This is too precious o(╥﹏╥)o ATHY THANK YOU
*sets this picture as my lockscreen wallpaper. This shall be my family heirloom my ONLY source of motivation*
This Claude vs the hottest boys on earth?
Girls’ answers (at least that’s what I think): *says goodbye to even the hottest boys on earth*
you were his last remainder of the happiest blue spring in his life, until your untimely demise. and on the death's door, he finally found you again.
genre/warnings:
angsty wangsty, consolation towards the end
notes:
i said i can't create gojo fics without feeling depressed, so here i present to you, angst. it's inspired from a thread in twitter i read about how gojo was given everything but he couldn't do anything and my heart just incredibly hurts and―this happened. it's unedited because the idea popped into my mind at 1 in the morning
i wrote this while listening to this wonderful song. consider it the theme song for this piece. i highly recommend you to read this and listen to it!
[update]
sequel -> found you
general masterlist
You were so pretty. So really pretty, in fact. And he likes pretty things. Perhaps that was what spurred him to spontaneously ask you out.
You declined him at first―after all, he was a special grade weirdo. And you half-expected him to give up soon enough, only that he didn't. He persisted like a cockroach, smothering you with his very being. Then like a sweet romance novel, you too finally fell for him, melting at his clumsy attempts to woo you.
And by God, you were happy together. To Satoru, it was the brightest, most vibrant page in his life. And with his very being, he would do everything he could to protect you. After all, he was blessed with the best, he had all means to protect you.
He should've known better.
It started with his failed star plasma vessel mission. Riko was dead, and at that time he was just numb. Later, he made excuses. He couldn't have foreseen that a sorcerer killer would join the fray and made a mess of things.
But then his best friend, Suguru, left. Satoru couldn't make excuses any longer. For that, he was wholly responsible. From then, he realized that just being strong wasn't enough. And throughout those dark days, you were with him, consoling him as you brought his head to your chest, letting him sleep in your arms.
"Don't ever leave me, okay?" he whispered at the dead of the night with hoarse voice. It made your heart sting. You nodded and ran your fingers throughout his hair, mumbling a soft "of course."
And you never did. You were always by his side.
Satoru was really grateful for that. To have the last years of your life by his side. Looking back, it was like a beautiful mirage.
He had hidden himself behind the facade of the strongest. The unreachable. Untouchable. It felt nice, still is. Before he had known it, he had drawn this line between himself and other people. Between him and you. He wasn't lonely, but he was at the very same time.
And perhaps he had gotten way too arrogant, and thus the heavens decided to humble him.
He couldn't prevent the Shibuya Incident from happening. Worse, he fell into the enemy's hand and got sealed, and just before he was trapped inside that accursed box, he saw you die. And even after the most excruciating 19 days of his life afterwards, he couldn't do anything about it.
Your face haunted him. The tears you shed for him still lingered at the tips of his fingertips. The blood from your mouth still soaked his vision.
"Satoru..." you croaked. You were afraid. Afraid of dying, but most of all, afraid of leaving him. You had promised him once, on the bunkbed of your dorms back in Jujutsu High, that you wouldn't leave him. Tears wouldn't stop falling from your beautiful eyes.
Satoru burned that image on his mind. He wanted to hate himself with every fiber of his being, but then you said the most damnable thing possible.
"Thank you... for everything..."
And you had a smile on your face. In your last moments, you decided to convey how much he meant to you in this life. How much you cherished him. You prayed with all your heart that it would reach him.
And once again, just like the first day he saw you at the training grounds of Jujutsu High, Satoru found you to be really breathtaking. You were beautiful even as you laid dying. Even as his visions were obscured as he fell into the darkness.
Inside the prison realm where time passed long and uncertain, he made himself numb once again.
You were his most cherished figment of the most precious memory held in his heart―the three years of his youth. He wouldn't have changed anything about it. He was devastated, severely so, but so did the sweetness aftertaste he felt.
Your feelings reached him, and because of that, even if the road ahead was long and hard and painful, he would stay on that road.
If it meant he could meet you again on the other side of this dream... he'd stay and move towards tomorrow, no matter how bleak it was.
When his comrades freed him from the prison realm, he gained knowledge that most people he knew were also dead during his absence. Nanami. Yaga. The students.
Perhaps it was his curse. To be blessed with everything, but not being able to do anything about it.
He had nothing more to lose when he fought against Sukuna. He gave it his all. Everything his life had led him to―he put it all on the line.
And suddenly―suddenly, he was back to the happiest chapter of his youth. Everyone was there. Suguru was there. Nanami, Haibara, even Riko.
And you.
On the other side of that dream, you were once again standing before him, in your old uniform, just like when you’d get ready for a class so many years ago, and with the smile he fell in love with. The smile he would gladly fight the world for.
"Satoru," you called, breathless, but just like before you left him the first time, you frowned and your eyes suddenly glistened with tears. "Why... are you here? How did you―"
But you choked back your tears when he ran to you and pulled you into his arms so tightly. You heard him grunt, and then to your surprise, slightly sob.
Now he is no longer Gojo Satoru, the strongest. He is back to a young sorcerer wanting so badly to live his youth to the fullest, happiest.
"You lied to me," he reprimanded you amidst his weeping. "You left. You freaking left―"
Your vision blurred. "I'm sorry..."
Satoru let you go to have a good look at you. You were no longer bleeding. Your insides were intact. Just a little crying because you couldn't help it.
"I love you, you know that right?" he blurted with the most sullen expression he could muster. He turned back into the child-boy you somehow fell in love with.
"Satoru," you breathed out, anxious. "You shouldn't be here―"
"I should," he cut you with a firm tone. "I have no regrets. I have done what I can, and now―"
"But the others―they need you! They need you, Satoru."
He drooped his head. He had thought it over too, but he had come to a final conclusion. "No. They don't."
Maybe it was finally the time to let go of it. It was time to just... pass it over. No more interventions. No more tipping the balance of the world itself.
Immediately, you understand what he means. Gojo Satoru has served his purpose. There was nothing left that he must and could do.
"You waited long, huh?" you whispered with tears, yet a smile bloomed on your face.
"I did."
"Then... now that you're here," you offered your hand towards him, and then looked at the faces of your friends. They were all beaming at you and him, waiting for this exact moment.
You stared at him fondly, lovingly.
"Would you... walk this road with me once again?"
Satoru snapped his head. He nodded at you with pure certainty, zero hesitation. "Yes."
He took your hand, grasping it tightly in his.
"Even when there's a possibility that you have to walk to the other side of a nightmare again?”
"I would," Satoru resolutely replied.
Because it's you, he would. He'd willingly and gladly cross the throes of hell and set out on this lonely yet hopeful journey, just to meet you.
You chuckled at him heartily, and Satoru felt the immense love he held for you as the two of you walked towards tomorrow, without regrets.
It may be his curse, to have everything yet nothing at the same time. But each time he would be faced with this decision, he'd remember that feeling and let go of everything just for this very chance to live a life with you again.
Description: The reader is embarrassed by the hickies Theo left on her, but she's not one to speak.
Merlin, you were pissed. Or, maybe — maybe you were embarrassed. Afterall, there were purple and yellow bruises all over your breasts and along your collarbone and up the sides and back of your neck. Despite your best efforts, your makeup hadn’t covered them all, and the collar of your blouse kept smearing the foundation and exposing more of them to the entire student body. A student body who couldn’t stop talking about you.
“Trip down the stairs did you, Y/n?” Pansy teased.
“Our very own Slytherin slut,” Daphne laughed fondly.
“By the name of Salazar,” Blaise breathed heavily at the sight of them.
You could only sigh in frustration, your head in your palms, “Guys, stop, please. Everyone and their mothers are giving me shit about it, you don’t need to join in.”
You weren’t lying. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Snape had practically burnt a hole through your neck, and then, in Transfiguration, McGonagall had quietly asked if you needed to step out to touch up your makeup. The worst, however, was Potions with Slughorn. His opinion of you since the beginning of the year had been purely positive since your family were fairly wealthy and you achieved some of the highest grades in his class. When he saw the hickeys all over you, though, his bulbous nose had turned up in disgust and he made a most unpleasant grunt of disproval. You were sure you had made his blacklist.
“This warrants murder,” said Pansy.
“It does, doesn’t it?” You asked, “I am so fucking mad at him for this.”
Oh, but you could hardly speak.
You and Theo (your boyfriend and hickey-giver) both received invitations to a party that was held the night before, and despite knowing you had school the next day, you went. Once you were about ten drinks in, you were completed sloshed, and when you were completely sloshed, you got horny.
Though the crowd of party-goers stood between yourself and Theo, you could still see every part of him. He was just standing there, chatting with Blaise and Draco, a can of cheap beer held lazily in his right hand while his left was barely touching his hip. He was so, so hot. You bit your lip sexily then made your way over to him and wrapped your arms around his waist, kissing the back of his white shirt, and leaving stains of red lipstick all over it.
