influence as well as money. Rowling seemed to initially use this influence for good, spreading mental health awareness, LGBT inclusivity, interacting with fans and creating a website for all us Harry Potter fans to determine our houses and let our wands choose us.

I remember being 8 years old when Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was released, and I was attending a religious school where some parents complained and called to ban Harry Potter over the controversial decision JK Rowling made regarding Dumbledore’s sexuality. Rowling had made the claim that Dumbledore was gay. Looking back, the controversy was ridiculous and I can only imagine how embarrassed some of those parents must be. I also remember as I got older, re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I noticed more that the emotion behind Dumbledore’s relationship with Grindelwald was one he held with a romantic love. So years later, when several members of the LGBT community attacked Rowling for only deciding Dumbledore’s sexuality after the books were written, I publicly defended her with my knowledge that that simply wasn’t true. I had this image of Rowling in my mind, that she had always been on the right side of this debate. She had always been inclusive and supportive of LGBT people as far as I could see, and I just didn’t understand the issue. Rowling had always expressed a centre-left political perspective, and although I didn’t agree with all her views, they seemed relatively uncontroversial.

When Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was released, I hated it. It was a literary disaster, completely disrespectful of the original book series, the characters were a shell of the characters we had grown up with, the plot was almost deliberately ridiculous and overly elaborate and I immediately dismissed it as not canon. I have never forgiven JK Rowling for publicly stating the book was canon. She almost destroyed a whole two decades of her own hard work and the franchise that she’d built that had been like a home for a whole generation. All because she wanted to grab a few extra quid for a terrible book she didn’t even write. To this day I can’t help but wonder if she has even read the book. If I had written the masterpiece that is Harry Potter, I would view the Cursed Child as an insult. Perhaps I’ll even write a review one day, just for fun. Rowling also annoyed me by going back on her story, regretting pairing Ron and Hermione together and not pairing Hermione with Harry. Ron and Hermione are my favourite couple from the story, and their relationship had so much meaning. I couldn’t believe that the author who wrote such a clever and consistent relationship between two beloved characters could ever regret it. At this point in my life, I was beginning to wonder if perhaps Rowling was losing her mind. It was almost like she was trying to destroy her legacy.

As more years passed, the Fantastic Beasts films were released. The first film looked promising, but the second film was yet another disaster. Again, it was inconsistent with the franchise as we knew it, for some reason Hogwarts was full of people wearing 3 piece suits instead of the robes they wore in the Harry Potter series and Minerva McGonigall appeared as a teacher despite the fact that canonically there is no way she could have been old enough. The film was a disaster with both fans and critics hating it. Amongst this mess came controversy in December 2019. Rowling lost all respect she had once held amongst the transgender community when she made a public statement supporting Maya Forstater, a British woman who lost her employment tribunal case against her employer who fired her over transphobic comments. Six months later on June 6 2020, Rowling criticised the term “people who menstruate” and stated: "If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives." Rowling’s views on these issues were heavily criticised by GLAAD and even by the actors from the Harry Potter movies including lead actors Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.

Rowling published a 3,600 word essay in response to the mass criticism of her views four days later. The essay did her no favours, as she wrote: “When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside.” She seemed to be suggesting that trans women are often just men disguised as women in order to trick or even harm other women. This obviously angered the transgender community even more, and women’s refuge shelters that allow trans women were reporting no rise in violence as a result, children’s charities that support gender non conforming children were criticising Rowling, she was being made to give back awards and ultimately Rowling was labelled a Trans exclusionary radical feminist, a term often abbreviated to TERF.

JK Rowling is the perfect example of how money and influence can make someone forget their roots so easily. For someone who survived poverty, domestic abuse and sexual assault, she is so lacking in self awareness and how the things she has said and done can be harmful to transgender people. It is widely reported that transgender women are at more risk of harm in female restrooms than cisgender women. With acceptance becoming the norm, transgender people are feeling more safe to come out now than ever before, and so the rise in numbers of the community is huge, especially amongst our generation who grew up with Harry Potter. For a young transgender teenager to grow up wondering how Hogwarts would accommodate them, only to hear the author who gave us Hogwarts in the first place disapprove of equal rights for transgender people, must be very disheartening. However, JK Rowling has proven that she has no idea how powerful the legacy her books created really is. She was tasked with following up the Harry Potter series, and what she gave us was inconsistent and very poorly written screenplays. I have read better sequels on tumblr. Lots of them. Hogwarts doesn’t belong to JK Rowling, it belongs to the fandom. And I’ll be willing to bet my last penny that if Professor McGonigall witnessed any bullying of transgender students in her classroom (or indeed the girls bathroom!) she’d absolutely defend the victim without a moment’s hesitation. Hermione would decorate the Gryffindor common room with little blue, pink and white flags in support of a transgender first year who’d just been sorted into Gryffindor. Luna Lovegood would sit and befriend any trans student who looked lonely, and Ginny would dish out a bat bogey hex to anyone who dared pick on them. No matter what JK Rowling thinks, Hogwarts is not hers to ruin. It is ours. Regardless of what makes us different, Hogwarts is our home.

#jk rowling #harry potter #hogwarts #gryffindor #hufflepuff #ravenclaw #slytherin #gay dumbledore #trans rights #edinburgh #professor umbridge #fuck rowling #cursed child is not canon #ron and hermione #lgbtq #lgbt representation #writing

47 notes · View notes