#maybe i should show my english teacher when i get back from winter break because she thinks im fucking stupid or something
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i keep seeing pins on pinterest of people saying "omg im gonna miss the og 1989 🥺" and i want to vocalize my take on that: there are a few reasons why i will not miss the og 1989.
the first of those reasons is that taylor is happier and healthier now. when she first released 1989, she was explicitly doing things for the approval of others and battling anorexia. she also has said that she wasnt smiling on the album cover because she didnt like her smile. on the taylors version album cover, you can she her big bright smile and you can tell that shes happier now. she is also much healthier. releasing reputation gave her the opportunity to say fuck you im gonna do things my way now to all the haters which imo was very brave of her. she realized that she doesnt need every single person in the world to love her because thats not how it works. she realized hey you know what i am allowed to do things the way i want to and not care what people think so im going to. she overcame her mental illness, which i am so so proud of her for and i will always be because that shit is really really hard.
my next reason is because taylor owns it now. the og 1989 is stolen and taylors version means she owns it now which is a big deal. she explained in an interview with Late Night with Seth Meyers why she decided to re-record her first six albums and she said its because she has always wanted to own her own music. re-recording the albums and putting "taylors version" in parenthesis after the song/album title means that her music legally belongs to her. not all artists have the opportunity to own their music so the fact that taylor does now is huge.
my last reason (which is kind of selfish ngl my bad): we get to have all the songs she was originally going to put on the album but never did until now. think of all her vault songs! we would never have had those had she not re-recorded her albums and added them to them. a shout out to my favorite vault song from each re-recorded album: mr perfectly fine from fearless, the very first night from red, timeless from speak now, and say dont go from 1989.
i am so proud of taylor from finding the bravery to say fuck you to her haters, learn to love herself, own her own music, and finish telling the story of each album. thats why i will not miss the og 1989.
#ermm kind of turned into an essay....#its fine#maybe i should show my english teacher when i get back from winter break because she thinks im fucking stupid or something#but i can write good when i want to/am motivated to#taylor swift#1989 taylors version#fearless taylors version#speak now taylors version#red taylors version
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Can you write a fluff piece with just Harry and Alex. Maybe y/n is out of the house for some reason.
Cozy Cuddles and Drunkenness (Harry-x-Reader-x-Alex) (AU)
When Harry comes home to Alex sleeping on the couch and joins him for a cuddle, but then you come home early from your night out very drunk and they have to take care of you-
po·lyg·a·my : the practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time.
AN: okay originally it was just gonna be harry and alex staring in it but then i had the idea of a drunk y/n coming home. also i've had this in my drafs for a while. so sorry to whomever requested this. it should have came out ages ago.
Here is the relationship info that will help you understand this AU universe —— >>>>>>>
Information on Harry x Reader x Alex (Male) Polyamory Relationship AU Series
(fluff, mentions of throw up, comfort)
word count: 1,927
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You had went out for the night to get some drinks with a few of your friends at a local bar in Los Angeles, meaning Harry and Alex would have the house to themselves for a few hours. Alex was off of work as an English teacher because of winter break and Harry unfortunately had to work a few hours later then he normally does in his office because of some financial trouble that arose. So by the time Harry arrived home he was knackered.
(this is a real photo of the inside of the house i picked to have this series set in. *just picture it dark outside*)
When Harry finally entered the front door of his house at seven pm, he got suspicious when he heard how quiet it was. That's when he remembered you'd be out for the night but then it left the question of where his other spouse was. He sat his briefcase by the door and walked inside a bit further. As Harry entered the open living room, his question was answered.
(this is a real photo of what the inside of the house looks like that i choose to have this series set in. *just picture it dark outside*)
Alex was napping on the longer sofa with a thin blanket draped over his body. Harry could see where he'd been watching some baking show on the tv before he must have fell asleep. He wants nothing more then to crawl in his husbands lap and cuddle with him, but he first needs to change out of his work clothes.
So quickly but also quietly, Harry goes up the stairs to change into some sweat pants and a t-shirt. After that, he goes back down the stairs where Alex is thankfully still asleep. He's always been the heavy sleepier of you three. Harry walks up to the couch his husband is sleeping on and gently pulls back the blanket. Then he carefully slides in beside him and places his head on Alex's shoulder and drapes his right leg over Alex's leg.
"Mhm," Alex groans, finally having been woken up and realizing who's cuddled into his side, "oh hi, baby."
Harry tilts his head up and replies, "Hi, love. I've had a rough day so I just wanted cuddles from you." At his words, Alex thinks he couldn't fall more in love with Harry if he tried. See, people looking into your relationship dynamic would think jealousy runs wild but truthfully it doesn't. You each three have a special relationship with each other individually and as a group.
People also doubt that Alex and Harry truly love you if they share such intimate words with each other privately, but that's far from the truth too. Yes, they love each other with just the two of them but no matter what they love you just as much. And you know and feel their love, hints why you never doubt that.
You've even had people tell you that Harry will end up leaving you to keep Alex for himself because he'll realize he's fully gay, but you scoff at their words. You find that to be so invalidating to the bisexual community. You're not bisexual yourself but your husbands are and just because they sometimes have sexual/romantic moments where its just them, doesn't mean when they have sexual/romantic moments with you they are any less attracted because you're female.
Tilting his head down a smidge, Alex brushes his nose with Harry's before they're connecting their lips together. The kiss is soft and gentle. Not a kiss that would lead to anything sexual because Alex can sense that Harry isn't in that kind of mood tonight and he's okay with that. Just cuddles and kisses are fine by him.
When the kiss finally breaks, Harry settles his head back on his husbands shoulder and pushes his face further into Alex's warm neck. He can smell the cologne Alex used earlier on his skin and it relaxes him further. He always enjoyed the manly scent of Alex and the more feminine scent you gave off with your floral fragrances. They both make Harry want to drowned in your smells.
Alex settles back into the cusion of the sofa and situates the blanket so its properly covering the both of them. Then he takes his left hand and begins to run it through Harry's once styled curls. Harry sighs quietly at how good the fingers through his hair feel. As the room settles back to its quiet state, Alex realizes Harry has begin to doze off on his chest and smiles at how content he was.
-----------------------------------
A few hours later you come through the door with a stumble. Unfortunately you're night was cut short when you drank too much and got sick at the bar. Your friend called an uber and rode with you back to your house. They would have called either Alex or Harry to come pick you up but decided to just have the same uber take them home after dropping you off. So it was more convenient the way they did it.
Since having thrown up most of the alcohol in your system, you're not as drunk as you were but still past the point of tipsy. You're about to attempt to climb the stairs with the heels you took off in the uber still in your hands when you see your husbands sit up from their laying positions on the couch, looking over at you. So you make a beeline towards them. "Love, you're home earlier than we thought." Harry tells you with a rasp in his voice from the nap he'd just took.
Once you've made it to the them, you don't even bother asking before climbing up onto both their laps and lean forward to nuzzle into their bodies. Their bodies being side by side. "Yeah um, Kelly had to call us an uber to take me home because, because I threw up at the bar. M'fine now. No worries." you slur as if throwing up alcohol was a normal thing to happen. Well it was common but not something that always happened to everyone after drinking.
Both Alex and Harry are in fact worried though. They knew you weren't a big drinker. Just a cocktail here and there and a glass of wine while chilling at the house. So if you drank so much it made you vomit, that was concerning to them. "Baby," Alex coos softly, "how much did you drink? You know you're a lightweight."
Now sitting up to look at their faces, you answer guiltily, "I dunno. Lost count after the eighth shot. Then I started to get dizzy and looked a bit pale so Kelly and Megan walked me to the bathroom and that's when I puked. But I feel fine now. Just tired s'all." Though you tried to act sober, your husbands could tell you were still drunk. They needed to get you to bed with some water in your system or else your hangover tomorrow will be killer.
Harry slips off the couch first beings he's on the outer edge and then leans down to scoop you up. "Hey," you gasp, "Alex is warm."
With you cradled in Harry's strong arms, he replies, "I know he's warm m'love. But we need to get you into bed and have you drink some water. Then we'll both cuddle you and get you even warmer, m'kay."
With you off of him now, Alex goes to stand up and says, "I'll grab the glass of water and meet you in the bedroom." Harry carries you all the way up the stairs and then places you on the edge of the king size bed. You fall back on the mattress when Harry lets go of you and close your heavy eyes. He pads over to your dresser and grabs you some pajama shorts and a t-shirt to wear to sleep. Then comes back over to you and helps you out of your dress.
Once the dress is over your head, your breasts are on full display because you didn't wear a bra. Except your nipples have pasties over them because your dresses top was too thin and would have shown your nipples all night. Which then would have prompted unwanted attention from men that you didn't want because you have two wonderful men at home.
Harry carefully starts to peel the left pastie off and you hiss out at the sting it brings as it pulls on your sensitive skin. "I know, love. Shh, I'm being gentle." Harry whispers softly, taking his time to pull it off your nipples so you weren't in too much pain. After both pasties were successfully removed, he leans down and pecks each nipple in a soft kiss, making goose bumps arise in your body.
The t-shirt is pulled over your upper body and then Harry helps slide your shorts up your legs. Right as he finishes getting you dressed, Alex comes into the bedroom with the cup of water in his hands. He walks over to you and instructs, "Here, drink some water, baby. It'll help minimize the hangover in the morning." He holds the glass for you because he's afraid you'll drop it.
After drinking most of the water, you annonce, "Gotta pee." Your husbands laugh at how your drunken mind announced that out loud and Harry comes back up to you, lifting you up once again.
Harry carries you over to the bathroom and helps you pull down your shorts and underwear before setting you on the toilet. Though you don't get wasted often, him helping you use the toilet isn't something new. He's helped you use the toilet a few times like when you're sick or after sex. So no embarrassment here.
When you stop peeing, you look up with a pout and whine, "Wipe me, please."
Harry giggles and retorts, "You can't wipe yourself?" You shake your head no when in reality you probably could but are too lazy and tired to do so. And you can get away with it because you're drunk right now. So being the kind husband he is, Harry pulls out some toilet paper and kneels down to gently wipe the piss off your vagina. It's not sexual at all. It just feels like an act of caring service.
Eventually you get off the toilet with the help of Harry and right before he takes you back into the bedroom, you say, "Need to brush my teeth. Mouth smells and taste like vomit." So Harry steps back over to the sink and sets you on top of the counter to help you with brushing them. The things he does for you, no way you ever have to doubt his love.
Alex has pulled the covers back on the bed and got settled in. A few minutes later Harry comes out of the bathroom with you in his arms and Alex smiles at the image. Harry carefully sets you in the center of the bed and both him and Alex helps pull the blankets over your body. Then before getting into bed himself, Harry quickly pulls off his shirt and pants so he's only left in his boxers, his usual sleep attire.
Now in bed with both you and Alex, Harry reaches to turn the lamp off and tiredly mutters, "Let one of us know if you wake up feeling sick, love. Don't need you puking in the blankets. Love you."
"M'kay." you answer half asleep.
"Love you too, babe." Harry tells Alex who's on the other side of you.
"Love you both." Alex says back, leaning over to peck you on the forehead and kiss Harry on the cheek. Then he settles back down and you all three fall into a content sleep.
(PLEASE REBLOG BECAUSE WRITING IS NOT EASY AND IT'S FREE SO JUST DO IT)
(no more tags are allowed because i've hit my number limit. sorry : ( )
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My Masterlist Masterpost
#harry styles#harry styles fan fiction#harry styles au#au series#harry x reader x alex#bisexual!harry#husbandrry#husband!harry#softrry#soft!harry#polyamory#harry styles polyamory series#polyamourous#harry x alex#harry styles fic rec
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brand new eyes
wanda maximoff x fem!reader
summary: having a penpal in the sixth grade was overdone, in your opinion. and handwritten letters just weren’t convenient. you weren’t happy at all to start talking to some random girl your age across the sea, but once you started, neither of you could find it in you to stop.
warnings: fluff!!!! mutual pining. badly written letters (actually the whole one shot). brief battle with sexuality. a seriously strong connection between two characters (almost soulmate territory here tbh). every single mistake here is 100% mine!
word count: 8.7k!
At first, you were sure that the pen pal letter suggestion for extra credit was stupid. Why would you handwrite a letter when you could send an email? Why would you send a letter by mail that would take much longer? It took two weeks for a handwritten letter to arrive, and only seconds for an email. It didn’t make any sense.
And then you got your first letter.
You realized very quickly why handwriting was what your teachers asked for. You never knew that handwriting could be so vulnerable, so open. You had never seen letters that were so loopy, so delicate. That letter was written so neatly and so personally even if the girl who had written it hadn’t meant it to be that way, and you knew that a computer even with all of its special fonts wouldn’t be able to do that.
You understood why the handwritten rule was there.
But you didn’t like it when it was your turn to craft something so beautiful.
It wasn’t a competition by any means, but you didn’t want your letter to look anything like the words you scratched down into your notebooks. You wanted them to be neat and pretty and most of all understandable for the girl behind the pen and across the sea, because she had done the same for you.
By the time you stopped ogling over the letters and started actually reading the words that the girl had written, you learned her name. You learned it within the first line, actually.
Wanda Maximoff.
She was obviously from Sokovia, she spoke English as her second language, and she had an older twin brother that she both adored and was annoyed by. She was in the equivalent of your grade in her country, and she liked to cook with her parents. The letter was basic and slightly elementary, just an introduction to what she was willing to share with a stranger that lived thousands of miles away.
But that didn’t make it any less special.
You started on your return letter minutes after you let her pretty words sink in.
You drafted your letter and let it sit for an hour without you looking at it, and then came back to it only to cross things out and revise it, and then put it on the expensive paper that your mother had bought for you. It wasn’t perfect, but it was yours. It started with a greeting, your name, and then into the same sort of things that she spoke about in her own letter, the things that people that went to school with you had learned in passing over the years.
It felt like giving someone the rundown of your uneventful life so far in the simplest of ways. It felt like someone getting to know you as you wanted them to, because you were telling your story. There was no other side, or truth, or lie, just what your pen and your brain decided to write. It was controlled chaos. And you adored it.
Your print was easy to read. It wasn’t loopy like hers or as “girlish”, as one of your classmates said when you brought both letters to school to get an extra one hundred. It wasn’t fancy and alluring like hers, but there was still something magical on the pseudo-aged parchment.
You sent it off to the post office the next day, and you put her letter on your desk.
§§§
By the time that your third letter from her came, you already were drafting your own. It came straight to your mailbox and when you checked the mail that morning, you were ecstatic to see it waiting for you, like a pet waiting for it’s person to come home. As usual, it started off with the gentle scrawl of your name, just a bit larger than all of the rest of the words that were on the page.
I can’t believe that it’s already been weeks of us writing. We started in August, and it’s nearing the end of October. Speaking of, is it starting to get cold there for you? It’s already cold for us. Our grandmother always makes us the best tea and soup when it gets cold outside, and I could send you the recipe if you wanted!
My brother and I are curious about one thing, and we hope that we get your answer in time, but, is Halloween really a thing? We have both heard of it, but we’ve never done it here. It sounds magical. I’ve always wanted to dress up however I wanted and get candy for it. If I were to do it, I would probably be a Disney Princess, maybe Merida. Sadly, we don’t do that here. Does it really happen in the United States, or is that a movie thing?
Hopefully you don’t mind my questions much, or my short letter. Pietro likes to read over my shoulder while I write and receive the letters, and I like to write at the kitchen table. There’s no escaping him. You’ve never talked about siblings, do you have them?
The rest of the letter was like that, aloof yet curious and bouncing around all the same, and then signed with her always rushed conclusion, which was nearly the same every time.
You read it and put the letter in the box that you had bought from a thrift store, a box just big enough for the size of the neatly folded and tied off letters that she gave you. You clipped the box shut and put it back under your desk, and then started working on your response.
Instead of just a letter, you sent her a letter in a small box that had the candy that you had gotten on Halloween night, and the mask that went with the rest of your costume. It wasn’t the Disney Princess that Wanda wanted to dress up as, but it was something. It was your something.
§§§
As the December portion of your letter writing, you and your penpal were supposed to learn of the other’s traditions during the Holidays, whether you or them celebrated or not. A huge slide show about the culture of your Sokovian friend was supposed to be shown, and you knew that there would be a lot of the same PowerPoints, a lot of the same pictures and sayings and explanations. You wanted something different. You also had no idea if Wanda did Christmas, but you had to ask.
Wanda,
I’m sure that you know that our assignment now is to present a slide show about what our penpal does during the Holiday season, but because I don’t know whether you celebrate Diwali or Christmas or Hanukkah, I’ll start with asking you about New Years, because I’ve never met a person who didn’t celebrate New Years.
What do you do on New Years Eve? I’ll start by telling you that I watch the ball drop with my family, eat food, and drink cider after it hits midnight. It’s a big deal here for us, because the new year is a time for self revolution, apparently. I’ve never done a New Years resolution, but maybe I’ll do one this year. Have you ever done one?
I know that food is very big over in Sokovia, so what kind of food do you traditionally have when you’re celebrating? Do you like it? Can you cook it yourself? Because I know that you have the same questions for me that you have to put in before you leave for Winter Break, I’ll answer my own questions.
And you did. You were thorough, partly because you thought that it was kind of you to do so because she should get a good grade, and also because she had written that she was thankful for your descriptions on multiple occasions. You had noticed that she was the more whimsical writer and that you came off as the more grounded one, and it intrigued you.
You wondered if you two would come off that way in person to other people, if you ever got the chance to meet.
When her letter came two weeks later, wrapped in aged string as always, you skipped to your bedroom, already pulling the box out from under the table and starting to read it. You smiled through the whole thing.
In her own way, not as precise or even in order as you, she had told you everything you needed to do a good slide show about Sokovia during the Holidays.
§§§
You were emotional at the end of the year. Not because you were leaving the sixth grade and going to a new building in the school and leaving behind your kind teachers, but because the pen pal assignment was over.
No other assignment had been so important to you, or eye opening. You were only twelve years old, but you were old enough to know that you had never found a friend like you had in Wanda, who was still thousands of miles away. No one else, not even the people that stood feet apart from you, offered you friendship like Wanda Maximoff did.
You couldn’t stop writing to her.
It was your turn to send a letter, the final letter that you were supposed to send, and then her closing letter was supposed to come two weeks later. You couldn’t just close it. Your entire mind was screaming at you to not close the book that you had hardly started yet.
So, as your pen rested on the parchment paper (without drafting first), you lifted it up, and changed your mentality from a “goodbye” to a hopeful and questioning one, as you hoped that she felt the same and wanted to talk just as much as you did.
Wanda,
It’s the end of the year. Technically, we should be done with our letters because it’s the end of the year, and the assignment is graded. This should be a closing letter, but I don’t think that our friendship was ever dictated by the grades that we got. We were always closer than all of the other pen pals at school that I knew, and I was hoping that you would want to continue writing.
You couldn’t write much more after that, because your pen was shaking and you were starting to get in the danger zone of dropping tears on the paper. If this was your last letter to Wanda, you wanted it to be pretty. Just half as pretty as she always made hers, if you could manage it.
You sent it off the next morning after finding an old string that was nearly the same colors as hers and getting your friend across the street to hold it down and color the outside of it for you.
§§
A part of you wanted to say that you wouldn’t have been expecting to still write handwritten letters to a girl in Sokovia in the ninth grade, but you certainly were. While everyone else in your class had lost contact after the assignments were done or tried and failed to keep contact afterwards, you and Wanda continued talking all through the years.
It astounded your parents, who were sure that in the beginning, you were just obsessed with someone who was your age and who wasn’t exactly like you. They thought for sure that you would have lost interest in talking to Wanda, but after three straight years, gas spent taking you to the post office, and money spent on special stamps and the same paper, they were starting to finally get the hint.
Because you were so close with Wanda, you hardly had close friends in your neighborhood, and maybe two or three at school. There was no one that knew you like Wanda did, and no one that knew Wanda like you did. One particular letter where you confessed probably the worst thing you had ever done to her that no one else knew was what finally let you know that she was the most judgement-free person in the world, and that you would do anything to keep her. You would never forget how the letter went, and how her response sounded.
Wands,
I’ve done something terrible. I may have accidentally gotten involved with a boy who already had a girlfriend, and I had no idea. I had literally no idea, and today she just called me out of nowhere and started crying over the phone to me, and I had no idea that he was with her. At all. It was so pitiful, and she’s not mad, and she says that she won’t tell anyone it was me, but still. She seemed to really like him, and I think I may have just ruined a relationship. I have no idea what to do, and all I feel is guilt. Nothing more or less. Should I send her something? Give her a gift card? I feel terrible because she was just so sweet about it.
The letter went on and on with your scripted rambling, so repetitive and panicked that you were shocked to know that Wanda had, in fact, read the entire thing. She got a message back to you rather quickly, and that made you both nervous about her verdict and glad, because you felt like with an answer so quick, she must not have judged you too harshly. You remembered opening it with shaky hands, and inhaling and exhaling when her first words after your nickname were “breath in” and “breathe out”.
Wanda once said that writing to you was like writing to a diary who always wrote back, and you couldn’t agree more. She knew everything, and she never judged. And, when the time came for her to put all of her eggs in your basket of trust, you did the same for her.
You distinctly remembered getting the few letters that you kept at the bottom of your letter stack, even though you liked to have them in chronological order. In the eighth grade, Wanda was having a crisis over her sexuality. Being anything but straight in Sokovia wasn’t the best thing to be, and you knew that. The first letter she ever sent you about her sexuality had dried spots on it, where she had obviously cried. Her handwriting wasn’t anywhere as neat as it usually was, and it sent you into a state of panic.
We talk to each other about everything, so here I am asking for your advice because I won’t be getting anything here. I know that usually we keep our letters formal for aesthetic purposes, but I can’t this time. Also, no one other than you can read this.
From there, she told you that she was sure that she liked women, and that she was even more sure that her parents would be upset at her. She told you that she had been dwelling on it for a while, thinking about it and having it weigh heavily on her mind. She was all over the board with it, from her parents being upset to her being afraid that you were going to be opposed to it as well, or tell her that she was “too young to think that way”. She ended the letter by telling you that you were the first person that she had ever told.
You started your letter with your own confession, and Wanda Maximoff was the first one you ever told, too. You were past having your crisis, though, and you helped her through hers without a second of complaints. You always wished that you had someone to help you when you were down and questioning yourself, so you knew that you would be that for Wanda without hesitation.
You two grew together even more, and by the ninth grade, you both knew that there wasn’t going to be anything in the world that could stop your letters.
You came home one day after a long day and checked your mailbox out of habit, knowing that a letter wasn’t due for a few more days. But there it was, wrapped and sitting pretty for you. Your name was scrawled beautifully on the front in the handwriting that got better and better with every year, but you would recognize it anywhere. A smile grew onto your face as you walked to your front door, unlocking it and rushing inside to get to your desk. Of course, your name came first in the loopy letters.
I hope you’re doing alright! Things have been busy over here on my side of things, but never busy enough to not write you back. I just wondered, have been wondering for a while, really, if we were ever going to meet. We’ve been writing to each other for years, but I’ve never seen a picture of you. I know everything about you, but I’ve never met you. You are my best friend in the entire world, but I’ve never heard your voice. One day I would love to finally meet you. Would you be open to thinking about one of us flying out? Maybe after school is over for the both of us, we could make it happen. Number
It was much longer than that, but that was what caught your attention, more than her description of her busy week did. You read the letter three times. And then again. Your heart thumped in your chest as you tried to get a grip on yourself, irrational nervousness gripping your throat like an iron fist.
You knew the day was coming. You knew that it was. You two didn’t know what the other looked like at all, and neither of you had ever asked. Sometimes, you thought about it, but other times you found that it really didn’t matter. It didn’t matter what she looked like because she was the best friend you had ever had, so you forgot about it. But that wasn’t what worried you.
The thought of meeting her nearly put you in cardiac arrest. You couldn’t meet her. What if you met and you two were totally bored of each other? What if how close you were on paper didn’t reflect at all in real life? What if you two found roadblocks in conversation that you never saw before? You didn’t want to meet her, not at all. You were terrified of it.
Because if you didn’t connect with Wanda on sight, then you doubted that you would ever be able to connect with anyone else. If you were wrong about Wanda being your person and her being yours, you would be crushed. If you figured out that the person who you gave your all for didn’t like you anymore after meeting you, you would die on the spot. You couldn’t afford to find it out.
You sat at your desk for an hour after reading her letter, smoothing your hand over the paper like you always did before you wrote your response. You knew what you needed to say, you just didn’t know how to say it.
What she had already written helped you, too. She was implying that they met up after graduation, which was still years away. You had time to hold off on it, to not talk about it for a while. You had some stall time in the bank, for sure. And you were going to use it.
§§§
You made the mistake of not putting the letter in your box.
Your mother came into your room, and she saw the letter. Your desk was typically off limits, so you were upset that she read it anyway, but what she said led all anger out of your body and made way for fear.
“You should totally go see your friend, sweetie!”
“What?”
“I’d pay for you to fly out,” your mom said. “I’d come with you, but I would pay for you to fly out and see your friend. You’ve been writing each other for three years now, and you’ve never seen each other. You guys should do it.”
“You’d fly me out to Sokovia?”
“You’re a great kid, of course I would.” You took the letter from her hands gently and put it in the box, and she gave you a look. “You don’t want to go, do you?”
You didn’t answer.
“Why not?”
“I’m scared to meet her,” you admitted plainly, and then your mother gave you a look.
“She seems so excited to, after all these years. She’s such a sweet girl, what are you worried about?”
You couldn’t answer that. Your fears were your own, and they sounded ridiculous out loud. They made no sense to everyone else, and sometimes not even to you. Wanda Maximoff was nothing but sweet and kind and a good friend, and there you were, trying to blow her off because you were scared of a possible lack of face to face connection.
“Can we just drop it?”
And you did. In fact, all four of you did, until later.
§§§
By the end of your junior year, you were done for. Not because of tests or applications or any of that, it was because you realized that you were in deep for Wanda Maximoff.
It all made sense. The need to keep writing to her, the excitement you had felt getting a letter since sixth grade, the way you marveled over her penmanship and loved everything that she said and did. You were so in love with her, and it was irreversible. You were in love with her and what the two of you created together.
And you couldn’t lose that because of a bad meeting.
You avoided the topic of going there or Wanda coming to you, and you finally got each other’s numbers so that you could text on some international texting app, but primarily, it was still the heartfelt letters with the occasional heart stamps and constant string coming your way. And you wouldn't haven’t wanted anything different.
