For the If You Dare Challenge (118. Silence); the Slash/Femmeslash Bootcamp (47. Noise); Fantastic Beasts Challenge (Yeti); the Legendary Creatures Competition (Naga) and the Popular Song Competition (Sugar We're Going Down)
i.
The work.
It's always about the work.
The work keeps you sane, chases away the constant, all-encompassing noise. The work allows you to be normal, instead of the disturbed child you once were.
You hear the whispers of oddpratswot in the background, but you still can't stop the work. After all, these whispers are better than those of disturbedmentalinsane they once were.
ii.
You know that it's most likely that you'll live your life alone.
You tried having a relationship once, with Penelope. She could never understand your drive to work. She never would have been able to support you through the few episodes that still come and go.
You tell yourself it's okay. It's better to be alone than to try and make a life with someone who will never accept all of you.
You could never lie to yourself.
iii.
You know better than to fall in love. People always leave unless they're family, that's a lesson you've learned very well over the twenty-five years you've been alive.
That doesn't stop you from doing the most idiotic thing in existence and falling in love with your boss.
He's the only one in the Ministry who doesn't judge you for your need to work. He's the only one who doesn't hate you for being an asskisserteacherspetsuckup.
Is it really any surprise that you fall?
You know you'll never have him, but your heart still beats kingsleykingsleykingsley.
iv.
"You're beautiful," he whispers, holding you close.
Your entire romance has been a revelation to you. You're not supposed to have him – and yet here he is. The noise never stops for anything but the work – yet whenever you're around him, the only thing you hear is him.
You aren't supposed to be with someone, you're supposed to always be alone – yet he refuses to leave.
"I love you," he says, pulling you in for a kiss.
You never thought you would be here, sprawled on a bed with him at your side, exposed to the world. You're just the damaged Weasley child – what do you have to offer to someone like him?
But the jarring contrast between the two of you, dark and light, is one that you could never have thought up in a dream.
(You can't help but think it's ironic that the true story is actually the complete opposite of the one your bodies tell)
And when you fall asleep, it's to a sound that you could never have conjured up in imagination – his voice whispering percypercypercy.