#FOUR TIMES!!! he blocked my moms car into the driveway with his one!!! he had a restraining order and the police didnt give a shit!!! AHHHH

[alilaro]

what the FUCK is up with toxic/abusive men and the weird 'can I have a hug' skit? why do they all consistently do that? where do they get that shit from?

[gazsluckyhat]

Sarah's House

Twelve - Scotland

Masterlist

Hey, God? It's me again. Littlely but a goody.

Price knew he shouldn't take the mission. The outcome seemed obvious, or so he thought. Until he wasn't anymore.

or

Like calls to like. Or something of the sort.

Johnny spent the ride back home holding Sarah's hand tightly. The feelings he'd felt since Russia clear and blooming in his chest. She leaned into his arm, head laying agaisnt as she dozed off. They'd be back at the house soon, Gaz making her eat lunch before she'd shower. He hadn't felt this content and happy in years. Things felt right. Like when you find the last puzzle piece. He could see himself in the future. Retired, Sarah and the boys by his side. Maybe they'd escape to Scotland. Back to his home. His family. His sisters would be ecstatic. His mom through the roof.

"Who's car is that?" His eyes take in the black rental parked in the driveway. Sarah's eyes slowly adjusting to being awake. "I've never seen it." She speaks slow, nerves blooming. Johnny parks the car and takes Sarah's hand again as they walk through the front door. He can see Simon and John first, Gaz placed a little more to his left. There's a figure blocking them from going in all the way. All they can see is the back of them, dark jacket and plain jeans. He has no idea who this is. Sarah freezes beside him, her whole body tensing and he goes to pull her behind him when she speaks.

"D-dean?" It's shaky and almost broken. The man whirls around and Sarah is throwing herself at him in a instant. A loud sob breaking the silence. John places a hand on Simon's chest when he takes a step forward.

"Raven." It's breathed into he hair. Hands cradling he to him. He pulls her back long enough to look at her and speak again. "You're safe." She nods before burying her head in his chest again. The boys ae frozen, no idea who this man is or why he's here. It's Simon that speaks up, his mask back in place.

"You're her partner." It's a statement. It's who she mistook him as the fist time she'd had a episode. The man met his eyes, raking over Simon.

"You must be Ghost, the elusive phantom." Sarah pulls back. Her eyes are swollen and red. There's a scar running over his left eyebrow, so close to his eye. She runs her fingers over it.

"It's new." He nods.

"Courtesy of my last mission." She nods. Hands shaky as she steps back, head looking towards John. "I'm sorry to intrude. My old captain called saying she'd be found. I came as soon as I was given a location."

"Ryan called you? Is he okay?" Dean nods, hand wrapping around her arm.

"Yeah, he is. Said he'd like to talk to you tho-" Simon stops him there.

"Enough." Sarah flinches slightly, Dean squeezes her arm. "She can make her own decisions." Dean puffs up before Sarah is reaching for Simon.

"Si, it's okay." She almost coos it, grabing his arm and pulling him into her. Dean watches in shock.

"Excuse us if we're weary." John uses his captain voice and steps closer. "Sarah's safety is top priority and we weren't aware you were coming." Dean looks around, sizing up Johnny and Gaz as well.

"Safety? Like I'm gonna hurt her? Sarah, who are these people?" Sarah feels the stress invade her brain.

"Dean, meet one-four-one. They were the team that saved me." She squeezes Simon's arm again, placing her back to his front. She can feel his tension. "Captain John Price, Seargent Kyle Garrick and Johnny MacTavish and of course you've heard of Ghost." She smiles up at him.

"You're living with your rescue squad?" Confusion is clear on his features. "What about your dad? Your family?" Sarah prickles. Her back straightening, her family was still a sore subject.

"Her father is who decided she should stay 'ere." It's Johnny, his body slipping in beside Simon. His arms are crossed over each other.

"So she can make her own decisions but can't decide where she lives?" Sarah steps between them.

"I'm right here. I decided it was best If I stay here. I'm safe here. Happy even. I think we should all take a breath, yeah?" Dean watches as she turns to the two bigger men. She places a hand on their chest and nods to them. It makes Dean feel weird.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Gaz asks trying to ease the mood. Dean catches Sarah's eye and nods. "Awesome, Soap why don't you help me?" Sarah accepts the kiss to her cheek as he moves to go to the kitchen. It catches Dean by surprise. He takes her by the arm, Simon almost losing it.

"I'll be okay Simon, go ahead." He stutters for a second before walking off, Dean pulling her closer to the door.

"What is going on Sarah? How long have you be here? Why didn't you call me?" Sarah runs a hand through her hair, sighing. Two years. It'd been two years.

"Dean, I was hardly coherent the first few days. I've only been here, maybe a month or two. I have a hard time keeping track of the days." She meets his eyes. "Everything has been kept quiet on my behalf, you and I both know what the press would do if they found out. They'd make me into some American Heroine and I don’t want- no- I can't have that." Dean sighs and looks at her. She looks so different now. So thin, all her muscle gone. His skin seems paler, color just now creeping back in. And there is a hollowness in her eyes, a darkness that lives behind the light now.

"I looked for you. I swear I did. The second Ryan said you weren't answering I ran. All I found when I got there was blood and your gun." She feels that familiar burning feeling in her chest again. Tears brim her eyes. "We were benched the second we got back. Disbanded not to long after but I still went out looking. Pulled strings for any info I could. Where ever that hid you was top of the line. No one knew about it. No one." Dean takes in a shaky breath.

"Dean.." He stops her.

"I got a plane out here the second I found out you were alive. Pulled some strings to get this location. I have no idea what happened while you were gone-" Sarah startles. Gone? Gone?!

"Gone? Like I was on some Russian vacation?" She scoffs and her voice raises. "Because they treated me so nicely. Between fucking me and using me as a pin cushion I was getting five star treatment Dean. Best fucking food on the planet! And your own vomit as a pallet cleanser? Best idea!" Dean blanches, gags before clearing his throat.

"Sarah-" There's tears in her eyes, but anger on her face.

"What's going on, Love?" John's eyes raking over the pair before going to stand with Sarah. "What did you do?" He throws Dean's way. Sarah laughs before pushing herself away.

"Nothing. I've just lost my appetite." She turns and walks away. Dean sighs, brain running wild.

"I didn't know-" He stutters out before Ghost appears behind John and speaks.

"It's best you leave." He stand guard watching as Dean walks to the door.

"If she will talk to me, I'll be here for a while. If she wants to talk." He leaves, tension high in the air.

 Sarah sits in the corner of the closet again. Like the first time. It's become a safe place. Nice and quiet. Days where everyone was a tad too much she could crawl in here and just breath. The silence was nice.

"Gonna have to get you some cushions." Gaz says as he crawls to fit beside her. Sarah smiles before leaning into him. Eyes closing as she starts to cry.

"I don't think I'll ever get over what happened." She mumbles clenching her hands. Gaz nods, hand rubbing her side.

"No, you won't. But that's okay. You shouldn't have to just forget. It's a part of you now. You just have to learn to process it. Use it for the better." Sarah think Gaz might be the smartest one of the bunch. Maybe he wanted to be a psychologist.

"I want to help others. People like me." She takes in a breath. Helping people had be her life's mission. And though it wasn't going exactly to plan she could still do it. Gaz bends down to place a kiss to her lips, sneaking a arm around her shoulder to pull her closer. Sarah smiles into him. The feeling of contentment and safety washing over the pair.

"You know, before we got home, I told Johnny I loved him." She feels Gaz's breath catch so she places her hand on his cheek. "I love you as well, Kyle. Just as much. Right along with Simon and John." She kisses him again. "I don't think I'll ever hate Russia completely. Not when it brought you to me." Kyle takes her head in his hands as he kisses her. Pushes her down with the force and settles over her. His forever.

[saijspellhart]

The One Time I think My Step Dad Saved my Life.

I never liked my mother’s husband, we never got along and I always thought my Mom was too good for him. But it would be a disservice not to acknowledge that I think he saved my life once, and I’ll forever be grateful.

I was 18 at the time, I’d just made a dog suit for an anime con and had decided to wear it for Halloween too. (Not a fursuit in the traditional sense. Imagine you had a giant dog plushie, and you skinned it and wore it like a dog suit. Floppy, baggy, understuffed and everything.) it was my first major sewing project, I was so proud. It turned out exactly how I wanted it.

I took my two little half-brothers trick-or-treating that year. Running around the neighborhood with them collecting candy, having a great time. We made it back to my Mom’s house safely, but I wasn’t going to stay the night. There was supposed to be one more bus passing through the area and I planned to catch it and take the bus system back to my apartment.

The bus stop was just right across the street from my mom’s house, in a moderate neighborhood. Not quiet, but not busy. The street it was on saw quite a bit of traffic. Most of the street lights were well spaced, so the neighborhood got pretty dark at night. It was also late so all the trick-or-treaters had long gone home. I’m actually major scared of the dark, but I sucked it up and waited for the bus, still wearing my dog suit mind you.

For a while it was just me, all by myself. But then a man showed up out of no where a couple blocks down. I could see him whenever he wandered under a street light. I didn’t think much of it, he was pretty far off, it was Halloween, and my Mom’s house was right there. But the man was clearly walking in my direction.

It didn’t become strange until I saw he kept stopping.

Every so often he would stop, sort of loiter around, then start casually walking towards me again. I’m checking my phone for the time at this point, cause the bus should have been here already, but I hadn’t seen it. The man continued moving closer.

I began to realize that the man only moved closer when there wasn’t any traffic. The moment cars would drive down the road is when he stopped to loiter about. Then, when the cars disappeared he would casually walk my way again. I started to get really uneasy. I could sense something was very not right about this.

My Step-Dad happened to pull out of the drive way during all this, off to go party with some of his friends no doubt. He waved at me as he drove by, inevitably passing the strange man farther down the street. At this point the man was about four driveways away. I was seriously considering just darting across the road, going back in my Mom’s house and calling my older brother for a ride. But I was also telling myself I was paranoid and the bus would be there any minute.

The man continued to move closer until he was about two driveways away, and under a streetlight. Cars were passing again, so he’d resumed his loitering. Still no bus. I was wondering how fast I could actually run in a baggy dog suit.

The man had started moving again when a car suddenly pulled up to the curb in front of me. It was my Step-Dad. He had the window rolled down, stank of weed and cigarettes, but he told me to get in the car. At this point it didn’t matter how much I disliked him, I was scared and thankful. I hopped in the car and he drove off, passing the strange man who just stared the entire time, watching us go.

My step-Dad told me he was dropping me off at the bus station in the middle of the city, where I could catch a connecting bus and go home. He said he saw the weird man when he passed the first time, got a weird feeling, so he circled the block to come back and grab me. I thanked him. It was actually really touching that he was concerned about me, I’m not even his kid, and he never raised me.

I caught a bus home from the station, made it home safe. Celebrated the rest of Halloween with my older brother and my friend/roommate. I honestly didn’t dwell anymore on the experience after that.

It wasn’t until a couple days later we heard on the news there had been some assaults in the neighborhoods surrounding my Mom’s house on Halloween night. The gravity of my situation really hit me after that. I could have been one of those assaulted people, or worse.

Ever since I honestly believed my Step-Dad, in all his paranoid, conspiracy theory, people-hating delusions, saved my life that night. He’s dead now, he and my mom died in a car accident years ago. I never actually got to express my appreciation for that night, (aside from the generic, “thanks for the ride.”) We’d never spoken about it. Never talked about the assaults reported in the neighborhood. Never had any meaningful conversation about the situation. I don’t think he ever knew how much I appreciated that small act of concern.

To this day that was one of the most haunting and frightening experiences I’ve ever had. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. But I’ve kept this story to myself for a very long time, and even though my step-Dad is gone now, I wanted someone to hear this story.

Thank you Larry.

[writercole]

The Confession

Summary: Jake found her. Now what's he going to do?

Words: 1510

Warnings: Physical assault, confession of feelings, lying

A/N: I can't believe this is the end. I'm technically drafting this post before the series even starts for you guys so I have no idea how much you're going to even like it. But I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Aside from Sounds of Someday, I think this is my favorite.

Tag list is done. Please follow @coleslibrary and turn on notifications for story updates.

Jake paced on the sidewalk, trying to figure out what to do. He’d finally gotten his mom to give up Y/N’s location. It was a fight that took a three hour lecture about hypocrisy and waiting too long, but she relented, threatening to disown him if he hurt her adoptive daughter again. He’d planned a speech before he got on the plane, rehearsed it for the several hour flight, but now that he was here, he had no idea what to say. On his third lap around the block, he finally got the courage to walk up to the door and knock, deciding to just wing it.

The door swung open to reveal a bleach blonde man a couple inches shorter than Jake, one he’d met only a time or two. “Billy,” he grumbled.

“Bagman,” Billy spat, leaning his forearm on the door frame. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to Y/N,” Jake told him, raising his chin and daring him to deny the request, “and it’s Hangman.”

“She ain’t here,” Billy informed him, “and I doubt she’d want to talk to you anyway.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means, Bagman, that she didn’t want you to know where she was for the last month. She told me that you’d fucked her over for the last time and that she was done with you.”

“Fucked her over?” Jake scoffed. “Are you sure you don’t have the two of us confused? I’m not the one who bailed on her four months ago after trying like hell to dull her spark for a year.”

“I didn’t bail on her,” Billy denied, “she broke up with me.”

“You were leaving her and you know it. Now just tell me where she is before I beat it out of you.”

“I don’t know why you’re even making a fuss over an easy whore,” Billy sneered. “You could get anyone you want, or so I hear. Though I have to say, it’s some damn good pussy for an easy whore.”

Jake didn’t even realize he was moving. He saw red as soon as the words exited Billy’s mouth, his arm cocking back and pushing his fist into Billy’s jaw with enough force to knock the man backwards several steps.

Tires squealing on asphalt was the only thing that stopped Jake from swinging again.

She was rushing out of the house to handle an issue on base when Billy finally showed up to talk. Instead of telling him to come back, she told him to sit in the kitchen and wait for her. She didn't plan on being gone for almost an hour. She groaned in frustration when she finally climbed back into her car.

She was halfway back when her phone alerted her to camera activity on her porch. She checked it at a stoplight and swore when she saw that Jake was standing at the door talking to Billy. Unmuting the video, she listened to their argument as she drove, speeding and taking corners much faster than she should have. She pulled into the driveway and saw Jake swing, hitting Billy in the jaw.

“Shit,” she swore again, rushing out of her car and into the middle of the two men. “What is going on?”

“He just showed up here and punched me!” Billy accused, rubbing his jaw and shooting daggers at Jake.

“I came over here to talk to you and this guy,” Jake explained, pointing at Billy in the doorway, “wanted to start shit and called you an easy whore. So yes, I punched him.”

“I never said that!” Billy shouted, stepping towards Jake. “He’s the one who called you a whore.”

“You son of a bitch!” Jake yelled, lunging for Billy.

She grabbed Jake’s arm and he stopped in his tracks, taking a step behind her. She turned to face him with tears in her eyes. “What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that guy,” Jake spat, “is a total jerk and you deserve someone better. Someone who respects you and would treat you like a queen.”

“And who would that be, Jake? I don’t exactly have a whole lot of options.”

“He’s just running his mouth so that he can sleep with you,” Billy goaded from behind her, “that’s all he’s ever wanted from you. Why he thinks you’re easy, I’ll never know.”

“You lying bastard!” Jake shouted as he pushed her away, pulling his fist back to hit Billy again, stopping when something got between them.

Valkyrie stood between them and pushed Jake back, reaching in her pocket and unlocking her phone. She navigated to the recording of the argument and pressed play, Billy’s voice clear as day repeating the words he was denying. She stared him down, daring him to tell her that the recording was wrong.

“Please stop lying, Billy,” she growled as she locked her phone.

“What? Baby, you can’t believe this guy. He’s dicked you around for how long now?” Billy rebutted, taking a step towards her.

Jake stepped up behind her, staring daggers at the man trying to bargain his way back into Y/N’s arms.

“Get out, Billy. You can’t own up to your actions, even when they’re on video. We’re done. Over. Go find yourself another easy whore,” she repeated, her words sharp and final. 

“Fine,” Billy spat as his eyes became fiery, “but don’t come crawling back to me when this piece of shit breaks your heart.” 

Before Jake could make a move, she had pulled her fist back and released it right into Billy’s nose. 

“Get. Out. Of. My. House,” she sneered as she looked down on him.

Billy turned and stomped away, firing up his car and peeling out of her driveway. She turned to Jake with slumped shoulders and watery eyes, looking up at his face in exhaustion.

“How did you find me?” she asked.

“Now, don’t be mad,” he prefaced, “but Mom told Phoenix when she called looking for information.”

“Why are you here, then, Hangman?” she sighed.

“You didn’t say goodbye when you left,” he said.

“Really? You’re here because I didn’t say goodbye?” she scoffed. “I told you that Simpson needed me -”

“No, he didn’t,” Jake interrupted. “Simpson didn’t call you back. You called him to get you out.”

“I don’t want -”

“You need to tell me why you left,” he whispered, “please. I have to know why you ran away.”

She sighed again, squeezing her eyes shut. “You have to know? Okay, fine. I heard you talking to Suze. Telling her that we weren’t together and that she didn’t need to be jealous. I couldn’t take it. I thought…” she trailed off, biting her lip and tapping her foot as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I thought that something had shifted the day before, that we had something. I know we said no feelings but I was right. I fell in love with you and you don’t feel the same way. So I left. You could have your time with Suze and I could get away and not have to see it.”

“Is that all you heard?” he questioned quietly, searching her face for answers.

“What else did I need to hear? You said plenty,” she snapped, her gaze finally meeting his again, fire burning behind the tears.

“I did say plenty, but you didn’t hear all of it,” he replied as he stepped towards her, hooking his finger under her chin to keep her focus. “I told Suze that it would never happen with her. That it was a mistake that I was ever with her and that you were the one I wanted by my side. 

“You see, it happened so slowly that I didn’t realize it. When Suze approached me, I looked for you, I tried to find you so that I could get away from her without my family asking me why I was pissed. When I finally found you, you were leaving. In that moment, when you were running away, I knew I was a goner. You jumped into that cab and you took my heart with you. I’ve barely been able to breathe since you’ve been gone.

“I know I said that I wasn’t trying to marry you, but that’s changed, Y/N. I’m hopelessly in love with you and I don’t want to spend another day without you by my side.” 

Tears started falling down her cheeks, the fire in her eyes had died out only to be replaced with hope and longing. “Don’t mess around with me,” she said, her voice wavering with emotion.

“I would never dream of it,” he assured her, his thumbs brushing the tears from her face. “You’re it for me, Y/N. And if you say no, if you tell me to get out and never come back, I will. But I really hope you don’t. I hope you give me the chance to be the man you have always deserved.”

“Jake,” she mumbled as she gazed up at him.

“Hmm?”

“Kiss me.”

Everything: @thelastpyle @deangirl93 @evergreencowboy @katelyn--renee @fictional-affairs @paintlavillered @buckys-zomdoll @polireader @b3autyfuldisast3r @welcometothefandommultiverse @mlovesstories @supraveng @xoxabs88xox

Top Gun: @princessmisery666 @evansrogerskitten @bradshaw-fanclub @saiyanprincessswanie @luckyladycreator2 @princessphilly @ahockeywrites @clints-lucky-arrow @wildbornsiren @shanimallina87 @fuckyeahhangman @blue-aconite @hope-love-equality2 @peachiicherries @marvelousmermaid @therebeccaw @green-socks @imjess-themess @jostystyles @mayhem24-7forever @callsignaries @a-reader-and-a-writer @ahopelessromanticwritersworld

[edupunkn00b]

It Could Always Be Worse, Ch. 3: A Queer, Sultry Summer

Butterfly universe version of Happily Ever After, Ch. 3: A Queer, Sultry Summer.

Prev - A Queer, Sultry Summer - Next - All - [ AO3 ]

WC: 705 - Rated: T - CW: Self-harm

"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York." - Sylvia Plath, the Bell Jar (1963)

Virgil fidgeted with his sleeves in the passenger seat next to Logan. His eyes bounced between the window, his phone, and the clock on the dashboard. He signed heavily and turned to his father. "What time will we get there, Dad?"

"We are only about four blocks away, so just a few minutes, Virgil."

Virgil sucked his teeth. "Yeah, I know that, I mean what time."

Logan clenched his teeth for a moment, mentally counting to five before responding with more anger than the situation warranted. "I believe it will be two o'clock."

"'Kay, thanks," Virgil mumbled, tapping at his phone. Virgil looked up when he felt the car turn sharply to the left, slowly easing up the gravel driveway to his best friend's house. He sighed, "Finally."

