Bettie and William sat in the middle of her floor, with the likes of Led Zeppelin blaring from the small stereo she kept in her room. She tapped her foot to the beat of Moby Dick as William bent over her CD collection.
He flicked through all of them, his eyebrows furrowing at the bands he’d literally not ever heard of in his entire life. Like The Chest Hair Carpets. He was sure Bettie had to have made that one up.
He held up the CD in his hand, his eyebrows raising in that silent question. “No,” she said, squinting to inspect the cover. “They’re a real band, I promise. Pirate Sea Shanties. They’re really good.”
Without a word, William just put it right back where he’d first found it. “Where’s all of your angry lesbian music?” he teased, finally moving to sit opposite her on the carpet.
“I keep it with the unmentionables, if you want to go look there,” she challenged, sly grin on her face.
“Well, I don’t really think I have the right plumbing to make that, you know, to make that exactly, uh, pleasurable for you.”
“You’re right, Willikins-”
“Don’t call me Willikins.”
“So, Willikins. Why don’t we both cut the crap, and you tell me exactly the one thing that you want to tell me. And I mean, yeah, I want to know, but you definitely want to tell me, I’m vibe-ing that off of you.”
“...What do you mean?”
“Well how are things with Megan?” she asked, stretching her legs out in front of her and leaning back against the bed post.
“Oh,” William said, and that look crossed his face, as it did every time he was asked about her. “It’s really, really good, I mean, yeah, it’s really good, she’s just so lovely, and I’m so happy when I’m with her. It’s good. Really, really good. I mean, yesterday we went down and were singing in the music rooms and-”
He turned to look at Bettie, who had been smiling, but had stopped the minute he turned to her. She started fake-gagging, but reached out her foot to nudge William’s knee. “I’m happy for you, really,” she said, rolling her eyes, even though she meant it.
“Thanks, Bettie.” he said, smiling at her.
“Music rooms, though,” she said, getting the conversation back to where she was comfortable. In uncomfortable joke territory. “Is singing what they’re calling it these days?”
William raised his eyebrows and shrugged, “You know, singing, a little bit of shaking, some pulling, some blowing.” Bettie didn’t register it, but the smile he gave didn’t exactly have all the heart in the world behind it. He couldn’t help but feel bad when he made sex jokes about Megan. He felt like he was cheapening everything, which he really didn’t want to do. Nothing about their relationship or what they ever did was cheap.
“But, seriously William. You can use the base-system if you so please, but you’ve got to tell me. Have far have you gone?” she asked, putting on the voice of a game-show host and raising her eyebrows like a Vaudeville Villain.
Groaning, William flopped onto his back and rubbed his eyes. “I mean, yeah, we make out,” this was awkward. Painfully so. “And I know that I want more. I do, I know that I do. But I don’t know if she does.”
Bettie sighed. He’d worked himself up into such a state. “William, I know this sounds super crazy, and I’m going a little bit risque over here. But uh, wait, I’ve got an idea. Ask her.”
William rolled his eyes at her, “But it’s so awkward,” he whined.
“William, you’re a virgin,” she deadpanned, and his blush quickly covered his cheeks. “It's not going to be easy. If it wasn’t awkward, I’d be worried, yeah? So, ask and ye shall receive. You want to make her happy, right? And you want to make her happy, too. So ask, idiot child.”
He floundered for a second, trying to refute something, or tell her it wasn’t that way, or just get a word in, but he fell to the truth. “I hate it when you’re right.” William said, pulling himself up to his feet, and striding towards the door.
“You know you love me.” She said, turning to watch him leave. “Shake what your mother gave you, William,” she cat-called after him, hollering, snorting when he did the tiniest of booty-dances. “Get ‘em, tiger!”
William found Megan sitting in the corner of the common room, two quills behind her ears, and a piece of parchment stuck to her nose. He chuckled, shaking his head at her.
“Megan, what are you doing?” he asked, sitting down, cross-legged in front of her.
“I’m trying stick this piece of parchment to my nose,” she said, frowning again as it fell off. “What about you?” she asked, eyebrows furrowed as she licked the paper.
Something inside William’s stomach lurched, and he almost groaned. Really? This wasn’t going to be easy, was it? Especially not if she was looking like that. Her hair was piled atop her head and she was wearing one of his shirts, and if that wasn’t enough, it hung on her in all the right ways, and she wore a pair of jeans, with patchwork pieces on her knees and on her calves and on her thighs, and the jeans were just a good pair of jeans, and oh. Oh, man, this wasn’t going to be easy.
William’s eyes trailed slowly, really slowly, too slowly, to her mouth. He spotted a line of sugar crystals on the corner of her bottom lip, and instead of doing the sensible thing and just telling her, or doing the thing that would have been, maybe semi-sensible, and reaching out to fix it, he leaned in close.
One of his hands immediately went to her hip, and the other rested on the middle of her back, pulling her body to his. He slowly licked along the line of crystals, and then kissed her, hard. Really hard.
She squeaked and then responded, her breathing already quickening, her chest rising and falling against his in quick succession. He pulled away from her, thinking well, this isn’t helping anything, and whined in the back of his throat when she chased his lips with her own, momentarily forgetting they were very much in public.
When she looked at him, it was with an unmistakable ache of desire. The ache was reciprocated. He actually had to shake the thoughts out of his head before he spoke again. He was serious, and she really got that, because she looked him right in the eyes and nowhere else.
Megan’s breath quickened, but for a different reason this time. What was he going to say? She bit her lip, and noticed his eyes flicking down to her lips again. She stopped, because he had something to say, and even though she would have much rathered kissing, he must really want to say it. She waited, hands in her own lap, and nowhere near his, and took a deep breath.
“Megan, we need to talk”, he said, and her heart lurched.
“Talk about what? Was I- was- have I been doing something wrong?”
William’s heart dropped, and he shook his head rapidly, “No of course not,” he said, reaching forward to grab at her hands, all the energy between them replaced only concern. “Something right, actually,” he said, taking a breath, “but we need to talk about it. Somewhere privately. In private.”
“Oh,” Megan said, quietly. “A-are you sure I haven’t done something wrong? I’m really sorry if I have been.”
William took a breath, and smiled, reassuring that it was all okay. “I promise, it's okay. You haven’t been doing anything wrong, Megan.” And she believed him.
“But we need to talk?” she asked, and he nodded. “Okay, okay, okay,” she said, hopping up and taking his hand to help him off the ground.
Suddenly remembering the two quills behind her ears, she reached up to grab one of them and stuck it in her mouth.
William’s other hand clenched at his side as he watched his girlfriend lick at the sugar quill in her mouth. That was... that was not fair. His stomach was doing a lot of pinging and panging and he made a series of noises, floundering before he finally half-whined, half-gasped out “Megan,” with a desperate look in his eyes.
“What? Do you want one? I’ve got two,” she reached up and handed him one, and he reached forward and grabbed the one out of her mouth. She noticed the look in his eyes, and her breathing again, became shallow. “F... for the best, I think,” she said, well, whispered as he threw them over his shoulder.
He nodded in agreement, “mmmhm,” he managed, his voice raising a few octaves.
“So we need to go somewhere quiet, and private, I mean, I thought about Hagrid’s shack, but I don’t think that’s the best idea,” she laughed, quickly moving the conversation along.
William pretended to consider it, making Megan laugh, and then he came out with, “No, I don’t think so. Especially not with Fang there. I’ve always thought he was a little too fond of you.” And she laughed again, the sound high and tinkling, making his heart climb in his chest. Making Megan laugh was one of his favourite things.
They chatted idly as they walked, and Megan figured that they’d have to go to the Room of Requirement. That was private. No one could get in, not while they were in there. She insisted on her walking past, choosing what the room was going to be. She closed her eyes as she walked in the door, and smiled as her eyes settled on the room in front of her. “Oh.” It was really nice, stacks and stacks of records, and two beanbags, and a bed, and comfy carpet.
“How do you think it works, the Room of Requirement, I mean?”
“I dunno,” and he gave a full-bodied shrug that put a scrunchy-nosed grin across her face. “It probably latches on to your brain and never goes away.”
Megan’s eyes widened, “Oh... really, because I mean-”
“No! No, no, its okay. I was joking.”
“Oh,” she relaxed again. “Oh, okay, good, good, because I was just scared that we’d be like 50 years old and lying in bed, and I’d think of something that the room would change and it would all be Megan’s fault!”
Grinning, she grabbed William’s hand, her eyes taking a minute to register the expression on his face. He was looking at her, and there was all this adoration, and happiness, and she was sure she was the one that put it there. “What?” she asked, a small smile quirking at her lips.
“You’re really beautiful,” he said, simply, and the words filled her chest.
“I’ll pick some music,” she muttered, bashful as she covered her face in her head. Her fingers lingered in William’s as long as possible and then she ambled on over to the record collection, while William seated himself on the beanbag.
Her heart quickened in her chest, then, when she felt like she could stop to have a moment. She thought of that look that William gave her, and the skin on the back of her neck prickled. It was unfair that he got to be so hot. It was unfair. His cheekbones, and his stomach, and his arms. Which looked excellent in the shirt that he was wearing. She could feel the ghost of his hands, kneading at the flesh on her hips, and- okay. She should stop.
“I don’t really think Abbey Road will cut it,” she called, once her pulse had calmed down.
“Yeah,” he said, chuckling, “and we did listen to it four times yesterday, alone.”
She spun, hands on her hips, and her mouth dropped open. “Are you disrespecting The Beatles,” she asked, sassy.
William put up his hands, an offer of peace. “Of course not,” he said, “and plus, there was that one song which was excellent to make out to.” And he rose his eyebrows suggestively.
A pang to her stomach. Yeah, yesterday was good. She couldn’t help looking him up and down as he sat. And she actually couldn’t help her mind going to places she didn’t want it to go. “I thought you wanted to talk, you goose,” she said, but then she decided to be mean, herself. Picking the most suggestive album she could find, she started playing Smokey Robinson and the Miracles’ album.
She flitted back over to him and sat herself down on his lap. “Okay,” she said, settling in to him. “What did you want to talk about?”
William took a moment to look at her, the slight flush on her cheeks, and her fast blinking, lashes so long they rested softly, quickly, on her skin each time her eyes closed. “I... uh... I wanted to, uh.” He cleared his throat, and took a breath. Head in the game, Piper. You need to do this. “I wanted to talk to you about the stuff we do...” he trailed off, as he wound his arms around Megan’s waist.
She looked up to him, eyes wide and innocent. “Like... holding hands and going to the greenhouse.”
“No... not really.”
“Like... how I wear your clothes and we eat together at breakfast?” She was reaching, because she really didn’t know what he was talking about.
“More the first one,” he said, quietly, really hoping she wouldn’t take that the wrong way.
But she did. “Is that wrong? Shouldn’t I do that? Because I can not if you don’t want me to, and-” the words were all running together and William could only just get one word in, a frantic, almost yelled no.
“O-oh.” William had tightened his hold on her hips again, and Megan’s eyelashes fluttered as she tried to collect her thoughts again. Stupid William, and his stupid hands, and arms, and eyes, and mout- “Okay, so... what. What do you mean, then?”
“Well, I mean,” he paused, tapping his fingers against Megan’s side while he tried to work out the best way to approach this, because it was difficult. And then- oh! “Remember that night in the hospital wing?”
