THE BOY BLOSSOMS !
'and no one can ever figure out what you want,
and you won't tell them,
and you realise the one person in the world who loves you isn't the one you thought it would be,
and you don't trust him to love you in a way
you would enjoy.'
— RICHARD SIKEN
[ Image description: a collage of things that encapsulate James and Barney's relationship, such as a quote that says 'can't you tell i'm in love with you?', a person writing letters with a quill, the silhouettes of two people with smiley faces drawn on their shadows, an illustration of two people with their arms around each other, a photo of David Bowie and Mick Jagger, a piece of paper saying 'what i learnt: i'm gay' and a photo of an envelope labelled: 'everything i could never tell you'. ]
:—)
BARNEY EVANS HAS LONG SINCE LEARNT how to hide himself away.
According to Julius (so he'll probably take it with just a pinch of salt), Barney is the epitome of middle-child-syndrome. But can you blame him? Lily's a supernova, an explosion of strawberries and laughter and kisses curled round cheekbones. Petunia's all schemes and dreams and giggle-tinged gossip, although she's been laughing less and less recently. Barney's just, well, Barney.
Meaning, he's shy and awkward and, according to Julius, relies on Julius too much. (But there's nothing worse in Barney's head than the thought of having, shudders, more than two friends.) Meaning, he's absolutely fine with hiding in the shadows with a book on dinosaurs, watching from afar as Lily's perfect pretty nose wrinkles with disgust at the arrival of each Dear Evans letter. Meaning, he'll swap speech with nervous smiles and his widest grin only appears when he's slipped into the shadows with the latest ode to love, devouring them obsessively even though he knows they'll never be for him.
Everybody knows about the Dear Evans letters, and none more so than Barney, being Lily's little brother and everything. James Potter's just a little bit notorious for his sheer fascination, his pure love, for Barney's spitfire sister - and if anything, her constant rejections only add fuel to his fire. Like Lily, Barney thinks James is just too loud and too cocky and just too in general. Unlike Lily, Barney thinks James is too beautiful and too perfect and too wonderful for him.
He just can't help falling for him, even if James doesn't even know that he exists (and why would he, anyway? If anything, James'll just know him as the rest of the school does: Lily Evans' weirdo little brother who speaks approximately once a week).
Or at least, James doesn't know Barney exists - that is, until Barney accidentally (promise!) throws up all over James' brand-new Quidditch shoes. (Yeah, he doesn't know how it happens either.) And then, through a series of miscommunications that wouldn't be out of place in a Muggle sitcom, both slowly and all of a sudden, Barney finds James Potter tangling himself up more and more in his life.
And then, both slowly and all of a sudden, Barney Evans isn't hiding away as much any more.
:—)
INTRODUCING . . . HUFFLEPUFF'S FINEST!
BARNEY EVANS he/him, libra sun
'Oh, um...'
[ Image description: the image is a collage of things that encapsulate Barney's personality, such as a hand stroking a cat, a cheese toastie, a boy curled up asleep in some grass, an illustration of a boy with heart eyes, someone cuddling a toy dinosaur, hands holding mugs of hot chocolate, stickers on a fridge saying 'i'm so scared ok', and a picture of a note that says 'PS, i never told you, but i was falling in love'. ]
JULIUS BINDER they/he, leo sun
'Sweetie, I'd say you were embarrassing if only my photo wasn't beside the word 'embarrassing' in the dictionary!'
[ Image description: the image is a collage of things that encapsulate Julius' personality, such as, a book with wine spilt over it, an annotated poem, a panther looking scary, a full moon, photos of formal outfits, piano music, a quote saying 'i wanted him to kiss me', and another saying 'do i regret it? yes. would i do it again? probably.' ]
SOLEIL MONET she/her, leo sun (& full-time Sirius Black hater)
'If Smelly Snape ever comes near you again, Barneywarney, I'll hang his bollocks up on the ceiling for all to see!'
[ Image description: the image is a collage of things that encapsulate Soleil's personality: a hand surrounded by butterflies, a blue fairy, a blue sky with pink blossoms, some bracelets made with flower beads, dungarees containing little flowers, a blue flower illustration saying 'life is good', toadstools, a blue sky with white lace curtains, and a pair of cute trainers against a blue sky with the caption 'oh you're so full of shit' ]
INCLUDING . . .
LILY EVANS she/her, aquarius sun
'Barns, just call James Potter the front page of The Sun, because he's really bad news.'
ALICE FORTESCUE, she/they, virgo sun
'I'm just so in love with him, sometimes I can't remember how to tie my laces!'
[ Image description: a collage for Lily and Alice, including a photo of a girl in red trousers riding a bicycle, a quote that says 'cherry bomb', lipstick kisses on a book, a photo of some fruit spread out on a white sheet, a girl with brown hair swimming, a quote that says 'me and you? me and you.' and two people in a field of grass and yellow flowers, wearing matching white outfits ]
a/n
— thank u for being here and welcome to my first EVER marauders fic, the boy blossoms !!! barney is so shy n awkward and already so special to me, im so excited to share this w u lot, especially since he gets a CUTE PLOT !!!!!!!!!
— this fic is linked w bloodquills AAAAAAA !!! she's writing a badass sirius fic n they are gonna be linked so sick n i'm just so excited abt this so defo go read hers too, i love lana the mostest !!!
— content warnings (pls be aware this fic contains): internalised homophobia, bullying, references to sex and alcohol and drugs and the effect of politics of people such as Margaret Thatcher and Edward Heath. if there's sommat in a chapter i will give it a content warning beforehand
— dedicated to my older sister kazbrekkers who i love more than anyone on the PLANET, my muse and angel and confidant, and my wonderful lil leo bestie -estesfolklore !!! julius is 4 u xo
— that's all, hope u enjoy!!! lots n lots of love, nolan xxxxxxx