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beth--b · 2 months ago

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The day started out normal enough.

Steve drove Robin to school, then went and did the open shift at Family Video.

Keith was a dick, the morning dragged on and Steve was counting down the minutes until he could clock out.

At least it was Friday.

As the day minutes and hours slowly crept by, Steve began to feel off.

He wasn't quite sure what was wrong exactly, he just knew he didn't feel quite right.

Nevertheless he continued on with his shift, watching the minutes tick by on the clock.

Finally he was done.

Pushing his sweaty hair off his face Steve clocked out, waved absently to Keith, and walked out into the warm Summer air.

Maybe that was the issue, he was too warm. Wouldn't be that surprising if Keith had turned down the air conditioning in the store just to be an asshole. That would explain why he was so warm, would explain the weird feeling in his stomach too.

Deciding that was the problem Steve headed to his car so he could go pick Robin up from school.

The drive to the high school was uneventful and Steve pulled into the parking lot just as the bell rang and students starting pouring out.

He rubbed at his eyes, he was wrecked but he had Robin, Eddie and the rest of the party coming over for movie night so after he picked Robin up they had to run past the store to grab snacks.

"Hey dingus, I see you survived the day at work without me,” Robin said as she practically threw herself into the passenger seat, throwing her bag onto the backseat.

"Hey Robs, sure did. I wasn't even mean to Keith once.”

"Holy shit that is impressive. Eddie wanted me to tell you he'd be ‘round with the kids about 5. We getting snacks now or later?”

"Now. Once I'm home I'd rather not go out again.”

"Sure thing, Melvad's it is then.”

Steve just nodded, putting the car in drive and pulling out of the school parking lot.

Robin started chatting away about what happened at school that day while Steve mostly just hummed every now and then and nodded when it seemed appropriate.

Honestly as long as people were leaving Robin, Eddie and the kids alone, Steve couldn’t care less about who was dating who and who was going to what college. Robin and Eddie, not to mention Nancy, were all about to graduate in a few short weeks. Eddie had been granted an exception on his absences while healing in the hospital and would finally graduate as the ‘hero of Hawkins’ after the feds spun a story that painted Eddie as the good guy who rescued Max from a serial killer.

He’d only been back at school a week and thankfully nobody had bothered him. After all the shit that had happened just a few short months ago Steve was nothing but happy for the guy. Their newfound relationship status might have something to do with that happiness as well.

Right now he wasn’t feeling very happy. Honestly that weird off feeling he had earlier was getting worse. His stomach was aching, nothing too terrible just enough to be uncomfortable, and he still felt too warm. Not to mention the fact he felt like he could happily pull over and have a nap in the middle of the afternoon. He didn’t know what was wrong with him today but he couldn’t let it ruin the night.

They all needed a night to just hang out and relax and he wasn’t going to let that fact that he was feeling a little out of sorts stop ruin the night.

He let Robin steer them through Melvad’s when they made it there, followed her lead on snacks and threw in just a few of the others favourite things, Max’s favourite chips and Eddie’s favourite chocolate bar.

Before he was really aware of it they were getting back in the car, Steve wincing as he sat back down.

Of course Robin would notice.

“You alright there dingus?” The words seemed normal enough, but he could see the concern in her eyes when he turned to look at her. He hated to see Robin worry, so Steve decided he needed to reassure her.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m alright, just moved wrong I guess.”

She looked doubtful for a brief moment before rolling her eyes. “Turning into an old man before my very eyes.”

“Hardy har har. Laugh it up. You’ll be a high school graduate soon too, and then you’ll be seen as a boring old adult just like me.”

She smacked his shoulder, “You take that back! I will not be boring or old! Anyway I’ll always be younger than you!”

The drive back to his place was short enough and soon they were getting out of the car and taking the snacks into the house. He’d already stocked up on beer for him and Eddie, Robin too if she wanted and grabbed some soda for the kids. They just needed to order some pizzas later and they’d be set.

They settled on the couch and turned on the TV, Robin rifling through the movie selection and picking one at random. She put it into the VRC and pressed play before moving back to sit on the couch.

By this point Seve was feeling quite sore. His side was hurting in a dull but persistent way and he would honestly have gone and climbed into bed if he could.

He needed to wake himself up before Eddie and the kids arrived.

“Hey Robbie, I’m gonna go take a shower before everyone else gets here. You good here?”

She nodded absently, caught up in whatever movie she’d put on. Steve honestly had no idea what they were even watching. He’d been paying no attention at all.

Standing up proved to be a bigger chore than it should have been and he found himself holding his side as he hauled himself off the couch.

Robin glanced at him, but before she could say anything Steve managed to get himself up and quickly headed out of the room and upstairs. He wasn't sure what was wrong but he was starting to wonder if there was more to it than he first thought.

xxxx

Steve took his time in the shower. By the time he'd made it up the stairs and to his room he felt nauseous and his side was throbbing. He really hoped he wasn't getting a stomach bug.

So in hopes that a nice long shower would help ease the pain he stayed under the warm spray far longer than he normally would if Robin was over. He was tempted to sit down on the floor but he was just a little worried he wouldn't be able to get back up again.

Eventually he convinced himself to turn the water off. Eddie would be there soon, which meant the kids would also be there soon. He needed to get the snacks organised, and grab some extra pillows and blankets so everyone could get comfortable while they watched movies.

He stepped out of the shower, wincing as he bent down to dry his lower body.

Seriously, what the hell was wrong with him today?

He threw on the easiest to manage sweatpants he could find, pairing it with a worn out shirt of Eddie's that had been left behind at some point in the past. Dressed, though still feeling like shit, he made his way back downstairs.

As he reached the last step he had to pause, holding his side trying to ease the pain, he stood for a moment just trying to breathe through the pain.

"Finally!” Robin called. I was starting to think I'd need to send out a search party. What took you so long? Actually, on second thought, don't answer that.”

He couldn't bring himself to answer, instead focusing on walking to the living room while his side ached and throbbed.

As soon as he made it to the couch he all but collapsed onto the seat.

Robin had looked ready to make another joke about how long he had taken until she actually looked at him.

"Ok Steve, what the fuck is going on with you? I thought you'd just had a bad day, but there's something else. Spill.”

Knowing there was no point lying, and feeling too awful to even try, he settled for a version of the truth.

"Just feeling a bit off. Maybe I should just go to bed and then you, Eds and the kids can watch movies without me. I don't want to get anyone sick”

Robin frowned before leaning closer and pressing the back of her hand to his forehead.

"Hmm, you do feel kinda warm.”

Before she could say anything else they heard the front door opening, followed immediately by Dustin loudly arguing with Mike about whether or not pineapple belonged on pizza.

Momentarily given an out, Steve stood and headed to the front door.

At least he tried.

The pain when he stood was enough to take his breath away, leaving him gasping as he pushed a hand against his right side. Robin quickly stood as well hovering nearby, hands out as though she wanted to touch but was too scared to do so.

Dustin, Mike, Lucas and Will all walked in to see Steve pale and grasping his right side while Robin looked ready to burst into tears.

The four younger teens all stopped in their tracks causing Eddie, who had been the last through the door, to run into Will's back.

"What the hell baby Byers? Why'd you-”

"Steve!” Dustin cried out, cutting Eddie off.

"Steve? Shit, Steve!” Eddie shoved the kids out of the way, rushing to Steve's side and wrapping an arm around him. Eddie helped Steve back onto the lounge before kneeling in front of him. With Steve still trying to get his breathing under control he turned to Robin for answers. "Robin. What the fuck is wrong with Steve?”

Robin bit her bottom lip, glancing between Eddie and Steve.

"I don't know. He said he was feeling a little off and he felt like he might have had a temperature, but I don't really know anything more.”

"Ok. Ok, Steve? Stevie? You with me now?”

Steve gave a low groan, looking up at Eddie through the hair that fallen over his face.

Eddie took in Steve's flushed cheeks and otherwise pale face. He took note of where Steve was clutching at his right side. He was pretty sure he knew the problem, had his own scar to remind him, faded and pink years after the surgery. But he remembered how he felt before Wayne had taken him to the hospital. Before he had his appendix out. Decision made he pressed a kiss to Steve's clammy forehead before standing back up and heading to the house phone in the kitchen.

He ignored the kids' worried chattering and called the only adult he really trusted.

The phone rang once, twice before Wayne's familiar voice answered.

"Hey Wayne, I gotta be quick but I think Steve has appendicitis. I just want to check I'm remembering right.”

Wayne cursed before telling Eddie to list the symptoms.

"I just got here, but he's holding his right side and can hardly move from the pain, he's feverish and Robin said he mentioned he wasn't feeling well.”

"Yep son, sounds about right. You gonna be alright to get 'im to the hospital? I can meet you there.”

Eddie nodded before remembering Wayne couldn't see him. "Yeah, yeah. I'll get him there. We'll leave soon. Thanks Wayne.”

Eddie put the phone back in its cradle, pushed past the gaggle of worried teenage boys, plus Robin, and went straight back to Steve's side.

"Steve, baby, I'm about 99% sure you have appendicitis. We gotta get you to the hospital alright?”

Steve moaned and shook his head but Eddie just sat beside him and wrapped an arm around his waist, careful to avoid the area Steve was still holding.

"Sorry sweetheart, not up for negotiation.” Without looking away from Steve, Eddie called out to the kids. "Dustin, call your Mom. let her know I'm taking Steve to the hospital and ask her to come take you lot home. Robin, I assume you're coming with me?”

"Of course,” she replied as Dustin rushed from the room.

He appeared moments later and confirmed his Mom was on her way and he'd lock up so Eddie could leave. “Just look after Steve please Eddie.”

"Thanks Dustin. Children listen to Mrs Henderson and be good. I gotta go get your babysitter seen to.”

With much coaxing Eddie and Robin managed to get Steve to his feet and slowly made their way to Eddie's van, Lucas running ahead to open doors for them.

By the time they got Steve into the van, with a pit stop to throw up in the bushes on the way, Steve was sweaty and struggling to stay upright.

Robin jumped in the back and Eddie into the driver's seat and they were off. They passed Mrs Henderson on the way down the street and Eddie idly wondered how long until Dustin was waiting at the hospital with them.

By the time they reached Hawkins General, Steve was quietly crying while holding on to Eddie's hand whenever he didn't need it for driving. It seemed that Wayne had made it there first because he'd only just jumped out of the driver’s side door when a nurse came out with a wheelchair.

"Eddie Munson with Steve Harrington?” she questioned.

"Yes, thank you.”

She turned and opened the passenger door, asking Steve some questions and probing at his abdomen. He cried out as she reached his right side and she nodded to herself.

"Alright Eddie, we need to get your friend out of the car. Can you help?”

"Of course, just tell me what to do.”

Between the two of them they get Steve out of the car and into the wheelchair. The nurse had sent Robin inside to start to help Wayne with the paperwork and then once Steve was situated they followed her inside.

Thankfully it wasn't too busy and Steve was taken straight to triage.

They got him into a bed quickly and gave him some morphine for the pain. A cannula was put into the back of Steve's hand and then he was briefly taken away for an ultrasound. Eddie paced nervously the whole time and wondered if Robin knew what was going on out in the waiting room.

Finally a doctor came and confirmed that Steve did have appendicitis and would be headed to surgery shortly.

Once the doctor was gone Eddie pulled the curtain closed and pulled Steve into a careful hug.

"See you after surgery sweetheart. I love you.”

With the morphine working to relieve the pain Steve was able to hug Eddie back, pressing slightly uncoordinated kisses to Eddie's cheek.

"Hmm love you too Eds. Will you be here when I wake up?”

"Course I will. Me and Robbie. I'll let her know what's happening and we will see you a little later.”

Eddie pressed a soft kiss to Steve's lips, then another, before he pulled away.

Then somebody came to transfer Steve to another bed, Eddie gave him a wave goodbye and went out to the waiting room.

"Is Steve ok? What's happening?” Robin grabbed his arm and pulled him over to where she’d been sitting as soon as he had walked through the door.

"He will be. He's gone for surgery. We'll see him in a few hours. Just one rogue organ down.”

Robin practically collapsed back into one of the hard plastic chairs that seemed to grace every hospital in the country. “Oh holy shit I was so scared. How did you know what was wrong?”

Eddie just pulled his shirt up, revealing his own appendectomy scar. “Been there and done that Rob.” Eddie sat down beside Robin and she lay her head on his shoulder. The two of them settled in for a long wait.

XXX

The next few hours passed fairly uneventfully. Wayne called Claudia Henderson and gave her an update, letting her know Eddie would call when Steve was out of surgery and could have visitors. They bought a few snacks from the vending machine but mostly they just sat and waited.

When Steve was finally out of recovery and in a room Eddie and Robin were allowed to sit in there and wait for him to wake properly. He had apparently woken once in recovery but had fallen asleep again soon after.

Trading in one set of uncomfortable chairs for another, the pair settled in to wait for Steve to wake up.

After what felt like an age, but had probably only bene another half hour or so, Steve’s eyes blinked open.

“Hey sleepy head,” Eddie said, moving to Steve’s side and kissing his cheek.

“Eds? Hi,” Steve still sounded half asleep but Eddie was honestly just happy to see him awake.

Robin moved around to Steve’s other side and gave him a light punch on the arm, ignoring Steve’s ‘ow’ and instead leaning over to hug him. “Don’t scare me like that again dingus!”

“Ok Robs. I’ll try.”

Robin rolled her eyes and hugged him again before pulling back.

“Ok I’ll go update Henderson and your other children. Behave while I’m gone!” She turned and left the room leaving Steve and Eddie alone.

“Hey baby how are you feeling?” Eddie brushed Steve’s hair back off his forehead, before bringing his hand back down and clutching at Steve’s own.

“Not sure. Sore I think, can't really tell yet. Mm tired still.”

“Ok Stevie, get some sleep. Love you.”

“Love you too Eds.”

#steddie #sicktember #sicktember prompt 5 #eddie munson #steve harrington #robin buckley #stranger things #my fanfiction #my writing #stranger things fanfiction #sick steve harrington #sicktember 2024

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millie-mar · 3 months ago

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the stranger things i hate about you

chapter four: the hideout pt1

| 1k words | 10 things i hate about you!steddie |

Throughout the eighteen years that he’s been alive, Steve met many people. He made friends, dated a bit, hooked up a lot, but in the end it was all pointless. He realised that he brings people pain, so he isolated himself, but now, he has to go back to that extroverted Steve Harrington and go out with Eddie Munson. He’s mostly concerned with the fact that Eddie seems to not buy his bullshit and definitely suspects something.

Steve’s thoughts linger on that as he leaves the school building a bit later than others. He couldn’t stop thinking about his earlier exchange with Eddie, so much that he lost track of time and didn’t realise everyone from his class already left long ago. So now he’s alone on the school’s parking lot. He stops in his tracks and looks up at the sky, then closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in and out.

‘Finally. I thought I’d have to wait here for the rest of the day!’ Robin’s voice interrupts Steve’s thought process and causes him to jump slightly.

‘Dammit, you couldn’t give me a warning?’

‘Isn’t me speaking up enough of a warning?’ Robin approaches Steve, patting his back. ‘So… How did it go?’

‘How did what go?’ Steve knows what the girl means, but he was confused as to how she knew about his conversation with Eddie.

‘Don’t play dumb. I pay you to do something for me, so of course I’m going to track your progress.’ Robin says, her chin up and an uncomfortable smirk on her face, she’s definitely not used to saying something like that.

‘We’re meeting tonight.’ he sighs.

‘Tonight? Grea-‘ she stops, thinking for a second ‘Wait. Tonight?!’ she exclaims ‘But he’s meeting Jonathan and Nancy tonight!’ At the mention of the latter name, Steve halts and looks slowly at Robin.

‘Nancy? With Eddie?’ He cannot believe that. He’s never even seen the two together, and since the girl broke up with him after the ‘incident’, he has kept his distance, but he has never stopped caring about her, and liked to check in on her now and then. ‘How do you even know that?’

Robin’s expression changes completely, her mouth slightly open, eyes wide, but it’s temporary and she regains composure. ‘I have my ways.’

Steve decides not to question it for now, he’s not really in a position to do so, so he changes the topic. ‘What am I supposed to do then? Eddie said he’ll pick me up at seven, and we’re going to a bar.’

‘What bar?’ Robin immediately jumps in, determination on her face.

‘I’m not sure, the name kind of slipped in to the conversation.’ he replies, deep in thought. ‘Steakout? Hangar-‘

‘Hideout?’ she interjects.

‘Yes! That’s the one.’

‘Hideout is an inclusive bar. It’s on the edge of town, kind of in the middle of nowhere.’ Robin takes her phone out to check the exact address.

‘An inclusive bar?’ Steve questions, confused.

‘Yeah. A gay bar.’ Steve’s eyes look like they’re going to fall out his sockets. He’s never been to a gay bar, maybe because he’s not gay. But does this mean that Eddie is? ‘Well, technically an LGBTQ bar, but saying gay bar makes it easier for people who are not part of the community to understand.’

Robin types something on her iPhone, scrolls couple times and gives her phone to Steve. ‘Here. You need to find out what the guy likes if you want to befriend him.’ The way she said ‘befriend’ stuck to Steve. What exactly does Robin expect him to do?

Steve took the phone and looked at the page opened on the screen. It was Eddie’s instagram profile, full of posts. Most of them don’t even show Eddie’s face, but one; a picture of Eddie, smiling brightly with his arms around a guy who’s covered his face and… Nancy. Steve opened the post, the caption saying ‘night out w my ppl🤘🏻’ . He never thought Nancy would be friends with someone like Eddie, she’s always been a preppy girl. While Eddie, he’s a punk, he smokes, does drugs, drinks, he’s in a band, hangs out with other weirdos from younger years.

Steve’s jealousy clouds his judgement. He’s seen how close everyone at Eddie’s table is in canteen; they laugh, chant and even hug each-other. While his table would chuck things at other people and laugh at someone else’s despair. He wants that connection with someone, which is why he fell in love with Nancy. She gave him that feeling. But now she’s got that connection with Eddie. A pang of pain hits Steve in the chest. The thought of her and Eddie doing the things they did fills him with annoyance and a bit of anger.

He will befriend Eddie, and whether it’s to make a change or be a prick and destroy what he has with Nancy, he’ll decide later.

After scrolling the posts on Eddie’s profile for the past ten minutes, Steve gathered the basic things that Eddie likes; metal music, his guitar, his band, D&D, his friends and a dog that he apparently has. Most of these things Steve already knew. He gave Robin her phone back, the girl already at the edge of losing her mind from the wait.

‘I’ll need your help.’ Steve says, an idea forming in his head.

‘With what?’ Robin couldn’t be more confused, seeing a little smirk on Steve’s face.

‘I need to get his attention somehow, and make it believable I wanna be friends, right? Be at mine for six. Bring your makeup, and any punk jewellery you can find.’

With that, Steve leaves Robin on the parking lot, dumbfounded, still not able to comprehend what is happening. Slowly, she smiles to herself, ‘Welcome back Harrington.’ She mumbles and leaves the place not long after, hand in her pockets and the smile not leaving her face.

<- last | next ->

#stranger things #steddie #steddie au #the stranger things i hate about you #stranger things fanfiction #steve x eddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #fanfic #angst with a happy ending #modern!steddie #modern!au

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artiststarme · 2 years ago

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Steve's Vecna Vision

The angst continues! This is kind of based on a prompt from @newtstabber. I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

~*~*~*~

They were all in Max’s trailer trying to come up with a plan to kill Vecna. Robin was ranting, the kids were talking over everyone, and Dustin was being bossy as per usual. Meanwhile, Steve was tuning in and out of the conversation. The bites in his sides throbbed with every heartbeat, his head pounded mercilessly, and the ligature marks around his throat pulsated. He was trying to push through the pain and stay strong for the rest of the group but it got harder with every minute.

He tuned back in as he heard Dustin call Vecna/Henry/One defenseless.

“Defenseless? Yeah? What about the army of bats?” He pointed out, gesturing to his own cut up neck.

“Right, true. We’ll have to find a way past them, distract them somehow,” Dustin nodded as if his plan wasn’t a suicide mission.

“And uh, how do we do that exactly?” Eddie asked, wiggling uncomfortably in his seat.

“We give up Steve,” Dustin said matter-of-factly.

Steve’s head snapped up to look at him, “What?”

“We don’t really need you, Steve. This isn’t a basketball game or a ride to the arcade so you’re kind of useless,” he said monotonously. Dustin’s face was as calm as ever and looking around to the other faces in the room, they looked the same.

Even Robin and Nancy appeared as if they were considering the idea.

“Dustin? What do you mean give me up? Is this like a bait situation like the junkyard, what do you mean?” Steve asked him desperately, he was begging for any other explanation than the one that was forming in his mind.

Was his life really so meaningless that the kid he considered a brother would sacrifice him just like that? He didn’t even mention any other possibilities, his mind went straight to ensuring Steve’s death. Wow, great friend that kid.

“C’mon Steve, you’re the only one who no one would care about if you died. Your parents haven’t been home in what, eight months this time? They won’t even notice if you don’t go home,” Steve’s eyes narrowed at Dustin. He never told him about his parents.

He looked around the living room of the trailer. All of his friends looked like them but there was something off. Robin and Eddie were completely still. They were never completely still, too full of energy to never not be fiddling with their hands or talking a mile a minute. And Robin wouldn’t entertain the idea of using Steve as bait. She was his Platonic with a capital P soulmate, there was no way she would be letting Dustin talk to him like that.

“Vecna? Or do you go by One? Henry? I don’t really know what to call you.” Steve spoke with confidence but the anxiety running through his veins only made his body hurt more.

“Steve Harrington, how do you know my name?” A booming voice trilled around him.

“It doesn’t matter how I know, we’re going to stop you.” All of a sudden, the facades of his friends disappeared and in their place stood a towering figure. His body was shed of skin, fully exposed muscle and gore. His hands were elongated fingers with claws still dripping with the blood of his past victims.

“You cannot stop me. But you’re welcome to see what will happen if you try.”

Then, Steve was alone in a darkened version of the trailer. Vecna/Henry/One was gone. The sky outside was dark and thundering with flashes of red lightning. Animalistic squeals filled the air, all too reminiscent of the bats that had decided to make Steve their chew toy just a day prior. He was in the Upside Down.

Steve didn’t even have a chance to try and find a gate or start singing his favorite song in an effort to lift this curse. He didn’t even know if this was real or if he was having a nightmare. He didn’t have time to think about anything before he heard screaming.

“HELP! STEVE HELP! STEVE!”

“Dustin? Dustin?! Where are you?” Steve couldn’t tell if this was real or not. But he could hear Dustin screaming for him amongst panicked cries filled with pain. So, he ran towards him.

What he found would forever haunt him. Dustin was surrounded by demobats, he had his spear in one hand and a shield in the other but they were useless against the sheer force of the hungry bats. Steve watched in slow-motion as the first bat circled its tail around Dustin’s neck and pulled him to the ground. He couldn’t speak as the other bats latched their razor sharp teeth into his neck, his chest, his abdomen, and his limbs.

By the time his feet unfroze, it was too late. Dustin could hardly breath through the thick blood he was coughing up and half of his body had been mauled beyond repair. Steve could do little more than cradle his head as he tried fruitlessly to put pressure on the wounds.

“Dustin, oh my god. Dustin! I’m so sorry, Dustin. Please stay awake, I’ll get you out of here. Please,” Steve begged him.