You sat at your desk on the last day of school as you wrote to her, writing about how you were about to watch some of your slightly older friends graduate in a few days. You also mentioned how you were excited to be a senior and get through your last year of high school just so that you could go and do whatever it was that you wanted to do, because you were only seventeen, and you didn’t know anything.
Sunshine,
I can’t wait to get out of high school. It’s not bad, just boring. I wish the people here were like you, and then maybe I could actually carry a conversation with them. Have you told your family yet? I told mine. My mom was… shocked to say the least, but she was fine with it. I think she might have suspicions about us writing to each other now, but who cares? I want to know if you’re alright.
How’s your new job going? I know you were excited to get one, so I hope it’s treating you well. It’s funny that you and Piet work across the mall from each other. I knew it was gonna be like that, even though you said it wouldn’t be! You two are inseparable, it’s so cute. Does he have any idea what he wants to do after we get out of school?
I kind of think that I want to start my own business. A flower shop, maybe. You know how I sort of have a green thumb. I think it would be good for me to own something. What do you think?
You wrote for about thirty minutes more, answering the questions she had asked you in a previous letter and signing your name at the bottom, a small smile on your face as you thought about her and her brother making food together like they always did.
You loved her. You really did.
§§§
It was in the middle of your senior year when you realized what the problem with her coming was. You had been keeping it so far in the back of your mind that you didn’t even realize that the alarms were blaring in the back of your head.
You knew that if you saw Wanda in person once that you would never be able to let her go. You would have to pick up and move to her country or she would come to yours, and it would kill your mother for you to move. So, that would mean that you would be asking for Wanda to leave her own family to be with you, and you couldn’t be selfish.
So, you would be selfish in a way that was also selfless by holding off on seeing her.
You hadn’t told her that you loved her, and you planned on never admitting it. You were sure she kind of knew, even just a little, but she never said anything. The way that you were holding onto the idea of her probably said enough for her to know. You just hoped that she knew that you were in love with her as a friend, at least. Wanda was the type who needed to know that they were loved, and she so was.
You loved her without even knowing what she looked like. You loved her without knowing whether she had a nasty habit or if she was a neat freak. You loved her without seeing her in a dress or in your favorite color or even looking into her eyes. You had never even heard her voice before, but that didn’t matter at all. You fell in love with her hand writing, then the way that she wrapped her letters, and then her words themselves. And then, you just were in love with Wanda Maximoff. All of her. All that you knew. And the things that you didn’t.
You thought about a confession letter for a long time. You were terrified of it, to say the least, because what if it backfired? What if she thought that you were only interested because she came out to you? What if she thought that you didn’t mean it at all?
Or worse, what if she just completely didn’t feel that way at all? What if the feeling she got when she wrote to you was nothing but platonic? That would be the biggest nightmare of all, and you had no idea how you were ever going to be able to pick up your fancy pen and put it to your special parchment after reading that.
By the time that you finally stopped wrestling with yourself about whether you were going to tell her that you were in love with her, you got a letter in the mail. A heart stamp was on the outside and it was tied with the string it always was, and the familiarity calmed your racing heart. You opened it gently, like you did with all of the letters you got, and then you saw her familiar scrawl.
How could someone’s handwriting feel like home?
Moonlight,
I would love to tell you about everything that’s been happening here, but I believe that it’s rather boring compared to what’s been bursting at the seams in my own mind. With every letter that I’ve ever written to you since we were thirteen, I’ve hesitated with my pen over telling you what I know has been true for years. I think that, finally, I know that I have something to say to you. I’ve always wanted to admit this to you, ever since the seventh grade.
I think that I fell in love with you, a long, long, time ago. I think that I know I did. I haven’t told you, and I never intended to tell you, because I was scared. I’m still scared here, as I write this letter, but I can’t keep it to myself anymore.
Pietro already knows, but he knew before I even did. I’m sure it has something to do with us being so in sync, that he knew where my heart, love, and loyalties were before I even knew myself. I tell you everything, and something as monumental as falling in love with someone, I believe that you should know. But I couldn’t tell you. Not in the beginning, and apparently, not even after a year or two.
I’ve never seen you or heard your voice or held your hand, but I don’t need that to know that I truly have fallen in love with the person that you are. You are a beautiful person with the most gorgeous soul I have ever had the privilege of talking to, and I think that we have stumbled upon a connection that we may never see again, if you feel the same way.
If this made you uncomfortable in any way, please tell me. I’m sorry if this came on too strong, or too up front. I never want to make you upset.
It’s okay if you don’t want to carry on writing to me after this letter. I just thought that I needed to tell you after all this time. We never lie to each other, and I think that this lie to save me from possible embarrassment or losing the greatest friend I have ever had has expired. Thank you as always for reading, Moonlight.
Your Sunshine, Wanda.
Your jaw was slacked, and your mouth was open. Your heart was beating so quickly, but it wasn’t frantic. Your mind was going at a thousand miles a minute, but you were calm. You were supposed, but you weren’t. It simply felt… right. It felt like you had secretly been expecting it all along, like your soul had known the whole time, or maybe even like it had known that you felt the exact same way. It felt like you were receiving news that you had already heard about.
But that didn’t take away any from the pure elation that you felt. You set the letter down so that you didn’t accidentally wrinkle it, and then put your head in your hands to hide your smile and think, like they would help you any.
She loves me. Wanda loves me. And not in the way that friends loved each other, that’s not how she loved you. She felt what you had been feeling, a bond so strong that it could be felt on paper.
Your hands shook as you reread the letter. You scanned over it for a second time, a third time, and you were tearing up by the fifth, finally setting it down again and leaving it on your desk. It didn’t deserve the beautiful darkness of the box where it’s predecessors went, not yet. Probably not ever. You would have framed it in the moment, if you could have.
Part of you was glad that she admitted it first. You were going to, one day, maybe. But the worst part was the hypothetical wait for the letter to cross the pond. Whoever sent the confession letter would have to wait about two weeks for a response, and that felt like forever. You knew that just as much as she did, and she still took the chance to do it.
So, with the most fond and gentle smile on your face, you took out your special pen, wrote Sunshine as the entrance, and then professed your own love right back at her, trying as hard as you possibly could to make it as beautiful and raw for her as you felt on the inside, and as the one that she gave you. But, all you could think of were the first two sentences, but you knew that you were going to go for much longer than that.
Sunshine,
Oh, Wanda. How I wish we were both brave enough to do this earlier.
§§§
By the end of your senior year, you two were dancing around each other, taking it slow, as if you both hadn’t professed your love for each other. You kept writing your steady letters to each other, the same nicknames, the same doting words and pretty scratched across the paper with dark ink.
For the most part, nothing changed. But neither of you could deny the way that you wanted to see each other. And so, your time was up. You had to stop messing around.
The first time the two of you planned to see each other, it was supposed to happen over that summer break. It was supposed to be a nice experience for everyone, at a time that was actually pretty convenient.
And then, right during the week she was supposed to come, her aunt passed away, right in her sleep. It didn’t even come to your mind to think about rescheduling so fast, and that was the first time you had ever gotten an email from Wanda. She emailed you the morning that she found out, saying that she would rather send the first email than have you show up at the airport upset because you didn’t know she wasn’t coming. She was able to resell her ticket and you assured her that it was totally okay for her to not be coming, and you gave her condolences, as well. Wanda was very close to her family, and you knew that she felt that loss.
The next time the plans fell through, it was because you were going to surprise her. Your mom paid for your ticket, and you had finally grown out of your own mind and realized that it was going to be what it was regarding meeting Wanda. But, when you emailed her two nights before, spilling the beans because you didn’t want to just go to the airport without knowing how the hell to get around, you got a quick response. Turns out, she wasn’t anywhere near her house, or the airport. She was on a marine biology trip in some waters off the coast of Romania, and she hadn’t gotten the chance to write you all about it yet. You begrudgingly canceled the trip and told her that of course, it was alright. That night, your mom assured you that the two of you would just try again later.
But then life happened. You went off to culinary school, a last minute yet sure decision after Wanda had taught you that there was so much more to love about food other than the taste. She had your new address and you had hers, because she moved from Sokovia to Italy for her marine biology major. The letters came and went faster, with the smaller amount of mileage.
Long story short, neither of you had enough money to go and spend thousands on a trip, and not even one helping the other out or splitting the cost helped much. Wanda was getting increasingly nervous about whether it was ever going to happen, and though she never stated it directly, it was very obvious. You were getting there, too.
The thing that kept you going was the letters. The same as they had always been on her end and yours, they were the one constant in your life. Wherever you went, you knew that her letters would follow you, and that you would still write from your heart and send your own across the sea over to some place in Europe. You knew that as long as her letters were lengthy and detailed and that if she took the time to wrap them as gently as she had been, that you two were strong. And as long as you kept giving advice and writing her entire short stories about you week, she knew that you were still hers.
You would be hers until your heart stopped beating, and long after that. You were there for her for as long as she wanted you to be, and that was widely known.
§§§
It took four years for you to get back home and in a place where you could afford a ticket in or out. Wanda took a little longer, but that didn’t matter. It only gave you even more time to save and plan for when she came, and the date came.
You were both twenty two when you bought her the winning ticket. You were flying her out to Florida for a week and a half. The Keys, to be exact. You knew that she was going to love it and the beautiful waters that came with it, and it was away from the meddling eyes and mouths of your family, the ones who had been routing for you from afar (and in the beginning, behind your back). It was just going to be the two of you in a condo, and you knew that it was going to be heaven on earth.
Now, hell on earth was the anticipation of waiting at the airport. You had no idea what Wanda Maximoff looked like, partially because it didn’t matter while you two wrote, and also because you wanted to see her for the first time in person. You two had a flare for dramatic romantics, another reason that you two clicked so well.
You stood with a sign that you had made the night before with paint that you had mixed yourself into her favorite shade of red, a scarlet, almost pink color. You were in a sundress because it was sweltering outside, and you were almost nervous about how she would take the heat after being somewhere so cold all of her life. You were rocking back and forth on your feet without even noticing, and your stomach growling was the last of your worries. Your heart was racing and your hands were shaking, but you willed them to stay still so that she could at least have a chance of reading it.
You were sure that you were about to pass out. It seemed like it had been millennia and a day all the same with her in your life. Everything that you had written each other was really about to come to life, after ten long years. You felt almost like it wasn’t real at all, like you were about to be woken up by your alarm back in your apartment over at your old school. But it was very, very real, and all the receipts and your racing heart advocated for the truth in it all.
The gates opened, and all of a sudden, people were lazily walking out, as one would do after a long flight. You were certain that the woman who was standing next to you could hear you start to slightly hyperventilate, but you didn’t care. The only thing that mattered to you in that moment was Wanda.
A man came up from behind you and bumped you, and he said his apologies while you bent down to pick up the sign. Despite your nervousness, you stopped to tell him that it was okay, sign still face down on the floor. He grinned at you and then frowned when he looked up, causing you to mirror his expression.
Your name. It was clear as day, accented, close, and sounded like a sigh of relief and wonder floating in the wind. It came from a woman you didn’t know the voice of, and just like that, you remembered what you were doing. You left the sign on the floor, stood up, and turned around as fast as you could, eyes slightly wild as they soaked in everything about the woman standing in front of you.
Her hair was almost a cross between light brown and light red, even in the fake lights of the airport. She had light makeup on and she looked a little tired from the flight, but the look of elation on her face wiped it all away. Her pink lips were curved into an open mouthed smile, like she had forgotten the words while they were already halfway to her tongue. Your heart raced as you looked at her, and you didn’t even need to question who she was. Or who she was to you. You couldn’t look at anything but her face, the face you had been missing so achingly without ever seeing it before, the face that you knew was bound to give you comfort that you had never felt one in your life, until the end of your days. Her eyes were wide and a clear blue as they stared back at you, reflecting your exact expression, and you sensed that the two of you had already synced up and gotten on the same page, just like you had both predicted.
“O-oh my god,” you breathed out, just inches away from her. “Wanda!” You went in for an embrace at the same time, both of you somehow knowing which way to lean your head to avoid collision, and just where to put your arms. You fought shaking when you held her, your nerves completely shot at it finally happening. You were actually with Wanda, in an airport, hugging her like there was all the time to spend in the world. “Oh my god,” you repeated, and you felt her squeeze you a little closer to her. You could have cried in that moment.
“You,” she pulled back from you to take your face in her hands, her blue eyes scanning over your face like she was studying priceless art. In the back of your mind, you wondered if it was the way she looked when she watched the animals underwater. She shook her head slowly, eyes welling up with the thinnest layer of tears as her lips turned up into a smile. “You are beautiful.”
Your heart skipped a beat as you looked downwards, feeling yourself get hot at the bold and sincere compliment. You knew that anything more than about three words was going to smoke you stutter “Wanda, have you seen yourself?” She laughed, a soft sound that you had imagined hearing so many times that you almost thought you had made it up, until you saw the upturn of her mouth and the mirth in her eyes.
“I’m- I can’t believe I’m actually here,” Wanda breathed out, and you felt the same exact way. How had you pulled it off? After nearly a decade of pining that was mutual and writing to each other about every little detail in your lives, she was finally right in front of you, where you could see her and touch her.
“How’d you know it was me?” You asked after a second of grappling for something to say. “I didn’t have my sign up when you came.”
The smile that was on her face went from being flat out joyful to content, almost peaceful. It rubbed off on you immediately as you leaned back into her touch, ignoring all of the people bustling around in the busy airport. “I just knew that it was you.”
§§§
For the entirety of the day Wanda arrived, all the two of you did was stare at each other and hold onto each other, like you were both equally terrified that the gods were going to come down from wherever they resided to split you up again. There was hardly even any talking when you arrived at the condo, and it felt natural. The two of you had already spoken so much, and now you needed to catch up on just seeing her. You’ve seen her soul, her mind, her heart, and now you were seeing her face. It felt like you had always known it.
But you were the first one to speak as you held hands on the deck, her thumb drawing subconscious hearts on the back of your palm. “You have a way with words, sunshine.” The name contrasted to the sky, which was dark but illuminated with an almost full moon and stars. The city was mostly behind you, so the natural light was what you got. It was all that you needed.
You felt her content fade into joy. “Really?”
You knew that she was nervous about her English, but to you, it was perfect. From her accent to the way that she sometimes missed connotations that were specific to the language to the idioms that accidentally slipped into your letters, you loved it. “Mhm,” you hummed, leaning your head on her shoulder. “And I never would have imagined that you sounded so… sweet.”
“Sweet?” She parroted, and you smiled even though she couldn’t see it. Somehow, you knew that she could feel it, in some strange way. “Can I ask you something?” The answer was yes. It was yes, and it always would be yes. So, you said that. She cleared her throat, a quiet sound that you stored in your memory to keep, simply because she made it. “Did you… did you mean what you wrote?”
You were stumped. There had to be hundreds of letters between the two of you, and thousands upon thousands of topics. But you couldn’t question yourself for long, because then you knew exactly what she was talking about.
Did you truly love Wanda? The question came up a few times between you and your mother when you were in your first year of culinary school. Were you in love with Wanda Maximoff, or were you in love with the idea of Wanda and the mystery she brought? The question had been brought up, many times by your mother, who was only just making sure that you were being smart, and the answer never once varied. Yes. You loved Wanda Maximoff with every breath you took, every stroke of your pen, every glance at her pretty script. You knew that Wanda was it for you, and seeing her only solidified it. The way your hand fit together like they were the missing parts of a lost artifact made it concrete. The way she gave you everything back and the way you did the same told you everything you needed to know.
You leaned off of her shoulder and turned to face her, a soft smile on your face as the moon came out from behind the singular patch of clouds in the night, illuminating her features. You saw her face and her spirit through brand new eyes, and it was wonderful. It was all you could ever ask for. “Wanda,” you started, your voice quiet enough to not disturb the moment, and the sound of waves crashing not too far away. “I’ve loved you since I knew what love was, and I have been in love with you for as long as I knew what the difference between the two really was. Everything that I have ever sent to you, every word, I meant it all. And I’ll mean it for the rest of my life.”
She was staring at you blankly, with only a bit of something lingering in her gaze. Then, as soft as a breeze, she was muttering something under her breath in her mother tongue and putting her hand on your face. “Can I kiss you?”
You ignored the way that your heart surged in your chest. The moon was still out and bright, shining down on the two of you like you had paid for it to be a spotlight. “You never have to ask,” you said, and then, as fluidly and gently as humanly possible, she tilted her head and leaned forward, and you met her halfway.
§§
You had never been scuba diving before, but Wanda was in her element. She helped you suit up after she told the instructor that she was certified, and then rolled her eyes playfully when he checked behind her work. You cracked a smile. The entire time he was instructing, she was nearly bursting at the seams to get into the water, and the second he said that the two of you were allowed to go, she was holding your hand and asking if you were ready.
You never thought that Wanda could look more beautiful than she already had, but in and near the water, she was something else. She was in a state of grace and peace all the same, and you wanted nothing more than for her to be so tranquil, for the rest of her life. All you wanted in return was to be privileged to see it.
The gods that made you fear a bad trip were actually on your side, because Wanda excitedly pointed out a group of migrating sea turtles, not even paying either of you any mind at all, carrying about through nature. You smiled at them and at her, unable to decide which one was going to be the apple of your eye at the moment. You chose her.
§§§
You got out of the shower, your skin still slightly damp and the air humid from the heat of the water. You smiled at Wanda when you caught her looking at you, giving you that same blank stare that she had the first night the two of you got there. You stopped in your tracks, giving her the encouraging look that you knew she needed. “You okay, Wands?”
“I love you.”
Your breath hitched. It was the first time she had spoken the words aloud, and you both knew it. The weight of the words and the confession felt so true, so genuine, that it went straight to your heart and made it swell with warmth. A small yet generous smile stretched onto your face as you felt everything fall into place. “I love you, Wands.”
“More than I’ve ever loved anything,” she continued, like she hadn’t even heard you, and you looked back at her with a doting expression. “And, I’ve been holding off because I don’t know how to say that,” she paused, and then she fell into deep thought.
You took a step closer, assuming that the small language barrier had come up. When it took her more than a few seconds and you saw the little scrunch of confusion between her brows appear, you spoke up. “There’s no rush,” you said gently.
“If other people were to look at us, they would say that we have only known each other for three days,” she said, and you nodded. “But, I feel that we’ve known each other for thousands of years. I feel that we were made to meet, and that we were always going to no matter what came up. Why else would we both be so focused on talking to each other? I have always seen you as someone special to me, always, but now that we have finally seen each other face to face, I think that my… heart is recognizing you as it’s other part.”
You had no words in your mind at that moment, because they were all in your heart. You couldn’t open your mouth to convey the pure shock and relief that you felt at her admitting something that you had been feeling the whole time. You swallowed and felt your eyes burn with tears, but before they could fall past your cheeks, Wanda stood up and wiped them from your face before pulling you close.
Nothing mattered. Not the fact that you were still wet and she was in her pajamas, not the fact that you were in a towel, not the fact that the pizza man was knocking at the door. It was you and her, like it always had been in your mind, and Wanda’s too.
You were it for her, and she was it for you. And while you hugged it out in that beautiful condo in Florida, you silently thanked your sixth grade English teacher for making you write to a random girl your age all the way across the Atlantic, and you thanked Wanda for being the one who wrote her way right into your life.
so. uh! hiiii! i hope y’all liked it! i loved writing it, even though she was a lil bit of a challenge, not gonna lie. feedback is always appreciated!!
#wanda maximoff#wanda x reader#wanda maximoff x reader#marvel fanfic#wanda fluff#scarlet witch#marvel au#wanda maximoff fluff#lgbtq#lesbian!wanda
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Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You
Pairing: Fred Weasley x Slytherin!Reader
Summary: Fred and you have never been sure of your feelings for one another.
Word Count: 7,823
Warnings: A bit of bad lenguage, and slow burn(?
A/N: This is the first thing I’ve written in 6-7 years, so let me know what y’all think, I’d appreciate it a lot:) Also, forgive any grammar mistakes, english isn’t my native lenguage, haha
GIF credit: @fgweasley
Fred liked looking at you from afar.
He liked the way how you were different from all the other Slytherins even though you actually were like the rest of them.
Since your first year at Hogwarts, he’d taken a liking towards you. Of course at the beginning that liking was just friendly, he liked that he didn’t feel the need to punch you in the face, he’d never admit it tho, not even to George since they’d been taught to mistrust those in your house; but during that first year he’d always notice how you were the only Slytherin in the room who wouldn’t talk in class unless you were asked to by the teacher, he liked that you didn’t look at him or at George with despise. Of course, there were also times where the thought of you quietly and discretely planning a mass murder would cross his head, but you never gave a reason to worry that his suspicions were actually true.
Fast forward to your 3rd grade, after the winter break, he noticed in the platform how much your parents would actually show you their affection, that was also weird for the majority of the Slytherin kids he could recognize, and it wasn’t until that moment that George noticed him looking at you that he said:
“Oi, we’ve never pranked her, have we? Maybe we should pay more attention this year”
Fred felt terrible in that moment for having put you on George’s radar, he didn’t want to pull a prank on you, right? Although, to say the least, he was curious at how you’d react, after all, you weren’t insufferable like the most of your house, but you also weren’t the quiet mouse that you were during your first year, he’d seen you become more social, he’d notice how you would actively participate in Divination class asking Professor Trelawney real questions instead of mocking her like the rest of the students. He’d also see you talking to Abigail Rosier during dinner and often times he’d see you walking around the castle with her, so he concluded she must have been your best friend.
One night after dinner, when your fourth year was beginning, he was sneaking away from Filch, until he overheard Malfoy yelling at someone:
“… keep defending them?”
“Because you insist on being a bloody cunt to them for no goddam reason!” It was the first time he had ever heard you say bad words, or even angry, you’d usually keep a neutral aura that was sometimes disrupted by your friends being funny or by him and George who had gotten a like to pull little harmless pranks on you. “They’re wizards too, Malfoy. Their blood status shouldn’t matter to you or anyone, that’s none of our business, they are just like us”
“Speak for yourself, I’m nothing like those blood-traitor weasels or that mudblood…”
“You’re right, the Granger girl is smarter than you could ever dream to be” In that moment he picked up what was happening, you, (y/n) Lafington, were defending his little brother and his friends, and you weren’t even friends. Were you? Did you think that them pranking you was being friends?
“My father will hear about this”
“Well, make sure to send him and your mother my love” He saw Malfoy starting to walk away “You’re children Malfoy, you don’t have to do this, leave them alone” He heard that last phrase with a smile on his face, now he could actually tell George that he liked you.
…
After the hallway incident, he rushed to tell George and Lee, who didn’t believe him; so he saw himself forced to subject to his brother the question if you were in fact, trash or not.
“Lafington?” Ron asked George back
“Isn’t she the girl who is always talking back to Malfoy?” Inquired Harry “You know, the one who is always around the chaser… eh.. Pucey!”
“Yeah! She is! I’ve talked to her in the library, we’re trying to convince McGonagall t…” At that point Fred had stopped listening, he was just happy to prove George and Lee that what he had seen was real, but he wasn’t so happy to hear that you were hanging around with someone as despicable as Adrian Pucey.
A few days later Fred noticed himself paying more attention to you, George did too.
“Just go talk to her”
“And say what? I was walking around the castle and decided to spy on you and Malfoy so now I want to say thank you for looking out for my brother and his friends when I couldn’t?”
“That’s not so bad, actually” George smirked, Fred felt immensely stupid, he couldn’t figure out what was it that he found so difficult about talking to you. “But if you’re not going to do anything, I guess that Adrian Pucey will” With that said, George walked away, making sure to bump into you, he apologized and smiled to you, as he kept walking, he turned to Fred to make sure he was watching, so he decided to seize the opportunity his twin created for him and approached you.
...
By the start of your fifth year, you had kind of developed a friendship. You liked the twins, you liked how at the end of last year they had sticked up for you when everyone turned against the Slytherins because of the Chamber of Secrets thing, you grieved the disappearance of their sister and celebrated when she was found, you liked how they didn’t take life too seriously and would always be there to make you smile.
You liked how George would give you sweets when he had any on him, you also liked how much of a good listener he was, he was always there to hear you ramble about astrology, Slytherin’s gossip or a random book you had found at the library, out of the two of them, you were closer to him since Fred always seemed to have a weird face on when you were around, but it didn’t bother you that much, so you paid no mind. You also liked how both of them didn’t make fun of you when you told them that you liked quidditch even though you didn’t know much about the teams, you liked playing it mostly, not watching.
Fred liked that about you too, so when you told the twins that Pucey was helping you train to try and join the Slytherin team that year, he felt his chest shrunk in relief, you weren’t flirting with Adrian, you were just being mates, after all, Slytherin is the most loyal house, and you all looked out for each other.
You made your way into the team as a chaser, the twins were happy for you, and you were thriving! Quidditch had come sort of therapeutic for you, you loved the rush it brought when you were riding your broom so far from the ground, the sensation of danger when you knew that one the bludgers might hit you, you also loved the idea of getting out in an accepted way the rage that was always boiling inside of you.
Honestly, quidditch was the best thing that could have happened to you, it helped you to finally ditch what was left of your shell, as the season advanced everyone could notice how you were becoming more outspoken, more assertive, more popular; that didn’t mean that you were immune to the dementors watching around the castle, though. You just felt the need to express everything you were feeling, whether it was good or bad. And having those creatures around did affect you, despite to what everyone might have thought, you could be spotted arguing with Malfoy more often, you wouldn’t wait to keep things in the Slytherin common room anymore, you would just explode at any given moment. Professor McGonagall was worried about you, you’d always been one of her favorite students in your year, Snape on the other hand, was watching your character development rather amused, he told McGonagall that it was just matter of time that you actually started behaving like a real Slytherin, to what she refused to believe that he was right, so she decided to take the matters into her own hands.
“Professor, I swear on Merlin’s beard that we haven’t done anything punish-worthy in the last three days” Fred said while he and George sit at Professor McGonagall’s desk.
“Yeah, whatever happened to Filch has nothing to do with us this time” The professor looked at George in confusion to whatever it was that they had done this time, she hadn’t called them in for any of that matters.
“Mr. Weasley” she started “I actually called you and your brother for a different reason this time, although I would very much like to know what you did this time in order to automatically be defending yourselves. I wanted to speak to you about Miss Lafington”
“(Y/n)?” Asked Fred
“Yes, Mr. Weasley. I’ve noticed that you are rather close to her, and well, since she is one of my best students, I feel a little bit concerned about her attitude and mood lately”
This year you didn’t share your favorite classes with Gryffindor, which meant that the twins would often see the more reserved version of you in the classroom when the topic wasn’t of your particular interest, so Fred started to worry a little when Professor McGonagall said that; where you skipping class? Were you failing? He and George sat there in silence.
