Unlike the days with Draco, Oshun fell asleep snuggled into Fred and woke up the same way.
She was the first to wake this morning and Fred's face was hidden in the crook of her neck, where it fit perfectly. His strong arms were enveloped around her waist and their legs tangled under her cold sheets.
His body fit against hers and entwined with hers so naturally. So gracefully.
Her fingers dragged through his untidy hair with her lips buried in the side of his head. She was trying so hard not to smile, but she had... a happy-high. With the redhead this time, for the second time.
The way his body molded into hers and his heart beat in sync with hers. The way his warm breath fanned against her skin and the way his arms felt so secure around her. It felt magical.
She hoped that things between Fred wouldn't change when they went back to school. She really, really, really fucking fancied him.
Baloo was laying on the top of Oshun's pillow, sleeping soundly.
When Fred woke, they didn't get out of bed. They stayed in her bed, talked, cuddled, kissed, and enjoyed one another's company.
This was something Oshun could get used to. Something she didn't even do with Draco since he turned away from her after sex or when going to sleep.
It wasn't insulting, but a little degrading.
Oshun and Fred didn't even have sex and they were snuggled together as though they were trying to fuse into one.
"Takahashi, you're so pretty..." Fred's eyes traced appreciatively around her face as he twirled a curl around his finger.
Oshun smiled coyly with her mess of curls atop her head, inclining her upper body against the propped pillows behind her. "You're pretty," she murmured, and traced her fingertips under his chin.
He was laying on his stomach on top of her, voice voice still croaky and rough with sleep. "Have your parents got any plans for today?" he asked, and smoothly threaded his fingers through hers.
"I'm not sure." Her voice was quiet and gentle as she rubbed her free hand down his muscled back. "Papa usually works from home in his office. Mama checks up at the salon and then she sometimes goes to the Ministry to check other things."
He hummed against the spine of her hand. He skimmed chaste kisses along her skin. "You and your parents seem really close," he crooned.
"We are," she pleasantly said with a demure smile. "As a kid, I never really had friends except for the next door neighbour. Mama and Papa were the ones I hung out with when my neighbour was busy."
"It's good, Oshun." He nodded indulgently at her, cracking a half smile. "Not every single child is blessed to have a childhood that isn't lonely since their parents are busy or they don't have many friends."
"What about you?" she asked as her hand glided up to the nape of his neck. "I know you have a lot of siblings, but do you ever get lonely?"
He shook his head calmly. "No," he slowly said, pondering. "I mean, when I was still with Hermione, I felt lonely. Because every time I was with George... I just wanted to tell him, but I couldn't."
Her eyebrows frowned deeply.
"I don't think I've ever felt lonely other than that," he explained, and held the back of her hand against his lips. "But I've felt pressured by my parents."
"Because of your older brothers?" she guessed hesitantly, playing with the back of his hair.
Fred nodded plainly, and let go of her hand to slide his large ones beneath her shirt. "Bill, Percy, and Charlie are all... successful." He sounded a little bit insecure as he spoke. "The three golden boys. George, Ron, and I feel like we've got to live up to their success as well. Our parents dote on the other three and lecture us to be like them."
"You don't have to be like them, Fred." Oshun tried to make him feel better. "You all aren't going to have the same future, but you can still be successful. Like your joke shop with George."
"Mum and Dad were actually hesitant on letting us open a shop," he mentioned, and rested his chin upon her stomach. He kept his gaze tightly locked with hers. "But once they got on board, the pressure's been..." He unleashed a half scoff, half laugh. "It's been heavy."
"I believe in you," she said earnestly, and offered a smile.
"And that alone means beyond me, Oshun," he chimed with bright eyes. "On the way here, I saw a little bookstore four blocks away. Do you want to go?"
"Is it the bookstore with the big red flower on the front door?" She grinned and ran her fingers through his hair to brush it back. "I go there all the time. We should go today."
"Yeah?" He matched her grin and rubbed her soft stomach with his gentle touch, but rough hands.
"Yeah." Oshun nodded enthusiastically. "But we can't walk. It's too cold."
"Are your parents using the car?" Fred asked, and moved to sit up. He spread her thighs apart to cross his legs between them before pulling her legs over his hips. "If not, I can drive."
"Drive?" she uttered, and tried not to melt at his hands caressing up and down her bare thighs.
"I can drive," he told her with an amused look on his face. "You know that big thing that had a cover over it in the shed at The Burrow?"
"Yes..." Her eyes narrowed warily.
"That's my dad's creation of a flying car," he said in a sort of smug way. "I flew and drove it multiple times."
