Their faces were so close, too close, that he believed he could count her freckles that dotted along her nose and cheeks. He admired how her eyes sparkled, like the stars had been captured and delicately placed within them. It would be so easy, so natural to lean in a bit further, to feel her lips brush against his just to see how she would taste.
He didn't miss the way her eyes flicked down to his own lips, and his breath caught in his throat at the sight of it. It was tempting to just give in and accept it, consequences be damned.
The silence stretched on for what seemed like an eternity, and he could feel her breath ghost along his face. Just a bit more —
Secrets of the Silent Stars AO3/Wattpad
I'm a puddle. Thank you so much to llumos_99 (Twitter/Bluesky) for creating this beautiful piece to accompany one of my favorite scenes from my fic!
Sebastian had always been told that he loved too much, but he had never expected to be loved as much in return OR A fluffy oneshot of how Sebastian and Elsie spent Valentine's Day together.
Word Count: 1.5k
Tags: SFW, Fluff, established relationship, Sebastian is spiraling but that's nothing new
Sebastian had always been told he loved too much.
When he was three, he grew attached to a wild mooncalf that was frequently spotted near their family home. The impulsive little toddler that he was, he had approached it too quickly in his excitement and spooked it. The mooncalf never returned after that, and he cried and cried, even as his parents tried to reassure him that wild animals are meant to roam free. Anne made fun of him, but Sebastian loved that mooncalf.
When he was five, he hit Anne when she teased him for making her a card out of noodles and parchment. He had tried to show his sister how much he loved her, and it broke his little heart that she had resorted to taunting, tossing his present to the floor, and stomping on it. He felt bad that he made her cry, especially when he saw how much it disappointed his parents and how much it hurt her. He never hit her again.
When he was seven, he didn’t cry when his parents died, not because he didn’t love them, but because he needed to be strong for Anne when they were being uprooted from their family home and moved to their Uncle Solomon’s cottage in Feldcroft. He would do anything for Anne, even if it meant hiding his tears until he was alone, in the quiet and the dark, with nobody around to hear. Solomon would punish him for it, but he couldn’t stop him from loving.
And when she was cursed years later, love was what led him to search the darkest corners of the earth for something, anything that would stop the universe from taking away the person he had sacrificed everything for.
Still, it hadn’t been enough. And his twin had abandoned him anyway, a consequence of his Unforgivable choices.
Just like that mooncalf.
Somewhere in the midst of it all, during his fifth year, a small glimmer of hope entered his life in the form of a Ravenclaw girl with a soft heart and kind eyes. And as time went on, that glimmer almost too suddenly burst into a roaring flame that he had been more than happy to burn from.
Yet she had given him the worst possible answer to his question.
“I’m not a fan of big gestures,” Elsie said as she took a bite of her breakfast. “I’d rather do something simple.”
He had asked her what she wanted to do for Valentine’s Day.
“A trip to Hogsmeade?” He offered. “Or we could fly out to the coast. Or,” Sebastian grinned wryly, “there’s a rather interesting tomb nearby. We could —“
“Sebastian.” She took his hand in both of hers and smiled softly. “I’m content as long as I get to spend it with you. Besides, Valentine’s Day wasn’t a widely celebrated holiday in my family. It was considered vulgar.” She paused. “Hang on — did you say tomb?!”
“Merlin, if I had known that was what would get you going —“
“No!” Sebastian laughed at the blush on her face. “I only meant that I hope you were joking.”
Sebastian shrugged, still smiling mischievously. If taking her to a tomb for an adventure was what she wanted, he would have taken her to five hundred tombs.
It was clear that wasn’t how Elsie wanted to spend Valentine’s Day by the look she was giving him.
“How do Muggles back at your home celebrate anyway?” he asked.
She scoffed and rolled a potato on her plate with her fork. “They send extravagant love letters with decoupage.”
He blinked. “What?”
“Old bits of postcards and paper glued together?” She chomped down on the potato slice. “It sounds innocent until someone sends cuttings of their undergarments. Or worse, if one receives a Vinegar Valentine.”
Before Sebastian could even wonder what that was, she said, “A hate letter.”
He hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I can assure you that I won’t be sending you a hate letter or my undergarments.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Unless—“
“No.” She sighed, and he tried to hold back another laugh. “Simple Valentine’s Day, please. If we have to celebrate, that’s all I ask.”
That had been days ago, and he still hadn’t understood what she had meant by ‘simple.’ The boy who loved too much didn’t know anything besides large, over-dramatic gestures of affection. It wasn’t possible for him to give anything less than…everything.
