wanderlust.

notes: a collection of moments here and there that i thought would have been interesting to write out. not all the credit goes to me! shout outs to mei, sarah and mia for the ideas! 

charles: found something else to add to our list of places not to have sex charles: the beach charles: you end up with weird tan lines

pietro: that’s interesting pietro: i hope you’re at least protected

charles: I AM SO SORRY MR MAXIMOFF WRONG NUMBER

-

“esme, now, listen” dalena is knelt down before her little sister, still chocolate curls and bright dimples and rosy cheeks, nine years of age to her, fixing the hem of her dress, “someone very important is coming over tonight. he’s important to me and very important to sebby”

“is it jason!” she asks, eyes turning over in excitement, lips smacking together as she says his name correctly, “i havent seen nini in so long!” 

“no” her tone is nonchalant, but her smirk is amused, her little sisters obsession with the middle charming brother always putting a smile on her face, “his name is vincent and i want you to be nice to him, okay?”

“yes, day, i promise!” 

-

“what do you think of like 500 doves?”

vincent stares at charles, “no”

“what about 500 roses?”

this time olivier takes the responsibility, “no”

“a flash mob of 500 dancers! she loves productions like that--” 

both boys this time just stand from their seats, completely done with charles jasper charming.

-

charles: i accidentally texted your dad about us having sex on the beach charles: and weird tan lines charles: like he didnt already hate me enough

sebastian: wrong number sebastian: please respect my sister

-

esme pulls vince aside halfway through the birthday dinner, her small hands falling into his with a need, proceeding to pull him down to her level. her normally doe brown eyes are narrowed with purpose, arms folded before her chest, brows furrowed. 

“can you make sebby smile?”

vince answers with a stare, confused and unexpected, esme staring at him with anticipation, seeing nothing wrong with calling her brother, my strawberry maximoff!, such a name. vince concedes, not wanting to anger a small child.

“okay”

-

“why are you smiling?” dalena asks esme, fixing a wayward strand of hair framing her face, as charles’ props her onto his back for a piggy back ride, “your cheeks are so warm!”

“i’m having a lot of fun! where’s vincent?” 

dalena can’t help but be surprised. not when it took esme a good year to warm up to the idea of charles, not when the youngest maximoff was so wary of the prince those first few months that she refused to acknowledge him. not when esme was notoriously cold to new people. 

“i think he went to get ice cream with sebby. so you like him?”

“why couldn’t you date vince, day day?” 

charles just splutters, trying his best to ignore the conversation. 

-

as always, after catching up on their lives of the past week, pietro leaves the call for a moment to bring esme into the screen, allowing the siblings to reunite for a brief moment, which always ended with dalena promising her little sister that she was only a minute away if she needed her. 

“day! i have a question?”

“yeah, esme, what’s up?”

“is vince there? i want to talk to vince”

dalena is so surprised she ends up falling to the floor.

-

pietro: esme and i are planning to drop into france next week charming: great! we should get rogers in and make a weekend out of it or something pietro: good idea!

notes: i was complaining to mia about how much i hate that dalena and eloise would never be friends bc i play both and she eventually prodded me into this--how they do eventually become friends. everyone needs a big sister eventually, right?

the screams that escapes her mouth is entirely unladylike, which, in true retrospect meant very little to dalena. she just wishes she hadn’t spat so much in her surprise.

“ella? since when do you enter rooms by climbing through open window--unf--!” a hand quickly raises to cover her mouth, pulling her back towards the shadows of her bed.

“your dad let me in,” eloise eventually says, when she believes the coast is truly clear, “i didn’t know who else to come to”

dalena dusts herself off. “as flattered as i am to be that person, what in the world is worrying you so much that you decided to break into my room?” when eloise slips her shoes off, dalena knows she is in for a long night. which she was greatful for. eloise was rather synonymous with the dislike dalena club, especially throughout the early years of her relationship with charles. 

“...i don’t really know where to start” the younger begins, dwindling thumbs in her lap, her previously confident nature, with the red lips, dark hair, leather jacket, lost in the darkness of her poorly lit room. “you’re not going to tell cj are you?” 

the urge to roll her eyes was strong. “i have a life outside of your brother, you know” it depends, she thinks, on what you have to say. she swore she would protect the youngest charming, gladly watching over her during their years in school together. pushing that particular thought away from her mind, however, she sighs, collecting herself and asking with a smile: “now, come on, spill. what’s up?”

“my boyfriend and i--”

if only you knew, dalena wants to say, what your brothers say about this wonderful boyfriend. the elder charming boys constantly discuss their fears for eloise’s future; of who she would eventually choose to marry, settle down with. the youngest deserves only the very, very best. she remains silent, simply nodding, allowing the other to continue on.

“i think he’s more than just a boyfriend. or can be? or will be? i don’t know--i look at him and i just–”

“–can’t see yourself with anyone else?”

“yeah,” eloise deflates, though a pale pink remains tinged on the apple of her cheeks, “what do i do dalena? i can’t ask my brothers about this”

“your brothers love you, ella. yes, jas as well, even if he doesnt show it” her boyfriend was notorious for his cold and rigid treatment of his younger siblings, “they will support whatever decision you make”

“that’s not it–dalena–i know they love harry–it’s something else–i haven’t–we haven’t even–”

“you haven’t even what?”

eloise sighs, swallowing the fear, “we haven’t, you know, done the do yet”

“eloise michele charming!” she’s laughing far more than she should, she realises, hand reaching to her lips, shielding the otherwise loud laughter, “are you telling me you’re still a virgin?”

“ssh!” her hand raises to dalena’s lips again, shushing the older girl, “you make it sound so bad.”

“it’s not!” still laughing, her explanation in between breaths, “i think it’s very, very sweet! waiting for the right person”

“he is the right person, i think” eloise smiles, tucking her head slightly as she asks the next question: “you don’t have to answer but… did you wait? for the right person?”

“you’re asking the girl that got engaged to a prince, your brother, at the age of eighteen” dalena gives the other a pointed look, as if to ask if she was serious. “ella, i’ve only ever slept with one person. and i’m going to continue to only sleep with that one person for the rest of my life.”

“too much information” eloise crinkles her nose, though she is amused with how comfortable she is talking about this. “how do you know if someone is the right person?”

“the way you talk about harry--the way you look at him,” reaching out to tuck a stray curl of hair back behind her ear, she smiles at the princess, “i think you already know”

“you’re so cheesy, day”

“if you don’t like my advice, we can ask your sexually active brothers. i’m sure charles has a lot to say about waiting for the right person to have sex with--” and for the third time that evening, eloise tries to quieten the cheerleader. they both knew charles would be the worst choice to approach for sexual advice, he grew up a big fan of abstinence and celibacy prior to marriage though he was probably the first charming sibling to break the vow. go figure. when she’s forced herself back to breathing, she pushes eloise, “can you stop trying to suffocate me please?”

“you just knew? that it was charles?”

dalena nods. “honestly, i don’t think anyone is ever truly ready. i assume that’s your real question. you wouldnt be asking me for sex advice if you weren’t ready to... you know...” instead of say the words, she makes a circle with her thumb and index finger, poking her other index finger into the hole, simulating the activity, “right?”

“please stop” eloise deadpans, “i’m showing him around the castle this weekend. mum and dad set up this really nice villa on the grounds for us to stay in. i don’t know, i was thinking--”

“--how far away is the villa from the main castle?”

“mum said it was a ten minute walk. not bad, right?”

“good. better choice than your old rooms. i remember sweating bullets most night, that a maid, or worse, ollie would walk in on us"

“you guys do it in the castle?!”

“ella” dalena deadpans, eyes lowering to stare at her, “we’re married. what did you think? my kids were born of immaculate conception?”

“gross. did you guys ever do it while i was living across the hall?”

“i’m not going to answer that. pleading the fifth.”

“GROSS!”

“excuse me, charles and i are totally innocent compared to your brother. i swear i heard jason one night with alex. and ollie is ten times as bad! at least keep we it to the one room, ollie likes to--you know what? i’ve said too much. are we done? i think it’s time for you to leave.”

“ollie likes to what? day? he likes to what? DALENA?”

“bye, eloise!”

notes: look at this before reading. heavily influenced by the offspring meme, god help us all.

one. 

the first time that adele getes sick, dalena ransacks the royal library for every baby book ever published. she spends the afternoon reading through nineteenth century remedies, books that kit apparently keeps for light reading. it isn’t long until she comes to her own terrible conclusions (is it possible for a child to have the black plague?) before charles’ begrudgingly takes them to the hospital.

dalena braces herself for the worst (she had been so lucky in life, that it would only make sense that her only daughter would have the opposite)

“it’s only the flu, mrs. charming,” the doctor says, resting a warm hand on adele’s forehead, smiling, “nothing to be alarmed about”

she sets adele down for a nap and promptly locks herself in the bathroom--mostly in part to hide from her husbands never ending laughter.

two.

when benjamin lands on the front page of the national news, she is livid. no one, not even the owner of a multimillion dollar media empire, gets to call her son a heartbreaker--no one!

“i’m going to--i’m going to--i’m going--” she paces about the bedroom, fluffy pink slippers rustling against the carpet. only metres away lay esme, ignoring her sister and focusing on the magazine. “can i sue a magazine for defamation of character?”

“no.” esme notes, flipping the page, to read a quote aloud “they wrote that he was gorgeous at least. a testament to the near flawless genes of charles and dalena charming”

distracted by the compliment, she turns to her sister, “they said that?” she’s tempted to go over and read what else is said about her but stops herself, “that means nothing! how dare they write about my son!”

“it’s not like they’re wrong, day--”

rarely did she use her deathly dalena stare, but the doubt in her sisters voice was well worth the terror.

“--or they were wrong. very, very, very wrong”

three.

when they arrive at their third child, charles makes dalena promise to curb her protective nature, swearing that if they did not allow cecelia the space to grow, he would ban dalena from... something. he hadn’t figured it out yet but her mild mannered husband always had a knack of figuring out her weaknesses.

so she does as she has promised.

she remains ever present in the background and--it was his fault really--she was far more threatening without a presence than with. pulling the strings on a marionette, dalena offered opinions to her daughter, who always seemed to take them as more than a recommendation.

it paid off. cecilia graduated top of her class at elias academy, before pursuing a double degree at cambridge university.

of course all the credit goes to her brilliant daughter (who was speaking well beyond her age from the time she could say a word) but dalena secretly knows her subtle meddling pushed her a bit further.

four.

“no... no! definitely not. out of the question. you are far too young!”

gabriel rolls his eyes at his mother, crumpling the letter of acceptance in his hands. he had achieved this all on his own, making no use of famous last names made available to him (and, really, there were many).

the only thing that stood between him and the SHIELD academy summer program was his mother. 

“but, mom”

“but nothing!” dalena steps towards him, cupping his hand in his face, “i couldn’t bear to see you go. not now, not ever”

he softly places his hands over her own and smiles, “i won’t be gone forever, you know. only for a summer and then i’ll be back.”

“all the way in new york? you’re far too young--”

“--i’m seventeen--”

“--exactly--”

he scoffs, “you weren’t too young when you went”

she narrows her eyes at him, dropping her hands from his face to rest on her hips, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“gramps said that you made your first solo trip when you were sixteen”

dalena is stuck at a stand still. “well, you see...”

“and where did you go?”

“california”

“see! i’m seventeen and i’m not alone. i’ll be with uncle seb and uncle vince the whole time! what’s the big deal?”

“the big deal is that you are my baby and i refuse to send you off half away across the world”

“this is my dream, ma. gramps gave you a chance. why can’t you give me one?”

she realises then that he had his fathers eyes. almond shaped, a golden brown, turned only slightly downwards, washing a sort of trust over the rest of his features. 

she couldn’t say no to him.

“fine.”

five.

she feels no surprise when all of her children find their niche’s in life quickly. it was within their blood to be ambitious, after all.

rosalie, however, seemed the opposite. she was neither loud, nor ambitious, or even the slightest bit competitive. she was simply... rosalie. she notices early on that her daughter enjoyed spending time in the background, gravitating towards the corners of a room, allowing someone far louder to take centre stage.

(it occurs to her that that was why gabe was always more than happy to stand ahead of his twin)

“rosie, honey, come here, i want to talk to you”

silently, rosalie rises from her seat and moves towards her mother. opening her arms, she holds her youngest daughter against her side. “i want to tell you a story. when i was a kid, i used to think that anyone who wasn’t like me was weird. i could never understand why someone wouldn’t want to shine, wouldn’t want to soar, wouldn’t want to be the brightest star in the entire night sky”

there’s a pang in her heart as this all too familiar scene played across her eyes again. she had never admitted it out loud, of course, the tribulations that had occurred to the maximoff children as they were growing up. in that moment, she wishes nothing more than to be with her brother--he always knew how to handle these situations better. 

“but, over time, i learnt that normal was so boring and that everyone is a star in their own way. and if that means being quiet and reserved and a self-proclaimed wallflower, then that’s fine. that’s who you need to be.”

“i’m not like them mum--i’m not like you, or dad, or della, or benji, or cece, or even gabe. no matter how hard i try, i can’t be you.”

dalena laughs, “you don’t have to be, you never did” cupping her young daughters face in her hands, “you are perfect exactly the way you are”

weeks later dalena makes the conscious decision to send rosalie off to new york with her brother. not because she thought rosalie wouldn’t survive without her twin or because she thought that rosalie needed to escape her comfort zone. but because she knows, out of all people in the world, sebastian would be the best (and only person) she can trust to guide her daughter. 

six.

“guys--” all her experience barking orders at a squad of fifteen over her six years of high school education meant that her voice carried well through her household, “where’s margot?”

she enters the lounge room to find five of her children and an unexpected dog sitting in their midst. it was no surprise when they bought stray animals home, it was in the charming blood, after all, to care for all within the kingdom. after a day, they would be added to the stables and their mess removed from the home. “how cute. have you guys seen margot? i need to take her to a dress fitting”

no one replies and, instead, all eyes focus on the puppy. dalena follows their sight and the thought occurs to her, ”...you didn’t...”

“it was an accident mum!” of course, her sweet, responsible adele was the first to stand, “we knocked one of dad’s old, ugly urns down and--you didn’t tell us they had godmothers fairy dust in it and--” she looks over at her siblings, urging one of them to step in.

