#HES NOT REAL UNLESS HE DATES ME 🤭🤭

[skyfallslayer]

Should We Stay or Should We Go? || Chapter Three

-A ST Rewrite Feat. Steve Harrington x Henderson!OFC-

Main Masterlist || Series Masterlist

🎲Summary: An Increasingly concerned Nancy looks for Barb and finds out what Jonathan’s been up to. The boys pair up with El for an investigation. Joyce is convinced that Will and Steph are trying to talk to her. Meanwhile, Steve feels like someone’s watching his every move.

🎲Pairings: Will x Platonic!OFC; Dustin x Sister!OC; Slow burn! Steve x Henderson!OFC (Ex-bestfriends to Lovers); Slow burn! Byler

🎲Rating: Teen-Mature

🎲Word Count: 15,209 (Oh, lord)

🎲Date: 05/27/24

🎲Warnings: Angst; Heavy Language & Dialogue; References To Broken Friendship; Talks of Kidnapping; Mental Strain/Breaking Down; Talks of Mental Health Issues; Bullying of All Kinds; Physical Fighting; Lying; "Death"; Crying (Lots of it); Brief Mention of Corpses; Gun Use; Implied Unloving Parents; Will & Steph's Mental Strain - Joyce's Too; Hopper Being a Great Cop & A Total Mess; Dustin Being a Gangster & A Total Mess; Steve's 'Asshole Era'; Steve's Emotional Damage. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

-This also contains me not knowing how the fuck the Upside Down works despite so much research.-

(And let me know if I missed anything)

🎲A/N:  So… this is a very long, very intense one. Very emotional too. Hopefully y'all are ready for this. I notice a lot of you readers are spitting out theories and I can't help but love them. But unfortunately I have to stay silent and let you guess wait 🤭. While rewatching this episode, I totally forgot how fucking good of an actress Winona Ryder is. Seriously, rewatch the scenes with her and the lights again and you'll see. Any who, Happy Memorial Day everyone! Enjoy!

Steve practically had to “bully” Tommy into taking his girlfriend home last night. It was hard for him to make eye contact with her after their argument – A real argument, not just some mindless bickering they’ve done in the past that doesn’t pack much heat, but a real, real argument – and when she came back to his room only a few minutes later telling him that Barb must have left already and needed a ride, he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

Was this making him feel and look like a coward? Probably. But it’s not like he didn’t want to risk having another eye opening conversation with her again.

Eye opening, my ass. There was no “eye opening”. I’m just being paranoid. But was he though?

Nancy, oh, sweet Nancy, always talked about how she was aiming for journalism as her major. For a while, to be honest, he couldn’t really see it. Sure, curiosity was practically tattooed on her heart, but the months they’ve been dating he hasn’t seen anything else that screams “I’m a Journalist”. 

That was until last night.

He’s not sure why he never put that box away after their friendship ended, he doesn’t know why he didn’t just stuff it into his closet or under his bed, but the fact that someone had found it in his spot he called “out of sight, out of mind” shocked him. The little box that could fit under his dresser, completely oblivious to anyone who stands next to it. Of course out of all the days for someone to finally have spotted it was the day he brought his girlfriend to his home (Still, it might have been better for her to find it rather than his parents. They sure were… nosy).

And of course she would be the one to break him down when he was trying to forget, forget because it was the best option here.

And his girlfriend was smart, one of the traits he most admired, and she could read through his lies most of the time, a trait he hates. Loathe. But… did he really think he could have avoided all this? That once he put a lid on their friendship she would suddenly vanish? Every single thing about Stephanie Henderson would be forgotten? That was the plan, the “dream” so to speak. I guess dreams don’t always stay dreams unless you put work into them.

.

“So who is she to you?” Nancy asked, standing up and flashing the memorabilia at him.

.

She was just… just some kid he knew since they were five. Nothing more than that, It shouldn’t be more than that. She was just some girl that had confidence radiating out of her as they lock pinkies and swore–

.

“I’m not jealous. I’m just curious.” Nancy replies, honestly. She takes another look at the photos in her hand before looking back at him. “I mean, if she isn’t your friend anymore, then why do you hang on to all this stuff? Or better question–”

“Nancy, stop, it’s just–”

“Why did you break it off?”

His brain short circuits again. “What?”

“I said, ‘Why did you break it off?’ I mean…” She flips through some of the photos he has, memorized. “From what I see, you two remind me of Barb and I. You two look like you were tied at the hip. So why break it off?”

.

Because he had to. He needed to. God knows if he didn’t, her and her family would be… Jeez. He could barely remember it, not wanting to remember it.

The memory was blurry. So blurry. Maybe it was the many hits in the head for his shitty memory, or maybe he was really, really trying not to remember it. 

What was his parents planning on doing again that made him so… scared?

.

“Look, I just want to understand you. I mean, every time I think I have you figured out you throw me through a loop.” She gives him a reassuring look as she picks up the box, shuffling whatever was remaining around. “I mean, from what I see, you seem like a completely different person then. I just wonder if it’s a good thing or a bad–” 

.

No… no. He still doesn’t understand what she meant. He hasn’t “changed”. He’s still the same person since the day he was born. What was she even getting that from? A couple glances at some photos gave her a new impression of him? There’s no way. It’s laughable. It’s totally laughable. Everything that’s happened between him and Henderson was totally laughab–

.

“‘CAUSE IT WAS MY FAULT!! OKAY?!” Steve snaps, startling them both (He can’t believe he just lost his cool like that). He swallows again, head spinning at the memories (Why did he fucking leave the box right there?). “I just… there was an incident and… it… shaped my decision, okay? But it didn’t involve me or her with a gun, it was… s-someone else. Someone I know. I don’t know why I’m holding onto it, I…” 

.

That certainly wasn’t laughable.

Sometimes that memory is hazy, which he preferred, but the other times it was crystal clear. Too clear. Just a heated exchange between him and someone else just before it went to shit. He still remembers the pain in his bicep, the wind feeling like it was getting knocked out of him with someone’s loud scream. Then came the sinking realization that Henderson wasn’t bouncing up to her feet like he did. 

It still… fucks with him sometimes. Taunting. Haunting. Torturing. 

.

Nancy breaks eye contact, and only reverses it when she gathers the right words. “Look, Steve, I’m sorry I intruded, I probably shouldn’t have but… I’m just trying to understand you.”

Steve shakes his head, still confused. “I-I…” He shrugs, and crosses his arms defensibly. “What’s there to understand?”

.

Exactly. There’s nothing. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Nothing. She doesn’t need to go digging around Pandora’s box.

.

But Nancy looked at him with eyes full of pity and took another step closer. “I don’t know what the reason was for you two to stop being friends, but all I know, from what I gathered, she wasn’t the one to end it.” She places Steph’s flier on his chest that he subconsciously grabbed, and said one last thing before leaving his room. And that was,

“Maybe there was a good reason for you to end it, but that’s not an excuse for you to stop being who you really are.”

.

But I haven’t changed. I’ve been the same person since I was born. Even his own gut coiled at his denial. The heaven’s beyond were probably busting a lung. Hell was shaking its head. He just keeps telling himself that lie and maybe it’ll come true one day.

Yeah, right.

This boy’s been telling himself that for almost two years now and hasn’t even sunk in yet.

Steve sighs, rolling in his bed to face his alarm clock; The red numbers glaring at him. It hadn’t even gone off yet, he still has about an hour but… 

Another sigh. School. Right.

He didn’t even feel like going, too mentally exhausted from staying up pretty much all night, completely alone with his thoughts – His very dangerous, troubling thoughts. He didn’t want to go, but his parents were going to be home any minute now from their trip and were not going to be happy if they saw him just lying around. They were surely going to berate him for missing a day of learning. Except...

Fuck. Going wasn’t an option, his brain hurts and his body was dragging and he really, really didn’t want to see Nancy’s pitiful eyes, or listen to Tommy’s mocking, or Carol’s sexified comments. Fuck, no. Fuck.

Where can he hide out for the next eight hours? He started putting what was left of brain together as he threw something on, not even trying to dress to impress today, and snagged his precious car keys. He is about a foot outside his bedroom when something tells him to stop. His chocolate eyes stare at the box on the end of his bed, something deep inside tells him not to leave it unoccupied.

He swallows, wanting to tell his subconscious to fuck off and leave him be, but… 

“Fuck it.” He races back over, making sure the lid was on before taking it with him. 

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

It’s been… how many days since then? They don’t know. They stopped counting every time they ran into trouble. Like… right now. Traumatized by the beast pulling an innocent woman into the Harringtons’ pool and violating her before coming after them. They were lucky to have some kind of head start or otherwise they might have been goners. But–

Jesus. It was getting hard to breathe in this place, the cold weather was getting to them too. 

Eventually, miraculously, they had escaped from their predator when their bodies finally gave out.

“Fuck.” Stephanie gasped as the two of them collapsed in someone’s backyard. They both sat on their hands and knees, a line of sweat dripping off their icy noses. She sniffles and pants, her breath being seen in the air. “This is getting ridiculous.”

It really, really was. They can’t even take a break without worrying if that thing would come after them. 

How am I supposed to figure out how to get out of here if I can’t even stop to think? She sits back on her news, frowning. “Why does it keep coming after us?”

Will sneezes, and sniffles before resting his body against the side of the random house. He starts fiddling with his frigiding fingers, worried if he was going to say something wrong. “I don’t think this time it was. It looks like it was attacking someone else.”

“That’s true.” She sighs, taking her cap off for a second to rest. “However, we either were at the wrong place at the wrong time, or that thing was following us and grabbed the first prey it saw.”

He nods. “Yeah. But that doesn’t explain where the person came from. Does… that mean we aren’t the only people here?”

“I don’t know.” Are there actually more people here? “I mean, I guess on the bright side, if more people are going missing someone’s gotta know what’s going on, right?”

That honestly didn’t cross her mind at all while being here. She was so worried about keeping herself and especially Will alive that she didn’t think about what was going on on the other side. How was her family reacting? His family too? And what about the town? Did the police actually give a fuck this time?

I really hope it’s Hopper. He seems like the only one who gave shit last time. Stephanie prays he’s on her case as she subconsciously tries to grab the chain around her neck, only to find nothing. Her heart sinks as she looks down and feels around the front of her shirt.

“Shit.” She says, dreadfully. Did she really lose her–

“What?” Will replies, concerned. 

“Uh, I just…” Fuck. “I just uh, lost my necklace.” She frowns again. “I didn’t even realize it.”

Now it was his turn to look sad (I guess you could say he was just copying her expression). “We can go look for it if you like.”

She’s already shaking his head. “No. It’s okay. I could have lost it on the first day here without realizing it.”

“Can you replace it?”

“It’s… I don’t know. It was a gift.” She looks over at him, his expression seems so broken over her confession. “It’s okay, Will. It’s not a big deal.”

“I know, but still.”

Stephanie couldn’t help but crack a small smile on her peach lips, and ruffle the boy’s hair. “Don’t ever change, kid. You’ve got a good little heart.” That seemed to do the trick because the boy blushed and seemed all proud of himself.

“Do you think it’s safe to rest here for a bit?” Will asked, as she looked around.

“Yeah.” She nods. “I think we’ll be fine. How about you pull out the blanket?”

They both shrug their backpacks off, and keep their guns by their sides pointed safely away; Will unrolls the blanket they took from her house and scoots closer. Steph tucks the fabric under their feet before the boy snuggles up to her side. Dying from the cold was off the menu for the both of them. For most of the time they stayed quiet, controlling their breathing and rubbing their cold hands in their laps.

“There’s something I don’t understand though.” Will blurted out. I guess this was the thought that came to mind in the moment of silence.

“And what’s that?” The older girl asked, sparing him a glance.

“If that thing is supposed to… you know, kill people, then why bring them here?” He stares up at her nervously. “Why not just kill us in our world? Why the extra hassle to bring us here?”

Her eyes widened slightly, those words hitting her like a truck. “That’s… a good question.” A really good question. It was something else she hasn’t thought about either. If the beast could go between worlds, why bring them here for the kill? 

Will must have noticed the wheels turning in the girls head and looks down hopelessly. “It’s going to be hard for people to find us then, right?”

Stephanie says nothing, and gnaws on her bottom lip because he’s right. If they’re stuck in another world then…

.

.

.

How are their loved ones going to know?

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

When Jonathan woke up the next day he wasn’t expecting his mother to be leaving before he did. “Mom? Where are you going?” He asked, as she stopped upon hearing him speak.

“Oh, I’m going to town. I’m going to pick up a few things.” She replies, putting her belongings into her purse. “I was… you know, thinking about maybe getting some stuff Will likes to eat so he can have it when he gets home. Or, you know–”

“Mom?”

“And maybe a new phone? Our old one’s obviously not fine, so–”

“Mom?” Jonathan tries again, getting a hum. “You sure you’re okay going by yourself? I can miss school again if you don’t feel comfortable yet.”

“No, no, don’t do that. Go… I just need to get out of the house. I’ve been stuck in here for a few days.” Joyce replies, reassuring her oldest. “I’ll be okay.”

“Okay.” He nods. “But if something happens just… call the school and I’ll be there.”

“Okay.” She says, giving her a quick hug. “Thank you, sweetie. I’ll see you later.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

In the early morning at the Wheeler’s house, the boys were planning a mission to finally figure out what happened to their friends.

“We just tell our parents we have AV Club after school. That’ll give us at least a few hours for Operation Mirkwood.” Mike explains, the three of them gathered around the upside down D&D board.

“You seriously think that the weirdo knows where Will and Steph are?” Lucas said, making the other boy eye roll.

“Just trust me on this, okay? Did you get the supplies?”

“Yeah.” He nods, and shows off what he’s got. “Binoculars... from ‘Nam. Army knife... also from ‘Nam. Hammer, camouflage bandana…” He grins. “And the wrist rocket.”

Dustin looks at him strangely, almost laughing. “You’re gonna take out the Demogorgon with a slingshot?”

“First of all, it’s a wrist rocket. And second of all, the Demogorgon’s not real. It’s made up. But if there is something out there, I’m gonna shoot it in the eye–” Lucas snaps the rubber and startles his friend. “And blind it.”

“Dustin, what did you get?” Mike asked, trying to get straight to the point.

“Well, alrighty.” Dustin starts pouring stuff out of his bag, also proud of what he grabbed (Which is totally not what Mike told him to bring). “So, we’ve got... Nutty Bars, Bazooka, Pez, Smarties, Pringles, Nilla Wafers, apple, banana, and trail mix.”

“Seriously?” Lucas said, disappointed.

“We need energy for our travels. For stamina. And besides, why do we even need weapons anyway?” He points to the girl on the couch. “We have her.”

“She shut one door!”

“With her mind! Are you kidding me? That’s insane!” Dustin could almost laugh with all the stuff he could think of about her powers. “Imagine all the other cool stuff she could do. Like…” He quickly looks around and grabs a giant toy version of the Millennium Falcon. “I bet that she could make this fly!” He stands in front of El and holds it out. “Hey. Hey. Okay, concentrate. Okay?” He lets go of the toy that quickly drops to the floor. “Okay, one more time. Okay. Use your powers, okay?”

“Idiot.” Lucas mumbles once the toy drops to the floor again.

Mike sighs. “She’s not a dog!” He says, taking it away from him.

“Boys!” Karen calls out from above. “Time for school!”

He crouches down in front of Eleven as the rest of his friends make their way up stairs. “Just stay down here. Don’t make any noise, and don’t leave. If you get hungry, eat Dustin’s snacks, okay?” 

“Michael!”

“Coming!” Why must he be rushed? “You know those power lines?”

“Power lines?” El asked, confused.

“Yeah. The ones behind my house?”

“Yes.”