Sebastian, it’s too much.
You’ve gone too far.
You need to stop.
Hours upon hours of circling, pacing Elsie’s Room of Requirement, meditating on the words spoken to him so many times before in his life by the people he cared about. He had finally settled on setting up a picnic in her favorite Vivarium, the permanent autumn leaves the perfect backdrop for a romantic evening with no one else but the two of them.
Would she hate him for it? Criticize his extravagance? He had spent a pretty galleon on the bouquet of roses. And she didn’t even particularly care for plants. Maybe, like Anne all those years ago, she would laugh in his face and toss his present at his feet, insisting that it was all too much and refuse to speak to him again, too embarrassed by how much he loved her.
He loved her.
If only love didn’t make him hurt so much.
He wondered if she felt the same way when she told him she loved him. If she experienced that same aching pain as he did in the depths of his heart, suffocatingly strong that it kept him up at night, struggling to breathe when he was away from her. He had always felt too strongly, but this…
The noises in his head grew to an agonizing clamor, the roaring that he could never seem to silence when he was alone, voices that would remind him that he was a murderer, that he was unlovable, irredeemable —
“Sebastian?”
And then, it all went quiet.
Elsie stalked up the hill in her Vivarium toward him. “I saw you from the entrance. You left me this note— “ She gasped. “What…what’s all this?”
Sebastian shifted from side to side, suddenly forgetting what he was supposed to be doing with his hands. He gestured to the picnic spread behind him. “I…w-well, you said you wanted simple.”
“Did…” She blinked at him, still not moving from her spot. “Did you do all of this?”
She hates it.
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut, pushing back the headache that was starting to bloom between them. “I’m sorry, Elsie. I don’t know how to do simple. I know it’s too much, but I don’t know how to show you I care any other way, and I go too far every time, and I—“
“Stop.” He hadn’t realized she was standing right in front of him until she pulled his hands away from his face and cupped his cheek. “It’s perfect.”
“You —“ He gaped. “You like it?”
She giggled and stroked his hair, and he melted at her touch. “I love it. This is exactly what I wanted.”
“It’s not…too much?”
I’m not too much?
Elsie shook her head, still smiling from ear to ear. “I think the word ‘simple’ was probably a bad choice on my part. Honestly, you could have arranged a coordinated dance performed by Hippogriffs and I would have still appreciated it. It was never about the gesture, really.”
Sebastian smirked. “I could— “
“Maybe not that,” she interrupted before he could get any ideas, “I…I was being selfish. I only meant to ask to have you all to myself today. No Hogsmeade or adventure or big presents and parties, just…you.”
“Well if that’s all you wanted,” he beamed as he watched the blush creep up her cheeks, “you should have just said that.”
Just me. She just wants me.
She laughed, the sound bright and musical, and he wished he could turn back time just long enough to hear it on repeat forever. He pressed a light kiss to her forehead and savored every ounce of happiness radiating from her.
Sebastian used to believe that love was passion, raging, all-consuming. It was a wildfire that devoured everything in its path, taking all that he had to give and begging for more — hot, intense, greedy. But standing here, wrapped in Elsie’s embrace, he realized that he was wrong.
Passionate and intense, yes, but something softer — not fire, burning and taking and destroying, but light, golden and warm, bathing him in its glow and welcoming him home. Sebastian had always been told that he loved too much, but he had never expected to be loved as much in return.
Calm washed over him as he kissed her, his mind finally quieting from the earlier darkness that had been circling his thoughts. And when their lips parted, he refused to stray too far, holding her close to him as he rested his forehead against hers.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Elsie.”
She wrapped her arms around him, her eyes fluttering closed, her face still radiating the joy that he wanted to spend all of eternity enveloped by.
The spicy version of my oneshot 'Crossed Wands.' Some parts are the same, most of it is changed to make it NSFW. Written for the OHL discord server NSFW event: The Truman Show.
[AO3/Wattpad]
ALL CHARACTERS ARE 18+, NSFW, MINORS DNI
Tags: Exhibitionism (sort of), public sex, unprotected p in v sex, disregard for period-accurate undergarments because I just don't care, Sebastian made me break my rule which is unsurprising, Sebastian no longer has blue balls (if you read my oneshot 'Nut Cracked', you know), Silencing charm? What's that?
2.6k words
“You’re doing it wrong.”
Sebastian grinned as Elsie let out a huff and cast the spell at the dummy again, earning her another disappointed tut.
“You’re still doing it wrong.”
She threw her arms up in exasperation. “Just because you repeat yourself doesn’t mean I can figure out what it is I’m doing wrong!”