“Nothing unfixable, I want to assume, so I ask you both to remove that awful look from your faces. My guess is that the presence of the dementors, those terrible creatures, has been affecting your friend, as you may notice, a good portion of your classmates. So, as your head of house, I’m asking you to keep an eye on your friend and one of my dearest students”
“So, you want us to prank her more often” George asked with a smirk on his face.
“Mr. Weasley, please, be serious. I’m asking you to not let these things affect that girl more than they should. I’ve noticed that quidditch has become and outlet for her but it can only last so long, so maybe try getting her out of the dungeons and the aura that surrounds her house for a little bit. Distract her, put some positive thought in her head”
“I understand, Professor” Fred nodded, he felt that McGonagall was overreacting a bit, you all were growing and asserting your characters after all, but he did notice you a little more irritable than usual. “Count on us”
“Good” She concluded “Now, go to class” The twins went for the door and just when they were about to close it “And know that you both have detention today for whatever you did to Mr Filch”
…
Fred had no idea how to approach you without spilling the conversation he had with Professor McGonagall, so he let George do the wonder while he just kept looking at you from afar as he always had. He didn’t know why, but every day he looked at you, he swore that you looked better than the day before, sure, you had eye bags and looked tired from all the training, but he found you mesmerizing even when you had your hair up in a bun that looked like a bird’s nest. And he could notice all the boys were noticing you, too, now he didn’t only have to worry about Adrian Pucey, no, now he’d also had Lee, who found you extremely badass, Cedric Diggory, who was on the Hufflepuff team and had been asking about you to some of the younger Gryffindor girls, knowing that Fred & George would talk about you in the common room, even Oliver had taken an interest towards you because of how you played; the quidditch boys in general, he didn’t worry about Marcus Flint, though, he knew that he was too ugly for you.
So he kept his distance, as a friend could, of course. You’d hang out with him and George more often as Fred tried to sort out his feelings for you. Was he still just curious about you? Or had he actually started developing something more than platonic? He knew that you were amazing, and he was glad that people had finally noticed you, but he’d also feel bummed out by that sometimes, he felt that one day you might stop talking to him and George. He worried about what you thought of him, mostly, because he knew that he wasn’t as good friend to you as George was, but it was because he didn’t want you to look at him just as a friend, did he?
Meanwhile, you were enjoying the extra time with the twins, by the end of the school year you had even helped them come up with some ideas for the joke products that they had started designing, you still liked having them around among most of the new people in your life. You felt infuriated when you didn’t win the house cup, Fred reassured you that your game was good, it just was Wood’s last season and no one loved quidditch more than he did. So one week before going on summer holidays, they asked you if you wanted to come to the Quidditch Cup with them and their family, you weren’t sure, so you said that you missed your parents and went home.
During the summer you wrote to both of them, and Fred insisted that you joined them on their trip, but you didn’t want to be a bother, what if you didn’t fit it? What if their parents didn’t like you? What if all of their family hated you because you were a Slytherin? They assured you that you wouldn’t have to worry about a thing, that their mum would love you and their dad would, too.
On the other hand, you were nervous about even asking your own parents, they didn’t hate the Weasleys or any other “blood traitors” in particular, they didn’t care about those things, but they hated drama, that’s why they would keep low profiles and had taught you to do the same. You hanging out with the Weasleys at school? No problem, teens could always be spreading rumors, but you knew that showing up with them at an event like the Quidditch World Cup would be interpreted as an statement, and you knew how delicate things were getting politically, so you obviously felt uneased to say the least, you loved your parents, and you knew the values that they had taught you, but you also were aware of the kind of world were you grew up in, a world where people like the Malfoys would find themselves trying to be pleased by everyone out of fear.
You didn’t respond to the twins for three weeks while you meditated your next move, you were dying to see them, but was that urge stronger than your loyalty to your family?
…
Turns out your mom had seen you so down that she decided to go around your stuff and found the twins’ letters. When you came home from spending a few days with Abby she welcomed you with the letters in hand at the tea room. “Well, that’s it. It was fun while it lasted” You thought to yourself, but much to your surprise your mother encouraged you to go with them.
“There was only one boy who wrote to me like this, and that boy grew to be the man I married and turned into your dad. -Pay no mind to the blood status- I believe that’s what your father and I have taught you” She said taking her tea cup in hand.
You didn’t know why she was acting like this; they had also taught you to avoid big conflicts, yet, here you were. “Sorry mom, I don’t think I follow”
“Do you know why you feel like standing up to Lucius’ son? Because it is in your blood. During my time at Hogwarts I was friends with some muggleborns, but unlike you, I let myself get carried away by my house peers, don’t make the same mistake, much less when it’s about love” You remained silent after she spoke, you didn’t know where did she get this idea that you loved Fred, because she was talking about Fred, right? He was the one who wrote to you more constantly. “I’ll talk to your father; we’ll discuss it over supper”
Confused was short for how you felt. But at least you’d get to spend some time with some of your best friends, so that night you wrote to Fred that you were, in fact, joining them in a few weeks. You felt your stomach sink the moment your owl left. What if him and George now hated you? What if they thought that you not responding for weeks meant putting an end to your friendship? As these questions wondered your brain, the doubt of why your mom started talking about love came, too. Cause she was talking about Fred, wasn’t she? Why was Fred the one who came to your mind for this matter? Maybe she was talking about George, you were closer to him, essentially. But it was the mystery that drove you back to Fred, because sure, you were friends, but he had that face when you were around, and you also felt that there was this barrier, not in a hostile way, but as an aura of, well, mystery. You knew that he was the one to like you first, George had told you that story about the hallway and you defending Ron, and how Fred basically ran to tell him, yet, you always seemed to feel it odd since Fred was a little distant. At first you thought it was just his personality, you had thought “maybe George is warmer” but you’d often see him hang out with other girls, too. He’d hug Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, just like George would, but he wouldn’t even let his arm brush yours unless George had started play-fighting and he had to intervene, so you just had thought that maybe he liked you, but he didn’t quite trust you. Until now.
What if your mother was right? What if Fred liked more as more than a friend? You couldn’t even begin to make sense to that idea, you had seen Fred around other girls, he was a master at flirting, he’d swoon them over. The thought of him fancying you didn’t add up to how he treated you, did it? You refused to give your heart false hopes and dismissed those thoughts quickly, you just went to sleep happy to create memories with your friends.
…
On the other hand, Fred thought that he would spend the most amazing time with you during these holidays, he had even started talking to George about his feelings for you trying to figure them out, but then his father told him that his friend, Amos Diggory and his son would also join the group, at least for the trip, and he felt like cursing the entire world. How could he define what he felt for you when Pretty Boy Diggory would be around? George knew, that Lee knew, that Tori knew because Annabelle had told her, that Cedric was interested in you, he was curious, too. The difference was that Diggory knew that he could charm anyone he wanted, he just had to play his cards right, while Fred couldn’t even begin to admit that he wanted to play his cards too.
You arrived at The Burrow a few days before the Cup, you got to spend time with the Weasleys and even Harry and Hermione, you knew Hermione from your late night study sessions at the library, but you had never actually had a conversation for Harry, you found him rather plain, not in demeaning way, but you could see that this boy had barely an idea of what he represented, he was just like any other boy his age. Molly loved you, even when you found hard to call her that instead of -Mrs. Weasley-, and Ginny liked you too, she liked having another girl who liked quidditch around to play, she was good, you bonded over the game. And she was kind enough to tell you that everyone noticed the small tension that was going on between you and Fred. At first you thought that she was just messing with you, after all, she was the sister of Hogwarts´ most prolific pranksters, but then one night Hermione joined the girl talk, luckily, the subject changed to Ginny’s crush on Harry, but you were left wondering, if people were repeating what your mother said, it might as well be truth, right?
You spent that night thinking about Fred, you liked how he snorted while laughing after a prank he had been planning for long turned out brilliantly, you liked how he would talk you out of pulling an all-nighter to study so you could go wander the castle with him and George. You liked how he would look out for you during the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin matches, much to Oliver’s dismay…
You loved how competitive he was. You loved how before each game he’d tried to place a bet, whether you both were playing or not. You loved how you two would exchange challenging looks from one side to the other of the field. You loved how defensive he got when it came to someone offending you or talking trash to your back. You fell asleep while thinking in all of the things that you loved about this boy, maybe you did have a crush on him…
The next day everyone was super excited, it was the game day, so you all got your bags and started walking into the forest. You were walking with a twin on each side when you saw a man with glasses come up to Arthur and greeted him. You heard Fred sigh and murmur something beneath his breath, but whatever he said was eclipsed by George saying “Now, the fun begins” with a huge devious smile on his face, you didn’t get it. Was this man someone that Arthur didn’t like that much? Were they work frenemies? Then your thoughts were interrupted by something falling from a tree, a someone, actually. Next to the man talking to Arthur was now standing the Hufflepuff’s team captain, Hogwarts’ golden boy: Cedric Diggory. You turned around for a brief second to look at Ginny and Hermione, who you could already see were starting to get a little face-heated from just looking at the boy, you didn’t blame them, every girl at school had a crush on him, and you weren’t the exception, you just were more discrete when it came to showing an opinion, plus you hadn’t been officially introduced to him, sure, you had played against him, but you had never crossed a word, so you felt that showing even the slightest hint of heart eyes for him was inappropriate, plus, now you had come to terms that you liked Fred more than just a friend, right?
He quickly noticed that you were all standing there looking at him so he came up to say hi.
“(Y/N), this is Hufflepuff’s team captain: Cedric Diggory; Cedric, this is (y/N) Lafington, Slytherin’s newest chaser” George introduced you after greeting him.
“Yes, I know exactly who she is” Cedric shook your hand firmly while he answered to George. Fred was silent. “You were the talk of all teams last year, how come no one had noticed you before?”
-Well, I noticed her since our first week at school, thank you-Fred thought to himself.
“I just…” You smiled at Diggory while shrugging your shoulders “I guess I wasn’t that interested in sports before, I’m more of a library mouse, actually”
“Oh, okay, so you’re smart, too. I get it. I like that” Oh Merlin, you liked Fred, but so did you liked having the most eligible man at school looking at you in the way he was.
George was having a blast mentally, he knew Fred was bloody pissed, but he thought that this was for his own good, Fred had to realize that you wouldn’t wait for him forever, so mayyyybe George actually had encouraged Diggory to hit on you. He felt like he was doing his best work as a best friend and as a brother.
During the rest of the walk, Cedric joined you and the twins, you all chatted a bit about school, and when you arrived at the game you went to the girl’s tent. Hermione and Ginny were craving details about Diggory, but you really didn’t have much to give them. Later, when you went looking for the twins, you didn’t find them, Cedric found you, though. You decided to take a walk around with him, while you were talking you got to know him a little better, he was a good guy; you picked up that the flirty smiles and eyes between you two were just denial when he mentioned Cho Chang, Ravenclaw’s seeker. This boy didn’t want to admit that his playboy days were over, you thought that was funny. Yeah, you still had a crush on him, but you realized that it was a platonic thing, you liked Cedric, as a friend.
After placing a bet with Ludo Bagman, Fred had gone back looking for you, when he saw you laughing along with Diggory he felt his stomach shrink and the bile rising through his chest to his throat, maybe Angelina was right, maybe you knew that he liked you but you just chose to ignore him, but he also George’s voice came to his head in your defense, how could you even begin to imagine what he felt for you when he could barely look you in the eye? Those beautiful (y/e/c) eyes. He took a deep breath and approached you, telling you that it was time to go to your seats, you said goodbye to Cedric and followed Fred.
“So…” You started while trying to keep with him “I was hoping that you could tell me a little bit about the teams that will be playing tonight…”
“Didn’t Diggory tell you any of that? Or was he just trying to get in your pants?” You stood completely frozen at what he had just said, Fred had never said anything mean to you, in fact, he’d go after anyone who mistreated you.
“Excuse me?” Was the one thing that you managed to express. Fred turned back to look at you and he crumbled a little on the inside when he saw the hurt in your eyes, the shock, he thought how cute you looked with your eyebrows furrowed like that, but he quickly realized that he had fucked up.
“Oh… I-…” He didn’t know how to apologize; he wasn’t used to get carried away by his emotions in that way. You didn’t say anything, you stood there maintaining eye contact, you were waiting for a proper apology. “Look, I’m sorry, that came out in a completely wrong way” He waited for a response but you gave him nothing “Fine” he sighed and walked over closer to you “I’m sorry, I really am” Nothing. “Hey, Lafts, I’m now begging for your forgiveness” He used your nickname, which you felt relaxed your forehead. “Pleeeaaaase…” In that moment you felt him taking your hand and putting to his mouth to kiss it while giving you puppy eyes.
“Okay, I accept your apology” You said with a small smile in return, and taking your hand away from his. “But what in hell has gotten into you?” You asked as you started walking again.
“I just don’t like that he thinks that he can have you that easily, I don’t want you to get hurt by one of the most famous playboys at school. That’s it” Fred knew that he had to be cautious about what he said, he didn’t want to sound like a complete lunatic, but he also didn’t want to confess his feelings for you in the middle of the scenario that you were standing right now in.
You also didn’t want to keep going with this fight, so you accepted his excuse and kept going, even though on the inside you were still upset about him talking to you that way. When you arrived at your seats you placed yourself between Ginny and George, avoiding Fred. George resumed the season to you before the game started, you saw Draco and his dad, who offered you joining them in the box, but you refused politely with a simple “Thank you Mr. Malfoy, but I’ll stay with my friends for this once” which made everyone look at you with inquire, you explained that Lucius Malfoy was one of your father’s oldest business partners, so it was better to keep things light with him, Draco was different story; that last part relaxed the tension and made everyone laughed.
During the game you could occasionally feel Fred’s gaze on you, you’d sometimes look back, letting him know that you weren’t angry, but still you didn’t want to engage a conversation with him yet.
You had a good time, even though you still liked playing better than just watching, the twins and Ginny were really happy that Ireland had won. After you exited the stadium Arthur told everyone that you’d have dinner an hour later, so you returned calmly to the tents, while you were walking you started hearing people screaming and some even running, you looked at the twins but they were just as confused as you.
“Spread!” Arthur yelled at you “Spread! Hide! Fred, George, watch your sister” at a not so long distance you could see people with some weird masks marching forward and destroying the tents around, then it hit you.
“Death Eathers” you barely mumbled. You turned to see Harry, Ron and Hermione already running “Go” you said firmly now to the twins, you pushed them and Ginny in the opposite direction where the Death Eaters came. “Go. They won’t hurt me. At least I think so, go, hide, protect Ginny” George nodded and took Ginny by the hand, the started walking.
“Oi!” Fred called them, but they didn’t listen, he turned to you, and grabbed you by the arm “I’m not leaving you here, let’s go”
“No, Fred. You’re a blood traitor” you got rid of his grip
“So are you!”
“Yes, but my family never talks about this publicly, no one knows. I won’t put them at risk” You knew that the words were hurting him, but he knew that it was truth, your parents’ business depended on them remaining neutral, no one really knew about your family’s blood status views unless they were close to you. “Look, Fred” You could hear the chaos closer and closer “You know I love you guys, and you know I value your friendship, but right now I really need you to go and look for George and Ginny, I can take care of myself” Just like he did with you a few hours earlier, you could see the hurt in his eyes, you knew your mother liked him from the letters, but you couldn’t bare the idea of putting her in danger for a simple crush. “I promise I’ll look for you guys when this is over, I’ll go help your dad” You kissed his hand and pushed him away “GO!”
You barely could see him running away because you turned around and started casting transfiguration spells on yourself, if you were getting into this fight, you’d make sure that no one behind those masks could recognize you.
When the dark mark was casted onto the sky, the Death Eaters started vanishing, everyone remained shook, when you made sure that none remained there, you started waking back to the party’s tent, there you returned your appearance back to normal, when you came out you saw Arthur returning, he recognized the clothes you were wearing and hugged you. “Thank you” he said as soon as you broke apart, you put your hand on top of his on your shoulder “No problem, Mr. Weasley. I just wish I could have done it without wasting time putting a costume on”
“You helped innocent people, and that should be enough” He gave you and honest smile and went inside the tent. Later when everyone had returned, you all returned to The Burrow, where you all were warmly welcomed by a worried Molly Weasley, who had heard everything from the news.
“Oh, dear, I assume your parents must be worried about you, you should write to them” She said to you as soon as she had the chance, and you agreed, so you thought that the best was to return home the next day.
…
Your parents weren’t that worried about you, actually, they knew that you were a fighter, but they did look worried about how thing would start changing from here on in, you told them that you made yourself unrecognizable when the Death Eaters showed up, which your father thanked you.
Over the next few weeks you wrote to the twins and your other friends, you even exchanged letters with Cedric Diggory (to whom George had felt the freedom to give your address) You just wanted to go back to Hogwarts and get away from all of the political problems going on, you wanted to go back to normal, where you could actually be you and give zero shits about blood status, you couldn’t wait enough for your 17th birthday, the day your freedom would came; if you were seventeen your parents would get excluded from all of your personal decisions. But for now, you could just keep on dreaming.
During the first week of class of your sixth year, you looked for the twins, they greeted you with the warmest of hugs, especially Fred (which surprised you) and you offered them an apology for bringing up the blood thing the day of the game, they were really understanding.
“Don’t worry, dad was amazed at how feisty you turned out to be, he didn’t see it coming, he snitched on you with us” George words made you giggle “Changing your looks to kick ass? That’s clever”
“Yeah, maybe you could help us perfect those spells so Snape and Filch can’t know who came for them” Fred added with a wink.
That same week you learned that this year you wouldn’t have quidditch because Hogwarts would be hosting the Triwizard Tournament, those were terrible news for you, but still, you felt excited about having exchange students over, and the twins had the idea that you could still play quidditch on your free time during the weekends, it wouldn’t be the same, but you were okay with it.
Fred wouldn’t admit it, but he really wanted you to accept the idea of weekend quidditch, because that was the first step on his plan to conquer you. When he heard his dad speaking so highly of you, he was certain that he was totally in love with you, the fear of losing you that he felt the day before, the way he reacted when he saw that Cedric could make you laugh too; the way his tummy felt when you kissed his hand, the way he suffered every minute while he hid knowing nothing of you and dreading the worst, he scolded himself mentally for letting you go, he should’ve gone with you, he shouldn’t have left you alone in a situation like that; All of that made sudden sense to him while his father kept telling the story, he didn’t just have a crush on you, he wasn´t just curious, he was head over heels in love with you. So he asked for Charlie’s advice, and he designed a plan to ask you out s u a v e m e n t e, the original plan involved hanging out after quidditch practice, so when quidditch got cancelled he had to improvise. He also had an advantage this year, you guys shared Potions class, which Fred knew was one of your favorites, so he would be able to talk to you during class because of Snape’s favoritisms towards Slytherins.
The weeks passed and you started noticing how George would always disappear when the tree of you were supposed to hang out, leaving you alone with Fred, you didn’t mind, you loved the way his red hair would look at night with the dim lights of the castle at night, and he loved the way your eyes lit up when you looked at the stars. Truth is that you two were getting closer, closer than friends, none of you said a thing about it, but you both could feel the connection growing. When the Yule Ball was announced you were sure that Fred would ask you to be his date, so you and Abby went dress shopping, she really didn’t like the idea of you getting with a Gryffindor, much less a Weasley, but she was happy that you had someone just like she had her Durmstrang student.
When you got to the shop Hogsmead and started looking at the fabrics, you noticed that other girls were already there, between them you could notice the girls of Gryffindor’s quidditch team, you paid no mind to them nor to their whispers and dirty looks. Abby went away for a moment to try on a dress that she liked, when she came back she had an annoyed look on her face.
“You didn’t like it?” You thought it was the dress “You know that’s just the sample one, they can make it for you in a different color”
“It’s not that” she said, putting the dress back “I liked the dress”
“Then why the face?”
“Look” she started “I know that you like the Weasley boy, much to the house’s dismay, and I’m trying (y/n), I’m really trying to keep my nose out of this because I like seeing you happy” she paused for a second before going, you could see that her mind was working trying to say something.
“Abby, it’s okay, I can take it” What could it be? Had he gotten in a fight with Adrian again?
“When I was in the changing room I could hear Angelina Jhonson talking about how excited she was to be attending the ball with Frederick”
“Well, that’s a shame for her, he’s going to ask me”
“That’s the thing Lafts, he asked her already, not you, her.” You could see that Abby was trying to hold it together, she was quite protective of you, but you did recognize that she was trying to not hate Fred. “I know it sounds terrible and I don’t know, maybe those twits are tryin’ to play mind games on us, but you should definitely check that out; I don’t want this night that we’ll probably remember forever to be ruined for you by some stupid scumsucker”
You were speechless, you didn’t know what to say, you were certain that Abigail wasn’t fond of the twins, but you also knew that she just wouldn’t lie about it, so when she had her order on her dress made, you two returned to the castle.
That night at dinner you had a hard time spotting Fred at the Great Hall, you also had a hard time spotting him anywhere in the castle, when you went to George for answers he responded with a simple “Love you both, I’ve done plenty trying to help Fred. I’m not getting in the middle of this mess” And walked away, which left you feeling even more confused and angry than before, why were they shutting you down? You wrote to your mom to know if anything big had happened outside the school, but she said nothing had really came up. You were left with nothing, the next few days George made sure to let you know that he was still there for you, but he drew the line when it came to talking about Fred. Something inside of you said “See? You were right, Fred didn’t really like you, it was all in your head; if not, then how come only George is here now?” And you didn’t want to give this voice the reason, but it was the only thing in your mind.
The days passed and the ball came, you ended up attending it with Adrian, after all, you and him were really good friends. You were having a great time with your friends, you even danced a piece with Cedric, then George came to you, too. Fred remained far away, you could see him on the dance floor with Angelina, as Abby said; you felt your heart break a little more every time you looked at him, you were angry at him, but you were also angry at yourself, how could you had let yourself think for a minute that someone like him could fall in love with you? You were opposites, and everyone knew it, and everyone made sure you were reminded of it at all times. A slow song came on and Adrian said to you that he would try to dance with some girl from Beauxbatons, so you went to sit down for a bit. You watched all the couples dancing with a bit of longing, you saw that Ginny was there with a boy and you felt your heart melt for a moment, not everyone was having a rough night.
“Not having fun?” You heard George’s voice behind you.
“Eh” you shrugged your shoulders “I’ve been better” you turned your head to look at him.
“Well” He hunched over to be at your level “I see Pucey dancing with someone and my date blew me off too, wanna go wreck someone’s make out session?” That last part with wiggling eyebrows. He made you chuckle.
“Fine” You said rolling your eyes. You took your clutch and followed him through the hallways, you walked quietly, trying to spot any couple to scare. Suddenly George came to a stop in front of a door. You looked at him with questioning eyes, he nodded, letting you know that there was someone in there.
“You go first” He whispered. You smiled, excited. You got your wand ready. When George opened the door, you pointed your wand but before you could say anything you were surprised by Fred Weasley standing in front of you. Well, he was actually pacing, but still, he was in front of you. You turned to George.
“I thought you said t-“
“I know what I said” He cut you off. “But I’m doing this for you, not for him” He looked at both of you before closing the door and leaving you there.
You stood there in silence for a couple of minutes, you didn’t even want to look at him, you were hurt.
“So, I saw you dancing with Diggory…”Fred finally broke the silence.
“Really? Are you seriously bringing that up?” You decided to look at him and when your eyes met you felt the world freeze. You stared at each other. Fred had been watching you from afar, too. But now that he had you close, he was taken out of breath of how good you looked. The way your dress made your skin pop, the way your eyes were glowing thanks to the make-up, he could also see the lip gloss that you had been reapplying all night.
“Fred?” Your voice brought him back from his mind. “You know what? I don’t even know why I decided to stay, I should’ve left with George” You headed for the door but he quickly got up and stood before you.
“No. You know why” You got chills, you didn’t know if they came from the cold of the classroom you where standing in or from the look in his eyes. He took off his jacket and tried to covered you with it.
“No” You said stepping back and putting your hand in front of you. “You don’t get to play prince charming with me, not after you ignored me for a month… Why did you do it..?”
Fred didn’t know what to say, he knew that the moment to confess his feelings to you had arrived, but he felt too dumb to say something.
“You know Fred? If you didn’t like me you could’ve just been straight forward about it.” You started talking trying to keep your voice neutral. “You didn’t have to pretend to be my friend all these years, the worst part of it is that these last few months I felt like something beyond a friendship was growing between us” That was it, you gulped, your voice broke “You didn’t have to make me fall in love with you and then break my heart” Fred rose his head. You crossed your arms over your chest trying to keep all your feelings in.
“Wait a second, love, rewind a little bit there” He was in shock, he walked towards you. “You’re in love with me?” You could hear the surprise in his voice. Was he now laughing at you?
“You’re impossible, Weasley” You headed for the door again, but Fred grabbed your arm and pulled you to him. “Let m-“ You felt his lips crash on yours, shutting you up. You responded to his kiss, you could sense desperation in it.
“I’ve liked you since our first year” He said when you finally broke away “I’ve always felt keen on you. I love you. I shut you out because I was too scared of my own feelings, I’ve never felt this way for anyone else. I figured out that if I just cutyou off, all the feelings would go away, but they didn’t.” You looked at him mouth-opened, not knowing what to say, you both had been feeling this way but you were too scared to admit it.
“You’re an idiot” You finally managed to say. He kissed you again.
“Yes, I am, I am the biggest idiot ever” Kiss “but please say you won’t pay mind to the all the bloody talking and you’ll be my official girlfriend” He pecked you on the lips again.
“Yes, yes, okay” You laughed.
You stood there for a while, laughing at how obnoxious you both had been the last few years. You were in love with Fred, and Fred was in love with you. You weren’t waiting for you 17th birthday anymore, you were making up for all the lost time, everyone else could go to hell.
#fred weasley imagine#fred weasley x reader#fred weasley x slytherin!reader#fred weasley x reader imagine#fred weasley x fem!reader#fred imagine#fred weasley x y/n#fred and george#weasley twins imagine#weasley twins#fred and george weasley#fred weasley#harry potter#hp imagine#harry potter imagine#hp
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Teacher’s Pet - 1/? | westallen fanfiction
A/N: Written for Mi on twitter. <3 Is there any new fic I won’t start and never update? *nervous laughter* Hopefully this will be updated soon. Hope you all enjoy. It’s the forbidden college teacher-student romance au you never knew you needed. Iris is much older than Barry and the rest of the chars (minus Scott). Just an fyi.
