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#of course it's telling that his tightest-knit friendships are with people who Know Him for the mess that he is
talentforlying · 9 months
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i know i like to call him a rat man and harp on about how much of a mess he is, but in reality, constantine is such a nesting doll of fuckery that it's no wonder so many people get fooled into thinking he's safe (even hero-worship him, a few times). like yeah, on the surface and in passing interaction, he's a fun time or the thrill of the unknown or just a more-pleasant-than-not encounter at your nine-to-five customer service job. but once you get in a little closer, you start to see the cracks in the veneer turn into ravines: the anger, the meanness, the lies, the nasty transactional mess of favors. the little spinning saw blades that shred up whatever comes too close. he's a con man, he can look normal when he wants to. he just can't be it.
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all-things-fic · 3 years
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Somewhere Only We Know
A/N - Hello, you lovely lot! Hope you are all keeping well in these utterly shit Covid times. Who would’ve thought that we would still be here in December?! Please see my offering for @goldenbluesuit​‘s Christmas Fic Challenge. Hope I’ve done a bit of justice with this piece.
I can remember Katie texting me telling me about the challenge, and I’ll admit I was given first dibs and now I’m absolutely shitting myself because I’ve seen all the brillaint entries so far and I’m not sure I really cut the mustard with this piece but I’m proud of myself for being able to put a solid 70% of this together in just one day (that one day being today).
Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Katie has done a brilliant job and I know how grateful she is towards anyone who has joined the challenge or supported by reading/sharing etc.... I need to stop rambling... Okay, thank you for sticking with me as always and happy reading! .x
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The last thing you remembered actually reading in the group chat was “make sure you have your wellies”. You were glad that you remembered that part at the very least.
Winds whipped around you as you buried your face further into your cream roll neck cable knit jumper, all but hidden underneath your tobacco borg teddy coat that someone had already likened to Macklemore.
Nothing like being back home with your closest and oldest friends.
Mud squelched under your feet as you walked in line with two of your oldest girl friends, eyes looking over the four males in front of you as they led the way over the grassy hills.
There had been zero planning on what today’s events would bring. It was quite clear that the seven of you just wanted to be reunited with the country air and wind bitten cheeks.
It was nice. How simple it was. On the surface at the very least. That was until you zoned in on the little things. 
Like his laugh. The same laugh that always carried somehow and it seemed like the wind was making it that much more prominent than usual today.
There was no denying, he had this glow about him. Even from the back of him. You felt silly for thinking it, but it was true. It was in the way he held himself as he attacked the grassy hills with his feet clad wellies and brown trousers.
Life had changed a lot in over a decade. Christ, had it been that long? You’d all gone from baby teenagers to fully fledged adults. The age range of your friendship differing slightly, the odd person here and there slightly older than a couple of people in the group.
Nonetheless, many of the experiences had been the same. The big job offers, and the even bigger promotions. The heartbreaks, regardless of their prominence or lack of, had been the felt the same. The flirtation between some of you sparked probably a bit more so now with a finesse that didn’t have you rolling your eyes but rather leaning into it. 
Four out of seven of you were single. Jack and Jonny were virtually married off, however neither of them were with their partners this year with both deciding to spend Christmas at home and New Years with their significant others. Alice was still loved up and going strong with her fella, as was Grace who you hadn’t heard a peep from as she constantly checked her phone to see when the person she was besotted with finally arrived up North thanks to West Midlands Trains pulling into Crewe. 
So that left Will, you and Harry. Harry who had  quite publicly made it known that he was single. Well, according to your Mum he had, in several interviews. Including the one that she had described as an ‘incredibly relaxing watch and nice background noise to my Sunday evening brew and ironing session’. 
That was a strange one for you, his honesty. In earlier years of friendship, he always seemed quite aloof. Like he was keeping his options open. Guarded in a way that frustrated at least 75% of the friendship group, in the nicest way possible. You knew that was a contradiction but any annoyance came from a good place. 
You remembered one night in 2014 when he wouldn’t quite give you a straight answer over tequila shots whether he was shagging someone or not. You also remember the way he’d been pulled away from you tactfully by Alice that night when she sensed how you were about to blow up at his lackadaisical attitude. 
The same had been felt in 2016. Not so much in 2018, but you weren’t single then so maybe you just didn’t care. 
2019 was significantly different though.
See the thing was, you knew him now. Like, knew knew him. 
Some would think it was a lapse of judgment, a reading that you would agree upon given what had happened two days prior if ever prodded about it publicly.
Others would vehemently disagree. Stating how long any sort of energy between the two of you had been bubbling for a number of years. 
Looking back you couldn’t even understand why you’d attended his show. You lived in Camden and it made sense, but that’s where the sense stopped. Even the ways he had reached out had been one of the most random messages you’d received from him
There was no context, just a simple ‘I’m playing the Electric Ballroom and there’s tickets waiting for you if you want ‘em.’
And the thing was, you loved that venue. The grungy-ness of it all. The way you had stuck to the floor while trying to dance along to the likes of The Hives and Kings of Leon when seeing them playing there, basking in your sweaty happiness. 
But the stickiness of the floor and sweatiness of the room didn’t compare to the stickiness and sweatiness you later found yourself partaking in as Harry took you from behind over the side of his couch. 
A shiver rolled through you at the thought, one that you would blame on the December bitter chill because it was a secret. One that neither of you had mentioned since it happened on Thursday night, or to be technically correct the early hours of Friday morning. 
He’d been good. Of course he had been.
He had that way about him that night that pulled you under a false sense of endeared security. From his dimpled smile to gleaming eyes. He was happy. 
And the way he had shone as he found you on the balcony had warmed you like nothing you had known in the longest time.
It caused you to forget about the worry that had laden you limbs as you turned up at 9.13pm to the wooden doors of the building, wondering how many songs he was in to the set as you convinced yourself he would start at 9.00pm.
As you’d been ushered over to a clear box window and uttered your name to a dorky looking man wearing a tracksuit pull over and watched him handover a white envelope through the circle hatch. 
You stood in the dark, next to two much younger girls who enjoyed the way his glances lingered over at their side. Eyes had found Gemma in the opposite corner of the balcony, her dancing and singing with some recognisable faces mainly more so because you had seen them on social media.
You, however, kept yourself to yourself. Until you were anchored in the tightest hug from Gemma that you had ever felt from her and swayed from side to side as she made it known how pleased she was to see you once the concert was over. 
That familiarity had been nice. The vibrancy of nostalgia consuming you in your entirety. 
Watching him work a room when he finally entered the after party was a sight to behold, in his navy blue pinstripe suit and yellow ‘I’m gonna die lonely’ t-shirt. 
He wasn’t. Gonna die lonely, that is. 
He glided so smoothly from one person to the next, spilling a drink down himself in the process you’d seen (and later felt when your hand clung to the fabric of his t-shirt as you kissed), making time for everyone in his own unique way.
Big eyes followed you over Gemma’s shoulder when he had finally found himself within your circle and hugged his sister once more that evening. They were hard to read but also openly filled with a glimmer of hope as he dropped his gaze to see what you were wearing.
And when he approached you, he hugged you in a way that managed to pull you into the darkened corner of the dingy space. Spinning your body to keep your face concealed from any prying eyes. 
He revealed to you how he didn’t think you were going to turn up, scanning you with his gaze as he spoke. You did the same, a bit taken aback by just how attractive you were finding him. He had always been handsome but the aura he gave off, made your fingers itch to have him closer to you. 
