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hoodwinkd1 · 3 years

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Your Eyes Whispered Ch 4-7

Fic Summary: After Eris becomes High Lord, there's only one thing on his mind, now that his father is dead and he can finally leave his horrible façade behind. A slow burn romance featuring the misunderstood prince of flame and his mate, a powerful teacher who can't seem to step out of her small town life.

Chapters 1-3 here! Ch 8-10 here.

Some fuffiness, some angst, some drama, and a cliffhanger!

Chapter 4: the lingering question kept me up

"What was it like?"

The question sat between them, as tangible and heavy as a bottle of wine. A tense silence fell, after three hours of lighthearted conversation.

Rhia blushed, absolutely mortified that the question had slipped between her lips. "I'm so sorry, that was wildly intrusive of me. Pretend I didn't say anything."

They had been trading stories like playing cards when Eris had mentioned Beron, briefly and without emotion. And yet Rhia could hardly stop herself before blurting out that damned question. She silently berated herself. What kind of heartless bitch asks about patricide without prompting?

She watched him grin without humor, his eyes turning blank when they'd been alight before.

"I suppose that's quite a normal thing to wonder about," Eris replied, in a tone that sent a small shiver down Rhia's spine. "How does a person feel after murdering their father, after premeditating the act for decades."

"No, really, I'm horrible for asking," Rhia pleaded. "You shouldn't answer that, especially not for someone you barely know." Anything to get that cold stare off his face. She took a sip of wine.

Eris seemed to catch himself, rubbing a hand over his face and also reaching for his drink. "I wish I could answer. I still don't know what I feel or how I should feel. If there's anyone I would wish to tell, it would be you."

Rhia let out a small sigh in relief that he wasn't about to storm out of her kitchen. "You don't have to feel a certain way. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to balance family and duty to the rest of the Autumn Court." Afraid of pushing too far, she hesitated a moment before adding: "Every citizen I know is grateful for what you did."

He laughed. "I doubt most Fae believe me to be any better than he was. Not after centuries by his side, doing basically nothing."

"Most Fae don't know what to think," she argued. "You were never overtly cruel or kind. Honestly, I'd thought you quite shy before...this."

"I've been cruel countless times, to countless people," Eris snapped. "Maybe not to Autumn Court citizens, but certainly to other High Lords and their close ones."

Rhia sat straighter, determined to get her point across clearly. "None of us have a clue about what happens between the nobility, especially not across Court borders. Forget their opinions and focus on what we think." He opened his mouth to respond, but she wasn't finished. "I've already heard rumors about your changes in the capital and I think they'll go a very long way towards gaining favor."

She wasn't just saying that to make him feel better. Eris had restructured the tax system to account for old-money families hoarding obscene amounts of wealth, funneling most of that money to finishing repairs from the war. He'd also banned the practice of arranging marriages for children, mandating that both Fae consent after they'd passed the age of maturity.

"I shouldn't consider the opinions of other Courts?" he questioned, ignoring her other point. "Even your idol, Feyre Cursebreaker?"

Damn him. She'd made all of one comment about how incredible Feyre Archeron's feat against Amarantha was and Eris had labelled her a fanatic.

"What does she care about your leadership? Haven't we always allied with the Night Court?" Rhia had had enough of Eris' self-deprecation and obsession with what others thought.

He looked distinctly uncomfortable, moreso than she'd thought the topic warranted. "All of Rhysand's Inner Circle hate me, deservedly so. But you were asking about me murdering my father, apologies for getting off-topic."

Rhia gaped at him. "What could possibly be so uncomfortable to speak of that you'd rather discuss murdering your father?"

Eris looked down at the table. "Something for another time."

The tension was back.

"I keep asking horrible questions," Rhia said softly, attempting to catch his eye again. "You know you never have to answer me, right?"

Eris spun his glass around a few times. "I wish I wasn't afraid to tell you."

"There are things I'm afraid to tell you," Rhia blurted out. Truly, she had almost told him about that dreadful night several times now. Every time she tried to push the words out, her lungs seemed to stop working and her head seemed to start spinning. There was something incredibly terrifying about looking into someone's eyes and giving them the darkest part of herself. Even if it wasn't her fault, Rhia couldn't stop the rush of shame that overtook her whenever she thought about it.

"I meant it when I said I'd take any part of you, in any way." Eris straightened in his chair, meeting her eyes now that he felt the compulsion to comfort.

The Cauldron was either brilliant or damned for putting the two of them together. Two Fae incapable of holding normal conversations without trauma ruining an otherwise lovely evening.

"I've made things terribly awkward," Rhia scrambled for something to fill the silence. Eris smiled at her lame attempt.

"Truthfully, I thought this conversation would be much worse," he appeased. "No one's in tears or injured, so let's count 'awkward' as a win. Tell me more about your students."

And so the conversation and evening continued to be lovely.

They met four more times over the next four weeks. Each time, Eris got a bit closer to naming his emotions about becoming High Lord and Rhia got a bit closer to attempting physical contact. Not that the other ever picked up on it.

A particularly hostile thunderstorm and cold autumn wind hit the town that night. Rhia couldn't wait for Eris to arrive, mostly because his ability to heat a room far surpassed hers. She cleaned the studio after her last class, worrying about which families had firewood and whether anyone face the storm unprepared. The door slammed, jerking her back to her body.

"Sorry to startle you," Eris apologized, snapping his fingers to dry out his clothing. He continued to enter through the door after the first night, refusing to break her wards even if he was fully capable of putting them back in place. He frowned, noting the chill in the room, and sent a warm breeze through the house.

Rhia smiled. She loved watching the flames in the fireplace jump in his presence, like a puppy excited to see its owner.

"How are you?" A loaded question, if he chose to answer truthfully.

"Much better now," Eris replied cheekily, winking at the flush that spread across her face. He never missed a chance to flirt with her and she never missed a chance to blush like a teenager. "I actually slept well last night, but my morning was immediately ruined by one of my brothers' return home."

Rhia didn't know much about the princes, but she doubted they had good intentions. "Which one? Not that I know any of them personally."

"Auster." Eris shrugged off his coat and started heating up the tea kettle. "He is...not the worst brother I have left."

"What a charming description." Rhia finished locking up the supply closet and started to join him in the kitchen, before a frantic knock at the door stopped her in her path. Eris whipped his head around and both of them sent a tendril of power to sense who it was.

"Oh fuck," Rhia swore, turning around to walk towards the door. "Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck."

"Who is it?" Eris asked, his tone a bit panicked at her reaction.

Rhia shushed him. "Just--I don't know, just sit down and don't say anything." He did as she commanded, but continued sending her concerned looks.

The knocking kept up until Rhia swung open the door.

"Were you going to keep me out here all night?" Sofine demanded, shoving her way into the house. "It's pouring, in case you hadn't noticed."

Rhia tried to grab her best friend's arm before she made it too far into the room. "Sofi, hold on one second--"

But it was a second too late. Sofine had inhaled, recognizing the scent of another person, a male, in the house and froze.

"Who's here?" she asked, in a tone far too tense to be casual. Rhia grimaced. This was certainly not how she planned to make introductions.

"I, uh, you see, well a few weeks ago," she stammered, her brain refusing to produce an actual sentence. Eris chose that moment to speak up.

"Hello! You must be Sofine, I've heard so much about you." He walked towards the two females, his hand outstretched. "I'm Eris."

Rhia had never seen Sofine stop talking, but in this moment she was utterly speechless. She shook his hand, without saying a word, before spinning to face Rhia again.

"You have the High Lord in your kitchen."

"Oh, that reminds me I put the kettle on. Would you like some tea?" Eris asked.

Sofine shot Rhia one last glare, silently demanding a full explanation as soon as they were alone, before joining him in the kitchen. Oh shit. In all her worries and hopes about her burgeoning relationship with Eris, she hadn't even considered how he would fit in her life, or how she would fit in his. If that were even possible.

Chapter 5: these are the words I held back

TW: mentions of past sexual assault, nothing graphic. I put "XXX" at the start and end of it, please please skip it if that could possibly harm you. I will never, ever write anything graphic or specific about sexual assault, pinky promise.

Beron’s shot of flames slammed the side of his face before Eris could duck out of the way. Hissing in pain, Eris tried to ignore the feeling that half his face was now on fire. His father kept coming with the attacks, pushing him back until he could feel the stone of the bedroom’s wall on his back.

“I’m going to kill her next,” Beron taunted, slowing his attacks now that he saw his son fully cornered. “She’s given me nothing but useless heirs, disgusting upstarts who think they can overpower me.”

Eris tried to look around the room, but there were no other options. No final play, no additional power to grasp from. Why had he thought he could overpower his father?

He grasped at his wrist to find it empty. Where was the damn bracelet?

Eris stood alone and alone he would fail.

Beron continued to taunt him, sending flames to match each word. “I could always take another wife. Someone more beautiful. I’m utterly bored with your mother’s face.” The tyrant stepped even closer so Eris could see the utter hatred in his eyes. “Maybe even that pretty little mate of yours. What was her name again? Oh right.” Beron cackled as he prepared his final blow to murder his son. “Rhia.”

Eris woke up gasping for air, his father snarl still ringing in his ear. He ran a hand over his face. He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead. The refrain calmed his breathing and slowed his heart rate, like it did every morning after nightmares haunted him every night. Neither tonics nor working himself to the bone had helped bring Eris a restful night of sleep.

Hearing his mate’s name in his father’s voice had been a particularly effective type of torture. Eris had done everything he could to avoid even thinking about her while his father was still alive, especially after that horrible incident with Lucien’s first love. Jessminda had done nothing except bring one of Beron’s sons happiness, and yet she paid the ultimate price.

He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead.

The rest of the day continued in a similarly joyful manner. One of Eris’ advisors, an ancient male named Julius, had attempted to undermine the latest efforts to modernize the royal court by poisoning the newest Minister of Finance for daring to be a female. Leanna had recovered quickly, given Julius’ ineptitude at everything except for being a misogynist, but Eris still had to handle his punishment. He then missed lunchtime because one of his spies had to give him an update on Auster’s movements, which still did not reveal the prince’s intentions or goals. Finally, Gerwin absolutely demolished him in the afternoon training session, shoving him into a weapons rack and giving him a lovely bruise on his forehead. The headache that manifested during dinner felt like a fitting way to end the day.

“Are you even listening?” his mother admonished, though her smirk suggested she was anything but annoyed. “I would rather not repeat myself for a third time.”

Eris put down his wine glass, feeling as though alcohol would only make the day worse. “Sorry. Horrid day. What were you saying?”

The Lady of the Autumn Court placed a gentle hand on his arm. “Dare I hope that the cause for your distraction is a happy one?” At his hesitation to respond, she added: “I know the walls have ears and you keep your secrets close. But come to me when you’re ready. I hate seeing you handle so much on your own.”

“I have happy reasons to be distracted, but no, today I’m simply tired,” he replied, turning his palm face up to grab her hand. “I wish I could say more and I hope I’ll be able to soon.”

His mother smiled, appeased for the moment. Eris wanted to tell her more than anything, let her know that he was happy and in love. Shit. He was in love. The thought made him cringe, because surely no undamaged person fell in love so quickly and easily. Surely only someone deprived of affection and wounded as he would consider 5 nights of conversation enough. No, Eris reasoned, he probably wasn’t in love, but the horridness of the day and the bitter taste of his nightmare had twisted his mind into thinking so.

He couldn’t tell his mother because he would not subject her to his heartbreak if Rhia decided she only ever wanted his friendship or no longer wanted him at all. She already had to watch Lucien, the true joy of her life, suffer without a true home and without love from his mate for so many years. Eris would not add to her burden, even as merely her second-favorite child.

“Go to bed early tonight,” she declared, giving him a look that made him feel like a child again. “I’ll oversee Julius’ imprisonment tonight and send word if anything goes astray.”

Eris nodded and kissed her on the head as he stood to head to his bedroom. If nothing else, murdering his father had been worth it just for his mother to live freely. If she was capable of finding her freedom once again.

Luckily, one tiny thing went right for the High Lord of the Autumn Court that awful day. The glowing piece of parchment in his top dresser drawer might as well have been a star coming down from the night sky, shining bright enough to scare away the dark. Rhia had written to him.

I’m glad you didn’t think it was terribly awkward two nights ago. Sofine can be quite abrasive, but I think she may have liked you. She worries about me, you see, even if she can’t argue with the High Lord. I’m very glad you met her though. I have a silly thought for you when you reply.

Eris couldn’t remember a single thing on his to-do list. The only possible thing he had to do was reply and reply quickly.

Let her know she is allowed to argue with me any time. I’ll probably regret saying that. My day was absolutely horrible and your silly thought is the only thing that might bring me joy again. Please share before I perish from curiosity.

She took a few minutes, either caught up in cleaning her house or making him wait on purpose. Masochistically, he hoped it was the latter and she enjoyed playing games with him.

If you mock me for this, I will, well I don’t know what I’ll do but it won’t be pleasant.

After you both left, I thought about how I might never have had the courage to introduce you or include you in my life. But then, I thought about how relieving it was that Sofine knew about you. Because that makes it real. I can’t back out now and I don’t want to.

No one was watching, so Eris could deny that a few tears pricked the corners of his eyes when he read that. Yes, Rhia was often withdrawn and overly cautious with him, but she was still moving forward. The two of them were still progressing into something, something more beautiful than anything Eris had ever experienced before.

That’s not silly. That’s a wonderful thought that I enjoyed immensely. Can I share a silly thought with you now?

Please. If only to make me feel less alone in my mortification.

You’re so easily mortified. Have you considered that I’m much more desperate and embarrassing than you are? Here’s my thought:

He hesitated, wanting to write so many things. He could write three dangerous words, but knew it was much too soon. He could ask her for permission to tell his mother, but knew that might bring more danger and scrutiny than could be prevented. He could even tell her about the worst mistake of his life and pray to the Mother that she wouldn’t see him like Mor did. Instead, he added:

I think once a week is ridiculous. I think about you too often to only hear your voice once a week. How would you feel about twice a week? If we’re feeling reckless, three times?

Infatuated, but not damaging enough to push her away.

I’m amazed this Court continues to run if you truly are thinking of me so often. If it will help the High Lord function, two-three times a week is acceptable to me. (more than acceptable). When should we start this crazy, reckless plan?

Not to upgrade the recklessness to outright foolhardiness, but tomorrow night? Unless your social calendar is full.

You know I have one friend, don’t be rude. I’ll see you tomorrow night. Bring food and wine.

She always did love trying the foregin cuisines he brought from the capital, offerings that weren’t available in more rural areas. Eris enjoyed nothing more than watching her try a new food cautiously before digging into it enthusiastically. Rhia’s face had seemed unreadable when he first met her, but he had begun to understand her expressions the way some scholars learned new languages. Food certainly helped soften their relationship, as indicated by the way her eyes narrowed when she saw something interesting and her lips quirked upward when she discovered a new favorite flavor.

Eris frowned as a realization swept over him. He was thinking about her lips, yes, but not at all in a sexual manner. This fact alone was not troubling; Eris only felt sexual attraction rarely and towards Fae he had some sort of prior connection with. However, Rhia was his mate and he thought he could be in love with her; desire surely should follow. Yet it felt as though some boundary stood between them and intimacy, as though sex was not even on the table at this moment. Too exhausted to unpack that strange feeling, Eris decided not to question the best thing in his life. Sexual desire would come or it wouldn’t.

----

Rhia had another bad night. One step forward, two steps back, her thoughts ran like an angry river towards an endless sea. She could feel the Mother laughing at her predicament.

XXX

As Rhia started trusting and liking Eris more, she thought about them as a couple. Every time she thought about them as a couple, a cold wave of terror rushed over her at the thought of being intimate with him. Eris could overwhelm her without a second thought, his power ten times her own. Even with Rhia’s strongest gusts of wind or quickest winnows, she would not escape him.