“Steve, this is your fault,” Dustin whispered.

“What-” He asked brokenly.

“You-you killed me, Steve. You killed me…”

“What? No, no, no, Dustin! I didn’t do this. Please, wake up! Stay awake Dustin, come on. C’mon Henderson, wake up! Please!” Steve screamed and sobbed, he begged for him to come back. But Dustin was gone and he was right, it was Steve’s fault. Because he had frozen when Dustin needed him which cost him his life.

It felt like years that Steve sat there hugging Dustin’s body, crying brokenly in the face of a pain he never thought he could feel. And when he looked past Dustin’s body back towards the Munson trailer, he saw the mutilated body of Eddie Munson laying there. He’d given his life to protect Dustin’s but he’d failed in his quest.

A new wave of tears started for Steve and he screwed his eyes shut to avoid looking at the bodies of his friends that he never wanted to see.

~*~*~*~

Steve felt a pulling sensation in his chest before he fell. His stomach dropped and he gasped before falling to the ground where he hissed in discomfort as a white-blinding pain swept through his wounds.

“Oh my god, Steve?” Dustin pushed past Nancy and knelt down beside him. “Steve, is it the bites? Do you have rabies?”

Steve flinched away from his comforting hands and burst into embarrassingly loud tears. Dustin was alive? He sobbed with a force that shook his entire body and it only got worse when he looked into Eddie’s panicked eyes. Eddie was alive too?

He avoided their prying questions and shrunk away from their searching hands. He didn’t deserve comfort, not after what he’d seen, what he’d done. But he couldn’t shy away from his best friend. Robin fell to her knees at his side and pulled him into an all-encompassing hug. He would be okay. He’d get over this, he’d try to forget the horrors he saw, and he would kill that bastard if it was the last thing he did.

(And it would be.)

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#the angst continues!#the party is really confused because Steve was just standing there and then suddenly he was falling to the floor and bursting into tears #They think its rabies so they're all sad themselves #the plan doesn't work and Steve dies alongside Eddie when the bats come #stranger things #steddie #fanfic #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #dustin henderson #vecna/henry/001

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 1 year ago

Note

AITA for talking bad about a friend to a group of mutual friends?

I (21f at the time) became friends with a woman (31f) due to work. We both started at the same time and felt on the outs. She ended up becoming "friends" with a ton of people there, only to call me on her drive home and talk shit about them. I don't do that fake stuff, I'll be nice and polite and cordial but im not going to talk outside of work.

Anyways, me and this woman, Nancy I'll call her, were friends. I had just turned 21 and she made it a point to get me to have my first drink. It was fine, didn't really like the taste of it but I wanted to fit in. I got drunk but she let me stay at her place no big deal.

Throughout the next year I noticed things were...weird. I should have clued in when she talked crap about other people to me but would talk to them and agree to make plans (she never would follow through).

She started asking me my sexuality. Always. Talking. About. It. She kept claiming I was repressed and I needed to embrace myself, how she would be proud of me. Except the one time I finally told her the truth, I was on the asexual spectrum, she laughed in my face and told me I had something wrong with me.

She then claimed it was because I hadn't experienced sex yet- or had i? That became her next obsession. Virgin, not virgin, half virgin (her words idk). She would constantly ask, even bringing it up in front of other people. It was embarrassing, even if there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

When I say obsessed about these things I mean EVERY TIME we met up outside of work she would bring these topics up (once a week). For almost a year.

There were other small things but I thought I was just being petty or insecure or something. But then the incident occurred. I was at her house and someone we knew was also there. He touched me non-consensually and didn't stop when I made it clear I wanted him to. He would have done more if he could, there was not a doubt in my mind. I was able to get out and get in a different room and lock the door, which he tried to open.

The issue was she knew he liked me. I had just found out that night. She kept encouraging me to drink and I did. I dont blame her for me drinking, that was my fault. I do blame her for leaving me alone with him when she knew I was uncomfortable being around him after he kept flirting with me. I was so drunk I couldn't stand up and she left me.

But she had also drank and I was going to say it was just because of that. Until a week later she got mad at me for kicking the guy out of her house (which I didnt do but I guess he claims i did). She looked me in the eyes and said it would have been my fault if he died cause he also had been drinking. I told her I didn't tell him to leave nor did I kick him out. She said that he said I did. I personally didn't care if he claimed I did because I didn't do that, she should believe me as her friend, and I quote "I literally just left as soon as possible because he groped me".

She looked me in the eyes and told me "I don't care if he raped you, he was drunk and it was my house, you had no right to kick him out".

Again, I didnt kick him out. I did tell him he could stay or leave and I didnt give a shit, but I never told him he had to (even if I WANTED him to).

I was obviously very perturbed by this. I stopped being her friend. I did bring it up once a year later when she reached out and wanted to amend things. She took no responsibility for what she said, claimed I was being insensitive. When I asked her how she thought I felt, she claimed she was a recovering alcoholic and had been drinking that entire time and wasn't thinking straight.

Which I could understand for some things she said or did, but what about when she was sober?

I quit being her friend. A few months back, I was hanging out with 2 mutual friends and a girl I had never met. We all were laughing and having a good time, no drinks involved (ever since that night I haven't drank). One of my friends mentioned Nancy and how we should invite her. I made a face and they asked why. I simply said we weren't friends anymore. They kept pressuring me and wouldn't drop the subject.

I finally told them. I said, and I quote because I remember it VERY clearly, "We aren't friends because she's a despicable person. I was groped and she told me she wouldn't have cared if I was raped. She also wouldn't shut the fuck up about my sexuality and my status of virginity, whether I was or wasn't."

The one girl I hadn't met had gasped and comforted me. The other two was shocked but then shared a few things Nancy had done to them. I felt a lil better knowing that these people also felt bad and it wasn't all in my head like Nancy had claimed.

Well, I just got a message from Nancy. Turns out, that girl worked with her now. Nancy was trying to get a promotion and that girl was actually her supervisor. She was denied a promotion based on her actions. The girl used plenty of examples, none that could quite come back to me and almost all related to work i found out. But I guess one of our mutual friends told her I had mentioned something because she knew. She said it was my fault she didn't get the promotion. She then told me that she was struggling with a newborn and how this would have helped a lot and now the newborn may suffer.

I feel bad for the baby as the baby has nothing to do with the parent. I didnt know when I mentioned what happened to the girl that it would cost her a promotion. I feel sick to my stomach thinking that I did the one thing she did that made me mad, be friends to their face but talk shit behind their back.

I have been banned from the company under Nancy's order apparently, which is fine I can go elsewhere it was just nice seeing people I worked with previously. But now everyone knows something went down. Nancy and her fiance are really coming at me for their troubles and I feel terrible. St the time I didnt think I was the asshole but I dont know now. Should I apologize?

AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole #rape cw

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roanofarcc · 8 months ago

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PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO → A WITCH & A LITTLE BIT OF A BITCH

summary: steve harrington x oc

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown.

word count. 3.1k || masterlist

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

previous chapter ← → next chapter

The kids and Sunshine crouched together on the couch and peered out of the broken window to where Steve and Max’s older brother greeted each other outside.

“How did he find out where we were?” Lucas whispered.

“I don’t know,” Max replied with a nervous sigh.

Stepping out of the car, a boy with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and dressed in a leather jacket came into full view. In the dim light from the porch, Sunshine recognized the teen’s face from the Halloween party. She narrowed her eyes in an attempt to get a better view, to make sure she was seeing things right.

“Wait,” she said. “That’s your brother?”

“Stepbrother,” Max quickly corrected. But yeah. Do you know him?”

Sunshine shook her head. “Not really, but I met him at the Halloween party Steve, Nancy, and I went to. He was…” Awful, but Sunshine didn’t really want to say that to Max. Billy and his group of friends had practically surrounded her at the party and spit the rumors that had been circling town about her right in her face.

A scoff left Max’s lips, and she kept her eyes glued on her stepbrother and Steve. “He’s an asshole.”

As they continued to watch, Sunshine grew uneasy. She thought a couple of words from Steve would be enough to get Billy to leave. What she stupidly didn’t expect was for Billy to snap his head in the direction of the broken window and look right at the group. They all gasped before ducking down in an attempt to hide, but Sunshine was almost positive Billy had seen them.

She stood up just as Billy shoved Steve hard enough to send him to the ground and began walking towards the front door. Sunshine cursed under her breath and beckoned the kids off of the couch and tried to get them to wait in the kitchen. There was no way they could explain exactly what they all were doing at Byers home, and something about the boy rubbed Sunshine so wrong that she didn’t want to send Max home with him.

Max only solidified Sunshine’s worries when she muttered, “Shit, shit, shit," over and over again.

Sunshine gently grabbed a hold of Max’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “It’ll be fine. No one is leaving his house except him, and nothing is going to happen to anyone, I promise.” Max said nothing in return, but she held onto Sunshine’s hand a bit tighter just as the front door swung open.

As much as Sunshine wanted to go outside and make sure Steve was fine, she was honoring her promise of keeping the kids safe. Besides, Sunshine had watched Steve take a hit and she knew he’d bounce back.

“Well, well, well. Lucas Sinclair, what a surprise.” Billy’s words echoed through the home uncomfortably. Lucas could have ducked behind Sunshine, he was close enough to do so, but the brave kid held his chin up and tried to hide any trace of fear on his face behind a set jaw and narrow eyes. And while Sunshine admired all of the kids' bravery, there was no need for it. No one, let alone some teenage boy had any right waltzing into someone's home and singling out a child two times smaller than him who had done nothing wrong.

“I thought I told you to stay away from him, Max?”

Max still clung to Sunshine’s hand as she glared daggers at her stepbrother. “Go away, Billy.”

His eyes narrowed dangerously, and Sunshine tightened her grip on the redhead. “You disobeyed me, and you know what happens when you disobey me.” Billy paused and set his gaze on Lucas before he spit, “I break things.” He attempted to grab Lucas, but before he could, Sunshine stepped forward, pushing Max behind her, and stood her ground between Billy and the kids.

A smirk formed on his lips as he looked Sunshine up and down. His gaze made her want to curl into herself, but she bit back her discomfort. “I remember you,” he said, drawing out his words. “You’re the crazy chick from the party. The one who came back to life. Damn, you know, I never did you that drink.”

“You should leave.” Sunshine was exhausted and she just wished Billy would get the hint to leave before he too was roped into something he wasn’t prepared to face.

He didn’t listen, though, and took a step closer to Sunshine. The smell of his cologne was overwhelming, but it wasn’t enough to completely mask the smell of smoke that clung to him. “Ah, here’s the thing, sweetheart, I’m not the kind of person that takes no for an answer.” His eyes flickered to Lucas before they fell back onto Sunshine. “When I’m done here, I’ll take you out.” The smirk didn’t leave his face.

“You’re not going to do anything here.” As long as she was still standing, no one would hurt any of those kids. Sunshine had spent most of her life watching children who had never done anything wrong be hurt. It was going to end there, with Sunshine and the fury of a dead girl who protected her until her final breath.

Billy laughed, a low sound that only widened his smirk. “Yeah, right. And who’s gonna stop me? You?” When Sunshine said nothing in response, Billy rolled his eyes and grabbed her shoulder in an attempt to shove her out of the way. His fingers were still pressed against the fabric of her shirt when she balled up for opposite hand into a fist and punched him square in the jaw.

Maybe the act of violence was a little uncalled for, but her powers seemed too extreme and were pretty much shot, and the way Billy looked at Lucas made her blood boil in anger that she hadn’t felt since she was back in the Lab. She wanted his attention on her, not the kids. Punching him seemed like the way to gain it, and boy did she.

The smirk was punched clean off his face as she stumbled back. A red mark grew on his skin where her fist connected, and a scowl stretched across his lips. “You’re so dead.” Billy balled up his fist and readied to swing on Sunshine, but one of the kids tugged frantically on her wrist and pulled her just out of his immediate range. He took a hurried step toward her, anger glowing in his eyes, but his shoulder was grabbed roughly by Steve.

Steve spun Billy around as he said, “No. You are,” and landed a punch right to Billy’s nose. A loud ‘crack’ sounded before blood started to pour from Billy’s nose.

Sunshine’s eyes widened in surprise. Her knuckles ached from her punch and her heart raced, unsure of what was about to happen between the two boys.

Another smirk found its way onto Billy’s face as he wiped the blood from his nose and let out a dry laugh. “Looks like you’ve got some fire in you after all, huh? I’ve been waiting to meet this King Steve everyone’s been tellin’ me so much about!”

Billy was close to Steve, too close for comfort. “Get out,” Steve said, his voice low as he pushed Billy back. No one except Billy wanted a fight. There was a haunting kind of rage that flashed in his eyes, almost animalist, as he swung his fist toward Steve. Luckily, Steve dodged the punch and landed one to Billy’s gut.

“Yeah! Kick his ass, Steve!” Dustin cheered as the two teenage boys began to throw punches back and forth. Dustin, Lucas, and Mike all cheered Steve on while Max and Luke stood scarily still. Sunshine couldn’t find it in herself to utter a word. Her heartbeat was in her ears, but she tried to focus on the kids and kept them out of the fury of flying fists and bloodied knuckles.

Steve gained the upper hand in the fight. He landed hit and after hit and dodged almost every punch that came his way. And while Sunshine was glad, the display of violence that she had no control over made her nervous. She was used to having the upper hand; she was used to being the one in a fight, not watching from the sidelines.

Billy groaned in pain as Steve hit his already fractured nose. He backed into the kitchen counter, holding his nose as blood dripped down his fingers.

For a moment, relief filled Sunshine. She thought the fight was over. She thought Billy would give up and go home in his battered state. But that relief was gone almost as quickly as it came. Steve caught his breath and spared one look toward Sunshine and the kids. They all missed the way Billy’s fingers caught the edge of a plate left on the counter. Before anyone could do or say anything, Billy brought the plate down hard against the back of Steve’s head. Glass shattered over his skull and a series of screams echoed throughout the home as Steve stumbled backward, clutching his head.

Sunshine’s breath caught in her throat as worry froze like ice in her veins, keeping her rooted in place. The fight escalated so quickly it was dizzying. Billy stalked over to Steve’s hunched-over figure and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. “No one tells me what to do,” Billy said before he headbutted Steve as hard as he could and sent him to the floor. Another series of screams bled together, but Billy ignored all of them as he straddled Steve’s limp body and delivered a series of blows to Steve’s face. Blood flung from Billy’s knuckles and seeped out from Steve’s split-open skin.

“Stop! You’re gonna kill him!” Dustin yelled. You’re gonna kill him. Those four words managed to knock Sunshine out of her fear-filled daze.

Seeing Steve on the ground, unmoving with his face a mess of blood and cuts, mixed with the series of pleas and screams from the kids, flipped a switch inside Sunshine. Her fear melted into rage. The image of Three’s figures crumbled against the ground as a soldier beat him to death kept on replaying inside her head. Sunshine did nothing to help him; she had watched from behind a locked door as the boy became a bloodied mess of broken bones. She couldn’t have saved Three, but she’d be damned if she didn’t save Steve.

She rushed forward into the one-sided fight and wrapped her shaking hands around Billy’s arm in an attempt to pull him off of Steve, or at least end his steady stream of hits. She planted her feet and desperately tried to get him to budge.

Billy shot her a hard look as she pulled on his arm and swung his elbow back with force. It collided with her mouth and pain was quick to explode in her busted lip. She stumbled backwards as blood collected in her mouth and Billy resumed beating Steve to a pulp.

Her powers were shot to hell, Sunshine knew that, and using them anymore that night had a good chance of doing some series damage to the crossed wires inside her head. But she didn’t care what happened to her in that moment. She refused to let some teenage boy win an unfair fight that no one wanted in the first place.

Sunshine bared her bloodied teeth and held her hands in front of her. Pouring the very last sliver of energy left inside of her into her palms, something mixed between a cry and a yell tumbled from her lips. Pain burned behind her eyes. The quickest flicker of light sparked in her hands, and she wasted no time slapping them over Billy’s eyes. She only held it for a second before her light extinguished, but it was enough to get him topple off of Steve in a grunt of pain.

Sunshine’s world blurred before her eyes. There was an awful, metallic taste on her tongue that made her nauseous. Disoriented, she backed up against the wall to keep herself upright as Billy recovered from being temporarily blinded and stood to his feet.

“What the hell was that?” he screamed. Sunshine remained silent and tried to stay focused. Billy’s raging figure stomped toward her. “Answer me, bitch!” His hands gripped her shoulders, pinning her against the wall.

Sunshine pitifully tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but everything in the house had doubled in her vision. She was sure he was going to pummel her face in like he had Steve’s, but before she met such a fate, a wave of red appeared in the corner of her eye and Billy pulled away. His fingers reached up to his neck, where a syringe had been stuck and emptied. He yanked it out and turned around, coming face to face with Max.

“You little shit.” His words began to slur, and his body started to sway. “W-What did you do?” He took a step forward, reaching out for Max, but before he could lay a finger on her, he dropped to the ground with one last pathetic groan.

Max held Steve’s bat in her shaky hands and stared down her stepbrother with a stormy expression. “From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?” she demanded.

“Screw you,” Billy mumbled, about to pass out as the medicine they had used to knock out Will flooded his veins.

Max swung the bat into the floorboards between Billy’s legs. The monster-blood-coated nails dug into the wood with a sickening crunch, causing Billy to weakly lift his head and stare wide-eyed at what was almost a painful hit for him.

“Say you understand! Say it!”

“I…understand.” The medication won and Billy’s eyes fluttered close.

Sunshine peeled herself off the wall and staggered forward, nearly joining Billy’s on the floor before a series of hands grabbed her.

“Sunshine?” Dustin said her name with worry in his voice, but she said nothing to him or any of the kids. There were too many things ranging around inside her head, but her main focus was on Steve.

“No, no, no,” she breathed out. The kids let her go and she stumbled over to where Steve lay unconscious on the ground. She kneeled at his side and took in the damage Billy had done.

Steve’s face was caked in blood from split open wounds. One of his eyes looked too swollen to open even if he was awake.

Sunshine’s throat was tight with emotion. She carefully brushed a few pieces of hair back from his forehead before she held the sides of his face. “Steve? Wake up. Please, wake up.” He didn’t so much as move a muscle. His chest still rose and fell, but that wasn’t enough to ease the growing panic that constricted Sunshine’s muscles. She also fought the urge to pass out beside him with an ache in her head from the overuse of her abilities.

It all was more of a disaster than she was prepared for.

The kids gathered around Sunshine and Steve, hovering over them with an array of varying emotions painted on their faces.

“He’s out cold,” Dustin said, chewing on his nails.

From where Billy lay passed out, Max reached into his pocket and pulled out something shiny that Sunshine’s swimming head couldn’t make out. “We should hurry,” she said.

Dustin shook his head. “We can’t just leave Steve here.”

Their voices sounded far away from Sunshine. Most of her attention was on Steve. She needed him to wake up; she needed to know for sure that he was okay.

There was a certain level of concern and protectiveness she felt over everyone in their little monster-hunting group. They all mattered greatly to her, so to see one of them hurt and there was nothing she could do to fix it felt a horrible ache inside Sunshine’s chest. It felt as if someone had reached inside her chest and dug their fingernails into her heart. All she wanted to do was fix it, to make Steve wake up and be good as new, but she couldn’t.

Instead, Sunshine wiped the blood from his bleeding cuts with the sleeve of her jacket and tried to stop the overwhelmed tears from leaving her eyes.

A small scoff sounded from beside Sunshine, and it was followed by Mike’s voice. “No way! We can’t take him with us. He’s gonna freak out. He didn’t even want us going in the first place.”

“He just got the shit beat out of him for us!” Dustin protested.

“Dustin’s right.” Lucas leapt to Dustin’s defense. “We can’t leave him. Besides, what if we do and Billy wakes up? He might actually kill him. I think we all can probably drag him to the car.”

Luke gently knocked his shoe against Sunshine’s thigh to grab her attention. “Do you know how to drive?”

It took a minute for her to register the conversation the kids had just had. Then it hit it. Max was holding Billy’s car keys and they wanted to go through with their terribly dangerous plan to draw the monsters away from the Lab where El needed to close the Gate.

Sunshine was quick to shake her head in protest, but the action made the room spin even more. She squeezed her eyes closed to make it stop before answering, “No. We can’t.”

“We have to clear a path for El. Leia can’t take on all of those monsters on her own. Trust me, Sunshine, there’s too many. The only for them to make it to the Gate and back is if we call the monsters away,” said Mike. It was written as clear as day on his freckled-covered face that he was going into the tunnels with or without permission. And she knew the rest of the party, including Max and Luke, would follow him to help El and Leia.

Sunshine slumped back on her heels and wiped Steve’s blood off on her jeans. “I can’t drive.” She had never tried, and her head spun too much for it to be safe for her to attempt it. “How are we going to get there?”

Max raised her hand. “I can. I’ve driven before.”

It was a bad idea. No, it was a terrible idea, but she was too tired to argue and smart enough to know she’d lose. Sunshine wouldn’t let them go alone either. There was no other choice, they were going into the tunnels. She just hoped it would be enough for all of all of them to make it back to the Byers residence in one piece.

Tag List. @sattlersquarry , @leptitlu , @echoing-oursong

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington x oc #steve harrington x original character #steve harrington x reader #stranger things fanfiction #lucas sinclair #mike wheeler #dustin henderson #max mayfield #lumax #stranger things 2

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thestrangestthing89 · 2 years ago

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I think people get so blinded by their obsession with Steve that they completely miss the point of his character arch. He doesn't know what he wants. He has no idea what he is doing with his life, which is fine he's like 19 or something, but it's the entire reason he acts the way he does. We see him talking to Robin in the car in the beginning of the season and he saying how he keeps going on these random dates that are meaningless and only ever about sex and he's not sure that's what he wants. Which leads to his fixation with Nancy. He clearly has an idealized version of her that doesn't match reality because they dated for a year and he didn't know she would never want 6 kids. (The main theme of "forced conformity being a bad thing comes into play here. Conformity is a familiar thing so it's comforting. It's a lot scarier to figure things out on your own and do your own thing, so he fantasizes about what he's "supposed to".) Nancy was very much not into that idea and even called it a nightmare. The way she says his name when they are in the upside-down is the same "let him down easy" tone that El uses with Mike in the pizza place. I would argue that even Steve doesn't like the idea of 6 kids considering how much he complains about having to babysit. He doesn't like getting stuck with the younger kids. He made that very clear this season every time he ditched them or tried to pawn them off on someone else. To be clear - I don't mean that he doesn't like the younger kids. I think he just wants to stay in a peer/friend role rather than one with more responsibility. This probably has a lot to do with all the dangerous situations that they are in and him not wanting to be responsible if something bad happens to one of them - especially after what happened to him and Robin in season 3. Getting drugged and beaten and then needing a 13/14 year old and a 10 year old to rescue you and take care of you has to leave you wanting to not get into those situations around them again. As for Nancy's behavior this season - her vaguely flirting with him like twice doesn't mean anything. Her checking him out doesn't mean anything - Max did too and she's not going to be in a relationship with him. It's also made clear that every girl in town likes him. It's superficial. Nancy was lonely because she didn't know where she stood with Jonathan and the second he comes back to town she doesn't even glance back at Steve. The only time he got brought up again later was Jonathan mentioning him and she responded with the same thing everyone else says about Steve lately - she's surprised he handled things well. It's not a romantic comment. Eddie and Robin have both said this recently too.