...
Synopsis: AU - Fresh off a break-up, the last person Barry expects to fall for is his new English teacher.
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Chapter 1 -
The university building loomed just ahead on the far side of the courtyard. It was menacing in its stature, for what it represented. A return to academics, sure, but that was something Barry had always enjoyed. No, this building was menacing because it thrust into his face the reality that he almost hadn’t passed any of his classes the previous semester. He had a long way to go to get back to the top of his class and to a place where his parents would be proud of him again. That was important to him.
He stepped out of his car and shut the door behind him, gulping as he looked up at the flag whipping in the wind in plain view of the building. It was cold outside. There was still snow on the ground. His boots crunched as he walked on the ground and around the car to pop open the trunk and grab the two duffel bags he’d taken home with him on winter break.
His phone started to buzz when he was halfway to the building. Reluctantly, he dropped his bags in the snow and answered it.
“Hey, Cisco.”
“Barry! Finally, you answered!”
Barry frowned.
“I just got back to school. You know I don’t pick up the phone when I’m driving.”
He could practically feel Cisco rolling his eyes on the other end.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Where are you at?”
Barry looked around.
“Right in front of our building,” he said. “Think you can come down and open the door for me? My hands are kinda full.”
“Oh, uh, yeah, sure thing.”
“Unless you’re too busy?”
“Mid-game actually.” Barry could hear video game noises in the background. They abruptly stopped. “But for you, I pause. I’ll be right there.”
“Great. Tha-”
But Cisco hung up before he could finish.
Barry shoved the phone back in his coat pocket and picked up his bags again. Then he trudged over to the building, stuffing the dread he’d felt on seeing the place again as far down as he could muster.
“There he is! Man of the hour!” Cisco declared, opening the door just as he arrived.
“Thanks, man.”
“It’s the least I could do. Personally, I was starting to wonder if you’d ever get here.”
Barry snorted.
“I don’t exactly live close by.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Here let me-”
But Barry held both bags out of reach.
“They’re heavy, Cisco. I put as much as I could into them before I left.”
“I remember. I was surprised the zipper didn’t break.”
“Ha, ha, very funny,” he drawled, shifting one bag over his shoulder. “Just lead the way.”
“Suit yourself. You may change your mind though.”
“What would make me do that?”
“The fact that the elevator is under construction for another month.”
Barry abruptly dropped one of the bags just shy of his foot.
“What, for real? I thought they were going to finish that over break.”
Cisco shrugged. “Guess not.”
Barry blew out a puff of air and reluctantly handed a bag over to his roommate.
“Shit, what do you got in here, bricks? Cement blocks? Oh, I know, pure gold.”
“Told you it was heavy.”
Barry moved past him towards the stairs.
“We still on the third floor?”
“Last time I checked.”
Barry nodded and took the stairs two at a time.
“Hey, Mr. Long Legs,” Cisco called out when he was only halfway up the stairs and Barry was turned the corner to the next staircase. “Slow up a bit, would ya?”
“Sorry.” Barry stopped. “But if I stop for too long, I’ll lose my energy and before you know it, I’ll be unpacking in the middle of the stairs.”
Heaving by the time he reached them, Cisco could only gesture for him to continue. Barry had to smile a bit to himself, but by the time they reached it to the final platform, he was due for some extra oxygen too.
“We should start working out.”
“On campus?” Cisco asked. “You know who’s always hogging the fitness center.”
Barry didn’t need a reminder.
“Wally West, yeah, I know.”
“He doesn’t exactly like you.”
“He stole my girlfriend.”
“To be fair, he’s been working out longer than you.”
“I don’t work out.”
“Case in point.”
“We could start walking.”
“In this weather?” Cisco visibly shivered. “Nah, I don’t think so.”
“So, what, we just stay skinny and pale for the rest of our lives?”
“I’ll just stay skinny, thank you very much. And after what you went through last semester, maybe the last thing you should be focused on is buffing up for the ladies.”
Barry rolled his eyes. He didn’t need the reminder. He hadn’t been in love with Linda, so her breaking up with him for cocky jock Wally West bruised his ego more than his heart, but it still hurt. He liked her, and he thought after a year of dating, they had something real. Guess he was wrong.
Spending the tail end of the semester trying to win her back instead of focusing on his finals was probably the reason he’d nearly flunked out of every class he’d been taking. He wouldn’t be doing that again.
Abruptly, he realized Cisco was still talking.
“You know the real reason Wally bothers you so much isn’t just because of Linda.”
“No? What is it then, oh, wise one?”
Cisco turned the key in the door to their room and stepped inside, dropping Barry’s bag on the floor for him to pick up and carry across the room.
“It’s because he skates by in his classes too. He rarely shows up, rarely puts in an effort, and yet, because his sister teaches, she has an in with his records and sweet talks the other teachers to let him slide by.”
Barry straightened after shrugging out of his coat and kicking his boots off.
“I didn’t know that.”
“Surprise!” Cisco said animatedly.
Barry was not amused.
“I have her as my English teacher this semester.”
Cisco winced. “Yikes.”
Barry scowled.
“I hear she’s pretty though. Like, drop-dead gorgeous.”
“I’m not gonna date my teacher.”
“Who said anything about dating her? She’s just something nice to look at. Maybe she’ll be sweet on you.”
“Oh, yeah, the woman who’s cheating the system so her brother graduates will give me – the ex to her brother’s girl whose gpa has seriously tanked over the last months – a fair chance.”
Cisco shrugged.
“It’s only one class?”
Barry sighed.
“Yeah, I guess.” He shook his head. “I need a distraction from all this.”
Cisco snapped his fingers.
“Video games!”
Barry considered it.
“Yeah, I guess that might do it.”
“It will do it.” He picked up a controller and handed it to him. “Here. I’ll even delete all my progress so we can both play.”
Barry snorted.
“Thanks, man. You’re one in a million.”
“Better than Linda and Wally combined.”
“And Ms. West.”
“Professor West she likes to be called.”
Of course she does.
Barry rolled his eyes and reached over to Cisco’s controller to start the game and shut him up.
“Hey, what did y-”
“Play!”
Cisco shook his head and started to play, eventually forgetting his minor irritation and focusing wholeheartedly on the game and having his best friend back in his space again.
It would be a good semester. Despite all odds, Barry would excel. He had no doubt.
…
Iris draped the fuzzy blanket over her legs and sank into her couch. After a tasty dinner for one and an exhilarating bath, here she was ready to enjoy a few chapters of her current favorite book for the night. Tomorrow classes would start up again, and she would have to be up at the crack of dawn to be in teacher mode. It had been a solid month and a half of relaxation and freedom – minus the small inconvenience of having Wally crash with her and frequently invite his new girlfriend over. But aside from that, it had been nice.
She enjoyed teaching though, always had. Running the school newspaper helped channel her passions for something more. And when she wasn’t worrying about whether or not she would be the only one in her family graduating college, she could enjoy being a flirt to just about every man on staff. The other women envied her. She didn’t care. She didn’t sleep around. It was all in good fun. And it would all resume tomorrow morning, bright and early.
A sudden loud noise interrupted her thoughts. She looked toward the door and found to her great annoyance that it was her brother, whose lips were attached to the new girl she’d met only twice over the last month. Her eyes narrowed when she realized his hands were searching out the hem of her shirt and the zipper of her skirt.
“Uh, Wally?”
No response. Just more moans and groping.
“Hey, Wally!” She snapped – literally.
His eyes opened, and he distanced himself from his girl, though only slightly.
“Iris. Hey. What are y-”
“I live here, remember?”
“Yes, right. I know. I just thought…”
“It’s nine o’clock, and you’re crashing on my couch. Where were you expecting to go?”
He had the gall to have a straight face.
Meanwhile, the girl just inches from him blushed.
“Oh, my God, Wally,” she whispered under her breath. “I thought you said she wouldn’t be home.”
Iris got to her feet.
“You were going to fuck in my bed.”
“Well, I…”
“You were!”
“Maybe I should go…” the mortified girl muttered.
“Yeah, I think you’d better,” Iris barked.
“Hey! Don’t talk to her like that!” Wally ordered.
Iris’ eyes widened.
“Maybe you should leave too.”
“And go where?”
“I don’t know. Home?”
“I came here so I didn’t have to. You know they’d never take me. They can’t stand the sight of me.”
“Yeah, well, right now I can’t really stand the sight of you either.”
He fumed. She fumed right back.
“I’ll just go,” the girl piped up again. “I’m so sorry about this, Iris.” She swallowed hard.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
Both women gave him a deadly glare until finally Wally relented. He softened as he turned to his girlfriend.
“I mean, do you really want to go?”
“I…”
Iris was in disbelief. This was her apartment!
“I’m calling mom.”
He spun around to face his sister instead.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Leave.” She pointed toward the door. “Come back when you have your priorities straightened out.”
He scoffed but wrapped his arm around his girl and guided her to the door.
“Come on, Linda. We can go to your place.”
“I have a roommate,” she panicked.
“Guess you won’t be fucking then,” Iris said dryly.
Wally glared but left the apartment. Iris locked the door immediately. He had a key, so it wasn’t going to keep him out, but it would give her some peace of mind until she went to bed.
Heaving a sigh, she collapsed back on the couch and closed her eyes for a few minutes before grabbing her book and relaxing into it again.
It took a while, and she was just about into the zone of where the characters were headed when there was a knock on the door.
She sighed, aggravated, and deliberately set the book down on the coffee table. Then she got to her feet and headed toward the door.
“So help me, Wallace, if that is actually you… If you lost your key… If you’re coming back this soon, there better be an apology,” she muttered heatedly.
She was so focused on the possibility that it was her brother that she flung the door open without looking through the peephole and was fuming when she came face to face with a familiar yet completely unexpected face.
“Scott?”
“Did I…come at a bad time?”
She blinked, suddenly aware of just a teddy beneath her fluffy robe. She looked him over and debated her options. He looked dashing, as always, and the easy charm was there in his half-amused smile pulling at his lips. There’d been an easy flirtation between the two of them since they’d met five years ago, but they’d never acted on it. Now here he was the night before the spring semester started with red roses in one hand and an uncurling fist that was probably sweaty as the other.
Suddenly, she needed nothing more than to act out one of the steamy love scenes in her book. Damn it all to hell what the next day brought.
She grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him into her apartment, kissing him soundly on the lips. He made no attempt to push away, and in fact moved to undress her through the far less layers as she was undressing him.
The door was shut, and the flowers dropped in the flurry of it all, and before either of them realized the gravity of what had happened, they were in Iris’ bedroom fucking, and Iris was kind of smug about it because it should serve Wally right for trying to do it first.
That didn’t mean she’d let him spend the night however. If Wally saw him gossip would spread, no doubt to get back at her, and she didn’t need either of their teaching reputations ruined like that.
So, about ten minutes after they’d crested, and Scott was laying in bed beside her with a gigantic grin on his face, Iris propped herself up and made a gesture towards the door.
“Okay, time for you to go.”
His jaw dropped.
“Are you serious?”
“Dead serious.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No, honey.” She stroked his chest. “You were fantastic.”
“Then?”
“We’re not together. I was just feeling stressed out, and you alleviated my stress. Thank you.” She smiled serenely.
He blinked.
“Seriously, go. If Wally sees you here, gossip will spread before either of us gets a word in our classes tomorrow. That’s hardly the best way to start the semester.”
He blinked again, still trying to process. She didn’t like that.
“Go!” She pulled on her robe and yanked him out of her bedroom.
He seemed to figure out what was going on by that point and caught his clothes as she threw them at him.
“I…uh…”
“I’ll see you tomorrow in the hall.”
“You will?” he asked hopefully.
“In the hall,” she repeated.
He frowned, and she sighed, moving swiftly past him to open the door and usher him out.
“Did you like the flowers at least?” he asked pathetically.
“They’re lovely,” she assured. “Goodnight, Scott.”
Then she closed the door in his face and locked it, promptly turning and throwing out the flowers without even a single sniff. Wally couldn’t see she had flowers. He was annoyingly observant and picked up on shit like that.
She returned to her bedroom, changed the sheets, and took a quick shower to rinse off the sweat. Then she settled in to sleep with a smile on her face. Amazing what a one-night stand could do for a girl’s mood.
This semester was going to be great.
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April Contest Submission #22: Lake Town Sunrise
Words: ca. 3,800
Setting: modern
Lemon: no
CW: loneliness, moving, high schoolers, mild angst, language
If anyone had asked Anna what she felt about moving halfway across the country to a tiny place called Lake Town during the fourth month of her senior year, well — she would have lied and said she didn’t mind at all. But no one had, so she didn’t have to lie to anyone. Not even herself. And she hated the move.
Anna had no choice in the matter but the seventeen year-old felt like she had no right to complain to her beloved grandfather, who had sacrificed his entire retirement life to raise her from an infant. If he wanted to move, there should be nothing holding him back. But Anna had to admit she wished he’d waited a few more months. Just a few more months and Anna would graduate and be out of his hair. On her own.
Until then, Anna was adjusting to an entirely new life in a new place with new people and new schoolwork. The piles of catch-up homework were her worst nightmare. She didn’t like to have bad grades so she was devoting all of her energy to her classes in an effort not to disappoint herself. As a result, she hadn’t had the time or energy to make a single friend from November to March, and as a social person, the loss of friendship was starting to drive her crazy. Nobody back home even returned her texts anymore; they’d completely moved on and Anna was stuck by herself in a town with only a lake she had yet to even visit, just trying to keep her head above water.
Just because she hadn’t made any friends, however, didn’t mean she hadn’t picked out a couple people from her classes she’d love to be friends with. One girl stood out to her in particular. She was in Anna’s writing class and they often paired up when the teacher required it. Her name was Elsa and she had the prettiest long white-blonde hair Anna had ever seen; usually worn in a braid or a ponytail. Every once in a while she let it loose in gentle waves; those were Anna’s favorite days.
Elsa was a quiet student, never talking with anyone around her. Anna noticed she usually had a sketchbook open and a pencil rhythmically scratching away. She’d give anything to know what Elsa was always drawing, but she couldn’t stare too long or the blonde would eventually glance up and catch her eye, causing them both to look away quickly, blushing.
Yesterday Elsa hadn’t come to school and Anna had found herself rather disappointed. She always looked forward to English class but without the other girl to pay attention to, Anna had stared at the clock, willing the hands to move faster. Was Elsa the only reason she enjoyed this class? They had barely had a complete conversation beyond relevant English topics. Still, Anna found herself begging the fates to let her see that sketchbook when she walked through the door to room 37b today.
A sigh of relief escaped her lungs when Anna rounded the corner and saw Elsa at the desk beside hers, legs crossed, focused entirely on the pencil meeting her paper. Anna approached; Elsa looked up and smiled when she saw who was there.
“Hi, Anna!”
“Hey,” she smiled back. “I missed you yesterday.”
“Oh yeah,” blonde eyebrows softened, “My grandma was a bit under the weather so I had to stay home and take care of her.”
“You live with your grandma?” Anna asked, pleasantly surprised.
“Yeah, it’s just the two of us.”
“Me too,” Anna encouraged, “but with my grandfather.”
“Oh wow! I don’t think I’ve met anyone else here in the same boat.” Elsa closed her sketchbook as Anna took a seat.
“It’s definitely a unique experience,” Anna laughed. She watched the fluorescent lights glimmer in Elsa’s eyes when she nodded in response.
Anna’s heart raced quietly while she pulled out her English notebook and folder. There were still a few minutes left before class began. Maybe she could think of something else to say before the chance was gone. But it was Elsa who took another stab at conversation first.
“What are you doing for spring break?” Elsa asked.
“Oh!” Anna smiled, excited. “Ever since moving here in the winter I’ve been drowning in either snow or catch-up homework, so I’m finally gonna take a break in the nice weather and see what this famous lake is all about! I’ve never even gotten…” she trailed off at the sight of Elsa’s grimace. “What?”
“Sorry,” Elsa said, “it’s just - you don’t want to be anywhere near the lake during spring break.”
“I mean I know it’s gonna be crowded—”
“You don’t understand. That lake is the only interesting thing in a 200 mile radius. Everybody in the entire state who can’t afford a real vacation will be swarming the town - especially the lake. All fucking week.”
“Oh.” Anna sighed, crestfallen. She had hoped to spend some time with her new classmates at the lake; they were still strangers to her after all this time. She had thought maybe she’d even make a friend there. But not now. “Wait, where does everybody go then? If the whole town gets taken over?”
“Well, some have to stick around to run the shops and everything, but most everybody scatters off to vacations of their own.” Elsa explained.
“And what about you?”
“My grandma doesn’t go anywhere. I’ll be around.”
Class started abruptly and the conversation was cut off. Anna didn’t hear a word of the lecture, as her thoughts swirled around her head. Thoughts of the forbidden lake, of people who got to experience “real” vacations, but mostly of Elsa. Elsa had talked to her for so long today - and seemed to enjoy it! Anna felt light and airy, like something was trying to lift her heart right out of her chest. Was this what it felt like, to be on the verge of friendship? Anna hadn’t even experienced these butterflies the entire time she dated Kristoff back home.
Wait. Did she have feeling-feelings for Elsa? Was that - was that allowed? Would Elsa ever —
The bell rang.
Everybody scrambled to pack their backpacks up, except for Elsa and Anna. Elsa jotted something down on a corner of a page in her sketchbook, then tore it out as Anna watched.
“Here,” Elsa held out the ripped corner. “That’s my address. Meet me there after school today when break starts. I wanna show you something.”
Anna took the paper and watched dumbfounded as Elsa left the classroom. Shaking her head out, she looked at the address. It was a five minute walk from her house.
When she flipped the piece of paper over in her hand, the other side (probably unintentionally) had part of a sketch. It was a person, cut off just below the shoulders. Anna stared in disbelief at her own freckled face smiling up at herself in graphite.
***********************************
Anna ran all the way home, making her 12 minute walk in 8 minutes. She found her grandpa sitting in his chair, working on a puzzle. Huffing and puffing from exertion, Anna made her way through the living room to the hallway, saying, “Hey, Gramps,” as she passed.
“In a hurry, child?” the old man replied, glancing up briefly from his puzzle.
“I made a friend, I’ll explain in a minute!” Anna called out as she jogged farther into the house.
She reached her room and threw her backpack to the ground before stripping off her clothes and staring at her closet, hoping something would jump out at her. Her chest heaved as the cool air helped dry the clammy skin of her torso. What was she supposed to wear to Elsa’s house for the first time, where she was going to quote-unquote ‘show her something?’ Was it something casual, something fancy? After a moment she settled on a cute tie dye t-shirt and black jeans. It was spring break after all, she should be able to wear something comfortable.
Anna glanced at her signature twin braids in the mirror. She pulled the hair ties out and ran her fingers through the locks, letting it fall apart into structured waves. Yep, that’s cute! she thought.
On her way back out through the house, Anna told her grandfather she was going to a new friend’s house, and that he should order a pizza for dinner. He had no complaints, but reminded her to be home by 10. Soon, Anna was out the door, headed in the direction of Elsa’s house.
This time, she walked deliberately slowly. Anna didn’t want to be out of breath when she got to Elsa’s house, nor did she want to get there earlier than Elsa might expect. Anna had rushed herself rather hard ever since that final bell rang, but now as she passed houses she had never seen and heard birds enjoying the spring afternoon, she had a few moments to think about what had happened earlier. Precisely: the conversation, the realization, and the invitation.
Just yesterday she was silently disappointed that Elsa was missing from class, and now they’d had a nice interaction, Anna thought she might have a crush on her, and Elsa invited her over to her house! It was all so sudden and exciting. Confusing, but exciting.
Do I really like her? Anna wondered. Well, comparing her feelings to what she used to feel around Kristoff was pretty telling. She thought Kristoff was cute and nice, and she liked how it made her feel when he told her how much he liked her. But maybe that wasn’t what love feels like. Maybe it’s more like what Elsa makes her feel… comfort, acceptance, longing, excitement. Not to mention how attractive she was, with her gorgeous hair and perfect face and shining blue eyes, bluer than anything Anna had ever seen…
Fuck.
Anna might have a little bit of a crush on Elsa. In fact, it might be huge.
But could Elsa ever feel the same way? They were both girls, so Anna felt it was unlikely Elsa had ever had a similar thought toward Anna. However, Anna felt the piece of paper in her pocket. The one with the drawing on the back. Why did Elsa draw her? Was this the only one and it happened to be on the exact page and corner she tore out? Or did she sketch Anna a lot?… Is that why sometimes when Anna was watching her draw, Elsa would glance up directly at her — because Anna was actually her subject?
She sighed. There was so much to think about all of a sudden. She almost wanted to go back to obsessing over her homework and ignoring everybody. But then she saw a mailbox with Elsa’s address and her heart rate took off. That was a normal reaction, right? Totally, for sure.
Anna wiped her clammy palms off on her jeans and consciously corrected her posture as she approached Elsa’s house. It was painted a nice sky blue, with navy shutters. There was an old car in the driveway, which disappeared past the other side of the building. In the front yard was a big pine tree looming over the house, at least three times as tall. As she approached, Anna noticed Elsa sitting at the base of the pine tree, under its canopy created by trimming the lowest branches. She waved from her shady spot when she noticed Anna.
“Hey!” Elsa called out. “You came!”
Anna jogged the last few steps and ducked under the branches to join Elsa’s shady dwelling. “Of course I came!” She grinned widely and plopped down across from the blonde, folding her legs into a criss-cross style. “This tree is amazing,” she remarked, looking up through its branches, barely able to see the bright sky filtering through them.
“Thanks,” Elsa patted the trunk she was leaning her back against, “she’s a good one. Great for quiet afternoons. But this isn’t what I wanted to show you.” She stood up, grabbing her sketchbook and brushing off her pants. “Follow me?”
We made our way across the lawn, past the car, and followed the driveway around the side of Elsa’s house. The drive stretched back past half of the small backyard, all the way to a strangely tall garage. It was wide enough for one car but was more like two-stories tall. Maybe a past owner had it built especially for a big vehicle or boat.
We stopped at the regular service door beside the big garage door and Elsa grabbed the handle, her fingers lightly trembling as they reached out. She was nervous to show Anna whatever was inside. Anna was racking her brain trying to guess what it could be. A boat for the lake they can’t go to? A weirdly tall truck? A collection of four wheelers? A quiet place perfect to trick Anna into a serial killer’s lair? No, of course not that one, jeez.
The door opened, the lights flicked on.
Anna’s jaw dropped.
She was wrong about everything.
Inside the garage, the entire space was transformed into a secret hideout of some kind. It like walking into a crazy treehouse but within the walls of a garage. There was a structure made out of lumber, expertly crafted together to form multiple separate areas as well as an elaborate winding staircase/ramp combo that wrapped around the walls, leading up to a partial upper level. All of the woodwork was bright blue with handpainted details which gave it all a realistic ice effect. Where the ceiling was visible there were tinted skylights letting in natural light, bathing everything in a blue glow.
To furnish the hangout, Elsa had a desk she clearly used for homework and art, a futon, multiple bean bag chairs, and who knows what else on the upper level. Anna reached out and laid a hand on Elsa’s arm. “This…” she shook her head out in disbelief. “This is not what I was expecting you to show me - but it’s incredible!”
“Thank you,” Elsa blushed slightly as she dipped her head down in gratitude.
“How did you do this? You made it all yourself?” Anna asked, touching the glossy surface of the painted wood beam closest to her.
Elsa scratched her neck, “Well, when I was little I always dreamed of having an ice palace, a place to get away from my daily life. I love my grandmother but sometimes I just needed to be a kid. As soon as we learned shop in middle school, I knew what I had to do. I asked permission to upgrade the garage and beyond that, my grandma doesn’t know or care what I do out here. She’s never seen it.” Elsa laughed. “So I’ve just been creating this space for myself over the years. I finally finished it last year with the paint job and everything. Oh, and I made the skylights myself by cutting holes through the roof and installing windows, weatherproofing the cracks. That was the hardest part of the whole garage.”
Anna smiled in disbelief. This quiet girl had a whole universe of creativity inside her head, and when the subject was something she was passionate about, she wasn’t quiet at all! Anna had never really been friends with an introvert, and apparently she had been missing out big time.
“You are…. so cool,” Anna finally said. “This is amazing!” She spun around, walking farther into the ice palace, looking up as the homemade skylights twisted in circles. After a minute, she got too dizzy and fell, landing on a beanbag with a thwump.
Elsa laughed and joined her on the nearest beanbag. “You really think so?”
“Of course!” Anna said.
“You’re the only person who I’ve ever invited here. The only one who’s ever seen it.”
“Wait, what?” Anna’s thoughts halted. “How is that possible?”
Elsa rubbed her arm anxiously, “Well, I… I don’t really have many friends. Or any friends, really. This place is my safe space, where I can get away from the world and truly be myself. Here I can read and create and relax, and nobody is here to judge me. I’ve never minded being alone.”
“So,” Anna tilted her head, trying not to come off as rude. “Then why did you invite me?”
Elsa’s cheeks bloomed with pink. “You’re the first person I’ve ever wanted to invite.”
Anna’s expression softened as Elsa continued, “I feel safe around you. Even though we didn’t talk much before today, I’ve wanted to get to know you ever since you first walked into my English class.”
Anna’s heart soared. “I’ve felt the same way about you. I lost all my friends when I moved… and as an extrovert, I struggled with that a lot. But I had so much homework to catch up on, I couldn’t find the time to reach out to anyone here. So instead I cut myself off from making friends and buried myself in class work. But the whole time I’ve lived here, I couldn’t help but feel drawn to you. I wished and wished and wished that you would be my friend, but it felt like I waited too long and I’d be stuck alone for the rest of high school.”
Elsa held her hand out for Anna to take. It felt so smooth against Anna’s palm, she never would’ve believed the hard work these hands had been through if she didn’t see it with her own eyes.
“Well I think it’s safe to say we’re friends now,” Elsa said.
“Absolutely,” Anna agreed. “Good luck getting rid of me at this point!”
*******************************
A couple of hours passed before Anna even checked the time. “I should probably be getting home,” she sighed. “Could we do this again tomorrow?”
Elsa nodded enthusiastically. “I’d like that. And actually, I was wrong before, about the lake. Everybody else’s spring break doesn’t start until Monday so the droves won’t be hitting town until tomorrow night. The lake would be pretty deserted if we got there really early.”
“Yes!” Anna made a fist.
“I mean like sunrise-early.”