Sebastian laughed as the Ravenclaw girl scrunched up her face — one of his favorite expressions she wore. Somehow, she managed to make frustration look incredibly adorable. “Your casting looks like you memorized your form from a textbook.”
“Maybe,” she clicked her tongue at him, “that’s because I did memorize my form from a textbook.”
That didn’t come as a surprise to him. Elsie was constantly working on improving her skill set, whether by absorbing information from a book or studying someone else's techniques. It was as if once she had been given the task of "catching up to the other students her year", she didn't quite know how to stop.
"Your wand is an extension of you," he said, demonstrating a more fluid movement, then gently grabbing her arms and guiding her the same way. She had rolled up her sleeves after complaining that she was too hot from all the practicing she had been doing, and the sight of the loosened buttons on her collar along with the feel of the bare skin of her arms were a bit distracting to him. He forced himself to stay focused on the mechanics of spell-casting instead. "Think of it as a dance — one move drifts into the next."
"Are you insinuating you're a good dancer?" Her face was still scrunched, but he saw her eyes flicker tauntingly, and he was tempted to say fuck it and whisk her away to a hidden corridor.
Instead, he smirked at her, and he didn't miss the gooseflesh that prickled on her arm as he brushed his fingertips along it before he reluctantly pulled away. If only she wasn't so adamant about practicing.
"I can't go around telling you all my secrets, now, can I?" he teased. She responded with an amused snort.
"Alright," she sighed, raising her wand at the dummy again. "Once more."
It was the hundredth time she had said it, but Sebastian knew better than to insist that she take a break. She was stubborn, he had learned early on, and she wouldn't quit until she was confident she'd gotten it right. He took a step back to give her the appropriate amount of space to cast her spell.
He watched from the unfortunately respectable distance as Elsie took in a deep breath and pursed her luscious, pink lips in concentration, and all he could think about was that there were a million other things he'd rather she be doing with them instead. Had she not been so persistent in asking him to teach her his dueling techniques, he would have suggested a better way they could make use of their spare time.
His lascivious thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her spell striking the dummy dead center, knocking it backward and slamming it against the far wall. Her face lit up in a wide grin.
"I did it!" Elsie bounced on her toes excitedly and spun in place as she congratulated herself on a job well done. Sebastian thought he may have heard her rambling about how she told him so and something else about practice making perfect, but he couldn't pick out most of what she was saying as his mind wandered once again.
She hardly ever showed excitement like this — completely unrestrained elation that she only ever allowed a select few to see. He should be so honored to be at the top of that list, witnessing a side of her that she kept hidden away for rare moments such as these. The sight of her unbridled joy simultaneously sent a surge of affection and a rush of arousal through him.
So, he did the only thing that seemed logical and grabbed her arm mid-twirl, pulling her body flush against his and cutting off her chatter as he hungrily pressed his lips to hers.
He didn't fully realize or care about what he was doing or who could be watching as he ran his hands along her sides before wrapping his arms fully around her waist, desperate to feel every soft curve of hers against him. One hand found the hem of her blouse, the other threaded in her hair as he groaned against her mouth. He nipped at her lower lip, which elicited a soft whimper from her; or perhaps a half-hearted protest — he wasn't certain. It only served to fuel him further as he tugged the material free from her skirt and lightly skimmed the warm, silky flesh beneath it.
“I want you.”
“Sebastian,” she managed, her voice breathy and pleading — a stark contrast to the bubbly attitude she had exhibited only moments ago, “not here…”
Without breaking away from her, he guided both of them to the nearby storage room, his heart pounding with the thrill of potentially getting caught and wanting to take her immediately. Pressing his back against the door, he turned the handle and pulled her inside the small space, his lips never straying too far from hers before closing it behind them again.
The room held a small array of what could be considered junk—covered statues and other centuries-old nonsense that no one could be bothered with — but it wasn’t completely isolated. Two small, slitted windows along one wall opened up to the Clock Tower courtyard. If anyone was to pass by, they would easily see and hear everything.
It wasn’t relevant information to him. All he knew was that Elsie was wrapped around him, and he needed to have her now.
“Sebastian!” she whisper-scolded him as he greedily nibbled his way down her neck. “This isn’t — what if someone— ”
“Guess you’ll have to be quiet, then,” he murmured. He traced his tongue along the column of her throat, grinning as he earned a submissive whimper from her. Too easy. She may act proper and modest in public, but he knew exactly how to make her melt for him.
He proceeded to pick up where he had left off, slipping a hand underneath her blouse and pulling her flush against him. He ground his hips against her, letting her know exactly how needy he felt — how much her enthusiasm and deft spell-work had truly affected him.
