#(i'm sorry in advance JUST REMEMBER THE TAGS ARE HAPPY ENDING OKAY)

[sassenach082]

i'll ride chapter 19 will be coming to an ao3 near you tomorrow at approximately 12 pacific time

[hamiltonfilms]

I dress for revenge 💋 star in nyc

INSTAGRAM AU/STORY

pairing : Arthur Leclerc x Verstappen!reader

summary : because of arthur your heart is broken you think he doesn't care about you

warning: kinda smut, adult language, protective older brother max, alcohol, Arthur is a dick, crying, mention of cheating, some dialogue from euphoria because it fit here, Horner

a/n: so I decided to write a continuation so keep reading and I hope you like it, if you want to be tagged let me know, remember that these events and characters were invented and did not exist like Dennis' cheating girlfriend <3 Also remember that English is not my first language so I apologize in advance for any mistakes and sorry for mistakes but dutch is partly from the translator and partly by me hahah

part 1 / part 2

Sunday 19:01

"fuck" were the only words I said when I saw what time it was. Dennis was already waiting at the door, knocking.

"Just a minute because I'm not ready" I let him in while giving him a hug. "It's okay and one more thing you look gorgeous"

All I did was smile and went on to get ready, even though I p3, it still needs to be celebrate. I knew my brother and his bunch of idiot friends would be there too, which wasn't a very happy thing for me. My mood sucked I didn't really want to go to that club but even less did I want to feel my heart breaking In fact I don't want to feel anything so I stick to it to get drunk and feel like any girl my age. Now I only have one little case or more missions in my little black dress that's too tight, today I don't care about Arthur, only me that counts.

"Everything's fine suddenly you somehow thought?" it was even sweet. My friendship with Dennis was strange and misunderstood to some people at first everyone thought we were a couple but it never was, even though I admit that at the beginning of karting I had a crush on him.

"Yeah it's ok, will you help me with the necklace" He just smiled and got out of bed and helped me. He hugged me and I felt better again "you look really good like a bitch who will show the boy where he belongs" I turned to him and smiled too "Denny sometimes I wonder if I deserve you and until earlier today my look is revenge"

I sat on the passenger side of Dennis' car and we headed towards the club where everyone was supposed to be, I looked at the clock in the car and it was 7:40 pm I thought we wouldn't be late much, it's almost nothing. The road didn't take long so we quickly went inside and I saw our group but we had to go first past my brother's friends I felt heightened even someone whistled at me but I saw Max's overprotective gaze which didn't bode well. Suddenly I heard a whistle at me but already in our group of friends it was Jüri so I just smiled "what a chick. I'm sorry Dennis who is your companion?"

"It's sweet Jüri, you won't know your biggest nightmare in life and on the track" I started laughing with the whole group and I already had time to say hello to everyone "God what did you do with our sweet shy y/n?" Jüri was joking but I didn't mind it even funny because everyone expected me dressed in trousers and some kind of T-shirt and instead I had makeup stylized hair black little tight dress and heels which is the opposite of me but in the end I looked similar to girls of other drivers. I felt the jealous eyes not only of Arthur but also of some of Max's friends looking at me from top to bottom but I didn't care today this evening was mine and I was supposed to be the center of attention. But I could exaggerate, for example, I mixed alcohols instead of drinking only one here a little vodka, champagne, whiskey, beer or even some strange colored drinks.

Suddenly I got dizzy so I went out onto the patio, sat on the ground and tried to light a cigarette, which probably wasn't sensible under the influence of alcohol. Suddenly, I felt someone approaching me, I didn't really look who because I honestly didn't care. "Hi you look very cute" at first I thought it was some old creep but I saw in the corner of my eye it was Pierre so I tried to ignore him but he wouldn't let go. "fuck off Pierre I'm not interested" but that only made him smile which didn't mean anything good. "You pretend to be untouchable I like it as much as you in that dress" he placed his hand on my thigh which gave me goosebumps and made me uncomfortable but just in time my brother showed up "hey get your hands off her asshole" he crouched down to me and he had already gone "look at me, are you okay? did he manage to do anything to you besides what I saw how it would kill the son of a bitch" I heard a note of aggression in his voice but it was loved as much because he always defended me as needed "not everything ok but it was scary, go have fun don't worry about me i'll be going back to the hotel anyway" all i saw was a smile on his face "sure princess but if you are in danger or need to be taken away call me." it was cute he always called me princess when i was younger and took care of me. But I went back to the party with Dennis, who seemed curious as to why I wasn't around so much. "My excuse for why I wasn't that much was because I probably could have been dragged to fuck but luckily Max saved me and I'm partially sober so I need a drink" Dennis immediately spit out what he was drinking shocked as he realized "What are you okay? do you want to go back to the hotel?” I looked at him with a slight smile "give me a minute because I want to stay longer" he nodded and went back to talking to someone. "Ugh. Tequila makes me want to dance." it flowed out of my mouth "so dance with me" I heard Denny tell me so I jumped up as did he. He put his hands on my waist and I on his shoulders and we started to dance I noticed that everyone started to be jealous but Arthur probably the most because he turned red and went somewhere and all I heard was a chit in my ear "we made it" which made a slight giggle from my lips. I thanked for the dance and went to the restroom before I was alone, someone accosted me and I heard "Who the hell do you think you are?" I turned around and saw it was Arthur. "I'm sorry but I don't know what you're talking about" and I tried to walk away but he wouldn't let go and I heard something that hurt me. " You think I'm here because I'm interested in you? What do you have to say? Or what do you think about different things like you're so damn interesting? Hey. I'm going to be honest with you because no one else will. Any guy who says, that he's interested in more than just fucking you, he's full of shit. So good luck with your boyfriend." I started to cry because it was true it couldn't be "Wow that bitch can cry" it was too much I couldn't take it anymore

"You know what I honestly wouldn't give a shit what you said but I don't you act like a fucking punk then all of a sudden she's your girlfriend, she's Dennis's ex-girlfriend who cheated on him not that she didn't do it now cuz look in the restroom next door cuz she's fucking some dude right now and she was only into your brother that's why she was with you from what she said you know what it doesn't matter today I don't care about such a dick like you so fuck off" I felt good when I finally said it and left "y/n sorry stop I didn't mean to" all I did was stick my middle finger out at him and went looking for Dennis.

"I'm going to the hotel, let's see it's 4.06 am and I have a flight to Monaco at 4 pm so see you at the next race and have a nice winter break" I said goodbye to everyone and went with Denny to the car and briefly told him the whole situation and I only heard how I finished "What did he say?! what a dick he is, hey remember that's not true we all like you for your personality jokes or professionalism at the track" a smile appeared on my face. He walked me to the door and he went to his room. I had changed my clothes, washed off my makeup and tied my hair comfortably. Even before going to bed, I managed to quickly post on insta from today.

y/nverstappen

liked by pierregasly, maxverstappen1, oscarpiastri, dennis_hauger and others

tagged: dennis_hauger oscarpiastri juri_vips liamlawson30

yn/verstappen After Hour

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dennis_hauger cool kids never sleep, they just party

yn/verstappen of course, what did you think?

yourbestfriend what did you do with my y/n where is it?

yn/verstappen here and where do you think?

y/nlovver yass we need more y/n in this context

arthurandy/nfanss y/n in her heartbreak era!! our queen slaying icon

13.03 pm

I heard quite a loud knock on the door which was quite an unusual thing especially in a hotel so I got out of bed but unfortunately my hangover kicked in so the knocking became quite intrusive. "What exactly can I help you with, god Max you couldn't call or something" I gestured him inside and quickly closed the door.

"yet as if you were replying or answering! What a hangover appeared" you could hear a note of sarcasm in his voice. "Get on it because at 7pm I arranged for you to meet Horner because he wanted to so you can thank me because your career may have advanced" he made that proud father smile I've almost never seen in my life. He sat down and waited for me to get up because we were going to have something like lunch this morning anyway, but let's just say my hangover kept me in bed. Looking at the watch on the phone, it was 2 pm, so it's not that bad so we'll have time to eat something before the meeting. the flight passed peacefully I even managed to get some sleep and do my makeup to make myslef look better than now but my flight to monaco was changed to the UK due to a meeting which made me a little stressed I won't say no but I managed to post a few stories.

y/nverstappen added to story

Red Bull Racing headquarters at 7pm

it was 6:58 p.m. and I was standing in front of the office waiting for them to let me in. I felt my legs turn to cotton when it was my turn. I shook my hand to say hello and took a seat. "So y/n I won't beat around the bush you are one of the brightest people on our junior team so we thought we would offer you this project" what came out of Horner's shocked me a bit.

"Wow thank you so much and I think I'll take the offer no matter what it is." I was excited enough that I didn't care what it was and I was going to take it anyway. He explained to me what it would be like, in short, I would drive the car around New York, they would record it and present the Red Bull Racing junior team to the world. However, I didn't have much time because I had to fly out tomorrow, of course I can take Max with me because I found that he is experienced in all this and is my older brother.

"I can't believe my sweet little sister y/n in my car still in New York! You don't even know how proud I am of you" I was shocked because I thought Max would get mad that they would put me in his car with his number on and they say he's proud still.

It was 11 pm and I just entered the apartment monaco was a place I missed but I will spend here until March 18 and we have November 21 of course I will be leaving, like now to nyc. I have a flight tomorrow at 12 am but my brother will pick me up. I finally had time for myself, unpacked the suitcase, put on the laundry and then the dryer and packed up and went to sleep. The alarm clock rang me at 6 am because I need to take care of myself, I got dressed I went for a run after I came back I ate breakfast I took a shower and got dressed it was 8 o'clock so max will arrive in two and a half hours so I decided to watch some series. This time will pass quickly and I don't even know when I found myself on the plane, if this is how my life will look like now, but at least I know what max was up to now. Browsing through instagram, I came across a post and I laughed, I showed my brother because he looked at me with an incomprehensible look, all I heard was "They haven't even been a couple for a week, y/n tell me you didn't do it" I laughed "No of course not" he looked at me seriously " I swear I didn't contribute to this" I went back to instagram.

motosportgossip

liked by arthurandy/nonly pierregasly arthurfan and others

tagged arthur_leclerc randomgirl

motosportgossip our new paddock couple has officially announced the end of their relationship is there a reason why?

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arthurandy/nforever I respect Arthur but maybe it's time for y/n and him now?

arthurfanss liked by pierregasly?

pearpierre maybe Pierre will give us details, eh?

nlvogue

liked by y/nverstappen, arthur_leclerc, maxverstappen1, oscarpiastri, dennis_hauger and others

tagged : y/nverstappen

nlvogue Y/n Verstappen en haar verschijning in het laatste nummer van Vogue, beschrijft de jonge Formule 2-coureur hoe moeilijk het was om een ​​vrouw te zijn in een sport als f2, terwijl ze toegeeft hoe graag ze vrouw is. Racen is altijd een ontsnapping geweest, en hij geeft toe dat het een stuk makkelijker was met zijn broer aan zijn zijde. Opgegroeid in de racewereld, zus van Max Verstappen, maar vooral bekend om haar geweldige capriolen op de baan, ook wel "black Widow" genoemd of gewoon onze Y/n Verstappen.

Begin december gaat het officieel in de verkoop

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y/nverstappen Ik ben trots op wat uit deze samenwerking naar voren is gekomen 😉

dennis_hauger I don't understand a thing but I'm still proud of you bestie ❤

user33 y/n and vogue and Dutch makes me look forward to more

arthurandy/nfan Arthur liked?!

y/nleclercshouldbe something must be up

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arthur_leclerc added to story

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y/nverstappen added to story

tagged maxverstappen1, danielricciardo

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redbullracing

liked by maxverstappen1, y/nverstappen danielricciardo arthur_leclers and others

tagged y/nverstappen

redbullracing we are officially announcing that on March 3rd there will be a new video of the junior project of the red bull team with y/n verstappen who will test our new cars on the streets of new york especially this car number 33 😉💪

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y/nverstappen I'm grateful and I hope it's not the last time haha

y/nloverr y/n driving for red bull still in Max's car and she in the new edition of vogue too much for today

maxverstappen1 I hope my car is in one piece y/n

y/nverstappen do you think i am you?

dennis_hauger I'm proud of you kid

y/nverstappen not that we are the same age but thanks for keeping me in your heart bestie 😘

y/nverstappen

liked by pierregasly, maxverstappen1, oscarpiastri, dennis_hauger and others

tagged: yourbestfriend maxverstappen1 redbullracing

yn/verstappen Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend

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redbullracing 💪

yourbestfriend karma is your boyfriend

yn/verstappen of course karma is my boyfriend what did you think

arthur_leclerc Nice jacket I guess

yn/verstappen thanks i guess

y/nleclercshouldbe artur likes and comments again?

user567 maybe they are together but i don't think so

...

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taglist : @vinylbycas @pospolites-blog @kazikiscool @honethatty12

a/n: wow it came out a bit long but wait for the next parts hah again sorry for mistakes and if you want to be tagged under the next part then text me.

[wwinterwitch]

questions — joel miller x fem!reader

summary: after a night at the bar, joel walks you home and you finally confess what has been on your mind since the night everything fell apart pairing: joel miller x fem!reader word count: 3.9k warnings and tags: doesn't really follow canon but sill minor spoilers for ep. 6 i guess?, angst with a good ending, alcohol consumption, reader is drunk, joel being joel, miscommunication, sharing feelings go wrong, i'm not used to write angsty fics i'm sorry if this sucks author's note: omg omg happy finale day!! i wrote this listening to question...? by taylor swift so that's what inspired this concept, also this was supposed to be a tiny little blurb idk how we got to almost 4k words but okay i guess

a reblog and/or comment on my posts really help me out as a content creator so thank you in advance if you take the time to do either!

navigation | pedro's characters masterlist

Before tonight you were fine.

You barely even thought about him in that way. You barely remember the way his skin feels against yours, or the way a simple kiss from him would leave you begging for more. It was like all those nights you two would stay up talking about whatever, his arms around you and your back pressed against his chest, never existed.

Training your heart not to long for him and your brain to keep him out of your thoughts was no easy job at first. It was almost impossible for your body not to want him close. Not being able to talk to him about whatever was on your mind and knowing he no longer will reach out to share even his most profound secrets was absolute torture. Walking next to him all day without being able to reach out for his hand or stop for a quick second just to hold him close to you was a living nightmare that you couldn't wake up from.

Because how could he be so easy to forget? Joel Miller. The first and only person you've fallen in love with. That special someone that opened up a door to a whole new world that you never realized you were dying to discover until he was standing in front of you, his extended hand being an open invitation to walk all these unfamiliar roads and witness the beauty of it all together.

It was new and scary and beautiful. You were addicted to loving him before you even realized exactly what it was. From the moment you were able to put a name to this new feeling he taught you, you vowed to be his for as long as he'll have you- but what a shame it was to realize that the ending to a seemingly long story was already written at the very back of the page.

Perhaps your love blinded you enough to believe he had fallen just as hard, only to realize he was still standing at the edge of the precipice, staring down as you fell into the darkness of the abyss. Perhaps it's the fact that death is all around that makes it impossible for anything to be born. Why would you be able to live a fairytale in the middle of a horror show? What could possibly make you so special?

At least he doesn't seem to be affected by the fact that you two drifted apart. It's not like he's the best at sharing his feelings to other people, his ever-frowning gaze always present in his face no matter the circumstance, but you were still hoping that maybe he cared enough to show you he's hurting even just a little bit.

That should be comforting, right? To know he's perfectly fine and that you never cross his mind in that way. He doesn't have the need to apologize or make it right. He doesn't regret what happened and it never plays back in his head as he curses at himself for not doing things differently. You and your...relationship? are that easy to forget.

No. It's not comforting at all. If anything, it makes everything worse.

You can still remember the night you told him you loved him. A moment in your painfully short history together that you wish you could erase. A disappointing ending to what could've been an absolute masterpiece.

Ellie was already asleep and the two of you were keeping watch. He insisted you should get some sleep but you wanted to stay with him. He wasn't a fan of showing you any type of affection since Ellie joined the two of you, so the nights are the only chance you have to be closer. It was like the moon and stars were your best of friends at that point, because they meant he could finally be yours.

The confession slipped from your lips in a quiet whisper. A simple and timid "I think I'm falling in love with you" was all you offered. It's not hard to remember the way your hands would slightly tremble, or the rapid beating of your heart. It's as unforgettable as the confidence you were feeling because despite being so nervous, you were certain that he'll say it back.

He never did. He didn't say it back that night, or the morning after, or any other morning that followed.

It was embarrassing to look back on it now that you know what happened next. You were snuggled up next to him, one of his arms wrapped around your shoulders. His eyes were fixated on the fireplace that helped to make the chilling air of the night a little more tolerable.

Staring at his handsome complexion without his permission was probably one of your favorite things to do. He had confided in you a couple of times that he couldn't understand why you enjoy it so much. That he's not this breathtaking sight that deserves to be contemplated in the way you do.

Truth is, he's the most hypnotizing sight of all. You didn't care about the roughness of his features or the years visible in the corner of his eyes, hair and beard. He's gorgeous and unique and yours. You could stare at him for hours and never get tired of it.

Like many times before, he caught you staring at him. And just like those times before, he made a gesture that should tell you he disliked that habit of yours, only to be betrayed by the smirk timidly forming on his lips not so long after.

It was then, with his eyes staring back at yours, that the verbal proclamation of your love for him invaded the quietness of the night.

And that's when his smirk magically disappeared. His eyes became dark with something you couldn't quite decipher at the time, still staring back at you but not really. It was clear he wasn't there with you anymore, too lost in his own thoughts to truly acknowledge your presence anymore.

Before you could even think of saying something else, he surprised you with an almost robotic "I think you should get some sleep".

Feeling more heartbroken and confused than ever, you did exactly that. You got up and joined Ellie, cuddling up in your sleeping bag with your back facing him. It's still a mystery to you how you were able to cry yourself to sleep that night without making a sound. How you were able to control the hurricane of emotions after telling the love of your life how you feel and him not caring about it in the slightest.

And suddenly, being in love was still new and scary but it had turned into something horrible.

You had to spend every second of every day with him after that, pretending nothing ever happened. He never brought it up either, so you decided to ignore it to avoid making a fool of yourself again. His reaction was enough to let you know he never really loved you, so you ran with it and tried to continue knowing whatever you two had or could have was no more.

But it was still difficult at times. Ellie kept asking you questions regarding you and Joel even weeks after the incident. She's not stupid. She could see you two weren't exactly friends, no matter how hard Joel tried to convince her otherwise. She's also not someone who settles for made up excuses or half truths, which made her push the subject until she got a good enough answer. That's why she continued coming to you for answers, because she knew he'll never talk about it.

It was only when you explicitly confirmed you two weren't just friends before quickly telling her it was completely over that she eventually let it be. After that, she also started to pretend nothing happened.

Jackson became pretty much the light at the end of a pitch back tunnel you thought was never-ending. You were excited to meet new people and have new things to do during the day, knowing it'll help to keep you busy, forcing Joel out of your head.

It was so exciting in fact, that it helped to make it seem as if the quick "she's the one I've been traveling with" that Joel used to introduce you to his brother wasn't that terrible.

Tommy, who much to your luck was nothing like his big brother, made sure to show you around and introduce you to a few people. He got you a house so you and Ellie could settle in and helped you find a job at the local library, officially starting your new life that didn't revolve around Joel.

In time, you found your place in the commune (as you and Ellie love to call it to tease Tommy). Joel was slowly becoming just a bad chapter in a much bigger story that you started to write for yourself, and you're loving the new plot that's unfolding across the blank pages.

However, all of that progress came crashing down tonight. Tommy's birthday was being celebrated at the local bar and there was no way you would ever miss it. Not only has he become a very good friend, but you also needed the distraction.

The familiar faces, the food and drinks made you forget about Joel's presence for most of the night and you barely made the effort to acknowledge his presence. Without being able to prevent it, your eyes accidentally met for a few seconds. It was almost sickening that everything about that half-a-second-look was so much like a movie. You were laughing at something a friend had said before you finished your third drink of the night, casually scanning the room to catch Joel already looking your way.