“we’ve tried everything mum,” benjamin is next, “we threw the dust on her again, we tried to wash it off, everything!”

the shock of having a puppy for a child and the sheer amazement she holds for her children in their solidarity silences her. stepping over, she picks up her youngest daughter and carries her out of the room.

“i am going to change your sister back but not before i tell your father. because, this, right here, i can’t deal with this. you’re all his problem, now”

seven.

a few days before laurent is to take his own leave for elias, his parents take him on an impromptu shopping trip.

of course with his extended family, he had everything he needed before he was old enough to even attend. plus, dalena was a strong believer in hand-me-downs so really, laurent, was always going to be over prepared.

but as he trails behind his parents, who are hand in hand, pacing down the streets of oxford street, he can’t help but wonder why they were shopping in the first place.

“how about here honey? don’t you kids like uniqlo?”

laurent frowns, shaking his head.

“aunty ella already bought me my winter jackets from here.”

“oh,” dalena turns to her husband, “do you want to go look at sneakers?”

he shakes his head again, “uncle ollie already sent sneakers from america over for me” 

“how about a suit, champ? you guys still have formal events?”

“i still have the one that you gave to benji a couple of years ago”

“but--don’t you want a new one--i mean--”

approaching his parents, he smiles at the both, resting a free hand on either of their elbows. “i’m ready, guys. i know it doesn’t seem like it but i’m ready. i’ve watched more than ten other charming’s go through this. i’ll be fine--we’ll be fine”

dalena wrinkles her nose before placing a soft kiss to his temple. charles punches him softly, “when did you get so smart, huh?”

“probably the same time you started dying your hair to cover the greys” he jokes back, running off before his father can tackle him.

eight.

for some reason, his entire family turns out to send him off. 

a part of him thinks it’s his mothers coping mechanism while miles explains that it’s not, they’re just all terribly emotional. laurent agrees as margot comes charging down from her new dorm room, exclaiming her excitement that she had siblings at the academy again. 

ten.

charles finds her outside her old sixth year dorm, leaning against the window, watching the crowds below. “feeling melancholy for our senior year?” he asks.

“a little bit,” coming towards her, he wraps his arms around her torso, resting his chin on her shoulder, “can you believe that was us?”

“a little bit,” he repeats her words with a laugh and she elbows him from it, “i’m still having a bit of trouble believing that we had seven kids, actually”

“oh, yeah, that too”

“he’s the last one, you know. after laurent gets settled, it’ll just be you and i” dalena cranes her neck slightly to look at her husband, who seems to now be sporting a worried expression on his features. he still looked exactly as he did when she first met him, the maturity of time having aged his face well. “is that okay?”

she smiles but does not speak.

“i take that as a no”

“take it as a yes, as a new beginning, as a new era of charles and dalena”

he laughs, leaning in to kiss her “that is the lamest thing you have ever said to me. remind me why i find it such a pleasure to belong to you?”

notes: all i said was that i was having a taylor swift night and what does she do? SHE GIVES ME IDEAS FOR A DRABBLE. I HATE EVERYONE. LISTEN TO THIS AND HATE EVERYONE WITH ME. 

“this video is so dumb”

charles looks up to see her laptop turned to him, his novel momentarily forgotten, shifting his attention to the music video playing before him. you belong with me by taylor swift. he hadn’t heard that song in a long while, the video longer than that. eyes meet hers, silently asking why this was where the conversation had turned.

“i mean, like, even if you’re supposed to be rooting for taylor, they were still in a relationship. she can’t just come in and end that, you know?”

he sits up from where he lay on his stomach, folding his legs so he could sit opposite her, her bed dipping as he moves, making it as awkward as possible as he takes her hands into his, “day, you wear short skirts, you wear t-shirts, you are cheer captain and you are on the bleachers. i’m not going anywhere”

“i’m just saying” she takes her hands from his immediately, trying her best not to laugh at what he said, lying herself on his lap, forcing him to read sitting up. she pulls the laptop onto her chest, continuing to watch the video, “if you ever tried to do that to me, i would do so much more than storm away” 

the roll of his eyes was involuntary. completely finished with the topic, he takes the laptop from her and types a quick search into the bar. when he pulls the video and the familiar country tune plays, he gives it back to her. 

“what is this?”

“it’s the taylor swift song that reminds me of you” 

“mine?” she freezes for a moment. though well used to his random bursts of affection, this particular one has her seeing stars. her smile is amused, while her giggles fill the silence of her room, lifting herself into a sitting position and pushing him off her bed. “i love you, dumb dumb” she says, leaning over the edge.

note: this has been sitting in my drafts since i started this blog--damn near two or three years ago lmfaooooo. i’m finally writing it bc i love junhong (obvs) and i love all my junhong’s (obvs) especially this one (obvs).

the night of shadows.

a yearly event held by the circuit community in which each and every member made it known to the public that they were a force to be reckoned with. of course each person had their own ideas and expectations. 

but as a member of the deck, junhong had a certain expectation to uphold--blanketing the city in flyers and the generic route of graffiti was just not going to cut it this year. 

noeul was tucked away safely at the house of a school friend in an expensive part of gangnam. he was glad that noeul did not live the life that he did--she was free from the shackles that the circuit has bound him in. it was the entire reason he did what he did. only when he is free from his debt can they both guarantee safety within the community.

until then, junhong will take his position as seriously as necessary. 

decked in black from head to toe, he tucks his bright blonde hair underneath a cap and moves silently towards the building in mind. samsung tower three. one of the tallest buildings in all of seoul.

and, one of the most guarded

there is no hesitation; no second thought. he scans the stolen badge through the system, moving through the doors when they swing open before him. he didn’t care to read that the screen signified that the badge had expired days earlier, didn’t even care to read that in sixty seconds the security will be alerted. he would be gone before they even arrived.

it was a bit ironic, really, how silent the elevator ride to the top was. he can’t help but think of his reminiscent this was of his own ascent to the throne of royalty. there are those within the community that say he was not worthy of the title--that cole kim was wrong in awarding him the king of diamonds. 

he agreed with their words though never questioned as to why he was awarded such a prestigious position. 

he was grateful, and humble, and will gladly take any position given. 

the machine dings! as he reaches the seventy second floor, efficiently distributing the gas that absolves all the cameras. he was a misty figure moving silently in one of the most luxurious sky scrapers in the world. he had no intent to steal or break. he simply wanted to access the incredibly fierce wall of internal security. 

he finds the room in question, chief of technology, as expected left to the office of the owner and uses his mundane hacking skills to log in. for a company as advanced as samsung, he had assumed there would be more walls to overpass but a few practices in his spare time taught him otherwise. 

he transfers the necessary program into the mainframe, wipes any evidence of his being, and exits the tower.

-

an hour later, he stands in front of a busy bar at hongdae, all too happily ignoring the many calls his supermarket boss is leaving him. he had the night off and there was nothing in the world that would have him miss the next few moments. 

there are celebrations flanking all sides of him and noises erupt from every person. there is laughter and conversation and shouts of glee. what he needed, what he knew he had to get from each and every person, was undivided attention.

and what better way than with a bang!

just below the building, viewed over the heads of every lower level shop that flanked it, exploded one of the many home made bombs he had made. the explosives were few and no one was to get hurt. the real purpose, the meat of the act, was the decks he had installed into each. 

there were bombs all over the city like this one and like a symphony they went off one after another. all of them flittering hundreds of king of diamonds cards behind their explosions.

and, in the light that can only be illuminated in the early mornings, does the samsung building light up. it’s height was seen by all in the moonlight and around him the cheers grew only louder. he knew he had won that year. 

he had programmed the windows to reveal the card that had meant the most to him.

the eight of diamonds. 

note: this wasn’t going to be a birthday fic but YALL IT WORKED OUT ANYWAY HEY LMAO BLESS AND GOODBYE. this is the prompt ok i did it a bit differently bUT YO FUCKING LO FIGHT ME ASHDLAKHFSDAS BYE. “Ok, so you panicked and kissed the human so he wouldn’t drown, but we can’t keep him and he can’t leave if he knows about us merpeople, so what are we going to do” NEXT IS ARI PRAY 4 ME AS I WRITE THAT ONE. musical inspiration as always: x x x x x 

general greek god notes: this is supposed to come after the jongara one but i just had more muse for this one at the time lmao. so in the general timeline it would be taekmei, jongara and then rabinsic. AND!!! yongguk is the son of zeus, himchan is the son of aphrodite or apollo i haven’t decided yet but its a beauty thing, ari is the daughter of a goddess THAT I REFUSE TO REVEAL, ofc taek and i are the children of hades, youngjae is the son of athena, wonshik is the son of poseidon, jaehwan and hyuk are the sons of dionysus. I THINK THATS EVERYONE IN THIS LMAO IDK. BYE.

in an ideal world, perhaps human and god could live side by side in peace and harmony. they could forge more than an alliance, an entire relationship based on the courage of humans and the trust of the gods. together they could create a utopia that would rid the unnecessary evils that plague mortal beings. 

in an ideal world, however, perhaps the god of the sea was not an easily angered, equally complicated individual who flattened entire countries because they did not sacrifice the correct amount of animals. 

-

they had begun to use the term merpeople when you were only a few days old. of course no one in your family lived in the ocean but with the amount of time spent there, you may as well have. 

you could breathe underneath the water, if you truly wanted to, but that of course meant having to get your entire body wet and even with immortal powers, it was often time not worth the effort. 

somehow along the course of time, it was made appropriate that all children of the gods spend a summer with the sea nymphs. it was like a camp, almost, each god coming to a different part of the world every other summer. it was your favourite time of the year because, without fail, he would be there. 

kim wonshik, eldest son of the god poseidon, breaker of hearts all over the seven oceans. he was known to be kind, sweet, gentle, with a heart that was filled with more emotion than his father cared for. a shadow was cast over him (just like all children of gods) from the day he was born but wonshik seemed to carry the crown with an air that did not fit the others. 

along with yongguk and taekwoon, wonshik rounded out the trinity of the those that will one day inherit the earth and, much like taekwoon and yongguk, he took pride in this destiny. 

he was popular, too, of course. 

many hearts were broken over the course of his growth. no one ever seemed worthy of his attention--which was odd because there were so many vying for it. girls wanted to be his consort; boys somehow wanted to be part of his friendship group. 

it was odd that he always found time for you.

“hi jess,” he says, smiling sweetly, hovering over the lake that divides you. as the daughter of sea nymphs, you of course were bound to the ocean which made your friendship with wonshik all the more easy. “its that time of the year again”

“so it is” you reply, standing from the shore. the long white dress that defines the uniform of nymphs is bundled in your hands as you dip toes into the ocean. “are you looking forward for your summer at sea?” 

he laughs as he recognises the tone of your joke. he spent every day by the sea, what is one single summer amongst an infinity he will surely hold. “i always look forward to summers with you...” he steps beside you. the water ripples around you as his feet dip into the cold water, “...and the other sea nymphs” 

-

it was always a funny sort of event that first day of camp. 

thousands of gods silently fill the ocean just south of athens. when the moon had set and all the tourists had gotten home, poseidon’s temple was used as a meeting place for all of the children. 

of course hades and persephone are avidly discussing the merits of camp with athena. this meant that taekwoon must have arrived already, along with his sister and her consort, youngjae. such a group meant that wonshik would have arrived also. 

the crowd parts and poiseidon trawls down the centre, amphitrite by his side. they have wide smiles, nodding welcomes to those that they pass. behind them, shoulders wide and smiles even wider, stands wonshik and his siblings. they are dressed in their normal white satin, representative of their family hosting this years summer activities. 

as always, poseidon stands at the top of his temple to provide the welcome speech. you’ve caught the first few words before wonshik appears at your side. 

“he’s been working on this speech for days” 

you turn to him with a laugh. “you’re joking”

“honest to zeus truth” both of you subvert your eyes towards the god of lightening who, of course, seems completely and entirely bored of his brothers words. you both share a laugh and wonshik adds, “he reckons everything’s gonna change this summer” 

“how so?”

“he reckons i’ll find them this summer” he nods vaguely in the direction of hades and zeus who’s children stand beside their consorts. it occurs to you then what he meant--he was the only son left who hadn’t decided upon a forever love. “he reckons fate is on my side. he says the waves have been telling him that love is coming my way” 

you aren’t sure whether to laugh or question the waves. instead your mother calls for you and with an apology you tell wonshik you will see him later. 

“i’ll save the first swim of the summer for you!”

-

the summer goes by quickly. 

taekwoon was infinitely more fun now that he had mei to prod him to do things. for all the years prior, he had spent most of the sunshine sitting in the shade, reading. try as they did, they could never convince him to join in any of their activities. not swimming in the atlantic, or flying over cirrus clouds, or even baseball in the underworld. 

now he was the first over the cliff, the first to dive into the deep end, the first to pick up potentially dangerous beach creatures and toss them into his sisters face (much to youngjae’s grimance). even yongguk seemed more enjoyable company now that he had settled down with himchan. 

at the start of summer, everyone had started off as one big group. it did not take long for everyone to fall into their respective cliques and, within that, their respective pairings. yongguk rarely strayed from himchan’s side. jongup only ever did reckless things if he was sure arazely was watching. nadine only ever pushed her brother if she knew youngjae was there to save her. hell, even taekwoon would always, always, without fail, ask mei if she wanted to join him before doing anything. 

and, somehow, wonshik ended up your partner. 

“jess, you wanna come with us? we’re going to explore the amazon river” 

or

“oh, cool. jess, come here! you have to look at this!” 

or

“jess, you missed it. it’s okay--i’ll take you to see the great barrier reef later, i promise”

or

“this isn’t a bit dangerous, jess, take my hand. do you want me to carry you instead?”

and most of all,

“hey, guys, wait up, i’m gonna go get jess” 

it was nice, you’ll admit. to have someone devoted so surely to your enjoyment without worry. it also helped that when you were forced to actually learn, you had a make shift lab partner without question. 

-

after weeks of exploring the different oceans offered by the world, the nymphs bring the children back to greece. 

the sun sets more beautiful than words can ever describe in oia. it was one of your favourite things about being a sea nymph; watching the sun set in one of the most stunning places in the world with people that you loved.

of course, the definite benefit of the end of summer, was that you were all allowed to explore the human habitations. with a quick change of clothes and the morphing into a more personal look, the ten of you quickly endeavour the streets. 

the human world became more and more fascinating every time you visit and, without fail, the humans did too. you aren’t sure what it is about your group but the humans always seem to realise that there was something not quite right about you all. 

you overhear them often, they must be models, or, they’re probably the children of millionaires, and, they’re quite young but i’m almost certain they’re all married off to one another, as well as, they’re all so inhumanely beautiful. 

the waitresses take notice of the boys quickly. it was something to laugh about, poor attempts to sway the attention of a man so surely in love with the girl standing beside him. it no longer surprised you when wonshik would shake his head in refusal and focus all of his attention on you. 