Megan scrunched up her face in displeasure, squirming a little in his lap, not noticing the way his breath hitched. “Well, yeah, and it wasn’t very nice.” William frowned, kissing the corner of her mouth softly, trying to ease the tension in her expression as she recalled the night they had first talked about all of this.
“I know,” WIlliam murmured, gently touching his nose against her cheek, waiting for her to ask him to clarify again, because this was difficult. When she didn’t say anything, he tried again. “I just mean, remember how everything got so bad because we didn’t communicate properly?” Megan nodded minutely, biting her lip, rocking them both side to side with the record he had long forgotten was playing. “I just think we should talk about what we want s- what you want to do, that I would want to do, when we’re- I mean-”
It was so frustrating to try and say exactly what he needed to say, because William wasn’t great at making people understand what he wanted or needed. “You know,” she said, just wanting to get it over with, and just wanting to make William feel better about this. “For such a tiny word, it just has some huge meaning, doesn’t it? I mean, we’ve been dancing around it for the past ten minutes.” She was grinning, now, and she turned to William, biting her lip. “Should I say it?” she whispered, raising her eyebrows in question.
William’s mouth went dry as she looked at him coyly, and wow, if before had been bad, he wasn’t ready for this in the least. “William-” Megan hid her grin in his hair, her visibly shaking shoulders giving her away. “William- did you just whine?”
“Don’t make fun of me, oh my god.” He was pleading now, hiding his face in her neck. She was still laughing at him, but stroking the side of his neck at the same time as consolingly as she could. “Now?” Megan whispered into his ear, giggling as he whined again.
She kept her lips as close to his ear as possible, and kind of half breathed, half growled the word. “Sex.” The sound of her voice surprised her even, and she almost squeaked as a reaction to herself. William’s eyes were blown wide open in shock, his back arching just a little where she had her hands. “N-n- I- Megan, no. Nope, no, you need- I can’t- I-” He was floundering, trying to find his metaphorical footing again because his precious, sweet, innocent girlfriend had been taken away and replaced with a sexual deviant. “I can’t think with you sitting here saying- saying... things.” He finished dumbly, trying to make her understand without having to spell it all out.
Her eyes flickered down to William’s arms that had tightened around her. “Okay,” she said, but she still whispered it, voice low, into his ear. William fell backwards against the bean bag, head rolling to the side in defeat, taking Megan with him, who writhed in his lap, trying not to fall off. “I am gone, dead, perished.” He began in a monotonous voice, a grin teasing at his mouth. Megan whacked his arm, but he kept speaking, sighing dramatically. “I am done. I have lived a good life, I have-”
“Okay, okay, okay,” she said, actually this time. He grinned while leaning towards her again, nuzzling under her chin. The parts of her body that had been pressed up to William’s sort of burned, and another pang went straight to her stomach. “So... what did you want to ask? Or wasn’t there a question? Did you say there was a question? I got distracted.” Megan started carding her fingers through the curls at the nape of William’s neck, looking at his face intently. “You’re very distracting.”
“What I was saying before you started all of that nonsense,” William smirked at the glare she gave him, and then took a moment to really look at her, softening his gaze. As soon as he let his guard down the nerves came back. “I mean- I was just.” Deep breath. In, and out. “I just want to know what you know, and what you want, when it comes to s-sex.” Even if he stumbled over it, it was there for her to think about.
Megan looked at him as if considering how to answer him properly. “I know... some things. I mean, Dom told me some stuff- I mean some... stuff. And it really helped.”
William, just like everybody else, knew about Dom’s reputation, but who was he to judge, really? If it made her happy, then more power to her. “She bought you down to the hospital wing after the Quidditch match that one time. You know- you know, that still doesn’t sit well with me I-”
Megan felt his body tense and she quickly interjected. “Me either, but you know, it’s okay. Especially Dom, I mean, she took me out to Hogsmeade after, and that was really sweet of her, you know?”
“Yeah...” a sly smile crept on to WIlliam’s features and he asked, even though he knew the answer. “Um, what did... what did you guys do there?”
This time it was Megan who stiffened. “Sheboughtmelollies!” she blurted, quickly.
“Lollies?” he asked, dubious and teasing. “Really?”
“Yeah!” Megan turned away from him, feeling her face completely heat up. “Red lollies... but I ate them all and you can’t see or have any.”
And she knew what he knew now as he asked, “Will I be able to see them someday?”
She considered it for a moment. “If you play your cards right.”
“What card game are we playing?” he asked, grinning.
“Snap,” she said, and then they both said, “that’s my favourite” at the same time.
Then they fell into laughter that started because of what they’d said, and continued because they kept looking at eachother then laughing more and then dragged because it was a way to prolong the talk they were having.
“You know, apparently,” she said, squirming, being quick to fill the post-laugh silence. “Apparently it hurts.” She said, twining her fingers together in her lap. She heard a sad noise emit from William’s throat, and she shook her head. “I mean, for the girl, it hurts.” She tried to lighten the mood, and turned to him smiling some. “Lucky.”
But William still looked sad. She gave him the time to say what he need to say, and he reached a hand to cradle her face, his voice tender. “I don’t want to hurt you, Megs,” he said, searching her eyes.
“I-I know, but it only hurts for a bit,” she said, nodding earnestly. “And its just sometimes like a short, sharp pain, and then its just uncomfortable, but I mean, its okay! Its okay. Its something that happens, and I guess, I mean, it does really only hurt for a bit! Its like...” she pointed over to the records and said “Look!” and when he did, she pinched him on the arm.
William’s screwed up his face, and turned back to her, rubbing the spot. “What was the for?” he asked, the corner of his lips quirked in a small smile.
“That’s how much it hurts,” she said, shrugging. “I mean, not like I’m an expert, but that’s what I’ve been told. It just takes some getting used to, that’s all.”
Although it still didn’t exactly sit well with William, he accepted it, and pressed his nose into her neck. “Okay,” he sighed, tightening his arms around her waist. “Okay.”
Megan reached her hands up to play in William’s hair, curling his locks through her fingers, in that moment of silence. “And, Dom, well...” Dom was Dom and that didn’t get past Megan. “And I know that she’s slept with a lot of guys, I know she has. And she said she always wished she had at least liked the first boy she had sex with. And she that I should- oh, what was the word? C-... Ch-Cherish! That I should cherish what I have with you. Because you’ll take care of me, which I know you will. And not hurt me or make it bad. And plus, I only want to be with you. I only love you. I only want you. Like, really bad,” she laughed, but that part was probably obvious.
“But, I digress,” she said, taking a breath and continuing before William could do anything else except shift her around in his lap, which she knew had to do with a little bit more than just getting them both more comfortable.
“So Dom told me some like, stuff, and I judged if I was ready for it by the feeling in my stomach after she said each thing.. Does that make sense?” William blinked up at her, processing what he had just heard.
“Well, uh, well yeah,” he said, “and what would those things be... I mean the- the stuff you’re ready for I mean.”
And she knew what she wanted to say, but she didn’t know how to say it. “Would it be mean to ask you to go first?” she wondered, offering him a small smile, playing at the corner of her lips.
William tilted his head a little, considering. “No, it wouldn’t be. I guess,” he paused, searching for the right words, tracing a pattern across her lower back where her shirt had ridden up. She squirmed a little but was quiet for the most part. “I guess, I just want to be as close to you as possible, like, all the time- and sometimes, yeah, that kind of translates to touching you and holding you and-” he stopped again, his brow furrowing a little in frustration because this needed to be perfect. “You’re so hot, Megs.” He finally said, voice breaking a little as he looked at her pleadingly. Yeah, okay, not so much perfect, but more or less as accurate as possible.
Megan’s eyes fluttered shut, and she let out a breath. Her stomach squirmed and her breathing quickened. “Sorry, would you mind saying that last bit again, but maybe, um, maybe a little closer to...” she trailed, talking airily and tugging on her earlobe. William tilted his head, trailing his nose against her neck and jaw line until he reached her ear. His lips were warm, the soft, dry kisses he was placing there making her stomach flip even more.
“Megan,” he mumbled, grazing his teeth against her ear lobe, waiting for her to answer him. She swallowed the lump in her throat and managed to reply with a word that was less a word and more a series of jumbled up noises.
“You,” she said, trying her best to be accusatory, but failing very hard. “You’re not making this easy. This whole ordeal is uncalled for, and I am not having a bar of it.” Except instead of removing herself from the situation, she just involved herself in it more, by tightening her arms around his neck and making sure that as much as her as possible was against him. “I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head, and taking a breath, “could you repeat the question?”
“What do you want?” William murmured, going for simplicity. Megan sighed quietly and smoothed his curls back from his forehead as she thought, hoping it wasn’t too frustrating for him. “I know that it wouldn’t be fair of me to just tell you to stop when I wanted, I know that, so can... I don’t know, can you give me a minute to think about it?” Her palm had reached the side of his face, her thumb brushing over cheekbone as she spoke, and he smiled into her palm, replying with an “Of course I can”.
“I definitely know what I want, I do. And, I mean, its... its a lot, but just not everything. I mean, I just, I don’t think I’m ready for that, yet. But everything other than that? I think, well. Yeah, I know, that would be... good. But just not that.” She was playing with her fingers in her lap, fidgeting, looking everywhere except at William. She twisted, and looked up to him, eyebrows furrowed and her bottom lip between her teeth. “Is that... is that okay?”
She looked down at her hands in her lap, and about a million different thoughts started running through her head. What if that’s not okay? What if it's not okay- and, and I’ve just ruined everything by saying that. What if... well, what if, what if on the other hand he thinks I’m giving too much and then I’m, well... I’m a s... a slut? Because that’s what people call Dom and I know it doesn’t get to her, but I think that it would get to me, and- and- what if I get more anonymous owls calling me names? What do I do then- what if-. She shook her head, and squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m... is... is that okay?”
“Of course it’s okay,” William tugged her arm a little until she was snuggling into his shoulder, clinging like he knew she needed. “I don’t know what you were thinking and not saying,” he started carefully, stroking her hair comfortingly but biting his lip because wow, this was making him nervous, “but I’m sure if it was bad, none of it is true. I love you, Megs. I love you so much. Of course it’s okay. Its perfect, because, well, me too.” He finished dumbly, nosing at her temple, trying to get her to look at him. He tried to let her know just by the way he was looking at her how much he loved her and how much he was so, so glad they were on the same page, because wow.
“I love you,” she said, turning her head so that she could look at him, finally. All of the tension that had built in her chest left just as fast, and she leaned into him. Smiling to herself, she closed her eyes. “Hey William,” she said, looking up at him from under her eyelashes. “Can I please be a little bit mean?”
William licks his suddenly dry lips, because this does not and never will turn out well- or at least, turn out well without making him a little anxious or sexually frustrated right beforehand. “You’re probably going to do it regardless of what I say, aren’t you?” He let a slow grin grace his lips, knowing that particular smile is the reason for the pink tint to her cheeks as she blinks slowly.
Megan shifted, pressing herself as close to him as she could, twining her her arms around his neck, and her fingers into his hair. “William,” she repeated, whispering quiet and soft in his ear. “You can kiss me wherever you want and you can put your hands wherever you want.”
William groaned under her hands, under her weight, his brain short circuiting. “Does this mean, uh- Does this mean we’re done talking- we’re, uh, can we, I mean, there’s that bed after all, and it would be such a waste, really, if we didn’t take,” By this time there was absolutely no space left between them, but somehow he knew he couldn’t kiss her until after everything was finished, because he wasn’t sure he could make himself stop. His lips were right by her ear, breathing hot against her skin when he murmured, “advantage of it.”
