pairing: theodore nott x reader.
song inspiration: until i found you by stephen sanchez feat. em beihold.
author's note: boyfriend theo is the best theo. if you're wondering, then yes writing this hurt me as much as it hurts reading it but like in the best way possible.
Theodore Nott has always had an affinity for the stars.
When he was younger, Theo's mother used to take him to the rooftop of Nott Manor and point out the constellations to him. The stars told stories, his mum had said. Theo listened with rapt attention as she recounted the tales of Aquila, Heracles, and Orion as they glittered against the backdrop of the English countryside.
The two of them would make an entire evening out of it. Laying on his back atop a nest of blankets and pillows, little Theo watched as the stars climbed higher and higher, filling the horizon with hope and light. Stargazing had been their special secret. The one thing that wasn’t tainted by his abusive father. Theo guarded the memory of those nights in his heart like a priceless treasure.
After his mother’s passing, Theo continued their tradition of stargazing. Even if she was no longer alive, all he had to do was look up at the sky to feel her with him. For that reason, the stars were special to him and he’d never shared its meaning with anyone.
Until tonight.
“Watch your step, cara mia.” Theo said as he guided you by the small of your back.
The dark cloth covering your eyes prohibited you from seeing, but you trusted your boyfriend to keep you from falling. Though you weren’t a fan of surprises, Theo was impossible to resist. All he had to do was flash those pretty watercolor eyes at you and you were an absolute goner.
For you, Theo had always been the exception.
He guided you up a staircase, keeping a firm grip on your waist as the two of you ascended. Wherever you were going, it was pretty high up. You smiled as Theo took hold of your waist, knowing that you weren't the biggest fan of heights. Sometimes it felt like he knew you better than you knew yourself. When you reached the top, Theo unfastened his tie from behind your head.
“You can open your eyes now, sweetheart.”
You blinked, letting your eyes adjust to the dark. The wind whistled through the stone arches of the Astronomy Tower, framing the starkissed night with its marble pillars. The soft glow of the moon illuminated the nest of blankets and pillows arranged in the middle of the wooden floor.
“Did you do all of this for me, babe?”
Theo smiled. “I thought you might like to go stargazing with me,” he said, his voice soft. “Do you like it, my love?”
“I love it, Teddy.” You beamed, standing on your tiptoes to kiss his nose. “But not nearly as much as I love you.”
Theo grinned before pulling you in for a proper kiss. His lips were soft against yours and he tasted like peppermint. Butterflies erupted in your stomach as your knees buckled slightly. Theo never failed to make you feel like a lovestruck school girl. It never stopped feeling like this despite how many times you kissed this boy.
As if reading your thoughts, Theo smiled against your lips. “Come on, Y/N. I want to show you my favorite constellations.”
The two of you laid down beneath the stars, making yourself comfortable amidst the blankets and pillows. Wordlessly, Theo pulled you into his arms and you nestled into the crook of his neck, breathing in the familiar scent of sea salt spray and sun kissed skin.
“Tell me the story of the stars, Teddy.”
He smiled, brushing your hair back. “That one right there is Ursa Major. Otherwise known as the Big Dipper, but if you look at the entire constellation, it actually forms a bear.”
“I remember learning about that when I was little,” you said, gazing up at the sky. “Didn’t it have something to do with Zeus?”
Theo nodded. “In Greek mythology, the Olympian God Zeus fell in love with Callisto and got her pregnant. After she gave birth to the child, Hera was so mad she turned Callisto into a bear.”
“That hardly seems fair,” you responded with a frown.
“Zeus was a bit of a wanker,” Theo said in agreement. “Hera was even worse. She cursed Callisto to wander the forest for years in bear form until she was hunted by her own son Arcas. Just as he raised his spear to strike her down, Zeus stepped in and sent them up to the heavens. Callisto as Ursa Major and Arcas as Bootes.”
“The Greek gods were truly a piece of work,” you replied. “But at least we got those constellations out of them."
You squinted, pointing at the cluster of stars hovering in the east. “What’s that one?”
“That’s the constellation of Leo,” explained Theo. “Named after the Nemean lion that Heracles defeated during the first of his twelve labours.”
“Didn’t he make a cloak out of the lion’s pelt?”
“Smart girl,” Theo said proudly. “The cloak made Heracles invincible and more fearsome than he already was. The Nemean lion’s heart is made up of the star Regulus, which is associated with the arrival of spring.”
“The Little King. I read that it burns hotter than the sun.”
Theo couldn’t help but smile. Before he met you, he never thought he’d find someone to share such a special and intimate thing with. He was worried that no one else would understand his love for the stars, but as he watched you peer curiously up at the sky, your nose scrunched in careful concentration, Theo felt all of his doubts fade away.
“Regulus is unique because it can be seen in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.”
The blue star glittered brightly above your heads, as if it was showing off for the occasion. “It’s beautiful,” you breathed.
Theo stared at you, at the childlike wonder shimmering in your eyes, and he felt like the breath had been knocked out of his lungs. The gravity of what he felt for you hit him all at once.
“Yeah,” Theo said softly, still looking at you. “Beautiful.”
You grinned, intertwining your fingers and kissing his knuckles. “How do you know so much about the stars, Teddy?”
“My mum taught me.” Theo answered, drawing circles on your hip. “When I was little, she used to take me to the rooftop of the manor and tell me the story behind each star. She was fascinated by them. Before she met my father, she wanted to teach astronomy at the Stati Magia.”
“The Italian School of Witchcraft?”
Theo nodded. “My mother attended the Stati Magia, just like her mother and her mother before her. A tradition that I unintentionally broke, as nonna Lucia loves to remind me. Sometimes I think the old bat wishes that I was born a strega instead.”
You giggled. “You would’ve been a very pretty witch.” Theo chuckled as you propped your head up in one hand. “Did your mum end up becoming a professor?”
“No,” Theo said sadly. “After I was born, my father said that her place was at the manor. He refused to move to Florence, even though he knew it was my mother’s dream.”
You stroked his hair, nodding emphatically. Theo rarely talked about his mother. You knew that her passing was a painful subject for him, so you never pushed him to talk about it unless he wanted to.
“That’s awful. I’m so sorry, my love,” you said. “But at least she was able to pass down her love of the stars to you. In a way, she lived her dream by teaching you.”
A soft smile tugged at your boyfriend’s lips. “I suppose she did.”
You laid back down, but this time you cradled Theo against you. He rested his head against your chest, listening to the calming sound of your heartbeat. Talking about his mother will always be hard, but you helped ease the pain.
“What about those stars?” You asked, pointing to the north. “What did your mother tell you about them?”
“Perseus and Andromeda,” Theo answered. “Those are actually her favorites.”
“The chained maiden.”
Theo stirred, inclining his gaze to the horizon. “Andromeda was the Princess of Aethiopia, the daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia. She was said to be very beautiful. Her mother bragged that Andromeda was fairer than the Nereids, which angered Poseidon. As punishment, the Sea God sent the creature Cetus to ravage that coast of their kingdom.”