He smiled and you barely smiled back before focusing on the conversation with your friends again as if nothing happened. The alcohol might have motivated you enough to just not care anymore. To show him you really couldn't care any less to try to be nice after he was such an asshole when you were completely vulnerable before him.

The idea of not caring seemed tempting. Thinking the alcohol was helping, you continued drinking until you forgot about pretty much everything- which didn't take that long considering your alcohol resistance wasn't that good after a long time without drinking. You don't care about Joel, or the hours passing by, or the fact that you're probably making a complete fool of yourself giggling and dancing with a few friends that are probably as drunk as you are, if not more.

All the hype from being intoxicated started to wear off after a while, becoming more and more sleepy until you were practically dragging your feet towards the exit, putting on your coat and hat to prepare for the cold night outside.

"Looks like you had a good time," you hear Tommy comment in a mocking tone, sending a sympathetic smile your way.

"I did! Thanks for inviting me. And happy birthday to you again!" you exclaim cheerfully. "I hope I didn't make a fool of myself tonight."

"Oh, you definitely did," he mocked, chuckling lightly. "But hey, those dance moves you were pulling off back there? Best birthday gift I'll ever receive."

You looked positively embarrassed after his comment, but managed to laugh it off. "I guess that's good."

"It is," he immediately reassures you. "Let's get you home now, okay?"

"Oh, you don't have to go with me. You can't leave your own birthday party. It's okay, I got it."

"I want to make sure you get home safe. It's fine."

"Tommy, please. You should stay and have fun."

"I won't have fun if I'm worrying about you all night."

"I can take her," you suddenly hear Joel's voice behind you, which immediately made you roll your eyes because you really didn't want him around. He noticed the gesture but didn't seem to care about it in the slightest, putting on his jacket. "I was heading out anyway."

Tommy couldn't have known you really didn't want to be around his older brother, completely unaware of your history with him. Perhaps if you told him, he'll insist on going with you or find someone else that could walk you home. But you never told him what happened, so you're stuck with Joel. "Okay, great. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Thank you for coming," he says, allowing the two of you to leave.

The first few minutes outside in the snow have got to be the most awkward minutes of your entire life.

You tried not to stumble despite still being a bit drunk, not wanting to embarrass yourself in front of him. You're mad that he's here with you and you can't stand being alone with him.

"Did you have fun tonight?"

Oh, and of course he had to open his mouth. Because when has Joel ever done what you want him to do? It seems like he'll always do exactly the opposite of what you expect from him.

"Yes," was all you said.

"Just yes?" he tried again.

"Yes."

You heard him sigh. "So, no talking?"

"I'd really like that, actually."

The tone of your voice would've been enough to make him shut up for the entire walk. Even he seemed to be a little taken aback by the honesty of your answer because you could feel him staring at you for longer than usual before he focused on his boots as they left marks on the snow.

He didn't ask what was wrong because deep down he must've known. He can't not know. And in that drunken state you allowed yourself to be pity as you wished that he thinks about it every single day. That it tortures him. That he despises himself for breaking your heart and not doing something to make it right. That he looks back on it and hopes that he could go back.

But does he? Does he actually think about it every single day? Does he regret what happened? And if he does, why is he not trying to say he's sorry? Does he even want to say something at all?

It was almost as if the alcohol betrayed you. Or maybe it was your head that just allowed every barrier you have built these past few weeks to crumble down. Not caring turned into caring way too much and it was like you couldn't stop thinking about a hundred questions without being able to find a single answer to any of them.

Joel turns to look at you once again when he notices you stopped walking. Your head is spinning as more and more questions fill up your mind and you get frustrated because you know there's only one person who has all the answers.

Should you say something? Should you make a fool of yourself once again? It shouldn't be you. Why is he not doing something? How come you're the one who has to speak up about this? It's not fair.

But it was late, cold and you were just so drunk. And you know that no matter how much you try to move on, you'll never be truly okay until you hear an explanation as to why he broke your heart in such a vicious way. Even if he lies or tries to sugarcoat it, you deserve even the tiniest of explanations.

"Is everything okay?" he eventually asks, which only frustrates you more.

"Do you ever think about that night?" you let out almost immediately after, feeling the way your heart was beating faster than ever. As fast as the time you confessed your love for him.

He was quiet, so you decided to continue. "Do you ever wish you could go back and change the way it ended? Does...does it ever cross your mind or you seriously don't care?"

After those questions, Joel seemed to finally react. "Are we seriously doing this now?"

"If not now, when? You were clearly not going to say anything," you accused him, leaving him completely defenseless because he was very much avoiding ever bringing this up and you just called him out on it. "I just need to know why, Joel."

"I don't- let's get you home, okay?"

"Stop doing that! Stop trying to avoid this!" you exclaimed with obvious exasperation, feeling the corner of your eyes burning due to the tears that would surely roll down your cheeks at any point. "I was in love with you and you weren't decent enough to at least tell me you didn't feel the same way! Don't you think I deserved at least that?"

"We can talk about this tomorrow..."

"No, fuck that. I waited long enough," you quickly interrupted. "I was so patient with you. I gave you your space when you said you weren't sure about us, I respected your decision of being discreet in front of Ellie, I stood up for you countless of times when I shouldn't have. I did so much for you and you can't even look me in the eye and give me an explanation!"

"It's not-"

"You've got to be the biggest asshole I've ever met. And you know what's the worst part of this? That I'm still expecting shit from you. I still hope that you'll say you're sorry for breaking my heart and acting like you never did something wrong. I'm so fucking stupid to believe that you actually-"

"I was afraid!" he practically shouted, hoping that would stop your rambling. It seemed to work, because you were silent as soon as he said that. "There. Are you happy?"

"Don't put this on me," you immediately snap back.

Joel sighs yet again and takes a second to calm down, knowing that if he gets defensive this will end much worse. It's time to accept he fucked up and stop trying to act like he didn't.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "For this and for what I said that night. I should've been honest with you."

Now it was you the one who was silent, taken aback by his reaction. Usually, he'll try to come on top by creating any type of argument until he's able to get the last word. An actual apology was definitely not something you were expecting.

"I don't like people. I keep my distance and everyone else stay away from me in return. I like distance," he explains. "But then you came along and it was impossible to stay away. No matter how hard I tried, I'd always come back to you. I started to need you and it was scary because I should be keeping my distance."

Silence. Absolute silence. You were surprised to hear him being so honest with you, but you were also feeling a bit nostalgic because deep down you missed being the person Joel would go to when he needed someone to talk to. Even when it was difficult for him to open up, he always tried his best to rely on you whenever he needed it. Needless to say, it made you feel very special.

"When you said you loved me I didn't know what to do. It felt so...definitive. Because I knew that deep down I was falling for you too and if I said something that'd mean I'd never be able to let you go. And it was so scary to think of giving in to that feeling because...because I couldn't allow myself to care again."

You knew exactly what he meant by that. His daughter is not a topic he particularly enjoys bringing up, but you've heard a few things about her. And honestly, you couldn't really blame him for being scared. Despite all these years, losing his kid in the way he did has got to be the worst pain he'll ever experience. Of course he'll want to run away in the opposite direction when he starts seeing the similarities.

It doesn't excuse the fact that he avoided you, but you would never pretend like his feelings weren't valid.

He was scared of loving you because with love comes the inevitable attachment to that person forever. You care so deeply, the mere idea of ever losing that person shatters your world completely. And he knows what that loss feels like. He couldn't experience that again.

"Besides, you know me. You know I'm a mess. I couldn't let you ruin your life by loving me, because I'd just let you down- which I did, so I was right. So instead of saying something, I just said what I thought would help to make you not love me anymore. If I couldn't keep my distance, I had to do something so you'll want to stay away from me."

Once again, Joel was doing exactly the opposite of what you expected. He poured his heart out to you, sounding so honest and vulnerable. You've only heard him being this sincere whenever he would mention Sarah or that one time when you both stayed up talking in depth about your relationship with Ellie.

Tears started to roll down your cheeks as predicted as you stared at him. You don't know whether to hug him or punch him at this point.

"You're such an asshole," was all you could say.

The comment made him chuckle, but it was evident he was holding back his own tears. "I know."

"But that's exactly why I loved you. I know what you've been through, I knew you were a challenge and I was willing to work on it for as long as it would take us. The decision of whether I wanted to love you or not was never yours to make."

"I was trying to save you from having to deal with me."

"What if I didn't want to be saved?"

"Well, I think it's already too late for that," he replied. There was another pause that encouraged him to ask, "Is it? Too late?"

"I don't know," you replied. It was the truth.

"I can work with I don't know."

"What does that mean?" you asked curiously, wiping your tears away.

"It means I'm willing to make it right this time," he replied. "If you let me."

You frowned just a little, failing to hold back the smile that appeared on your face just seconds later. "You know you'll have to really try if you want to fix this, right?"

"I know. It's okay. You're worth it."

So far, so good, you thought.

"This means no more hiding, no more trying to push me away, talking about your feelings..."

"I can handle it."

"Can you?" you asked in a much more serious tone. It sucked not being able to fully trust his word, but you both know you had your reasons not to. "I just don't want to get my hopes up again over nothing."

You watched as Joel took a step closer to you, reaching out to grab one of your hands. He examines your face, making sure you're okay with him touching you before he brings it up to his lips, gently kissing your knuckles. "I promise you this time will be different," he says, and he's looking at you with so much affection, it's impossible not to trust him.

[elgascreamslikehell]

Something Something Sunday!

Should I apologise in advance? I mean I wasn't technically tagged by any means, it's just voices in my head

I'm in a bad place now if it could count as an excuse.

I like Chris

I like Buck but still he's an idiot sometimes

The character I came up with is a jerk but technically he has a point!

It's still buddie fic))

I'm still aiming to the happy ending

‘Hey. You're thinking too much again, what's wrong?’ They lying on the beach and waves are quietly rustling around ‘Chris does like lakes. He likes swimming…’, - Sam smiles: ‘Well, I'm not sure if you are aware of that, but there's an ocean in LA’ Buck slightly breathes out: ‘He… do you remember the tsunami several years ago? We were there. Chris was there. He's not a fan of the ocean, lakes are safer’ Pause ‘You were…. You mean you three?’,-’No. I mean yes but… Eddie was working. Chris and I just had a day together so we decided to spend it at the coast and… it was a disaster, I thought I lost him. You know, Chris has CP. So…’, - ‘No, wait a second. You two were at the coast when there was the tsunami, you and your co-worker's..’-’My best friend!’, - ‘Okay. You and your best friend’s son who has CP… and now you’re asking why he didn't go with us here. I'm positive his father is an idiot if he even thought it could possibly be a good idea. If it were my son - I would never let him go anywhere with y.. without me. And where's this boy's mother? I'm quite close to report him to social workers’ That's unexpected. Buck sits on the sand and turns to Sam ‘What do you… Eddie trusts me. And what do social workers have to do with that?!’ ‘Buck, listen. You know I'm a lawyer, right? Your ‘friend’ seems to be… okay. If he fails his son it's their problem of course but I don't think it's fair that you are so worried about it.  I mean… he obviously tries to transfer his parental responsibility to you. And as I understand his wife is not in the picture so most probably she wasn't a good parent either. Or…’, - Buck interrupts him a little rudely: ‘His wife died. On his hands to be exact, we were on that call. She might not have been a perfect mother but you can't just judge people’, - ‘I'm a lawyer. That's basically my job, to judge people. But ok, I'm sorry, maybe I stepped in too hard. Anyway, all I want to say is - stop thinking about it. It's not your son. It's not your problem. It's sweet you're so kind to this kid but… stop. You have your own life.’

Well, tagging.

If you don't want to be in that list and still are - raise a hand!

If you somehow want to be here and you're not - raise another hand!

@pirrusstuff @steadfastsaturnsrings @idealuk @duncley @angryangeldreamsalad @blackberry-l @aspecbuddie @teayourtea @springeden7 @charleyk @lilypads-and-dragonflies @virtualstudent16 @princehattric @dantesrebellion1776

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Rules: List 10 of your comfort shows, then tag 10 people

I was tagged by @sorry-bonebag

Oooh okay, this is weirdly hard, because I watch a lot of shows repeatedly, but I don't know that I turn to any of them for comfort when I'm like...upset, or stressed. When I do return to a show, it is either because it makes for good background sound to help me concentrate better on a task, or because it's wriggled its way in to my brain and I need to just get it out of my system. But honestly, if I'm feeling in need of comfort, I mostly just watch whatever I was currently working my way through, or start something new, because I mostly just need something to distract me for long enough that I forget how to experience emotions.

So, I guess for this challenge, I'll just talk about the shows that I have rewatched the most.

KinnPorsche: I have watched KinnPorsche a whopping 14 times, front to back, and there are definitely a few episode (Ep 6 in particular) that I have likely watched more than that. The first 4 watchthroughs were because KinnPorsche was my first BL, and I had never seen anything like it before, and didn't really know where to find more, and so I devoured it again and again because it just made me happy to have a mafia show where everyone was gay and homophobia wasn't really a thing. Unfortunately for me, and everyone, I found KinnPorsche right around the time that I had to write my thesis for my degree, and I had discovered that because I have ADHD and I do not know Thai, it was helpful for me to focus by having something playing in the background, and even more so if it was a Thai show because then the words I was hearing and the words I was writing wouldn't get mixed up. Which meant I found..ten people that I made sit through this show with me one by one until my thesis was done.

Our Flag Means Death: I watched OFMD 11 times, because I hadn't seen anythign quite like it, and because there was non-binary representation, and because it was my first show with elder gay men finding their first love, and because it was just fun, and in my opinion very expertly handled in terms of switching from a slapstick comedy to something much more rich, detailed, and serious by the end. I think I was hitting a pretty significant low, and it was one of the few dopamine hits I could get. So I milked that puppy for all it was worth.

Bed Friend: I literally could not tell you what it was about this show that captured me so thoroughly. I think it was simply just how surprised I was at how much trauma they included in this show, without any advanced warning in the trailers. I just wanted to see Uea happy and so I watched this show repeatedly until the season ended.

The Eclipse: I have seen The Eclipse six times front to back, and traced the trajectory of Akk and Ayan's relationship much more than that. Akk is my favorite BL character. I liked seeing how complciated his character was. And I just remember being the kid who had so many adults asking things of them, so I sympathize really hard with the fear Akk has of letting people down. I also just love how strong of a message Golf was sending, and just loved watching First and Khaotung cry.

What We Do in the Shadows: I have seen the first three or four seasons of WWDITS like five times, and there are particular episodes (The Wellness Center) that I have seen upwards of 20 times. Again because I was sleep deprived, broke as shit, and stressed out of my goddamn mind balancing school and work, I didn't have the brain power to look for other shows, so I just watched this or used it as background noise.

Young Royals: I have seen this show roughly five times. Young Royals is the show that made me realize that it was actually really helpful to have foreign language shows running in the background while I did work. I really liked it, and I thought they navigated sweet and serious very well.

Bad Buddy: I have seen BB four times. I love how much goofiness and joy they managed to pack in to such an emotionally charged show. Ohm and Nanon are incredible actors, and it was a very very very good show. I watched it one, and then saw a fan edit of them on social media and went "I miss my boys" and watched it again. Then I rewatched it with a friend, and then there was a clown rewatch leading up to Our Skyy 2 which was really helpful for me because my lovely mutuals on tumblr are massive Bad Buddy fans and it was extremely educational listening to them discuss the show.

Laws of Attraction: I have watched this three times since it finished airing less than a month ago. I just love Charn and Tin so much.

And then we're gonna get in to movies, because those are the only shows I've really watched on repeat on my own:

9. The Old Guard: I watched this movie 11 times. I do not know why. The first time I saw it, it was fine, the second time I saw it something absolutely rotted my brain, I thought it was the best action movie that has ever been made, and I could not stop watching it. Maybe it's just cause I'm gay and Charleize Theron and KiKi Lane are hot, and Joe and Nicky were allowed to be violent, masculine, gay, and immortal. 10. Big Eden: I do not know how many times I've watched this movie, it's probably five or six. But this is one of my favorites of all time. It never fails to put a smile on my face. Pike is one of my most beloved characters. Before I even really knew or acknowledged my queerness, I saw this film, and for the first time in my life, when the movie was done. I IMMEDIATELY started it back over and watched it again. Back to back. It's so sweet. AH!!!!

I'm not tagging ten people. Whoever wants to, please take this as your invitation to respond.

[nakanotamu]

Different anon here, but would you mind telling us a little more about saya kamitani and utami hayashishita's relationship? (or lack of one as it were)

ANON I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK ME ALMOST A MONTH TO GET BACK TO YOU I also apologize in advance for not having a whole essay and cute pictures like I did for Syuri and Utami

Okay so right when Kamitani debuted, she said Utami was her "goal", the still inexperience prodigy who'd debuted a year before her. While Kamitani was an unaffiliated rookie there was sort of an... I'd call it an unspoken agreement that she would follow her "master" (or teacher, master in the martial arts sense) Tam into Stars. However, on February 16th 2020, at Stardom's last pre-pandemic show (the timing of this show makes it feel somehow like it was 1 million years ago and like there's no way it was only in early 2020) Kamitani challenged Utami for the Future championship. After their match, which Utami won, she told Kamitani she liked her and wanted her to join Queen's Quest. Kamitani immediately accepted, much to Tam's chagrin. (They eventually mostly worked it out.) Coincidentally Utami bringing in Kamitani was the first Leader thing she did, almost fully 2 years before Momo left QQ and Utami actually became leader.

From then to now, this is basically their entire relationship in a nutshell:

They started teaming and won the tag belts VERY quickly, in July 2020, after they were vacated due to Bea Priestley and Jamie Hayter no longer being able to be in the country due to covid. They were not extremely dominant champions, with only 2 defences in 5 months before they lost the belts. Kamitani was still settling into her new Cool, Sophisticated QQ persona, and while she was working really, really hard to live up to being Utami's partner, she was the obvious weak point of their team.

Kamitani earned a spot in Stardom's first NJPW crossover Tokyo Dome match (I do not remember exactly how she got in lol) and she used that opportunity to challenge Utami for the red belt, which she held at the time. This was a BOLD overstep for someone of Kamitani's standing at the time. Utami played it like just letting Kamitani challenge would have been unbecoming of the top champion, like Kamitani just didn't have a good enough claim to challenging for it to be okay, it wasn't that she didn't want to just, it's the World championship, you can't just give whoever you like a shot. Except beneath her words it was really obvious that she like, kind of likes Kamitani and just didn't want to fight her. Kamitani told her that she wanted this challenge more than anything, that she was willing to sacrifice their tag team over it, and Utami accepted. Utami beat her and they made up, Kamitani still seeing Utami as a goal but realizing Utami did, like, respect her - it was only Kamitani that saw herself as a fuck up, not Utami.

Throughout that year their relationship was pretty much, Utami supporting her (as much as the champ can) while Kamitani was working really hard to build herself up while. That's kind of always been the tone of their relationship. Utami says "Hey, I'm here for you, you can do this." Kamitani responds "Oh my god, I'm in love with you" and Utami goes "Not like that." Literally just a few months ago when Utami wished Kamitani a happy birthday, Kamitani responded "Utami I love youuuuuu" to which Utami responded "I KNOW"

So, yeah, basically as time goes on Kamitani DOES build herself up. She wins the white belt from Tam and begins a reign with it that will seemingly never fucking end. In early 2022 she nominates Utami to be her challenger at a big show at Ryogoku Kokugikan. The tables are turned from a year before, now Kamitani is the champion, and she wants to prove at last that she's really on Utami's level now.