“did you want a drink?” he shouts over the noise of the bar. it was upon the recommendation of himchan that they try may as well try mortal alcohol if they’re going to blend in. 

you shake your head. he stands protectively around you; his arm draped over the back of your chair to signify this. "my mother will kill me if she knows i’ve been drinking with mortals” 

he laughs and orders you both a drink, “what our parents don’t know won’t hurt them!” 

-

the girls stumble out of the bar around one am, accompanied only by himchan and youngjae. the six of you decide to leave the future rulers of earth behind in their failing attempt to get drunk. 

with twenty or so drinks under each of your belts and no affect whatsoever, you all decide that you want to watch the moon on the comforts of the beach. you weren’t the only ones with the idea as when you reach the sands of the shore, there was already another group there. 

they had a bonfire and, as it seems, music playing from a speaker. it takes a moment but someone begins to call your names. as you approach and the fire illuminates their features, you recognise jaehwan and sanghyuk--the twin sons of dionysus. 

“hey guys!” they greet you with a wide smile, ushering you to join the bonfire. quickly, drinks are handed out and each of you settle into the sounds of music and the light of the fire. 

jaehwan invites you all to dance and as the only one that declines, you are forced to watch him eagerly try to steal dances from both arazely and nadine only to laugh as he gets rejected. he rolls his eyes and instead chooses to grind on sanghyuk, much to the laughter of the group. 

-

when he sits down beside you, you don’t catch his name. his voice is bubbly with the kiss of alcohol and his laugh is so infectious, you can’t help but laughing along with the jokes he slurs. 

he smiles wide, talks about how passionate he is about photography, how much he wants to travel the world and leave everything he had behind. his tongue wraps around the greek words oddly, as if he wasn’t a native to the island. 

it wasn’t until you ask that you realise his father had moved here to start anew and, lucky for them, they were prosperous. his face falls solemn for a moment as a wistful smile tires on his face. his sister had disappeared a long while ago and, if he was being truthful, his father had moved them to forget about her but, also, to be with her. 

after a moment, he realises something. he turns to you with a confused look and asks, “so tell me about you?” 

he didn’t even know your name but he wanted to know everything about you. where you grew up (you lied and said you had grown up in athens), what your aspirations were (you had already accomplished the life of a writer, what more was there), who you wanted to be. he laughs in the right times and provides an unequivocal focus to everything that you said.  

as he smiles at you, and you smile back, you wonder what that pang in your heart meant. the small thud that prods you into thinking... i don’t want this stranger to stay a stranger. 

the others holler at you and arazely pulls you up to dance. you don’t notice it at first, the lonely body that moves away from the group, stumbling over his two left feet towards the ocean. but as he drops the bottle from his hand and it shatters over the rocks below it, your attention finally focuses. 

there is a loud splash and sanghyuk is the first to react. “shit. is that hongbin?”

“who?” you ask, standing quickly. 

“fuck it is” jaehwan is the next to speak, rushing down the shore. “hyuk, fuck, he’s in the water, HYUK!” 

“fuck” hyuk repeats, following after his brother. “fuck, fuck, fuck” 

you follow after them. “who?”

“his dad owns like half the island or something like that--he’s jaehwan’s friend” hyuk speaks quickly, “fuck he’s so far out. what are we gonna do?”

in the split second that it takes for you to read the situation, you have already forgotten the rest of your responsibilities. 

and dive head first into the dark ocean. 

-

though they praise the gods, it was an all reaching rule that mortal beings should not know that immortal beings existed. 

there was enough turmoil in the world over religions and races and the rest that it was decided there was no need for humans to know that they existed. that their talents, their magic, their endless lives could very well answer each and every mortal tribulation they live.

you can hear your mother telling you this in the back of your mind.

“they would not understand us, jess. they would fear us and fear will cause them to act irrationally. death is what happens when you act irrationally jess. death and exile.”

you can hear the booming voice of poseidon as well. 

“no mortal shall know the existence of gods. once a mortal discovers your being they are bound to you for life. that is the punishment” 

you don’t care.

you just want to save him.

-

it takes no more than a minute for you to reach him and even shorter than to bring him back to the shore. jaehwan and sanghyuk work quickly around you, lying out a blanket for him to lie on.

“what did you say his name was?” you ask, once you’ve caught your breath. 

“hongbin” jaehwan answers, propping a pillow under his neck. “he’s not breathing. fuck. what do we do?” 

sanghyuk shrugs turning his attention to nadine. she shakes her head. “i can’t bring anybody back to life--that’s taekwoon”

“fuck”

“move” you instruct, pulling yourself towards him, “i’ll do it” 

it was a fairly simple task however, as you’re pushing his hair from his face, you find yourself distracted. you aren’t sure how long it had been since you had seen a human so close before; had even touched one. you don’t remember them ever having eyelashes. you don’t remember human cheeks ever holding a pink so pale that it reminds you of the when the seas meets the horizon. 

most of all, you don’t remember human ever causing the small pang at the bottom of your heart that makes you forget everything you ever knew.

“jessica”

“oh, sorry” you break from your reverie and lean towards hongbin. silently taking a breath, you place your lips to his and breathe life back into him. you keep your lips to his for a long moment and, as unceremoniously as he had fallen into the ocean, does he cough back to life.

-

he continues to cough for a while, actually.

“is he okay?” himchan asks, as hongbin coughs for the eighth minute in a row.

“i think so” you reply, sitting back and watching him, “i had never done that before and my mum only told me how it works not what happens after” 

“i--am--so--hongbin--and--crap--” he tries to speak between words and you move forward to rub his back patiently. jaehwan hands him a glass of water and slowly he is able to speak again. “thank you”

you smile. “no problem"

“i’m hongbin, by the way” 

you take the hand he offers to you, “jessica” 

he tries to laugh but the force of the action turns his lung; his hands fly to his chest in pain. you lie him back on the blanket and look up at your friends. “what do we do?”

“we could take him back home?” sanghyuk offers.

jaehwan quickly punches his shoulder, “he can’t leave, shithead. he knows we’re gods”

“wait,” hongbin’s voice breaks the argument, “you guys are gods?!”

“great work dingbat” sanghyuk returns the punch as jaehwan whispers a sorry to the crowd. 

“wait--you guys are GODS?!”

before anyone as a chance to talk a loud crack! captures their attention.

-

“JESSICA”

you roll your eyes as zeus’ voice reverberates down the beach.

“BY SAVING THIS MORTALS LIFE YOU HAVE REVEALED YOURSELF AS AN IMMORTAL BEING”

“i know”

“DO YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THIS”

“i just did”

“oh--i didn’t hear you--OKAY WE WILL DISCUSS YOUR PUNISHMENT”  

in a flourish that only zeus can accomplish, he turns to his brothers in earnest discussion. after a few words were exchanged, poseidon approaches you. “have you seen my son?”

“we left him at the bar with yongguk and taekwoon”

“has spoken to you?”

you turn your head in confusion. “we speak constantly. is there anything in particular?”

“has he spoken to you in regards to a consort?” 

“he mentioned that the waves told you that he will find his consort this summer,” you pause to think if there was anything else, “beyond that he hasn’t mentioned much else to me”

he purses his lips and nods, returning to his brothers. everyone else stands behind you. zeus quickly chastised them for trying to help you so they’ve all, instead, resorted to appreciating this as a theatre piece. nadine and himchan already have a bowl of chips between them, eagerly waiting for the next act, like the idiots they are. 

“HONGBIN”

still getting used to the idea of immortal beings, hongbin slowly stumbles to stand beside you. his voice is small and low and he tries his best to answer clearly. “y-yes sir?”

“DO YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOUR LIFE WAS SAVED BY THIS IMMORTAL”

“do i have a choice?”

“SPEAK UP MORTAL”

“DO I HAVE A CHOICE”

“uh...” hades turns to his brothers who shake their heads, “YOU DO NOT”

“i acknowledge” 

“THEN IT HAS BEEN DECIDED BY THE GODS OF THE SKY, THE OCEAN AND THE UNDERWORLD THAT YOU, JESSICA, ARE NOW BOUND FOR ETERNITY TO THIS MORTAL, HONGBIN”

-

“who are you?”

hakyeon, ever the blunt individual, is the first person to question the appearance of a new person to the mountain. jaehwan avoids his stare while sanghyuk suddenly finds something interesting on the ground. 

“i’m hongbin” he is cheerful without reason and hakyeon softens his smile, offering a sunseared hand to him. 

“hakyeon, son of apollo. who are your parents?” 

“lee hongjim and minkyung”

“i’ve never heard of them--who are they the gods of?”

“they aren’t the gods of anything--” you quickly pull him away; saving him from the embarrassment of revealing himself as a previous mortal. 

-

“hey jess. we’re thinking of going for a swim after our seaweed lesson. did you want to come?”

you look up at him sullenly. you wanted to say yes but hongbin needed your full attention as he warmed up to the idea of being an immortal being. you promised him that you would take him to see poseidon’s temple to understand where it had all begun. “sorry, wonshik. i promised hongbin i would spend the afternoon with him”

“oh” he turns his smile away from you, looking into the distance, “is he like, yours or something now?”

“your father bound him to me for life. he is my consort as punishment.”

“not really,” there is something hidden in the laugh that wonshik uses. almost as if a part of him acknowledges this but refuses to accept it. “just because he’s bound to you against your will does not make him your consort. you get to choose who you spend the rest of your life with, remember?” 

-

just as it had been on the first day of summer, you stand on the very edge of poseidon’s temple, outlooking over the ocean as the sun sets before you. below you, on the cliff, hongbin kicks rocks as he thinks about what his life entails once the sun sets and the summer ends.

“are you okay?” you ask, coming towards him.

he shrugs and smiles. you had noticed that early on. there was so much to understand when one enters this life and they had all told you to give him time. arazely had said that jongup took months to accept his new lifestyle and that he was consistently confused about it. 

through his five stages of grief, anger was the only he spent the longest in.

hongbin, however, has had time but he has never used a single minute of it to be vindictive. he was accepting, far too accepting, of this sudden lifestyle. he rarely questioned things, was hardly ever rude and has not once made you feel guilty for the choice you made. 

“i’m sorry” he says eventually, noticing your absentminded stare.

“for what?”

“for being your consort” he smiles, “i know i wasn’t your first choice” 

“i--no, don’t say that--what makes you think you weren’t my first choice?”

“i see the way you look at him and the way he looks at you. wonshik? you could’ve had the seven seas if you hadn’t saved me” 

“no. hongbin. i--i wanted to save you. i swear” 

he laughs and shrugs, again. you wonder if he believed your words. you wonder if you believe your words. 

“i’m glad you did” 

“hm?”

“save me. i’m glad you saved me” he bends to pick up a rock and throws it into the water metres below him, “my soul had left my body. i was dead, you know, when you pulled me from the water. i shouldn’t be here. but you saved me; gave me life”

“you don’t have to say... this...”

“i am but i’m thankful for more. it’s like that old saying. a blind man seeing the sun for the first time. except, it’s you. you are my sun. my moon. my stars. every single constellation and every single cloud in the sky. when i opened my eyes, you were the first thing i saw and it just made sense.”

“hongbin...”

“and it shouldn’t make sense, you know? i died! i was dead! but you bought me back to life and i didn’t question it. i just... accepted it. i just accepted... you”

“i don’t know what to say”

“you don’t have to say anything” he turns to you and takes your hands into his. “you are the only thing that makes sense to me in this entire mess of things. because of this, i won’t question if you want to be with him. he makes you happy. so go be with him. jaehwan told me, it doesn’t matter who you are bound to, you will always be able to choose your consort. go, choose him.” 

-

his words stay with you for a long time.

you are the only thing that makes sense to me.

as the camp comes to an abrupt end, you return to your life by the seas living with the rest of your colony. there are days when you visit land, along with your aunty thetis, and sit in the crowds of onlookers as warriors battle their lives out.

wonshik, seemingly noticing the sudden absence of hongbin, decides to use this to his entire advantage. he whisks you away on a number of getaways--from the bahamas to the bermuda triangle to even the seas of hawaii. miles away from home, you forget hongbin and focus on the truly important matter.

it’s hard not to picture a life at wonshik’s side. as the queen of the seas, you would rule the oceans. his own mother often notes how much of a blessing you are in her eldest sons life. she was worried that he would become his father but with a soft touch like yours, she knows she need not worry.

even as you begin to fall into the routine that would become something more, you can’t help but think back to hongbin.

there was nothing wrong with wonshik--with this life. so many gods have lovers outside of their designated consort. what was wrong with wonshik choosing you as his consort while being bound to hongbin for life.

and then you realise what it was.

wonshik deserved to have someone who loved him wholly and with purpose.

you saw that every time he looked at hongbin.

how, no matter what he did or how hard he tried, he was just too slow.

the king of the seas came second to a drowning mortal.

-

“why does the ocean move like that?” 

wonshik looks over at you with a confused expression. he’s shirtless, lying on his back, draped over a towel that he had placed onto the sand. there was no use for it, of course, your skin immortal immune to the scars of heat that the land can offer. however, because he craved land food and thus whisked you on an impromptu trip to santorini, there were certain expectations to uphold. 

“a number of reasons. the wind moves the water--there is a friction between the molecules that causes a transfer of energy”

"oh. why?”

he sits up, balancing on his elbows, “because that’s how the world works--it’s how my father made it work”

you nod. “i guess. it makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“everything makes sense eventually. everything has a place, everything has a time. everything except you”

“what did you say?”

“everything make sense except for you?”

“why?” there is an urgency you cannot place and as you both sit up, you feel his confusion waver towards you. “why don’t i make sense?”

“i don’t know. i don’t know why i like you so much, why i always feel like i need to be near you, why i can’t go a single day without seeing you--i don’t know why i feel like this and i’m not particular in the need to know why” 

“oh.”

“i said something wrong, didn’t i?” 

your jaw falls slightly ajar and in that moment of hesitation, you both knew the answer. 