Megan’s eyes fluttered shut and her breath caught in her throat. It was like she’d forgotten that William could... well, play really dirty. She had to bite back a moan that threatened to escape her throat. Her breathing was shallow and her chest was crushed up against William’s. He was pressing, and she was pressing back, and- “I, um,” she said, struggling for words, “I... I...” she took a deep breath, which was quite the feat considering that her heart was beating so fast in her chest. “I... You- you- you said! You said, you said, you said, we need to talk. You did. We...” Really, Megan, is talking really what you need to be doing right now? “We do, we do, because you said, and I-um.” Help. And then she yelled“Contraception!” and it was just a little bit frightening.
The volume of her voice so suddenly caused William to actually slip forwards, because he was already leaning into her, and due to her pulling back, well, she took him with her and onto the ground. They just fell. Toppled. Into a big mess of limbs.
“Megan,” William groaned, rolling onto his back, rubbing at his eyes as he tried to process what had happened so quickly. “W- What?”
“Well,” she said, and she was really, really tempted to roll on top of him, but she didn’t. “You said we needed to talk about everything, and I’m talking about everything, so contraception is a thing we need to talk about. Because if we talk about it now, we never have to talk about it again, and we can do whatever we want that isn’t talking, okay? Okay.” Okay. Okay. “Well, Dom said, that it's really simple, and really easy, and really convenient. Contraception potion. Cool, right? I just have to take it every morning or it stuffs up the cycle, but other than that, nothing else.”
Something hot settled in the pit of William’s stomach at the realisation that wow, they were really going to work towards doing this. He could kiss Bettie. Alternatively, he could find someone else to kiss Bettie, which would work just as well, if not better. “I- I’ve heard about that, yeah.” He said slowly, carefully, rubbing the back of his neck with an open palm, trying to calm himself down enough to think rationally. “Do you think we can make it? I mean, neither of us are- neither of us are particularly good at Potions.”
“Well, I mean... yeah I think so. Yeah, I think we could do it, because... our talents will come together to make something... slightly better than horrible! I mean, I could watch Dom make it until I get the hang of it? And, well... if all else fails, I could ask Georgina? I mean, I hope I don’t have to, it sounds pretty doable, but I could.” She found William’s hand, and ran her finger up his palm, and up his wrist.
William caught her hand in his, pulling her slowly towards him, until she has to move so that her knees are either side of his legs, and she has to hold herself up with one hand, her hair falling into William’s face and tickling his nose. “Okay.” he says, simply, looking up at her questioningly. “Okay?”
Despite the fact that she was sitting on top of him, and despite the fact that her legs were about to start trembling, and despite the fact that she was about to just let her mouth drop open and abandon all hope, her voice was surprisingly steady. “I don’t know, William Piper,” she said, pronouncing every syllable carefully. “Are we done here?”
Instead of answering, William arched up to press into the kiss he’s been craving for the 45 minutes they’ve spent talking. He pressed his nose comfortably against hers, sighing softly, content. When he pulled away slowly, she chased his mouth, pouting when he rested his forehead against hers. He kissed the pout swiftly, again, and again, until he had Megan rolled over onto her back, her hands fisted in the back of his shirt, returning his kisses languidly.
Megan wriggled, quite intentionally, below him, and a small fire started in the pit of her stomach. She secured her legs around his hips, locking her ankles at the base of his back, bring him closer as he groaned. She moved her hips a little. Closer was good. Her kisses became more and more frantic, until she let out a soft, breathless moan against his lips. “William,” she whispered, and she felt him tremble, breath coming out in short spurts that sounded more like ahs and her name than anything else. “Please, bed,” she murmured against his lips. “Please.”
All William could think was more, closer, more, more, more. He surprised himself by pushing himself up off the floor, pulling Megan until her legs were wrapped securely around his waist, and making the five or six steps to the just-big-enough bed right from Megan’s brain. He unceremoniously dropped her onto the soft quilt, moaning low in throat at the way her hair billowed out around her face, her arms above her head, with that damned smirk on her face. She pushed herself backwards as he crawled over her, kissing her again, tilting her head back so that he could kiss her deeper, angling just right to get the noises out of her that he wanted.
“Tell me,” he gasped, Megan’s mouth latching onto a sensitive spot on his neck that made him tremble all over, that made his hips thrust forward, trying to find friction, out of his control. Megan made a small, breathless gasp against his skin. “Tell me that this is okay, please.” He was desperate, but he needed to know, needed to know that this was fine, that he was allowed.
Megan pressed herself closer to him, gripping frantically and blindly at him. She trailed her lips from his neck to his ear, biting it softly, and then moving to his jaw. Struggling to be able to speak, to be able to do anything except keep kissing, pulled away from him, to look at him. “Yes,” she said, even though her voice broke in the middle. “Please, William,” she said.
The room was dark, but warm, and the record had long since stopped spinning. William slowly sat back on his knees, assessing what they could do, what they wanted to do. He had to avoid looking at Megan’s lips, her body, her anything while he made up his mind. He motioned with a tilt of his head to the pillows at the top of the bed, to which she quickly scrambled up onto, leaning back again. When he crawled onto her, settling one of his legs in between hers, essentially straddling her right thigh, it was perfect. “I don’t want to crush you, please tell me if I-” he laughed, a little unnerved at realising that wow, he had a sex voice. It was all low and- no, stop it, no time for thinking, Piper. William dropped down onto his elbows, sucking wet kisses into Megan’s neck, pushing aside her shirt until he could get at her collarbone. The way she was writhing under him, pulling him to her, her hands underneath his shirt that had been rucked up at least half way, was knocking the breath out of him, and he moaned long and low against her chest.
He took a second to breathe, trying not to frantically pull her left leg up around his hips again. He panted into her neck, kissing her quickly, wetter than he’d like. He trailed his lips up her neck to her mouth again, lazily kissing her, deeper and dirtier than he’d ever let himself.
Megan wondered why they just hadn’t talked about this before. So much before. She kept pulling him closer toward her, pressing their chests hard against each other. Closer, closer, closer. All she wanted was closer. She crept her hands further up his back, bringing his shirt with them, and took his bottom lip between her teeth before murmuring “Can I take this off?” low against his lips.
William’s pants were uncomfortably tight where he was pressed up against Megan’s thigh, the pressure so good, but he wanted more, just needed to be closer, so when Megan pulled at his shirt he quickly obliged, rubbing his tongue softly against where her teeth had been. He wasn’t in control of his voice anymore, and his moans, whimpers and groans would have been embarrassing if Megan hadn’t been making noises better than he’d ever heard before. William grappled at her shirt once his was gone, his legs widening to press down against her more, pleasure rushing down his spine at the contact. “I- I- can I- your jeans? I just- I want- I need-” He couldn’t say anything coherent, was trying to make Megan understand. He was all whines and pathetic mewls, thrusting against her, but the pressure was building and he just needed closer.
Megan’s breathing quickened again, and she moaned at the the feel of his rough hands on her body as he tackled the obstacle of her shirt. Yes, this is good. Yes. Good. She arched her back, chest pushing against his once more, revelling in the feeling of skin on skin. She whined loudly and desperately as his hips crashed into hers again, the friction not enough. The sound of his voice, gravelly, and deep, and pleading made her stomach lurch, and she considered for a moment. She tried her best to think rationally, and then she landed on yes. She was being pushed back against the bed by William, who ran his hand from her thigh to her hip, kneading at the flesh there. She gasped, and he kissed the top of her abdomen. William trailed burning kisses until he reached the top of her jeans. “Yes,” she said, this time louder, and more desperate.
William’s lips were burning down her stomach, across rips and down to her bellybutton. He gave himself just enough time to lick around the circumference, feeling her stomach muscles clench under his mouth. He made a trail down to her hips where he took a moment to finally touch. Megan’s legs instinctively fell open wider as he sucked a bruise into her left hip bone, thumb massaging the other, his hand holding her down. He tackled the button and zip on her jeans, running his hands down her legs until he got to her ankles, tugging the pants down her legs first left, and then right.
When they were finally gone, William felt weak, resting his forehead against her calf, giving himself the most delicious angle to look up at her with. “I-” he started, hesitating, his voice breaking before he gave up to kiss her, bringing the leg he was assaulting with his mouth over his shoulder. Megan felt wet suction behind her knee, trailing up to the inside of her thigh, but when she shifted to try and give him more room, breathing soft “Oh- oh”’s into the otherwise silent space, he moved away. “William,” she whined, tugging him to her again.
“I- I-” William panted, now back at her neck, his hips shifting restlessly against her thigh again. Megan felt how- “Oh,” she whimpered, wrapping her legs around his waist, pushing him over until they were tumbling and finally she was on top. “Oh,” she whispered, every brush against him sending pleasure throughout her whole body.
“Megan, please,” William whined, desperate underneath her, straining up at every soft touch. “Please.” He was still wearing his jeans, the only article of clothing left until they were both in their underwear.
Megan’s eyes were blown wide, and the ache throughout her entire body was just proving to get worse. She looked down at William, who was pleading with her to do something, so she rested her body flat on top of his and kissed him once, deep and slow, before pulling away. She allowed room between their bodies for her hand, and she trailed it slowly down, still kissing him, swallowing every groan, and moan, and whimper that he made.
She shifted to kneel next to him, rather than straddle his hips, and made a grab at the top of his jeans. “Is this- William, I- Yes?” she asked, and he nodded rapidly in response. Her fingers shook as she undid his top button and pushed his jeans to his knees, where he kicked them to the ground. She brought her legs to straddle him again, groaning and rolling her hips. She flattened herself against him again, every contour of his body against hers. She panted, blowing hot breath against his lips. “Tell me what you want me to do,” she said, her voice low, “and I’ll do it.”
“I-” William stuttered, trying to think coherently, trying to think past need, want, touch. “I- I want it to be us, not- Megan.” He was panting into her neck, his fingernails probably scratching along the small of her back a little too hard to be comfortable. He could feel everywhere they were touching, everywhere he was straining up towards her, and the air around them felt hot and heavy. Her mouth was trailing down his neck, softly biting, making him whine against the pressure. “Megan, I- I want it to be good for you too, I need- I need it to be both of us, good for both of us- tell me- tell me what you want, please.” He was done. He could no longer form any proper sentences in his head, he just needed them both to let go, but he needed it to be exactly what she wanted as well.
Megan took in a sharp breath at his words, and her stomach swirled in anticipation. Sitting up, she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I,” she said, surprised she was able to make any words at all, “I want you to kiss me here,” she said touching her fingers to her lips, red and swollen. She trailed them to her jaw and down her throat, and across the tops of her breasts and down her abdomen. “And I want you to put your hands here,” she said, splaying hers on her thighs, her stomach, resting them on her hips, bringing them up to over her bra.
She laid herself across William again, whimpering as he ran his index fingers up her spine. She moved her body against his, and captured his lips with her own. “And please,” she whispered, breathless, wanting, desperate, “go back to where you were before. William, please,” she begged, rolling her hips down on his.
William groaned, rolling his body up until Megan was falling backwards into the pillows again. He leaned over her to run his hands teasingly from her shoulders, down her sides until he could reach under her thighs, moving her legs until he was situated between them again. He rushed forward to kiss her hotly, tongues moving together and then there was suction and for a second he imagined it around a dif- William whimpered, grinding his hips into hers slowly, breaking the kiss with a wet smack. He moved his lips down the trail her hands had taken, her back arching against him, pressing them closer together again.