“Hey, Y/n, baby,” he hummed, happy from all the drinks he’d downed in the three hours prior, “What’s up?”
“Teddyyy,” you mused and stared up at him as he looked over his shoulder at you, “I want sex.”
Blaise and Draco snickered and Theo shot them a glare. After that, you can imagine what happened. Lots of moaning, groaning, grunting, panting. Enough snogging to last you both a lifetime, but not really because there was no such thing as “enough snogging,” and love making that lasted well past the rise of the sun that peeked through the window to Theo’s dorm room and illuminated every gorgeous curve of your body.
While Theo was the kind of sexual partner to want to leave marks all over you — not because he was the jealous type, just the prideful type, he liked everyone to see that he’d won you — you were the kind of sexual partner who liked it rough. You liked to feel his dick more or less pounding against your womb, so close that it almost warranted a trip to Madame Pomfrey. You liked when he thrusted into you fast, but not sloppy, always obeying your comments of ‘faster, Theo’ and ‘honey, please, I need it faster.’ But he couldn’t obey too much, you were very particular about that. He had to make you feel good, but he still had to be in control. It was always best if he gave in to every third or fourth demand, so that you had to beg for it. But the best part about rough sex with Theo? Well, it was what made you such a hypocrite.
“Mate,” Draco gaped at Theo’s back in the locker rooms before quidditch practice, “Did you get into a fight with a werewolf or something?”
Theo frowned in confusion, “What are you talking about?”
Draco motioned for Theo to move into view of the mirror and when he got a good look at his reflection he joined in the gaping. Long, red lines ran down his back like the British army at the Battle of Balaclava. He had become a canvas and you had painted him with your claws. He ought to have them clipped, Merlin’s beard.
The scratches were mostly up and down (go figure), but there were are couple that ran horizontally which Theo couldn’t place the origin of. You had torn him apart, you freak.
And that’s when you stormed into the locker room. Pucey had squealed, that was the first sign that you had entered. The second was the smart-ass warning that escaped Draco’s mouth ( “Look what the cat dragged in… or maybe she herself is the cat,” he said.
“She is the cat’s mother,” you responded, annoyed, and kicked him in the shin.
“My point still stands,” he laughed painfully).
Your hands were covering your eyes so as to not expose yourself to the privates of the entire Slytherin Quidditch team, and Theo thought you looked like a total dork in the cutest way. A pout had settled on your lips to make up for the fact that your frown was also hidden behind your hands.
“Theodore Nott!” You huffed and the locker room broke out into a chorus of ‘ooh’s, “Shut up, all of you — Theodore, look at what you’ve done to my neck.”
“I can’t really see behind your hands, lovey,” said Theo and you swore you could hear the smirk in his voice.
“Use your imagination then, I’m sure you remember what you did to me last night — Oh, aren’t you all so mature,” you hissed as the boys erupted into laughter like little children.
You felt Theo’s hands settle on your hipbones as if they were arm rests. He pulled you in until your nose hit his chest and removed your hands from your face. So safe you were in his presence that you couldn’t see any of the other boys around you. With his big eyes that were more ocean-coloured than sky, he stared down at you, and flashed his brilliantly white grin.
“You aren’t much better, you know?” He said with a tone of question in his voice and continued to talk when he realised you didn’t know what he was talking about, “My back?”
He turned for you and upon seeing the mess you had evidently made on his back, you shut your mouth.
summary: in which theodore nott will do anything to get you to go out with him, but you’re just as stubborn rejecting him
warnings: swearing, kissing, dangerous stunts and theo being stupid (ryan gosling in the notebook style), unedited since i wrote this in the middle of the night on no sleep again lol. enemies to lovers if you squint a bit
author’s note: since everyone loves theo i’ll pretend this isn’t just for my own selfish needs <3 (especially the notebook reference) also surprise surprise mc is a gryffindor as always, you’d never know i was a slytherin my bad guys… as always let me know what u think! enjoy, angels 💌
The first time Theodore Nott asks you out, you spill a pot of ink directly into his lap.
It’s not like you meant to do it. But when there’s a Transfiguration worksheet to be getting on with, the Slytherin boy seated next to you by Professor McGonagall asking you out would surely take anyone by surprise.
The second you twist in your seat to look at him in shock, your arm slides the pot right off the desk and directly onto his grey trousers, instantly staining them with the black liquid before you have a chance to speak.
Your hands fly to your mouth to stifle your gasp and you look up at him, anticipating an angry glare in return. Instead, he looks mildly surprised at the ever-growing stain on his crotch, but mostly… amused?
“A simple ‘no’ would have sufficed, darling,” he says, raising an eyebrow and suppressing a smile.
You begin stuttering out an apology and scrambling for your wand to wave away the stain before you can do something stupid like attempting to rub it off with your sleeve. Your cheeks instantly heat up at the humiliating image now plaguing your mind and you barely contain a sigh of relief when you realise the lesson has finished.
It’s a miracle your shoes haven’t left scuff marks on the ground in a cartoonish trail with the speed at which you leave the classroom. Godric knows why Theo Nott of all people wants to ask you out, but since it can’t possibly be for any good reason, you’d rather not think about it too much. This, however, isn’t helped by Hermione pestering you about why you look so flustered for the entire walk to the Charms classroom.
Twenty minutes later, her attention is finally diverted. On the other hand, it’s because she’s berating you for accidentally burning the end of her left eyebrow off with a charm gone wrong.
The second time Theo asks you out, there are thankfully no ink pots around.
“Hey,” he whispers from behind you, making you jump within an inch of your life despite his low volume. You swivel in your chair to glare at him, incredulous. Seeing that he’s startled you, Theo grins. “Sorry. What are you doing?”
“Baking a cake,” you deadpan, once your heart has started beating at a normal pace again. Holding up your Potions book, you feel the annoyance start to seep in when Theo continues looking at you, undeterred. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
Apparently unfazed by your sarcasm, he drags out the chair next to you and spins it around to sit on it backwards. Settling his arms on top of the backrest, Theo rests his chin on them to look at you. “You never did answer my question.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you mumble, eyes scanning the page in front of you but taking in nothing. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to study-”
“Are you going to make me ask you again?” he sighs. You panic a little at his bluntness and continue pretending to read, not knowing what else to do. Theo takes your silence as encouragement and shuffles his chair closer to your own. “Go out with me.”
The arrogance practically drips off his voice, and the pit of anxiety in your stomach immediately turns into irritation instead. “No,” you grit out, slamming your potions book shut to scowl at him. “And I don’t hear you asking anything.”
“Okay,” Theo says slowly, nodding as though he understands. It’s clear that he doesn’t though, because the next words out of his mouth have you stunned. “Please, oh please, will you do me the absolute greatest honour of going out with me?”
”Merlin,” you exhale, pinching the bridge of your nose. Dropping your hands into your lap, you see no solution other than gathering your things to return to the common room. “You’re having me on…”
“I can assure you, I’m not,” Theo says quickly, stopping you from leaving by gently grabbing your elbow. You stop in your movements to catch him looking more unsure than you’ve ever seen, and you’ve never been more perplexed. “I’m completely serious right now. Go out with me?”
“Wh- I don’t even-” you sigh, cutting your senseless muttering off to cross your arms over your textbook. “Whatever happened to a simple ‘no’ sufficing, darling? Aren’t there a million other girls for you to go and pester? Godric knows you’ve got an entourage following you half the- What are you looking at?”
Amazingly, Theo’s expression has lost all trace of vulnerability and now displays a slightly faraway look, his signature lazy grin in full effect. “Sorry, I didn’t hear a word after you called me ‘darling’.”
Resisting the urge to hit him over the head with your textbook, you take a deep breath and grasp the potential weapon tighter in your hands before speaking. “As hard as it is for me to believe that girls actually fall for this rubbish, your history with them shows that they do. Don’t think for a second, I’m going to let you use me like they do.”
Theo considers your words for a few seconds, mulling them over as carefully as though he’s trying to solve a brain teaser. Eventually, he seems to come to a satisfying conclusion, because he tucks his hands into the pockets of his trousers and tilts his head. “So you need me to prove I’m serious about this… and then you’ll say yes?”
“Oh, for the love of-” Huffing, you turn on your heal without saying another word and storm out of the library. Theo doesn’t follow you, allowing you to clear your head and think about the incredibly odd interaction.
You’re climbing through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room when you realise you never actually refuted Theo and his theory to make you go out with him. Whether or not it was on purpose, you can’t quite decide.
Over the next few weeks, you start wishing you had stopped Theo before he could start trying to prove himself to you.
You can’t go a single day without the question of going out with him popping up. Much to your bewilderment, it isn’t always him asking. Sometimes it’s his friends, sometimes it’s students at the Gryffindor table who are sick of the multiple owls every morning flocking to your table with a note in their beaks. Sometimes it’s even your friends.
“I mean, really,” Hermione says at breakfast, huffy as always when reprimanding someone. “It’d be benefiting everyone if you just went out with him. Why don’t you, anyway?”