“Yikes. Okay. No problem!” Anna wasn’t a morning person, especially when she had the choice to sleep in, but this was a great exception.
A sunrise on the lake with her new favorite person? Sounded like a dream come true!
Anna didn’t even dream that night. She woke a minute before her 3:30 alarm and sprang out of bed. Flipping on lamps here and there, she went to the kitchen to prepare some food. She made an egg scramble which her grandpa could reheat when he woke up, and then she made more sandwiches than she’d ever made at one time, leaving two in the fridge for his lunch, and taking the rest with her to share with Elsa later.
When her lunch pack was filled with ice and sandwiches, Anna went back to her room to write a note for her grandpa and change into her swimsuit. She didn’t know if there would be any getting in the water at this lake on an early spring morning, but she was ready just in case. Then she put a light green t-shirt on over the swimwear, along with dark blue jogging pants and a black and white tie dye hoodie. She probably clashed but Anna preferred to wear lots of different colors, not caring if they went well together.
A bit of a long walk later, and Anna arrived at the street corner Elsa told her about. It was right at the lake. Anna set her lunch bag on the pavement and leaned against the street lamp pole. She felt in her pocket for that ripped piece of sketchbook paper, gently running her fingers over its edges. Before long, Elsa approached in the dim lamp light.
“Good morning,” Elsa said in a quiet voice. The way it sounded so …intimate made Anna’s stomach butterflies go for a loop.
“Morning, Elsa.” Anna smiled, picking up her bag.
Elsa led the way toward the lake where they found an empty pier. They walked all the way to the end and sat on the edge, dangling their legs over the dark lake. It was about a ten foot drop beneath their feet to the surface of the water, where it gently rippled just for them.
They sat quietly in the darkness until the faintest tinge of light started appearing along the horizon. It was a gentle pale blue, barely discernible from the rest of the sky at first. Slowly, it gained more light, moment by moment. Soon the light blue was joined by pale yellow, then peach. When a brilliant pink appeared on wispy clouds, Anna couldn’t help but feel it was a metaphor for how quickly and beautifully her friendship with Elsa had bloomed.
Her feelings for Elsa developed like a brightening dawn.
It was light enough now to see each other if either girl dared to turn. Anna felt for the paper in her pocket and slowly pulled it out.
“Elsa?”
“Hmm?” Elsa answered, still staring at the pink clouds, now turning orange.
“Do you draw everyone in class?”
“What do you mean?” Elsa asked.
“When you’re sketching in your notebook, do you draw our classmates? Or anyone in particular?” Anna’s heart was beating so loud she was sure Elsa could hear it.
“Oh. Um,” Elsa hesitated. “I don’t draw a lot of different people. Only the ones who mean something to me.” She glanced sideways at Anna. “Why?”
“This piece of paper you wrote your address on…” Anna held it in her hand. Elsa’s head turned to look. “I couldn’t help but notice this drawing on the back. You probably didn’t mean—”
Elsa swiftly took the paper from Anna’s fingertips and gasped when she saw the sketch. “Anna, I can explain.”
“Hey, don’t worry,” Anna placed a calming hand on Elsa’s. “You don’t have to explain anything.”
“I don’t?” Elsa asked, her face visibly red even in the low light.
“No.” Anna said. “I was just making sure I understood how you felt, before…” she trailed off.
“Before?”
Anna reached up and touched Elsa’s chin with her thumb and first finger. She gently tilted Elsa’s head as her eyes asked an important question. Elsa’s breath shook as she nodded slightly. Anna leaned in sweetly, but with purpose, as she let her lips softly brush against Elsa’s. They both let out a nervous breath before closing in again. This time, Anna could really feel the connection between their lips. Anna’s eyes fluttered closed.
She no longer needed to see the picture perfect sunrise, for the colors bursting in her heart and behind her eyelids were even more beautiful.
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Fanfiction gray blue eyes
Jin Ling noticed that he was spending a lot of time with Ouyang Zizhen when he was walking his dog and a pretty boy whistled him loudly.
N/A: Idk what I’m doing, I just saw memes about Jin Ling x Lan Jingyi and I fell in love with the ship haha. A-Yuan is a Wen in this AU.
For the #CultivaTober2020, sorry if my English sucks.
Day 21: Calamity
.
Jin Ling noticed he was spending a lot of time with Ouyang Zizhen when he was walking the dog in the nearest park, his uncle Jiang Cheng was sick of viewing him all day in bed just because his only friend isn't in the city for the weekend.
"Get out the house and do something!" he yelled at him after the lunch.
A fucking winter Sunday’s afternoon.
What the hell?
Jin Ling was considerating go the weekends to uncle Jin Guangyao's house. Uncle Cheng has been his favorite uncle since he has memory, but sometimes the man is too intense for someone like him and uncle Yao was more chill than him. He wouldn't judge him because he wanted to stay in his room because he was bored without his best friend around.
After all, Ouyang Zizhen is his childhood friend. So every time he isn’t here annoying Jin Ling with his fanfics or fandom wars, Jin Ling has nothing better to do.
Pathetic, he knows.
But who cares?
Jin Ling never was good doing friends in first place, but he liked Zizhen kind personality when they met in Rusong's birthday and when his uncle Yao encouraged him to befriend with the other boy they became inseparable.
At first, it made happy his uncle Chen, who was delighted with the idea that his nephew would have a good friend after his parents death.
Now, Jin Ling didn't know if his uncle Cheng was annoyed that Zizhen was his only friend or what.
Rusong doesn't count as a friend, he is family. His only cousin.
Perhaps he should talk to this guy who lives the next block and ignore his uncle Cheng advice to not talk with that neightboors, he liked his black leather bomber jacket and quiet personality. Plus they go to the same school, they shares English, History and Sports classes. Even Teacher Lan Qiren loved the guy.
Well, Teacher Lan Qiren liked everyone but Jin Chan.
Jin Ling was pondering about this match when he noticed that Fairy destroyed the lotus pond in garden again. Crap.
Uncle Cheng will kill him.
"Sometimes I don't know if you love me or you hate me." Mumbled Jin Ling as he takes Fairy with him, looking around before to go outside the house.
Unfortunatelly, Wen Yuan wasn’t at home when he passed out of his house.
You could notice this because the house was silent as a crypt, usually when Wen Yuan or his Dad were in the house someone played the flute and other instruments all day. Jin Ling swears he could hear them from his room sometimes.
Geez the man was musician or something like that.
However, he decided to go to the park. Hoping the snow could cover Fairy’s calamity before his uncle Cheng noticed anything. His uncle would love dogs dearly, but it was his lotus pond.
Uncle Cheng loved that lotus pond.
Jin Ling sigh, suspecting that the park was less crowded at this hour.
He wasn’t a fan of winter, neither the snow. Cold was burning his cheeks and Fairy paws, but Jin Ling take the route to the south where were stablished places for dogs. Yet the dog-friendly drinking fountains were already frozen, he knew this place was beautiful in Spring, but now were just the trees and the snow. Not fragrant flowers around.
Yunmeng was so different in winter, thought Jin Ling. Lost in thoughts when someone whistles at him loudly.
Jin Ling twitched.
He looked over at the sound, a part of him was offended while the other really liked what he saw. A pretty boy wearing running at him, wearing white clothes and blue headphones hanging in the neck. Gods, the boy had the most glossy black hair that Jin Ling has ever seen in his life. He just couldn’t stop noticing the perfect way than an hair bangs framed his handsome features and those fanfiction gray blue eyes… Damn Zizhen! Fucking fanfics he read all day!
Nevermind. He was rude.
“Excuse me?"
The pretty boy frowned, blushing when he noticed the misunderstanding and said "Sorry, I didn't wanted to... that was for your dog!"
What?
Jin Ling looked at Fairy and cocked an eyebrow.
Well, people liked huskies a lot. Since his uncle Yao give him a dog for his birthday, he always get stopped by people who wanted to pet Fairy when he go to walk his dog.
“Really?”
"Yeah." The pretty boy said as a beautiful smile rested easily on his lips when he whistled again at Fairy and the dog just wagged the tail friendly.
Fuck, even Fairy liked him.
“Maybe it could be rude from me, but would you let me pet your dog?” He asked, using all his charms when he looked right into Jin Ling's eyes.
Jin Ling tried to control his heart, but he couldn't.
Why is my heart racing? He wondered. He couldn't fall in love at first sight, right?
“You don’t have to do if you don’t want it.” Added the boy, noticing his uncomfortable behavior.
”I don’t mind, go ahead."
The pretty boy didn't hesitate to bent and stroke Fairy's ears, enjoying the fluffy fur. "She is so fluffy. What's her name?"
"Fairy."
"That's a cute name for a dog, did you chose it?"
If Jin Ling didn't fell already for his fanfiction grey blue eyes, he fell in that moment. "Actually, it was my uncle idea."
"Seems like your uncle has an original way to name dogs."
Jin Ling grinned.
He was going to say something more when a voice interrumpted them, breaking the spell.
“A-Yi, we are leaving!”
“Ugh, that's my Dad. See you next time!” He said as he got up and runned to the other side of the park, but Jin Ling wasn't sure if he was talking to him or his dog.
The pretty boy waved bye into distance, smiling.
But Jin Ling don’t waved bye back, he was this skilled with people.
Specially with the people that he liked.
. · ✦
His phone beeps that night.
Zizhen was bored, he knew that. Zizhen didn’t get along with the sons of his father’s friends in the parties.
Jin Ling read the message, raising an eyebrow.
Zizhen:
Missing your grumbling ass ︶︿︶
. · ✦
For wednesday, Jin Ling can’t stop thinking about those fanfiction gray blue eyes or the kissable lips. He had this awful feeling like a hundred of golden butterflies were flying in his stomach every time he thought about the pretty boy in the park.
Gods, he became this such of weirdo.
Sure Zizhen will have a good laugh at his expense when he noticed that his friend had a big fat crush on a pretty boy named A-Yi.
Well, it wasn’t a name. But it was something.
His crush was so overwhelming that he decided went to Wen Yuan house without knowing what he could talk with the guy, they barely knew each other. Maybe Jin Ling didn’t wanted to talk much and just needed Wen Yuan’s Dad loud music so he can’t hear his own thoughts about how that pretty boy made him feel.
When he went inside the house, Wen Yuan’s Dad looked surprised that his boy take a someone at home. He even stopped drinking alcohol before to talk.
He introduced himself with a bright smile “Wei Wuxian. Wine?”
“Dad, please no.”
“A-Yuan, your friend needs it more than me”, Wei Wuxian pointed his face. “Look at him! He seems too devastated to be that young.”
Jin Ling frowned, understanding why his uncle Cheng told him to no talk with the neighbour in first place.
He was so gross.
“Okay, okay. Your old man wouldn’t shaming you in front of your boyfriend.”
“Oh my God, Dad. Why are you like this??” Yuan blushed, really ashamed while his father seemed to have a good laugh at his own son expense.
“Forgive your old man, little radish. Old habits never dies.”
Yuan put a hand to his face. “Sorry, Jin Ling. I swears he’s not like that all the time.”
“I'm going to pretend that I don't hear it.” Jin Ling mumbled, without knowing if he was going to regret coming to Wen Yuan house or not.
“I got the feeling that your face was familiar, are you A-Cheng’s boy?”
The question caught Jin Ling off guard.
“Do you know my uncle?”
“He never talked about me?? What a friend!” He complained, taking another sip of wine “We were childhood friends, best friends actually.”
Jin Ling doubted, seriously.
However, later Wei Wuxian show him an old photo where a younger version of himself was here with Jin Ling's mother and uncle. It were just the three of them, smiling at the camera in Jin Ling's grandparents house.
Jin Ling looked at the photo, admiring how pretty was his mom at that age.
The three of them seemed so happy that Jin Ling wondered what happened, why he didn’t knew this man and why his uncle Cheng told him never speak a word with him.
And for a moment, his mind stop thinking about some fanfiction gray blue eyes.
Well, until monday when he went to school and the Teacher Lan Qiren introduced a new student. The pretty boy, Lan Jingyi.
Fuck, he had a crush on Lan Qiren grandson.
He was really fucked.
#MXTXLATAM#CultivaTober2020#MoDaoZuShi#Mo Dao Zu Shi#GrandmasterOfDemonicCultivation#Jin Ling#Jin Rulan#Jiang Cheng#Jiang Wanyin#Wen Yuan#Lan Sizhui#Lan Yuan#Wei Wuxian#Wei Ying#Lan Jingyi#Jin Ling x Lan Jingyi#Lingyi#October Challenge 2020#idk what I'm doing#What if Jingyi was Lan Xichen's son
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Prank Wars - ch. 7
> pairing | jungkook x reader
> word count | 3.5k
> genre | college!au, fluff, smut, angst
> warnings | swearing, sexual innuendos.
> synopsis | College can be a stressful time in anyone’s life as it is, why don’t we throw a little prank war in the mix to make it harder?
> fic masterlist
> A/N | English is not my first language, I’m sorry for the eventual spelling mistake, please let me know if you find any!
CHAPTER 7 - Popcorn Stealer
It was only a week after that Jungkook’s plan came to fruition. With everyone having exams and finals, there wasn’t much hanging out in the days following the whole having-sex-in-the-heat-of-the-moment-with-you thing. But it all finally ended on a nice Thursday afternoon. The last of you who still had some sort of assignment were Jimin, Namjoon and you -you and your brother were on the same boat, having the same teacher for different lectures who was really into leaving things last minute. Jimin only had a paper left because he got so caught up helping Hoseok that he kinda forgot he had his own things to do. But at last, after class was over on that sunny but chilly afternoon, you were finally on winter brake. No one had the stamina to go out and party that night, and, as Jungkook himself suggested, you’d all meet up for brunch at Jin’s the next morning and have a chill day doing whatever.
What no one knew, however, was that Jungkook would wake up that Friday at the ass crack of dawn just to pull his prank on you. It wasn’t as if there was absolutely no contact between the two of you in the days that followed. You texted him a meme that same day, ashamed of how you handled the situation and trying to not make things awkward. It worked, you guessed, as the two of you communicated solely through facebook-mom kind of memes every day from then on. You also bumped into each other one night at your brother’s place, but if anyone noticed anything about how the two of you would avoid eye contact like two middle schoolers avoiding themselves on the school corridors after texting something risky, you didn’t know. That is, aside from the weird looks Jimin, Taehyung and Hoseok still gave you whenever you acted normal around Jungkook, they were still getting used to the friendship thing, god forbids they find out what happened. It would break them.
You woke up later then you planned Friday morning, and could hear Alice already taking her shower. You checked the time and saw that twitter was blowing up with something, but had no time to snoop around a bit because your friends would be waiting for you in twenty minutes, so you got up and decided to skip showering and just get ready. Alice was out around the same time you were finishing brushing your hair, and traded places with you in the bathroom so you could wash your face and finish getting ready. You were both at the door surprisingly on time, and texted the group chat to let them know you were on the way. It was a short walk from the dorms to Jin’s cafe, and even if it looked like it would start pouring at any moment now, you decided to ditch the car and just take the stroll there, hoping one of the boys could give the both of you a lift if you needed it later.
It was nice to leave your heavy books and computer behind for the first time in weeks. You weren’t even carrying a purse! Everything you needed fitted in your coat’s pockets. You were happily thinking to yourself throughout the first five minutes of your walk when you first noticed the commotion.
“What's going on there?” You wondered, looking at a group of people surrounding some bushes on the sidewalk.
“Oh, didn’t you see? A bunch of clothes showed up all over campus this morning” Alice took out her phone to search the tweets and show you.
“That’s so random” you passed by the group and noticed on of the round bushes was wearing a grey sweater, while another one had a simple white shirt on “funny, I have a sweater like that"
“They think it’s some sort of art project, no one claimed it yet, though” Alice found what she was searching and turned her phone to you “This one’s the most popular”.
In the picture it was the big tree in front of the main humanities building, where you had most of your classes. The tree had no leafs anymore, as expected during winter, but from it there were a bunch, and I mean a bunch, of underwear hanging. All female clothing, you noticed. The piece of resistance, the focus of the photo, was a light yellow bra with two cartoonish bears on it, one on each side where the boobs were supposed to be. You took the phone from Alice and zoomed in. It couldn’t be.
“Hey, everything alright?” You stopped on your tracks and Alice took a second to realize, coming back to you when she noticed. You gave her the cellphone back and took a better look around. On every tree leading up the main path there were at least one piece of clothing. And in the small sections without trees, there would be bushes, benches and even some lamp posts all dressed in cute blouses, bras and pants. Your cute blouses, bras and pants.
“I’m going to kill him this time, I swear I will” You started to walk again, faster this time, and Alice had a hard time keeping up with you.
“Hey! What’s wrong?” Alice held your arm to slow you down, but it didn’t really work.
“This is my stuff, Al!” You didn’t even look at her “I knew I wasn’t going crazy, I’ve been noticing that my clothes have been disappearing” Her mouth hung wide open and it would be impressive how quickly she connected the dots were not for the ongoing theme of the semester being ‘Jeon Jungkook must be ended’.
“Oh he didn’t” she picked her pace by your side “I thought you guys were cool now!”
“So did I!” You lamented to yourself. All you wanted at this point was peace and a nice break, some good food, maybe a gift or two for Christmas… Instead you’d be spending your next weeks in jail, after trying and failing to commit the perfect crime. Knowing Jungkook as well as you did, you were sure he wouldn’t even let himself be killed alright. “I was so dumb! It began when he started to come over to do his laundry” you mourned to yourself “I should have guessed he had something to do with it.”
By then you were just a few steps away from the cafe entrance, and through the window you could see the boys all inside having a laugh. You bursted in first, and the whole table they were in went silent. Your older brothers smiled sheepishly at you, but Taehyung could barely hold in his laughter, biting on his knuckles to stop himself. You could notice Alice mouthing something to Yoongi and he responding only by a motion of his shoulders. Jimin hid his face behind Hoseok, and Hobi gave Jungkook a pat on the back. And sitting there, as if he owned the place, was him. He smiled triumphantly at you and again, it all happened so fast you would only remember what went down next when your friends retold you the story later.
Passing by your side at that exact moment was Rhina, this cute freshman Jin had hired to help out with the busiest hours of the cafe. She was carrying on her tray what looked like a frappuccino or some other sort of cold drink only someone mental would order at this time of year, but it worked perfectly. You took it and made your final few steps towards the table. Hoseok still had time to try and get out of the way, but the same could not be said about Jungkook who, in a matter of seconds, was head to toe covered in cold coffee, foam and tiny marshmallows. You turned around and left before anyone could do anything. You would regret it later, when your friends would tell you about the look on his face or about the fact that he slipped when he tried to get up and ended up dragging Jin along with him, making an even bigger mess. But then, all you wanted was to get away.
You were starting to trust him, and yes, Alice would remind you later that no one knew it was actually your clothes, and that the boys ended up spending the rest of their first day of break cleaning up the campus and searching for the pieces that had been stolen to return them to you, but you were a little bit hurt by the prank.
It was just a prank, you would try to remind yourself, but you didn’t feel like getting back at him this time. You just got back to your room, turned off your phone and curled up in bed to rewatch your favorite tv show and forget that the outside world even existed.
The next day, Alice and you had made plans to watch movies at Yoongi’s. She felt bad about what happened, even if deep down she felt you over reacted a bit, and Yoongi had this massive TV he used to produce his music and made for the best home cinema ever. Besides, there were a couple of films you really wanted to see, missing them while they were on the movies because you had to study. You were supposed to meet the couple there, but Alice had a few errands to run earlier, and you just made your way to Yoongi’s place because you were bored of staying in already.
You had the password to the front door of the building, memorizing it by how often you went there with Alice, and you were just waiting for the elevator when someone stopped beside you.
“Hey” of fucking course.
“I’m not talking to you” you responded, not bothering to look at him.
“You just did” you could hear the smile on his voice.
“Seriously, Jungkook, how old are you?” The elevator doors opened and you got in, hoping he would just let you ride alone. Tough luck.
“You can’t stay mad at me forever” he tickled your side and you took a step away, trying to mask how your body reacted to the touch.
“Just watch” you pressed the number to Yoongi’s floor and crossed your arms, getting as far away as possible.
“You have to admit it was funny” he leaned into the back of the elevator with his body turned to you “and you already had your revenge, we’re even”
“I wasn’t trying to get revenge and it wasn’t funny. I can’t login into any social media without seeing my underwear all over my timeline” you huffed. “and people can be really mean, you know?”
Jungkook looked taken back by your statement, but it didn’t last long, the smile returning to his face. “Well, what did you expect when you bought yourself mickey mouse panties?”
The doors opened at Yoongi’s floor and you stepped out, glad to know Jungkook's floor was a few above the older boy. “You know what? Fuck you.”
Before the doors closed you could still hear his “you already did!” and had to take a quick look around to make sure no one heard it. You sighted relieved when you noticed you were alone, and made your way to Yoongi’s apartment.
A few hours went by with you and Yoongi alone. Alice was running late and the both of you didn’t want to start the movies without her, so you just spent de afternoon watching music videos and some random clips on youtube. Yoongi also showed you what he has been working on. His graduation project revolved around composing an EP and putting together a small concert, it sounded fun but it was actually a lot of work, since he had to do not only the production of the songs, but also the organizing of the event and all the reports and data analysis of the feedback. He was in the final stages of his album, just finishing a couple of songs, and you were the only person, besides Alice, that was shown the entirety of the work.
He had a couple of songs with ‘special guests’, them being Namjoon and Hoseok in one of the tracks, and Jungkook in another one. You knew your brother could rap, and had been to a few competitions he was a part of growing up, but Hoseok was a nice surprise, specially when you noticed how different all of their styles were. And Jungkook was also something you didn’t expect. You noticed a few musical instruments when you visited his place, and you knew he helped Yoongi on the studio, but you always assumed it was related to technical production, not singing. You hated to admit how much you appreciated his voice, and felt awkward asking Yoongi to play that track again.
“That one is not really finished yet” He commented, pausing the next one that was about to begin “I know it sounds weird, there are a few bass lines I have to tweak and-“ he started to bite on the corners of his thumb nail, and you noticed he was actually really nervous about the whole thing.
“No dude, I’m asking because I liked it” his eyes light up at that and went bigger then you ever saw them.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, it’s my favorite so far” you smiled and scooted closer to the computer, to press the play on it again.
He went quiet immediately and you could feel he was studying your reaction, so you tried to come up with something smart to say. “I like the… guitars on it?” You knew it sounded more like a question then an affirmation, but Yoongi laughed nevertheless.
“There are no guitars on this song” ok, never mind. You hid your face in your hands and laughed alongside him, there was no point in denying that you knew nothing about music, that talent being spent entirely on your brothers.
“My bad. I really liked it though" you commented when the laughter died down.
“I was uncertain about asking Jungkook to be in it, but after last year’s bonfire festival I was convinced he could sing” he shook his head, reminiscent of a time you still weren’t around “he was always blabbering about his music skills to get girls but never actually owned up to it, and then he lost a bet with Jimin and had to perform and honestly, I had to make use of him somehow, he owned me for how many times I saved his ass…” he pondered for a while but continued “and I’m sure the fact that he’s in the track will bring some attention to the EP” you shoved him sideways and before you could ask more about that bonfire festival, someone knocked at the door.
Yoongi stood up to answer and in came Alice with, of course, Jungkook trailing behind.
“Look what the cat dragged in” Alice was carrying a bag full of groceries and pointed back at the younger boy, who was also carrying a few bags himself.
Yoongi gave them passage and took everything Jungkook was carrying, walking with Alice to the kitchen so they could put everything away. The boy stood awkwardly in the middle of the room and gave you a side smile, almost like an apology. You glared at him and turned to follow the other two, hoping they could keep you busy from looking at the intruder’s face.
“-and then I was just about to give up getting it when Jungkook showed up, so I invited him to come” Alice was finishing explaining to her boyfriend what went down on her day to keep her from coming early “I downloaded a few films, not sure what you wanted to see” she found a small pendrive in her purse and handed it to you. Finally, a task you could menage.
Yoongi and you had already set up the living room earlier, dragging his mattress to be on the floor in front of the couch and moving his giant TV out of his working desk and back to the part of the loft assigned as the living room where it was supposed to be. You were sitting on the mattress browsing Yoongi’s computer to see what were the film options, when you felt the place beside you being taken.
“What do you want?” You didn’t bother looking at him to ask.
“Can we be okay tonight?” You glared his way and saw him using the puppy eyes you were sure he learned from Taehyung.
“Are you for real?” You went back to your browsing.
“Yes, please, they have nothing to do with it, we don’t even have to talk, let’s just not, I don’t know, be us?” You looked at him again “you know what I mean! Let’s not argue, I won’t bother you, you don’t pretend you hate me-“ You opened your mouth to interrupt him but he went on “I said what I said! Let’s just be cool? Please?”
You rolled your eyes but honestly, you could take a break from the bickering and, as annoyed as you were with the existence of Jeon Jungkook, you could play nice for a night “fine, but don’t force it” he smiled big and stood up, running back to the kitchen to help your other friends, but not before turning around midway to, not only catch you staring, but also give you a wink. What an asshole.
Alice had downloaded quite a variety of movies, most of them you didn’t even recognize, but after checking with everyone a few times to find one that had not been seen by anyone, you set on a war film. Not your favorite but you could menage. Yoongi made popcorn and Alice filled a few big cups with your beverages and you were all set to go. Not even ten minutes in, Jungkook had managed to spill all his popcorn and scooted closer to you to steal from your bucket.
“For real?” You whispered to him, trying not to bother Alice and Yoongi sitting behind you on the sofa, cuddling under the blankets. He just grabbed a handful and shoved it all on his mouth, you heard Alice chuckle behind you and noticed she witnessed the whole thing but, instead of sticking with you as a best friend should, she just did the same with Yoongi’s bucket, but was not reprimanded at all.
“You should be more like Yoongi” Jungkook whispered back to you, still with food in his mouth. You grabbed more of you popcorn and shoved it to him, shutting him up again.
“And you should be quiet” there was no point fighting him, so you just got comfortable and tried to enjoy the film with him constantly stealing your food.
You were in your third movie of the night. After the war film you watched an animation, Alice’s pick, and now a drama was playing. You had seen that one already, but Jungkook was adamant in watching it so you just let him be. It was about halfway through and you were starting to feel sleepy. You were sitting shoulder to shoulder with Jungkook, not because of the popcorn anymore, but because he was supposedly cold and Yoongi only had two clean blankets, so you had to share. You started to scoot down, to lay more on the mattress and make yourself more comfortable. Jungkook noticed it and did the same. You looked at him, but he only motioned at the fabric covering the two of you, as if saying that you were dragging it with you and he wanted the warmth. The two of you adjusted to the new position and soon enough you were not capable of keeping your eyes open any longer.