This time Kamitani does win in a match I will be honest I didn't love. The white belt is a bit of a white whale for Utami and she can't overcome that here. Utami reaffirms that she respects Kamitani and she never thought she wasn't on her level, but also says - with the acknowledgment that this will just sound like she's bitter because she lost - that Kamitani is missing something as champion, something that Tam, Giulia, Arisa, Momo had. I am inclined to agree, and that's kind of been a thing throughout Kamitani's reign, people saying she doesn't quite actually have it, that she's not quite actually as good as her results, but boy that sure has not stopped her from getting those results. (The "thing" is probably being able to let out her emotions in a match. Every other champ in recent memory was excellent at making you feel something - in all of their matches, but their title matches especially. Her feelings sometimes coming across as a little too fake is still a weak spot for Kamitani imo, particularly rough when that's what the white belt is supposed to be all about. Kamitani does shine at this sometimes, but she's not consistent.)

And that's pretty much it until this year in Tag League. AphroditE teamed once again, I think making them the team this year with the most entries - and honestly probably the frontrunners for most entries together ever. They were, in fact, much more even partners this year, with Utami even showing some affection and putting in some effort to follow Kamitani's lead a lot of the time. They made it to the finals, but having wrestled their last block match right before the finals with no break in between, 7Upp were too much for them.

Now they're teaming together again (along with AZM) in Triangle Derby, which is still in its early stages, so it's hard to say how it'll go for them. Right now they have a perfectly neutral record of 1-1-1.

So that should be pretty much it. They're surprisingly solid compared to most other partners in Stardom. Kamitani continually professes her love while Utami friendzones her hard, but it's not like Kamitani is having breakdowns from seeing Utami kiss Syuri instead of her either. Here have some cute pictures

[wheelerpupfan]

Sorry for the wait. Part 3 is here!

~~ Continuation ~~

Wheeler felt his pup tag ringing/glowing while comforting Marshall. He then pressed his pup tag to answer who's calling.

"Who is it?" he asked

"Hey Wheeler, where are you?" a familiar voice spoke

"Hey Rubble, I was just hanging out with Marshall for a bit and did some work here at the park." Wheeler replied to his bulldog cousin.

"Ohh Marshall's here? Tell him that we're inviting him over at lunch time."

"They're having me over?" Marshall then spoke from silence.

"And one more thing, can you get my wrench from the Fire Station. I left it there while I was fixing the pipes yesterday." Rubble added.

"Alright we will" Wheeler then pressed his pup tag and ended the call.

"Well we better get going" Wheeler says as he jumps on his truck.

Marshall got a bit happy that someone finally remembers him.

———————————————————

Wheeler then parked his truck infront of the fire station. Marshall then hoped out of the truck then Wheeler followed him. But then he noticed something different in the place.

"Uhh why is my Firetruck outside the station garage?" Marshall questioned.

"Maybe you parked it outside last night. How about we worry that later and find the missing wrench first"

Marshall and Wheeler then walked infront of the garage door.

"I'll open the door for you" Wheeler said as he walked to the buttons of the garage door and pressed the green button which raised up the garage door. But as the door opens, the inside of the station reveals some party decorations that were decorated everywhere as well as some presents and food served at the table.

"Huh?" Marshall got confused with what he saw

"SURPRISE!!!" Four Familiar Pups jumped from their hiding spots which shocked the Dalmatian and almost tumbled.

"Happy Birthday Marshall!" Rubble greeted him as he approached the Dally and putting a paw on his shoulder.

"You did all of this... for me?"

"Anything for My brother. My first friend and cheerful teammate" This compliment made Marshall tear up and hug Rubble tightly. Rubble's cousins joined in the hug.

"Thank You Rubble" Marshall said as he hugs the bulldog more. The pups then broke their hug.

"Ohh and there's one more surprise for you. Watch this" Rubble says as he grabbed a remote and points it to a TV screen and pressed play to play a video message for the Birthday Dally. Marshall teared up more with what he sees on the screen.

The screen reveals 2 pups. One is a German Shepherd and the other is a Mixed Breed Pup.

"Hey Marshall" Chase spoke

"Happy Birthday!" Both Pups said

"We're sorry that we didn't get to celebrate your birthday today"

"We had an emergency mission at the barkingburg and we didn't have time to prepare for your party"

"But we didn't forgot about your special day. We buyed you some presents in advance but Rubble and his cousins wrapped the presents for us.

"It was all Rubble who planned your party today and prepared it with the help of his family."

"We wish that we could celebrate it with you but we have a mission going on but we'll try to make it up to you when we're done."

"Always remember this, We love you Marshall and we will never forget about you"

"never"

"and that's it, we're about to land now."

"on behalf of the whole Paw Patrol Team"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARSHALL!"

the video then ended. Marshall smiled and teared up while watching the video.

"Thank you guys" He said while wiping his tears.

"Okay Family, Let's Celebrate and Party!" Rubble said with spirit.

"Grandpa made these food for the party" Charger said while pointing at the food at the table.

"Motor and I wrapped these presents from your teammates and we also had some presents for you" Mix said while grabbing one of the presents and gives it to Marshall.

"To the best Firepup in the world. Love Rubble" Marshall reads the tag of the gift then opens it and the box has a new hat that says "I'm Fired Up!"

"I Love It!" Marshall then wears his new cap and the pups around him cheered.

"Time to Dance everyone!" Rubble says as he puts on his glasses and becomes DJ Rubble and start to play the music while everyone dances around the room.

"Best Day Ever" Marshall says happily as he danced around with Rubble and Crew.

THE END

hope you guys like the story and sorry for the wait.

Anyways I'm dedicating this story to @marshallpupfan for being the best Marshall Fanatic in the fandom. And also Happy Birthday to him.

Marshall's Surprise

A little oneshot fanfic I made for Marshall fans

*beep* *beep* *beep*

An alarm clock is beeping at the side table. Then a white fuzzy paw pushed a button to make the alarm stop. A sleepy Dalmatian woke up from it's slumber.

*yawns*

Marshall yawns as he's now awake. He looked at the time and it's 6:00 AM. But he noticed something.

"Huh, where am I?"

He then looked around and noticed that he's sleeping at the Builder Cove Fire Station and not at the lookout. It took a couple of minutes for Marshall to figure out how he ended up at the fire station.

"Ohh that's right! I remember!" Marshall said as he grabs his pup pad on the side table next to his pup bed. He opened the tablet and checked the date. He then smiled as it's a special day for him but then he got sad as he remembered something. He then went to the messaging app to check if the pups had sent messages to him. But sadly no responses, the last time the pups had messaged him was last week which made the dally sad again. He placed the tablet back at the side table and got up from his pup bed and went downstairs to have breakfast.

He then went to the kibble dispenser that Rubble just built last week. He grabbed a food bowl and placed it under the dispenser, then he pressed a button and his food bowl starts to be filled with kibble. Usually he expected his bowl to be filled with too much kibble but today, it was just the right amount on his bowl. He then grabbed his bowl with his mouth and wents to a spot where he can eat his breakfast. He then placed his bowl down then starts to eat. He enjoyed eating his breakfast because it's a Liver flavoured kibble which is his favourite kibble flavour. While eating, he looked at his Firetruck which was just beside him. He wents to his firetruck and then rubs it's sides which made him smile more. But that smile doesn't last long as it fades into a frown. Is there something bothering the Dally? Why is he sad? Did something happened? Marshall then went back to his spot and continued eating his kibble.

He was just finishing his breakfast till he heard a knock from the garage door.

"Coming!" He said as he puts away his empty food bowl and then rushes to the door but he accidentally slipped and crashed through the wall.

"Oof, I'm Okay!" He says as he got up and presses the button which opens the Garage door. The door slowly rises up and a blue cladded pup is seen standing infront of the doorway.

"Good Morning Marshall!" The pup spoked

"Good Morning to you too Wheeler" Marshall said to Wheeler, Rubble's adopted cousin that he just met months ago. "What brings you here?" Marshall asked.

"Well I decided to visit you after your very busy duty yesterday and maybe I could help you tidy things up inside the fire station" Wheeler said smiling at the Dally as Cleaning and Tidying up is his specialty.

"Well um, I'm doing fine today" He said as he gave Wheeler a big smile. "And um yeah, I do need some help since I didn't have much time to tidy things up yesterday" Marshall added as he and Wheeler went inside the fire station and started to clean things up.

After a few minutes, Marshall and Wheeler managed to tidy up the fire station.

"and Done!" Wheeler said as he just finished vacuuming the floor with his vacuum on his Puppack.

"Thanks Wheeler for helping me clean" Marshall said as he's also done with his work.

"No problem, I'm glad to help out especially when CLEANING is involved" Wheeler said while approaching him. "Say, wanna help me out clean in the park?" He then asked Marshall

Marshall then agreed and both went out of the fire station. Wheeler then stopped infront of his dumptruck

"Hey Marshall, we can go there by riding my truck so that your paws won't get burned out from the hot sidewalk" Wheeler offered him while making funny puns.

"Okay, I'll accept your flaming offer" Marshall replied while also making puns. The two then hoped on Wheeler's Truck and they drive to the park.

~~ Stay Tuned for Part 2 ~~

Hey Guys! So this is my very first Paw Patrol fanfic and probably the first time I wrote Marshall and Wheeler in a fic. I have been planning to do this for months and finally I had some free time to work on it. Sorry if there are any grammatical and vocabulary errors. I'm still working on that but maybe I'll improve in my possible future stories. Hope you guys enjoy reading my first fanfic and standby for part 2. Also, I just wrote this without revisions and also worked on it at night. Also feel free to comment down below on what you think about my fanfic.

[doctorstethoscope]

Yes, Mr. President || Aegis

art by @multiverse-mxdness

I'm really sorry in advance for what you're about to read

story summary: Scandal! AU– your mentor, David Rossi, has recruited you to make Senator Aaron Hotchner the next President of the United States. Once described as a political nun, the Senator helps you see that maybe you can mix business and pleasure.

Read previous chapters of this fic here!

contains: discussion of adultery, minor sexual innuendo, discussion of child abuse, please see tags for additional triggers that may also be spoilers

wordcount: 2.1k

For the first time in as long as you can remember, you smile when your house phone rings.

“Hello?” You say warmly into the receiver, your greeting in the form of a question, even though there’s no doubt about who is on the other end of the line.

“Hi, angel,” Aaron’s gentle, velvety voice embraces you, even from miles away.

“Hi,” you smile.

“You sound better,” he remarks, and you can hear how the revelation makes him a little bit lighter.

“You were right. I needed a pick me up,” you tell him.

“All these years we’ve known each other, and I think that may be the first time you ever admitted I was right about something,” he says, and you can hear his smug grin. It makes you giggle.

“Well, you should try being right more often,” you suggest cheekily.

He chuffs out a well-intentioned laugh at that. “You’re lucky you’re not here to get punished for that snark properly,” he tells you, his voice dropping so low it nearly makes you shiver.

“You’ll hold me to it, I hope,” you whisper in response.

“What has gotten into you!” He asks with a hearty laugh.

“I just wanted to tell you,” you say, drawing in a deep breath. “That I’m staying in DC. And that I’ll wait.”

The news practically knocks Aaron out cold— it takes him a minute to come back to the present moment and realize that you’re waiting for him to respond, and another to formulate one.

“Sweet girl,” he starts, his voice sweet like honey, “I don’t deserve you. I don’t deserve this second chance, but thank you for giving it to me anyway. I’m going to be better, I swear to you.”

“Me too. No more running. Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out,” you promise.

“I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to kiss you so badly,” Aaron confesses. “And I almost always want to kiss you, so that means something. I wish you were here,” he demures.

You sigh. “Me too. But I’ll come visit soon.”

“So I’m definitely pushing my luck if I offer you your old job back, then?” He asks, and you both laugh.

“You’re insufferable,” you remind him. “Besides, if we should ever decide to go public—”

“When we go public,” he interrupts you, and you feel heat rise to your cheeks at the notion of it.

“When we go public,” you amend, “it will look better that I haven’t been working for you this whole time.”

“Then I suppose I’ll have to endure it,” he grumbles teasingly.

“I think you’ll be okay,” you assure him. “Hey, you called me– should I have let you give me your news first?”

“No, I’m glad you went first,” he tells you. “I just wanted to tell you that we’ve put together a response on East Sudan. We’re going to present it to Congress on Thursday– I’m really proud of it. I couldn’t have done it without you,” he tells you.

“You could have,” you correct him. “But I was happy to help you anyways.”

“Listen,” he tells you. “There’s a big dinner on Wednesday night.”

“With the President of Egypt, I saw,” you tell him.

“Yeah, exactly. I’ll have to do a little bit of work, but it’s mostly for show. Come to the dinner? Save a dance for me?”

“What’s the press going to say about why I’m there?” You ask.

“We’re announcing the East Sudan proposal the next day– even if someone does pick up on something, it’ll get washed away in that news cycle,” he tells you, and you smile.

“When did you get so media savvy?” You ask proudly.

“I had a good teacher,” he tells you. “So you’ll come? Please?” He asks again. “I need to see you– I want to hold you, and to look at you, to make sure this is all real. Even if I have to be discrete about it.”

“I’ll be there,” you tell him.

You were going to be late. Either that, or the car service you had called to take you to the Sudanese Embassy was going to have to perform some kind of interdimensional-porthole level miracle to get you to this dinner on time. You’d picked out a lovely gown– cream-colored white with a beaded bodice– but when it arrived, it was desperately in need of a steaming– a process that really couldn’t be rushed.

You finally slip into the gown and your shoes when you hear your phone vibrating from the bathroom– no doubt your driver, waiting for you impatiently on the curb. You pick your phone up from where you’d left it on the edge of the sink– seeing that it was actually a news alert that you’d missed.

NEW YORK TIMES: SHOTS FIRED AT EAST SUDANESE EMBASSY AHEAD OF STATE DINNER

Your anxiety flares up, but you talk yourself down– you live in a city. Unfortunately, shootings were not entirely uncommon. More often than not, police are able to manage them and nobody gets hurt– given the Secret Service presence in the area, it probably was handled even more quickly than usual.

To alleviate your own anxiety, you decide to call the President’s cell– even if he couldn’t pick up, he’d shoot you a text to let you know everything was fine. It rings three, four, five times before it goes to voicemail. You don’t leave a message– you’d see him in person before he ever had a chance to check for new messages. Instead, you open your text thread with Aaron, waiting for the customary text to roll in. Nothing comes. Instead, you get a second news alert.

THE WASHINGTON POST: PRESIDENT HOTCHNER INJURED IN SHOOTING AT EAST SUDANESE EMBASSY

You drop your phone against the hardwood. It shatters.

*****************************************************

“Oh, I forgot– I brought you something,” Haley says from the backseat of the limo that was escorting both her and her husband to the state dinner as she roots around in her purse. “Jack made it at school, I thought you’d like to see it.”

She hands over a piece of paper with a drawing and a few clumsily-written sentences on it. The picture, Aaron realized, was him holding a baseball glove, and his son holding a bat— a recollection of an afternoon they’d spent behind the White House a few weeks back, where he pitched the ball over and over to Jack as he learned how to hit. Haley narrates as Aaron reads the caption Jack had written.

“They all wrote about their heroes. His teacher said that a lot of them, a lot of the politicians' kids in particular, wrote about Superman or a Police officer, or whoever… but not Jack. He wrote about his dad,” she explains, and they both tear up.

Aaron clears his throat. “Thank you,” he said, hoping that after nearly 15 years of marriage, she could read through the lines and hear the rest.

She does, easily. “This is really hard, Aaron. Being President. Being the President’s wife,” she lets out a little laugh. “But you’re doing a good job. You’re still his hero.”

“Do you ever think about when you were a kid, and you had that realization that your parents were people, too?” Aaron asks. “You already know, logically of course, but you get to an age where you realize they have a life and choices that exist outside of you, and some of them aren’t forgivable?”

Haley reaches out, takes Aaron’s hand in hers and draws in a deep breath. “Jack has a very different upbringing than you did, honey. No one has ever laid a hand on him. You’ve never raised your voice at him or at me in anger. He grew up seeing you as the picture of love, not fear. He never had to be the adult in his childhood,” she reminds her husband. “Someday, he’ll get older and he’ll realize that you’ve made mistakes– just like he does, just like I do. But he’ll also see that you broke that cycle, Aaron. That you chose to be a better man for him, that you gave him a good childhood. That you made time to throw a ball with him in the backyard even when you were the President of the United States. That…even when your relationship with his mom changed, you made sure he knew how much you loved him. I think that matters more than any mistake you make.”

“I really don’t deserve you,” Aaron says with a sad little chuckle, taking a deep breath to compose himself and squeezing her hand briefly before looking out the car window.. “Looks like we’re here.”

“What if we just—” Haley starts, and then stops herself.

“What?” He asks, turning back away from the door to face her.

“I don’t know… what if we just skipped this whole thing and went home?” She suggests, and Aaron is momentarily stunned into silence.

“Are you feeling okay?” He asks, his brow furrowing in concern as he looks his wife over once, twice.

“I’m fine, I just.. I just don’t want to go,” she confesses with an anxious laugh.

“You don’t have to, hon. I’ll make an excuse with the First Lady of Egypt, it’ll be fine. I can’t play hookey, though. It’s the President of Egypt and we’re about to send unrequested diplomacy experts into a country that borders their land– I’d like them to have somewhere to go if it turns sour,” he explains.

“I know, I know,” Haley says. “I’m being silly. Come on, let's just go in,” she says as she unbuckles her seatbelt.

“You don’t have to do this, really,” Aaron insists.

“I know I don’t,” Haley shakes her head. “It’s alright. It’s only a couple of hours, come on.”

He leans in and pecks a kiss to the corner of her mouth before rapping his knuckle against the window, signaling his Secret Service Agent to open the door. It opens, and he steps out first, waving to the throngs of people and cameras, before turning around and helping Haley out. He’s always hated that the Secret Service makes him do this, leave her in the car and walk ahead of her and sit before she does. He understands that it’s about keeping him safe, but it still makes him feel like an ass. Haley insists that it doesn’t bother her, but it always reminds Aaron of the way his mother would chase after his father whenever they were in public together– he was a much taller man, and didn’t bother to wrangle Aaron or his brother, leaving his mother rushing to catch up.

He takes Haley’s hand, and looks over his shoulder— Rossi, Reid, and his press secretary, Ashley, have all just gotten out of the limo behind him. “Do you mind if we go say hello?” He murmurs to Haley, just barely loud enough to be heard over the shouting of all of the reporters.

“I’d rather talk to them than the First Lady of Egypt, if that’s what you’re asking,” Haley confirms, and Aaron lets out a laugh. His staff has made their way over in that time, and Rossi wraps his arms around the First Lady.

“Haley, you look lovely,’ Rossi says as he kisses her cheek.

“Thank you, David,” she smiles.

“Ashley, do you think there’s anything you can do to get members of the press to stop yelling?” Aaron asks sarcastically.

Ashley opens her mouth to respond, but she’s cut off by the sound of gunshots.

“Fire, fire, fire!” Aaron hears his agent call out. He reaches for Haley on instinct but he’s shoved to the ground immediately

“Haley?” He calls out over all the noise, spitting out the asphalt he’s inhaled. He can’t hear an answer, only the squealing of tires to his left. Everything’s moving too fast, it’s making his head spin. His head and his chest hurt from hitting the ground, but he attempts to orient himself regardless. Before he can push himself up, he’s lifted from the ground and shoved into a waiting limo.

“Aegis in transport to Walter Reed,” he hears an agent say, but it sounds distant, and he can’t quite place the voice, either— was it Hal? Who had driven him here?

His head is pounding. He brings a hand up, presses it against the source of the pain just above his ear– why is it sticky?

“Aegis is wounded, prepare trauma response— Aegis wounded,” the voice sounds off again, louder this time.

He pulls his hand in front of his face, gives his eyes a moment to focus on the drippy red mess.

It’s blood. It’s his blood.

@shmaptainhotchner @call-me-mrsreid @dadbodhotch11 @the-modernmary @ssamorganhotchner @choppa-style @ssahotchie @rousethemouse @angelfxllcm @arsonhotchner @skyler666 @mintphoenix @gspenc @g-l-pierce @wheelsupkels

[mishkakagehishka]

Christmas date lines - NewDi + the teachers (StarPro, CosPro, RhythLin)

Same as before, I'm not a native speaker, so take my translations with a grain of salt, but I included the original lines.