-

“i choose you” hongbin looks up and his smile brightens at the words, “i choose you hongbin!” 

“I DIDNT KNOW THIS WAS A GAME OF POKEMON”

wonshik waves a hand and tosses sanghyuk into the ocean. himchan, snickers and soon falls too, taking nadine with him (again, much to youngjae’s grimace). 

“what? why? how?” 

“because you make sense, hongbin. you make more sense to me than anything else in this world” 

-

a year passes and so much has changed.

hongbin had begun to pluck up more and more courage, effectively turning each of their pranks on their heads. no one wanted to cross him anymore. sanghyuk and jaehwan had even begun inviting him along with their pranks; forming a trio of troublemakers. 

he has become, unfortunately, the begrudged trouble maker in your private small circle of friends. taekwoon was often on the recieving end of such troubles however mei gets involved right after he ‘accidentally’ fells into the ocean for the tenth time and they all swear the king of the underworld was to remain untouched territory.

celebrations were never rare; neither were wonshik’s appearances with a different beautiful muse on his arm. you are happy for him, of course, knowing well that he had moved on though you wonder why he so actively avoids you. his father says he is busy training with your cousin achilles but rumours state otherwise. 

you over hear amphitrite tell persephone one evening, “he isn’t the same since that summer. he used to have no interest in girls and now it seems like its the only thing he thinks about.”

later that evening you question yongguk and taekwoon on the merits of the conversation. yongguk looks over at you with a confused expression. 

“he’s trying to fill the void in his heart that you left” 

“me?”

“you really don’t know how much you meant to him?” 

“he--i--he never said anything?”

“he wanted you to be happy, jess. why else would he let hongbin win?”

-

when you had begun that summer you thought that the only person who would fall in love would be wonshik.

you hadn’t expected to meet hongbin nor find yourself so content with the promise that someone would be yours forever.

someone so understanding that he didn’t mind sitting through hours upon hours of history lessons with your mother (it was a good thing gods did not need sleep).

someone so kind that he laughed at every joke zeus told; even the ones that were barely veiled offers of sex (the god of the sky never discriminated).

someone who fit so well into the transition of mortal to immortal that he never once questioned how or why they were all related.

(that is a topic that no one wanted to branch ever).

-

what was difficult, however, was the notion that someone who had no experience of the gods had to, suddenly, understand thousands of years of living.

visiting the sea nymphs was out of question.

(“hey jess!”

“what?”

“sanghyuk pushed hongbin into the ocean again and now he’s caught in a wave"

“wait--WHAT”

“its not my fault he doesn’t know how to swim yet”)

it wasn’t just zeus that made them avoid the skies for a period but hakyeon also.

(“is it okay if i eat this?”

“what is it?”

“i don’t know. hakyeon gave it to me--OW! IT STUNG ME”

“is that--HAKYEON--WHY DID YOU GIVE HIM CLOUDS WITH LIGHTNING”)

and for a while you had thought that with mei and nadine living in the underworld, you would be safe.

you were wrong.

(“HONGBIN FELL INTO THE RIVER STYX”

“again? that’s the third time this week!”)

-

as acceptance trickles into your lives and the questions previously unanswered are forgotten, the both of you make the weekly trip to athens. to sit atop the cliff where it had all begun. 

the could-have-been-queen-of-the-seas and would-have-been-world-famous-photographer sit side by side, simply, together. 

-

“do i still make sense to you?”

note: because i love the siblings. i always have. i always will. and of course this is set in the civil war timeline but without aou events. soooooo, clint doesn’t have a family with laura but with natasha and yeah. i mean. i could explain this more but i don’t really want to lmao. 

it comes in secret.

accords compromised. currently in hiding. p imprisoned. will update you asap.

it sits folded on nico’s window sill one morning and within moments, his siblings are seated on henry’s bed as they discuss what should happen next. of course the three of them knew what was going on--it was hard not to when it was all over the news--but still, they hadn’t expected this. 

camila is the first to action, pulling out her phone and calling cesare who then connects her to her mother. “hi aunt pep, yeah, no, we’re okay. i was wondering if uncle tony was there? would be great to speak to him real quick. oh. he’s out? can you tell him to give me a call when he can, thank you” 

when she disconnects, she gives both her brothers a grimace. 

no answer.

“well?” evan says eventually, once nico has stopped pacing and camila finds herself staring blankly at a wall.

“well what?” she says.

“well let’s go get him” evan stands, stretching his arms over his head, “why are we waiting to be saved when we are more than capable to do the saving”

both heads turn to the current (albeit makeshift) head of their house; the eldest. nico takes one deep breath and nods. “lets go get our dad” 

-

“thanks uncle remy” nico clasps the other tightly in a shake, nodding fervently at the large duffle bag of weapons and other army supplies. 

remy smiles back, “no worries kid. give ‘em hell” 

examining the bow in her arms, camila shoots an arrow into the distance, splitting a small thinning tree with her bullseyes. “oh, don’t worry. we will.”

-

when the three of them board the specially designed hank mccoy quinjet, nico at the helm driving, there is another small folded note sitting on the seat. 

opening it evan notes that it is the directions of the raft as well as the specific cell that their father was in. showing his sister, camila turns to nico and asks, “that’s impossible. how did you get the directions?”

nico smiles, “how else? mum” 

-

“stop shaking” 

camila looks over her shoulder into the back seat, where evan sits with nerves, betraying the normal composure of the youngest barton sibling. “sorry”

reaching out for him, she takes his hand and she squeezes it gently, “this is just like we practiced, remember? you’ll be fine. you’ve always been the warrior out of the three of us”

“funny. what does that make you, miss self titled warrior princess” nico laughs beside her.

still holding her brother, she smiles. “evan the warrior, nico the brains and, of course, camila irene the beautiful” 

-

hovering a few metres above the raft, the three siblings strap on their outfits and ammo. while they all knew how to handle a bow and arrow, camila was always the better of the three so it became her weapon of choice. nico chooses a short range sniper rifle and while evan is strapped with 9mm, he had always preferred to fight fist to fist. 

the first to jump was evan, of course, who flourishes with a double twist and lands lightly on his feet below. signalling for camila, she runs after him, cartwheeling out of the jet and landing heavily beside her brother. nico is last, and after he sails down to the raft, sets the jet to camouflage. 

it wasn’t hard, of course, to find their father.

nico had mapped the raft long before any barton had entered the doors. within minutes of entering the maximum security prison, do they find themselves standing before their fathers cell.

“hey, you old coot!” camila bangs on his door, waking him up, “you wanna go or what?” 

clint stirs at the voice, padding over into the light with blurry eyes. he looks at each of there faces for the shortest moment before it dawns on him what exactly was going on. “are you--how did you--what?”

evan shrugs, cleaning his gun with his sleeve, “we weren’t going to let you stay another day. it’s our job to make your life hell, not their’s”

clint just blinks in solid disbelief, looking at his children. 

“step back,” nico says, presses a gloved hand to the glass before knocking four times in a pattern. the electronic door slides open and clint, still confused, steps out. “henry saw the designs and told me that theres an emergency panel built into the doors for fire and other stuff” 

there is a silent moment. clint looks at each of his children like he hadn’t seen them in weeks and pulls all three into the tightest hug he could manage after so long. the only thing missing was their mother. 

“what do we do now?” he asks as camila passes him his bow and arrow. 

looking around the facility, the other members of captain’s team have noticed them and are staring in as much disbelief. “well, this was supposed to be an break and entry but i guess the quinjet has enough space for a rescue mission?”

-

“you have kids?!” 

“now is not the time, sam”

“but.... they’re so big! teenagers! you have teenagers!”

clint rolls his eyes, throwing a punch to the right to knock out the security guard coming at wanda. “is it that big of a deal?” 

camila springs forward as nico roundhouse kicks and together they take down three guards at one time. evan leads the way, punching as many guards as he can before they make it outside into the rain. 

“who’s your mother?” sam asks as nico programmes the jet to fly low enough that they can climb on, “it’s the pretty intern isn’t it? kate?”

camila frowns, “no, not katey. she’s way too pretty for him” her father knocks her shoulder lightly, before climbing onto the quinjet. “you know our mum, don’t you? natasha?” 

they almost leave sam behind, frozen in shock. he’s unsure of what shocks him more. the fact that clint barton had children (three of them, in fact, all of which were trained shield agents). 

or the fact that he had these children with natasha romanoff.

both. it was definitely both. 

-

when the quinjet lands in wakanda, t’challa greets them with a smile. 

“hello,” his voice is deep and smooth, though nico will tell them that his handshake was one of the firmest he had ever shaken. within those first few moments, they all knew he was not one to mess with. “welcome to my home. please, follow me” 

when they enter the lab, a number of things happen at once.

immediately, steve looks on in shock as his entire team enters his view in one piece. they were all in fresh clothes and seemed as if they hadn’t spent the past few weeks cooped up in a jail. 

of course, the three barton children ignore this and move towards their mother, the two boys scooping her up in a massive hug and camila essentially throwing herself into the mess of arms. “mama!” 

“my loves, my loves, my loves,” she coos, resting a cheek on each of their faces as she does. clint limps over and she gives him a long kiss; the kids were quite used to this. of course they had spent time apart before and their reunion was always the same. 

“okay,” steve’s voice, one he gets over the initial confusion, breaks over the family reunion, “what is going on here?”

“oh. capt. i’m married.” clint lifts his hand to reveal his ring. natasha does the same, “yeah. me too” 

“okay? who broke you out of jail?” 

camila raises her hand excitedly, following by an injured wave by evan and a reluctant raise by nico. 

his eyebrows narrow in confusion. “you--you kids broke into the raft? one of the most heavily guarded prisons in existence?”

evan looks at nico who shrugs back at him. natasha laughs at how unaware her children were. what they accomplished in a few days would have taken weeks to plan for those twice as experienced. 

camila blinks in confusion, 

note: the first half of this was written a good two or so years ago. the rest was written within the last week. the flow may not match but i still like it. an ode to one of my favourite and most complex characters of all time. 

yongguk was notorious for the lack of free time. 

always one of those guys that always spread himself too thin. a definite troublemaker with a penchant for taking on too much. he always found himself scheduling his time in increments, keeping true to all social commitments he promised himself to – even if it meant having coffee and cake at least five times in a single day. it didn’t help that he was ridiculously loyal, a patriot to the three or so people he actually liked to be around. it rarely happened but everyone knew he would drop everything for them. today was one of those days.

out to lunch with the ravenclaw quidditch team, having promised to help them with training their new recruits, hoseok finds him in a breathless state. though yongguk is bubbling over his butterbeer, his expression darkens instantly when he hears the other mutter a single word: “hwaeji”

he’s up and out of his seat within a fraction of a second, before his body bends over in deep apology. he always felt the familiar pang of guilt at the back of his stomach, but really, what else was he to do. he can barely keep his step as he follows swiftly after the other, silence coming between them, seeing no point in asking what had even happened – all he knew was that she needed him and that was enough. (it would always be enough).

when they finally make it to the common room, hwaeji is pacing dents into the carpet, muttering under her breath. the door shuts behind him and he catches her eye. she furrows her eyebrows, as if acknowledging that this is going to make him just as mad as it’s making her, before going back to tracing her steps.

“who the hell does marissa think she is? how dare she?”

yongguk, tentatively, sits down in front of her. his fingers curl together as elbows balance on knees. “what happened?” he slips into his french almost too easily when he is with her. he doesnt look up – nor does she stop walking – when she replies with an annoyed grunt.

“some ridiculous fourth year thinks she can hold on to ancient owls exchanged between hoseok and myself. i mean, us. do hwaeji. jung hoseok. who does she think she is?"

he loves how eloquent she sounds in french, even if the poison was obvious in her tone. she rolls her eyes, picking up a pillow to throw what seems to be a particularly rough punch. he didn’t want to ask the obvious question and so waited for her to explain why it was so important. 

in the silence, he realised a few things. one, he pieced the motive together. as a fourth year she probably wanted status or popularity (or maybe both) and so was using hwaeji and hoseok as leverage for an easy last few years. understandable. and two? well, two, is that he didn’t care to know. it wasn’t important nor was it relevant for their friendship for him to what exactly was held in those letters. though, he feels concerned. hwaeji is rarely very scared of anything – there must be good reason as to why this rattles her.

he finally stands, pulling the lapel of his button up straight. "here’s what we do. tomorrow is the fall dance. first night of the school year. big dinner, big party. we talk to her. if worst comes to worst and we cause a scene, prefects will pull her out but i’ll have that dealt with – "

"i don’t just want to talk to her” she argues. yongguk steps forward and takes her face in his hands instead, something he does rarely but knows will show just how serious he is about this.

“we will talk to her” he realises that their friendship, with everything that they’ve been through, is based on the simple touches they share and a language he had learnt through a textbook. all the emotion needed for french, he learnt with her. “she will understand. we will make her understand”

-

as it turns out, hwaeji was right. 

talking was not enough. 

if things had gone to plan, maybe they could have played the scene out differently. instead, in the light of the moon shining between the columns that illuminate the outdoor corridor, does the frightened fourth year watch them with; waiting for what was next. 

it was in this moment that he can hear his mother comment in the back of his mind. you would have made a wonderful slytherin, yongguk. ambitious, resourceful, cunning. his eyes flicker from the ground and he comes to a halt, looking at her. 

she sits against the bane of a window, her back against the wind of the courtyard. beyond them, in the great hall, was the first part of the year and one that was surely to be missed when he graduates. on either side of her sat two prefects, one slytherin and the other ravenclaw, who in their relaxed position betray the animosity that sits heavy in the air. anything could happen in the next few moments; it was entirely up to her how this ends. 

“you will bring those letters to me, first thing in the morning” 

she makes what he thinks is a gurgle. he repeats the question and this time she answers with a clear and resounding yes. 

“then you must destroy any copy you have of the letters” 

her white of her eyes catch in the moonlight and yongguk knows that she was going to rebutt. he stares back at her, daring her to say something meager in response. 

“after that, you must tell everyone that knows that the letters never existed” 

her lip juts out in a pout. fleetingly, he almost feels sorry for her. it must be terrifying to start in a new school and be looked down upon with such ferocity as they are now. 