Fumbling with the buttons on her blouse, he gave a soft chuckle when she let out a gasp at the feel of him. “You’re already so — bloody hell, does dueling practice always make you so— ” A soft moan slipped past her lips as he kissed along the curve of her breast, tugging her blouse lower and pausing to swirl his tongue around her one exposed nipple.
“Only for you,” he smirked and resumed his ministrations as he hiked her skirt up past her thigh, high enough that he could slip his hand underneath. He didn’t bother with teasing — clandestine meetings like this were meant to be fast, hot, and heavy, and Sebastian knew there would be plenty of time to take her slowly later if he wanted to. And oh, would he want to. He pushed her undergarments to the side and ran his fingers along her slit, groaning satisfactorily against her breast when he was easily able to slip a digit inside.
Elsie sighed and threw her head back, grinding herself against his hand as he worked away at her. His thumb circled her clit, and he lifted his head to watch her face — flushed and wanton, lips slightly parted, desperate for him. He curled his fingers inside of her and grinned as she responded by bucking her hips roughly and digging her nails into his biceps.
“That’s it, my lovely girl,” he said softly, leaning forward to brush kisses along her neck and jaw. She reached up to thread her fingers in his hair, tugging gently as she held on tightly while the rest of her body turned to jelly under his touch. “So beautiful.”
He used his other hand to free himself from his trousers and stroked his already thick and throbbing erection — if they were going to make this quick, he wasn’t going to let her cum until it was around his cock. He let out a small laugh as she whined when his fingers ceased their pumping, though he hardly allowed a second to pass before he settled himself between her legs.
“What is it you want?” He asked quietly, not that he was particularly concerned if anyone should hear them. “You want me to fuck you thoroughly, right here?”
“Yes,” she groaned raggedly, “please.”
He grazed his teeth along her earlobe. “Still afraid someone will hear?”
“I don’t care.” She arched against him, pushing the head of his cock into her slick heat. “I — please. I need you. I need you to — to— ”
“To…?” He lazily traced circles along her pulse point with his tongue, teasing himself equally as much as he was teasing her. His self-control was limited when it came to Elsie, but if it meant spending an extra moment to get her to say what he really wanted to hear, he would make himself wait.
“Fuck me.”
Thankfully, she didn’t make him wait long.
At her request, he buried himself to the hilt inside of her, biting back his own whimpers as he did. Elsie was pressed against the covered statue, her hands raised behind her head, both to support herself and to take him deeper. His eyes grazed over her exposed breasts, memorizing each marking and freckle on her before meeting her desperate gaze.
“Fuck— ” he gasped, “never gets — fuck — never get — tired of that— ”
He hooked a hand around her thigh and brought her leg up and around him, angling himself to hit just the right spot as he moved roughly against her, too frenzied already to slow down. He pulled back only slightly to look at her, her eyes heavy-lidded as she bit her lip, trying to hold back even as her moans and sighs slipped out. Fuck, how he loved hearing the little noises she made.
He rolled his hips against hers, and her hands flew up to cover her mouth as she cried out behind them. Sebastian grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head.
“No,” he growled. “I want — need to hear you— ”
“But— ”
His lips crashed against hers messily, silencing any argument she might have had, and he moved steadily against her in long, languid thrusts. He tucked his head in the crook of her neck, breathing her in, one hand still holding her wrists, the other slipping between them right to her core.
“I — don’t — care,” he said, snapping his hips to the rhythm of each word for emphasis. “Let them hear — let them — fuck — let everyone know how — how I— ” He let out another long groan against her shoulder. “— make you come undone.”
It started to become too much for him, his words eliciting as much of a response from himself as it did from Elsie. She reacted emphatically by letting out a cry that echoed in the small chamber they were hidden away in. Sebastian felt a surge of pride that, had anyone been nearby, they would have known that he was the one who was bringing those sounds from her — the only one who could. No one else.
“There’s a — good girl,” he murmured his praises as his fingers circled her center in tandem with his quickening movements, and he nearly laughed with joy as he felt her tighten around him. As desperate as he was to chase his completion, the thrill it gave him to watch her reach her peak was more addicting than that of any spell book in the Restricted Section.
This was tangible and real and perfect. Because she was his, and she wanted him, too.
“Sebastian!” She squealed, and his heart swelled in his chest at the sound of his name on her lips.