Knights

Tsukasa: I chartered a passenger boat so that we can spend time as just the two of us♪ … Just for now, please, let me spend time with you, not as a “king” or as an “heir”, but just as Suou Tsukasa.

Leo: Ta-da~h, isn’t it pretty~?☆ When I get stuck during composing, I come here! Right, it’s a very beloved place to me. So I wanted to show it to you, too.

Izumi: Why do you keep looking at me instead of the nightscape? Though I am more beautiful than it. Because you’re looking over here, I’ll also end up doing nothing but looking at you, though?

Ritsu: Although I did wonder how someone like me would celebrate a holy day. When I’m looking at the tree with you like this, details like that become unimportant, huh.

Arashi: Thank you for spending a precious Christmas together with me. The decorative lights are pretty, as well, but you’re also really pretty today♪

Switch

Natsume: … How strangE. I thought I cast a spell to make you obsessed with mE, but it seems like I’m the one who fell under your spell insteaD. Even though the nightscape is this prettY, I can’t see anything except yoU.

Tsumugi: I’m sorry. I’m not used to things like this… Um. You’re not cold? Are you enjoying yourself? If there’s anything I can do, please tell me, okay?

Sora: Being able to look at the Christmas tree together makes Sora very Happy~♪ You also have a super happy “colour”. Sora feels the same way, you know?♪

MaM

Madara: Thanks for today! Thanks to you, I had the best Christmas! Nothing makes me happier than the smile of a loved one. Well then, let’s meet again…☆

The teachers

Jin: Even though I was busy with work, I’m glad I could come here with you today. Although I’m an old man of an advanced age already, watching the view with a person important to you sure is something else.

@mayoiayasep, I remember you told me to tag you if I post these, so^^ I didn't wanna clog your notifs, but the last three posts I made are the rest of them

Akiomi: Looking at it like this, the city’s lights look beautiful, too, don’t they? Could it be because I’m looking at them with you? I would be happy if you thought the same way.

--------------------------

[lovinkiri]

Simply Jealous

Tenya Iida x Reader

Description: Tenya isn't sure why he's so bothered with you hanging out with Sero so much.

Tagging: @coleluuviida

You were always seemed quiet, so reserved.

And Tenya, well.. He knew he could come off strong sometimes. So he was quite hesitant on approaching you. It wasn't until you guys were partnered up for a project that he actually spoke to you.

"Its nice to meet you, L/n. My name is Tenya Iida." He held his hand out with a friendly smile.

You hesitantly shook his hand and returned your own shy smile. "Y/n L/n." Was all you mumbled quietly.

You worried that maybe you seemed rude, too standoff-ish. But Tenya only took a seat next to you. "Shall we begin?"

....

The two of you had decided to stay on campus to research and outline a section of your project.

The two of you sat in the library, quietly discussing the project.

Tenya wrote down everything you said, easily keeping up with your surprisingly. He hadn't expected you to talk so quickly for someone so quiet, not that he minded. He actually found us endearing.

He'd even go as far as to say it was cute. And he couldn't help but voice his thoughts, of course not the part where he called you cute.

"You talk very quickly, you know." He said in a small break of silence. You cheeks grew hotter in embarrassment. Had you embarrassed yourself already? In front of the most respectable person in class?

"Ah, sorry.. I've been told that I talk a lot. And I guess I was just adding useless details-" Tenya couldn't help but cut you off.

"No, no, I enjoy it. You match my writing speed and I don't believe any of these details are useless. In fact, they all seem important and carefully picked out."

You couldn't help but smile at the praise. "Thank you, Iida. That means a lot. Especially coming from you."

Tenya chuckled softly. "I'm no one special. Just like you, I'm a future hero."

You two fell into deep conversation, not even breaking out of it as you were eventually kicked out of the library.

You two talked about a lot. The project, your teachers, your high schools and the people who helped you along the way.

Eventually, you two reached the girls dorms. Tenya felt his heart flutter as you look down, once more bashful.

You just had to be this adorable, huh?

"Thanks for walking me to the dorms, Iida." You said, gently kicking your feet against the ground.

Iida nodded, tilting his head slightly as he admired the way you looked in the dark.

Undeniably stunning.

"No worries. Escorting you home was the least I could do for keeping you out all night." He gave a small grin as you lifted your head to meet his gaze.

"Goodnight. See you tomorrow?" You nearly winced at your tone. Did you sound clingy?

Well, Tenya didn't seem to think so, as he nodded as quickly as he could. "Of course. Please, sleep well."

Tenya watched as you giggled and retreated into the building. He stood there for a moment, his smile still stuck on his face.

You were.. Really something.

....

By the end of the project, you two had gotten very close. He'd introduced you to the rest of the Dekusquad and they all loved you immediately.

That was a good sign to Tenya.

And over time, they'd noticed how fond of each other the two of you were. From the way he so generously would offer you his orange juice to the way you'd hugged him in thanks.

They were happy for him. I mean, they were there for him but they'd always hoped he'd find someone who seemed to complete him the way you did.

Tenya himself knew he had feelings for you, but he figured it was just a small crush.

Well, that was until you started hanging out with a new student more frequently. You were always with the guy. You'd even started hanging out with him during lunch hours.

And well.. To say that Tenya was a but bothered? That was an understatement.

What really got him though? The way you immediately opened up around this guy, grinning with confidence. Tenya himself couldn't remember making you smile that hard before.

He didn't let it show how much it bothered him though, as he didn't want to drive you away.

You'd already came out of your shell and started to open up to him. And you definitely weren't Y/n, the quiet student who sat in the back.

You were Y/n, one if the funniest and cheerful people to be around. You had a smile that could brighten up anyone's day and eyes that could scare off any bad thoughts.

He couldn't afford to lose that, to lose you, over his dumb jealousy.

It wasn't until this new student started to make advances on you that you stepped, especially considering how uncomfortable you seemed.

"You know, you've been so good to me, I've been thinking-" You were pulled away before he could place his hands on you.

Tenya could tell he made a good decision from the look of relief across your face. "Oh, Tenya! Did you need me?"

He gave a small nod. "Yes, its really important."

You rushed out a goodbye to your classmate before quickly leaving the room with Tenya. "Thank goodness you came! The school assigned me to be his mentor for a bit but he's been trying to get me in bed for the past two weeks."

... Mentor? You were just mentoring him?

Tenya sighed deeply and felt himself fully relax. Noticing you confused look, he blushed and quickly fixed his glasses. "I'm glad you're okay."

You grinned. "Your cheeks are all red again, Tenya." You teased. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were jealous."

It was when he didn't respond that it fully dawned on you. "Wait, wait.. Were you really jealous?"

"W-Well.." He cleared his throat and turned away, not quite sure what to say. He didn't want to lie and deny it but he couldn't quite get the full truth out.

"Hey, I.. I like you too, Tenya. A lot. You think maybe we could get something to eat soon?" You suggested nervously.

Tenya watched you in surprise before smiling. Suddenly, his nerves were calm. "I'd be honored, Y/n. I like you too."

[sherl-grey]

Spotted your tags and > #tbh the only JE scene i will constantly give rights to. and still delete sometimes because of what precedes it > big mood. I'm actually curious on what your JE thoughts are!

Ahhhhhhhh so we're opening this can of worms today... Can't wait to probably contradict myself ten times with all of my mixed feelings and still not cover everything, but here we go! Sorry in advance for how long this is going to be.

As a consumer of the TV show, I get it--the premise of this show means no single incarnation or companion ever truly gets to stay. Even if you made a character immortal, they would HAVE to be a Time Lord with regenerations left or the actor/actress simply aging would be an issue. With that noted, I get why they did what they did. Neither Rose or Donna would've ever left the TARDIS until they literally died, and I am eternally grateful I did not have to see that, nor did I have to see some awful manufactured scenario where they leave the Doctor or are separated from their families; they also tried to give Rose a happily-ever-after and I'll appreciate the effort.

As a fan of the characters, however... this entire episode gets a very large "oh hell no" from me. I know you probably expect me to start with Rose but I will not because she did not pull the shortest straw here; DONNA NOBLE DESERVED BETTER. She and Rose have very similar growth tracks, honestly, but confidence and self-worth are absolutely integral to Donna's character. I'm sure I don't need to elaborate on how absolutely screwed up it is that all of her growth, all of her memories of saving the Doctor, being so important the multiverse converged on her, saving entire planets, making a difference... she doesn't get to keep any of it. I am glad I did not have to watch her die for my own sake but this.... is arguably not better, not for her. (I also won't delve into this since the scene was thankfully deleted but the TARDIS coral scene thing is EVEN WORSE to her and I am grateful every day that I do not have to deal with that being canon. I went on a tag rant awhile back that I'll put below a cut at the end of this because it's long.)

Then we have the Tentoo debacle... look. I have mixed feelings about him but generally my attitude is nope. I really have a hard time believing that Rose would be happy knowing that her Time Lord Doctor is out there and alone (even if he's travelling with someone else, I still think it's iffy at best that she would be okay and comfortable with this ending). She also loved life with the Doctor, travelling and saving worlds and all that, and that's not to say it was more important to her than the Doctor himself but she still chose that life with him over her family, over life on Earth, over any semblance of romance with another person... I hate that the choice is made for her in this episode. I don't care if it's the choice she would've made or not (although remember Doomsday.... hmph); she deserved better! Her friends are in the OG universe. The TARDIS is in the OG universe. Her life is not solely revolving around the Doctor and her potential romance with him, and letting him have 100% of the decision-making her makes me angry (and no, I will not accept any arguments about her kiss being a choice). Not to mention that it's played out in a really awkward and cringe-y matter. Like, she has them essentially stand off and holds one hand each and just.... no. I cannot take it. Give me my immortal Rose fix-its any day, sorry.

And as a belated addition, @scarlet-moon was talking to me about this but this episode is also a mess in terms of bad sci-fi and unaddressed plot holes. As a tangential personal thing, I hate that Woman Wept is canonically frozen because of the stolen planets and not the Time War and will forever change that in my stories.

Here is my salty JE Deleted Scene rant if you care, haha:

[mmilkbreadd]

Chapter twenty five: “The End���

Masterpost - Prev.

Warning(s): a bit of swearing ; post-timeskip manga spoilers!!

────────∘°❉°∘────────

Or aka, ‘The Sakusa Kiyoomi Theory’

Act One: “Who is Sakusa Kiyoomi?”

Saturday, 6:23 am, “y/n's home”

“You're late,” said y/n with crossed arms, she was already waiting for him at the door of her house. “I hope this doesn't become routine.”

It was already morning in the streets of Paris. Tendou Satori and her neighbor (and best friend), y/n l/n, were walking towards their famous bakery and chocolate shop, ‘Sweet Strawberries.’ It was a small place with a few tables to sit for tea and delicious things to eat. Also, although it was small, it was quite crowded.

“Woah, how angry you are today, little baker... More than usual, actually” y/n shook her head at her friend's comment. “But obviously I already know why, and it seems that you know why too.”

Y/n decided to ignore what Satori had said, and keep walking quite ahead of him. It was still an hour before the store opened, but they already had several orders that were due to deliver around nine in the morning. A three-tier wedding cake, forty heart-shaped chocolates for the anniversary of a married couple, and of course, the strawberry cake for someone named Sakusa Kiyoomi.

Around a quarter to seven, they arrived at the bakery, and they got down to work to get all the orders completed on time. 

Tendou was more dedicated to the chocolate part, of course, and to serve customers. Despite y/n had advanced a lot in terms of her social skills, she still needed to learn a little about how to communicate normally with a person.

“That 'Sakusa Kiyoomi' has a Japanese name, do you think he is too?” y/n asked, wiping flour from her hands.

“I don't know, they could be. But doesn't that name sound too familiar to you?”  Satori replied.

“That's exactly what I was thinking!”

“Weird.”

“Yeah... Anyway, the customer asked not to make the chocolate so bitter so add more milk to that please.”

“Yes, boss!” Satori made a military signal and continued his work.

Act Two: “Pretending to be Sakusa Kiyoomi.”

8:39 am, “Paris” (?)

Bokuto Koutarou, along with Miya Atsumu and Hinata Shoyo were lost in Paris. They had circled the Eiffel Tower at least five times. But it seemed they hadn't realized it yet.

They were more lost than Bokuto studying math. But a simple city would not defeat them so easily... would it?

“Maybe we should have brought Sakusa,” Hinata said after round number six.

“And hear him complain about how dirty everything is? No thanks,” Atsumu Miya replied, shaking his head. “We don't need Omi-Omi. I, Miya Atsumu, am enough to know where we are.”

Atsumu put a hand on his chest, pretending to be offended. Bokuto and Hinata looked around, ignoring the enormous tower behind them, wondering where they were.

“And where are we then?”

“Paris, of course” he replied. “I can’t believe you’re seriously asking that, Shoyo.”

Hinata and Bokuto looked at each other, unable to believe what their teammate was saying.

“Sure…” Bokuto said, getting his phone out of his pocket. It was time to be the serious person of the trio. “Akaashi, we got lost” and that time was now over. Koutarou was crying as he spoke to his friend, who was on another continent. “No, I can't stop crying, Akaashi. I swear I was following the steps you wrote on the map so we wouldn't get lost, but Atsumu wanted to take the lead, so he broke the instructions, and we don’t know where we are. It's all his fault...! No, Sakusa has not come either.”

“Hey! It wasn't my fault,” the dyed blonde complained, crossing his arms. “And we never needed Omi-Omi!”

“Okay, Akaashi, I'll do it. Bye, love you… As a bro of course” Bokuto finished saying and hung up. “He told me I have to call Tendou. Is the only way.”

Hinata started shaking his head from side to side, while Atsumu slapped his forehead with his hand. Then a message came from Keiji; It was the number of Tendou Satori himself. Bokuto started dialing the numbers that appeared on the screen of his phone, on Hinata's.

“Wait wait, shouldn't I speak? He might recognize your voice” Hinata said, awkwardly taking the phone from Bokuto's hands. 

“He would also recognize yours, Shoyo. I'll do it.” Atsumu snatched the device from him and pressed the call button. “Hello, sir, what’s up? I'm Sakusa Kiyoomi, could you help me get to your store? I'm a bit lost... How did I get your number you ask? Eh– It's on your website dude! You should delete it, some people pretend to be someone else and you should not fall for that...”

Act Three: “If Sakusa Kiyoomi was real, we should have brought him.”

10:04 am, “Sweet Strawberries Bakery and Chocolate Shop”

“I can't believe it took us almost two hours to get here! It wasn't even that far from the hotel” Hinata said looking towards the building that was a few meters in front of them.

“Six blocks. Can’t believe it either.” Atsumu wiped the sweat from his brow. “And now that? Are we going in or not?”

Bokuto went pale. He was going to see you, after so many years without communicating or having exchanged glances. He never imagined that he would see you again after that cold day in Miyagi. He had made a thousand scenarios in his head of how you two meet again: in some distant future you visit your hometown and he visits Hinata, and thus you meet in the park or on the street. You would have your own family, and he would have his. But that would happen in many years, not now. Not at this moment, when neither of you had grown enough... When he hadn't managed to forget you yet. But these weren't Koutarou's inventions, this was reality.

The incredible and stupid reality.

“I don't want to go in,” Bokuto said suddenly and stopped walking. “I’m not ready.”

Atsumu, who was already one step away from the door, turned to see him. Hinata collided with Miya's chest because he was walking right behind him.

“What are you talking about? Let's go in now” Atsumu said walking towards the ex-owl. “We didn't change the whole tour just so you don't go see your little girlfriend… We change it so you do! Don't be scared, do it now or you'll regret it for life. I remember how you talked about her during practice, and I even want to meet her after that! Come on dude, use the little braveness you have left.”

It seemed that Atsumu's words, or Hinata's smile next to him, made Bokuto take courage and head towards the entrance of the shop. 

A bell rang before three pairs of feet echoed through the small place. There was a great smell of chocolate that invaded every inch of the establishment. Hinata paced around the place until the sound of a door opening made the three teammates turn their heads to where the sound was coming from.

“Welcome, what can I offer-- So all of you are Sakusa Kiyoomi, huh?” Satori Tendou said, coming out of the back-room. “You see guys, I never believed this would happen. It makes me think a lot too… So, is Sakusa Kiyoomi even real?”

Atsumu, Hinata, and Bokuto were paralyzed in place for several seconds. The former Shiratorizawa monster stood with his hands on his hips, staring at them.

“Is it Sakusa Kiyoomi? Tell him I'm coming in a minute!” y/n yelled from the back room.

“Oh no, y/n, it’s someone much better!” Tendou replied, holding back his laughter. “You won't believe it even if you see this!”

Then, silence took over the place until a few quick steps interrupted it. A figure appeared through the door, with several boxes in their hands. A pile of boxes so big it covered their face.

“Help me, Satori, I'm going to fall” y/n complained, and after Tendou took out the boxes that covered her view, she saw her friend smiling widely. “What?”

Satori, who couldn't contain his laughter anymore, gestured with his head towards the three statues in the middle of the place. And finally, seeing her friend's face, he started to laugh out loud.

“Kou?”

“A-and Hinata!” shouted Bokuto nervously. Shoyo looked at him and then pointed at Atsumu.

“And also Atsumu!”

“And Saku– shit, we should have brought Omi-Omi after all…”

───∘°❉°∘───

────────∘°❉°∘────────

Note: I am very very very very sorry for not posting this sooner, but I had thousand of things going on in my life. Now I’m better and ready to finish this beautiful, and crazy, love-story.

I hope you loved it as much as I did. I truly enjoyed it writing, and I’m happy to finish it too.

I’ll appreciate it a lot if you comment down below what you thought about the series. I’ll read you later -Tina.

────────∘°❉°∘────────

Tags in reblog!

Thanks for reading🥰

[kozutenshi]

FLOWERS & PEARLS—KEIJI AKAASHI

keiji akaashi x f!reader

collab: spring formal with hqhangout!

what: 1.3k of fluffy mutual pining in two different lives with a hint of hanahaki and angst.

Spring was around the corner, but the war hadn't ended unlike the cold days of winter.

The man with gunmetal green eyes held his lover close to his chest, giving them a shell, somehow like a telephone, with a pearl attached to its point.

His lover remembers the parting smile he gave before he went on to war with tough spirits, carrying the other of the pair of shells.

From afar, through the distances, he called and talked until his voice disappeared, swallowed by the pearl that had grown bigger overtime.

Three, four years later, his voice had disappeared and it was spring again. Believing that he will come back to his lover waiting for him, he visited the cherry blossom trees near his home everyday until the cherry blossoms grew in his body, with the sight of his beloved in another's arms, her voice restored.

Swallowing the pearl by himself to reclaim his voice, he cried and grieved about his lost love until he coughed up flowers, familiar white and pink petals covered in blood, and felt his heart stop.

Akaashi closed the book in his hands. He didn't know the reason why he even opened the book in the first place. The cover was a bit torn, the pages sure to become brittle soon and the golden letters that spelled "The Tale of Hanahaki" were barely visible.

But he felt drawn to it, as if the book was beckoning him to pick it up.

He sighed, wondering if it was real since science had not found an answer to Hanahaki's source yet. Even he knew that in every story, there is an inkling of truth.

He had watched people lose their voice, the first symptom, and recover shortly after they "confessed" to the people they liked and learn that they reciprocate those feelings. He watched some advance to the next stage of the disease with bloody petals in their hands.

Rationally, he couldn't believe it, but it was real, and the only cause they knew for the Hanahaki disease was unrequited love.

He had read books under the genre of romance, had seen movies, and even witnessed it in real life as he crossed paths with different people on the street insignificantly and held the significant ones close.

Is love real, or is it just a construct?

Finished, he made his way out of the library, on his way to his work to bump into you.