“Meet us there, after school.”

“After school?”

“Yeah, 3:15.” It took a second for Mike to realize that she didn’t understand. “Ah. Hang on.” He unstraps his watch and ties around her own wrist. “When the numbers read three-one-five, meet us there.”

“‘Three-one-five’.” She repeats.

He nods. “Yeah. Three-one-five.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

“Did you get any rest?”

Her tired blue eyes looked back at him, his face scrunched up in concern for the girl that almost tripped two seconds ago. And to answer his question, it was ‘no’. Their little rest had turned into sleep, but once again she couldn’t dare close her eyes with the beast lurking somewhere (She’s honestly surprised she’s still standing at this point).

“Yeah, I got a little.” She said, hoping that sounded convincing. 

Will narrows his eyes and steps in front of her, stopping them from walking any further. “No you didn’t.”

“Will–”

“Why aren’t you getting any sleep?”

She sucks in a breath. Guess there was no point in arguing with a twelve year old. “Because I’m keeping an eye out.” She tries taking a step around him but he follows.

“That’s bullshit.” He replies, shocking her (She’s honestly heard him cuss before. Which is ironic since he hangs out with three boys that act like cussing is their first language).

“Will, it’s true. I’m keeping an eye out.”

“Yeah, I understand. But you can’t keep missing sleep because of that.”

“Someone’s got to protect you. Just like I promise.”

“Well how are you supposed to do that when you can barely stand?” That seemed to strike a nerve. “Can you just… next time we sleep, I’ll watch and you actually sleep.”

“Will–”

“And, if I hear something, I’ll wake you up immediately. How’s that?”

Well… she can’t say no to that face. She sighs. “Okay. I’ll sleep.” She replies, getting him to smile. “But you wake me up if you hear anything, okay? Don’t you even think about doing the opposite and handling it yourself. I don’t want you to wound up hurt or dead. Got it?”

“Got it.” 

The two of them continued their unwanted detour that ended up being Hawkins’ little downtown. This place looked more like the apocalypse than their neighbourhoods. Dark, abandoned, quiet and completely trashed. It seemed a little scarier to walk around than the previous routes they took. 

“Maybe we can hide out somewhere here?” Will asked, as they stopped at an intersection to look around.

“Possibly. If anything’s open we can. I want to avoid making too much ruckus in case that’s what attracts the monster.” Steph said, thinking. 

They walked slowly and carefully by each store, peeking inside to see if anything got their attention. Stephanie blissfully sighs upon seeing a familiar sign and points.

“Dude, I kill for some chicken parmesan right now.” She says, smiling at the thought of eating Italian at ‘Enzo’s’. 

“Hmm, meatball’s sounds good. But I think I really want my mom’s Sloppy Joes.” Will admits, and can already picture it in front of him.

“Sloppy Joes are awesome too. I wouldn’t mind eating that when I get back either. Then Enzo’s.”

“Totally Enzo’s.” He chuckles. “Uh, so when we do get out of here, how do we explain this to someone?”

“What? This?” She gestures to the open air. “You mean that telling the authorities that we were abducted by an eight foot tall creature with just a mouth and brought to a creepier version of Hawkins doesn’t sound truthful?”

He makes a face. “I… I don’t know. They might think we’re crazy.”

“Crazy, but it’s true.” She shrugs. “I really do wonder how we’re going to explain this.”

“I hope my mom contacted Chief Hopper. I know they were good friends growing up, I’m sure he believes her.”

“I hope it’s him, I don’t really like some of the people he works with.”

Will tilts his head, confused. “You don’t like cops?”

“No, I don’t certain cops here. I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them.”

“How come?”

“Well–” She cuts herself off and stops, eyes trailing to something inside one of the shops. She takes a second to make sure she’s seeing that right before pointing and saying, “November 6th.”

Will perks up at that. “That’s the day when we had our D&D campaign. The night we disappeared.”

“Yeah.” Steph looks around her hand following up to another object, a clock. “Nine Twenty-Three. That’s probably around the time we disappeared too.”

“But why is everything stuck this way?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, didn’t this place exist beforehand?” Will asked, head spinning. “How come everything is stuck on the night we disappeared?”

She purses her lips. “It… exist because of us? Or does time run differently here?”

“This is making my head hurt.”

She chuckles. “You and me both, kid.”

They continued their walk, popping into a few shops when they saw something useful, like another set of matches or even a sleeping bag they could share. They eventually ended up at a hunting store and scavenged there. Steph started grabbing a couple boxes of shotgun shells and ones that could fit inside Mr. Harrington’s pistol. It felt strange to have something like this in her possession, especially given the history of it. A very… bittersweet history of it. 

Stupid, Harring– The small box tv on the counter startled her when it made a noise. When her gaze locks onto it, she realizes it’s not even on. She sighs, shaking her head. Now I’m imagining shit? This is getting fucking ridiculous.

She starts making room inside her bag for the ammunition when–

.

|| –Those Poor Children. ||

.

Stephanie nearly drops everything and grips the gun and starts frantically searching for the voice. What in the fucking–

.

|| Jesus, I know. I can only imagine what their families are going through. ||

|| It’s such a shame– ||

.

“What the…?”

“Did you hear that too?” Will asked, eyes full of hope as she looked between him and empty space behind the counter.

“Huh? Um… Y-Yeah. I-I did.” She swallows and then realizes something. “Wait… is that what you– Is that what you were talking about?”

“Yeah!” He shakes his head eagerly. “I told you, I swear I could hear my mom and Jonathan talking that night. I told you I wasn’t crazy.”

Stephanie takes a deep breath, still in a bit of disbelief I mean– This changes everything she’s thought about this place. “If we can hear somebody, then…” She couldn’t even finish the sentence. It was so shocking.

“Maybe we can talk to them. I know for a fact my mom heard me when I called the phone. She even responded when I talked back.”

“So it’s totally possible.” She goes silent to think, an idea coming to mind in a matter of seconds. She grins. “Follow me.”

Will of course does, a little intrigued by the fact that they found themselves climbing to the top of an old bell tower that overlooks most of Hawkins. “What is this place?”

“Somewhere I probably shouldn’t have been hanging out at when I was young.” Steph admits. “Don’t worry, the tower hasn’t been used in decades ‘cause the bell’s broken. Alright.” She smacks her hands together. “We have to figure out a way to get someone’s attention. Whether it’s your family, my family, friends, or hell, even some random stranger. We just need to get someone’s attention.”

“But how? I’m not even sure how any of this works.” Will asked, truthfully. He’s still not even really sure how he was able to contact his mom that night. 

She hums, scratching her head. “Where’s your house at?” He gets close to the edge, looks around and points to it in the distance. She nods and starts doing the same as she speaks, “Alright, well there’s mine, Lucas’, and Mike’s. So we got options. We just need to figure out how you were able to speak to your mom that night. If we can figure that out, maybe we can do it again.”

“All I really did was just dial my house’s number and she picked up.”

“Okay. Maybe it’s just that simple after all.”

“Well… I know whatever happened that night, it fired the house’s phone. We’re going to need a new phone.”

“We can get one. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll move on to another house. Hopefully, one of our friends will pick up.”

And they have to. This is our only plan right now. She waves for him to go first. “Careful going down, it’s more tricky than going up.”

“Okay.” He says, doing what he was told.

She starts to follow closely behind when another voice appears.

.

|| I am such an idiot. || 

.

She froze, her heart sinking again. She looks back at one of the corners of the tower, and an aching feeling in her gut.

“Steve?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Steve had a cigarette in one hand, and his other tangled up his own locks; One leg was dangling off the tower, while the rest of his body laid against the arch of the opening. Today was stupidly sunny, barely any clouds and no smell of precipitation in the air for a chance of rain – the aesthetic was the complete opposite of his mood right now.

He took a puff of nicotine and blew it out like a long, heavy sigh. The shit from last night keeps replaying in his head, provoking him to do or say something he’s probably not supposed to (or is supposed to, his subconscious yells at him) – He still doesn’t understand why he suddenly ended up here out of place. He could have gone to skull rock, or even the quarry, or maybe even just running around the mall hoping no one realizes he’s a teenager and asks why he’s not in school.

He groans, closing his eyes, listening to the traffic below and people bickering, praying nobody looks up and finds him here. Again, why did I pick this place?

“I am such an idiot.” He mutters, then the insecurities he had slowly started to fade away when he felt a presence nearby. Worried that maybe a cop finally found him, he changes his sadden look for something cooler before opening his eyes and looking. 

But strangely enough, no one was even there.

“Huh.” Steve blinks, swearing that he could feel someone was watching him. Maybe though? I mean, this was an old church that may or may not be haunted.

He shakes his head. “Fuck this.” He puts his bud out on the ground and stands up to leave.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“Hey, Where’s Steve? I didn’t see his car in the parking lot.” Nancy asks, butting into Carol and Tommy’s conversation. She honestly wanted to see him to give him another apology, she still felt bad for prying so much about something she probably shouldn’t have seen. And I want to see if he’s in a good mental state today.

She watches the couple spare a look and gets worried, “What?”

“You haven’t seen him yet?” Carol said, as she shakes her head. “That’s weird.”

“Steve never skips school.” Tommy adds.

“What did you guys argue about last night?”

“Us?” Nancy said, pointing to herself. “You think he’s not here because we fought?”

“It’s a possibility. He finally has a girlfriend who’s charm finally made the King skip class.” Carol said, arms cross. “I’d say that’s an achievement.”

She scoffs. “First of all, It was just a disagreement, nothing more. A second, there’s no way that’s the reason he’s not here.”

“Maybe you hit one of his insecurities you were yelling about last night.”

Nancy holds her tongue and ends up just leaving in a huff. Every time she thinks she’s finally on their level, she’s pushed back down. She sighs and enters her first class of the day. Her gaze follows over to where her friend would be at, but atlas, her desk was empty.

She reaches out and taps the girl in front of her shoulder. “Hey, Ally. Where’s Barb?”

The girl raised an eyebrow. “Um, shouldn’t you know?”

Nancy’s stomach dropped. “You haven’t seen her anywhere... at all?” 

Ally shakes her head just as the bell rings and everyone’s ordered to sit down, leaving the Wheeler to wonder if she stayed home too because of their bickering.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“There she is. Emerald City.” Powell announced as they pulled up to the one and only laboratory in Hawkins. They were going off really their only lead at this point, and hoping it plays out.

“I heard they make space weapons in there.” Callahan replies, getting a look. 

“Space weapons?”

“Yeah. You know, like, Reagan’s Star Wars. I guess we’re gonna blow the Ruskies to smithereens.”

“Hey, can I help you?” The guard asked once the police car rolled to a stop just in front of the gate.

“Uh, yeah. We’re here for a tour.” Hopper lied.

“Oh, we don’t give tours.”

“Okay... A quick look around.”

“You have to get clearance for that. You can contact, uh... Rick Schaeffer at the Department of Energy.”

“Maybe you seen it on TV.” Hopper pushes, not backing down from this. “We got two local kids missing. We have reason to believe they might have snuck in here.”

“Like I said, you have to speak to Mr. Schaeffer.”

Hopper exhaled through his nose, and turned the car and placed his hat on the dashboard; His partners beside him grew quiet, and let him have at it. “What’s your name?”

“Patrick.” 

“Patrick, I got a panicked mayor, and I got reporters breathing down my neck and I got two very upset mothers.” He said, his face growing softer, more wounded like. “Now, I know the kid’s not in there, but I gotta check off this box. Patrick, would you do me a favor? Would you speak to your boss and see what you can swing for us? I’d really appreciate it. I’m talking ten minutes, tops.”

Just ten minutes to see if they were in there. That’s all that the police chief needs…

And wants.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Steve heads inside the shop nearby, his stomach growling for food. It completely slipped his mind this morning – or afternoon now – he’s completely lost track of time. 

Now what kind of junk sounds appetizing today? He starts wandering around, not at all familiar with this layout or the shop for that matter (Why didn’t he just go to the sandwich shop next door again?). As he slips through one of the aisles, he notices the person in front of him struggling to reach for something off the high shelf. 

Deciding to be a nice boy, he reaches up and grabs it down for her. “Here you go, Ma’am.”

“Oh, thank you.” She said, surprised and grateful. “How kind of you.”

“Early Christmas shopping?” 

“Oh, I wish. No, I just need a new phone in case my son calls the house.”

He nods. “Your son lives far then?”

“Um, no, h-he’s missing.”

Oh?

Oh…

Oh!

Steve’s eyes widened at the realization. “Oh, oh my god, I’m so sorry. You’re that kid’s mother.”

“I am.” Joyce says, shifting her weight around. 

“Am… so sorry, I-I didn’t know, I–”

“Like you said, you didn’t know.” She puts the phone into the shopping cart. “It’s okay.”

“Okay, um…” This was awkward, right? Steve shifted on his feet too, not really sure how to wrap this up. “Uh, do you have… uh… heard any updates?”

Joyce shakes her head, sadly. “Not yet. I know the Police Chief has put many of his guys and volunteers to work. But I think at this point they covered all of Hawkins.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I just, uh–” He trails off, struggling to make a sentence. “Sorry, I was just being nosy. I don’t really hear much news, I…” He swallows. “I went to school with the Henderson girl, so...”

Is he making any sense? Hopefully she’s understanding what he means– Fuck, his heart’s racing so fast.

“Oh, yeah?” Joyce said, looking bittersweet – Looking like she was a mother staring at her hurt child (How come his own mother never looked at him like that?). “Must be hard knowing someone you knew is missing.”

Damn, right on the money. “Yeah.” He says, his throat feeling tight.

She hums, and then gives him a stern expression. “Shouldn’t you be in school though?”

Annnnddddd… Fuck. 

Nice Going, Harrington. He scolded himself as he racked his brain for a believable lie. “Oh, uh, I-I graduated already. I was a grade ahead.”

“Oh.” She says, apologetically. “My mistake.”

“No worries, seriously. It happens all the time.” At least he didn’t say something stupid, and needs to get out of this conversation before he does but… damn his little heart sometimes. “Uh–” He gestures to her cart full of different items. “Do you want me to pay for some of that? For bothering you? Or uh, I… I know you’re probably–”

“Oh, no!” She shakes her head. “No. Thanks, but I can get it. Money’s a little tight, I’ll admit, but there’s nothing I can do about it. You know?”

“You sure?”

“Yes. I appreciate the offer.” Joyce smiles, and subconsciously pats the young man on his shoulder. “You’re very sweet. Take care.”

“You too.” He says, seeing this as he exits and walks past her.

Joyce watches as he turns to another aisle, growing a bit sad by the interaction. 

Alright, do I have everything? She has a new phone, some groceries– things she knows Will would like– 

The display of string lights flickered for a second.

Confused, thinking most likely it was probably a short circuit, she doesn’t understand why she ended up muttering her youngest name, “Will.”

Coincidentally, the light flickers shortly afterwards. “Will!” She says, again, hope blooming in her chest. Then, all the lights on the display shined for a few seconds. 

God, call her crazy, but maybe this was a sign that her son is still close by.

Before anyone could blink, the checkout counter was filled up with so many boxes of Christmas lights, some just the basic color, and some of the tri-colors. She can only imagine how much this is going to cost her, but who cares! If this is strangely how she can talk to her son, then this is what she shall do.

Her Boss, who was the clerk for the day, looks at her worriedly. “Joyce–”

“Just ring me up, Donald.” Is all she said, patiently waiting until he was all finished. Without sparing another word, she gathers all the bags into her hands and races to her car.

Donald sighs while watching her leave. “That poor woman.” He says, just as Steve comes up to the counter with his snacks and drinks. He raises an eyebrow. “Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” 

“Aren’t you supposed to be minding your own business?” Steve said, becoming bitter again.