Opening the car door the moment the wheels stopped moving, Virgil flung off his seat belt and yanked open the car door. His sleeve caught on the locking mechanism for a moment and he quickly tugged the sleeve back down, glancing over at his father. "Um, can you pick me up at 9?"

"Of course, Virgil. I will check with Matt's parents to be sure that works for them." He waved toward Matt's mom who was walking down the driveway to greet him.

"Hi, thanks for dropping him off," she called as she chased after Matt's little sister.

"It was my pleasure, really. Thank you for having him over. The boys have a good time together." Logan stood next to his minivan, hands in his pockets. Matt's little sister stepped a little closer to him.

"Hi," she grinned, looking at him sideways.

Logan smiled and crouched down, tilting his head the same way. "Hello," he said and signed in ASL. "How are you today?"

Matt's sister giggled and ran off, copying the sign for today. Logan chuckled then stood. Matt's mother had her arms crossed and was staring at Logan with an unreadable expression. His eyebrows knit together, "Is everything okay?"

"Sure, sure, um." She looked down at her feet and sighed. "Well, no." She looked up at Logan, "I don't know quite how to say this, so I'm just gonna blurt it out." She took a deep breath, "I think Virgil might be cutting himself."

Logan blinked and shook his head slightly, taking a half-step back and bumping into the minivan. "Wha—what?"

"I don't know if you know this, but, Matt has a history of it and I noticed that Virgil's showing some of the signs, and, well, Logan, it's the middle of July and he's been in long sleeves every time he's come over." Logan looked down at his own hands, catching himself rubbing at the skin under his watchband. He pressed his lips tightly together and shoved his hands in his pockets.

Matt's mother was still talking. "I just think you should ask him about it, or maybe, you know... get him some professional help." Both parents' heads suddenly swiveled, looking toward the far side of the lawn at the sound of Matt's little sister suddenly crying. She was sitting on the grass, holding a scraped knee. "Sorry, I need to—"

Logan nodded, "Of course, of course, um, I will be by at 9 to pick up Virgil."

"Sure, sure... see you then..." she called over her shoulder to Logan before murmuring to Matt's little sister, "Oh, kiddo, lemme see, okay...."

Logan gnawed at his lip, looking up at the house. He thought about the little scratches he'd seen on Virgil's hand about a month ago and how he couldn't explain how he'd gotten them. He rubbed his hands against the sleeves of his own shirt, swallowing hard. He waved one more time to Matt's mother and sister, then climbed back into his minivan. He took a moment to make a note on his phone to call Virgil's doctor on Monday morning for a referral. Pocketing his phone, he checked to see that Matt's sister was still safely out of the driveway, then pulled out and back into the street, slowly driving home.

[purplesurveys]

1714

Have you ever seen an emu in real life, whether in captivity or the wild? I have never.

When was the last time you visited your state’s biggest city? I live in it.

Do you remember what colour the eyes were of the last person you spoke to? Dark brown, as all Filipinos have.

Have you eaten pasta in the past week? Sure. It was fast food spaghetti but still.

Did you pierce your ears yourself or have it done by a professional? I'm pretty sure my parents had it done by a professional. I had been a few weeks or months old after all.

Are you wearing any shoes right now? No.

How many letters are in your surname? Six.

Do you enjoy Burger King? Their burgers are good but Burger King is honestly something I just never seem to look for? Idk, lol. Like I'll never say no to it, but I also don't ever go, "I think I'll get Burger King today." In general I guess I'm also not into fast food burgers much, unless it's Jollibee.

Have you ever worn bell bottom jeans? I don't think I've ever, actually.

How far away from your house is the nearest ice cream place? The nearest one I know of is around a 30 minute drive away.

What colour is your kitchen counter? It's a shade of peach.

When was the last time you washed the dishes? Not a plate but I washed my glass around half an hour ago before I settled in my room.

Do you own a lot of cookbooks? We don't have, like, a bookshelf's worth of cookbooks if that's what you mean by 'a lot,' but I'd say we have more than average. My dad's a chef, so he liked to collect them early on in his career.

How many rooms are in your house? Four.

Have you ever seen American Pie? I haven't. I heard of it a lot as a kid but was also always warned not to watch it, so I kind of brought that with me until now. I still have no clue what that show(?) is about haha.

What do you think of Leonardo DiCaprio? He's really good-looking and an even better actor but I do find his dating choices quite weird given his age.

Do you stay in touch with many people from high school or college? It's a good number. Most of my current circles are from my years in school.

Are you feeling nervous about anything right now? Just a little bit, but I'm trying not to think of it now so I can focus on my weekend and free time.

How many cars can your driveway and garage hold? Technically just one, but we have some extra space around the backyard area and our front yard so we're able to have our two other cars fit in those slots. Mainly so that we don't block the road because it's so annoying that most of the nighbors do that.

When was the last time you were late for something? Around a month ago for one of our events. My teammates arrived earlier to cover for me first so I wasn't too worried, and I was mostly stressed because of the traffic and because the driver kept on heading towards turns that led to more traffic.

Do you own an iPod, and if so, what type? I have not used an iPod since high school.

Did you ever play Stardoll when you were younger? I don't think I've ever heard of that.

Is there a university in your town or city? Yes. There's a small local one literally right beside our village gate.

What’s your father’s handwriting like? The hilarious thing is I don't even know what his handwriting looks like because he writes so rarely. He just...signs. I should hand him a blank piece of paper one of these days and just ask him to write random phrases so I can finally know hah.

Have you ever lived on a farm? Haven't.

Are you hung up on anybody right now? No.

Do you eat fries one by one or in big bunches? Just one each, every time. I always eat stuff like fries by piece.

Did you wash your hair last time you showered? Yeah I never skip anything when I take a bath.

Has anyone ever ransacked your bedroom? Apparently my mom did because that's how she came to read my diary when I wasn't around. I've always been a bit peeved about her entering my room since then.

Do you have any weird sleeping habits that people have told you about? No. I also don't like sleeping with people around, so that's also probably why no one has ever told me anything.

Do you enjoy That 70s Show? I tried getting into it but couldn't understand the humor right from the first episode - either that or I just simply found it unfunny, idk - so I didn't really care to watch the rest.

Are there any clouds in the sky, and what colour are they? Well right now it's 2:01 AM so everything looks black/super sper super dark blue.

Do you think you’re fast at typing? I know I'm fast, haha.

What was the last type of pizza you ate? Pepperoni, but I removed all the pepperoni from the slices I took as I don't like it.

How old are you? 25. WOW I can't believe I'm 25

Do you know anyone with an unusual middle name? Yes.

Would you consider yourself to be intelligent? Only in select aspects.

Have you ever waxed your eyebrows? Nope.

What does your shampoo smell like? Just...idk like a refreshing one?? It doesn't have a distinct scent.

Have you ever passed gas in front of your significant other? I don't like farting hahaha I always suppress mine. Only my sister has heard me do it and that's because those got out accidentally.

Do you have any big regrets in your life? I wouldn't say big, but there have been a few medium-sized regrets here and there.

What colour is the ground or floor where you are right now? Brown.

Do you live on a street, avenue, road etc.? Street.

Can you taste anything right now? Just the remnants of my coffee.

What was the last board game you played? I don't play board games but I played Anomia with my family the other night.

Are you renting the house you’re currently living in? No.

Do you listen to Guns n Roses? Other than the like two songs I know of theirs, no.

How old were you when you had your first boyfriend or girlfriend? I was uhhhhhhh 16, I think.

Have you ever been a bridesmaid? A junior bridesmaid, if that counts; my aunt had that kind of gimmick during her wedding. I was 8 and didn't actually do anything in the role.

Has the sun already set for the day? Forever ago. It's about to rise in a couple of hours or so.

Do you know how to tie a tie? No. I had to wear a necktie from kinder to high school but since I didn't know how to tie ties I just kept the knot and wore it like I would a necklace for the 14 years I studied there hahah.

What are the age gaps between you and your siblings? 2 and 5.

Does your birthday come before June 19th in a calendar year? No, before.

Do you pay attention to the FIFA World Cup? If so, what team do you go for? I'm paying attention to the Women's World Cup right now because 1) one of my clients is the Philippine team's official outfitter so we have had a million and one events related to the World Cup; and 2) THE PHILIPPINES IS (well, was now since we're out...but still) IN THE WORLD CUP FOR THE FIRST TIME. Made the entire country turn into rabid football fans overnight lol it's so surreal to see it all unfold. I love our girls :')

Even if PH got booted though I catch up whenever I can! Some narratives have been super heartwarming, like Jamaica's who apparently had to do crowdfunding to even get to the tournament in the first place.

Are you on any medications right now? I am not.

[mothiemouth]

I lived in a house with an extremely long, winding driveway. We grew up surrounded by the woods, and when it got late on summer evenings, and the sun finally set after busy days of playing with my neighborhood friends, the darkness swallowed up our little plot of land, and it seemed like there was no end to that sea of trees around us. Like it extended into ink in every direction.

Naturally, I was terrified of those dark woods for reasons I couldn't explain. So as I got older, doing outdoor chores at night got harder and harder. Sometimes i'd have to take furniture off of the porch right before a big storm was approaching or else it'd blow away. Sometimes i'd just have to take the trash to the curb. I ended up being assigned to that job, out of all of my four brothers. I don't know why my mom picked me, but I assume it was because I was always the most cautious one of the five Swanson kids. The first time I had to take the trash to the curb at night, I begged my dad to go with me out of fear. I kept doing it, so eventually we just got in the habit of doing it together. He didn't seem to mind too much, anyway.

That is, until the night it happened.

The sunset was beautiful that night. The fireflies danced under swirls of purple and orange. We get pretty sunsets all the time around here, but something about this one was different. It was like Mother Earth was rewarding us for our hard work on that day- We had just finished demolishing an old shed that got crushed under an even older tree, uprooted by a summer storm.

The clouds seemed to gather like witches around a fire in the heart of the forest, blocking out the gibbous moon that stared down at us like our mom did when we were in trouble.

Thanks to the cloud coverage, it was so dark that we could barely see our feet in front of us as we were walking that familiar path down the barely-paved drive. My dad cracked some kind of joke that I can't recall, and I chuckled to ease the tension.

I had taken to walking as quickly as possible down that winding path when it was dark out. I'm sure the reason for that is obvious; My dad could just about keep up with me even when I was young and spry, and I wanted to spend as little time under that dark sky as possible. The trees on either side of the path loomed over us, but I could just barely make out the cloud-smeared stars past their jagged edges.

I could hear my dad's footsteps behind me as I gripped the black trash bag closer, the plastic strip that made up the handle getting sweaty in my hand. I focused on that sound to calm myself as my nerves started acting up, anxiety nipping at my heels.

Rhythmic, were my dad's footsteps- He had a limp, had gotten his leg twisted up years back in a bad car crash and it never quite healed right. The dull slap of his bad foot on the pavement steadied my thoughts. He was with me, and the world seemed safe. The woods even seemed almost warm.

After what must've been at least a few minutes, I finally saw the end of the driveway. The stinky dumpster was a relief, for once. It meant the trip was at least halfway over.

I practically ran up to the dumpster, focusing on the rotten yellow of its lid rather than the thick woods ahead of us across the thin road that led to our house. I didn't want to look too deeply past that treeline.

As I slammed the trash in, my dad passed me. I felt a cold chill pass down my spine when he stepped out onto the road, staring off into the woods, or maybe the sky- I couldn't tell with his back facing me.

My thoughts were hijacked by the sensation that my rear was no longer protected by my dad's mystical presence. I shot that thought down- He wouldn't be able to protect me anyway, if there were really something wrong.

"Weird night tonight, huh kiddo?"

My dad's rough voice came. I stifled an audible intake of air, not expecting him to say anything. He was a man of few words. I didn't know what he meant, either, and I was already uneasy.

"H-Huh? Not really." I replied.

It was just an average night, right? What was weird about it?

I shut the lid to emphasize my point. I didn't want to seem rude, but I was done being here out so far away from the house- Whose light was now a dim glimmer through the trees, as the path back curved sharply in at least two spots. I turned away and took a step or two, ready to head back as quickly as possible.

"Are you afraid?"

I stopped dead in my tracks. My heart stopped, too. Everything stood still for a second. I couldn't even begin to formulate a reply, my breath caught in my frozen lungs. That. Was. Not. My dad's voice.

It felt like an eternity before I was able to move even an inch, every fiber of my body wanting to flee. My only sanctuary was somehow wrong, and I didn't know why.

I forced my feet to turn themselves around. Maybe my dad was just putting on a scary voice to prank me- He did that sometimes, knowing how cautious I was. Maybe he had gotten a frog in his throat. My mind clung to these fragile hopes as I looked back over my shoulder at him, hoping to gain some kind of information, or at least find out if he was okay or not. My dad was standing in the middle of the road with his back facing me.

"Dad? What's going on?" I asked in a tiny, frail tone. My voice cracked sharply, almost quivering in dread.

He gave no response.

Then, he slowly started turning around. Painfully slowly. With inhuman, almost robotic movements, one foot after the other, one arm swiveling to face me, as if it were detached from his torso. His legs swiveled next, each part turning one after the other. His torso followed, until finally his body fully faced me.

Except for his head. His head was still backward.

And then, that started to turn too.

I shrank backward in horror beyond my control. My brain lit up with fear chemicals, my nerves suddenly blazing with a primal fear response- Everything about this was wrong and I had to get away, get away, anywhere but here.

I stood there, pissing my jorts in terror, for a good solid second further. He turned his head halfway before I bolted, and I'll regret that second before I started running for my whole life ahead of me, because I saw just a tiny bit of his face. ITS face. It wasn't him, if you haven't gathered that already. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't him.

My breath burned my lungs as I frantically scrambled back up the driveway, my vision going blurry. The clouds parted overhead, lighting my way back as my flip-flops slapped hard on the pavement. The gibbous moon trained its eyes on me from its seat in the ink-black sky, drinking in my fear.

Behind me, I heard something. Crunching, thumping, footsteps that didn't belong to my dad, plodding after me like a brown bear. Too heavy, too disordered.

No limp, either.

I remember running further on that night than my body wanted to, my legs nearly buckling out from under me. Adrenaline took over as I followed the black serpent of the driveway. My thoughts were a blur, panic thrumming through my veins, every second half-expecting to feel a cold clammy hand finally gripping my shoulder.

But the hand never stole my soul away from my flesh. I pounded up the stairs, threw open the front door, slammed it shut with all my strength, and locked it as quickly as my shaking, sweaty fingers would allow.

With my back pressed against the wall, I slid down and wrapped my arms around my knees. My face burned from the tears, the warmth of home doing nothing to comfort me as I struggled to catch my breath, my feet aching. A few shuddering, painful gasps were all I could manage before another thought trapped me in frozen, stiff silence. What if the lock wasn't enough? What if it got in anyway?

My eyes flicked up to the window in the door. I was terrified i'd catch another glimpse of that ghastly, pale thing that might've once been my dad's familiar face. But seeing the emptiness of the night sky was somehow worse. I took another breath as I got to my feet, gripping the door handle, as if, in the event of the lock failing, my own grip strength would keep the thing out. Looking back on it, that's absolutely fucking laughable, but at the time I was acting on pure instinct.

Which might explain why I stupidly peered out through the glass, scanning for any signs of life.

I strained my eyes, trying in vain to see anything past the treeline. Even with the clouds parted, the woods held onto their secrets with a tight grip.

After a minute or two, finally something changed. The dim light couldn't hide the trees shaking, the leaves parting, and something-

"RAAAAAAAAAGH!!"

I leapt out of my god damned skin. An outstretched fist connected with something meaty. My dumbass brother, Eric, materialized out of thin air, the door behind him ever so slightly ajar.

"Ow! What the fuck, dickhead?" He complained, rubbing his cheek. I cussed him out, my panic and rage overflowing, my head shaking from how hard I was spitting insults at him.

After several minutes of back and forth arguing, I finally calmed down enough to explain the situation to him. I'm sure it made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

When I finished, he just gave me a weird look, like I had grown a horn on my forehead.

"Dude, are you, like... Are you okay? Have you been taking your meds?" He asked quietly, shifting his position in discomfort. Something about his body language said 'Are you high?'. This only pissed me off further.

"You either need to believe me or get the fuck out of here right now!" I shouted, enraged. "Make yourself useful and go tell mom to call the damn cops! There's something out there, something bad!"

He stepped back at my yelling, but didn't go anywhere. He rubbed his shoulder, looking aside.

"Okay, okay, I believe you! Jesus, calm down!"

We both fell quiet, looking at each other for a minute. Then, I focused my eyes out the window again. Nothing. Empty front porch, empty yard, empty driveway. The faceless woods still met my gaze.

"It's just, your story doesn't really make a lot of sense. Dad's been out on a fishing trip for a few days now- Did mom not tell you?"

[cakerybakery]

I think if someone was to describe me, like people who’ve known me for some time, I think one of the top ten traits they’d list would be independent.

Because of when in the year I was born, and the laws around it where I live, I started kindergarten at the age of four. Just shy of my 5th birthday, but still when I was four. So, we lived on a non-working farm at the time and took a bus that picked me up like an hour before school started.

In the winter I would literally have to walk to the end of our driveway in pitch blackness. I lived farther south than I do now, but laterally, not by much. It’s roughly 3 degrees farther south, just in a different province. Which means in winter the sun would be rising somewhere between 8-8:30, so I was on the bus or at school.

But from the first day I did not want an adult hovering over my shoulder as I got on the bus at the end of our driveway. So I made my mom leave me alone. Which she did. And then followed the bus in the car and watched to make sure I got into the school okay. She didn’t tell me this until I was an adult.

So fast forward like four or five years. We moved. Farther north. Whole new community. We didn’t live on a farm anymore but there was an actual huge wooded area across the road. It have a fire tower on top of the hill and we weren’t allowed to go past it because of bears. At least that’s what our dad said. I got curious one day and slipped away on the family walk and took a peek. I think they were just logging on that side and he thought if he said that we’d be like, oh cool, let’s go see. But wouldn’t really go over if he said bears lived there. And, well, it worked. Besides creeping over and looking down the trails and seeing some logging stuff, I was too worried about bears to ever go to that side of the hill.

So anyways, I beg on a walk to be allowed to blaze my own trail. Alone. To run wild through the woods. Eventually my parents relent. I can go to the fire tower and meet them up there.

I have been unleashed. I am the wolf. I am the deer. I sprint through the woods and scale moss covered fallen trees to make it up and embankment. I don’t know how long I was feeling the exhilaration for true unbridled FREEDOM! When I hear a noise behind me.

I’m there in the woods, weaponless, alone, no idea where my folks are in relation to where I am and o my knowing I have to keep going up the hill to get to the tower, and very much nine.

Now what did my father always tell me was in the woods and to be careful of?

Bears.

So I turn around.

And there he is. Struggling to climb the same embankment I had just scrambled up. Six feet or more on his hide legs. More than capable of towering over my tiny nine year old self. Grunting loudly at the effort of the chase and climb.

My dad.

He had followed me and had not anticipated that I would go feral when let lose.

To say I was angry would be an understatement. But I helped him climb up and just pouted the rest of the walk up. Cause he was worry that I would, you know, die.

It wasn’t long after though that my folks let me just go over whenever I wanted and I would take my sister too sometimes. We stuck to the trails, she was like five. If I lost her I might have as well stayed in the woods.

Those aren’t the only time I was doing shit like that.

We missed the school bus once and I convinced my sister we could walk to school. Which freaked a lot of people out. Not knowing where we were. Two kids went out to the catch the bus, no kids show up to school for like an hour.

When we moved into the city and I was like 17 I went out at 1-3 am something like that. I went to the store and bought cupcakes cause I wanted cupcakes. And I ran into my 13 year old sister and her friend out for a walk. We don’t live in a very dangerous city for that sort of thing. Lotta drunk driving, not kidnapped kids. And I mean. She’s fine. She lives like three blocks from my house now. So, whatever.

I kinda miss that farm though. We had a pair of snowy owls that came every winter. Not sure if those birds migrate or if we just got to see them because it got dark out sooner in winter so they were out more, or what. But we use to watch them hunt. The northern lights were always beautiful there too. Lots of stars cause it was the middle of no where. Like the nearest neighbour was about a ten or twenty minute walk and I couldn’t even see any other farm except that their houses were in the distance. So there wasn’t any light pollution.