He recognized you as one of the workers in a cafe he frequently went to. Apologizing, the both of you walked towards the train station, you on your way to work while he's on his way to grab a cup before work. The cherry blossoms weren't growing yet, but the wind told him that spring was in a few weeks.

He didn't know that learning your name, and the small encounters whenever he goes to the cafe was a big deal until the reality hit him when he found him staring at you more, getting flustered, and feeling more than what friends feel. He wondered, in this early spring day, with the almost melted snow and budding blooms, do you feel this way too?

Was this what love truly is?

His feelings for you were no secret to his friends, nor was it to your coworkers. Maybe, you were just as dense as a brick to not notice them, or you were too focused trying to stop your own feelings from growing every time you meet his gunmetal eyes, when a smile creeps up his lips, and his protective stance whenever you two rode the train.

You didn't notice, until he came with you to the cafe, failing miserably in hiding his sickly pale complexion, and with trembling hands.

At first you couldn't convince yourself that his situation was real. After all, he seemed healthy the previous days. Yet, reflecting, you remember how he excused himself a lot whenever you're around, how he comes back with a smile that was trying to coax you to believe that he was okay, that his disease didn't exist.

And the same goes to him.

Years, months, days; he tried so hard not to fall in the same situation. Yet, here he was, trying to catch your attention with an order of a cup of coffee and playful, short banters. Here he was, falling down the rabbit hole of unrequited love like all those victims of the disease.

Why, of all the better timings, did it choose to come now?

"Let's go find a good spot and reserve it."

His voice was hushed trying to shield the fact that his voice was disappearing. You know it, with the way he shoots a short reassuring smile when he coughs, or when you just simply look at his direction.

Always so reassuring, ever reliable Keiji Akaashi.

Watching the cherry blossoms in full bloom was, yearly, your tradition. You used to stay only for a few minutes, visiting them alone and praying to famed gods for prosperity and happiness. Having him beside you, a picnic basket on hand, was new.

But you, oh you, could definitely get used to this.

With a nod, you followed him. The sun hasn't risen yet, but the moments before it were already fulfilling. Unpacking breakfast and eating it silently, laughing at the silliest arguments, and just being together in silence.

Akaashi smiled, bittersweetness flowing through his aura, as he re-reads the Tale of Hanahaki. Now, he feels how sad the tale was. Seeing their lover gone from their arms, growing flowers that he didn't desire to see anymore; the whole tale was just too unfortunate. He notices the similarities of the war veteran in the tale, and him, a simple human overworking himself with a cup of coffee on his table.

Would it end the same for him: alone, returning to nature through becoming one of the cherry blossoms you'll visit every year after he passed?

The sun started to rise, yet he found himself inching closer to you. His touch was tentative as he interlaced his fingers in yours, bringing them to his lips.

The slight touch of his lips on your knuckles made you feel warm, cozy, as he took you in his arms, pulling you closer to his chest. You watched the sunrise together, oddly familiar with his warmth, his smell, and overall presence. Butterflies swarmed in you, fluttering rapidly as you felt him press a kiss on your temple. Your heart raced as he whispered his next words, a sentence that you've waited on for so long, one that you would've said if he hadn't:

"I love you, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to answer, nor do I need it. I—" you shushed him with a tight squeeze on his hand. It was warm and sweaty, trembling from weakness and nerves. The hand you held was his, and he held yours.

"I love you too."

For a second, he couldn't process what you had said. After all, it wasn't what he was expecting. Have you known about it for a while? Was this your own way to console his stupidity in falling in love?

He didn't know, but he did know the genuine happiness, and the tears of relief that bubbled up your eyes.

And suddenly his chest wasn't so heavy.

There are a few things a human can do compared to their gods. Decide fates, create universes, and show how beautiful their creations are. It was a sad fact, but on that spring day, the only thing in his mind was the flutter of his heart almost like the delicate flower petals floating, taken by the wind and your mesmerized eyes as he holds you in his arms.

And he, oh he, could definitely get used to this.

footer: there's something so romantic abt the tradition of flower viewing for me :") i wish i can watch cherry blossoms soon too *dreamy sigh* reblogs are appreciated!

tags; @rendezvoi join the taglist if ur interested!

[echo-three-one]

Whatever It Takes : RELOADED

Abducted in a decent hotel room. That's the summary.

Table of Contents

Previous Chapter : Lurking in the Shadows

Chapter 19 to another story made by Ray (echo-three-one) Comments and Reviews appreciated! I hope you enjoy! Love you all ❤️

forgive the piccrew ;-;

Vlad the Janitor

Samantha Coleman

Happy Traveler Inn - Room 240

Moscow, Russia

"Room Service!" Someone knocked at the door and something in Russian followed. Samantha assumed it's the same thing but in Russian. She carefully eyed the three men whom she knew were secretly armed. They were members of Shepherd's secret force, the one he calls "Shadow Company".

She's tired of being held hostage, she just wanted to live a normal life. And if Alex was correct, she can't believe that she chose to forget him just to get another shot at a normal life. She felt stupid. And she actually missed him. Even with all the jumbled and altered memories, her heart reacted to his presence.

The three abductors looked at her threateningly as the janitors entered. She knew she wasn't supposed to act suspicious or she's dead.

"We don't need cleaning!" One exclaimed as he shoved the janitor to the door, out of surprise the two janitors immediately grabbed mops and brooms and began fighting the abductors.

Samantha described it as a scene straight out of the movies, the trio worked together, hitting enemies until they were knocked down by severe hits in the head. They quickly disarmed and bound the abductors.

The tall janitor approached her, his eyes felt familiar but Samantha was reluctant to accept help. She eyed his name tag which said "Hello I'm VLAD"

"Thanks, Vlad?" She guessed, Vlad quickly removed his hat and face mask.

"Aw come on, Samantha. It's me!" Alex smiled, behind him, Roach and Soap stood and looked happy to see her.

Samantha's heart skipped a beat. She was right. He did go to the ends of the world for her multiple times. That meant that whatever they shared back on her memory lapses were far too significant for him. She hugged him tight and he reciprocated it quickly. She wanted to kiss him already but in their situation, it was better to keep it for later.

"Here you go, Alex." Soap tossed him the abductor's uniform as they quickly changed from janitors to bodyguards as they escorted her back to safety.

"Ghost this is Alex. The package is secure. Prepare for exfil."

"Roger that, pal." He replied as they effortlessly exited the hotel, leaving a message to Shepherd that he should not mess with them.

The elevator ride was the most awkward place for Samantha. The tension between her and Alex were reaching new heights. Their eye contacts felt more intense and small grazes from their hands felt like small jolts of electricity. Her heart raced so fast that she bit her lip.

"Thanks for saving me guys. For a second I thought you were never going to find me." She breathed as Alex slowly locked his hand on hers. She felt her cheeks warm up as his touch sent her on an ecstatic feeling. Was he really like this to her?

"You're still our priority, Samantha. Disbanded or not." Roach grinned as the elevator dinged upon reaching the Parking lot. In front of them was Price, driving the van and Ghost slowly sliding the door open.

"Welcome back, Samantha." The masked man greeted them as they entered the vehicle.

~

Safe House 110197

Brazil

Alex somewhat expected familiarity or nostalgia from Samantha, but all she remembered was the name of the safehouse. The number combination was somewhat familiar. She felt guilty and frustrated once she stepped foot on the house, as none of the items rang something from her memory while Alex took effort in recalling everything they did during their stay there, things that Samantha didn't expect she'd do but wanted to feel all over again.

Amidst the stress of the things happening around them, Maxine and Francine were getting along as they prepared a little feast once they heard that Samantha's on the way here. Maxine cried as she hugged her best friend and Samantha couldn't help but also shed tears.

"I missed you. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" She asked, those same words also came out of Alex's mouth earlier, guess she was that important to the two of them?

"I'm fine, Max. They didn't hurt me or anything. Shepherd was actually out to use me as a bargaining chip so that my Dad would help him." The room fell silent. This was what they needed to hear. Intel.

Before lunch was even served, they already gathered around the dinner table. Alex finally sat beside Samantha, and that meant Ghost was the only one without a partner.

Samantha discussed the case at hand. How Shepherd would give Nero an IP Address in exchange for blueprints of an EMP Nuke. He'll then use such machinery to combat Nero's assault as well as avenge 30,000 of his defeated troops in Afghanistan. He also has his own elite troop called Shadow Company, which were trained the same way as the 141, but they had strength in numbers.

The rest of the evening was devastating. Now that they had information on Shepherd, Price and Jack started to call in some favors and prepared for the best window to fight back. Ghost got a text from Agent Ryder of interpol that she was too late to stop the trade of funds and now Shepherd has put the remaining 141 as most wanted people. Laswell also called Price that the initial plan of creating a task force was not going to work considering they're already fugitives and they should be more careful outdoors. Everyone else looked like they saw this one coming, they already knew the risks of the things they've done and proceeded to live their lives.

Samantha caught a glimpse of Max and Roach sprinkling each other water while washing the dishes, Soap and France arguing about how the word 'whimsy' was supposed to be used in a sentence and Ghost was always on his command center. She felt that she was never gone.

"How are you holding up, Love?" Alex plopped beside her, giving her a glass of water. Samantha smiled and raised her eyebrows.

"I don't remember you calling me that." She questioned, as she noticed the faint smell of Alex that she began to admire.

"Of course you don't. That's why I'm helping you." he grinned, tucking her hair behind her ear. She giggled and inhaled once more.

"You smell good today… Are you still trying to win my heart? I thought you already did." She mused, blushing as she ran a hand across his strong inked arms. She was always scared of heavily tattooed men, but this guy was an exception to the rule.

"Well, I wore clothes from two different people today… so… but nevermind that reason. Is it working? To you…? Are you… smitten?" He wiggled his eyebrows in an attempt to be seductive and Samantha just laughed. Was it possible to fall in love with a guy whom you already love? If so, then she's all for it.

"I can't say for sure, Vlad." She teased as he quickly fished his wallet, revealing a letter inside a small ziploc container. He gave it to Samantha as she uncrumpled it and started to read the contents.

"What's this?" she asked, looking at her own writing, she started to feel scared and nervous about the letter.

"You left that note to me before you forgot me… I tried to keep it for as long as I could, to the point that I almost wanted to throw it away." he held her hand while she held the letter.

"My Dearest Alex…" She spoke softly. Her hands began to tremble as he gently tightened his grip on her, making her feel more at ease.

"...In a span of three weeks, you managed to make me feel love once again. You allowed me to realize that even after a horrible loss, I could still open my heart and feel the joy of falling in love." This was clearly her creation, she slowly turned to Alex as he smiled and nodded his head to continue.

"...I always told myself that no matter how painful it is, I'll never forget your face, your smile, your eyes and all those memories we shared together. I actually convinced myself that we were a happily married couple back in that safehouse, an illusion I made because my heart felt like it. It was a good feeling, and I want to thank you for it." She leaned on his shoulders, looked at him once more and mouthed "Sorry".

"It looked like I forgot…" tears started to well on her eyes and Alex smiled. He wasn't the crying type but his eyes were already starting to get wet.

"I can't help but think about a lot of things, one being that if we were destined to meet and not end up together, it would be better if I don't meet you at all. I'm sorry to say this but I do love you so much and I know I promised, but I think my heart couldn't carry the idea of you existing and not within my grasp. It's utterly heartbreaking." she sobbed, hot tears fell from her cheek and Alex immediately wiped them off with his thumbs as she continued reading, her voice was shaky.

"So, your office offered me a chance to alter my memories of meeting you, along with the memory that made Nero look for me. You were on a briefing and I wanted to talk to you personally, maybe feel your warmth one last time. I'd want to kiss you too, but I guess the world didn't want that to happen." She looked at Alex one more time, then their lips met, it was a small peck, their lips immediately parted upon contact. She looked back at her letter"

"So I took the offer, and by the time you read this, I'm already on my way home to resume the life I've lost. I'm sure Maxine misses me right now...

I know you'll agree to this because I feel you always want what's best for me. If our paths would cross again, I hope you'll remember me the way I remembered you before I take this operation, A good memory that's supposed to last forever.

Apologizing in advance if I don't remember you anymore.

Don't you dare forget about me,

- Samantha" Teardrops splattered across the paper as she folded it and reached for Alex's mouth, this time they went all out. Like teenagers who shared their first french kiss, sloppy, needy yet satisfying. They didn't care about their surroundings. All they both cares about was that they were within each other's grasp after a very long time.

"I guess you kept my word. You never forgot me…" She exhaled as they broke the kiss.

"It's because I can't… and I told myself that I won't." Alex replied as they kissed once again. This time, they could hear Maxine and Roach cheering in the background.

"Geez! Get a room you two!" A loud Scottish yell was heard from the distance. But despite all the noise, the two of them didn't mind.

~

Samantha was brushing her teeth when Alex snuck up from behind, wrapping his arms around her. She remembered how she admitted to the letter that they acted like a married couple, maybe this was always their thing for weeks. She was happy as they both swayed harmoniously, looking at the most handsome man in the world, hugging her.

"Do hmm haa hoo heemmmi hoo?" She mumbled while her hands brushed her teeth.

"We don't. But if we had one what would you think it'd be?" Alex mused, turning to her. He already knew what she meant despite it being inaudible. She spat the contents of her mouth and finished brushing her teeth before turning to him, all while still under his warm embrace.

"Have you heard of Way Back into Love?" she asked, Alex's reaction was a very wholesome smile.

"Like from that movie? Yeah." he chuckled, minty breath traveled to her nostrils.

"All I want to do is find a way back into love…" she sang softly, her singing voice made Alex smile.

"I can't make it through without a way back into love…" Alex sang or more specifically, said the words near the tune. Samantha giggled as they swayed to their little song.

"And if I open my heart again

I guess I'm hoping you'll be there for me in the end" They sang together, Samantha doing it in tune while Alex sounded like he's narrating the song. They both were spinning around on the small area in front of the sink, enjoying the moments that they were together once again. Samantha wishing that she'll never get separated from Alex ever again.

Next Chapter : Undying Admiration

Notification Squad my Beloved

@enderio @whimsywispsblog @beemybee @samatedeansbroccoli @smokeywhalee @ricinbach

[sunseteyes]

FLUFFVEMBER DAY 06: CHIKARA ENNOSHITA

prompt: love letter (prompts are by @jojosmilktea)

word count: 1,064 words | theme/s: a your lie in april inspired letter. hints of angst. and yes, this is still fluffvember don’t trust me

tags: @kacchanori @chickynn @todominica @sparkleswritings @brinthie @patricia-ceballos @giyuus-wife @bitchtrynafck @astrxrism @animatedarchives @deephasoceanmagic (if you want to be added, please send a dm/ask!)

rv: i do admit that despite having a fluffvember it didn’t mean it would all have a happy ending... enjoy! (っ◕‿◕)っ

✒︎ our story in july

dear ennoshita-kun,

you don't know me, let's get that one thing right. but i do know you; you're quiet and reserved, you easily quit, you sometimes hold back what you wanted to say, you lack confidence, and you're also smart—to which i envy the most if i were to be honest. i could go on and on about you, but let me first tell you my story.

our story.

i first met you in a basketball court, but you and your friends were playing volleyball at that time. there was no volleyball court or even much as a space in our village that time that's why people who play other sports aside from basketball like you tend to use the court whenever there were no adults or teens officially playing in a game held by the village management. i never really paid much of an attention to you per se but i could remember you so much because you hit me on the face with the volleyball. it was the very first time i had a nosebleed, [no] thank you very much. but after that moment, i started noticing how good of a volleyball player you were, and wondered if i could do the same.

so i changed, and i've had no regrets ever since.

we were in the same middle school back then and i wanted to go and be friends with you, you know? but i was too shy, i guess. i never really got to decide how to approach you because, what was i supposed to say? "hey it's the one you got hit by the volleyball a year back, hope we can be friends?," no matter how much i played it on my mind, i couldn't think of a way to introduce myself to you.

but i haven't mentioned about my frequent visits to the hospital, have i? it's one of the reasons why i couldn't have the time to be friends with anyone, honestly. i first had a surgery when i banged my head once as a child while riding the bike, slamming on a tree after i lost control.

but i knew i never was well after that.

the occasional check-ups sooner became a full-on staying in the hospital eventually, not that i didn't expected it. for months, i thought i was getting better. well if that's until one day, i heard my mother's cry from outside the door of my hospital room, followed along with the muffled voices of my father and the doctor. that day, i knew something was wrong.

so i ran and made a choice.

and guess what? i never looked back!

i tried all kinds of food, i made friends and had sleepovers, i went to places i wanted to go visit, and lastly, i did the very thing that i dreamt of doing—joining the volleyball team.

i never knew that the training was hard! especially since i've been coped up inside the hospital walls before then. but all the hard work paid off when our team advanced and became champions by the end of junior high! it was one of my greatest achievements i'd probably boast off until i'm in heaven.

and then i made a mistake—a beautiful mistake. why? guess what.

because it led me to you.

it was like the rainbow after the rain, as they say.

it was around july. i could still remember how i tried asking one of the teachers for the way towards the volleyball team and ended up entering the gymnasium where you guys where practicing—i could still recall how embarrassed i was to have done so but i was offered to help your current manager—yachi. she was such a sweet girl. i liked her. i originally did not want to accept that offer, but when i saw how overwhelmed she still was, i thought i could give a helping hand.

that was before i realized i couldn't play anymore.

i was devastated, but i decided that i shouldn't waste any time grieving and instead made a point that maybe it was for me to have a chance to get to know you. so i did. i know i didn't told you everything about my life and this sounds like a way of coming out clean, but i won't say sorry, because i know you've had a lot of fun too, right?

those simple and fleeting glances for each other, the way you were waiting for me just to pass you a towel or a bottle of water, or when you tried to calmly ask me to pass the balls for you—which was honestly cute considering that kageyama insisted he could toss for you that time. and even that moment when you let your friends go just to lock the gym with me after hinata and kageyama practiced til late at night. you walked me home that time, remember? i love that moment so much that it was probably the time that i realized the feelings i have for you.

you were different from what i've imagined. sure, you still lacked confidence and were still sometimes quiet, but you could be bold, and you're such a great captain. you're persevering, tenacious, you never took things for granted.

and that's what i love about you, ennoshita-kun. oh scratch that. you wanted me to call you chikara, right? i'll take note of that.

you must be worried sick by now and you've probably already learned about my aneurysm from my parents as i get in the icu. but i want to say to you that i'll be fine. i know that you probably are irritated of me since i didn't told you the truth. i know it must be hard to take it all in chikara, but i need you to trust me on this. i will live.

we've been through so much together, and i know i owe you an explanation when i get back. i will be back, okay baby? don't worry about me too much. and i know mom and dad are too. can you hold mom's hand for me and tell her that i'll be okay? she loves how much you know me much more than she does sometimes. that will make her calm down a bit, i just know it.

please wait for me. i love you.

love, your fiancé.

[cocastyle]

The In-Between Chapter 8

Stranger Things x It Crossover

with some Bill Denbrough x reader

Word Count - 14,120

Warning - just a lot of emotions😭💗also, I put one of the It Chapter 2 scenes in here for Richie so here’s the warning for that!!

A/N- so this is THE LONGEST chapter I have written for this series but it’s 100% necessary for the series. this chapter is going to show a small but very important memory of Y/N with each of the characters, each one showcasing just a little bit of how much Y/N means to them which will help show you all how much her situation affects them. since there are so many characters and flashbacks that means this chapter is super long so I apologize in advance if you think it’s too long, but I just couldn’t split it up, you know? also, I changed a scene from It Chapter 2 and basically had it happen when Y/N was around to fit the storyline, so just pretend like it happened after they defeated It in the first movie, okay? anyways, I really hope you guys like this chapter! we still have plenty of more until the end! also, all flashbacks will be in italics!

if you would like to be added to the tag list, let me know!