You nodded, recalling the story. “King Cepheus chained her to a rock and offered her as a sacrifice to appease the sea monster.”
“Luckily for Andromeda, the hero Perseus found her before Cetus could attack again. Perseus fell in love with Andromeda and defeated the monster so he could free the princess. They ended up marrying and became king and queen of Mycenae. When they died, the goddess Athena placed them side by side in the heavens so that they would never be parted, not even by death.”
“A love written in the stars,” you said with awe and wonder. “I can see why it’s your mother’s favorite.”
“When I was a boy, she told me that she hoped I’d experience a love like theirs, minus the sea monster of course.” You chuckled. Theo knit his brows together like he did when he was deep in thought. When he spoke again, his voice was barely audible. “It’s sad to think that she never found her Perseus.”
You brushed his hair back, running your fingers through his curls gently. “She might not have found her Perseus, but she did have her Theo.”
Theo turned over and looked at you. The intensity in his gaze made you shiver. He was so ingrained in your heart that it felt inaccurate to continue calling it yours.
“After she died, I never thought I’d share her stories with anyone again, but I’m glad I shared them with you.”
“Thank you for trusting me, Theo.” You said as you placed a kiss on his temple. “It means the world to me that you not only shared your mother’s stories, but her memory as well. I would’ve loved to meet her.”
The tender smile on Theo’s face was heartbreaking. Then softly, he whispered. “She would’ve loved you, Y/N.”
Your heart cracked open, his words spilling like sunlight over every crevice, warming you from the inside out.
Tears formed at the corners of your eyes, but you forced yourself to give Theo a watery smile. “Because I’m a nerd who memorized obscure mythological facts?”
Your boyfriend smiled. “No,” he said gently, caressing your cheek. “Because you made her wish come true. You are my love written in the stars, cara mia.”
The moonlight kissed Theo’s tan skin, the silver beams caressing his face like a lover as if the moon and the stars craved to commit his beauty to memory as badly as you did. Gods, he was breathtaking.
This was the Teddy you knew and loved. Your Teddy.
Those watercolor eyes shimmered with emotion. “Sometimes I think the gods made you just for me, like our souls are linked in a way that neither logic nor magic can explain. Whatever it is, I think I’ve loved you since before the heavens and the earth existed and I’m fairly certain that I’d still love you even after the last star falls out of the sky.”
“You’re the love of my life, Theodore Nott.” Tears streamed down your cheeks as this boy—this beautiful boy ensnared your mind, body, and soul. “I’d find you in any universe and in any galaxy. Maybe someday we’ll be immortalized in the stars too.”
Theo held your face in his hands. His expression was open and vulnerable, like he wasn’t afraid to lay himself bare before you. As if it was the most natural thing in the world.
“We’re two halves of a whole,” Theo said. “I loved you yesterday. I love you today and I’ll love you tomorrow. You’re it for me, Y/N. You and no one else.”
“You and no one else, Teddy.”
Under the constellations of the star crossed lovers, Theo kissed you so gently that it made your heart ache. As Andromeda and Perseus kept watch over the horizon, Theodore Nott knew one thing for certain.
Summary: a normal class led to a less than normal deal
Paring: Sirius Black x reader, James Potter x sister reader
Word Count: 2.1k
Warnings: none
A/N: This series is roughly based on the movie: 10 Things I Hate About You, with each chapter being based on a different part of the poem from within the film
A sigh rattled off from your lips as you eyed the hard cover book that lay on your desk, waiting to be opened and read.
Professor Fernsby, your muggle studies teacher, let out an even louder and longer sigh than yours as he dropped his head into his hand and raised a bored eyebrow in your direction, “Yes, Miss-I-have-an-opinion-about- everything?”
A couple of the students in your class let out sniggers, but you paid them no mind as you answered back, “I just don’t see how reading a textbook about muggles is going to actually help us better understand their world?” Though it was in fact a statement, you made it sound like a question to hopefully avoid being sent to the headmasters office again, “Why don’t we just read a book that was actually written by one of them?”
Your professor never did like the fact that you always spoke your mind.
Just as he was about to open his mouth, most likely to tell you off, the door in the back of the classroom was slammed open, and in stumbled a winded looking Sirius Black.
“What did I miss?” He asked dramatically in between large gulps of air, to which many students laughed loudly.
You didn’t even spare the boy a glance as you spoke, “Just the non-belief of students having opinions in our education system.”
He grinned, “Perfect,” and turned on his heel to exit, but was stopped by your professor's booming voice.
“Wait,” The boy froze as a seat in the corner of the room was pointed to by Fernsby, “Park it.”
Sirius threw a wink to a group of giggling girls in the other corner of the room before sauntering over to his seat.
You rolled your eyes at his dramatics, not nearly as amused as everybody else in the room.
“Now,” The professor's attention was turned back towards you, “As for you, Miss. Potter…”
Sirius didn’t even bother listening to anything else as he plopped down in his seat, the entirety of Hogwarts long since used to your ‘outbursts’ in class.
This was sadly one of the only classes he didn’t have with any of his friends, him having taken muggle studies to spite his parents, while the rest of the marauders had a different class filling in this period.
“Black.” Derek Creevy greeted from beside him with a smirk.
Sirius didn’t know if he would consider Derek a friend, but the boy never gave him any problems, and he could be a good fellow when he wanted to be.
He gave him a nod in return, already counting down the minutes until he would be free of this class.
The same group of giggling girls caught the duo's attention as they threw flirty winks and kisses towards the black haired boy.
Creevy raised his eyebrow as he observed Sirius send a single kiss back in return and the girls fawned over his action.
“Wow, Black,” He teased with a slight hint in his tone that gave off that he was impressed, “You seem to have every girl in Hogwarts in your pocket.”
The words made Sirius grin as he leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his long hair, “What can I say?” His voice was cocky as ever, “I can make any girl fall in love with me.”
Derek laughed along with Sirius, “Any girl?”
“Any girl.” The boy promised.
“You sure?” He sniggered and Sirius’s sure smile faltered a little when he realized the boy was teasing him, not in fact impressed.
Ever the egolistc though, he made sure his smile was back on his face within seconds, at least two times stronger and brighter than the last time. “I’m positive, Creevy.”
“Wanna put money on that?”
Sirius was again, caught off guard by the question, thankful that the professor didn’t actually care about the class and allowed everyone to talk freely, meaning it was too loud for even those sitting close to overhear their conversation.
“What do you have in mind?” He used his smirk to hide the uneasiness he was feeling with all the unexpected and seemingly double layered questions.
Whatever the boy was planning couldn’t be good, but Sirius was never one to back out of a challenge, especially not when someone was so clearly trying to get him to back out.
Derek’s own smirk appeared to be growing more malicious by the minute, “I want you to take out any girl of my choosing, have her become so completely in love with you by the time the winter ball comes around that hearts will be coming out of her eyes.”