“There you go, sweetheart,” he moaned, his words turning breathy as he, too, began to near his climax. “Don’t — don’t hold back— ”
At his command, Elsie arched into him one last time and gave herself completely to the moment of pure ecstasy. Skin slapped against skin, his rhythm turned jagged, and he found himself unable to hold back any longer, groaning as his release tumbled quickly after hers. Their bodies trembled from the aftershocks, her leg still wrapped around his waist, their breaths mingling as they panted against one another.
After a moment, Sebastian tilted his head slightly, pushing the hair away from her sweat-slicked forehead. He smiled down at her, his legs feeling weak as they basked in the afterglow of their union. “Perfect, as always.”
Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him, bliss-faced and grinning. “As perfect as my dueling?”
“Hm…” He hummed as he traced the freckles along her pinkened cheeks with the tip of his nose. “Dunno. Perhaps more practice is in order.”
“Oh, really?” Her grin widened. “I suppose we’ll have to— ”
To their utter misfortune, the door to the storage room burst open. Poor Charlotte Morrison, looking for an extra practice dummy for Crossed Wands, quickly averted her gaze from the still intertwined couple tucked in the corner.
“MERLIN’S HAIRY PLONKER!”
Elsie and Sebastian jolted apart from each other, turning away from the quickly gathering curious stares at Charlotte’s exclamation. Sebastian fumbled with his trousers while Elsie yanked her skirt down and quickly did up the buttons on her shirt.
“What in bloody blazes is going on?” They heard Lucan Brattleby shout from outside the room. “Are those two snogging in there again?!”
“Not just snogging,” Charlotte muttered, pointedly avoiding looking at either of them, “Shagging is more like it.”
Sebastian couldn’t help the smarmy grin that grew on his face at the chorus of grumbled irritation. He wrapped his arm around a still-disheveled, red-faced Elsie and led her out of the room.
“No need to be jealous,” he snarked. “After all, when two people care about each other very much — oof!”
He was cut off by his girlfriend’s aggressive elbow to his ribcage.
“Need I remind you,” Lucan gritted his teeth, “that the Clock Tower is meant for dueling practice. Not — whatever it is you two were doing!”
Sebastian only offered a light smirk at the scandalized glances of the other Crossed Wands members.
"R-right, sorry, Lucan," Elsie muttered, flustered. Sebastian couldn't stop feeling a sense of pride at her disheveled appearance, her usual elegant plait in disarray, her lips swollen, bruises along her neck, and her blouse crumpled and crooked, knowing that he had been the cause of it. "Sebastian was just— "
Lucan held up a hand, cutting her off, his face going red as he tried to ignore whatever it was that he and the group had walked in on. "I have the next match set up, so if you two are quite finished here, I'd like to get started."
"Actually," Sebastian pushed his curled locks from his face as he glanced at Elsie, "we're going to continue our...practice session elsewhere. But thanks for the offer."
He took her hand and ran out of the Clock Tower, his roguish laughter echoing in the corridors at her mortified expression and the cacophony of gagging and groaned complaints far behind them. He expected an earful from her once they were alone, but he wasn't concerned — he knew how to tame her.
It's snowing in Feldcroft. Sebastian thinks it's romantic. His girlfriend believes otherwise. He believes it's his job to change her mind. OR: Sebastian and Elsie's first Christmas as a couple. OR: Sebastian Sallow doesn't know how to control himself (again).
This ended very differently than I had originally planned.
Tags: Fluff, so much fluff, sickening fluff, sexual references (Sebastian has naughty thoughts) but SFW, a teeny tiny hint of angst. Sebastian POV, Sebastian x F!MC (Elsie Corvin), aged-up characters. Some canon of 'Secrets of the Silent Stars' universe mentioned (but not canon to the story) but no prior reading necessary.
Word Count: 3.2k
AO3/Wattpad
Winters in the Highlands were nothing short of brutal – on the coldest days, the frost-bitten wind cut through every layer of warm, woolen clothing and chilled the body right to the bone, while the warmer days brought gloomy clouds and slushy rain that even the boldest explorers didn’t want to be caught outside in.
During this particular holiday, however, Sebastian was thankful to be blessed with the most beautiful snowfall, the white tufts softly blanketing the ground around him as he stood in the middle of the hamlet – uncommon so early in the winter season. The gentle flurries were certainly not something he had seen often growing up, as the winter weather he remembered fluctuated between raging blizzards and deadly frosts. He reached down to rub the powder between his fingers and smiled to himself — perfect.
It was a special Christmas for him, considering it was the first time he and his Ravenclaw girlfriend were spending it together alone, and the snow only added to the romantic ambiance he had so badly desired to create in the little hamlet of Feldcroft. It was difficult for both of them to be back, but Sebastian had resolved to do his best to make their time there worthwhile.