T H E I N - B E T W E E N

Intro The Losers’ Club The Party Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Epilogue

Steve Harrington stared at the little girl in front of him, a small frown etched onto his face as he did so. It was only him and the little girl in the room, both of their parents out in the hallway conversing while Steve got left to watch the young girl and 'bond with her' as his parents had put it.

He didn't know what to think as he stared at the girl who was currently sleeping in the crib wrapped up in a small blanket. He didn't particularly like her at the moment even though she was only a baby, still unable to talk or annoy him like a regular person his age could.

No, she was five years younger than him and had only been born the week before. His parents were just really close parents with hers, so the moment his parents got the call about Y/N L/N being born, they were pulling him towards the car so that they could go visit.

Steve wouldn't admit it, but he was kind of jealous. He just didn't get how Y/N was so special and why his parents were gushing over her when they hardly paid attention to him half of the time.

"What makes you so special?" Steve softly asked as he leaned against the edge of the crib, his fist pushing against his cheek and causing his skin to scrunch up as he stared at her. He brushed his hair back with his hand and scrunched his nose up as Y/N started to move. The baby then let out a small yawn and Steve froze. Okay, so that was kind of cute.

Steve quickly shook his head, his mop of hair moving with him as he did so. He wouldn't allow himself to have those thoughts. He wouldn't let himself break when he was trying everything in his power not to like the girl that had stolen the attention of his parents away from him.

A small coo had him looking back down at the girl and his breath hitched slightly at the sight of big e/c eyes staring up at him. A huge grin appeared on her face as she looked up at him, her arm moving in a jerking motion as she squirmed. "I won't lie. You are kind of adorable," Steve muttered as he looked down at the girl. She let out a small coo and the corners of Steve's lips turned up ever so slightly.

He noticed that her blanket was staring to fall off and reached in to fix it, the small action causing Y/N to reach out and grab onto his thumb with her tiny hand. Steve instantly froze, his eyes flickering over to lock on the baby who was staring at him with wide eyes and a toothless grin. Steve's heart melted in that moment and he gently moved her arm up and down by moving his thumb that she was still latched onto. "I guess you're not that bad," Steve whispered.

As if understanding what he had said, Y/N let out a small laugh that made him smile as a giddy feeling filled the five year old's body. And it was in that moment, with the little girl staring up at him, that he realized the responsibility that he had now bestowed upon himself.

Steve lovingly rubbed the soft skin of Y/N's tiny hand before whispering, "I'm Steve. You don't have a brother right now, but. . .but I can be that for you if you want? I'll love you with all my heart and take care of you. And don't worry, I'll protect you, okay? I'll always protect you."

- - -

Lucas let out a small sigh as he looked around his first grade classroom, watching as the kids all went to sit by their friends, making sure to avoid his table entirely. He didn't know what he did that was so wrong, but no one ever seemed to want to talk to him or even sit at the same table as him.

Staring at his empty table, Lucas let out a sigh before reaching for the crayons and beginning to work on his drawing. He didn't even realize someone had walked up to his table before a small voice asked, "Can I sit here?"

Lucas almost fell out of his seat from the sudden noise and looked up with wide eyes to see a young girl standing there. She gave him a small smile and it was only then that he remembered she had asked him a question.

"Uh. . .sure. Yeah," Lucas smiled, happy that someone actually wanted to sit with him. He watched as she sat down, but his eyebrows furrowed in confusion once he saw her pull back the other chair as if someone were going to sit down.

The girl noticed his stare and slapped her forehead. "Silly me. I'm Y/N and this is my friend Frank," she said with a giggle. She then glanced at the empty seat before leaning closer to Lucas and whispering, "He's a bit shy." Lucas snickered and Y/N winked at him before pulling away and grabbing a green crayon. She began coloring and started to tell Lucas her whole life story it seemed like.

Lucas didn't mind. He actually enjoyed the girl's company, finding her quite funny and entertaining with the way she moved her hands around as she spoke. It was only when she was in the middle of telling Lucas a story about the time she broke her arm because Frank told her to try and stick a landing by jumping off a tree that her crayon broke and she fell silent.

"Shit."

The two froze at that and Lucas looked up at the girl who seemed a bit surprised that she had uttered that word. Her eyes locked with Lucas' and the two sat there for a moment before they burst into laughter, huge grins on their faces.

"I like you!" Lucas exclaimed as he pointed his crayon in her direction. He gave her a big grin before tilting his head and asking, "Want to be best friends?" Y/N returned the smile before saying, "Sure! I was getting kind of bored of Frank anyways. He likes to eat too much candy and I don't need that or the cavities in my life." She then picked up a red crayon before glancing over at the empty seat and shrugging her shoulders. “Sorry, Frank."

- - -

Dustin skipped out of school with a grin on his face as he headed towards his bike. It was the second week of second grade and Dustin loved it so far. He didn't have many friends except for a boy named Lucas, but he had slowly started becoming friends with two other boys named Mike and Will. He didn't care about not having many friends. He was just happy with life and that was all that mattered.

In that moment, Dustin was most excited about getting home to show his mother the small painting he had made for her today. It was two stick figures, one being him and one being his mother, with a small blob that he had determined was his cat Mews. He was no Picasso, but his mother wouldn't care. The fact that it was coming from him was all that mattered.

Dustin could see his bike by now and his grin widened just a little as he stopped skipping and went to run towards it. However, just when he went to step forward, the force of two hands shoving him in the back had him tumbling to the ground.

His hands scrapped against the ground as he tried to catch himself and he let out a small hiss of pain as he stilled on the ground. "Ouch," Dustin muttered, pulling himself up slightly so that he could turn and see who had just pushed him.

He let out a mental groan at the sight of Troy Walsh and his friend James Dante, the two school bullies in his grade. "Better watch where you're going, Toothless. You don't want to lose more teeth, do ya?" Troy cackled, James snickering from his side.

Dustin tried to get up, but James just shoved the boy down. Dustin let out a defeated sigh and looked up at the boys from under his hat. "I've told you before. I have cleidocranial dysplasia," he muttered, his shoulders slumping slightly as he was being bullied for a condition he couldn't control.

"Those are some big words. You sure you know what they mean?" James laughed. “You sure you do?" Dustin retorted earning glares from the boys before Troy sent a kick to his side. Dustin groaned and held onto his side while the two bullies glared at him.

"A little birdie told me you have a pretty gross trick you can do with your arm. We want you to show us, freak," Troy demanded. Dustin went to shake his head, but James kicked him hard enough to have him falling back again. "Show us!" James exclaimed.

Dustin looked up at the boys shyly before moving his arms in a weird way so that they popped. Troy and James both winced before Troy muttered, "That was disgusting. Do it again." "I don't want to," Dustin told them as he fixed the way his arms looked. Not that it hurt doing it, but the movement could feel uncomfortable at times.

"You really are a freak, aren't you?" Troy laughed before sending another kick at the boy's side. Dustin groaned and hugged his body close to himself as the boys continued to taunt and kick him. All he wanted was to go home, but the fact that he had no friends meant that he had no one who would stand up for him. So all he could do was wait until the boys were done having their fun.

"Hey, assholes!" a voice exclaimed making the kicking stop for a second as all three boys turned to see a girl in a yellow dress with her hair tied back with a yellow bow standing there with a glare on her face.

Dustin recognized her almost immediately. He had seen her hanging around Lucas quite often. The girl was Y/N L/N and her and Lucas had been best friends since the previous year. He had always wanted to try and talk to her, but she was never around Lucas when he was there and the idea of talking to a girl scared him from talking to her when she was around Lucas.

By now the kids that were outside waiting on their parents to pick them up had turned their attention over to the group and the girl who had just openly cussed in front of everyone. Some children were snickering while others were wide eyed, but no one made a move to stop them.

"I'm sorry. Were you talking to us?" Troy asked, turning his attention away from Dustin to look at Y/N in disbelief. "Well you're the only assholes here, so who else would I be talking to?" Y/N questioned. Troy and James both went to say something, but Y/N didn't even give them the time of day as she said, "Leave the boy alone."

"Who? Toothless over here?" James asked as he kicked Dustin for good measure. "No, I don't think we will," Troy told her. "Why? Because your life sucks so badly and you're so insecure that you have to make up for it by bullying others?" Y/N retorted, earning small snickers from the kids while Troy and James glared at her with red faces.

"Insecure? What makes you think we're insecure? If anything, you should be. I mean, with a rat face like yours who wouldn't be?" Troy laughed, James joining in, but Y/N only stared at them blankly, not fazed by them at all. The fact that she didn't react made the boys' laughter die down and a silence fell among the front schoolyard.

"Your words don't bother me, Walsh. Yours either, Dante. Want to know why? Cause why the hell would I listen to the two of you when you can't even take any of the quizzes in class without cheating off of others. And guess what? You still manage to fail! So why would the words of two dumbasses such as yourselves bother me?" Y/N asked, her eyebrows raised as she awaited an answer.

The laughter was getting louder by now and and Troy and James were both red faced. "I don't need to explain why you're insecure because I know you both know exactly what I'm talking about. Or do you want me to tell everyone right now just how much a pussy you two really are?" Y/N asked as she took a few steps closer to the boys.

To Dustin's surprise, they stepped back. "You bitch," James muttered. "No, you are the bitch," Y/N whispered in a dark tone. "So why don't you two stop being bitches and head home. Your mothers will be waiting for you."

Troy and James glared at the girl, but began to walk away. "You're going to pay for this, L/N!" Troy yelled after her. Y/N just rolled her eyes and flicked the boys off before turning away and looking to Dustin who was still on the ground. "You okay?" she asked as she walked over to the boy.

"Y-Yeah, I'm okay," Dustin said as he stared up at the girl in shock. Y/N smiled and held a hand out for the boy to take. He quickly grabbed on and she helped him into his feet before the two smiled at each other. “That was amazing," Dustin told her. "Thank you."

"Don't let them bother you. Troy and James are idiots," Y/N said. She stared at the boy for a moment before saying, "I think I've seen you with Lucas before. Lucas is like my best friend."

"Yeah, we've hung out a couple of times," Dustin told her before he held a hand out. "I'm Dustin by the way. Dustin Henderson." Y/N smiled and took his hand before shaking it. "Y/N," she said, "Y/N L/N." And that was the beginning of their friendship.

- - -

"Y/N can do it!" Wheeler exclaimed causing Y/N to blink out of her thoughts she had been having to see Wheeler, Dustin, and Lucas all staring at her. “What?" Y/N asked confused seeing as she hadn't listened to a word the boys were saying. She was too busy thinking about Will who had been missing for a couple of days now. She was really worried about him, so she had found herself drifting off into space more and more often because of how much she missed him.

"You're a girl," Dustin said causing Y/N to blink. "Wow. Nice going, Sherlock. How long did it take for you to figure that out?" Y/N asked sarcastically earning a snort from Lucas who high fived her while Dustin looked unamused.

"What we are getting at is that because you are a girl, you can help get El ready and like do her makeup and stuff," Wheeler explained. Y/N hesitated and let her eyes flicker over to the girl who had literally appeared out of no where.

Eleven was the girl the group had met in the woods the other night. She had been wearing ratty clothes, had all of her hair shaved off, and didn't seem to know many words since all of her responses were only a couple words long. Y/N still didn't entirely know the girl, but Eleven seemed nice enough and Y/N actually liked her. The fact that Eleven seemed to know how to help Will also made her more accepting of her as well.

"Okay, I'm going to pretend like you didn't just assume I know how to use makeup because I'm a girl. But I probably do know more than you three, so you guys figure out an outfit while I go do El's makeup," Y/N sighed. The boys nodded and Y/N was quick to turn and take Eleven's hand before gently pulling her towards Nancy Wheeler's bedroom where she knew she would be able to find makeup of some kind.

It took a few minutes, but the two girls were eventually sitting on Nancy's bed while Y/N did Eleven's makeup. Eleven was a shy girl and didn't like to say much, so Y/N just softly hummed as she worked, pretending not to notice the way Eleven looked at her and smiling softly when Eleven tried humming the song back.

"And done!" Y/N exclaimed once she had finished up, closing the lipstick as she leaned back to look at the girl. Y/N grinned before putting the makeup down and pulling Eleven off the bed, a small laugh escaping her lips as she brought the girl over to the mirror.

Eleven froze at the sight of herself before she hesitantly reached up and poked at her face. She was silent for a minute before whispering, "Pretty?" Y/N smiled and whispered, "You're pretty with or without the makeup, El."

Eleven smiled at that and Y/N returned it as she wrapped an arm around the girl's neck and hugged her, the two looking at their reflections. Eleven was silent again as her eyes flickered between her own reflection and Y/N's. Y/N could tell she wanted to ask something, so she didn't move as she waited for Eleven to speak.

"Friends?" Eleven finally asked, her eyes flickering to look at Y/N's through the mirror as if she were afraid to ask the question in fear of Y/N saying no. Y/N smiled and whispered, "Even better. We're best friends." Eleven smiled, obviously liking the sound of that. She found herself wrapping an arm around Y/N and hugging her just like Y/N was doing before whispering back in confirmation, "Best friends."

- - -

Playing D&D with only two people was quite hard and Y/N and Will didn't realize that until one afternoon when everyone else was busy. It didn't seem to bother either of them though since it only made the game that much more fun to figure out and Will really needed that at the moment.

It had been a couple of weeks since he had returned from the Upside Down and things hadn't been the same since before he had disappeared. Wheeler was depressed because of losing Eleven, so he had been kind of off the radar, wanting nothing more than to be alone. As for Lucas and Dustin, they talked to Will like they were walking on egg shells, so Will didn't hang out with them as much at the moment.

But Y/N was different. She knew how hard it was for Will to adjust after an experience like that, especially seeing as he couldn't even sleep without waking up screaming due to nightmares. Y/N knew Will would talk to her eventually, so she just decided to treat him like normal, joking and laughing around with him like the events that had taken place never happened. It helped both of them seeing as Y/N was also affected by the loss of Eleven.

Y/N treated Will like a normal human being and it was so comforting that he had been spending most of his days by her side, the two hanging out outside of school whenever the others couldn't and just enjoying being kids.

That's how they ended up where they were right now— in Will's living room playing D&D while Jonathan listened to music in his room. Lucas had had a doctor's appointment that day, Dustin had been grounded for accidentally setting his cat's tail on fire, and Wheeler had gone home, so Y/N had brought it upon herself to entertain Will by playing D&D.

Y/N was dressed up as a magician while Will was dressed up as a wizard and the two would break character every so often to chuckle at their outfits. Besides Will, Y/N was probably the second most enthusiastic about the game and she often took over the role of narrator when Wheeler didn't want to.

This was probably one of Will's favorite days with Y/N and he didn't know why. They were just playing a game, but maybe that's exactly why it was. There was no special treatment, no walking on egg shells. It was just the two of them, two best friends being the kids that they were.

Will watched Y/N silently, his mind racing as he tried to figure out how he had gained such a great friend like Y/N. As if sensing his stare, the girl glanced over at him, her hat tilting slightly as she did. She quickly fixed her hat and gave her friend an amused look as she raised her eyebrows. "What?" she asked, the corners of her lips turning up into a smile.

"I just. . ." Will hesitated and Y/N furrowed her eyebrows. Will smiled softly before whispering, "Thank you, Y/N." He didn't have to explain what he was thanking her for. It was for her treating him normally, for playing D&D with him, for just being his friend.

Y/N was silent for a minute as she just stared at her friend, her heart warming slightly as she realized just how much she had missed him while he was gone. She smiled, "No problem, Will the Wise. Now choose your action!"

Will let out a loud laugh and neither of the kids noticed Jonathan who was watching from the doorway, happy to see his brother finally acting like himself for once. Will glanced at his friend and gave her a sly look as he picked up the dice. "Fireball."

- - -

"Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?" Y/N muttered in frustration as she flipped through the pile of records she had in the box in front of her. Letting out a groan once she had hit the back of the box, Y/N turned her body to look at Wheeler who was standing on the other end of the store.

"Wheeler, tell me some good news please!" Y/N called out, but the frown on Wheeler's face was enough of a response. "Shit," the twelve year old muttered as she hurried over to one of the boxes she had checked when they first arrived at the record shop. It was the morning before the Party's monthly karaoke night at Y/N's house and Y/N needed to get the latest Bruce Springsteen record to be able to use. Her and Wheeler always sang a song together and they were determined to sing Born in the U.S.A. However, they couldn't do that until they found the record first.

"We've checked everywhere, L/N. I don't think they have it," Wheeler said as he came to a stop beside the girl. "But how? It's still such a new album!" Y/N complained. "Exactly. They probably sold out," Wheeler told her.

"May I help you two?" a small voice asked causing the two to turn and see a young woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties standing at the end of the aisle. "Oh, yes!" Y/N exclaimed as she hurried over to the woman. "We're looking for the new Bruce Springsteen record but can't seem to find it."

"Oh, you two are fans of Bruce? I think we sold our last record earlier this morning," the woman told them causing Wheeler and Y/N to frown. "But I think we might have a few stragglers in the back if you two want to come and check." The twelve year olds' eyes lit up and Y/N gripped onto Wheeler's arm as the two jumped up and down in excitement. "Yes, please!" they both exclaimed.

The woman chuckled before gesturing to follow her. She brought them to the back where there were a few boxes of records laying in storage. "You two are free to look through the boxes if you would like. I'll be out front once you two are done," the woman told them before she began to walk away. "Thank you!" the two kids yelled after her before they looked to the boxes. They glanced at each other before practically breaking into a run.

The two were looking through the boxes within seconds and it took a few minutes before Wheeler cried out triumphantly, "I found it!" Y/N's eyes lit up and she turned to see Wheeler holding the record up in the air. She squealed before running over to the boy and hugging him in excitement. "We hit the jackpot! Hurry! Let's go buy this so we can try it out!" Y/N said.

Wheeler nodded and the two went up to the front to pay for the record. It took about twenty minutes for them to buy the record and bike all the way to Y/N's house, but it was totally worth it once they heard the familiar beat of Born in the U.S.A filling the air.

"Born down in a dead man's town. The first kick I took was when I hit the ground," Y/N sang as she pointed to Wheeler, one hand up as if she were holding a microphone. Wheeler mimicked her actions and squeezed his eyes shut as he sang along to the music with as much passion as he could, "End up like a dog that's been beat too much. 'Til you spend half your life just covering up."

The two kids grinned before singing out, "Born in the U.S.A. I was born in the U.S.A!" The two kids danced crazily around the room with their eyes shut, neither of them realizing how close they had gotten before they tripped over each other's feet and went tumbling to the ground. Y/N and Wheeler opened their eyes and the moment their eyes locked, they burst into a round of childish laughter.

This is what it was like whenever the two were together. Their friendship could be a bit odd at times, but it was about as strong as her friendship with Lucas. They were best friends and partners in crime. But even more importantly, they were karaoke partners and that night when they sang along to their favorite song would just be another win on their long list of karaoke accomplishments.

So with their laughter filling the air and five more hours until the others were supposed to come over for karaoke night, the two kids got up and spun around the room, singing their favorite song and enjoying the moment they had together.

"I was born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A."

- - -

"You sure this is going to work?" Max whispered as she stared at the place in front of her. Y/N glanced over at her friend and chuckled before nudging her. "Of course it will," she told her. "Besides, you're with me. They love me."

Max rolled her eyes at her friend's ego and Y/N chuckled before linking her arm with her friend, the two walking into Scoops Ahoy side by side. "Harrington!" Y/N cried out before said boy came running out of the back room.

His eyes searched frantically before he saw Y/N standing there with Max by her side at the counter. "You little shit," he breathed out. "You can't just come running in here yelling for me like that. I thought something was wrong."

"But something is wrong," Y/N told him, the boy raising an eyebrow in amusement as a response. "I'm hungry." Steve rolled his eyes, but let out a small chuckle. "You've got a problematic life I see," he joked making Max chuckle while Y/N reached across the counter to lightly punch the boy's arm. "What would you two like?"