He was determined to map out her body, her torso, her chest, her hips, and find all the little spots that made her make those noises. The very underside of her jaw made her shiver, and the soft skin of her clavicle made her legs tighten around him, to the point where he wasn’t sure whether to stop or keep going because if she didn’t let up, he wasn’t going to be much use to her very, very soon. William peered at her carefully, trying to starve the need swirling from his stomach to every other part of his body. Her head was thrown back, her cheeks and neck flushed, but she was still, mostly. Megan managed to look at him from under hooded lids, something that probably could have gotten him to where he was now without being touched at all.
Suddenly he had an idea, and he grinned cheekily, saying more huskily than he thought he would, “Do you mind if I’m mean?” and, without waiting for an answer, he dragged his nails softly down her sides, moving over the front of her hips and down to hook in her underwear. William rested his head on her hip, kissing softly at the exposed skin, and quirked an eyebrow at her, asking permission, asking if she wanted to stop, just asking because if he didn’t ask and he did something wrong- he didn’t want to think about it.
Megan’s breath caught in her throat, and her skin pickled so delightfully as he trailed his fingernails down herside. She was beside herself. Absolutely beside herself, and if he didn’t do something, and quick, she was going to explode- or at least that was what it felt like. Her hips bucked and her back arched as his kissed her hip. She looked down to where he was, his eyebrow arched in a question to her.
So she thought. She thought, carefully, even though his fingers were hooked beneath her knickers, she thought. This was big. This was a lot. It really was. But the feeling in her stomach told her that she wanted this, wanted him, so much. So much that she was burning, and tingling. And she loved him so much, so why couldn’t she have this? “Yes,” she breathed, making sure to give a proper answer to his silent question.
His arms nearly gave way when he heard her murmur softly, saying yes, saying he was allowed. His fingers were trembling, and his knees were sliding all over the bed, because this was huge, and a lot and big and wow. It was- Megan trusted him to do this for her, so he would.
William slowly moved to the side, out from between Megan’s legs, because that could get very awkward very quickly. He looked up at her stomach, at the soft curve of her chest, at her neck, at her mouth, her eyes, so bright, looking almost calm and but very intently into his. She nodded carefully, knowing he was second guessing himself again. Right. Okay, William, you can do this. You can do this. You can, uh, you can, just do it. He swallowed the lump in his throat, and reached for her hips again, slowly sliding his hands to hook into her underwear once more. He shifted, kissing her thigh, trailing his lips down her legs as he tugged the flimsy fabric out from under her, and down her legs and when did Megan’s legs get so long, I’m going to die, I’m dead, this is me gone, tell my family I loved them. Then there he was. With Megan’s underwear in his left hand. Not on her body. William whimpered, hips subconsciously moving forward, trying to find friction anywhere. Except he couldn’t. Because Megan was going first, and he was going to make this so, so good for her. “Just,” he croaked, clearing his throat when he heard how far gone he sounded, “Just tell me what feels nice, okay? Just tell me what you like.” He still wasn’t looking. She hadn’t given him permission.
She shuddered as she heard his voice, and heard the unmasked desire in his tone. Her eyes were screwed shut, and her breathing was already heavy. She gripped one hand at the bed, twisting her fingers in the covers, and the other on her stomach, fingers pressing into her own skin. “I-I-I,” she stuttered, trying to get her words out through whimpers, “William, please,” she whined, her hips shifting even though she didn’t want them to.
The jitters in her stomach were so present, and she was nervous as all hell, because this was so new, she had no idea at all what this would be like, and something that she didn’t even want to think about, but what if he didn’t like it, and then he stopped, and left and then- oh. Oh. William had turned his head and kissed at her knee, pausing only to lift her leg over his shoulder, and then lower, and lower, down her inner-thigh. She was trying desperately to swallow each whimper and whine that bubbled to her throat, but she couldn’t.
He stopped and expelled a breath right against her, and she moaned, her hips moving toward him again, and she- wow. Oh. Oh. She knew he was only on first attempts, and so was she, but when it was right a firey warmth spread through her from the bottom, up. She moaned each time, or gasped out his name, her fingers gripping relentlessly at the bed sheets.
William was learning just the ways to move, how to touch, and how much pressure she needed to act... like this. Writhing against the bed, trying her best not to clamp her thighs around him. It was awkward, and he was so frightened of messing it up, but even if it wasn’t perfect, it was going well. He was moving slowly, expelling moans against her that he tried to hold in but couldn’t- he didn’t realise how much he would genuinely enjoy this. Making Megan feel good had always seemed so much better than being taken care of himself, mostly, but this was just... wow. He had almost forgotten about his situation, he realised, being as, well, preoccupied as he was. He pulled back, heart tugging at the whine Megan made, her hands grabbing for him as he sat back.
“W-what? Why?” Megan asked, sprawled across the comforter, eyes huge and not upset,but definitely displeased, something which William couldn’t help but smirk at.
“Just a second,” he growled, not caring about how he sounded right now. She squeaked as he subconsciously licked his lips, placing his hands behind both of her legs and leaning back down to hover over her. “Shh,” he murmured as she shifted again, sighing at the wet kisses he placed at her knee. William kissed further up her thigh, stopping just far enough away from where she really wanted him to be to suck a mark into her leg, grinning wickedly at the noises she made.
“Okay,” he whispered, leaning his head against her thigh, looking up at her from underneath his eyelashes. She looked back at him softly, a smile curling at her lips. “I love you,” he said, simply, kissing her thigh again before trailing his lips further up once more.
Megan shuddered again, her stomach muscles clenching simply at the sound of his voice. This is the end of me, she thought, trying to breathe. Rest in peace, Megan Morrow. She looked down at William, her heart stuttering in her chest, which couldn’t have been healthy.
She went to respond to him, giving an answer like she always did, but William had chosen that moment to return to right where she wanted him. “I lo-oh,” is what it ended up sounding like, ending in a breathless gasp.
William had found a rhythm, and a way, and a spot, and instead of bursts of flames, she felt like her whole body was slowly burning. She moved her hips so slightly against him, and she whimpered, totally helplessly as he moaned against her. She was- oh. Oh. Definitely, oh. Oh, wow. She fell to the bed, moaning his name loudly, her stomach and thigh muscles clenching, waves of pleasure coursing through her entire body.
William stayed where he was, helping her come down, until Megan pushed his head away, whispering “sensitive,” while blushing, which William understood, he did, but right now he was much too desperate to do much more than whine pitifully against her leg, reaching down to where he was hard and aching to try and relieve some pressure. Instead, Megan scrambled for his arm, pulling him back up until he was hovering over her again, burying his head into her neck, pressed against the length of her.
“What do you need?” Megan whispered softly, still relaxed and sated, petting at his hair with one hand while using the other to trail down his back and around his hip, gripping the band of his underwear tentatively. “Do you want my... like you? Or-” She bit her lip nervously, because wow, William wasn’t saying anything. “Please talk to me,” she begged, tilting his head up until she was looking right into his eyes, and wow, there was almost no gold left, they were nearly completely blown wide and dark.
William smiled against her neck, but his body was drawn up tight with tension. “I-” he started, then closed his eyes like he did when he was embarrassed, and wh-why? She didn’t know, so she pulled at his hair a little to get his attention. William let out a startled moan, his hips jerking forwards. “M-Megan,” was all she could hear in a broken voice, but he was laughing under his breath, and that was a good, good, good sign. “I don’t think- I don’t think we have time.” he finished helplessly, moving even closer to her, leaving open mouthed kisses against her neck.
Megan’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean? We have loads of time, I mean- O- Oh,” she whispered, finally understanding, her eyes wide because did she do that to him? She brought both of her hands up to his face, kissing him once, twice, three times desperately. “What do you want me to do?” She asked, kissing his cheek, his ear, his neck. William leant his neck back, exposing its length to Megan’s exploring mouth. “Please touch me,” he whimpered, closing his eyes, stomach clenching and unclenching with every touch of her tongue to his skin.
Megan felt determined, like she had to do a good job of this, or else she would just be the world's worst everything. Except she hadn’t a clue what to do. Still kissing at his neck, grazing her teeth along his jaw, and sucking a bruise further down, near his collar bone. All the while, she dragged her nails lightly down his front, moaning softly against his neck when he shuddered. She preened at the noises, because maybe she could do this properly.
She ran her thumbs across his hip bones, her hands splaying out across the bottom of his stomach. And she was being a little bit mean herself, but according to William she didn’t have that much time for payback. Well, that much time, right now. That didn’t mean that much time, tomorrow. She tugged at the waistband of his underwear, and asked, “You have to tell me what, or I won’t know.” Asking was a thousand times better than just screwing everything up, right?
William gasped and licked his lips, his whole body trembling. “Can we uh, can I, can you roll over? I just, it’ll be easier, you’ll have more c-control.” He stumbled over his words and laughed with her when they tried to rearrange themselves until Megan was draped over his body, one hand on his hip, the other against the mattress, holding her up above him. She kissed him softly, trailing one hand down his chest, over his stomach until she reached his underwear once again. “Can I?” She murmured, tugging gently on the material. “Y- y- yeah, yeah of course, please.” William whined, arching up against her hand.
Megan took a breath, her stomach full of nerves, and tugged his boxers down off of his hips. He half-sighed, half-moaned, and he screwed his eyes shut, his face already filled with some sort of relief. She moved her hand back up his thigh, and judged whether what she was doing was okay from the noises he was making.
She looked up to him, asking another silent question, just as he’d been doing, except hers meant what now? His hand moved towards her fingers which were lingering lightly, teasingly without her trying, on the top of his thigh. His hand closed around hers, and her hand around exactly where he needed her.
He let out a loud groan, and her stomach flipped at the sound. William let her hand go, and she found a rhythm, focusing everything on making him feel as good as she did. And judging by the expression on his face, and the low moans and short, staccato, breaths that were emitting from his throat, she must have been doing okay. She leaned down, as best as she could, and kissed him, swallowing each noise he made.
It was crude- not sunshine and daisies and butterflies, or candles and soft music- but Megan was making him feel so good. William felt like all his nerve endings were short circuiting. Every time she touched him or moved slightly he felt it shoot and spark out towards the rest of his body. He was panting into her neck, his back arching, speaking gibberish into her ear, complete stream of consciousness stuff that he hoped didn’t get too dirty, or too offensive, because he wouldn’t have been able to repeat a single word again.
When Megan giggled, finding a new angle, a new way to get the noises out of him that she wanted, William pressed himself to her body completely, wrapping his arms around her neck, tangling his hands in her hair softly. “I- I-” he stammered, whining into her neck, biting from her jaw to her collarbone and soothing the marks with his tongue. “I- Ohh,” he moaned, tightening his hold on her shoulders.
Megan blinked and stuttered at the string of whispers leaving William’s throat. Her stomach squirmed, and she blushed, and it was really hot. Wow, really hot. She moved and that proved to be a good idea, judging by how he frantically grabbed at her, breathing hotly on her neck. This was good- making William feel good. How could she not enjoy this, too?
She wanted to keep making things better, so she pulled her hand through his hair, fingernails scratching lightly at his scalp, and kissed him- hard. She changed her rhythm, speeding and then slowing, and over, and over. She pulled away to look at William, devilish grin across her features.