Words ran away from you that night as he begged and pleaded with you to tell him what your favourite song had been. Based on first impressions, which the show has been, then Canyon Moon and Watermelon Sugar had smothered you and given you no other option but to pick them.
If he were to ask you now you’d probably say To Be So Lonely, thanks to the drive home being longer than originally thought and said album being your choice of road trip music. 
Forget Driving Home For Christmas, nothing slapped more than one of your closest friends admitting to being an arrogant son of a bitch. 
After your chat, he mingled some more but Harry was always tactile and that night had been no different. He veered conversations with people you had never seen before to take place by the zone that you all occupied.
He actively kept his back against yours, allowing the faintest of touches and brushing of arms - sometimes hands too if he dropped them down heavily enough with his arms as he spoke - to entice and create a spark. 
You were kept late enough to miss the last tube. Battery dangerously low on your phone that you didn’t know if a transaction with Uber would be worth a try. 
Jumping into the same car as him had been easy. His soft and tired eyes findings yours in the cab as he leant his head back against the headrest in the back seat and let his lips tip upwards in an expression of tenderness that had you melting in your seat. 
“‘S been a while since we’ve both been a bit pissed in the back of a taxi,” he mused, pushing his fallen locks out of his eyes to ensure his view of you wasn’t obscured. “Come an’ cuddle me like you used to do when we went out a’ home and were worse for wear.”
Falling into his side was almost second nature, eyes closing as you let your forehead rest against his jawline and let his worn in cologne fill you senses and scatter your judgment.
You don’t even remember how you ended up kissing that night. A mixture of confessions about missing each other and praise of how good you both were in your own ways. The sound of his whispered, “are you coming home wi’me?” against your lips an offer too good for you to refuse as you sat pressed into his side and half in his lap. 
The giggles that night, around dramatic shushes as you tripped and shuffled from the car to his front door were almost haunting in your memory as he tried to chastise you around spluttered laughter about being respectful of his neighbours. 
Getting the key in the lock proved unchallenging -  one of the better analogies aligned to your memories and latter sexual endeavours - as you slipped into the house. He enjoyed watching the way you walked ahead of him into his home, not realising how much he needed that visual of seeing how well you fit in. 
While time seemed to slow in that moment, movements desperately sought the opposite. Hands gripped and clawed like their lives depended upon it. 
Looking back now, both he and you wished it hadn’t happened the way it did. Skirt lifted and over the side of his couch. Teeth clashing and hips knocking.
It had been every inch a drunken fumble. A first meeting slightly cheapened but wanted nonetheless. Only made even cheaper by the hush-hush concealing of it ever occurring. 
But a secret it was and a secret it would remain. 
And oh how you wished you had a pillow you could press you face into right now and scream, this time for an entirely different reason. Unlike that night. 
“Not seen a sign of any deer yet, mate,” you heard a voice break you out of your indulgence of recollecting past events. Harry was the worst at wanting to get a reaction. 
“Christ, have a bit of patience would yer?”
You smiled at the bickering, just like it always was as the River Dane could be heard in the distance somewhere as you walked. If you listened really close, that is. 
Lifting your eyes, your smile lingered as you watched Harry spin his body around and let his hands get lost in the massive pockets of his parka. He walked backwards holding your gaze softly with his eyes twinkling before he gently rolled them at the overreaction and impatience of your friends.
He seemed pleased that you’d enjoyed his teasing as you once again hid you smile into your jumper. 
You’d be alright.
***
You heard giggles and screams ahead of you as your friends stumbled in the dark and messed about as you got closer to the viaduct. This place or the people didn’t change, and at times while it filled you with a warm nostalgia, it could be heavily jarring.
A soft and lazy smile pulled at your lips as you felt his heavy forearm lightly tug you closer to him, his lips finding your hair. And then there was Harry. 
“Think we should go this way m’self,” Harry mumbled, the nudge of his hips against yours had you stumbling slightly in your heels away from the direction of your friends and somewhere completely different. 
“And why’s that?” You turned your face slightly, cheeks warm and flushed thanks to the mixture of alcoholic beverages; eyes glazed as they lifted up to look at him. 
“Cause you never would’ve let me when I was sixteen,” he admitted. 
“You didn’t ask.”
“‘M askin’ now.” 
With slow blinking eyes, you looked at his own unfocused vision. A soft shine to his skin, hair blowing gently against his forehead. The softest of smiles tilted at your lips.  
“On yer go,” he nudged you forward, this time more so with his crotch and his hands, which wrapped around your hips to help steer you. Harry was met with only a small amount of resistance from you as you split off from your friends and turned in the different direction. 
You bit back your laugh, dropping your head slightly as you felt your heels started to sink into the grass as you walked. Harry was level with you when you sunk down noticing the way you legs slightly gave way, a soft chuckle omitting from his throat as he asked, “You alrigh’?”
“I’m sinking in these bloody things,” you grumbled, pulling your heel from the grass and trying to place the sole of your shoe onto the ground beneath you first. 
“So much for no’ being able to take the country out o’ the girl. London’s changed yer, swear it.”
Shaking your head, you cut your eyes to give him a harsh stare for his wind up. His amused expression lit a fire in you like no other. He really wasn’t one to talk though, was he? 
“Gi’me your hand ‘ere,” he held his out to you, quickly cupping it when you handed it over and pulled it under his bent elbow. “Remind me again who’s idea this was, eh?”
He didn’t need reminding, he had been one of the keen instigators for the whole jaunt down Twemlow Viaduct. It usually was him, or Jack. The two of them often reminiscing on times they had both raided their parents' alcohol cupboards and managed to sneak out with some dusty bottle that held a liquor that tasted out of date and stale, and if not that then, cheap. 
“‘S still fucking freezing down ‘ere, in’it?” He asked, lifting his left hand up to his mouth and blowing against it to try and get some feeling back into his fingers.
“We’re so close to the river, I don’t know why you’d expect anything different?”
“Is this why everyone was always so insistent on necking anything with over 11% alcohol in it when we came down ‘ere as kids?”
“Probably,” you softly laughed. 
“‘S a bit different now though innit?”
“Oh, I’m not so sure,” you started to correct him, shrugging your hand out from under his elbow and reaching for your bag. Quickly fumbling with the clasp, you lifted up the quilted flap and managed to pull out the stainless steel hip flask.
Harry cackled a harsh laugh, his eyes crinkling as he slowly let his laughter die down and softly let his joy wash over his features. “Impressive. Gone all proper on me.”
“You know I haven’t,” you held his eyes watching as he nervously cupped at the back of his neck for a short while, a gentle bite down of his bottom lip, as you quickly uncapped the item and held it out to him. He looked like he needed the courage.  You continued, “We’re just a bit more refined, that and we earn a good living. Some more than others, and by some I mean you.” 
He held his hand up towards you with an amused grin at your comment. “You first, ‘s yours after all.” 
Lifting the item and knocking back your head, you swallowed the whiskey with a small grimace, before offering it to Harry once more. This time he accepted, his right hand making light work of taking the item from your hands and sipping at the contents.
His face wasn’t as contorted as your’s when he swallowed, a fan of the chosen beverage if needs must. “‘S the proper stuff, tha’ is,” he commented with a quick lick of his lips before continuing, “Come a long way from sneaking the bottles of dusty Blossom Hill from the back of the cupboard.”
“Don’t know about that,” you smiled, taking the item and pushing it back into your bag. “I’d still drink if, if it were on offer.”