"Can we try one of everything and then decide what we want?" Y/N asked as she put an innocent smile on her face. Steve looked at her unamused. "I know what you're trying to do-" he began, but Y/N leaned on the counter and gave him her best pleading face as she batted her eyelashes. "Please, Stevie. Please," she said.

Steve was silent for a minute before a voice behind him said, "You're screwed." The group turned to see Robin standing with a whiteboard that had Y/N's name written on one side and Steve's on the other. "I know you, Harrington, and Y/N just pulled the puppy dog eyes on you. She's going to win this round once again," Robin said as she went ahead and drew another tally mark under Y/N's name, adding it to the collection of tally marks already there.

"No one asked you. Put that thing away!" Steve exclaimed in annoyance. Robin chuckled and held her hands up in surrender before pushing the board aside. Steve rolled his eyes before turning back to Y/N and Max who were both now giving him their best puppy eyes. He let out a sigh. "Fine. I'll get you two your samples. Now go ahead and sit down," he told them.

Y/N grinned before leaning across the counter to kiss Steve's cheek. "Thanks, Steve. Love you!" she exclaimed as she turned and dragged Max away to go find a seat. "Love you too, squirt," Steve chuckled before going to get the samples for the girls.

"Holy shit. I can't believe that worked," Max muttered as the two slid into a booth. "It's Steve. He's a sucker when it comes to me," Y/N laughed. "I love him so much."

"I wish Billy was like that. Steve isn't even your real brother," Max pouted. "He might as well be," Y/N muttered. "I'm sorry about, Billy. I think he's just going through some things right now. But in the end, he's always going to love you." Max smiled softly at that and gave Y/N a thankful nod.

"I wish Eleven was here," Y/N said, trying to change the subject. "The three of us hanging out together? Think of all the mischief we could get into!" Max chuckled, "Yeah, but's she's too busy sucking faces with Mike." The two grimaced at the thought before letting out loud laughs.

"You know, I'm glad you moved here," Y/N suddenly said, the comment making Max freeze before she looked to her friend with a smile. "I don't know. I mean, I love the boys and everything, but it's nice having some friends that are girls as well." Max smiled softly, thankful that Y/N had said that especially since she had been doubting herself in the friend group recently. "Thanks, Y/N. It's a pleasure to be able to save you from the boys," Max jokingly said.

The two girls chuckled and were in the middle of laughing when Steve set their samples down before them. Their eyes instantly lit up and Steve pointed a finger at them. "Just this time, okay?" he said. "Yes, sir!" the two girls said before they mock saluted him, thus causing another round of laughter. Steve rolled his eyes with a smile on his face before he ruffled Y/N's hair and went back to working.

Max and Y/N both glanced at each other before looking to the samples before them. There were so many that they knew they wouldn't be hungry when they were done. Y/N smirked before looking up at the red head.

"First once to get a brain freeze loses."

"Oh you're so on."

- - -

"Dammit," Mike Hanlon muttered as he stared at the bags that had fallen from his bike and onto the sidewalk. Luckily nothing had spilled, but he was going to be late to meet up with his friends if he didn't get all of his shit together.

With a frown on his face, Mike set his bike up against a building before bending down to pick up the packages he had to deliver later. His grandfather had been in a good mood and allowed him to meet up with his friends before delivering the packages, so Mike could not mess this up.

Today was the day he was supposed to be meeting the girl who had become close to the Losers. From what the others had told him, she had just moved from Indiana and seemed to be pretty amazing. He hadn't had the chance to meet her yet because he was homeschooled and work had kept him busy, but he was finally getting to meet the girl today and Mike was honestly quite nervous. He wondered what she would be like especially since each of the Losers has described her in different ways.

Stan had called her a great listener while Eddie called her a kind and understanding person. Beverly had described her as the coolest chick one would ever meet and Ben had talked about how she had great taste in music. Then there was Richie who, in true Richie fashion, had called her a babe much to Bill's annoyance. And finally Bill, who was obviously crushing on the girl, had just gushed about how great of a person she was before realizing he was getting carried away and becoming embarrassed. Mike knew he was going to like the girl just from the way his friends described her, but whether she liked him or not was the nerve racking part.

Lost in his thoughts, Mike didn't even seem to realize someone was helping him pick up the packages until his head smacked into theirs. Both of them let out a groan before Mike looked up to see a girl staring at him. She gave him a small sheepish smile before saying, "Sorry, are you okay?" "No need to apologize. It was my fault," Mike quickly rushed out as he stood up, the girl following suit. The two stood there awkwardly for a moment and Mike blinked before turning and trying to put the packages back into the basket on his bike.

Noticing the struggle, the young girl who looked to be around his age chuckled and said, "Here. Let me help." Before Mike could say anything, she had reached out and taken the packages from Mike. In a matter of seconds she had the packages in the basket and was tying them in place with some string that he had tried to use, but failed to use properly.

Once she was done, the packages were so secure Mike knew they wouldn't fall. He looked to the girl surprised and she smiled before saying, "I was the newspaper girl back in my old town, so I kind of learned how to tie the huge pile of newspapers onto my bike pretty well." "Well, thanks," Mike told her, smiling softly as he did. "It's no problem really," she said. "I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I'm supposed to be meeting someone in a couple of minutes."

"Funnily enough, me too. Hopefully I see you around?" Mike suggested. The girl smiled and gave him a short nod before hopping onto her bike and pedaling away. It wasn't until she was gone that Mike realized he never got her name. Mike shrugged it off and checked his watch before muttering, "Shit." He was going to be late at this rate.

Mike quickly hoped into his home before pedaling across town and towards the quarry. Thankfully he made it with a minute to spare. However, the Losers were already there so he knew Richie was going to give him crap for not being there early.

The boy put his bike stand up before getting off his bike and running over to the cliff where the Losers were all standing there talking to someone that he couldn't quite see. It was when the others noticed him and stepped out of the way that Mike's eyes widened in disbelief.

He watched as the girl who had helped him earlier walked out, a small chuckle escaping her lips as she tilted her head at him. "Hello again. I'm guessing you're Mike, right?" she asked, the boy nodding in response. "Nice to meet you, Mike. I'm Y/N."

- - -

Richie and Y/N hadn't always been as close as they were. In fact, Richie had been a little skeptical about the girl at first, although it didn't quite show since he never allowed his true feelings to be on display for everyone to see.

So when he had invited the Losers to come to the arcade with him and Y/N had been the only one free, Richie had honestly debated on just not showing up. However, Richie wasn't that type of person and knew he would feel guilty about it for the next six months if he didn't show, so Richie made a point to go to the arcade and had even gotten there early to make sure he wasn't late when Y/N showed up.

While he waited, Richie found himself playing Streetfighter with a boy who he didn't know the name of. He didn't know how long they were playing, but both boys were laughing and kept sneaking glances at each other as they played. Richie had only felt this way around one other person, but he was still coming to terms with it, so he pushed it aside.

It was only when the game was over and the boy went to walk away that Richie realized he didn't want to boy to leave and began to panic. "Um. . ." Richie quickly grabbed a quarter and held it up for the boy to see. "How about we play again? Play some more, you know?"

The boy was silent for a minute before he glanced over his shoulder at the sound of some kid whimpering. He caught sight of Henry Bowers before turning back to Richie who, not wanting to make the boy uncomfortable, quickly added, "Only if you want to."

"Dude, why are you being weird?" the boy said making Richie furrow his eyebrows confused. "I'm not your fucking boyfriend." Richie's eyes widened. "Woah, I-I didn't-" Richie began to say, but he was cut off by Bowers appearing behind the boy with the rest of his gang.

At that moment, Y/N came rushing into the arcade looking a little frazzled. She checked her watch and muttered, "Shit." She was a couple of minutes late and she really hoped Richie was still here. She bolted into the arcade, but paused once she saw that everyone was standing still as they watched Bowers yell at Richie.

"You trying to bone my little cousin?" Bowers asked, Richie's face growing red as he stood there frozen in place not knowing what to think or what was happening. "Get the fuck out of here, faggot! Fucking move!"

Before Y/N could so much as react, Richie was running out of the arcade, the tears obviously blurring his vision as he stumbled outside. Y/N stared after her friend before hearing laughter in the air. She turned and her eyes instantly locked on Bowers who was laughing like he had just done the funniest thing in the world. She didn't know what she was doing, but she was blinded by rage and before she knew it Bowers was on the floor and she was on top of him, her fists punching him repeatedly as she screamed at him and cussed him out for what he had done to Richie.

As she did a double fist dance on Bowers' face, Richie sat outside on a bench in the park across the street from the arcade, his face in his hands as he cried. He didn't even care if anyone saw him at the moment, the idea of holding back his emotions only making him cry harder.

"Fucking Bowers!" Richie yelled out as he brought his hands up to his hair and pulled. "Fuck!" He was sobbing at this point, everything hurting so much that he didn't notice anything that was happening around him. He didn't even notice Y/N standing before him before she whispered, "Richie?"

Richie hesitated at that before he quickly wiped his tears away and looked up at the girl, her eyes already looking at him with so much concern that it made his heart ache. No one had ever looked that worried over him. He didn't know what it felt like to have someone care about him that much to be worried for him the way she was. Although hiding his emotions made it hard for anyone to ever worry about him. Anyone except for Eddie.

"Richie, are you okay?" Y/N whispered, her eyes pleading with him to tell her what was going on. She had called him Richie, not Tozier, Richie realized. For some reason, that alone was enough to make him break down a little more and he looked back down. "Of course I'm okay," Richie tried to reply in his usual upbeat tone, but him having to wipe away his own tears took away the effect.

Y/N was silent for a moment before she sat down next to the boy. Richie stared at the ground, not wanting to look her in the eyes. Y/N remained silent a little longer before she placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered again, "Richie, are you okay?" Richie broke at that, the sobs returning while Y/N quickly wrapped her arms around him causing the boy to turn and hug her back just as tight. She let him stay like that as long as he needed before the boy eventually pulled away, his eyes landing on her hands which were caked with blood.

"Well shit, what happened to you?" Richie asked with a small laugh as he wiped away his tears. “I beat the shit out of Bowers, that's what happened," Y/N explained, finally allowing Richie to connect the dots and realize that she had seen everything that had happened in the arcade.

For some reason, he found himself chuckling at that and turning his head so that he could look at her. He stared at her for a moment before suddenly blurting out, "I'm gay." Y/N glanced at the boy and Richie blushed before looking away and whispering, "Fuck. That wasn't how I wanted to say that. Fuck, Richie, you fucking loser. Holy shit, I can't believe I just- Fuck!"

Richie let out a sigh before looking at his hands. "I know you saw what happened in the arcade with Bowers, but I didn't even do anything. I didn't even know that was his cousin for starters. We were just playing Streetfighter and I asked if he wanted to play again and he started making fun of me before Bowers appeared and then you know the rest," Richie went on.

Richie was red faced by now. He had never opened up to someone like this before especially not to Eddie who he knew would never know about any of this. So telling Y/N was a big deal for him and he suddenly felt weird about having told her, the fear of rejection looming over him as he sat there. He was embarrassed.

Y/N was silent for longer than Richie would've liked, but she eventually reached out and took his hand before giving it a small squeeze and whispering, "Rich?" The boy was hesitant but let his eyes flicker over to her, the small smile she gave him making him relax a little bit. "It's okay if you're gay or straight or bi. Who you like isn't what defines you. You're still the same person. And I'm going to love you no matter what because you're still Richie 'Trashmouth' Tozier," Y/N assured him.

Richie was silent for a moment as he stared at the girl in disbelief. His eyes began to well with tears and it took him a moment longer to reach out and hug the girl, the weight from finally telling someone and being accepted for who he really was being lifted off his shoulders. Y/N hugged the boy back and, once again, allowed him to hug her for as long as he needed. It was only when he pulled away that she stood up and held a hand out to him.

"Come on. I brought a bag full of quarters and I intend on using them," she told him, a small smile on her face as she stared at the boy. "What about Bowers?" Richie asked, trying not to seem like he was afraid of coming face to face with the boy once again.

"We can handle him," Y/N assured him. "Besides, he's got a shit punch anyways." Richie let out a small snort at that before reaching out and taking the girl's hand. She smiled and pulled him up onto his feet before they began to walk away from the bench.

And with that, the two went back to the arcade hand in hand, both of them happy that they now had a new best friend by their side.

- - -

Birds were Stan's favorite animals. They always had been since he was five years old and he was gifted a book on birds for his birthday. Since that day he had used that very book every Saturday, the day he would sit outside or camp out in the woods to just look at the birds and see which ones he could find.

Stan tended to go bird-watching by himself, the other Losers not particularly liking the activity. Each of them had come with him once before, but it didn't take much for Stan to notice how bored they were before he would sigh and let them leave. They always felt somewhat guilty for it—minus Richie who made some crude joke before leaving— but Stan always assured them it was okay and they would go, leaving Stan behind to bird-watch by himself once again.

But things changed one Saturday morning when Y/N decided she wanted to see what Stan spent his time doing when the others weren't around. Stan was afraid to show her seeing as she was one of his newest friends and he didn't want to scare her away.

He quite liked Y/N actually and the two had become almost as close as he was with all the other Losers. Y/N tried to divide her time up equally with everyone, but it wasn't much of a surprise that she spent just a little more time with Bill than the others. So when Y/N had asked Stan to let her tag along, the boy had been both surprised and nervous. For some reason, he really didn't want Y/N to be bored and make fun of him like the others.

To his surprise, Y/N did the exact opposite. They had been bird-watching for an hour now and Y/N hadn't lost the small sparkle in her eyes or the smile on her face as she desperately searched for the birds among the trees. Every so often she would nudge the boy and ask him what bird the one she was pointing at was and he would whisper facts to her while they stared at the bird ahead. It was the first time someone was genuinely interested and the fact warmed Stan's heart.

"Stanley," Y/N whispered before she nudged him gently, instantly knocking him out of his thoughts. "Stanley. Stanley. Stanley. Stan. Stan the Man." Stan chuckled softly before whispering back, "Yes?" Y/N glanced at the boy before pointing towards a small bird that was blue with a light yellow belly and a black stripe across its head that led away from the beak. "What's that one?" she asked softly in an attempt to not scare the bird away.

Stan turned his attention to the bird and narrowed his eyes slightly before whispering, "That bird is called a nuthatch. You know they can walk up and down a tree? They are really smart too. Some of them even use a piece of bark to help pry open other pieces of bark so that they can look for insects." "Woah," Y/N breathed out. "That's so cool."

Stan chuckled and whispered out a few more facts about the bird while they watched it walk up the tree. Eventually the bird flew away and Y/N made that same face where her lips opened up as a huge grin broke out on her face, her sparkling eyes following the bird until it had disappeared before she leaned back with a small content sigh escaping her lips.

Y/N had never realized how calming and intriguing bird-watching could be. Her life was always moving fast, so getting the chance to sit down and enjoy the world instead of running from its horrors was something she couldn't thank Stan enough for.

"Stanley?" Y/N whispered, the name falling from her lips with ease. Stan had told her plenty of times that she could call him Stan, but she still called him by his first name most of the time. He wouldn't admit it, but he secretly liked the fact that she did. "Yeah?" Stan asked, his eyes flickering over to look at her before he looked back out at the different birds that were flying around.

"Thanks for bringing me along."

Stan kind of froze at that before turning his head so that he could get a good look at her. Y/N was staring at the birds with a warm smile on her face, the sunrise hitting her face so that it glowed. Not that he would ever think of her in that way, but for a second he could see why Bill liked her so much.

"Thanks for coming with me," Stan told her, the girl sending a small smile in his direction before reaching out and squeezing his hand gently. And with that, the two turned their attention back to the birds.

Their friendship became ten times stronger that day and from then on they spent every Saturday morning in Stan's backyard watching the birds and taking a break from life.

- - -

The soft rustling of pages as he and Y/N flipped the pages of their books was all Ben could hear that Friday evening. They were in the library doing research on Hawkins since Ben found all of the events Y/N had described to be almost as interesting as Derry.

It had all started when she first told them about her life in Hawkins during the first day of school. She hadn't opened up about some of the more serious stuff until the group had become close and Ben hadn't been able to stop himself from raising his eyebrows and muttering, "Hawkins, Indiana? Well I guess I know the next place I'm going to research."

That's how the two had ended up in the library a week later, no one in the group except for the two of them wanting to go research the place. They had spent probably the last two hours in the place just flipping through different books, but nothing had popped out.

Y/N was currently reading a Russian book which Ben had questioned about, but she hadn't given him an explanation, only smiling and opening the book before beginning to read. Ben on the other hand was reading a book about Hawkins itself and hadn't found anything out of the ordinary which made the town that much more of a mystery.

Ben was just about to flip the page again when a soft humming suddenly filled his ears, the tune making him freeze as he recognized it almost instantly. His eyes flickered up to Y/N who had started to move her lips as she quietly whispered to a Kids on the Block song, one that Ben was very familiar with.

"First time was a great time. Second time was a blast. Third time I fell in love. Now I hope it lasts," Y/N whispered, not one hundred percent realizing what she was doing. Ben was quick to whisper the next lines which made the girl look up at him in shock, "I can see it in your walk. Tell 'em when you talk. See it in everything you do. Even in your thoughts.” The two grinned before whispering together, "You got the right stuff, baby. Love the way you turn me on. You got the right stuff, baby. You're the reason why I sing this song."

They didn't realize their voices were raising, each of them getting more excited about the fact that someone they knew was a huge Kids on the Block fan like them. For Y/N, the only other person she could sing with had been Wheeler, but for Ben, he had never had anyone.

"All that I needed was you. Oh girl, you're so right. And all that I wanted was you," they sang. "You made all-" Y/N said before she pointed to the boy with a grin. "My dreams come true," Ben finished. "The right stuff." "The right stuff," Y/N nodded with a small laugh. The two went to sing the next part of the song when they were suddenly hushed by the librarian. Y/N and Ben froze before turning to see that everyone in the library was looking at them and that the librarian was even glaring at them.

The two went red faced and gave the group apologetic smiles before looking back down at their books. They waited a second before glancing up at each other and chuckling softly. "The right stuff," Ben whispered making Y/N grin so big that Ben couldn't help but smile back. She nodded before reaching out and fist bumping the boy. “The right stuff."

- - -

"What are we doing here?" Beverly asked confused as she glanced over at Y/N who was smiling and practically bouncing up and down on her feet. Beverly looked at the clothing store in front of her before looking to Y/N again and raising an eyebrow.

"Back in Hawkins, two of my closest friends were Eleven and Max. We would have these girl days where we would hang out at the mall and try on clothes and just have fun. I know you haven't been in the best mood this week," Y/N began. Beverly went to deny it, but Y/N just smiled and said, "And don't deny it because Ben already told me. Anyways, I wanted to cheer you up by having a girls day and since Derry doesn't have a mall, this is the next best option."

Beverly was silent for a minute as she tried to process what Y/N was saying. Finally she let you a small sigh and gave the girl a weak smile. "Okay, but only for an hour or two," Beverly said making Y/N squeal in excitement before grabbing her arm and pulling the red head into the store. “Trust me, Bev. By the time an hour is up you're never going to want to leave," Y/N said.

"Okay," Beverly said, obviously not believing her. However, Beverly realized just how wrong she was once the two were reaching the end of their second hour of shopping. They weren't even buying anything, only trying on clothes and looking at themselves in the mirror. But somehow Y/N had made it fun.

Y/N had them both try on ridiculous outfits and they would spend forever looking the mirror at themselves as they laughed to the point where workers had to come up and ask if they were okay. Y/N had even brought a Polaroid so that they could take pictures to remember all the fun they were having and she made Beverly pretend as if she were walking down a runway while Y/N took pictures of her, the two girls bursting into giggling fits every couple of minutes.

By the time the two hours was up, Beverly never wanted to leave and the fact only made her mood dampen. Y/N noticed the sudden change in demeanor and frowned as she watched Beverly reluctantly putting the clothes away.

"Hey," Y/N whispered as she came to Beverly's side and placed a hand on the red head's shoulder. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" Beverly was silent for a minute before giving the girl a small smile. "Nothing," she assured her despite them both knowing she was lying.