William tilted his head back into her hand and whined long and loud, his jaw almost going slack. His hands were clutching at whatever skin he could reach- her shoulders, back, hips, because he was feeling hotter and hotter as the seconds passed, when he felt the slow burning that let him know that- oh, if Megan keeps doing that- I’m- I’m-
Megan gave a small squeak of surprise when William said “M- I’m- oh.” The was sound was muffled by her skin, and he shuddered against her, moaning low in his throat, trembling. She kept moving against him through it, just like he had with her, until he was squirming away, panting and chuckling lower than she had ever heard him before which, yeah, which was really hot as well and he was going to kill her.
“I- Uh- That... Oh.” William stopped, even as his stomach muscles still twitched with aftershocks, laughed weakly and fell back against the quilt. Megan quickly leant in and pulled his arm around her, snuggling into his neck.
“Hey, William,” she whispered, kissing his neck. He looked down at her blearily, his eyes bright and smile so content and happy, just managing to say “Hm?” while shifting deeper into the blankets.“Well,” she started, grinning into his chest, “It’s just that, we’re all gross.”
William closed his eyes, grinning wide and shaking his head. “Yes,” he said, turning to face her, draping an arm over her side and tracing a soft pattern across her back. “But I think I know how we can fix that,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her.
Megan’s eyelids fluttered closed, and she was just really ridiculously happy. That she got to do this with the most amazing person in the whole entire world. “Do you, now?” she asked, raising both of her eyebrows, because she’d never figured out how to do just one. Shifting closer against him, she felt a pinch in her side. Rolling her eyes quickly, she bit her lip.
“William,” she said, taking a breath, “do you mind if you close your eyes maybe?” A look of confusion crossed his features, and he looked like he was about to open his mouth to ask, but she gave him a please type look, so he did so. She just, well, she felt self conscious now that it wasn’t all heat of the moment. So she quickly reached her hands behind her back and rid herself of her last offending article of clothing.
Rushing back under the covers, she nuzzled herself back in to William’s side. His arm found her again before his eyes opened, and he was about to open his mouth to ask, she could tell, but then his hand crawled right up the center of her shoulder blades. His eyes widened, and she blushed, hiding her face in his neck. “I was uncomfortable,” she reasoned, her voice a whine.
“Well, alright.” William replied a little too cheerfully, before becoming serious again. “Because,” he continued, “you know, this is completely, completely okay with me.” Megan whacked his arm right before she faux-yelled “You were worrying me!” and cuddled into his side again. William resumed tracing his fingers up and down her back, dipping both higher and lower each time he changed direction.
The room was mostly quiet, and they couldn’t have been gone for more than a couple of minutes, so they allowed themselves this time. They spoke in soft whispers, telling each other stories, little memories hidden away so deep that they hadn’t realised they were hiding in the first place. They talked for hours every day, but there were still things they hadn’t shared, little anxieties and what ifs stopping them. William gesticulated a little too wildly at one point while talking about a prank Emily had pulled on him when they were 6 and 7, respectively, and Megan spoke softly about her childhood friend, Taylah, who called her yellow, because of her hair, and always wore the same pair of red shoes every day.
Mostly though it was just nice to be this close without anything between them. William’s eyes looked a little more smouldering than usual, and more than once Megan grinned her wicked grin and slid her hand a little too far south than she ever had before that afternoon, daring him to object.
“William,” she started, her eyes flickering up his as she smiled, “can we please never leave here ever?” Because this was perfect. She thought that this whole, this whole (not-quite) sex thing was supposed to change everything, but it didn’t. Well, it made things better. She didn’t feel like she’d given too much, or like she’d not received enough in return- definitely not that. She continued to ramble, the words just flowing out of her, as she shuffled to rest her head on William’s chest. Her cheek against his chest muffled her words. “Because, its really nice, and because this place is attached to my mind forever and stuff, I can just think of the stuff we need, and it would show up, you know?”
William tightened his arms around her, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You know,” and then shifted, making sure this could be heard properly. “You know,” she started again, “that was my first one of those.” And just so he completely understood what she meant, she crawled up to whisper it in his ear. “And I just love you so much.”
William closed his eyes and slowly let out the breath that got caught in his throat at what she said. Honestly, he was a little frustrated at all the stuttering he had been doing since they, you know, so he tried to plan what he was going to say in advance instead of muddling his way through it. He tilted Megan’s head up softly with two fingers under her chin so she would look at him. “It was an honour, and a privilege.” William said clearly, but softly, reverently. Megan tilted her head up a little further so he could press a warm kiss to her lips, catching her bottom lip between both of his as he pulled away. “There just aren’t, there just aren’t words for how much I love you,” he murmured earnestly, cuddling down into the warmth of the bed with her. He looked directly into her eyes when he said this next part, because he had never wanted anyone to believe anything he said more than he did Megan in that moment. “But I’m never, ever going to stop trying.”
Megan felt her heart rise up high in her chest, and she let out a huge breath. Her smile tugged at the very corners of her mouth and she bit her lower lip, her eyes fluttering closed. “You are the absolute love of my life, William Piper,” the words leaving her mouth as more of a breath than anything else. “And you’re all mine,” she giggled, because she still had trouble coming to terms with the fact, “and I’m all yours.”
It was always the simple things that were the nicest, Megan had learned. Grand gestures all had their place, but the things that were more… delicate. Those were the ones that mattered.
Moments that you could literally blink and miss always lasted the longest in her memory. Moments that were quiet and private and alone, those were the best ones, she thought.
The weather man on the television yelled presently about snow storms, and blizzards, and she could see the snow falling through the frosted windows, but she couldn't feel the cold. The flashing pictures on the screen only served to splash colour across their faces and their bodies and the wall behind them.
The Muppets Christmas Carol had ended with the weather report, and the next show was a crime one about a factory Burning Down and a Man With Glasses who picked everyone as his Prime Suspect, but it didn't really matter to Megan or William.
They had been sitting, tangled with each other and about ten blankets, but as the temperature got a little unbearable, Megan had crawled to the other side of the bed, to rest her back up against the wall, and William had followed, leaving the blankets behind.
His head was rested on her chest just so, his eyelashes brushing against the portion of exposed skin each time he blinked. Megan had her hand in his hair, fingers gently pulling through his curls. William's arm hung loosely around Megan's middle. Megan's leg rested between William's.
"I like your eyelashes," she said, breaking the silence that had lasted the entire movie and ten extra minutes.
William shifted to look a her, and quirked and eyebrow, "What do you mean?" he asked, genuinely curious.
"I mean," she said, shifting herself around, too, "that your eyelashes are lovely, you goose." She reached out a hand, and rested it on his cheek, her thumb brushing slowly across his lashes. She bit her lip and giggled as he blinked against her finger. "You always wear your glasses, and I never get to see them, but they're very nice."
She loved to death his glasses, but he'd decided to wear contacts that day, and she couldn't say she minded, exactly.
William closed his hand over Megan's, and moved it slowly to her wrist was at eye-level. She breathed out slowly as his eyelids fluttered against the veins that pressed against her skin. Smiling, she crawled to him and then he brushed his eyelashes against her neck, and then he cheek bone, and then they were kissing.
Megan was in the comforting circled of his arms, and she twined her fingers together, at his neck. She wasn't sure how long they stayed, but she was certain that it was definitely a while. William pulled away from her, and rested his forehead against hers, and she sighed, content.
"Do you want a drink?" he asked, before dipping quickly to kiss her lips once more.
"Uh," she thought, and then answered, "yes, please, that would be lovely."
And then she was watching him walk out the door, in his plaid pyjama pants and deep blue shirt, padding along the floor in his socks. "I love you," she called after him, and then he called back the same and her heart stuttered in her chest.
She grinned as she heard her father laugh, and blushed and groaned as she heard the word 'casanova' leave the mouth of her uncle Bartholomew, who always stayed during the christmas season.
She rolled herself off of her bed and plopped herself in front of her small movie collection, most of which had been supplied by Warren, and tried to pick one as William laughed in the kitchen with her mum and dad and uncle.
And it was the nicest night she had had in a while. Simple.
William figured he should head down to the Greenhouses early if he was going to be helping Megan with her project, and from what he’d seen of her first few years at the Castle, she was never very well prepared. This bothered him less than it usually would because of how genuinely she tried, and how she was just naturally forgetful. His favourite past time of watching people and learning their quirks (Which he still DIDN’T think was creepy, regardless of how Bettie felt about it.) was particularly helpful when it came to these sorts of things. He left the common room quietly, but before he went down to the grounds he made sure to pass by the kitchens to get the breakfast he was sure the two would miss out on.
“This is Miss Morrow’s favourite tea, Mr Piper, yes”, Anita the house elf eagerly told him, handing him a tray of different drinks and pastries. The house elves seemed to have a sixth (or seventh or eighth? How many senses do they have, anyway?) sense about when students were going to run in to ask for favours. He thanked her kindly, giving her a charming grin, and she swatted him back out into the corridors.
Herbology was Megan Morrow’s favourite lesson. To be completely honest, it was the only one she was good at. She always loved flowers, even when she was little. Her first signs of magic, after all, was growing a bouquet of daisies out of a fork. It had scared her parents half to death, them being muggles and all.
She remembered about what William had said about early morning, and made sure to go to bed right after dinner so she could actually get up before ten minutes in to her first lesson, the time she usually managed to roll herself out of bed. She yawned and stretched and stumbled her way down stairs, still trying to tie her tie around her neck as she walked outside. Her fingers just couldn’t work it out properly, so she tied it around her head as a headband.
He had reached his destination maybe a half hour ago and was wondering whether Megan was going to show up when there was a commotion at the entrance. From his position at the closest bench to the door, he glanced up to see a tumbling mess of blonde hair, fuzzy pajamas and a bright yellow tie coming towards him. As a reflex he held out his arms quickly as she fell into him.
It wasn’t until she took to the challenge of walking along the grass, that she realised she’d forgotten to take her slippers off. And it wasn’t until she looked down that she’d forgotten to swap her pink-and-puple polka dotted pajama pants for her school skirt. Oh, Merlin. She’d buttoned up her school shirt in all the wrong way anyway. She walked in to the Greenhouse, inwardly cursing herself for her lack of being a morning person. And Megan Morrow, clumsy enough without being hindered by the fact that it was currently 5:30 AM, tripped over a vine and planted herself right in Williams chest. She went bright red and stumbled back from him. “Oh, oh, oh, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, I’m clumsy any way and now I’m tired, too, and I’m sorry.”
He tried to quieten her apologies, “No it’s fine, really! It’s alright,” he laughed quietly as she stammered. William brought his hand to the back of her head and tugged gently at a few leaves and sticks that had fallen into it. Surprisingly there was a little purple flower that was only found on the other side of the lake. “Why do you have one of these in your hair? Where have you BEEN this morning?” William’s quiet chuckle grew until his chest shook with suppressed laughter.
She made a face at him, opening her mouth to speak, and then closing right back up sighing. “I’m sorry,” she said, just one last time. She could feel yet another blush crawl up to her cheeks as he reached his hands around to rid her hair of the shrubbery she had managed to pick up on her way there. She was just a sad excuse for a girl, wasn’t she? “Oh, Merlin,” she said, reaching up to take the purple flower form his hand. “Flowers are attracted to me, I think,” she said, crackling a smile. She listened to his laugh grow louder and louder, until she had to join him, hers high and sort of tinkling against his, low and baritone. “Maybe I fell asleep on my way here and I slept-walked my way all around the castle. Maybe I went all the way around the lake and back up to the common room, and put my pajamas back on. I swear I was wearing my skirt when I walked out here.”