"So why's it covered and dusty in the shed?"
"Because..." A long pause. "Ron broke—"
"You mean you," she corrected him with a wicked smile, "broke it."
He scoffed, offended. "In my defence," he quickly said, "Sixteen-year-old me did not know that it would just shut down and break after trying to launch fireworks out of the engine."
"You're aware that my parents' care does not fly, right?" She needed to confirm as she continued to fondly stroke back his hair. "It's just a regular car."
He gave her a sour look. "Yes, I've gathered as much," he muttered.
"Good." She laughed and cupped his cheeks, memorizing every part of him. "I can drive though, so if you don't—"
"I will drive," he said, and leaned into her palms. "You can suck me off while I do so."
Her eyes rolled. "You wish," she said, and rubbed her palms against the skin of his cheeks.
A smile. "I do."
She just shook her head exasperatedly at him. "We should go get dressed now," she said, and sat up straighter.
Fred made an exaggerated sound as he rolled off her. "Fine," he said moodily.
Oshun tried not to show how much she was enjoying her time with him, but she was failing miserably.
She scooted off the bed and got to her feet. She padded to her dresser as Baloo moved to lay upon the windowsill. Her fingers hooked the handles of her drawers to haul them open.
She rummaged for an outfit, her eyes briefly flicking to the mirror at her dresser to see Fred eyeing her shamelessly from head to toe. She was wearing very tiny shorts that rode up her bum and a big T-shirt that had the bottom hem hitched over her hip.
He was sitting up, palms propped behind him on the mattress. His long legs draped over the edge of the bed. He looked so indescribably sexy in the mornings.
She retrieved a pair of cargo pants and a tank top from the drawers of her dresser. She went to her closet and pulled a big zip-up off the hanger.
She stood in front of her dresser, where her clothes were placed on the surface. She pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it onto her bed.
Fred was watching her change, delighted.
She was surprised herself when she did not suck in her stomach to appear thinner than she was. Fred was never one to judge. She knew that.
She coaxed herself not to fluster as she put her tank top on. She changed out of her shorts and into her cargo pants. At last, she threaded her arms through the holes of her zip-up and left it unzipped.
"Beautiful." He exhaled through a half smirk as he rose to his feet. "I have never seen something so fucking beautiful."
"Oh, shut it." She blushed and walked over to her bathroom.
_____
"Fred and I are going to the bookstore," Oshun mentioned as she moved around the kitchen to make two cups of matcha tea. "Can we take the car? Or does Mama need it?"
"I'm off today," Gwen said as she set her coffee cup on the table, where she sat with her husband. "You and Fred go on and take it."
"Where is he anyway?" Bryson leaned forward to peek out of the kitchen entrance. "I was going to ask him for a hand fixing the laundry machine. He seems good with handiwork."
"Dear, do that later." Gwen rubbed his shoulder, smiling brightly. "Let him and Oshun go out to the bookstore."
"Alright, alright." Bryson grinned as he lifted his mug to his lips and took a sip of his black coffee.
"Good morning." Fred emerged from the foyer and into the kitchen, dressed and smiling handsomely.
"Morning," Gwen said gleefully as Bryson greeted, "Good morning."
"Here." Oshun handed the tall ginger a one of the two mugs of matcha tea. "We can take the car to the bookstore."
"Brilliant," he replied coolly, and took a seat at the table.
She sat down with him as the four of them got into some pleasant morning talk.
"I'm going to go warm up the car." Fred's voice lowered softly for her as he stood from his chair. "Stay here and finish your tea, mhm?"
"Okay," she beamed, hands cupping her mug. "The keys are hanging by the door."
He kissed the side of her head before he left the kitchen. Her parents had left the kitchen to do whatever it was they did around the house in their free time.
When she finished her tea, she put her mug in the sink before she went to the foyer. She grabbed her coat out of the closet and slid it on. She sat on the bottom step of the stairs to put on her black boots.
Fred came from the front door, wearing his coat and boots. He shut the door behind him and knelt in front of her. He lifted her foot onto his thigh to tie the laces of her boots for her.
Once again, Oshun was hoping things wouldn't change when they went back to Hogwarts. She was falling for him more and more.
"Come on." He seemed excited to go out with her as he grabbed her hands and helped her to her feet.
She was smiling too hard. Her fingers laced through his as they both walked out of the house and shut the door behind them.
Fred walked all around to the passenger seat and opened the door for her. She got into the car and the car was already warm. So was her seat because he'd turned her butt-warmer on.
