A collection of 28 meet cutes for February
Nine
Meet Cute Marathon - Prompt:
Meet-cute: A was fatally wounded and suddenly finds themself looking down at their own lifeless body in confusion. B is a reaper and offers A guidance... but A doesn't want to do the whole 'follow the light' rubbish. A wants to flirt with the cute reaper.
He listens to the sound of the clock and it's not what he expects to hear. His last thoughts were of the snake. His snake coming at him. Fangs puncturing his skin. His last memory was of the pain searing through his body as everyone left him to die.
But here he is. The clock's ticking and the sound tells him he's not dead.
He stands, but as he turns, he realises there was no bed where he had just been laying. Something in the back of his mind tells him this isn't normal, but that's not what matters right now. He cares more about the dull darkness that fills the place, with a light shining at a distance.
He knows he should head towards it, but there are warning bells. He needs to know where he is - what happened to him to bring him to this strange but comforting darkness. He reaches down to where he remembers the fang sinking in, but there's no blood or marks lingering on his skin. In fact, he's not wearing his usual attire. Instead he's wearing casual jeans and a t-shirt. His hair feels longer too, pulled back with a piece of ribbon.
He knows it isn't right. He lingers, somehow knowing that following the light might not be enough to get him his answers. He turns away, his gaze searching through the dullness and trying to find anything that'd give him clues.
"You're going the wrong way," comes a soft voice from behind him. "Why walk into the darkness when the light is shining just for you - maybe you should follow it?"
Sirius turns around. He's eager to meet the person there with him and he's not disappointed. Soft amber eyes are what catch his attention first. Eyes that immediately captivate him. The man wears a cardigan and doesn't look threatening in the slightest - until Sirius spots the scythe he's holding - one that's bigger than him. He steps away, further into the darkness.
"I'm not going to hurt you," the man assures him. "This isn't to hurt people - it's part of the job, I'm afraid."
Something about his voice soothes the panic. He knows he should be concerned why there's a man with a scythe and a light he needs to head towards, but he can't bring himself to be. Instead he fixes his gaze on those amber eyes.
Beautiful.
The man's smile quickly slips from his face. "What did you just say?" he asks.
The words left his lips without him realising. "Is this hell?" he asks.
There's no answer. The man still looks concerned about Sirius' previous word and Sirius pieces everything together quickly. He steps back again and once more. The stranger follows, still maintaining a distance. Sirius knows it's too reassure him of course. It helps a little, as does the kind look on the man's face.
"Oh hell! I'm dead and this is hell, isn't it?" Sirius asks. Or he tries too. The words fall from his lips too quickly and jumble together as he tries to breathe, before realising that though his body is automatically drawing breath out of habit, it'd make no difference.
"I'm sorry, what?"
A panicked breath punctuates each word as Sirius tries to slow down. "We're… both… dead… and… this… is… hell!"
A flash of understanding crosses the man's face. "I'm here to guide you to the light," he assures Sirius. "You're not destined for hell. You're going to move on to a better place."
"A better place?" Sirius asks. He can't imagine any place where he really fits - life was like that. He likes the idea of staying there where it there's darkness as well as light. Where there are strange men in cardigans, with amber eyes. "I'm not going anywhere."
The man smiles in a way that tells Sirius he's heard this before. "You must," he replies, glancing at his watch. "It's for the best."
"And if I don't?"
The smile slips once more and the man looks worried. The expression only lasts a second, but Sirius can see someone hiding something and he won't let that slide.
"I'm not going anywhere if you don't tell me the truth," he pushes.
Remus bites his lip as he thinks. "When I was alive, I was a werewolf," Remus replies. "I have to atone for the actions the other part of me caused. My atonement is guiding people from this… place and into the light."
"How long for?" It sounds unfair to Sirius. He's never met a werewolf before, but this man appears harmless. Plus, how can he be held accountable for actions he didn't commit himself? "That doesn't sound fair!"
"Nine hundred," Remus replies. "I see two to three people each day, so hopefully in less than a year, I'll be with my family again and see my best friend, James. I'll be able to walk into the light. It is fair. The wolf was a part of me and its deeds darkened my soul. My number was determined by how much darkness there was. Because I tried to be a good person, it stopped my number being as high as it could have been. It's just the way things work."
"So if I walk into that light, that'll bring your number down again?" Sirius asks.
Remus nods. "Some people don't. They choose to return as ghosts. When I first started, it was just over a hundred-thousand people."