"No, Bev. Come on. You don't need to lie. You can tell me anything. I promise I won't judge," Y/N said. "Was it all the pictures? I'm sorry. I should've asked before I-" “No, it wasn't the pictures," Beverly assured her. "I'm glad we have the memories."

Y/N smiled and Beverly returned it before looking down at her hands sadly. "I'm just a little sad it had to end is all," Beverly explained. "I never really had friends up until I met the boys, so I've never had a girl friend to hang out with. I guess I just didn't realize what I was missing and I'm afraid for it to end. I'm sorry. It probably sounds stupid."

"No, Beverly. It's not stupid," Y/N said. "I know how you feel. Until I met Eleven and Max, my four best friends were all guys. I hadn't even realized what having another girl around would be like and I was so afraid of losing Eleven and Max because I enjoyed getting away from the boys and spending time with them. I promise you this won't be the last girl day, okay? I can only handle Richie's trashmouth for so long."

Beverly chuckled softly before looking at her friend and smiling at her. "Thanks, Y/N," she whispered. Y/N smiled back and pulled Beverly in for a hug, the gesture making Beverly freeze for a moment before she fell into Y/N's embrace and hugged her back.

"Thanks for hanging out with me today," Y/N told her. "But the fun doesn't have to end here." Beverly pulled away to look at the girl and Y/N smirked. "Ice cream?" Beverly chuckled and shook her head at her friend before saying, "I thought you'd never ask."

- - -

All Eddie could hear was his own erratic breathing as he desperately tried to reach for his inhaler which was in his fanny pack. The only problem was that his fanny pack had been torn off of him by Henry Bowers and was lying on the concrete a few feet away and Bowers wouldn't let him near it long enough for him to grab his inhaler. His chest was on fire, his throat closing off more and more every second as it felt like someone was literally sitting on his lungs. He was growing more and more panicked, so his breathing continued to get worse and worse as tears filled his eyes.

This seemed to make Henry laugh harder and that made him start shoving and kicking Eddie harder than before. Eddie mentally cursed himself for having been walking alone. He had stayed after school to have a talk with his teacher and told the others to go ahead on to the quarry where he said he would meet them. Richie had been a little reluctant to go, but had left with the other Losers, leaving Eddie by himself. Eddie thought he would've been safe from Bowers, but it seemed as if Bowers had been waiting for him because the moment he stepped out of school, Bowers was there waiting.

Another kick to the side made Eddie's wheeze grow louder. He was biting his lip as he attempted not to cry, but his asthma was bothering him to the point where he could barely function and he knew if he didn't get to his inhaler soon he would end up having a full blown asthma attack.

As if sensing his prayers, the kicking and punching stopped, allowing Eddie to crawl over to his fanny pack and grab his inhaler. He quickly took a hit before holding his breath, allowing the medicine to fill his lungs and bring him some relief. He repeated the step once more, the medicine instantly making him feel better and allowing the beating of own heart in his ears to disappear.

Eddie put the inhaler in his fanny pack before putting it back around his waist and turning to see what had happened to Bowers. To his surprise, Y/N was standing there with a bloody fist while Bowers laid on the ground holding his face. He didn't even have time to think about why Y/N was still at school before Bowers was yelling out in anger.

"You bitch! I'm going to beat the shit out of you!" Bowers yelled as he pushed himself up and went to lunge for her, but Y/N was so mad that she merely swung back before sending her fist right into Bowers nose. A loud cracking nose filled the air and Eddie winced as he looked at Bowers who had fallen onto the ground with his nose turned at a weird angle. Eddie then quickly looked to Y/N and he paled at the sight of wrist bent in the wrong direction.

"Shit," he heard her whisper before she turned and looked to the boy. Her eyes widened at the sight of Eddie and she quickly ran over to him. "Eddie, are you okay?" "I'm. . .I'm fine. Your wrist though," Eddie muttered, his face paling more as he saw the injury up close. A groan had them both looking to see Bowers starting to get up off the ground.

Y/N was quick to think and grabbed Eddie's hand with her good one before pulling him up off his feet and dragging him away from the school as the two bolted away. They didn't stop running until they knew Bowers was far behind them and even then, Eddie had to be the one to stop the girl, his eyes still trained on her wrist.

They were both breathing heavily as Eddie gently reached out and went to move Y/N's wrist. She instantly winced and Eddie began to breath frantically as he started to panic. “It's broken. Shit, it has to be broken. We have to get help. We have to get you to the hospital. Do you know where the closest hospital is? Actually I think it's a few streets down. We should probably go before your wrist gets any worse. Shit, this is my fault! Why would you do that, Y/N?" Eddie rambled.

"Eds," she said causing the boy to quiet down and look at her. She was the only one that was ever allowed to call him that, so Eddie wasn't even fazed by the nickname. "First of all, I'm going to be fine, so calm down. Second of all, it was one hundred percent worth it. Bowers was being an asshole and I wasn't about to let him continue to treat you like that. Are you okay?" Before Eddie could think properly, the girl had reached up and brushed the hair out of his eyes, a gesture that made him blush because he had seen mothers do that to their own kids but he had never been on the receiving end of that kind of touch.

"I'm. . .I'm fine. My inhaler helped," Eddie explained. "But we shouldn't be worrying about me. You're the one with a broken hand." Y/N just shrugged before letting out a small chuckle and saying in excitement, "But, Eds, did you see his nose? That thing's got to be broken as well!" Eddie looked at the girl in disbelief, silently wondering how she was able to remain so calm when her hand was literally broken. Then again, Y/N L/N always had been one to surprise him.

Smiling lovingly at the girl who was not only his best friend but like a sister as well, the boy gently took her good hand before tugging her forward. "Come on, my knight in shining armor. Let's get you to the hospital and get that wrist checked out," Eddie said, feeling a little more calm now thanks to Y/N who he knew had purposefully been cracking jokes and acting like everything was okay just to keep him calm. Y/N didn't fight him that time and the two made their way to the hospital. Y/N walked out that day with Eddie by her side and a bright white cast on that day with one signature already on it. Eds.

- - -

"A shower cap?"

Stan blinked in surprise before nodding his head. "Yeah, it's supposed to help keep the spiders out of your hair," he explained as he held the shower cap out for his friend. He had made a special trip out to the pharmacy to get her one, so he really hoped she would just take it, even if she didn't use it. Y/N smiled at the boy before taking the shower cap from him, the boy instantly relaxing in response. "Thanks, Stanley," she said before she put the shower cap on and looked to the others. They were all busy either talking or doing something else, so no one was looking at her except for Stan and Bill, the later smiling at her in an almost dreamy sort of way as he too wore his shower cap.

Bill chuckled softly at the sight of her and Y/N glanced at him before making a small face causing the two to burst into a round of laughter that had the other Losers looking at them and shaking their heads at how oblivious the two teens were. The Losers all looked away, leaving Bill, Y/N, and Stan the only ones paying attention once again.

"How did I look?" she questioned, directing it more towards Bill which Stan quickly realized. Stan smirked before walking way, neither of the teens noticing because of the fact that they were too caught up with each other. "B-B-Beautiful as always," Bill whispered, a blush dusting his cheeks at his own words. Y/N instantly blushed before smiling thankfully at Bill and leaning back in the hammock she had been lying in. She had to fight Richie and Eddie for it, but Eddie gave in almost instantly because he loved making the girl happy so it had been mostly her fighting Richie over the hammock before he had eventually caved and let her have it.

Now that she had the shower cap on, Y/N was busying herself with reading a Spider-Man comic while the others all goofed off, Bill secretly sneaking glances at her every so often. It had been one of the days they spent at the quarry which meant the evening was spent in their clubhouse that Ben had built under ground, thus leading to the spider problem. However, it was already getting quite late, so the Losers were slowly beginning to leave one by one. Y/N was too lost in her comic to really notice, but that didn't stop her from calling out a goodbye every so often. As for Bill, his eyes hadn't left the girl since she put the shower cap on, the sight being just too adorable for him to look away.

Stan and Ben were the last ones to leave the clubhouse that night and they rolled their eyes at the sight of Bill staring at their best friend, his feelings so obvious that they wondered if Y/N was really as smart as she claimed to be. "Night guys," Stan called out before he began to climb up the ladder, Ben quickly following. "Bye, Ben! Bye, Stan!" Y/N called out, momentarily looking up to smile at the boys before she was back to reading her comic.

"B-B-bye, guys," Bill said as he waved at the two. They just smirked at him and waved back before disappearing into the night, not noticing the look of confusion on Bill's face as they did so. Bill didn't think too much about the smirks his friends had sent him before he let his eyes flicker back over to Y/N who was looking up from the comic and at the empty clubhouse. "Woah. When did everyone leave?" she muttered in confusion.

"A w-w-while ago," Bill chuckled as he titled his head at the girl. "M-M-Maybe if you weren't t-t-too busy reading you would've n-n-noticed." Y/N gasped in fake shock before saying, "Let me tell you, Bill Denbrough. Peter Parker is nothing to joke about." Bill chuckled and she couldn't stop herself from smiling at the sight of the beautiful boy before she waved him over.

Bill was quick to walk over to her and she smiled before holding the comic out. "Peter Parker is above his time, Bill. He's smart, sarcastic, funny, and a freaking superhero! He genuinely cares about people and he is always-" Y/N began to ramble on about the superhero, but her words fell on deaf ears as Bill just stared at her in amazement.

His eyes flickered over her face and the way her eyelashes fluttered against her cheek or the way her e/c eyes would flicker between him and the comic as she excitedly talked about the superhero she loved so much. It was like he was trying to memorize every inch of her face which maybe he was. He never wanted to forget this moment, even if nothing significant was happening. Y/N just looked so beautiful, shower cap and all, and Bill couldn't stop himself from not wanting to remember every little detail of this moment. The smell of wood in the air mixing with the strawberry scent of Y/N's shampoo that swirled through the air because of how close they were. The creaking of wood and the sound of the night filling the air around them. Then there was him and Y/N, Bill kneeling down beside the hammock with one hand against his cheek while the other was holding onto Y/N's hand, something neither had noticed yet.

A small smile appeared on Bill's face as he watched the girl and she paused for a moment before staring at him with an unreadable expression. Finally, she returned the smile before grabbing onto his arm and tugging him slightly as she whispered, "Come here." Bill's face reddened a little, but he still managed to pull himself into the hammock, Y/N instantly snuggling up against him as his arm wrapped around her waist.

Y/N seemed to be unfazed by the new step of their relationship, the two having never cuddled before, let alone been this close unless it was just to hug. Instead, she was already reading the comic out loud, adding her own little comments here and there to make Bill laugh, knowing that each laugh made him rest his face against the side of hers momentarily before he pulled away to look at the comic.

Or at least she thought he was looking at the comic. But in reality, his eyes were on her. Just like they always were and like they always would be. For to him, there was no better way to spend his evening than admiring the girl that had stolen his heart since the first day he met her almost two years ago.

- - -

The basement was unusually quiet that night as the Party and the Losers all sat in Y/N's basement trying to comprehend the events that had taken place only an hour before. None of them were able to come to terms with what had happened and no one even knew what to say. The silence was one they could all feel, each of them distantly hearing Y/N's laugh or one of her sarcastic and witty comments. It was haunting almost and the group could feel themselves breaking more and more with each second that passed.

Everyone was affected by what had happened to Y/N, but they all knew Bill was affected in a deeper way than they were. While their love for Y/N was merely a platonic, more family type of love, what Bill felt for the girl was the opposite. He cared about her so much that the group could practically feel their hearts aching for him, especially when they saw him sitting blankly in the corner with a tear stained face, red eyes, and his jacket clutched in his shaking hands.

"What are we going to do?" Eddie finally whispered as he wiped at the tears on his face. All he could think about was his friend, the girl who had stood up for him and who had promised to not let anything happen to him. Eddie could only think about how he should've promised that to her as well. He should've insisted on going with her, making sure that the girl was safe and by his side. Then maybe what happened wouldn't have happened.

"We're getting her back," Steve said, all eyes falling on him as he tried to act like he was fine despite the tears that kept falling from his eyes. The tears were collecting on his chin, threatening to fall down, and Steve was quick to wipe them away with a sniff. "That's what we're fucking going to do."

"Oh, really? And how do you plan on doing that, Einstein?" Richie asked bitterly, his emotions being out of whack making him lash out. Steve narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Watch it, Trashmouth. At least I intend on saving Y/N," he replied.

Richie shot up from his spot, his red eyes focused on Steve as he glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean? You think I don't want to save her?" Richie asked. "Wouldn't be surprised," Wheeler muttered, making Richie turn his gaze on the boy. "Of course you have something to say. You always do, don't you?" Richie shot back.

Wheeler stood up from his spot, ignoring Eleven as she tried to grab him and pull him back down. "Mike," Eleven whispered, but the boy shook his head. "No, El. I'm done with this asshole," Wheeler said as he walked over to Richie. Richie was raising an eyebrow at the boy and they both crossed their arms as Wheeler came to a stop in front of him.

"Steve was right. He's actually trying to do someone to help Y/N while you're just sitting there pouting. Y/N needs our fucking help, but you can't get over yourself enough to realize it. So why don't you just shut the hell up for once, go sit back down with your little friends, and let us handle the situation," Wheeler said.

Richie scoffed in disbelief. "I'm sorry. I don't seem to remember when I asked for your opinion? Y/N's just as much my friend as she is yours and you have to be batshit crazy to believe that I don't want to go save her," Richie shot back. "Well I didn't exactly see you rushing to save her when she was trapped behind the gate," Wheeler told him. "Oh, you mean the gate that your girlfriend shut? The gate that, because it was shut, allowed for Y/N to get trapped in the fucking Upside Down? That gate?" Richie asked as he jabbed Wheeler in the chest.

"Touch me again. No, better yet. Disrespect my girl again. See what fucking happens," Wheeler growled. "Mike," Eleven sighed as she got up from her spot. She knew Y/N wouldn't want them arguing like this and it seemed that Eddie realized this too. "Guys. Calm down. We really don't need to-" Eddie began as he walked forward and began to pull Richie away, Eleven doing the same to Wheeler. However, that was when Wheeler delivered the final blow, "You don't deserve, Y/N. None of you losers do."

Eddie froze at that, his hand that was on Richie's arm immediately dropping. He turned his face to look at Wheeler and gave him an unamused look before saying, "You fucking asshole!" Eddie was about to lunge at Wheeler, but Beverly and Ben quickly pulled him back. However, the Party seemed to notice Eddie's small advance and they were all up in a flash and by Wheeler's side, the Losers doing the same for Richie and Eddie. None of them knew how it happened, but before they knew it, the once silent room was filled with arguing as both side took shots at the other.

"Y/N's life has been one hundred times better since she left Hawkins! You ever wonder why she never comes back to visit?"

"I thought the move was the worst thing to ever happen to her, but after meeting you guys I see I stand corrected!"

"Say that shit again. I dare you!"

"Y/N would leave you all in a heartbeat to come back to Hawkins and she wouldn't even look back!"

"You motherfuckers!"

It all became a blur after that, everyone from each side yelling and shoving each other as their pent up emotions poured out of them. They were all hurt and upset about Y/N and this was all they could think of doing at the moment to relieve some of the pain.

As for Bill, he was still sitting in the corner by himself. It was only when the fighting seemed to register in his brain that the boy looked up, a look of complete disbelief on his face as he clutched the jacket harder and stood up from his spot. "Hey!" Bill yelled, but the groups were too red faced and into the fight for them to notice his yelling. Bill huffed in frustration before shoving his way to the middle of the group. He pushed the sides away from each other before yelling at the top of his lungs, "Sit the fuck down!" Hearing those words coming out of the stuttering boy who had been sitting quietly in the corner had them all freeze, each of them realizing what had just happened. Reluctantly, the two groups went to sit back down, but not before glaring at the other side.

Bill scoffed as he stared at the groups and shook his head as tears filled his eyes. "A-A-Are you fucking k-k-kidding me?" he asked, finally getting all eyes to turn on him as he looked at them in disbelief. "We have a life at st-st-stake and you all are bickering like a bunch of f-f-four year o-o-olds!" Bill exclaimed, his eyes looking at the groups in disbelief. "Pull yourselves t-t-together and get up off your asses. We've got a f-f-friend to save!" Everyone's anger seemed to dissolve slightly as they watched the boy, looks of guilt flashing across some of their faces.

Bill shook his head and looked down at the ground as he tried to calm himself down. When he looked back up and began to speak, his voice was clear and strong, not a single piece of evidence of his stutter falling from his lips causing everyone to realize just how serious he was being.

"I know each of you is hurting. I know. Y/N meant a lot to all of us. But you all have to realize just who is in this room because every person in this room plays a major role in Y/N's life," Bill said. He glanced at the Party and gestured towards them. "You guys grew up with her. You helped shape her into the person she was and gave her some of the best experiences of her life. You showed her what friendship was and what family means. She knows what she does today because of you."

Bill then gestured towards the Losers and himself. "We're the ones who have helped her through a tough part of her life. We've protected her with our own lives and have loved her unconditionally. She's been one of our own since day one and she will be until the day she dies," he told them. Bill sighed before saying, "Look, we all care about her and she cares about each of us. We're her friends. We're her family. No one can tell any of us any different."

"That's why we're all upset because not only are we scared of losing her, but we are scared of her forgetting about us in any way. But I promise you that it's not happening for either side. She's always going to be a member of the Party and she's always going to be a part of the Losers' Club. She's like the in-between, the perfect mix of each group. She won't forget her past and she won't forget her present," Bill said as he pointed to each of the groups.

"Y/N has always put our needs in front of her own, but right now, we're going to have to put her above everything else. Each of you is going to have to push aside your differences, your egos, your selfishness, and your attitudes if you want to get Y/N back. Because the only way to get our girl back is if we work together," Bill told them, his eyes flickering over the guilty expressions of the groups as they realized Bill was right about everything he had said.

"How are we going to do that?" Richie asked softly. "Cause I'm with you, Bill. I'm just. . .I don't want to screw up and lose her. We're going to have to make sure everything is perfect and right now the major thing in our way is finding a way to get back to her."

"That's w-w-where the first part of my p-p-plan comes into play," Bill told him. He then turned to look at Eleven who was looking to the ground. As if sending his stare, the girl glanced up. "Eleven, is th-th-there any way you th-th-think you could open the g-g-gate? I meant if you were able to cl-cl-close it, shouldn't you be able t-t-to either make one or o-o-open it?"

"You want her to make a portal that goes to the Upside Down?" Wheeler asked, his tone a little hard as he became protective of his girlfriend. "I can do it," Eleven said with a nod causing Wheeler to look to her. Eleven sighed and glanced at her boyfriend. "Y/N is our friend, Mike. Don't tell me you wouldn't try anything to get back the girl who you've been friends with since the second grade." Wheeler looked down, his expression softening at Eleven's words. Eleven put a hand to the boy's cheek before whispering, "I owe it to her to try." Wheeler nodded slightly and Eleven smiled before letting her eyes flicker over to Bill. Bill gave the girl a small nod in thanks which Eleven quickly returned.

"Bill is right," Beverly called out from where she was sitting beside Ben and Stan. Everyone looked to her and she glanced up from her hands before letting her eyes flicker around the room. "Both groups have to work together. It's the only way we are going to win this thing. It's the only way we are going to get Y/N back."

Bill nodded in agreement before allowing his eyes to flicker over each of the people in the room. His gaze stopped on Steve who was looking at the boy with an unreadable expression on his face. But then Steve was giving him a small nod of approval and thanks and Bill couldn't help but smile as a small wave of relief washed over him.

"All th-th-those in favor of t-t-teaming up to save Y/N?" Bill questioned as he looked around the room. Everyone's hands shot up into the air almost instantly and Bill smiled softly before looking down at the jacket in his hands. He then looked back up and gave the group a nod.

"Let's g-g-go save our g-g-girl then, shall we?"

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