The boy felt his eyebrow raise a little bit in surprise. That was it? Take out a girl and show up to the winter ball with her being in love with him? That was still four weeks away, and he had done better in less time.
A small laugh escaped from his lips as he once again relaxed his posture and kicked his feet up onto the desk before him, leaning back so his chair was balancing on two legs, “What’s in it for you?” He asked in amusement.
Creevy simply shrugged, the smirk not disappearing, “Just call it boredom.”
There was most certainly more to it than that, but Sirius barely gave it a second thought as he asked, “How much do you want to put on this?”
Derek looked up to the ceiling as if pondering the question before saying, “Well, I suppose you have to go out on a couple dates before the dance, so it would only be fair to pay you for each one of those as well.” Sirius was liking this more and more by the moment, “So lets say a fair fifty gallons per date, and one hundred if everything goes well at the dance.”
Sirius laughed again, “Oh, it’ll go well.” He assured the boy with a grin before scanning the room, “So, who’s the lucky girl?”
Derek’s smirk finally turned into a full on grin as he crossed his arms over his chest and calmly said, “Y/n Potter.”
If Sirius had been drinking something, he would have spit it out all over the desk in front of him. Instead though, he lost his balance on his chair and almost went toppling down to the ground, gaining some attention from those around him, but he paid them no mind.
“What?!” He exclaimed.
Derek just laughed, offering up no explanation.
Sirius’s eyes snapped to the front of the room where you sat, lazily levitating the textbook you had just been complaining about with a look in your eyes that told Sirius you were debating lighting the pages on fire.
“I- what- but-“ He stuttered over his words, unable to form complete sentences as his wide eyed gaze trained solely on you. He finally swallowed roughly and dropped his voice to a harsh whisper, “But shes my best mates sister!” He hissed, “James would kill me!”
Derek shrugged, “That’s not my problem. But if you can’t do it, then I’ll just find someone else to.”
His heart stopped at the thought of some random guy being paid to take you out. Sure, that’s what he was being offered to do, but what was worse? Him- someone your brother trusted- doing it, or some other, disgusting student who would plan to do Merlin knows what to you?
As the silence carried on between the duo, Derek seemed to be growing more and more amused by Sirius’s lack of communication, “I suppose I’ll just have to find someone else-“
“No!” He automatically snapped before catching himself, “I mean, no,” He said more calmly, “I’ll do it.”
Derek’s grin had returned as he stuck a hand in between the two of them, “Splendid.”
Releasing an inaudible, shaky sigh, Sirius shook his hand.
His head turned back to the front of the room, to where you were rolling your eyes at a Ravenclaw who was talking a little too loudly besides you, and gulped.
✰✰✰
Sirius waited across the door, leaning against the wall with one foot propped up.
As everyone exited the classroom, many girls would linger in front of him for a moment in hopes that he was waiting for them before giving up and stomping away with huffs when he offered them no recognition.
You were the most undateable girl in Hogwarts, and everyone knew it.
It wasn’t just the fact that you had an overprotective twin brother that played a large role in scaring away anyone who tried to ask you out, but also that you didn’t want anybody to. You just let James think that his whole ‘no dating’ rule was his own small victory in the world.
Any person that had by some miracle been able to slip by James’s notice would only be shot down not so nicely by you.
The professor had told you to stay to talk for a little while after the bell- probably due to your outburst- so the boy had decided to wait for you, figuring there was no better time than the present to begin trying to grow closer with you.
When you finally did exit the room, you looked aggravated and annoyed, two tall tale signs that should have screamed at Sirius to stay the hell away from you.
You didn’t so much as glance at him as you wrapped your arms around your books and began stomping down the hall, students scurrying out of your way as if you had the plague.
“Potter!” Sirius called, pushing off the wall, “Hey, Potter! Wait up- Godric, you’re fast!”
You didn’t even bother slowing down as the boy ran to catch up with you, accidentally shoving and apologizing to others around him.
Once he was able to catch up with you, you gave him a sideways glance and raised your eyebrow, “What do you want, Black?”
Like second nature, he immediately slipped back into his cocky, heartbreaking mask and smirked at you as he slowed his pace into a stroll and reached up to run a hand through his hair, “You’re looking well today, love.”
Both of your eyebrows shot up in shock, but not good shock, in an angry shock that only you could so perfectly pull off.
Your steps came to a halt as you whipped around to glare at him, “Excuse me?”
Clearly, you had already been in a bad mood, and his words were not helping, but it was too late to go back now.
“Wow,” He scoffed playfully, “You really know how to get a guy's attention.”
You rolled your eyes, turning back forward and continuing your deadly march, most likely back to the Gryffindor dorms.
“My mission in life.” You shot back flatly.
Slight amusement sparked somewhere inside of him at your comeback, only for it to be painfully stomped out as you shot him another glare when you saw he was still following after you like a lost puppy, “Beat it, Black.”
He held his hands up in mock surrender, beginning to become more and more annoyed with your attitude, “What if I just want to hang out?”
It was then your turn to scoff as you rolled your eyes up to the high ceilings, “You’ve been living at my home all summer, and you never once wanted to ‘hang out’.”
His eyebrows furrowed, “That’s not true.”
An unamused laugh left your lips, “It’s not like I wanted to hang out with you either, Black.” Your eyes quickly flitted over to him in irritation, “But hitting me in the face with a bludger while you and James messed around in the yard doesn’t qualify as ‘hanging out’.”
He thought it over before coming to the realization that that was in fact the only time you had even said a word to each other over break.
It, in truth, been an accident, the two of them had paid no mind to you, down in the garden trying to do some reading in the fresh air, as they soared through the sky in a practice quidditch match.
Of course, he hadn’t meant to hit the rouge bludger your way, but you were knocked unconscious and were very lucky that your mother was home at the time to help patch you up.
“I didn’t mean to,” He rebuttaled.
“Never said you did,” You shot back in annoyance before taking a quick and sudden turn down a separate hallway.
This time, he didn’t follow you. Instead, he just stood there staring after you.
This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.
𝐀/𝐍: I have no words or reason for this fic. I watched the movie 'Set It Up' recently, and I just knew that I had to write a fic inspired by it. I didn't intend on indulging in it this much, but this fic will definitely be a two-partner since I have written almost 10K words and I can't possibly post that monstrosity in good conscience. I absolutely love the concept of matchmaking and fake dating, so consider this fic one huge clusterfuck of tropes I enjoy. And I hope all of you can enjoy it too <333 Thank you for reading the shit I write, it genuinely means a lot <333
You can find part two here!
𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: Wylan and Jesper are helplessly pining over each other, and everyone is starting to get sick of it. Especially Kaz and the reader seem to have suffered enough under their friends' behaviour. So of course, the only reasonable conclusion is to set them up.
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Fluff
𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 5.0K
𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Cursing, feelings, Kaz being a little bitch, pining, mention of his touch aversion
“Unless you saw someone cheat at Three Man Bramble, I don’t appreciate you spying on paying customers.” You were close to falling off your barstool when Kaz’s voice materialised beside you all of a sudden.