She felt so giddy as he shut the door and walked around the front of the car to get to the driver's seat. He got into the car and shut the door.
They both buckled up and they talked as they waited a few more moments, just for the car to properly warm up.
"You know how to back out of the driveway, right?" Oshun asked as her head was turned to look at him.
"Yes, Oshun." He rolled his eyes at her and grabbed her hand to hold it, braiding their fingers together. "I'm not sixteen anymore."
"I'm just making sure." She used her free hand to pat her jacket pockets, making sure she had her wallet with her. "Do you and your family use Muggle money? Or have any?"
"Er..." He thought for a moment, rubbing his thumb back and forth below the spot below her own thumb. "Yeah. Dad works in the Muggle department of the Ministry, so sometimes he gets some Muggle money I suppose."
"Freddie, there's a little shop by the bookstore that you should try. There's a beverage called bubble tea," she excitedly said to him as she cocooned his hand between hers.
"Bubble tea," he echoed, staring at her with intrigue. "What is it?"
"It's this tea drink," she explained, visibly vivacious. "There's toppings you can get and different flavours. There's tapioca, jellies, grass jelly, pudding. You can get milk tea, or slush, or just tea."
"Is it like the matcha tea you made this morning?" He genuinely seemed interested as his other hand settled on the bottom of the wheel.
"Sort of." She nodded subtly. "But this one is cold. It's probably my favourite thing in the whole world. It's so addicting."
"Well, let's go then." A grin flew across his lips as he brought his hand to the gear shift, still holding her hand. He let go of her hand after switching gears and turned to plant his hand behind her seat, backing out of the driveway carefully.
He got hold of her hand once more and interlocked their fingers. Holding her hand, he grasped the wheel lazily and drove down the street, out of the neighbourhood.
"Where'd you learn how to drive?" Oshun asked curiously as they stopped at a red light.
"My dad," Fred answered easily, and let their locked fingers rest on her lap, using one hand to drive. "Mum wasn't too keen on it, but she also knew it would come in handy."
"So all of your siblings know how to drive as well?" Her gaze veered over to him as she cradled his large hand.
"Mhm." He nodded and spared her a glance. The light turned green and he drove forward. "Since you live in the Muggle World, I assume you have one of those Muggle licences?"
"Yeah." She nodded and used one hand to grab her wallet from her pocket. Her hands left his and his hand splayed on her thigh as she dug out for her driver's license. She pulled it out and held it before him to quickly look at. "Here."
His eyes quickly darted to the card before back at the road, smirking widely. "You look miserable in that photo," he said with a low chuckle.
"Well," she sharply said, tucking her license back into her wallet, "Considering I took the test at literally seven in the morning on a summer day, I think it's valid."
He grabbed her hand again and held it as he made a left turn at a light. "You know what would be funny?" he mused with the wicked glint in his eyes.
"What?" She looked over at him, comfortably relaxed in her seat.
"If I got pulled over and had no license—"
"Weasley, I swear to—"
"But just think about—"
"Don't even—"
"Because if I—"
"No, don't you dare—"
"Then we can quickly switch seats, so—"
"You've got red hair and you're tall—"
"They'd never know because of how—"
"Are you crazy?"
"Sometimes."
She huffed out a half laugh and shook her head. "If you're going to be devious, then let me drive because I have a license," she said pointedly.
"Oh, look. We're already here." He pulled into the parking lot of the plaza that had the bookstore. He let go of her hand to do a back-in in the open parking spot right in front of the bookstore.
Oshun glared at him as she unbuckled.
He smiled at her as he turned the car off, leaning over to plant a kiss on her mouth.
They both got out of the car and met at the front to hold hands. He locked the car as they strolled through the salted and snowed ground to the bookstore.
He opened the door for her and she walked in, him trailing behind her. They both greeted the shop owner before Oshun dragged the redhead all around the bookstore with her.
The bookstore was a small, quiet family store. It was themed with calm and warm colours with stickers on the front window. The books were mostly second-hand, but she loved the look of used books before they had more character.
"They have sex books here, Takahashi." Fred abruptly pulled her the opposite direction, causing her to nearly stumble over her feet. He dragged her into a corner and plucked off a sex book off the shelf. "How to make sure your partner enjoys the sex," he read the title loudly.
"Fred." Abashed, she yanked the book from his hand and shoved it onto the shelf. "Can you not be so loud?"
"But sex. We need to make sure—"
She slapped her hand over his mouth to quiet him. "You're going to get us kicked out," she whispered furiously at him, and yanked him down to her height. "Be a good boy."