[edens-pen]

𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗲 (𝗯𝗮𝗯𝘆, 𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘁𝘀) | 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸!𝗳𝗲𝗺!𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘅 𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻

summary | everything happens at once: eddie tells you he’s gonna be dealing to chrissy cunningham and you’re perfectly fine with it. then your old best friend comes to town, and eddie’s perfectly fine with it. nobody’s jealous and everyone’s okay.

pairing | eddie munson x black!fem!reader (brown nipples, deep brown skin, braids, bonnets)

word count | 7.0K 

warnings | jealousy, perv!eddie munson, oral sex (f receiving), fingering, dirty talk (reader + eddie have dirty mouths), eddie munson is possessive, praise, masturbation, face-slapping (twice), anal play (brief), mentions of impact play + cnc, dub-con, eddie scares himself a little bit, aftercare, fluff (at the end) they’re both very oblivious and in love.

[18+ | minors do not interact!]

-

It’s a quiet Monday afternoon when Eddie tells you that Chrissy Cunningham wants to buy from him.

“Chrissy Cunningham? She doesn’t seem like the type to do drugs.” You frowned, picking at your nails.

Eddie shrugged, shaking his hair out his eyes and adjusting his fingers on the guitar. “She’s cool. She’s got that whole cheerleader thing going on.”

“Yeah, she also has that whole boyfriend thing going on. You remember him right? The one who hates you,” You remind him, grabbing your file before you ruin your manicure. “Plus she doesn’t like me.”

“Because you’re such a ray of sunshine?” He strums idly, not looking at your furrowed brow. “What is with you two anyways? I thought you were friends with her.”

Shaking your head, you filed down your nails to a rounded point. “We used to be friends. Until I got my glasses in sixth grade, and then she dropped me for Amber Jones, and then started calling me “four eyes” behind my back.”

“That was forever ago.”

“It still stings,” You remind him.

“You wear contacts now,” He volleys back.

Scoffing, you examine your nails again, touching up an uneven point.

A silence overtakes the room, as exhale slowly, controlling the unexplainable anger boiling up inside of you.

Eddie’s dismissal of your feelings sets fire to your tongue and you need to spit it out.

“Do whatever you want,” You rolled your eyes, sliding off Eddie’s bed. “Go fuck Chrissy, and while you’re at it, fuck yourself too.”

You went to move out the door, but Eddie grabbed your wrist.

“Hey, what’s going on with you? Who said I want to fuck Chrissy?” He looks up at you and you turn your head to avoid his eyes. You don’t answer his questions, instead keeping your head straight forward. “I won’t deal to Chrissy, if it bothers you that much.”

You don’t answer him again, sliding your palm away from his and moving out his door.

This sucked.

You knew you weren’t being fair to Eddie, but you couldn’t help that feeling bubbling inside of you every time Eddie told you he was interested in a girl. It was an occupational hazard, he’s your best friend, and you’re his, he always told you everything. 

Yet you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him that you were harboring a crush on him, that it had been brewing for six months and you didn’t feel anything receding in that time.

Slinging your purse over your shoulder, you heard the trailer door open behind you.

“At least let me drive you home?” Eddie called out as you froze in place. “It’ll be dark soon, who knows what could happen in Hawkins after 8:00?”

Nodding, you turned around, opening the passenger door and getting in his van. The drive was quiet, as you expected. 

“I’m serious, y’know?” He says as he rounds the block to your house. “I won’t sell to her, if it bothers you.”

“No,” You acquiesce. “I’m being dramatic, it was forever ago. Business is business.”

Eddie raises an eyebrow, “You sure?”

A fake smile breaks across your face. “Positive.”

When he pulls into your driveway, you see an unfamiliar car next to your parent’s car.

Your mom opens the front door and you can see her megawatt smile from where you sit in Eddie’s van. Slowly exiting the vehicle, you make your way to the front door as Eddie exits as well.

“What’s going on?” You ask, adjusting your bag on your shoulder. “Why are you smiling like that? You’re freaking me out.”

She ushers you inside and Eddie follows silently. Moving into the living room, you hear another voice coming from the kitchen that you can’t quite make out. When the voice gets closer and finally emerges, your heart clutches in your chest, and you drop your bag instantly.

“Oh my god.”

“Hey loser.”

It’s all he’s able to get out before you’re jumping into his arms, wrapping your legs tightly around his waist. 

“Oh my god!” You sequel into his neck. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you’re here, what are you doing here?”

He doesn’t answer you, choosing to squeeze you even tighter.

Somewhere in the background, you hear your mom explaining to Eddie the importance of the boy in your arms.

“–neighbor for years, until he moved away for college, but he’s back now.”

“I thought I’d never see you again,” You exhaled, pulling your head back to look into his eyes.

He blinks back at you in surprise, “You thought you’d get rid of me that easily? No freaking way princess.”

At the sound of his nickname for you, a throat clears behind you. Turning your head, you see Eddie standing with his hands shoved in his jacket pockets.

“Sorry!” Unwrapping your legs from his waist, you allow him to set you gently on the ground. He keeps an arm around your waist, tucking you into his side. “This is my friend Eddie. Eddie this is–”

“Your mom told me,” He interrupts. “It’s nice to meet you.” There’s a tense second when you look at Eddie, wondering why he was suddenly being curt. Smiling tightly, Eddie nods at you, “I gotta get back home, but I’ll pick you up tomorrow?”

“Actually, I think I can drop her off, if that’s okay with you?” He directs the question to you and you nod easily. 

“Of course! I’ll see you at lunch, Eddie.”

Eddie nods stiffly before making his way to the door.

Your eyes are back on your friend before the door shuts.

–

The next morning you’re shoving books into your locker when Eddie saunters up to you.

“Hey Eds,” You greet lightly.

“Hey princess,” He chides gently.

Rolling your eyes you exchange your books and shuffle them in your bag. 

Nudging him with your shoulder, you grin, “You’ll have to get a new nickname, Munson. I should’ve told you that one was claimed years ago.”

Eddie laughs humorlessly, “He’s called you princess for years?”

“Before I even met you. He was my neighbor since I was like 3 and he was 5. He graduated two years ago, and went to college out of state.” You explain, shutting the door to your locker. “I haven’t seen him since then, but he came back to visit me! Isn’t that so cool?”

“The coolest,” Eddie agrees. “So I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page about the Chrissy thing. You seemed pretty incensed when I brought it up yesterday.”

You sighed, looking up at Eddie. “It just caught me off guard, my feelings about Chrissy are irrelevant. You can sell to whoever you want, y’know? You don’t need my permission.”

“I wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt you.”

Smiling, you assured him, “I just want you to be happy, Eddie. I mean it, it’s no big deal.”

The lie slides easily off of your lips and settles in the air between you two. 

You’re a damn good liar, you have to be. Every time Eddie brings up a girl he likes, anyone who’s caught his eye, you have to lie and tell him that he should go after them. Sometimes they’re flings, sometimes they last a bit longer. You lie when he asks why you haven’t dated anyone in a while. You lie and tell him that you’re not really interested in anyone, when in reality you can’t bring yourself to try to want anyone but him.

You lie and tell him that everything is perfectly fine when you’re constantly on the edge of imploding your friendship.

“Seriously, I’m good.”

“Cool,” He grins. “So I’ve got a deal with her planned later, but I’ll see you after?”

You freeze, “Not really?” You shrug. “I’m leaving to go with–”

“Your little friend?” Eddie guesses.

“Yeah, he’s only gonna be here for a few days, so I want to see him as much as possible before he goes.” Eddie nods, but he doesn’t say anything. “What’s going on in that brain of yours, Munson?”

“You like him?”

“As a friend.”

“Nothing more?”

“Why do you care?” You chuckle, not understanding his line of questioning. You follow Eddie into the cafeteria as you continue speaking, “He’s my friend, who I’ve missed a lot, that’s all.”

Taking his seat at the head of the lunch table, you sat next to him, sliding your bag into your lap.

“You’ve never talked about him.”

“Why would I talk about a random stranger that you don’t know and likely would’ve never met?” 

Eddie shrugged, “Just seems like something friends should tell each other.”

Jeff and Gareth took a seat as you leaned over to look at Eddie seriously. 

“I have a friend, he used to be my neighbor, he was my best friend for years, before I met you or Chrissy or even knew how to spell my own damn name. He graduated two years ago and went to college and left me here,” You reiterate. “I missed him, I missed him every day, all the time. I miss him in a completely platonic, non-romantic way, Eddie. Satisfied?”

When Eddie only blinks at you, you turn and make conversation with Jeff and Gareth. You can feel Eddie’s on you throughout the rest of lunch. Even when Dustin and Mike come and talk to him, he’s still looking at you and you have to fight the urge to ask him what the hell he was looking at.

The day moves on and something nags at you. It burns a pit inside of your stomach when you feel Eddie’s eyes on you in English, or when you sit diagonally from Chrissy in chemistry.

There’s something that’s just not right about you and Eddie right now. You don’t know if it’s Chrissy or the recent introduction of your friend, but you can’t pinpoint it.

You think you might want to hash it out with Eddie after school today, but you see him ushering Chrissy in his van and your jaw clenches. He makes brief eye contact with you, but then he shifts and you don’t know why.

A car pulls into your vision and the passenger window rolls down.

“Princess, we’re burning daylight!”

You pull your eyes away from Eddie and hop into the car, quickly pulling out of the parking lot.

–

You throw your stuffed animal at your friend from across the room.

“Shut your mouth,” You groan. “That’s not true. Eddie doesn’t see me like that and he never will.”

“Oh, it’s true, princess. If looks could kill I would’ve been dead days ago, right at the feet of your new “best friend,” I would’ve been roasted alive.”

He tosses the animal back at you and you try to ignore his words, but he keeps going. “He looked furious, because he likes you.”

“We had just gotten into an argument like 10 minutes before I saw you, it was probably that,” You try to brush him off, but you know that he can’t but irritate you when given the chance. It’s always been that way. He just knew how to push you completely until you released every secret hiding in the corner of your mind.

He nods, “Uh huh…and what were you arguing about?” 

When you went silent he filled in the gap for you. “You like him.”

“Didn’t I tell you to shut your mouth?” You repeat, not really irate but annoyed with his questions.

“But we both know that already, it was so obvious. I’m telling you that he likes you.”

“I’m telling you that he thinks we’re good friends and nothing more,” You retort, rolling your eyes. “He tells me about the girls he fucks, about the girls he likes, and believe me when I tell you, they look nothing like me. I couldn’t be more different from Chrissy Cunningham if I tried.”

He shoots up and looks at you in question, “He likes Chrissy? Really?”

“No, he says not, but girls like her are his type.”

The room is silent, but he gets up to sit on your pink chair. Your room has been pink ever since your parents let you repaint in middle school. Your comforter and pillows matched the walls, and it all complemented your rug.

You chuckled at the sight of him moving through your room. He was well over six feet tall, and had 100 pounds on you easily. He looked like a giant trying to move through a nursery.

“You need to fucking redecorate,” He laughed, kicking at your pink rug. “I can’t let anyone see me in your frilly pink room anymore, it’s going to ruin my street cred.”

“It’s a princess room,” You countered as he complained. Throwing your pillow at him, which he catches easily, but the next one hits him square in the face.

You burst out laughing right as he gets up, “Okay princess, it’s on.”

He immediately gets up, and you run out of the room, while he’s right on your heels.

“Wait, wait, wait!” You scream, still trying to evade him. “Let me say sorry!” You had no intention of apologizing and you both knew that as he chased you. You ran into the living room just as your mother moved to answer the knocking at the front door. 

You didn’t stop running until you were cornered on one side of the kitchen table.

“You gotta let me hit you back, so we can be even,” He barters, trying to catch you from the other side of the table.

“No!” You laugh, breathless, “You don’t hit, you bruise! Mom!”

A light feeling overtakes you as you run around back to the front door to hide behind your mother, just as you did when you were children.

“You two are adults, are you still chasing each other around?” She laughs lightly as you hide behind her as she opens the door.

He follows you when the visitor steps in between you.

Eddie.

Your eyebrows raise when you catch your breath, stepping from around your mother to greet him.

“Hey, what’re you doing here?” Your confusion was obvious. You hadn’t seen Eddie in a few days as your mom had let you stay home to spend time with your friend before he drove back to college tonight.

Eddie pulled his hands out of his pockets, handing you something. “It’s your nail file, you left it in my room.”

“Thanks? I was going to see you on Monday, though…” You trail off as you take the file from him.

There’s tense silence before your friend speaks up, swiftly filling in the gap.

“It’s Eddie right? Do you think you could stay for dinner? Princess keeps me locked up from all her friends, I have to make sure you’re real and not some paid actor she found to make me believe she doesn’t sit holed up in her pink room, thinking about me all day.”

You smack his shoulder in offense. “Eddie is my friend, and my room is pretty!”

“It’s a bottle of Pepto Bismol,” He replies. “I’m leaving tonight, let me at least speak to one person you know.”

In turn Eddie nods, “Yeah, if it’s alright with your mom–”

Your mom interrupts, “You know we’re always happy to have you Eddie.” She pats his shoulder and guides him into the house, and you shut the door as you follow.

Everyone moves into the kitchen, and you help set the table as everyone sits down.

It takes a few minutes but a good conversation flow eventually starts between bites of food and the atmosphere becomes lighthearted.

Eddie’s shoulder bumps yours and you turn your eyes up at him for a moment, he gives you a small smile and you feel one growing on your face in return.

“God, I remember the day she came home after you kissed her!” Your mom’s laugh rings out and your body heats up as she gears up to retell the story of how you came home that day. “She was just swooning, I’d never seen her like that before.”

You looked down at your plate, “Mom, I’m begging you not to.”

Your friend smiles at your mom, urging her to go on. “No, I’ve never heard her side of this story before, please, keep going. I knew she was falling for me after that.”

“You’ve heard it,” You snap, not wanting Eddie to have to hear the tale of your first kiss.

But your mom tells the story anyways, she recounts how you came home panting and shaking, excited and bouncing off the walls. In the midst of her speaking, a warm hand settles on your thigh. You look to your side at Eddie, whose expression is unreadable as he listens.

Every time your mom mentions your excitement, your joy, or how flustered you were, Eddie’s hand gets a little tighter.

By the end of dinner, he has a death grip on your thigh, and it’s sure to leave a bruise. But you didn’t mind. You didn’t try to move his hand or your body. You let him grip you as hard as he wanted. You’re pretty sure you’d let him do whatever he wanted to you.

That thought sits in your mind and you savor the feeling of his grip on your bare thigh. Your mind swims over to his grip on other places, locked around your neck, cutting off your air while you writhed underneath him. He hands pushing up your knees to your chest, as he laid his weight on top of you.

Eddie telling you to take it. Him asking you who belonged to, who’s princess you actually are. Eddie marking your neck, hips, and thighs, knowing that he owned you. Him licking the tears off your cheek, telling you how much he loved seeing you cry underneath him–

Suddenly there was movement around you as your mom cleared the table. Everyone started to rise, setting their plates in the sink and Eddie released your thigh to take your plate.

Your friend made his way to the front door, wrapping himself around you in one final hug.

Something sad started swimming in your stomach, but he didn’t allow it to simmer. “None of that pouting princess, I won’t let two years pass again. I promise.”

He swears and you nod against his rumbling chest. He releases you to give your mom a quick hug and he shakes Eddie’s hand. Throwing you a look over his shoulder, you watch as he climbs in his car and pulls off into the night.

Shutting the door, you move into the kitchen with Eddie, ready to do the dishes as your mom goes down the hall to bed.

You wash as he dries.

“You spent the whole week with him?” Eddie asks, voice easy and light.

But you have the bruises to prove he was not perfectly okay.

Handing him the last dish, you leaned against the counter. “Yeah, we’ve been hanging out, catching up, and stuff…”

The look Eddie’s giving you is teetering on something you’ve been wanting.

“Kissing?”

You chuckled, “Eddie, he was my first kiss, I was like 13.”

“You were excited.”

“I was 13,” You repeat, slower this time. 

“Did you sleep with him?”

This time you stare at Eddie, trying to figure out what he was trying to say. He’s usually someone who’s straightforward, and he never minces words, knowing how much you hate that.

“Why?” You question as Eddie moves to stand in front of you. “Why do you care? Why does that matter?”

Eddie sighs and looks away for a moment, taking a slow breath before meeting your eyes again. “You did. You slept with him.”

“Like three years ago, Eddie. I was 16, and he was my first. It happened one time and never again.” You confess. “Why do you care?”

Eddie doesn’t answer you, instead he whispers, “Can I see your princess room?”

Nodding slowly, you guide him up the stairs to your bedroom, opening the door to expose the pink of it all. Shutting the door behind him, Eddie steps inside.

Eddie looks more out of place than your friend ever could. His leather jacket and ripped jeans contrasted sharply with your soft pink walls, and stuffed animals. Eddie slid off his sneakers and tucked them in the corner. He ran his fingers over your comforter and you took a seat at the head of your bed.

“I’ve never been in here before,” He remarks.

“We usually hang out at your trailer,” You remind him, watching as he looks at your wall of pictures, running his fingers over polaroids of you and your various friends and family.

He moves over to your dresser silently, and you allow him to take inventory of your room. He glances over your lotions and perfumes, spritzing out a bottle on his jacket sleeve. Then, without fanfare he picks the top drawer, and opens it.

“Eddie–” Your breath catches in your throat. “Close that! My panties are in there.”

“I’ve seen your panties before, princess,” He mutters. You think you might be imagining the way he spits out the last word.

Shaking your head, you disagree. “You’ve never seen my–”

“When you wore that black skirt, and you climbed into the van two months ago, I saw the blue striped ones,” He starts, his voice tightens, but he continues. “I saw the pink ones with hearts on it when the wind blew up your skirt last fall.” He begins rummaging through your drawer, pulling out your white cotton panties with the rose embroidered on the front. “I saw these last week. When you laid on my bed, you pulled your knees up and I looked right up your fucking skirt.”

You stay silent until his eyes finally drag over to yours.

“I’ve been thinking about you wearing these everyday since then.”

Swallowing harshly, you glance down at your panties in his hand. “You looked up my skirt?”

Eddie chuckles, “I’ve looked up your skirt, I’ve looked down your shirt, I’ve done everything I can to see every inch of your skin.”

A nervous giggle builds up in your throat at the tone of his voice, at the tension, so you release it slowly. “Okay, I didn’t know you perved on girls in your freetime, Munson.”

But Eddie doesn’t laugh, he barely smiles. “Not perving on girls, princess, just you.”

This time you don't have a sarcastic quip or a witty reply. You can only hold your breath and let it out slowly, and hope that whatever game he’s playing with you ends quickly.

Eddie stalks over to you slowly, bringing your panties up to his nose, inhaling deeply. The action makes your stomach clench and his next words don’t release you from that feeling. “I wish you didn’t wash them. I want to know how you smell so fucking bad.”

“You don’t mean–”

“I do,” He interrupts. “I do. I mean exactly what I said, I keep trying to tell you and you keep brushing me off.”

You think back to what Eddie might be referring to. The times where he flirted with you. But it was all a joke, right? He’d laugh and shrug, then you two would move on to the next topic.

What weren’t you seeing?

“Instead you think that I wanna fuck Chrissy Cunningham,” Eddie continues. “Instead you hop into that guy’s arms, right in front of me, you let him touch your thighs. You let him call you princess, like you don’t hear me call you that everyday.”

You stutter out, “I–he’s just a friend, Eds.”

“A friend that kissed you, a friend that knows what it feels like to be inside you.”

Sitting back, you create space between you and him. “So what are you trying to say? You’re jealous because you didn’t get to fuck me first? You’re not exactly a monk, you can fuck whoever you want.”

“I haven’t had sex in 18 weeks, not since you went without bra and I saw your nipples poking through your shirt. I’ve been jerking myself off thinking about them in my mouth, thinking about tasting you, thinking about licking your cunt until you scream.”

Eddie’s confession has your thighs rubbing together, and he keeps going.

“I lay in my bed at night, and I wrap my hand around my cock, and I wish it was your cunt, every single time. I think about what makes you cum. I wonder if you’re as sweet and innocent in bed as you are at school,” Eddie trails his fingers up your exposed ankle. “But, I don’t think you are.”

Wetness pools in your panties at the timbre of his voice, and you subtly spread your legs a bit.

“In my head, you like it rough. You like every disgusting thing that I like because you’re mine, and you know it and I know it. You’re mine and you’d take anything that I gave you, right?”

It only takes a second for you to nod before he leans over to kiss you. It’s everything you’ve wanted for months and you don’t have it in you to be patient, so your tongue sweeps against his bottom lip the second you get the chance. Eddie opens his mouth and then you’re pulling him to lay between your spread legs.

“Please,” You whimper against his mouth. “I need you so bad.”

