oh my gosh i was mobile and never got an alert about this message!!! rip mobile tumblr for making me wait to see this *sobs* @callittheblues

when jesse walked in the door, his ma shook her head but she was smiling as she got up to look for the first aid kit. 

“i’m fine, ma,” he called after her, looking at his brothers. jez was kicking his chair, an annoying habit he’d picked up from somewhere, and jules had actually put down his book. “there was a first day of school fight,” he teased, taking his own seat. of course, they knew that already. as if his torn shirt and the cut in his eyebrow he was hoping would scar didn't already prove that. 

dad – henry had drilled him on fighting at the beginning of the summer, telling him it meant more if he stuck to fists alone. he’d probably already been fucking his east slut by then, trying to make jesse go easy on them, because he was pussy-whipped. 

“did you kill any east kids?” jez asks, eager, and it almost sounds kinda weird in a little kid voice, but it’s way better than him being all quiet like he had for a while. 

“nah,” jesse smirks, taking out his phone. “but i heard i made this one blind in one eye.” he’d done more than just the one guy, but this was probably the most impressive. he slides the phone across the table to jules, watching his eyes widen as jez grabs for the phone, their heads bent over it. sure, they’re kids, but it’s not like this is somebody. this is just an east kid who said the wrong fucking thing to him. 

“what did you do to him?” jules asks, and this is good for him. he’s two years out from this – if he gets ready now, nobody will see him coming. 

“nothing he didn’t deserve,” he starts, looking at their impatient faces. “i’d already picked off a bunch like him, but he comes in running his mouth, you know? asked me if i wanted to know how my daddy was doing,” he scoffs, shaking his head. jez’s eyes are wide, but jules’ have gone narrow, and he doesn’t know which is better. “and you guys know, you gotta fight with whatever you can find, so i picked up one of the chairs and just smashed it in his face, and he went right down. some of the guys held his guys back, cause he was crawling, you know, trying to get up? so i kicked him in the ribs, here and here,” he points to his side, “and that put him down pretty good, but pretty good isn’t good enough for what he said.” 

he can see their mom out the corner of his eye, and she’s leaning on the door, but she doesn’t look like she wants to stop him. mostly, she just looks proud, and he straightens up. 

“i kicked him in the face. stomped on him, i guess,” and you can see the bloody footprint in the picture he got, which is why he took it. “definitely broke his ribs and his nose, and i heard after last period he was saying he couldn’t see, but that’s what he fucking deserves.”

“jesse,” ma says, nodding her head towards jez, who looks like he’s memorizing every word. 

“ma, i’m telling them about me destroying this asshole, i gotta swear,” he protests, and it’s not like it’s bothering either of them. jez is grinning, his legs still, and jules is quiet, but he’s smirking. the phone rings, probably someone calling to tell him he did good. “jules?” 

“were you wearing boots, or those?” he asks, looking at the shoes jesse probably won’t be able to wear again. “how’d you do that to his face?” 

“i crouched, kinda, and balanced on my left foot when i stomped him,” he explains, “he was already fucked up from everything else, so i didn’t need boots.” maybe he’ll find out where that guy lives and drop his shoes off, make sure he knows not to fuck with him again. 

there’s a strange look on ma’s face when she comes back in, the phone left in the other room. “jess?” 

“yeah?” 

“that was kimberly,” he looks at her blankly. “one of our moles, keep up. that boy you fought today – he died. brain bleed.” she’s looking at him, almost expectantly, but also sort of not, and he can’t figure out why she’s looking at him like that. he turns to his brothers, taking the phone back from them. 

Nadia pulled her hair up, wrapping the hairband around it in one quick motion. There. It felt a lot nicer like that, the air cooler against her neck in this crowd of students. She wasn’t used to attending Quidditch matches, period, and a lot of younger students had refused to sit near her. Whatever, she didn’t mind. 

Beside her, Luka’s eyes were fixed on the players in the sky -- or maybe just on the green #2 jersey. She only had eyes on the yellow version. As he ducked and barrelled, dropping -- she blindly reached out, smacking Luka’s arm.

“Nadia, he’s fine,” he said, wincing, and she paused. “It is part of the game,” he added, rubbing his shoulder. “I think that’s the third time you’ve panicked this half.” 

“I didn’t know we were keeping track,” she huffed, pulling her hands back to her lap. So what if she worried, that was a totally normal girlfriend to do, and she was a good girlfriend. 

He woke up slowly in his boyfriend’s bed, blinking himself awake gradually. There was a warmth piled around his neck, soft, and Gendry murmured into the pillow, blinking as he registered Cam standing on the other side of the bed. 

And that warmth settled on his shoulders was fuzzy -- oh, the cat. Cam’s cat. She liked him. He brought up one hand to pet her a little clumsily, listening to her mew and rub her head against his palm. 

“You’re encouraging her,” Cam said, sounding a little grumpy, and he looked up at him properly. “I get up to start my day and she swoops in, you menace.” This last bit was addressed to her, seeing as she was starting to knead against his chest. Gendry rubs his eyes, still not feeling with the program, and then he catches sight of Cam’s hand, scratched. 

“What happened?” He asks, pushing himself into a sitting position as he starts to pet her, sheets crumpled around his waist. 

“I was going to get back in bed with you, so I tried to move her,” Cam explains, taking a seat on the bed, and Gendry automatically moves closer, resting his head against his shoulder. “Never meant to hurt you,” he addresses her again, as she lets out a louder mrow, flicking her tail in Cam’s face, and it makes him laugh. 

They’d talked about the party that night earlier, of course. Gendry wanted to play -- he hadn’t in a while, so he didn’t have any plans to drink. Cam had shrugged and said he wasn’t planning on getting drunk, but he was probably going to have a few drinks anyway. 

Which was fine. 

It was just that Cam was kind of hot after a few drinks, a little flushed and maybe his mouth was redder than usual, a little stained. He’d messed up his hair at some point, talking and laughing while he gestured with his cup, and Gendry couldn’t help but look at him. 

It’s the last weekend before their Easter break and the sun is shining. At this point, Wyatt doesn’t even bother with asking where Wren is. He knows he’ll find him down by the lake. It’s a little bit surprising to see him sitting with a group of fifth year girls, his voice just that little bit deeper underneath their chatter. They all giggle when they see him coming, but Wren just grins, tilting his head up for a kiss. 

“What’re you doing, sunshine?” He asks, sitting down on the grass, his knee bumping up against his boyfriend’s comfortably. There’s all this different colored string in Wren’s lap plus he has his concentrating face on, fingers fumbling through different knots. 

some day~ ��