He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do that. Her constant refrain did nothing to quell the anxiety that followed any time she thought about sex. The logical side of her brain screamed and yelled that he had not even touched her yet, had observed every boundary she set, had made no move to pressure her forward. Unfortunately, logic did not win out against trauma.

Rhia gripped her bathroom sink, staring at herself in the mirror like she always did when her thoughts grew too loud. Looking into her own eyes and seeing that she’d survived that night, survived her fucking rapist, slowed her heart rate back to normal.

Cauldron, this stupid problem only existed because she wanted him. Rhia had wanted him the moment she laid eyes on him. She thought about kissing him every time he stepped through her doorway. But males never stopped at kissing and Eris might walk away if he understood how truly fucked up she was.

You’re not the first female to ever get attacked. Pull yourself together. Rhia screamed at herself until her inner voice was hoarse. Do you know how much worse others have it? Can you even imagine what his own mother went through for centuries?

A voice that sounded eerily like Sofine’s challenged her back. Just because others have it worse does not lessen your burden or your worth.

Rhia breathed in, then out. In, then out. She would hopefully be able to fall asleep soon, this panic attack lasting less time than last week’s.

XXX

Exhaustion finally came, crashing over her as she finally felt her body relax. Rhia gave herself one last, long look in the mirror before coming to a decision.

She would not let herself ruin this relationship before it even had a chance to start. If it took jumping off a cliff and telling Eris about the worst night of her life, that was a small sacrifice to pay for potentially finding happiness. Smiling at that unusually optimistic perspective, Rhia washed her face and grabbed her silk bonnet, hoping that tonight’s dreams would carry her towards that mysterious, happy future.

Chapter 6: shifting eyes and vacany, vanished

TW: mentions of past sexual assault. same thing as last time, absolutely nothing graphic, will put an XXX before and after.

Eris had just grabbed his cloak, preparing to winnow to Malefic, when he heard a sharp knock at his door. He grimaced, imagining some sort of bureaucratic nonsense that could have undoubtedly been saved for tomorrow morning.

Instead he found Gerwin, nervously pacing the hall outside of the High Lord’s bedchambers. The weapons master rarely brought Eris news directly, and wouldn’t disturb him at night unless it was absolutely urgent.

“Come in.” Eris stepped back into the sitting area, tossing his cloak on the back of the nearest chair. “How long do you think this will take?” He’d rather send a quick note to Rhia then leave her waiting for hours.

Gerwin remained standing. “Not long, but I suspect you’ll want to take action after you hear this. One of your spies was found dead last night. We suspect Auster figured her out.”

“Who?” Eris mentally ran through the five Fae he had employed to look into his brother, shocked and hurt at the prospect of losing any of them.

“Mellie,” Gerwin responded, naming the air wraith who could walk as silently as the wind. Eris could only imagine how his brother had caught her and what detestable things he had done before killing her. “Jyn found her body an hour ago and we’ve covered the area up so none of the other staff will find out. How would you like to proceed?”

I’ll be a bit late tonight. Would you rather reschedule?

No, I want to talk to you and I’m afraid I’ll lose my nerve. Come when you can.

That message from Rhia certainly didn’t calm Eris’ anxiety.

The two males debated and strategized over the next hour, going back and forth on how to manage the prince. Since he surely left no evidence behind, Eris couldn’t arrest or prosecute his brother without possibly inflaming any support Auster had. They didn’t want to send any more of the spy cohort after him, since he’d proved tragically capable at sniffing them out. Unfortunately, the best move at the moment was to wait for Auster to make another move or present his purpose. Eris strengthened the wards around the palace, including extra alarms for anyone entering or leaving Auster’s chambers. It was an infuriatingly small response to Mellie’s death.

Eris had one person he considered asking for help, but she wasn’t in the Autumn Court and he didn’t like the idea of his familial problems becoming gossip across Prythian. Another thing I should probably discuss with Rhia , he mused, as he finally gathered his cloak and set off for her house.

Eris winnowed and raised his fist to knock, but Rhia flung the door open before he had a chance.

“Hi.” She sounded almost out of breath, but looked stunning as always. Her dark curls were pulled back into a low ponytail, with several strands escaping in the front. Eris could have looked at her face forever, her smile illuminated by the lantern above her door.

He stepped inside after her. “I’m sorry for the delay. Sometimes I actually have to do work as High Lord, contrary to popular opinion.” The joke fell flat, his anger at Mellie’s death darkening his tone.

Rhia placed the tea kettle and two mugs on the table, gesturing for him to sit. “Would you like to talk about it?”

Eris grabbed one and poured some of the tea, smelling cinnamon and honey. “I believe you had something you wanted to talk about first. I’ll tell you after; I don’t want to ruin the evening too quickly with my melancholy”

Rhia laughed. Eris frowned, his remark hadn’t been humorous.

---

Rhia laughed. She couldn’t help it. Eris had said didn’t want to ruin the evening, as if he imagined she had something funny, endearing, or whimsical to share. He shot her a confused frown, which only made her laugh harder.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she giggled, pouring herself a cup of tea and attempting to find her composure. “This isn’t funny at all.”

“I would never deny you an opportunity to laugh,” he replied, smiling a bit at her oddity. “But would you mind letting me in on the joke?”

She took a deep breath and a sip of tea, forcing herself to calm down. She often laughed when nervous and she hadn’t realized how nervous she truly was until this moment.

“I’m sorry,” Rhia said one more time. “It’s just, you said you didn’t want to ruin the evening with your news, but I’m afraid my topic of conversation is quite unfortunate. Also, I laugh when I’m nervous,” she finished lamely, looking down at her mug instead of his face.

“There’s nothing you could tell me that I wouldn’t want to hear,” Eris encouraged.

She only wished encouragement was enough.

Rhia took another breath. “I don’t quite know where to begin. I guess, well, I’m sure you had some sort of expectations for your future wife.”

Eris interrupted. “I told you, I don’t have any expectations for you. I just--”

She placed one of her hands on his instinctively. “Please, don’t interrupt me. I know you have no expectations for me and I appreciate that so, so much.” She tried to continue, but her tongue seemed to stick to the roof of her mouth. He had gone completely still.

This was the first time they had touched. Their eyes locked.

Rhia couldn’t help herself. She let out another giggle. Eris grinned at the sound of her laughter and at the absurdity of the situation.

“We’re quite useless, aren’t we?” She looked down at her hand on his again. “Two Fae over a century old who can barely hold hands.”

Eris flipped his hand so his palm touched hers. “I’ve told you time and time again the effect you have on me.” His fingers ever so slowly interlocked with hers. “We’re either extremely touch-starved or incredibly pathetic.”

Somehow, the small action of holding hands spurred Rhia to continue. She felt grounded and calm, trusted and trusting.

“I knew you were pathetic, but I had no idea I was also so wretched,” Rhia replied. “This sort of adds to my point.”

She allowed herself one more breath before continuing.

“I’m aware you have no expectations for me, but we both know what a mating bond or a marriage usually entails. I want to tell you this because it affects both of us, our relationship. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to have an intimate relationship with you.”

Eris, to his credit, stayed silent. Rhia didn’t sense any shock or strong emotions coming off of him, so she took that as a sign to keep going.

XXX

“Halfway through Amarantha’s rule, while myself and a few others were warding Malefic off from the outside world, a group of males somehow broke in. Everyone else was left unharmed, except for me. My power was depleted from maintaining the constant security, and one of the males had enough magic to keep me still.”

Her story was definitely not clear or easy to follow. Rhia couldn’t find the energy to make it make sense.

“And, well, that’s that. I’m...well I’m improved. I thought I was back to normal. I usually don’t have a problem with intimacy and I’ve had plenty of sex since then.” She glanced up. “Sorry, is that too much information?”

Eris cleared his throat. “Rhia, if you think that your sex life is at all one of my concerns with this conversation…”

“Right, the trauma is probably more important.” She realized she was still gripping his hand and loosened her fingers a bit. His fingers opened, as if to give her the space to back away. She didn’t take it.

“If I have my full strength and I know the male isn’t powerful, it’s really not a problem.” She looked up at him. “So it’s really fucked up that the only person I can think about now is the most powerful male in the damn Court.”

XXX

His face was still frustratingly unreadable.

A wave of anxiety hit Rhia. “You can talk now.”

“I love you.” Eris swore under his breath. “Fuck, that’s really not how I wanted it to come out. I know it doesn’t fix anything and I know I can’t fix anything, but I am just so incredibly honored you chose to share this with me. And it doesn’t change a damn thing about wanting to be with you however you want me.”

Rhia breathed in his confession like a drug. Love won’t fix trauma and a romantic partner won’t fix a broken person. But it felt undeniably good to have someone there, someone who wouldn’t look at her differently or see her as less worthy.

“That wasn’t a good response,” Eris continued. “Let me try again. Thank you for sharing your story with me. I am so sorry that happened to you. What can I do to make you more comfortable?”

“Both responses were good, you idiot,” Rhia sniffed once, a little more emotional than she thought she would be. “Stop it or I’m going to cry.”

“If you cry, I might also cry,” Eris warned. “And then I’ll feel guilty for the rest of my life for crying and taking the attention off of you.” He slowly placed his other hand on top of hers and squeezed once. “We definitely do not have to continue this conversation now, but I would appreciate knowing how I can help you feel comfortable and safe.”

She didn’t reply, but gave him a weak smile in response. “Tell me about your thing now. I’m emotionally fried.”

“Are you sure?” When she nodded, Eris added: “I feel a bit silly now, complaining about my brother and his mysterious intentions.”

Rhia let go of his hand briefly, only to stand and walk over to the kitchen. “I’m sure it’s not some trivial matter if you were late tonight.” She grabbed a bottle of dark brown liquor from a cabinet above the sink. “And please, anything to change the subject.” She poured a splash of liquid into each of their teacups, causing Eris to grin.

“Nothing like alcohol to dull the ache of familial drama. I actually found out one of my spies died tonight, surely at Auster’s hand.” His expression quickly morphed from amused to solemn. “Mellie. She was absolutely brilliant and I wasted her life on pure suspicion. I should’ve investigated him myself from the beginning, instead of risking my employees for a personal cause.” Eris finished this thought with a few large sips.

Rhia also took a drink. “Is it truly a personal matter? If your brother is willing to kill someone, it sounds like he’s actually a risk to your entire court. And I’m very sorry to hear about Mellie.”

“Thank you,” he replied automatically. “That’s...I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re right, murder wouldn’t be the typical response to finding a spy. I just wish I knew what he hoped to accomplish.”

“Tell me more about him and I’ll take a guess,” Rhia offered. “It’ll be poorly thought out, but another perspective can’t hurt.”

So Eris began to describe his younger brother. Auster had been a quiet child growing up, never as violent or hostile as the other Vanserra siblings. Youngest only to Lucien, Auster hadn’t even bullied his younger brother to the extent the middle brothers did. However, once they had all reached maturity and especially after the Jessminda incident, Eris suspected that Auster’s quiet demeanor had more to do with remaining unnoticed than introverted tendencies. After two of the brothers died and one escaped Beron at Tamlin’s hand, Eris had investigated the remaining three brothers to maintain his role as Heir. Morian and Dedus were idiots, all brute force and horrible manners. While those characteristics endeared them to Beron, the former High Lord kept the twins far away from the capital and wouldn’t risk giving them actual power. Auster, on the other hand, seemed to have half the staff on his payroll according to financial analyses.

Eris had his own casual spies in the palace and began a more formal cohort, led by Gerwin, at this point in time. Auster never seemed to take action, but Eris suspected he had a role in revealing secrets of multiple political rivals. Beron had also put him in charge of punishing any traitors accused of treason, allowing Auster to demonstrate his cruel tendencies.

Months before Eris had taken the throne, Auster had simply disappeared. Beron had never addressed his missing son and they received no news of his death. Eris had spent those months clearing the palace of anyone with ties to his brother and hired new staff completely loyal to him. Only weeks after Beron’s official funeral, Auster had returned and pledged his support to his older brother. He had spent the time since holed up in his room, without any obvious communication to the outside world.

“Sorry, that was a bit of a rant,” Eris finished. Both Fae had finished several cups of tea-and-liquor during his explanation, and Rhia could feel her cheeks heating up under the alcohol’s influence. But she attempted some logic and reasoning for Eris’ sake.

“He sounds horrible and manipulative. Just the kind of male to come back in the picture only when it suits him,” she theorized. “If he hasn’t spoken to anyone outside the palace, maybe he’s trying to get some of the staff under his control again. Or one of them is sneaking messages out for him.”

Eris nodded, eyes drifting off into the distance as he considered her words. “I’ve been lazy. I’ve put up wards, but that would only detect magic or Fae who don’t belong in the palace. He could have easily snuck out paper messages with one loyal servant.”

Rhia wanted to help out, she really did. But his fingers had been unconsciously playing with her, lightly skimming her wrist and forearm, as if they had a mind of their own while he spoke. Distracting, and devastatingly tender.

She stood suddenly, concerned about where her thoughts might take her. Eris’ gaze snapped back to her face.

“It’s late,” she offered as a clearly fake excuse for her behavior. “I feel terrible, keeping you up when you’ll have to deal with all this in the morning.” Not to mention, she had a group of children coming in for a class in less than six hours.

Eris stood as well, grabbing his cloak. He seemed so hesitant, so unwilling to leave, staring at her face as if to memorize it. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea for me to come back here for awhile.”

Rhia’s heart dropped to the ground. “What?” He saw the panic, noticed her heart rate elevate and immediately corrected.

“Not because of you! Not at all because of tonight. Tonight was everything to me,” he emphasized, holding out a hand between them. “Because of Auster. If I start seriously investigating him, I worry he’ll try to follow me. Or figure out my weaknesses. Rhia, I only introduced myself to you because I thought you’d be safe after I became High Lord. If my brother were to ever try to harm you, I don’t know what I’d do.”

She breathed a bit easier. “How long?”

“I’ll write to you. The paper is safe, enchanted for only our eyes.” Eris shook his head. “Hopefully a couple weeks? I wish it were simple, but Gerwin and I decided to wait for his next move. So it’s difficult to know.”

The idea of not seeing him for a couple weeks hurt. It hurt so much more than Rhia wanted to admit.

So she decided to be brave. She stepped close enough to him that she could feel his breath on her face. She grabbed each of his hands in her own and pulled them up to rest on his chest. For a moment, she swore their hearts beat in synchronization.

“I don’t think anyone would miss him if you had to kill him,” she said, her voice steadier than her thoughts. “Just handle him quickly.”

Eris laughed lightly. “I am very motivated, trust me.” He kissed her knuckles. “Good night.”

Eris gathered his cloak and winnowed back to his palace. As he drifted into an uneasy sleep, he wondered how it would feel to fall asleep somewhere he felt safe, somewhere full of good memories, with someone who cared about him.

Funnily enough, Rhia fell asleep wondering the same thing.

Chapter 7: until I see you again

After five days of silence, Rhia was about ready to lose her mind. Eris hadn’t written or called her in any way, and there wasn’t even any new gossip about him from the capitol. Her mind wandered off at inopportune moments, imagining him dead by his brother’s hand or finally deeming her unworthy of him and moving on to someone else.

“RHIA!”

She jumped, startled at the high-pitched squeal that cut off her most recent vision of Auster chopping off Eris’ head. One of her students, Raquel, stood outside one of the studio windows, banging on the glass.

“Shit,” Rhia swore under her breath, glancing at the clock above the wall of mirrors. Her next lesson was starting now and she hadn’t set up anything.

She jostled over to the door and opened the door to see Raquel standing with two of their peers. This group was one of her favorites, three young Lesser Fae who manipulated nature and lived right at the edge of the forest. Raquel was the certified leader of the group and took that role seriously: they made sure Leyora and Aliar always arrived on time.