“How bad, hm? Tell me how bad you fucking want me princess,” Eddie demands against your neck.

His lips keep moving against your neck and it’s getting harder for you to get a hold of your thoughts. But Eddie isn’t letting it go. With a slow grind between legs, pushing his hard cock right against your center, he says, “Tell me baby, c’mon.”

“I touched myself to you too,” You breathe out, and you’re rewarded with Eddie sucking against your neck. “I’d think about you spitting in my mouth and–,”

“Say it princess,” Eddie encourages.

“In my cunt.”

He groans against your skin and the sound makes you roll your hips against his again.

“I was right, you’re fucking dirty,” Eddie pulls up, looking down in your eyes. “I want you, I want this. But if we do this you’re mine. I don’t want some college prick picking you up and calling you princess and touching what I own.”

You nod quickly. You’d promise him anything he wanted as long as he’d keep touching you. 

“You want this baby?”

“So bad, please.”

Eddie nods, running his hands up your sides, under your shirt. You shiver when he finally skims along your nipples and you raise up to pull your shirt off. His mouth immediately descends on you, licking and sucking, and pulling lightly with his teeth. You whine but he pays it no mind. 

His fingers dance along the edge of your skirt as you push your chest closer to his face, enjoying his stimulation.

“You’re so needy baby,” He murmurs against your chest. Running his hand up your inner thigh, he runs his knuckles along your clothed cunt, hissing at what he finds. “Fuck, you’re soaked. Do you always get this wet?”

“Not by myself,” You answer.

“So, I’m special?” He jokes, helping you shimmy out of your skirt, tossing it over his shoulder.

He slows for a moment when he pulls your panties off, he takes a second to smell them. You close your eyes, embarrassed at him doing it in front of you. 

“Eddie–”

Your complaint is cut off when his eyes flicker up to yours. He sticks his tongue out, licking the gusset of your panties, and heat climbs in your stomach again.

“Love how you taste, princess, you gonna give me some more?” His voice is deep and it’s making your head swim. “Gonna let me taste you whenever I want, right? Gonna let me do whatever I want to that tight, wet cunt?”

Spreading your legs wider, you nod eagerly. You’re completely naked underneath Eddie and he’s only shrugged his jacket off his shoulders. You feel nervous and exposed, but he doesn’t make a move to even things out.

You’re vulnerable and at his mercy, but it’s what you’ve been wanting for a long time.

Eddie uses his fingers to spread the lips of your cunt and you keep your eyes straight up at the ceiling.

There’s no movement for a moment, and you wiggle a little bit. 

“Stop staring at it,” You move to close your legs but Eddie’s shoulders stop them from moving very much.

“I’ve wanted this for a long fucking time,” Eddie speaks, lips only a breath away from where you were wet and waiting for him. “Let me take my time, okay? Be a good girl for me, yeah?”

“Yes, Eddie.”

He knows that’s not what you want to call him, but he can’t wait to get the taste of you on his tongue. So, he tilts his head forward and finally licks your cunt. His tongue moves in slow strokes on your pussy, before he stops to suck at your clit for a moment.

That action has your hands flying to grip his hair. Then he’s dipping his tongue in your hole, tasting everything that’s leaking onto your sheets.

“More, please, right there.” 

Eddie knows exactly what you need and he’s wrapped his hand around your thigh, keeping you in place while his thumb strums against your clit. The pale tone of his hands contrasts sharply with your deep brown skin, and you take time to appreciate the previous bruises he left on your thigh.

As he eats you out, you know that Eddie was right, you like it dirty, and that’s exactly how he’s giving it to you.

He’s slurping loudly at your cunt and you pray to whoever’s listening that your mom took her sleeping pill tonight because you don’t want him to stop. Every time he pulls back, he’s telling how good you taste, how tight you are around his tongue, how disgusting you are for letting him do this on your clean, pink sheets.

All you can do is whine and say his name.

He hauls you a little closer to his face then uses his free hand to slip a finger in next to his tongue. When you whine louder, he only chuckles against your cunt.

“Look at me, princess.”

You force yourself to look away from the ceiling and meet his eyes between your legs.

“This is what you wanted, right? You wanted me down here, getting my fill from this sloppy little hole.” Eddie feels you getting tight at his words, and he smiles up at you. “You like when I run my mouth, when I tell you how much I love this cunt, baby, fuck–”

He lowers his head again, pushing another finger, slurping and sucking against your cunt. The sounds coming from both your mouth and pussy are beyond humiliating, but you can’t help how wet you are for him.

“I do, Eddie, I love it so much.”

Eddie continues eating you and it’s almost embarrassing how close you are already. But he’s curling his fingers, hitting all the right spots and you have no choice but to let him now. “E-eddie, I’m close.”

“I know,” He mumbles, not pulling away from your pussy. “I can fucking feel it.”

You try to warn him again, but your words fail you this time because his tongue feels perfect against your hole, and his fingers keep touching that spot, and his thumb won’t let up on your clit and it's the right combination at the right time and the coil in your body tightens impossibly harder before it snaps.

“Say my fucking name,” He demands.

“Eddie!” It comes out as whine before you’re repeating it over and over, until the heat dissipates from your body. But Eddie doesn’t stop until you forcefully shove his head away from you. “Give me a s-second, please.”

He pulls away with a grin on his face, and your wetness covering his chin. “You taste so fucking good.” Eddie wipes his mouth and sucks his fingers clean. As he watches you come down from your high. Keeping his eyes on your face, he dips his hand down again, swiping at your cunt, collecting your mess around his fingers and bringing it up to your lips.

Wordlessly, you open your mouth, allowing him to feed it to you. He swipes his fingers against your tongue, then pushes them deeper into your mouth. He doesn’t pull back when you gag or when your eyes start watering, instead he keeps fucking his fingers into your mouth.

“Why would you keep this from me for so long?” You try to tell him that you didn’t mean to, that you didn’t even know he wanted you, but you can’t speak around his fingers. “Why would you think I’d want to do this with anyone else? I don’t want to taste anyone but you, I don’t want anyone else gagging on me, screaming my name, cumming on my tongue. Just you.”

He pulls his fingers out as you cough, slapping your cheek lightly. He watches as your eyes roll slightly from the impact and he groans, slapping you harder this time. When you inhale at the impact, trying to steady yourself, Eddie shakes his head. “No, you can’t be into this too, fuck.”

Wiping his slick hand on his jeans, Eddie gets up and paces around your room for a bit and you watch him.

When he doesn’t speak for a moment, you open your mouth, “Are you okay, Eddie?”

“Princess, I need you not to speak for a second,” He runs his hand through his hair and then turns to look at you. “I’m doing my best not to tear into that sweet little hole you’ve got. So I need you to give me a second.”

A moan slips from your lips at his words and Eddie scrubs his hands over his face. “Stop it.”

“What?”

He gestured at you, “That. Liking the filthy shit I say, letting me hit you, you need to stop, because I don’t want to do it tonight. I can’t do it tonight, or I’ll hurt you.”

You refrain from saying what’s on the tip of your tongue. The bulge in Eddie’s pants is prominent and unmissable, even as he takes slow breaths to calm himself.

“Are you gonna…?” You trail off, nodding at his pants.

“I’ll take care of it later,” Eddie mumbled, staring at you now. You made no moves to redress, so his eyes continually raked over your naked body. Moving closer, he kneeled beside your bed and without warning, he took a brown nipple between his fingers. He flicked and twisted until it was hard and you were sighing for him. “You’re so beautiful. I love looking at you.”

“Eddie,” You whined, leaning into his touch. “I want you to do it now, please. I want to hear you get off.” You could hear the resistance building up on his tongue. “Please,” You pressed.

Finally, Eddie gave in, getting up on your bed to kneel between your spread thighs. 

“Get me out.”

It was a simple order that swam through your head and landed right between your legs. Reaching your hands forward, you moved to unbuckle his belt, and unzip his pants. You paused when you felt the hot, hard length of his dick in his boxers. He was a lot bigger than you expected. Pushing his underwear down enough to pull him, you wrapped a shaky hand around him. Collecting some of the precum from his tip, you stroked him slowly, watching his face for reactions.

Eddie smiled before gently moving your hand off of his dick. “Need you to do something for me sweetheart,” He spit down in hand, before grabbing himself again. “Want you to rollover, get on your hands and knees, ‘kay?”

Eagerly, you followed his instructions, shuffling up and adjusting so he would still rest between your spread legs. You feel Eddie’s hand come down harshly on your ass, before he spreads you open. “Hold yourself open for me, princess.”

Resting your head on the pillow, you reached behind you and spread your ass for him to see.

“Pretty little cunt,” Eddie mutters to himself. Behind you, you hear his hand speed up on his dick, jerking himself off to the sight of your pussy. “I’m sorry, baby. I wish I could fuck you tonight, but I shouldn’t, I can’t. Not like this,” Eddie keeps talking while running his free hand along your spread hole, dipping into your cunt before tracing further along your puckered. “I would hurt you, princess. I wouldn’t be able to stop myself if you let me in this hole. I’d need to take all of you, that cute mouth, and this wet cunt, and this tight ass too.”

You hear the sound of him spitting again and then you feel his wet thumb rubbing against your hole. You jolt forward slightly, but he rocks forward with you, not letting you run from the feeling. “I would rip this hole apart, and I shouldn’t want to, and you shouldn’t either.” He watches as wetness drips from your pussy and this time his eyes roll into the back of his head.

“I shouldn’t be this close at the thought of hurting you. I shouldn’t want this,” Eddie keeps speaking and when you release your ass to look over your shoulder, you see that he looks a little worried.

“Hey,” You whisper, giving him a little smile. “Eddie, I’m a big girl, okay? We don’t have to have sex tonight, but I do want to have sex with you in the future. The things you like don’t freak me out because I like them too. I want you to hurt me, yeah? All of the terrible stuff you’ve thought about doing to me, I promise, I’ve probably thought about something 10 times worse.” You wait for him to nod before you continue. “I’m not scared.”

You watch as he swallows and nods, the tension releasing from his jaw. Spreading yourself again, you turn your head to the side, so he can hear you speak.

“You know, my biggest fucking fantasy is of you, Eddie Munson, hurting me.” Eddie’s hand keeps moving on his cock and you know he wants you to keep going. His fingers are slipping back inside you, searching for that spot again. “I’d think about you getting so fed up with the way I’m always teasing you, how I’m always sitting in your lap, and tugging on your hair, that you can’t stand it anymore. That you have to have me and you don’t care if I say yes or no.”

Eddie stills his fingers and blinks at you in disbelief but from the way the precum beads up and drips, you know what he’s feeling. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do,” You promise. Eddie resumes stroking his fingers inside you, and you hear the slick sounds of his fist speeding up on his dick. “You’d push up my skirt in the trailer, and you’d tell me how sick you are of me playing with you. That I needed to do something to make it up to you, and maybe I want it or maybe I don’t, but that doesn’t matter to you. So you’d spit on my hole, and you push and push and push, and you make me take it–”

Before you can finish, Eddie’s groaning loudly, shoving his fingers in your cunt and cursing your name. Your orgasm takes you by surprise. You didn’t know you were so close, but at the sound of your startled shriek, Eddie’s coming all over your ass.

He’s panting heavily behind you and you take this time to collapse against the bed. Faintly, you feel Eddie moving and you hear the sound of footsteps, but your body is tired and you can’t bring yourself to check.

Moments later, a cool washcloth is gently wiping at your skin, cleaning your thighs, running over your lower back. Grabbing your bonnet from your nightstand, you tuck your braids into the cap before relaxing under the sheets.

“You okay?” Eddie asks as he tends to you.

Giving him a weak thumbs up, you nod, “Super.”

Discarding the washcloth, Eddie pulls the blanket up and tucks himself in behind you, reaching over to turn off your lamp. His hands are trailing up and down the ridges of your spine and following the lines of your shoulders. He kisses lightly along the back of your neck.

You lean over to reach into your nightstand again, this time pulling out a silk scrunchie.

Exhaustion touches each of your limbs, yet you speak. “Eddie,” You call out.

“Yeah?”

Rolling over to face him, the outline of his face becomes a bit clearer in the dark. “I really like you, like a lot. You’re my Eddie, and there’s nothing that you can do to scare me off.”

Eddie presses a kiss to your forehead, “Princess, I would never do anything to hurt you, or anything you don’t really want. I know we joke about the freak stuff, and the devil worshiper thing, but I’m not a bad–like, I wouldn’t–”

Moving a little closer to him, looking into his eyes, you pull his hair back in a bun with your scrunchie, wrapping it once, you kiss his nose. 

“You carried my books for two weeks when I sprained my wrist, you let me play Donna Summer and Diana Ross even though we both know you hate that music, and I’m pretty sure you’ve bought a lifetime’s worth of cherry slushies for me,” You pressed a tender kiss to his lips, and then another. “I know who you are. You’re mine, Eddie. You don’t have to explain anything else to me.”

This seems to quiet Eddie’s anxieties and you feel his breathing even out.

“Now, when you say you’re into things 10 times worse, what did you mean?”

[straykidsnerd255]

Why do you love me?

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Female Reader

Genre: HEAVY ANGST(at the beginning), happy end

Song: Gonna be ok- Brent Morgan(acoustic or original)

WARNING: Mentions of abuse, Child abuse, Billy crying, Billy begging, Neil and his grade A parenting, Neil being and asshole, blood, wounds, Panic Attacks, mentions of suicide(PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS IF IT TRIGGERS YOU! THE LAST THING I WANT TO DO IS HURT SOMEONE! If you need to talk, please come and talk to me! My messages are open 24/7, I will listen to you!❤️❤️)

Character’s: Billy Hargrove, Y/n, Max, Steve Harrington, Eddie (Alive Au), The gremlin kiddos, Joyce, Hopper, Susan, Neil

Summary: Billy has had it with his life. He says goodbye to Max and asks her to forgive him before he leaves and goes to his lifelong best friend and girlfriend’s house at 10 o’clock at night. He hopes that she will forgive him when he tells her he wants to die. She takes it into her hands to comfort him and make sure he knows that she loves him. The best way to do that, sing to him, and Hopper telling him something that would change his life forever.

Rating: PG-13

Word count: 2727

Billy knew that he would be in huge trouble when he got home. His father had told him to be home by midnight and he was slowly creeping closer to the house at 4am. He swallowed the fear down before parking the car in the driveway and closing his eyes. He wished to the high heavens that no one was awake and that he would be able to go to bed and no one would ask about anything. Luck was not on his side. He parked a good block from his house and walked back home. He opened the door as quietly as he could, but as he entered the house, a beer bottle crashed next to his head. He jumped slightly and turned to see his father staring him down.

“Where the hell have you been? I told you to be home by midnight and here you are walking in four hours late!” Neil stood from the chair and started walking closer to Billy. Billy tensed up and started biting his tongue. “I am sorry sir. My car broke down and I couldn’t get a hold of anyone.” Billy lied in hopes that his father would give him a harsh warning and leave him alone. That’s not the case, ever. Neil grabbed Billy’s arm a little too tightly that Billy yelped.  Max and her mother came running down the stairs in hopes that they could calm Neil down before he did something harmful to Billy. Max got to the bottom of the stairs only to watch Neil slam her step-brother against the wall, his hand around Billy’s throat.

Billy felt his body collide with the wall and everything went blank. His father was screaming at him  with one hand around his throat and the other hand hitting him harder than he remembered ever being hit. Tears spilled down his face as he held his lips shut. He refused to cry out knowing that would give his father a known pleasure for beating him. When he couldn’t feel the onslaught of beatings, he looked up to see Max and Susan pushing the man out the door yelling at him and him yelling back. Max ran to his side and pressed her hands against his face. Tears fell down her face and landed on him, making him blink away the expressionless look. “M-Max?” His voice sounded hollow and broken from how hard he was restraining his voice. 

“I’m here Billy. Neil’s gone. He won’t be coming back for a while.” 

Billy shook his head and sobbed. He sobbed for the first time in years. “I-I can’t take it anymore M-Max! I have bruises and welts from that man! I can’t live here anymore.” He cried out in pain. Max pressed her forehead to her step-brother’s and closed her eyes. “I know. I know. Mom is gonna do everything she can to get him away from you. She’s gonna try and adopt you.” Max whispered softly. Billy stopped his movements and looked at her with wide eyes. “A-Adopt me?” He asked. Billy looked down and tried to process what Max just told her.

Max nodded her head. “Yes. My mother would adopt you and you would become my actual brother, not that you being my step-brother is bad, but you would have a mother again and you could feel love again.” She said, a smile appearing on her face. Billy narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t even remotely ready to allow love into his life at this point. He had been hurt so badly by his father and his mother that he shut himself off from love. He had detached himself from love and feelings the minute his father laid the first fist against his stomach. He could remember tasting blood for weeks. He couldn’t even go to the hospital as it would risk him being found out by his father. 

Billy slowly stood from the ground. He straightened his shirt and looked at Max with tears falling down his face. “I’m sorry Max, please forgive me for everything that I ever did to you, or your friends. I-“ he could finish his sentence as he just bolted out the door. He ripped his keys from his pocket and climbed into his car. He gave one last look to his sister and saw her standing on the porch with tears streaming down her face as she screamed his name out. Billy slammed his hand on the storing wheel before he turned the car on and sped out of the driveway and down the street. He shot off the world as he drove to the only place that he knew he would be safe again. Your house. 

{With Y/N}

You were currently in your kitchen making dinner, spaghetti that is. Yes it was 4:30am and yes you just got home from work and you were starving. You put the finishing touches to the food and you were about to sit down when you heard knocking on your front door. You wiped your hands off on the towel before walking to your door. “Who is it?” You called out. “Please open the door Y/n, I can’t take it anymore.” You gasped and threw open the door to find Billy, in tears, blood gushing from his lip and his eyebrow. He had a black eye and was shivering. You quickly pulled him into the house and sat him on the couch. 

You grabbed your first aid kit and started to go from the smaller wounds to the much bigger wounds. Some were open wounds and needed to be stitched but you didn’t have time to get him to the hospital. You had graduated high school early for your age and immediately went and applied for a CNA position. You grabbed the needle and thread and very carefully began to stitch the wounds that needed it. Billy grimaced when you started, but he was thankful that you had numbed the area before. It was quiet for a while before you spoke up. “I’m calling Hopper and Joyce.” You stated, giving no room to argue. 

Billy sighed but nodded his head and lifted his not occupied hand and pressed it to your face. He traced over your nose and eyes before they landed on your lips. He smiled softly before his intrusive thoughts blew his walls down. “She could be with someone so much better than you.” “You don’t deserve her kindness.” “You deserve to live in the pits of hell for what you have done.” “Why would she want someone as broken as you?” “You know she is only with you out of pity.” The voices in his head were thrown off balance when he caught you staring at him. Your  eyes were half lidded with a determination to stop whatever was going on in his head. You gently grabbed Billy’s face as you stood up. 

“Don’t you DARE belittle yourself.” You said, anger flashing in your eyes. The anger, he realized, was not directed at him though. It was directed somewhere else. You grabbed the phone from the wall and punched in Hopper’s number. You waited and after the fourth ring, Hopper’s groggy and sleep filled voice echoed from the phone. “Hello? Who is this?” 

“Hopper, It's Y/n. I need you, Joyce, and the kiddo’s to come to my place. I know they are staying at your’s and Joyce’s place for a sleepover.” You said. Hopper snorted but you could hear him shaking someone awake and standing up. You turned your head when you heard a fantic knock on your door. “We will be over in thirty minutes, kid.” Hopper said before hanging up the phone. You hung up the phone and walked to the door. Opening the door, you saw Max with her hands on her hips and breathing hard. “Is…Is Billy here?” She huffed. You nodded and moved out of the way so she could walk in. 

“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t…” Billy could feel his breathing start to quicken and his body was slowly shutting down. “Y/n please make the pain leave, I can’t be here. I can’t live anymore. I want to die.” Billy grabbed your hands when you walked closer to him. Your eyes filled with tears as he kept mumbling how badly he wanted to die. You dropped to your knees and his eyes followed you. He was struggling to breath as his body shook violently. “Baby, look at him. Breathe.” You said as you took a deep, slow breath. 

Billy copied your movements and found himself slowly relaxing. You gently took his still shaking hand and pressed it to your chest when your heart was. The steady thumping pulled Billy from his mind and allowed himself to be grounded. Max scooted closer to Billy’s side and laid her head on his arm. You turned to Max, “Can you go next door and get Steve, Eddie, Robin, Jonathan, and Nancy?” You asked. Max nodded her head and gently pulled away from her brother. 