Elsie, unfortunately, detested the cold and was determined to spend the day curled up on the couch by the fire with her book.
One night away from the castle, they had agreed, just to get out of the stuffy, dank corridors of Hogwarts. They were seventh years with more freedom, after all, and had been together for a few months. They hardly ever had time alone these days – with his girlfriend’s distaste for public affection, she rarely let him do more than light brushes or hand-holding when their friends were around or when Elsie’s sister Lydia followed them like a lost puppy.
They weren’t completely alone for the entire stay in Feldcroft, but for the short moment that they were, he was going to enjoy it.
Sebastian dusted off his boots as he walked back into the warm house. “It’s snowing outside.”
Still curled up on the couch by the fireplace, Elsie was bundled in several layers of blankets. She peeked up at him from behind her book. “Mhm. I can tell. The draft you brought in when you opened the door was a pretty big hint.”
He frowned at her as he brushed more snow off of his shoulders. “Don’t you want to go outside and see it?”
Instead of gracing him with a response, Elsie curled further into the thick blankets and raised her book to her face once more. Sebastian sighed irritatedly and sauntered over behind the couch, tucking his chin against her shoulder and jutting out his bottom lip in a soft pout. “Please?”
Elsie groaned dramatically. “But it’s cold. And I’m in the middle of a really good chapter!”
He nuzzled his face into her neck and breathed in the intoxicating scent of her vanilla and jasmine perfume. He gently dragged his lips along her pulse, knowing that one way or another, he was going to convince her to do something he wanted. “I promise I’ll keep you warm.”
She let out a soft moan that she quickly tried to cover up by clearing her throat, but he knew the effect he was having on her — the blush that colored her cheeks was indication enough. He smirked as she nudged him away.
“Fine,” she murmured. “For a few minutes, and then we come right back inside, and I get back to reading my book peacefully by the fire.”
“Perfect.” Sebastian held his hand out for her to follow him. “I’ll even throw in some cuddles, free of charge.”
She scoffed. “It’s never just cuddles with you.”
He grinned mischievously. “Is that a problem, love?”
Her blush deepened, which only caused him to laugh teasingly, and she quickly turned away from him to gather her winter garments.
As often as Sebastian had tried to get Elsie fully alone, they hadn’t crossed that line…yet. Her relationship status at home was complicated at best, and, though she dismissed it as something she would handle, she didn't intentionally want to cause a commotion with her parents before she had ever introduced Sebastian to them. Even when they showed a lack of attention toward her, she still seemed to care deeply about their opinions and wanted to give them a good first impression of him.
Not to mention, her distinct lack of experience made her uneasy about almost any physical affection he presented her with. Sebastian wasn’t going to push her to the point of discomfort – he wasn’t completely selfish, and he valued any time he could spend with her. But, he was a man with desires – long-suffering, pent-up desires – and he was certainly willing to work with her and ease her into anything she would allow of him. He was simply waiting for the go-ahead.
It only added to the strain when she outwardly showed that she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. But if kissing was all she would let him do for now, then he would kiss her everywhere and as often as possible.
She bent down to pull on her boots, and he couldn’t help but pause to admire her figure as she did. He silently thanked whatever powers that be that she was his, at least in some sense of the word – he very much looked forward to the day she would be his in all senses.
Sebastian steeled his expression as she turned back around, pulled her coat off the rack, and fastened each of the buttons. Elsie wrapped her scarf around her neck and put her gloves on, grumbling to herself and fixing her eyes on him with an irritated expression.
“There. Happy?”
He chuckled. “I will be when you come outside and see the snow.”
She groaned as he opened the door and a cold blast of air blew into the house. He let out a snort as Elsie gave one last longing look at the fireplace before stepping outside into the winter wonderland.
“Isn’t it fantastic?” Sebastian said, leading her up to the overlook post. If they were going to witness the splendor that was the Highlands in the snow, they were going to do it properly.
Elsie didn’t seem to agree with his assessment as she stomped up the stairway. “I’m not particularly keen on seeing the view of Rookwood Castle in the snow if that’s what you’re referring to.”
He stopped once he reached the top and turned around, frowning. “We’re not looking in that direction. We’re looking out here.” Sebastian wrapped his arms around her waist and faced her toward the hamlet. He rested his chin on her shoulder and pulled her in tightly, both in a silent plea to stay close to him and to provide her with warmth. “I’ve never seen so much snow cover Feldcroft this early in the year.”