“He’s a Slytherin,” Ron butts in, talking to Hermione as though he’s explaining something to a child. He takes a gigantic bite of his toast before speaking, his next words coming out muffled. “Surely that’s reason enough.”
“No, that isn’t reason enough,” Hermione says sternly, furrowing her brows. “A good reason would have been all the girls he’s always with. Of course, that’s flown out the window recently. He’s also never given them as much attention now that I think about it.”
“He’s definitely not the worst of the group either,” Harry adds, leaning in as nosily as Ron. “Not like we’re talking about Malfoy…”
“Don’t you two have Quidditch tactics to be discussing?” you snap, exhausted by the subject already. The two boys hold up their hands in surrender, before shuffling down the bench. Whether that’s to be closer to the Quidditch team, or to get away from you before you start throwing hexes - you aren’t certain.
The fact you’re awake early in the morning on a Saturday isn’t helping your sour mood, and the Quidditch match being between Gryffindor and Slytherin only adds to this.
“We’d better go and get a good seat at the front, so we aren’t on our tiptoes for the whole game like last time,” Hermione says, already sliding off the bench. You give your cup of coffee one last longing look before you allow yourself to be dragged away.
You haven’t even made it onto the Quidditch pitch before you’re already wishing for that cup of coffee to give you strength, because you find none other than Theo standing outside the Great Hall in his green and silver Quidditch robes.
As soon as he spots you, Theo plasters on that charming smile of his and opens his mouth, no doubt to ask you if you could talk privately.
Hermione interjects before he gets the chance. “Don’t bother, I’m leaving.” She simply sighs when you look at her, betrayed. “He’d have convinced you anyway! I’ll save you a seat.”
You watch her leave, helplessly before turning to Theo and crossing your arms. “Yes?”
“I have a proposition for you,” he says simply, getting to the point. The proposition has, without a doubt, got something to do with you and him and a trip to Hogsmeade, but you gesture for him to continue nonetheless. You can’t deny it’s been entertaining watching Theo come up with new ways to ask you out these past few weeks. “I’ll throw the match and let your lot win if you go out with me.”
This startles a laugh out of you, something between a chortle and a gasp. “Oh, you cheeky bastard,” you exclaim, but you can’t help grinning. That was quite possibly the last thing you expected him to say. “First of all, I think my lot is perfectly capable of winning on their own. And secondly… as funny as it would be, I’d rather not have your death and Malfoy’s subsequent imprisonment in Azkaban be on my conscience.”
You only realise just how wide your smile is when it starts to fade under Theo’s unwavering gaze. His lips twitch up into a smile and you immediately frown as an automatic response. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’re bantering with me,” Theo says, grinning as though he’s extremely pleased with himself. You realise with a jolt, that yes you were bantering. “One step closer to agreeing to go out with me.”
“That’s not happening,” you protest, but it sounds fairly weak, even to you. “Like I keep telling you, I’m not going to be one of those girls.”
Theo shrugs. “And I think you already know you’re not one of those girls. It’s fine, I can wait.”
The relaxed manner in which he says this has you flabbergasted to say the least. Truthfully, you aren’t completely sure why you haven’t just agreed at this point. No one in the whole school is used to witnessing such extravagant displays from Theodore Nott, so you’ve accepted the fact you’re an outlier in this particular subject area. You’re starting to think Hermione’s right, and it’s pure stubbornness that’s keeping you going.
“You’ll be waiting a long time then,” you say, giving Theo a bland smile.
“Nah,” is all he says, the smile still gracing his unperturbed face. “Keep an eye out for me in the Quidditch stands.”
Theo winks at you before walking away in the direction of the pitch and you linger in the castle for a good few minutes before snapping out of it and walking in the same direction.
You find Hermione quickly at the front of the Gryffindor stand and you’re about to ask how long until the game starts when Lee Jordan’s voice begins to boom from the commentator stand.
“Strong start for Gryffindor with Katie Bell taking the Quaffle and- nope, Vaisey’s taken it and passed it onto Urquhart, his fellow Chaser and the new Slytherin captain.” You’re thankful for Lee’s commentary as it’s easy to follow and you probably wouldn’t have a clue if it weren’t for him. Surprisingly, he keeps it professional enough for a while. “Ginny Weasley tries to take the Quaffle after a near hit there to Urquhart, thanks to new Gryffindor Beater Jimmy Peakes and that very solid Bludger over there. Unfortunately, he missed-”
“JORDAN.”
“Sorry, Professor McGonagall, I meant fortunately. Slytherin Chaser Mattheo Riddle now has the Quaffle and seems to be aiming to score and- oops! He’s missed, thanks to Gryffindor Keeper Ron Weasley. Good on you, Weasley,” Lee says, unable to be impartial as shown by McGonagall’s glare. “As for the Slytherin Keeper, Nott seems to be distracted by something in the Gryffindor stands. Or should I say someone.”
Laughter echoes in every stand, much to your utter humiliation and some people even start whooping and cheering in your direction. Theo’s antics are common knowledge at this point, but it doesn’t make the laughter any less embarrassing. You try and maintain a shred of dignity by standing still and glaring as hard as you can at Theo. Horrifyingly, he starts to fly in your direction.
Lee looks at McGonagall before speaking, but she merely shrugs helplessly, looking flustered herself. “Er, well it seems Slytherin are open for Gryffindor to score. No one seems to be taking advantage, however, as I think I can speak for everyone when I say we want to know what’s going on with Nott and Y/N.”
Glancing at the others, you realise Lee is right and all the players are hovering in place, making no move to continue the game. They look partly confused, but mostly nosy.
Theo stops just outside the Gryffindor stand, his attention focused wholly on you. You raise both eyebrows in question, waiting for him to speak. “Go out with me.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t quite hear what Nott is saying, but I think we can all guess he’s asking her out again,” Lee says, causing a few more cheers and even a couple groans. “Take the hint, mate.”
“Theo, get back to the game!” you hiss, wrapping your arms around you as if it’ll shield you from everyone’s eyes. “You’re embarrassing m- What the fuck are you doing!”
Theo swings a leg over the side of his broomstick so that he’s sitting completely facing you, legs dangling dangerously off one side. Lee sits up a little in his booth and McGonagall looks positively horrified. “For unknown reasons, Nott is balancing precariously in a position no Quidditch player wants to- Merlin, he’s hanging off his broomstick!”
Everyone in the crowd screams and shouts when Theo slips off his broomstick, but they quieten down and watch with fright when they see he’s still holding on with both hands. You think you’re going to faint.
“Theo,” you plead, with the same voice you’d use to coax a bloody kitten out of a tree. “Get back on your broomstick. Please.”
“Only if you go out with me,” Theo says, eyes determined despite breathing a little heavier. The broomstick is thin and despite his strength, it’d be hard for anyone to maintain a grip for long. “Say you’ll go out with me and I’ll get back on.”
“Just say it!” Hermione grabs you by the shoulder to shake you.
Professor McGonagall seems to have shaken out of her previous daze and begins scrambling around for her wand while Lee narrows his eyes to better assess the situation. “Godric, Y/N. Just say ‘yes’ and end everyone’s misery already.”
“But…” you trail off, hands shaking as you keep your eyes on Theo’s white knuckles still gripping the broom. “I don’t want to encourage this stupid behaviour.”
Theo rolls his eyes as though he can’t believe you’re still objecting. He shakes his head at you, though his chest is shaking with laughter. “Go out with me, and I swear I’ll never do anything stupid again. Fucking hell, I’ll quit Quidditch altogether if you want.”
You open your mouth to say something, you’re not sure what, but before you can get a word out, Seamus Finnigan pipes up from beside you. “Personally, I say let him fall off the bloody thing.”
Tutting, you turn to Theo just to find the idiot raising an eyebrow challengingly. His left hand begins to loosen on the broomstick, deliberately.
“Theo, don’t you dare.”
He drops his left hand completely and you scream, the noise drowned out by everyone else’s yells.
“OKAY!” you yelp, heart in throat as you watch Theo dangling from his broomstick with one hand, clearly struggling. “Okay, I’ll go out with you, you stubborn idiot!”
The Gryffindors that hear you, begin to cheer, setting off the other houses and once McGonagall sees Theo begin to pull himself up on his broomstick, she visibly relaxes, slumping in her seat as she clutches her chest. Lee soon gets the message. “Finally, after a good month of watching Nott pine pathetically, Y/N has agreed to go out with the poor bast- Er, beggar. Sorry, Professor. By the way Nott, you’ve got detention for a week.”
Now sitting normally on his broomstick, Theo grins at you like the cheeky bastard that he is, with elation clear as day on his face. You struggle to fight off your own grin and you can tell by his expression you’re not doing a very good job at it. “Pull something like that again and I’ll push you off your broomstick myself,” you warn him, though it lacks any real threat. You were more worried than angry, and it definitely shows. “Okay?”
“No more stupid behaviour,” Theo promises, sounding sincere as he nods, messy hair falling into his eyes. The wind blows it out of the way almost immediately and you find yourself wanting to do it with your fingers. “After this, though.”