“For Saints’ sake, Kaz!” you hissed at the darkly-clad man leaning against the bar to your left, a certain look of amusement accentuating his features as he saw the way you panickedly held onto the counter. He shook his head at how easily startled you were. “You can’t just sneak up on people like that. I was dangerously close to knocking you out.”
He raised his brows, throwing a telling glance at his cane, and then back at you. Sneaking around wasn’t exactly his speciality. At least not during the main business hours of the Crow Club. He preferred to make his presence known.
“Didn’t I just tell you to stop prying?” Kaz repeated nervelessly when your eyes returned to the card’s table you had been staring at for about half an hour now. Not that he would know how long you had been sitting here. It’s not like he had been watching you during said half an hour. He had other - a lot more significant - tasks to tend to, rather than wasting his time by letting himself get distracted by you.
“Shush,” you silenced him quickly, craning your head slightly towards him to get a better view of your stalking victims. “I’m not spying on paying customers. I’m spying on Jesper and Wylan. That’s as far away from paying customers as it can get.”
“And why exactly would you do that?”
“Jesper went right to the gambling tables after we came back from the job earlier, and he has stayed there ever since. I assume you can guess who has been standing right next to him for just as long? Our little merchling is so in love, it’s painful to watch,” you whispered excitedly, completely ignoring the fact that Kaz was not one to necessarily care for dull relationship gossip.
“I should stop giving you this much time off if this is how you choose to spend it,” he grumbled, subtly following your gaze to watch the terribly awkward scene between the two Crows. Not because he genuinely cared about their immature ways of expressing their emotions, of course.
“Don’t be such a grump, Brekker,” you snorted, giving him a playful eye roll. “Admit it, they’d make such a cute couple! They could probably even compete with Nina and Matthias - don’t tell her I said that.”
“Judging by the fact that Zenik and Helvar were blood-sworn enemies before they fell into their…situationship, that won’t be such a difficult task.”
“See! You think they’d be a great fit too! What a shame one is just as oblivious as the other,” you sighed, twirling around the few remaining ice cubes that floated around in your drink.
“And you think staring them down will help ease their obliviousness?” Your head turned to face him fully, a mischievous glimmer present in your eyes. A glimmer he really didn’t like.
“Help me,” you blurted out.
“Help you with what?” he asked, a quizzical expression on his face.
“Oh, uhm, I have no concise plan yet since I thought you’d just immediately say no to me asking you for help. What I know is that I can’t watch them tiptoe around their feelings any longer. I need to do something. And you are precisely the right person to help me with that.”
“What exactly makes me the ‘right person’ to help you with getting these two idiots together?”
“Think about it. I’m Wylan’s best friend, you’re Jesper’s best friend - don’t you dare deny it! Together we can get all the intel - all the important information on how they feel about each other. It’s perfect! We could set them up and they wouldn’t even notice our involvement.”
“Absolutely not,” Kaz answered determinedly, choosing to not indulge in your childish games any longer. “As long as it’s not affecting their job performance, their relationship is none of my concern. I have more important things to do than worry about their problems with intimacy.”
“Come on, Kaz. Please?” you pouted as the man in question already shifted to head back to his office again.
“No, Y/N. They’ll be fine without our interference,” he tactfully ignored your overly dramatic plea.
“Alright, alright,” you mumbled, watching him leave with a hint of disappointment settling in your chest. “You’ll regret it eventually.”
“I’m sure I will.”
“Jesper, you’ll need to- Jesper? Jesper, focus,” Kaz ordered, having to pry the sharpshooter’s eyes away from the window for what felt like the hundredth time today. He, Inej and the lovesick Zemeni boy had been working on the details of a minor upcoming job for over two hours, seemingly not making any noticeable progress. It was safe to say that this issue was instantly accredited to Jesper, whose mind appeared to be somewhere completely else.
Even though Kaz didn’t want to admit it, he did regret not taking you up on your offer of trying to get the two together. It had become more and more evident that they were too blind to see that their feelings were mutual, and Kaz was starting to get sick of it. Why couldn’t they just act on their feelings and spare everyone around them the pain of having to watch them act like insecure little kids? What did they have to lose? It was ridiculous, really.
Kaz knew that he was close to losing his patience. And his composure would jump out of the window soon after if things didn’t change.
“Sorry boss,” Jesper apologised hastily, sitting up a bit straighter and at least acting as if his attention was back on the mindless scribbles in front of him. “I was just a bit lost in thought. The…weather is so pretty today, after all.”
The weather in question was a mixture of dark gloomy clouds and the occasional rain shower - a typical day in Ketterdam, but definitely far from pretty. Maybe the weather that Jesper had in mind was ginger and able to play the flute, Kaz thought.
“We should probably leave this here,” he let out a huffed breath, meeting Inej’s confused glance.
“What? But the jo-”
“The job can only work if everyone is on the same page,” he interjected Jesper’s unnecessary attempt at defending himself. “You can leave - both of you. I’ll see what I can work out on my own.”
“Are you sure you won’t need any help with this?” the Suli girl asked hesitantly, waiting for her friend to give them another task instead of just letting them off the hook this easily.
“No, it’s fine. Go,” he nodded towards the door, his eyes following Jesper, who was already on his way out. Before Inej could do the same, he decided to give her one last task. “Inej? Tell Y/N to come up here in the next five minutes. I need to discuss something with them.”
“You wanted to see me, boss?” you questioned as soon as you entered Kaz’s semi-tidy office space. When Inej told you that he wanted to speak to you, your heart almost sunk to the bottom of your stomach. People being called up to speak to Kaz rarely ever got out with their dignity still intact.
“Sit,” he demanded, his gaze never leaving the papers on his desk as he motioned for you to sit in the chair across from him.
“Kaz, if this is about th-”
“Don’t start. Whatever you were about to tell me has probably not been brought to my attention yet, so I won’t allow it to occupy my mind until it pops up on its own. Now sit.”
You carefully obeyed his request, slowly sinking into the offered chair while your eyes still remained fixed on the man in front of you.
“He has become absolutely insufferable,” Kaz sighed, letting his fountain pen drop out of his hand and finally acknowledging your physical presence with a defeated glare. “I didn’t even think it was possible for him to become even more intolerable.”
“Who exactly are you talking about?”
“Who do you think I’m talking about? Our favourite bawdy flirt-gill has been acting like an infatuated teenage girl and it is driving me mad.”
“Oh! You’re talking about Jesper!” you let out a stifled laugh upon seeing his tired expression. “So you’re basically admitting that I was right about us having to intervene?”
“I’m merely admitting that there was some truth to what you were saying. Don’t get it twisted and don’t get used to it,” he corrected dryly. “And wipe that self-satisfied grin off your face. I didn’t call you up here to bask in your supposed victory.”
“Well, what else am I supposed to do about it?” you replied sheepishly, fully aware that you were dangerously close to testing your limits.