Elsie was strangely quiet as she gazed out to the horizon – typically a telltale sign that her mind was circling a million thoughts at once. He opened his mouth to ask what she was thinking when she said, “I wonder if Isidora –”
Sebastian interrupted her with a groan. “No. We’re not thinking about any of that.”
“It was just a thought!” She grumbled. “The first of several, actually.”
“Were any of them about how badly you wanted to kiss me?”
He laughed and wrapped his arms tighter around her as she tried to elbow him.
“I just mean,” she began again, “I’m starting to wonder why we came out here in the first place. It’s not easy for either of us to be here, and yet you insisted that we needed to get out of the castle for a bit.”
“And I was right,” Sebastian hummed, nuzzling his face into her scarf. “Clearly being trapped inside isn’t doing your pretty little head any good.”
She sighed, and he felt her shiver against him, but she didn’t offer any retort.
“It’s just — this is where it all began, right?” She gestured to the small hamlet. “The repository, the rebellion, the — the stuff with Isidora. Even us.”
“Technically,” Sebastian countered, “that began in Defense Against the Dark Arts.”
“Technically, I didn’t know you well enough to feel that way about you,” she scoffed.
“Technically,” he smirked, “you still did.”
“Technically, you’re an idiot.”
He let out a loud laugh. His face softened when he spoke. “Not everything that happened here was bad. There were some good things that happened, too.”
Generally, his memories of Feldcroft were fairly bleak — memories of Anne’s curse, Solomon’s overall attitude toward him, and, of course, the more recent events that had occurred there inside the nearby catacomb. But, in the midst of all of it, there were still a few flickers of light that he opted to focus on instead; memories that he held tightly to in his darkest moments.
The look Elsie gave him was full of skepticism and wonder as she turned her head slightly to face him. “Like what?”
Sebastian paused in thought. “Like…when it would snow like this, me and Anne would try to catch snowflakes on our tongues. We would make it a competition to see who could catch the most.” He chuckled at the memory. “Although, there’s not really any way to check if we were being honest. She always ended up winning.”
She furrowed her brow. “Catch snowflakes?”
“What, you’ve never done that before?”
Elsie pursed her lips. “I wasn’t really allowed outside much. Playing in the snow wasn’t exactly considered a ‘ladylike’ activity.”
He pulled away from her slightly, grinning. “No time like the present.”
“What?”
“Go on.” Sebastian cupped the back of her neck encouragingly. “Just tilt your head up, stick your tongue out, and let the snowflakes fall on it.”
The look Elsie gave him was nothing short of bewildered, but she complied, sticking out her tongue and squeezing her eyes closed as she waited for the snowflakes to fall. Sebastian let out a soft laugh at the child-like expression on her face. “How does it taste?”
She pulled her tongue back in and smacked her lips together. “Like…ice?” She opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him once more. “I can see how that would be fun for children, but I think I’m a bit beyond enjoying any of it. I suppose I missed out.” She rolled her tongue in her mouth as if trying to get another taste of the snowflakes. “Was it supposed to taste like anything special? It’s snow.”
Sebastian smiled slyly at her as he brushed his nose up against hers, cold and pink from the frost. “Hm. Not sure, it’s been a long time since I’ve tried it. Mind if I have a taste?”
“What?” Her eyes went wide with confusion. “What are you — What do you —?”
He could tell that she quickly understood his hidden meaning as her breath hitched when he cupped her chin and traced his thumb along her lower lip. As always, he knew that was her way of silent agreement, and he smiled broadly as he pressed his lips fully against hers in a fervent kiss.
Sebastian had performed this dance with Elsie dozens of times at this point, yet each time he wrapped his arms around her and felt the warmth of her soft mouth against his, it felt just as exciting as the first time. The soft whimpers she let out as he tangled his fingers in her hair never ceased to excite him, and the feel of the gentle curves of her body against his, even with the layers of winter clothing on, always had him wanting more.
Damn her for wanting to be so proper.
He had been told all his life that he didn’t know when to stop, but how could he when the beautiful temptress in his arms fit so perfectly against him? When every breathy sound that left her awoke something so primal in him?
Within his warring mind, his impulsive side won, as was the usual, and he lightly dragged his tongue along her bottom lip, seeking entrance and begging for the smallest taste. It came as no surprise to him when she yelped and pulled back abruptly.
“Sebastian!”
Elsie blushed furiously and turned her head away from him. Sebastian let out a small whine, but he, albeit reluctantly, accepted her refusal, and loosened his grip on her slightly enough for her to pull away if she desired but kept his hands on her in the hopes that she wouldn’t.