You slowly stood up and walked to your room. Billy panicked when he saw you leave. “Don’t worry baby. I’m just grabbing something from my room. Ok?” You whispered. Billy slowly nodded his head and watched you disappear from his sight. A few moments later, you came back with a guitar in your hand. You smiled when you saw him stare at the instrument. “What’s that for?” He asked. “Just listen for a little bit. Playing always helps me calm my mind down, so maybe it can help you.” You whispered. You strummed the strings to make sure it was still in tune before you began playing a melody your mother and father always played for you when you were little.

Don't listen to the voices inside your head

You're doing just fine

You're trying your best

And no-one ever told you it's all gonna be okay

We're just people never sleeping over stupid shit

We won't remember in the morning

Yeah, we're gonna forget

And no-one ever told you it's all gonna be okay

When you lose faith in everything you ever knew

Don't give up on you

When life gets overwhelming

Relying on yourself is hard to do

But don't give up on you, no

If you've been lost and lonely

Ashamed to be alone with only you

And no-one left to lose

If it's the last thing that you do

Don't give up on you

Billy’s eyes widened as you sang. The sound of the guitar sounded so calming to his ears. The words seemed to stick with him as you sang.  He tuned out the rest of the words as he listened to your voice. You opened your eyes and turned to see Max walking into the room with Steve and the others. You could even see Hopper waving at her with the others. She smiled and continued to sing. Billy closed his eyes and bounced his head to your singing.  Eddie came and sat next to you with a grin. You kept singing and playing knowing the song was almost done. You stopped playing when the last note played and you placed the guitar against the couch. 

“Billy.” You called out. Billy opened his eyes to see everyone seated on the floor with you or next to him. Hopper raised an eyebrow. “Kid, why are you covered in bandages and why do you have stitches over your eyebrow and arm?” He asked, walking closer to Billy. Billy told him everything that happened. You watched Hopper’s face grow from tired, to full blown rage. He placed a hand on Billy’s head and noted the way the boy flinched when he did that. You moved and sat on his lap while Hopper walked into a different room with Joyce to talk with her. Billy’s arms wrapped around your body and held you tightly. 

“You have nothing to worry about anymore Billy.” Eddie’s voice called out. Everyone turned to Eddie. “I’m serious. He’s a part of us now. He gets to enjoy life like the rest of us now.” He said. Everyone still looked at him with raised eyebrows. Eddie groaned and threw an empty bottle at Dustin. “What the hell did I do?!” He yelled with a smile on his face. Dustin threw the bottle back at Eddie causing a small playful fight to break out. Billy watched before he started laughing with everyone else. You smiled at him before turning to watch the chaos unfold in your living room. 

“Why do you love me?” Billy’s sudden question made everyone stop. You turned and stared your boyfriend down with a look of betrayal. “You dumb idiot. I love you because you let me be my goofy ass self and I know you won’t look at me differently. They love you because you keep them on their feet with your weird ass impulsive nature. The two of us together, I have heard from a little birdy, are and I quote Steve and Eddie, “A FREAKIN MENACE TO SOCIETY.” You laughed when Steve and Eddie tried to refuse that statement. 

“We love you Billy, because you are you. Cheesy as that sounds, it's a hundred percent true. Plus, you befriend us means you get an army of gremlins and ex-criminals to protect you.” Robin said. Everyone burst into a fit of laughter. Billy laid his head on your shoulder before tilting his head and pressing a kiss to your neck. “I love you. Thank you for saving me.” He whispered so only you could hear it. You smiled. “Anything for you baby.” You whispered, pressing a kiss to his forehead before turning to see Hopper and Joyce. 

“Billy, how would you feel if me and Joyce adopted you and Max?” Hopper asked. Billy’s eyes widened and Max practically jumped for joy. “I could teach you what a real man is and help undo what your old man did to you. If you’ll let me.” Hopper said. Billy smiled a genuine smile and nodded his head. “I honestly would love that. Thank you, dad.” Billy said. You grinned and pulled your boyfriend in for a hug and Hopper grinned. “Alright, it's settled then. I will get statements from you and Max tomorrow morning and get adoption paper’s set up.” Hopper said smiling. Joyce walked over to Max and Billy before pulling the two in for a hug. 

“Welcome home.” She whispered, causing tears to spring into Billy’s eyes. “I’m home.” He whispered back and Joyce smiled, pulling him into her as she hugged him tightly.  “You don’t have to worry about anything anymore.” Joyce said before pulling away and smiling brightly at him. Billy grinned from ear to ear before turning back to you. “I love you.” He said laying his head on your shoulder and closing his eyes. You smiled softly. “I love you too. Sleep well Billy. We have a big day tomorrow.” She whispered. Everyone eventually just crashed in the living room with you  and Billy sleeping on the couch. Yeah. This was a big family and you wouldn’t change a thing.

[maxburnett]

fool in the rain, Chris Evans:

pairing: fem!reader x Moms Best Friend!Chris Evans

Written for Chris's 40th Birthday!

genre/warnings: Fluff/Romance/Smut This fic involves smut! If you are under 18 please do not interact with this fic. Age gap (Chris is 40, reader is in her 20s), slight innocence kink, fingering, unprotected sex, creampie, cockwarming after sex.

words: 1,591

summary → It's Chris's 40th birthday and a massive storm has halted his original plans. You decide to bring the party to him.

It was a horrible storm. The fierce, howling winds had already taken down a limb of an old tree in front of Chris' house. It now laid across his front lawn. The rain was pelting down, lashing against the windows and bouncing off the pavement of the road by his house. This was the worst storm that Boston had had for years, and sadly it coincided with his 40th birthday.

It was a quarter past four that afternoon, but with how the sky was filled with dark clouds blocking out the sun, it seemed so much later. So when he saw the flicker of car headlights in the driveway, he watched in disbelief as a black Volkswagen pulled up into the driveway.

"You're insane! You shouldn't be out in this weather," he shouted aloud as he opened his front door to his house.

"Mom said you had texted her and said that you felt alone this year. So I decided to come over, Mr. Evans. Plus, you only have a birthday once a year, and I'm not going to let you just mope around the house all day with nothing to do," You called out as you dashed from your car.

You ran up the porch steps and scurried past Chris. Your (Y/H/C) hair was drenched and hung limply over your shoulders. You were wearing a red nylon jacket, which was also soaking wet.

"I thought I told you," Chris said as he walked up behind you, placing an arm around your waist. "Call me Chris, Sweets," he said with a smirk as you were taking things from a bag and shooed him away.

You walked towards the kitchen table. In your hands was a birthday cake in a plastic cake carrier. The cake was coated with white frosting, with blue flowers around the edges. Written in red frosting on the top of the cake was "Happy Birthday, Chris!" Over your shoulder hung the strap of your purse. Dangling from your left wrist was a white plastic bag, which obviously contained something. You dropped it and your purse onto the table.

"Happy birthday, Chris," you said as your eyes met Chris' blue eyes as you turned from the kitchen table. Then, you walked towards him, wrapping your arms around him as he smiled down at you and lifted you up, and placed you on the edge of the kitchen table.

You and Chris had been seeing each other behind your mom's back for about a month. Nothing had happened up until that point but a few heavy makeout sessions. He and your mom were friends in college, and he had been close with your dad before he and your mom got a divorce. He never showed an interest in your mom, but he had always flirted with you when she wasn't around. Of course, you could always come over, and your mom wouldn't suspect anything.

"Happy birthday, Chris," You said as your eyes met his, and he leaned down and brushed his lips roughly against yours for a moment before he pulled and leaned his forehead against yours as one hand stayed around your waist. His other touched the icing of the cake, which he brought up to your lips.

"Thanks, Sweets, but I never really expected you to come out during this storm. But, unfortunately, it's not safe." He said.

"You think I'd miss my boyfriend's birthday? You only turn 40 once." You shot back. He smiled at the mention of the word boyfriend.

"Happy Birthday, Chris," You leaned towards him and kissed his lips again softly, and moved your hands up into his hair.

You pulled a box from the white plastic bag. The package was wrapped in red tissue paper. Tied around it was a white ribbon, and it had a blue bow stuck to one corner. You presented Chris the gift, a beaming smile on your face.

"Happy Birthday!" Your voice was full of excitement and a tinge of apprehension.

Chris sat down on a chair at the table and gave the box a shake. He heard nothing rattling inside. You laughed as you watched him. He carefully tore the bow from the gift and placed it on the table, and then finished tearing the paper off and pulled the top of the box open to see a pair of red lingerie.

"Is this in my size?" Chris asked with a smirk as he looked up at you. You playfully slap his arm and sit down on his lap and place your lips against his.

"I can't wait any longer, and I can't think of a more perfect time than your birthday," you say against his lips. "I know this all happened kinda quick ... but I love y-." Chris cut your talking off by grabbing ahold of your face and roughly kissing your lips before pulling you onto his lap.

"I love you to Sweets," he murmured. "So much," he said before sitting back and looking up at you.

"I'm going to go change," you smiled and pecked his lips. "In the meantime, open the other gift." You smiled and rubbed your hand over his erection before taking lingerie and headed into his bedroom to undress and place the lingerie on. You smile as you look at yourself in the mirror. Finally, you walk out with a smile seeing Chris holding a pair of red furry handcuffs with a smirk on his face as he looked up at you.

"Have you been a naughty girl?" Chris smirked.

You giggle.

"Yes. Very. Don't you think I have?"

He ran his hand up the inside of your right thigh. You gasped and smiled, then spread your knees further apart on the couch. Chris's hand slid up over your ass as he slowly began to tug the lacy panties down your thighs and off your legs. Your ass looked perfect. It was curvy and smooth. He ran his to your core and smiled as he pushed them inside your folds.

"You're so wet," he said and gave your ass a slap with his other hand. You flinched.

"Yes," you moaned.

"What caused that?"

"I was thinking bout you all day," you murmur.

He gave your ass another slap. It rang out, and you moaned. You lowered your head to the arm of the couch, and your hair fell around your face. He brushed it back so he could see your expression.

"What were you thinking of, Sweets?"

"I was thinking about fucking you," you said.

"You're a naughty girl, Sweets," he slapped your ass another time.

"I know. I can't help it. I like being naughty," you moan.

He slapped your ass hard again twice, making you groan, then he quickened the two fingers that were inside your cunt, causing you to squirm on the couch. He moved them effortlessly and hit that spot inside you that left you squirting against his fingers. He smirked as he pulled them out of you and placed them into his mouth, and licked and sucked them clean. Pulling you onto his lap, he pulled the red lacy top off and began to suck your nipples, and gently took each one into his mouth. He stood walking you to his room, and he laid you onto the bed as he placed the handcuffs onto each of your wrists and onto the headboard. He stood and looked down at you, his eyes filled with pure lust as he undressed and took his cock in his hand before giving it a few strokes. He pushed his hips forward effortlessly, supplying you with his cock causing you to moan as he pushed into you. You were tight, and he smirked, knowing you'd never had anyone his size before.

"That's my girl taking my thick cock like it's nothing," he murmured. "I'm going to fuck you so hard that you won't be able to walk afterward. Might wanna tell your mama you're gonna stay the night," he said as he moved, so he brushed all the way into you, pulling your hips up a bit, he maneuvered you, so your legs were over his shoulders, his hands on your waist as he found the perfect rhythm with you.

"Chris, you feel so good," you finally get out. "Feeling me so fucking good," you say as the storm's raging outside, but all you care about is Chris filling you completely with his cock. At first, it kinda was uncomfortable, but the feeling didn't last long. Then, when you felt him slapping your ass as he began to pound into you, sweat beading down his chest and down your forehead, you knew you wouldn't last long, and you dug your fingers into the sheets.

"Chris, I'm gonna," you get out, and before you can get the sentence out, your orgasm hit just as a clap of thunder filled the sky. Chris groaned and grunted as he filled you with his cum, and he laid above you, staying that way for a few minutes before undoing the handcuffs and kissing at your wrists as he pulled out of you. Then, finally, he laid beside you, his hands gently rubbing over your soft skin as you melt into him.

"Happy Birthday, Baby," you murmur as your head lays against his chest.

"Best birthday ever," Chris says as he lazily kisses your forehead and holds you close against him. His hands continue to rub over your skin as he has you close, and he smiles down into your eyes. "I love you,"

My Tag List:

@balenciagabucky @belladonnabarnes @bibbidibobbidibucky @bitchassbucky @bloomingbucky @bucksfucks @buckyblues @buckyhoney @buckys-blue-eyes @faeryloki @fairyevans @fallinforevans @fluffycutecevans @fuckandfluff @jeremyrennerfanxxxx123 @lokiscollar @mickey-henry @midnightf @onceuponabarnes @stcrrynightsinneverlcnd @syntheticavenger

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

By Your Doorstep (Part 1)

Summary: When the reader is looking for her teenage sister’s service dog one day, she runs into Dean Winchester who thankfully saw him run past. When she arrives, her sister is fine aside from a sprained ankle but Dean’s decided to follow along and help get her sister home...

Pairing: Doctor/Neighbor!Dean x reader

Masterlist

Word Count: 3,200ish

Warnings: language, minor injury, mention of car accident/death

A/N: Parts of this series are told from two different POV’s. Dean’s POV are written from limited third person. Reader’s POV are second person (like a typical reader insert). Please enjoy this first part! …

_________

“Toast! Toast!” you shouted as you ran down a street. “Toast boy!”

“Uh, you okay?” said a guy walking on the other side of the street. He was raising an eyebrow and you shook your head.

“Toast is a dog,” you said.

“Oh, gotcha. I thought you were nuts for a minute,” he chuckled.

“You haven’t seen a german shepard around have you?” you asked.

“I saw one run down the block a few minutes ago,” he said. You looked the direction he pointed and you started sprinting. “Hey!”

“Sorry! Can’t talk!” you shouted back. You ran down the block and across the street over to the park. You ran over to the basketball court and saw Toast there next to Tessa. She was sat up and holding onto his vest when you jogged over to her. “Tess. Are you okay? Did you have a seizure?”

“No,” she said with a laugh. She was holding her ankle and you saw the swelling. “I think I broke it playing. My phone’s over in my bag. I told Toast to get it but I guess he ran home and got you instead.”

“He barged in through the doggy door, I thought he was just nuts at first,” you said. You heard footsteps behind you and the man from the street was there panting.

“You found your dog,” he said as he caught his breath. 

“Yeah,” you said, the man wincing when he saw Tessa’s ankle. “We’re all set.”

“She needs a doctor,” he said.

“Tessa, you okay here while I run home to get my car?” you asked.

“Yeah I’m fine,” she said. “Toast’ll stay.”

“I can carry her,” said the man. You both stared at him and he shrugged. “Save you a trip.”

“Are you some kind of weirdo?” you asked. 

“Says the woman running through the neighborhood shouting Toast,” he smiled back.

“Alright. Tess if you’re cool with it…” you said, the man nodding.

“Dean Winchester.”

“Dean will carry you back to the house and I’ll drive you to urgent care,” you said. “If you do try anything though Dean, Toast will rip your face and junk off, just to be clear.”

“Got the message,” he said. Tessa climbed on his back and he was careful of her ankle while you grabbed her bag. You walked with Toast by Dean’s side back the few blocks towards home. “I think it’s just a sprain actually. I wouldn’t worry too much.”

“You play basketball?” you asked.

“No. I’m a doctor is all. First glance it doesn’t look too bad.”

“Are you single? Y/N’s single,” she said.

“You’re a little shit, Tessa,” you said. Dean chuckled and Toast bumped his leg. “He wants you to get on the sidewalk.”

“Will do,” he said, Toast giving some space once he’d stepped up off the road. “He’s very intelligent.”

“We’ve only had Toast two years but he’s been very good with us,” you said. “He’s Tessa’s. I just feed him and pick up his poop.”

“I have school, loser.”

“I have work, loser,” you said. 

“You guys must be sisters,” he said. “I’m a big brother. I would know.”

“If your younger brother is single and half as good looking-”

“Keep it in your pants, Tess,” you said. 

“I like you two,” he chuckled. “Sorry Tessa but he’s probably a little too old for you.”

“They always are,” she sighed.

“You’re seventeen. You’re fine,” you said. “Besides college has way more attractive guys and stuff.”

“Oh yeah, Elmdale community college. Known for it’s hotties,” she mumbled.

“Elmdale University has some good choices,” you said.

“I thought it was too expensive,” she said.

“Well I was gonna tell you this at dinner but I applied for a different job awhile ago. I heard back this morning. I accepted. It’s double what I was making before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. With your grades you can get a half-ride and I figure between inheritance and my new salary, you can do your four year out of the gate without loans,” you said.

“Thanks, Y/N,” she said quietly. “Really.”

“You still need your part-time job if you want to get stuff for yourself though. I’m sorry. I can’t make it work if-”

“S’okay,” she said. “I can’t believe I can go to the university.”

“I called up the school earlier and talked to your guidance counselor. We gotta work on your application but we can make it work,” you said.

“Can I get a car? I know I can’t afford room and board but maybe I can get something used so you don’t have to drive me all the time?” she asked.

“Tessa…” you sighed. You knew you couldn’t afford insurance on two cars at the moment and everything else and she wouldn’t make enough part time to cover all the car expenses herself. “I-”

“I can pick up more shifts,” she said.

“Tessa, I want you to enjoy college. I sure did. I’ll give you rides whenever you want. I’ll drop you off in the morning and pick you up at night. That would work, right?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I don’t even care about my ankle. I can get my art degree!” she said.

“Tessa.”

“I’m joking,” she laughed. “Art minor?”

“You can minor in whatever you like but please for my sanity major in something you can get a job in?” you asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said. You rounded a corner and started to walk up a driveway, Dean setting Tessa down in the passenger seat of your car. You opened the back and Toast jumped in, Dean smiling when you shut both the doors.

“Thanks,” you said. “For helping us out.”

“Sounds like you two know how to solve problems on your own,” he said. “Happy to help. Here.”

He dug in his back pocket and pulled out a card.

“If you ever need a doctor, I’m two blocks over,” he said. “Or just to talk.”

“Thanks,” you said. “I’ll see you around, Dean.”

It was around nine when you were sitting on the front porch with a glass of whiskey in your hand. You drank slowly, eyes catching a man in a baseball cap and reflective shirt jogging by.

“Do you always run at night?” you called, Dean stopping at your front walkway. “Cause I never see you run at night and I sit out here a lot.”

“Whew well let’s stop that charade cause running is so not my thing,” he said. He breathed hard for a moment as he walked up the steps. You nodded to the other chair and poured him a glass, Dean drinking it down. “Your sister okay?”

“Yeah. Just a sprain,” you said. “Still gotta pay the deductible for the x-ray though.”

“How old are you?”

“How old are you?” you asked.

“Thirty one,” he said.

“Twenty eight.”

“Where are your folks?” he asked.

“They and Tessa were in an accident two years ago. It’s just us two now.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m slowly getting used to be a guardian,” you said.

“I raised my little brother. My parents are still around but they fought a lot. I get becoming the parent when you’re not ready.”

“Do you ever get to just be a sibling again?” you asked.

“Yes. But they have to grow up first and you got a few more years ahead of you before it happens,” he said.

“I figured.”

“What does she have? Toast is a service dog I saw.”

“She gets seizures sometimes. It’s from the accident. She hasn’t had one in seven months. Fingers crossed we got her on the right mix of meds finally,” you said.

“So who takes care of you?”

“My buddy Jack Daniels. Sometimes I hang out Jim Bean too.”

“I’m partial to Johnny Walker,” smiled Dean.

“Very nice. I don’t drink much. Too tired most of the time,” you said.

“So nobody takes care of you then.”

“Who takes care of you?”

“Good point,” he said. “But I didn’t have it this rough.”

“We’re getting by. We always do.”

“I have no doubt that you can,” he said. “Take care of yourself every once in a while is all.”

“When she’s done with school I will.”

“She’s got five years left. You won’t last that long,” he said.

“Watch me.”

“Who worked on your sister at the urgent care tonight?”

“Dr. Novak. Why?”

“Cas is a good friend. I’ll see about getting that x-ray test off the bill,” he said as he stood up.

“Dean, you don’t have to do that.”

“It’s no trouble,” he said, heading down the steps. “You want me to leave you alone from now on?”

“...No.”

“You want to go on a date tomorrow?”

“Okay,” you said.

“I’ll pick you up at noon? I’m buying. Nothing too fancy,” he said.

“Okay,” you said. He smiled and nodded, spinning around and sliding right off the last two steps to his bottom. You rushed down them and he groaned, shaking his head. “Are you okay?”

“Yup,” he said, grunting as he stood. “Oh my ass hurts.”