Rhia usually loved all the sass and attitude that came with this trio, but today she was close to strangling the little jerk.

“Come in, come in,” she said instead, herding the children into the room and helping them with their coats. “I must’ve forgotten to unlock the door. How’s everyone doing today?”

“We were having a good day until you left us in the cold for so long,” Raquel grumbled, their cheeks pink from the frosty air. “I screamed your name four times before you noticed me.”

Leyora nodded. “Raquel was very loud. You really should answer your door faster.” She looked extremely serious after the minor inconvenience, in the way only children can.

Rhia finished hanging the coats and walked over to her supply closet. “Well I am very sorry that I ruined your morning. Blow breezes at each other while I set up.”

As they sent blasts of air at each other, the children soon forgot their anger and quickly turned to laughter, describing their breakfasts and every little detail of the walk over. Rhia tried to be engaged and charming, like she usually was, but kept glancing at the empty piece of paper sitting on her counter, yearning for it to glow.

An hour later, and after several very close calls with fire and her curtains, Rhia stood staring at the paper again. She’d tried, she really had, to give Eris time to deal with his brother and let him write her first. The last thing she wanted was to distract him while he was potentially fighting for his throne. Well, he could always ignore her if he didn’t want to respond, so she might as well write something.

Just let me know you’re okay.

---

After five days of hunting, Eris was ready to lose his damn mind. He’d returned home to find the palace in complete chaos, with the staff fleeing and his mother missing. Gerwin gave him the quick update as he sprinted to her chambers, sure his brother was to blame.

“Thirty minutes ago, we found half your mother’s guard dead and her rooms empty. Whoever it was left the damn bodies in the kitchen , like a maniac, to scare everyone away and cause all this.” Gerwin gestured to the general panic and disarray. “We’ve already searched for your brother and he’s long gone. I don’t think he came anywhere near here”

Eris ignored him and burst through the door of the bedroom. Indeed, Auster’s scent was completely absent.

“We found a note and left it untouched for you,” Gerwin explained, pointing at a delicately embossed letter sitting on the coffee table

An oathbreaker is not fit to be High Lord. Relinquish your title before the week is up.

“Shit,” Eris swore. “This is bad.”

Gerwin glanced at the note again. “What does it mean?”

Eris scrambled for a plan, an idea, anything that would fix this mess. “It means the Court of Nightmares knows I broke the alliance.” He grabbed a piece of stationery off a random dresser, scrawling out a quick note. “Auster found himself an army of bastards, willing to help bring me down.”

I need your help. Come to the palace immediately.

With a flick of his fingers, Eris sent the message to the only person who might be able and willing to help him.

“The advisers are waiting,” Gerwin said hesitantly. “I know they won’t have anything useful to say, but I believe it best if you appease them tonight.”

“Fine,” Eris growled, in no mood to handle the overly emotional politicians.

As expected, he could hear the arguments and heated debates from down the hall. Entering the main conference room, Eris shot a wave of power across the room, silencing the chatter.

“My mother is missing. Don’t waste my time.” He glared directly at Moris, one of the ringleaders and most vocal on the council.

To his credit, Moris inclined his head in respect and kept his tone calm. “My Lord, I cannot imagine how stressful tonight is for you. We only wish to help you come up with a strategy.”

“The note is quite concerning,” added another male. “Could you elaborate on the meaning of ‘oathbreaker’?”

Eris let out a breath. “I don’t have time to explain everything to you all. Clearly, my brother had some hand in this, and I believe he had foreign aid.”

“That’s quite a claim,” Moris responded thoughtfully. “Without evidence, however, how can we take action?”

“ You won’t be taking any action.” Eris resisted the urge to snarl. “I don’t remember seeing any of you hunting down fugitives in the past few centuries.” Gerwin snorted behind him. “I’ll track down my brother and bring him back to stand trial.”

The room erupted into discussion. Beron would have never taken on such a task himself, leaving the throne empty and the palace unruled. Eris ignored every one of their complaints,

He couldn’t recruit anyone else from the Autumn Court for this task, or he would risk revealing the secret that threatened his legitimacy as High Lord.

“Well that could have gone better,” Gerwin remarked, following Eris away from the conference room. “At least you didn’t set anyone’s hair on fire.”

“I thought about it.” Eris stalked into his bedchambers, waving the door closed behind his weapons master.

Gerwin stiffened. “Eris, someone’s in here--”

Eris cut him off. “Hello, Carina.”

The infamous Heir to the Night Court stepped out from the shadows. Dark haired, dressed in all black, and heartbreakingly beautiful, Rhysand’s daughter winked at him.

“Already trouble in paradise?” she smirked.

Gerwin grabbed Eris’ arm. “This is your idea? Bringing in the Night Court again?”

Eris shook him off. “If Keir is involved in any capacity, then her family will need to know about it.” Gerwin opened his mouth to argue, but Eris continued. “Besides, she’s already helped me more than anyone can know.”

He looked at the female who might be his only other friend. They’d grown close after Eris had called in his deal with the Inner Circle, demanding they support him in overthrowing Beron. Carina had convinced them to take it one step further, providing magical bracelets that let two Fae share power, to ensure that Eris could actually defeat his father. She had lied to her parents and mate when she had actually worn the bracelet herself, letting Eris use her strength to kill Beron.

If anyone found out, the advisers could use the information to call for Eris’ resignation. The Court could likely agree with them.

“Can I see the note?” Carina asked. Eris handed it to her. After inspecting it for a moment, she gave it back. “It stinks of Keir’s right-hand male, Toren. I’ll have Azriel look into him.”

Eris sighed in relief. Finally, a small clue into his mother’s location. “Thank you. I already owe you so much--”

She waved his gratitude off. “It’s what friends are for. I do enjoy extravagantly expensive dresses, if you must know. What else can I do?”

“I can’t ask anything else of you,” Eris insisted. “Just--anything you find from the Hewn City.”

“Of course,” Carina smiled. “We’ll find her, I promise. Absolutely do not give up the throne.”

And so Eris had spent the next four days across the Autumn Court, running into dead ends and even a few traps. Gerwin returned to the palace after two days, promising to keep any nobles from attempting a coup.

Carina had sent a message, letting him know that Keir remained in the Night Court and no one had seen any sign of Auster. Azriel had assigned several Fae to watch everyone in the Court of Nightmares, and had begun sifting through all their communications. If they are working together, they’ll have to discuss at some point. Her words did not inspire much confidence.

The High Lord was exhausted. He missed Rhia every second of every day and wished he’d thought to grab their parchment before leaving. The logical side of his brain screamed at him to return home, get some rest, and request help from his spies. The guilt fueling him, however, demanded that he never put someone else in danger again, that he alone murder another family member to keep his Court safe.

Eris shook some leaves from his hair and splashed cold creek water onto his face in a lame attempt to wake himself up. He was outside a small town where Auster’s scent lingered, but found no actual trace of the murderous prick. There were no other trails, no further moves to make.

He closed his eyes for one moment, gathering his composure to winnow back to the palace as a failure. Eris woke up several minutes later to a sword at his throat.

“What in the name of the Mother are you doing?” Lucien demanded. “Falling asleep in the middle of a random forest like a vagabond? Our fucking mother is missing.”

Eris shoved the blade away and got to his feet. “I’m searching for our fuck of a brother, you bastard. And looking for her. Why are you here?” As the question slipped out of his mouth, he suddenly remembered that one of the only Fae Lucien still loved had been stolen in some twisted plot.

The younger Vanserra looked even more exhausted, if that were possible.

“Trying to find you.” Lucien tucked his sword away. “I was hoping you’d have tracked him down by now or have found some new information.”

“Nothing,” Eris groaned, running a hand over his face. “This was all a huge mistake. I shouldn’t have let Auster run me around the Court like a fool.”

Lucien snorted. “Your savior complex is going to kill you one day. I have news from the Night Court, if you’re awake enough to listen.”

Eris hated accepting help, especially from his youngest brother, but took the hand Lucien offered anyway. They took turns winnowing back to the palace, as Lucien gave him a summary of the last few days.

Keir had thrown a massive temper tantrum when members of the Inner Circle appeared in the Hewn City and demanded to search his palace. After failing to link him directly to uprisings in Illyria several months ago, Carina had done everything in her power to find evidence that Keir was working with Auster.

“She’s bitter,” Lucien noted. “They all are. This is the second time this year that Keir has attempted some sort of terrorism or treason.”

Eris ran a hand through his hair. “Well, I’m just grateful for their help, even if it has nothing to do with me. Did Carina find anything?” Only one more jump and Eris would be in his chambers again. He almost cried at the thought of a nap in an actual bed and a chance to contact Rhia after days of silence.

“Yes and no,” Lucien continued. “Azriel tracked down the messenger who connected Auster and Keir in the first place, confirming our worst fears, but no sign of Mother.” The male sighed, preparing to winnow them the final few miles home. “I’m concerned that there’s something else going on, some other plan that we aren’t seeing.”

“I agree,” Eris replied. “Auster’s trail was authentic; I knew for certain he had visited the places I tracked him. But I think he set it up weeks ago, before staying in the palace.”

Lucien didn’t answer immediately. He grabbed Eris’ arm and vanished them, landing directly in the High Lord’s chambers.

“Fuck,” Lucien swore, looking around the room. “I can’t believe you sleep in here. Lovely decorating, though.”

Eris couldn’t agree more. He hated living where Beron had abused and fought him. “I wish I had a choice. If I remained in my old rooms, the advisers would’ve pounced on my weakness.”

Gesturing to one of the large couches, Eris continued. “You’re welcome to stay, rest for a bit, if you don’t want to announce your presence to the entire Court.”

Lucien looked taken aback at the offer. “I--That would probably be smart, yes.”

Eris barely heard his agreement. Mumbling something about a bath, he stumbled into his bedroom, stripping off his disgusting jacket and pants. Cauldron, he was an idiot for letting Auster wear him down so thoroughly.

Eris sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the door of his bathing room, debating whether he shouldn’t skip the bath in favor of falling asleep immediately. Something glowed in the corner of his vision, dragging his gaze to the nightstand.

“Rhia,” he breathed, snatching up the parchment. He read the message, drinking in her words like a life-saving potion.

Just let me know you’re okay.

Magicking a pen, Eris scrawled back as quickly as he could.

I’m so sorry to have worried you. I’d like nothing more than to rush to your side and never leave again. Unfortunately, I do not have any good news. Lucien is with me now, and we’ll resume our search after I’ve rested. I’m back at the palace, so I can promise my safety for the time being.

When she did not respond instantly, Eris put down the pen and took off his undershirt. She would know he was alive and back home, without a reason to worry for at least the next few hours.

With that thought comforting him, he leaned back on the pillows. His eyes fluttered shut a moment before his head hit the soft fabric, meaning Eris did not watch the massive blade appear above him and stab him through the heart.

#eris vanserra #eris #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #sjm #acosf #autumn court

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hybridfanfiction · 5 years

Text

Stay With Me - 1

Rabbit Hybrid Mark x Reader

Summary: After moving away from home, your car breaks down and you’re forced to travel through an unfamilar forest. You’re saved by a rabbit hybrid named Mark. The problem is, you don’t want to leave.

Word Count: 2,800

❦

Curse your stupid car. And curse yourself for always putting off getting it fixed. You had no idea what those flashing lights had meant before the poor thing died right in the middle of the night near a giant forest, like some horror movie. And to make things worse, your phone had long died and you’d left your charger at home. Well, not your home anymore.

You dropped your forehead onto the steering wheel and sighed, wondering where you went wrong in a past life for this to be happening to you. The only options left to you were spending the night in your freezing car or walking a couple of hours to get through the forest until you reached the town that you knew was near here.

Neither option was amazing, but at least if you started walking you’d spend less time in the cold than you would sticking around your car. Mind made up, you slid out and pulled on your jacket and a beanie. You locked the car, even though it seemed pointless since no one would want to steal the piece of crap. With a weary sigh, you walked through the trees, chattering your teeth as you held your jacket closer to you.

God, this was such a stupid decision, you thought to yourself as the darkness of the forest and various strange sounds started to get to you. You felt like you were just waiting for a serial killer to pop up at any moment.

After an hour of walking, you were wondering if you were going to die out here. You were freezing, tired, starving, and terribly scared. You had also realized some time back that without GPS, you really had no idea if you were going the right way. For all that you knew, you were going in circles, stuck in this creepy forest forever.

Just as you were considering sitting on a nearby log for a well-deserved break, you heard a rustling in a nearby bush. You held your breath, looking around frantically for something that could be used as a weapon. Suddenly, your leg caught on something and you heard a sickening crack as your ankle twisted wrong. You fell forward on your hands, scraping them on the ground.

With a light sob as the throbbing in your ankle finally registered, you realize you’re all alone in a forest with a now twisted or broken ankle. Did someone put a curse on you? What the hell was going on with this day? With this month even?

Your tears began to his the forest floor as you cried in earnest, everything finally getting the better of you. You just needed something to go right for once.

You’d nearly forgotten about the bush that had worried you earlier, but it had started rustling again. You watched through tears, just waiting for some wild cat to jump out and finish you off.

Something did jump out, but it most certainly wasn’t a cat.

First, a little nose popped out, sniffing the air. Then two of the longest pair of ears you’d ever seen. Finally, the rabbit hopped completely out of the bush, staring at you as his nose moved a mile a minute.

He was the biggest rabbit you’d ever seen, and you somewhat recalled seeing something on the internet once about Flemish rabbits. Flemish Giant Rabbits? Whatever they were called, this was most certainly one of them, although how one was all the way out here was a mystery. Maybe he was someone’s pet once but they released him once they realized how big he was getting. Messed up, but not surprising if that was it.

You sit up a little and use the log behind you to lean on, trying to gather the courage to move your leg a little bit. The rabbit seemed to have decided closer inspection was needed as he hopped a little nearer, staring at you for a few moments before he sniffed at your ankle. Smart little thing seemed to know what the problem was.

If nothing else, the big grey rabbit was proving to be a good distraction from your pain as you watched him inspect you and slowly move closer after every sniff. Before you knew it, he (or she? You weren’t about to check) sat up on its hind legs to sniff at your face - or more specifically - your tears. If you didn’t know better, you’d say the little guy was smart as hell, like human smart and knew that you were crying in pain.

Suddenly, the rabbit hopped away from you again until he reached his bush again. Only he looked behind him and hopped back over to you, then back to his bush. Like he wanted you to follow? So now this forest trip was making you delirious. Great.

You grit your teeth and pull yourself up, trying your best to walk without putting too much pressure on your injured ankle. If nothing else, maybe this creepy smart bunny will lead you to some water.

You moved agonizingly slow but eventually made it to where his giant bush was, and with a peek around it, you were surprised to find a small dirt trail. It wasn’t much, but perhaps it was a sign that there was some sort of human life out here. Hopefully, one that wouldn’t carve you up.

You walked the trail slowly, the big bunny rabbit hopping along in front of you and occasionally looking behind him like he was checking to make sure you were still there. Maybe the rabbit belonged to whoever owned the trail?

After walking for what felt like forever due to the pain you were in, the rabbit stopped in front of...a hobbit house?

There was no other way to explain it. From the outside, it appeared to be part of a hill covered with grass and flowers. But there was also a huge wooden door and a stone chimney, even a cute little window. The rabbit seemed to be watching you expectantly, so you knocked, not knowing what else to do.

You waited a few moments to see if Bilbo Baggins was going to scream at you to go away, but you were met with nothing but silence. Curiously, you pushed the door open and it swung free of its hinge easily. You peeked inside, and while dark and quiet at the moment, it was still warmer than it was outside.

“Hello? Anyone home?”