“‘M sure Mum’s got a bottle or two going at home?”
“Is that your way of asking me to go home with you?” You paused. “Again.”
Harry remained silent at your words. Both you and he knew it was going to happen. A mixture of sparks and lovelorn, lingering glances was enough to make anyone both want to give up, while also giving a burning confidence usually unknown. 
Neither of you expected it would be you who started the conversation, however. 
“It is, ‘f it’s gonna work. ‘M not sure I could wait any longer t’be’onest wi’yer.“
Laughing, you reached up to push at his shoulder. He always knew exactly what to say, but no way was he going to make a laughing stock of the whole thing. “Oh, give over,” you spoke, harshly swallowing when he kept your hand against the thick cable knit black jumper he had on. “You’ve made it this far, thus far just fine.” 
“‘M not playin’,” he whispered, hand gently curling around your own and lifting it up to press against his face. His cheeks were warm underneath the cooler hands, despite the cold night whipping around you both and your mind quickly wondered if he was just as embarrassed for his lack of acknowledgment as you had been. “Homes nice, you’re nicer.”
“I thought we weren’t going to talk about it,” you let your soft voice get taken by the wind.
“An’ what gave you tha’ impression?”
He did. He gave you that impression. By not mentioning it. By treating you how he always did.
“You.”
“Me?” Harry responded, indignantly, blowing out a sigh that had his cheeks puffing out underneath your hand. “‘M not doing a very good job then am I? I can’t keep m’eyes off o’you. ‘S not my fault you don’t bloody notice ‘em.”
But you had noticed them. 
His eyes, gaze following your every move, near enough. Stupid little touches. Glances of approval. Not just now, but from years before. 
Treating you how he always did.
Oh, treating you how he always did.
Bringing your eyes back to his figure, you saw the way his gaze darted and nervousness dragged at his features. A frown began to set itself between his eyebrows from worry. 
“Changes everything.”
Running his tongue along his teeth, Harry pursed his lips. “Everythin’ has changed, changed a long time ago an’all.” 
You dropped your hand down, it now massaging against the back of his neck and shoulder as you felt the tension of his body radiating through his clothes. Under the dim moonlight and the odd spotlight that had been added to the viaduct with each passing year for safety, Harry exhumed everything anyone would want in a boyfriend. He was soft, and so bloody gorgeous. Not just because he was personification of an almost six foot tall string of handsomeness, but his character did the talking for him.
He knocked the door before he walked into a room, for example. Who really did that kind of thing anymore? 
But you could also still see the heartbreak that lingered, albeit not as strong as it once was, it was still there. And that was problematic and scary. To be on the receiving end of it. Not that you would hold it against him, because you had been him at one point too. At many points in fact. 
When the two of you had shagged, because let’s face it that is exactly what it had been, while a sense of familiarity in the person was prevalent it was definitely overruled by the desire to just hit a euphoric high that if hit right could not be topped. 
Familiar overruled in other aspects, and it wasn’t to be brushed away. But was familiarity a mask that would slip sooner rather than later? Was it the start and the end?
The both of you experienced similarities in your life that could not be matched by the friends in your friendship group. London had chewed you up and spat you out, ruthlessly so. While rewarding you with long hours but fat pay cheques, careers that catapulted you to new heights and enabled you to see parts of the world that two country kids (which in one way you were) could never have imagined. 
Sure Harry’s had been on a much, much larger scale - you would not ever deny that - but you no longer fit in. 
And neither did he. 
This was a place that only the two of you knew. A place where you watched those around you fall in love and have the time to do so. A place where your friend's happiness was created a lot easier than it wasn’t and allowed a sense of success to weave its way in, through the most unexpected of happenings.
Not a place where you found happiness in your work because there was less of a space for happiness to blossom elsewhere. Not really. Not like you; both of you. 
Understanding was vital. 
This had been a place you knew like the back of your hand. A place that had you feeling the earth beneath your feet, fresh air in your lungs and had at times made it so you found yourself sitting by a river and finding yourself feeling complete. 
Yet looking over at the almost 26 year old, that just wasn’t the case anymore. 
And for once you didn’t feel alone. 
The sound of the odd piece of cobbled pavement underneath Harry shoes, buried beneath overgrown grass and plants, broke you from your thoughts, as you watched him kick at the ground and scuff his shoes.
He sighed, head tilted back before he knocked it to the side and caught your eyes. A small scoffed laugh left his lips as he shook his head and dropped his gaze to his feet.
“‘S it fucked?”
You hummed, a small frown lacing your features.
“Fucked it, haven’t I? Fuckin’- idiot-“ he breathed out a noise as he clenched his teeth, one that wasn’t quite a growl but enough to let you know he was agitated. Only strengthened by how tight his jaw became. 
Before you could even think, the back of your hand gently brushed against the pulsing hinge of his jaw. Muscles taut as you tried to soothe him in a way that your mind was screaming was far too intimate.
You didn’t want him having any internal battle about right and wrong. Not when you had both taken the same steps to get here. 
“Thought it was just meant as a one time thing,” you admitted. “Like you needed it, and I needed it. Was what it needed to be at the time. Bit rough, bit sloppy-“
You cringed are the use of the word. Wanting the ground to swallow you in a weird fashion. You should be able to talk open and honestly with someone who you had known longer than hadn’t. 
“Rough?“ Harry swallowed audibly, his face fallen. “That’s not-“ 
His eyes held an emotion similar to sorrow at the mention of the word. “That’s not the impression I wanted to give you.” 
“We were both drunk, it happens.” 
“Not with me it doesn’t. Not when it’s me, wanting to be wi’you.”
“I mean I was into it if that helps anything?” 
“Were yer?”
You looked at him from the corner of your vision, watching his lips try to fight a smile as you rolled yours into your mouth to not give yourself away. You knew what you were trying to do by speaking those words aloud but you wished you hadn’t. Awkward breathy laughs were shared by the two of you as you held his eyes. 
“Was I?”
You hummed in agreement to answer his question, letting your smile dance along your lips now and watching as Harry’s dimples started to show. His expression was youthful, slightly smug. 
“Good t’know.”
***
Finishing saying your goodbyes to your friends and ignoring their suggestive expression because ‘Harry was stopping as an extra pair of hands’, you shut the heavy wooden door and reached up to close the deadbolt lock at the top. Shortly after, you let your feet drop as you stopped standing on your tiptoes and pressed your forehead against the door. 
The silence of the pub was always a strange one to you. A place that was usually thriving, whether it was just your friends, or your parents friends. When the lights were turned out, it was actually quite a lonely place. Regardless of growing up around this sort of industry your entire life and having parents as publicans nothing was more depressing than an empty bar, lifeless and nothing like it was intended.
A suggested lock-in from Jack, who managed to interrupt both yours and Harry’s conversation earlier had not been a bad shout after all. You knew it meant that you would have to deal with the fallout with it being Christmas Eve, but it wasn’t very often that you found yourself in the setting. 
Turning to move from the door, you almost jumped out of your skin when you heard the opening of a familiar Lily Allen song start to play over the speakers. 
Harry emerged from the corner of the pub that housed the jukebox, slowly rubbing his hands together before he wordlessly picked up the scattered pint glasses that had remained on one of the tables that had been missed by the staff on the evening shift. His eyes glanced over at you, as you stood with a hand to your chest.
This wicked smile and gleam washed over his face as he paused his movement. “Did I scare yer?”
“Do you not think it’s a bit loud?”
He wrinkled his nose at you, a soft shake of his head no, to answer your question. 