You furrow your brows as Theo flies close enough to the Gryffindor stand to get off his broomstick and hop right into the crowd, landing next to you. Broomstick in hand, Theo doesn’t take his eyes off you when he holds it out to Hermione. “If you don’t mind, Granger.”
Clearly baffled, Hermione gingerly takes the broomstick from him and watches the two of you, as enraptured as the rest of the school.
You face Theo properly, looking up at his eyes to see them glittering with pride and achievement. You tilt your head in question, wondering why he hasn’t yet returned to the game.
Theo answers you by gripping your waist to pull you into a stupidly dramatic, dizzying, wonderful kiss. His lips are soft against your own and cold from the wind, but the shiver that runs down your spine has nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with the way Theo is pressed against you.
You could go on forever, but the cheers and claps and hollering around you remind you that you’re surrounded by all your peers and, Godric, your teachers.
Pulling away, you clear your throat and attempt to gain back some of your dignity by keeping a serious face. Theo attempts nothing of the sort as he’s still wearing a silly grin. You try and avoid his eyes for the sake of your nerves and you mutter the first thing that comes to mind. “Erm, good luck then. I hope you win.”
This is the wrong thing to say surrounded by your fellow Gryffindors as a few of them boo at you.
Theo rolls his eyes at the dramatics, while you simply scowl, pointedly at Seamus who seems to have boo’ed the loudest. Hermione is beaming at you when she hands Theo back his broomstick, though she also gives a little frown directed at Seamus.
Getting back on his broomstick, Theo hovers near you outside the stand. You lower your voice to a whisper that only he can hear. “I still hope you win.”
Theo shrugs, looking more relaxed than you’ve ever seen him during a Quidditch game. “I’ve already won, darling.”
tldr: all the ways jeonghan uses your nickname
a/n: but mom, i love him. (there is a makeout scene in this...)
pesters: but only in good fun
“lovie,” he coos at you, encouraged by the blush on your cheeks. he could tell by the look in your eyes, you were embarrassed but not upset. you hadn’t thought anything of it when he suggested you wear the green hoodie in your closet to visit him and the members in the practice room.
“need to let everyone know we’re together?” he couldn’t help but poke fun at you as you walked into the room wearing a matching hoodie to his. you had no knowledge he had even worn the offending garment today. if you had, you wouldn’t be in yours, especially not in front of his members and their staff.
“i’m pretty sure everyone already knows.” his teasing didn’t let up, even as he wrapped his arms around you, pleased to see you had fallen right into his trap. you faintly heard joshua scoff somewhere behind you, too focused on the man in front of you to really give him any attention, “you guys are gross.”
whispers: when he wants to check in
“lovie,” his whisper pulls you from your thoughts. “i don’t think that pork will come back to life no matter how hard you stare at it. mingyu grilled it really well.” you rolled your eyes but turned to look at him nonetheless. he looked awfully handsome under the dim light of the bbq restaurant. he always looked handsome, you supposed.
“are you okay?” he was still whispering. wanted to keep this moment as private as possible so you could speak freely. he knew dinner with his members could be a lot, especially after a long day at work.
“you can tell me if you want to go. you know i’ll never pass up an opportunity to go home with you.” his eye dropped in a wink, and this time you smiled when you rolled your eyes. going home with him did kind of sound like a good idea…
breathes: in between kisses
“lovie,” it escapes him like a sigh, slipping out between you two in a heated moment. you were on his lap, completely blocking his view of the tv, and in the back of his mind he knows he wanted to see this one but he couldn’t bring himself to care. not with the way he is consumed with the feeling of your weight pressing on him, your warmth almost burning his skin even through layers of clothes.
when you pull back and look at him, he swears he feels his heart skip a beat. face oily and bare from the skin care you had completed before joining him on the couch for movie night, he’s never thought you more beautiful. he can feel your lip balm on and around his lips, a reminder you’d been there.
“whatever you’re doing, it’s working lovie,” he praises. “you’re practically glowing.” if he thought you were radiant before, you beamed under his praise. the last thing he saw before his eyes closed to continue kissing you was your toothy grin.
giggles: behind cupped hands
“lovie,” he was snickering when he pulled you into a secluded corner of seungchoel’s apartment. game night was in full swing and you had just started the third round of mafia. while the rest of the members were distracted by mingyu and soonyoung’s bickering, he whisked you away, his mischievous smirk on his face.
“can you keep a secret?” he was talking in hushed tones, hiding his mouth behind his hands to avoid prying eyes. when you nodded in confirmation, he leaned impossibly closer, breath tickling your ear.
“i’m the mafia.” it took everything in you to keep your face neutral. you didn’t want to blow him in after he spilled such a big secret. it warmed your heart that he trusted you enough to tell you his role in the game. “if you tell anyone, i’ll kill you next.”
scrawls: on a post-it
“lovie,” the note brought heat to your cheeks. you really hoped your coworker at the desk across from yours didn’t notice. when had he even slipped this in? you packed your own lunch and he wasn’t even awake when you left for your shift this morning, still snuggled beneath your comforter when you pulled your shoes on and headed out the door.
“i miss you. hope you’re having a good day!” his neat handwriting brought a smile to your face. this wasn’t the first time he had snuck a note into your lunchbox, but he didn’t do it often so this was really a treat. and on a friday, too! what a great way to end the week.
“i can’t wait to spend the weekend with you.” you shared the sentiment. looking forward to a free weekend with no plans or schedules. free to rot in your bed for the next two days with your beloved. “love you!”
𝜗𝜚 THEME: fluff, domesticity, you being jeonghan's whole world (mention of the military)
𝜗𝜚 PAIRING: idol!jeonghan x fem!reader
𝜗𝜚 WORD COUNT: 792
natalia's note: idc if this is too dramatic, i don't want jeonghan to go
⦗💌 ⦘your favourite past time? playing with your boyfriend's hair, duh. sadly, it's the last time you get to do it for the next two years.
“here,” jeonghan drops a bunch of… somethings in your lap and sits down on the fluffy rug you bought last month, his back facing you.
your boyfriend’s randomness is nothing new; even before you began dating, you quickly found out that yoon jeonghan was an unpredictable man. but no matter how much time has passed since you agreed to be his girlfriend, you are still taken aback each and every time he decides to do something out of the blue in his jeonghan fashion.
you quickly grew to love his randomness, though. it’s like being surprised in the best ways possible.
“what,” you pick up a packet of colourful hair ties and hair pins, “what do you want me to do with those?”.
jeonghan turns around and looks up to meet your eyes, his own holding nothing but fondness and warmth. “my hair,” he says and shakes his head of messy brown hair he died a couple of days ago. “we haven’t done this in a while, so i thought it’d be nice.”
your stomach churned. how many times have you sat like this - you on the edge of the sofa and jeonghan in front of you, resting comfortably against a cushion you placed so as not to strain his back. a drama or a cooking show would be playing quietly in the background, neither of you watching it, too busy with basking in the domesticity.
looking back, it was a no-brainer that you got addicted to your boyfriend’s hair so quickly. playing with it became a little habit of yours - before bed, in the morning, at a game night with the boys, during parties - whenever jeonghan was in your arm’s reach, you’d play with his hair, no matter if they were short or long (though you always mourned his long hair whenever he cut them). it always managed to calm you down and ground you when life got a bit too much.
you’ve never experienced deja vu before, but if this was how it felt then you’d rather be hit with a sledge hammer. it’d hurt less.
and now… despite that you could feel your heart breaking, you couldn’t tell him no. it’s probably the last time you’ll be able to do this before the enlistment anyway, so maybe… maybe it’ll be a nice way to celebrate his last days at home?
“it’s hair. it’s just hair,” your mind seems to scream into the void as you grab a couple of the purple-ish hair bands and slide them on your wrist. but your heart is even louder and it feels like you’re being ripped apart.
were you being dramatic? definitely. did you care? not at all. your whole life would change in the next day or so and despite preparing for this for such a long time now, it didn’t make it any less painful. with jeonghan leaving you’d be losing a part of yourself.
“hey,” he raises his hand and grabs your chin, “get that scowl off your face.”
“i know,” you sigh. “it’s just that-,”.
“i don’t want to hear any of that. we’re having fun tonight, honey,” jeonghan says and runs his thumb over your cheek. affection and pure love, which are always there whenever he looks at you (coups makes sure to point that out on every possible occasion), seemed to slow your racing heartbeat, because the longer you stared into his brown, gentle eyes the more your mind seemed to quiet down. oh, how you are going to miss that lovesick stare. “no more sad faces, yeah?”
you swallow and nod, your heart heavy from all the emotions. the pink ribbons and blue pins look like the opposite of what you are feeling, but… you have to be strong. if not for yourself, then for jeonghan.
“any specific requests?” you ask and comb your fingers gently through his silky hair.