It seemed whoever this little hole in the ground belonged to was away at the moment, but just in case, you try once more.

“I’m not a robber, I promise. I think I have your rabbit here?”

Still nothing. As the ache in your ankle made its presence known, you decided to at least sit down somewhere and wait. Maybe whoever owned the place would understand you were injured and not shoot you. Or maybe they would and just put you out of your misery already. It was a little difficult to navigate in the dark, but you found yourself in a sort of living room and the feeling of the chair under your hand was plush and comfy. There was even a big blanket draped on it, and you took the liberty of happily wrapping it around yourself and sinking into the comfortable chair. You’d only be a few moments, you swore. You just needed a quick rest.

The smell of food was what woke you up. You hadn’t even planned on sleeping, but you guessed everything just caught up to you at once. You cracked your eyes open to find a steaming bowl of rice porridge in front of you. There was a fire crackling in the hearth, which explained why you felt so toasty finally. Your injured leg was also propped up on a footstool and wrapped with some sort of linen.

Apparently, the person that lived here finally showed up and not only didn’t kill you or kick you out, but patched you up and was feeding you as well. Perhaps your luck had finally turned after all. The little window outside showed it was still dark, so you couldn’t have been sleeping long. Perhaps an hour or two.

“Hello?”

You waited a few moments, but you were again met with silence. Perhaps they were just shy. You shrug and take a bite of the porridge, humming happily as your belly warms.

Suddenly you hear footsteps and set down your spoon, tensing. God only knew what could be walking around that corner.

Instead of the ogre or cackling witch you’d expected, a beautiful man walks towards you with a tea tray. He smiles happily when he meets your eyes, his smile adorably wide and toothy.

“Oh, good. You’re awake! I made this tea for you. It’s made with willowbark. It tastes horrible, but it’s good for dulling pain. I’m sure your ankle hurts a lot.”

Any response you could have made died when you finally noticed what was on top of his head. Ears. Not just any sort of ears, but giant grey rabbit ears. And when he turned to the side to set down the tray, a grey puffy rabbit tail poked out of a hole in his sweats.

A hybrid then. You’d never heard of any living in the wild before. You thought they were all just puppies and kittens made in a lab that went for a ridiculous amount to hang off the arm of some disgusting old rich person.

“Thank you,” you finally come to your senses enough to squeak out. “And thank you for last night. I’m guessing that was you.”

He nodded as he sat down in the chair opposite you, his ears flopping cutely along with his head.

“Yes. I was out foraging when I thought I smelled human. It was strange because we don’t usually get many of you out here. You got hurt and I couldn’t just leave you.”

“Thank you again,” you smile as he pours you a cup of tea. “My name is Y/N, by the way.”

“I’m Mark,” he grins, sliding the cup towards you.

“Are you out here alone?”

You take a sip of the tea and it really is bitter. You cringe and try to remind yourself that in the case of most medicine, the more horrible it tastes the better it works.

“Nope, not really. This burrow is all mine, but I have a bunch of brothers that live out here too.”

You glance up at him in surprise. “Did you make this place?”

He blushes but puffs his chest proudly. “Yep. All rabbit males do once they're ready to find a mate. They start to build their burrows. I’ve been working on mine for about six years now. I even have a few tunnels that connect to my brother’s homes.”

“That’s incredible, Mark. I’m so impressed. I can’t even build Ikea furniture without crying.”

He smiles shyly and nudges the porridge at you to remind you to eat. You shovel a few more bites in the please him.

“So what’s your mate like then? Are they going to be here soon?” You ask between bites.

Mark chuckles and shakes his head. “I don’t have one yet. I’ve heard there’s a rabbit colony somewhere east of here that I could go and look for someone, but I don’t know. It didn’t feel right. My mom always said my mate would show up when the time is right, and that I would know right away it was them. So I’ve been building and waiting.”

“That’s sweet,” you hum and take another sip of the horrible tea. “You’ll find someone. I’ve only known you for a few minutes and I can already tell you’re a catch. Look at everything you’ve done for me without knowing me at all.”

He blushes and stands up, taking your empty bowl and refilling your tea.

“I’ll be right back.”

You nod and watch him walk away, lounging back in your chair in contentment. What a sweetheart Mark was. You were warm, fed, and comfortable beside the horrible ache in your ankle. Although if his tea worked, that would go away soon too.

You might have dozed off a little bit, but Mark’s arrival promptly woke you back up. You smiled sleepily at him as he fussed over you, adjusting the blanket around your shoulders. Unfortunately, your body chose that moment to remind you of certain bodily functions.

“Um, Mark...where do you...uhh...you know?”

He stared at you in confusion until he noticed the way your body was starting to automatically do what you lovingly termed “the peepee dance.”

“OH. Of course. I’m so sorry. I’ll take you.”

And he really meant take you. He scooped you up and carried you bridal style through the house, leading you down a surprisingly impressive tunnel system full of rooms. When he reached the end, he opened one of the doors to reveal something you’d expect to see in a historical film.

“It’s nothing fancy, I’m afraid. Still, I did the best I could. It doesn’t smell bad and it all turns into compost. When you’re done, cover it with the sawdust I keep over here,” he explained, pointing everything out.

You shivered imagining having to go to the bathroom like this every day, but at least the papers or towels or whatever those were looked clean and easy to use. You suppose if you’re trying to live in the middle of the forest away from humans, things are bound to be difficult without plumbing and electricity.

You finish your business quickly and wash your hands in the basin left in there. When you open the door again, Mark is waiting a litte ways down the hall and rushes over once he sees you come out.

He scoops you back up again without a word and carries you back to your chair in front of the fire. Mark sits in the seat next to you, the silence as you both settle in comfortable instead of straining. You peek over, surprised by the sudden blush that heats up your cheeks as you observe him.

Despite the strangeness of the rabbit ears, he’s really a beautiful man. Enough that if he’d been human, there was no way he wouldn’t be a model or actor or something like that. He’s also incredibly kind, taking you in when you were hurt and lost and taking care of you without a single complaint. In fact, he’d never asked for anything, just fed you and even carried you around like it was his job.

You sigh and it seems to catch his attention as he glances over at you, a little worried furrow in his brows.

“You okay? Is your ankle really bad?”

“No,” you shake your head and smile reassuringly at him. “It’s achy, but it’s not horrible. I think it’s just twisted really bad, not broken, so at least there’s that.”

“If you need me to, I can get one of my brothers to come help me get you into town. I saw the doctor there once and he’s really nice. Didn’t seem to care that I was a hybrid.”

“I do need to get back to town eventually. And I need to collect my car. I don’t suppose you have one, do you?”

He shook his head, his ears folding over sadly. “I don’t, I’m sorry. But my brother Youngjae has a wagon. We could take you in that. It just would take a bit to get everything ready and it’s still the middle of the night right now. He’ll kill me if I wake him up.”

“There’s no rush, Mark. You should get a nap in too. You’ve been up taking care of me.”

He blushed and turned to look at the fire. “I don’t mind.”

You smile fondly and even sneak a little pat on his arm. A few moments later you’re fighting to stay awake when he stands up.

“Can I put you in an actual bed? There’s one right across from mine so I can hear if you need me.”

“Oh, a bed sounds wonderful, Mark. You are seriously an angel.”

He grins and once again scoops you up. You’re starting to get really comfortable with the sensation of being in his arms.

The bed he puts you in is huge, at least king-sized, and incredibly fluffy. The frame is huge and wooden, and you remind yourself to ask him if he built all this when you’re more capable of speech.

Mark covers you in several quilts and tucks them around you, petting your hair away from your forehead. You look up at him and smile sleepily.

“Thank you, Mark, for everything. Goodnight.”

He shuffles towards the door and you are nearly asleep when he mumbles, “Goodnight, Y/N. I’m so glad you’re finally here.”

#got7 #hybrid #hybrids #hybrid au #au #hybrid!got7 #hybrid!mark #hybrid fanfiction #mark tuan

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pastpatientlywaitingforimagines · 5 years

Text

Dragonology | Charlie Weasley x femHufflepuff!Reader Part 4.

Warnings: Romance, kissing, alcohol, dragons

Part 1

DRAGONOLOGY FAQ

*4 years prior*

You and Charlie had been living together in Romania for five months. Your job was everything you had dreamed it would be and more. You were learning so much and meeting incredible people who had the same aspirations as you and Charlie.

You had just been tasked with training one of the older dragons at the sanctuary. She had a history of being difficult to work with, but you didn’t believe the labels that she had carried with her during her time with humans. You were unable to sleep due to the chaos in your brain as you grappled with how you were going to have a breakthrough with the dragon.

To combat the restlessness, you dragged yourself out of bed and into the tiny kitchen of your home, setting some water on to boil and preparing a cup of tea for yourself. Charlie found you still standing in the kitchen, staring blankly at the stove with the warm mug in your hands. Your boyfriend rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes, then slid his arms around you and rested his chin on your shoulder from behind.

“What are you doing up so late?” his voice was gruff with grogginess.

“Couldn’t sleep so I made some tea,” you informed him.

“That sounds nice,” he yawned.

“Would you like some?” you remembered your manners as you came out of your trance. Charlie shook his head, “Don’t think I’m awake enough to drink anything. Do you do this often?”

You smiled.

“This is the first time since we’ve been in Romania. I used to do it a lot more during school when I would be up late working on homework. I need something to calm my brain down between work and bed, otherwise I can’t sleep.”

“Where would you get tea that late?” Charlie removed one warm hand from his hold on you to scratch the back of his head.

“The Hufflepuff common room is right next to the kitchens. We used it for more than slumber party snacks, you know.”

“I’m picturing you in your pajamas and slippers going to the kitchen and having tea with the house elves. It’s a very (y/n) thing to do.”

“That’s exactly what it was. There was a very kind seventh year who brought me there the first time our first year. I was terrified, but she told the house elves what I needed and they provided. Since then, every time I went into the kitchen after a certain time I didn’t even have to say anything. They would just give me a cup of tea exactly how I like it. I started learning how to knit potholders to give back to them as a thank you,” you smiled at the memory.

“I wondered how someone could be so good at knitting potholders but rubbish at fixing my socks.” You didn’t have to see the expression on Charlie’s face to know that he was smiling with you.

“I had a lot of practice.”

“Well, I can’t guarantee I’ll have a hot cup of tea waiting for you when you can’t sleep, but I’m always here if you need me.”

“Thank you.”

You stood in silence with Charlie while you finished the rest of your tea. As soon as your cup was on the counter, Charlie spun you around and pulled you into a strong hug.

“I’m always here if you need me,” he repeated, then kissed the top of your head, then your cheek, and then your lips. You could have kept kissing him there in your kitchen, but Charlie pulled away with a smile.

“What?”

“You taste like tea,” Charlie’s observation made you laugh, which then turned into a yawn.

“Ready?” Charlie gestured to the bedroom. You nodded, content and warm from the tea and your amazing boyfriend.

*Present*

You didn’t realize you had fallen asleep until you woke up to sunlight illuminating the small room. Living at the Burrow was one of the most comfortable things you had done in your life, and you were no stranger to the sunbeams that fell into the small room.

“You’re awfully happy this morning,” Charlie mumbled sleepily, pressing sloppy kisses into your warm cheek.

“I was just enjoying the sunshine. Our bedroom in Romania doesn’t get nearly as much natural light.”

“You are such a Hufflepuff, no wonder I want to marry you,” Charlie teased.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re just so… soft,” Charlie sighed contently, pulling you closer into his side.

Amidst the turmoil building in the wizarding world, you and Charlie were able to spend a few more days in blissful innocence before having to Floo back to Romania and resume your work.

“How was your vacation?” Henry, another dragon keeper joined you as you walked down a gravel path towards the enclosure that held your favorite dragon.

“It was amazing. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Charlie’s family, so it was nice to catch up with them.”

“Heard ya got hitched,” Dmitri, one of the other keepers appeared at your other side. You blushed, “just engaged. Who’s spreading rumors about me? I’ll need to go have a chat with them.” The boys laughed, hearty chuckles echoing off the mountains surrounding you.

“Not gonna tell my sources. Are you going to see Kaira?” Dmitri gestured to the small box of dragon food sitting on your hip.

“Yup, how was she while I was gone?” Both men’s eyebrow’s raised, before Henry answered.

“Bonkers, mate. Wouldn’t work for anyone, spewing fire all over the place.”

“Is that why you’re both escorting me over there?”

“Just lookin’ out for ya. Wouldn’t want to hafta bring good ol’ Charlie back the scorched remains of his fiancée.”

“I appreciate it,” you rolled your eyes before taking a deep breath and unlocking the gate in front of you. The older men followed you into the enclosure, closing the gate behind your small group. The hinges squeaked and you immediately heard the bounding of Kaira coming from the other side of the large enclosure. Everything about the icy blue dragon’s body language said “stay away”, and from the smoke coming from her nostrils if you didn’t act fast she would send a blast of white hot fire in your direction. Aware of Henry and Dmitri behind you with their wands up, you tucked your wand behind your ear and stuck your hand straight in the air making eye contact with the large beast. She immediately stopped in her tracks and flopped onto the ground, purring contentedly. You grabbed a large chunk of meat from the box on your belt, a leg of goat thanks to the extension charm, and tossed it in the direction of Kaira’s mouth.

The men behind you hesitantly lowered their wands as you approached Kaira with a smile on your face.

“Hi baby girl, did you miss me?” You gave her another large piece of meat when she purred in response. You started asking her for behaviors, giving her pieces of food after each one she did successfully until your box was empty.

“I’ll see you later, sweetheart,” you patted her on the nose before backing up to the gate and leaving, Henry and Dmitri in front of you the whole time.

“You’re amazing, kid. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“That’s a completely different dragon than was in there yesterday,” both men started talking as soon as you had secured the lock.

“She’s precious. I didn’t think it would be such a problem that I left, she’s fine if other people are in the enclosure while we’re working,” your mind was already racing, assessing the session you had just had with Kaira.

“Nobody works with the dragons the way you do. Except maybe Charlie, but he was on vacation with you,” Henry supplied.

“Maybe that’s our issue. Don’t need to use force when you can just ask.”

“Speaking of asking, Boss Man wanted to see you and Charlie in his office as soon as possible,” Dmitri interrupted your train of thought.

“You’re telling me this now?”

“Didn’t want to distract you before you saw demon dragon,” he shrugged. You rolled your eyes again.

“Thanks for letting me know. I guess I’ll go find Charlie.” You left Henry and Dmitri at the main feed storage building and headed off in the direction of the Norwegian Ridgeback enclosure, knowing Charlie would be there.

Your fiancé was exactly where you thought he’d be: under a pile of Ridgeback babies.

“Hi cuties,” you cooed, scratching the little dragons under their chins when they scurried over to you, “oh hey Charlie,” you deadpanned before breaking into a smile from the joke. Charlie moved the remaining babies off of his lap and stood.

“Very funny, did you see Kaira already?” He pulled an iridescent blue scale from where it was stuck to your jacket.

“Yeah, Henry and Dmitri said she was tough to work with while we were gone, but she was fine for me. I’m going to have to sit down and figure out why.”

“I told Dmitri that we eloped while we were back home, just to see his reaction. I think he believed me.”

Your sudden laugh startled the baby Ridgebacks, sending them scurrying back to their mama.

“Sorry babies, Dmitri brought it up to me earlier but wouldn’t tell me who told him. I can’t believe it was you.”

“Was that what brought you down here to baby lane? Not that I’d ever pass up an opportunity to see your shining face, but normally you prefer to be out training the untrainable.” Charlie wasn’t wrong, you usually were not found caring for the babies like he was.

“No, Dmitri said Henderson wanted to see us in his office as soon as we were both free. I have a minute if you do,” you supplied. Charlie nodded, following you back towards the buildings.