“That’s what she said,” you said, Dean laughing.

“I definitely like you,” he said as you helped him take a few steps. “I’m alright. I’ll swing by tomorrow then.”

“Bye Dean,” you said.

“Bye Dean!” called Tessa from her bedroom window upstairs.

“Oh my God, go to bed!” you shouted back.

“It’s nine and I’m not twelve,” she said.

“Goodnight ladies,” chuckled Dean, waving as he headed back down the path. You gathered up the bottle and glasses, bringing them inside and locking up for the night. A few minutes later you were upstairs in Tessa’s room, frowning as she giggled while looking through her phone.

“Oh come on,” she said as she rolled her eyes at you. “He’s cute, he’s a doctor, he’s single and he’s a dork that just fell on his butt in front of you cause he’s so nervous and trying to play it cool. Like what is wrong with him?”

“Nothing. We have a date tomorrow,” you said, leaning against the doorframe. 

“We used to talk about guys,” she said. 

“I know,” you said. You picked at the wood, Tessa putting her phone down.

“Y/N. You’re not my mom. I know you gotta act like her sometimes but you’re not. Mom and dad would want you to go on dates and stuff. I haven’t seen you do anything fun in years.”

“I barely knew how to be an adult for just me,” you said. “You’re my priority now.”

“I’m not in a hospital bed anymore. My seizures are under control and I got Toast to watch out for me just in case. Dean had a point. You gotta take care of yourself,” she said. “Including me going to community college.”

“Tessa-”

“It’s both our inheritance and you can’t spend all of it on me. I can do two years at community and transfer to the university after.”

“Tess. You don’t have to do that. I did the math and it’ll work out.”

“When’s the last time you bought something for yourself? Seriously when?”

“I bought a new bedspread two weeks ago.”

“You needed one. That doesn’t count. When-”

“Before mom and dad died, Tess. Is that what you want me to say? They made good money but you had medical bills. Do I want a new winter coat? Sure. Do I want to splurge and by myself a nice pair of leggings? Of course. I want things. But I want us to stay in this house. I don’t want us to get shoved in a tiny apartment. I want you to be able to go to college like I did and not worry about this crap. I’m the grown up, not you. I choose how to spend the money.”

“Fine,” she said. She grabbed the crutch by her bed and got up, going to her dresser. She opened her jewelry box and grabbed a wad of cash, holding it out to you. “It’s three hundred. I want you to have it.”

“Tessa, no.”

“I earned it. I get to choose how to spend it,” she said. “You’ve always told me that. Buy a coat and leggings and whatever else you want.”

“Tessa. It’s yours. You were saving up to buy an iphone.”

“I don’t need a fucking phone. I need my sister to stop looking like she cries herself to sleep every night. Just take it,” she said. You shook your head and she shoved the money in your hand. “Y/N, take it.”

“Alright,” you said. 

“Good.” She waited a beat before pulling you into a hug. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” you said. “You got plans tomorrow night?”

“I was gonna sleepover Hailey’s house if that’s okay?” she said.

“Yeah. You guys have fun,” you said. “Just be careful on your ankle.”

“Duh,” she said. “Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

“I’m kinda beat. Sunday for sure?” you said. 

“Okay. Night,” she said.

“Night, Tess,” you said. You went next door to your room, opening your desk drawer and opening the envelope inside. You counted the money she’d given you and added it to the front. You definitely had enough for her phone now and her birthday was only a few weeks away. You smiled and put it away, writing out a few bills before you gathered up your pajamas and walked down the hall to the bathroom. You kept going though, down to the shut door. You pushed it open, the room cold and dark. You flipped on a light, a coating of dust on everything again.

“Y/N?” said Tessa from the other end of the hall. You turned off the light and shut the door, Tessa by the bathroom when you walked back. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna shower quick before bed. Shout if you need something.”

“Yeah. Night.”

Dean POV

“Hey, Sammy,” said Dean after he’d gotten out of the shower and was laying in bed. 

“Hey, Dean. What’s up?” asked Sam on the other end of the phone. 

“I think I just went full on weirdo on this girl I met today.”

“Well that’s obvious but what’d you do? You didn’t like stalk her or anything.”

“She lives in the neighborhood. I kinda went jogging past her house tonight and she was sat on the front porch.”

“Okay that’s kinda creepy,” said Sam. Dean ran his hand over his face and sighed. “Did you talk to her?”

“Yeah. I don’t think I gave off creeper vibes but she might have just been polite. I don’t know. We’re going out tomorrow,” said Dean. He was quiet as he shut his eyes. “Which sucks cause I really like her too. I hope she doesn’t think I’m weird.”

“Maybe she’ll have pity on you and let it slide. Where’d you meet her? I thought you swore off women after your last hookup went bad,” he said. Dean didn’t speak and ran his hand over his face again. “De I know something happened that night.”

“Sammy I got tired of hooking up. I’m too old for it. I just want a girl to go home to at the end of the day and laugh with. That’s all there is to it,” said Dean.

“Dean I was still living with you at the time. You were off for days. I know-”

“If you’re gonna bring this shit up again-”

“I’m just saying it’s nice to hear you excited about a girl again...and you can tell me anything. Anything, Dean. I’m not a kid anymore.”

“You’re twenty seven. You’re a kid,” said Dean. He rolled over on the bed and lay on his stomach, putting his hands under his chin. “Some things I just don’t tell you about, Sam.”

“Dean, I asked you to stop raising me awhile ago. You’re not my father anymore.”

“I still gotta protect you from stuff,” said Dean with a shrug.

“I get that. But my mind has gone to the worst case scenario on this more than once. Just promise it wasn’t that,” said Sam.

“Sammy, I called to talk about a girl.”

“You want things to work out with her? Then figure out whatever the hell happened in the past so it doesn’t happen again.”

“You don’t understand,” said Dean. 

“Whatever. Just crack a joke next time you see her,” said Sam. He hung up and Dean looked at his phone, sighing before he jammed his face in the bed. He gripped the sheets tight and felt his heart rate pick up, bile rising up in the back of his throat.

“Stop. It,” he said to himself, forcing himself to sit up. He wiped off his eye and dropped his head to his chest. “It’s just a fucking girl. It’s just a girl, it’s just a date. It’s all it is.”

He saw his phone light up and Sam’s name appear. He swiped and put it on speaker before he faced away from it.

“I’m sorry,” said Sam. 

“It’s okay,” said Dean, freezing when he sniffled. He stared at the phone and Sam cleared his throat.

“You alright?” Dean stared at the phone and shook his head. “De, you there?”

“Are you alone?” he asked.

“Yes…” said Sam. “It’s just me.”

“You repeat a word of this to anybody or you laugh or you tease me or-”

“Hey. I’d rather we not have this conversation over the phone. I can be there in an hour.”

“...Fine but you better bring some pie with you.”

“I’ll see you in an hour, Dean.”

______

A/N: Read Part 2 here!

[goldensstateofgrace]

- Love Along The Way-   Chapter I

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Asks/ Lmk what you thought | 

Series Summary:  Reader joins the band in writing songs for their third album (Youngblood) and love finds her along the way. 

Chapter Summary: Y/n is working in the studio when Calum walks in on her writing ‘Babylon’ and it goes from there. 

A/N:  SURPRISE BESTIES!!! IT’S HERE!! AHH i’m so happy with this chapter!! I hope you all love this series as much as i love writing it!! All I am asking is that you give me your patience between chapters because i am a slow writer and i’ve been going through a hard time mentally. 

Warnings: talk of cheating, mom reader, heartbreak, cancer ( not in detail), lmk if i missed anything! 

Word count: 6k

I hope you guys enjoy!! I worked very hard on this and I’m super proud of it!! 

Happy reading!! - G

You’d had these lyrics stuck in your head, replaying on a loop for a while now, but hadn’t had any time to actually get them down on paper. 

You weren’t going to lie, this last year has been a clusterfuck.  From Easton breaking up with you,  basically telling you he found someone else and that he wants nothing to do with you or Elijah, to not being able to write because you’ve been transitioning Elijah into preschool (he was not having it.) It was safe to say it had been a very rough year for you. 

When you did sit down and try to write, nothing would come to mind. All of your anger and heartbreak were there and ready to be used to make beautiful music others could relate to, but you just couldn’t come up with anything. Well, besides those lyrics, it was a longshot trying to come up with anything for that either. 

Maybe it was still too fresh, and maybe you were still heartbroken, but you just needed to do something besides sit in bed wallowing in your self pity. 

Of course, Elijah didn’t know what was happening. He just knew ‘daddy’ left and that he hasn’t been back. You didn’t have the guts or the courage to break his heart by telling him ‘daddy’ wasn’t coming back. He was three, he wouldn’t understand, but it also broke your heart all over again when he asked in his tiny curious voice ‘da-ddy?’ 

What were you supposed to say, “I'm sorry baby, but ‘daddy’ doesn’t love us anymore and he’s not coming back?” No, you weren’t going to do that to him. 

But as you sit there on the dark studio couch, the lyrics on the tip of your tongue, it's like you can’t get anything out. You have them right there in front of you, your black bass guitar sitting in your lap as you strum the bass line softly and hum along until you finally try and sing out the lyrics. 

“We said we’d both love harder than we knew we could go,” you sang softly into the empty room, thinking back to nights when you laid next to Easton, talking about how much you loved each other and how neither of you would ever stop because you loved each other more and more everyday. 

“But still knowing when to let go- no” you shake your head, not liking how that sounded.  “But still the hardest part is knowing when to let go” nodding, you scratch out your previous lyrics and replace them before you go back to picking at the cords, finding where you left off. 

You were so focused on the lyrics, mumbling to yourself and scratching out lyrics and replacing them you didn’t hear the studio door open. 

You were struggling on a particular verse, mumbling to yourself as you read off the lyrics written in what looks like chicken scratch in the notebook layed out in front of you. 

“You wanted to go higher, higher, higher, we-” but you stopped, stumped on what should come next. You sing what you already have out, trying to come up with anything but fall back into the couch cushions groaning when you don’t. 

“We burn too bright, now the fire’s gone, watch it all fall down” a voice sings out, startling you, and you let out a gasp. Looking up at the tall curly headed man standing at the door, your brows furrow. You were supposed to have this studio for two hours. He was dressed in a pair of basketball shorts, and a ‘The tonight show, Starring Jimmy Fallon’ gray shirt. A pair of Vans covered his feet and tattoos covered his arms. 

“Just thought I'd suggest something that came to mind,” the accented man voices, walking down the small step from the door and down where you are. You watch as he takes a seat on the small black loveseat against the wall across from yours. 

You close your eyes and sing the words in your head, strumming the bass as you do. “Thanks, that’s actually really helpful,” you tell him, writing it down. “How long were you standing there?” you ask him, looking over his dark curly hair and down to his brown eyes that look over you just as you are him. 

“Just a minute or two. Didn’t expect anyone to be in here, the band is supposed to have booked it for a few hours today.” 

You look down at your watch hearing his words and gasp at the time.You were almost twenty minutes late to pick up Elijah from preschool. 

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I lost track of time” you tell him, quickly placing the bass back on its stand in the corner next to the couch and packing your notebook and music sheets in your bag. 

“It’s ok, happens to the best of us,” his deep accented voice carries towards you as you see him shrug his shoulder out of the corner of your eye. “I’m Calum by the way,” he introduces himself, holding out his hands as you move to walk past him. 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Y/n and also very late to -” you hesitate, not wanting to tell a stranger you just met about your son. “ To a dinner” you finish, shaking his hand before walking around him and to the door. 

Your hand is on the handle and pulling it open, before you hesitate, awkwardly turning over your shoulder to say, “It was nice to meet you, thank you for the lyrics,” you smile at him. 

He nods, sending you a friendly smile. “Any time”. 

You watch his eyes roam over you before you wave and head out, a smirk playing on your lips. 

Quickly, you make it to your car, driving 10 over the speed limit and making it to the preschool near your house in record time. You run up the sidewalk, signing Elijah out at the front desk before making your way down the hall to his classroom. 

He’s playing blocks with two other kids who happen to be siblings, Avery and Jase, not even paying you any mind, too engrossed in building a tall tower just for it to fall down landing all over the play mat. 

“Elijah, mommy’s here,” his teacher, Miss. Rachel, calls him when she sees you in the doorway. You watch as his head quickly turns your way, a bright smile spreading across his chubby cheeks. 

“Mommy!” he squeals, standing to his feet and running to you. His small arms wrap around your thighs, his cheeks squished as he looks up at you with his bright smile. 

“Hi baby! Did you have fun today?” You smile, squatting down to his level and squeezing him to your chest as you place kisses all over his face. 

He nods against you, pulling back as he tells you all about how he painted you a picture but that you had to wait to see it because it had to dry overnight. 

“I can’t wait to see it, baby! We’ll have to hang it on the fridge” you tell him as you grab his bag off the hook, telling him to go help clean up the blocks and a few cars that were laying out when you see that the parents of Avery and Jase are also here. 

When he’s all done you pick him up, placing him on your hip as you walk out to the car, his head resting on your shoulder as his eyes fall heavy. You know he’ll fall asleep the minute you start driving. 

You load him into his car seat and buckle him in before heading down the street, taking a few left turns and passing tall, two story gated houses before you pull into your own gated driveway. You bought this house with Easton, but only you signed the mortgage, so it was easy for him to move out. No need to sign paperwork or go to court. You’re so thankful for that. 

You wanted a safe neighborhood for Elijah to grow up in, and this is it. You moved in when he was a newborn, you did have to sign an NDA because some celebrity lived in one of the houses across from you, but you'd never seen them so you didn’t know who it was.

As you expected, when you went to grab Elijah out of his car seat he was out like a light, his mouth open as he rested the side of his tanned forehead on the side of the padded car seat. 

Smiling softly at his sleeping form, you gently unbuckled him and rested him on your chest as you walked into your house and to the couch. You had a net that attached to one end of your couch that stopped about mid center of the cushions to stop him from rolling off. He doesn’t roll around in his sleep often, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. You place him behind it and lay his favorite blanket over him before you walk into the kitchen to start on dinner. 

--------

It’s been a week since you ran late in the studio and Calum walked in on you. For some odd reason, you couldn’t get him out of your head. You had barely even talked to the guy but yet he was stuck in your head. His lyrics were stuck, replaying in your mind. He had only stood there for a minute or two, but yet the lyrics he sang went so well with yours. 

You were back in the same studio today, placing the finishing touches on the lyrics before you recorded the demo for it and eventually sold it to an artist or band to make their own. 

You look up, your brows furrowing when you hear loud laughter out in the hall, but you brush it off and finish setting up your computer on the panel so you could record the demo when you were done with the lyrics. 

Standing, you make your way into the booth, setting up a stool and pulling the bass guitar and it’s stand into the booth as well. You didn’t hear the door open, or the four laughing men walk into the room until you go to step back into the studio where the panel is. 

Your brows furrow when your eyes meet Calum’s brown ones, his face showing shock before it turns into a bright smile as his cheeks scrunch up. It reminds you of Elijah’s. You know you weren’t late to pick him up or running over your studio time because you booked the studio until lunch; it was only 10:30am. 

“We really gotta stop meeting like this,” Calum jokes with you, his bright smile making something flutter in you. 

“But this time it’s not my fault,” you tell him, smiling and looking at the three other very tall men standing behind him. 

The tall blonde with blue eyes and curly hair that ends at his ears smiles at you, showing off his dimples, “I’m Luke, it’s nice to meet you.” he introduces. 

You smile politely. “It’s nice to meet you too, I'm Y/n.” 

“Oh we know,” the red head chuckles. His hair is clearly dyed, but it suits him. His smile is bright and contagious. “Cal over here couldn’t stop talking about you and how amazing of a songwriter you are. I’m Ashton,” he tells you, holding out his hand for you to shake. 

You quirked an eyebrow up in Calum’s direction. “Is that so,” you tease, watching as his cheeks tint a shade of pink while you shake Ashton’s hand. 

“Oh yeah,” the shorter blonde one speaks up. “He even looked you up, wanted to know if you were selling that song you were working on. I’m Michael, but you can call me Mikey.” 

“Well you’re in luck, I was just about to record the demo for it. But if you’re interested you can have a look at the finished lyrics,” you tell them, pulling out the pages of printed lyrics from your bag.

They all nod, sitting down on the couches. You hand Calum the papers, smiling down at him before you take a seat at the panel, watching as they all huddle around Calum to read the lyrics. 

A chorus of ‘holy shit’s’ and ‘fuck that’s good’ sound as they finally put the paper down and stare at you. 

“So, you like it?” you ask. 

“Do we like it?” Ashton asks incredulously, looking at the boys and shaking his head in a way that says he can’t believe you asked that. 

“Yeah, y/n. We like it.” Calum tells you. “We're working on our third album right now and I think it would be great to add it to the album,” he says, looking at the other guys as they nod along in agreement. 

“That’s great, we can sign all of the paperwork soon.” you say, excited you don’t have to record the demo now. It’s always the hardest part. “I wrote a bit of a bass line, but nothing else so do whatever with it.” 

“We actually have something to ask you,” Ashton says, nudging Cal in the arm. Cal glares at him with a look like ‘knock it off’. 

“We were talking after I played some of the other songs you’ve written.You’re an amazing songwriter and we wanted to know if you wanted to help us write our album?” he asks, a bit shyly you notice. 

You’ve never written with someone or a band, not because you didn’t want to, you’ve just never had the opportunity. The only reason you would even consider turning this down was Elijah; you couldn’t take this opportunity if it was going to keep you from him. 

You weren’t really keen on telling people you barely knew about your son, but if you wanted to work with them and still have enough time for Elijah they needed to know. 

“Look,” you sigh, watching their shoulders deflate a bit and their hopeful expressions drop a tad. “I would love to, but you need to know I have a 3 year old  son, and I can’t have this taking me away from him. I promised myself when I got pregnant that I would always choose him over anything. Even if it is my dream. So,” you prompt, “if we can work around me having time with him then I’m in.”  

They all assure you that they’d help you make time for him. Ashton really hit home with you when he tells you, “I totally understand you wanting to make time for him, I grew up with only my mom and my two little siblings. We’ll make sure you get time with him.” he smiles softly at you, a knowing but sad look in his eyes. 

You smiled at him softly, thanking him and the guys, “I grew up with only my mom too. It was hard, but she was the best mother and role model. She was the strongest woman I know.” 

“Was?” Calum asked softly. Looking at you with gentle but curious eyes. 

You nod, smiling sadly. “She passed away a year and a half after Elijah was born. Breast cancer. It was really hard.” The memories come rushing back, and tears well up in your eyes, but you push them down, not wanting to cry. 

You all talked for a while, working out when you were available and what times it would be good to meet at the studio. It was when you were all packing up that Ashton proposed a chill night. “We should all hang out and have a night where we get to know each other better, drink and just talk.” 

There was a chorus of agreements, but when you hadn’t said anything they all stared at you waiting for your answer. 

“That actually sounds like fun, I'll be there. Just let me know a time and place,” you tell them smiling. You haven’t had a night to yourself since before Easton left, so you were long overdue. 

Calum offered to host it at his house, before you all exchanged numbers and left for the day. You planned on picking up Elijah early and taking him out for ice cream. It was his favorite treat and it was pretty hot today, so you decided it was a good day to indulge. 

You were just pulling up outside of the preschool when your phone vibrated in the cup holder next to you. Pulling it out, you see the message notification reading ‘Calum Hood’ swiping it and unlocking your phone the text pulls up.  

That should work for you, Elijah has been going to sleep around that time and you should be able to get Jessie to come over and watch him for a few hours while you’re over there. His address sticks out to you, not because you thought you’ve heard of it before but because it was basically your address just a few numbers off. 

Maybe he’s why you had to sign the NDA. He most likely has had fans coming to his home and waiting around to even get a glimpse of him in the past and didn’t want this address to get out to the public. 

Quickly sending him back a text, you put your phone back in the cupholder and go in to grab Elijah. 

------

The next day you were up and finishing off the last ‘Mickey Mouse’ pancake for a late breakfast. You were surprised Elijah stayed asleep past 8am, it was currently almost 11am and you were just about to go check on him and tell him breakfast was ready when he came padding around the corner rubbing his eyes with his tiny fists. 

“Well good morning little man,” you smile down at him, placing blueberries on his ‘Mickey Mouse’ pancake for eyes, chocolate chips for the mouth and a blackberry as the nose all adhered with whipped cream. Elijah was allergic to strawberries, or otherwise you would have added those in somehow. 

You woke to a message from Calum, replying to your message from last night. It was only sent about forty minutes before you woke up, but you didn’t see it until you were in the middle of making breakfast. 