“nope. whatever you do,” he says and turns his back to you, “it’ll look perfect.” you couldn't see jeonghan’s face, but you could hear the smile in his voice.
placing a peck on your exposed leg, he makes himself comfortable against the cushions and lets out his grandpa-esque sigh.
what the next days are going to bring - you aren’t sure. you don’t even want to think about it. but for now… for now, you are as content as you can be. enveloped by your love’s affection like a security blanket, his warm hands sliding up and down your calves, as if reminding you that he’s still there, it is enough for you. enough to swallow your tears and put a brave smile on your face for the man sitting in front of you.
for now it is only you and him and all the pink ribbons.
euphoria / claude de alger obelia ( who made me a princess )
( & lover’s language flow, in and out the soul )
[ COMMISSION ]
a/n: lyrics from elephante - catching on
i.
to be in love is to fall in reverie, to drown deeply in it, and to feel it bloom in your heart with each and every beat. to be in love is to ride the waves– to feel the adrenaline rushing through your veins and to feel the slow, comfortable sway of the water.
it is everything he does not imagine it to be. to feel loved is entirely too strange to him– frightening, but reassuring.
he loves it. he loves you, even if he hardly speaks the words. he is not one for dramatic declarations of affection; instead, he finds expression through the little things, whether it is the warmth of his hand when you walk side by side during strolls in the garden or the gentle kisses against your temple when you wake together in the mornings.
prompt: her death leaves behind a void in draco’s chest nothing can ever fill.
t/w: death and mentions of anxiety
requests are open. please refrain from plagiarizing my work!
Five months.
He’s gone five months without her. And he’s determined to keep going—he has to. He has to.
But goddamn does it bloody well hurt.
—
In the middle of a quiet cemetery stands a boy in a black suit and a cluster of white roses clasped in his hands, eyes staring but unseeing as he stands over one of the countless tombstones with his heart in his throat and what feels like a gaping hole inside his chest.
“I miss you.”
Snow falls from the sky. Bits of it sink deep into the fabric of his suit, fall into his hair, some onto his face. But Draco doesn’t feel it, the bite of the cold. His knuckles may have turned a pinkish red from the frost and his blond hair may have turned stiff from the flakes of snow stuck in it, but he doesn’t feel cold.
He’s been cold for five months now. He can’t feel it anymore.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
It has, says the voice inside his head that keeps him company when he feels the loneliest—when the pain becomes too much to bear—the voice that he knows isn’t real and hates that it isn’t. The one that sounds painfully like her.
“Yeah,” Draco continues, bottom lip trembling, and it’s not because of the snow. “I’m doing okay.” He lies. Keeps lying. “I think I’m getting better.”
He’s not. He can’t get better, not when he sees traces of her everywhere, even when she isn’t really there.
He sees a wooden desk and remembers her with her head bowed over a sheet of parchment, tongue poking out of her lips in concentration as she chides him—"Not now, Draco, I’m studying“—he pulls out an old chessboard from the crevices of his closet and remembers her grinning in triumph over winning a particularly intense chess game even though he lost on purpose—he walks past a park and remembers lying on the grass in the Hogwarts courtyard with his head in her lap and her fingers raking through his hair as she told him Muggle stories of love and tears and laughter and everything in between. Stories with happy endings; so unlike Draco’s and hers.
He squeezes his eyes shut; tears fall and trickle down his cheek onto the ground, joining the bundle of snow at his feet.
"Life hasn’t really been the same since—”
A sob tears its way up his throat and out of his lips before he can even think about suppressing it.
“—since you left.”
With his other hand—the hand that’s not grasping onto the bouquet of roses like it’s a lifeline—he wipes his tears away aggressively, almost angrily.
“I’ve started talking to myself a lot lately even though I know you’re not going to respond because I’ve been so used to you being here to listen and now you’re not.”
Another sob. Pathetic, says a voice inside Draco’s head. Not her voice. Never hers. She would never make him feel bad for feeling things—no, she’d crouch down next to him on the floor, wrap her arms around him and say “Everything’s going to be okay, love. I’m right here with you. Right here” and he’d look up at her and start crying even harder, because in a world where his parents expected too much from him and he was never good enough, he had her.
Or, well. He used to.
Draco clenches his fists, nails digging crescents into his skin as his breathing gets uneven and the air suddenly feels too tight. He tries to ground himself by inhaling through his nose and exhaling through his mouth and repeating the process—
“That’s it, love. Keep breathing. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere."
Draco took another shaky breath, trying to focus on her face even though her features were blurred and he didn’t quite know where to look through the tears obscuring his vision.
Panic attacks. He hated them. Hated the hand that felt like it had reached straight into his chest and started squeezing. Hated the tears that slipped out of his eyes almost automatically.
"It’s okay, Draco. Breathe with me.”
He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes, shoulders trembling from the effort. “You’re doing such a good job, Draco,” she said gently. Draco let out a long, shuddering breath. “You’re doing so well. Now breathe. Breathe with me. In through the nose, out through the mouth—that’s it, love, keep going. In through the—the—” her voice broke. Draco couldn’t see it—and maybe it was better that way—but she’d started crying at some point.
“In through the nose,” she continued, swallowing back a sob. “Out through the mouth. I love you, Draco. You’re gonna be okay.”
“I know you’d probably get mad at me for this if you were here, but sometimes.. well.. sometimes I find myself wishing I was dead.”
And even though there’s no one around that’s listening and Draco is the only living, breathing soul among the countless graves, he feels exposed. Bare. Like he’s laid his biggest vulnerability out for the rest of the world to see.
“I wake up everyday,” he says slowly, a crease in between his brows, "I stare up at the ceiling for a little bit. And then I get up, eat, sleep. Get up, eat, sleep. Over and over and over again.“
A pause. "It all just seems so.. pointless,” he bows his head, staring at his shoes as though he's ashamed. And he is. He’s ashamed that he’s like this—because he knows that if she were here (which she isn’t, says that annoying little voice at the back of his head) she’d smack him upside the head and say
“Don’t be ridiculous, Draco,” she rolled her eyes, glancing up for a brief moment before transferring her gaze back to the textbook in her hands.
Draco fell quiet again, staring into the embers of the fireplace. Maybe it hadn’t been the best idea to ask her to drop everything and run away with him on a whim.
A few seconds passed in silence. She looked up at him again out of concern to find that he hadn’t moved at all. A twinge of sadness plucked at her chest and she sighed, closing the book with a soft snap as she set it down on the floor.
Draco lost himself in his thoughts sometimes. It wasn’t a common occurrence, but she'd seen it enough times to know how bad it could get inside his head. It was a side of himself that he only felt comfortable enough showing to her and her only—a side that he'd kept well hidden under the facade of arrogance he always had put up.
It was when he would start thinking about—well—everything. How he never seemed to match up to his parent’s expectations no matter how hard he tried. He'd think about his obligations as the heir of one of the oldest pureblooded wizarding families. He’d think about his future and wonder if he deserved one with her with that dirty mark on his wrist.
Usually it would take quite a while to snap him out of his reverie, but tonight Draco seemed more lost in his thoughts than ever before. When she got up from the carpet to sit down next to him on the couch, his eyes were still hazy and unfocused. “Draco,” she murmured, sitting with her feet tucked underneath her as she turned to face him. “Draco?”
Her hands reached out for Draco’s, fingers slipping into the spaces between his own of their own accord. At this, he blinked, his gaze clearing, and looked at her.
“Love,” he breathed quietly.
She pursed her lips in a small smile, squeezing his hand in hers. “I’m here,” she told him, basking in the silence of the Slytherin common room, only interrupted by the sound of her and Draco’s breathing and the crackling sounds from the fireplace. She shifted on the couch to make herself more comfortable, leaning the side of her head on Draco’s shoulder and ignoring the ache of sadness in her chest that would always come when Draco felt down.
“Galleon for your thoughts?” she whispered.
Draco unlaced her hand from his to slowly trace the lines on her palm with his index finger. “It’d take much more than a galleon, love,” he whispered back, and there was a ghost of a small smile on his lips, but it was blanketed by the worry etched deep into his face.
The corners of her mouth tugged up into a sad smile. There was nothing in the world that she wanted more than to rid Draco of all the worries plaguing his head. He’d grown up surrounded by so much despair and for years he had no one but himself to carry his burden with, but now here she was. And even though she’d already done everything she could to help him—and she continued to do so every single day—it never felt like it was enough.
“You know you can always tell me everything, yeah?” she said quietly, looking up at him from the corner of her eyes.
Draco, with his gaze fixed on their hands, nodded. "Yeah.“
"I mean it. Always.”
He smiled, and it was a real one this time. “I know.”
The snow has stopped falling. Draco tastes tears, hot and salty, on his tongue.
“I’m going to keep going, though,” he tells her. Hangs onto the tiny sliver of hope he has that she is out there somewhere, listening. “I’m going to.. I’m going to keep getting up and eating and sleeping until it doesn’t feel so tiring anymore. Okay?”
Silence. “Does that sound good, love?”
Like shouting into a canyon and waiting for an echo that would never come.