“I’m agreeing to whatever you had in mind as long as it stops Jesper from acting like this.”
“Consider it a deal.”
“When I told you that I’m agreeing to whatever you had in mind as long as it stops Jesper from acting like a dotty puppy, I didn’t mean that you were allowed to barge into my office whenever you please,” your boss grumbled, watching you stumble through the door like you had one drink too many.
“Good morning, Kaz, it’s lovely to see you too,” you dismissed his very obviously spiteful remark, walking right up to the chair you had dubbed yours. “I’ve been thinking a lot about our two problem children and I had an idea.”
“Oh, so miracles do happen,” he jeered, letting himself lean back in his chair as he watched you get comfortable.
“With all due respect - which isn’t a lot - go fuck yourself.”
“I’ll consider it once you’re done telling me about that magnificent idea of yours.”
“Okay, so, Wylan just stopped me in the hallway to ask whether I want to get coffee with him next Friday.” A waterfall of words began to tumble out of your mouth, giving Kaz quite a few difficulties following what you were trying to say. “So, wouldn’t it be an absolute coincidence if Jesper would also go out for a coffee on Friday? It would be such a nice change of pace for them to spend time with…different people - other than us.”
“I am not asking Jesper to go get coffee with me,” Kaz replied laconically, giving you a dissatisfied look in an attempt to convey that he was not too fond of your musings.
“I am not asking you to get a coffee with Jesper - Saints, that man is going to think that you have a thing for him. We don’t even have to leave the Slat for this plan to work.”
“Now I’m intrigued.”
“Please explain to me again why specifically I have to join you on that job?” Jesper bemoaned as he followed Kaz down the stairs. He was not in the mood for playing his boss’ bodyguard today. He wasn’t even in the mood to leave the Slat. It didn’t help that a certain merchling had been occupying his mind for the entirety of last week, pushing every coherent thought to the furthest corner of his brain. “Can’t you ask Inej? Or Matthias? Or literally anyone else? Wait, why don’t you just ask Y/N? You two seem to be getting along surprisingly well recently.”
“Y/N is already busy,” Kaz objected skilfully. “And having a normal work relationship is not the same as ‘getting along surprisingly well’. Flush these thoughts out of your system immediately.”
“I’m just saying,” Jesper snickered, putting his hand up in front of him defensively.
“Kaz? Jesper?” your cheery voice greeted them as soon as they entered the living room area. Wylan and you had been lounging on the couch for quite some time now, simply chatting about life - and love, even though Wylan refused to give you too much information on his ill-fated crush. Of course, you had ulterior motives for staying that long, but your friend didn’t know that. “What are the two of you up to?”
"We have a job near Fourth Harbour," Kaz replied sternly.
"And he's forcing me to come with him," the sharpshooter groaned, his eyes drifting towards the timid boy sitting next to you, flashing him a cocky wink. "What are you up to? Whatever it is, it looks like a lot more fun than whatever Mister Ruin-My-Mood has in store for me."
"Jesper," Kaz warned, throwing you a quick glance, wordlessly asking you to take over.
"We wanted to head out for coffee and some sweet treats later," you mused, watching Jesper's expression turn sour.
"Won't you look at that, Kaz? This is what other friends do in their spare time," he grumbled.
"Hey, why don't you two just go and grab a coffee?" you offered, your gaze wandering between the two soon-to-be lovebirds.
"Us?" Wylan stammered, his finger pointing from him to Jesper, who looked equally as befuddled.
"Yes, you. Jes clearly isn't in the mood for going on a job today, and I haven't been on a proper one in ages," you suggested, giving your friends an encouraging smile.
"You genuinely want to join Kaz on a job with just the two of you? Like willingly?" the Zemeni boy joked, nudging your shoulder with his elbow.
"I'm sure I'll manage. Kaz?" You gave him an expectant look, watching as the ghost of a smirk flashed over his lips.
"Fine," he rasped, causing Jesper to break out into a wide grin, whilst Wylan looked a little short of horrified. "Maybe now we'll actually get some work done."
"And maybe we'll finally get some peace and quiet, won't we? I haven’t gone out just to get coffee in such a long time.” His attention turned to the young merch, whose head had turned as red as the soles of Jesper’s shoes.
“I’m sure you will have the loveliest of days,” Kaz deadpanned, gesturing for you to follow him outside into the hallway.
“Enjoy your day!” you called before quickly exiting the living room, leaving Wylan alone to deal with his crush. You could have sworn that he mouthed the word ‘help’ before you crossed the threshold to the corridor.
“That worked way better than I had expected,” he uttered, barely loud enough for you to hear his words clearly.
“I told you it would work,” you bragged, earning a disapproving headshake from the man standing next to you. “You’re not the only mastermind in this team.”
“So what’s the next step in your plan then?”
“We could just stay back here and wait for them to come back. I’m sure they’d tell us if something happened between them.” You locked eyes with him again, the intensity causing goosebumps to spread over his arms. “Or we could get out and follow them. Just to make sure that they’re alright of course.”
“I’m not following them.”
“This is ridiculous,” Kaz said as he watched you gape at Jesper and Wylan who were currently sitting on the terrace of the café you had pushed them to go to. You found a corner table at the bakery across from where your friends were sitting, giving you the chance to stay unnoticed while also being able to see whatever was going on between them.
“This is fun,” you hummed, leaning a bit further forwards to flash Kaz a cheeky smile, which was slightly hidden by the obnoxious fake roses in the middle of the table. “Don’t you want to see how this will turn out?”
“No.” You frowned at the impassive tone of his voice.
“You didn’t have to join me, Kaz.” He didn’t. He knew that. As a matter of fact, the pile of unfinished documents on his desk only seemed to get higher by the minute. Yet, against all his better judgement, he still abandoned his work in an instant just to go and see whether your plan was working or not. It was foolish to agree to it, however, for some reason, he still did. He was going insane - he was sure of it.
“I don’t trust you to not fuck this up on the first chance you get,” he stated after a short moment of him just staring at the empty space beside your head.
“You trust no one, yet I don’t see you holding Mathias’ hand whenever you let him go on a solo job - well, metaphorically holding his hand.”
Before Kaz could defend himself, the waitress approached your table, bringing over both of your drinks. She had a sickly sweet smile on her painted lips that made him want to bash his head onto the table. He resisted said urge in order to not make a scene though.
“I’ll assume the black coffee is for you?” the woman joked, eying Kaz’s grimly-looking outfit from head to toe, silently accepting the cup and placing it in front of him. She handed you the drink you had ordered and turned around to attend to the other guests. “Feel free to call me over in case you need anything else. Enjoy your date!”
Kaz almost choked on his own spit when he heard that. This was not a date. Not in a million years would he consider this a date. He attempted to seek some sort of confirmation that you shared his sentiment, but when he looked at your face, you didn’t even seem to care about the waitress’ atrocious assumption.