(I'm also pretty sure Nancy wasn't jealous of Robin when they were in the library. I don't think her impatience with her had anything to do with Steve. Nancy hasn't had a girl friend since Barb died and hasn't gotten close to anyone female since then. She wanted to go to the library alone. I think she was uncomfortable at first. Especially since when Robin mentions she isn't with Steve and they are just friends Nancy's attitude towards her doesn't immediately change. She still irritated with her the entire scene after when they are researching. Her attitude only changes when she realizes Robin is right and was helpful.) I would honesty be surprised if there are any scenes just with Nancy and Steve next season. The way Robin was was patting his back when Nancy was happy to see Jonathan made it clear he understood he was rejected. They don't need to talk about anything. What would they even talk about? Nothing really happened with them. I can see Steve talking about it with Robin but I don't think Nancy was as affected by their interactions and he was. I think Steve is following a similar arch to El where they find independence and figure out what they like and want. Steve doesn't deserve a girlfriend or Nancy just because he waited long enough. She isn't a prize for good behavior. Him figuring out what he's doing with his life is a win for him. Also just the end shot - they could have easily had Steve and Robin at the cabin helping out and ended with Nancy and Steve next to each other hinting at a future relationship but they didn't.

#jancy #anti stancy

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ramblingdisaster73 · 2 years ago

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Tagged by @chaotictarlos & @bonheur-cafe

Rules: Post the first lines of your last 10 fics posted to ao3. if you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics.

Edging the Bet

TK stepped out of their bedroom, refreshed from their shower, washing the heat and sweat from the Austin heat wave from their bodies, along with a few other things. He spotted Carlos laying on the couch in only a pair of shorts, instantly causing TK to stop in his tracks, smiling when he saw that his fiancé was reading yet another wedding planning magazine. “What are you reading?”

Lunch with Mom (Chapter 7)

“Mom, I am so confused right now.” TK began as he took a seat on the top of the picnic table at his father’s house. He had stopped by once his shift was finished, needing to talk to his mom, grateful that his father and Mateo weren’t at home. “Last time I was here I told you that Carlos is married, well, I got to meet his wife. It did not go well.”

Building Boxes and Walls

TK knew that everyone would probably have killed him if he had done it, but would it really have been so bad if he had said the one word that was forbidden in every firehouse he had ever been in? He would actually love the shift that usually came when someone, typically a rookie, said “quiet” out loud inside the firehouse. The chaos, the strange calls, and best of all – the nonstop action that all of that brings.

It's Me

Carlos sat in the airport lounge, waiting for his flight to New York to start boarding, wishing he could be sitting next to TK on the plane that Carlos had only been able to get two tickets for.

Halfway to Reckless

TK checked his phone for what felt like the millionth time since he had last sent Carlos a text, one that was still unread. Just like the last fifty-eight he had sent since he had startled awake on their couch just past 5:00 AM, feeling like something was off, but not able to put his finger on what.

A Shoulder to Lean On

“What should we do?” Mateo asked as TK shut the door to the bathroom.

“I don’t think he is going to come back out here while we are all still here.” Marjan replied. “We should probably just leave some of the food and head out.”

Nancy agreed that they shouldn’t all stay there, but something was telling her to stay with him. She looked at her boyfriend, apologizing with a smile for cancelling their plans for her to stay at his and Captain Strand’s home. “I am going to stay here. If he comes out and kicks me out, I will call you, but, I really don’t think he should be completely alone right now.”

Soon Though?

The week since Carlos had been kidnapped their home had been full of uncomfortable silence, stilted, but polite conversations, and worry. TK thought he was losing his mind, what little bit that he had left after the past two weeks. They hadn’t talked about anything real, just the weather, the calls from TK’s shifts, and what to eat. TK was drowning in guilt and he had forgotten how to swim.

If He had let him Sleep

TK sank to the couch after Carlos left, thoughts circling in his head. Of course, he fucked up again, wasn’t that all he did? He knew that if anything happened to Iris, Carlos would never forgive him. Knew that it didn’t matter what his intentions were.

The Monsters in my Head are Screaming so Damn Loud

TK carried the platters and plates to Carlos in the kitchen, still confused over what had happened half an hour ago. Carlos’ response of “Iris happened” hadn’t been the most helpful of replies. He wished that was an actual answer, or at least an answer he could follow. Although, he supposed that the same could be said about him sometimes, “TK happened” could have been used as the cause for several events throughout his life.

Measuring Up

The day after dinner with Iris, TK walked into the kitchen of the firehouse behind John, one of the newer firefighters. He found himself looking at the back of John’s neck, reminding of the night before when Iris had asked if he had switched from firefighting because he was short. Until that very moment, he had never even really put much thought into his height. He knew that he was the perfect height for Carlos’ lips, that was really all that mattered.

Tagging with no pressure: @wandering-night19 & anyone else that would like to participate (Let me know if you want me to add you to these in the future!)

#writing games #fic games

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cassiopeiaemiliagaunt · 2 years ago

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Home is a Person | S.H.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader

Summary: Steve catches you in a lie and you’re forced to tell the truth about your home life. However, you did not expect the confessions that followed.

Word count: 1.5k

Warnings: quite angsty, reader has absent parents + an absent brother, hurt/comfort, Steve is a good, gentle friend, angst with a happy ending, lot’s of cursing oops Also, this fic doesn’t have any gendered pronouns towards reader, so it can be read as a GN!reader :))

Author’s note: Did I just write a Christmas fic in the middle of summer? Perhaps. Also, this is my first time writing for Steve so feedback is much appreciated!

Disclaimer: GIF isn’t mine :))

✶✧✶✧✶

“Y/n? What are you doing here? Didn’t you say you had plans with your parents?” Steve’s voice is loud enough to be heard through the headphones connected to your Walkman. You look up at where he’s standing in front of your table, not sure how you are going to bullshit yourself out of this one.

✶✧✶✧✶

It’s 10 p.m. on Christmas and you’re sitting all alone at a diner at the edge of town - the only diner that is open on the holiday. As you have been doing for the last few years. Molly, the nice older woman who always works this shift, has placed your favorite milkshake next to you on the table. “On the house,” she’d insist, as she did every year. In a weird fucked up way, it has become the closest thing to a Christmas tradition you could imagine.

A few nights ago, you and your friends – consisting of Steve, Eddie, Nancy and Robin – hung out, enjoying a movie night. After, Nancy had asked what everyone’s plans were for Christmas and after hearing everyone’s plans to do stuff with their family, you lied and said you’d spend the day with your parents.

Truth is, you haven’t seen them since August. They’re in England now, you think. Or was it New York? You can’t keep track anymore. Ever since you were the ripe age of 14, they started leaving you alone more and more. It started out as a few days at a time. It gradually changed to a few weeks and when you were 15 they fucked off to god knows where for a few months, consequently missing your birthday.

You would say you’re used to it. To the big house and the dark backyard. The silence that rung at night. The loneliness. But you could never get used to it. The sadness of being left alone, of not being cared about by your family, clung to you like a small dagger plunged into your heart. And you were unable to pull it out.

It had all started when your brother left. He was seven years older, but you loved him. And you were under the impression that he loved you, too. Maybe he did. But he didn’t love you enough to stick around. Once he was 18 he left and never turned back. He occasionally called. A quick call to let you know he was still alive. He never called more than five minutes, though.

Then, only a few years later, your parents started to pull away from you as well and the wound your brother made only enlarged. It was then you decided you didn’t need anyone. You carefully built walls around you and you were even cautious around your closest friends, not letting them know the situation with your parents.

So, you told them you would spend Christmas Day with your parents, having a nice meal together and other normal family stuff. You knew that if you told them the truth, you’d certainly get an invite to all of their Christmases, but you didn’t want some pity invite. You weren’t ready for them to know that sad side of you yet, weren’t ready to part from your independence.

And yet, you knew deep down you hadn’t fooled Steve. Every time you told a white lie about your parents - usually because people asked about them - you could see a suspicion forming in Steve’s eyes. He could see how you would get uncomfortable about the topic and as he lived quite close to you, he never saw a car in your driveway, with the exception of yours.

Maybe he noticed because his relationship with his parents is similar. His father was away often, but you knew Steve preferred it. You could tell he and his father didn’t get along from the way he talked about him and how he’d be more on edge during the periods of time his father was home. His mother was home more often and you had the impression they got along pretty okay. He had also said he’d be spending Christmas with her.

✶✧✶✧✶

“Oh, hey, Steve! What are you doing here?” you ask him awkwardly, completely ignoring his question about your parents, hoping he’d drop it.

“I could ask you the same thing, Y/n. Are you here with your parents?“ he asked again. It was obvious the table was only occupied by you. There was only one plate of - now eaten - food and only one milkshake.

“I-, um-,” you clear your throat, “well, um no actually.” You start biting your lips, a clear sign that you were getting uncomfortable with the topic.

Steve sighs. “Can I sit here?” he asks you, gesturing to the seat opposite you. You can only nod. Steve settles down and considers you. The silence that envelops the both of you gets more awkward with the second

“Why don’t you just tell me – us, your friends – what’s really going on?“ he asks finally.

You look down at your hands, not knowing what to answer. He’s onto you and you don’t know what to do next.

“Nothing’s going on, Steve, I don’t know what you’re talk-“ you start eventually.

“That’s a crapload of shit and you know it, Y/n,” he interrupts you harshly. This whole conversation was beginning to trigger your fight or flight response and it seems like your brain has decided to fight.

“Why do you care, huh? It’s my life and it’s none of your fucking business! I really don’t see why you decided to come in here and bother me about it!” you know it’s unfair of you, you know he has the best of intentions, but you feel like you’re being driven into a corner and it makes you lash out.

“I care because I care about you!” Steve matches your energy, clearly not wanting to let it go.

“Why, huh? Why do you?” you ask him, harshly.

“Because I like you, Y/n! I like you so fucking much! Fuck, I-, you’re so amazing and yet you close yourself off and you don’t let any of us help you and we really want to, okay? I want to!” Steve exclaims.

It seems your brain has now decided it’s time to flight.

“I, I gotta go, I’m sorry,” you say, grabbing your stuff. You leave a couple of bills for Molly and practically run out of the diner, ignoring Steve as he yells your name.

You make it outside to your car before you start crying. You’re searching for your keys in your bag, but your eyes are blurry, your bare hands are cold and the sky is black. A sob rakes through your body before you can stop it.

You hear footsteps approaching you and you don’t have to turn around to know who it is. You’re gently being pulled into muscled arms, holding you close, keeping you warm.

“Hey, it’s alright, you can let it out,” he comforts you gently.

You wriggle out of his grip and face him with your tear stained face. “I need you to leave, okay? Because that’s what you’ll do eventually! It’s what everyone does! My fucking brother left! And now my parents! And I cannot go through that again! So I need you to leave now because if you don’t, you’ll make me fall in love with you even more and then you’ll go and I’ll be left behind again,” you yell in his face.

A look of understanding dawns on his face and you realize you just told him about your parents, about your deepest hurt and that you love him.

“Hey, Y/n, I’m not going to leave you, ‘kay? I love you and I have since the second Robin introduced me to you and I can’t imagine ever leaving you,” he tells you, calmly. Like it’s nothing. Like it’s obvious. Like it’s not exactly everything you ever yearned for.

You can’t do more than just nod, not really sure what to do with yourself. “Can I hug you now?” he asks, smiling gently. You nod again, tears still streaming down your face. He wraps his arms around you and holds you tight, whispering I love you in your ear.

You pull your head back from his chest to look him in the eyes and only see the same love you feel. The loneliness still clings to you, but it’s less strong.

His gaze drops to your lips and flicks back up to your eyes. He leans closer, eyes flickering between lips and eyes, quietly asking for permission. You nod and it’s all he needs before he attaches your lips. It feels like coming home and fireworks and cozy movie nights and so much more. It’s more than a kiss, it’s a promise.

When you break away, Steve holds your cold face between his cold hands and smiles. “Let’s get you home, okay? It’s freezing cold outside.”

You feel more at home in his arms than you ever did in that big, empty house. Maybe your home is Steve. Maybe you are home. But you let him guide you to his car, knowing you’ll always be home when you’re with him.

✶✧✶✧✶

A/N: That’s it! Let me know what you think about it ;))

#steve harrington #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington angst #steve harrington hurt/comfort #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington one shot #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x male!reader #steve harrington x female!reader #steve harrington x gn!reader #steve harrington x you

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immortalecstasy-blog · 2 years ago

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You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth 18+

Chapter 12/16 Pairing: Eddie Munson / Chrissy Cunningam Need to catch up? Click Here for Chapter 1

When Chrissy finally woke up, she was mute. People are sympathetic at first, but when she doesn’t magically get better, she slowly finds herself as one of the ‘freaks’. Lucky for her, there’s one freak in particular she really doesn’t mind finding herself beside.

Warnings: Slow Burn, Angst, PTSD, Chrissy still got attacked by Vecna but didn't die, Eddie still got mauled by bats but didn't die, Hurt/Comfort, Abuse

It wasn’t exactly a secret that Eddie was affiliated with Reefer Rick anymore, not after what had happened to Patrick. But with Hopper assuring Mrs Cunningham that Chrissy was with a friend and that Eddie had promised to stay away, he thought it unlikely she would think to look there.

Lucky for Chrissy, Eddie apparently had professional espionage agents in his friendship circle. It had only taken Marie walking down the street to the Wheelers and explaining his idea to Nancy, after that, everything was decided for them.

Marie would go and get Chrissy’s things and bring them back to her house. Marie’s was the obvious place anyway, and it was right next to… the Wheelers.

Nancy would collect her things and go to Family Video and leave it with Steve under the pretence of returning some things.

Who would then take it to Reefer Rick’s after his shift.

It seemed a bit like overkill to Chrissy, but Eddie approved.

“Now how do we get Chrissy out there?”

“We do it while you’re collecting her things.” Eddie said with a shrug, “Take one of Dustin’s radios, let us know if she’s not there, and we’ll have to think of something else. But she’s bound to question you, or watch you like a hawk in Chrissy’s room. Actually, that’s a point, do you want someone to go with you?”

Marie had been fine with going on her own, and Eddie decided he quite liked her. As long as he ignored the last three years where she’d looked at him like something gross on her shoe every time she’d seen him or cackled with the others whenever Jason had mocked him. Cheerleaders, man.

Well, no. All-other-cheerleaders-but-not-his-once-cheerleader.

Apparently, there had also been one part of the plan he had not been filled in on. When Dustin arrived outside Marie’s to be taken back home and for Eddie to grab a few things (he wasn’t going to let Chrissy stay there alone, was he?) he found that Lucas, Erika, Mike, and Will were all stood behind him.

“What is this?”

“Our cover.” Dustin said with such a superior tone that Eddie was tempted to thump him.

“What cover?”

“Steve!”

“Okay, not helping.”

“Why would Steve go to Reefer Ricks?” Dustin asked haughtily. “Everyone knows he’s basically our full time Mom. He’ll pick us all up.”

“And why would you all be at Reefer Ricks?”

“Playing Dungeons & Dragons with you.” Dustin said, not quite adding ‘Duh!’ but implying it all the same.

“No, no, no.”

“Yes, yes, yes! We don’t actually have to play. We’ll just hang out for a few hours, it’s cool.”

“It is not cool, Henderson.”

Marie was looking heartily sick of him already, uncomfortable with several known members of the Hellfire club just parading on her doorstep.

“Eddie, just take them before anyone sees you.”

Which is how Eddie ended up spending what could have been several blissful hours alone with Chrissy, arguing with a bunch of bored children. Will had never been part of one of Eddie’s campaigns and was the keenest to play. Dustin had collected all of his Dungeons & Dragons stuff and even though Eddie insisted he didn’t have a campaign planned, and Dustin had sworn they would only be ‘pretending’ to play, he still found himself sat at the head of Reefer Rick’s dining table with the Dungeon Master’s board in front of him.

Chrissy had found the whole thing more than amusing, which only slightly dampened his sour mood. They were still only halfway through ‘The Hobbit’, and she’d told him that it was his portrayal of the characters that she enjoyed the most rather than the story, so he didn’t think she’s be too bored.

It took just over half an hour to build Will a new character and level it up enough to match the rest of the party, Dustin had told Chrissy she should roll for a character too, but she’d shook her head.

“You can roll my dice.” Eddie told her, “For their enemies.”

Eddie’s usual campaigns could last all year, planned out meticulously with encounters and NPC’s, and though he was annoyed at their antics and was determined that this was only a one-shot, he wanted to do it justice. It had nothing to do with Chrissy being there, like, at all.

He scanned through the box Dustin had brought along, and finally chose an adventure. It was for characters of a lower level than the party, really. But he could just bump the stats for their encounters.

“The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner.” Eddie told them all, his voice low and sinister, “And you all… are invited.”

He skipped through the introductory encounters designed to level up the characters, knowing that they only had a few hours before Steve got there. A one-time adventure did not leave them with enough time for the usual world-creation and intelligence gathering.

So he dropped them straight in outside the Burgomaster’s house, explaining that they had received a letter from him only a few days ago, dated and sealed, requesting their assistance with an urgent matter, in return for a hefty reward.

“A weary-looking mansion squats behind a rusting iron fence. What’s left of the iron gates are twisted and swinging in the breeze. Weeds choke the ground and press with menace upon the house itself… what’s your passive perception?” He asked the table, dropping his narrator voice.

Only Will and Erika had a high enough stat. He pointed at them.

“You two. You notice, against the walls of the house, the growth has been trodden under, forming a path all about the domain. Heavy claw marks have stripped the once-stunning finish of the walls, leaving crumbling stone exposed. You see great black marks staining the walls, correctly deciphering that these were caused by a recent fire. The rest of you? You can only tell that this house is… unloved. Not a pane, not even a shard, of glass in any of the windows. All barred with heavy planking, each plank marked with stains.” Eddie turned to Mike, who was their cleric, “You. You can tell that these stains are in fact marks of an evil omen.”

Obviously, the party attempts to go inside and meet sweet Ireena, the Burgomaster adopted daughter, persuading her to let them in. They are surprised at the rather nice interior, and to learn that the Burgomaster has already been dead for ten days.

“Ten days?” Dustin asked. “But the letter…”

“It’s a forgery.” Erika told him. “It must be.”

Eddie shrugged his shoulders. “I guess it must be.”

Night falls, and that’s when the fun starts, and the wraiths attack, pouring in through the windows despite all their preparations..

“Roll this for me.” Eddie tells Chrissy once he’s jotted down everyone’s initiative rolls in order of highest to lowest.

Chrissy takes the oddly shaped dice from his hand and rolls it out, it clatters onto the table, and she peers over to see a little ‘19’ staring up at her.

“Not bad.” Eddie tells her with a grin, drawing a line in his list under Dustin’s name, who had only rolled a ‘17’ but had a +3. Securing his place at the top of the list.

“Dustin, you’re up.”

By the time Steve had arrived the Burgomasters house was a distant memory. They were now in the evil Count Strahd von Zarovich’s castle, having fought with him first in the foyer, and then in the cramped quarters of a creaking landing, before he had disappeared again in a puff of smoke, the party was now searching the weakened vampire out amongst rooms and rooms of traps and treasures, preparing themselves for the final battle. Eddie wasn’t looking at the adventure guide anymore, only ever glancing down to check stats or make notes.

When Steve arrived, Eddie unceremoniously and completely unfairly let them all fall into an impossible trap, killing the entire party.

“You can’t do that!” Dustin cried out, as chaos erupted all around them and Erika ran her mouth like no middle-schooler should know how to.

“No,” Chrissy whined, touching his arm, “I want to know what happens.”

Eddie had grown used to Chrissy talking to him and didn’t immediately notice the wave of surprise that shot around the table.

“You mean I can’t get rid of them yet? But… Steve’s here.”

Chrissy shook her head, smiling at him. He narrowed his eyes and then tipped his head back, groaning. “Fine! Steve, take a seat man.”

“Did you just—” Will asked Mike, looking at Chrissy.

“Uh huh.”

“But she doesn’t – “

“Nuh huh.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, fine.” Eddie interrupted, “So… scratch that, no one falls into the trap and dies – but I do want a dex save from you all.”

Trap avoided, they had explored the next room, where Will successfully navigated a simple puzzle, opening an old chest.

“Inside, you see various pieces of cloth, clearly protecting the contents from the ravages of time. As you look, you notice one of the pieces of cloth levitating out of the chest. It falls away, revealing an ornate and beautiful sword hilt, the blade long missing…”

Mike gasped and started hitting Will’s shoulder in excitement.

“…from behind you, you feel your longsword rising out of its sheath, you look up as hilt and sword forge together in the air above you, the light blinds everyone in the room for a moment, you can hear an angelic choir chorusing in your ears – and then, slowly, the sword – rotating and displaying its magnificent glory, makes its way to the floor, to lay at your feet.”

A slow grin spread over Will’s face.

“I pick it up.”

“You take it in your hands and know that the legends were true. Quite by chance, you have re-united the pieces and made whole – the sunsword.”

They all cheered, and Eddie laughed, Will still looking at him expectantly. “That is a magical item, young Byers. You get +2 against all creatures, +3 against undead – for damage and to hit, and…” he paused dramatically, “when used against a vampire, this sword flares sunlight on a successful hit, dealing an additional…” Eddie did a drumroll on the table “10. Damage.”

“Holy shit!” Dustin cried out.

“But!” Eddie interrupted, half-out of his chair, “Someone else heard that sweet, sweet music too. Initiative!”

Dice clattered all around the table, and Eddie leant over Chrissy, whispering, “Our monster has advantage, roll it twice. We get the higher number.”

Chrissy nodded and rolled, getting a respectable 16 on her first roll, and then clamping her hand over her mouth on the second. Eddie looked at it and his face split into a wide grin that had everyone else looking nervous.

Eddie looked down at the little ‘20’, and bent over, his hand sliding up Chrissy’s neck as he pressed a quick but heartful kiss into her surprised lips, “You’re amazing.”

She laughed, blushing as Eddie turned to the others. Who were all staring at them.

“Hands up anyone who got more than 20? No? Okay, nineteen? Eighteen?” He kept calling numbers until everyone had declared themselves by raising their hands and they had their order.

Eddie checked everyone’s positions on the map, noting Mike was the closest to the hidden monster.

“I’m going to need you to roll for perception.” He told him. Mike didn’t seem to hear him, still looking bamboozled.

“Wheeler. Perception check man. C’mon!”

Mike groaned.

“With disadvantage.”

Mike rolled a 17 and then an 18. Sighing with relief that both rolls had been high, and that he had a decent wisdom modifier to bump his 17 up to a 22.

It was enough for him to block the worst of the surprise attack, but he still took several dice worth of damage as a ghoul flew at him from out of an undiscovered trap door.

They defeated it. But all the preparation and healing spells had gone to waste. They were almost all down to half their maximum hit points, had exhausted a good chunk of their spell slots, and Eddie ensured there would be no time for a short rest before the final battle.

“The ghoul lies charred and still twitching in the centre of the room, as the entire castle begins to shake, dust cascading from the rafters, the floor beneath your feet starts to break away, the walls cracking open. You’re all still in shock from its sudden appearance and ferocious attack, breathless, weapons drawn – as the ceiling collapses, blocking the door.”

“The trap door!” Lucas yells, banging his hands on the table.

Eddie raises his eyebrows and the others all nod in agreement.

“You race to the trapdoor, not knowing if more ghouls lurk in the dark, but knowing... that they usually come in groups.”