She pulled the sleeves of her jumper up and re-tied her tie around her head. “See,” she said, pointed out the cuts along her arms. “Attracted to me!” Bringing her arm up, closer to her eyes, she noticed that through her haze, she had remembered to put her perfume on. Oh, so she managed her perfume, but not her skirt! Good one, Megan, you absolute nong. “I figure they’d have to be attracted to you, as well, I mean, you’re always in here.” She could understand it completely, of course he liked it in there. Who wouldn’t? The greenhouse had always reminded her of him anyway.
“I think that’s me more attracted to them,” William’s eyes crinkled up as he grinned, looking away from Megan to the various plants scattered around the work benches. He walked towards them, motioning for her to follow, by passing the Fanged Geranium surprisingly. “They’re so pretty, and mostly-” he glanced at both her arms with a smile on his face, “-harmless.”
“Well, they’re gorgeous,” she said, turned toward a tree of Absynian Shrivlefigs. They were in full bloom, and the colour was… magnificent. Like malachite, containing all the colours of the rainbow. “All of the ones in here. Even the Mandrakes are really cute! With their little faces, and even the crying is okay! As long as you have earmuffs on, it’s fine, and I like wearing the eamuffs anyway.” They reminded her of eskimos, who were ace in Megan’s solid opinion.
“I know that we need to start pretty soon because everyone’s going to wake up eventually, BUT, we need to eat first.” William pulled out two stools and sat himself down on one of them, looking first at her expectantly and then down at their breakfast. He was slowly becoming more comfortable, losing the formal air he’d had around him before. “Tea?”
Megan broke out in to a huge grin at the sight of breakfast. Awesome! She thought she was going to have to skip out on Care of Magical creatures, which was okay, because they were working with Blast Ended Skrewts, and she already had plant-bites up her arms, she didn’t need burns, too. That was so lovely of William, and without even thinking, she launched on to him for the second time, wrapping her arms around his neck. “That is so sweet of you! Thanks so much, wow,” honestly she was always surprised at random acts of kindness. It was so… kind. “Of course,” she said, taking the seat opposite him. “I love tea. And… oh, wow, did you get Blackcurrant! I love Blackcurrant tea, it’s my favourite!”
For the first time all morning, William was flustered. With her arms around his neck, he had accidentally inhaled and smelt her perfume which was… lovely. He blinked his eyes slowly as she pulled back and grinned down at her steaming mug, obviously delighted at such a small gesture. People like her had always appealed to him, because even though they were a little naive, they were so thoughtful and optimistic and just, well, damn appreciative. It wasn’t a secret to anyone that he liked to please people, which is why he didn’t initiate conflict unless it was playful and with Bettie (who was totally going to rip him apart when she realised he’d gone on a date, oh my goodness.)
Obviously he’d murmured the last part out loud, and when he finally snapped out of the daze he was in he saw her expressive eyes looking at him questioningly.
She wrapped her hands around the cup of tea, smiling as it took the frost out of the tips of her fingers. It was so lovely, everything. Tea in the greenhouse! Gorgeous. And with William Piper. Who had really nice hair. She bit her lip and shook her head slightly, grinning in to her tea. She was about to bring it up to take a sip, when he heard him mutter something under his breath. She crinkled her eyebrows up, before blowing her hazel eyes out wide. “Pardon, what was that?” she asked, smiling at him, bringing her mug to under lips and taking a sip.
She said PARDON! No girls he knew said pardon. Well, Bettie didn’t say pardon. She walked around calling people crude names and asserting her lesbian independence. He loved her for it, but it was nice being around someone so well mannered and well, lovely for a change. He sat watching her for a moment, wondering how this even happened. Why he had never thought to approach her before. Now that he thought about it, she had been around the greenhouses a lot lately and even sitting near him in the Great Hall with a couple of other girls who always seemed to be giggling. He’d never thought anything about it. Maybe he really was oblivious.
“Bettie,” he laughed nervously, pulling himself towards the food and quickly taking whatever he could get his hands on first. “She, uh, lost her cat. That’s what I was saying, I uh, I was just thinking about where Marzipor- MARZIPAN, where Marzipan might be.” Why was he so flustered? He was never this flustered! He was Mr Cool-Calm-In-Command, it was what he was known for! Maybe Megan was part Veela or something. She was gorgeous enough to be.
“Oh, Bettie Knickers!” Megan said, giggling, she always laughed at that nickname. She bit her bottom lip and cleared her throat to stop herself. “Marziporn?” she asked, laughing again, “oh, right, Marzipan. Marzipan! That’s an adorable name! Oh, is that the cat that’s always wondering around the common room! I know him, he sleeps in my dorm sometimes, oddly. He’s so cute! He likes to live in my underwear draw!” Oh. Oh, Merlin. Oh. Oh. Did she really just say that? Oh. She blushed as red as a beet and looked down in to her tea. “He’s in there now, actually, I think…” she added more quietly.
The heat in William’s cheeks had nothing to do with the warm Hazelnut coffee he held between his palms, and all to do with the fact that this cute, cute, cute blonde blushing girl in front of him had just mentioned her underwear. He cleared his throat, extracting one hand from the warmth to awkwardly scratch at the hair behind his ears.
“Oh really? That’s so funny, sometimes I wake up and he’s like, right on my face or my chest and I can’t breathe properly. I swear that cat has no boundaries. I think all the other cats need to sit down and teach him how to act properly.”
“No way, like, on your face” she, put her tea down and put her hands over her face, smiling. “Imagine that, oh my, well, I guess you don’t need to, because it happens to you! But most of the time, I wake up and he’s… in my… drawer.” In her underwear drawer. Jeeze louise, was she just going to keep bringing up her frigging knickers all morning!? A sad, sad, excuse for a girl. I think all the other cats need to sit down and teach him how to act properly. Megan laughed at that, before biting her lip. “Cat-lessons! Would the teachers wear like, mini robes and things? And have like, long sticks to point on the chalk-board with? And mini chalk-boards?”
“Yeah, how crazy is it? It’s like a psycho killer cat!” William paused, trying to stop himself for getting too enthusiastic about a cat. ”I like the idea of the mini robes but there’d have to be a special feline robe fitter to like, colour co-ordinate the robes with their fur, you know? Unless it were a professor cat like Higsworth who needed some serious help with his wardrobe.” William let out a giggle- no, a chuckle. A manly, masculine chuckle. He glanced up over his mug at Megan’s large, hazel, expressive eyes, and then away down at their mostly finished breakfast. They’d been talking for a while, but neither had finished much of their drinks, so he cast a quick spell to warm them back up.
“Oh, wow, a killer cat! Then you’d have to get like another cat as a detective cat. Like a Sherlock cat! And also a Watson! Elementary.” Duh. If you had to have Sherlock, you had to have a Watson. “They’d smoke pipes! And have monocles! Oh, and that’s a good idea about colour-coordination, because you have to have robes that fit your hair! Like, obviously the reason I’m in Hufflepuff is that my hair is yellow, too! And like, red and blue tend to look a bit silly on me. Green is okay. But yellow is definitely the best! Oh, and thanks,” she said, smiling wide as he warmed up their tea. “Yeah,” she looked up at him, and for some reason looking him in the eye was a little… hard. Because. He had. Uh, nice eyes. Really nice.
“So, Meg…an. Megan. Meg? Can I call you Meg? Megs? I don’t know. Tell me about yourself because I like, know absolutely nothing. I can’t believe this is the first time we’ve talked.” William was still looking at her, but began to lean against the table, occasionally drinking from his mug, and picking apart the nearest croissant Anita had laid out for them. He had the sudden realisation that he’d really, really like to get to know Megan Morrow.
“Oh, Meg is fine! I get uh, Megs, Meggielegs,and uh, just Legs from some people. And Meegs, too. And uh, Warren, he calls me Meg the Egg. And oh, once, once Ward Isle called me Megan, Goddess of Tea! Because he accidentally spilled his on his lap, and I’d already had three that morning! Actually four, yeah, it was four. Oh, and Grayson! Grayson calls me Megglepops. Also, I get MegMegs and Meggers!” She thought that was it. That was it right. “Oh! And Morrow. Of course. What about you? Nicknames? Oh, I’m good at them, let me have a go. Okay. Piper, obviously,” she smiled up at him, “Pipes, Pip, Will, Willster, Willo, Willi-yum!” She laughed. “That’s all I have, for now. But. You know,” Megan shrugged, still smiling. “I like William. It suits you, I think.”
“Oh, about me? Well. I tend to say a lot when I speak. And to ramble. In about ten minutes you’ll probably know my entire life story.” Megan knew that she rambled, it was a fatal flaw of hers. She just never shut up! “Aren’t you sick of my voice already? I think I am,” she said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
“I’d definitely agree with the Megan, Goddess of Tea nickname.” He could feel a blush starting at his neck, and before he lost the courage, he slowly reached out and adjusted Megan’s yellow tie, still tied loosely around her head. The blush was rising to his cheeks now, and after hesitating he dropped his hands back to his side, looking anywhere except for her face.
“Oh, I like that one too!” Megan smiled, taking another sip of her tea, which was now warm, thanks to William, she was about to open her mouth to speak about something else, when he reached across the table to fix her tie, wrapped haphazardly around her head. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes kept flickering up to his, and down to her tea, and back up to his, and then down again. Her heart was beating super fast in her chest and her stomach was flipping. After he dropped his hand, she looked down in to her tea, trying not to smile like an idiot. But she was failing.
“I could never be sick of your voice though, it’s so lovely and soothing. I-“ Before he could finish his sentence, three second year girls and a fourth year boy walked through the door, one after the other, and their quiet morning was shattered. They’d gotten absolutely nothing done, but William didn’t want to leave. He looked up at Megan’s face, feeling the sadness on his own. An unfamiliar feeling was curling around his chest, and he didn’t want to leave, but he had Loring first, and absolutely no one wanted to turn up late for his class. It was practically a death wish.
So badly. And then he spoke about her voice, and she almost wanted to just yell with glee and happiness but they were interrupted. “No,” she said, shaking her head, kind of… sad now that she had to leave. “It’s so… Scottish. I’m from Glasgow. It sounds weird coming out of my face like, you know? I’m too little for my own voice,” she drained the last of her tea. “See, whole life story!” The Greenhouse was actually filling up now.
“It’s definitely one of the most unique accents I’ve heard since I started here, but I don’t know.” William paused, heart pounding a little harder than it had been a few moments beforehand. “I like it a lot, everything sounds cuter, somehow. A lot more gentle and kind, you know? That coupled with everything you say and do makes you like, the nicest person I know.” He was stumbling over his words but couldn’t stop grinning at her, leaving his abandoned mug on the table. He knew the house elves would apparate down here the second they left to collect everything, it was something else that he was going to be eternally grateful to them for. They reminded him of Megs, actually. Was he actually going to call her Megs now? I mean, what did that make them? What was ‘them’ anyway? They were down here for a study lesson! Whatever, he’d have to take her down to the kitchens if she didn’t already know them all there.
“Oh, thanks!” she said, her grin reaching all the way up to her ears. She tucked her hair behind her ears as he paused. “Oh… t-thanks.” She was sure that that was her heart she could hear beating in her chest. The kindest person he knew, that was such a lovely thing to say. Megan never exactly thought of herself as the nicest, or the kindest, or the most anything that any person knew. But she did try. And it made her heart literally stutter in her chest to hear him say it. Also, probably because it was coming from him.