“‘S your fave innit?” He asked, head nudging to where the jukebox was now hidden.
With a small smile you nodded, “Prefer the Keane version in all honesty.”
“Don’t have it in the bloody jukebox though, d’yer? Can’t like it that much.”
Your smile deepened at his exclaim and how prominent his accent sounded as he spoke, the small clink of the glasses he was holding only heard if you really zoned in. 
“Where d’yer want these?” He asked, holding up the five pint glasses he had collected. “Behind t’bar?”
Humming, you nodded and watched as he weaved his way through the tables to you. You frowned as he got closer, not understanding why he hadn’t bypassed you completely.
Once he was close enough to you, you watched as he reached for what you knew to be your own glass of wine that was almost finished. 
“Fancy the rest of this or can it go too?”
Looking at him and down to the glass, you gently wrapped your hand around it and brought the lip to your mouth. You knocked the item back quickly, swallowing the rest of your wine, before handing over the now empty glass back to Harry.
“Good girl,” he joked, light laughter lacing each word. “Sit yourself down.”
Wearing an amused and quizzical expression, you let yourself sink down into the wooden chair. Resting your chin on your hand, you spun slightly in your seat to keep your eyes on Harry as he placed the glasses down and lifted the hatch so he could step behind the bar. 
With your free hand, you started to tap the worn beer coaster labelled with the Cheshire Brewhouse logo against the table. Part of you hated how Harry had a knack for anything, including knowing his way around a bar. 
He busied himself with collating the glasses once more as you let your eyes take in the surroundings you had known, loved and even grown out of. 
Your parent’s pub was cosy and friendly. A truly 
classic and quintessential British village pub, featuring open fires, bookcases found in the very far corner or the jukebox in the other, lots of old oak and a really pleasant garden with benches for the summat and heaters for the winter. You know the kind that had its regulars that had kids who had seen each other grow up.
The bar was the centre of the pubs house, with an extensive array of whiskies amongst many other delights. A nice range of local ales and a well-balanced, great quality list of wines on offer designed (which you would be taste testing if the service hadn’t decided to take a break) to complement the food menus designed daily by a team of chefs who all have a passion for great cooking using fresh, seasonal and local ingredients.
It looked as Christmassy as Christmas could get, with a real tree which was locally sourced from one of the many surrounding farms and traditionally decorated with golds and reds. Twinkly lights shone, not only on the trees but as part of the garland that was hung above the bar each year, much to the annoyance of your Dad and the delight of your Mum.
Slowly dragging your eyes back to the bar, you watched Harry as he poured you another glass of white wine and started to recap the bottle. He must’ve felt your eyes on him, his gaze meeting yours almost immediately. 
“Service is a bit slow,” you jibed, once you knew he was with you. “Going to ruin the reputation of a fine establishment.”
His chuckle was breathy in response, but warmed you through as he turned his back and pushed his tumbler glass up against the device at the bottom of the Glenfiddich distilled malt whiskey, not once but twice going for a double. 
“Helping yourself to the stock now, as well.” 
“‘M sure your Dad won’t mind,” he responded, twisting his body back around to reach for your own glass and place it onto a tray that sat along the bar top. “In fact he’d probably make a comment about how it’d put hairs on m’chest.”
You laughed, unrestrained, knowing just how right he had been with that comment. 
Over the otherside of the room, Harry smiled and shushed you as he walked closer, easily holding the tray with your drinks upon it. “Being a bit loud,” he taunted as he slid the tray down to the oak table.
“Oh, now you’re concerned about the noise.”
With his hand against the back of the chair which was currently housing your outstretched legs, you felt him start to wobble the seat to give you a warning. 
“Hang on,” you said, “Plenty of other chairs.”
“This one’s mine,” he responded.
Wanting to roll your eyes but deciding not to, you let your legs drop down and gave the seat back to Harry. Once he was comfortable and he’d taken your drink off the tray, he gestured with his right hand.
Not entirely focused, he had to do the ‘come hither’ motion a couple of times before you finally cottoned on. He was willing to let you put your legs on his lap instead, while he may have taken the seat it didn’t mean he wanted to take away your comfort.
No sooner had your legs been raised to rest against his tan washed velvet corduroy trousers, was he fiddling with the buckle of your stiletto sandals.
“Got mud everywhere,” you commented, wiggling your toes that were painted a festive red and inspecting the little dots of dirt that were splattered against your skin, as Harry dropped the first shoe to the floor and quickly worked on the second. “Dread to think what they smell like.”
“Smell alrigh’ from ‘ere,” he mused, smirk faint but glaring obvious in his tone of voice as he threw a quick and mischievous glance at you. As you elongated your foot against his thighs, the tips of your toes were just about able to press into his thick jumper to try and jab at him for his comment. 
Before you were able to put any sort of force behind your action, Harry’s hand clamped down around the top of your foot causing your eyes to snap up away from his hand and up to his eyes.
There he sat watching you, top two teeth pressed into his bottom lip keep his smile at bay. Releasing his lips slowly, his whispered threat left his throat, “I will tickle.”
You tried to fidget away but to no avail. With a whined laugh, you frowned as Harry goaded you by slowly raising his eyebrows. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.”
You had tried him. 
Truth be told you wanted to again.
If he wanted to.
Reaching for your wine, you took a hefty sip and let the silence swallow you both. Harry, who kept his hand on your foot and his fingers dancing gently against the top, let his head fall back awkwardly against the hardwood. His head dropped to the side taking in his surroundings and their familiarity. 
“Do you ever get tired of coming back?” 
You hummed, sure you had misheard due to the way the blood was rushing around your ears. He turned to look at you, all double chin and puffy cheeks.
“Of everything being the same, but different?”
His whispers captivated you, hushed confessions not quite meant for anyone else but his own mind yet spilling from him with such an ease that he did nothing to fight them. 
“I’ll admit, I come home for other people. Not for me.”
“People?”
“Mum, Dad,” you paused. “You.”
His smile deepened. His chin knocking down to his chest, his eyes looking up at you from underneath his curling hair from being caught in the moist winter evening just hours before.
“You can stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you did three nights ago.”
Harry breathed in deeply, his nostrils flaring and his chest expanding. A lick of his lips, before his mouth dropped to sit slightly agape. 
“What if I don’t wan’to? What if I want t’look at yer like this all the time?”
You found yourself unable to respond, nose burying itself into your wine glass as you pressed your lips against the cool outside to try and hide your burning smile. 
His lips curled lightly, before he breathed a laugh once and gently shook your foot with his hand. “Eh? Come ‘ere-“
“Harry,” you breathed.
“C’mon, c’mere. ‘S room for more than just your feet.”
If it wasn’t for the creak of your chair as you slowly started to push yourself out of it, you wouldn’t have consciously been aware of how you were making your way to him. 
His body relaxed, somehow managing to become closer to horizontal than sitting upright in his seat, as he peered as you walking the short distance over to him. 
With his legs widened, he pressed his face into your side now that you were close enough. His nose inhaled the familiar scent of your perfume which was only faint now due to the other senses and scents it had mixed with throughout the evening.
Rolling his face out of your body, he knocked his head back and pressed his chin where his face had been. The face you showed him was worn with worry, an expression he did not want to meet.
“‘S wrong?”
His ask was lazy. Not wanting to dig deep and know. What if he didn’t like what he found? 
“We know how this is going to end.”
“Do we?” He prodded. His eyes moved over your features quickly before they partly disappeared to him, thanks to your curtain of hair which slowly fell down.