“What is it?” you inquired lowly on taking notice of his slightly bewildered expression.
“She thinks that this is a date. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“… No? Why should it have?” Kaz mentally thanked his luck that Nina wasn’t around. If she had been here to hear the way his heart was running wild she would have probably thought he had a heart attack.
“This is not a date.”
“Yes, I’m very well aware of that fact,” you let out a breathy chuckle in response to that. “And that’s exactly why it doesn’t bother me. I know that this isn’t a date. You know that this isn’t a date. So why should it matter what some random waitress thinks?”
“Oh…” For some odd reason, your answer disappointed him. This wasn’t a date, so you were right to say it. But something inside of him was beginning to make itself known.
“Oh no,” you muttered, your gaze back on the people you were actually here for. He did the same, regretting it immediately as he saw the uncomfortable scene playing out in the other café.
Wylan and Jesper were sitting across from each other at one of the tables on the terrace, giving you the perfect view of every interaction between them. But instead of them looking like the happy couple you had imagined they would be by now, Jesper was frantically collecting paper napkins, trying to help Wylan clean up the massive coffee stain that had formed a deep brown blotch on his previously neat beige sweater. And to make things even worse, the clumsy sharpshooter had taken matters into his own hands, pulling the flustered boy closer to him by the collar, whilst wiping a dry napkin over the mess he made - his face a mixture of despair and complete distress.
“Idiots,” Kaz sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in an effort to spare himself the embarrassment of watching them any longer.
“Maybe we should put them in a situation they’re more acquainted with the next time.”
“Are you familiar with the concept of knocking?” He was close to jumping out of his skin when the door to his office flew open without a warning, only for it to be you standing on the other side with two cups of tea in your hands. He hastily caught himself, acting as if you hadn't just scared him shitless. It was way too late for any person with even an ounce of self-preservation skills to enter his space without giving him any sort of notice, but of course, you just had to be the exception.
“Are you familiar with the concept of locking your door if you don’t want to be disturbed?” you quipped, not waiting for him to give you permission to enter before waltzing right over to his desk. The mug was quickly placed in front of him and you threw yourself into ‘your’ chair.
“This may be the Barrel, but some of its inhabitants still possess the basic manners of announcing their presence when they intend to bother me in my own office.” Kaz eyed your offering suspiciously, pulling the cup towards himself as if he feared that you might have spiked its content. “What is this?”
“Tea?”
“I know that it’s tea. I'm not dense,” he said, a bit annoyed now.
“Then why are you asking?”
“What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Kaz, you’re not a toddler. You know what to do when someone places a drink in front of you.”
“Why are you bringing me tea, Y/N?”
“That's an adequate question. I had another idea on how to get Jesper and Wylan to admit their feelings,” you began, enticing Kaz to internally question every single decision in his life that made him end up in this situation.
“And you needed to bring me tea to make me listen to that idea? You're either about to drug me into submission or you’re finally attempting to kill me.”
“Sadly neither - yet. But I had the idea while making tea. And I would have felt bad if I went up here without offering you something to drink too,” you replied meekly, a faint blush settling on your cheeks.
“I hope your idea isn’t tea-related. We shouldn’t bring the two dimwits near anything that's spillable anytime soon.”
"I solemnly swear there are no liquids involved in my idea. At least not explicitly," you assured.
"That better be the case. Let's hear it then," he muttered, begrudgingly taking a sip from his tea whilst waiting for you to collect your thoughts. It startled him how good the drink tasted. He hated that you knew exactly what tea he liked and how he liked to have it.
"You still haven't finished splitting us up in groups for the upcoming heist, have you?"
"If you hadn't dragged me along to play matchmaker, the plan would already stand," he grumbled, looking at the stack of blueprints he had yet to analyse for possible security risks.
"Then I'd like to make one suggestion. How about we - well, you - pair Jesper and Wylan together? We're all pretty familiar with jobs like this, so that shouldn't be an issue. Maybe having them work alongside each other could give their relationship just the push it needs."
Kaz looked like he was about to throw himself out the next best window. It was one thing that you had inserted yourself into the majority of his spare time like an unwelcome flu. Now you were also trying to insert yourself into his work? You were really trying to break him down to bits. And maybe he should let you.
"Please, Kaz. I'll even help you with all your boring preparation and mapping out. I genuinely think this could work," you put forward, knowing that the likelihood of him agreeing to this plan was close to non-existent.
"I'll allow it," he said, averting his eyes to look at basically anything else just to avoid letting them land on you.
"What?"
"Have you gone deaf? I said that I'll allow it," he repeated.
"Kaz, I swear to every Saint you don't believe in, I'm so close to kissing you - you’re amazing!" you exclaimed jokingly, a wide grin on your face.
"Do it and find out what ditch you'll end up in," he threatened, but you were too excited to care about the murderous look on his face.
After almost a week of scheming, scheduling and planning in the security of Kaz’s office, you had finally managed to put together a plan that would ensure two things. The success of the job. And the fact that Jesper and Wylan would be staying at each other’s side the whole time.
“I think we can pull this off,” Kaz muttered, visibly still very much in thought.
“You think we can pull this off?” you asked, absent-mindedly twirling one of his pens around your fingers.
“No.” He swiftly snatched it back, putting it down and giving you a self-assured grin. “We will pull this off.”
A few days later, all the Crows had gathered in the cramped attic space, more or less eager to hear about the plans for the upcoming mission.
“Please don’t tell me that we’ll have to go through all of these blueprints again,” Jesper whined as he saw the stack of layout plans that sat at the edge of Kaz’s desk. They had been on jobs in the University District before, so the quite hefty pile of blueprints wasn’t completely unknown to them. More than one evening had been spent slaving over them, spying out every minuscule detail that could give them any sort of advantage. But these plans were new - updated. And everyone dreaded having to do the whole ordeal of looking at them for a second time.
“Y/N and I already went through them, the annotations should suffice. Not much has changed,” Kaz answered, unaware of the suspicious glances his nonchalant comment created. It was well known that you avoided mapping out blueprints like the plague, so this revelation did raise some brows.
“Y/N and you?” Nina and Jesper blurted almost synchronously. They had noticed your absence from their usual evening get-togethers, simply chalking it up to you being under the weather or something. What they hadn’t expected was you sneaking away from them because you went to spend time with the Bastard of the Barrel. Now that they knew the latter had been the case, they had some certain thoughts on what the reason for these nightly visits might be - none of them strictly work-related.
“Congratulations, you have a basic understanding of auditory information processing. Yes, Y/N and I.” Kaz allowed his gaze to shift towards you. It felt odd to not have you sit in front of him, energetically discussing plans and ideas while the noise of Ketterdam’s streets seemed to have fully vanished underneath the sound of your voices. He hated to think that way, but he had grown used to having you around. Whether it be you staggering into his office to propose another utterly insane plot to get your friends to date, or just you keeping him company with whatever talk you could offer. The thought of this routine being ripped away from him once Jesper and Wylan realise their feelings are reciprocated filled him with more dissatisfaction than relief.