“you will not speak of this to anyone”

“yes, mr. bang” 

he laughs. “my name is yongguk” 

“okay, yongguk” 

he nods once and instantly his friends stand, loosening their posture as a representation that the ordeal was over. “if i hear, ever the tiniest whisper, that this reaches hwaeji you can expect another visit”

her eyes widen as she believes the lie that yongguk speaks. of course he was not the man he was trying so hard to portray to her. none of them were; they were all kind seniors who in the light of day would rather help fourth years than scare them into submission. but this meant a lot to him; meant a lot to his friends.

(if that meant pretending to be a mob boss, then so be it.)

she nods again and when he returns his smile, she runs off back towards the ball. 

-

after promising the boys a good quidditch match after the entire ordeal is over with, yongguk moves back towards the ball. in full swing and bubbling with excitement, singing and laughter, he makes it a point to move automatically towards the other gryffindors. 

“where were you?”

he shrugs. leaving the movement as his answer, he swipes a glass of champagne from jin before sitting down beside her. automatically his house mates begin an animated conversation about the younger years and hwaeji’s question goes unheard over the gossip. 

later in the evening, as they are alone at the table, yongguk seated with his arm around her chair, she points out a small female on the dance floor. “that’s her,” she says, making to stand but yongguk takes her hand before she can move away. shaking his head once, he pulls her to sit back down, keep his fingers interlaced in hers just in case she moves. “what are you doing?”

taking a sip from his glass (his third that evening) he toasts an invisible being. “it’s been dealt with, hwaeji” 

aka in which the miason love story looks like ten bad writing prompts and that is bc it is (here)

notes: there are loads of reasons that this happened. some are bc i suck and have owed her a fic since forever, others involve my level of trash for tom holland, more involve mY UTTER JOY THAT SHE LOVES HAZZA AS MUCH AS I LOVE TOMMO, and lots more. idefk. set in a future au wherein the spiderman cast are on their, like, idk, third movie of the franchise and we go to visit them on set. (am i dating tom in this? who knows. WHO KNOWS.) yeah. harrison and mia would be cute. hey, hazza, send us ur digits m8 so i can hook u up with molina. ayyyyyyyy.

"are you sure its okay for us to be here?” 

glancing back, nadine simply rolls her eyes at you. this was not the first time that she had bought you on to a set nor will it be the last. really, it would be more concerning if you guys didn’t visit. what’s the point of flying to a country to visit the main star and not go see him in action.

“we have special badges or whatever; if we get stopped i’ll talk to security” 

meekly, you nod, having no other argument. walking through the throng of workers and dodging not only props but set pieces, you finally arrive to the main stage. 

set up along the walls were ceiling high green screens and cameras bigger than either had ever seen. and dangling down the middle, was the new spiderman. 

of course when he notices you two, even metres in the air, he begins to wave like a madman. behind the mask you can tell he was grinning which annoyed the director who barked for tom to focus on the scene. 

guiltily, you pull at nadine and move out of view; making a distracted beeline towards the snack table. “this is so cool!” you coo, to distract her further, between bites of a powdered donut, “how much time do you spend here?” 

she shrugs. "most of the day? if i’m not here, i’m with--where is he--” 

“who?” the question goes unheard as a large smoke machine pops loudly behind you, imitating an explosion safely for the camera. in your shock, you throw your arms in the air, connecting your fist with another persons face.

it takes a moment to register the attack and the groan coming from the thud sprawled on the floor. 

“i’m so sorry!”

a moment passes and then nadine asks confused, 

“harrison? why are you on the floor?” 

-

standing at the elevator, you try to stretch the knot at the bottom of your spine. a part of you wishes you had just gotten a hotel for yourself rather than be put up in the temporary apartment that tom has. a larger part of you knows that the sacrifice of the bed was worth living the lavish, fully paid accomodation. 

another few minutes pass and the elevator has still not arrived. annoyed, you press the button again and again. “why aren’t you--oh!” the door opens suddenly and a tall male almost topples over you.

“sorry! i didn’t see--hey” you look up at the voice and instantly recognise him. 

harrison. 

tom’s assistant. 

the boy you punched on the first day on set.

oh. shit. 

“hey, how are you?” glancing at the carpet rather than at him, you embarrassingly hope that he doesn’t remember your first meeting. maybe clocking him in the face scrambled his memory.

“doing better now that that slugger you gave me has healed” he laughs, bending time to get into your view. “are you okay?” 

finally forcing yourself to look up, you smile, only now noticing the amount of coffee he has in his hands and the curiously large bag of starbucks in the other. “are you going to drink all four of those yourselves?” 

“no, i get the coffee every morning because i’m always the first one awake,” he laughs again, this time crinkling his cheeks in genuine amusement, “it’s for all of us... unless, of course, you’re doing a walk of shame and ditching us?” 

“walk of shame?” you repeat, “what’s a walk of shame?” 

he blinks in surprise. when he realises what he had said was not only inappropriate but fell on unaware ears, he grins instead, shaking his head. “nothing. it’s nothing. let’s just do a walk of shame together--here--can you take this?”

you frown for a moment, taking the bag he offers to you. “are these croissants?”

“yeah. they’re your favourites right?”

looking up at him, you nod. when you reach the apartment again, you greet the other two inhabitants with a loud and cheery, “good morning! we’re back from our walk of shame” 

the movement in the apartment comes to a stand still. nadine ducks her head around a doorway, “who’s doing a walk of shame?”

“harrison and i!” 

a pillow comes flying in the opposite direction, smacking harrison square in the face, thanks to tom’s great aim. 

-

over the next few days, you start to wonder if somehow your karma was thrown onto it’s head. 

you begin to run into harrison everywhere and he feels comfortable enough to refer to you as slugger every single time he sees you. 

“hey slugger. what--you stalking me now?”

lifting your eyes from your phone, you watch him slump into the seat next to you. what were the odds that you would run into him three times in one day? albeit the first two times were on set and a little expected, this was purely coincidental. 

why would harrison be at a dress fitting? 

“i am not stalking you. what are you doing here?”

“don’t know. visiting. what are you doing here?”

“taking pictures to send to tom”

“yeah, me too” 

you frown at him. 

“no, really, what are you doing here?”

he smiles again, cheeks bridging the bottom of his eyes and crinkle just the edges of his lips. it’s a smile that makes you stare just a minute too long whenever he does. 

“i’m taking pictures” and as he finishes his sentence, lifts his phone to snap a quick one of you. 

“stop!” 

“no. i came to take photos so i will”

“not of me!”

“why?”

you frown again and he takes another snapshot just to annoy you.

“what are you two doing?” 

lost in the struggle, you don’t realise how compromising your position was. harrison had his back on the floor now with you straddling his waist as you argue for the phone. looking up at nadine, you freeze. 

harrison is the first to speak. “taking photos to send to tom” 

“i know that’s what mia is doing. i’m asking what you’re doing?” 

“stalking, i guess” 

-

you thought that the lights of the set would be impossible to miss.

you thought that that meant you could go for a wander and be completely fine.

you thought that the woods of atlanta couldn’t possibly be that difficult to navigate.

you thought wrong.

as you look around you, you start to wonder if the trees were supposed to start blurring into the same single image like that. maybe it was the darkness of the night. maybe it was because it was two am. either way, you could start to feel the panic bubble at the base of your throat. 

it was eerie--how quiet the forest felt even though you knew just a few hundred metres away there was a large set filled with hundreds of people. you begin to wonder if they’ve noticed your disappearance yet. 

as you continue to walk aimlessly, you hear footsteps behind you. there is the unmistakeable crackle of leaves under the weight of a body and you can hear them slowly get louder and louder.

“what are you doing in the woods, alone, at 2am?”

you recognise the voice instantly.

“harrison?” narrowing your eyes, you try to place his body in the darkness. his outline slowly moves into view and he was already smiling at you, “i wanted to go for a walk and clear my head but i got lost and--wait. what are you doing in the woods at two am? are you here to kill me”

he laughs, finally reaching you, throwing an arm around your shoulders for warmth. you lean into his body naturally as he begins to navigate you back towards the set. 

“maybe. i do still owe you for that black eye”

-

knock knock knock.

“come in!” 

turning to look at the door, you see harrison come in. you notice his unkempt hair and laugh as it would go against the suit he was wearing if it weren’t so disheveled. 

“help?” he asks meekly holding up two ties in his hand. with a warm smile, you hop off the bed and approach him. “charity ball. tom and nadine left to do some press beforehand. i’m meeting them there” 

“i thought so” you reply, picking the pale gold tie over the maroon and looping it over his neck. “do you have a date tonight?”

he nods, “laura. i’m meeting her there too” 

you don’t respond as you try hard not to look disappointed. a part of you had hoped he would say no even though you knew they were all just friends. every single one of you. 

“do you think i look okay?” after you’ve straightened his blazer and asked him to tuck his shirt in properly, you step back and nod. you feel he looks entirely dazzling though this goes unnoticed as he asks worryingly, “i look bad don’t i?”

you shake your head, taking the boutonnière from the table and fixing it to his lapel. “no. you look absolutely dashing, haz” 

“that’s the first time you’ve said that”

“hm?” you murmur, looking up at him, suddenly realising just how close you were standing to him.

“haz” he repeats, “you’re the only person on set that still says harrison. well, you were anyway”

“i like harrison, that’s why” patting down the flower, you nod. “all set. you best be off before you leave laura waiting” 

“you’re right” he bends to press a kiss to your cheek, turning to leave “thank you for the help. goodnight mia” 

as he shuts the door behind him, you hold a hand to your cheek, unsure if that was a meant action or if he had done that out of absentminded habit. you try not to think about it too much and return to decorating your room. 

knock knock knock.

“did you forget something?” 

his face seems crestfallen, tucking itself around the door. “uh... what are you doing tonight?” 

“i have my own room now so i was going to decorate. why?” 

“laura just cancelled” he steps into the room then, fingers knotted together as if he was anxious to ask something, “do you want to be my date to the ball?” the question rolls out in a short breath and his body language suddenly makes sense.

“oh.” 

you didn’t know what to say. you had never been to an event like that before (though nadine has invited you over and over again). 

“i don’t... have anything... to wear...”

“nadine left some dresses for you in case you changed your mind. they’re in her room if you want to go try them on. you don’t have to come--i just--i just thought it would be really cool if you came... if you came with me?” 

the look on his face was so hopeful that a part of you didn’t want to say no. “okay” you breathe out, slowly stepping down from the bed and moving towards him. “hopefully she has something that matches the gold of your suit” 

-

“HARRISON!” 

you gurgle in your sheets, hiding your face underneath cotton. nadine bounces around your bed, narrowly missing your limbs each time, all the while continuing to scream his name at the top of your lungs.

“HARRISON AND MIA, SITTING IN A TREE”

you finally get up to toss a pillow at her, quickly retreating into your bed when you see it connect to her body. 

“i’m hungover. why can’t you just love me and leave me alone?”

she plops down, heavily, next to you, cradling her chin in her hands. “so i trust you had a good night” you groan in response. she coughs into a hand and drops her voice an octave, imitating the many television presenters present last night. “and here we have... harrison osterfield and his beautiful girlfriend!” you groan again, willing her to stop, “harrison osterfield and mia eduardo. mia eduardo and harrison osterfield. could get really used to hearing that on the red carpet, honestly” 

“please stop” 

she laughs, reaching over to poke you in the sides, “what do you remember from last night” you shake your head underneath the pillow, “do you remember being caught on the kissing cam” 

you shoot up at the words. “kissing cam?”

“it was jacob’s idea. don’t worry, it was really innocent. harrison is such a gentleman.”

falling back into the bed, you groan again. louder this time. after a short moment of silence, you feel her move underneath the sheets beside you. her face is close to yours as you feel her breath on your cheeks, “you know he slept here last night, right?”

once again, in your surprise, you flail body limbs about. your kick lands her on the carpet with a heavy thud, rubbing her head as she looks up at you in a frown. “thanks for that!” it takes a long moment but eventually she crawls into the bed once again. “nothing happened, tom and i made sure of it. like i said, complete gentleman. i changed you but he tucked you in, left water on your bedside table, put your clothes away, everything. he offered to stay and you said yes so he did” she tries to resist laughing, “it was actually really cute”

-

it took for you to begin avoiding him to realise just how much time you spent together.

whether it was lunches or fooling around as either of you wait for you respective friends or simply running set related errands together, it didn’t occur to you how many hours out of a day you spent looking at him.

now that the mere mention of his name makes you cringe, you turn your schedule completely around. you arrive on set much later than you used to, leave when you know he will return and make sure that you eat alone or before he does (which was hard because harrison always ate with everyone all the time). 

you feel that he has begun asking the others about you as they ask you about him. "we just went as friends, you know” she smiles when they press. “like we all do. just like how you took daya or that one time laura took jacob, right?” 

“yeah, but mia. harrison has never asked any of us to be his date” zendaya notes, taking a bite of her salad with a laugh. jacob laughs too, nudging tony as if they all shared a joke, “we go as a group. you two went as a pair” 

“n--no--no” you stutter, putting down your meal, “he asked laura and, and, and she cancelled. that’s why i went!”

jacob laughs again. after she punches him on the shoulder, she turns to you with a smile, “no he didn’t”

“oh.”

-

“hey, babe” 

you snap out of your reverie to find nadine waving before your eyes. concerned, she frowns at you. “sorry. is everything okay?”

“we need more extra’s. are you busy?” 

shaking your head, you stand from the seat and follow her to the set. you hadn’t realised that while you sat by yourself, they had rolled a large ferris wheel set piece onto the stage. there were a number of extras littered around the ride and you spot tom talking to a group of them. 

“i’m guessing he’s going to save some people from a broken ferris wheel?” you ask, as they do a quick touch up to your make up. 

flipping through the clipboard, nadine nods. “yeah. it’s supposed to highlight how far he goes to hide his identity and all that good stuff. you’re okay to be on camera, right?” 

you nod. you were just an extra after all. how much time were you really going to be spending on screen, right? 

she hustle’s you in line with the other extras who are all chattering excitedly about being on a marvel set. you smile. they all looked much younger than you had expected. somewhere beyond your group stands the director who is explaining the direction of the scene. 