Chrissy held her breath.

“You help each other up, the floor falling away just as the last of the party is lifted into the cavernous crawl space of…” Eddie paused, looking around him. “…This… isn’t an attic. You realise. The trembling of the castle is no longer coming from below you. It’s… coming from above. You’re in a strange stone antechamber, dank stinking tunnels fanning out in every direction.”

“Catacombs.” Mike whispered, entranced. Eddie grins at him.

“You can hear whispers coming from the tunnels, echoes of fallen loved ones, pleas for mercy, taunts at your failures. I need a wisdom saving throw… from…” Eddie examined the stats he had jotted down for each player, looking for who had the lowest wisdom.

“Lady Applejack.”

“Oh no…that’s not…” Erika started, and then sighed, miserable. She brought her d20 to her lips and kissed it, giving a silent but reverent prayer before casting the dice across the table, she closed her eyes, unable to look as the dice landed, and they all leaned forward.

She’d rolled a 12.

“What’s your modifier?” Will asked.

“2.”

The whole table looked at Eddie, their eyes wide. Even Chrissy, all of them silently waiting.

He hissed through his teeth and mouthed, “14?”

Erika nodded; her face scrunched up in worry. Chrissy looked from Erika to Eddie, and then to Steve – who was leaning against the wall, looking entirely uninterested.

“Oh man… Lady Applejack hears the cries of her fallen comrades, blaming her for their deaths, and she knows deep down that they’re right. It was her fault. She’s a danger to everyone around her. They would be better off if she wasn’t here. Can everyone else give me an insight check please?”

None of them rolled higher than a 13. Will failing harder than anyone with a 2.

Eddie had wanted them to be able to talk her around, but the dice just hadn’t gone their way, and so, poor Lady Applejack was hindered by the ‘Fear Effect’, making her unable to willingly move towards an enemy and giving her disadvantage on her attacks. As the party’s rogue, this was a serious problem.

Eddie needed to get them into action as soon as possible – not only to save Steve from his slow and painful death of boredom, or to get them all home before curfew, but to give Lady Applejack the opportunity to re-roll and get herself back into the fray.

They technically took the wrong tunnel, and should have come across a barred doorway, but it was growing late, and Eddie wanted them to have their shot before he called it a day, so he improvised.

Chrissy had been reading the material over his shoulder and frowned when, instead of a barred doorway, they came across a crypt instead.

“The name and epitaph have been clawed off, as if by some mad tormented beast, but you recognise the beautiful stone-carved face of the monument from the oil paintings upstairs. This is the final resting place of Marya Markovia.”

Eddie casually bypassed the encounter they should have had in the next room. A bunch of flying bats, yeah, no thanks, and gave them a low-level spectre instead, giving Erika a chance to make another saving throw, where she rolled… a 9. So, he came at them with a trio of giant spiders to give her another chance. It wouldn’t take long for them to take down the relatively weak arachnids (he hadn’t bumped up their stats to match the players levels), giving her a possible three opportunities to snap out of it – even at the risk of everyone taking poison damage.

A 6… and then a 20!

Eddie pumped his fist, “Yes!”

Erika sighed in relief, grinning. But Eddie soon wiped the smiles off all their faces. His voice dropping low, and urgent as they easily thwarted the last spider and entered the next room.

“A peaceful stillness, a calm amid the storm is felt here. In the centre of the tomb, a white marble slab holds the coffin of—” Eddie paused, “Sergei Von Zarovich.”

The whole table let out a breath, Dustin laughing. Giving the room a perfunctory search – and Eddie kindly gifting them a cache of (weak) healing potions before moving on to the next room.

“A darkness clouds this room, and the essence of evil permeates the very air. The smell of freshly turned earth fills your nostrils, coating your tongue. To the south, there are three empty alcoves, partially hidden in shadow. Settled into the dirt of the floor in the centre of the room, lies a shining black coffin of finely waxed wood with fittings of brilliant shining brass. The lid… is closed.”

After some arguing, Will’s character steps up, and cautiously lifts the lid.

“Inside, is Strahd himself. His waxy skin pearlescent with its paleness. He has been seriously weakened by your previous attacks, and has come back here, to his crypt – reassured in his belief that you could never make it through the maze of the catacombs to reach him here. And yet, here you are. He doesn’t stir.”

“I stab him.” Will decides, “with the sunsword.”

Eddie grins wickedly, ignoring the rest of the party’s pleas for Will to reconsider.

“The moment the sunsword is pulled from its sheath, Strahd’s eyes fly open. Sensing the danger you hold in your hands and knowing that this could be his last desperate grasp for his immortality and his chance to finally have his bride. Roll for Initiative.”

Eddie often deployed just enough plot armour to see his players through, it was part of the fun after all, but now, when they were facing the last encounter, their win or lose moment, that carefully crafted plot armour was cast aside, may the best dice rolls win.

In the epic battle against this first evil, Strahd (or more… Chrissy’s dice) took more than their fair share.

First Dustin’s character, and then Erika’s – dead or dying. Then Mike’s – heroically taking a hit meant for Will, but stupidly leaving them without their best healer.

So there was just Will and Lucas left.

“Strahd looks drunk – dizzy and reeling, your party lies in tatters around you.”

Will attempts to use the sword again.

Chrissy rolls a 4 and Eddie’s excitement grows. But Will rolls a 1.

“Those dice need replacing, man.” Eddie tells him, shaking his head. “You miss. The sword swings wildly, but with a sway that is more luck than skill, Strahd lurches out of the way, his arm coming up to batter you around the back of the head.” Eddie nods to Chrissy to roll, and they don’t get high enough to hit. “But he overshoots, pirouetting and instead turning around to face…Sundar the Bold.”

Lucas sets his jaw, glancing at his character sheet. “I’m going for it. I’m going to grapple him.”

The dead players moan, but Eddie chuckles. Grappling was some of the stupidest maths the game had, but he liked Lucas’s idea. They had to stop for Eddie to find the example in one of his magazines, and then reverse engineer the maths for Chrissy and Lucas’s rolls. His face giving nothing away.

“Aptly named, Sundar the Bold lunges forwards, taking Strahd by surprise he pins him in place. Unable to move, Strahd attempts to break free… Strength.”

Lucas rolls, “16.”

Eddie looks at Chrissy, who rolls the dice and then shakes her head, Eddie glances at it, and wonders if Will has somehow swapped his dice. It’s a 2.

“Strahd flails in your arms, howling with rage, but you have forgotten one thing. You have seen it already Sundar the bold. Strahd – genius though he may be, is also… a coward.”

There are cries of ‘No!’ and “Not again!” around the table.

“Strahd vanishes like smoke between your fingers, until you are simply hugging yourself. But suddenly, the coffin – empty all this time – once again contains his sleeping form.

“Get him Will!”

Eddie lets out a high cackle as Will attacks and then chokes, clutching at his chest.

“The sword pierces Strahd’s chest, his eyes fly open, locking you with a stare that for once shows true fear. The sword glows as if reflecting the sun itself, as Strahd… turns to dust.”

The room erupts in cheers, stopping only when Steve asks, “Great. Can we go now?”

As they pack up, Will comes over to Eddie.

“That was great.”

“Glad you enjoyed it man.” Eddie tells him, grinning as he helped Dustin put everything back into the box. It was only when they had all filed out that Eddie realised, they had been playing for more than 6 hours. Short for D&D standards, but still…

“I’m sorry about them.” Eddie told Chrissy ruefully, getting himself a glass of water from the tap. His throat tickling from the hours of putting on voices and that last high screech.

“I enjoyed it.” Chrissy said, following him and pulling herself up to sit on the countertop next to the sink. “I like all your different voices.”

Eddie flushed, clearing his throat, and taking another sip of water.

“You hungry?” He asked, “Rick hasn’t got anything here, but Dustin raided Mrs Henderson’s cupboards on the way over, so I have... like, snacks and stuff.”

Chrissy shook her head, taking the glass of water from him and setting it down in the sink, hooking her foot behind his knee and bringing him closer.

He slipped easily between her legs, taking her face in his hands, and closing the distance so that their lips met.

He kissed her gently, all too aware how difficult today must have been for, how apprehensive she must feel about whatever came next. It was so easy to just lose himself in the sensation, his eyes closed, stray strands of her hair tickling the back of his hand as she grabbed hold of his shirt and leaned forwards, deepening the kiss.

The little noises she was making went straight through him, drowning him with want, need.

She pushed his jacket from his shoulders and Eddie backed away, breathing heavily. “I don’t want to get carried away.”

Chrissy pulled him back, and he sunk into her lips again, his hands on her waist, a shudder running through him when her fingers ran through his scalp and took his hair into her fists.

When she licked tentatively at his lips with her tongue, he sprang away from her again like she’d burned him.

“I’m serious.”

“Am I going to have to make you roll for perception, genius?” She asked, giggling.

Eddie groaned, the fabric of his jeans pressing uncomfortably into his growing erection.

It occurred to him for this first time that she might think he had engineered this on purpose. Bringing her out here and then insisting he stay with her.

She put her hands out towards him and made grabby motions until he came back within reach.

“Princess,” he breathed, unable to stop kissing her. “That’s…” more kisses. “that’s not why I brought you out here.”

“No?” She asked, pulling his bottom lip between her teeth.

“Fuck…”

He took the back of her head in one hand, pressing a hard kiss against her mouth, pushing her lips apart with his tongue, and resolutely ignoring the chivalrous gentleman that existed somewhere way back in the recess of his mind as she forced his jacket from his shoulders again and he took his hands off of her just long enough to let it drop to the floor.

He hooked one arm under her knee and pulled her close to the edge of the countertop, careful of her arm as she fell against him, welcoming the pressure of her jeans rubbing against his. She wrapped her legs around him, leaving the counter completely as she locked her ankles around his waist.

“Is that what you want?” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, his cock throbbing in time with the heart pounding in his chest.

She nodded, “Don’t you?”

Jesus fucking Christ. What a question.

“Have… have you done it before?” He asked awkwardly, thinking that he personally wouldn’t be impressed with having a dump like Rick’s house as his first time. Not that his has been particularly stellar. Chrissy deserved better though.

Chrissy nodded. She hadn’t had a lot of experience; Jason had been devout in his faith and genuinely believed that sex was for after marriage. But he’d also been a teenager with raging hormones, and so it had happened twice before they’d had a very serious conversation about not letting it happen again. The first time had been… uncomfortable. But the second time, when both of them on the edge of tipsy and in someone’s parents’ bedroom at a house party, had been fun. She had been quite disappointed when Jason had had ‘the talk’ with her the next day.

“Have you?” She asked, genuinely curious. A lot of people were scared of him, most people at school didn’t like him, but she knew him a lot better now, knew a whole new side to him.

Eddie had. He’d lost his virginity years ago to a cougar at a Black Sabbath gig with dyed-black hair and oily red lipstick. It had been a thrill at the time but looking back it made him cringe a little. There’d been a couple of girls since. A slightly drunk fumble with a girl who thought it was cool he was in a band after one of his gigs, and a summer long fling with a ‘customer’ who had been in Eddie’s original year at school, but neither of them had been interested enough to pursue anything when she moved out of state for college, even though they’d both made vague promises to one another.

She’d hooked up with him again when she came back for Christmas that year, smoked half his stash, and then told him she had a boyfriend. Eddie had been more bothered about the amount of his weed she’d smoked, and then later, the pills that had gone missing after she left. It still left a bitter taste in his mouth, especially when he was unable to cough up the money to his supplier and had to dig himself out of that very precarious hole by pawning his uncle’s stereo.

“Once or twice.”

Chrissy raised her eyebrows.

“Couple times.” He conceded, not wanting to get into his sexual history, and not interested in hearing about hers either. “Are you jealous?” He teased when her lips pursed.

“No.” she said, petulantly. Her bottom lip sticking out and making it impossible for Eddie not to kiss her again.

“Are you sure?” He asked when their kissing grew frantic, ignoring how painfully hard he was. She nodded wordlessly, her hands tightening around the back of his neck.

He leant his face away again, his hormones and common sense raging a D&D worthy fight as they battled one another in his head. He could feel how fucking hot she was, even with two layers of denim between them.

“I’ve not got any condoms or anything.”

“I do.”

His eyebrows shot up into his hair, and Chrissy flushed, mumbling something into his chest.

Eddie tipped his head to see her face, “Huh?”

“I put them on the list I gave to Marie.”

“You…you… okay.”

“I didn’t have any at home.” Chrissy continued, blushing, “But I just… hoped she might have some?”

Eddie swallowed, “Yeah.” He squeaked, and then cleared his throat, “I knew I liked her.”

Chrissy giggled, her cheeks still pink.

“If I’d have known what you had planned, I’d have killed them all when we got here.”

“In the game?”

“No, yeah, of course in the game.” Eddie said shiftily, making her laugh again.

“Upstairs?” She asked, and Eddie nodded hastily in agreement.

He put her down and made sure the bolt on the door was pulled across. When he turned around, Chrissy was standing at the bottom of the stairs. A fistful of silver foil wrappers in her hand.

Eddie had died. He decided. He must have. Those bats must have popped his head clean off, because this could not be real.

#eddissy #hellcheer #fanfiction #eddie munson #eddie x chrissy #st fanfic #stranger things #chrissy this is for you #st fanfiction #chrissy cunningham #eddie munson x chrissy cunningham

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opie-taylor · 3 years ago

Text

faith

I am in the “stop hurting TK start hurting Carlos” era of my 911 Lone Star fandom so here have this.

Technically, Carlos was still on his lunch break. He was only walking down this street to get back to his cruiser, which he’d had to park a few blocks down from the sandwich shop.

But there it was, a shiny new Tesla parked right in front of a fire hydrant.

Carlos had just placed the ticket under the wipers when a clearly irate man stomped towards him.

“What the hell? Are you giving me a ticket?”

“Sir, you’re parked illegally. You need to move your car, immediately.” Carlos stepped back from the car.

“I can park wherever I want. This is an electric vehicle.” The man huffed.

“And the planet thanks you, but you still can’t park in front of fire hydrants.”

“It’s not a red zone though, the curb isn’t painted.”

“That doesn’t matter in this scenario, sir. Please move your car, and you can pay that ticket online. Have a nice day.” Carlos crossed to the other side of the street, the man’s string of curses echoing behind him.

Carlos walked down to the intersection, his cruiser a few feet down the cross-street. A woman sitting in an Adirondack in her front yard waved at him.

“Afternoon, officer.”

“Ma’am.” Carlos mimed tipping a cowboy hat, before stepping into the intersection.

The last thing he saw was that same Tesla, speeding towards him

——

“911, whats your emergency?”

“Someone just ran over a cop! I think he’s dead!”

——

When the EMT crew of the 126 arrived on scene the place was already swarming with squad cars.

TK hopped out of the back of the ambulance, and was met immediately by Officer DeAngelo, one of the cops from Carlos’ precinct. They had had a few, brief interactions at med scenes before, and one awkward conversation at the precinct when TK had shown up to surprise Carlos.

“Hey, um, TK maybe you should sit down.” DeAngelo placed a hand on TK’s shoulder.

“What? Why would I sit down, I’m responding to this call.”

“You don’t know.” DeAngelo’s jaw dropped.

TK furrowed his brow, looking past her towards the gaggle of cops standing around the scene. The cops all from Carlos’ precincts.

All the cops from that precinct except for Carlos.

The realization hits TK like a punch to the gut. He suddenly can’t breathe, can’t think, can’t move.

“TK!” Nancy calls out, and TK can see her and Tommy kneeling down over a body.

Carlos’ body.

He backs away, eyes wide, right into the ambulance. He’s hyperventilating, his entire body shaking.

“TK, the gurney! Now!” Tommy yells. But TK can barely hear her, his ears ringing with the sound of his own heartbeat.

“TK, he’s still alive but we need to get him to a hospital, and we can’t do that unless you bring the gurney!” Tommy calls out.

Still alive.

Those words mean everything. Those words are his lifeline.

TK moves on muscle memory alone, the next several minutes a blur until suddenly he’s at the hospital, sitting in an uncomfortable chair, Nancy gripping his hand as Tommy talks to the attending nurse.

And that’s when everything hits him, all at once.

TK doubles over, a heaving sob forced out of his body like a bullet out of a gun, his gasps of breath ragged.

——

Gabriel and Andrea arrive together, panic stricken, and beeline right for TK.

Nancy and Tommy had had to leave, to return the rig and call in B-squad to take over. Neither had wanted to leave TK alone, but there was no way he was leaving that hospital until he could see Carlos.

“Ay, TK.” Andrea wrapped her arms around him as she sat down

“Have they told you anything at all?” Gabriel sat on the other side of his wife, looking ahead towards the doors separating the waiting area from the rest of the hospital.

“Nothing yet, sir.” TK admitted, hugging Andrea back. She squeezed him tight, before sitting back and taking her rosary out from her purse.

“Carlos is a fighter.” Gabriel said, more to himself than to anyone.

Andrea began to pray.

Dios te salve, María.

Llena eres de gracia.

——

The entire 126, plus Grace, baby Charlie, and Izzy and Evie arrive, taking up residence amongst the available chairs in the waiting area.

Owen sits next to TK, who turns and hugs his father tight.

“Still no news.” Gabriel says, again to no one in particular and mostly to himself. Andrea crosses herself, still muttering prayers.

“No news is good news in this case.” Tommy reached over to take Gabriel’s hand. “That means it hasn’t gotten worse.”

“But it also hasn’t gotten better.” Gabriel looks away from the doors for the first time since he sat down, locking eyes with Tommy.

“It will. You have to have faith.” Grace, who is sitting between Tommy and Judd takes Gabriel’s other hand, transferring Charlie to be cradled in one arm. “The Lord is with him.”

“Amen.” Tommy squeezes Gabriel’s hand.

“Amen.” Grace does so as well, letting go to hold Charlie better.

“Amen.” Gabriel whispers, looking back to the doors.

“Amen.” Andrea says, finishing up her prayer before launching into another.

“Amen.” TK says, looking up at the ceiling.

He’d let his own faith lapse a bit, basically only barely acknowledging the holy days. He hadn’t really ever been that observant, only going to temple to please his mom.

But Carlos, equally lapsed Catholic Carlos, was worth remembering the words he’d learned in Hebrew school.

Baruch ata Adonai,

Eloheinu melekh ha-olam,

ha-gomel l’chayavim tovot

she-g’malani kol tov.

——

It was nearing midnight. Grace had gone home with Charlie, and Tommy had taken the girls home a few hours ago.

Mateo passes out coffees, while Marjan grabs snacks from the vending machine.

Andrea rests on Gabriel’s shoulder, still holding her rosary.

TK stretches and stands, sipping his coffee. What Tommy had said about no news was true, he knew it was true, but it had been hours now.

It had been too long with no word at all.

It’s Paul who meets him, placing a steady hand on TK’s back and guiding him over to an isolated corner of the room.

“Breathe, man. Deep breaths. Okay.” Paul demonstrates with deep breaths of his own. TK squeezes his eyes shut as the tears begin to fall again.

——

The sun is just cresting over the horizon when a woman in bloodied scrubs steps out of the doors.

“Reyes?”

They all stand at once, Andrea grasping TK’s hand like a vice.

“I’m his father.” Gabriel says, pulling Andrea with him towards the doctor, who in turn pulls TK forward as well.

“Most of his extremities are broken. He had severe trauma to the spleen and we had to remove it. His ribs are bruised, but thankfully not broken. He needed an emergency transfusion, but his heart rate is normal now.”

“Can we see him?” Andrea asks, shaking.

“In a moment, yes. But you need to know, we had to put him into a medically induced coma. Waking up now, with that much trauma to his arms and legs… it’s better to have him sleep on a light morphine drip than to have him awake on a heavy one.”

Andrea gasps. Gabriel nods, visibly shaken.

TK swallows back another breakdown. He knows doctors put people into medically induced comas for a variety of reasons. And, all things considered, Carlos’ injuries weren’t nearly as bad as TK had feared.

Still.

They end up in Carlos’ room a few minutes later. Andrea and Gabriel take up residence on one side, letting TK sit on the other.

If TK didn’t know better, he’d think Carlos was just sleeping. There aren’t breathing tubes, like the ones TK had needed after the ice, just a cannula and a few wires monitoring his heart rate. An IV connects to a slow-drip bag of morphine. Carlos’ arms and legs are all in casts.

“Mijito. Carlitos. Estamos contigo.” Andrea whispers, placing a feather-light kiss in her son’s cheek.

“Hi, baby.” TK whispers, placing his own kiss onto Carlos’ other cheek.

——

Hospital chairs are the most uncomfortable to sleep in, but TK won’t leave Carlos’ side unless he’s forced out. Andrea and Gabriel haven’t left either, all three keeping vigil in the room.

Andrea has gone back to praying, while Gabriel sits in silence again next to her.

TK alternates between just being there in silence with Carlos and the Reyeses, and talking to Carlos. One-sided conversations about nothing in particular aren’t necessarily the best way to pass the time, but Andrea and Gabriel don’t seem to mind, and it keeps TK from worrying.

Owen had brought by a change of clothes and actual food earlier, but had to leave for his shift at the firehouse. Grace had also stopped by with the girls, who had brought flowers and cards for Carlos.

The rest of the 126 filter in and out over the next few days, sharing stories about Carlos, and bringing flowers and balloons and cards.

——

The doctor had spoken with them a few days ago.

“It’s good news. He should wake up within the next few days. Everything is trending upward, and his recovery from the surgery is right on track.”

“Gracias a Dios.” Andrea crossed herself.

“And then what?” TK asked.

“We’ll need to keep him here for at least another couple days, but then he can finish out his recovery at home. He’ll need someone with him to help with daily activities until the casts come off over the next few months.”

“We live together, and I’m a trained EMT. I can take care of him.” TK assured the doctor.

“We recommend a home care nurse, sir. It’s a 24 hour task until the casts come off.” The doctor passed over a pamphlet. “These are the ones insurance will cover.”

“Thank you.” TK muttered.

And now, here they still were, three days later, and Carlos had yet to stir.

“Hi, baby. It’s me.” TK whispered. “The doctor says you should wake up anytime. So, I don’t want to rush you, but it’d be really great if you could wake up now. Please.”

Nothing. Just the steady rise and fall of Carlos’ chest, and the steady beep of the machines next to him.

“I love you, Carlos. Please wake up.”

There’s a twitch.

“Carlos?”

Another twitch.

“Baby?”

Andrea and Gabriel are now also talking to Carlos.

“Mijo. We’re right here.” Andrea whispers.

“Wake up, son.” Gabriel took Andrea’s hand.

And Carlos opens his eyes.

“Mamí?” Carlos’ voice is hoarse, his eyes squinting in the light.

“I’m right here, Carlitos.” Andrea leans towards her son.

“Carlos?” TK says, barely above a whisper.

“Hi, baby.” Carlos smiles. TK doesn’t bother to stop the tears this time.

“Hi, baby.” TK responds, leaning over to kiss Carlos’ temple, reciting another quick prayer in his head before leaning back.

Baruch ata Adonai,

Eloheinu melech ha-olam,

ha-gomel l’chayavim

tovot she-g’malani kol tov.