“Since when does Y/N care for analysing blueprints?” The Heartrender asked slyly.
“I don’t. It was my forfeit,” you replied before Kaz could. “We had a bet on how much money Jesper would be able to lose in a span of three days. Let’s just say that Kaz really does know you better than I do, Jes.” A lie. A good lie, Kaz thought. The only reason why you would spend your evenings talking to him would probably be the loss of a bet. But that didn’t make the pull on his heartstrings hurt any less.
“Rude,” the sharpshooter pouted.
“Anyway,” Kaz deflected, returning to his actual intention of this meeting. “We also took the liberty of assigning groups and tasks. So I’d advise you to listen carefully.” He adjusted the paper in his hands, letting his eyes fly over your jagged handwriting for the millionth time. “Helvar will pose as a guard - big and brawny with little to think about. One would say it’s the perfect fit.” Matthias let out a dissatisfied grunt at that comment. “Nina and Inej will keep an eye on who leaves, and who enters. And if there is anything suspicious you will alert me.” The two girls gave him a court nod, content that they were able to work together again. “I will attend as a guest. It’ll give me enough time and trust to hopefully get some information on the new ware shipments that are supposed to arrive the week after the ball. Our main objective is getting intel. Any other material acquisitions are just perks. And finally Wylan and Jesper.” The two boys stared at Kaz with an uncomfortable expression. He had never paired them up before. Why was he starting now? “Since the majority of university personnel will be present at the ball, you’ll take care of breaking into the administration’s office. I need some precise data on the involvement of the Council in sponsoring the university.”
“What about Y/N?” A brief pause followed Inej’s simple question.
After all these hours of planning, you had forgotten to add yourself to the equation. You had been so focussed on giving the two lovebirds some alone time that your absence went completely unnoticed. Both of you felt utterly stupid. How could you have missed that?
“They’ll be my date,” Kaz answered a bit too quickly, not letting the thudding of his heart betray his stone-faced expression.
“My condolences.” Matthias gave you an apologetic but calm look, whilst everyone else in the room seemed to be utterly shocked by their boss’ comment. Even you had to suppress the state of absolute shock that had threatened to spread over your face when he referred to you as his ‘date’. Saints, he himself didn’t believe the words that had just slipped out of his mouth.
“I’ll need someone to chat with the merchant spouses, or else I’ll lose my mind. Their presence can buy me enough time to get the information I need,” he explained, but the majority of his friends were too busy interpreting way too much into this situation to acknowledge his reasoning.
Maybe choosing Jesper as a partner would have been easier on his poor heart.
𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭:
Grishaverse fics in general: @yesshewrites1 @dal-light
millie, gaten, sadie, joseph, and finn all being nominated for a saturn award and NOT caleb is so unserious and weird? he gave one of the most memorable performances this season (especially this scene) and him not getting a nomination while joseph does (who's only been in one season compared to caleb's 4 seasons) is blatant racism. he has been robbed of awards and nominations EVERY SINGLE SEASON. he deserves more recognition.
To lovely humans who were excluded from invitations, left behind when they tied their shoes, forced to walk in the grass when the sidewalk was full, spoken over when you tried to contribute, whispered about or laughed at, given side-eye when you tried to fit in…. you are so worthy of love.
Hi everyone! I just wanted to say thanks so much for joining this celebration, I can’t even put into words how happy and excited I am to have so many incredible writers and friends come together to take part in such a meaningful event.
For all my new friends and readers out there - this event was geared toward reviving the Harry Potter community and bringing tumblr back to what it once used to be. To do this, we as writers have created an enormous amount of new fics and content for you to enjoy!
The only thing we ask in return is that you engage and interact with our fics as much as you can. The fluff and angst content on this app is seriously lacking, and we’re here to change that! If more angst and fluff content sounds like something you would enjoy, or you would like to see more of the types of fics I have scheduled down below, let us know by reblogging/liking/commenting on our posts!
For more information, be sure to check out this link :)
Rules for my writers:
Reblog this post - I need to know that you’ve seen the schedule and this helps spread the word to your followers!
Use the tag “Harry Potter Writing Event” on each of your fics
Interact as much as you can with everyone else’s fics
DO NOT CROSS TAG - I spent a long time putting this schedule together to make it fair for everyone and to prevent too much flooding. If I find your sirius fic in the draco tag or your draco fic in the ron tag it will throw everything off and I am going to be upset
Now, down below you will be able to find a compiled schedule of fics from your favourite writers that you can expect to read over the next coming week! Feel free to check them all out and show your authors some love 🖤🖤
Schedule:
Saturday January 1st
DRACO MALFOY + OTHER SLYTHERINS
• T.N. - What About Me (angst) | @ronweasleysslut
• D.M. - Fast Track To Fame (fluff) | @hopelessbutterfly
• D.M. - Between the Pages (fluff) | @mellifluousart
• D.M. - The Past (angst) | @dr4cking
• D.M. - Brawl Over Hallucinogens Part 2 (angst/fluff) | @lilyrachelcassidy
Author’s Note: As more fics get posted I’ll be sure to come back to this masterpost and copy the links in with the titles so your fics are more accessible! If any of your information is out of order or missing, please just reach out to me and I’ll be sure to fix it ASAP! There are a lot of people taking part in this event so if I made a mistake please don’t yell at me :(
Extra tags: @fuckingjimin @henqtic @dracoscene @socontagiousimagines @itzrainingskullz @weaselbrownie @saayanaaa @pottahishotasf
I’m genuinely surprised to find a post with this many notes talking about this.
But with that being said, Israel is once again bombing civilians in Gaza (and Syria) right now as this movie is playing in theatre, if you want to do something aside from rebloging/retweeting then please donate to “Islamic Relief” (or any other site you trust, Islamic Relief is considered very legitimate by many)
If you live in Australia donate through Islamic Relief Australia
If you live in Canada donate through Islamic Relief Canada
If you live in the UK donate through Islamic Relief UK
If you live in the U.S. donate through Islamic Relief USA
If you live anywhere worldwide donate through Islamic Relief Worldwide
This is based off the question sticker I had put up on my IG story a few days ago. Also I will give my input on some topics.
1. Diversity
This is something I agree upon so much. Show people with disabilities, poc characters, different religions, LGBTQ+, etc. And please, for the love of whatever exists, don't make their personality based off their minority group. Develop them as you would develop any other character and just add whatever is needed to be added. Like a Muslim man asking the waiter if there is pig meat in a dish. Very simple but it shows that you have done your research.
2. Toxic relationships
No one toxic relationship, it's not cool. Also, as someone mentioned, relationship between bulky and victim is so cruel. Just don't, it's not cute at all.
3. Sudden transitions suck
Yeah this breaks the flow of the novel so quickly. I hate it.
4. Convoluted plot twists without enough explanation makes everything very confusing. Make sure you explain just enough for the readers to understand.