When you arrived at Patrick Henderson’s office, Charlie rapped on the door with his knuckles, then poked his head into the doorway. You were both greeted cheerfully by your boss.

“Charlie, (y/n), so glad to see you. I heard your vacation was quite eventful, hm?” You both nodded.

“Dmitri said you wanted to see us, sir?” Charlie prompted.

“Ah, yes, I’ve just been contacted by the Ministry of Magic from your neck of the woods. They’re hosting the Triwizard tournament at Hogwarts this year. They want us to supply dragons for the first task and I couldn’t think of anyone better to lead this project than my two finest Hogwarts graduates themselves!”

“Of course, Mr. Henderson. When is this happening?”

“The task is at the end of November, so you have a few months to prepare.”

“Who do you want us to bring?” You finally piped up.

“A Welsh Green, a Fireball, and… a Horntail to spice things up,” Henderson answered after pondering for a minute. He described what Ludo Bagman, the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, wanted the task to be, then shooed you out of his office.

Previous Part | Next Part

#charlie weasley #charlie weasley ff #charlie weasley fanfic #charlie weasley fanfiction #charlie weasley x reader #harry potter imagine #harry potter fanfic #harry potter and the goblet of fire

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supernaturalee · 5 years

Text

Green and Gold: Part 1 - Gwilym Lee x Reader

Pairings: Widow/Single Father! Gwilym Lee x Reader

Warnings: Deceased wife/mother, slight angst/sadness, and Karen.

Word Count: 5.4k

Summary: When Gwilym lost his wife two years ago he feared raising his daughter alone in a small coastal New Jersey town would be difficult. In the two years since her death, Gwil and Brianne are finally ready to start moving on. Following the words of a child psychologist, Gwil signs Bri up for cheerleading with the local youth squad, something Gwil knows nothing about. As he is thrust in the world of cheer bows and back handsprings, he will learn it takes a lot more than green and gold uniforms to mend his and his daughter’s hearts. Hopefully through the squad they will find strength, friendship, and possibly a spark of new love for the widow himself.

Taglist:@the-baby-bookworm

Author’s Note: So a lot of this series will come from stories of my own childhood as a youth cheerleader. It is really near and dear to my heart. I really hope you enjoy it and please let me know if you want to be tagged in future installments.

Gwilym sipped his morning cup of tea as he enjoyed his few moments of peace and quiet in the hour before Brianne was awake. The ingredients for her lunch, laid in front of him as he placed the union jack mug down, a gift from his mate Ben. Today was Wednesday, which meant it was ham and cheese wraps with carrots, pretzels, and a gogurt. As he started making her lunch, he realized tonight was the first night of her cheerleading practice. He let out a breath as he rolled up the wraps before packing the snacks into the purple lunchbox. Filling her water bottle, placing it all in her backpack. He took out her homework from the night before, looking over her math and then her English. She was a smart kid, smarter than he had been in his fifth year. Gwilym believed it was all from Angela, she was brilliant and that showed in Brianne.

It was a humid September morning in the small town along the New Jersey coastline. The tall Welshman grimaced at the thought of another overly warm day with no promise of rain. Sometimes when he longed for the gray skies that England promised him, he would remember the excitement in Angela’s voice as she spoke about the town of her childhood. The way her brown eyes would go wide with joy as she told him of the wonderful memories she had of that place and how she longed to raise her own family there. It had actually been decided when she told him she was pregnant that they would move back to her hometown to raise their incoming child. It also didn’t hurt that his company had offered him a large raise and the covering of moving expenses to take over a better position in their New York office. So the young couple moved transatlantically and settled in a small two story home not far from Angela’s own childhood home. It had been a happy homecoming for Angela and the promise of an incredible life together for Gwilym with their new child, a beautiful baby girl named Brianne.

That was until two years ago when the small but happy family lost Angela what seemed like very suddenly. Life became difficult from that moment on. Two years of grief therapy for both father and daughter, many sleepless lonely nights where he would reach out to her spot to pull her close like he had done so many times before, only to find the coldness of the sheets, and maybe one too many scotches on the nights when it became too much to bear. Friends that the couple had made didn’t know what to do with the now single father and his young seven year old daughter, so they distanced themselves from him. Ben, his friend from back home in England, flew in and stayed for two weeks while Gwil and Angela’s parents planned the funeral for the twenty-nine year old wife and daughter they had just lost. Two years passed and the loss and loneliness had not completely faded.

Gwil moved to make two bowls of oatmeal for breakfast and thought of his workday ahead. After the death of his wife, the publishing company he worked for allowed him to take a small leave of paid absence and then worked with him on working from home a few days a week as Brianne was still young. When he did have to commute into the city, which was an hour and a half train ride away, Angela’s parents would watch Brianne. He had even cleared her new cheerleading schedule with them. Brianne spent every Friday night with them and Gwilym would get a night to himself. Through most of the time, he would spend it thinking about how much he missed his daughter and how he couldn’t wait until she was home again the next morning.

Angela’s parents Mario and Justina had been incredibly supportive with both the young girl and the widower father. He knew how hard it was for them after losing their only child, it was the main reason that Gwil didn’t move himself and Brianne back to England. They deserved to be an integral part in their granddaughter’s life. Gwilym shook away the thoughts of his late wife again as he placed the bowls of oatmeal on the island. He poured Bri a glass of juice and glanced up at the clock. He moved through the house to the staircase, taking the stairs two at a time he reached the top landing quickly. He let out a breath of success before moving to Brianne’s room down the hall from his own. He pushed opened the slightly ajar door more before sticking his head in.

“Bri, honey, it's time to get up.” He stated before moving inside the neat room and opening the curtains, letting in the sunlight of the day. The nine year old stirred and groaned softly at the sudden light filling her room. She sat up, stretching her arms out.

“Morning dad.” Brianne rubbed the last few morsels of sleep from her brown eyes and looked at her doting father. Those brown eyes of hers were one of the last pieces of Angela left on the Earth. Angela was almost disappointed when the baby’s eyes were brown and not blue like Gwilym. He just chuckled and said he would rather have two pairs of the most magnificent brown eyes in the world than two pairs of his own. Angela never said another word about it from that moment on. Brianne pushed back her light brunette locks from her face as she moved off the bed. Gwilym moved back to the doorway and looked at the young girl.

“Breakfast is ready, come eat and then you can get ready for school.” He said. Brianne smiled wide and turned making her bed. Gwil didn’t mind making it but in Brianne’s big ‘I’m in fifth grade now dad,’ speech she made last week right before school started she had promised him that she would always make her bed from then on. Gwil moved to his room, changing from his sweats and an old rugby shirt into a pair of plain blue jeans and a white button up. He pulled on some gray socks and moved down to the kitchen.

He knew he had no video meetings today so mostly that meant he was going to be reading manuscripts that prospective authors had sent in with the hopes of being published which meant dressing down. He ran his fingers through his short brown hair and looked at himself in the master bathroom mirror. Only the small bags under his eyes gave away how truly tired he was. At least last night he didn’t dream of her, he actually hadn’t dreamt of her in months. He was just restless, constantly up checking on Brianne just to make sure she was sleeping okay. Gwil inhale and ran his hands over the short beard he had grown. He had been toying with the idea of shaving for a few days. Angela had liked him clean shaven. He shaved every morning for six months after her death almost as if begging for some higher power to bring her back to him, to bring her back to their daughter. It hadn’t worked.

“Dad!” Brianne’s voice from the kitchen had pulled him from his thoughts as he moved downstairs.

“Yes love?” He said as he sat down beside her at the island.

“Did you pack my lunch?” She asked hopeful that he said no and would just give her money for chicken nuggets like a lot of the other children got.

“Of course.” He smiled proud of himself and the recipes he learned from parenting sites across the internet. Brianne frowned before starting to eat her maple brown sugar oatmeal.

“What did you make?”

“Ham and cheddar wraps with the mustard you like from Prime deli, carrots, and pretzels.” He said slightly unsure even though he packed the bag not even forty minutes previous.

“Did you give me a go-gurt?” Her eyes now hopeful for the sweet tube of yogurt the kids loved.

“You-gurt I did.” He made the terrible pun. Brianne’s face went dead pan.

“Dad!” She gave him a petty chuckle. “That was a really bad joke. “ Her chuckle turned into a soft giggle as Gwilym laughed.

“As your dad I’m contractually obligated to make at least five bad jokes a day. I’m sorry darling it is in the guidebook to fatherhood.” He smiled at her. Brianne’s giggle turned back into a chuckle and an eye roll as she returned her full attention to her oatmeal. “Nervous or excited?” Gwil asked after a few moments of eating between the two.

“For tonight?”

“Yeah, first big cheer practice!” He gave her a hopeful smile. She nodded.

“More nervous than excited I guess.” She said scooping up a spoonful of oatmeal and pushing it around the bowl. “What if I’m no good? A lot of the kids have been cheering since they were five. I never have!” Her eyes moved to her father, they were filled with doubt. It took everything in him for Gwilym to not pull his daughter to his chest and hold her, promising her that everything would be okay.

“So you’re a little behind, so what. You don’t have to cheer if you don’t want to.” He said. “Its okay to quit if it's for the right reasons.” He hoped that she wouldn’t ask him what the right reasons were because he wasn’t entirely sure he knew them himself.

“No!” She said quickly shaking her head. “I want to! I’m just gonna have to try harder than some of the girls. I can do it.” The strength returned to her voice.

“That’s my Bri.” Gwilym smiled wide with pride. “Has any of the kids shown you any moves?” He asked.

“Well this girl Jasmine has. She’s on my team and in my class. She’s super cool and I really like her. “ Brianne smiled. Gwil had heard bits and pieces about this girl and how much Brianne liked her. “She showed me the game cheers at recess this past week and I’ve been practicing them. I think I got most of them down.”

“Wait, game cheers? Are those different from the cheer cheers?” He asked slightly confused.

“Game cheers are for the football games when we cheer on the teams. The cheer routine, dad, is for the competitions.” She confirmed for him.

“Oh. Okay.” He blinked letting the information file itself in the new file on American cheerleading and football he had in his mind. When he had signed her up, he knew she would be at games but when the woman there asked if she was competing competitively Gwilym understood none of it. It took Brianne confirming that she wanted to compete. “Got it. You have got to teach me this stuff darling. In England, we don’t really have cheerleaders.”

“Okay.” She nodded finishing her orange juice. She hopped off her stool taking her bowl and glass to the sink, placing them down.

“Bri.” Gwil said watching her.

“Dishwasher, I know.” She took her dishes from the sink and put them in the half full dishwasher. Gwilym made a note to himself to run it after he got back from dropping her off at school. He finished his last few bites of breakfast as she ran upstairs to brush her teeth and get dressed. He moved putting his dishes in the machine, before putting on his shoes. After about ten minutes, he grabbed his car keys and wallet before looking up the stairs.

“Ready?” He called up.

“Yeah.” She jogged down the stairs in shorts and a t-shirt. She moved pulling on her sneakers before taking her backpack from Gwil’s extended hand. They got into his black Chevy Cruze and pulled from the driveway. He started the short drive to the elementary school.

“So how many kids are on the team?” He asked as he turned down the morning drivetime radio.

“Thirty-five including me.”

“Thirty-five! Doesn’t that get a little crowded and complicated?” He asked.

“Dad the best routines are complicated. The coaches know what they are doing. They were so good last year they got third in nationals!” She said excitedly. The way her voice talked about the team Gwil knew that she had made the right choice picking this sport. The nervousness from earlier had evaporated. “This year, Jasmine said, that we’re gonna win nationals. And if we win nationals we get really cool jackets! I wanna win, I wanna jacket. Mom won when she was my age.” Brianne said with the last part of her statement being quieter than the rest. Angela was still a hard conversation topic between the father and daughter.

“I know love. She would be so very proud of you no matter if you cheered or not.” He

said honestly. Angela had been proud of their daughter’s accomplishments since day one. He pulled into the drop off line. “I’m gonna pick you up at two like always. We’re gonna go home do our respective work, then head to practice at five thirty, does that sound good?” He asked as the cars slowly inched up the line. She nodded.

“Can we eat dinner after practice?”

“Sure, honey. But that isn’t until almost eight o’clock.” He said worried it was too late for her.

“I just want to make sure there is no chance I puke up dinner all over the mats.” She said. Gwilym couldn’t help but chuckle which eased her own tenseness.

“Okay, but just for tonight.” He said as he pulled up to the curb and dropped her off. He leaned back kissing her cheek. “Have fun, but not too much. Learn but not too much that you’re more bright than your dear ole dad.” He said.

“Brighter, dad.” She smiled.

“See you’re already smarter than me.” He smiled as she got out of the car and walked towards the door. He watched her disappear in the sea of back packs before pulling up and out of the line. He began the drive home as he thought about googling some basic information about American cheerleading and the importance of it. It was going to be an interesting day.

______________________________________________________________________________

“I think I know everything I need to know love.” He says as he stopped at a red light on the corner of Van Zile Road. It was nearly five thirty and the two were on their way to the practice facility. “I know all about High V’s, low v’s, T’s, Broken T’s. Pretty good for your dad.” He smiled over at her, proud of himself. Brianne nodded, giving him a similar proud smile.

“That’s great dad.” She said, holding her cheer bag eagerly in her lap. Her hair pulled back into a ponytail with the green and gold cheer bow she had been given on sign up day. “What about stunts? Half up? Fulls? Liberties? Basket tosses?” She asked interested now in her father’s knowledge of the sport she was taking part in. It made her feel like a proud daughter to know that her father had taken a liking to it.

“Stunts?” His smile turned into a slightly confused look. “Well… maybe love, I don’t know as much as I claimed to.” He chuckled, noticing the red light had turned green. He pushed down gently on the accelerator.

“I’ll help you. When I learn something, I will teach you it too.” She said.

“Promise?”

“Promise.” She grinned. “I can’t wait to learn all the things it takes dad! And parents

usually only stay the first practice okay? So please don’t stay for all of them.”

“Why not? Am I embarrassing?” He teased her. “Is it because I am not the one who brought it on?” He was trying to make her laugh, even though she was eager and ready to cheer. He could see behind her eyes the nervousness that laid there ready to attack the young girl.

“It’s Bring It On dad.” She giggled as Gwil turned onto the road leading into the industrial park.

“Are we going the right way?”

“Yeah, Jasmine says that it is by all these warehouses. It's the only place big enough for

all the cheer mats.” She says.

“You will have to introduce me to Jasmine and Jasmine’s parents.” He said, pulling up to 1942 Swarthmore Ave, he parked his Chevy into an open spot and looked around the lot. He counted about 7 minivans, and 9 SVUs. It was the older red Jeep Cherokee that stuck out to him. It seemed out of place in the sea of stick figure families and my child is an honor roll student stickers that stared back at him from the windows and bumpers of other vehicles.

Bri got out of the car quickly, moving inside the large warehouse. Gwilym tried to follow her just as quickly. Once he moved through the door, he noticed how huge the place actually was. There were four full sets of cheer mats, nine panels each, in which two of the floor were spring floors to make tumbling easier. There was a large tumble track and foam pit along the back wall. There were two small sets of bleachers inside for the parents to watch and a wall full of cubbies for the teams to put their bags.

A young man sat at an out of place desk with his headphones in. He pointed to a sign in sheet with the four different teams on them. Gwilym moved over to the list looking for Brianne Lee, signed his name under the sign in section. He looked up to spot his daughter talking to a shorter dark haired girl who placed their bags in cubbies next to each others. This must be Jasmine, he had heard so much about over the past few days.