His hand reached up, desperately brushing it away and cupping at the back of your head as best as he could while he remained seated. 
“How’s that? Tell me.”
“Same, but different.” 
You knew you shouldn’t use his words, not in a way that could be considered against him, but they - in the most ambiguous of ways - described everything perfectly. 
“Not if I have my way.” 
His words were almost lost against your stomach as he pressed his face against you once more and wrapped his hands around you; sweaty, nervous palms pressing to the backs of your thighs. 
“Same, but better.”
Harry guided you down to his lap, his lips somehow managing to remain pressed into stomach, or your chest, or your clavicle, as your face became level with his. 
“Different, but better.” 
He kissed against your cheek slowly, nose nudging at your skin as he willed for you to relax against him. “I don’t know how you like it, like this,” he whispered in confession. “Show me?”
A puff of air left your lips as you turned to look at him with hooded eyes. His mouth was closer to yours than you originally thought, corners of lips brushing as you slightly pulled away. 
When your lips met, it was in the softest of pecks that trembled under your nerves. Both sets of eyes looking back at each other as you innocently engaged. 
If you were to take your eyes away from him in any way, you would notice those fluffy curls of his falling over his forehead and the lightest dusting of red blush making itself known against his cheeks and the tops of his ears.
He felt like a school boy, lost and clumsy. The kid who was once again flicking paper at you in science class just so he could pull a face at you over something your teacher was saying to get you to laugh. 
Mouths hovering over each other, your breathing mixed, as Harry nodded to you slightly. You pressed your lips to his once more, feeling the way he gradually opened up to you, warmed and softened underneath the puckering of your mouth against his. 
His hands, that slightly trembled, smoothed over your hips trying to pull your body so that it was more so flush against his. You moaned softly, your hands running over his jumper covered shoulders, fingers digging and pulling at the material just below the nape of his neck. 
The chair beneath you moved lightly against the floor, not quite a scrape but a dull drag. Neither of you broke the kiss, but his hands against you allowed fingers to dig in to hold you steady to him so if you were to fall from where you were sitting, he still had you. 
His lips slowed, moving to press against your cheeks again as he panted and his warmth breath bounced off your skin. “Think I got it,” he heaved. 
“Do you?”
Harry hummed his ‘yea’, before pressing his lips so tenderly to your chin and the underside of your jaw. He felt how you swallowed heavily, throat dry from the way your mouth hung open and your neck further exposed itself as you lolled your head back. 
You were falling further and further back, finding it hard to stay upright as he devoured you and made you weaker with each pulling kiss. His groans were needy, muffled and making your ache. While yours were silent and making his desperate to pull something from you. To build is confidence in that he was doing something right, you liked it this way too. 
Hands fumbled and dragged upwards at your skirt, faintly aware now how it was similar - if not the same one - to the garment you wore to his show. 
“Gonna take this off properly,” he mumbled, feeling the way your hips moved slightly from his hands to roll over him. 
“You don’t have to-“
“No?” 
Your voices were rushed as you spoke to each other, barely audible but loud enough all the same. His head was knocked back slightly as you hovered over him and you found yourself admiring his blissed out face even only in the lead up.
This was a sight that you hadn’t received last time, and if you had your way it was one you were going to greedily enjoy in all its glory.
Like watching the way his eyes closed and he softly grinned, the left side of his teeth started to show as the one side of his face reacted first while your hands blindly moved to lift up his jumper and the white tee he had on underneath, to allow you to find the button of his corduroys.
“What ya doing?”
“Nothing,” you mused. 
He pulled a face, the kind that down turned his lips, eyebrows raised and head slightly tilted to the side. The kind that had you smiling. 
“Not trying to get m’trousers around m’ankles for a second time within a week then?”
You giggled. “No.”
“Please do.”
A low moan left you as you pressed your forehead to his jaw and dropped your eyes. Your hands slowly started to pull at the brass button and pop it open before seeking out the zip thanks to his desperate plea, encouraging you to continue. 
Hands quickly sought out the waistband of the trousers and gently pulled at the item. From the way that you were sat, you knew there was no way you were doing to make them budge.
“Stand up fo’ me,” he mumbled, quickly helping you get off his lap so that he could make light work of his clothing and pull down his trousers and underwear. 
His bare bum made easy contact with the cushion leather beneath him, eyes carefully watching you as your hands moved to underneath your skirt. 
The fabric of your underwear slipped so easily down your legs, his eyes just about caught the sight of them as they pooled against your ankles and you kicked them away. 
Legs pressed together, you slowly untucked the v-necked blouse you had chosen and pulled it over your head. Wearing nothing but a fancy black bra, and a tight little skirt you hastily snatched for your wine and took a hefty gulp.
You could feel his eyes on you, a gruff groan catching in the back of his throat and when you finally turned your eyes from where they had been looking down at your heaving chest and how great this bra made your boobs look, causing him to move his hand down to start playing with himself. 
His name left your lips in a breathy gasp, causing you to look up quite surprised at the find of his right hand gently tugging at his hard length.
“Keepin’ me waitin’,” he groaned, his left hand sloppily reached for the back of the collar of his jumper and tee, pulling the item roughly over his head.
“Fuck sake,” he mumbled under his breath, agitated that he was unable to get both items of in one go.
“Smooth.”
Harry stared up at you with a playful squint, before he gently fell back and moved the chair as he did so, the dull scrape heard once more. 
And if you didn’t know he was flushed before, when you first kissed, you were definitely aware now. His eyes were blown out and hungry as they devoured you. Hair wildly haphazard before he let go of himself with a soft slap of his skin and harshly pushed his fingers through it.
“‘S it still a couple of quid for a strip of three,” his words brought you back to him. This smugness radiated off of him as he groaned and leaned forward to push his trousers down all of the way. Over his vans and socked feet, before he toed them off as well be harshly pulled at his white sport socks. 
You didn’t even need for him to explain what he meant, staying silent as you watched his hands tug at his corduroys from the floor and retrieve his wallet. As his fingers moved around to find a couple of quid, the jangle of the coins was taunting. 
One leg crossed over the other, you swayed and found yourself blushing when he looked up at you once he’d managed to find enough money and then some. With his wallet thrown on the table, he stood proudly from the seat and closed the short gap between your both.
Leaning forward he easily took your lips with his own before pulling away. With his face still close to yours he whispered, “Promise not to look at my arse.”
He didn’t hang around long enough for your reply, instead turning away and brazenly giving you all the time you would ever need to admire him, his fantastic bum and his hairy legs before he opted for a jog-walk type of thing, suddenly conscious that he was absolutely walking around naked from the waist down in a pub owned by your parents. 
While you waited you took a quick pull from his whiskey, needing the heftier burn for Dutch courage. Nervousness returned when you heard the endings of what you believed to be Harry whistling. 
“Machine ate all m’fuckin’ change,” he grumbled, regardless of the twinkle in his eye at the strip of overpriced condoms he had managed to score from the men’s bathroom. “‘S Durex. Business must be booming, your Dad’s definitely gone up in the world.” 
“Please don’t talk about my Dad.”
He smiled brightly before he reached for your face with one hand and pulled you towards him mumbling his ‘sorry’s’ against your lips as he gave you several kisses in quick succession. 
His other arm loosely wrapped around your back and pulled you with him as he walked backwards and slowly lowered himself back onto his previous seat. The chair creaked as you joined him, slipping into his lap and feeling the way he was smiling now.