5. FRIENDSHIPS
I love relationships but friendship? That steals my heart away. I love it when two people have the kind of bond in which they would die for each other if need be, but they are not in love with each other romantically. Just pure platonic love. There is so much more need of it. A few friendships I really love is between Juliette and Kenji, Kenji and James, James Potter and Sirius Black, Tyrion and Jaime (ik that they're brothers but I love their bond). I can blabber about this for ages.
6. if romance is the subplot, keep it that way. Don't make it the main plot.
7. When authors over explain things. Readers are not dumb, just give enough explanation for them to understand what's going on and don't make everything too obvious
8. Unnecessary long chapters with no conflict
9. Honest conversations between the characters
Also, I would like to add, insightful conversations which tell so much about the backstory and the world.
10. Romanticizing abuse, mental illness and them being fixed by a lover or a spell or a potion
Just don't, it's disgusting. Recovery from mental illnesses take a lot of time and it's not possible to recover after having one single conversation with your lover.
11. Too long paragraphs or descriptions. Just don't, we don't need to know about how a room looks in two pages. A paragraph or two is enough.
12. Insta love sucks (for a lot of people). Insta attraction makes sense, but falling in love takes time.
13. Don't have major loose ends, especially for standalones.
Yeah, I get it that some minor loose ends are cool but nothing major.
14. Unnecessary killing of characters just to get them out of the way.
15. The "not like other girls" trope.
Honestly, just because someone is strong doens't mean they don't like girly things. Give me a female character who do swordfighting and dress up in gowns because it's fun.
Some tropes that people love
Enemies to lovers (if done right)
Friends to lovers (my forever favourite)
Found family *chef's kiss*
Slow burn romance
Honestly, everyone just said they hate love triangles (I agree so hard on this).
Also, these are just some ideas for everyone, every reader has a different choice of what they like and what they don't like. I just picked up whatever was very common and seemed reasonable to me.
so a lot of nonnies have been asking me to help them by sharing my tips and a lil advice when it comes to writing, so here it is!
psa: i am not a professional writer. what works for me will not work for everyone. how i write, and how i express myself through a scene may be entirely different than what you do. that's ok, but i just wanted to share what works for me. enjoy!
feel free to reblog, add on to this or whatever. please read all the way through if you don't mind!
writing angst/emotional scenes
honestly, this was probably one of the hardest things to write. to be able to capture and properly project an emotion or feeling into a scene is something it took me a while to get used to.
something i do to help, is try to imagine myself in that scene. what the characters would he feeling, how they would express themselves/react to a certain phrase/action. maybe a description of the area around them. really try to set the mood for whatever feeling is being added into a scene.
i would also try to keep dialogue either very abrupt or rambly depending on what you're trying to convey. frantic cries or maybe soft mumbles that caused an abrupt pause in the room. either emotional numbness, deadpanning looks or even nervous, sobbing, and audibly upset conversations.
i would try to stray away from describing the room or the characters a lot. it's going to help place the setting and stabilize the emotional aspect, but you don't want it to stall the scene or make it feel scratchy in a way. you want it to flow, but have it be dramatic as well. it's all about finding a good balance.
fluffy/romantic scenes
everyone i know is a little bitch for cute and adorable scenes, so these fics are definitely very popular amongst fandoms of any kind.
fluffy concepts are cute, but have fun with it! no one wants to read the same "they smiled at eachother and fell asleep" bullshit everytime. make it unique! give your characters the soft moments in between the tickle fights and the playful banter.
romantic fics are so goddamn amazing. giving your stories a plot line and a dynamic between the characters is so important, i can't stress it enough. the vocabulary especially. express their feelings of pining and heartbreak through words that will strike a cord in the reader. make them feel what their feeling. write the hell of out of a scene if you feel that it's too important just to skim over. write a paragraph explaining the immense feeling of absolute dread having the reader see them with someone else. give them a rollercoaster ride.
if you're writing a fic that inevitably ends in heartbreak, foreshadowing is always great. at least warn the people before you go breaking their hearts. i guess this could also apply to the angst section, but just make it yours. make a scene that sticks with you and makes you feel like you're heart's breaking in half too. make it feel like their world is torn apart. or maybe don't. make it feel numb, nothing at all. express the absolute emptiness they feel afterwards and even during the scene. make it frantic, slow, fast, easy, quick; whatever fits the narrative you're working with.
series/multiple parts
god, slowburn is fucking amazing, but only if you do it right. when they're fast and rushing into it before they even know what they have together is also amazing. but only if you can play out the feelings and adrenaline rush correctly.
slowburn. it's a bitch but we all read it anyways, and here's why: it's the absolute pining and want and need for each other that we all crave in some way or another. the feeling of being so completely immersed in someone to the point of breaking and spilling everything you have into the open is such an amazing concept to write about.
so i would suggest to write the tension. make the reader feel the air between them lighting up but never feeling like you can do anything about it. make it feel almost hopeless in a way. write the frustration and the anger in their movements. the built up pension coursing through their bodies; make it feel like as though it's a half of their heart missing and they need it because they've never had it before.
rushing into things. young love, i'm pretty sure? completely disregarding everything just to be with that one person, over everything else. feeling on top of the world before they even know what the world is. it's a beautiful peace of life, and also very heartbreaking.
most in-real-life instances such as these often end in heartbreak and dispair, a tragic loss of a flame that burned out too soon. writing this is very interesting, only because the initial spark of meeting is the stressing point.
the electricity that sparked their hearts and chest into overdrive from a simple touch burned into their heads that they were in love. the rush and adrenaline ride of the high was the best part. then they crash and burn.
its an interesting dynamic and its one a lot of writers spin in their own way. if you wanna make it last though, find a different starting point along the way. maybe a young, gracious warmth fluttered through their chests, or maybe it was nothing but a smile that absolutely melted your thought process.
beating writers block
honestly, i've never found a single thing in this whole world that always gets me out of my writers block. it's never easy, and it's always different things that provoke it.
sometimes i'll just take an off day for myself, and i'll completely detach myself from the writing. i wont think about it, i wont talk about it, and i wont even open my laptop to look at it.
i'll do a spa day, i'll get my nails done, put on a facemask and watch stupid lesbian romcoms all day. the choice is yours, really.
and i'll read. god i'll read a lot. when i read beautiful work, especially poems, i instantly feel a pulling in my chest to do the same thing, so that maybe i can make someone else feel as inspired as i am right now. it's an amazing feeling, and if you don't do this i would highly recommend it.
sometimes i'll watch the movies/tv shows i'm writing about, depending on your fandom or whatever. i'll look for new concepts, little details to explore and that often helps me find tranquility in my work.
i eat, cook, and sleep a lot during these times. i mostly write at night, so being able to have a nine hour night of sleep is quite the shocker to wake up too. i feel refreshed, and often times it helps me as a boost to my creativity.
all in all, i would try to find whatever works for you. it's important that you realize not everything that i do will work, or even help ypu in the slightest, and vice versa.