Jungkook noticed you had fallen asleep and tried to drag from under you one of the cushions you had supporting your head, to make you more comfortable. You were already insufferable as it was, he was not excited to deal with you with neck pains. But in trying to do so, he ended up pulling both the pillows, and had to support your head with his hand, trying his hard not to wake you up. Before he could figure out how to put the pillow back in it’s place, however, you rearranged yourself to lay on his arm, and then scooted closer to lay on his shoulder. He had no way out of it if he didn’t want to wake you up, so he just let you be. Before he could turn his attention back to the movie, however, he sneaked a sniff of your hair. Chocolate and coconut, like a Barbie one of his cousins had when he was little. He turned back his attention to the movie but, as much as he was liking it, it wasn’t long before he too was knocked out.
Behind the two of you, Alice and Yoongi were still wide awake. Yoongi nudged Alice when he noticed Jungkook was starting to waver, and they witnessed when he laid his head on yours and fell asleep. They didn’t thought much of it, continuing with the movie unbothered, but soon after, when you turned to Jungkook and hugged his arm, and he, by reflex, scooted closer, the couple shared a knowing look between them.
> A/N | This is a shorter chapter, more like a filler tbh, because the next one is getting quite big, just wait for it ;) I was going to take a little longer to post, but I want to try and get chapter 8 up by the 21st (comeback day aaaaaaaa who else can barely hold on their excitement?) so there's that. It's a whole lot of fluff for now but if there's anyone eagerly awaiting for the angst: I promise it's coming reaaaal soon. Longer note, I guess I felt like talking today. Have a nice day, wherever and whoever you are :)
TAGLIST | @w1tchcraftt @girlwiththeglittereyeliner @teresaisla @nctssidehoe @kawaiimusiccollection @nininek12 @livewittykid @namjoonsslutakakoreanmanswhore @planhtarxhs
TAGLIST IS OPEN
#jungkook#jeon jungkook#jungkook x reader#bts jungkook#jungkook smut#bts fanfic#bts x you#college!bts#university bts#smut#angst#fluff#college!au#university!au#prank wars
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i am very much enjoying my vague void! it's currently blasting hozier at full volume and that's almost louder than my internal screaming (don't worry, everything is fine, i just saw a spider)
i've never once in my life have followed a recipe correctly. all of my measurements are completely random and whatever happens happens. it is no longer in my hands. whatever eldritch entities exist take the wheel. and i absolutely refuse to spell anything in english without autocorrect because y'all have way too many double letters and random vowel placement
thank you! sadly, i won't have a break right now, because we just had christmas vacations, but the start of the new semester is always pretty chill. and you're absolutely right, i should take up necromancy! the snow and the cold will add to my mysterious vibes. i just need to get a big black cape with a hood to complete the aesthetic
i definitely picture everything above 5'6 feet as the same height. 5'7 and 6'2? the exact same thing. no difference here
how is morepork a real bird name. it's just... more pork? but the bird is magnificent. i completely approve of your first order as bird queen, not that you need approval from mere peasants like me, but it's a great order. ohhh salps look really cool, and it does look a lot like it! when you said boob implant i thought of mermaids and them using salps as boob implants but then i realised wait wouldn't jellyfish be better for that? because of their shape? ignoring their little leggies they're quite boob shaped, no? and then i realised that i was thinking about mermaids and alive boob implants... if i had to think it, you have to read it. i'm sorry
i was sold before but now i'm even more sure that i want to hire you. and I'll make sure to have lactose free cheese for the backflips (unless you want the lactose version? i'm not judging). will the biting of ankles cost extra?
that sounds like a brilliant set-up for a horror movie where they kill off all the children one by one. it's absolutely horrifying. if something like that would've happened to me i would've most likely just passed out. whatever happens afterwards is not my problem. and now i really don't want to know what the hell your leg was caught on because that seems like knowledge that would get me killed
ah so you're a fellow dirt eater? according to my mom my favourite thing to do outside when i was a little kid used to be eating sand. just shovelling handfuls of it into my mouth and crying when my mom made me spit it out. which i refuse to believe. if there are no photos it didn't happen
you warm climate people are starting to make me think that i'm better adjusted to the cold than i thought i am! it's either that or our buildings are better heated. i definitely don't know if anyone else calls hot water bottled hotties but i like it so from now on i'm using it
that's so cute! i was clearly a way more selfish child because when i found any amount of money i just kept it and bought candy as soon as i could. i clearly couldn't save money then and i can't now. we have stores like that (or i'm assuming that they're like that solely based on how they sell lollies) and they used to be my favourite thing because you could get so many lollies for such a small price!! and my mom even used to let me order for myself sometimes so i always felt like a very big girl jsjshsbsjk
also the fact that i can't send pictures on anon is a crime (yes i know why and it's good that that's not possible because can you imagine anons being able to send pictures? oh no is all i have to say about it) but anyways. because i have this one super cursed photo that reminded me of you and now i can't share it :((
duuuuude, sick void bro. sounds like a vibing void. I feel like I haven’t seen a spider in awhile. Other than daddy long legs. But they’re chill. They mind their own business.
I nearly always follow recipes exactly. My mum is like oh cook this for about 7 minutes? Yeah sure. I’ll take a wild guess. I’m like they say exactly 7 minutes so I’ll set a timer for 7 minutes and start a stopwatch so if it does seem to need more than 7 I can keep an eye on the extra time and be aware of exactly how long it takes me for next time. Other people are like oh let's see I have [lists 5-10 things in their fridge], hmm...oh I know what I could make with that! I’m like I have beans in my freezer because one recipe required them and no other recipes I know how to make do so what am I supposed to do with these now,,, this is stressful,,, basically I barely know how to cook and recipes are the only things saving me in that area. That is entirely fair. Except for the fuck duck, and murder is not the word you want surely, situations, it’s pretty helpful.
Ohhh I see. At least the start is chill! For a little! Before your entire situation spirals out of hand and you’re behind in every class and it’s taken you a whole day to read 10 pages and you’re exhausted and it’s only week 2. Just me? ok. fair. anyway. I want a cloak so bad. One of my uni friends tempted me to class because she said she was wearing a cloak so my depressed ass honest to god dragged myself out of bed and to said class just to see it. It was worth it. They’re incredible. Everyone should own a big cloak for the aesthetic.
I’m glad it isn’t just me hahaha. I can visualise my own height in feet but everything else is just the same size that is a vague amount taller than me, mentally.
It’s also known as the ruru. But the name morepork amuses me. It’s named after the call it makes haha. It does sound like it’s asking for more pork if you know to listen for that. thank u for ur approval, it means a lot, turns out becoming bird queen didn’t ACTUALLY get rid of my anxiety disorder weirdly enough so validation is great! lmaooo. What if the jellyfish stung them tho? At least salps wouldn’t do you dirty like that. The mermaids would just look like there are hundreds of bugs crawling around in their boobs, flesh shifting as they float around. Which is a vibe. If you’re into that. Jellyfish WOULD make a more solid, single, implant, some of them are definitely boob shaped. But that’s kinda boring no one’s gonna be traumatised by that. Salps on the other hand...yeah, that sight will DEFINITELY traumatise someone.
To be PERFECTLY honest I haven’t done a backflip in years but for lactose-free cheese? Dude. I’ll be going back to training. Gonna be the best backflip you’ve ever seen. As long as it’s not Tasty cheese I am content, but lactose free IS better. The biting of ankles will not cost extra, it is a pleasure to be allowed to do that.
Oh it absolutely would be. It’d be very funny if it reached the wider world bc people would probably be like ok but who would send kids into the bush like that,, it’s an odd concept. meanwhile everyone who grew up in nz is gonna be like y’all, you’re not gonna fuckin BELIEVE what i experienced growing up, it’s real dude. On one hand, I feel like murdering kids in a movie is questionable, on the other hand, It exists, so maybe people would be down for it. I feel like it’d be a good concept even if it wasn’t murdery tho. Like psychological horror? I’m not sure if I’m using that category correctly I don’t watch much horror. A kid following the rope but then being shifted into a different horror dimension but they never take the blindfold off because their teachers said not to and they’d probably have to let go of the rope to do it...I feel like this could work super well as a short film. The viewers see everything. The child just knows something is off and no one is coming when they call for help. I am so down for this. I also do not want to know what my leg was caught on. Some things I am better off not knowing.
yes! I am a fellow dirt eater! We had a sandpit at home (that’s a little bold. It was a large plastic shell that my parents filled with sand. technically a sandpit. but not fancy sdflsdkfsdf) but I don’t think I ever tried to eat it. Then again, I possibly did and just don’t remember because there’s no photo evidence of that one. I’d have to ask my parents sdfhsjdfs, I would however fully believe them if they said yes. it’s very characteristic of me. I don’t doubt it for a second. muuuum that’s my emotional support sand don’t make me spit it out smh the disrespect these days.
Oh I’m absolutely terrible even by most people’s standards around here when it comes to cold and hot temperatures. I remember sitting in the sun in my school shirt and school jersey in summer on a blazing day like it’s a bit chilly, isn’t it? Meanwhile my friends were in the shade absolutely dying from the heat. Likewise in winter I’d be shivering, teeth chattering, dying with my long sleeve thermal, my school shirt, my school jersey, my school jacket, my longs, warm socks and sneakers and gloves and school scarf while ppl would be walking around in a shirt and shorts like it’s a bit warm this winter huh? my body didn’t learn how to thermoregulate and it shows. But yeah NZ does also have a reputation for shittily insulated buildings and such. It shows. skhdfsfs if it’s not common use maybe don’t say can i have a hotty to someone without context but otherwise go ahead lmao. it’s a fun shortened version.
I was typically a very good saver, to the point where my extended family started gifting me gift cards and vouchers for Christmas and my birthday because if they just gave me money I’d put it in my bank account to save towards uni once I hit like, 12 years old. Which I think was a smart move. But apparently, I’m supposed to buy myself ‘something nice’ with it. I think I’m still an okay saver but I’m not as strict anymore. I’m aware of how much I can spare and I’m not just like you can never get anything for yourself ever, so I do get lil things for myself sometimes. oooo yay! At least you know what I mean. But yes. They were the gold mine for lollies. Absolutely terrific stores. My mum would be like hey lindsey how about you order? And I’d be like mother, I am 7 years old and I have an undiagnosed anxiety disorder everyone assumes is child shyness why would you think I would want to do that. Instead I will whisper my choices to you. After therapy tho I felt pretty rad for picking my own lollies by myself. I was like 13 at that point but sdfkjhsdf listen I got there in the end.
sdfkjsdfkjhsdf I like that a cursed photo reminded you of me. That’s all I need to hear. Tumblr said no anon dick pics but they also said no anon cursed photos either,,, very sad. for the latter part. the first part thank god. If I could turn on photos on anon I absolutely would just to see this but I don’t think I can :(
#tasty cheese is nasty and i will die on this hill#i'm not sure if other countries have like the same main cheeses or if it differs everywhere#tasty. colby. and edam are the main three i think of#i know there's like mild or some shit but i know only the blue yellow and red packets#either or a wasp or a bee just flew in my room but it flew out so i'll respect that#my plans for today were reply to your ask and that's it#what am i supposed to do for the next twelve hours#oh wait i know#m u r d e r............#Anonymous
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J/H 7-17: Down the Road Apiece
We assume that 7-02 through 7-16 play out in this timeline the same as they do in the show as-is. That's right - the break-up, and the reasons for it, still happen. I know those aren't favorites for some fans, as you may recall from my review of Season 7, I’m alright with that story. The execution was sloppy in places, and there are individual jokes I don't like, but I just couldn't justify adding additional episodes to my rewrite list based on those patches when I think the overall story is solid.
What isn't solid is the way that Jackie and Hyde get back together, which is ridiculous on multiple levels. That brings us to this episode, and this partial rewrite that covers all of their scenes...
(NOTE: As with the previous date changes, this doesn't solve anything re. continuity issues, but we assume that, in this timeline, the show has been in 1978 from 5-10, "The Crunge" [going by production order] to 7-13, "Can't You Hear Me Knocking," when it finally changes over to 1979.)
FF.Net
AO3
***
INT. FORMAN BASEMENT – DAY
A truncated gang hanging out. HYDE reads in his chair, JACKIE reads on the couch, and KELSO and FEZ rummage around in the shelves under the stairs.
JACKIE:
You know, Steven, it's great we can still hang out. We're kinda like Sonny and Cher. We're together even though we've broken up. I'm beautiful. You're weird-looking.
Seeing them talk, Fez nudges Kelso.
FEZ:
(whisper)
Look, they're talking. Maybe they will...
He mimes lovelorn expressions, a passionate embrace, and a vulgar make-out.
KELSO:
(whisper)
Nah. See, with Jackie, on the first break-up, you need a guy friend to get her back together with her man. Same goes for the second, which they’re on now. On the third break-up, that guy friend becomes the new man.
FEZ:
(whisper)
Really?
(to Hyde & Jackie)
So, are you two ready to kiss and make up?
Kelso slaps Fez upside the head. He takes him by the shoulders and steers him to the stairs.
KELSO:
Okay, we’re going upstairs. We gotta... we gotta... we gotta take a shower.
FEZ:
Together?
He seems more intrigued than repulsed. Kelso shakes off any repulsion of his own and pushes Fez all the way up the stairs.
Hyde continues reading, but Jackie looks around the otherwise empty room.
JACKIE:
Wow. You know, I think this is the first time we've been alone together since, uh...
She trails off. Hyde doesn’t look up.
HYDE:
Yeah.
JACKIE:
Well, maybe we can use this opportunity to touch base about our feelings.
That gets his attention. Hyde sets his magazine down and looks right at Jackie.
HYDE:
Or we can watch TV.
JACKIE:
Great! Oh, I love TV.
Hyde stands, flicks on the TV, and sits back down.
TV (aud. only):
Oh, Janie, it's so hard to be in the same room with you, because even though I'm a rough ne'er-do-well, my love for you burns like a fire deep in my soul.
Hyde looks to Jackie.
TV (aud. only):
I feel the same, Clyde, and even though we broke up because you won't marry me, I still hope that one day we'll get back together.
Jackie looks to Hyde.
HYDE:
What are the chances of that?
***
INT. FORMAN BASEMENT – DAY
Later in the day. Jackie and Hyde haven’t moved from their seats. The soap opera is still playing on the TV; Janie and Clyde are still sorting things out.
CLYDE (aud. only):
Janie, we couldn’t possibly get back together. Not as long as you insist on trying to plan for the future, when neither of us can know what it has in store.
JANIE (aud. only):
Oh, Clyde, I know that’s just your fear of commitment talking, and your lack of confidence in your own potential.
HYDE:
(to Jackie)
Is this from that public access station you work at? ‘Cause this is starting to sound like one of those lame romance plays you wrote for your English project.
JACKIE:
No. But whoever wrote this obviously knows what they’re talking about.
JANIE (aud. only):
You’ve let a lifetime of poverty and rejection beat any expectations for life out of you, and now you’re letting fear and pride drive away your one chance at happiness, you scruffy drifter!
JACKIE:
(points to TV)
See?
Hyde shifts in his seat, avoiding Jackie’s smirk.
CLYDE (aud. only):
What would anyone so young and so swept up in their own fantasy world know of life and happiness? Your wealth and your demanding nature have won you everything in life, but you won’t make me fall to your whims so easily, you spoiled brat!
Now it’s Jackie’s turn to shift, and Hyde’s to smirk.
HYDE:
You called it, Clyde.
JACKIE:
Oh, like he knows what she’s thinking.
HYDE:
Oh, and you do?
JACKIE:
Well, you don’t. You don’t know what anybody’s thinking, because you never listen.
HYDE:
Hey, maybe if you talked about something other than how to keep your hair from getting tangled up in hoop earrings, I might pay attention.
JACKIE:
(beat)
That was a segment on my show last night. Have you been watching my show?
HYDE:
(beat)
No... Mrs. Forman was watching. I was just in the room. For thirty minutes.
He pointedly avoids Jackie’s touched look, keeping his eyes locked on the TV.
***
INT. FORMAN BASEMENT – NIGHT
Is this the longest soap opera ever, or what? Clyde and Janie are still arguing, and Hyde and Jackie are still watching.
JANIE (aud. only):
You reckless, immature man!
CLYDE (aud. only):
You mad, impulsive woman!
JANIE (aud. only):
We can never be together!
CLYDE (aud. only):
I’ve never agreed with you more!
Slowly, Hyde and Jackie turn to look at each other.
JANIE (aud. only):
Oh, Clyde, I didn’t mean it!
CLYDE (aud. only):
Neither did I, darling!
Hyde and Jackie’s heads snap back to the TV.
JANIE (aud. only):
Your uncouth manners and run-ins with the law may disturb my family, and may have frightened me when we first met, but I’ve seen the diamond in the rough. I’ve never had a wiser teacher, a more tireless protector, or a more passionate lover.
CLYDE (aud. only):
And your life of privilege and entitlement may make you a symbol of everything I rebel against, but you’re not the shallow socialite you claim you want to be. You are the truest friend my stepbrother Alec’s fiancée has, and no one has been as open, as honest, or as loving to me as you have.
While their heads remain turned to the TV, Hyde and Jackie’s eyes flick to each other.
JANIE (aud. only):
But you still refuse to marry me!
CLYDE (aud. only):
And you still can’t accept what we have now!
JANIE (aud. only):
Oh, Clyde, how can we get past this? How?
CLYDE (aud. only):
HOW?
Hyde and Jackie lean forward in rapt attention.
ANNOUNCER (aud. only):
Will Janie and Clyde find their way back together? Or will they remain forever divided by fear and pride? Find out next week on MOON OVER TIP TOWN!
Hyde and Jackie fall back into their seats, deflated.
Fez bursts out from the shower and leans against the back of the couch. He is so focused on the TV, he doesn’t even notice the jump he gives Hyde and Jackie.
FEZ:
NO! Next week? I cannot wait that long!
JACKIE:
Fez? How long have you been in the shower?
FEZ:
I snuck in fifteen minutes ago when Janie and Clyde had the fight about the nurse.
(sniffles)
Oh, how am I supposed to find out how to get you two back together now? And who knows when they’ll get to the storyline when you break up again?
(looks up to God)
When? When is it Fez’s turn?
Halfway to tears, he turns and runs up the stairs. A baffled Jackie looks to Hyde, who just shakes his head and stands to turn off the TV.
***
INT. FORMAN BASEMENT – NIGHT
Hyde and Jackie are still in their seats. The TV is off and the magazines are on the coffee table. Only awkward silence pervades, until:
HYDE:
(sighs)
Much as I’d like to let the psychic soap opera do it for us next Friday, maybe we should talk, man.
JACKIE:
Why? Nothing’s changed. Nothing but...
HYDE:
But what?
JACKIE:
But... well, I thought I couldn’t be with you if you wouldn’t commit, but I hate being without you either. I don’t know how we can get past this.
HYDE:
(beat)
You know, Forman and Donna are doing that thing where they don’t talk about what they are. You know, no labels.
JACKIE:
Steven, I’m not Donna. I’m all about labels. Perfect nails, best legs, shiniest hair – that’s just three that fit me like glove. But I also want to know what we are, or at least what we’re going to be in the future.
HYDE:
Can’t that wait until the future gets here? Man, you’re still in high school, you’ve just started your show, you don’t know where it’s going, and I’m still new to this record store thing. We’re not going anywhere in a hurry.
JACKIE:
Things aren’t going to be like that forever, Steven.
HYDE:
Well, until they change... I mean, I’m not doing great without our weekly bedroom tiff-and-tumble either.
JACKIE:
Those are hot.
(sighs)
Okay.
She gives Hyde a small smile, and he gives it back. Jackie takes his hand in hers, then crosses over to his lap. They begin to make out.
Fez appears at the top of the stairs. Seeing Jackie and Hyde go at it, he looks up to God.
FEZ:
And they get back together on their own? If they didn’t put on such a quality show, I would curse you!
He shakes his head and pouts, even as he turns back to the lovin’.
FADE TO BLACK
***
You may recall seeing 7-07, "Mother's Little Helper," on the list of episodes getting re-written. It was; things didn't work out, so it got cut from the line-up. I consider that a failure on my part; one thing about the set-up to Jackie and Hyde's break-up that I don't like is that Jackie's desire for commitment and adulthood, while plausible, only pops up when it's needed for the plot. The planned 7-07 rewrite would've ditched Jackie and Donna's fight storyline (a really terrible running gag) to provide some build-up to Jackie's attitude in "Winter" and "Don't Lie to Me." But 7-07 was the last episode I put on my list. Everything else had at least been outlined, if not in a drafting stage for key scenes. When it came time to sit down and actually work on 7-07, events in my personal life made enthusiasm for one more episode hard to come by. Working, as I am, on a self-imposed deadline for this project, I had to cut 7-07 to press ahead and finish what I'd already planned.
Bottom line - if this section of the rewrite feels lacking, with how little has been changed, there's some reason behind that, and I apologize. Hopefully, what's to come is satisfying for everyone who's been reading along - and I appreciate all of you who have, very much.
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Three Old Ladies Knit Socks of Death
First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || AO3
I’m really glad that I have a clue as to what happened, even if the constant buzzing surrounding everyone is driving me nuts.
Someone cast a spell of some sort to trick everyone into thinking that Ms. Dodds never existed. The buzzing kept trying to affect me, but it couldn’t get me through my Purifying powers.
Thank Pontus for those.
But the buzzing is very, very, very, annoying.
One important thing I noticed was that Grover didn’t have any buzzing around him, which means that he is fully aware of Ms. Dodds. That and the fact that he’s a horrible liar.
Mr. Brunner’s buzzing didn’t lower at all, but nor did it raise.
I think he’s the source of the buzzing honestly, still not sure if he’s safe. He hasn’t asked for the pen that’s a sword that’s a pen back.
But everyone is denying that Ms. Dodds exists.
…
I may or may not be using it as practice for my purification powers.
…
It seems like a good idea (and keeps my mind off of…)
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
Okay so one person had to go to the nurses office cause I managed to get rid of the buzzing around her with my purifying powers, and whoops…
Apparently, mortals can’t handle that.
Everyone is saying she had a psychotic break yelling about a Ms. Dodds and how she definitely exists…
So, I’ve decided that I should not test my purification powers on helpless mortals.
Katara would be ashamed of me for testing my powers like that.
I’ve also decided to rewatch Avatar: The Last Airbender for the twenty-fourth time.
Don’t judge me, it’s a great show and my teacher for waterbending!
And maybe I’ll see more about healing with waterbending, I can’t remember all the details and I need a way to learn without hurting myself first.
Purification is still cooler, but healing will definitely be helpful in the future. Besides, it’s practically a signature move for Katara, the whole world would’ve ended in the show if it weren’t for her healing abilities.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
Carl was excited for my experiments with the water holder, I was messing with some ice and ignoring the growing sense of doom that was coming as exams got closer.
Triton would be disappointed in me for not paying attention to my lessons now, but I can’t help it.
It’s so hard to focus when you’re trying not to focus on the fact that you killed someone, sure she was a fury, but she had feelings and stuff too.
I shook my head, nope nope nope, not thinking about that right now.
Work on the magic portable ice fish tank.
I sighed, fiddling with the ice to twist it into the right shape.
I’ll need to add the runes-
“Percy!”
I made the ice shatter into a thousand tiny pieces and melt and nearly fell off the bed.
…
“You okay man?”
I nodded, pushing myself up and pretending like my face wasn’t on fire.
“I’m fine.”
“What were you doing anyways?”
Uh…
“I was trying to do a palm reading on my hands.” Nailed it.
“Baa-ha-ha, you do palm readings?”
“No, but I thought I’d give it a shot. I was trying to see if I could pass my exams.”
“If you study you might,” Grover bleated out.
I sniffed, raising my nose and hiding a smile, “Studying is for the weak!” I declared grandly.
Grover laughed.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar view, fields with misty figures as far as the eye could see.
I frowned.
Where am I?
I wandered forward, waving a hand in the face of one of the figures. They didn’t react.
Yep definitely a dream.
Now I just have to figure out where I am.
I probably should’ve gotten around to reading up on prophetic dreaming like probably dad Oceanus mentioned one of those times I was there, but I got distracted.
I wandered the fields, looking around in confusion, this place was very unfamiliar.
Except, a feeling of familiarity clung to me from one direction, so I started that way.
It felt like a low burn edging my senses, I’m not sure where I felt it before, I don’t really remember this feeling.
The sound of leathery wings made me look up, my eyes widening at the three figures.
Hades’s furies.
I suddenly realized where I was.
The itch of a curse made me want to scratch my arms. But looking up, Ms. Dodds, one of the furies, is alive.
It was like I could breathe for the first time in weeks.
I didn’t just kill someone who could think and breathe and feel like us.
I almost felt like sitting down right there, I let out a breath and held back the tears.
Thank Pontus.
I woke up
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I practiced my Ocarina more, sitting next to some of the plants Grover has and settling the music book in front of me to try one of the basic tricks. Growing plants.
Technically it’s supposed to be done with coral and sea grass and other undersea plants, but I don’t have those. So, I just have to make due with the plants that Grover has.
Grover came in while I was mid-song, but I ignored him, the plant seems a bit brighter, just a little taller.
I smiled, it’s going alright.
Not as much as it should be, but it’s certainly improving.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
School was itching at my nerves. The constant buzzing was driving me up a wall and I was snapping quicker at people instead of doing it the smart way like Triton taught me.
I watched more Avatar and tried to resist the urge to break something.
I have no outlet, I can’t go practice my waterbending, I can’t talk to Triton, I only have Carl who just plain doesn’t understand.
School studies are getting harder and harder for me to do.
I could handle Pre-Calc thanks to all of Triton’s help in the past, and Latin wasn’t that hard either (why is every language but English easier? Should I try learning Spanish or French?), but otherwise… I kind of just gave up.
The buzzing stayed in the back of my head.
I threw myself into my books from Triton, devouring the information on Siren’s Song that I had been ignoring so far.
I practiced my Ocarina and paid attention to my clubs again some. Triton said they were good for me.
The buzzing filled the rooms when there was even a moment of silence.
I ended up kicked out of Model UN because of my lowering grades but music club had pity on me.
I practiced more.
The buzzing didn’t stop.
I snapped at a teacher one time too many, I’m not welcome back at the school next year.
What an underwhelming way to get kicked out this time.