“Got a bit carried away,” he slurred happily, drunk off of the rush that the kiss had given him. “Can you blame me?”
She did pull away then, and Sebastian frowned as disappointment washed over him. Elsie turned her back on him, and his disappointment quickly morphed into panic and concern. She doesn’t want me. I went too far and now she’s upset with me and she’s going to leave —
He was yanked from his thoughts as something cold struck him in the face. He brushed off the snow that Elsie had thrown at him and saw, to his surprise, that she was giggling.
“You need to learn how to control yourself.” She picked up another pile of snow and lobbed it at his head. Her cheeks were still tinged pink, both from their kissing and the cold, her hair slightly mussed from when he had threaded his fingers through it. She burst into peals of laughter as the snow collided with him, and he felt his heart soar.
Sebastian brushed off the bits of ice from his hair and grinned deviously at her. “Careful, darling. You know I never back down from a fight.”
“Unfortunately,” she offered an impish smile as another giggle slipped out, “you’ll have to catch me first!”
Before he could retaliate, she ducked and ran, and his snowball went soaring over the railing behind her. He followed closely behind as Elsie stumbled down the stairs of the overlook, hurling more piles of snow over her shoulder as she went.
“Elsie, the stairs are slippery!” He called out, his joy mixing with concern as she lost her footing a few times. “You’re going to f— ”
Right as she reached the bottom step, her foot gave out from under her, and, in a panic, Sebastian reached out and attempted to scoop her up in his arms to stop her from falling. Instead, his arm snagged around her waist, and they both tumbled into the snow at the base of the overlook. After being met with a face full of ice and dirt, Sebastian opened his eyes.
He was relieved to see that Elsie had fallen safely on her back, his hand cradling her head. Her eyes were still squeezed shut anticipating the impact of her fall, and she let out a soft groan as she slowly blinked them open.
Naturally, Sebastian’s first instinct would have been to check if she was alright and spend several minutes inspecting her for any injuries. But when she shifted underneath him, the only thing he could focus on was the fact that her body was beneath his, her legs wrapped around his waist in a very intimate position.
She was saying something to him, he was certain of it — he could see her mouth moving, but his mind was unable to process any of the words coming out, too focused on the reaction his body was having to her ceaseless squirming causing just the perfect amount of friction in all the right places. He only had to —
“SEBASTIAN, get off of me! It’s cold!” Elsie squealed, snapping him out of his amorous haze. “There is ice going up my back, and I’m not happy about it!”
She was still pressing her full weight against him, trying to shove him off with her arms as she writhed beneath him. Sebastian stood as quickly as possible and discreetly adjusted himself, silently grateful for the thick winter clothing that hid any evidence of his arousal, before holding a hand out to help her up.
“Are you alright?” He finally asked as he aided her in brushing the clumps of ice off of her hair and coat.
Elsie fixed him with a glare. “No. I didn’t want to come out here because it’s freezing, and now I’m covered in snow!” She let out a frustrated groan, looking flustered as she continued to dust off the rest of the powder from her jacket. “I thought I was missing out on something, and I tried to have fun, and now I just look ridiculous, and it’s really embarrassing, and— ”
“Thank you.” Sebastian interrupted her rambling by cupping her face. “For coming outside to see the snow with me.”
She looked at him doubtfully. He chuckled and planted a soft kiss on her scrunched-up nose. “I mean it.”
Elsie opened her mouth to protest again, but a shiver came out instead. “I’m cold.”
“How about,” he brushed a strand of hair out of her face, “we go back inside, and I can draw you a nice warm bath. And then I’ll hold to my promise about just cuddles in front of the fireplace.”
She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Counter-offer, I draw myself a bath, considering the last time you tried to transfigure anything in that cottage, you nearly burned the place down.”
Sebastian scoffed. “It was one time.”
“One time of trying to create a romantic dinner scene that nearly went up in flames.” She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. “You’re lucky Ominis and I walked in at the right moment.”
“Ominis wasn’t even supposed to be there,” he grumbled.
“Regardless,” Elsie laughed softly.
Sebastian sighed and pressed his forehead against hers, muttering his agreement. It felt almost like a rejection, again, but he wasn’t going to let it bother him. Not if his loving girlfriend still allowed him to have her all to himself, broken edges and all. “And then cuddles?”
She grinned broadly. “And then cuddles.”
He wrapped his arms around her and happily led her back inside, grateful to have someone in his life who provided him with the soft affection that he had never believed he deserved. It was something that, for a long time, he had thought was beyond his reach, and he never once wanted to take any of it for granted.
I love you, he thought to himself. But he didn’t say it out loud.