“Mmm, hmm.” He scans everything and a price pops up on his screen. “That’ll be Five-Fifty.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

“Found a phone.” Will said, almost immediately as they entered. It shouldn’t be a shock since this is the place his mother works at.

“That should work.” Steph said, smiling. “Let’s get a move on.”

Will gets up on his tippy toes to grab it, slowly pulling it off the shelf when something presses his hand. Startled, he falls back and the older girl grabs the box before it falls. 

“What happened?” She asked, worriedly.

“S-Something touched me.” He says, taking a step back.

“What?” She hands him the box and peeks over the shelf herself (She’s not exactly tall either). There was nothing odd out of the ordinary, just the normal dust and native plants that grew in this world. She frowns. “I don’t really see anything.”

Suddenly the display of lights flickered. Out of instinct her hand reaches for the pistol at her side. Then her heart sinks at the next thing.

.

|| Uh, do you want me to pay for some of that? I know you’re probably– || 

.

“Steve?” Stephanie says, surprised. 

So she wasn’t crazy after all. She did hear him. 

Will looked up at her, stunned too. “Steve Harrington?” He asked, but before she could speak another voice could be heard.

.

|| –I can get it. Money’s a little tight, I’ll admit, but there’s nothing I can do about it. You know? ||

|| You sure? ||

|| Yes. I appreciate the offer. You’re very sweet. Take care. || 

.

“Mrs. Byers?/Mom?!” They both erupted, then went quiet to see if they could hear anything else.

Nothing.

“Shit.” The oldest said, and now gnawing on her lip again, nervously (And completely forgetting about Steve for the time being). “That might have been our chance.” She hears the boy drop the phone somewhere next to her. “Will?”

The boy seemed fascinated with an idea swirling around in his head. Stephanie finds herself just watching, waiting to see what he had in mind. Will reaches up and lets his fingers brush the display of some string lights, the lights getting a little bit hazy – It was almost like his touch was giving them electricity. 

.

|| Will. || 

.

Joyce’s voice broke through very faintly, but they both heard it and nearly cried.

“Touch the light again.” Steph said, urgently. Will does what he’s told and they both stay quiet again.

.

|| Will! ||

.

“She hears us.” He says, happily. 

“Holy shit…” She chuckles. “I have an idea. Touch all the lights.”

Frantically, they rush to touch all the lights they saw on display, not even questioning how this was even possible, they just hoped Joyce got the message. Once the hue died down they both held their breaths, and crossed their fingers. And then…

.

|| Just ring me up, Donald. ||

.

Stephanie threw her hands up. “Yes!” She says, with Will laughing beside her. “Thank you, Ms. Byers.”

“My mom’s the best.” He said, with a warm look.

“Hell, yeah she is. And forget the phone–” She locks eyes with him, determined. “I think we figured out a better way to communicate.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“And you think these missing kids may have crawled through there?” 

Hopper spares the man a glance before looking back at the drain. Somehow, he convinced the security guard to let him and his guys in, but so far their theories are turning out pretty sour. “Well, that was the idea.”

Their “Tour Guide”, I guess you can call him that, made a fact that was all smug and prideful. “Yeah, I just don’t see how that’d be possible. We’ve got over 100 cameras. Every square inch covered, plus all my guys. No one breaks in here. Certainly not some kids.”

Hopper perked up at the news, eyes trailing to a few cameras in view. Now it was his turn to be the smug one as he asked, “Those cameras, you keep the tapes?”

Well… I don’t think the guide was expecting that reaction.

Now, the three of them were following the man inside, the hallways swarmed with men in lab coats, and a security team blocking a room that was marked “hazardous”. 

The police Chief found this a bit suspicious and asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you guys do in here?”

The guide chuckles. “You’re asking the wrong guy.”

“Staying one step ahead of the Russians?”

“I expect. Something like that.”

“Who’s in charge here?”

“That’d be Dr. Brenner.”

“And he builds the space lasers?” Callahan asked, eagerly. 

“Space lasers?”

“Ignore him.” Hopper replies, sighing. They eventually entered the surveillance room, the three of them watching the screen closely. “This is the night of the 6th and 7th we’re seeing here?”

“That’s correct.”

Hopper narrows his eyes, waiting to see if he sees anything unusual. However, to his surprise, the tape only lasted less than a minute. “Is that it?” He asked, in disbelief. 

“Like I said, we would have seen them.”

And then the cops were practically shoved out of there, and the guide gives them their condolences for the tired search (Yeah, what an asshole, right?).

“The night of the 7th, we had a search party out for Will and Stephanie. You remember anything about that night?” Hopper asked, seeing if he wasn’t the only suspicious one. 

“Mmm, not much to remember. Called it off.” Callahan replies, thinking.

 “‘Cause of the storm.” Powell adds.

“Yeah, a lot of rain that night.” Hopper says, arriving at their car. “You see any rain on that tape?”

“What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know.” He spares a look at the building, a sinking feeling in his gut. “But they’re lying.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the boys were outside shifting through the playground for some rocks. Mike picks one up and shows it off. “How about this one?”

Dustin looks and shakes his head. “Too big for the sling.” He says, getting on his knees to do some digging. “So, do you think Eleven was born with her powers, like the X-Men, or do you think she acquired them, like... like Green Lantern?

“She’s not a superhero. She’s a weirdo.” Lucas replies, rolling his eyes.

“Why does that matter?” Mike snaps, offended. “The X-Men are weirdos.” 

“If you love her so much, why don’t you marry her?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Mike, seriously?”

“What?”

“You look at her all, like…” Lucas makes a giggly face, and softens his body language, followed by a higher pitched voice, “‘Hi, El! El! El! El! I love you so much! Would you marry me’?” 

“Shut up, Lucas.”

“Yeah, shut up, Lucas.” Their bully, Troy, announced as he stomped towards the group. “What are you losers doing back here?”

“Probably looking for their missing friends.” James said, smirking.

“That’s not funny. It’s serious. They’re in danger.” Dustin hisses, annoyed.

“I hate to break it to you, Toothless, but they’re not in danger.” Troy bites back. “They’re dead. That’s what my dad says. He said that Byers was probably killed by some other queer. And maybe your sister’s been killed by some crazy stalker who is into weirdos like her.”

The two bullies laugh as Dustin looks like he’s about to strangle someone. No one says anything about Will like that. And nobody especially says something like that about his big sister.

Mike sees this, and puts his arm in front of his friend to soothe him. “Come on. Just ignore them.” He says, and starts to leave, only to be tripped – and face planted into the ground.

“Watch where you’re going, Frogface.” Troy spats, but he instantly gets a taste of his own medicine. 

To everyone’s surprise, Dustin was the one to deliver the karma, which was forcibly shoving him to the ground. 

Everyone stared, and before someone could speak he shoved James too and scrambled to pick up Mike.

“Lucas! Let’s go!” Dustin yells, and silently tells Mike to go. As they were leaving, he flips the bullies the bird and snaps, “You shitheads need to keep Will and Phanie’s name out of your mouths! Got it?!”

And then they broke off into a Usain Bolt type sprint.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

They finally ended up back on Mirkwood, guns loaded, backpacks full, and hope in their chest. If this works, if Joyce does this right, then maybe they can finally communicate to the other side. All they needed to do was tell her where they are, and maybe they could figure out a way to get back. 

It sounded easy, and they just hoped it was.

The two of them were silent for most of the walk, and when they got to this specific road, the boy grabbed her hand, shaking. She says nothing, ‘cause nothing needs to be said about it. If that’s what made him feel safe then so be it.

“Do you think it’s negative emotions?” Will eventually said, breaking the ice.

Stephanie tilts her head, confused. “Hmm?”

“Do you think that’s how we can hear some people? Through negative emotions?” He looks up at her. “Like my mom, she must be worried about me, maybe that’s why we can hear her?”

Her eyebrows shoot up, shocked. It’s definitely a plausible theory (But would that apply to Steve as well? And if so, why is he so worried?). “Maybe.”

“But would that go with us too?” He adds, the wheels in his head really were turning today. “I mean, is that how the beast picks their victims? Because they’re in a bad mental state?”

Well, now that makes sense if you put it that way. “It’s possible.” She said, nodding. Yeah, that’s completely possible. 

It explains a lot of things. More or so she wanted to admit. She knows these last two years were… interesting to say the least. Definitely could qualify as a ‘Bad Mental State’. And… she also has felt a bit stressed about school and talks about her future. But if she knew herself was in a bad state, then that means–

“Then… are you okay?” Steph asked, realizing something. The boy froze, like actually froze when she said that. It was a trippy sight to see. “Will?”

“What?”

“Are you okay?” She tries again, a bit gentler this time. “Mentally?” Nothing. “Will–

“I… I’m fine.” 

And then he lets go of her hand and starts walking a bit quicker– not even realizing he was doing so. She stops, concern on her face. She wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction from a simple yes or no question. She makes a note for herself that when they do get out of here she’s going to have a talk with him (Or at least tell Joyce about her concerns).

She sighs. Always got to be the therapist, Henderson.

She takes a step to move but stops, her eyes trailing off the road to her right, right into the void of the trees. It was weird. She felt like someone was standing right there – The same kind of presence back at the clock tower. 

“Huh.” She turns her attention back in front of her, then proceeds to freak out a bit when she notices how far Will was. She cusses and breaks into a sprint to catch up quickly.

Completely unaware of who that presence really was. 

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Steve steps over the barricades, his feet sinking into the leaves. Curiosity got the best of him you could say, or maybe the conversation last night really was getting under his skin (Like he’ll ever admit that), but he found himself here. Standing at a… crime scene, I guess. 

Her car went off road with herself and the Byers boy in it. Not long afterwards, they ditched it. 

His brown orbs trailed from the tree the vehicle hit and down the long road. He also knows, from what he’s heard, they both ran back to the boy’s house and then the trail went cold after that. But that’s the part that tickled his brain a bit. 

Why run all the way back home, a place you’re probably the safest at, and then leave it? It didn’t make sense in his book. Hell, it shouldn’t make sense in anybody’s book. What was the urge for them to run away from home and into the thick woods that surrounds Hawkins? 

He rubbed his chin and started thinking like he was going to solve this or whatever. Like…

He then scoffs at himself. 

What the fuck am I even doing? What is he doing? Why did he drive himself here? It’s not like he should care anymore. I mean, he shouldn’t care anymore. His parents would have his head if they knew–

Then there it is again.

That strange feeling that someone’s watching him. 

He turns around, half expecting a cop to be there to scold him, the other half expecting nothing and– Oh! What do you know? It was nothing. 

But even if it was nothing, he swears someone is standing there, watching his every move. Almost like this presence was here to judge him and see what other stupid things he can do today.

It was definitely giving him the heebie-jeebies.

He frowns, and looks away. “What the fuck…?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

It took her an hour, but Joyce got all the lights up. She strung them all through the house, up along the wall and hanging gently off the ceiling. She hopes that she’s not losing her mind – She knows how silly this looks; Putting up Christmas lights in November (I mean, the holiday’s not that far off but still). She was expecting some reaction to happen, some or maybe all of them would immediately start blinking; Instead, her doorbell rings and she’s met with Karen Wheeler.  

Not wanting to be rude, Joyce invited her and her youngest in. Karen pops in a casserole she made into the oven, sitting next to the worried mother and tries to see what state she was in.

Joyce chuckles nervously when her guest notices the festive decoration. “Will always loved Christmas, you know. So I thought if I... I put the lights up... I don’t know, he... I’d feel like he was home somehow.” She covers part of her face with her hand. “I-It’s silly, I-I know…”

Karen shakes her head. “No. No, it’s not silly.” She takes the other woman’s hand in hers, giving her a gentle squeeze. “How is Jonathan holding up?”

Joyce takes a deep breath. “You know, he’s good at taking care of himself. He always has been, you know? I…” She scoffs. “I mean, he thinks I’m losing my mind, but…”

“Joyce.” Karen says, softly. “I want you to know something. If you need anything, anything at all... Ted and I are here for you.”

This sentimental moment caused them both to become oblivious to the lights flickering on in the hallway, a walkway pointing towards Will’s room. The only one who didn’t miss it was Holly, who was now sliding off her chair to follow.

“Thank you.” Joyce said, sincerely. 

Karen smiles. “Okay.”

The two women continued to talk, Joyce even bringing up Mike’s feelings about the whole thing – and even wondered if Claudia and Dustin were okay too. Meanwhile, little Holly Wheeler watched the lights flickered on and off, guiding her to the bedroom. Her eyes watched in awe as the many, many lamps that were lingered around Will’s room turned off and on one-by-one in a symphony-like way.

She giggles and claps, excited to watch this “show”. Then…

They all stopped and the nightmare began. 

Her happiness starts to pool away as she hears a scary sound. She then turns white as a ghost when she notices one of the walls was moving and stretching out towards her.

Who knows what would have happened if Joyce hadn’t come in and grabbed Holly, handing her back to her mother. 

“She shouldn’t be here.” Joyce said, scared in both tone and facial expression. 

Karen didn’t notice the seriousness of her look as she apologizes, “Oh, I’m sorry. She’s quite the explorer these days.”

“Wait, did you see something?” The worried Byers brushes her off, and the little girl nods quickly. “What did... what did you see? Tell me. What did you see?”

“Joyce!” The blonde scolds, but she’s already being shooed away.

“Karen, thank you for the casserole, but I need you to leave.” 

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Nancy tapped her foot repeatedly, impatiently waiting for the person to pick up the phone. “Come on, come on, come on…” She mumbled, gripping the payphone tight. “Come on–”

[ ‘Hello?’ ]

Oh, thank god. “Hi!” She says, eagerly. “Hi, uh, Ms. Holland, it’s Nancy.”

[ ‘Oh, Nancy, how are you?’ ]

“Good. I’m good. Um, I was just wondering, uh, is Barb there?”

[ ‘Mmm... No, she hasn’t come home yet.’ ]

“But she did come home, right? After the vigil?”

[ ‘No, she said she was staying with you last night.’ ] 

Shit. Nancy mentally scolds herself. “Right, yes. She did, sorry. I meant, did she come home this morning? I think she left some textbooks and she was gonna go pick them up.”

[ ‘Oh, um, no, I haven’t seen her.’ ]

“Do– do you know what? I just remembered... she’s at the library.”

[ ‘Nancy, will you please have her call me as soon as you find her?’ ]

“Yeah.” She shakes her head, frowning at how worried Barb’s mother was sounding. “Yeah, I will. Sorry to bother you.”

She hangs up the phone, frustrated. This wasn’t like Barb at all. In the past when they’ve had some disagreements, she’s never once disappeared like this. The only thing Barb’s ever done that was “extreme” was she did the silent treatment for most of the school day. 

This is so weird. This whole day’s been weird. She sighs and digs out some more change for the machine, and dials another number she knows by heart. The whole time as it rang she was nipping at the tip of her thumb. To her surprise, a voice she’s never heard before answered the phone.

[ ‘Hello?’ ]

The voice was a bit husky, but sweet with a pinch of sass. 

Nancy’s confused, and twirls the phone cord around her finger. “Oh, I’m sorry, who’s this?” She asked, wondering if she dialed the number wrong. “Is this the–”

[ ‘This is Jessica. How can I help you?’ ]

Jessica?

Jessica?

Jessica? Who’s…

Her eyes widened. 

Oh.

Now she recognizes the name. 

It was Steve’s mother – The woman she hasn’t met yet – The woman she’s “meeting” for the first time over the phone.

She swallows, nervously. “Oh, I-I’m… sorry. I was trying to get a hold of Steve.” She replies, feeling a bit awkward (and nervous?).