——

#911 lonestar #911 lone star #911 ls fic #tarlos #tk x carlos #tk strand #carlos reyes #andrea reyes #gabriel reyes #911 lonestar fic #911 lone star fic #my fic #I pulled the prayers off of Google so if they are incorrect in any way I apologize

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roanofarcc · 8 months ago

Text

PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE → ON THE BENCH

summary: steve harrington x oc

word count. 3.5k || masterlist

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

previous chapter ← → next chapter

Outside the Byers home, in the light of the moon that peaked out from behind the broken cloud cover, Steve and Nancy dug through a pile of junk tossed out from the shed and looked for anything that could be used to burn the monster virus out of Will. A tightness pulled at Steve’s chest the longer they stood in uncomfortable silence. He couldn’t handle it and decided to break it.

“You should go with him.

Nancy’s head snapped upward. “What?” Her curls fell from her pulled-back hair and makeup was smeared lightly under her bright eyes, looking more undone than she usually did. They all looked frazzled after their night which still felt far from over, but she still looked beautiful. And that thought made his chest hurt even more.

“You should go with Jonathan.” The words were bitter in his mouth, but he knew they needed to come out. Ever since their fight on Halloween, Steve knew their already rocky relationship was too far gone to be sewn back together. It had been splintered since Barb’s death, but for a while, Steve thought if they pretended they were okay, everything would fix itself. But it had become increasingly clear to Steve that nothing in their lives would be normal again, and because of that he and Nancy couldn’t pretend they were the same people they had been last year when they were stealing kisses in the bathroom during the passing period. Their lives had split in two, the before and after. His and Nancy’s relationship was stuck in the before, before monstered turned out to be real and people returned from the dead.

He still loved Nancy, and maybe a piece of him always would, but Nancy didn’t hold the same feelings toward him. Steve knew that much. They were over, and maybe that had been since before Halloween but neither one of them wanted to admit it. Something was going on between her and Jonathan, and it stung more than he cared to admit.

“No,” Nancy said. “I’m not just going to leave Mike.”

Steve turned his attention to a small space heater he found in the pile. He toyed with it in his hands, so he didn’t have to look in her eyes as he spoke. “No one’s leaving anyone. I may be a shitty boyfriend, but it turns out I’m a pretty damn good babysitter.”

“Steve…” she muttered as Steve met her gaze and handed her the space heater. A small, sad smile graced his lips. There was an apology written on her face, but he knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t say it aloud, not yet at least. For the longest time, he believed every part of Nancy Wheeler was perfect, but she wasn’t.

“It’s okay, Nancy,” Steve said. “It’s okay.” And it would be, eventually.

There were more important things happening in the world than his love life. Steve wasn’t going to sit there and beg Nancy to take him back and fix something that was a little broken from the start. That wasn’t fair to either one of them. So, he let her go, no matter how much it really fucking sucked. He handed her the heater and watched as she went back inside, leaving him alone to mull over his thoughts.

Running a hand through his hair, Steve sighed and slummed his shoulders as the door shut behind Nancy. If it weren’t for the impending doom that hung in the air, Steve would have gone home and drunk the rest of the beer in his fridge while he felt sorry for himself. But there was no time for that. There was too much on the line and his heartbreak would have to wait until the world wasn’t teetering on the verge of ending.

There was something else too that stirred in his chest, something that left him feeling odd. He didn’t feel as awful as he had on Halloween, and maybe it was because that night already felt like the end of them. The blow of actually losing Nancy didn’t make him feel as utterly miserable as he thought it should have. It hurt. Of course it hurt. Some of him did want to crawl into bed and mull about, but not all of him felt that way. His heartache was mixed with something else, something confusing and conflicting. He didn’t want to dwell on it, not when everyone was preparing to save Will and stop the monsters from eating the residence of Hawkins.

Steve wiped his hands off on his jeans and caught sight of a figure that passed the illuminated window of the kitchen. Sunshine stood with just the side of her face showing, but he could tell she spoke with animation. He assumed she was talking to one of her estranged, superpowered siblings. She looked different than she had the entire time she’d been back home; she wore a kind of smile that Steve only vaguely remembered from their brief childhood together.

Hawkins had a thing for kids coming back from the dead flipping their world on its head.

After all of the supplies were gathered, Nancy piled into Joyce’s car, and they took off to some cabin Hopper had in the woods. Everyone else crowded on the front porch.

Steve lingered back by the front door with Max as they were the two odd men out, and watched the group of Hawkins's very own smartasses and superheroes engulf each other in hugs and bid their goodbyes.

Mike and El, who Steve had gathered had a thing for each other, shared hushed and teary-eyed goodbyes. Sunshine and Luke did the same with Leia, only they spoke loud enough that Steve could hear.

“Be safe, okay?” Sunshine said as she cupped Leia’s cheeks.

“I will be.”

Her brother’s face was serious, and full of worry lines that Steve didn’t think any kid should have. “We’re serious. And if anything goes wrong-”

Leia brushed off his concern. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you.” She tapped the middle of her forehead with her index finger and said, “Just keep an open mind or else I may not be able to reach you.” Her words went a wave of confusion through the group. Steve wasn’t sure he had any more confusion left in him for one night, but he listened anyway and tried to ignore the headache that drummed in his temples.

“What?” Dustin asked, saying what all of them were thinking.

Luke’s icy blue gaze bounced between the group as he spoke. “We can talk to each other inside our heads.” He said it like that was totally normal; Steve felt like he was dreaming.

“But we only use it for emergencies because it’s…” Leia paused, her brows furrowing as she seemed to search for the right words. “You really have to focus and it’s a little, um, complicated, I guess.”

Lucas’s mouth was agape, but he snapped it shut when Max stepped beside him and nudged his shoulder with her own. He shook his head in disbelief as he muttered, “Twin telepathy. You guys have twin telepathy.”

“Cool,” said Max. Her eyes were wide with wonder as she took in everything, despite how terrifying it all was. Steve had to give her credit, she handled everything with much more grace than he had.

“El?” Sunshine called out to the girl, who broke away from Mike and joined her brother and sisters.

Steve hadn’t met El the year prior, but from the little that Sunshine had spoken of her, she wasn’t what he expected. He knew she and Sunshine weren’t actually related, but he pictured El to look somewhat like Sunshine. But El had dark makeup on her eyes and gelled back, short hair that curled at the nape of her neck. She was paler than Sunshine, had wider eyes, and a rounder face. The only thing she and Sunshine shared was the stain of blood on their noses and the little black number on their wrists that peaked out from their long sleeve. Still, they acted like sisters, and Steve supposed they had been through enough together that it didn’t matter if they shared blood or not, they were family.

“You stay safe too, okay?” Sunshine said, hugging El tightly.

El’s voice was muffled in the fabric of Sunshine’s coat, but Steve could make out a quiet, “I will. Promise.”

“Come on, let’s go,” Hopper’s booming voice called out from where he leaned against the front of his truck. “It’s time.” El and Leia joined hands and started toward the truck, leaving the rest of the group to their own devices at the Byers’ home.

The air was thick with emotion, but Steve had faith that everything would work out, mostly because he didn’t know what’d they do if it didn’t.

Once the truck had disappeared down the road, everyone shuffled back inside and started cleaning up the disaster they caused inside the home. The living room was a mess of shattered glass and monster slime, the kitchen was strewn with first aid equipment and stuff from their morse code deciphering, and everywhere else was strewn with weapons and moved furniture.

The kids started to sweep up the glass and pick up the floor while Sunshine and Steve found themselves back in the kitchen.

“Hey.” Steve felt like he hadn’t talked to her in hours. “Are you okay?” He couldn’t imagine what was going through her head after everything that had just happened. It was like they crammed a year's worth of events into one night. It was overwhelming for him, and he was a mere bystander in most of it.

Sunshine nodded slowly, unsurely. “I think so. It just a lot, all of…this.” She vaguely gestured around, but Steve understood. A lot seemed like a massive understatement.

“No kidding,” he chuckled lightly but stopped himself as his eyes trailed down Sunshine’s face and onto the slow drip of blood that continued to fall from Sunshine’s nose, which she tried to hide with a wipe of her coat sleeve. “Your nose is still bleeding?”

Sunshine sighed and twisted her wrist to expose the series of dark red stains on her coat. “I couldn’t get them to work earlier.” Steve assumed she was talking about her powers. He had watched her try to light her hands when the monsters found them, but nothing had happened.

He tried to ease her worry. “You’re probably just tired, right? I mean, you took out a lot of those dogs at the junkyard. They’ll come back.” Steve didn’t even know how she was still standing upright. The fight at the junkyard alone left him achy and tired.

“Yeah, I hope so,” she sighed and glanced over her shoulder at where the kids were working quietly in the living room. “But what if something else happens tonight?”

He hoped to God they didn’t have to do anything else that night or ever again. It seemed like the worst of it was over for their group. “I think we’re just on babysitting duty for the rest of the night. We’ll be fine, Sunshine.”

Her lips parted, ready to say something, but she was stopped by the shrill voice of Dustin shouting across the house. “Steve! I need your help!”

Steve sighed and Sunshine retreated to the living room. The curly-haired kid rushed into the kitchen and began tossing things out of the freezer.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked.

“We need to get the dead Demo-dog into the freezer,” Dustin replied, pointing his finger at the dead monster that had been dragged into the kitchen, coated in a layer of slime and horrifying looking.

He didn’t understand the kid’s fascination with the otherworldly creature. “Why?”

Dustin looked at him strangely. “Because we need to preserve it for the sake of science.”

Steve thought that was absurd, but he supposed he couldn’t argue with that logic. He helped Dustin empty the freezer with a feeling that Ms. Byers was not going to appreciate having the monster stored in her home.

“I can’t believe El’s back,” Dustin said, striking up a conversation. “And that she brought back her and Sunshine’s siblings from the Lab. I mean, it’s just like I said, we have our own team of X-Men now! It’s so cool. Did you see what Leia did to the lights?” Dustin spoke with his voice laced with awe. He was right, it was insane. Steve felt like he was tossed into a comic book.

“And Luke. He’s the one who can see the future,” Dustin continued. “That’s so crazy. Do you think he’s really seen the end of the world?”

Steve’s gaze drifted into the living room, where Sunshine sat on the couch with Luke and listened intently to whatever the younger kid telling her. That was an awful big thing for one child to carry with him. Steve didn’t really even know what that meant for Luke or any of them, and the more he thought about it, the more his head hurt.

Dustin seemed rather unphased, though. “Okay. Grab the Demo-dog.” Steve’s face scrunched up at the instruction and crossed his arms over his chest in protest, earning an eye roll from Dustin. “Dude, just wrap it in a blanket and shove it in the freezer. It’s not rocket science.”

“Fine,” Steve sighed, knowing arguing would get him nowhere. “I just don’t think this is necessary.” He wanted to forget those slimy, sharp-toothed monsters ever existed.

“It just is, okay? This is a ground-breaking scientific discovery. We can’t just bury it like some common mammal. It’s not a dog, Steve. And what if someone dug it up? I’m doing us and science a favor.”

Steve grabbed a blanket that Dustin had stolen from Ms. Byers and threw it over the monster with his face pinched in disgust the entire time. “Alright, alright. But you’re explaining this to Ms. Byers.” He picked it up and cringed at the awful squelching noises the dead monster made when Steve touched it. “Can you help me out here?”

Dustin reopened the empty freezer and held the door while Steve shoved the Demo-dog inside. It barely fit, but after a couple of shoves and the re-adjusting of limbs they slammed the door shut and it stayed. With a breath of relief that at least the thing was out of sight, Steve somewhat affectionately ruffled Dustin’s hair.

As weird as their night had been, Steve would’ve been lying if he said he didn’t take a liking to the smart-ass group of kids he had accidentally been put in charge of. They were brave kids, annoying but in a way that was kind of endearing.

Once they finished cleaning up the kitchen of the monster gunk, the two of them wandered back into the living room and rejoined the rest of the group. Max and Lucas carefully swept up the glass on the floor. Luke and Sunshine spoke quietly on the couch. And Mike paced back and forth across the room.

Lucas glanced up from his position on the floor where he held the dustpan in place for Max. “Mike, would you stop it already?”

He shook his head. “You weren’t in there, okay? The Lab is swarmed with hundreds of those dogs-”

“Demo-dogs,” Dustin corrected.

His friends ignored him. “The chief will take care of her, and so will her sister,” said Lucas.

Max let out a small scoff and muttered, “Yeah, like they need protection.”

“Listen, kid,” Steve started, tossing the dishrag he used to wipe down the kitchen table over his shoulder. “A coach calls a play in the game, bottom line, you execute it, right?” Everyone in the room looked at him with blank stares, like not a single one of them understood what he said.

Mike scowled. “First of all, this isn’t some stupid sports game. Secondly, we’re not even in the game, we’re on the bench.”

“Right. So, my point is…” Steve trailed off, unsure of where he was going. He shrugged and settled on, “Yeah, we’re on the bench. So, uh, there is nothing we can do.” He thought they’d leave it at that; he was very wrong.

“That’s not entirely true,” Dustin said.

“What’d you mean?” Sunshine asked, holding a bloodied tissue to her nose. Steve still didn’t understand a whole lot about her powers, but the fact that her nose was still bleeding worried him.

“These Demo-dogs have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away.”

Steve also didn’t understand much about kids, but he was pretty sure most of them didn’t have some weird supernatural magnet that found them in the strangest of situations. And he was pretty sure most groups of kids didn’t seem to be on the same wavelength every time they spoke to one another. Even Max and Luke seemed to understand exactly what the three boys were getting at, despite them hardly knowing each other.

“Right, so if we can get their attention-” Max started her thought, and it was finished by Mike whose eyes widened with an idea that Steve was sure he was going to hate.

“Then maybe we can draw them away from the Lab and clear a path to the gate.”

“Yeah, and then we all die!” Steve said. He felt like he was stating the obvious, but of course, the kids didn’t see it that way.

“That’s one point of view,” Dustin said.

“No, that’s not a point of view, man, that’s a fact.”

Mike snapped his fingers and said, “I got it!” He rushed out of the room and into the hall, where he crouched down beside a part of Will’s elaborate map that was taped to nearly every surface of the home. “This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel. So,” he trailed his finger along the map until he landed on a mess of papers taped to the floor in a pile of sorts, scribbled with dark blue and black. “Here, right here. This is like a hub where all of the tunnels feed into. Maybe if we set this on fire-”

Standing beside Steve, Sunshine rushed out, “Whoa! No. No way.”

Steve seemed to be the only one that heard her.

“The Mind Flayer would call away his arm,” Lucas said.

“They’d all come to stop us,” Max added.

Beside Mike, Luke kneeled on the ground and touched the paper with the palm of his hand, studying it. “Yeah. And then we could circle back to the exit and by the time they realize we’re gone-”

“Guys!” Steve raised his voice slightly, trying to shut down the conversation before the kids got the grand idea of actually trying to set a tunnel on fire to draw the monsters to them. There was not a chance in hell that they were going anywhere.

Mike ignored Steve and continued fleshing out a plan. “They’d be at the Gate, and we’d be gone.”

“Hey! This is not happening!” Steve yelled.

“But-” Mike tried to argue back, but Steve wasn’t having it.

“No! No buts! Sunshine and I promised that we’d keep you shitheads safe and that is exactly what we’re gonna do. We’re all staying here, on the bench, and we’re waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everyone understand?”

Instead of responding to him, all of their eyes turned to Sunshine.

“Please, Sunshine,” Dustin pleaded.

Much to Steve’s relief, she shook her head. “I know you guys want to help, and I do too, but Steve’s right. It’s too dangerous and we promised we’d keep you guys safe. There’s nothing we can do right now.”

The kids all sighed and deflated as their plan was shut down. Steve was about to suggest they do something to get their minds off of everything that had happened and that was happening, but he didn’t get a chance to as a pair of headlights pulled into the driveway.

Max and Lucas were the first to run to the broken window to see who it was. It was too soon for anyone to be back yet, which meant it was someone uninvolved in the night’s events.

“It’s my brother,” Max said, ducking down to hide herself from being spotted out the window. “He can’t know I’m here. He’ll kill me. He’ll kill us.”

All night, the only time Max looked scared was when there was a monster hanging down from the bus roof, inches away from her head. Besides that, she had taken to the insanity a lot better than Steve had last year. Yet, when she talked about her brother, there was a different kind of fear and panic written all over her face.

Steve shot a quick glance at Sunshine as he said, “Stay here with them. I’ll get him to leave.” He rolled his shoulders and stepped outside into the cold November air that nipped at nose. The headlights of the car shut off and Steve recognized the who it belonged to immediately. Billy Hargrove.

Tag list. @sattlersquarry , @leptitlu , @echoing-oursong

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington x oc #steve harrington x original character #steve harrington x reader #stranger things fanfiction #nancy wheeler #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #mike wheeler #dustin henderson #stranger things 2 #project sunshine

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munsnz · 3 years ago

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TRICKS OF LIFE — STEVE HARRINGTON

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐢. — 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

Overview: Will Byers, a close friend of Y/N herself, although in high school, was missing, setting a sense of concern for him, wondering what could’ve happened as being interviewed by the police themselves. We continue to dive deeper into the girl’s life to the connections of some familiar boys.

Navigation — Mixtape

Doodles, words, and weird figures were being scribbled in the sturdy notebook, with the thin pencil marking the surface of the lined paper. Class was even more boring now that Y/N couldn’t bother to pay attention to her U.S. History class, vividly in her daydreams of where one of her close friends, Jonathan Byers could be since he never showed up that morning, the teacher decided to speak up, snapping her out of her thoughts.

”Miss Hopper, would you like to elaborate with what Tammy said?” He cleared his throat, standing next to the girl’s desk all eyes on her. Y/N frantically narrowed her vision to the board, feeling a sense of unease when everyone watched her intently. Her E/C colored eyes shifted from right to left, feeling a ridiculous amount of pressure starting to well on her chest. Breathing in and out, she squinted at the chalkboard, focusing on the big letter written on the board, The Holocaust. An eerie silence grew into place, maybe a silent cough held in the background. Y/N’s palms became clammy, scrambling through her unopened textbook and unwritten notebook. Stumbling through her words in the awkwardness, the door of the classroom swung open to find the principal of the school, in a fine suit.

The class’ eyes shifted from Y/N’s mess to the lady, standing by the doorway, “Can I have Y/N Hopper?” Now her heart dropped to her stomach, was she into deep shit now? Maybe someone had caught her smoking this time. Was this going to be another accusation someone had made? If her dad heard about this, she was definitely going to be toast.

The eyes were now back on Y/N, worrisome, she rapidly crumpled her sheets of paper along with the textbook into her plain backpack. She slung it onto her shoulder, keeping her head low and meeting contact with the principal who guided her out of the classroom as she closed the door behind them before walking by the empty hallway.

“Am I in trouble?” The girl nervously bit her lip, looking down at the squeaky floor, the principal moved her glance to see Y/N looking so timid.

The principal shook her head, putting a reassuring hand onto the girl’s shoulder, “No, you’re not. Hopper, one of the most intellectual students we’ve had here in Hawkins High. In fact we need your help.”

Without asking any questions, Y/N’s eyes widened, a smile forming on her lips. The walk to the principal’s office was a bit uncomfortable, as none of them spoke along the trail. Finally getting to the office’s door, they opened it to find her dad along with his handy dandy partner, Phil Callahan, whom Y/N had been very close with since the beginning of her life when Hopper first got his job as chief of police. Giving a little wave for politeness, the principal directed the girl to sit down in the chair in front of her.

”I really regret to inform you but, Will Byers went missing the other night,” The principal’s eyes saddened, turning them up to the two police officers, “And from what your father had said, you saw him that night.”

Oh god.

Will Byers was missing. No, not will. Not will. Why Will? Will was just a friendly kid who loved to play D&D with his friends Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, and Dustin Henderson under their basement for neverlasting hours. The wizard, the position he played, the shy, bubbly and nerdy kid who trusted her no matter what. Will, Will Byers was missing.

“Steve’s a twat!” A middle schooler climbed down the stairs in the Wheeler’s residence, to find four slightly younger boys sitting on a couch, having a board in front of them. Curious, she kneeled beside Nancy Wheeler’s younger brother, Michael, “What are you guys doing? Some magic trick or what?”

Mike looked beside him, to find one of Nancy’s friends observing the board with the tiny figurines placed on top. Without precaution, the curly haired boy that was sat in front of him spoke up, “It’s Dungeons and Dragons!”

“Wow, that’s cool, I don’t know what that is,” She brought her knees to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. The boys’ eyes fell onto the girl. What was she doing here? Shouldn’t she be with Nancy?

“My sister is upstairs by the way,” Mike cringed a bit, to find the girl being ever so intrigued by what the boys were up to on a Wednesday night.

Y/N turned over to the younger brother, then to the other three boys, sitting in silence, “I know, but I’m sick of her talking about her boyfriend Steve. I wanted to see what you were doing.” Quietness began while glances were exchanged, the girl leaned closer and directed the boys to do so as well, she hushed, “Don’t tell Nancy, but sometimes she’s boring.”

Lucas and Will both looked at each fondly, as the rest nodded their heads in agreement when Mike spoke up, “Finally! Someone notices for once!”

Dustin shakes his head in disagreement, the boy gave an obnoxious smile, “No, Nancy’s awesome!”

The group of laughter, turned to Dustin who was smiling like a freak. Lucas snapped jokingly, “DUSTIN LIKES NANCY OOOOOO!”

“What? No I don’t!” Dustin’s face turned beat red while Lucas chased Dustin around, imitating a few kisses with the weird noises. Mike got up to stop the two from hitting each other and creating a racket in the living room, the three seemed to have began a rumble, while the quiet one cheered them on with laughter arousing him.

Y/N nudges the quiet boy, smiling towards his direction, “They’re a lot to handle huh?” The boy nods a little bit, after hearing the “Dustin I love you” and “Kiss me Dustin!” mimicks from Lucas, giving smoochy faces. “Aren’t you Jonathan’s younger brother?”

The brunette boy with the bowl cut nods again, trying to shout in between the shouting induced by the three boys fighting in from of them, “I’m Will!”

”Oh! That’s good! Your brother is in Mr. Clark’s class with me!” Y/N laughed, seeing Lucas and Mike stack on top of tiny Dustin squirming below them. Will and Y/N signaled to join the stack, feeling Dustin start to giggle hysterically while Y/N began to tickle his stomach. All of them burst into laughter in the stack until Nancy came downstairs to ruin the fun.

”MIKE WHAT THE HECK?!” Nancy shouted, pulling giggly Y/N out of the bunch of first graders tumbled on the rug, “Leave my friends alone for the hundredth time!”

After seeing her being pulled away, Y/N wiggled out of Nancy’s grip, stepping away from her and seeing the boys suddenly become so serious, “Nancy, I was already hanging out with them. They’re cool.”

”What?” She felt frazzled at the remark, then heard Mrs. and Mr. Wheeler coming in after a night out. Both looked satisfied in finally having a night out together due to taking care of their children and working.

“We didn’t know Y/N came over! We hate to have the boys alone here sometimes,” Karen Wheeler sat on the couch as the boys broke apart and sat in their own space in the living room, Y/N standing along with Nancy.

”Maybe you should get them a babysitter!” The H/C colored girl suggested, putting her hands on her waist, “They’re lots of fun to be with!”

”Be our babysitter!” Dustin stumbled to get up, jumping up and down, exclaiming. The others chimed in as well.

Lucas nods along, ”Yeah that would be great!”

”You would be the best babysitter in Hawkins!” Will chants, earning Mike’s agreement too.

Mrs. Wheeler laughed at the excited boys surrounded tween Y/N who seemed heartfelt to have people that want to be around her, “It seems like a great idea, I’ll talk to their moms and see what they think. I’ll let your dad know tomorrow.”