"As you wish." He was grinning against her palm.
She hesitated, but dropped her hand from his mouth. She held his hand and dragged her with her around the shop to look for some books.
Since the books were second-hand, they were cheaper. But she always found some books in brilliant condition and beautiful covers.
"I'm done," she beamed as she held two books in her arms, to her chest. "Ready?"
"Let's go." His large hand grasped her books and took them from her.
They walked to the desk and she shoved him subtly away, so she could pay. He shoved her subtly back, angling his body to deliberately block her away.
"Fred—"
"This is all," Fred told the man behind the desk kindly.
"No—"
"Would you like a bag?" the man asked as he rang Fred up.
"Sure, why not." Fred nodded and took his wallet out of the pocket on the inside of his coat.
"Wait—"
"Your total is exactly twelve pounds," the man said with a warm smile, placing the banged books on the counter.
Oshun tried moving around, but Fred kept blocking her as he paid for the books.
"Have a great day." He smiled at the man as he took the bag of books.
"You too." The man returned the smile.
Fred's hand found hers as they walked out of the bookstore. "My Christmas gift to you," he said, finally looking at her.
"Thank you," she said with a subtle frown in confusion. "But I get to pay for the bubble tea. My Christmas gift to you."
"Okay." He smiled and kissed her crown briskly.
He held her bag as they walked down the plaza to the bubble tea shop. This, again, was a family business that Oshun often supported. They were an Asian family that Oshun's parents were friendly with.
The smell of sweet tapioca engulfed her nostrils as they walked into the shop and toward the front, where the menu was.
"What do you usually get from here?" Fred's eyes were scanning over the menu up ahead.
"My usual order is matcha milk tea with tapioca and pudding," Oshun replied as she also looked up at the menu. "But I might get something new today."
"What would you recommend?" he asked in a low voice, for her ears only.
"For you..." Her lips pursed in thought. "You could start safe and get just a regular pearl milk tea, or you jump right into a brown sugar milk tea with tapioca."
"Alright, I'll get that." He nodded as he looked thoughtfully at the menu. "What'll you get?"
"I'm going to get..." She thought hard, contemplating between two drinks. "I kind of want a mango slush and a Thai milk tea."
"Get both," he suggested, caressing the spot under her thumb with the pad of his.
"Good idea." She nodded in agreement.
He stood behind her as she ordered their drinks at the counter. She ordered a regular size for all the drinks and paid for them.
"Thank you." He kissed the back of her head as she handed the owner the money for their drinks.
She responded by giving his hand an affectionate squeeze.
They waited on the side, talking. She told him about all the flavours she'd tried, and which ones were the best and which were the worst.
Their order was finished and in a bag for them. She took the bag with a smile in thank you before they walked out of the shop.
When they got to the car, Fred opened the door for her and she got inside. He settled into the driver's seat and started the car, turning her butt-warmer on before his own.
Oshun put the bag on her lap as he put her bag of books by her feet on the floor. She pulled out his drink and handed it to him with the straw.
She discarded the bag in the backseat after taking out her own drinks. "Some people don't like tapioca because of the texture," she explained as she jabbed her straw through the lid of her Thai milk tea. "But I love it."
Fred copied her and jabbed his straw through the lid of his drink. He took a sip after swirling his straw around the bottom to mix the tapioca and sugar with the milk tea.
Sipping her own drink, she watched him take a sip. He had no reaction at first, chewing the pearls slowly.
"This one is good," he said at once, genuinely pleased with the flavour. "I like the balls in my mouth."
"That's what she said," Oshun said as she took another sip of her drink, chewing the tapioca between her teeth.
He snorted a laugh and nearly choked on the tapioca balls.
"Try this one." She held the straw to Thai milk tea up to his lips.
He took a long sip of hers and swallowed, chewing the tapioca. "I like yours better," he said, taking another sip.
"Switch." She grabbed his drink with her free hand, her second drink between her thighs.
He grabbed her Thai milk tea and continued to sip on it.
"Let's try the mango slush." She placed the brown sugar milk tea in the cup holder after taking a gulp. "Mmm..."
She opened the thick straw and stabbed it through the seal of her mango slush. She held the drink to her lips and took a sip. The mango jelly in the mango slush was always good.
"Try." She held it to his lips and he took a sip. "I like it. You can never go wrong with mango."
His jaws moved as he chewed and nodded. "It's good, but I like the Thai milk tea the best," he said shamelessly, and sipped on the Thai milk tea.
For a while, the two of them sat in the car with the music playing from the radio, drinking their bubble tea as they talked.