“I know that’s what you’d want,” he says quietly, gritting his teeth. “For me to keep living. Not to give up. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Don’t give up.”
Draco snorted out a laugh. “Shouldn’t you be telling yourself that?”
He was sitting with her at their usual table in the library; the one right by the window near the restricted section. She had a Potions quiz tomorrow—Draco being the “smartass” he was (or so she called him), didn’t need to study, but she did. Him being her boyfriend, he'd offered to tutor her, unaware that it was easier said than done. She just couldn’t, for the life of her, get the terms right.
She scoffed. “I don't need to tell myself that. I won’t give up no matter what—you, on the other hand..”
Draco scrunched his nose. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m just saying you have a tendency to stop trying and call it a day.”
“That is a lie.”
“Is not.”
“Well, I suppose it depends on the task—if it’s tutoring you, then anyone’s bound to give up..”
“Hey!” she reached over the table to smack him on the shoulder. He swiftly dodged, laughing. She rolled her eyes but couldn’t suppress the smile on her face as she sat back down. “Maybe I should be getting a different tutor.”
“Or maybe you should just be studying harder.”
“Or maybe you should actually be trying to teach me—”
“I am!”
“—without giving up halfway!"
Draco huffed. "Okay. Fine. Let’s try this again. What’s another word for wolfsbane?”
“Um,” a pause. “No idea. Okay. I’m sorry."
He let out an overly dramatic sound of complaint.
"Don’t give up, Draco,” she reminded him, fighting back a laugh. “Don’t give up.”
Draco crouches down next to the grey tombstone already decorated with all sorts of flowers from friends and family and places his own set of white roses right next to her name. With hands that won’t stop trembling, he pulls out a tiny box from his pocket.
“I was supposed to give this to you after the war,” he says quietly, presses his palm to the snow under which he knows she’s resting, looking as breathtaking as she always has with her eyes closed.
“I wish I could’ve given it to you when I had the chance, but..”
“Don’t do this to me, love.”
Draco couldn’t think straight. He gathered her into his arms and cradled her the way he had done countless times before, except this time she wasn’t smiling up at him with a familiar sparkle in her warm eyes—no, she was limp and cold and her eyes were open but unseeing.
“No no you can't—you can’t do this to me—” Draco was gasping for breath that wasn’t there. Choking on his tears, he shook his head repeatedly, rocking back and forth on the ground, "Look at me, love, you promised you wouldn’t leave—"
In the middle of a destroyed hallway, with the battle of Hogwarts in full fledge all around him, a boy in bloodied robes and an entire ocean caught between his lashes knelt on the ground, cradling the only person who had ever mattered to him in his arms as she did exactly what he was begging her not to do—
“You can’t leave me like this, love. Don’t leave me like this, please please—”
—and died.
Left him. Just like that.
In the middle of the empty cemetery, a boy in a black suit kneels next to a tombstone, hands shaking as they gingerly set down a small, golden ring on the grave marker. Pulling out his wand, he whispers a spell and enchants the beautiful golden band to stay there for as long as the world exists.
Draco closes his eyes, inhales through his nose, exhales through his mouth.
He hadn’t been the same for a long time. The Newt they knew, he was gone long ago, and now Tina paces here at the side of his bed, the poisonous bite already seeping through his bloodstream and killing him slowly. St. Mungo’s had already said they could do nothing for him, that it was too far gone to be stopped now.
“Newt, I love you, you know that.”
He smiles, though it’s more of a grimace at this point. “I know.”
“And I don’t—I don’t see why they won’t do anything. There must be something they can do, something they can use, right? Some potion or spell or… or something?”
Newt shakes his head once, a slow movement that only furthers to drain the color from his face. “There’s nothing.”
“But you had a whole notebook. Something must be in it.”
Newt’s eyes shut. “There’s nothing, Tina. I was foolish. This is what I get.”
Her lower lip wobbles, just the slightest. She doesn’t, after all, have time to cry yet, not while he’s still alive in this hospital room for a few more seconds. “The war may have taken her, but you survived it, Newt. You don’t have to let yourself die.”
“It’s my time.”
“Newt,” she mumbles, grabbing his hand, “please don’t do this. She’d want you to live.”
Newt’s hand is cold and heavy in hers.
“Is it so bad if I join her again?”
She squeezes his fingers, nodding. “Yes. Yes, it’s very bad if you do. We need you here, Newt. Queenie and I need you. Jacob needs you. Pickett needs you.”
A shaky breath passes between Newt’s lips. “Tina, the guilt game won’t stop the creature’s poison.”
Summary: A picture is worth a thousand words, but is it worth the memories?
A short free write that was inspired because Spotify kept playing my sad songs.
Word Count: 880
The room’s dark, cool, untouched save for this moment as Newt gently sets aside two old Dickens books and a couple of folders of notes scrawled in a familiar handwriting. They’re to be shipped out in a few days, sent back to a shell of a house, and they mean little to him now. He has plenty of musty books, and that handwriting fills the margins of his journals; he doesn’t need to hang onto any more.
No, what he wants is under both, and he grunts as he removes it, brushing the dust from the top of it.
The heavy, white book is clumsy, a hassle to hold and fold under his arm, so he simply falls back and sets it on his lap.
The ticking of his watch fills the quiet room, its only accompaniment the noise of a beast outside roaring. Were anyone else in the room, they would question him, the way he stares at the book, one finger tracing its edges, eyes frozen on the blank cent, but Newt is alone as he always is now, so he fields no questions, just sits with his thoughts and that numbing ice building in his gut. He knows he should crush it, but is it really worth crushing the one thing keeping him from falling apart simply to say he’s moved on?
Hours or seconds may have passed—Newt isn’t sure, he hardly bothers to keep track anymore—before he slides a finger under the thick cover. He pauses for just a moment before he slowly pushes the cover up, letting it land with a soft thump against his thigh.
The sight freezes his breath in the middle of his throat, that ice scaling from his gut to the very core of his being, filling him out, stopping everything but the panicked beat of his heart.
You’re there, cheek on his shoulder, pointing to a paragraph in the book he’s holding, the top of your head pressed against his cheek, knees curled up against your chest, your free hand slid into his own, fingers intertwined. Then, just before the picture ends, you look up and grin, raising a hand to wave.
Oh Merlin, he can’t breathe.
You wave over and over and over, smiling up at him and Newt’s not sure how to do anything but watch. He should look away, should shut the book and hide it in the crate of letters and lost notes being shipped away, but this… this is all he has left that means anything.
So he just stares at the first photo in the album, letting his heart pound so loud he can no longer hear his own breath.
He stares, and he remembers.
He remembers.
He remembers and soon there are tears on his cheeks, spilling down without his notice.
He remembers and soon that ice in his gut is cracking and fracturing and splitting away.
He remembers and soon he can almost believe that you’re gone, that you’re lost to him and that he’ll never hold you in his arms again or let you run a hand through his hair or kiss you when you’re half asleep and earn a sleepy smile that he loves – no, loved.
Newt shuts his eyes, blocking out the picture.
Remembering – that’s the hardest part, isn’t it?
With a steady breath but eyes swimming with tears, he shuts the cover. One picture, that’s enough for today. One picture will get him through the week. It’s improvement from staring at the cover for hours, failing to work up the nerve to see you whole again.
The book thuds against the other files in the trunk, but Newt doesn’t worry for them, he just sets it where it belongs, runs a finger down the side a final time, and shuts the trunk’s lid.
He knows tomorrow night he’ll be back in here, staring at the cover again, that ice crawling into his throat and threatening to suffocate him, but he still locks the door as he steps out of the hut. The case’s creatures all roar and squeak and cluck around him, but he simply drags his feet to the bed, his hand falling into his pocket, wrapping around the watch, the last thing you gave him before he left for Africa.
He falls, fully clothed, onto the wrinkled sheet, staring at the ceiling, once painted with stars until Newt rushed back and painted over them, unable to spend another sleepless night staring at what you once adored.
Time, they all say, will help, but time did nothing but draw the two of you apart until it was too late.
Newt’s eyes flutter shut for the night, the thoughts venturing into territories too painful to consider, and he falls into a restless sleep filled with nightmares of monsters and enemies and his own slow train. On the nearby desk, Pickett stirs, back against a bundle of dried flowers, a bit of dirt still stuck to their stems.
Noticing Newt’s finally returned to bed, Pickett blinks and turns back against the plants, curling up, whimpering slightly for the tears on Newt’s face, but there’s nothing Pickett can do now except let Newt sleep, so the small creature closes its eyes and lets night sweep through the case.
A/N : Akutagawa’s sadness is saved for last. We all love a sad emo boy. Don’t we. Don’t we? This is all from Akutagawa’s point of view by the way. I hope you enjoy. I’m so sorry this took so long! There’s been a lot going on but it’s out now! Finally finished Angstember!