Squeals from the seven-year olds filled the living room, when Karen had considered the request, it had already been late and their moms would be at the Wheeler’s to pick the boys up back home. While Lucas slipped on his sweater, he shouted, “At least my babysitter doesn’t have to be the old hag Mrs. Wilson!”

“TRUE!” Dustin laughs along with him, while Will follows behind to find Mrs. Sinclair waving from the sidewalk standing beside her car with three year old Erica Sinclair, wanting to throw a tantrum to be let go from her mother’s grip. As Lucas, Dustin, and Will left they all chanted in unison, “Y/N! Y/N! Y/N!” To plaster a cheeky smile on the girl’s face.

Never in her entire life has this girl felt so.... accepted, liked, included for once. Something the bratty kids of Hawkins Middle School had felt towards the girl. This felt like something new, something new with a long trail of friendship. Totes to the new babysitter of these boys, whom they enjoyed being around with, no matter what

#Steve Harrington #steve Harrington x reader #steve Harrington fanfic #steve harrington series #Steve Harrington fanfiction #Steve Harrington x reader fanfiction #Stranger things fanfic #stranger things #stranger things x reader #steve Harrington angst #Stranger things x reader #Tricks of life #Lydinous #Steve Harrington x you

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americasmarauders · 4 years ago

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in your eyes - Bucky Barnes

author’s note: so remember when I said I wouldn’t write Bucky anymore, only that one time? yeah, so I said, you know, like a liar. I saw the first episode of falcon and the winter soldier and that was all it took for me to fall into the ‘bucky barnes simp’ hole all over again. I made an entire one shot based on a single piece of a dialogue from the first episode. the story starts right before the first episode and ends right after the last. I spend an entire month and a half working on this please give it some love.(pls reblog i beg of you) Huge thanks to @batarella and @glorified-red for beta-ing this. ily <3 hwo knows, if people love it enough I might give a part 2.

summary: her quiet job in the library got louder when Bucky walked into her life. (Bucky Barnes x telepath!librarian!reader)

WARNINGS: i do write a bit about addiction in this, if it makes you uncomfortable, please do not interact. it’s not heavy, or graphic, but the reader does experience abstinence. be warned. no spoilers for tfatws, but i do reccomend you watching it.

words: 11,416

mastelist

It was all so loud usually. When she first discovered her ability, it was like there were suddenly a thousand voices yelling inside her head all at once. She remembered falling to her knees, clutching her ears and crying out as the voices shouted different things at her.

Then the Professor came, promised her to help control her own mind. She didn’t want to trust the guy, even if he said he had the same power as her--even if he said everything would be alright. But the headaches were getting worse, the voices were getting louder and louder. She took him up on it and left her home to live in his boarding school.

She met interesting people and--at the end of her stay--she achieved what she was there for. It took 4 years of her life, constant nightmares from reading too much of her colleagues' minds, and several isolated afternoons - more than she wanted to admit. Nevertheless, she could finally go to a concert or have a normal college class without crying from pain.

She lived a normal life after her time at the Institute. She mostly ignored how her teenage years were far from the ordinary, or how sometimes she could hear a random thought from the person sitting next to her if the thought was loud enough. There were days when everything got too much, days where she lost control. She would stay in her house with noise cancelling headphones on (even if it didn’t work like that, it somehow helped) just going on throughout her day as quietly as possible. Tom knew she would get sick, even if working at the library rarely made her go into her lockdown modes.

The library calmed her in a way. The thoughts were rarely disordered and loud, more focused and quiet. It fascinated her that even in their thoughts, people respected the quiet environment the library required. But sometimes, someone would appear with a troubled mind, something books couldn’t even soothe.

There was a regular now, he was one of those people whose thoughts were always all over the place; she couldn’t pick them apart, words would fly through her head - words she often associated with the book he was reading. She wouldn’t know, it was Nancy that talked to him most times.

He always sat at the same old, worn out armchair, talking with the older people in the library as if they were the only people he was comfortable with. Sometimes, she would be restocking the books and see him looking at old newspapers. She never got the courage to talk to him. She figured her curiosity wasn’t enough to muster up the bravery needed to utter a word to him.

Tom was on leave that day. He was stalling his doctor’s appointment, telling her his back pain wasn’t that serious, but she knew better. Every so often she would hear a whisper of pain in her head and she knew her boss wasn’t alright. It had taken her months, but she finally convinced Tom to go and get his back looked at.

So she was working the counter that day: checking books off, admitting them, and then separating them so she could reshelve the books the next day. It was pretty boring work, repetitive, and she wondered how Tom kept busy all day when she finished all of her chores in a couple of hours.

“Excuse me,” she heard, standing up as a reflex. Her eyes trailed up to the person standing in front of the main desk. It was the Loud Man (that was what she had taken to calling him). “I want to check this off.”

“Yeah,” she said, breathless. She was hearing too much from him, too many random words. It made her feel dizzy. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

She took the book from his hands, her fingers brushing slightly at his leather gloves, her thoughts suddenly got even more flooded at the slight touch. She could feel a rising nervousness in him, so much it blended with her own nerves. She quickly retrieved her hand, hoping she hadn’t seemed impolite.

She sat back at her chair, looking at the book. “The Hobbit, huh?”

“I’m re-reading it,” he said, his eyes sincere, “I read it when it first came out.”

She looked at him funnily. “You read it in 1937?”

His expression froze, the slight smile morphing into a frown, his loud thoughts got louder with a single word: ‘lie’. “That’s a funny joke.”

She smiled at him, not taking his comment too seriously. “I’m a funny gal.”

He laughed, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. It was like he was only checking off a box of social convention. It quickly faded to an impatient expression, and she could tell he wanted to get out of the situation as quickly as possible.

“I haven’t seen you here before,” he mentioned.

“Oh,” she muttered, “I’m usually reshelving things, Tom operates the front desk but he went to the doctor. I’m the only other person who works here, so,” she trailed off, “I’m Y/N.”

“Bucky,” he responded, his face slightly tensed. His eyes hovered over everything in the library, as if he was trying to find something wrong in it.

“Nice to meet you, Bucky," she handed the book back to him. "It's due next week. Don't be late with it.”

“I'll return it tomorrow,” the words slipped from his mouth.

“Fast reader?” she asked.

“Got nothing else to do,” he shrugged, the word ‘lie’ once again swimming in her head in the mess of thoughts she received from him.

He gave her one last smile and disappeared into the library. His thoughts got distant, but they lingered in her head. Flashes of pain, bright white lights, and screams littered her mind. She shook her head trying to get rid of them. It rarely worked, not with thoughts so persistent.

Her head started to pound as the thoughts got more intense somehow. That never happened before, usually she could only hear people that stood near her and she was sure Bucky walked all the way to the back - he wasn’t close to her in any way.

Her hand shook as she fished out her headphones. She put them on and connected them with her phone. Playing her music was a hopeful distraction, detering her brain enough to quiet down everything. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out slowly, just like the Professor had taught her. He used to say a quiet and strong mind was the key to ward off stray thoughts.

It helped clear the thoughts, the mess of words only leaving whispers of broken thoughts in the way. She grabbed those and put them away, shoving them inside a mental box of lost thoughts. She did that with all the others, it helped keep her mind organized.

She didn't know how much time had passed when she opened her eyes. She always took too much time clearing her mind, she would forget the outside world. Peter used to poke fun at her for that, drawing penises on her face. When she came to her senses she would always run after him, ready to tackle him to the ground. It was always useless: you can't outrun Peter.

She noticed Bucky leaning on the frame of the front door. It was getting darker outside, an orange hue illuminating his eyes perfectly. Her breath hitched for a second before recomposing herself.

“Good nap?” he asked, the smallest smirk on his lips.

“I wasn’t napping,” she smiled, shaking her head. She checked the clock and saw it was way past closing time. It didn’t go unnoticed by her that he had gone out of his way to stay with her when he should have gone home. “Why’d you stay?”

“Everyone left,” he said, “and I thought it wasn’t safe to leave you in a trance alone in an empty library.”

“I wasn’t in a trance,” she took her headphones off, resting them around her neck, “I was… clearing my head.”

He looked at her funnily, “Busy day?”

“It’s been weirder than usual,” she responded, smiling. She sat back down and logged off the system.

“How weird is working in a library?”

She scoffed, lighty. “You have no idea,” she smiled mischievously.

She picked up her things, keys in her hand. She left the front desk, going to Bucky’s side. “Thanks for staying,” she said, “You really didn’t have to.”

“It’s no problem,” his hand brushed the back of his neck with a timid smile, very unlike his general physique and stance, “I had nowhere else to go.”

She could feel his thoughts bubbling underneath her skin, wanting to come out and flood her brain with confusing images and words. Whispers of faint words echoed through her mind, soft enough that she couldn’t distinguish what they were.

“I find that hard to believe,” she said, words slipping out of her mouth faster than she could stop it. Old habits she supposed. She could always keep thoughts of other people to herself, it didn’t seem fair to them she could hear their thoughts, the least she could do was keep them to herself. But when it came to her own, they just came out of her mouth before her conscience could stop her. “I mean,” she started, “a guy like yourself - good looking and all - must get a lot of people just, um, throwing themselves at you.”

He breathed out, an awkward expression on his face. She could hear one word clearly: ‘lie’. “I don’t date a lot,” he stated, “Not really my thing.”

She changed her approach to the conversation, sensing the uncomfortable energy he oozed. “Oh,” she muttered, “It’s okay, I mean, I don’t date a lot either. I barely leave my flat actually,” she brushed a single piece of hair out of her face, “I hate crowded spaces, and I have just the weirdest habits. You know, not a lot of people are into women who work at a library and barely make minimum wage,” she mumbled, her hands in her pockets restraining her hands for gesturing too much just like she always did, “I have a lot of issues too, at least that’s what the Professor used to say to my therapist before each session, which is fair and--oh God, I’m sorry, I just rambled.”

He chuckled (an actual chuckle), a full light-hearted laugh, one that rumbled throughout his chest. “It’s fine,” he said, “I like listening to you talk.”

She heard the words ‘like’ and ‘quiet’ shoot through her mind. She smiled at him shyly, looking down at the ground. “I don’t know how to respond to that,” she laughed awkwardly, “Thank you again, for waiting and being, I don’t know, just nice, I guess.”

He smiled, a slightly bigger smile then he had given her the entire time they’d interacted. “Yeah, yeah,” he shook his head, “No problem.”

Both of them walked out the door. She turned and locked it, then pushed a button that activated the security systems of the building. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said whilst shrugging.

“Yeah, yeah,” he went down a few steps of the main staircase. “I’ll see, uh, see you tomorrow.”

She saw him go down the steps, listening to the faint echoes of his thoughts in her head. She felt the tips of her mouth curl up, watching him go as the sun set on the horizon. She hadn’t felt that before, that sense of mystery, of wonder and curiosity. His mind was in shambles, broken pieces of it laying in every corner of his brain, and she heard all of it. It compelled her, even if it felt completely wrong to be so enthralled by someone’s mind.

She felt inadequate for liking his mind when he didn’t even know she could listen to it. It wasn’t the first time she felt that way. She remembered a boy from the shop near the Institute, she loved hearing his thoughts. She rarely left the Institute, but when she did she would always sneak to the store to buy a popsicle as an excuse to admire him. Sometimes he would smile at her and her brain would malfunction for just a second, his thoughts flooding her and overwhelming her every time that happened.

She anticipated it was only a matter of time before that happened with Bucky again. She didn’t exactly know if that was a good thing, if she should indulge in the latent curiosity and table herself further with his mind - with him.

The sun set in the horizon, the orange glow fading to the blue of the night sky. Walking down the streets, she could still hear remnants of his thoughts inside her head, his imprint already set on her. She wondered how long it would take for it to fade, if it would fade and if she wanted it to. #

He gave her one last look before walking away from her. She could feel him uncomfortable, it lingered in her head longer than it should. He lingered in her more than he should. Her eyes followed him on his way out of the library. His mind was confused and tired, it left a trail of breadcrumbs calling for her to solve the mystery that was.

Tom’s doctor ordered maximum rest. Apparently, the problem in his back was more serious than both of them anticipated. The doctor ordered as much rest as Tom could have, meaning more breaks and leaving early. That also meant she had to do double the work - she wouldn’t mind at all had she not left a pile of returned books to shelve.

She put her headphones and drove the cart full of books through the library all afternoon. Usually not a lot of people came in on a Monday afternoon to check out books, most were local teens that were there to study or make out. She always pretended not to know which ones were there to actually study or not; the thoughts always flew out to her when they were there to snog, most times it was hard to contain the shit-eating grin that would want to rise.

She felt someone touching her shoulder. She jumped slightly, startled at the touch. Turning around, she saw Bucky, his thoughts overwhelming her. She rested the headphones around her neck, pulling out her phone to pause the music. “Hey, Bucky,” she breathed out, trying to contain the images and words in her head, “What are you, um, how you doing?”

“I’m good,” he smiled at her, looking down at the ground, “Um, Tom’s not at the front desk and I gotta return the book.”

“Oh yeah,” she took the book from his hand. It was still warm from his touch, “I thought you wouldn’t come today, to be honest.”

“I said I was,” he looked at her intensely, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Well,” she smiled awkwardly and averted her eyes to the ground, “People sometimes say things they don’t mean.”

She didn’t realise what she said until it was out of her mouth. She remembered how he was uncomfortable around her, and how he would think about lies just as he told her something. Embarrassment flooded her senses, she felt heat rising to her cheeks.

He looked at her weirdly, as if he was analyzing her. The more he looked, the more she listened to his mind. Words of suspicion floated around, she swallowed dryly and nervously at the thoughts. Echoes of screams and a crushing sense of guilt came through, she wondered what had happened for him to think of that. She wondered if she was the one person that caused him to think like that.

“I’ll return it for you,” she said, motioning for the book, trying to get the attention off of her.

“Yeah, thanks,” he said, “D’you mind if I get another?”

“Yeah, go ahead,” she said, “I’ll wait for you - at the front desk, I mean,” backing away from him, she accidentally bumped into a bookshelf, “Not, um, not any other way.”

He stared at her and nodded slightly. She turned around and walked to the front desk, cringing at her inability to mutter coherent words to him without stumbling in the middle of a phrase. Something about him made her lose all of her composure, she didn’t know if it was the constant flood of thoughts and memories she listened to from his mind or just him making her nervous.

She sat down at the chair behind the front desk, and rubbed her face, as if it would rub the embarrassment out of her. Sighing, she returned the book for Bucky. Just as the day before, his thoughts lingered in her head, images that meant very little to her were calling out.

“Why’s Tom not here?” he asked. She looked up at him, his blue eyes piercing through her. It was the first time she noticed his eyes, and somehow, it made everything worse. Instead of whispers, she heard everything clearly. Fools said the eyes were the windows to the soul. She knew better: someone’s eyes told her what they were thinking, what they were feeling. And she could tell Bucky felt a lot.

“Um,” she looked back down to the book she just admitted back, moving it to the pile of books to reshelve. “He’s on leave, doctor’s orders.”

“Back pain was somethin’ serious then?” he responded, handing the new book to her.

“Yeah, I told him to get that checked out, turns out I was right,” she shrugged, getting the book, her eyes still fixated on the computer. She felt the leather of his gloves graze the tips of her fingers, and a searing pain shot through her head. She brought the book down to the table, closing her eyes hoping the pain would stop. “Brave New World? Revisiting the classics, huh?” she struggled to keep a whimper from emerging from her mouth.

“Yeah,” he breathed out. She heard a whisper of concern run though his head, “Um, are you alright? You don’t look very well.”

She shook her head, faking a smile, pretending she wasn’t getting a thousand thoughts from everyone in the library- especially Bucky’s thoughts - blasted at maximum volume on the speakers of her mind. “Just a bit of a headache.”

“It looks serious,” she could hear the leather from his gloves squeaking as he rested his hands on top of the counter.

“I’ll be fine,” she gritted through her teeth. It had been years since she was last in a position like that, her head throbbing with thoughts that weren’t hers. “I have these all the time.”

She heard his thoughts of concern louder than the others. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

She dismissed his question, not wanting to dwell on his concern longer. “Here,” she handed the book back to him, her other hand closed in a fist, “it’s due next week. Don’t be late with it.”

“I won’t,” he said, his tone slightly strained. “I’ll return it tomorrow.”

“Okay,” she shook her head, her eyes closed and teeth gritted, choosing not to question how he would return that book tomorrow. She fisted both of her hands, her fingernails sinking in the skin of her hands. “Yeah, it’s fine,” she whispered to herself.

She heard his footsteps moving away from her, she sighed in relief, hoping it would mean her mind was going to calm itself and the headache would fade. Instead, the footsteps grew closer to her once again and then the leather of his gloves was grazing the skin of her arm, helping her stand up and guiding her somewhere.

“Imma take you to the hospital, doll” Bucky stated, not leaving room for discussion.

“No,” she tried to shake off his hold, “My shift’s not over, I can’t leave.”

“You look terrible, and you’re clearly in a lot of pain,” he grabbed her arm again, “You need to go to a doctor.”

“Doctors won’t solve this,” she once again freed herself of his hold taking a step back from him. More of his thoughts flooded her mind, a mess of memories and guilt overwhelming her. “They never solve anything,” she breathed out, her voice breaking, “I just need to rest.”

“Doll,” he dragged, his tone temptive and careful.

“No doctors,” it was the first time she had looked in his eyes willingly. There was a sort of weird determination in her eyes, one that came with years of terrible experiences with doctors. Hundreds of appointments that left her more desperate than before, endless tests and thoughts heard that she didn’t have any fix, as if she was broken in the first place.

His jaw tightened and his intense eyes fell upon hers. Her throat dried up under his gaze, her head unbearably heavy with his thoughts and hers. “Fine,” he growled, his hands moving to the pockets of his jacket, “Fine.”

“I need to go back to work,” she backed away from him, slowly. “I--I’m sorry,” she whispered, not sure why she was apologizing to him.

“It’s okay,” his jaw was still tight, his eyes were still intense lingering at her. She couldn’t even appreciate his gaze at her, and how if she was a normal person,--if she didn’t have that goddamn gene--she would have let her heart skip a beat and feel coy under his gaze. “It’s your choice.”

There was a stubbornness to his stance, something that told her he wouldn’t be backing down so easily. She couldn’t go to any doctor, she couldn’t risk anyone finding out. She didn’t want to go through the tests and the never-ending questions, whether it was out loud or not. There was only one person who could possibly help her, and she refused to go to him.

She backed away from him quickly, turning around and heading to the front desk once again. Her headphones found their way to her ears, and she started to blast her music at full volume, hoping, or rather praying, it would help ease her headache. She put her phone in her back pocket, grabbed the book she had just returned.

The cart wove between the shelves with ease under her direction. She could still feel Bucky’s presence within the library, it was like carrying an iron ball tied to her feet at all times. Unlike the day before, he was more troubled, he felt more things and more intensely. It was too much. She wondered what happened for him to be so restless.

The music hardly helped, it somehow made it worse. She couldn’t shake the tangled thoughts and think for herself, and the music disturbed even more. She dropped her headphones, frustrated. Her head pounded, desperation rose in her. She refused to call Professor, he would not help, he would only rub in her face that she shouldn’t have left. ‘This wouldn’t have happened if you stayed at the Institute, Y/N,’ she could imagine him saying if she closed her eyes.

“Are you better?” turning around, she saw Bucky, his hands inside the pockets of his jacket. His eyes were focused down, his shoulder slightly hunched. It looked like he was ashamed of asking her if she was alright, almost as if it was his fault that she was in pain. It was, but she didn’t hold it against him. She was certain it wasn’t his fault.

“Not really,” looking at him, she analyzed his expression. His jaw was tense, she could see his hands were fisted inside his pockets, “I just need to sleep.”

He nodded slightly. “You sure you don’t want anythin’?”

Her head tilted slightly and her mouth quirked up a little. She could tell he wanted to charm her, she heard the word bounce around her head faintly--the guilt was louder, though she could barely hear anything else--and she would lie if she said she didn’t like his attention. “I am” her hands entangled together, her knuckles tight, “but thanks for the offer.”

“Yeah, yeah” he breathed out, his hand brushing the side of his leg in a nervous habit. “I need to go,” he pointed back at the door, his face stony.

She sat cross legged on her bed, her eyes closed. There were candles around the room, the lighting dim and warm. The smell of incense was strong, it swallowed the entire room. It was necessary, she needed that to ground herself to the real world, and not lose herself in her mind.

Since calling Professor was not an option, she tried to take matters into her own hands. She was going to untangle the knot of thoughts Bucky had left in her head by herself. It could potentially be dangerous, if she wandered too far who knows what could happen. She had taken the necessary precautions, but she had only done that before under the careful and judgemental eye of the Professor. It was the first time she was doing it alone, it scared her to think what could go wrong.

She breathed in calmly and concentrated on the knot in front of her. Her head was a whole other world, it could be molded to her will, she felt safe in it. Now, it was a black empty space, the only thing filling it was herself and the pulsating mess of thoughts Bucky had gifted her.

Kneeling in front of it, she carefully picked apart superficial thoughts, setting them aside. They didn’t matter to what she was there to do, they were only random words and snippets of his day-to-day life that she was sure were not the ones causing him so much pain.

It didn’t take long for her to reach what pained him. It was surprising to see the amount of thoughts in front of her, usually it was much less. People tended to blow things out of proportion often, little things could cause a world of hurt to themselves. Bucky seemed to take a lot of pain, underestimating his grief. A typical mentality of someone who lacked the confidence, who didn’t trust themselves enough.

She picked a single memory and entered it.

The lighting was dim, a yellow glow swallowed her. The room was dirty and disgusting, the tiles that were once white tinted an yellowish gray. It looked like a room used for medical procedures, judging by the sheer amount of medical-like instruments littered around the desks. There were no calendars in sight, she had no way of knowing when the memory had happened.

There were at least 5 or 6 people in the room, all surrounding a metallic chair. She approached the scene, carefully. Standing beside the chair, she saw Bucky.

He couldn’t be much older than he was when she met him. His hair was slightly longer than it was currently, just brushing his forehead. He was shirtless, his skin glistening in the faint lighting of the room. His hand was tied to the chair. His temples bruised from something she hadn’t figured out yet. His chest moved violently, struggling to breathe properly. And his left shoulder? There was a red swollen scar there. She doubted the wound was fresh, more like reopened. Maybe they tried putting a prosthetic there and it failed. It was likely they hadn’t administered any painkillers in the procedure, and she felt anger boiling inside her at the thought.

“James Barnes, 3255...” he trailed off, muttering under his breath. His eyes were halfway closed, it looked like he barely could keep them opened.

“Попробуй снова,” try again, one of the doctors said.

Her eyes lingered on the doctor that had just spoken. He looked evil, and she felt in her bones he was. His smile was wicked as his eyes lingered on Bucky struggling to catch his breath tied to that chair. All of the doctors looked sadistic and malefic. She felt goosebumps flood her skin, disgusted by the situation.

The machine started whirling. An appendix lowered into Bucky’s left eye, another lowering to his right temple. Someone put a protection on his mouth, and she could see Bucky trying to free himself from his ties. Something told her, even in an altered state of mind he was already conditioned to know that noise and that feeling were bad news. She swore she saw his eyes flicker to hers just before everything started.