[ ‘Steven? And who are you to him?’ ]

Well she sounds lovely. She can hear the snobbishness in her tone, almost offended that someone was calling for her son. That’s a little weird.

“Um, I’m his girlfriend.” Nancy replies, trying to sound confident. “I was just wondering if he’s home? I haven’t seen him at school day and I’m a little worried.”

Then came the very long, very uncomfortable pause. For a second there she thought the mom hung up, it was so quiet.

[ ‘Girlfriend? That’s new. ]

“Did Steve not tell you about us?” Nancy asked, a bit hurt and a bit confused. He seemed so proud to show the whole school that they were dating, how come he never told his mother?

[ ‘What’s your name?’ ]

Skipping my question. I love it. “Um, Nancy. Nancy Wheeler, Ma’am.”

[ ‘Wheeler, you said?’ ]

“Um, yes.” Now she was puzzled even more. Was this a bad thing–

[ ‘That’s wonderful!’ ] 

Nancy blinks. “It… is?”

[ ‘My son’s dating a Wheeler! I almost can’t believe it.’ ]

And the woman was laughing with joy(?), which Nancy puts to the side. She just needs to get an answer to her own simple question. “That’s… wonderful, um… is Steve there?”

[ ‘No, he’s not. *Sigh* I swear if that boy’s skipping school, we’re going to have a problem.’ ]

And I think I just made everything worse. She straightens herself up, ready to end this. “Okay, Well… thanks, Mrs. Harrington, I’ll see if he’s maybe hiding out somewhere in the school.”

[ ‘Okay. Well, you have a good rest of your day, sweetheart.’ ]

Sweetheart? Nancy shakes her head again. “Thanks. You too.” She hangs up the phone. Well that was even weirder than the last one.

She crosses her arms, turning to head inside only her eyes to beeline to Carol and Tommy following someone closely – Tommy looking pissed off, especially. 

“What the heck?” She says, and hurries towards them.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Hopper and his partner entered the library with an idea – an idea hanging on a very thin thread that is. So, he puts on his best smile and takes off his hat, strolling up to the woman at the desk. “Hey, Marissa. How you doin’?”

The librarian pursed her lips. “You have a lot of nerve showing up here.”

He blinks. “What?”

“You could have at least called, said, ‘Marissa! Hey, it’s not gonna work out. Sorry I wasted your time. I’m a dіck’.”

Oh, now he remembers. “Yep.” He said, agreeing immediately. “I’m sorry. Uh... Maybe we could go out again next week?” She, and even Powell, made a face at him that gave him his answer. He smacks his lips and looks around. “Newspapers? You guys got newspapers around here?”

Marissa nods and shows them where they all are. “We have the New York Times, the Post, all the big ones. Organized by year and topic. You can find the corresponding microfiche in the reading room.”

“Okay, we’re looking for anything on the Hawkins National Laboratory.”

“Well, shouldn’t you be looking for that missing kid?”

“Yeah. We are.” Hopper pushes, and adds, “So, why don’t you start with the Times, and we’ll check out the Post.”

She scoffs in disbelief and walks off, Powell stepping up with a look on his face. “The librarian?” He said, getting a shrug.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Nancy sped up when she saw who they were stalking in the parking lot. Why would two people like Tommy and Carol go after a kid like Jonathan Byers? Nothing that went through her mind would give her that answer. When she got closer is when it got more intense. 

Tommy was practically manhandling Jonathan, yelling and trying to take his bag away from him. The eldest Wheeler sped up even more, full on running now.

She manages to step between the two of them, arms out in defense. “Hey! What’s going on?”

“This creep was spying on us last night!” Tommy said, pointing furiously. “Nicole says he was taking pictures of us by the pool.”

“I was looking for my brother.” Jonathan replies, holding his bag close.

“Bullshit. Now let me see.”

“Back off!”

Nancy steps in between them again. “Tommy, stop!” She yells, making him scoff.

“You’re defending this creep, Wheeler?” Carol asked, in disgust.

“First of all, you really going to believe what Nicole said? The girl’s like the boy who cried wolf.”

“Nancy–”

“Lastly, so what if he has photos of us at the pool? It wasn’t like we’re naked.”

“Naked or not, he still took pictures of us!” Tommy snaps, taking a step closer as she takes a step back.

“Pictures or not, he was looking for his brother–”

“How do you know, huh? How?”

“Because he’s been hanging out missing poster signs of him and missing school because he’s the big brother.” Nancy looks over her shoulder, locking eyes with Jonathan. “Go.” He hesitates. “Go, man!”

Not wasting another opportunity, he hustles off towards his car. Tommy tries to lunge towards him, but Nancy isn’t letting up.

“What the fuck, Nancy?!” Tommy shouted, and she chose to ignore him by walking away once she knew Jonathan wasn’t around. “Nancy!”

“Nancy, get back here!” Carol yelled.

“Nancy, you such a fucking princess! Wait until your boyfriend hears about this!”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“Dude, I can’t believe you did that!” Lucas said, as they bike away from the school. “You know Troy and James are not going to let that slide.”

“I don’t care!” Dustin says, bitterly (and if he could cross his arms right now he would). “I don’t like when people bad mouth my friends, bad mouth my sister! I mean, for Christ’s sake, she was giving Will a ride home. What’s so bad about that?”

He doesn’t care if James’s waiting tomorrow to give him a wedgie, or Troy’s fist plummeting into his face, he doesn’t care. Both Will and Phanie had their fair share of bullying themselves, or whispers of derogatory names and speeches – All because Will was the “quiet kid” and wears “colorful” clothing; All because his sister wasn’t a “girly-girl” and a total nerd. He’s heard that all throughout his life, and sometimes he said something, sometimes he stays silent when told too – He probably should have done that today.

But those… fucking bullies just had to poke him when he was the most stress. Stressed out with each day that none of them had come home.

Jeez, he’s either going to get scolded or praised by his mother if she finds out about that interaction. 

“And don’t even try to convince me to beg them for forgiveness. They don’t deserve it and I’m standing my ground.” Dustin adds, shutting his friend up. As they rode closer and closer to their houses, he frowned, worriedly.

I just hope El knows what she’s talking about. He just wants to find them both soon (Safe and sound would be a plus).

The boys continued to ride until they arrived at the power lines behind the Wheelers’ house. Mike shouted and told the girl to hope on, warning all of them they only had a few hours to pull this off.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Joyce was standing in her kitchen with a cigarette when Chester started barking. She looks up to see the lights in the living room start flickering, and hurries in there. As soon as she entered they died down. Then, slowly the light directly above her activated, and then made a pathway to the other side of the room. Her fingers laced around them, and followed, ending up being directed at a bundle of them lying on the floor.

She rushes to take them in her hands, sitting down and taking a deep breath. It was now or never to find out if she was really losing her mind or not. She closes her eyes, and whispers,

“Will... are you here?”

There was a brief pause followed by the ball lighting up and fading. She chuckles in excitement, completely over the moon with fresh tears in her eyes. 

“Okay, good, good, good, good. Are you…” How should she do this? “Um, blink once for yes, twice for no. C-Can y-you do that for me, sweetie? Can you do–” The ball lights up again just once as she feels a tear run down her cheek and hugs the object.

She can feel it in her bones, in her heart now. She knows this is her baby boy. She knows that her son is still with her.

Joyce smiles and sniffles. “Oh, good boy. Good boy. Okay, Will, um–” Another deep breath. “Is… Is Stephanie with you too?” 

One blink. The girl who was kind enough to pick up her son is still with him despite all this time. She can finally put some of that guilt away now.

“That’s wonderful news.” She said, her expression growing bigger. However, this was going to be the hardest question yet to ask. “Baby, I need to know…” She swallows. “Are you guys alive?”

One blink and her heart skips a beat. She thanks any God who’s listening for this.

Her lip quivers as she follows up with, “Are you guys safe?”

Two blinks.

Her son and Stephanie were not okay.

Now, Joyce was shaking like a leaf as she clenched the lights tighter, her mind running a mile a minute on what she can do. What could she say that wouldn’t revert to playing twenty questions four times over?

“I need to know where to find you two, honey. Where... where are you? Can you... can you tell me where you are? Can you…” She chokes, her cheeks completely stained. “Please, baby. I need to find you. Tell me what to do. Please just... Will…”

She didn’t know how long she sat there and cried, wondering what she could do for her baby, for Steph; But at some point a light bulb idea appeared. She suddenly found herself stringing some lights on the wall over her couch, a row of three, before popping open a can of black paint and began brushing letters on.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

“How do we get my mom’s attention when we can’t see what she’s done?” Will asked after hours of walking back to his home, he was disappointed to find that his house still looks the same. I guess their theory about earlier was right–

This world was stuck on the day he and Steph got kidnapped by the beast.

The oldest walked around a bit, thinking. Unfortunately, despite all the lights Joyce bought, they can’t see any of them. “Did she put it in your room, maybe?” Stephanie thought, and wandered inside.

Nothing. Of course. The only thing she saw that was possibly different was some scratch marks on the wall, ones that would be too high for a dog to do.

She swallows and leaves, meeting the boy in the hallway. “Did you have scratches on your wall before?” Will gives her a weird look and shakes his head. She hums. “We got to find those lights quickly. I think that monster’s been lurking around here.”

They found themselves back in the living room, and started moving their arms around, squinting too to see if something would appear. All hope was starting to seem lost until her hand hits an object above, a glowing hue appears for a split second.

“Whoa…” Will said, in awe, and suddenly, they both swore they heard a dog barking. “Chester?”

Steph took this as a sign to keep going, hitting the same spot again before gently moving her hand along the imaginary line. She trails to the little cabinet against the wall, feeling around until she hits something that makes light.

Come on, Ms. Byers. Please tell me you’re home. The two of them waited anxiously, waiting for the woman to speak, waiting for–

.

|| Will... are you here? ||

.

Joyce’s voice broke through, breaking them.

“Mom.” Will breaths, coming down to sit on his knees. “What do I–”

“Start feeling around. Just like I did.” Steph said, coming to sit next to him. He nods again, keeping calm and feels around – His fingers touching something that made the hue appear again. “Perfect. Just like that.”

.

|| Okay, good, good, good, good. ||

.

“See?” Steph says, happily. “It’s working.”

“Mom.” Will says again, smiling. Now, they just have to stay silent and listen.

.

|| Are you… Um, blink once for yes, twice for no. C-Can y-you do that for me, sweetie? Can you do– || 

.

Of course they can. So Will reaches out and touches it once.

.

|| Oh, good boy. Good boy. Okay, Will, um– Is… Is Stephanie with you too? ||

.

One touch. Will is eternally grateful that he’s not alone in this scary place. 

.

|| That’s wonderful news – Baby, I need to know… ||

.

There’s a pause, and they hold their breaths.

.

|| Are you guys alive? ||

.

Their hearts clenched at how painful she sounded. 

His poor mother. I can only imagine what she must feel like. Steph thought, and touched his shoulder, trying to give him some comfort.

He touches the air with a shaky hand, trying not to beat himself up over how much his mother was suffering.

.

|| Are you guys safe? ||

.

They frown, and he touches the air twice.

I’m sorry, Mom. Will says, trying not to picture the state she was in after that answer.

.

|| I need to know where to find you two, honey. Where... where are you? Can you... can you tell me where you are? Can you… Please, baby. I need to find you. Tell me what to do. Please just... Will… ||

.

“Mom?” He croaked, after she went silent. “Mom?”

“Ms. Byers?” She said, worriedly.

“Mom, please… where did you–”

Then they heard the couch scrap across the floor, hitting the wall, followed by the sounds of hammering. 

“What is she doing now?” He asks, both of them standing and hearing the string lights she must have in her hands clink together, and move along the wall. “Why is she hanging up more lights?”

Although he was puzzled, Stephanie was not. She walks over to the couch, getting onto the cushions and feeling around, the hues returning when she hits a certain spot. She laughs blissfully.

“Oh, your mom’s a genius.” Steph said, with a huge smile on her face.

Will gives her a look. “I don’t get it.”

“Watch closely. See–” She touches a line of lights near the ceiling. “Eight.” Then the middle. “Nine.” Then the bottom. “Nine. It makes twenty-six. Your mom’s a freaking genius.”

“Still not getting it.”

“Don’t you see? She didn’t just hang up more lights–” Her smile grows, and soon will his. “It’s an alphabet wall.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Nancy wasn’t sure what she was going to do. First Steve doesn’t come into school, and now no one knows where Barb is. She decides to kill two birds with one stone after school, and takes a drive over to the Harrington house. A quick driveby shows that her boyfriend’s car wasn’t there, so she figures he must have just skipped school because of last night’s disagreement. As for her best friend though, she couldn’t have said the same thing.

She slows down and parks directly behind Barb’s car, jogging over and taking a peek inside. Everything was the same, Barb’s purse was on the floor board, and the sweater she changed out of was laid in the seat. 

No. No way. She couldn’t believe this. If Barb didn’t drive home last night then where was she? She tried to come up with excuses, tried to make up ideas that would lead to her coming home without her car but…

Nothing made sense. 

She about cried on the way home, on the verge of a breakdown as she thinks only but the worst of the worst. 

“Hey!” Her mother calls out as she enters the house. “You’re home early! How was the game?” When her mother notices how quiet she was, it is when she meets her daughter halfway. “Nancy? What’s the matter?”

“I-It’s Barb.” Nancy croaks, shaking. “I think... something happened. Something terrible.” She hopes she’s just over exaggerating, but she doesn’t know about that.

She can’t shake off this dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“I don’t know, Chief.” Powell begins, really on the fence about all that they read.

“What don’t you know?” Hopper asked, confused.

“This lady, Terry Ives, sounds like a real nut to me. Her kid was taken for LSD mind control experiments? She’s been discredited. Claim was thrown out–”

Hopper sighs. “Okay, forget about her. Take a look at this.” He slides over a newspaper clipping he printed out. The headline said: ‘MK ULTRA EXPOSED’. He points to a familiar face in the picture. “Dr. Martin Brenner.”

“Who?”

“Brenner. He runs Hawkins Lab.”

“Okay…”

Hopper sits back in his chair with disbelief and scoffs. “You don’t find that interesting?”

“Not really.” Powell said, with a shrug. “He was involved in some hippie crap back in the day, so what?” 

“No, this isn’t hippie crap. This is CIA-sanctioned research.”

“Doesn’t mean he had anything to do with our kids.”

“Come on. Look at that.” Hopper points to the other people in the picture. “Hospital gowns. All of ‘em. Now, that piece of fabric that the teacher found by the pipe. That sure looked like a hospital gown to me, huh? Am I wrong?”

“I don’t know, Chief.”

“Come on, man. Work with me here. I’m not saying that there’s some grand conspiracy–” (You sure about that?) “I’m just…” He sighs, exhausted. “I’m saying maybe something happened. Maybe Will and Stephanie were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they saw something that they shouldn’t have.”

Powell makes a face. “It’s a reach.”

“It’s a start.” 

Before more could be said, Powell’s radio goes off, and Callahan starts speaking.

[ ‘Hey, Powell, is the chief with you?’ ] 

Hopper wastes no time to reach over and take the radio off his partner’s shoulder, answering it, “Hopper here. What do you got?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

The boys follow Eleven through the woods, the sun finally setting, slowly engulfing them in darkness if it wasn’t for the lights on their bikes. To everyone’s shock and confusion, she had brought them to a familiar place.

She turns around and faces them, replying, “Here.”

Mike gives her a look. “Yeah, this is where Will lives.”

“Hiding.”

He shakes his head. “No, no, this is where he lives. He’s missing from here. Understand?”

“What are we doing here?” Lucas asked, dropping his bike in annoyance. 

“She said he’s hiding here.”

“Um…” He looks around. “No!”