Time’s had been tough, time’s were always tough. Thinking that someone like him would be able to help you was probably stupid, but you fell for him, and by some miracle he had fallen for you as well. He was never warm, never cuddly, he never showed his love all that well, but he was there. For a time, that seemed like enough, just to have someone there with you, but then the darkness became overbearing. There was nothing more you could do, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Life was already hell, so who cares if you ended up there for what you were about to do… right?
The moon was rising, the bright silvery white orb lit up the clouds in the sky that moved in front. It was almost as bright as the sun tonight, he was sure that you were out on the balcony watching it the same way he was. You loved to watch the sunset and the moon rise, you had always taken it as a sign that he would be home soon. He never let you know, but he would count down the hours to sunset, knowing that soon he would be home with you.
Tonight, that wasn’t the case. He had to work over, and he thought of shooting you a message to let you know, but he didn’t want to bother you. He allowed you to have your personal time, something that he assumed you enjoyed since you never texted him when he was at work. He never knew that you didn’t message him because you felt like a bother, that you never called him because you felt annoying, like a pain in the ass. If he knew that, he would have told you that it’s okay, that he wanted to talk to you, that he wanted to know that you’re okay.
Akutagawa wasn’t one to share his feelings, especially not with you. It made him feel weak, it made him feel soft. He wouldn’t get Dazai’s acceptance if he was weak, if he expressed how he felt to you. Maybe he shouldn’t have put Dazai ahead of you, maybe he should have told you how much he loved you, how much he loved to hear your voice, how he’d smile whenever you, on a rare occasion, would send him a text.
Maybe it’s the fact that he wasn’t brave enough, the fact that he had been rejected, thrown away, and unloved his entire life that kept him from opening up to you. The one person in his life that he truly loved, other than his sister, the one person in his life who seemed to actually want him around, who appreciates his existence, who cared. He should have told you that he loved having you around, that your existence in itself was the greatest gift, the most wonderful miracle, and it was truly a mystery to him why someone like you would and could ever love him the way that he loved you.
You hadn’t talked much all day… now that he thinks about it, you hadn’t talked at all. The hours at work seemed to drag, and although he knew he shouldn’t be worried, he couldn’t help the feeling of dread that seemed to be forming a pit in his stomach. He tried to put it off, that he was just over reacting, he wasn’t used to staying over for work, he just wanted to be home with you already. He fought the urge to call you, knowing that you’d either be sleeping already, or in the middle of watching a movie or reading. He hated bothering you, at least that’s what he felt like he was doing whenever he messaged you randomly. So he pushed the feeling far back in his mind. He would feel better once he was with you.
“Alright Akutagawa, you can head home now.” Mori stood in the doorway, watching as he filed away papers into the folders. He nodded to his boss, pushing away from the desk, handing the folders to Mori as he walked past him. As he walked down the long hallway leading to the elevator he pulled out his phone. Still no texts or calls from you, it felt weird. He was used to not having much contact with you while he was working, but something about the lack of notifications tonight made him nervous.
He made up his mind. He would call you, just to hear your voice. Just to make sure that you were okay. His fingers were steady as he dialed your number, but his heart was erratic as the ringing filled his ears. He stood in the elevator, his back against the wall as he waited for you to answer the phone, but you never did. “Dammit, Y/N…” he muttered, sliding his phone back into his pocket.
The walk home felt eerie, something that put his off. The dreadful feeling in his stomach was building, bubbling over, as if something had been left on the stove to boil. He was used to you not answering your phone, used to you not texting him, used to you being distant, so why did this bother him now?
Moonlight guided his path home, but even with the silvery light of the moon, it felt too dark. It was ominous, and the brisk autumn chill that seemed to move through his skin sent shivers through his entire body. Everything about tonight just seemed off, like something was telling him that there was something wrong. He had felt it in the office, he had felt it in the elevator, he feels it now, he just couldn’t quite place just what could be wrong.
As he made his way up the pathway to the shared home he and you had, he noticed that only the bathroom light was on. It was strange, you never kept the lights on when you went to bed, you would keep the nightlight on if you needed it, but never the actual light of a room. He tried to put it off that maybe you had just forgotten to turn it off before you laid down, maybe you were just exhausted and passed out before you realized that the light was still on.
He shook his head as he walked into the house. The door was unlocked already. That alone had his heart racing again. “Y/N?!” He called out your name, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as he made his way through the home. You never left the door unlocked, you knew he had a key, you knew to have it locked the entire time you were there alone. He had told you it was to protect secret Port Mafia information, but in actuality, he just wanted to make sure you were safe. If anyone did try to break in, the locked door would have given you time to hide somewhere and call him. So, why had the door been unlocked?
“Y/N!?” He called out your name again as he pushed open doors in the hallway. He got to the bedroom and noticed that the bed was still neatly made, the light shining in from the bathroom illuminated the empty room. Did you leave? His stomach felt like it was rising in his chest as he thought of you actually leaving. His mind full of questions as he stood in the middle of the room, looking around to see if anything of yours was missing.
Your clothes were still draped over the end of the bed, his eyes finally focused in on the fabric. It was the way you placed your clothes when you were about to get out of the shower. His eyes moved to the bathroom door, still cracked open. He saw the silhouette of your body laying in the bathtub, still, almost as if you were sleeping.
He rolled his eyes, chuckling quietly to himself as he made his way into the bathroom. “It’s dangerous to fall asleep in the bath, darling.” He murmured as he walked closer to the tub. That’s when he really saw it. The water dyed red, your body pale, but your eyes were closed as if you were in the deepest, most peaceful slumber. His stomach that had once felt like it was rising in his chest had now dropped, it dropped with such force that it brought him to his knees.
“No. Darling, please. Wake up.” He pulled your hands out from under the crimson blood water mix, revealing the multitudes of cuts lining your wrists, all the way up to your forearm. “Why? What did I do? What didn’t I do?”
He couldn’t understand why. He had wanted to end it all, to leave this world many times, but he never did anything, he never acted on those feelings. He had fought to get where he is right now, he had fought for everything, even you. So why didn’t you fight? Was he not good enough to fight for, to stay alive for?
“Why would you leave me?” He shimmied out of his coat, letting it fall to the floor as he stuck both his arms into the water, trying to get a grip on you so he could pull you out of the tub. He pulled you up, holding you against his chest as he fell back on the floor, leaning against the wall.
You were wearing one of his shirts, it was soaked and clinging against your lifeless body. “Is it a sign… that it’s my fault? Was I not here enough? Why didn’t you talk to me?” He couldn’t wrap his mind around why you would have done it. He was doing his best to show you that he loved you, that he cared about you, was it not enough for you?
He knew that he was cold, he knew that he seemed emotionless, and he knew that he needed to work on that. Just because he didn’t say it or show it doesn’t mean that he loved you any less though. He loved you so much, he just didn’t know how to show it, he was scared to show it. He didn’t want to seem weak, and now he lost the one person who gave him strength, the one person who made him feel like he was worth something.
Your body was cold, his shirt was soaked from holding you against him. He shivered as a breeze moved through the room, pushing a piece of paper off the counter, a sheet that he hadn’t noticed when he walked in. It was a note… your note. “Was that you? I’m sorry… I couldn’t save you, I couldn’t make you better. I…. love you….” he felt like he was choking. He couldn’t cry, it would be weak to cry. Did it matter anymore whether Dazai thought he was weak or not? It didn’t seem like it, nothing seemed to matter anymore. Not when you were dead in his arms, the only person he’d ever allowed himself to love, and you had left him.
He carried you into the bedroom, carefully laying you on your side of the bed. It would be the last time you laid there, the last time that side of the bed would be filled. He would never find anyone else like you, no one would ever take your place, in the bed, in his mind, or in his heart. He stood next to the bed, looking down at you, the note paper felt like a red hot iron in his hand. He was scared to read it. He was scared to face the blame that he believed would be put on him, written in your hand between the lines.
Sitting on the edge of the bed he finally began unfolding the paper slowly. His breath was shaky, his nose sniffling as the tears began to stream down his cheeks. Swallowing felt almost impossible as the lump lodged in his throat. Your handwriting which was usually neat and beautiful seemed shaky, smudged, like you had been crying when you wrote it, and now he was crying while reading it.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry. I’m too weak. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t deal with it anymore, I couldn’t… I didn’t want to do it… but I felt… I’m not strong enough to keep going. I’m sorry. It’s not you. It’s never been your fault… You’ve done your best and I Love you so much… I’ll see you when you get here one day, until then, I’ll be waiting…”
A/N : Akutagawa’s sadness is saved for last. We all love a sad emo boy. Don’t we. Don’t we? This is all from Akutagawa’s point of view by the way. I hope you enjoy. I’m so sorry this took so long! There’s been a lot going on but it’s out now! Finally finished Angstember!
Time’s had been tough, time’s were always tough. Thinking that someone like him would be able to help you was probably stupid, but you fell for him, and by some miracle he had fallen for you as well. He was never warm, never cuddly, he never showed his love all that well, but he was there. For a time, that seemed like enough, just to have someone there with you, but then the darkness became overbearing. There was nothing more you could do, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Life was already hell, so who cares if you ended up there for what you were about to do… right?