YOU’LL BE ENTERING THE FERRIS WHEEL IN PAIRS OF TWO. WHEN I YELL ‘GO!’ THE WHEEL WILL STOP. THERE WILL BE A BIT OF A JOLT. BE PREPARED; BE SCARED. TOM AS PETER WILL THEN SAVE EACH OF YOU ONE BY ONE HOWEVER THE MAIN FOCUS WILL BE WHOEVER IS IN THE UTMOST CARRIAGE AS THAT IS WHERE THE BEST LIGHTING IS. WE WILL DO THIS A FEW TIMES. EVERYONE READY? OKAY.

the excitement grows more so now that the scene was beginning. they begin to pair off extras at random to create a more diverse, organic group of ferris wheel riders and as you climb into the last carriage, you realise you are alone. “where is the kid?” someone screams and in the silence you hear heavy footsteps pad towards you. 

“sorry i’m late. i had to go change shirts” 

you recognise the voice and turn to see harrison clamber in beside you.

“match the gold in your dress, you know, so we can look more the part of a couple?”

he grins, much to the approving smiles of the crew. 

-

“so, you’ve been avoiding me?” 

“no i haven’t”

he laughs

“i haven’t!”

“is this because i kissed you at the ball?”

“no”

“is it because i slept next to you that night?”

“no, its not that”

“then why haven’t you been eating lunch with me and telling me to stop taking photos of you and calling my fashion sense basic and not texting me every half hour with updates on politics?” 

“no reason”

the ferris wheel has begun to move already with the crew loudly working below you. the commotion helps you to ignore his stare; you feel his body shift and know all of his attention was on you.  

“mia”

“harrison”

“mia”

“harrison”

suddenly there is a heavy jolt of the mechanic, as expected, and you feel your body fall forwards. if harrison hadn’t reacted as quickly as he did, gripping your shoulders with his hands, you think you might have fallen out entirely. you rest your hands on his arms and tell yourself to breathe, just as a camera slides up to capture your initial responses. 

“good work guys! keep it up! i like the emotion. mia, haz, good work!” 

when the camera has moved onto the next carriage, you feel yourself relax in his arms. taking a deep breath, many of them, you return to the conversation. 

“mia” he breathes, resting his forehead against yours, “molina” 

“harrison” you smile, “haz” 

“what are we, mia?” 

“i don’t know. why didn’t you just say you wanted me to be your date to the ball?”

his hands fall from where they held yours. “i like you, mia. i didn’t know if you liked me”

you can hear tom recite his lines as he saves the carriage below to you, and fleetingly you wonder if this was the best time to be having this conversation. “can we talk about this later?” 

polite as ever, though you see his face fall in disappointment, he nods. that action alone makes you smile and before you realise it, you’re leaning over to place a kiss to his cheek, “i like you, too, haz.” 

“can i kiss you once before the camera catches us?” he asks, opening his arms for a hug in case you say no. you nod once and just as his pushes his lips onto yours, do you hear a cough behind you.

“do you guys only make out in front of a camera or is this just another horrible coincidence?”

“oh shut it, you wanker, i finally did it. are you happy?”

“what?” though he was hanging from four wires and had a camera rolling behind him, tom can’t help but be excited for his bestfriend. “you finally asked her out?”

harrison, a little embarrassed at the technicalities, rubs the back of his nape in order to avoid the question. laughing at the situation, you answer for him, “he did. in a way. we’re together now, i think. right?”

“oh really?” he grins, nodding, “no, right. together! we’re together now”

the camera has stopped rolling by this point and, though you can’t hear what he’s saying, tom leans over to speak to the director. after a moment, you find him with a megaphone in hand, announcing your relationship to the entire cast and crew. 

“ATTENTION SPIDERMAN SENIOR YEAR CAST AND CREW, AFTER MONTHS OF LISTENING TO HIS LONG MONOLOGUES ABOUT HER, HAZ HAS FINALLY ASKED OUT MIA AND THEY ARE NOW DATING!” 

- 

everything is infinitely easier after that. 

you spend a few more weeks in atlanta before following the set to new york. now that there were no more questions to your relationship, schedule overlaps were a more cozy event. the both of you fall into displays of affection quite quickly and soon the cast orders you to seperate or be asked off set.

(that is how nadine temporarily becomes tom’s assistant during those first few blissful weeks of your new relationship).

when the two of you walk down new york city, bundled up in scarves and coats, he presses a kiss to your crown and a paparazzi catches the moment in an absentminded shutter. it lands on the back pages of a gossip magazine but teen fans were quick to pick up on the picture. within hours it is all over social media and fans (both harrison’s and tom’s) are clamouring for more information. 

though uncomfortable at first, you try to make best of the situation, smiling and waving whenever you see a strange man with a camera pointed at you. harrison smiles, too, because you are both smiling. when you’re alone, you both agree that nadine and tom must have it much, much harder. 

you both still laugh at each others style, both still text constantly, both still decidedly appear at random events for no reason other than to see the other.

“what are you doing here?”

he asks, when you slump into the seat beside him, resting your head against his shoulder. “visiting. what are you doing?”

“taking pictures...” he laughs, recognising the situation, “taking pictures to send to nadine.”

before you have a chance to reach into your pocket for your phone, he beats you to the cut, and snaps yet another picture of your face. “stop!” 

notes: nyssa and i were talking about situations where nico would save camila instead of the other way around and this is what we got: a musketeers mission involving a cross-dressing nico, an undercover henry and make up guru camila. partly inspired by the new um oh ah yeah music video but also bc it’s very camila barton to cross dress her brother. (づ￣ ³￣)づ

"so... freshen my memory. how exactly is this supposed to work?"

"we put you in a banging outfit, fix some make up on, can’t forget red lips, you go on a date with him as me, wine and dine for a while, henry comes in, causes a scene and then we expose him for the misogynistic pig that he is--it's really not that difficult, nico"

he's glancing at himself warily in the mirror, turning his chin this way, that way, trying, with his might, to understand the purpose of this entire... situation? thing? event? whatever it was, it made little, to no, sense to him. "what i'm finding difficult is why do i have to go on a date with him?"

"who else is supposed to go on a date with him? henry?" she laughs at the idea, turning slightly to glance at the male, doe eyed, cheeks aflame though his smile is unbothered, sprawled on her bed. they caught eyes and after a beat both broke into a laugh.

of course henry would be more than willing do this for her, of course he would, but it would expose him for more than he's ready to give and that is something she isn't ready for.

plus, nico looked more like her than anyone else did.

he opens his mouth to reply, but, shuts his lips when he finds no worthy response. pulling himself from the bed, henry comes up behind her, running a hair through nico's auburn muff. "we need to put this under a hair net or else it'll show through the wig"

his eyes instantly widen, standing to his feet, at the mention of a wig, nico concerned, worried, actually scared for the first time in a while, shaking in hands in an effort to politely decline, "no one said anything about a wig"

camila rolls her eyes, "what did you expect?” a hand reaches to seat him again, “you can't go out looking like me without curls"

with a sigh of defeat, he sits back down in the chair, leaning back to let the two do what they have to do. "so what did he say after you told him your name?" he asks, shutting his eyes so camila, with excitement, can begin the arduous task of contouring his face.

she frowns, annoyance rising again at the thought, frown lines creasing just thinking back. "he called me baby,” there was a pause, for dramatic affect, they all knew how much she hated being called baby, stare focused forward, contrasting the snarl on her lips “i am not your baby, asshole" it's the familiar beginning, they know, of a rant they had heard too many times, though, wanting to finish the story, she reverts back to the topic, her hands busying themselves with various powder sets. "he says that i should be honoured that a total ten like him even considered talking to me"

there were gasps from the males in the room, even if they've heard the story at least five times by now. "right? it took, like, all of me to not beat him up right then and there"

"why didn't you?" henry asks, looking up from where he was curling the wig, genuinely curious. "beat him up, i mean?"

she shrugs, "we were in shield headquarters--" there's an obvious grunt of distaste from nico at the mention of their parents employers, "--and he had some special tag or whatever, i didn't see. he could've been the son of a board member or something. i didn't want to embarrass him without getting some dirt first"

the son of gambit shakes his head, "exactly what i would have done"

"right?" she says with an air of victory, moving to place fake eyelashes, long, velvet expensive sets, onto her brother, "anyway i bribed kevin from accounts for full access and found out his name. also found out he's actually being investigated for his behaviour by military officers. so guess who's going to be exposed as an misogynist asshole and get his ass kicked out of shield and the military"

"you really want to ruin this guys life, dont you?" henry asks, now unsure if he wants to be involved, crescent eyes filled with concern, his pacifist personality getting the best of him..

camila gives him a stare, sighing, obviously not wanting to have this conversation, here, in front of her brother, taking both hands and covering nico's ears. she knew that if he heard her, clearly anyway, he'd skip all the theatrics and go straight to ass kicking, which, of course, would not satisfy camila at all. "he called my mother a slut, henry. my father a town fool. he even made horrible insinuations that nico and i were involved in an incestuous relationship. all of this on top of the fact he called me horrible names because i wasn't going to give him my number.” she sighs, releasing her hands, “so, yes, of course i want to take this idiot down."

it's obvious henry hadn't expected that response and with one more flick of the curling iron, he steps back to show camila their work. by god, if it wasn't already hard to tell the twins apart now it was much, much worse when nico had a wave of curls falling down his back, cascading chocolate that would make anyone believe he was camila. 

"holy shit" is all henry can say.

camila does the same, shaking her head in honest disbelief. her hand reaches for henry and together the two high five, both of them still in utter shock at the magic they performed with a few palettes and a curling iron. "we are actually fucking amazing" camila rarely swore but she had no other way of describing their work.

nico frowns, playing with his hair as he glanced in the mirror, "you guys dont think this is over the top?" both heads shake, still in awe, still marvelling. "okay. let's go take this fucker down"

-

after borrowing a few tools from their parents (just a few mics and ear pieces) they're on their way to the bar down the road from shield--where they knew the target in question would be. nico, now camila, sits himself down at the bar, instructed to wait for The Idiot to approach. the other two would be seated only a few tables away, feeding nico with instructions.

it doesnt take very long until he swaggers over to the refurbished nico, smelling more like a brewery than a shield agent. "look who came back for more" he slurs and camila can instantly see nico reel back at the words.

"remember the mission" she reminds her brother who leans forward in a perfected laugh. both henry and camila were surprised with how well nico could act--given he would always complain about being a shield agent and showing his dismay at ever working for them in the future.

within an hour The Idiot is sufficiently drunk which called for phase two: henry. downing one more tequila shot, henry takes the new found liquid courage and waltzes over to the two, throwing an arm around nico. "hey honey" his words are starting to fray at the edges and camila realises that it probably wasn't smart to feed him alcohol before sending him up. henry leans into nico with a laugh and a smile and looks as if he was about to lean in for a kiss.

the thought is forgotten as The Idiot reacts as they had expected--by getting aggressive with both nico and henry. camila prays that he throws the first punch so that she has a reason to knock him out but unfortunately the brute chooses to just push the two. "get your own girl" his voice elevates above the sound of the stereo and few heads turn their way.

"i'm not anyone's property!" nico declares. had camila not know better she'd swear nico was actually her. even down to her tones and annotations, he had her perfect. "i'm my own property!" now that they have stated the obvious, henry takes nico's hand and begins to pull him/her away, back towards the real camila.

that is until the brute takes nico by the hand, spinning him back into his grasp and snaking an arm around his waist. "not tonight. tonight you are mine, bitch" there was so much to the words other than the profanity it had become known for. there was nothing but a hatred for women that made camila's blood boil.

"bad choice" nico's voice has dropped to it's regularly octave and half a second later so does the hand around his waist. his smile is sickeningly sweet as his grasp on the others hand tightens and with a single fluid movement he's tossed the other onto his back.

a stiletto finds its way to his chest, pushing down as henry crouched to speak. "so what did we learn today? no means no: check. you are not entitled to anyone’s time: check. treat women with respect: check. dont mess with the barton twins? massive check" he's laughing at the wincing the other has on his face, looking up at nico to stop him from balancing any more weight on him. "now i have a friend who has this entire little spat on video. we're going to send it to your military buddies, you know, the ones that currently looking into your background? yeah, them. so you best figure out your excuses now"

with a tap to the knee, nico removes his leg, offering a hand to help henry onto his feet. "stay away from my sister or you'll suffer more than a concussion" he spits out, walking away.

-

"how do you even walk in heels?"

"heel, toe, heel, toe--it's not that hard once"

"we literally just ruined some dude's life for you, cut me some slack"

"yeah, i know. i love you, igor"

OH AND OTP FICS BC I LOVE MIA A LOT.

lmao lmao lmao frick was inspired by steve and nancy in stranger things and this happened and gOD HELP ME IDK GOODBYE

the first night that charles sleeps over, a number of things happen. 

dalena thinks she always knew that the first time wasn’t going to be anything particularly spectacular. hell, she wasn’t even expecting it to be great. it’s intimate, at least, and she doesn’t feel regret so that’s a victory at least. they stay up talking for a little while longer (three am is a respectable time to go to bed right?) before they fall asleep together. 

she wakes up the next morning to an empty bed. television had brainwashed her to panic--boys always run once they’ve gotten what they need. but she hears a noise beyond her door, in the kitchen, and curiously she stands to investigate; shrugging on charles’ shirt so that it hangs just over her legs. 

leaning against the door frame of the kitchen, she watches the back of the prince move around their small three bedroom home. his grey sweatpants sit on his hip as he hums a tune; unaware of her observations. 

the sun is slowly rising before him and as the dawn hits the natural highlights of hair in a ray of sunshine, she smiles. movies tell her that things changed last night, that there relationship entered a new metaphorical stage that they should probably acknowledge but, well, it didn’t feel like that. dalena still really liked him, still really wanted to see him all the time, still felt like they were on the same frequency. things didn’t feel different. not really anyway. 

finally making herself known, she tiptoes towards him, wraps her arms around his torso and kisses a good morning onto the bottom of his neck. he returns the greeting with a kiss to her cheek before moving away.

“your dad is going to wake up soon” 

with a low scoff, dalena can’t believe the words. her boyfriend, second in line for one of the richest and most valuable crowns, was scared of her dad. 

quicksilver. 

pietro freaking maximoff. 

choosing to make herself useful, she moves to help him make breakfast. the house was built before they realised a small girl was to live there so the top shelf of the kitchen was placed way too high for her to reach. turning to see her struggle, charles makes a move to pull the hoodie down as to cover her bottom before reaching to grab the bowls for her. “thank you”

they stand side by side at the counter--dalena buttering toast as charles plates the bacon and eggs. she’s almost lost in the serenity of it all when she hears footsteps enter the kitchen.