“I like hearing about you, though! I definitely don’t feel like I’ve heard your whole life story, it’s just the beginning.” That stupid grin was still on his face, he could feel it.
“Oh, really?” she asked, smiling. She really couldn’t stop doing that. She was making a fool of herself, obviously. “Well, then, I could probably keep telling you.” Oh, Megan. You really are an idiot. Not like the boy actually wanted to hear what she had to say. “What do you uh, what do you have first lesson?” she asked, stupidly filling herself hopelessly with the idea that he could… maybe cut first lesson and hang out with her. “I’ve got… jeeze, I usually rely on Immo for my class schedule. Oh, what day is it? Thursday? I’ve got History of Magic. Oh, no. I didn’t do my homework.”
“I’ve got Potions with Loring, and don’t want to even chance being late. He doesn’t like me in the first place because I’m in Hufflepuff and he thinks my hair is too long and unruly.” William sighed, subconsciously pulling a hand through it, which was unceremoniously dubbed “the fro” by many a student or friend both here and from around his parent’s houses. He decided to just distract himself, not wanting to know what Megan’s reaction to him feeling sorry for himself was.
“Ugh, Loring. The man hates me. Every time I so much as smile around him, he’ll shoot me a glare and take ten points off for ‘taking the class seriously’,” Megan said, using air-quotes and imitating his voice. Very badly, mind. “I don’t know, it’s like he just doesn’t like happy people. Probably also because I’m a menace at Potions.” Megan followed his fingers with her eyes, as he ran them through his curly mess of hair. She drummed her fingers on the table and thought just how much she would actually like to do the same. “Well, if he doesn’t, you should know I do.” She said, quite simply. Well, if she was anything, she was honest.
“History of Magic? What was the homework? Maybe I can help with that, because I certainly didn’t help you with your Herbology sketches like I promised I would. A Greenhouse regular always keeps his promises.” Was that a wink? Did he seriously just wink at her? Oh Merlin, he winked at her. She’s going to think he has silent tourettes or something.
“History of Magic homework was. Oh. Oh, I have a shocking memory. Jeeze louise, it was an essay on something about Trolls. I’m not sure, maybe I’ll just go down to the house elves and help them wash the dishes. It’s just about all I can do anyway, considering I can’t cook to save my own life.” She said, shrugging. “And I can just get help later. From you. I mean. If you want to help me. If not, that’s okay.” And then she blushed at his wink. Oh, idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot.
“I can definitely help you later,” William couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off his face. If this was how she made him feel after an hour, he wondered what it’d be like to spend even longer with her.
She stood up from the table and around to where William was sitting. Something about him for some reason made her knees go all… jelloid. She was too busy smiling and being happy and looking at William, and then she realised she was still wearing her pajama pants. “Oh, and I’m still half in my jim jams.”
As she stood, she said something about her jim jams. Jim jams. Was everything Megan did absolutely adorable? He wanted to bundle her up and carry her back to the common rooms and just spend all day by the fire and- focus, William. “But yeah, uh, about that uh sketch, I think I have some of my old parchment around somewhere with my work from last year? I’m kind of a compulsive hoarder and…” William’s hand found the back of his neck again and he looked at Megan hopefully, lowering his voice as to not be overhead by the curious students surrounding them. As they made their way over to the door, he finished his sentence. “I mean, I guess what I’m saying is, do you maybe want to hang out again? I mean, it doesn’t even have to be for this, but if you want to it can be! I’d just-“
“Oh that’s cool! Because I loose, like everything,” she shook her hand, and waved her hand about. She stopped, though he started walking over to the door. She picked up her books, and walked with him, cradling them to her chest as she bit her lip.
Taking a deep breath and leaning against the door frame, he looked up from under his eyelashes at her and tried to slow down his racing heart beat. “I’d just really like to see you again, soon.”
Her breath hitched in her throat as he leaned against the doorframe and looked at her from under his eyelashes. Her eyes were blown wide, and the corners of her lips twitched with a smile. “Well, me too,” she said, feeling her heart race faster than she’d ever felt it beat. Without thinking again, she threw her arms around his neck and smiled in to his shoulder. She stepped back and grinned at him. “Thanks for helping me,” she smiled. “Even if I’ve got my tie around my head and half my jim jams on.”
“Any time, seriously.” He grinned at her and playfully adjusted her tie again, before grinning down at her fluffy slippers. “Here, let me take those books for you. I’ll walk you back to the common rooms, yeah?”
Half way across the dew-y field, William finally built up the courage to ask Megan what was on his mind. “After Potions I’m thinking about going down to the kitchens to help out a little in return for all their help this morning, do you want to go with me then? I’m sure we could even wear our pyjamas, there’s no reason anyone down there would care and they’re so much more comfortable than our heavy robes!” There goes the over excitement again. He can’t seem to contain himself around her, and she had seemed way more comfortable this morning, it wasn’t fair. The one day that he had actually remembered to change completely before leaving.
As soon as they arrived at the common rooms he cursed himself for not thinking about what to do once they got there. Does he kiss her cheek? What was this morning? Is she feeling as giddy as she is? Does she want to skip their classes and run down to the lake to agitate the Giant Squid as much as he does?
“Oh, of course! I would love to go down. I’ll, uh, meet you there. I’ll be wearing my pajamas! I think I’m just going to cut class, and go there anyway. But, oh, don’t say anything! Because I don’t want to get in trouble,” she put a finger over her lips and nodded. “Teachers usually don’t realise that I’m not in there, but occasionally Hagrid will notice because I’m usually either screaming because the animals are cute, or because they are really freaky looking.”
“I uh, I had a really lovely morning. I hope History of Magic isn’t too unbearable.” He flashed her his most charming grin that faltered at the end, before initiating his first hug of the morning by wrapping his arms around her petite frame and probably holding on a little longer than he should have. After pulling back, his face was on fire, and he couldn’t stop grinning. Before anything else embarrassing happened, William walked back a couple of steps to watch her get safely inside before he went off to Potions. He would definitely lose points for Hufflepuff this morning for “being too happy”. He might even get a detention. He grinned at the thought. Hagrid had detention this week, and Megan thought he was lovely.
“Me too,” she said, biting her lip and nodding vigorously, her hair flying up around her face. She matched his grin and tucked a piece of blonde behind her head band. She smiled as he hugged her, and smiled as he let her go, and smiled as she noticed that his face was probably the same colour as hers.
"William," Megan said, tilting her head to the side and looking at him thoughtfully. "How come we don't have pet names for each other? I mean, I love you forever, but…" she shrugged her shoulders, grinning, "is that really enough?"
Chuckling, William turned to face her. He threw his arms around her waist, and pulled her closer toward him, sitting in between his legs. Nuzzling in to her neck, making her giggle he said, "Mmmhm, yeah, I totally agree with you. I know that you're mine and I'm never going to let you go or anything, but I think there's a level and we haven't reached it yet. And that level is pet names."
Trying her hardest to play along and not completely fall into hysterics, Megan nodded her head slowly. "Honey?" she said, shrugging her shoulders in a denture of offering.
WIlliam shook his head minutely and mouthed 'no'. "Chicken?"
Megan mimed gagging. "Angel?"
"Boo bear?"
"Cupcake!"
"Darling?"
Megan actually thought for a moment. That was what her parents called each other, but… not William and her. No way. Having to call William darling conjured up thoughts of 1950s happy families, where she drawled 'Darling,' as he stepped through the door, and she handed him a martini. Gross. "Baby cakes?"
William smiled. "Baby," he whispered low in her ear, making her squirm.
"B-a-b-e. Babe." She said, turning to him, her hand around his neck, and her eyebrows raised.
"Babe," he said back to her, his voice going deeper. If it wasn't so silly, she would have started kissing him like crazy right there in the common room.
She tried to match his voice, going as deep as him, but she couldn't, her voice cracking in the middle of the word. She swatted William on the arm when he started laughing at her. "Like, babe," she said, this time in her best High School Teen American Girl Voice. "Like, oh, my God, baaaabe!"
William, splayed his hand out across his chest and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "Ugh, babe, I so totally know. Babe!"
Megan bit her lip, laughing, trying to keep herself from laughing. "I love you, I love you so much," she said, turing in to face him. She sat, maybe inappropriately, to straddle his hips, and leaned her head down on his. "I love you so much. Babe."
William, his hands coming to hold her waist, chuckled low, dropping his head down to her neck to muffle his laughter. Kissing the skin there softly, he murmured, "I love you, babe."
"Babe," she said, somewhat a warning. Honestly, he wasn't just going to kiss her like that right in the common room, that would be ridiculous.
"B-abe," he said, in retort. She guessed he was referring to the rather compromising position she was sitting in.
"Babe?," she said, obviously meaning, okay, fair call, should we maybe go… someplace else?
"Babe," he said, grinning at her and nodding in agreance.
"William!" Megan said, throwing her arms around his waist and resting her cheek against his back.
She'd just ran down from her dorm room, where there lied a whole pile of completely finished homework. Finished, and done, and dusted, and ready to hand in. Maybe they weren't all perfect, but they were all to the best of her ability. Well… except, her Divination essay. But how was anybody supposed to take that stuff seriously, anyway?
"Megan!" WIlliam replied, just as loud. He reached his arms backward, and clasped them behind her, in a backwards hug.
"I finished!" she shouted, laughing, even though shouting was definitely not what the situation called for. She shuffled herself closer to William, burying her face in his jumper, right between his shoulder blades.She breathed him in, and placed a kiss to his spine, feeling the slightest of tremors run down through his body.
"What did you finish?!" They were still both shouting, and Megan shook with silent laughter. William turned around in the circle of her arms, and she pressed her face into his chest. William pulled her in close, his arms around her waist, and butterflies awoke in her stomach. Goodness.
"I finished all my homework!" she said, still shouting, but muffled in to his chest. She was bouncing on her toes, her insides jumbling for two reasons, actually. She raised her head, looking up at William, "I finished it all! All of it, and it's all on time and-" and the wind was literally knocked out of her.
William had gathered her up in his arms, spinning her around in a small circle. Megan squealed before falling in to a fit of giggles, not being able to help it. Having been lifted up to his eye height, she bit her lip, looking in to his face. He looked so happy, and so proud of her, and so excited, it made her heart beat even harder in her chest than it already did when they were together. Super double extra mega fast.
The second her feet had touched the floor, he was bending down to her lips, kissing her hard. She made a small squeak before she responded, her mouth moving against his. “I’m so proud of you,” he murmured, not bothering to pull away.
She squeezed her eyes shut, having to drop her head in to William’s neck biting her lip, to keep from squealing, again. She was just so happy, her stomach felt like it was going to jump out of her, but in a really good way. Megan wound her arms around his neck, pulling away from him to look at him properly.
“I am so proud of you,” he said again, smiling at her, his eyes bright.
And you know, that sounded really good. It didn’t sound like someone was patronizing her, and it didn’t sound like she was being complimented and patted, like a pet. And it sounded like he genuinely was. He was really, truly, proud of her, because William always was.
Closing any gay between them with one movement, Megan pressed her lips to Williams, smiling in to their kiss. One of his hands splayed at the bottom of her shoulders, and he used the other to pull her in by the small of her back. The tops of his fingers inched their way up her shirt, and she bit muffled a small gasp against his mouth.
“Is that mine?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, asking of the jumper she was wearing.
Megan rolled her eyes, and giggled, moving in to kiss him once more before answering his question. “Well, duh.”
William heard the exclamation of his name, but for some reason, his little blonde girlfriend didn't come bounding through the common room to greet him.