You typed out a reply with one hand while flipping a normal round pancake for you and sending it. 

 You couldn’t figure out why you were smiling. He was a very attractive man, nothing like the guys you’ve dated in the past. Maybe that’s why you’re attracted to him. He’s not like the other guys who have treated you badly in the past; he’s nice and caring and didn’t run the second you mentioned you had a son. 

When you and the guys had been talking yesterday in the studio he asked to see a photo of Elijah. He told you how adorable he was, and how he looked just like you. Calum seems to be such a genuine and down to earth guy and if you weren’t careful you would fall for him. And hard. 

Carefully, you cut Elijah’s pancake up in little bites for him to eat, and pour a small amount of syrup over his and yours. 

You watch as he uses his green plastic fork. He has his mouth wide open the whole time as he carefully brings it up to his mouth. 

You cheer and kiss his cheek happily when he looks up at you excited when he got it in his mouth without dropping it. 

“Look at you! You don’t even need mommy anymore, you're such a big boy!” you smile down at him, taking a bite of your own pancake. He laughs his small contagious laugh, picking up another piece of pancake. 

“Baby, I need to talk to you about something” you say to him, making him look up at you with his wide brown eyes, his fork just at the entrance of his mouth. 

“T-trouble?” he asks you over his chewing, still looking up at you. 

“No, baby,” you chuckle, wiping the corner of his mouth where there was a bit of syrup threatening to drip down on his pj’s. “You’re not in trouble.” 

“But I have a big job.’ you tell him, “ A band asked me to help them write music for their album, so it might not always be me picking you up from daycare, it might be Miss. Jessie sometimes, is that ok?” 

He nods excitedly. “Yeah! Mi-miss Jessie is nice to m-me!” he stutters a bit as he gets excited. 

“Okay, also, i have a friend and he invited us over to swim! Do you want to go swimming?” you ask him as you sip the last of your coffee before eating the last bit of your pancakes. 

“Yeah!” he shouts. He’s been taking swimming lessons since he was two, he knows what to do if he falls into the pool. He loves the water too, he's a little fish when it comes to the water. 

You both finish eating and while you rinse off the dishes and place them in the dishwasher Elijah runs into his room screaming excitedly about going swimming. You laugh, shaking your head at his antics before following after him when you’re done loading the dishwasher. 

You change his diaper into one of those swimming ones with cars on it, before pulling a pair of yellow swim shorts over the diaper.  When you have him changed, you pack his diaper bag with a change of clothes, an extra swim and regular diaper along with sunscreen and his yellow bucket hat. 

You double check you have everything before you put his sandals on and bring him into your room so you can change into your blue bikini. It had high rise bottoms and the cups actually covered all of your breasts. You throw on a white cover up before sliding your own sandals on and heading out. 

Since his house is literally one house down from yours and across the street, you decide to just walk over. 

The sun was beating down on you as you walked out of the front door and locked it behind you. You text Calum that you’re on your way over before putting your phone in the diaper bag and heading down your driveway. 

It only takes you a minute to walk down the sidewalk and cross the street to his house. Checking your phone to see if he messaged you back when you’re outside the black gate, he did, telling you the gate was open and just to come in. 

You push open the gate, closing it behind you once you’re on the other side. There’s a black range rover parked in front of the open garage where you heard what sounded like an air pump. 

Walking towards the garage and around the black SUV, you see Calum’s familiar dark curls  as he kneels on the concrete blowing up a small turtle pool floaty. 

“Hey,” you greet Calum as you place Elijah down on his feet and squat behind him, pulling up his yellow shorts from where they fell down on the walk over. 

Looking up, you’re greeted with that bright white smile you’ve seen a few times at the studio but never fails to warm your heart. 

“Hey, I'm glad you guys could come!” Calum greets you, plugging the hole on the floaty before he turns off the air pump. He stands up just to walk a few steps in front of you and kneel down to Elijah’s level. “It’s nice to meet you Elijah, I’m Calum,”  he introduces himself sweetly as he smiles down at your son. 

Elijah giggles, turning into you as hiding his face on your leg. “Don’t be shy, baby,” you chuckle, running your hand over the back of his dark hair. You smile up at Calum, his face showing nothing but happiness and  eyes  lit up with pure adoration. 

“Can you say hi? Say, ‘Hi Calum’” you whispered in Elijah's ear, chuckling when  he shook his head and held on tighter to you. 

 “The tickle monster is gonna get you,” you sing out, your hands unwinding from him and to his sides where you tickle him. Elijah lets out his high pitched laughter, giggling at  you to stop as he tries to squirm out of your hold. 

“Hi!” he squeals loudly and you stop tickling him. Elijah turns around to face Calum, smiling up at him as he says, “Hi, Ca- calum.” 

“Hi, buddy. Are you ready to go swimming?” 

Elijah shouts out a ‘Yes!’ throwing his hands in the air and singing the song he was singing this morning about going swimming. 

“Sw-imming swimm-ing i going swimming” he shouts, causing you and Cal to break out in laughter. 

----- 

Calum was amazing. 

He was so sweet and caring with Elijah. Playing the same game over and over for almost an hour just to hear Elijah’s loud laughter. 

Catching your three year old over and over when he learned it was okay to jump into the pool and dunking him when he caught him just to throw him a few feet away in the water. 

Elijah’s loud laugher reverberated around the backyard and the trees that were planted against the walls encasing the closed off area. You felt pure joy at hearing his laughter. You knew he was feeling down with everything that’s happened with Easton, and hearing his laughter reminded you just what you have to live for, what’s waiting for you on good days and bad. 

Elijah is your whole world, your little sunshine, and you couldn’t imagine life without him. 

Looking over at the pool where Elijah and Calum were splashing each other, big contagious smiles spread across their faces and laughter flowing from their chests, you can’t help but smile. Watching them warms your heart. 

You were sitting on a couch in the shade next to the pool, Duke in your lap sleeping peacefully until Ashton’s loud voice invaded the bubble you all had been wrapped up in for the last four hours. 

“Hey, why wasn’t I invited?” he fake pouts as he stands in the doorway of the sliding glass doors. His hands rest on his hips as his eyes flicker around to all of you. 

“Thought you were with Kaykay,” Calum calls over to him, shrugging as he holds Elijah to his chest. That makes your heart flutter, seeing how tightly he holds him and how Elijah wraps his arms around Calums neck, a huge smile playing on his face. 

“Again,” Elijah giggled out. 

“Again? Ok,” Calum chuckled, throwing Elijah up in the air, his contagious laughter ringing out before he fell into the water below. You watch as Elijah swims to the surface,wiping his face of water and calling out ‘Again!’

Time flew by, because the last time you checked your phone was when you all sat down to have a bit of lunch around two, and it was now almost four thirty. 

Ashton made his way over to the long outdoor couch you were sitting on and took a seat in the spot next to you. 

“Is that Elijah?” he asks you softly, his eyes trained on Calum and Elijah who were spinning in the water before Calum launched your son in the air again as he let out a squeal of happiness. 

“Yeah,” you chuckled. “That’s E. He’s a handful.” 

Ashton smiles, letting out a deep chuckle, “I bet. He’s adorable, he looks just like you,” he tells you. 

“Thank you. When he was a baby he looked so much like my mom it was crazy.” you smile softly to yourself, remembering when you found old pictures of your mom and put one side by side with one of Elijah’s. They were practically identical. 

You were brought out of your thoughts when a small wet body climbed up in your lap and laid his head on your shoulder tiredly. “Are you tired, E?” you ask him softly, moving his wet hair - he needs a haircut - off his forehead before placing a light kiss upon it. 

He nods tiredly against you, his small hand lazily stroking the top of Duke’s head. The dog  had moved to  cuddle into the side of your thigh when Ashton sat down. 

Calum appeared in front of you, a towel wrapped around his hips as he smiled down at you softly, holding out a towel for you. “Thank you,” you tell him, taking the towel and wrapping it around Elijah to try and keep him warm and dry him off. 

“Should we just call Luke and Mikey and tell them to come over now? Since we're already here?” Ashton asks as Calum sits on the ‘L’ part of the couch next to your legs. “Did you drive here?” he asks you, his brows furrowed. “I didn’t see your car out there when I pulled in.” 

“Oh, no,” you shake your head. “I live across the street.” 

Ashtons eyebrows raise in surprise before he lets out a chuckle, “wow, small world.” 

You nod, “if you guys want to call Luke and Mikey that’s okay with me, but the babysitter I have  for E can’t come until 7, she has a family thing.” you tell them, looking down at the small boy in your arms who has fallen asleep against your shoulder. 

“That’s fine. If you want you can go lay him down in my bed? So he can take a nap until your babysitter gets to your house,” Calum tells you softly. 

“Yeah,” you nod. “That would be good.” you tell him, smiling up at him gently. 

You all head inside, Elijah on your hip sleeping soundly against your shoulder as Calum leads you down the hall just off the kitchen and to the last door on the right. It was nothing like you’d picture his room to be. 

The  walls are white, and there’s a tv hanging on the gray accent wall in front of the bed. The bed is made with the white fluffy comforter folded where it meets the firm, white pillows at the top of the bed. The floor is clear, save a few cords to the tall lamp in the corner of the room and a charger. 

“Bathroom’s through there,” he tells you pointing to the open door next to the tv. 

“Thank you, Cal,” you tell him sincerely. Thankful for him offering to let E nap in his room. 

“Yeah, of course y/n. Make yourself at home,” he smiles before leaving you and walking back to the living room. 

You unwrap the towel from around Elijah, laying it out on the bed before placing your sleeping boy down gently. You change him into his regular diaper, causing him to whine and thrash around before you change him into a pair of navy blue cotton shorts and  a plain white shirt . He quiets down, falling back to sleep as you move him up to the pillows, forming a sort of wall around him with a pillow on both sides of his body before you gently place a kiss to his forehead. 

Picking up the diaper bag you walk into the bathroom, which is just as clean as the bedroom, to change yourself. 

You untie your bikini top and reach into the bag, only to find a swim diaper and the sunblock. You swore quietly, thinking back to when you packed the bag and realizing you didn’t pack a pair of extra clothes for yourself. 

Quickly you put your top and your white cover up back on, swearing at yourself in your head for forgetting clothes before walking out of the bathroom quietly so you didn’t wake Elijah up. 

You padded down the hallway and into the kitchen where Cal was sitting at the counter as Ashton rummaged through the fridge talking about a song he started writing. 

Calum looks up when you appear in the kitchen doorway, his eyes flickering over your body as his brows furrow, “You didn’t change?” he points out more than asks. 

You nod, biting your lip as your cheeks blush. “Uh, yeah. I forgot to pack any clothes for myself,” you tell him, smiling shyly, “But i’m ok in this,” you assure him. 

“Are you sure?” he asks, concerned. “I can watch Elijah while you go home to change-” he pauses, “or actually I think Mali might have left some clothes behind when she was here last.” he tells you, hopping off his stool and walking down the hall again. 

Mali? Is that his girlfriend? 

Your stomach fills with dread. Just when you thought you finally met someone that didn’t run at the mention of your son, he probably has a girlfriend. Just look at him, of course he has a girlfriend. 

“She’s always buying way too many new clothes while she’s here, she can’t fit them all back into her suitcase when she needs to leave,” he tells you chuckling as he holds out a pair of grey sweat pants and a green hoodie. 

You hesitate a second, not really wanting to wear his girlfriend's clothes. But the chill in his house is causing goosebumps to appear on your arms. “Thank you,” you say, taking them from his hands and walking back down the hall to change rooms and check on Elijah. 

----- 

“No,” Luke sighs, shaking his head.

“Yeah,” you nod, your mood a stark difference from what it was an hour ago. “He came home one day and said ‘I found someone else, I don’t love you and I'm leaving’ he didn’t even mention Elijah. Just packed up all of his shit while I sat on the couch crying trying to wrap my head around what was happening.” 

“From the moment I found out I was pregnant it felt like he was on a different planet. We didn’t match anymore, we didn’t have that spark. If I'm being honest with myself that spark died out a long time ago, I just didn’t want to admit it. He was obviously not excited about the pregnancy- and I wasn't either at first, but when I heard E’s heartbeat for the first time-” you pause, “I can’t even describe it. It was like all my motherly instincts clicked in and I loved him more than I could ever have imagined,” you sigh, smiling at the memory of  the day you heard Elijah’s heartbeat. 

“I kept telling myself that Easton would come around once Elijah got here. It never really happened though. We were both in our twenties, he wanted to party, and drink and just have fun, and he did, and I stayed home with a screaming newborn while he was out living it up.” shrugging you looked up at all of them, smiling softly. 

When you came out from changing into the clothes Calum lent you, all the guys were in the kitchen talking. Luke brought Chinese and you all just sat around talking for hours. You learned a lot of eye opening things. Elijah went home about an hour after they all got there, Jessie coming over to grab him before going back over to your house.  

They formed their band when they were still in highschool, which was crazy to you. How they were still friends amazed you; you had lost contact with all your highschool friends when you moved to LA. 

Ashton was the oldest out of all of them. Mikey told the story of how he messaged Ashton on facebook messaged Ashton asking if he wanted to join the band. You laughed so hard at how the story was told, it was like one of those boards with all the strings connecting different things that all come to one big conclusion. They were all over the place. 

Then it was Mikey and Calum in the middle and Luke was the baby. They were all amazing, genuine guys and you couldn’t have been happier to call them your friends. 

You somehow had gotten on the topic of siblings at one point. Mikey doesn’t have any, but he was chessy when he said, “yeah but I have these guys as my brothers,” all the guys ahh’d and called him out on being cheesy but you could tell they were family. 

Ashton talked more about his sister and brother, telling you about how his dad walked out on him and then his mom met his stepdad and they had Lauren and Harry before he eventually walked out too. Your heart hurt for him, because you knew just how that felt. 

Luke has two brothers, Jack and Ben. You smiled and laughed as he told stories of his childhood and how he and all the guys got up too. 

You told them all about your brother, Jaxon. How he was back home in Nashville playing baseball and how he dreamed of going pro.  

Calum talked about his sister, how she visits every once and a while when she’s not in the studio or writing her own music. 

“Yeah, Mali lives in London so I don’t get to see her much. We talk at least twice a week just to catch up. She’s supposed to visit in a few months so you’ll get to meet her soon,” he smiles over at you. 

Mali is his sister? Well, that makes a whole lot of sense. 

“That’s great, I can’t wait to meet her!” you tell him, smiling over at him happily. 

You all talked for another hour or so, laughing and telling stories before you decided it was time to go. You said bye to everyone, hugging them and telling them you’d see them on friday when you and Alec met them at the studio after lunch. 

Calum politely walked you home just to be safe. 

“I had a great day, thank you for inviting us over. I know Elijah had a blast,” you tell him, smiling softly up at him. “You were so great with him, he’s normally pretty shy around new people.” 

“I did too, we’ll have to do it again.” he tells you. “He’s a great kid, he’s so adorable,” he tells you, smiling. 

“Definitely,” you nod up at him.

There was that awkward silence where you both just looked at each other, your eyes flicking between his as his eyes flicked over your face and fell to your plump lips. Your breath hitched as his eyes linger there before returning to your eyes. 

“Goodnight, Y/n,” he whispers, pulling you into a tight hug.

You relax in his arms, hugging him back as your face hides in his neck. “Goodnight, Cal” you whisper back lingering in the hug before he kisses the top of your head and lets go. 

“I’ll see you Friday,” he calls, descending the three steps of your  porch. 

“See you friday!” you call back before walking into your house. Your back pressing to the back of your front door as you let out a sigh, closing your eyes. 

“Oh my god! That was Calum Hood!,” you hear excitedly from your couch making your eyes pop wide open.

---

Taglist (striked out couldn’t be tagged - get added here -) @wontlastimokwiththat @doctcr-reid @harrystylesandharrypotter @vividstyles23 @thesadstoryofme @hufflepuffhaze @kuolonsyoja​ @lonelyheart5​ @kyleeisahotmess @wiiildflowerrr 

[lokilickedme]

Somebody help me chill, this is insane.

(under the cut because long and also pretty traumatic, for me at least)

Crazy neighbor, remember her?  Her son destroyed a piece of equipment we had attached to one of our trees at the fenceline last week, she denied it and called us insane liars - that’s the most recent craziness in the ongoing saga of the neighbor from hell.  I was sitting here reading my dash tonight and happened to glance over at the monitor for the surveillance camera husband got me the other day to watch that exact spot (where the equipment was smashed) and guess who I see bent over looking through the fence peering very closely at that exact spot?  Neighbor’s equally insane son, who we know did the actual dirty work.  And I, stupid like I am, took a screenshot of him and then immediately jumped up and ran outside in the dark in my pajamas (nearly 9pm, pitch black, their porch light is off because obviously they’re doing something they don’t want to be seen doing) and I ask “Excuse me, what are you doing?”

This lunatic immediately starts SCREAMING at me - I mean top of his lungs SCREAMING abusive threats, calling me a stupid psycho whore bitch, yelling at me to get my ass back in my house and generally just acting completely off his rocker unhinged nuts - and then his mother comes out and comes over to the fence and gets in my face while I’m just standing there and tells me to mind my own business.  I say I am minding my business, I saw him looking through the fence at my property right where we had vandalism happen last week so I came out to find out why he’s interested in my property.  She laughed in my face and said “No he wasn’t, he was standing right here looking at his phone like this” and she does this little pantomine of someone looking at their phone, which is funny because she wasn’t out there when he was doing it and there are no windows on that side of her house at all.  I ignored her and asked “What are you looking for?”  He kept screaming incoherent animal noises and insults from behind her so I asked again, “What are you looking for?”  And that crazy woman grinned at me and said “We’re just looking to see what kind of new devices you’ve installed!”

OMG.  She didn’t even take a breath in between lying and then contradicting her own lie.  And she’s grinning smugly at me the entire time, gesturing around pointing at our property cams and mosquito light (it flashes and apparently she thinks it’s watching her) and my bedroom window - which means she’s been snooping.  There is a cam sitting in my windowsill, aimed at the spot where the device was smashed.  Every bit of this equipment is on our property, some of it behind a privacy fence.  I tell her it’s none of her business what kind of devices we’ve got on our property, but she just yammers over me, and of course numbskull is still ranting like a psycho behind her, screaming at me to mind my own business and get back in my house and leave them alone.  At this point he’s pulled out his phone and shoved it over her shoulder toward my face and is recording me, which is just...fucking hilarious...because I’m literally doing nothing but standing there in shock and awe at how nuts these people are, and he’s still screaming abusive curses and names at me while he’s recording.

Anyway, for about 4.5 minutes we stood there with them shouting over me (I know the exact time because it was later discovered that our doorbell cam recorded audio of the entire event) and a little ways into it he screams “I WILL TEAR YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!!”

At this point psycho woman finally turns around and says “Addison Case!” and pushes him back.  He lunges at me and she tells him to go call the police (??what??  I mean...I wish he had...my phone was in my hand frozen solid, locked up because of the glitchy surveillance app I had to install to see the camera, or else I would have called them myself - but my god they really thought I was the one the cops needed to come for??).  Meanwhile I’m just standing there on my own property in the dark in my pajamas, all 5 feet and 120 lbs of me, while this rabid animal - he’s a 21 year old college boy - is lunging at me and screaming nonstop, calling me a fucking whore bitch loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear it while his phone’s camera light is in my face blinding me.  Crazy lady smiles that smug shit eating grin of hers and tells me to get back in my house, leave her alone, and move the hell away so she can live in peace.

Wow.  Just...holy shit.

This is the person who has allowed her dog to attack my very small 8 year old son on our property and send him to the hospital with injuries last year, then attempt to attack him again 2 weeks ago (he is now 9 at the time of the second attack) - again on our own property (in our back yard this time, in our front yard the first time), has allowed her dogs (multiple) to bark all night long and keep us awake (she leaves them outside and then goes away for the weekend and they bark the entire time she’s gone), then she had her crazy violent son destroy the BarkBox we put in our tree on our side of the fence last week (we put it up as a humane way to get the barking to stop without having to listen to her call us insane liars every time we complain about it).  Yet...she kept repeating over and over and over for us to leave her alone and stop harassing her.

All I could even do was stand there shaking my head.  It was surreal.  And frustrating, because they wouldn’t even let me get a word out without screaming over me, and she was doing that infuriating Karen thing where they shove their hand at your face and grin smugly while they’re telling you what you better do or they’ll call someone to make you.