The screams - his screams - bounced on the walls and filled her soul in a terrifying way. Tears came to her eyes as she carefully studied what was happening to him. His hands formed fists, his knuckles totally pale on his flesh hand. His eyes were shut violently, his mouth open in a painful way. She wanted to reach out and touch him, but she couldn’t. She wanted to hug him and take him out of that awful place, but she couldn't. It was all a memory, it already had happened and she couldn’t do anything about it.

The doctors recited words in russian repetitively. Her eyes traveled to the doctor holding a red notebook. The wicked smile never faltered, completely ignoring the man in pain in front of him. She felt a urge she had fought so hard to suppress: she wanted to invade their brains, pick them apart and tear them down from the inside. She wanted to scream and shout at them and destroy everything in the room with a single thought. The fact that she was inside a memory and couldn’t physically change anything bothered her little. The anger and sadness she felt were real.

The machine stopped humming and Bucky stopped screaming. When he opened his eyes, she saw something that utterly terrified her. His eyes were empty, devoid of emotion, very much unlike mere seconds before. They were wide open, focused forward, looking beyond the doctor that was hovering over him.

“Soldat?” one of the doctors asked, a wicked smile forming on his lips.

“Готовы соответствовать,” ready to comply.

The room became blurry and she was sucked out of the memory. She stood there in front of the knot of thoughts. A feeling of inadequacy overwhelmed her, and she willed herself out of her own mind. She shouldn’t have done that, not without his permission. He didn’t even know she could hear his thoughts, much less explore the memories he had left with her.

She gasped for air as she came back to her senses. Bucky was much more complicated than she had anticipated, and the guilt he carried around with him wasn’t blown out of proportion and unwarranted. He felt as if things he had done, whatever those things were, had been his responsibility. But she knew more about the mind than him, she knew that that person she had watched be tortured was not him. Those eyes told her nothing, and his eyes told her everything and more. Those eyes were from someone who was a puppet, stripped of free will and agency. So maybe his guilt was warranted, but it didn’t mean it was his fault.

She rubbed her face and laid in her bed, looking up at the ceiling. Her heart raced inside her chest, the adrenaline of doing something so wrong settling on her. She would have to be honest with him. She let a shuddery breath, as she realized she was at the point she avoided when meeting people. The fear of rejection was crushing and familiar and with time she realized it was easier to push people away, not forming connections deeper than trivial than to explain what she was. But Bucky was different, she felt it in her bones. And she wasn’t willing to let him go. #

Tuesdays were fuller than Mondays, but only slightly. Maybe one or two more students came in, trying to get ahead of the curve and not procrastinate their studies more than necessary. The amount of work she had was enough to keep her busy throughout the day, even without Tom’s help.

She hummed the song in her headphones, weaving her way through the shelves, puting the few books that were returned that day back where they belonged. It was the part of her job that gave her the most pleasure. It gave her a sense of control and order, something that had lacked almost her entire life, especially while she was at the Institute. Professor had controlled everything back then. He controlled her and Peter and all the others to be something that most would not have chosen to be if given the choice. It made her feel helpless and tiny. But she had freed herself from that reality, much to Professor’s dislike. And now she could happily find her control in tiny things, like putting books back on their shelves.

“How come I always come when no one’s at the front desk?”, her headphones fell to her neck as she turned around to look at Bucky. He wore a shy smile on his face, clutching two books tightly in his gloved hands. His thoughts were quieter that day, but still present and loud. She doubted it was enough to give her a headache, but it was enough to leave a mark on her mind.

“Well, I’d say it’s just your luck,” the corners of her mouth quirked up. “Wanna check those out?” she pointed at the books in his hands.

“Yeah,” he breathed out. She started walking towards the front desk, Bucky at her tail. “So, are you better?”

“Yep,” she nodded, getting behind the desk and taking the books out of his hands, “Told you I just needed to rest.”

“Doll,” his head tilted, his eyes carefully analyzing her. She heard worry bounce around his head, “you looked like you were about to drop dead.”

She shook her head, a smile creeping its way to her face. “It’s more common than you think, it’s fine, Bucky, really,” dismissing his worry, like it was the best way to earn his trust. “For whom the Bells tolls? Really diving into the classics, huh?”

“Need some comfort,” he shrugged. “It’s been 80 years since I read these, it felt like the time to re-read.”

“80 years,” she dragged, “You look a lot younger.”

His face became briefly stony, his brain going haywire for a second before he relaxed and gave her an awkward laugh. “You’re a lot funnier when you’re not in pain.”

“Aren’t we all?” she slid the book over to him. “It’s due next week, don’t b--”

“Be late with it, I know,” he completed, “I’ll return it tomorrow. Like always”

She heard words of charm and flattery from his mind. It was a timid voice saying it, if she had been distracted she wouldn’t have heard it. Her eyes trailed downwards, her smile tiny and shy. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you’re lying.”

“How’d you know better?” his eyes narrowed at her and his head tilted to the side. She found it absolutely charming that he did that when he was confused.

“I read minds,” she said, seriously, her face impartial, very much unlike mere seconds before.

“That’s funny,” he laughed, pointing at her.

She opened an awkward smile at him, looking carefully at his expression. His mind told her he thought she was pranking him, being funny to charm him. She wasn’t. “I know you think I’m trying to charm you,” her eyes looking at her feet, her fingers entwined in a nervous habit, “but I’m not,” she finished, whispering.

She could hear confusion clearly in his thoughts. It wasn’t exactly at how she could read his mind, more to why she was telling him the fact. “I can hear your thoughts very clearly, they’re very loud,” she whispered. After all these years of experience with this power, it never got easier telling people about it. “And I didn’t think it was fair to listen to your thoughts - you think a lot you know? - all so loudly and clearly,” She couldn’t look at him, her eyes were still cast downwards in shame, “If you want to, I can explain how it is, we can go for a walk or whatever.”

She could feel his intense gaze on her skin, she didn’t dare to look up. Disappointment was one of the things she hated the most, one she had dealt with a lot. Seeing it in his face would surely break her heart, even if only a little bit. “Fine,” she heard him say it, airly, “But you’re paying.”

She looked up and his expression was impassive. But his eyes were twinkling with a sort of curiosity and wonder that could only mean good things. A weird sort of relief washed over her. She let out a sigh, her features relaxing. “Great,” she brushed a piece of her hair out of her face, “great,” she breathed out, “I just need to close this place.”

“I’ll wait.”

“Tell me what that boy’s thinking,” he said, pointing to a little boy by the pond feeding the ducks happily.

Her eyes trailed to the kid, trying to focus on him. It was an exercise she hadn’t done in a while, since she had left the Institute really. “He’s happy he’s with his dad,” she reported, “he doesn’t see his dad often and he misses him.”

“What about the dad?” his hands were in his pockets, his gaze locked on the dad sat on the bench just behind the kid.

“He’s guilty he doesn’t spend enough time with his son,” she added, her eyes following the posture of the man. His eyes were fixed on his son, watching his every move. It was clear he felt some sort of guilt towards his son, and it was easy to assume that by his stance alone--if you were observant enough. Bucky was, “He works two jobs to pay the child support. He can’t find time between them often.”

“How do I know that you didn’t just meet those people and they told you their life story?” Bucky questioned, his gaze intense and locked on her. They stopped beneath a tree, orange sun rays peeking from between the leaves.

“It’s the first time I've ever seen them,” she plopped down beneath the tree, crossing her legs childishly, “I barely leave my apartment.”

He stared at her, his gaze strong and judgmental. Huffing, he calmly got down and sat beside her, his legs spread out in front of him. He crossed his hands on his lap, and her gaze locked at his left hand. She wondered if the arm was still the same as the one she had seen in his memory. That arm sent chills down her spine, it was intimidating and terrifying, the red star staring at her menacingly. “Why, though?”

“I can’t, really,” she shrugged. She looked up, her head tilting to the side, considering her words. “I have these lockdowns when I’m surrounded by too many people. It hasn’t happened in years but,” her eyes closed, the memories of the last lockdown she had flooding back at her. She saw her younger self falling to her knees in the middle of the Institute’s lobby, screaming and clutching her ears, “but it happens, and I’d rather not go through that. I’m not in speaking terms with the person that can help me and I’ll do anything to not talk to him again.”

His lips formed a thin line. A hum trembled his chest, his head resting on the tree behind them. “How much have you seen from…” his jaw clenched, his voice quiet and hesitant.

“Not much,” she dragged. “I stopped after I realized that I, um, that I was…”she found she couldn’t complete the sentence under his strong gaze. “It wasn’t fair to you for me to see anything, not without you knowing.”

“What did you see?” he gritted through his teeth, his eyes watery and sad.

“I saw,” she gulped, her voice straining with emotion as she looked deep into his eyes, “I saw you, um, tied to a chair. You were so out of it,” she shook her head, tears flooding her eyes, “you were mumbling your name and some numbers. And then,” she sighed, picking up strength to continue, “and then they - they broke you.”

“What else?” he growled, his hands in fists. His eyes were no longer sad, there was a latent anger in them. It made her sad that she was the cause of his anger, or rather the target.

“Nothing,” she shook her head, “nothing else. Nothing other than random words from your day to day.”

He considered her for a moment, his eyes hovering her face frantically. She tried her best not to listen to his mind, trying to focus on elsewhere, on someone else. But he was like a magnet, and she could help but to be attracted to him and his thoughts. Words of confusion, anger and infatuation floated in his brain and echoed in hers. “Can you turn it off? Your...thing?” he pointed to her head almost in disdain. She knew better than to believe his gestures.

“Not exactly,” she hugged her legs, her chin resting on her knees. “If I could, I would have, a long time ago.”

They remained in silence after that. He looked at the clouds, considering everything she had just told him. She looked everywhere but at him, trying to stray her mind from him. It felt impossible, he became her gravity center, and she couldn’t really escape it. She found that she didn’t want to.

“How did you get the…” he tried to find the right words, “the mind reading thing?”

She laughed at his silly phrasing. “I was born with it,” she looked down at her hands, her cheeks feeling hot. “Professor picked me up and took me to the Institute after I turned 13 because of it.”

“That sounds like a cute way of saying you were kidnapped by the guy,” he commented, his tone serious and his eyes on her.

“I wasn’t,” she tilted her head towards him, as if she was telling him a secret. “I went willingly, actually. The nightmares were getting worse and the headaches,” her eyes locked with his for a brief second as she brushed a piece of her hair out of her face, “well, headaches like yesterday’s are light ones compared to those. And the Professor, he promised to help me control it.”

“That doesn't sound suspicious at all,” she could hear him roll his eyes in disdain.

“He did help me,” she assured him, “but at the time, I didn't realize that it would come with a cost.”

“I’m guessing he wanted something out of you,” he inferred, “that you weren’t willing to give.”

“Something like that,” she responded, her voice vague and distant. Remembering the things Professor had planned for her made her scared and, most of all, angry. Angry he dared to think she would be so desperate to abide by his wishes. She had learned that following his plans brought her nothing more than frustration and loneliness, he robbed her and her friends of a stable childhood so they could become his pawns. “He wasn’t a good person.”

“I get that,” he whispered, his head down, looking at his hands. He opened and closed his left hand repetitively. The anger he had felt once she had told him what she had done came back, but directed towards someone else.

“Listen, Bucky,” she turned her whole body towards him. Her hands itched to grab his, but she knew neither of them were prepared to cross that line, “I’m truly sorry that I… couldn’t control myself. I figured that if I could decipher your thoughts the headaches would stop, but I didn’t realize how much you kept hidden,” she confessed, her fingers fiddling with themselves in a nervous habit. “I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, I want to give you a chance to tell me these things yourself, that’s why I told you.”

He looked at her for a moment before responding. “You told someone who you’d only known for a couple of days your biggest secret,” he recited, almost as if he had been rehearsing the line in his mind over and over, “because you felt bad.”

“Well, when you put it like that it sounds foolish,” she grumbled. “I know what’s like not to be given a choice, and I wanted you to have the choice to, you know, walk away from me,” she finished, her voice just above a whisper. She struggled to keep her tears at bay, a couple of them spilling and running down her cheeks.

“Why would I walk away from you?” he asked her, sincerity in his eyes.

“You wouldn’t be the first person,” her eyes were cast forward, looking way beyond the park. She didn’t bother cleaning the tears that were rolling down her face. “And you wouldn’t be the last, certainly.”

“Doll,” he dragged, his voice low and beautiful, “I wouldn’t.”

She could barely hear his thoughts over her own. She couldn’t think straight anymore, too many emotions flooded her own senses, it was all too much. Her hands rubbed her eyes, trying to rid them of the tears. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cry.”

“It’s okay,” he shook his head. “But, seriously, don’t tell your biggest secret to someone you barely know.”

She laughed at his suggestion, her smile watery. “I won’t, don’t worry,” her head tilted to the side, her eyes carefully studying his face. It was the first time she truly took him in. His face was so wonderfully beautiful. His nose and his lips were perfect. But it was his eyes that would always fascinate her. So wonderfully blue and so beautifully deep. It was impossible to not fall in love with him with those eyes.

He got up and brushed his gloves on the sides of his pants. He offered her his right hand, “How’d you say we get that coffee now and you tell me the craziest things you’ve ever seen people think?”

She smiled sincerely at him, her eyes looking up at him in admiration. She took his hand and she let him guide her.

“Doll, you need to start staying at the front desk,” he leaned casually on the side of the bookcase, looking calmly at her as she turned around to face him. “What if someone important comes in and there’s no one there?

She felt amused at Bucky’s teasing and smiled. “Tom’s supposed to be there, he must have just left to do something,” she stated, smugly. “Besides, you’re the only important person that comes here. At least, to me you are,” she tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.

He bit his lip and looked at her in a way that made her melt. “Aren’t you a charmer.”

She could hear clearly in his thoughts he was amused by her behavior, the word ‘charm’ levitating around her brain. “I learned from the best,” she shrugged brushing past him and walking towards the front desk.

She heard his heavy footsteps behind her. “Are we still up for tonight?” his voice had an edge that wasn’t there before. She sat down on her chair behind the counter as her eyes carefully analyzed his face. His jaw was tense, his eyebrows were furrowed and his fingers were tight around the book he meant to return.

“I’ve been up for it every day for the past month, Bucky,” she narrowed her eyes at him. His jaw clenched even more in a way she didn’t know possible. She tried to ignore his thoughts and the words that bounced around her brain. “What are you trying to say?” she asked softly, taking the book from him gently.

He sighed, resting his elbows on the counter he leaned in. “Sam needs my help,” he said, his voice low and tired. She could tell he wasn’t telling her the full truth, but she didn’t push it.

“Oh,” she muttered, typing away to return the book he brought. “So you’re cancelling?”

“Doll, I wouldn’t if it wasn’t important,” he stated. She could tell he was sad, his eyes told her so, and so did the words in his head. It pained her to see him give up their time together. It was cherished by both, and she suspected it was maybe one of the only moments of the day Bucky didn’t have to hold everything in. Mostly because she could see everything he was hiding.

“Don’t,” she stopped him before he could further apologize. “I understand, an Avenger’s calling you,” she whispered, a devilish smile on her lips, “how could you not answer it?”

“I can think of a lot of ways,” he gritted. He had told her his qualms with Sam Wilson, but it only seemed like friendly teasing and nothing else. Nothing too serious, that's what she judged it to be.

“Bucky,” she warned him, “there are more important people than me, and Sam is definitely one of those. Don’t feel guilty, that’s what I’m trying to say.”

“Y/N,” he never used her first name. He would call her ‘doll’, or ‘love’ or even sometimes ‘sweetheart’, but never by her first name. Hearing it leave his lips sobered her up quickly, “there’s no one more important to me than you.”

Her mouth hung open in complete shock at his declaration. Her brain short-circuited for a moment, before recomposing herself. She opened her mouth to respond him but he quickly beat her to it.

“I’m truly sorry, love,” he shook his head, his eyes cast downwards.

Her eyes hovered him quietly for a second before slipping the book to him. “I extended the due date. Two weeks and nothing more,” she said, sternly. “You know the drill, Bucky.”

“Don’t be late with it, I know,” he recited. His eyes lingered on hers for longer than it normally would. It felt as if he was memorizing her, studying the little details of her face, the little quirks of her personality. She felt heat rising to her cheeks, like every time she was under his intense gaze. He looked downwards for a moment, his mouth slightly opened. “I won’t be gone too long, just a couple of days.”

She got up from her chair and walked to his side. She bit her lip as he watched her go around the front desk. He leaned on his arm, casually standing there as she looked down at her feet in front of him. “You have my number, I’m just a phone call away,” she muttered shyly. She couldn’t handle this flirty interactions with Bucky. Mostly because she would have to juggle her own thoughts with his. But there was something about his demeanor at that moment that put her at ease, she didn’t feel the need to juggle both of their thoughts, only to embrace them. She let herself feel the butterflies and be fully flustered under his charm. It felt nice. “I’m gonna miss you,” she whispered.

“Yeah, me too,” he looked at her eyes, deeply and soulfully. She didn’t know how she hadn’t melted at the spot. “I’ll be back, I promise.”

The corners of her mouth quirked up. “I know,” her lips brushed his cheek. She quickly kissed it and looked back at him. “You should probably go. Don’t wanna keep Sam waitin’.”

He smiled at her one last time before leaving her. His smile, there was something different about that. It felt sincere and genuine, unlike all his other smiles that were usually caused by awkwardness and embarrassment. She had seen something completely different in that smile, something she couldn’t exactly place yet.

She arrived quietly at her apartment, carrying a bag full of groceries and flowers for her tiny garden out in the fire-escape. Her upstairs neighbor had complained about it for months, until he joined and now she shared it with him. She had plans to make the whole building to contribute to the little garden, she was almost convincing her downstairs neighbor and she was a pivotal person.

The apartment was too quiet, unlike normally. There were always whispers of her neighbor’s thoughts echoing through the walls, the busy sounds of the streets, the shouts outside from people going by their day.

“I know you’re here,” she shouted to her apartment, “you weren’t subtle about it.”

“I knew you wouldn’t talk to me, otherwise,” Professor rolled in. He hadn’t changed a single bit since the last time she had seen him. His clothes were the same, his bald head glistened the same way it did, and his chair was just as stoic as his face. She hated him and seeing him in her apartment only reminded her of that.

“That’s cause I don’t want to talk to you, Professor, I thought I had made myself clear,” she growled, resting the bag and the flowers on the kitchen counter. “Why are you here?”

“It has come to my knowledge you’ve been having your episodes,” he said, robotically.

“I’m not having any episodes, I'm fine” she muttered, her back turned to Professor. She cursed Peter mentally for being a fucking snitch. Next time she saw him she was going to give him a piece of her mind.

“You’re not,” he corrected her. As usual, she only heard him in a tone of superiority and condencense, he always knew best. “We know what happens when you let yourself go with other people’s thoughts, child.”

“Don’t call me that,” she gripped the counter, her teeth gritted and her eyes shut. Her hands felt clammy, almost slipping from the counter. She had escaped the Institute, she had sworn she would never go back, for fucking Peter to bring Professor to her again. She knew Peter did it because he was worried. It still didn’t make it sting less. “I said I’m fine, I have everything under control.”

“How long have you been taking the suppressing pills?” he asked her, his voice judgemental and cold.

She turned around to face him for the first time. He was impossible to read, he always made sure of that. As much as she begged him to teach her how to do it, to help her block out thoughts and stop people from getting into her head, he never really did it. She had to discover for herself, and, in that, she never was as effective as him. “It’s none of your business,” she scoffed. “It’s not like I’m of any use to you anymore, Professor. I’m sure you have a brand new shiny pawn you can play with that’s even better than I was. Besides,” she added, crossing her arms on her chest, “you gave me those pills.”

“They’re for emergencies only, Y/N, not continuous use,” he shook his head at her, his piercing through hers, She looked down avoiding his gaze, her jaw tight. Her head started to feel heavy, and she didn’t know if it was his prying or something worse. “Do you remember the last time you used those same pills continuously?”

Her teeth gritted and she closed her eyes to stop him from seeing the tears accumulating in them. She looked at him, her eyes completely angry and full of hurt, “I'm a lot stronger that I was back then,” she gritted.

“Bad things happen when you repress your power,” Professor warned, leaning on his knees. “You learned that the hard way.”

“I haven't taken them in days.” she stated, trying to keep her head focused and her voice free of emotion. Professor considered her for a moment. She could feel him prying in her head, searching for traces of a lie well told. She knew he wouldn’t find any, she told the truth, even if it was half of it.

“I know you’re not telling everything,” he told her, his hands fiddling with the orange vial temptevely. “What are you hiding?”

She scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. When she was younger, she wouldn’t even consider behaving badly around him. Now, she knew better. “I don’t owe you any explanations, Professor. I don’t even understand why are you here,” she pointed accusingly at him. “You've done a pretty good job showing you don’t care all my life, I find it hard to believe you care now.”

His eyes found hers, as always completely unreadable. But she saw the little details, the way his jaw tightened slightly, the way his fingers opened and closed the cap of the bottle nervously. It was hard to tell if the tick was fabricated or not, she could never tell with him. “Very well,” he said. “I’ll be in touch,” he wheeled himself towards the door.

“Please don’t,” she said clearly as he exited her apartment.

As the door closed she let a shuddery breath, laying on her couch in exhaustion. She let a couple of tears fall from her eyes, quickly drying them after. She had cried because of Professor too many times in her life, she would not cry for him one more time.

Her phone vibrated on her back pocket. She sniffed and fished out, checking what was the cause of the notification. ‘Just arrived. Call me’ from Bucky. Her heart picked up, smiling at her phone happily.

It rang a couple of times before he picked up. “You’re late,” she said, before he had the chance to say anything to her, “you said a couple of days.”

“I’m sorry, doll,” he breathed out, “it took longer than anticipated.”

“It’s okay,” she shook her head, a smile on her face. “The book, though, you’re gonna have to pay a fee for being late.”

He laughed at the other end of the line. “First time I ever return it late, can’t you make an exception for me?”

“I didn’t do anything, it was Tom,” she stated quickly. Her lips adorned a permanent smile, so much it barely seemed Professor had just left her apartment. They stayed quiet before anyone said anything.

“I missed you,” he whispered, her heart racing in her chest as he recited the words.

“I missed you too,” she replied back, her voice soft and full of emotion. She tried to contain her tears, an accumulation of feelings from just before and that moment but she couldn’t. “I was so lonely, I’m so glad you’re back.”

“Me too, love,” he sighed on the other end of the line. She could imagine him looking down at his feet, a silly smile on his lips. His eyes were twinkling in her mind the way that melted her, he looked absolutely beautiful as usual. “Do you want to go out? I owe you 2 weeks worth of coffee.”

She looked at the ceiling, trying to contain her heart and failing miserably. “Yeah, yeah, I’d like that,” she breathed out.

“I’ll pick you up in 20.”

She hung up the phone and got up from her couch, a silly smile on her face. Her smile soon faded after she realised what she had done. She was only off the pills for 2 days, it wasn’t enough time for her powers to normalize. Without Bucky present, the abstinence wasn’t as noticeable. Sure, she could hear everything more clearly, the music her neighbor had stucky in his head, or the busy thoughts of a random person passing on the sidewalk. But Bucky always had a thousand things in his head, and that surely would be a problem.

She was telling the truth to the Professor. She wasn’t taking them continuously, only a couple of times a week, when Bucky’s thoughts were always the loudest. But she hadn’t told him that she had stopped so late, later than she should have. She was toeing the line again, just like she had done when she was a kid and the prospect of not listening to everyone all the time seemed too good to be true.