"Come here," he heard her beckon, and he followed the sound to where she was s-... Oh, wow.
She was sitting, smack in the middle of the common room, and she was... oh my god.
Billy walked past him, chuckling, and clapped him on the shoulder. "I didn't know she was so, uh, talented... Have fun with that, Sweetcheeks."
His throat got progressively more dry as he walked toward her, in her, uh, position.
"Who knew I could do the splits, right?" she laughed. "And look at this!" She lifted her back leg to her shoulder, with a look of exertion on her face. "Tada!"
William tried to swallow around the lump in his throat. "Ta... da"
“William,” Megan started, fidgeting with her fingers as she concentrated on saying exactly what she wanted to say. William stopped cleaning around the new plants they’d gotten into the Greenhouse that morning, dirt falling occasionally onto the floor where he brushed against the bench, concentrating too hard on not waking them up to pay attention to something that could easily be dealt with later. Megan started drumming her hands against her stool when he looked up, swinging her legs, looking anywhere but at him. She didn’t look anxious or upset though, so he smiled, wiping his hands on his apron.
“Yeah?” He grinned, padding over to her and placing his hands on either side of her legs.
“William,” she repeated, reaching out to twirl one of his curls around her pointer finger, scrunching up her face and laughing when he kissed her nose, moving to her cheek, then her ear, and her neck-
“I’m trying to talk to you,” she giggled, but there was no bite to her reprimand because straight after she closed her mouth, she tilted her head back to give him more access to kiss along her neck, lightly biting, not hard enough to leave any marks, just enough for a surge of heat to spiral down into her lower stomach.
Megan sighed when William’s hands found her hips, but she impatiently pushed his jaw lightly with her left palm until he kissed her properly, expelling a breath out her nose and giggling even more when his teeth clunked with hers.
“You’re not supposed to smile when I kiss you, it’s supposed to be very serious, you’re ruining everything,” Megan gave him a faux-patronising look, wiggling her finger at him, her arm clasped between their bodies, not leaving a lot of room for her to move except for her hand on her hip. William raised an eyebrow at her, moving even closer and grasping her finger in his fist gently, tugging at the stockings on her legs lightly at the same time.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured against her cheek, not really meaning it at all. William nestled himself into her neck, taking advantage of Megan’s height in that moment to cuddle her properly. It was nice to be held like this sometimes, the weight of her arms around his shoulder reassuring, her elbows bent so she could reach his scalp, methodically pulling her hands through his hair. He sighed, shuffling closer to her still.
“I love you,” She whispered into his hair, kissing his temple softly, again and again, her voice reverberating against his ears and into his head and down through his body like an electric shock. He looked up at her, eyes big and blazing and all of a sudden one of his hands was on her neck, the other clasping hers tightly, and he was kissing her and oh that’s nice, she thought quietly, letting him mould himself to her, kissing her deeper, tilting her neck back slightly and o- oh, oh wow. She whimpered quietly against his mouth, leaning forwards, gripping his thin t-shirt tightly in her hands.
William let out a soft moan, muffled only by her lips pressed to his, his hands trailing down her sides, over her hips, down her legs until he could grasp both in his hands and pull them, motioning without Megan having to look for her to lock them around his waist. She complied, and he moved closer, trailing his tongue over her lower lip, biting gently when her mouth fell slightly open against his.
Megan’s hands tightened in hair, a familiar gesture that meant she wanted him to kiss her more, touch her more, just wanted more, more, more of whatever he would give her. They moved quietly together for a few more minutes, breath coming out in short bursts, the only sound in the quiet room the soft, wet slide of their mouths together.
Slowly, Megan pulled back, running her thumbs over William’s eyebrows, down the side of his face, over his mouth that was wow, full and bitten and red and oh wow, wow wow, his face is all flushed and his eyes are dark and oh his eyes are pretty, wow, oh wow, oh my goodness.
William tried to follow her mouth when she pulled away, whining when he realised it was over. “No, no, no,” he murmured, touching her hips, her waist, her hands, resting his hands finally on top of her thighs. Megan grinned a huge grin at him and her eyes crinkled in the way they only got when she was very, very happy and it was always a look that only William got. It was his look, the one where he knew he’d gotten something very, very right.
“You’re all…” She mumbled, still touching, trailing her hands over his cheeks, his ears, just touching. Leaving a burning track of heat behind the pads of her fingers. William huffed out a breath, pressing closer still, leaning down quickly to leave a wet, suctioning kiss on the base of her neck. Megan’s legs started trembling against him, clamped around his waist again instantly. “Oh,” she murmured, hands back in his hair, pulling him up to-
A huge, shrieking noise sounded from the bench, and Megan was only saved from falling by William’s arms, already around her, holding her steady before rushing over to throw a black sheet over the plants. He was squinting, groping around for ear plugs that he knew he’d left here, he just didn’t know where, he couldn’t concentrate on anything when Megan- when she- when he-
Megan picked her and William’s jackets off the bench quickly, managing not to fall over on her way out of the greenhouse. The cold outside hit her hard, and she pulled her sweater on inside out, right over the long sleeve shirt of William’s she had on underneath two of his t-shirts, all mustard yellow, all different kinds of faded. Over her sweater went her jacket, and finally she was dressed and warm, and William was practically falling out of the greenhouse, shutting the door behind him. He leant on it, breathing heavily, starting when his bare arms touched the cold steel of the heavy lock.
“Here,” Megan giggled, putting her arms around his middle to wrap his jacket over his shoulders, and his scarf around his neck. William smiled at her fondly, murmuring a quick “Thank you”, his hair a muddle of curls across his forehead. She stuck her tongue out, biting at it in concentration to fix his beanie right over his head the way she liked it, the way that made his curls fan out across his face, framing it so nicely, and promptly pulled him down with it before looking at him sternly.
“I was trying,” She playfully glared at him, licking one of her thumbs and rubbing it against the side of his nose where finally she could get rid of the dirt there that had started this whole thing, “I was trying to clean up your face for you, but no, you had to go and make out with me.” Megan thumped his shoulder, turning on her heel and skipping up the path towards the castle. William was still leaning against the greenhouse entrance, grin plastered across his face as he watched her make her way back towards the Great Hall, ready for breakfast. Even from a distance he could distinctly hear her mutter “Goodness, boys these days.”
William pushed himself off from the wall and jogged to catch up to her, his footprints matching hers in the snow.
Megan was staring at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were never that good at picking up detail. She had 20/20 vision, but something in her mind said she could never look at everything. Except, apparently, in this case.
Her hands hung open at her sides, and her shoulders slumped in defeat. She didn’t like this. She didn’t like this at all, at all, at all.
Her reflection in the mirror was shouting all the wrong things about her. Yelling about her jaw being too angular. Too angular, and when she tied her hair back, it was even worse, so she always wore it hanging over her ears. Yelling about how her collar-bone stuck out, too much, and how her torso was too wide, and she didn’t have the boobs to fill it. Yelling about how her hips were too wide-set, and even then, her thighs were too close together. Even yelling about how her hands were so big and her fingers so bony.
Tears were sliding down her cheek bones, where they dropped to her chest in splashes, dripping down to hit her yellow bra with blue polka-dots. Standing in her room alone, wearing just her underwear, she cried.
Her fingers twitched at her side. All she wanted to do was throw her hands over her ears and go and sit in her cupboard. But her feet stayed in their places, and she couldn’t move.
She had tried on dress, after dress, after dress. She and William were supposed to be going out to the movies, and it was hot out, and nothing looked nice. Nothing looked okay. Nothing even looked halfway to decent. Her bedroom was littered with failed outfit choices, material covering her floor.
Nothing looked right because she looked so wrong.
She startled as the door swung open, William’s face appearing happy, and then dropping to concerned. “Megan...” he said, stepping towards her and then hesitating. He reached his hand out, and then he hesitated again. “Megan.”
It sounded to her ears like a plea, and she felt so vulnerable. Obviously he had seen her in her underwear before, but never as had she looked so fragile standing in front of him.
Sniffling, she took in a shaky breath. She stepped toward William, still standing a considerable amount back, and looked up at him through strands in her hair. “Please,” her voice broke, so she cleared her throat. “Please touch me...” she said, reaching forward to take his hands in hers. She expelled a breath. “Gently.”
William didn't say a word, but closed the distance between them in a step. Lifting his hands to her hair, he moved to kiss her, catching her bottom lip softly between his. His fingers ran lightly from her neck, to her collar bone, his mouth following that trail.
Megan took in another trembling breath, and closed her eyes. William kissed across the tops of her breasts and down her chest, down her stomach. He got to his knees and splayed his hands across her abdomen as his lips traced as much of her hip bones as allowable. Hands gripping softly at her sides, he pushed ever so slightly, motioning for her to turn, and she did.
Starting at the base of her spine, William worked up. Fingers before lips, a trail up her spine began, and ended with his hands spread along shoulders, his lips at her neck murmuring the word ‘beautiful’ over, and over, and over.
Megan had stood unmoving, her lips slightly parted, only concentrating on the swirling feeling in her stomach, and the constricting one on her heart. She allowed herself to move, and tipped her head back slightly as William moved his hands, palms flat against her skin, from her shoulders, all the way to her stomach.
And then she slumped against William, and he held her, arms closing in around her waist. “I love you,” she whispered, her voice breaking on the ‘love’ part.
William took in a deep breath, and expelled it against her neck, Megan’s body rising and falling with his. “I love you so much, Megan Morrow.”
Her lips twitched up at the sides and she turned slowly, rising on her tip toes. She pressed her lips to his, her hands moving to his neck as he held her there, a hand on her shoulders, one on her lower back. They moved together, quietly, Megan pushing herself against William, and William keeping her there. “You’re my favourite,” she murmured against his lips, not giving him a chance to respond before kissing him again, her fingers curling in the hair at the nape of his neck.
William let out a huff of breath, a laugh against her mouth, and bent to run his hands to her thighs. Megan scrambled, and jumped as he lifted, her legs locking around his waist. He walked them both to her bed, and laid Megan down. William took off his shirt, and then his jeans dropped, and then he crawled into bed next to her, both of them clambering under the covers.
Megan curled into him, hooking her legs between his. Her palm rested across his heart, her head was next to his on the pillow. She looked at William, and her mouth couldn’t stop words just flowing out. “You know how much I love you, right?” she asked, her eyes pleading. “Because it’s so much. It's so much that I don’t know how I would do anything without you. It’s so much that when you’re not with me I feel it, in my throat and it doesn’t go away until I can kiss you again. And I love you so much that it hurts, but in a really good way. It twists at my heart and I feel like I can’t breathe when I look at you sometimes and it’s like you hold up all my world on your shoulders.”
William just looked at her, his eyes practically yelling his adoration. He looked, and he gathered his thoughts, and he murmured ‘I’m thinking’, so she wouldn’t think he was ignoring her, and she grinned, biting her lip, and responded, ‘I know’. The sentence came to him, and it was so simple that he wondered why he hadn’t come up with it before. “You are my world, Megan.”
She sighed, and it wasn’t a frustrated one, it was a happy one. One where William could almost hear the tension leaving her body. “Megan Land,” she mumbled, drawing herself in closer to him, able to feel his laughter as well as hear it. “And mine is called William World, because I like the alliteration.”
“Like Megan Morrow,” he said, kissing the top of her head soothingly.
And one day, but not today, but one day, she would tell him that she liked Megan Piper much, much better.
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