The buzzing was unrelenting.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I’m really glad for my starglobe. I’ve just been sitting here staring at it for the last hour.
Grover keeps giving me weird looks, but… It’s just sparkly and pretty and reminds me of Triton. It reminds me of the sea that one time my mom let me “sleepover” at a friends house. I got to see the stars from the sea and it was amazing.
“Did you know your eyes change colors?”
I looked up at Grover.
“What?”
“Well, they’re normally this sharp green, like, sea green, but you’re looking at your sparkly snowglobe and your eyes just turn like, silver-gray?”
I blinked, “Do they?”
“Yeah, I mean it’s cool.”
“Hmm, I guess I get it from my mom, her’s do the same thing.”
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
It was the night before my Latin exam.
As much as I don’t trust Mr. Brunner, I just couldn’t figure out this one translation, and I lost the answer key.
Ugh.
I decided to go ask him, at least he would know I was trying. As long as he didn’t like, try to kill me or something, it’d be fine!
…
Hopefully I didn’t just jinx myself.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I was almost to the door to his office, but something was off.
I stopped, realization hitting.
The buzzing was quiet.
I was almost to his door, where the buzzing is usually very loud, and there was nothing.
I frowned, was he not there? But the light is on?
The door was ajar slightly, and I stepped closer, as quiet as I can be.
“… worried about Percy, sir.”
I stopped, tilting my head. That was Grover.
My heart sank, so I was right, he is working with Mr. Brunner.
“… alone this summer?” Grover questioned, “I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-“
“We would only make matters worse by rushing him,” Mr. Brunner interrupted, “We need the boy to mature more.”
“But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-“
“Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can.”
“Sir he saw her…”
“His imagination,” Mr. Brunner insisted. “The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that. He may still have the pen, but the Mist over it will stop him from realizing.”
“Sir, I… I can’t fail in my duties again.” Grover’s voice was choked with emotion. “You know what that would mean.”
“You haven’t failed, Grover,” Mr. Brunner soothed. “I should have seen her for what she was. Now let’s just worry about keeping Percy-“
I shifted back, a small creak of my rubber shoe bottom on the linoleum floors echoes through the halls.
Mr. Brunner went silent.
I slipped back, seeing a shadow of something larger than Mr. Brunner in a wheelchair pass the lighted glass. It was holding an archer’s bow.
I moved, sliding into the first door I could find and pressed against the wall by the door.
I could fight if I needed too, my trident charm in hand, but… I need time to process.
A shadow went past, clop-clop-clop passing by. Like muffled hoof beats.
A large shadow paused by the window.
Mr. Brunner spoke, “Nothing, my nerves haven’t been right since the winter solstice.”
“Mine neither,” Grover said. “But I could have sworn…”
“Go back to the dorm,” Mr. Brunner told him. “You’ve got a long day of exams tomorrow.”
“Don’t remind me.”
The lights went out in Mr. Brunner’s office.
I waited there, going through what I just learned.
They’re worried about me, whether about my health of something else to do with me…
The buzzing is probably this Mist that he talked about, I’m not sure what that is, a spell of some kind I suppose. When I can talk to Triton again I’ll ask. Maybe it’s a land magic?
Mr. Brunner, whoever he is, has no idea that I know about gods and mythical beings and the like. I can use that to my advantage if he is actually a threat.
They know about the winter solstice mess, all I know is that there’s been a theft.
I frowned, are they blaming me too? And what’s this about a summer solstice deadline? That sounds bad.
Why do they need me to mature more? What do they need to worry about keeping me from? What’s going on?
One thing I’m sure of, Mr. Brunner is definitely not human. Some human animal crossover based on the sounds I heard. Horse half? Centaur? That’s the best I’ve got right now. I’ll look into it more later.
I stood in the dark waiting.
Grover is working with him though.
My chest hurt, could I trust Grover? Was he just going to attack me? Try to hurt me?
I want Triton, I want Triton so badly. He would know what to do.
But I can’t. Triton said not to contact him until things calmed down.
Based on Grover and Mr. Brunner, things are definitely not calm.
I stood in the dark.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I returned to my room when I calmed, nodding to Grover and settling back down with my notes.
“Hey,” He said, bleary-eyed. “You gonna be ready for this test?”
I glanced over, trying to bury any emotions, Triton had said that Grover might have empathic abilities and I can’t let him know what I’m feeling.
I forced a smile, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I faked a yawn, “I think I’m gonna go to bed now though. Too tired to get much more done.”
And I am tired, I’m so tired of being here.
I just want to go home, see my mom, hug her, talk to Triton.
I want to be back in the still dirty (but much improved) river and cleaning it and talking to the fish and other sea animals.
I want to go to events with Triton and talk to my merfolk friends and trade notes on our powers.
I don’t want to be here wondering if my friend is going to betray me and attack me. I don’t want to wonder if my teacher is going to try to hurt me.
I just want home.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
Honestly, I fell asleep trying not to cry, so when I woke up in my probable dad’s palace, hidden in an alcove, I kinda burst into tears.
It’s like my dreams are trying to comfort me.
I curled up and cried, this year sucks.
Everything first semester was bad, but since the solstice I’ve been so alone.
Everything aches I just want to see Triton, to talk to my friends, to not be so utterly alone.
I can’t trust Grover, I can’t trust Mr. Brunner, I certainly can’t trust any of the other students in the school.
“Oh dear…”
Soothing curls wrapped around me, banishing the cold currents that felt so like my probable dad’s palace.
A hand was on my back, I couldn’t really see through the tears though.
“Hush now little Half-Blood, it’s alright.”
I took a few minutes to calm my breathing, to stop the tears, the unknown person whispering soothing words the whole time.
When I could finally look at them, I finally saw the Titaness Tethys.
…
Oh no, don’t tell me I just cried like an idiot in front of my probable dad’s wife.
I want to curl up and die, why me.
She settled next to me in the alcove, her hand still rubbing my back, “Are you feeling better?”
I swallowed, nodding.
“Yes Tethys-ran” I whispered.
Using the proper terms of respect are important. Ran is for queen, which she is, Ari would be for king.
She smiled at me, “There, that’s better. Let’s get you something to eat hmm?”
I nodded, letting her tug me out of the alcove.
“We still have only caught the beginning of your name little half-blood, starts with a P right?”
I flushed, “It’s Percy, Tethys-ran.”
“Ah, then a pleasure to meet you Percy-tou”
I flushed, tou is used for children regardless of gender, it’s basically calling them cute little one.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you to, Tethys-ran.”
She led me to the kitchens it seems. There’s a lot of noise as they work on making the food.
Her hand was still on my back, it was grounding.
“Do you have any favorites?”
She was looking at me.
“Oh uh, I like water chestnuts? And uh frozen Plumose? Um…”
She smiled, “Any meats?”
“… tuna?”
She nodded, nudging me forward as she spoke rapid Halmaheran.
“Get something -- him to eat, something on the --- end. And something -- snack on. And some --- if you --.”
I couldn’t catch everything that she said, unfortunately, but I’m pleased I caught as much as I did. She was talking really fast and had an accent I don’t know.
It took only a few minutes before she was ushering me out, a few bowls of food in her hands.
I ended up sitting with her in another alcove, nibbling on the snacks she got me. And sucking clean water from one of the plants, usually used for that purpose. Not like you can have cups with drinks underwater.
She let us eat quietly, her gaze on me.
I glanced at her, then looked away again.
“You seem to find yourself in our palace fairly often Percy-tou.”
I shifted, “I’m sorry, I don’t know why.”
She hummed, “It’s no fault of yours, though you should learn how to control your dream walking.”
I frowned, “Dream walking?”
She smiled, “That’s what this particular branch of prophetic dreaming is called, though the technical name is Hioipihaiho.”
I frowned, Halmaheran.
“You mind effectively leaves your body and travels to another place. It is different from Ahioimua, which is looking into the future of the place you are, Imuaireira, which is seeing the future or other places, Ahiomuri, which is seeing the past of your current location, and Amuritereira, seeing the past of another place.”
I wished I had my notebook to take notes.
“Dream walking is simply traveling, it’s the most common form of prophetic dreaming in Half-Bloods. None of them technically require dreaming, though it is the easiest way to receive the visions of the other forms.”
Okay that’s interesting, so I could do this awake… How would that work?
“Though slipping through the shields of our palace to prevent entrance from those trying to come is impressive. I’m very curious as to how you’ve done so accidentally.”
I chewed on one of the nuts in my snack bowl, “I don’t know, I just started showing up here.”
She nodded, “Well, it’s certainly interesting.”
It must be because Oceanus is my dad? Is this more evidence towards that? I have a lot of really solid evidence now.
I kinda want to say that I know, but I promised Triton I wouldn’t ask or talk about my immortal parent. It would interfere with my safety.
So, I kept my mouth shut and resisted the urge to tell her.
“What had you so upset? When you first arrived?”
I nibbled on one of the tuna pieces, “I uh… Just had a stressful week.”
I ducked my head.
“Oh? Anything in particular?”
“I have a lot of big tests, and found out a friend isn’t actually a friend…”
She hummed, “A sad thing to learn.”
“Yeah…”
She ran a hand through my hair, I peeked up.
She smiled, “Friends come and go like the tides, it is good to learn from your time with them, and they will leave a mark on you. But don’t let them hold you back or cling to what has passed. If they are not your friend accept that and move forward, else you will drown.”
I relaxed, she’s not wrong. Grover was apparently not really trying to be my friend, he was spying on me?
Regardless of what he was doing, I just have to accept it.
It hurts, but… it would be better for me to move on.
I nodded, “Thanks.”
“Well, I believe it is time for you to wake. I’ve already held you here longer than you should’ve been.”
She gathered our bowls and flicked away.
Almost immediately I felt the yank at me. Like a strong current tugging me away.
“Stay safe Percy-tou.”
Oh.
I woke up.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I finished the Latin exam.
I know that I messed up like half the grammar, but the translation to English wasn’t too hard, I could use context for some of the grammar, and I’m good at the word definitions so that was easy at least. The few history questions were annoying, but I didn’t struggle too badly.
The buzzing in my ear made it hard to focus though.
I think I managed a C? Maybe even a B if my guessing for the grammar was good enough.
I’ll just have to wait and see I guess.
I started to head out when Mr. Brunner called me back.
I swallowed back my fear that he found out about me overhearing him last night, he wouldn’t call me out for that in front of the class.
“Percy,” he said. “Don’t be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It’s… it’s for the best.”
My heart sank, I know that I can’t trust him, really, I do, but… I couldn’t help but like him as a teacher.
It hurt to hear him say that, in front of the whole class too.
The other students snickered, Nancy sent me a smug grin.
“Okay, sir.” I mumbled.
“I mean…” Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn’t sure what to say. “this isn’t the right place for you. It was only a matter of time.”
What does he mean by that?! That I’m destined to be kicked out? That despite the high standards he’s been holding me to he had zero faith in me? That he was going to insure I would be kicked out if it wasn’t something else?
“Right,” I whispered.
“No, no,” Mr. Brunner said. “Oh, confound it all. What I’m trying to say… you’re not normal, Percy. That’s-“
“Thanks,” I blurted, holding back my fear that he could know about my power, “Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.”
I bolted, hearing his call as I fled.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
The last day of term had finally arrived.
I gathered up my notebooks, my waterskin, my assorted gifts from Triton and my friends, Carl in his new transportable tank, and carefully put everything up in my two bags, my waterskin on top. My suitcase held the extra and all of my clothes.
The other guys were talking about their plans for their breaks.
They’re all juvenile delinquents like me, kids that can’t manage it in other schools, but they’re rich ones.
Doesn’t mean I have to let them know that I’m not doing much unless Triton can contact me soon. I probably shouldn’t even go to the river until Triton gets ahold of me.
One of them asked what I was doing this summer.
“I’ll be visiting some of my friends overseas. I haven’t seen them since winter break.” I flashed them a bright smile that hid the ache in my chest as they questioned me more.
“Where do they live?”
“Oh, on some islands a bit out. They’re a bit spread out, so I’ll probably move around some.”
“That’s cool, looking forward to it?”
“Yeah,” I grinned, “They’re a lot of fun.”
They went back to talking about their trips but did leave an opening for me to join if I wanted.
I didn’t, they were all kind of jerks to Grover, but I appreciated it.
The only person that I was nervous about saying goodbye to was Grover. Even with Tethys’s advice, even knowing that he may try to harm me, it’s so hard to let it go.
Turns out I don’t have to yet though because he’s coming with me. We have tickets on the same Greyhound bus to Manhattan.
Seems suspicious.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
Grover is clearly very nervous, glancing around and down the aisles, watching the passengers. It was similar to how he acted every time we left Yancy. I ducked my head and didn’t say anything about it.
“Hey Percy?”
I glanced at him, “Yeah?”
“I uh, I know that uh, that we’re going different ways this summer. But…. I thought, uh, here-“
He handed me a card, “Just take this, in case you need me this summer.”
I took the card, which is in the most obnoxious fancy script that took me a minute of squinting at to read.
Grover Underwood
Keeper
Half-Blood Hill
Long Island, New York
(800) 009-0009
My heart almost stopped, Half-Blood Hill.
What does this have to do with Half-Bloods?
“What’s Half-“
“Don’t say it aloud!” He yelped, “That’s my, um… summer address.”
I stared at him, is he trying to trick me into going into some sort of trap?
“Okay, so if I want to visit.”
“Or… or if you need me.” He nodded.
“Why would I need you?”
I couldn’t help the bitter words. How could I trust him after what I overheard the other day?
Grover blushed right down to his Adam’s apple. “Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you.”
I stared at him, the likely mythological being that I’m half convinced is supposed to be assassinating me.
“Grover, what exactly are you protecting me from?”
Could I have misunderstood?
Suddenly there was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.
After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced we’d all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everyone else, and my senses were on fire.
It was like a web of feeling, fabric flowing over me, almost sparking as it moved.
My head snapped around, on the other side of the road, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.
There, next to it in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, sat three old ladies knitting the biggest pair of socks I’ve ever seen.
And those old ladies were... dangerous.
The energy I could tell was there, it was overloading my senses.
I couldn’t feel anything but the crackling fabric flowing over me.
The lady on the right knitted one of the socks, the lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn that made me feel like a knife was pressed to my throat.
The combined feelings made me want to claw at my skin, what is this? Who are they? What’s going on?
The three ladies were looking right at me. I rubbed at my arms.
Grover made a strangled sound and I glanced at him. Just barely resisting bolting from the area.
“Grover?” I said. “Hey, man—”
“Tell me they’re not looking at you. They are, aren’t they?”
I swallowed, oh dear.
“Yeah, why?”
The lady in the middle took out a pair of scissors, massive scissors—gold and silver, long bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.
“We’re getting on the bus,” he told me. “Come on.”
I stood still, staring at the old ladies with the scissors that made my head spin, their presence that made electric fabric rub at my skin, and their yarn that felt like knives prickling my neck.
“Come on!” He called, prying open the door and climbing inside.
The old ladies still watched me, and the middle one lifted the scissors.
I could hear the snip of her cutting the yarn from across all four lanes of traffic. Her two friends bundled up the electric-blue socks and I felt the at this point familiar buzz fill my head. The three ladies were gone between one blink and the next.
At the fear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.
The prickling of a knife, the electric fabric, the head spinning all faded, almost entirely gone.
The passengers cheered.
“Darn right!” yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. “Everybody back on board!”
We got back on, the buzzing still nudging me. I pushed my power as hard as I could, shoving the buzzing trying to reach me away.
Grover looked sick, I didn’t feel great myself, but the buzzing had faded almost entirely.
“Grover?”
“Yeah?”
I hesitated, should I? I want to know… I need to know if he’s actually a threat.
I licked my lips, “What are you not telling me?”
He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. “Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?”
“There were three old ladies, two knitting giant socks, one holding yarn. The one in the middle cut the yarn, then they left.
He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers, one I recognized from my time with Triton. A symbol to ward of evil. With magic behind it, it can do small things. Otherwise it’s just a simple hand motion.
“You saw her snip the cord.”
“Yeah. So?” Who were those old ladies? Nothing has bothered my senses like them before.
“This is not happening,” Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. “I don’t want this to be like last time.”
I scowled, “What last time?”
“Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth.”
“Grover,” I snapped, because I just want answers! “What are you talking about?”
“Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me.”
I stared at him, there’s no way I’m letting him know where I live. I’m not endangering my mom like that.
“Sure.”
He continued to bemoan my fate, looking at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I’d like best on my coffin (Forget-me-nots so I can boss people around even when I’m dead).
#percy jackson#powerful percy#percy figures out how to control water young#percy calls himself a waterbender#waterbender percy#Avatar the legend of percy#avatar: the legend of percy#avatar fan percy#grover#Grover underwood#pjo#percy jackson fanfiction#pjo fanfiction#pjo fanfic#smart percy#strong percy
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Quarantine Q&A
Tagged by @fontainebleau22 thanks! What an excellent ask meme lol
Are you staying home from work/school?
~rant ahead~
Yeah, so the school I work at is closed until at least May, and it will likely be closed for the rest of the year. We’ve moved to online learning which is a mix of live video class and independent projects. However, unfortunately as a support teacher who isn’t paid an annual salary, I’m covered for absolutely none of this:S I’m also not even guaranteed the same hours of work with my usual students (I work only with the international ones) because people’s families are so in flux right now. It’s totally understandable that they wouldn’t want to pay for their kids to have support anymore, since their kids won’t be able to get the same specialized classes/IEPs they’d usually get with me in person. So we’ll see, one family has basically jumped ship, and I’m still waiting to hear back from a lot. I had a mini class this morning though with one of my second graders and it was adorable quite frankly. But yeah I’ll have missed essentially two weeks of work at this rate, am paid for zero of the online prep work I’ve done (which has been a lot lol fml), I have no idea how many more (if any) students I’ll get and it’s definitely a bit of a stress. Anyways this could be a much longer rant haha but I do really need to speak to the school about my current position because the support teachers are really being left out in the cold on this one. This was going to be my last year there anyways, and depending on what work I’m even able to get with them now, I sense unemployment insurance in my future lol
~rant over~
If you’re staying home, who’s there with you?
My cat and I are actually staying with my parents at the moment which is...an adjustment haha. My parents and I are very close and I love spending time with them, and it’s probably better to stay with family than rattling around my apartment alone but...I’m also a grownass woman and the parental microinvolvement......is grating!!! :)))))))) As much as my parents and I get along we should probably all just make sure to give each other some space regularly haha, because having to adjust to their routines after having been moved out for almost 10 years is...a lot lol.
(My cat, however, is a delight as always and continues to be the fluffiest, most charming creature in existence)
Are you a homebody?
Oh totally. I’m excellent at lounging and keeping myself entertained at home for long stretches so I’m not going too stir crazy yet. But that being said, I always used to balance it by going out a lot and seeing friends, so I’m definitely missing that piece right now.
An event that you were looking forward to that got cancelled?
The main one was James Taylor which I was SO looking forward to, never having seen him live. My family adores him and so my sister and brother-in-law and I bought tickets to see him for the family as our big Christmas present for my mom and dad. It’s been postponed so maybe someday! Oh also one of my best friends was getting married in a couple months and I was looking forward to his wedding
What movies have you watched recently? What shows are you watching?
For shows I’ve been looking forward to Better Call Saul more than ever lately! So glad the new season is happening right now. Also because I was just in Albuquerque I’ve been having a renewed interest in Breaking Bad lol so I rewatched season 4 semirecently. But yeah I have a literal ton of movies on my to-watch list and I should really take advantage of the extra time I have now by seeing some!
What music are you listening to?
I now finally have the time to build up my music library on my newish iphone (the music didn’t transfer over when I switched from my android), and am going genre by genre, mostly focusing on getting good running music first. So far I have a lot of funk/pop/classic rock. Also added some kpop I used to enjoy which got me all nostalgic haha there’s some good stuff. And as always Hozier owns my life, and Wasteland Baby has never felt more relevant lol.
What are you reading?
I’m currently reading The Shipping News for the first time, but nothing else yet! Grabbed some books from my apartment to keep me busy though. I have Germinal in French for if I want to practice and Germinal in English for if I want to actually enjoy it lmao. Turns out I own a copy of Emma which I’ve never read so I’ll try that. Oh and maybe I’ll actually finish Stephen King’s The Stand for some pandemic-themed mood-reading haha. I basically chose long, dense things that I won’t rip through too fast. Oh and I NEED to catch up on some fanfictions! I’ve been so slow!
What are you doing for self-care?
Running pretty much EVERY day and it feels great. My gym closed earlier in the year and running outside in the winter is so icy/slippy/wet/slushy that it’s not worth it, so I took most of the winter off. But now the snow’s almost gone and my parents live in a great area for running and I’ve been going for long stretches along the river every day, and it’s probably the best part of my day. If they eventually ban jogging I will actually cry lol.
Anyways the overall quarantine situation is ‘not ideal but could be MUCH worse’. I could do with some more work, but big picture I should be fine.
tagging @thenightisland @dreamsinteacups @purplespacecats @yoporkchopsandwiches
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Three Days ~ 3
AO3
~*~Sebastian~*~
I straightened my clothes when I got out of the SUV. I realize my first impression is already shot to hell, but I'm attempting to make up some ground. In front of her door I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths before knocking. I tried to re-frame my sudden nervousness as excitement. When she opened the door two things happened. My mouth started to water and my jeans shrank at least one size.
I went with it. "You look beautiful." I kept my voice soft and smiled.
The peach shirt and white jacket set off her eyes and slightly tanned skin. I liked the slight swell of her breasts showing out the top of her shirt. Just sexy enough. I mean, I have nothing against naked breasts, rather like them, but this was a good first date look. Believe it or not, there is such a thing as too much. And there's time and place for more. This wasn't it.
Emma smiled and put her hand on my bicep, "Thank you. You clean up nicely."
I laughed, "I didn't really pack for a dinner date."
"I thought you might be limited, so I went with jeans."
My head jerked a little in surprise. "That's really nice. Thank you." I had to stop myself from staring. I'm not sure what I'm more amazed by: her kindness or the ease with which she speaks about her thought process. She says it like it's no big deal, but it is. Or maybe I'm more jaded than I thought. I snapped myself out of my thoughts, "Ready to go?" She nodded and I put my hand on her lower back, leading her to the vehicle.
I started backing out and remembered I didn't know where we were going. I put on the brake, rested my hands on the steering wheel, and looked over, "Which way? Where we going?"
"I had two ideas. In town there's a pub. Typical pub food. Bar on one side. Restaurant on the other. Probably live music, but its not loud on the restaurant side. Or about five miles north there's a place on the river with outdoor tables. They specialize in ribs and barbecue, but have everything from steak to seafood."
"Outside on the river sounds good. Nice night for it." I pointed at the navigation screen. "You put it in. Then we can talk without getting lost."
She laughed, "Are you sure we haven't met before? I'd completely get talking and forget to tell you where to turn."
"I think I'd remember." I smiled and watched her press the buttons. Her nails where longer than her fingertips. Long enough to feel, but not so long as to do damage. I should probably stop thinking like that or my my pants are going to shrink more.
"How is the moving going?"
"Good. They hired movers for the actual move. I'm here to shift boxes to other rooms, hook up electronics, and hang things. I think mom used the move as an excuse to get me to visit. When my step-dad retired they moved upstate. Now they're closer again, so it'll be easier."
"Are you an only child?"
"I am. Mom and I left Romania when I was eight then moved to New York when I was twelve." I didn't know if she knew my history or not. It was very vain to think she'd googled and read interviews. I wasn't sure if she was a fan. I liked how my job wasn't part of the conversation. That couldn’t last, but it was nice for now. "What about you?"
“I have an identical twin. Amelia.”
I don't think she was done talking, but I burst in. “That's so cool. Emiliana and Amelia. Did you switch around to fuck with teachers and boyfriends?”
An evil grin crossed her face. “All the time. Our parents mostly. They could never tell us apart. They tell this story about how my dad was so sleep deprived that he forgot to put on our color coded booties and they're not one hundred percent sure which one we really are.”
“Oh fuck! Priceless.”
“Once we hit our junior year Amy cut her hair and started dying it red. If we wanted to pull anything off we had to pull our hair up and shove on a hat. She's got a daughter now and since we're identical twins Katie is genetically my daughter too.”
My mouth dropped open, "I'd never thought of that." I raised my eyebrows, "Never been out with a mom before."
"First time for everything."
We laughed and conversation was easy the rest of the short drive. She pointed out the river walk and restaurant as we drove across the bridge. I was thinking an after dinner stroll was a good idea.
It was early enough that getting a table by the water wasn't a problem. Either the time or the hostess recognized me. She sat us in the corner of the deck with water on both sides. It was a beautiful view. My date and the scenery. Date was better. Before the hostess left she looked at me, "I'll send your server right over, Mr. Stan."
I guess that answers that.
There was a drink menu on the table. I picked it up and looked at Emma, "Do you drink?" She nodded and I handed her the menu. "A beer on the water sounds good."
The server showed up, took our drink orders, and by the time she brought our beers we were ready to order. There was a lull in conversation between discussing the menu and whatever was going to come next. We both took a drink to fill the space. I pulled at the label on my bottle nervously. "What do you for a living?" I knew I was opening the door for the same question, but it was the next logical topic.
"I teach first grade."
I never had a teacher who looked like her. "Why first?" I liked finding out why people made the choices they did.
"I like teaching the little people to read. Kindergartners are too squirrelly. There's a lot of time just teaching them how to be in school. Lots of crying in Kindergarten. Fifth graders are starting to be smart asses."
I nearly spit my beer across the table.
She laughed and handed me a napkin from the dispenser on the table, "They are! The hormones are starting to kick in. No thank you. Third and fourth are assessment years and it's all about getting them ready. Second is this weird hybrid where you're reteaching what they missed in first and getting their basic skills ready for third." She took a drink and continued. "First graders are perfect. They get so excited when they can put sounds together to make words and then read the words in a book. Or when they figure out three plus two is the same as counting three stars and two stars, figuring out the algorithm. I love teaching them to subitize. That’s knowing how many things there are without counting them. We play songs and games. Their little faces light up and they're so proud of themselves. The ones who struggle. It's hard to figure out how to help them and keep their confidence up. They break my heart." She put her hand over hers.
Her love of what she did was obvious. I couldn't remember talking to a teacher after I left school. My teachers just tortured me with homework, papers, projects, and group work. I shook my head, "Until right this second I had never thought of a teacher being excited about their students learning."
"You either had shitty teachers or hated school."