Now it was Dustin’s turn to look annoyed. “I swear, if we walked all the way out here for nothing–”

“That’s exactly what we did. I told you she didn’t know what the hell she was talking about!”

Mike sighs and looks at her. “Why did you bring us here?”

“Mike, don’t waste your time with her.” Lucas replies, fed up and tired.

“What do you want to do then?”

“Call the cops, like we should have done yesterday.”

“We are not calling the cops!” 

“Hey, guys?” Dustin says, something catching his attention. 

“What other choice do we have?” Lucas yells again. 

“Guys!” He snaps, drawing their attention to the police cars rushing by, followed by an ambulance. Their sirens were blaring loudly, and were heading in a direction they all knew where it led to.

A dreadful feeling came to all of them instantly. 

“Oh no…” Mike whispers.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

Stephanie wrote on the wall with a marker the best she could, drawing the alphabet in each row. They couldn’t see the lights or the letters Joyce probably scribbled on too, but they could make do with what they had.

“This should probably help, right?” 

“Definitely.” Will agrees with a nod.

“Good.” She smacks her hands together. “Alright, come on Mrs. Byers, talk to us. Ask us some questions.”

“Come on, Mom.”

They waited and waited, until they finally heard her speak.

.

|| Okay. Okay, baby, talk to me. Talk to me. Where are you guys? ||

.

“What should we say?” Will asked, as he climbed onto the couch.

“Uh…” What could they say? “Here! Right Here. Tell her that.”

“Okay.”

Will Reached up and started touching right above each letter, listening – His mother repeating back whatever he touched.

.

|| ‘R’. Good, good, good, good. That’s good. Come on, come on. ‘I..  G... H... T... H... E... R... E…’.‘Right here’. ||

.

Stephanie frowns, worriedly. Yeah, I know it doesn’t make any sense but it’s true.

“Come on, Mom. Understand. Please.” Will begged, quietly.

.

|| ‘Right here’? I… I-I don’t know what that means. I need you to tell me what to do. What should I do? How do I get to you guys? How do I find you? What should I do? ||

.

“Um…” Will looks over at the teenager. “What should we tell her?”

Steph’s mouth opens and closes quickly. What do they tell her if they’re not even sure what this place is? “Fuck… um…” She scratches her head. “How about–”

. “I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING.” .

The vicious voice seemed to spread itself around the house like a disease making the hair on their necks stand, and a chill ran up their spines. And then all the supposed “dead” electricity started going off, turning the whole house into a light show; Radios and TVs started going frantic; Fans turning on and spinning around too.

Will starts looking around all disoriented. “Steph, what’s going on?” 

“I–” She gasps as she hears the infamous growl in the distance, then the sound of the beast trying to bust through the wall behind her. “Will!!”

The boy frantically writes something out of his mother, just as the monster’s claw broke through the house. Steph takes a quick shot to stun it enough for them to run out the back door – From there, they were off running into the forest.

Again. 

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Joyce set the brush down, her alphabet wall was done and ready to use. She takes a few steps back so she can see the whole thing, and rubs her hands impatiently.

“Okay.” She breathes, mentally preparing herself. “Okay, baby, talk to me. Talk to me. Where are you guys?” It takes only a second for a letter to appear. “‘R’. Good, good, good, good. That’s good. Come on, come on. ‘I..  G... H... T... H... E... R... E…’.‘Right here’.”

What? 

That doesn’t make sense. What do they mean they’re right here?

“‘Right here’?” She says again, puzzled. “I… I-I don’t know what that means. I need you to tell me what to do. What should I do? How do I get to you guys? How do I find you? What should I do?”

She sees the light flicker again, and waits to see what they spell. Slight spoiler…

It was not what she expected them to say.

They were letters that were going to take her breath away.

R

U 

N 

And then all the lights in the house turned on and flickers rapidly, a sound of growling coming from behind. Scarcely, she turns to find something trying to crawl out of her wall. Terrified to even scream or speak, she starts to back away towards the door as a beast breaks through the wallpaper and hisses. 

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

The boys biked faster and faster, trying to catch up to the emergency vehicles, fearing the worst was yet to come. Just like they suspected, they ended up right at Sattler Quarry.

Meanwhile, Hopper was shaking, praying that what Callahan told him was not true. He arrives at the scene to find paramedics going deep into the water, two stretchers trailing behind. He doesn’t even know if he parked the car or not as he rushes out; A terrible, terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. He runs and blends into the crowd of firemen, waiting (im)patiently for their findings. 

“Oh, Jesus.” He mutters, trying so hard to keep his composure. “Oh, God. Please tell me it’s not the kids.”

The boys and El hid behind a truck, hearts in their throats as they watched as a waterlogged body of a boy was being loaded on the stretcher – soon followed by a larger female.

As soon as he saw the clothes, as soon as he saw the color of their hair, Hopper knew he was too late. Not wanting to break down right there and scream, he turns away and heads to his car. How in the world was he going to be able to tell Joyce and Claudia about this? How was he going to tell them that he failed to save their children after they begged him to? What could he have done differently to change this atrocious outcome?

The boys were shaking their heads from afar, not wanting to believe what they’re seeing. It was a nightmare. Just a nightmare. It has to be! They can’t really be–

“It can’t be them.” Mike choked, shaking his head. “It can’t be.”

“It’s Will and Steph.” Lucas says, lips quivering. Both boys were a mess, almost coming undone, but Dustin…

Oh, Dustin.

He felt like he was about to faint.

“Phanie…?” He whispers, taking a step back while holding his head. No. No. No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No– No! This can’t be real! This can’t be! She can’t be–

“It’s really them.” Lucas said, after getting another look once the bodies were brought back to shore. Tears were in his eyes, and they were ones he wasn’t even going to try to hide like he normally would.

Same thing goes with Mike, who was hugging himself, and sobbed. His best friend was gone. A girl that was like a sister to him was gone. He just couldn’t… wait. “Dustin?” He begins, looking over his friend who seemed so far away from this world.

It was a scary look, enough for even El to get scared and worried. She reached out to him, to comfort him; She even muttered his name for the first time.

To everyone’s surprise, he slaps her hand away.

“‘Dustin’? ‘Dustin’, what?!” He snaps, hatefully. “You were supposed to help us find them alive. You said my sister was alive?! Why did you lie to us?” He points at her, scaring her again. “What’s wrong with you? What is wrong with you?!” 

Eleven stays quiet, not even sure what to say from his outburst.

“Say something! Give me an answer, damn it!” He yells, as Lucas and Mike take a step closer.

“Dustin–” Mike tries, but the boy shakes his head and backs away.

“Screw this! Fuck everything!” Dustin turns around and grabs his bike, his friends ushering him to calm down before taking off. But whatever they say wasn’t going to be enough. The Henderson was practically up the hill when they finished their speech, and wasn’t planning on slowing down no matter what happens.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Meanwhile, not too far down the road, Joyce was running for her life – running whatever that thing was that crawled out of her wall. She was so scared that she didn’t even realize a car was coming towards her. Luckily, it stopped mere inches away, causing her to scream.

“Mom?” Jonathan says as he gets out. “Mom, what happened?” His mother couldn’t speak, only reaching out to grab her son and hold on to dear life. “It’s okay. It’s okay. I got you.” 

But everything is not okay. Far from it. 

Because in the distance, police were coming to inform them of the unfortunate news of their son and brother.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Steve slips through the sliding door in the back of his house since it was much quieter. He really didn’t feel like facing his parents just yet, and he knows this is around the time at night where they sit around with a glass of wine/beer and watch their shows. He’ll just see and deal with them in the morning, and hopefully they don’t notice any signs that there was a party last night.

He walks lightly across the floors, his mind set to go for the stairs which was going to be a bit tricky since they do tend to creak in some spots. A quick look into the living room he finds his dad on the couch, and his mother standing up but facing the opposite way. 

Perfect. He thought and made his move just as his mother’s voice broke through.

The black, wavy haired and brown eyed woman was pacing around a bit, clearly upset about something – or someone to be exact. 

“The boy was skipping school today, Richard. Can’t you believe that? How is suppose to keep up his grades?” 

Steve had to hold back from groaning as he eye rolled. Here she goes again. He chooses to ignore it, and is about to when he hears the next thing.

“If it wasn’t for his girlfriend calling we would have never known.”

He froze as soon as his foot touched one of the steps. Nancy called? 

His girlfriend actually called the house? She was actually calling because she was wondering where he was at? Even after their fight? He could smile because it warms his heart that she cares, but he was also devastated that his mother was the one to pick up the phone. He hasn’t even told–

“On the bright side, he’s dating a Wheeler. A Wheeler! You know what her father does for a living, right?” She chuckles with excitement. “It’s perfect. I can almost cry.”

And here comes another eyeroll. See this is why he didn’t bother mentioning this girlfriend this time around to his mother. He knew once she found out who her family was it was going to be a game changer. 

Jesus, Christ. He can’t wait to see what’s in store for him in the morning.

“Well, it beats the other choices he’s had in the past.” His father said, pouring salt into old wounds and making him shake his head.

These freaking people, man. I swear. Steve starts to go up the stairs when he hears another voice; This time it was on the TV.

. < In Other words– breaking news. The bodies of some local children, William Byers and Stephanie Henderson have been found. > .

He froze again, this time more rigid and cold.

No.

No, he didn’t just hear that right.

No, his mind’s just playing tricks on him because of last night…

Right?

. < The children have been missing since the 6th, and local authorities and it’s volunteers worked many hours to bring them home, only for it to end in a tragedy. >  .

“About fucking time.” Charles said, raising his beer with joy. “Damn weirdo. I guess our worries about her hanging out with our son again are put to rest.”

Jessica sighs with relief. “Thank God for that. I was tired of seeing her face everywhere.”

“Amen to that.”

He listened to his parents laugh, and clink their drinks together as the world started to spin around him.

No.

No.

This isn’t right. This isn’t right. This isn’t right. This isn’t right. This isn’t–

He’s not sure how much noise he made, or if he made any, but Steve was out the door again in a split second – running straight for his car where he’ll speed off to the unknown parts of Hawkins.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Dustin stumbles inside his house, slamming the door with more force than necessary. Maybe it was necessary ‘cause it got his mother’s attention. She came from the other room, asking what’s going on as he stares at her with a red face and puffy eyes, cheeks stained with tears that wouldn’t stop falling.

“Dustin? What’s wrong?” 

He felt like something was wrapped around his vocal cords, and there was a knife sticking into his chest, and there was something hot poking at his lungs. He has to speak. He has to tell her. It’s better if she knows from his lips rather than a man in blue. 

“Dustin?” She tries again, getting closer.”

“M-Mom…” He begins, his whole body starting to tremble. “St-Stephanie… sh-she’s… she’s…” Oh, god. Why can’t he freaking say it?

“She’s what?” Claudia asked, worriedness creeping up onto her features.

“Sh-She’s… she’s gone.” He whispers into a sob. “Th-They found them both in… I-In the quarry.” Another sob. “Th-They’re b-both gone. M-Mom. St-Stephanie’s gone…”

And then his mother started to shake her head and said ‘No’, followed by Dustin’s reassurance. This went back and forth for who knows how long, but it ended with Claudia being in the same state as her son – a hobbling mess.

“I-It’s true…” He gasps. “I-I saw it my-myself. They’re r-really b-both gone.” And then he broke down again, this time in her arms. She holds him tight, trying to be the strong one here. 

“Shh, baby, we’ll get through this.” She soothes, rubbing the curls on the back of his neck. Her son grips onto her clothes, burying his head into her chest and lets out never ending gasps for air.

“Mommy…” He choked, as his ears picked up on the sirens in front of his house.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Steve’s surprised the gas pedal hasn’t gone through the floorboard yet with how much force he’s applying. He doesn’t even know where he’s going, doesn’t even know if he’s hit something, or runs a red light, but he does know that he’s not anywhere near the speed limit. 

The news story was still playing around in his head and it was certainly not helping the situation. 

. < From the looks of it, the poor children had plummeted into the quarry and ended up drowning with possible hypothermia. But the mystery still remains on why these two disappeared in the first place. Hopefully, the police can find the answer to that, and bring some closure to the grieving families. > < Hopefully so, Liz. I can only imagine what they’re going through right now. > < Everyone here at WCPK would like to give our condolences. And we advise everyone watching to give a moment of silence for the children. > .

Steve slams on the breaks, the wheels spinning and making an awful sound as he stops along one of the abandoned roads in the town. He starts breathing heavily, which slowly turns into panting. His heartbeat was in his ears, his throat tight and dry, his brown eyes starting to gloss over.

“Fuck…” He whispers, in disbelief. No matter how many times he thinks this is a dream, thinks that maybe they were wrong and it was two other kids they found, his guts tells him ‘No’ and ‘This is real’. 

“Fuck…” He says again, the pain was slowly turning into anger which eventually led to him banging on every surface in his car. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!”

Stephanie Henderson was dead. The girl he knew since five was dead. The girl he made promises with was dead. The girl who was there for him at his every low was dead. The girl who was the only one to make him really laugh and smile was dead.

The girl he had to give up to protect was dead.

Stephanie Henderson… The girl that was his friend.

No.

Screw that! 

He didn’t want to make that choice but he had to.

The girl that is, and will always be, his friend is dead.

She was just supposed to keep moving on in her life, she was just supposed to keep hating him until she completes her dreams. She was supposed to stay in Hawkins and pretend not to know him until her dream life opens up and whisks her away. 

She was supposed to be alive and safe. 

She wasn’t supposed to be dead at the bottom of a quarry with a boy she offered to protect.

Everything he did to make sure she lived was now pointless.

Now, tears rolled down his face, his hands trembling and his lower lip quivered. Every emotion he kept locked up from their old friendship had returned and it was eating him away, tearing him bit by bit, suffocating him till he turned blue.

He still couldn’t believe it. He wishes he could blink and reality would reveal it was just another dream. 

He knows it won’t be like that. It never will be. So instead…

.

.

.

.

Steve found himself screaming until his throat ran raw.