Gwilym moved towards the small sets of bleachers, trying to find an open seat. He could clearly distinguish two different groups as a few more parents came in and separated. On one bleacher sat parents that looked like they stepped out of a J.Crew or a Vineyard Vines advertisements. On the other set of bleachers, sat a few sets of parents. A man in a suit on the phone speaking Russian at a quick pace, an older woman knitting something as she watched the littlest girls on the far back mat. His eyes then moved to a trio of parents, a young man with short dark curly hair was listening intently to the story being told very animatedly by a reddish-brown hair man whose hands almost smacked the young Y/H/C woman in the face. She jerked her head back and started laughing at him. The two men started to join in her laughter, Gwil decided those were his kind of people. He took another step towards them before he was cut out by someone else.

“Hi Honey. You must be Mr. Lee. I’m Karen Diguimi. McKenna’s mom” A woman with a short cropped haircut that swooped down in the front and then spiked up in the back stood in front of him. She wore a green and gold mustangs t-shirt with the names of her four children on the front over four running horse. In the gold glittering letters it said, ‘Karen’s Corral.’ Gwil gave her a polite smile as he nodded.

“Yes, I am Gwilym. Brianne’s father.” He shook her hand that she had jutted out at him.

“Oh you’re British!” Her heavily mascaraed eyes went wide as the smile broadened

across her face. A light blush came to Gwil’s cheeks as his accent was always getting him more attention than he wanted.

“Yes ma’am I am.” He said.

“Well, that is just incredible honey! You must come sit with us.” She gripped his arm with

her green and gold nails pulling him away from the parents he wanted to sit with.

“Umm, okay.” He politely followed. She sat on the front row of the bleachers, pulling him down to introduce him to the Vineyard Vines and J. Crew parents.

“This is John, Melissa, Linda, Frank, Tracy, and Vanessa. Guys, this is Gwilym. He is Brianne’s father.” She said pointing to each parent as she said their name. He nodded with each, shaking their hands. “This is just some of us, with some many kids on the team, most of us car pool. We could get you in on it if you want.”

“Maybe. I’ll, uh, let you know.” He said kindly. He looked over onto the blue cheer mat, watching his daughter stretch next to Jasmine and a young auburn haired boy. He smiled as she made friends and he turned his attention back to Karen who had launched into a talk about a fundraiser for the competition buses.

“Wall gets those nice buses for their kids, I am just saying. They have won nationals three times over the last five years. It has to be the buses, so I want to come up with some kick booty ideas to raise money for the kids to take those charter buses.”

“Oh what about chocolate bars?” Tracy said. A few other parents threw out some ideas like tupperware, donuts, or pasta shaped like little footballs.

“No, they never sell that well. How about candles that smell like pumpkin spice or vanilla marshmallow? It is almost fall and that would be perfect. We can even include the holiday ones. They make perfect Christmas gifts for your friends and neighbors.” Karen smiled knowing this was her winning idea.

“Shouldn’t we be asking those parents as well?” Gwil said as he looked over his shoulder at the three parents who talking about something on the woman’s phone. How Gwilym longed to be over there with them instead of here with these parents.

“Oh them. No no, they won’t have any good ideas.” Karen pursed her lips in slight disgust.

“What’s wrong with them?” He chuckled looking at her. He clearly saw no problem in the set of them.

“There is nothing wrong with them per say but they are different from the rest of us.” She said losing the digested tone but keeping an air of rudeness about her. “Rami is probably the most mellow of the bunch. Sometimes he makes kind of crazy faces and it doesn’t weird me out as much as it did but its still odd. His wife Lucy thinks she’s better than us because she’s not from here. We rarely see them together because they have another daughter who plays soccer on the other side of town.” Karen said dishing what she thought was dirt to Gwil. He just thought Rami and Lucy seemed like good parents and it was probably the other way around about Karen thinking she was better than Lucy.

“Oh okay.” Gwil shifted a bit from her, slowly trying to make his getaway. The woman sitting with Rami and the other man looked over at Gwil, noticing his physical discomfort. She moved up off her seat and slowly maneuvered off the bleachers.

“Joe is divorced and his son is the only boy on the squad. He doesn’t like to fund raise and he doesn’t wear the team parent shirts Tracy and Melissa make.” Karen said. Joe and Rami watched the woman move in front of Gwil, holding out her hand.

“Hi, I’m Y/N.” The young woman smiled, as Gwil placed his larger hand in hers and shook it. “Karen.” She pulled her hand away looking at the mother. “Love the shirt.” Gwil tried not to laugh in Karen’s face as it turned fifteen different shades of red as Y/N smiled still. Oh, these were people Gwil wanted to hang out with. Angela would have loved Y/N.

“Gwilym.”

“Rad name. So what were you two talking about?”

“Oh nothing.” Karen quipped.

“Selling candles for bus fare.” Gwil said.

“Well, that is interesting. I wouldn’t mind selling a candle or two.” Y/N said. Gwil could hear the two men on the other bleacher snickering. This caused him to smile more.

“I haven’t decided if this what we are going to do yet. But I will let you know.” Karen said with dripping sweetness.

“Why don’t you do that?” Y/N said back with the same sweetness. “Gwil, if you want, there is plenty of room on our bleachers. You can join us if its too full over here.” She smiled genuinely at the man before moving back to Joe and Rami. Both whom high fived her as she sat back down.

“Y/N is one more snide remark away from me telling Coach Nancy. She doesn’t have a child on the team.”

“What? Why is she here than?” Gwil looked back at Karen after watching Y/N smile and push her hair back from her face. It was the first time in a long time, Gwil had looked at a woman like he had looked at Angela when they first met. Now Karen was stopping him from looking at Y/N all together.

“Well her niece is on the team. She is her legal guardian. Her brother and her sister-in-law died and left Jasmine to Y/N. God, we miss Nick, he would have never let his sister talk to me like that.” Karen said with no sympathy for the sister or the child. Gwil seriously doubted that she missed the man at all.

“That kind of makes her a team parent, she’s a parent to her niece.” So Y/N was Jasmine’s aunt, that fact made a small part of Gwil’s heart spark for a mere moment in a place that had long been dark since Angela passed as he knew Y/N would be around more due to their children’s friendship. “You know Karen, I really want to be involved with Bri’s team because I love my daughter and I want to fully support her endeavors, but I think I am going to sit with them for now.” Gwil stood up and moved to the other set of bleachers. “Can I sit?” He asked as the smile on Y/N face grew.

“Of course. Gwilym, this is Joe and Rami.” Y/N introduced him, two more hand shakes down.

“Rami, Joe, this is Gwilym. He’s new to the squad, his daughter is Brianne.” She said.

“Welcome to the mustangs, we’ve got spirit. My daughter is the dark curly haired one, Selma.” Rami said smiling. Gwil took note of her as he found a spot next to Y/N. He sat beside her as Joe pointed to the auburn haired boy.

“Welcome to the team man. That’s Joey, he’s my boy.” He smiled the same proud father smile that Gwil knew all too well. “It is nice to have new faces not being sucked in by Karen and her cronies.” Joe added, patting Gwil’s arm. This made Gwilym laugh.

“Well she definitely tried. Complimented my accent, told me what a bunch of misfits you all were.”

“Aw, how sweet she’s thinking of us.” Y/N said. “Just be careful she might try to seduce you with the promise of nonfat vanilla pumpkin frappuccinos next.”

“Misfits? I prefer the term outcasts but I guess that is all ‘I was homecoming queen and won’t let anyone forget’ can come up with.” Joe said.

“Karen and him went to high school together.” Rami said. “She likes to be the homecoming queen for every trunk-n-treat that the town puts together.”

“It was years ago, find a better costume.” Joe softly exclaimed between them.

“No because I would like to speak to the manager is not a viable costume, Joseph.”

“She was a bitch then and she’s a bitch now.” Joe said. “And I mean that with no ill will towards dogs.” He added. Gwil laughed more, turning his attention to his daughter who was currently in what he could assume was a stunt group. The conversation died down between the parents as they watched their respective child.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?” She looked at Gwil.

“What is Bri doing? I don’t know much about cheerleading.” He admitted.

“Oh so she’s basing the stunt, which means once they get the flyer up in the air, that’s

Jasmine actually, Bri will hold her foot so that she is balanced and won’t fall.”

“Flyer, base...the girl in the back?” He said trying to add more information to his

cheerleading knowledge card to impress Bri later.

“She’s the backspot, she holds the flyer’s ankles so that she is more stable. Bri is pretty

good for someone who has never cheered before.” Y/N said. “Jasmine hasn’t stopped talking about her since school started. I’ve been waiting to meet you.” There was that small spark again in Gwil’s heart that quickly died down.

“Yes! I hear about Jasmine daily, she’s definitely Bri’s best mate.” He said. Y/N smiled as she took the next hour and a half, explaining the different kinds of stunts they were trying. First with a half, then a full, and then a liberty. It was true, after he understood the mechanism of it all, that Bri was a sturdy base and quick to recover if the flyer moved.

Gwil watched his daughter look happier than he had seen her in a long time. Maybe it was the connection to her mother or being on the squad with her friends, it was definitely worth the money spent on the cheer clothes, the sign up fees, competition fees, everything. If Gwil had to deal with Karen and her cronies every day till Bri was eighteen than so be it, if he knew she would smile like that. As the practice came to an end, Bri ran off the mat to her father.

He scooped her up, hugging her close before putting her back down.

“You did amazing love!” He said.

“Oh thank you dad! I had a lot of fun.” She moved to her cubbie grabbing her bag. Jasmine moved next to her, whispering into Bri’s ear.

“She looked like she had a blast.” Y/N said moving and standing next to him.

“She did and thanks for your help. You know a lot about this stuff.”

“Anytime and I was a mustang myself until I joined drama club in high school.” She said. Y/N was a bit younger than Gwil but maybe she did know his late wife, not that he told her about Angela. “Oh hey, I was going to ask if maybe you wanted to join our carpool. Sometimes I take Joey and Selma home, and vice versa. Just in case you want a night in or if you’re busy with your significant other.”

“Oh I’m not…” He started, he wasn’t ready to bring up the widowship yet. He put his smile back on as he nodded. “Yeah that sounds fantastic.”

“It’s just our kids, no Karen, no crazy cheer parents.” Y/N said. “I’ll give you my number so that we can work out all the details.” He nodded as Bri tapped his arm.

“Dad?”

“Yeah love?”

“Jasmine and Ms. Y/L/N were going to get pizza. Can we go with them please?” Brianne battered her eyelashes at him, putting on a small pleading pout.

“Yeah please Mr. Lee?” Jasmine chimed in with her sweet voice.

“I don’t know. Is it okay with you, Y/N if we tag along?” He looked at the woman.

“Oh yeah, totally. We’re going to Squan Tavern, best thin crust in town.” Y/N smiled.

“Awesome, lead the way and we will follow.” Gwil said. Brianne and Jasmine exclaimed happily as they moved out of the warehouse. Chattering about the things they had learned that night and what was to come in their practices. Gwil walked behind Y/N out of the building as she turned to him.

“See you two in a few.” She smiled, taking Jasmine’s hand leading the girl across the asphalt. She headed to the older red Jeep Cherokee in the parking lot. As Gwil stood at his car door watching them he smiled. In that moment as she helped her niece into the car and then got in herself, Gwilym knew that maybe cheerleading was going to be good for both of them. Maybe even small sparks of gold could make the green shine again.

#green and gold #gwilym lee x reader #gwilym x reader #gwilym lee imagines #Gwilym Lee #bohemian rhapsody #midsomer murders #reader #ben hardy x reader #joe mazello x reader #rami malek #lucy boynton #joe mazzello #ben hardy

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wildroseofarran · 4 years

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This Too Shall Pass || Waylon & Callum

Waylon: "Have I mentioned, your house is fucking gorgeous," Waylon said softly as he set his bags down next to the bed in the guest bedroom of Callum's home. It was oddly comforting, seeing the familiar bed, but at the same time it caused the twinge of anxiety at the base of his spine to twist just a little bit further. He sighed as he took a seat on the edge of the bed and looked back at Callum with a small smile. "Been a while since I was here last.... thanks for letting me stay again. I really appreciate it."

Callum: "Thank you," Callum said proudly, looking around at the room he'd lovingly restored and decorated. One of many. "I put my blood, sweat, and tears into makin' it what it is. I'm glad it can offer you some comfort in these less than ideal times."

Waylon: "Yeah...." Waylon rubbed slowly at his arm and looked off to his side. He hadn't spoken with Callum much recently, especially not about his fears regarding these particular times, but they had plenty of time to do so now. "It's... gonna be weird. I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight without Rosmond there, at least to start..." he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Do you and Guildias always sleep in the same place? You have separate houses, right?"

Callum: Callum sighed and took a seat beside Waylon. He couldn't imagine what Waylon was feeling right now. While he himself was married to a vampire, Guildias had already been one when Callum had met him. They hadn't had to go through the transition that Waylon and Rosmond were currently going through. They had to make completely different adjustments.

He nodded. "No' always in the same place but almost always together. Sometimes we sleep here, sometimes at his house. It's no' the most common arrangement but it works for us."

Waylon: Waylon brought his knees to his chest and perched his heels on the edge as his arms wrapped around his legs to hold them there. His chin rested on his knees and he stared at a spot on the opposite wall.

"Have you had to spend more than a few days away from Guildias? Since you started sharing the same bed?"

Callum: "Only when I've gone to visit family in Scotland." One of these days he wanted to take his husband up there with him. He wanted Guildias and his father to meet.

"The days apart will seem eternal but I promise they'll go by quickly."

Waylon: "What if they don't? And they go on for an eternity?" Waylon asked, his voice soft. "If you plan a trip, at least you have an end date...." He knew he was being dramatic, but his heart only seemed to grow heavier. "I know it'll be fine, it's just... it's just hard. Could I work more in the shop? I have a lot more down time..."

Callum: "I know, mate." Callum wrapped an arm around Waylon's shoulders and gave him a squeeze. "I can give you some extra work if you think it'll help, but it really won't go on forever. It might no' be a trip and there might no' be an end date, but it will end. This too shall pass."

Waylon: Waylon rested his head on Callum's shoulder and leaned into his friend as he squeezed. "I think some extra work will... help distract me." He nodded in understanding, and tried to let Callum's words ease some of the weight hanging over his heart. "You're right... It's just... heavy... and suddenly stupidly lonely, even though I'm not alone..." he sighed again, but seemed a little less tense. "Can I ask you something else?" Waylon asked and glanced at Callum. "I can't really talk to Rosmond about it... he got mad at me the last time and I guess... I guess I'm hoping you can help me get some insight?"

Callum: Business was going to slow a bit between the end of the holidays the beginning of February, but Callum was sure he could find something extra for Waylon to do. It might be the perfect time to start some projects he'd been putting off for lack of time.

"I will if I can. What's on yer mind?"

Waylon: Waylon chewed at his lower lip, uncertain with how to ease into the topic on his mind. He was pretty certain there wasn't a good way to do so.

"I... made the suggestion that I wanted to become immortal with him, in my own way," he started and fidgeted with the sleeve of his sweater. "I gave no plans, no real ideas, and the few I've seen are less than ideal so please don't like- worry about it-" he added quickly as his cheeks warmed, "I just don't... know anyone who is immortal outside of his aunt, and I have a feeling if I asked her it wouldn't end well... I don't think she likes me." He shrugged. "I guess... I guess I just hoped maybe you might know since your husband is immortal. Rosmond doesn't talk much, and he doesn't elaborate when I press sometimes...and I don't want to force him."

Callum: Callum blew out a long breath. That was a very heavy thing Waylon was asking. It didn't surprise him that Rosmond hadn't wanted to broach the topic.

"Immortality is a rare thing, Waylon. It might no' seem like it because we're surrounded by vampires in this town but out in nature, so to speak, there aren't many who can achieve it.

"That bein' said, the only person I know who is immortal who isn't a vampire or a demon is a friend o' my family's. She's a Druid as well, and if immortality is rare, an immortal Druid is even more so."