I actually started laughing, it was so ludicrous.  She’s committed all those vile offenses against us and we’re the ones that need to leave her alone.  We’ve had to file four police reports against her and we’re the ones that are making her life miserable.  I just can’t stop thinking about that Liar Liar movie where the repeat offender keeps calling his lawyer to complain that the cops won’t stop arresting him and the lawyer finally yells THEN STOP BREAKING THE LAW ASSHOLE!!

It’s just like that.  My god.

SO -

She tells him to call the police again, and this limp dick shoves that phone light right up to my face and says “You think she’s worth calling the cops over?  Look at her, she don’t look worth it to me.”  And bitch starts laughing.  My god, these people are subhuman, I swear.  I’ve never seen anyone act like this in my life, over a person doing literally nothing to them.

So she finally orders her rabid son (who is just about foaming at the mouth, I swear he’s making these barking animal noises at me, it’s weird as hell) into the house and they walk away, with him still ranting like a madman until the door closes behind them.  I immediately go inside my own house and call my husband, who was way out at the back of our property in our camper (he self quarantines each day after work out there to protect us because there have been a lot of covid cases at his workplace) and he didn’t know anything was happening.  He immediately runs up to the house and I tell him I caught neighbor’s thug son messing around at our fence and that when I went out he threatened to kill me.

Tom grabs something - I don’t even know what it was, I think it was this piece of board that was sitting by the door, we’ve done a shelving project recently and a couple of leftover pieces have been there for a few days - and he stalks outside toward neighbor’s house.  I hear him yell COME OUT HERE BOY!!! and I stg you guys, if I wasn’t on the phone calling 911 I might have thought about getting naked right there and then because damn.

So anyway, let’s not go there.  This is serious by god lol (look for this to show up in a fic soon though because material like this doesn’t get handed to you for free every day).

I call 911 and say the neighbor’s son just threatened my life and for them to come quick because he’s still over there but I know he’s going to leave any second (this is his mom’s M.O, the two times the police have tried to go talk to her she gets in her car and leaves before they can get from my house to hers, and I know he’ll do the same because COWARDS).  Tom comes back and says the little pussywillow wouldn’t come out of the house.  He’s breathing fire, you guys.  Pure fucking fire.  I tell 911 to get somebody out quick before the kid leaves, and just about 2 minutes after I hang up he does just that - we see him blast past our house in his truck and he’s gone, and then the police arrive about 3 minutes after.  I’m so mad I can’t see straight.  If they’d been able to see him in the state he was in, they’d have arrested him on sight.

Two squad cars (big SUV’s) pull up and block her driveway with full lights flashing, which makes me laugh because suddenly we’ve got neighbors coming outside to see what’s going on.  I meet the officers outside, and the crazy bitch next door does the same, yelling “Hello Officer!” and waving to them as they’re coming up to my porch.

They talk to me and Tom for a long time, I tell them everything that happened, they interview Big (he and Little were inside the open door and heard it all), we fill out our statements and talk with them more until one officer goes next door to talk to neighbor.  We can hear her dripping her fake sugar and spice while they’re talking on her porch and my husband loses his shit - he heads toward her house and yells “We got the entire thing on recording, don’t even try to lie!  Your kid, threatening to kill my wife?!?”  (he’s referring to the camera in my bedroom window, which actually only recorded about 2 minutes because I don’t have it set up correctly yet, but they don’t know that). The officer yells at him to get back, which, yeah - he shouldn’t have done that, but for god’s sake the woman’s peckerhead son just literally threatened murder on a member of his family, this is the final fucking straw and he’s mad.  And as he’s coming back across the yard the officer that stayed with me points at our new doorbell camera, just freshly installed as of about two weeks ago, and asks if it’s on.  We haven’t even really figured out how to use it yet, but yes, as far as we know it’s on.  The incident happened around the side of the house, but the doorbell records audio.

God bless technology.

I invite the officer inside the house and Tom gets his phone, pulls up the app for the doorbell, and starts skipping through the recording looking for the right timestamp.  Up till this point all they have is me saying the guy screamed a lot of abusive profanities at me and threatened to tear my head off, and they’re taking me serious but probably not that serious, you know?  Neighbors fight all the time, wars start over barking dogs, things get exaggerated, we’ve all seen the TV dramas.

Until Tom finds the segment on the footage and starts playing it to them on his phone.  It’s kind of quiet because we were a good distance away, but you can hear the guy screaming just like I said he was.  The officer asks if we have a speaker we can play it through so he can hear the words more clearly, because he needs proof of threat and that’s entirely in the words.

You guys, I’m tellin’ ya, sometimes you get a chance to fucking SHINE.  My husband is a musician and this cop is asking him if he’s got a good speaker.  So within minutes Tom’s got this huge venue-style amplifier designed for broadcasting music to the back wall of a freaking stadium pulled out into the livingroom and he’s hooking his phone up to it, and then he hits play and the other officer comes back from next door to join us and I can tell by the annoyed look on his face that neighbor bitch has likely charmed him and shed a plethora of persecuted tears and spewed her lies about how we’ve been harassing her forEVER and I think for a second that it’s a total loss now, he’s made his mind up in her favor.

And then...away we go.  Tom cranks the volume on the speaker and they both lean in to listen closely.

Just about a minute into the recording they have their proof - thugnuts screaming I WILL TEAR YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!!!

Both officers nod, close their notebooks, and the second officer makes a phonecall while the first one turns to me and says “That’s terroristic threatening and it’s a class C felony.  You’re going to need to go to the PA’s office with all the reports you’ve filed against them so far and all your evidence from tonight including that recording and hand it all to them.  They’re likely going to issue a no-contact so that he can’t interact with you ever again.”

This is a victory, but it’s just the first step, and I feel sickeningly disheartened that it’s all in my lap to do everything.  I want them to go demand his whereabouts from his mother and just go get his ass and haul him in.  But no, I have a ton of legwork to do now because these horrible people won’t fucking stop.

After several more minutes of me asking questions about what exactly we need to do and where we need to go, etc etc (I’m competent but I’m also fucking rattled, someone threatened to kill me tonight and I’m blanking hard on the instructions he’s giving me) they finally wrap it up and leave.  They’ve been in my house for a half hour waiting for me to finish filling out the report (I had to ask for more paper because honey I’m getting ALL the details in there) and I can just imagine how freaked out neighbor is when she sees what time they finally move their cars from in front of her driveway.

And now I’m coming down from the weird calm that I had through the entire event, and my heart feels like it’s going to EXPLODE.  I had heart surgery two months ago, do I need this??  The pathetic part is that I know now just how stupid those people are, and I know this won’t be the end from their side by any means.  We’ll start finding more stuff broken, or he’ll start climbing over the fence back at the back of the property to steal stuff from husband’s tool shed, or my tires will get slashed.  These people are that dumb and hateful, they proved it tonight.  He said if we had animals he would kill them, and then he made the same threat against me.  How stupid does a person have to be to stand there with his phone out recording himself ranting and making threats against a woman standing in her own yard in her pajamas?  Big tough man there.  And his mama grinning at me the whole time, telling me I’m crazy and she’s concerned for her own safety because of me, while her son is standing right behind her threatening my life.

I’m just...my god, I don’t even know what to think.  I thought people only acted like this in TV dramas, seriously.  I’ve seen some shit in my life but this particular brand of stupid has up till now evaded me, but now it’s been in my face and I’m sort of in shock.

I don’t like guns.  At ALL.  Tom has always had at least one hidden carefully away, safely locked up away from the house, but now there are two inside my house in immediate grabbing range.  He insisted that I let him show me how to use them.  Rules were laid down for the boys - never touch, never, don’t even get close to them - and now there is a box of shotgun shells on my fireplace mantel and a singleshot rifle by the door.  I hate this so damn much.

Don’t pick it up unless you’re ready to use it, he told me.  Without even thinking, I said back, “If I touch it it’s getting used.”

I HATE THIS SO FUCKING MUCH

My god.  I told the cops that the drug lord that lived over there four years ago was a better neighbor than this woman.  They didn’t even laugh.

I guess they’re right, now that I think about it...it isn’t funny.

[coexiising]

Good Neighbors - Chapter One

SUMMARY ✦ You were excited to learn that someone was finally moving into that old house next to your own. The Skywalker-Amidala family seemed like a great addition to your friendly neighborhood, with their two twin kids and happy personalities. Though, the more you get to know your neighbors, the closer you get to the husband of the family: Anakin Skywalker.

WARNING(S) ✦ Modern! Anakin Skywalker, Alternate Universe, Infidelity, Eventual Smut, not so slow burn, Eventual Romance, Neighbors, and they were neighbors, anakin looks so good in a suit, sneaking around, forbidden love

NOTE ✦ I’ve been wanting to write a Modern! Anakin fanfic for a while now, so here we go! This will be a multi chapter fic, I don’t know how many yet but expect a lot because I’ve got some ideas to play out! This chapter is more of an introductory, but expect some more spicy drama in the next coming chapters. 

»»————-　✼　————-««

As tradition goes every year, you could smell the smoke coming from the middle of your neighborhood's culdesac while you made your way outside your garage with your mother, who held a large tray of potato salad in her hands that she insisted she carried herself over to the white tables in the distance. It was hot outside, early July was coming strong this year with the heat, reaching a staggering eighty nine degrees outside and it was already well past noon. Though, you should’ve been expecting the heat, since it seemed to creep up on you every time this yearly cookout happened.

It had been a little tradition, jokingly deemed a ‘holiday’ by your younger brother, that had been going on for as long as you could think back to. You could remember being five years old and running around with the neighborhood kids and jumping into your pool after eating the bountiful amount of food that was supplied for the families that participated. It used to be a handful of them, three or four families that came and had a small little barbeque together. But over time that changed, and now it became a whole neighborhood thing.  

The dads of the block always started earlier to get everything set up, which was really the long white tables where food could be set and setting up the large grill on the pavement. And the moms always slaved away in their kitchens making some type of side dish, whether it be fruit cups, potato salads, or whatever. You were twenty two now, almost done with your undergraduate degree, and you wondered if you would ever find this sense of friendliness anywhere else when you eventually moved from your home. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to leave, it was just more convenient for you to stay and you didn’t mind your family that much. They were supportive, there for you no matter what, and your home was close to your University anyways.

“I wonder if Lisa is going to wear that ugly dress she bought the other day,” Your mother stated, making short, languid strides next to you. “She brought it to the house a few days ago when we were having a little wine date and I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she was definitely not twenty five anymore and that dress did not hug her in the right places.”

You laughed, jokingly hitting your mom on the shoulder. “Mom, come on, it can’t be that bad.” She didn’t respond, only grinning towards you with a hint of playfulness filling her eyes behind her thick, black sunglasses. Your eyes scanned the crowd already forming, kids on the outside running around with a ball. You knew a lot of them, even held some of them as babies after they were born. But when you took another glance at the group, you saw that there were two you didn’t recognize. A boy and a girl, both looking similar to one another and the only difference being the slightly different shades of their hair. “Mom, who are they?” You asked, pointing to the girl and boy who were now fighting each other for control over the soccer ball.

“Oh, they’re the kids of the new neighbors,” Your mom answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. You looked over at the house next to your own, a two story one with white coloring and many windows. It had been for sale forever and it became quite the local news when someone actually bought it. You guess you hadn’t realized that the people who bought it were now occupying it. “They’re twins, I think. The mom and dad are on the younger side too. Courtney says that the husband is working at that law firm down on first street and apparently the wife wants to run for senator in a year.” How the hell did she know this much about everyone? You shouldn’t even question it at this point, since she was friends with all the neighborhood moms who loved to gossip.

Looking around for any unfamiliar faces, you were surprised to see none. Were they not coming out for the cookout? It seemed like the perfect place for them to meet everybody. “Oh!” Your mom exclaimed. “I forgot the tongs on the kitchen counter, could you go get them for me, please?” Without a second thought you nodded, turning on your heel and making your way back towards your house. As much as you loved your mom, you were sometimes annoyed with her forgetfulness, especially because you asked her if she had everything three times before you left just a few moments ago. Oh well, it wasn’t that big of a deal, you would be in and out in no time.

You walked up the well cut grass of your lawn to your front door, sandaled foot almost hitting the concrete when you heard the creak of another door. It belonged to the door of the house beside you, the light tapping of shoes making their way onto the patio filled your ears, feeling somewhat foreign since you weren’t used to hearing anything from that house. You wondered what it looked like inside, if everything was rusted and worn. It had to have been almost ten years since someone lived there.

But when you turned to finally get a look at your neighbor, your thoughts were completely halted.

Your mom was right, he, most likely being the husband, was on the younger side. He had to be in his early thirties, still a lot of youth painting his broadened features. His skin was lightly tanned, it was hard not to notice the way that the sun seemed to do a good job in painting his long, muscular arms that reached to close the door behind him. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt and black pants, though it wasn’t like something that you had seen other dads wear before, it was more formal, more pristine like he was trying to make an appearance. But if the story checked out, he was supposed to be a lawyer, it was his job to look professional. You continued to look at him, almost shamefully so as your eyes trailed from his clothing to his face, taking in the sharpness of his jaw and the blues of his eyes that very much reminded you of the light blue sky above you now. And then to his hair, which was cut short and had a golden glow to it.

Right as you were about to turn and get into your house, the ball that had been with the group of kids came flying your way, hitting against the door next to you and making you jump at the loud noise. It was lucky that it didn’t fly through a window, or your parents would’ve gone ballistic. You could hear some of the parents start to shout at the kids, telling them to stay away from the houses if they were planning on kicking that thing off of the ground. The same kids you were questioning earlier ran up your lawn, most definitely to retrieve the ball that would’ve hit you dead on if you hadn’t been gawking at their father.

“Luke, I told you to not kick it that way!” The girl, Leia, yelled towards her brother, a little stomp in her step as they made their way towards you. You picked up the ball and held it in your hands, kneeling down and waiting for the kids to approach you. Luke shook his head, shaggy hair falling into his eyes and saying, “It wasn’t me! It was that other guy over there. Why do you always blame me!” You laughed, the dynamic almost reminding you of you and your brother when you were younger.

Handing them the red rubber ball, they both gave you a small ‘thank you’ and Leia muttered a tiny ‘sorry’ and they went on their way. Watching as they went, you didn’t even realize that someone else was walking up to you. Still kneeling, you looked up and saw that it was your neighbor, looking down at you with a tiny, pleasant smile on his face. You blushed, realizing the awkward position and stood up, ignoring the heat coming to your cheeks and offering a smile to him as well. Being this close to him, you could see that he was tall as well, standing a good couple inches over you. Usually this would’ve made you feel intimidated, but for some reason it made you want to draw closer to him. You mentally scolded yourself for thinking this way, knowing that he was your new neighbor, and not to mention he had two very cute twins and a wife who was probably beautiful.

“Sorry about that, I hope they didn’t scare you that bad,” He said, taking a glance at his kids who were already starting another round of whatever game they were playing with the others. His voice was low, but there was a sense of calm to it. It wasn’t rough or gravelly, almost like honey as he spoke to you. “I haven’t seen you here before, do you live here? I think I’ve seen your mom and dad around but we were waiting until the cookout to introduce ourselves.” Kind of a stupid question to ask since you were standing on your porch with your keys in your hand, though you gave him the benefit of the doubt.

“Yeah, um,” You thought back to the day you saw your neighbors two cars parked in the driveway, was that a Sunday? No, it was a Monday. “I’m usually around here more but last week I had to pick up a couple shifts at work to help my friend.” Your coworker and friend came down with the flu and had to find someone to cover her ships ASAP, and you weren’t doing anything important and stepped in to help.

He nodded. “Makes sense. I’m Anakin Skywalker, you already met my kids but they’re Luke and Leia.” Skywalker. A strange last name that confused you for a moment, realizing that you’ve never heard of anything like that before. Then again, you hadn’t heard of the name Anakin either, but somehow the unique name fit him.

“Y/N,” You responded, giving him a nod.

“Y/N,” He said, like he was testing the name out on his tongue. You tried to ignore the feeling you got when you heard it come out of his lips, which were very nice by the way when you took a second to glance at them. It sounded good in Anakin’s voice, and you found yourself wanting him to say it over and over again if he would. There was a moment of awkward silence between the both of you, a random amount of tension that you didn’t know if you were imagining or not. Then Anakin opened his mouth again to say, “My kids were looking at the pool in your yard the other day when they were exploring our backyard.”

“Oh, yeah,” You said. “They’re welcome to come over any time and use it if they want.”

“Are you sure?”

It was normal for the people in the neighborhood to use it if they wanted to. It was a big underground pool that had been built when you were a little kid. “Yeah, everyone does. Just make sure to ask someone before and they’ll most likely say yes. We like to get the most out of it every summer.” You realized that you were supposed to be back with your mother, she was most likely getting antsy as to what was taking so long. So you took the opportunity to leave, even though you wouldn’t mind staying and talking to your new neighbor for as long as he wanted to. He wasn’t just attractive, you thought that he was nice too.

“Well, I need to get something from the house and get back to my mom. See you later, Mr. Skywalker.”

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Just Anakin is fine.”

You felt your cheeks heat up. “Right, see you later, Anakin.” He gave you one last smile and right as you turned around, you could’ve sworn you saw a wink. You turned on your heel, ignoring the eyes he clearly had on you and making your way into your house. The moment the door was closed, you leaned against the wood and closed your eyes, replaying that last moment over and over again in your head. Had he really winked at you? Or was that just your mind spinning some kind of fantasy?

Oh, Christ.

It was hard to ignore the butterflies swarming in your stomach.

[nostalgicfun]

You had twelve cats!? Were they outside or inside?

Okay for clarity, we ended up with twelve cats. We had two cats.

We had the most nefariously terrible neighbor in an otherwise beautiful, milquetoast neighborhood. She had a slew of junkyard dogs, dozens of unspayed/unneutered cats that just kept reproducing, she would get foreign exchange students for the money and then make them sleep on the floor in the kitchen. It was horrible.

When her house got hit by lightning and burned down, she basically just took the insurance money and was like "Alright. Goodbye :)" and LEFT ALL THE ANIMALS SHE HAD AT THE TIME BEHIND.

Most of the cats scattered immediately but others were like "hey that's a nice house next door. We live there now :)" and simply refused to leave. And my older sister is an animal fanatic and wouldn't let anyone call animal control on them. Though we did rehome most of them over the course of a year, there were some that we couldn't catch, others that no one wanted. We spayed what we could and tried our hardest with the rest. So we just had a never-ending revolving door of mostly feral cats at all times. These were cats who were used to living in drywall and crawlspaces and the rafters of attics.

We still talk about those cats to this day.

There was one cat that stole a turkey carcass my mom had set aside in the garage and dragged it the whole way down the driveway and under what remained of the neighbor's house. A single, tiny, eight month old cat made off with the remains of an entire turkey. The entire army of cats proceeded to attempt to get under the house and take it from her, and each one came out looking worse for the wear. Turkey Cat would later go on to steal entire cans of cat food, a sandwich from one of our picnics, a good many stuffed animals, pool goggles, car sponges, and anything else that she could fit her mouth around (and then some).

There was another cat, Penny, that would follow us--any of us--around any time we went for a walk. So I would go off walking with my friends, or my sister would walk with her boyfriend, or my mom would go to visit the neighbors, and we'd be trailed by this cat. This sounds fairly cute except for the fact that Penny was a sack of bones wrapped in patches of black fur who would scream bloody murder the whole time she followed us. She would yowl and howl and make a ruckus and people would stare at us being followed by the most decrepit excuse for a cat they'd ever laid eyes on. You could hear her coming from a literal block away. When my mom would stand at the bus stop and wait for me to get home, the cats would surround her in an embarrassing cloud, but the most embarrassing part would be Penny, standing five feet away, screaming her head off.

One cat, not Penny and not Turkey Cat, would sit outside and wait for my brother to get home. My brother's crowning achievement in life was his fire-engine red 1969 Mustang. And the minute he got home and the front door closed behind him, the cat would go yak up a hairball on the hood of his beautiful car. Eventually he bought a cover for the Mustang, but boy howdy did it make him furious to come home from a 12-hour shift at three in the morning and have to spend the time putting a cover on his car.

And one time, one of the infinite kittens that spawned from the neighbor's cats walked up to seven year old me and lovingly rubbed against my legs, purring and mewling for attention. So I, like any animal-loving seven year old girl who is constantly surrounded by cats every waking hour of the day, bent down to pet the kitten.

It promptly launched itself at my face "face-hugger" style and simply would not let go. It latched itself to my hair and ears and held on for dear life while kicking me as violently with its back legs as it possibly could and gnawing on my forehead.

Between the ages of twelve and twenty-four, I rescued and rehomed 23 dogs.

I never rescued or even thought about rescuing a single cat.