(TBC)

A/N: Did I emotionally destroy all of you enough? I apologize a bit if so...

~~~

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[mrs-monaghan]

hi shazzz, i hope u are doing well!!

i have a question to you... why do u think yoongi is dating el captxin? i heard some things, but one of them is that el captxin said he only likes girls on his ig once, when rumours about them were loud

No he didn't say that. And no he didn't say being shipped with Suga makes him uncomfortable. It's people making shit up again like always.

Okay guys. I promised. Guess its time. I will try to gather as much as I can. Can't promise I'll get everything thou 🤭 but I'll try 😁

Real name: Jang Yi-Jeong. Producer name: also on his IG elxcapitxn. But since I cannot spell that from memory I shall be calling him el captain or the captain 😁😁😁 let's get into it.

They do not have a ship name as far as I know so my friends and i go back and forth between Yingi and capitungi 🤷🏽‍♀️

First and most importantly and most suspicious is one important question we have to answer. Who are 2 of Suga's favourite members? That's right; Jimin and Jhope. And this here is the reason why we know Suga has a type 😏 Because the captain is basically Jhope and Jimin, combined. U don't believe me?

Say whaaaaaaaaaaat?

Say what whaaaaaaat????

I'm not saying he's identical to Hopemin. I'm just saying the captain looks like them. Like alot. These 2 photos especially remind me of Jimin.

And this one, well, this one is basically if Jihope had a baby

Yeah... I know. Let's just let that sink in for a second. Can someone check on JK real quick, and ask how he feels about this? Coz its nuts! Suga really said if it can't have them I'm gonna have the next best thing 🤭🤭🤭

Mkay.... now that the most sus thing has been established, let's get into the dots people have been connecting. Apart from their incredible chemistry, of course.

So, they've known eo for 6 years

Here is el captain in 2016 if anyone is curious how he looked like.

It's the way Suga looks at the captain.

The documentary, the dinner scene, they were kind of in their own world

It's the way the captain looks at Suga too

It's Suga's reaction when the captain yelled "Min yoongi I love you!"

That was way too cute 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Them at the beach in Thailand together when Suga was on tour.

Yoonminers tried to say the person with stripped shorts was Jimin but nah. The guy in all black is the captain.

Speaking of holidays. I don't recall exactly why but at the time people had reasons to believe Suga was here too and that he was most prolly the one who took the pic.

It's the way the captain's IG is full of Suga. 🥰 He even posted this himself.

Even if its mostly music. There's alot of Suga on his account. 🤭🤭

Speaking of IG posts, out of all Jimin posts, this is the only post the captain has liked

Your bias is showing captain!!!! 🤭🤭🤭

@magicshop-pjm1 pointed out something quite funny which is; el captain didn't like the Yoonmin Suchwita one, didn't like this photo from the concert he was at which were posted around the same time as the one above

Generally just hasn't liked any other Yoonmin posts either which, you know... I'm just putting that out there for no reason whatsoever...

Basically they spend ALOT of time together. Like alot, alot. Especially during Dday.

They spent days and nights together working on the album. Supportive bf captain was also behind the scenes when Suga was at Jimmy Fallon.

If u ask me that seems unnecessary unless they are really close. Clearly what they got isn't limited to the studio.

Here's a thread about them from 2016 till now.

In conclusion: ig we now know who was in this room

[okkalo]

Hi! I saw you opened requests and thought I would drop one into your box!

I really like what you wrote for the crush + confessions, and was wondering if we could get scenarios for Reo, Shidou, and Kunigami saying "I love you" for the first time

Thanks in advance if you decide to write this!

hello! congrats on being my first request back 🤭 i hope u enjoy these and have a good day!!

characters: reo, shidou, kunigami (i haven’t mentioned this in my rules yet but i will always write pre-wildcard for him unless specified otherwise [it depends on the req too bc i feel like i won’t be able to characterize him right 😔]!!)

reo

- he was down bad since you started dating so he’s been feeling it for awhile

- knows not to say it early though because he doesn’t want you to doubt his feelings

- you’re probably feeling insecure about your relationship once he says it

- he revealed your relationship on social media not too long ago and a lot of the comments were making suggestions of you using him for his money and frankly just not being good enough for him.

- the average reo cliché am i right 🤣🤣

- reo knew you wouldn’t use him so he never worried about the comments

- he didn’t take into consideration the other comments though and just you not being used to hate comments

- he only realized once you had broke down in front of him

- he’s quick to comfort you, holding you in an embrace as you cry while rubbing your back

- once he hears you blubber about truly loving him and not needing his money he immediately gets it and separates from the hug to gently yet firmly hold your face, looking into your eyes as he confesses

“y/n, you know i don’t think any of that.” he started off, tone softening to match your vulnerable state. “and who cares what those losers claim? they’ve probably been single for decades to where they need to talk shit to cope, leave them be.”

“reo!” you gasp at his claim, giving him a light smack on the arm. that didn’t stop you from smiling, however. he only shook his head, continuing with his speech despite your disruption.

“y/n, i love you so so much. at this point even if you were using me for money i would still oblige.” he was quick to place a finger to your lips to stop your complaint. “i know you aren’t, though. but either way i still want to spoil you everyday, so i couldn’t care less about what those shitheads think, i only care about you.” you forgot how much of a sap reo could be, but either way his rambling certainly did comfort you. he sealed it all with a deep and loving kiss, making sure to replicate all of his emotions into his action.

shidou

- i’m actually going to stun everyone for a moment and say it actually takes him a WHILE to finally say the three words

- now stay with me for a minute

- i get that he’s a very say what he feels kinda guy but at the same time he doesn’t really feel love until later on

- and i mean like a year or 8 months

- it hits him so suddenly too

- you’re probably just doing something domestic with him and he realizes how important you’ve become to him

- he was soon to leave for a match abroad, so he had to get the most of your affection now before he was left to his lonesome

- that also meant he had to get some of his rowdiness out as well

“shidou, put me down!” your shout rang through your shared apartment as you thrashed around on his shoulder, which he had thrown you on like you were a stupid sack of potatoes. humiliating. he gave into your wishes shortly after, flinging you aggressively on the bed. he paid no mind to your hiss of pain at the not-so-polite meeting with the mattress. he was quick to climb on top of you. though, you noticed his usually aggressive eyes turn soft once looking down at you.

all at once, the thoughts of not being able to see your face for days on end, let alone hear your real voice hit him. he remembers back to the last time he had to leave you. how off he had felt the whole trip, his mind always thinking about you. wow, has he stooped as low as sendou?

without thinking another thought, he whispered a soft, “i love you.” he must have to be sounding this vulnerable in front of a woman. he figured he didn’t really care, enjoying the feeling of being you all to much to care. he dropped down to collapse on your body, effectively knocking out all of the air from your body while doing so. meanwhile, you were still shocked he showed you his softer set of eyes.

kunigami

- he probably tells you 2-3 months into the relationship

- it honestly depends how fast you guys are going

- he absolutely does it when you are doing something cute in his eyes

- so that can be in public or just the two of you, he doesn’t care, really. if it’s public get ready to blush because the way he says it with total emotion will make you weak.

- for this one you guys were in the comfort of his house, lounging around on the couch on your phones while you rested on his chest

- you got hungry so you got up to go get something to eat from the kitchen

- still on your phone, you gasped so loud once you came across pictures of baby and mama polar bears together, knowing your boyfriend would love the sight

- so, of course, you ran back to his arms, ignoring his worried questions, and shoved your phone in his face.

“rensuke, look!” you exclaimed, eyes wide as you shuffled in to get comfortable in his lap. he gave a confused look to you, wondering what the whole ordeal was about. you sighed, bringing your phone down to give him a pouty expression. “it’s polar bears, you’re favorite.”

realization spread across his face, now understanding you had been excited to show him the pictures of his favorite animal. “that’s what all that was about?” he breathed a sigh of relief. you only nodded, lifting your phone back up so he could look at the pictures of them.

a small smile spread on his face, more at you then the pictures. once you finished scrolling through the different photos of polar bears and looked back at your phone with a content smile he confessed. “i love you,” it was mostly a thought that just happened to slip from his lips, catching him but some surprise too. your eyes widened, looking back up at him. he had a soft pink tint on his cheeks. he figured there was no going back with his sentence, instead leaning in to give you a soft peck on the cheek.

unedited thanks for reading!

[hanasnx]

babe it's okay bc dick grayson IS over 6 foot and he has a long cock (i saw it!!!!) 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

wishing i was his sunshine gf who he spoils rotten 💔💔💔💔💔 he always makes jokes about how he's almost a glorified sugar daddy, but you always rush to reassure him you don't care about the money (he knows lmao) and im so sorry for this but, dick grayson has a voyeurism kink, a somnophilia kink and an arm kink bc he likes it when you cling to his arm like a koala to a tree.

he always gets home late after patrol, and seeing his pretty girl in any way is what gets him going, so he just couldn't keep his hands off you. you woke to your underwear being on the ground, and with his fingers in you 🤭

he always a spends a fucking FORTUNE on you whenever you go out, but he never lets you see the price tags. like my dude RUSHES to cover them so that you don't worry your pretty little head off <3 he started doing that after you told him "if you keep spending so much on me, dickie, you're gonna be in debt by the time we've been dating for like- a year!" so he's very cautious now. can't have his pretty girl worrying about that of all things! especially when you're as rich as him, i mean, all of things he buys is barely a dent in his bank account..! as long you let him touch your pretty pussy while you sleep, wash his hair (!), and be his sunshine, he'll be fine !!!!

(im literally so obsessed w him 😓)

baaabbbeeeee stopppppp

(me when someone says “arm kink”)

behold. elite arms for your arm kink viewing pleasure courtesy of a one dick grayson

☥ i think i saw somewhere that he was canonically 5’10 and that’s good and all, still very tall like i won’t deny it. i just feel like he has crazy tall energy.. and i’m a fool for “glow ups” and growth spurt trope. like in the first season he was shorter than everyone, and then second season he’s taller than everybody like 😵‍💫😵‍💫 i can’t get enough of it. he’s got like 6’2 energy to me

☥ thank you for telling me about your headcanon kinks for him bcos i’m still trying to delve deep into his psyche over here. still trying to figure him out, my sexy little human rubik’s cube

“he likes it when you cling to his arm” is soooo real. like where other couples would hold hands, you hold his arm. feeling his muscle under your palm 🫠

☥ when he realizes you’re awake, he whispers over the wet sounds of your pussy, “shh, baby, go back to sleep… just couldn’t help myself. be done soon.” he coos, and you’re so groggy you hum in content, adjusting further into his warmth while he’s toying with you.

☥ “cant have his pretty girl worrying” PLEAKBSLWBEME

“as long as you let him touch your pretty pussy” HFSLDHSLKCJS IM SO 🔥🔥🥵‼️

the fact he’s fucking loaded fr. he doesn’t like to flaunt it really.. a silver chain for himself here, an expensive motorcycle there… he’s very cautious with it. never liked the mansion life, too big too lonely. the apartment guy, the city guy,… unless he’s with you. then he feels like he wants to step it up. especially bcos he wants to fuck you that night after your luxurious outing

[destinyc1020]

I feel like we all feel the same but I got the vibe when z and JE were together that they were kinda bored like there was no playfulness. All speculation guys but From Z’s side I think she thought he was hot but he didn’t understand her humor so she scaled back. Idk if he understood the people around her either like Darnell etc like i doubt he listens or cares for Beyoncé for example lol Hence why she was lurking on Tom shit on twitter because she was able to do those things with Tom. From JEs perspective I think he thought z was cute and she was fun to hang out with at first but he probably found her childish and couldn’t understand the deal with memes ( makes me sad because she didn’t go to a real school so she probably is online a lot lol) or maybe understand the people around her or her taste in music and humor and found her boring and even worse like too childish. He also probably hated her clean public persona and couldn’t deal. I think JEs true love was Kaia. The way his relationship with her was the most authentic to him. They were the most similar in personality and humor. They probably liked the same things. But back to z, the playfulness she has with Tom their entire relationship with lipsync battle them jumping up and down in the Beyoncé concert laughing and giggling in interviews that could never happen with JE. Tom understands her humor and even adds to it. I think you can only do so much with looks. And to the girls, guys will never give you the affection you need unless they really really like you. I think z wanted affection from JE and he was blah because he wasn’t into her like that. He just didn’t like her and that is fine lol the part that bothers me is I know z felt insecure because he was hanging out with Kaia while he was with her and she knew. Z was liking Kaia’s pics too imagine the questioning and insecurity the wondering too. And then to be proven right on your birthday with pics with the same girl you are keeping an eye on. And for all this to be public lol lawd

Yea girl, I def think TZ have always had something special, that they just didn't have with their other significant others and flings/rebounds. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I never felt that Z and JE's energy matched. For example, Z is way more light-hearted, fun, and loves to laugh and smile. Whereas JE always seemed sooo serious and seemed to take himself a bit too seriously?

Even the way he handled the paprazzi on their pap stroll in NYC was totally different (him flipping them bird vs her trying to put his hand down). 🥴

They just seemed to have some very different values.

I won't say that JE didn't get along with Darnell. Darnell seems pretty easy-going. 🤷🏾‍♀️ If JE clashed with anyone in Z's circle, it was probably Claire and Law lol 🤭

Law took that one trip with them to Greece, and you never saw Law with them ever again. And Law seems like he speaks his mind, and is pretty as fvk lol 😆

Claire seemed meh about him, and always preferred Tom over JE (that was pretty obvious 🤭).

The only thing I will add though is about the music thing.... You and your partner do NOT have to like the same type of music, movies, or even food. These little things are not what keep a relationship together. Yea, while it's nice if you and your bf both love the same type of music, I know of friends who are married and they always joke to me about how they and their husbands do not like the same joke at all lol. 😅

Those are very small things Anon lol.

Also, how do we know that JE doesn't like Beyoncé? We really don't know that lol.

But anyway, that's the only thing I would add to this.

To me, TZ are the definition of a couple that are soul mates. Meaning, they're not just dating each other, but they also genuinely LOVE each other as FRIENDS. THAT type of love with your partner is very hard to find. That's the type that only comes once or twice in a lifetime imo.

🥰❤️

[sugar-omi]

i think in real life it’s kinda bad to do this but like,,,,, I love making cove jealous on purpose 🤭

like when you agree to take up Baxter’s offer for dance lessons RIGHT AFTER cove is like “mc is the only one I’d wanna dance with 😌” and he just rolls his eyes at you 💀 or when you tell him you also got Baxter’s number with Terry “Yeah we got it. *cue cove’s surprise at the word ‘we’* I got his number too” and he’s just like “wow. 😧”

something about that is just soooo hehehe to me like I just want him to act possessive of me soooo bad !!! cove give me some reaction babyboy please !! 😫😫

YESSSS SAME

also when you tell baxter the flirting is okay/doesn't bother you. i feel like they changed that but maybe not???

bc i coulda swore cove did the whole "so flirting is okay?" even when you're dating and it bothered him but he didn't say anything. maybe i'm getting my play thru's mixed up though bc 9.9 times outta 10 i was dating cove by step 3 lol so who knows

AND I WISH HE WAS MORE OBVIOUSLY JEALOUS... LIKE SOME DIALOGUE/EXPRESSIONS ARE STILL THE SAME EVEN WHEN YOU'RE DATING/CRUSHING OR AT FRIENDS AND I JUST INTEROPERATE IT AS JEALOUSY

i think cove isn't that jealous honestly, he doesn't realize some things at first like people liking you n all that stuff, but the more obvious it is or if its pointed out to him, or he realizes it the more uncomfortable he is and i think THEN he gets jealous

at least as a teen he's all squirmy n uncomfortable bc he's never had to like "fight" for your attention/love but as teens he realizes there's gonna be a lot more chances for people to hit on you/crush on you and for you to meet other people and stuff and he's just not used to it so he gets jealous n doesn't know what to do w it

BUT IN STEP 4, IF YOU PICK DEREK AS YOUR MAN OF HONOR/BEST MAN OR WHATEVER, COVE WILL SAY "i hope not. not unless they're getting married to me a second time."

LIKE AHHHH 🙈🙈🙈

ykw i just thought abt it. prbly (definitely) ooc but cove is so used to you being jealous and possessive and doting on him, just fretting over him all the time. that when someone else like baxter comes along n takes your attention, n all that stuff that's when he gets jealous