"Both." I looked up, searching my memory. "Leaving Romania was good, but I didn't speak anything but Romanian. I was a good student, but when we moved to Vienna I had to start over. I couldn't communicate. I couldn't read. It was hard. Mom threw a fit because my teachers used the language issue to not push me. She wasn’t having it. Then we moved here and it was starting over again. I was in that awkward stage, had at least three chins, didn't have any friends, and could barely speak English."
She cringed, "I don’t like your teachers. You have to work harder. There's always kids with stories. Whether they’re new, or a parent has died, or they don't speak English, or they've been abused, or they’re just different. You have to work harder to find a way to connect with them and be different for them. You have to have the relationship to help them learn. I'm not going to lie, sometimes you don't like a kid, but that's the job. You're the adult. Figure out how to make it work."
"Yeah, I didn't have teachers like you. It got better. Puberty helped and so did partying." I smirked around my beer bottle as I drank. "My teachers didn't look like you either. Would have paid more attention if they had. Well, maybe not paid attention, but enjoyed class more."
Her shoulders raised a little and one side of her mouth curled up, "Want me to teach you to read or something, Seb?"
"Now there's a loaded question." She’s still figuring out what to call me. Fuck. I might be sad when she figures it out and sticks to one name.
Luckily or unluckily our appetizers arrived. The flirting was fun, but we’re early into dinner. Lots of time for flirting. Good to mix it up.
We'd ordered a sampler. I picked up one of the fried pickles, "There's a place in Atlanta where these are called frickle pickles."
"I grew up in Alpharetta."
"Did you? I've spent a lot of time in Atlanta." I kept going without even thinking. "The Marvel movies filmed there and most of Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be filmed there." I stopped with a pickle about to my mouth. "Umm."
"There's the elephant in the room." Emma popped a french fry covered in cheese and bacon in her mouth.
I chewed my pickle slowly to buy a little time. What for I don't know. It's awkward. I wiped off my hands and finished my beer. "I was enjoying ignoring the elephant." I leaned forward onto the table. "I liked just being a guy on a date."
"You still are." The look on her face was showed she was amused.
I liked that she wasn’t taking the topic seriously. I'm pissed I brought it up. We were doing fine getting to know each other without the complications of what I do. No one explains that part to you in acting school. You just learn about the craft, business, and what not to do an audition. They don't teach you about someone posting a picture of you laying shirtless in the park. You're doing what everyone else is doing, but if you were anyone else no one would care about you laying in the park getting some sun. This is why actors, and models, and sports stars date other actors, and models, and sports stars. All of those things which become a normal part of your life are normal for them too. It's not normal to other people. And until I mentioned filming in Atlanta I was having a damn fine time being a guy helping his parents move.
I want to fucking scream.
I drummed my fingers beside the plate. "I liked being the homeless guy you met in the baking aisle."
She frowned and put her hand over mine, "I didn't think you were homeless. There's a rehab facility up the road. I thought you were an addict stopping for chocolate before checking in. To help with the withdrawal."
I threw my head back and laughed hard. "Even better!" I turned my hand over, holding her fingers, and rubbing my thumb over her soft skin. "Can I go back to being that guy?"
“You're still the sweet guy running errands for his mom. The one I waited for at the check out. Before I knew his name or recognized him."
My eyes were wide and I was doing that thing I do where I'm licking my lips and playing with my tongue. That can mean lots of things. Right now is intrigued with a side of slightly nervous.
"It's going to be hard to get to know you if you don't tell me about your friends and what you do with your downtime."
She had a good point. I wasn't sure what my plan had been. Her talking about herself all night wasn't going to work. "I can do that. Talk about my friends."
Things have gotten more complicated. Not for the reason I expected. We've pretty much worked around the how do I be an ordinary man with a not so ordinary job problem. Now the problem is I'm holding her hand. It's soft and warm and I don't want to let go. I want to stay touching her. I can not figure out how we're going to eat.
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The Break Up Blog - Day One Hundred and Forty Nine
My VPN is acting up again, so I’m blogging using my laptop tonight instead.
It’s been nice doing lots of typing on my laptop in recent days. My Cat and Robbie story is taking shape in a delightfully romantic way.
Who knew that Ariana Grande could be such a useful muse? I feel like a large portion of the world population could’ve clued me in on this fact a long time ago, hee hee.
Today was my last official day at my old job.
I took some time to walk around the school running track track and roam the hallways first thing in the morning. It felt surreal poking my head in through the doors of the homerooms where I taught so many of my students English, or tried to teach them at least.
I felt a bit like a ghost in a haunted house since most of the students are officially on holiday now and the classrooms were eerily empty.
After that, the day whizzed by with me helping C prepare some materials for her Murder/Detective winter vacation class. Lol, she’s really stoked about getting ready for police training when she goes back to the States in a month, so she’s turning her old students into miniature police detectives investigating crime scenes.
It’s an unusual concept for a children’s class, but I’m sure they’re having a blast learning new life skills from C. Plus, filling mini ziplock bags with powdered sugar and pretending it was cocaine was priceless!
When it finally came down to leaving, I went around my whole office to greet my colleagues one last time. It felt good to do that, even with my colleagues I barely interacted with for two years. I wanted all of them to know in some way that any help or kindness they gave me has always been greatly appreciated.
It felt nice showing a bit of my emotions at work and hugging my colleagues and exchanging Wechat contacts with a few of them. I hope they won’t forget me; I hope I won’t forget them either.
CI walked me out of school too because he didn’t want me to walk outside alone after saying goodbye to everyone, which was very thoughtful of him. And then he even hugged me goodbye outside the bus station near our respective homes, which surprised me in a good way. CI’s even more reserved than me and not big on expressing affection through physical contact. So I wasn’t planning to hug him goodbye today because I wanted to respect his personal boundaries. So it was nice that he broke his usual rules with me. Even though we only worked together for a year, I’m glad I met him. He’s such a great guy and become a good friend over time. I hope that he’ll still reach out whenever he needs help with stuff or just wants to chat. I’ll do my best to look out for him this year, especially with C heading back to the States. I’ll do the same with AS too since PE and his wife will be moving to the States too at the end of his work contract in August.
I went to the bank afterwards to withdraw some cash and just walked around near my neighbourhood for a bit. I felt pretty sad and lost after leaving my workplace. This is a new chapter in my life and I’m still not quite sure how to feel about it.
I got home and opened a gift and read a letter that one of my colleagues gave me yesterday. I just broke down and cried a for a while after that. The letter itself was simple enough, but the sentiment just wrung my insides out like a wet sponge. I sent some voice messages to other colleagues I didn’t get a chance to see before I left.
CH, G and D messaged me throughout the day, which was good too. I avoided messaging my loved ones all day because I was feeling emotional about my last day at work and wasn’t ready to delve into it just yet. But I’m glad they broke down my emotional barriers to check in on me. It’s nice to know that I have so many people in my life who are constantly looking out for me.
I sent H a voice message too even though we saw each other before we both left the office today. She left earlier than me because she had to go home and pack, she’s going back permanently to Korea. She’ll come back to China briefly next month, so hopefully we can have a meal or coffee together before she departs for good. I finally told her that X and I broke up and she was very sweet and encouraging about it, telling me I deserved better and that I’ll be ok in the end.
Even if I let H confirm her strange ‘Columbo-esque’ suspicions about my breakup bordering on practicing witchcraft (H legit guessed at all the right reasons why X and I broke up months when she gossipped about it with C without me telling her anything, it was freaky!), I feel ok about it now. I don’t want to hold onto any more bad feelings that happened at work, in either a professional or personal sense. I’m also glad I told H that she did a great job as our manager last year, even if it wasn’t always the case. I don’t want her to go away from our school feeling like she failed at managing all of us. She has a lot of good points and overall, she was still a great colleague to work with the past two years.
I also told PE and AS more about what went down with X. We ended up at a bar after having a farewell dinner for all the teachers leaving my school last night. I was intoxicated at that point and the three of us were talking about sex and relationships. They were very sympathetic and it meant a lot to get some things off my chest. Maybe by telling more people about what happened with X, I’m slowly freeing myself from the burden of carrying her haunting memory with me everywhere I go.
She’s invading less of my thoughts these days, especially when I’m feeling horny. That’s been very helpful not having X’s face pop into my head at awkward moments. I still think of her from time to time. It’s mostly negative thoughts about how much she sucks as a person. Other times, they’re sweet memories about little things she did that made me smile or made me happy in general.
She was my first properly long-term relationship; of course I’m going to carry her with me for a little while longer.
At least till I meet someone new that I love for a lot longer than X.
A part of me thinks that I’m ready to fall in love again.
But then I have moments like last night where I’m wandering around drunk in my city for the umpteenth time in 6 months and I feel like just another lost soul who doesn’t want to let love into my heart again.
My birthday is coming up next week and I’ve decided to have a simple birthday dinner with my friends on Saturday instead of Wednesday, which is when my real birthday happens. I’m still not ready to acknowledge the day, as shitty as that sounds.
It is pretty bad considering I’m lucky to be alive. Not in the sense that something bad happened to me and I almost died, but in the sense that it’s a blessing to live out a new day every single day. Instead I’m treating my birthday like it’s something horrible and disgusting, like it wasn’t one of the few things that my parents actually did right together as a couple.
Ok, that sounded so much weirder out of my head and in written form, but you all know what I mean.
My point is that I should be happier I get to celebrate another birthday. I’m being an idiot just because I’m turning 35, I’m single and living away from home while celebrating my birthday.
Hence why I’ll still celebrate my birthday with my friends, but maybe just have a ‘me’ day on my real birthday. And I can still call my family on my birthday and celebrate with them.
So yeah, I’m taking baby steps on the road to happiness and finding newer and healthier ways to deal with my issues. My therapist is out of commission these days because she has Stage 0 breast cancer and had surgery recently. So she’s recuperating at home and not seeing her patients till February so her medical insurance pays out as promised. That’s ok with me, I’m putting on my ‘big girl pants’ and trying not to need her for anything till I see her in person in February when I go home to see my family.
So in the meantime, I’ll try not to indulge in self-destructive behaviour from now on. After my birthday, I’m going to stave off drinking for a while too. I need to take better care of my health in light of my gastritis. I just hope I can get better medication to help me with my acid reflux and dry mouth in the future.
I made spaghetti bolognaise for dinner and slept for a few hours. Now I’m up blogging and chatting to different people through SNS. I have to get up early tomorrow to do a health check for my new Chinese work visa for this year.I hope everything goes well at the hospital since my Mandarin is still pretty shite. I hope I can get enough rest and hopefully take another nap tomorrow when I get back from the hospital.
What?
I have a month to myself before I visit my family in South Africa. I’m definitely going to celebrate that fact by catching up on sleep, my ever elusive friend.
I’m a bit too tired to type up more of my new story now, but I broke my 7-year streak of not writing fanfics at work this week. So in-between cleaning out my work cupboard and cleaning my work desk, I typed up my Cat and Robbie romance, tee hee.
Alright, time for bed. Sleep and peaceful thoughts are coming to me more easily these days now that I’m moving on gradually from all the bad shit that happened in 2019.
For now, things are good :-)
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Perfectionist ( Brian May x Reader)
A/N: So I decided to write this little College Brian May fic because I had a very similar experience to this and also when I get back from Winter Break I have finals. So for anyone in the same perfectionist boat here is this.
Summary: The reader is really stressed out with one of her professors that doesn’t really do their job right. This leads to her wanting her paper to be perfect so that she can attempt to make a good grade on her final. Brian finds her frustrated and decides that she won’t take help willingly, so he comes up with a plan.
Warnings: Stress, swearing, mentions of testing anxiety, perfectionism, and Fluff!
~
You let out another groan of annoyance. You had been trying to write this paper for hours, but for some reason you couldn’t. Your english professor had given you a paper to write about Shakespeare’s work. It wasn’t anything too difficult, just some analysis work. But the part that annoyed you the most was that she never really read the papers. For some people that was okay with them, but for you it was the most annoying thing in the world. You’re a perfectionist, you always had been.
You thought that teachers would actually care and want there jobs once you were in college but here you are again with people who probably didn’t really want to be teachers. The worst part was that you loved Shakespeare and understood it fine, but there was nothing useful you got on your rough draft. You found many mistakes that were marked by the professor that you had gotten right originally. There was also a peer edit session and no offense to your class, but you didn’t trust a single one of them to look at your paper. A girl the other week asked what alliteration was. How they made it this far in life you had not idea. You wanted to earn your grade, but it’s hard to do that when no one cares. To add to your stress finals were approaching fast and this was a unit that would appear on the final.
So you just sat in your dorm reading and re-reading everything completely lost wondering what you should and shouldn’t do. You were snapped back into reality when you heard a knock at your door. When you got up to open it you saw that it was Brian and you calmed down a bit. Finally someone who doesn’t get on your nerves. “ Hey (Y/N), I was wondering if you would want to come see us perform next week? “Smile” just got a slot at this new bar and I thought you’d like to come.” He asked sweetly.
He then noticed the large pile of papers and eraser shavings that were scattered over your desk. “ Tough class?” He asked. “ Kind of. It’s really complicated and a long, long story...” He tilted his head to the side causing a lot of movement from his curls. “ I’m sorry, yes I would love to see you guys perform next week. Also would you like to come in Brian?” You asked shaking yourself out of the stressful thoughts that currently were going through your head.
You gestured for him to come in and he sat down in one of your extra chairs. “ Where’s your flat mate?” He asked looking around the dorm noticing a very studious mess of your side and a clean untouched side of your flat mates. “ No idea. She’s a partier, sucks for her better for me. “ you explained. He smiled and laughed at your bluntness. “ So are you going to tell me this long story or what?” You explained all of your frustrations about the class to him. He sat there and listened something that was greatly appreciated. “ At this point I want to say just fuck it! I’m a biochemistry major! I can’t do it! I can memorize the periodic table and most compounds in the world, but write a barley edited paper? Nope!” He then scooted his chair closer and took your paper.
“Bri, what are doing?” You asked a little worried about how quiet he was. “ Reading your paper, Miss Periodical.” He replied jokingly. The two of you had an odd relationship. Both of you would sarcastically tease and joke around with each other. It was mostly innocent which was great for both of you but it did at times get borderline flirty. Brian was always sweet about it and usually apologized afterwards, but it didn’t ever truly bother either of you.You both just sat there in silence for a very long time, you didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
When he put your paper down he went over to your dresser asking “ When is this due?” Confused you replied “ In 2 days”. He started rummaging around the drawers which caused you to say “ You find anything interesting?” He then pulled out your pajamas and said “ Catch!” You caught the flying clothing and asked “ What the hell?” He only smiled and explained as he headed towards the door “ It’s late. You need to take a break. Get some sleep, actual sleep which means no reading.” He teased as you sarcastically scoffed.
“ Your going to need it, because tomorrow you and I are going to knock this out and get it done. How about eight o’clock in the morning?” You giggled a little and asked sarcastically “ Brian May, are you actually asking me out on a date?” As he left all he said was “ Maybe.” And closed the door. You were taken back and stood there eyes wide. There wasn’t that cute little Brian apology that usually followed. Which actually kinda scared you a little.
It was almost eight o’clock and you sat at your desk trying to organize it the best you could. You were already dressed and had makeup on, surprisingly you actually were able to get up and dressed. Usually you were the type of person who did not and could not get up really early. Finally as your watch went to eight you heard a knock on your door. Punctual like usual you say Brian in your door way holding a try of coffee in one hand and some bags in the other. “ Morning (Y/N), I’m impressed your actually up and completely looking like yourself this early.” You let him in saying “ Well, my finals, grades, and dignity hang in the balance so...” you trailed off and shrugged. Once he set his stuff down he held a coffee cup out to you saying “ Coffee, two for you, two for me and breakfast take away.” You giggles at his kind gesture “ Your a god Bri!” You said taking the coffee and a seat at your desk.
Brian then scooted his chair close to you so you were sitting side by side “ So when I was reading your paper last night-“ you interjected with “ Is it bad?” You were nervous you really don’t like other people reading unfinished work. “ No, not at all. There are just a few spelling and grammatical errors. Maybe you could reword a few things, but other than that it was really good.” He explained with a smile. He then continued with “ If anything we need to correct your professor. She really doesn’t know what she was reading. Did you see she said to capitalize a word that was already capitalized?” You laughed and exclaimed “ YES!” He then got out your food and then was ready to help you work.
“ Thank you.” You said as you started. He looked at you confused “ For what?” You took a deep breath and said “ Thank you for helping me with this. I don’t usually do my school work with other people. I usually dread it, and if I do share it it’s because I know it’s done and I know it’s exactly what the professor wants. I don’t like struggling, I don’t like showing people that from time to time I struggle.” You circled your finger around the rim of the cup embarrassed by what you were saying. Growing up you always did what everyone wanted exactly how they wanted it.
Brian then laid his hand on your forearm and rubbed his thumb slowly across it. “ (Y/N), (Y/N) look at me. It’s okay to need a little help and it’s okay to struggle. Do want to know something odd? I struggle with things too. Everyone does, it’s just easier for others to show it than it is for us. We’re perfectionist, you probably more so than I but that’s not bad. Being a perfectionist means that you have more determination to get things done and done right. You’re lucky because of it.” You smiled and teared up a bit at what he was saying. What did you do to get someone as smart and sweet as Brian? You both stared at each other for a while, but Brian spoke up after feeling like he was staring to long. He cleared his throat and said “ Alright let’s start with the introduction shall we?”
It was almost noon when the two of you finished your paper. It was in both of your opinions perfect and ready for when you needed to turn it in for class. Once you realized you finished you yell “ YES! It’s finally finished! Thank you so much Bri!” You then hugged each other and he replied “ No problem. “ As you hugged you realized things about Brian you never did before. How warm his body was, how comfortable it was to be wrapped in his arms, how good he smelt, things like that. When you two left the warm embrace you looked at your watched and noticed it was almost time for me to go to work. Brian looked at his watch as well and said “ Well, I have practice in a few minutes and you have work. We should both be going.” He grabbed his things to leave, but this weird thought in the back of your mind demanded you to ask “ Brian, can I ask you something?”
He turned around and gave you a nod indicating that you could. “ Last night during our usual banter, I asked you if this was a date and you answered maybe. Usually when we say flirty stuff like that one of us apologizes immediately, but you didn’t and just left. Why was that?” You felt awkward asking and he seemed uncomfortable and unsure how to answer. “ Tell you what, you turn in that paper and come see us perform. When you do you can come back stage and I’ll tell you why, deal?” You rolled your eyes and asked “ You’re going to make me wait that long?” He laughed and said “ Good things come to those who wait.” And then he left.
Today could not have gone any better you got an A on your paper and you knew that it was the real grade you earned, and “Smile” did an amazing job with this new location and crowd. You went back stage and immediately say Brian, his curly long hair is kinda hard to miss.
“ Brian!” You called out and you hurried over to him. “ I got an A on my paper! And now I’m confident that I’ll get an A on my final and you know me I’m not really confident about anything! So we did it!” You said excitedly. He then picked you up which was surprising. You never would’ve guessed he was really strong.
“ That’s amazing!” You guys turned in a circle before he put you down. “ I knew you could do it my little perfectionist!” Before you could do or say anything else he kissed you quickly. You were shocked and noticing this he said “ That’s your answer for the other night. I love you.” A small smile appeared on your lips, this was amazing that one of your best friends loved you and you loved him back. After the silence he was afraid he said something wrong and he started blushing. “ I’m sorry (Y/N) if I offended you but...” you then stopped him by saying “ You didn’t, I love you too.” He then asked “ You sure?” Then you decided to go back to teasing. “ Hmm, well come here.” You then both kissed again and you ran your hands through his soft, plush curly hair. He placed his hands on your back and drew you close. When you stopped and pressed your foreheads together you said “ Oh I’m sure.” The two of you laughed a little he then let out a happy sigh “ You’re perfect, without trying.”
#bohemian rhapsody x reader#bohemian rhapsody imagines#bohemian rhapsody imagine#bohemian rhapsody#brian may x reader#brian may#gwilym lee x reader#gwilym lee#gwilym lee imagine#brian may imagine#queen x reader#queen imagines#queen
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Only For A Moment Ch. 27
Master List: @afewmarvelousthoughtsadmin
Pairing: Bucky X Reader
Summary: For most of your life you’d been able to keep your abilities a secret, that is until Hydra got wind of you. After years of being in their clutches, you break out when The Avengers expose SHIELD/Hydra. Since then, you’ve been on the run. Things are going as well as you could hope when you see a familiar face… Could the Winter Soldier really be in Bucharest too?
Warnings: None
A/N: Ahahaha! I’m a dirty liar. I couldn’t resist posting two chapters this week because, eh, maybe I feel bad that I’ve neglected them for Truth and I’m pretty ahead. You’ll still get another chapter on Friday.
This is pretty fluffy, and a little cyclical, much like life, but I mean it’s pretty clear there’s other shit brewing here. Not like I’m being super coy about it.
Love ya pumpkins!
(OH! If you find any good Bucky gifs with quotes from Frankenstein on them can you send them my way? Or, idk if you’re a witch and you make that kind of thing. It would be the best Christmas gift!)
Tags are open!
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Back in the room, Bucky plops down on his cushion. You take your place and try to hand him his coffee and pretzel but he’s not even really seeing you. Worry begins to settle in.
“Bucky?” Slowly he looks at you, an emotion in his eyes you can’t name, but he at least seems present. That’s probably a good sign. “I’m sorry about earlier I-“
He softly cuts you off and reaches overtaking your hand, “It’s nothing you did. Not you. Don’t… Don’t apologize.” The corners of his mouth ticked up just a bit. “I’m ok.” You guess it’s his turn to lie and he’s no more convincing than you had been earlier, but you’ll let it slide.
You finish your work in silence your brain rolling what happened over and over in your head. Someone like him would be shaken by being caught off guard, hell you would have been too in any other situation. Not to mention if you were an exposed nerve after the events of the weekend it stood to reason he’d be no better.
Sighing you shelve your last book. You’d try to talk to him later, tell him why you felt disconnected earlier. Maybe if you could just be honest with one another when you weren’t ok you could actually help each other. It wasn’t like you could roll up to a therapist and who else would be able to understand what either of you went through. It wasn’t exactly a wide-reaching shared experience, and thank god for that.
Bucky exists the back room carrying your cups, still with some coffee in them. A book under his arm.
“Finished?” Mr. Goldstein asks.
“For today,” you say taking your cup from Bucky.
“You take some books?”
“Just this for now,” you show him the copy of Frankenstein.
He nods smiling, “Good choice. ‘Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature.’ I always thought that line was profound.”
“That’s beautiful. I read it when I was a kid but I think I’ll appreciate it more now.”
“We understand the stories about monsters, even more, the older we get, and we are more terrified by them because we see the truth in them,” he looks pointedly at Bucky for some reason. “You’ll have to tell me what you learn. There’s always more to learn from a book you read a second time.” You smile, this man had to have been a teacher once, and he was probably a good one.
“I will.”
He looks to Bucky again, “Did you find anything to take with you.”
“Yeah, just more poetry,” he holds up a collection of English poets.
Mr. Goldstein smiles at this, “Poets heart this one has,” and he winks at you. “Will I see you again soon?”
“Yeah,” Bucky answers, “there’s still a couple of boxes. We can swing by later in the week if that’s ok?”
“Of course it is. I like having you both here.” You commit to cooking something for him next time.
Goodbyes given you both head out.
“I can go the market alone,” you say to Bucky once you’re outside not sure if he could handle being in public more than just the walk to his apartment. But groceries weren’t optional.
He shakes his head, “I can handle the market.” You try to slip your hand into his to reassure him, or maybe yourself, but he pulls away. Admittedly it stings a little but he’s on full alert, likely determined to not get caught off guard again.
Nothing else is said as you trek to the market. You follow him assuming he’ll go somewhere he knows and you don’t have a preference. The silence is fine though as it gives you time to let recipes roll through your head. Thankfully you always cooked by memory more than anything else, especially once you knew how to make something. All those old things coming back to you. He was right, it was like riding a bike.
Mental list taken care of you look to him before going in. That muscle in his jaw tightening and releasing as he looks around.
“Anything you’re picky about?”
“Huh?” He asks almost like he forgot you were there.
“Food-wise,” you flash him what you hope is a reassuring smile. “Is there anything you don’t like?”
“Oh,” he shoves his hands in his pockets, “no not really.”
“Alright. You ok with me leading the charge then?”
You’re happy to see a little light enter his expression, “Lead the way chef.”
Spices needed to happen, you refused to cook another meal with just salt and pepper at your disposal. You load up thinking about everything from curry to gumbo.
“I don’t think I know what half of those are,” he says looking into the basket.
“Well, you’ll learn,” you say tossing some turmeric in. Looking at him just in time to see him tense as a few people enter the aisle. “Come on,” you head away.
Coffee, meat, vegetables, and other various things procured you’re in the fruit section at his request. He must like sweets you think and wonder if you should grab something to bake too.
He’s rolling a green apple between his palms, gaze distant, “Can you make apple pie?” He asks looking at you with melancholy eyes.
How could such an innocuous question make your heartbreak? “Mhm,” you respond nodding. “Damn good one too.” He doesn’t say anything else, just looks past you, still rolling the apple. “Grab a few of those and I’ll make one tomorrow,” you rest your hand gently on his forearm and he jumps a touch.
“Yeah?” You just nod. “Ok.” He gathers the necessary apples and you both head back to the spices and get what you need to make the pie, including a tin.
Walking out of the market laden with a few days of food, plans for meals, all with someone you’re happy to be with almost makes you cry out in joy. You had never cherished little things like this in the past.
Going to the store was a chore and while you loved cooking it could sometimes seem like just another thing you had to shove into a packed schedule of work and rehearsal. There’s a twinge of regret. No one thinks about how precious the littlest things in life are until they’re gone.
The market isn’t far and once back in his apartment a feeling of… safety hits you. Damn. Was this so foreign a thing to you now that it feels so strange, almost off-putting to not be afraid? You catalog this emotion for later, determined to examine it.
Bucky drops his bags in the kitchen by the refrigerator and you do the same. He rests his hands on the counter by the sink and leans his head against the upper cabinet, breathing hard, just like earlier the sounds of metal plates shifting, responding in some way to his tension. His whole body shakes. You aren’t sure why this raises your hackles but you feel your power tingle over your skin, ready just in case.
“Buck…” You begin to reach out to him.
Your hand is almost on his bicep when he says low, “Don’t.” Another tremor shakes him. He strides quickly toward the closet, “I have to go.”
#bucky x reader#bucky barnes#bucky barnes x reader#bucky#bucky imagine#bucky fluff#fluff#bucky feels#bucky fanfic
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