A sigh escaped her lips, her heart racing inside her chest, not for the right reasons. She hoped she could control it, keep her latent power at bay just like she did everyday. It was easy to fool herself like that. She forgot how addicting Bucky could be, how wrapped up in him she would get. It was almost an experiment: how would she deal with Bucky’s mind when her power was at the most raw. She wondered if she should be curious or scared.

Her hands sweated as she unpacked her groceries. A cold rush ran through her spine, and she remembered the symptoms she experienced the last time she was off the pills. Dread settled in her, anticipating what was about to come. She cursed Professor, her stupid mutated gene and those fucking pills. She often wondered what would have happened if she never manifested any powers, how her life would have played out.

Then, her senses were flooded by Bucky. She whipped around to the door, seeing the shadow of his feet lingering outside. Her head felt heavy and there was a pain blooming, something much worse than the ones she’d endured when she first met him. It was a side effect, she should have expected that. She leaned on her table for a moment, trying to get used to the pain. The knock echoed through her apartment. She barely registered it, his thoughts flooding her. It was all so incoherent, flashes of yellowed memories and newer ones ran through her head. She heard her name screamed in his head over and over again, his voice whispering pet names he had given her with images of their time together.

She opened the door and there he was, standing in front of her. He wasn’t wearing his traditional gloves, and he had dodged the leather jacket of a simple longed sleeved t-shirt pulled at his elbows. It was the first time she saw his arm being displayed so freely, so unashamedly. He wore a boyish smile on his face, holding a bouquet of yellow and purple flowers meant for her. “I brought you flowers,” he handed the bouquet to her, his eyes twinkling with a charm she hadn’t seen in him before. “You said you wanted to expand your garden,” he justified with a shrug, his eyes on the bouquet. The smile never left his lips.

She almost forgot about her symptoms, letting his charm encapsulate her and warm her heart. She accepted the flowers, their smell overwhelming her. She stepped aside for him to come in, he ducked his head and got in the apartment quietly. It wasn’t the first time he had been over, but it was still odd to see him in her place. It looked smaller with him in it, less lonely.

“Thank you,” she whispered, closing the door. Her hands glued to the plastic wrapping of the flowers. She wiped her other hand on her pants, gulping nervously. If before she thought his thoughts were loud, in that moment it seemed like they were being blasted in amplifiers at maximum volume. “How’ve you been?” she stuttered, her mouth dry.

“I’m good, good,” he laughed looking down, his hands on his pockets. She could tell he wasn’t lying, for the first time she asked him that question he actually answered it honestly. “How are you, doll?”

She grabbed a pot and some dirt to stick the bouquet in it from the cabinet under the kitchen island. “I’m okay,” she replied quietly. Resting the supplies next to the sunflower she had just bought, a wave of nausea washed over her. She felt the color drain out of her face, feeling lightheaded. Her hands gripped tightly around the backrest of a chair, trying to not collapse to the floor.

She heard him rush to her side, his hands supporting her. The cool touch of his metal arm was contrastant with how hot her skin felt at the moment. “You don’t look okay,” it was like he was yelling in her ear, but she knew his voice was barely above a whisper. “What happened?”

“I’m off my pills,” she gripped his forearms, her eyes shut close. She tried organizing her head, separating her own thoughts with the thoughts of others.

“Let me get them for you,” he guided her to the couch, gently sitting her down.

“No,” she reached for him, her voice dying in her throat. Her hold on his wrist was weak, her eyes closed. The light only worsened her headache, she couldn’t bear to open her eyes. “There’s none left.”

“What d’you mean there’s nothing left?” he asked her, his voice strained. She knew he tried to contain his worry, but it slipped out in his tone. If she wasn’t so sick, she would have appreciated his care. “It seems like something important to have.”

“Professor took ‘em,” her words slurred, “I can’t take more, Bucky.”

“Why?” he hesitated, “what happened?”

“My powers,” her jaw clenched at the sharp pain going through her head, “I just wanted to spend time with you, Bucky, but the pain…” the tears spilled from her eyes, her eyes still closed. The grip on Bucky was tight, she was holding onto him like he was her lifeline, the only thing grounding her to the real world and not her head.

He sat beside her, his hands hovering over her, unsure of what to do. She heard a sliver of guilt going through him, and sadness overwhelmed her because of that. “I’m sorry,” he whispered to her.

“No,” she shook her head, wrapping him up in her arms, “it’s my fault. You’re amazing, Bucky, and I couldn’t stay away,” her tears wet his shirt, her head resting on his shoulder snuggly. She couldn’t help but notice the safe feeling that overwhelmed her in that moment. It was almost like it was where she belonged, safe in his arms. “Your mind… it’s just so beautiful, you’re so beautiful, Bucky. And I was greedy, I wanted you to myself, even if it meant a little pain.”

“A little?” he asked, his voice laced with a sassiness she hadn’t seen before.

She laughed quietly, looking at his face. His blue eyes were sincere, full of emotion and thoughts she could never bring herself to decipher. “A lot,” she sighed, her eyes fixated on his. “I fell back into old habits.”

“I get it,” he assented, his eyes cast on hers, looking for something she didn’t quite know what it was. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Stay,” she whispered, her heart beating fast inside her. “Please, stay.”

And Bucky did. For the first time, someone who had met her, all of her, stayed with her. That only made her love him more. He hugged her tightly, his head resting on the crook of her neck. “I’ll stay,” he reassured her, his thumb caressing her shoulder gently, “I got you”

She mumbled ‘I’m sorry’ like a prayer on his shoulder. It was too much input, her own emotions and his blended and her tears were their escape. “I shouldn’t have unloaded this on you,” she sniffed, breaking the hug. “It’s not fair.”

“Hey,” he gently pushed her hands out of her face. Her face was swollen and her eyes were red, but she could tell he didn’t care, she heard the word ‘beautiful’ bounce around in his head. “I can take it.”

She shook her head, words unable to escape her quivering lips. “Hey, stop,” he said firmly but lovingly, “listen to me,” he grabbed her face delicately, his fingers brushing her cheeks delicately. “I can take it, doll. Trust me. I have my demons too,” he whispered, “and they don’t scare you. You don’t scare me. I’m not going anywhere.”

Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t look away from his eyes. The sincerity in them disarmed her completely, the little restraint she had completely gone. Her breath hitched at the sight of the glimmer in his eyes and the love in his mind. “Thank you,” she mouthed, her voice gone.

“You’re welcome,” he smiled at her, the boyish grin he had sported when he arrived back. “How about I make you some tea?” he got up, walking a few steps to the kitchen. He moved around like her tiny little flat was where he belonged. “I make a mean chamomile tea.”

She laughed quietly, her brain slowly calming down, her fever settling. “I’d like that.”

#Bucky Barnes #TFATWS #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #one shot #marvel fanfiction #Sebastian Stan #bucky barnes x librarian!reader #my masterlist

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creativeashproductions · 4 years ago

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What If...? V // Alive!Luke Patterson

Summary: 1995 was Sunset Curve’s big break in the music world with a successful future. Between 1995-2004 a handful of things happen: Playing the Orpheum, the band buying a house, a car accident, a reconciliation, an engagement, a wedding and children. All things that potentially may have not happened had the boys continued to eating sketchy hot dogs from a car.

Warnings: Swearing, pregnancy, labour, minor angst and a bunch of fluff.

Words: 3.1k

Requested: By @beautifulblogsblog. The last part of your request 🥺😭

A/N: Wow. The last part in the What If…? Mini series is here. This was incredibly fun to write and while I wrote the last two parts I played a few covers and rewrites of Unsaid Emily. This is the first finished series. I’ll also let everyone know that there will be a part three for Lost Time.

TO BE TAGGED SEND AN INBOX/ASK PLEASE!

Masterlist

Hospital Maternity Room #284, 1999

“Have a child, they said. Pregnancy is a beautiful thing they said. I can confirm that asshole that said that had a dick.” You hissed from the hospital bed. A contraction contracting your midsection.

Nancy Y/L/N and Emily Patterson took up residence in the chairs on either side of Y/N Patterson in the afternoon of 1999. Nancy had been using the previous months making a scrapbook for the baby; the first bit with copies of photos from Luke and your baby stages. The rest would be the first year of your baby’s life.

“Would you like some ice chips?” Emily asked focused on knitting the baby hat for her impending grandchild.

Mitch and Lance each had made themselves scarce from the hospital in favour of working leaving the women alone.

“I’d like your son to be here to kick his ass.” Your eye twitched at the thought of your husband currently on an airplane. Sunset Curve had gone on a three-day interview marathon to the dislike of your friends and family.

Sunset Curve really needs to fire their manager with little respect for his charges’ lives. Especially the lead singer’s first child. Luke had no clue you had gone into labour.

“Your father had words with Jerry for his meddling.” Nancy told her daughter glancing up at the strained smile through another contraction, “I’m sure Jerry thought the controversy of Luke not making the birth would be perfect for publicity.”

“I swear I will strangle Jerry if Luke isn’t here. I will pulverize the son of a bitch.” You hissed relaxing against the white sheets in the private suite. The mothers had been constants in the room while Rose, the pianist from the wedding, had visited briefly.

Rose and the photographer Ray had hit it off so well they had entered a relationship that then blossomed a friendship with you. The couple had become dear friends in the last few months.

“Okay Y/N, we’re gonna check your progress.” The doctor spoke swiftly tugging the disposable medical gloves on his hands. Two nurses worked with him. Your eyes pinned to the ceiling during the short examination.

“We’ve hit ten centimetres.” The doctor announced pushing the wheeled stool away to study your expressions, “Do you have your partner here?”

The tears built up as it settled that Luke might miss the birth of his first child when he had been so excited about it. He had bought and read more pregnancy books than you he had been talking with his father on how he could support you. He took classes with his mom on how to change a diaper, check the temperature of the bottle and methods for colic and diaper rashes.

Overwhelmed the feeling of two pairs of hands comforted you with the reminder that while Luke wasn’t there, you still had support. The baby would be born with both his grandmothers in the room. It was as best as it could be.

In a fast pace, you then found yourself with your legs in the stirrups with a stranger, albeit a doctor, staring at your vagina. It was uncomfortable, but it faded when the pain really began.

“Okay I want you to push from 1-10.” The doctor soothed, “Good job.”

“You’re doing so well, darling,” Nancy told you, leading Emily to open her mouth. Unfortunately, she didn’t get the chance.

“I’m here!” Luke exclaimed rushing into the room, “Your dad was-“

Why was it unfortunate that Emily didn’t speak? Well, Luke unprepared caught sight of your exposed lower half. He promptly fainted with a thud to the floor.

“Are you serious?!” You yelled glaring at the puddle of your husband out cold with one of the nurses waving a package under his nose.

The smelling salt pack under Luke’s nose, bringing him back to consciousness, “Oh, boy. I fainted.”

“It happens more often than you would think.” The nurse told the young man while you focused on another push.

By the time the contraction ended, Luke had taken his mother’s place in holding your hand with encouraging words dripping off his tongue.

“This is the only child we’re having.” You hissed at the musician who continued to pale with a perfect view of the birthing in a reflection, “If you faint again I will…ARG”

A beautiful cry filled the room to the relief of baby Patterson’s parents bringing both of them to cry as well. Baby Patterson was scooped away to the corner of the room for a checkup and weight while the doctor inspected you. Time felt unreal as it passed quickly.

Baby Patterson was wiped clean as you delivered the placenta, got cleaned up with a sheet change and began to rest. Baby hairs plastered against your forehead you cooed at the swaddled form of your baby.

“So beautiful.” Luke whispered, unaware of his mother taking pictures with the lessons Ray had given her. The baby’s mouth opened with a gurgle that caused your heart to grow, “I’ll go let the boys know.”

Mesmerized by the baby, Luke made his way to the family waiting room on the maternity ward where it was packed. Opening the door, he counted Reggie, Bobby, Alex, Alex’s boyfriend Willie, your father Lance and Luke’s father. In the corner, Rose and Ray huddled together.

“Well?” Alex anxiously questioned picking at his cuticles, anxious for any news. His blue eyes begging his best friend for answers.

“Y/N is doing fine. The birth was smooth, and baby Patterson is healthy.” Luke proudly announced, placing his hands on the hem of his purple long sleeve shirt.

The room went silent before Mitch spoke, “So, do I have a granddaughter or a grandson?”

From the moment she was born, Stevie Eleanor Patterson had her father tied around her finger with her daddy’s matching hazel gaze. Lips like yours and a nose still unsure of but the nine-month-old was absolutely gorgeous with her short brown hair already curling. Of course, you could be biased as she was all yours.

Stevie wouldn’t settle without rock music of her father singing songs, but she did sleep through the night since day one. That didn’t mean she’d continue to sleep through the night, regression of sleep was tale your mother told about you as a baby.

“Hello sweet baby girl.” You whispered gently rocking the baby back to sleep mesmerized by the perfect combination of you and Luke, “So sleepy from feeding hmm?”

Stevie was heavy with the only complication being the minor tongue tie that was resolved increasing her feed. Stevie had such an appetite you had to compensate with formula to a degree, and you were sure the appetite was all Luke.

“Hey sweetheart.” Luke murmured from the door of Stevie’s bedroom wearing his Rush cutoff shirt and his staple black jeans.

The now twenty-year-old man had transitioned smoothly into fatherhood with the support of his best friends and family. Emily and Nancy had alternated staying in the guest room to help in the first month; the birth had been easy, but recovery had been at a near standstill.

“Hey!” You spoke as Stevie reacted to Luke’s voice, “I thought you said you would be late?”

Luke’s lips turned up at your words, “It looked that way, but Tom sent us home. God, I wish we had him from the first instead of Jerry.”

Both noses of the couple scrunched at the insensitive former manager that had both hit on you and insulted you when started showing with the pregnancy. The minute they could the band fired the man and found a saviour in Tom. Tom had left his previous employment with some magician with a name like Conner or something. The magician was narcissistic truthfully and had a slight obsession with the occult and death.

“Perfect. I need a shower.” You sighed shuffling Stevie into Luke’s warm embrace staring at the daddy-daughter duo.

“Have a bath. Relax babe. I got it.” Luke cooed, staring at his baby daughter’s bright gaze and dimpled smile.

Luke couldn’t believe how blessed he had been in falling in love with someone like you and receiving a gift. The gift being a father to the most beautiful angel in the world with the name Stevie.

“Love you!” You called over hastily make a flee for the master bathroom with the large tub before Stevie objected.

How lucky were you to have a husband like Luke?

Malibu, Patterson home, 2004

Luke, Reggie, Bobby and Alex, better known as Sunset Curve, had become legendary in the music world after their 1995 headliner debut at the Orpheum. In the nine years since the esteemed performance Sunset Curve had released two studio albums and toured four times. With the good times came the bad times as well.

Bobby Willis had decided he wanted to pursue a solo career creating a cavern between all four boys. He would change his name to Trevor Wilson at the suggestion of his label. He had little traction with his songs.

“Daddy!” Squealed, the three old little brunette girl ran through the modest-sized mansion to the man at the door, “I missed you!”

Luke, having memorized the routine, had already left his bag on the ground as his five-year-old daughter launched herself into his arms. Stevie had kept the hazel eyes with the chocolate coloured wavy hair. You could see yourself with her nose, chin, mouth and ears, but the rest is all Luke.

“Bug, you saw Daddy this morning.” You spoke, bringing Luke’s attention to the woman leaning against the wall. Luke’s heart fluttered, taking in the vision of his wife, who inspired so many songs.

Luke’s lips separated to reveal that perfect smile that stilled made your stomach flutter as it had since you were both fifteen. His hazel eyes glanced from your face to the one-year-old on your hip with his eyes closed. Little lips opened with quiet snores.

Hudson Jude was born in December of 2002 thankfully while Sunset Curve was on a break allowing Luke to be there. Hud was a near replica of you with the same eyes as his older sister and father. His infectious personality mimicking his uncle Reggie.

Mitch and Emily’s House May 2002

Last night had been incredible to Luke Patterson as Sunset Curve stood on the stadium stage as the sold-out crowd cheered as the song came to an end. ‘Now or Never’ had a special spot in the band’s hearts as they believed it had been the spark of interest from record execs back in ’95. Luke’s blue electric hung behind him as his best friends, his brothers, came to the edge with him. Grins splitting their faces the four boys grabbed hands and bowed to the audience.

“Thank you so much for coming out!” Luke’s voice reached every corner of the stadium drinking in the cheering and the signs in the crowd. And it felt like just yesterday they played the Orpheum before they hit it big.

The screams growing as Reggie’s winked in the direction of a group of girls, but Luke’s drifted to the VIP section. You stood with Stevie wearing the special headphones to protect her hearing. Her tiny hands clapping as her eyes wandered the large number of people.

The next morning, right now, he was in the living room with his parents, in-laws, his wife and daughter. So much had changed for the vocalist from fleeing this very house to returning to make amends. Now he watched his daughter playing with the toys Emily had found in the attic from Luke’s childhood.

“Hey I got you a gift.” You whispered to the man leaning against your legs on the floor. You sat seated on the couch while the other adults spoke.

“A gift? What for?” Luke questioned leaning to rest his head on your lap. His eyes found the little box you had hidden behind a pillow.

It was small and unassuming to the group in the living room. Luke’s fingers pulled the bow apart before the lid came off. Nestled in the velvet five guitars were. Taking one, Luke read the engraving.

“New Sunset Curve member: Coming December 2002.” Luke whispered blinking as he flipped it to see, “Daddy’s new music buddy.”

You stayed quiet for a moment, “The other ones are for the boys. The back has their names on it.”

“We’re having another baby?” Luke softly asked, turning to face you completely. His eyes wonder-filled at the news, “Oh my gosh!”

“I know. I’m about two months pregnant at this point.” You murmured back cupping his cheeks with the stubble he hadn’t shaved yet. Tears filling both his and your eyes, “With how busy the tour was I lost track of my periods.”

“Oh my gosh. Can I tell them?” Luke pleaded on his knees, bringing the attention of both your parents. Stevie was still so enthralled by her toys she didn’t catch any words..

“Go ahead.” You smiled at the excited man. Facing the other side of the room, Luke nestled into your side on the couch..

Hand pressing on your flat tummy he grinned, “Stevie’s gonna be a big sister.”

Luke was so excited when his second child was born, he was thrilled at having a son; he would have been just as excited for a girl. He had a son and a daughter he loved with everything in him. He collaborated with Lance on a song for his own children just as Lance had.

“Hi Hud,” Luke spoke, stepping close to kiss his son’s sleeping head nestled in your neck, “How’s my gorgeous wife today.”

“Tired. Hud is breaking a new tooth, but Stevie’s been better today. She missed her uncle Alex.” You spoke, looking at your little girl.

Stevie had become Alex’s shadow with the man even buying her a toy drumset for her fifth birthday. Alex and Willie had been away the past two weeks for a honeymoon; they legally couldn’t marry, but that didn’t stop them from having a dedication ceremony. The minute the law changed, you had no doubt Willie and Alex would find their way to a courthouse.

“We all miss Alex.” Luke sighed, “I hope he finds beach sand for the next year, there’s only so much I can take of Reggie. Bobby, Trevor came to the studio today. His sales have dropped, and his label dropped him.”

“He wants to come back?”

“To be fair he never really left the band. He went solo.” Luke admitted, “It’s hard to trust him after he took ‘Get Lost’ from us. At least he didn’t take ‘My Name is Luke’ from us.”

Your hand pushed up the hair hanging in his eyes below the orange beanie that had been a staple outfit piece for years now. Fronts pushed together, Luke kissed you for the first time today other than the quick peck as he left this morning. Hudson had a lousy sleep that left Luke staying up most the night with him.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to Reggie, Alex and you to make that decision. He’s never been a bad person, but maybe he felt like he wasn’t important. How many songs did he write?” You questioned your husband tentatively speaking to not spark his passionate anger.

You saw the annoyance in the crinkle of his nose and his eyebrows almost touching, but it didn’t take from the love in his eyes. With a sigh, he shifted Hudson to his embrace, tugging you to the spacious living room.

“If you look at it outside the band you have Stevie, Hudson and me. You have a family. Alex and Willie are connected at the hip. Reggie is with the band, volunteering at the kids centre, or with Ray.” It seemed it shifted something in Luke. His shoulders relaxed.

“The last few years have been pretty hectic.” Luke admitted watching as Stevie danced to the rock playing on the radio. Her little arms moving as if she was drumming.

Hudson shifted on Luke’s lap as you nestled into his side, watching the little loves you created with soft expressions. Stevie’s bright grin lighting up the room better than the natural light from the windows. The innocence she carried deep in her soul it felt like everything clicked into place.

“Daddy! Watch me!” Stevie giggled jumping as the song changed to Bittersweet by her grandfather Lance. The same song that played in the car accident back in ’96 that had a new meaning with having your own children.

It took a long time before Lance was able to pick up the guitar and perform; his lingering pain in his arm the cause. It took a few surgeries and physiotherapy along with relearning how to play before he performed Bittersweet. Lance performed for the first time live in your hospital room to his first grandchild.

“Whoo Stevie!” Reggie called from the front of the house. Behind him, Alex and Willie joined the same family.

“UNCLE ALEX!” Stevie shouted sprinting towards the tall blonde already crouching for the little girl.

The bond between Stevie and Alex was by far the cutest thing you had ever seen with how Stevie looked up at him. Alex would be the first to suggest tea parties and painting each other’s nails with newspaper for any spills. There wasn’t a better role model for Stevie to love. The bond was reminiscent of Uncle Jesse and Michelle from Full House.

“Ellie!” Alex shouted back swinging the little girl in his hug calling his unique nickname for her. He had taken to shortening her middle name; he really didn’t like when anyone else said it.

Peering over the pink sweater Stevie caught sight of Willie in the door, “Ready Uncle Alex?”

At Alex’s confusion, Stevie wandered over to the skater smiling at the sight of his partner with the little girl. Willie’s brow furrowed as the girl came over to him uncharacteristically.

“Hi.” Stevie spoke, playing with her little fingers, “How was your trip, Uncle Willie?”

A small gasp from both Willie and Alex at the new title given that Stevie was shy with the skater. Stevie had been very excited for her uncle to come back from the honeymoon so she could surprise them.

“What?”

“You married Uncle Alex. That means you’re my uncle now too. Can I call you that?” Stevie’s brows furrowed concentrating on the man with tears in his eyes. The room was silent at Willie collected himself.

“I’d love that Squirt.” Willie choked out when her little arms wrapped around his shoulders, “Learn any new tricks on the drums?”

“Not really! But I lost a tooth!” Stevie excitedly spoke dancing on the balls of her little feet in the kid-sized black vans.

“Oh! Ray wanted me to pass on that he and Rose are pregnant! Baby is a girl due next year.” Reggie gasped, remembering the announcement from lunch at the Molina house, “Ray’s pretty sure they’ll name her Julie.”

The little Patterson girl eagerly informed her uncles on everything that had happened since the dedication ceremony with Willie and Alex. Even the twenty-four hours since she saw Uncle Reggie before breaking out into the dance moves from her dance classes. Hudson now toddling after his older sister with a smile on his little face.

A twist of expressions appeased on the members of Sunset Curve at the same time spoke together. All thinking of a distant vision of a Puerto Rican girl with a blurry face and gorgeous voice.

“Julie Molina? I feel like I know that name?”

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