"i'm your boyfriend so... stop paying attention to other guys."

pls why am i about to write a whole bit on jealous babygirl cove...

[bridgerteon]

Why I love Colin Bridgerton? (Ft. Katara from ATLA)

Although I am a Kanthony shipper, I also love Polin. Pretty much I love all Bridgerton couples. Personally though, I have a soft spot for Polin. I love Penelope Featherington from the start, but I gradually fall in love with Colin Bridgerton and wishing I have a real-life Colin to date with.

To be honest, in the beginning, Colin is not my favourite Bridgerton. However, I have observed him that he is funny, caring, sensitive, emotional, and is respectful and listens to women (unless it's Marina since he's a lovesick idiota that can't recognise the deception, but I can understand when someone is infatuated and unaware. It happened to me as well until I recognised the red flags later on. Dude, I get you). So he has my respect from the get go.

Ever since season 3 though, I started to LOVE Colin more. Because of five reasons:

1. He's a sensitive boi with almost no toxic masculinity, listens to women, and supportive to the woman he loves, Penelope. He's that rare of a boi.

2. He reminds me of myself. A shy, introverted, unimportant and feeling person who wants to see the best of others, but open themselves to people they are really close to. I see myself through him, an unworthy person deserved to be loved. Same goes when I'm comparing to Luke Newton (my current crush 🤭). I feel like Luke plays himself in Bridgerton, heh.

3. He's not Anthony Bridgerton. Rather than moping and having excuses to not get the girl (I love you Anthony, my first Bridgerton crush. But you are a handful and an egotistical idiot), Colin does the opposite. Once he realises he's falling harder for Pen, he immediately decides to pursue and marry her. That takes guts and being desperate. He has my full respect.

4. He never forces anyone. He wants to help Pen and his family, but he'll back off if they don't need his help. I like that he listens. Though he does tend to be a hero to fix the mess and willing to improve himself for Pen to be proud of and that he is enough. He has flaws, but he's relatable.

5. The most important and nostalgic one: He reminds me of Katara from Avatar: the Last Airbender, theme wise.* Especially in regards to the scene that made me understand and love Polin: the Betrayal Scene or the Lady Whistledown Reveal Scene.

*(Technically Katara reminds me of Viscountess Kathani Bridgerton, personality wise. I heard lots of comparisons between Zutara and Kanthony, both ships I love, but that's another story to tell).

Let's compare between Colin Bridgerton and Master Katara and why they are both similar, theme wise.

Exhibit 1: the betrayal

In this one, I love the betrayal scene in Bridgerton way more than in ATLA.

Colin is heartbroken again because he realises Penelope is Lady Whistledown and therefore assumes Pen is deceptive, like what happened to his failed engagement with Marina, via LW. All the lies and deceits gave him love PTSD, and the uncertainty if Penelope loves him genuinely or is just pretending. The fact that Luke Newton cried in that scene displays it as heartbroken instead of anger. I LOVE THAT!!! Kudos to Master Luke Newton for being exhausted and emotional during that scene!

The Polin betrayal scene is soooo much better than the ATLA betrayal scene when Katara has to fight against Zuko for choosing the Fire Nation over Saving the World and Choosing Good. I prefer both anger and heartbroken over just anger. But then again Katara and Zuko are not that close, because they are ✨enemies✨ even though they had a heart-to-heart convo. But imagine if Katara cried in front of Zuko during the fight, like the Polin betrayal scene... It would be a divergence indeed. I hope Netflix can make that scene as heartbreaking for the live-action ATLA.

Exhibit 2: Paaaiiiinnnn (Pain)

Both Colin and Katara are hurting because Penelope and Zuko, respectively, hurt them for deceiving them. I get them. Colin and Katara wanna hurt Pen and Zuko so the latter can understand the feeling the former has been through.

But in this one, this is the reason why I'm not bothered nor upset by the "planned entrapment" comment. (Though to be honest, Colin started it! Pen did not do anything to "entrap" him other than just sitting there being sad, being very demure, very mindful, and doing absolutely nothing to impress except being herself. And then Colin have a love whiplash that caused him to fall in love with her. Heh). Blame Katara; she said it way worse than Colin. Her threatening words to Zuko from that scene above are:

"You might have everyone else here buying your... transformation, but you and I both know you struggled with doing the right thing in the past. So let me tell you something right now... you make one step backward, one slip up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore, because I will make sure your destiny ends... right then and there... permanently."

Like please? Katara's threats are so frightening, Colin's comment is just a minor slap to me. But there is one major difference why he's saying it to hurt Pen: because he still loves her. If he doesn't love her, it would be less painful, but unfortunately he does love her, so he deserves to be hurt. But he ain't gonna break the engagement since he still wants to marry her: she's the missing link to his life's purpose and they have the ✨connection✨. Colin just wants to hear from Pen and be reassured that this is not an act. Meanwhile, Katara does not "love" Zuko so she gets a pass on angry love confessions and being "entrapped" (though I wish she does... But I digress).

Overall, I love Colin Bridgerton (and Penelope Featherington too!). I completely understand his perspective. And how all his qualities, including having similar emotions to Katara, made me root for his love story with Pen. Same goes with Pen as well, from being a wallflower to being a popular woman with goals and achievements is a beautiful transition. Polin will always have a soft spot for me.

P.S. If Zutara is canon, their child would be like Colin Bridgerton. 🤭

[liyahaffirmed]

UPDATE.’

i havent been active at all in the past week, and heres why!

(life update, future posts, success stories, new love 👀, & why everything is going good for me right now)

so basically ive just been feeling really drained and out of energy lately.

but! my mother ordered me a shein haul (which i manifested 🤭, success story post coming soon!) my gma took me on a shopping spree and bought me some clothes toooo, im getting a room makeover from my mommy, dad is giving me some money, my best friend did my hair for free (i did hers too!), I got a check for $100 for a program i did durring the school year (no warning or anything! didnt even know they gave out checks for the program! success story coming soon on that too + a method!) Im getting my hair done tommorow, nails done this week, and im going out for half of the week for my best friends birthday. my skin has also been clearing up after suffering a baddd breakout with really painful bumps!

why?

subliminals, writing out my affirmations and desires and then simply LEAVING THEM ALONE. i wrote down all of my desires & i affirmed for three days straight, “i have all of my desires, my life is exactly like my script.” and then, i stopped thinking about it. I just listened to subliminals in my sleep, i started the playlist with an asmr video to put me to sleep, then have my subliminals lined up in order of most important to me to least important. then i just…went to sleep 🤷🏾‍♀️.

i think what others do is hyperfocus on their manifestations, desires, and affirmations too much when that isnt the method that serves and fulfills them. sometimes you just have to make clear what your desires are and that you have them, and then simlpy let them clear from your mind and let your subconscious handle it from there. All ive been doing for the past few days is writing down my desires or what i want to happen, leaving it alone and letting it fade from my mind, and boom, instantly, they just happen!!

new love 👀?

so, like 5 months ago i had mapped out the “perfect guy for me.” Tall, dreadhead, sweetheart, treats me right, etc etc. the list was titled something like “my ideal boy” and it had EVERY SINGLE trait i wanted in a guy. now, for the last two months i was focusing on my old sp (we’ll call him “jake”) he’s toxic, doesnt talk to me unless i talk to him, doesnt be on the phone with me unless i call him, and said he “doesnt want me around.” so after i did all that hyperfocusing on trying to change him, i gave up, i didnt truly believe that he would change. and i didnt feel like he was worth even manifesting anymore.

so i texted my sister (not by blood) about it, telling her that i was officially #cooloffjake and that i was tired of the way he was treating me, that he didnt care about me, and that i was done with him. that SAME DAY, i was on ft with my sister when all of a sudden she asks if she can put me on with her brother (not by blood) so i talk with her more and more about him, and she added him to the call so she could better explain the situation im in.

as of right not, i, not allowed to date until im 16, he knows that and has agreed that he would 100% stay loyal to me even though we arent together right now! he understands my predicament completely and said has no problem waiting till i turn 16 to be in a real relationship with me 🤭. hes so sweet, he texts me all the time and calls me cute nicknames, and hes a total loverboy. he just makes me so happy 🤗.

whats funny is that i wrote that list and forgot about it after a week! i dont even know where it IS anymore. but this just goes to show that when you let go of things that do not serve you, the universe will send you something (or rather someone) who does 💞.

have a lovely day my (idk what you guys want me to call yall 😓)

- liyah ���

[softhairedhotch]

omg speaking of male ocs/reader . i just wanted to share about this One trope that got me CRAZYYY is secret relationships... the one's where aaron and oc are like pretty much dating but are trying to keep it a total secret from the rest of the team because #professionalism.... but they keep making little slip ups bc they're just so in love 😭😭 i think its just SOOO CUTE 😭😭😭

N THIS ONE SCENARIO THATS STUCK IN MY HEAD is like oc ended up sleeping over at aaron's place then in the morning his phone rings. but male oc doesn't realise that it's AARON'S phone (and not his) so he answers half asleep. but then on the other end of the line is another team member who's like "oh sorry- thought it was... i must have dailed the wrong number- wait... 🤨🤨" then male ocs like HORRIFIED and aaron soon wakes up to the sound and he's also SHOCKED but he tries to put on his #serious professional gruff voice and coming up with some excuse like they drank last night and then dozed on the couch or smth 😭😭 then subsequently aaron n reader have to keep defending themselves by saying it was just a #bro activity and that's they're just Bros n nothing more

my god... just thinking about how cute aaron is when he's flustered 😭😭😭 like how he has the 🥺 eyes but tries to cover it up with a 🤨😐🙄 "i don't know what you're talking about . can we talk about work now". LIKE the episodes when the team teased aaron when he was going out w beth My GODDDD HES SOOOO ADORABLE WHEN HES IN LOVE 😭😭😭😭 like his boyish grin n the way his face crinkles... i cannot deal with this

- 🤲

yesssss i LOOOVEEEE secret relationships sooo much, especially when it's like cute lil gestures during work or getting each other coffee n kissing when no ones around or cuddling at work bc they have to share a room and no one's gonna know <33 (unless one of the team happens to burst into the room bc they think aaron or the oc is in trouble somehow 🤭🤭🤭 and sees them snuggled up on the bed all cute 🤭🤭🤭 as they're holding their gun bc they think they were gonna find an unsub with them or them missing but noooo they're just wrapped up allllll cute in each other's arms 🤭🤭🤭)

OUGH I LOOOOOOVE THAT SCENARIO!!!!! heheh i love the idea of penny calling and being like "hey sir i- wait a moment i thought i called- no i know i did bc he's on speed dial so that means- oh my GOD you and boss man are CANOODLING" and oc/reader is just like "nonono i accidently slept here!!" n she's like "WHY WERE YOU THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE 🤭🤭" and aaron wakes up n takes the phone and is like "he came over to help me with jack and we drank a lil now we're asleep on the couch" and idk if she'd do this fr but maybe penny can track the phone real quick and she's like "then why does it say you're in the bedroom rn 😏" LMAOOO and bless them they're just trying sooooo hard to brush it off!!!

"we're just brooooos man bros gotta cuddle the homes sometimes!!!" 😭😭 it'd be lowkey so funny if oc is just like "don't you think aaron deserves a cuddle or two, guys? it ain't gay i swear man he's just in need of some love from the homies yknow. hey morgan maybe you should snuggle him next-" "absolutely not" "-i'm sure he'd love that! he just needs some loving, man" LMAOOO

and yesssss they'd tease his sooooo much <333 he'd get all flustered bless him and it'd be adorable and he'd be wanting to tell everyone they ARE together bc he wants to show oc off sooo much and give him work smooches and just be like "yeah this is MY BOYFRIEND!!!!" bc he's soooooo cute and in love but for now he just gets used to the teasing from the team (dave and penny mostly, but sometimes emily and spencer catch him off guard) hehe <3 it'd be like that scene where rossi looks at him once and just KNOWS he got a date with beth or something hehe and he goes "attaboy 😏" after he confirms he has!!! OUGH i neeeed him to smile like that at the thought of dating me SO MUCH and for rossi to be proud AHHHHH

and just the idea of a male oc making him all smiley and goofy and happy again <33 he kinda becomes how he used to be again GODDD like he's just happy again GODDDD 😭

his SMILE DJSKDJ GODDDDDDDD I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM I LOOOOOOOVE HIM

also i currently have like 5 male oc's written up for him (like fics planned out or ideas for it) LMAOO they're all mostly from when i was in the fandom in 2021 but i wanna go back to the ideas sooooooo much 😭 and i made a new one a few days ago for a lil one chapter fic i wanna post hehe, it's so dramatic tbh but seems to also end in smut LMAO so hopefully i can get it out sometime 💪just need to write aaron being gay without it being reid or morgan amen (even tho i LOVE hotchgan)

thank you sm for the ask hehe <3

[detectivebambam]

so im cheating and I'm doing 2 characters for the ask game

Kevin day and Aaron minyard (my favs, my pookies, my loves)

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

11. Would you date this character?

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

okay okay

Kevin and Aaron

He reminds me so much of myself, in terms of his relationship with exy. He's also funny asf. I dislike that he tries to pretend he's normal cuz my dude, you're not. But i like that he genuinely wants to be a normal person after all his trauma.

He's like 6'0" and his guard dog is an entire foot shorter than him. His girlfriend lol

The Hunger Games. I haven't read/watched it but from what I've heard it would be funny. Damn probably Supernatural but I would make him a vampire or smth

Stockholm Syndrome with my coach, and way too obsessive about being the best at everything. I fucking love Katelyn Mackenzie

Make him a little bitch. He's a "coward" because he was given to the fucking mafia as a little plaything. Be so real rn. They tend to make him the twin that tries the hardest to reach out and bond but post car crash, he's really not

No for both of them I'd probably strangle them in their sleep

No for both of them, I'd be a Neil type where I'm like goddamn why do you act like that? why don't you kill that guy instead of being upset about it ??

Yes he's probably gifted if yk what I mean. I could, but could he date me, that's the real question

He snores. Chronic nosebleeds and also he gets "straight man sick" as in he gets a tiny cold and he's out for the week

ima do the one i think they'd use a lot bc that's fun

Kevi: 😒 Aaron: 🙄

No fashion sense unless he's in a suit or court gear 😔 Emo lol he's got the spiky bracelets and everything

Kevin x Avery. Avery is my oc who knows absolutely nothing about exy and I think that's what Kevi needs tbh. Aaron x Katelyn of course they're amazing

Fucking,,, each other lol

idk probs Kandreil. no feelings one way or another with that ship. if he's not with Katie, I'm mad so

Kev x Thea. I just think they're a little too different, and in order to heal the way they both need to, they can't do that with each other. Love them as besties though. obvs i love Katie and Aaron 🤭

Jeremy!!!!! first of all, they've definitely fucked, second, Kevi actually smiles with Jer like he seems to really enjoy his company. Matt and I will stand by this. I have no reasoning, just... Matt

Probably Charlie Spring??? in a way?? and I can't really describe why tbh. Aaron is so unique that it's hard to find one, but if I had to choose, probably Matthias Helvar

First impression??? Damn, why is he like that? Oh, that's why he's like that. Damn, I'm kinda like that.

God what a bitch. Oh. Oh okay. Damn what a little bitch. Damn, wtf??

Now??? Babygirl and Little Bitch (with love)

this was so fun ty ty

[hazbinbossbrainrot]

You know you’re obsessed Hazbin Hotel when…

• You’re not just listening to the soundtrack 24/7 but also you know majority of the lyrics (honestly, for me it’s Loser, Baby)

• You know Angel Dust’s real name is Anthony (you can also differentiate between the two personalities)

• You know without a doubt that both Posion and Addict are SA (sexual assault) related songs

<> Seriously… this a pet peeve for me because other people joke about it with other characters — like Charlie, Lucifer, Alastor and even Husk to name a few — when they haven’t been SA’d.

Not to mention the “Ohhhs” and “ahhhs” of the lyrics were actually the sounds of pain/discomfort of being SA'd

• You realise that the Vees are just as bad as each other (there is no “oh that one is worse than the others”) and the fact that the other two indirectly participate in the ongoing sexual assault; for one Vox has cameras in Angel’ room (as key witness). For another, Velvette has created a love potion — along with Valentino— specifically for date rape purposes

• You noticed that Loser, Baby is basically not only Huskerdust’s love song (if you think about the visual aspects and the meaning behind it) but also the instrumentals played in 1x08

• You know that Angel Dust does actually have a venomous bite ~ which doesn’t kill anyone but makes them exceptionally ill and disoriented

• You know that Poison is basically a reprise of Addict (and you have the urge to tell people that they’re basically the same song and not to separate them)

