#torturedpoetsmicro

[wolfpadx]

november microfic snippet

Day 7: assignment [read it here on AO3]

James lets out a choking sound. “C-couple?”

“Since when?!” Sirius asks, storm cloud grey eyes flicking back and forth between them.

“We made it official the other night, up on the Astronomy Tower,” Regulus offers, staring at Remus with a small, lovesick smile. He’s hamming it up, the wanker. James wipes a hand down his face and looks around, as if for an escape. “We just figured, why keep dancing around each other?”

Remus hums in agreement, rubbing Regulus’s knuckles tenderly. “Exactly. When you know, you know, right?”

Sirius’s mouth hangs open, his head shaking from side to side with subtle movements. James clenches his jaw as he stares at his shoes, his rough, calloused Chaser’s hands balled into fists at his side.

“Right, darling. It’s almost curfew though, so I’m off. See you at breakfast?” Regulus steps closer to Remus, standing between his parted thighs, a hand on his cheek.

“Of course, love,” Remus answers, ignoring Sirius’s near-silent gasp.

And when Regulus leans forward to deliver a chaste peck on Remus’s lips, he lets it happen. He closes his eyes and meets Regulus’s touch, wrapping an arm around his waist to haul him closer.

[wolfpadx]

november microfic snippet

Day 8: cider + corn maze + sweater + burn + cinnamon [read it here on AO3]

When the door shuts behind James, Regulus’s breath rushes out of him, and he slumps onto one of the stools for sale. He presses a fist to his mouth, trying to keep his smile at bay.

He feels light—hopeful, even. James is handsome and funny in an honest, self-deprecating sort of way, with strong hands and a sharp grin that makes him want to kneel at James’s feet. Everything is shaping up to be more than he could have imagined, better by far than his first impression of this town.

It’s what he thinks people mean when they say “homey.” It’s a hidden gem, it’s inviting, it’s—

It’s entirely too quiet.

Regulus rushes to his feet and peers around the corner: nothing. No movement, no sound. His heart picks up speed. “Draco? Harry?” He looks behind the counter, down each aisle, in the loft upstairs, the hammock, the storage room, the back porch where James and Monty exited.

Nothing.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuuuuuck.

He needs to get Sirius.

[wolfpadx]

november microfic snippet

Day 5: extra credit [read it here on AO3]

What James does know is that, despite their parting words each time—whether it be in a broom closet during a school-sanctioned, chaperoned dance, in the loo at the corner pub, or fuck, in James’s car before one of Harry’s matches on a Sunday morning—James isn’t sure this is something he can give up.

It’s barbed words and tight grips, taunting smirks and bite marks.

But it’s also unmatched ecstasy and endorphin highs, proprietary grips and hypnotising kisses.

It’s a push and pull with Regulus that James has never known before and it’s addicting, the way he can get under Regulus’s skin so easily, the way Regulus’s scowl sends heat down James’s spine.

They’re fucked up, he knows this. They want each other with desperation but would never voice it; they hate each other but it’s baseless. They crash over and over into each other without caution, without control, and lash out at one another because of it.

[wolfpadx]

November microfic snippet

Day 3: Pumpkin [read it here on AO3]

“Wha—oh,” Sirius grins when he catches sight of them. The hay-addled one extends his arm out to throw a handful of grass at the other boy but he dodges just in time, behind the legs of—

“Oh.”

Regulus doesn’t mean to say it aloud—it’s more of an exhale, really. A breath he hadn’t known he was holding, nor for how long. A few seconds? Minutes? All day? The last twenty-five years of his life, maybe?

“‘Oh’ indeed,” Sirius agrees, leaning forward with that familiar arm around Regulus’s shoulder.

[wolfpadx]

november microfic snippet

Day 4: faculty [read it here on AO3]

It was the talk of the faculty all morning.

Draco could hardly enjoy his breakfast, what with all the overexcited murmurings whispered between the professors to his left and right. He tried eating quicker, chewing louder—his mother would Avada herself if she saw—clattering his silverware, and clearing his throat often but nothing could drown out the incessant mutterings of did you hear? and can you believe it? and do you think he knows—

Then he walked in, finally managing to accomplish what Draco couldn’t (figures).

Silence swarmed the Great Hall for only a shocked moment before animated conversations sparked anew, this time accompanied by pointed fingers and wide eyes, dropped jaws and too-loud shrieks of joy. Draco rolled his eyes; it was all a bit overdone, wasn’t it?

[wolfpadx]

november microfic snippets:

Day 1: Parchment [read it here on AO3]

His hand trembles when he finishes—not the one with the quill, but the other, the one that’s reached out for the mug. The steadying sip of tea burns on the way down, distracting him from the accelerated beating of his heart. His thumb traces his lip again, back and forth. Back and forth.

Where he goes from here, he’s not sure.

Day 2: Foliage + Day 18: Photo-Day [read it here on AO3]

Remus turned to look at him with a bemused grin at finding he was Sirius’s focus.

“What are you doing, pointing that thing at me?”

Sirius looked at the camera in his hand and then back at Remus, an eyebrow raised teasingly. “Capturing the beauty that is Remus John Lupin, of course.”

[wolfpadx]

november microfic snippet

Day 6: professor [read it here on AO3]

The man’s smile was blinding, the only weapon he needed. Remus’s chest ached at the sight, ready to hand over all his earnings, his priceless items, his bloody retirement fund along with the red, pulsing mass behind his ribs, beating just for him.

“Come closer, then,” the man said. They were pressed together already, Remus’s hand laced with his by his head, the other against the heat of his hip, their breaths mingling in the small space that separated them. 

To come closer would be to drown, to burn, to cease to exist.

Remus didn’t hesitate...