Pulling away from your kiss, he quickly tore away one of the condoms allowing the others to fall without much care to the floor. Teeth took a hold of the foil-like packaging and he tore it not so elegantly with his eagerness.
With his cock nestled in the crease of his own thigh now, the heat radiating from it matched your own agonising yearning. Scooting back to give him space, you heard him groan as he gently rolled the condom down onto himself. Eyes looking up just in time to see him knocking his head back and breathing deeply through nose. The foil-like packaging was back in between his teeth once more as his hands were otherwise preoccupied.
Slowly your hand reached up to take it from his mouth, feeling some playful resistance as Harry continued to hold it in his teeth. His eyes were open and boyishly sincere, as you tugged at the item and he finally released it when you lightly laughed. 
“Gi’me a kiss.”
Obliging him, you leant forward and slotted your mouths together a lot easier than you had done at the start of the night. A heat built easily between the two of you, as Harry gave you his tongue and you felt the flex of his jaw under your hand as he worked your mouths together.
He was eager, his hands tightening on your waist before he growled when he understood he had to grab handfuls of skirt before he could cup your backside. But when his skin met yours and you ground down onto his lap, the groan that left him was the most animalistic sound imaginable. 
The frown your face fell into showed your desire to whimper, as he kept you atop him and marvelled in the way you writhed, both from satisfaction and keenness at the pressure of his cock against you. 
“Can I have you again?” He asked, the startings of sweaty hair being pushed off your face. His eyes peered at you, searching for his answer as you seemed to be able to do nothing but pant and look back at him yearningly. “Are you letting me?”
You dragged your fingers down his t-shirt covered torso and lifted it slightly just to see the quiver of his stomach as pulled you onto him once more. 
“Like this?” you voiced, meekly.
“‘F this is what you like then, yea’”, he breathed into your mouth, hands shifting your pliant body. “Is this what you want?”
You wordlessly nod, mouth falling open in a breathy gasp when he managed to move you so he sat so enticingly at your entrance. He was teasing both yourself and him, wanting to keep you both on the edge. 
Harry blinked a few times as he looked at you, and you revelled in the way he couldn’t seem to concentrate. His hands held your flesh tightly, fingertips dipping into the skin of your bum cheeks as he gently guided you down.
An unattractive and dull, quite strangled noise, left your throat as you let your forehead fall against his temple. Eyes falling down you see the cups of your bra fall slack, you felt his hands softly gliding over your shoulder blades and shoulders. 
He rid you of your bra, hands moving to your chest to squeeze your breasts. His jaw fell slack when you found yourself sitting snugly on his lap - on him - settled and already feeling spent.
This was so different compared to the last time; if not overwhelming so because of the way you both appeared to be so present. Each movement of your hips, and the way they rolled and grinded and dragged felt too much. So much so that you had become nothing more than a mess of short, quick breathing and blushing, sweaty cheeks. 
Slack-jaw, you were unable to find it in you to return Harry’s kisses, and his joyful, breathy chuckle seemed to lead you to believe he was fine with it. In fact he was happy to keep going as you were. 
Your movements were frantic, and despite the build up, not entirely driven by lust either. Harry continued to encourage you to move as you were; slow, grinding motions on his lap that caused the filthiest of groans and dirtiest of laughs from the two of you. Laughter that was only made stronger as the chair that held you both started to creak too. 
You couldn’t do much about it though other than to breathe into each other’s mouth, and rock your hips together with more fervour each time. 
“Yea’,” he breathed against your lips, left hand at the back of your head holding you to him, while his right rested just above your bum. “‘S better. That’s better.”
It was better. Better than last time. Better than anything before. 
And while it hadn’t been frantic before, it was now as your legs that were hanging down either side of the chair started to tremble and your toes started to dig into the worn carpet beneath them. Hips knocking and your clit dragging heavenly against his public bone, you grasped his name as you buried your face into his neck and dug your nails into his nape.
Harry hissed his approval which fell to a groan as your nails pushed up into his hair and lightly pulled as you sought leverage. There were so many things you were learning this time around and his penchant for liking his hair pulled from time to time, was one of those things. 
“God, ‘m gonna come soon,” he admitted, gruntly as he forced your hips down as he anchored his legs and widened his seating position. “Are you close?”
“Yeah,” you whined. “Yes. Like this-“
And as you pressed your face to his once more, he was everywhere. Soft but hard, loving but commanding. Smelled like clean washing detergent but of country air. Inviting and alluring, allowing you your lingering kisses between grounding breaths that became staccato in unison with the movement of your hips. 
You aren’t ashamed of the whines that escaped your throat as you squeezed down on his cock, praised by indecipherable works that left Harry but were nothing more to you than lips moving against your rough and dry ones. Word that made the burning feeling of your pending orgasm spread through your entire body, warming you and setting you alight.
It was long and deep, with your toes curling into the carpet they were pressed against now. Barely able to catch your breath, sucking in harshly and shaking. 
And when you came to, thoroughly exhausted, you noticed that he was waiting for your say so. That he could let go and enjoy the pleasure brought about by your shared labour. 
“Coming-“ was all the warning that you got and was enough to encourage you to watch him as he came, his face completely void of anything other than pure pleasure. Wrinkles and frowns fade, his mouth falling open with his pink lips glinting prettily under the dim Christmas lights around you.
His forehead gleamed with sweat as he wrapped his arms around you tightly and his hips bucked up one, two and three times for good measure. “Fuck me,” he heaved gruffly.
You were suddenly desperate to feel his lips on yours despite the way you both continued to fight to get your breath back, but settled for resting them against the skin of his cheek, which was hot to the touch. 
When you felt Harry start to go soft, you reluctantly pulled away and let him slip out of you. He wasn’t so keen to let you get too far, holding you just that bit higher than before with his hand cupping gently but firmly at your hip. “Where’d you think you’re going,” he hummed, eyes still closed as he continued to heavily inhale and exhale. 
You softly smiled, taking in his soft face and responded by nuzzling close to him again. 
Nowhere. Somewhere. Anywhere with him.
A place where only the two of you knew, like the back of your hand. The same way you knew each other. Now and possibly forever.
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omgrachwrites · 4 years
Text
The Colour of Love (James Potter)
Pairing: James Potter x Reader
Summary: After years, you fall for your childhood best friend, though it can’t always end happily ever after.
Warnings: fluff, angst, mentions of death
Words: 1333
Prompt: “Take care, idiot.”
A/N: This is for @firewhisky-kisses​ 200 writing challenge, congrats again honey! I hope you guys enjoy this and please let me know what you think, this is my first time writing for James! I love you all! xxx
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The floor of the treehouse cut into the back of your legs painfully but it was the best kind of pain because you were with your best friend. A boy who had warm hazel eyes, messy hair and round glasses. When he smiled it made the edges of his eyes crinkle and oh, how you loved him, though only as a friend, you were too young to know what romantic love was. Both you and James were watching the fiery orange sunset as it blazed in the evening sky and you could hear fairies giggling in the garden below. The sunset was the colour of love.
James slung an arm over your shoulder and you smiled at him, “let’s make a pact to always be together, even when we’re at Hogwarts next year. Even when we’re old and grey, even when we’re both gone.”
You laughed at your best friend as you pushed his shoulder playfully, “how are we going to seal it? Because I’m not doing it with blood,” you winced and he pulled a face at you.
“’Course not, who do you think I am? A vampire?” he leaned over and kissed your cheek, “there we go, and the pact is sealed.”