Waylon: Waylon was quiet for a while and he stared down at his hands. What Callum said made sense, the methods he'd seen so far typically involved taking time from others, and that wasn't true immortality. That was a temporary lengthening tool, and a cruel one.

"No wonder he talked to me like I was a child..." Waylon laughed softly, but it was hollow and pained as tears burned at his eyes. He'd been thinking along a completely different train of thought than Rosmond when Waylon had brought it up, and now Rosmond's response made so much more sense. What Waylon had pictured and what Rosmond meant were two different things, and Waylon had managed to insult their relationship in the process. He was incredibly foolish, and it hurt his heart to have made that mistake.

Becoming a vampire was essentially his only option... and Waylon already knew Rosmond would never allow it. Would he stay if Waylon decided to find a means to do it anyway?

"I know it wouldn't matter what I want after I'm dead, with me being mortal, but I don't want him to go back to the... withdrawn person I first met. He deserves so much more, and I just want to be there for him. There's just... so much to him, and I love watching him step out and enjoy himself and... is it wrong for me to want to know more? To try and actually understand what it would mean to try and become immortal with him? Is it wrong of me to want to at least try to understand?" He cast a teary-eyed look at Callum.

Callum: Callum pulled Waylon in for another hug, longer this time. This was such a heavy thing to be weighing on a mind. Forever was a difficult concept to grasp.

“No, it isn’t wrong of you. I understand wantin’ more time, wantin’ to hold on as long as possible. Forever is an awfully long time, mate. I don’t think we can ever truly grasp that until we’re starin’ it in the face. Hell, even death is difficult to grasp.”

He sighed again. This would have to be a conversation Waylon and Rosmond needed to have, but he felt compelled to offer something in the way of hope.

“However difficult immortality may be, it’s a lot easier to find a way to extend your life beyond its natural length. To slow yer agin’ process. It won’t give you forever, but it’ll give you longer.”

Waylon: Waylon wrapped his arms around Callum and returned the hug with a squeeze. He had to apologize to Rosmond when next he saw him, but that thought would wait for another day. In his heart he wanted to say he still meant his words, and in a sense he did, but the meaning behind them was altered. It would wait.

"Thanks..." He laughed softly, and he felt a little bit of the tension ease from his chest. "I'm going to have to look more in depth into that," he sighed and squeezed again before gently pulling back. "I've seen some methods to do so... But it's stuff I don't understand, or could never do alone, and most of it's... pretty cruel. I know I have time, so I'm just going to keep looking."

Callum: He gave Waylon a small smile. "I think I know one or two people who might be able to help. And I don't think I have to tell you to give those pretty cruel methods a verra wide berth. The price they demand is verra steep." And speaking of prices. "Stay away from crossroads, too."

Waylon: "I'd really appreciate it Callum, thank you," and he nodded. "Oh don't worry that won't happen. I can't imagine a demon would have a recipe for what I need anyway."

Callum: "They would, that's the problem. But don't you worry, we'll find a way to help you."

Waylon: "Well... Thanks," Waylon hugged Callum tightly at that. "It means... A lot to me. I have a lot to say to Rosmond when I see him next. This helped a lot." He released his friend and laid back on the bed with a sigh. "Gods, this has been way more exhausting than I expected... I knew it'd be hard but.... Sleeping I think will be my main problem. Do you have any tea or something I could drink to help me sleep?"

Callum: Callum would be there to support Waylon when the time came. Beyond being his employee, Waylon was his friend, and Callum would do whatever was necessary to help him.

"Aye. I could put a wee bit o' belladonna in some tea or I could give you some o' my cousin's sleeping tonic. Choice is yers."

Waylon: "Hmmm.... Which do you recommend?"

Callum: “The belladonna is verra effective but if you really want good sleep, and a lot of it, I recommend the tonic. It will knock you out fast and it will knock you out for at least ten hours.”

Waylon: "Hmmm.... Let's save the tonic for when I really struggle to sleep. I'll try the Belladonna for tonight," he smiled appreciatively at Callum. "Thanks again- for everything. Letting me stay here, helping me... I'm really grateful to have you as a friend."

Callum: Callum smiled and patted Waylon on the back. "No thanks are required, mate. I know you would do the same for me. Now come on. Let's put the kettle on."

#This Too Shall Pass chapter #waylonwitch #wildroseofarran

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thelostcatpodcast · 5 years

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THE LOST CAT PODCAST TRANSCRIPTS: SEASON 3: EPISODE 02: THE STRANGER ON THE STREET

SEASON 3: EPISODE 02: THE STRANGER ON THE STREET

Episode released 12th February 2017

http://thelostcat.libsyn.com/sesason-3-episode-2-the-stranger-on-the-street

Bojana opened the front door and peeked outside. Then she closed the door again and leant hard against it. she looked at me with horror in her eyes and said: "Nope."

THE LOST CAT PODCAST SEASON 3 BY A P CLARKE, EPISODE 2: THE STRANGER ON THE STREET

For standing on the other side of the street, just next to the bent lamp post, was the figure of a man, impossibly tall and thin with paper-white skin stretched so tight over angular bones its lips were spread in to a teeth-filled grin, while its dead-black eyes stared right at us. We leant hard against the door. "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope," Bojana continued to say with some certainty. Some time later, Maupin came down, to find us still with our backs to the door. "What?" she said. She shoo'd us out of the way, and then she opened the door, and then she closed it again, and locked all of the locks. "I'll go and make some tea," she said. And we sat in the hallway with our backs to the door, drinking tea. "What is it doing out there?" I asked "It is a portent of doom," said Maupin. "It is a serial killer," said Bojana "It is an angel of vengeance," continued Maupin "Is he still out there?" asked Bojana I breathed in deeply through my nose in what I hopde was a process of nerve-gathering and peeked out through the letterbox "He hasn't moved," I answered. "How much food do we have in the house?" asked Maupin. But something kept picking at my brain. It was not that the figure had not moved. It was that the figure had not moved at all. I peeked out again and yes, there it was, staring right at me from across the street, perfectly still. I did not look away, but met its gaze. And I noticed that a cat was sat on a car next to it. It had decided that this figure was of no threat and was busy cleaning itself. I watched the cat for a while. The cat snapped its head to stare at the tall thin figure. I turned my eyes and found that a bird had come to rest upon its shoulder. The cat watched with cold intensity as the bird hopped around, picking at the figure's jacket for any crumbs. I turned back to my housemates. "Do you trust me?" I asked. "No," said Maupin. So with them peeking out through the letterbox, I crossed the road towards the the stranger on the street. As I approached, its unblinking black eyes stared right in to me and, as I got closer, its unnaturally tall form loomed over me and its teeth-filled grin grew as in to a ravenous leer. And I drew level and I drew to its side, but it kept facing forwards, and its dead, black eyes continued to stare out across the street, and the teeth in its mouth leered out at nothing. The figure did not move at all. I looked it up and down. I looked at the cat who was busy still cleaning itself. The cat looked at me for a moment and then got up and walked off in a huff. I waved my hand in front of the figure's face, and there was no reaction. I walked all around it and the figure was as still as a building. I looked back across the street and saw the flap of the post-box propped open. I beckoned my housemates over. The door stayed closed. And I looked closley at the figure of the man. It had on a simple dark suit of decent quality but unremarkable style, with a slight softening at the seams that suggested long use. Its black leather shoes were clean but not polished. The more I looked at its face, the stranger it became. The bones were in the wrong place, which pushed one cheek up higher than the other and made the jaw painful. It definitely had too many teeth, and they did not fit right. Up close, the skin of its lips looked close to splitting, so thin and dry was it. It had no eyelashes, and the darkness of its eyes bled in to the skin of its lids. It had an approximation of a face, and it stood still in the stiff wind of the darkening day. I put my arm around him and gave a big thumbs' up back towards the post-box. And finally, the door opened and Bojana and Maupin cautiously approached. And they walked all around the unmoving figure, looking it all up and down. Their shoulders spread, and their hands unclenched and they relaxed, finally. Maupin let out a small involuntary laugh. "He looks cold," said Bojana. And it did. So I put my scarf around its shoulders; a lovely, woollen purple thing. I wrapped it around its neck a couple fo times and let the ends drape pleasingly over its chest. "I like it," said Bo. "It suits him." Then the figure turned its head and looked directly at me. There was a moment of silence as none of us at all moved. Then it began to open its mouth and its teeth separated to show the darkness within. I could see veins pulsing beneath its parchment skin in effort. It breathed in as if to speak... and raw sewage spilled from his mouth and on to the street. Dark and noxious, this great wave poured from the thin frail figure, clagged with dirt and masses of garbage. It stank. I took a step back. and the geyser subsided, turned to a trickle, and stopped. As the sewage ran away in to the drains, leaving lumps, the figure's brow became furrowed. We shared another look. It still had some on its chin. And then it closed its mouth, attempted an expression I could not identify, turned, and walked off down the street, heading south. We were left alone. "Well thank god he's gone," said Bojana. "Good riddance," said Maupin. "I'm going to folllow it." "You what?" said Maupin. "Well it's got my scarf," I answered. "Mate," said Bojana. And I followed the figure. It had a slow and steady gait, but its incredibly long legs ate the miles up. It walked through the estates and would pause at times, just staring at the people and the traffic on the streets and, when it started getting some strange looks, it carried on. And I followed. It walked past the old stations and stood staring at the tracks for a while, but even there it began getting attention, and moved on. It walked under bridges and it crossed the factories towards the river. And I patiently followed. Far out past the docks, with no-one for a mile, the figure stopped, and stood staring with its unblinking eyes at the lights that shone across the river. And it did not move: it just stared. I decided to sit down on a low wall a respectful distance from the figure and wait. I wanted to see what it would do. And while I waited, I took out my flask and I had a glass of wine.

Well I tiptoe past the rubbish bins, the pidgeons eat the chicken wings, but still I must admit it: London's never been more beautiful.

And I don't know what's come over me, the melody, the harmony, it falls and then it rises, and it's pleasurable to my soul.

Good times, are gonna follow bad Good times, they were the best I ever had You got your man, baby I got this tune Good news for a whiskey singer tired of singing the blues.

Well I hear it every where I go, The car horns on Green Lanes and Soho, even the old dirty river is , flowing on slow.

I find hard to keep from smiling, tower blocks hold up the sky, from falling down on me, coz I got somewhere new to go.

Good times are gonna follow soon Good times unders a summer's moon Even down in this old town, I found something new Good news for a whiskey singer tired of singing the blues.

So goodbye Time to pack away the memories, and leave them behind. Bye bye baby, baby bye bye

Good times are follow bad Good times they were the best I ever had every time I hear that song I dance like a loon Good news for a whiskey singer tired of singing the blues.

It looked srangely lonely, looking out at the massive new-builds over the river, and my purple scarf blew in the wind in a way that I felt was embarrassing: it made the figure look foolish and it was my fault. I had to know what it was. I had to know why it had been outside my house. And yes, again, I felt bad for putting the scarf on it. so I approached the figure "Hello," I said. And it looked away from the gently glittering river and turned to me, slowly and stiffly. it stood itself up straight and formally, as if to address me. It met my eyes and its eyebrows lifted for a moment. It seemed to breathe in. It opened its mouth to speak... and a great eruption of concrete and grit came pouring out, full of splintered rebar and cracked slabs. the deafening roar of a million cars echoing off of glass filled the air around us. I put my hands to my ears. It closed its mouth and the concrete lay in a heap between us. It looked at me, and shook its head slowly, and sat down on the low wall. Then it carefully undid its shoelace, took its shoe from its foot and removed its sock. It stood up straight again and put the sock on its right hand. It touched its thumb to its middle-finger to make a claw-like shape and pushed the material of the sock into the hollow of the claw. It raised the sock-covered hand so it was level to my face, the figure took a deep breath, and then opened the claw of its hand. And the sock said "Hello." And then "Help me." I looked at the sock, and then looked at the figure's face. "Help me," it continued. "I am lost, for all the lines are gone, and everything is dark ahead." It moved the sock on its hand in time with its words. "I can not find my way, and I am chased away from every where I go." "Yes, you were outside my house this morning." "Ah yes, that is true." "Why were you outside my house?" "Something is going to happen there." "What is going to happen?" And the sock drooped slightly. "I was hoping you could tell me." I stared at the stranger who was talking to me through a sock on his hand, out at the far end of the docks, at the edge of the river. "OK," I said. "Let's start from the beginning. What are you?" The figure gestured at its sock-covered hand. "Forgive me, but it is difficult. This is the best I could do." "I think you're doing fine." The sock turned to its side for a moment, contemplating the river as a boat passed. "OK, let us try this: do you see the boat? Everywhere you go, you create lines of connection between you and the places you have been. These lines spread out behind you, like the wake behind that boat. You all do it. You can not help it. You are a very tenacious kind that way. You are all terribly busy about creating these lines that tie you to everyone else and they to you. I would say that the city is the pattern of the lines that tie everyone together. And like the reflections in the wake of the boat, I am the light upon its surface." "Do I look at you, or the sock?" I asked. "These aren't eyes," it responded. "Ah," I said. "I am an eminant. Everywhere you go making your lines, there we are. Does the light choose how it moves across the water? We can not help it, any more than you can." "And you were at my house" "Yes of course, I am drawn along the lines to where they bind together in knots, just as the light is brightest where the wave is highest. This is what I am for, and the knots are very tight around your house." "So something is happening at my house." "But I can not see what. I used to be able to..." And the sock trailed off, turning to look at the huge new-build across the river. "These days I can not see so clearly. There are places I can not go now." And he gestured at the far bank annd the towering bright buildings "much of the centre is inaccessible to me, and it is spreading. There are no lines there. There is no pattern, and all is dark." The sock turned back towards me "the city is being killed by buildings. " "You asked for my help." And he pointed his free hand across the river, "Would you help me go there? I can not find my way." "Yes," I said. "Yes I will." And we began walking. I proferred the flask to him. "No, I do not need anything like that." "That is not a mouth, right?" I said "Close enough," said the sock as the man's other hand wiped his chin with a sleeve. And we walked thorugh the city together. As we crossed the bridge he slowed and became confused. "I am sorry," said the sock. "I do not know how to carry on." "Hold my hand," I said. "And I will guide you." And he did, and in this way we crossed the bridge and walked through the streets of bright shining empty buldings that gazed cleanly and blankly across the architecture they towered above. He stood and he watched them, and they did not move at all. There was no one in them, but the lights were kept on all night, to give the impression of being lived-in. They were, in their way, approximations. And while he was watching them, I studied his face. "May I ask you something?" "Certainly." "You say you are everywhere." "We are." "Why have I never seen you, or the likes of you, around?" "We are supposed to blend in." "Ah," I said, looking at his painfully angled bones. The sock turned to look at the tall, thin figure behind it. "Does it not suit?" "It is... not perfect." The figure looked down then, his brows moving up towards the centre of his face above the bridge of his nose. "It is fine, but you are perhaps, conspicuous." "I wondered why I was getting such strange attention." "Might I suggest a change?" "Certainly, what would you suggest?" "Perhaps a cat?" "Perhaps a cat," said the sock. "Hmmmm." The figure nodded. "OK, I am good now. Shall we return?" "Would you like to take my hand?" "No. I can see the way, for there is a line now." And he gestured back the way we came at something I could not see. "You are tenacious in that way, you can not help it." And we crossed back over the river as the sun was just starting to light the water. We paused at a bench, looking out over the dawn. "My I keep the scarf?" said the sock. "I rather like it." "It is yours," I said. "Thank you," said the sock. And the figure sat down. He looked up, and the sock said "And goodbye." Then he took the sock from his hand and put it back on his foot, re-tying his shoelaces. rising, he bowed to me, and we shook hands. Then he turned and looked out at the slowly waking city and I walked back to my house along my invisible lines.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING.