“mornin’ day, mornin’ chuck” 

charles greets him with a smile, nodding towards her father as he enters the kitchen. pietro reaches around his daughter to grab a piece of toast before folding his arms to look at her boyfriend.

“how are you guys this morning?”

dalena smiles. “good. you?”

“great, actually” he shrugs, “had a good nights sleep. how, uh, how was your sleep chuck?”

charles freezes then. after a long frozen moment, he twitches slightly. the mannerism was likely a defence mechanism to the loaded question and dalena saves her very, very embarrassed boyfriend. “he had a good sleep, i think. we both did” she smiles, rubbing his shoulders affectionately. 

“because you guys slept together, right? i mean next to each other”

a number of things happen then. 

“I’M SORRY SIR, I DIDN’T MEAN TO. I MEAN, I MEANT TO. YOUR DAUGHTER IS BEAUTIFUL. OF COURSE SHE IS. BUT. I’M REALLY SORRY. I’M SO, SO, SO, SORRY”

dalena wraps her arms around her boyfriend, laughing at his breakdown. 

pietro near vomits, moving towards the sink as he dry heaves in his laughter. 

sebastian comes clambering to the kitchen, worry and fear present on his face as he prepares to fight whatever harm was in their kitchen. 

esme, lastly, ponders behind her brother, yawning “whats going on?”

“your sister was deflowered by a prince who is, apparently, having a meltdown at the fact that everyone in this household knows” 

half a troll, half not. i kind of love this a lot, in all honesty. i also cant believe how much i love the dynamic of taek x nadine being siblings. i hate it. HAHAHAKJSDHLAKJHSDKALSD. i just spoke about myself in the third person. thats fucked up. anyway. YEAH. IDK. 

“who the fuck are you?”

it takes a moment but eventually your eyes focus on the image of a small female, standing barefoot, before you. you blink hard a few times, replying with a sense of uncertainty, “my name is mei”

“what are you doing here?”

there is a sense of hostility in her voice that you cannot place. with more confidence this time, you reply “i don’t even know where here is”

“who bought you here?”

you shrug. “no one, i think? i fell. that’s all i remember”

she narrows her eyes at you in disbelief until something flashes across her face, as if she suddenly remembered something, and then her expression turns into one of anger. she mutters an annoyed, “taekwoon,” before striding out of the room. “taekwoon that freaking idiot”

-

later, you stir slightly to darkness, illuminated by a type of magic you cannot place. there were no lights, as far as you can tell, but you saw well enough to know that the large room was empty bar the four seats just in front of you. two large thrones, flanked on either side by two smaller thrones. it was likely a ballroom, you think, one that saw many parties and events.

you notice the flowers next. it occurs to you how funny it felt to see such a large plantation of flora in a room so dark. you wonder how they survive in a place with no sunlight as you fill your senses with their smell. they smelt almost as fresh as they do at home.

you wander about the room, running fingers over the the decorations that were against the walls. portraits of a family--a tall, brooding, father; a beautiful mother and two children who seem to be quarrelling even in the one dimensional artwork. you smile at the forlorn expression he has, wondering just how many fights he’s lost and how many he has won. he stands beside his sister, small and smiley, and you recognise her as the girl you had met earlier with the questions and no answers.

there is a creak on the other end of the hall and quickly you turn to see him, the son, striding towards you, a tray in hand. “um,” he begins when he reaches you, glancing at the tray of food and drinks, “how are you feeling?”

you hesitate for a moment. you do not know where you are after all, who this person is or why you are here. but he has a softness to his features and your journey around the hall has made it feel as if you knew him on a level above strangers. “i’m... okay. just a bit chilly, is all. can we open a window?”

he shakes his head. “the windows don’t open here. even if they did, it’s not a view you would want to see. trust me”

“where is...” you are unsure of how to phrase the question, the idea in itself seeming almost dumb, “here?”

he swallows hard. “hell. hades. the underworld. you’re in my home”

-

“you did WHAT?” she screeches at him, blinking hard in disbelief. “you know that’s KIDNAPPING right?”

“it is not” he replies with a sense of of knowing, as if he truly believed that it was not kidnapping, “it’s what dad did. it’s romantic.”

“it’s kidnapping”

“it’s not”

“she tripped and fell into the underworld and instead of taking her home, you decide to bring her here, OF ALL PLACES, and left her in the ball room without explanation” she offers her open palm to him, a metaphorical plate of ideas, “that sounds a lot like kidnapping”

“when you put it like that, of course it sounds like kidnapping”

“mum is going to throw a fit at you”

“not when i explain how romantic it is”

she throws her hands in the air, turning to leave the room, all the while repeating the words “HE FINALLY CHOSES A CONSORT AND HE KIDNAPS HER”

-

the next time you wake up, you’re in a bedroom. rather large, you think, for the single bed that sits in the middle of it. the walls are bare and a dark blue. instantly you know it belongs to the son, or at least, was decorated by him. you curiously look through the closet to find it completely filled with clothes all of which fall in line with your likes and styles.

you wonder how that was possible.

you pull a dress from its midst, admiring it with a smile.

“feel free to take anything that you like, if you wish to change. my sister wont mind, i doubt she’ll even notice”

you turn to see him at the door, holding yet another tray of food. you return the dress and move towards him, “are you going to tell me why i’m here?”

his face loses its colour. “of course. soon. i need to consult with my father first, if that is okay?”

you nod slowly. you’re unsure of where this trust has come from but you feel at ease with waiting for his father. he smiles, which makes you glad, moving sideways to allow you outside of the door. “i was thinking--in the mean time, if you want, of course--we could take a walk along the river bank?”

“oh, is the weather nice?” you quickly respond.

he laughs. “the weather is never nice but the river styx has its merits”

-

“TAEKWOON KIDNAPPED A MORTAL”

their parents had barely stepped one foot into their home, when nadine exposed her brother. taekwoon stands quickly, glaring at her, half in disbelief, half in respect. she always did come through with her promises to tell on him.

his mother steps into view, anger flush over her beautiful features “taekwoon did what?”

“she fell in one of dads trap doors! its not kidnapping... not really!”

hades tries not to laugh. persephone speaks again. “did you ask her if she wanted to come here?”

“well, no, not really. she kind of just showed up, in honesty”

“did you ask her if she wanted to go home?”

“no?”

“son” hades is completely laughing now, placing a hand on his shoulder, “that is kidnapping”

“then you kidnapped mum!”

“i did and no one has ever let me live it down even though we are happily married with two kids” hades cannot resist the urge to continue laughing at the misfortune, “you need to send her home”

-

you think if the concept of time meant something in hell, you had been there a week. seven days, maybe more, its hard to tell when the sun does not set or rise to signify the start or end of a day.

there is a knock at the door. you were moved to the guest bedroom when his parents returned from their trip. they were kind and accomodating, the father with a lively smile on his face as if he was fighting the urge to laugh at a joke and the mother, beautiful, with lips pursed in constant thought. the room is larger and his sister provides you with all the clothes and necessities you need. you realise she is far nicer than that first meeting.

“mei?” her voice speaks from beyond the door, “can i talk to you?” you murmur a yes and she enters the room, sitting on the bed, facing you. “how has your day been?”

“really good. taekwoon took me for a walk around your mothers gardens. its very beautiful” you smile at her as genuinely as you can.

“thats... really nice” there is a hesitation in her voice, as she looks down at her dress, “i wanted to quickly talk to you about him--my brother--taekwoon?”

“of course” you reply without much choice, “whats wrong?”

“he likes you. he really likes you. hes liked you for a while, which is weird, because he doesnt really like much” she laughs then, and you wonder whether that was a joke. “he’s going to send you home soon and i just wanted you to keep that in mind when you make your decision”

“oh. okay. i definitely will”

she stands and moves to leave. she opens the door but hesitates for a moment. “theres a new kind of life to him, you know, since you fell into our home. i mean, it’s weird. we’re the children of the dead, we’re not truly born with much life. that’s just how it is but there’s something... different about him. you bring out something different in him” she smiles to herself, shaking her head, “i’m just rambling now. goodnight, mei”

-

“today is the day!” nadine announces, entering the kitchen with a large smile, “judgement day! will taekwoon keep his girlfriend or will she bounce--stay tuned!”

taekwoon scowls, “do you have to make such a joke out of it?”

coming towards her brother, she wraps her arms around him to pinch his cheeks, “i do it out of love” she laughs, “and because i know how much you like her”

“okay, okay, stop bullying your brother” persephone shoos them both into their seats, leaving a bowl of fruits before each of her children. “he is tormented enough as it is, alright?”

nadine rolls her eyes but digs silently into her breakfast. hades enters a moment later, sitting at the head of the table with a cup of coffee. “its today, isnt it?” he asks, as if he didnt understand how monumental this was for them.

taekwoon wants to drown himself in his cereal.

“question,” nadine says nonchalantly, though taekwoon can already tell from her tone that this was going to be another joke at his expense, “if mei chooses to stay and they get married--does that mean she will eventually, one day anyway, become queen of the underworld?”

there is a split second as the realisation dawns on all of them. hades begins to roar with laughter at the exact moment that nadine does, while his mother tries hard to politely hide the growing smile.

as if taekwoon wasn’t already feeling the pressure.

-

you sit opposite him, your knees touching, in the garden his mother had grown especially for you. she has begun to call it the garden of mei, which causes you to blush profusely, as the purple and plum coloured flowers grow around you.

you’ve stayed almost a month now in his home, accommodated by his family and their friends. you’ve met hakyeon, the son of apollo, who seems to smile so bright that you think that he was born with the sun seared into his darkened skin. hongbin and sanghyuk, the twin sons of dionysus, kind and loud, who seem to cause more havoc together than they do apart. you’ve even run into nadine’s consort, youngjae, the son of athena, who has every ability to talk about any topic for hours on end. you’ve met all their aunts and uncles, the extended family and those beyond the realm itself. you feel almost part of them; one of them.

there is a hesitation to him today, you notice. an invisible ledge that he is afraid to step off. “is everything okay?” you ask eventually.

he nods. “yeah, i just need to ask you something but i’m not sure how to say it”

“theres no better way to say it than to just say it” nadine’s words echo in your mind.

he breathes in deeply, “do you want to stay?”

“stay?”

“here? with us; with me”

you already knew your answer. in the beginning, it had been different. those first few days, there was no swaying your mind. you wanted to go home. but as time grew and you became more familiar with the palace, you realised that there wasn’t really anywhere else you’d rather be. of course you would bargain some time to go home and visit your own family, your own friends, but for the most part you were happy to stay.

“yes”

-

in true persephone fashion, she throws a ball to celebrate the decision. it was only fair, she explains, they did throw a ball when nadine agreed to be youngjae’s (they were just lucky that that particular arranged marriage worked out so well).

taekwoon spends the entire night completely red in the face as mei works her wonders socially.

hakyeon appears early on with his father, gleaming at her, “i knew you would say yes. how can you resist this smile” he says looking at an obviously displeased, pouty taekwoon.

dionysus was unable to attend due to prior commitments; however sends his sons in his steed. they spend the entire night asking her why, of all people, did she choose taekwoon before they are sent away by wonshik, who on behalf of his father poseidon, sends his well wishes.

youngjae catches her just as zeus begins to throw a few lines her way, dragging her away from their uncle who, even at his old age, manages to be able to think with one thing other than his brain. he tries to offer some advice; how to deal with the siblings, their parents, and you appreciate the help though explain that you’ll probably survive. how much work could taekwoon be after all.

you end the night dancing with taekwoon, his arms held around you tightly, underneath the light shining above, installed specifically for the night, on a near empty dance floor.

-

when everyone had already left, you find yourself stumbling along with the others into your garden. you find nadine and youngjae already there with a number of friends, a little bit drunk on the open bar.

she groans loudly when she sees you.

“god,” she says sloppily, “now that he has someone to love, i have to be the normal one in the family”

you laugh, “you were never normal, nadine”

i’m done for tonight. i swear. probably. idk. i wanna do one more jongara + squad thing but we’ll see how bothered i am. I’M DONE WITH THE CRACK. I NEED TO CHILL TF OUT. HELLO DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND.

normally divination was a silent class but today, due to the unsurprising absence of both mei and taekwoon, hongbin and jessica were partnered together and from there a rare case of noise traffic begins.

in reality, hongbin did not take divination seriously. it was normally taekwoon, with his abrupt knowledge of tea leaves, that would keep him afloat in the otherwise boring class. as the knowledge bank was missing, hongbin was forced to flick through the text book looking for clues.

“it looks like a crescent moon and... roses? or posies? is there a difference?” he asks, finger sliding down the page and he recites the meaning: “a moon and any kind of flower means a new love is on the horizon, often between the reader and the tea owner--wait. what” hongbin realises what he says and quickly hands the cup back, knocking it out of his hand. he watches with defeat as it rolls away. “sorry!”

“what is wrong with him?” himchan leans over to ask hakyeon, who turns to look and shrugs. 

“no idea. divination isn’t his really his strength” 

“yeah, because it requires him to speak to people that aren’t wonshik” sanghyuk pipes up, earning a slap upside the head from the aforementioned gryffindor. 

when she retrieves her cup from the floor, cleans it and pours a new glass, she hands it to hongbin and waits his opinion. he takes a deep breath and tries again. “so i see a heart, i think, and those are stars, maybe?” there is no confidence in his voice as he flicks through the book, “so stars means...destiny and heart means... romance? so i think it means that you’ll be meeting your destined romance soon? the dark leaves apparently mean now... you’ll be meeting your destined romance now” hongbin looks proud with his revelation until, again, he realises what he is saying, and promptly shuts the book, announcing a little too loudly: “my turn!” 

“is everything okay over there?” nadine eventually calls over the class when professor trelawney had ducked out to speak to the headmaster, “i didn’t realise reading tea leaves would require yelling?”

jessica ignores the question and takes the cup from hongbin. she finds vines and trees and sunshine and concludes something about a vacation which hongbin quickly reports down in his notebook. “do you want to read one more of mine before the class ends?” she asks, already pouring another glass.

he is reluctant but nods, taking the cup from her again. looking in he sees nothing but circles and is relieved. circles were boring, simply, as far from romantic as humanly possible. opening the textbook quietly, he finds the section on circles and, again, begins to recite “circles, while often having no romantic connotation, when in a large group of multiples means marriage is on the horizon for the owner--there you go. marriage!” he shuts the book and grins at her. 