"You've been alone for a long time then," Sirius points out softly. "What about if someone chooses to stay here? Can that happen?"
Remus frowns slightly as he thinks. "As long as you don't try and return to the living world, you stay here and the light waits for you," he explains. "The light is like a doorway. From my home, it's like looking through a window at another world - only the glass separating us. I can't see the living world. But why would you stay?"
"Because I'm nineteen-years-old and I've never once met anyone like you," Sirius begins. "You're beautiful and I feel this need to stay with you - to wait for you to be able to walk through the light with me. I can't leave you alone… but at the same time, I don't want to stop you being that one step closer to reuniting with your family."
He hesitates between Remus and the light. "I don't even know your name."
"It's been a long time since someone asked my name," Remus murmurs. "I'm Remus - Remus Lupin."
"Sirius Black," Sirius replies. "What should I do, Remus?"
"Don't stay because you feel sorry for me," Remus quickly tells him. Sirius realises his choice of words. He's not telling Sirius that he can't stay - just he wants Sirius to have a different reason for choosing him.
"Can I stay because I'd like to stare into your beautiful eyes?" Sirius asks instead, unable to stop himself. His mind has decided that seduction is the way to go and Sirius never doubts his choices. "Because you're utterly beautiful and fascinating and I'd love to have you all to myself for the next… one to three years? Think of what we could do together?" the last words are a seductive purr and Sirius finally moves towards the light and towards Remus. He's not going into the light because with each passing moment, he's more and more sure of his choice. But Remus is standing in that direction. He realises that his parents have no control over him ever again and he can give in to to the one urge that he's had to force away before.
It strange, the freedom that death has offered him.
Remus blushes. Clearly he's thinking hard about the things they could do together and not a single protest falls from his lips. "You'll be staying with me - you won't be going back to where you came from," Remus checks.
"I promise. There was nothing there for me anyhow," Sirius insists softly. "Do we just stay here in this dark? Do you have a home? Do we have a home?"
"I… we do," Remus says, not moving as Sirius walks over, taking his free hand. He looks down as though he doesn't believe what is happening and Sirius smiles softly.
"You do realise I'm basically death?" Remus checks. "When we're here, I'm his persona. I do his work. I'm a reaper."
"Yeah and when you're at our place, you're Remus, the man I intend to have naked as often as possible," Sirius replies. "How old are you?"
"Technically I'm nineteen as when you die, you don't age. But I've been doing this for a long time," Remus tells him. His cheeks are burning red and Sirius loves the sight.
How could something so perfect come from his own death? He has never felt anything like this before. The feeling in his chest is so pure and overwhelming and he can't help himself. He leans in, placing a gentle kiss to Remus' cheek. "I have nothing in the living world. I died there, it was tragic, people will mourn I suppose, but I didn't matter that much to anyone. There's a light and no one waiting for me there. Right here, I have you and I feel something so overwhelming but I have a choice and I want to be here with you, Remus."
Remus smiles. "As long as you're sure, you're more than welcome," he replies. "I think that having you here will make time fly. In fact, I may actually enjoy being here now that I have you."
"And when the time comes, we'll walk into that light together," Sirius assures him. "I'm willing to share you with the people waiting for you on the other side when the time comes."
Remus grins. "And I'm willing to share my family and friends with you," he replies.
Review please :)
Thanks to Lizzy who has betaed all of these stories! :D
Written for:
Meet-cute: A was fatally wounded and suddenly finds themself looking down at their own lifeless body in confusion. B is a reaper and offers A guidance... but A doesn't want to do the whole 'follow the light' rubbish. A wants to flirt with the cute reaper.
Gobstones - Silver: death - Accuracy: present tense - power: (Genre) mystery - technique: "I promise"
Serpent Challenge - (object) watch
Library Lovers (floor 3) A series of unfortunate events - Word: tragic, Object: ribbon, action: biting
Lent Challenge - Only involve characters who are dead
Writing Club - Character appreciation: (word) snake bite
Aladdin - Write about someone feeling trapped
Book Club - (word) pure, (word) seduction, (dialogue) "We... are... dead... and... this... is... Hell!"
Showtime - "Think of what we could do together."
Lyric Alley - "And I'm in the ground"
Liza's Loves - Write about a snake's bite
Cards - "Oh hell!"
365 - Style - present tense
1000 - First Line: He listened to the sound of the clock
Hogwarts - Assignment 3 - Write about someone with a floral name