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cultureaddictconfessions · 6 years

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Cubicles - A Marauders x Reader Office AU {Choose Your Own Ending!}

*Hi friends! This is an experimental fic~ I wanted to try a new method of storytelling that I haven’t ever used before. SO when you get to the bottom of the story, you’ll see 5 title options for how your story will end! Shoot me a message or comment on the story with the title you choose, and I’ll message you with the end of your little office adventure! Sound good? As always, Y/N=your name, and Y/L/N=your last name. I’m excited to see what y’all think. Please let me know if you like Choose Your Own Endings and if there’s any other AU’s you’d love to read! Thanks~ Bri :)*

Fridays were the most interesting day of the week at your job, mostly because you never knew what crazy things people would get up to having already reached the “weekend mood.” This particular Friday was unusual. James Potter had planned an after-work rooftop happy hour event. You had promised him that you would help set-up after lunch, after getting the boss’ approval. It was basically impossible for anyone to say no to James anyway, which is probably why he was labeled “most promising” in the marketing department.

You arrived at the entrance and held your bag out to the security guard Alastor. He cut an imposing figure but was mostly a kind person once you got to know him. He had a different greeting for everyone who came through.

“Wotcher, Y/N. Are ye staying for Potter’s party this evening?”

“I haven’t decided yet, Alastor, but I’m obligated to help him get it ready so I’m sure I’ll be roped into staying for it.” He nodded, raising an eyebrow knowingly. As you bid him adieu, you heard someone else calling to you from the elevators.

“Shall I wait for you, Y/N? Don’t want to leave you stranded down here!” Remus Lupin, a sweet young man from the accounting department, stood waiting in the lift. He was incredibly intelligent but rather reserved. He seemed to be rather fond of you, however,, and would always engage in conversation when he saw you. You slipped into the elevator and gave him a smile.

“Morning, Remus. Thanks for not abandoning me! Are you prepared for James’ fete tonight?” You chuckled and Remus rolled his eyes, sighing.

“I would much rather go home and relax with a book and cup of tea, but James would just come and drag me anyway, so I suppose I’m as ready as I will ever be.”

You laughed together, then began chatting about the weekend during the rest of the short ride. Remus looked at you as the bell chimed at the top floor and beamed, gesturing outward.

“Ladies first, of course. I suppose I’ll see you later, yes? Have a good rest of the day, if you can, Y/N…” You smiled back sweetly and waved goodbye.

You clocked in soon after and breezed through the kitchen, noticing the breakfast snacks that Peter Pettigrew always brought. He was one of the nicest, most excitable assistants in the office.

You filled up your water bottle before arriving at your desk, on top of which was a little box with a handwritten note.

‘Happy Friday Y/N! I remembered you said you like swiss rolls, so I made one special to cheer you up since I know you have to help James today. Hehe ^^ Hope to see you later at the party. Tell me if you like it! ~ Peter’

You wrinkled your nose in delight as you untied the ribbon around the little parcel. For some reason, Peter was especially doting on you, perhaps because you didn’t act as patronizing as many of your other office mates. You took a forkful and swallowed, eyes glazing over in euphoria. It was as great as any of his other confections. You would be sure to tell him how much you enjoyed it later!

Half an hour later, a gust of wind whipped past your desk and you glimpsed a trail of red hair flash by. You looked up to a porcelain white hand holding coffee.

“You wouldn’t BELIEVE the traffic today… of course, when I have to give someone a review… couldn’t possibly… Here you go, Y/N! Sorry, I didn’t get whipped cream on it because they didn’t have dome lids.”

You looked up to see your very flustered best friend Lily Evans. Every day without fail, she would bring you coffee; she was very sweet and supportive, and honestly made each day at work more bearable. You had plans on Saturday to be lazy in bed at her house watching whatever Muggle show she was secretly obsessed with lately. This was a fairly common routine between the two of you. However…

“It’s okay, Lils, I don’t expect you to bring coffee every day, this is more than enough, thanks! Hey… you um, well here… first, have a bite of this little entremet Peter gave me. It’s so so good, I thought I was going to cry a little.”

Lily chuckled as she put her bag down, then looked at you suspiciously. “What do you need to tell me that you feel you have to butter me up with sweets, Y/N?” She put her stern face on as she took a bite and momentarily melted.

You were rather nervous to remind Lily of what was happening today.

“Uuuuuuhh… I just wanted to remind you that James’ after-work event is today. I’m helping set up after lunch near the end of the day… I know you aren’t interested in going but I thought I should tell you in case they feed me drinks and I show up to Lazy Saturday hungover.” You blushed, shuffling your feet as you looked away from your best friend.

Everyone in the office, and probably the whole world, knew that Lily Evans had a special kind of disdain for James Potter and his “arrogant bully toerag” demeanor. She made it a point to never show up to his events and in general avoided him as much as wizardly possible. Of course, considering they both worked in the same building, it was somewhat difficult not to see him during the day, but Lily did her darndest. She never asked you to behave differently toward him based on her distaste, but it was still a sore subject.

“… Well as long as you show up at some point, it doesn’t matter to me. I know you like getting out and socializing… and it helps that most of the guys in this office have a bit of a crush on you. I guess have fun… and behave. I don’t trust those nerds, even if they are mostly harmless. You can definitely do better.” Lily sighed but shrugged off the whole event, which didn’t completely assuage your guilt, but at least you figured you could go and not piss her off. It would’ve been better if she would come with you, but you knew she would never agree to it. You supposed you would have to entertain your so-called admirers until you were too tired to put up a facade.

You spent the rest of the morning working on copy for a panel that the company would be holding in a week or so. Your boss, Ms. Rita Skeeter, stalked past your desk a few times, eyeing you like a hawk to make sure you were on task. She was one of the scariest people you interacted with, even if she wasn’t that much older than you. She just happened to be the junior editor, so you reported to her on all of your assignments.

It was getting close to lunchtime, but you hadn’t gotten more than halfway through the write-up. You sighed, looking at the clock and hearing some of the other people around you getting up to go downstairs to the Friday Fare. Your office would cater lunch every Friday with a buffet-style collection of foods from different vendors. It was actually pretty nice, considering that the company wasn’t a huge corporation. Unfortunately, it seemed like you wouldn’t be able to get down there until everything disappeared. Just then, you felt a presence breathing softly in front of the wall behind your computer. When you didn’t look up, they spoke.

“Hey Y/N, happy Friday. That time again… come have lunch with us! The company is infinitely better if you grace us with your presence, you know. It certainly helps reign James’ talking in.” Sirius Black. You knew it was him without even glancing up because this was his routine with you. Every day he’d invite you to lunch with him and the rest of his friends, who mainly consisted of James, Remus and Peter, and, occasionally, other members of the office. Everyone knew he was the biggest flirt of anyone on your floor, which particularly peeved Lily whenever she saw him talking to you. But she wasn’t here now…

“I would love to, Sirius, but I have to finish this write-up. I can’t take lunch until I’m done or Rita will have my head. I really appreciate the invite, though.”

“Come on, love, she’ll understand. You have to take lunch sometime! How can you get work done on an empty stomach? They have pasta today and I know you like it. I’m going to start to think you’re ignoring me on purpose, y’know.” You blushed.

“I think you’re rather difficult to ignore considering you come to my desk every day, Sirius. Really, I’m not trying to avoid you, I promise. I just…” Just as you looked up into his unfathomably grey eyes, you both heard a sharp cough and turned. Rita appeared beside Sirius, her eyes narrowed at him. It was his turn to blush.

“Mr. Black, I would very much appreciate if you would let my writer do her work. Our team is very stringent about deadlines, in case you were unaware.” Her tone was acrid and gave you chills. However, Sirius looked unfazed, even determined.

“Rita, Rita, Rita… you can’t possibly expect Y/N to get her work done when she’s hungry! Everyone else is at lunch and she’s here toiling her health away!” Rita continued to glare at him, and no matter how charming he was, she’d shrug.

“Disappear, Mr. Black! If I see you draped over Miss Y/L/N’s desk again, I’ll have to speak to your direct superior. She can take her lunch when she is finished!” Rita took a step toward him and he held up his hands finally in submission, casting a sidelong glance at you.

You frowned as he walked off, leaving you alone with Rita. She gave you a final look before striding back to her office. At that moment, your stomach grumbled, and you spent the next ten minutes looking miserably at your screen, confused as to why you felt so bothered by that whole exchange.

Resigned to your choice, you went back to your document and toiled dutifully until you finally finished just as everyone was coming back from lunch. You sighed, knowing that by this point there was probably no point in going downstairs because the buffet would be mostly cleared out.

Lily had taken a half-day because she had a doctor’s appointment to go to around 3. Even though she didn’t need one or care about whether she had one, it was a great alibi for skipping out on James’ party, much to his chagrin.

You were about to get up to clock out and maybe run down the street to grab a cup of noodles from the grocery when that warm but looming presence reappeared in your vicinity. You barely registered a hand passing your shoulder and placing something on the desk in front of you. You gasped and turned back.

“Sirius… you brought me…” You felt a blush creeping up your cheeks as Sirius smiled down at you. A full plate of food with everything you could’ve wanted.

“After that conversation, I figured you’d never make it down in time and I didn’t want you to miss anything just because of Madame Sourpuss, so I just… hopefully, you like it. I asked everyone what they thought you might want.” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncharacteristically shy and bashful. You beamed.

“I really appreciate it, thank you. And Sirius…?” He was about to leave, nodding his welcome, but you stopped him, a gentle tug at his sleeve.

“Next time maybe I can just join you guys for lunch, yeah?” You gave him a warm smile.

His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he quirked up the corner of his mouth. “W… I’d like that.”

Just as you turned back to the desk, you could’ve sworn you saw him wink at you from the corner of your eye. You wolfed down every morsel gratefully and felt re-energized to take on the evening. You submitted your write-up to Rita after lunch and proceeded to take the stairs up to the rooftop to find James. Unfortunately, he was nowhere in sight, so you called out to him.

“James? It’s Y/N! I am here and at your disposal!” You chirped, walking diagonally across the pallet floor. The view was a lovely city panorama all around.

Just then, messy hair popped out from behind a curtain on the opposite side of the roof. There was a makeshift photo booth setup, and James had apparently been inside it when you arrived upstairs. He stepped out gingerly and gave you a big grin as he walked over, his glasses slightly lopsided from working.

“Hey Y/N! I was hoping you’d show up sometime soon, I’m having quite a time with getting all this together. I wouldn’t say decorating is my strong suit, so if you can help me with that, I would truly appreciate it. You look nice! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear trousers like that before. Very… chic? Totally fashion.” His sincerity and awkwardness were rather charming, and you couldn’t help but giggle.

“Happy to help! Why thank you, yes chic is a good word. I’m probably going to change for later, though, wanna step up my game for your shindig.” You wrinkled your nose and you both laughed. James did a little dance move and led you to where some decorations were. You made quick work of it, yelling across the roof to keep up your conversation.

He may have seemed like this office golden boy, but honestly, James was such a nerd. He loved talking about pop culture and the music he’d been trying to learn on his guitar. You understood why Lily had a problem with him, especially because of his antagonistic relationship with her former best friend Severus, but now that she had cut ties with him, you wondered what kept her resentment for James burning. She was her own person, however, so you didn’t think it was a problem for you to be friendly with James. He always tried to be kind to you, and no matter his motives, you didn’t feel the need to make any enemies in the office. It was already hard enough having Rita as your boss. Finally, James finished what he was doing with the DJ booth and came over to admire your handiwork. String lights and beads and everything James had thought screamed “Carnevale” was perfectly arranged around the rooftop space.

“You really are a decorating wizard, Y/N! I, um, really appreciate the help… and the company.” James ran his hand through his already rumpled hair and blushed, causing you to smile sheepishly. As James took a step closer to you, you were both startled at the door opening. Mary MacDonald appeared, her dark, curly hair blowing in the wind. She stopped when she noticed the two of you.

“Oh, dears! Am I… interrupting something?” A wry grin crossed her lips. You vigorously shook your head, which caused a little frown to form on James’ face. He walked over to Mary briskly, putting his arm around her shoulder affectionately.

“No, you’re just early, Mary Mary Quite Contrary! Let me show you around though.” They gave you a passing nod as they walked toward the punch bowl. You felt a little hurt by that dismissal, so you decided to go downstairs and change before the party. You already knew James was a flirt; you don’t know why you expected that you were special or different than any of the other girls to him. Maybe that was the reality of what Lily saw—that James was a player and a showman, and was always just looking for attention and validation.

You grabbed your bag with clothes from your desk and headed toward the bathroom, almost bumping into Peter Pettigrew as you walked inattentively.

“Y/N! I haven’t seen you all day! We were hoping you’d come to lunch but Sirius told us that Ms. Skeeter was on your case again. Did you… did you like the cake?” The sting that had been bubbling in your stomach from James’ dismissive behavior settled as Peter mumbled sweetly to you. You remembered the roll from this morning; the taste pleasurably crossed your tongue at the thought.

“Yes Pete, you know how she gets… Next time, I swear! Absolutely did, it was… delightful! One of the best confections I’ve ever tasted. You’re really a talent with food, Peter.” You gave him a sparkling smile, which made him turn a bright shade of crimson.

“I’ve been practicing a lot, it’s nothing really. I have fun with it, learning new things… And it’s nice to have such a lovely taster…” He mumbled shyly, looking back and forth from the floor to your face. He really was a sweetheart.

“Well, I’m happy to oblige anytime! I have to go change, but I’ll see you up there at the party, yes?” You reached out and gave his arm an encouraging squeeze, and he nodded immediately, still furiously blushing. You giggled a bit and gave him a final wave before turning tail and heading into the restroom. You paused for a moment, thinking back through the day. You texted Lily to reassure her that no funny business was happening yet, and she sent you a photo of her and her cat curled up on her windowsill. For someone so sociable, Lily could really be a homebody when she wanted.

You tucked your phone away and slipped into something a little more fun than your “totally fashion” work attire. There were plenty of activities to get involved with set up throughout the party. Besides the photobooth and food, there were Carnevale-themed drinking games, as well as a designated dance floor in front of the DJ table. And, if you didn’t feel like any of that, the ivy canopy had a few comfy chairs to sit in and have a conversation.

After touching up the rest of your appearance, you made your way back through the office and up to the roof. The door was already open, so you stepped out onto the pallet floor, the sunset painted across the sky and alighting all around the party. There were already quite a few people there that you recognized. Marlene McKinnon, one of Lily’s other friends who worked in the PR department, was sipping on a plastic cup of what looked to be firewhisky as Caradoc Dearborn from accounts payable chatted animatedly at her. Dorcas Meadowes and Alice Fortescue, the editorial assistants, were whispering to each other near the dancefloor, throwing occasional glances at a group of guys who were laughing at something on one of their phones. Some of the people nearby who saw you enter greeted you and complimented your outfit, to your excitement.

As you made your way through the crowd, you were soon spotted by the group of guys who had been huddled together earlier, eliciting crows and wolf whistles and cheers as they all made their way over to you, greeting you warmly. You could tell that some of them had already started drinking (James and Peter,) but everyone was genuinely glad you’d finally arrived. Surrounded by all these friendly companions, you decided that tonight was going to be fun after all.

------'

So, that’s where our story takes a pause! The 5 possible ending titles are below. Comment or shoot me a message and I’ll give you yours! Please be patient if I don’t respond immediately. Credits to @ghost-of-bambi and @fetchalgernon for an appearance of everyone’s TRUE favorite ginger! ;P

Uncertain Love

Unpredictable Love

Unexpected Love

Uncommon Love

Unromantic Love

》 Find the sequel here 《

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#marauders x reader #harry potter fanfiction #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #peter pettigrew #lily evans #marauders fanfiction #harry potter imagines #cubicles

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