“Gross!” you exclaimed at his wet kiss and you wiped your cheek, “don’t ever do that again!”
Unfortunately, when you and James arrived at Hogwarts he was placed in Gryffindor and you were placed in Ravenclaw but that didn’t stop you being together. And, in second year when you both joined opposing Quidditch teams you both discovered just how fun it was to play against each other.
Though, the both of you made different friends – you even made different best friends in some cases – you still made time for each other. Especially when you first started going to Hogsmeade in third year. You made him orange woollen hat which he wore proudly over his curls and in return he’d made you a blue scarf which he securely wrapped around your neck and tucked into your coat. You smiled up at him as he did so.
You grew quite close with one of his best friends, Remus, an adorable boy with fluffy hair who was always wearing an orange or yellow oversized knitted jumper. He must have had a stash of them because each one was different. Remus was very kind and considerate, and he always smelled like chocolate and coffee. You always had long discussions with him about your classes, James never cropped up in conversation, not even once.
You didn’t know whether it was due to puberty or to the fact that playing so much Quidditch had built James up, maybe it was because you had known him since you were four, but by 5th year you had developed a crush on the good looking boy, it seemed to come from nowhere. At first you hated having feelings for him, you hated the way he smiled so easily with his stupid dimples as he ran his stupid hands through his stupid hair. He was stupid.
Though, after much consideration you decided that you couldn’t have asked for anything more – though most people would disagree with you – it was an ideal situation to have fallen for your best friend. You got butterflies when he talked with you, joked with you and even when you saw him coming down the corridor. You felt light headed.
It was a feeling that you never thought you’d feel, if you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was love. You weren’t planning on telling him about your feelings so soon but of course he knew you like the back of his hand so one day, in the paved courtyard he cornered you.
“You’ve been acting so strangely lately Y/N, are you going to tell me about it?” he asked and you looked at the fluffy curls on his head blowing in the gentle wind.
“Look, James,” you sighed, “we’ve been best friends since we were four years old, and I thought that that was all we’d ever be. Trust me, I don’t know how it happened exactly but I have feelings for you,” you admitted as you chewed your lip.
James’ pretty hazel eyes widened slightly, “seriously?” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, “to tell you the truth, about a year ago I considered the possibility of us being more than best friends, but I really don’t want to ruin our friendship. And, I kind of have feelings for someone else.”
It was the answer you’d expected but you still felt deflated, it still caused a painful pang in your chest but you punched his arm playfully. You were trying to lighten the mood, “it’s no problem so, who’s the unlucky girl?” you giggled, trying to hide the pain you felt.
He smirked at you and looked over your shoulder as a light and airy laugh filled the courtyard, it sounded like a fairy’s giggle. He blushed at the musical sound and you turned around to see who he was looking at, it was Lily, Lily Evans. She made eye contact with you and smiled kindly, though you’d never had a full conversation with her she had always been nice to you. She was kind, funny, studious and beautiful. Any guy would be lucky to have her. To top it all off, she had blazing orange hair. Orange, the colour of love.
Lily hated James but you didn’t want to dishearten him so instead you hugged the gorgeous boy who had stolen your heart, he smelled of aftershave and golden afternoons. He’d be sharing the golden afternoons with someone else before long, “take care, idiot.”
You never really got over James, though in the coming years it hurt considerably less. Remus asked you out in 6th year and though you thought that he was incredibly handsome and adorable all at the same time, you couldn’t say yes. It was a shame really, because he would have been good for you if you could just forget about James. Oh, how you wished that you could have said yes but it felt unethical when you knew that you couldn’t love him the way he deserved to be loved. He deserved all the love in the world.
James and Lily started dating in 7th year and honestly, she was lovely. She was way too good for James. And, she never had a problem with you hanging around with James alone.
You smirked as you took another swallow of your sweet champagne before you walked over to the handsome groom who had just finished dancing with his beautiful new bride, “so I guess that you broke our pact when you married Lily? It doesn’t matter, we were just kids. Stupid kids,” you grinned up at him, the orange fairy light casting shadows on his cheeks.
He slung an arm around your shoulders, shaking his head, “absolutely not! I stand by what I said when we were 10, we’ll always be together. We’re best friends and we always will be.”
It still hurt to spend time with him alone, you almost cried when Lily walked down the aisle. And it wasn’t with happiness, “even when we’re grey and old? Even when we’re dead after living a long full life?” you asked and he nodded.
“Even then, I promise.”
You ended up going home at about 2 in the morning, James and Lily both gave you the tightest hug and you all promised to see each other soon.
“Oh, and Y/n?” James asked as you made to leave the party, you turned to face him, to see what he wanted to say to you, “take care, idiot.”
The morning after James and Lily had died, the sunrise was red, not the gorgeous orange colour that you had come to love. It felt like there was no more orange in your life with James gone. With James gone, you had a lot less love in your life.
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@firewhisky-kisses​ @smiithys​
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agrestenoir · 7 years
Text
Miraculous Ladybug and Voltron Roles (and everything after)
So the Miraculous crew get flung into space riding on a Blue Lion, crossing the universe to a mysterious Castle, and into a war that spans millennia—a war they never knew about. Here’s what happened next.
·      Tikki (Princess Allura) and Plagg (Coran) have the most powerful weapon in the universe at their fingers, but it’s not their destiny to wield it. Luckily, five teenage pilots unintentionally stumble through their front door, awaken them from a 10,000 year nap, and proceed to shake the very foundations of space and time. Tikki, connected to the Lions and has a strong bond with quintessence itself, knows exactly where each pilot will thrive, eventually growing into the Paladins the universe needs.
·      Marinette is the Black Lion, the head of Voltron. She’s a tricky one—impulsive and trusts her instincts—nearly a good fit for the Red Lion, but she’s exactly the strategic, decisive head that Voltron needs. She’s meant to be leader—and it’ll be a journey to reach her full potential—but that’s part of the fun anyway. (She’s exactly where Keith would be at the end of Season 2 of Voltron in Shiro’s absence, which makes it all the more fun).
·      Chloe is the Red Lion, a supernova that burns bright. Temperamental at the worst of times, passionate at best—she’s a spitfire intent on raging into the world like a shooting star. Only she can tame the Red Lion, and once she has her hands on the controls, there’s nothing stopping her in the heat of battle. But she has a lot to grow before she comes into her role as Paladin, from spoiled Princess of the Garrison to a Paladin of Volron—but only time can tell what the future has in store for her.
·      Alya is the Green Lion, as the tech-savy journalist of the group. Whether she’s chasing a story or a conspiracy, she’s got the highly inquisitive mind and the daring nature that the Green Lion embodies. Always hunting for answers, going out of her way for the truth, a thirst for knowledge that burns deep—it’s why her and Green have one of the tightest bonds of the bunch. She’s a natural born Paladin, and that’s just what the universe needs.
·      Adrien is the Yellow Lion, with his sunshine smile and sparkling eyes. He’s always been quick to raise his friends up, supporting them and defending them when the need calls. The Yellow Lion holds the armor and defense to protect its team, and Adrien wouldn’t think twice before throwing himself in front of a shot to protect anyone he cares about. With the strongest and most resilient Lion, Adrien always answers the call of duty and does whatever it takes to protect the team.