“marriage?” she questions, hiding her laugh, “you’re telling me that basically there is a new love on the horizon for me, with you, my apparent destined romance that will end in marriage?”

“yes!” his grin does not falter until a beat later when someone across the room erupts in laughter, “oh god. no, no, no! i mean, i’m not doing it on purpose, i swear, it’s tea leaves and they--they--they’re telling me these things--!” his awkward explanation is cut short when professor trelawney returns to dismiss the class. 

“that has got to be the smoothest pick up i’ve ever seen you do” wonshik says as the class files towards their next class, “proud of you” 

“that’s not what that was...” he mumbles, a bit embarrassed that that was what it seemed like, “i was just trying to be a good student” 

“really?” sanghyuk jumps in, picking up a piece of parchment on the table and waving it in the air, “i think you’re the only person who believes that because, what’s this? her phone number? wait--if hongbin was genuinely trying to learn divination does this mean he just picked up jessica on accident?”

lmao. lmaoooooooo. there is strong potential i could get beat up for this. but there is even stronger potential that i don’t care. 2/? harry potter au goddamn i am feeling this shit yas 100%

when her cat leaps from her hands, mei runs into the first open room to find him. instead she walks into an empty classroom, desks set aside, a trunk in the centre and a boy in ravenclaw robes cowering below something unseen. 

she turns her head in confusion and, finally spottting the butterfly, pulls out her wand and sends it back into the trunk. “taekwoon? are you okay?” she asks, cautiously approach him.

he’s embarrassed, of course, but is trying hard not to let this come across. “i’m fine. what’s wrong?”

“my cat ran into this room,” she explains before looking over at the trunk, “what was that about?”

“nothing” 

“that was not nothing. what is it?” 

“nothing”

she rolls her eyes. she was not an oblivious gryffindor that he could lie to but rather a brilliant ravenclaw that could easily put the equation together. this was a defence against the dark arts room, one that she knows is notorious for boggart practice. 

at the same time that her face opens in a laugh, he realises that she recognises what happened, “don’t laugh! it’s not that funny”

“is your boggart a butterfly?!” she squeals in laughter, “not even more a swarm of butterflies? really? JUST ONE BUTTERFLY?”

“please stop laughing”

“but butterflies! i was expecting like, i don’t know, a lion or the world suddenly stops producing flannels and singlets. not butterflies” 

“it’s not that funny--and hey! i look infinitely good in flannels and singlets, thank you very much”

“yeah, okay” she laughs, “are you ever going to tell me why it’s a butterfly?” 

“nope.” he says with a smile, “you’re never going to let me forget about this, are you?” 

“maybe,” she laughs as her cat returns to her and leaps into her arms, “or maybe i’ll do this!” stepping towards the trunk, she kicks it open, only to leap back in fear when a worm jumps out. 

“shut up” you mutter up at taekwoon after he flings the bug back into the trunk and casts the boggart away, “it’s not that funny” 

he makes the ‘my lips was zipped shut’ movement and offers his hand, helping her stand, “i won’t say anything if you won’t”

she rolls her eyes: “deal” 

-

what doesn’t help is that now neither mei nor taekwoon can be taken outside without one of them exploding in screams at the sight of a either bug.

“what the fuck is wrong with them?” nadine asks, shielding her eyes from the sun and watching the retreating back of taekwoon run back into the castle and mei following suit. youngjae shrugs. 

“do you really want to know?” jessica asks, “how much time do you have?”

-

ALTERNATE ENDING:

“maybe,” she laughs as her cat returns to her and leaps into her arms, “and maybe i’ll do this!” stepping towards the trunk, she kicks it open, only to leap back in fear when jinyoung stands from it’s depths.

“really? he’s your boggart?” taekwoon rolls his eyes and wastes no time shoving him back into the trunk. when the physical attempts do nothing, he takes out his wand and casts the thing behind the lock. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARI MOON ILY. in the grand tradition of gifting fics on her birthday, i’ve moved away from cute and from long and wrote crack. god. what is this. idk. i trIED. I ALSO KINDA LIKE THIS AU OF THE SQUAD JUST SPYING ON OTHER COUPLES AND JUDGING THEM. and completely and entirely using magic to their advantage. i love it. anyway. bye. idk.

himchan enters the great hall early one morning to find a small crowd gathered at the end of the hufflepuff table. he takes a seat behind youngjae and nadine, who was leaning against her boyfriend, and asks what was happening.

“daehyun told jongup that he put felix felicis into his drink so now we’re watching him do the one thing he had been too scared to do all year” she replies.

“he’s finally going to ask arazely out?” himchan asks to which youngjae confirms. 

nadine sits up slightly, cupping her hands around her mouth to shout an encouraging, “i believe in you jongup!” which causes an eruption of applause around the slytherin and hufflepuff tables. 

mei transfers from her place at the ravenclaw table, sitting just in front of nadine and turning to the look at jongup as well, “what’d i miss?”

“not a lot. surprisingly all he’s done is sit beside her and she doesn’t seem to notice that he’s going to ask her out even though we’re all screaming at them”

“how long have they been playing this oblivious game?” youngjae asks.

himchan shrugs, “like a year? probably more. jongup keeps saying he doesn’t want to ruin the friendship or whatever”

“they’re practically married” jessica pipes up from across the table, sipping at her pumpkin juice. hongbin is beside her snapping photos for future reference. “whatever that means”

“this is taking forever” himchan whines, taking his wand and with a flick, knocks over a glass on the table to fall on his lap. jongup jumps up within a second as arazely tries to help him clean up. “there we go. this should make it more interesting”

arazely, bless her soul, tries to help by patting down the damp space on his lap but the conscious space seems to cause a ripple through the student body that watches them and everybody erupts in expectant giggles. it was no or never. “ari... i...” this time it is daehyun who charms the younger boy, elevating his voice to carry throughout the great hall, “i want to ask you something” 

it was so endearing to hear the nervousness in his voice. arazely stops patting him and leans back, surprised at the sudden change. “y-yes?”

“please girlfriend my be?” jongup shakes his head, “girlfriend my be please. oh god. be my girlfriend, please?” 

it’s almost like magic the way they all lean to hear her answer. arazely, who had had her back to the other students previously turns around and everyone quickly looks away as to stop looking like creeps--all except for himchan and nadine who, together, shout the same four words to her “just kiss him already!” 

taking the advice, she leans in to kiss him softly, leaning back with a smile. jongup folds into a happy smile for a full moment before asking, “wait so is that a yes? you’ll be mine?”

“GOD YES YOU IDIOT” daehyun screeches from the gryffindor table. arazely looks at the gryffindor, laughs, and then turns to look at jongup, nodding in confirmation.

thanks to another one of himchan’s charms, the entire hall heard her confirm their relationship and erupted in cheers. jongup and arazely had been one of those will-they-wont-they couples that were closely followed by the student body on the rumour mills and now that they ‘were’ all the students celebrated the end of this previously never-ending saga.  

youngjae laughs, returning to his meal as jongup and arazely join the slytherin table “can’t believe he wasted his bottle of liquid luck on you. that would’ve happened eventually” 

"i didnt” daehyun pipes up, pulling the aforementioned bottle of gold from his pocket, “just told jongup i did so he could finally find the balls to do what he needed to do” 

“you didn’t...” with that, jongup’s jaw falls slightly ajar in shock, “...i can’t believe you lied to me!”

daehyun rolls his eyes, “if i didn’t you would’ve never asked her out and joongi would have and then you guys would fight because come on have you seen joongi so really, my lies have saved your life again. you’re welcome”

“joongi?” jongup mutters, walking over to the gryffindor table and clocking the other square in the face, “STAY AWAY FROM MY GIRL” he growls, an unfamiliar expression of anger washing over his face for a second before he glances up with a smile, looking over at her, “i just realised, i can call you my girl now! arazely is my girl. my girl, ari!” 

note: completely and entirely inspired by the vsfs 2015. not even sorry. not even a little bit. 

she isn’t sure how she ended up in this situation. someone knew someone else who knew vince who introduced them to sebastian who happened to know dalena--all in all, she’s standing at a casting of a very famous brand, half excited, half terrifed walking into the room.

dalena is more than confident in her body. hell, she could rock a potato case and still feel like the sunshine radiated out of her butt. the problem was that dalena didn’t like being paraded around by a conglomerate looking to make a couple extra thousand dollars from her good given talents.

she storms down the room, in heels that make her feel like a giant, does a quick turn at the table and then storms all the way back, making sure to sway her hips as she does (per the suggestion of her aunty). taking a very deep breath, she returns to the front of the room and awaits the verdict.

“what are you doing on november ninth?”

she blanks, of course, unsure of what they were asking her, “i’m not sure yet? i’ll have to check my diary”

the older male, with thinning grey hair and a wrinkled smile, leans into his palms and smiles at her, “why don’t you join us then?” she’ll later find out that that was in fact ed razek who, among other things, owned the company. 

“oh.” is all she manages to say, nodding her short blonde bob with an awkward smile, “okay” 

-

“what do you mean you’re walking the victoria secret fashion show?” charles is stood at the door, half of his foot over the threshold of their home, staring at her with a sort of confusion that she would normally find endearing.

“i mean exactly what i said” she, too, sips her own coffee so that she had something to do other than stare at him like a deer in headlights, “they offered me an audition, i went, then they offered me the show” 

he takes one long lasting stare at her and laughs. shutting the door behind him, she can hear him laugh all the way to his car, probably not realising just how real she was being. 

-

her first round of fittings go well. unlike a few of the other models, dalena rarely changes measurements, maintaining a near perfect hourglass figure since she was sixteen. in part she thinks its one of the great things of being married to an athlete but mostly it’s her good genes.

(or, at least, thats what pietro says) 

the second round goes far better. they fit her with wings (how many first timers get wings!) and let her know what segments she will be walking in. they explain to her that how the show works and the general timeline that she should expect with rehearsals. she is perfectly okay with them and replies by asking what time lunch will be.

the third round she completely blows everyone away, bar the slight stumble in her legs as she walks down the illuminated runway for the first time that afternoon. the other models encourage her, praising her talents though this was the first show she had ever walked. after a few more rehearsals, there is an announcement that the line up had changed. as it turns out, dalena will be closing the show. 

“are you sure this is the first time you’ve ever modelled?” someone pulls her aside later, offering her a bottle of water.

dalena nods, “yeah, i mean, i did cheerleading for all my high school life so modelling was never really on my radar” 

“well it should be now. you’re a natural. your boyfriend must be such a lucky guy” 

-

“okay, no, really, what do you mean you are walking the victoria secret fashion show?”

as a sort of thank you, dalena comes home every so often with a bag full of goodies from the brand. she mostly picks out VSX work out gear as well as a very pretty pink silk robe. lucky for charles, she picks out a few pieces of lingerie for him--she stands in a pale pink number as he questions what she had been doing for the past two months.

“i am literally standing half naked in front of you,” she lifts the edge of her very short lace skirt, letting it fall beside her thigh again, frowning at him, “and you’re asking me to clarify how i got it instead of taking it off me?” 

his question was ignored as he answered hers. 

-

when the day finally comes, dalena feels like she could hurl. the stadium felt far bigger than it had during rehearsals and the sea of faces that sat before felt like far more eyes than ever before. she was used to crowds, of course, but she was not used to walking down a runway for all the word to gawk at. 

the other models try to hype her up, calm her nerves, prepare her, but instead of anything else, they push her. literally. standing behind her, in her golden angel warrior outfit, someone pushes dalena onto the runway and she storms down the lights with a grin.

the crowd roars with excitement when she comes into view. the sounds soak into her skin and the adrenaline fills her entire body. watching as another model makes the turn at the end, dalena copies her movements, searching for a camera and pointing at it with a grin, winking to the millions that would watch. 

-

she rushes backstage and they literally need to cut her out of her outfit in order to get her to fit into her next one. she’s glad that it was just a bra and thong; as badass as it felt to feel like a greek god in gilded wings, it was incredibly heavy to carry down a mile long runway. 

when she steps onto the runway, the piano blares behind, and she feels more ballerina than model. the crowd applauds again, reflecting the subdued nature of this segment. she feels no reason to play the crowd, instead placing her hands on her hips, and smiling the widest that she can. 

it was hard to discern faces in the sea of people and cameras that flash at her but she spots charles in no time. in reality, she had stood at the edge of the runway at the very beginning and made the mental note of his seat so that she could wave at him every time she did. she forgets the first time, and this time too, simply smiling at him when she passes by him. 

it is only when she stumbles backstage does she realise how bored he looked and how utterly lonely it felt. though the entire room, the entire world, will look at her with glee and maybe envy, it felt different when the person you cared about most did not look at you that way. 

-

in her last outfit, a typical black lace number, she prepares herself mentally. she asks the other girls in line what they do for their last number, suggestions of winks and kisses and waves thrown her way. with so many options, dalena isn’t sure what to do and since she was closing the entire show, it seems that her decision was important. 

the stereos blast the music as camera flashes fill her view. she enters the runway with a pose then struts her legs down the runway. though her mind was miles away trying to figure out what she wanted to do for her boyfriend it did not show on her face; she grinned and winked and smiled as she walked down, until eventually making it to the end. 

there is a split second, barely anything to pick up on, where she is blank until her hands come together and frame a heart and she mouths ‘i love charles’ into the camera. the beat drops and it reminds her to leave, flicking her extensions over her shoulder as she does. 

when she passes by him again, she points right at him and screams, physically screams ‘I LOVE YOU!’ at him. her sudden display of affection causes a raucous, roaring applause and cheers meeting her. those sitting beside him, including his twin brother, begin to react as one would expect, patting him on the back for not only landing a model but having her confess her love so publicly for him. 

-

when they’re walking home, his arm tight around her waist, he places a kiss to her cheek. “so that’s what you mean when you said you were walking for the victoria secret fashion show”

“what do you mean?” she laughs, his laugh drunk with wine, fumbling with her keys to get their apartment door open, “i mean exactly what i said”

“no you didn’t” his breath is on her neck, placing kisses where her dress begins, “you wanted to embarrass me”

when the door finally opens and they stumble inside, his hands already wanting to see what particular gift she had underneath, she pauses to laugh, “yes charles. i worked out three hours a day, seven days a week, for two months just so i can embarrass you. definitely sounds like something i would do”