The moon was rising, the bright silvery white orb lit up the clouds in the sky that moved in front. It was almost as bright as the sun tonight, he was sure that you were out on the balcony watching it the same way he was. You loved to watch the sunset and the moon rise, you had always taken it as a sign that he would be home soon. He never let you know, but he would count down the hours to sunset, knowing that soon he would be home with you.
Tonight, that wasn’t the case. He had to work over, and he thought of shooting you a message to let you know, but he didn’t want to bother you. He allowed you to have your personal time, something that he assumed you enjoyed since you never texted him when he was at work. He never knew that you didn’t message him because you felt like a bother, that you never called him because you felt annoying, like a pain in the ass. If he knew that, he would have told you that it’s okay, that he wanted to talk to you, that he wanted to know that you’re okay.
Akutagawa wasn’t one to share his feelings, especially not with you. It made him feel weak, it made him feel soft. He wouldn’t get Dazai’s acceptance if he was weak, if he expressed how he felt to you. Maybe he shouldn’t have put Dazai ahead of you, maybe he should have told you how much he loved you, how much he loved to hear your voice, how he’d smile whenever you, on a rare occasion, would send him a text.
Maybe it’s the fact that he wasn’t brave enough, the fact that he had been rejected, thrown away, and unloved his entire life that kept him from opening up to you. The one person in his life that he truly loved, other than his sister, the one person in his life who seemed to actually want him around, who appreciates his existence, who cared. He should have told you that he loved having you around, that your existence in itself was the greatest gift, the most wonderful miracle, and it was truly a mystery to him why someone like you would and could ever love him the way that he loved you.
You hadn’t talked much all day… now that he thinks about it, you hadn’t talked at all. The hours at work seemed to drag, and although he knew he shouldn’t be worried, he couldn’t help the feeling of dread that seemed to be forming a pit in his stomach. He tried to put it off, that he was just over reacting, he wasn’t used to staying over for work, he just wanted to be home with you already. He fought the urge to call you, knowing that you’d either be sleeping already, or in the middle of watching a movie or reading. He hated bothering you, at least that’s what he felt like he was doing whenever he messaged you randomly. So he pushed the feeling far back in his mind. He would feel better once he was with you.
“Alright Akutagawa, you can head home now.” Mori stood in the doorway, watching as he filed away papers into the folders. He nodded to his boss, pushing away from the desk, handing the folders to Mori as he walked past him. As he walked down the long hallway leading to the elevator he pulled out his phone. Still no texts or calls from you, it felt weird. He was used to not having much contact with you while he was working, but something about the lack of notifications tonight made him nervous.
He made up his mind. He would call you, just to hear your voice. Just to make sure that you were okay. His fingers were steady as he dialed your number, but his heart was erratic as the ringing filled his ears. He stood in the elevator, his back against the wall as he waited for you to answer the phone, but you never did. “Dammit, Y/N…” he muttered, sliding his phone back into his pocket.
The walk home felt eerie, something that put his off. The dreadful feeling in his stomach was building, bubbling over, as if something had been left on the stove to boil. He was used to you not answering your phone, used to you not texting him, used to you being distant, so why did this bother him now?
Moonlight guided his path home, but even with the silvery light of the moon, it felt too dark. It was ominous, and the brisk autumn chill that seemed to move through his skin sent shivers through his entire body. Everything about tonight just seemed off, like something was telling him that there was something wrong. He had felt it in the office, he had felt it in the elevator, he feels it now, he just couldn’t quite place just what could be wrong.
As he made his way up the pathway to the shared home he and you had, he noticed that only the bathroom light was on. It was strange, you never kept the lights on when you went to bed, you would keep the nightlight on if you needed it, but never the actual light of a room. He tried to put it off that maybe you had just forgotten to turn it off before you laid down, maybe you were just exhausted and passed out before you realized that the light was still on.
He shook his head as he walked into the house. The door was unlocked already. That alone had his heart racing again. “Y/N?!” He called out your name, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as he made his way through the home. You never left the door unlocked, you knew he had a key, you knew to have it locked the entire time you were there alone. He had told you it was to protect secret Port Mafia information, but in actuality, he just wanted to make sure you were safe. If anyone did try to break in, the locked door would have given you time to hide somewhere and call him. So, why had the door been unlocked?
“Y/N!?” He called out your name again as he pushed open doors in the hallway. He got to the bedroom and noticed that the bed was still neatly made, the light shining in from the bathroom illuminated the empty room. Did you leave? His stomach felt like it was rising in his chest as he thought of you actually leaving. His mind full of questions as he stood in the middle of the room, looking around to see if anything of yours was missing.
Your clothes were still draped over the end of the bed, his eyes finally focused in on the fabric. It was the way you placed your clothes when you were about to get out of the shower. His eyes moved to the bathroom door, still cracked open. He saw the silhouette of your body laying in the bathtub, still, almost as if you were sleeping.
He rolled his eyes, chuckling quietly to himself as he made his way into the bathroom. “It’s dangerous to fall asleep in the bath, darling.” He murmured as he walked closer to the tub. That’s when he really saw it. The water dyed red, your body pale, but your eyes were closed as if you were in the deepest, most peaceful slumber. His stomach that had once felt like it was rising in his chest had now dropped, it dropped with such force that it brought him to his knees.
“No. Darling, please. Wake up.” He pulled your hands out from under the crimson blood water mix, revealing the multitudes of cuts lining your wrists, all the way up to your forearm. “Why? What did I do? What didn’t I do?”
He couldn’t understand why. He had wanted to end it all, to leave this world many times, but he never did anything, he never acted on those feelings. He had fought to get where he is right now, he had fought for everything, even you. So why didn’t you fight? Was he not good enough to fight for, to stay alive for?
“Why would you leave me?” He shimmied out of his coat, letting it fall to the floor as he stuck both his arms into the water, trying to get a grip on you so he could pull you out of the tub. He pulled you up, holding you against his chest as he fell back on the floor, leaning against the wall.
You were wearing one of his shirts, it was soaked and clinging against your lifeless body. “Is it a sign… that it’s my fault? Was I not here enough? Why didn’t you talk to me?” He couldn’t wrap his mind around why you would have done it. He was doing his best to show you that he loved you, that he cared about you, was it not enough for you?
He knew that he was cold, he knew that he seemed emotionless, and he knew that he needed to work on that. Just because he didn’t say it or show it doesn’t mean that he loved you any less though. He loved you so much, he just didn’t know how to show it, he was scared to show it. He didn’t want to seem weak, and now he lost the one person who gave him strength, the one person who made him feel like he was worth something.
Your body was cold, his shirt was soaked from holding you against him. He shivered as a breeze moved through the room, pushing a piece of paper off the counter, a sheet that he hadn’t noticed when he walked in. It was a note… your note. “Was that you? I’m sorry… I couldn’t save you, I couldn’t make you better. I…. love you….” he felt like he was choking. He couldn’t cry, it would be weak to cry. Did it matter anymore whether Dazai thought he was weak or not? It didn’t seem like it, nothing seemed to matter anymore. Not when you were dead in his arms, the only person he’d ever allowed himself to love, and you had left him.
He carried you into the bedroom, carefully laying you on your side of the bed. It would be the last time you laid there, the last time that side of the bed would be filled. He would never find anyone else like you, no one would ever take your place, in the bed, in his mind, or in his heart. He stood next to the bed, looking down at you, the note paper felt like a red hot iron in his hand. He was scared to read it. He was scared to face the blame that he believed would be put on him, written in your hand between the lines.
Sitting on the edge of the bed he finally began unfolding the paper slowly. His breath was shaky, his nose sniffling as the tears began to stream down his cheeks. Swallowing felt almost impossible as the lump lodged in his throat. Your handwriting which was usually neat and beautiful seemed shaky, smudged, like you had been crying when you wrote it, and now he was crying while reading it.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry. I’m too weak. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t deal with it anymore, I couldn’t… I didn’t want to do it… but I felt… I’m not strong enough to keep going. I’m sorry. It’s not you. It’s never been your fault… You’ve done your best and I Love you so much… I’ll see you when you get here one day, until then, I’ll be waiting…”
euphoria / claude de alger obelia ( who made me a princess )
( & lover’s language flow, in and out the soul )
[ COMMISSION ]
a/n: lyrics from elephante - catching on
i.
to be in love is to fall in reverie, to drown deeply in it, and to feel it bloom in your heart with each and every beat. to be in love is to ride the waves– to feel the adrenaline rushing through your veins and to feel the slow, comfortable sway of the water.
it is everything he does not imagine it to be. to feel loved is entirely too strange to him– frightening, but reassuring.
he loves it. he loves you, even if he hardly speaks the words. he is not one for dramatic declarations of affection; instead, he finds expression through the little things, whether it is the warmth of his hand when you walk side by side during strolls in the garden or the gentle kisses against your temple when you wake together in the mornings.