·      Nino is the Blue Lion without question. The Blue Lion is the most open of the Voltron lions—friendliest and most accepting, just like Nino. The boy who took a chance to see the real Adrien behind the “famous model” mask, and welcomed him into a friendship with open arms, it’s no wonder the Blue Lion did the same for Nino. He flows like water—easy going and adaptable, with the confidence to muster nearly any situation—and is truly the heart of Voltron. Open and honest, Nino fits the key ingredients to pilot the Blue Lion.
·      The Paladins accept their duties after a stunning and deadly battle that nearly destroyed the Arusian homeworld, knowing that to step away might sentence Earth to the same devastation the Galra spread to numerous other planets, the same that cost Tikki and Plagg their people, their planet, and everyone they loved. It’s hard though, as Earth was their home and their families remain behind, with questions unanswered and no bodies to bury.
·      Marinette misses home the most deeply—she aches for it like a missing limb. With only her mother and father, their little family was a close-knit one, and the fact that she can’t go back—may never go back, though no one will ever say it out loud—hurts her more than any of Tikki’s wild training exercises. She’ll stand in the control room, watching the star map twist planets and stars around one another in a celestial dance, a soft blue glow painted over her face, with a small frown as the only sign that something deeply troubles her. She’ll never tell the team, except for maybe Alya. She already struggles with being their leader, and one more chink in her armor might give Chloe the chance to make a crater.
·      Adrien’s job is to be a rock. It’s what his Lion stands for, and it’s a duty he takes pride in. Whether he’s protecting his teammates or acting as their crutch, he’s always by their side as an ever-present guard. Outside of battle, it’s even more clear—especially with Marinette. He supports her in her journey to become the leader that Voltron needs. In moments of hesitance and fear, he places a hand on her to offer her stability in the tremulous world they’ve been through in. Outside of Alya, he’s her closest friend. From Adrien, a few words of kindness are all his friends need to curb their worries, fears and insecurities, and any general sadness that might tinge their smiles. He’s the perfect picture of steady and sturdy, but even the rock can have its cracks.
·      Adrien’s story was written in tragedy. It happened a year before, when Adrien was a blossoming young pilot under the Garrison’s eyes, son of the man who would fly the Earth to the farthest reaches of its solar system. Gabriel Agreste and a team of scientists led by Adrien’s mother were assigned the Kerberos mission, the most famous man-driven missions of the Galaxy Garrison, until an incident occurred, and the crew went missing. The Garrison passed the disappearance off as a pilot error, but Adrien, who had learned to pilot under his father’s watchful eye, knew that his father wouldn’t have made a rookie mistake and crashed a ship into a moon. Alya swears the Garrison was covering up the truth behind his parents’ death, but right now, Adrien believes more than anything that his parents would find a way to survive. So, while he’s flying in space with magical robot lion, he’s on the search for answers amidst the stars.
·      Alya’s got her eyes on the prize—looking for answers to the truths the Garrison tried to hide. This villain they’re facing, the Emperor Hawkmoth of the Galran race, wants Voltron for a reason, and she knows she’s seen him mentioned once or twice in the Garrison’s database. Tikki and Plagg have never heard of Earth before, but the Blue Lion was on Earth in the first place. There’s something going on here, and she’s determined to discover the secrets the universe has tried to hide—especially the truth about her mother’s demise and whether the Kerberos crew she was on really did die on a backwater moon of Pluto.
·      Alya spends most of her time immersing in Altean culture in the Castle of Lion’s library. There’s so much to learn about, whether it’s the history of the Voltron lions or how exactly the Blue Lion ended up on Earth and who King Fu (King Alfor) was. Tikki and Plagg are mum when it comes to history, and Alya’s always had a curious streak that might kill her (and Nino who she always manages to drag along). And if her and Nino lose track of time in the dark corner of the library, where a musty smell of age-old books tickles their noses, the rest of the team doesn’t really question it. If anything, at least the two Paladins are growing closer. 
·      Nino’s just along for the ride. Spotting Chloe sneaking Adrien out of the Garrison, who was he to let his best buddy be smuggled away in the middle of the night? Course, Alya and Marinette had to be dragged along if Adrien and Nino were involved, if only to protect them all from Chloe’s unique brand of sufferance. In the heat of the moment, only Marinette could knock Chloe down a few pegs, which Chloe could fire right back. Nino, on the other hand, melted into the group like water, filling their spaces and cracks like an ebbing tide that can be tugged in any direction based on whichever moon in his system pulls the strongest. Accepting and open to nearly anyone, he trusts the most and holds the others in the highest regard—he is truly the heart of the team. He’s the only one who sees Adrien’s cracks, who can keep up with Alya’s ideas, who can bridge the divide between Chloe and Marinette, and who can keep Voltron together on the worst of days. Without him, things might just fall apart.
·      Chloe only meant to show Adrien the weird carvings of lions she’d stumbled upon one day while exploring a group of caves her father, as Director of the Garrison, had declared as forbidden territory. It’s dangerous, he’d told her, but since when had her father’s words ever stopped her? Normally she could wrap the man around her little finger, but when it came to her safety, her father wouldn’t move an inch. Naturally, Chloe pushed him off the edge entirely and molded her own path. There was something calling to her when she was out there, something that needed to be found, and Adrien was into the whole conspiracy shit in the first place, so of course she’d show him her discovery. What she hadn’t expected was for the Nerd Herd to come along—that never ended well. And she was right. She meant to show her closest friend some weird cave drawings, and the next thing she knew, they were hurtling across the stars in a magical robot lion. What’s a girl to do?
·      (Getting the Red Lion was a surprise to everyone—including Chloe. She’s not the type to rely on instincts, skill, etc—she was only in the pilot class because she knew her way around a stick and her father was easy to please. But the more time she spends in Red’s cockpit, with the controls in her sweaty palms, chest heaving as she pulls up from a dive… The more she realizes, she was born to fly. She was born to be here—to sit with an old soul who’s just as passionate and fiery as herself. There’s something to be said, Chloe believes, that she feels more alive in space where she has literally nothing, versus back on Earth where she had everything.)
·      They’re a mismatched batch of kids, pilots pulled from Earth in a jaw-dropping, heart-throbbing whirlwind through a wormhole, but… It’s funny, how well they mesh together. It surprises Tikki and Plagg sometimes, who watch with wide eyes as they execute training drills and mission-ready exercises. By all accounts, they should be divided—they’re children pulled into a war they didn’t know about—children who haven’t embraced their roles as Paladins, their bonds with their Lions, or their relations with each other.
·      Marinette and Chloe have butt heads from the beginning. Marinette will NEVER be Chloe’s leader, her superior, or commander, and Marinette will never become friends with Chloe Bourgeois, but these two simple facts prevent them from forming Voltron. Reluctant acceptance would probably best define their relationship—or a necessary evil. But as they form Voltron and take on the Galran forces, it becomes something else entirely. Lke fire and ice, they contrast each other so drastically that Tikki expects one of them to spontaneous combust one of these days, but somehow Marinette and Chloe have found a way to make it work. With Marinette’s strategic thinking and Chloe’s cutthroat tactics, they make the perfect team in combat and on missions. (Though, if Marinette shows even an ounce of weakness, Chloe will strike, and Marinette is always quick to rise to bait). A toxic potion indeed, one might assume, but one that cancels out the poison to become an antidote entirely.
·      Slowly but surely, they’re coming together. They still have a long way to go—a lot to grow into—but Tikki and Plagg are certain that they can save the universe. Whether it’s the mystery of the Agreste family, the truth behind Hawkmoth, the childish bickering or saving the universe in general—Voltron can overcome anything.
·      It’s just gonna take some time—and a wild ride to survive.
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