• You can’t stop thinking about characters and their respective aesthetic (for example: rubber ducks for Lucifer, poker for Husk and the letters XXX for Angel)

• You realise that if Angel Dust hadn’t died in his 30s — in 1947 — he’d be around the same age as Husk (only 12 years younger so really there’s no “age gap” difference)

• You are a Huskerdust fan (subjective) since the pilot episode and absolutely get excited for episode 4+

• When it said “no balls” in Husk list of flaws in Loser, Baby you realise it was metaphorical

<> Which makes sense because in “Dad Beat Dad” he was terrified of Alastor when he had pissed him off

• You know that sinners are the only demons who are situated in the Pride and cannot go to the other rings

• You realise that Husk technically would be in love with Anthony not Angel Dust

• You know that Angel Dust — as a SA victim — it wouldn’t make sense for someone as overly-consensual as Husk to make the first move (so it’d have to be the former)

<> And no it even wouldn’t have mattered if Husk even asked permission if he could kiss him ~ I think he’s the type of guy to be “all in or nothing” if he wanted a partner (poker pun intended 🤭)

• You know that possibly (unless Viv changes things) that Angel was closer to his sister Molly than her was to his older brother and technically was a bully to Arackniss when they were younger

• There are certain words/names trigger you (ie husk, blitz, angel dust, Valentino ~ literally traumatises me now)

[mrs-monaghan]

btw it’s not taekookers who message you. it’s butthurt ex-jikookers who have decided whatever they had in their heads isn’t real and now they’re mad at jikook and they come to jikook blogs to be told they’re wrong because they still want jikook dating to be true so they are looking for you to tell them they’re wrong. that’s why they keep arguing. the only thing they want is attention. if you want them to get really mad don’t answer their asks.

I honestly didn't think of it this way. And I dont understand how one can even stop believing in Jikook in the first place. Not unless u become an anti or some shit. Like there is no reason to stop believing they're a couple.

The biggest reason we believe they're together is EXCLUSIVITY in behaviour (i.e certain things they do to/for each other and each other only) and CONSISTENCY!!!! They have always been consistent no matter what. All these years nothing has changed. Nothing.

JK still stares at Jimin like he hangs the fucking moon.

Jimin still insists on letting us know HE is the closest member to JK. No one else. Him

JK always carrying things for Jimin which BTW is such boyfriend behaviour. Hyung behaviour. Oppa JK 🤭 its the funniest shit. Look at their airport photos and see everyone has these huge ass luggage while Jimin has this tiny bag like bro, where's your shit???

Oh. Thats where

😂🤭

Don't even get me started on satellite and teleport Jikook. Don't get it twisted, they're both guilty of this. JK does it all the time and its obvious. But when JK doesn't go to Jimin, Jimin goes to him. Watch Jimin almost bulldoze Jhope in his rush to leave with JK. 😂

Consistent JK must be next to Jimin at all times. Mans won't even allow Mimi to sleep alone 👀

JK's body automatically facing Jimin no matter what. And u know its legit because even when Jimin is on the other side, JK faces that way (took a pic of my TV forgive me) he hee. But u can see this isn't even their normal line up and JK's body is turned towards where Jimin is.

He literally can't help it. Consistency people. Its been fucking years of the same behaviour just to highlight a few off the top of my head moments. Because we all know there is way way more. So I don't understand how once you believe in Jikook, u can just....stop. it's not possible. Not if you've been paying attention. Which leaves me with only one explanation, they were insecure Jikookers to begin with. See, this is why I can't stand them 😭😭

I'll take your advice anon. It ain't my job to make anyone believe in Jikook. You don't have to. Just enjoy BTS content and go to bed.

[seitmai]

I have embarrassingly many things to say lol

He was taking charge, but he never made you feel small or stupid for your lack of experience. He just didn't seem like that kind of person. And besides, you did manage to turn him on for the third time, and instead of letting him sneak away, you got him to stay put on the couch with you.

The dream, absolutely perfect scenario

You moaned softly and tipped your head back. "It felt amazing. I liked it." "I'm glad," he crooned. "But if you're sore, you could take a bath."

Honestly just such a small but sweet moment 🥹

You pressed your lips together and muttered, "I never saw a guy come in real life before. I was curious. And it was so hot." Something like possessiveness flashed in his eyes. "And then, to my surprise, you started playing with it," he added with a dangerous smirk, and you turned away from him in embarrassment, because maybe you weren't supposed to do that at all. "Do you hear me complaining?" he asked, pressing his lips to your shoulder. "That was some advanced level kinky stuff. Just wasn't expecting it. But I am not complaining. Let's get you in the bath."

He's not complaining because he got so fucking turned on and absolutely loved it 🤭

Your brow furrowed. "You're taking a bath with me?" He raised one eyebrow and took a step away from you. "Unless you don't want me to."

Another one of those moments 🥰

Jake had never shared his bathtub with anyone. Soaking in the hot water until it was almost too cool to stand was one of his guilty pleasures that he never planned on letting someone else experience, too. He usually brought a beer in with him. One time he drank an entire bottle of champagne. But he always did it alone. Until today, apparently.

Ahhh he's changing more and more of his routine to let her in

You looked too fucking cute with the steamy water up to your shoulders while you sipped from the condensation coated stemware. But you were quieter than you had been in the living room, which bothered him, because he had gotten used to your constant chattering and your smartass comments.

You and me both buddy, you and me both... I'm obsessed with their banter

"What's wrong?" you asked right away, turning to look at him over your shoulder, finally letting him see your pretty face. "You're all the way over there." 

🥰🥰🥰

But he wasn't always like this, and he wanted to tell you that. But he knew he didn't have the right to say anything at all when you really only needed him for one purpose. Once you got what you wanted from him, you'd be gone.

Nooo🥺

"Are you always this sweet?" you whispered, wet fingers wrapped around the back of his neck as you looked up at him through your lashes.  He licked his lips and shook his head. "I don't think I've ever been quite this sweet before." When you finally smiled again, your eyes softened, and Jake kissed the bridge of your nose.

Literally the sweetest 🥹🥰"

"Mmhmm." He took another sip of his beer. "And I expect you to tell me what kind of pizza you want for dinner, too. And why don't you tell me what you're studying in school while you're at it. And how you usually spend your weekends." "I'm staying for dinner?" Jake sighed and let his head tip back. "I don't think I can fuck you until I've taken you on a proper date. So... will you have dinner with me at my dining room table?"

I'm giggling and kicking my feet over here

"About half." You looked him in his pretty green eyes. "Does that mean you haven't had sex in a couple weeks? Or that you just haven't been using condoms?" "I always use condoms," he replied immediately with a little nod, and you believed him. "Lesson seven: never skip a condom. Guys are pigs. Don't let them cut corners."

Yes!!! Go off Jake👏🏻

Your eyes went wide. "Wait. Am I a tag chaser?" Now he was hooting with laughter. "I don't know, Darlin'. Are you? That little leather skirt screamed yes, but your smart mouth and the fact that you didn't care that I was an aviator are telling me no."

The questioning cracked me up haha

"Jake," you whined until his mouth was back on your clit, and then you sighed contentedly. He knew he could get you off before the pizza arrived, and he also knew he'd be amped up for you later. He was excited. You excited him. He wanted to be so good.

Everyone's excited, especially Jake, who is excited to be a good boy 🤭😌

"Thanks," Jake muttered, taking the pizza box and quickly closing the door. Then he walked to the table, his cock merrily bobbing along the way. He started to grab plates and get you another wine glass of ice water, and he had to pause to consider why exactly he felt the need to make this seem like a date. He'd already been over every bit of your body with his mouth and hands. He could have just fucked you by now. He desperately wanted to. But he needed you to understand that you had to go for the guys who weren't just setting out to take advantage of you. That you needed to make them work for it.

I really it working hard to keep himself from realizing that he is falling for her

He kissed your forehead and said, "This is the one and only time I'm letting you choose the toppings."

This implies more pizzas, which means more dates, which means Jake definitely wants more than sex

Jake grunted and set his pizza down. He'd been with his fair share of women, but there was nothing disappointing about you. The way you got him going was unparalleled, and even though you claimed you didn't know how to do even the basics, you definitely had his number. The hair pulling and cum play and little noises you made were all unintentional but so fucking hot. And now he was annoyed.

He is annoyed that someone really gets him in ned and challenges him outside of it, make it make sense! Just come to your senses Jake and realize you are made for each other!

He reached for your chin and tipped it up so you met his eyes. "That goes for everyone, but especially Cooper. Okay? There's nothing wrong with you, Darlin'. You got everything just right." You nodded and swallowed hard, and Jake was so fucking jealous of a college kid, he wanted to scream. "Okay, Jake," you whispered. "I believe you."

This was so hot for no reason 😮‍💨

His fingers slipped slowly along your jaw until they were digging gently into the back of your neck. He studied your pretty face and memorized how his clothing looked on you while your gaze stayed fixed on him. "Are you sure you still want to do this with me?" he asked softly. "Because you don't need me to fix anything about you since there's nothing wrong to begin with." You didn't hesitate as you told him, "Yes. I want you for my first time, because you're sweet and I know you're not going to hurt me. I don't always need to explain myself for you to know what I need. I want you. Not Cooper and not Rootster. You."

He kissed you and guided you back toward his bed, and you stretched out luxuriously beneath him, his hand resting on the elastic at your hip. "You got nothing to worry about, Darlin'. I'll take care of everything."

Better make this promise come true Jakey 😌🤤

Mr. Right Now Part 5 | Hangman x Reader

Summary: Jake can't pinpoint why he feels the need to make you understand that you're special. Or maybe he can, but he's too afraid to admit it to himself. You are completely out of your depth, but you know you'd rather drown with Jake than be with anyone else right now.

Warnings: adult language, sexual touching, oral sex, fingering, cum play, 18+

Length: 3700 words

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Female Reader

Why is Jake on my masterlist!? Mr. Right Now masterlist

Jake was surpassing all of your expectations. You were already three orgasms deep on the weekend, and you just met him less than a day ago. He was sweet and handsome, and right now he was kissing your lips softly on his couch as he held you tight. You couldn't help but smile against his mouth as the sticky coating of his cum spread from your tummy to his hard abs as you and he made out at a luxurious pace.

He was taking charge, but he never made you feel small or stupid for your lack of experience. He just didn't seem like that kind of person. And besides, you did manage to turn him on for the third time, and instead of letting him sneak away, you got him to stay put on the couch with you.

"Were you really going to try to jerk off alone again?" you asked as he kissed his way down the side of your neck.

"Mmhmm. You caught onto that, did you?" You felt his tongue trail along your skin before he said, "Wasn't about to make you feel obligated to take care of it for me in any way."

Okay, so Jake was kind of a gentleman. So much so that he still hadn't fucked you. And he still hadn't told you when he was planning to. The crazy thing was, you now understood that he could probably make you come a dozen other ways that didn't involve his cock at all. You were impressed. You were also a little sad that once you and he did get around to that little matter of eliminating the fact that you were still a virgin, you'd be on your way.

"Are you sore, Darlin'?" he asked, setting butterflies off in your belly. "I was a little rough with my fingers."

You moaned softly and tipped your head back. "It felt amazing. I liked it."

"I'm glad," he crooned. "But if you're sore, you could take a bath."

You perked up even more. A bath in his big tub sounded delightful, and once you started moving, you realized you were a bit more sore than you originally thought. "I want a bath," you told him, and you left a mess of his tacky cum on him when you stood up. You suddenly remembered you were completely naked and covered in his semen as you ducked your face away from him and muttered, "I wasn't sure what the texture was going to be like. It's really sticky all over me now."

Jake stood and pulled you close again. "Gets messier and harder to clean up when it starts to dry. But you didn't seem to mind me coating you up since it was your idea in the first place."

You pressed your lips together and muttered, "I never saw a guy come in real life before. I was curious. And it was so hot."

Something like possessiveness flashed in his eyes. "And then, to my surprise, you started playing with it," he added with a dangerous smirk, and you turned away from him in embarrassment, because maybe you weren't supposed to do that at all. "Do you hear me complaining?" he asked, pressing his lips to your shoulder. "That was some advanced level kinky stuff. Just wasn't expecting it. But I am not complaining. Let's get you in the bath."

Jake kept his arm around your waist as he led you back to his bedroom and then to the en suite bathroom where he cranked on the hot water before turning to look at you in all his naked glory. "I'm going to grab myself a beer for bathtime. Something about hot water and a cold beer is very satisfying, and maybe you can learn all about it after your next birthday. You want another crystal goblet of ice water?"

Your brow furrowed. "You're taking a bath with me?"

He raised one eyebrow and took a step away from you. "Unless you don't want me to."

Once again, you were surprised by him, but not disinterested in the idea of having him join you in the tub. "I want you to."

He half smiled in response. "And the goblet of ice water?"

"Yes, please," you told him with an eye roll. Then he was gone, and you were left with the soothing sound of the tub filling up while you went in search of a washcloth. You found some in the small closet just inside the bathroom door. Along with extra towels, razor blades, and a half empty box of extra large condoms.

Of course he would have them. He brought you home which meant he probably did the same thing every weekend. Maybe he even had more than one girl each weekend. One for Friday night and one for Saturday night. Maybe he'd fuck you and then offer to drive you home soon so he could go back to the bar tonight and find someone more his speed. Someone who knew that condoms came in different sizes.

You couldn't let yourself get jealous or sad, because there was no point in it. This was practically a business deal. Jake was helping you get ready for Cooper while he got his rocks off as many times as he wanted to. No more, no less.

"Here you go."

You startled a bit as Jake held out your wine glass filled with ice water, and he took a long sip from his bottle of Sam Adams. "Thanks," you whispered, and then he pressed his cold lips to your forehead before nodding at the tub.

"Get in and get comfy."

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

Jake had never shared his bathtub with anyone. Soaking in the hot water until it was almost too cool to stand was one of his guilty pleasures that he never planned on letting someone else experience, too. He usually brought a beer in with him. One time he drank an entire bottle of champagne. But he always did it alone. Until today, apparently. Something about the way his cum was drying on your skin while you kissed him made him want to take the time to clean you up. And he also realized by how his wrist felt that he'd gone pretty hard with his fingers.

You looked too fucking cute with the steamy water up to your shoulders while you sipped from the condensation coated stemware. But you were quieter than you had been in the living room, which bothered him, because he had gotten used to your constant chattering and your smartass comments.

He slipped one foot into the hot water, and you scooted a little further forward. When he had both feet in, he eased himself down until he was sitting with you tucked between his legs. But you were facing away from him, so he couldn't see your face as he asked, "Is the temperature okay for you?"

"Mmhmm," you hummed, sipping your ice water.

He leaned back against the tub and took another sip of beer, but you remained where you were. "You comfy?" he asked.

"Yes," you whispered, your back still to him.

"Well, I'm not," he said blandly.

"What's wrong?" you asked right away, turning to look at him over your shoulder, finally letting him see your pretty face.

"You're all the way over there." 

Jake reached for your hip under the water, wrapped his hand around you, and pulled you closer to him. Your eyes went wide, and you turned to brace your hand against his chest. Some of your cold drink splashed onto him, but he just muttered, "That's better," while you set the glass down on the edge of the tub.

"You could have just asked me to scoot closer."

Jake studied you and took another long sip of his beer before setting it down next to your glass. "You haven't complained once when I've touched you."

"I'm not complaining," you whispered, so he stroked your waist, and you snuggled in a little closer to him. "I'm just wondering when you're going to fuck me." 

He kissed your forehead as you looked up at him. "You're playing by my rules, remember?" he muttered.

"You don't have to be so sweet just for me." Jake's fingers froze on your body as you added, "Unless you're always like this? Making breakfast for your overnight guests? And cuddling in the bathtub? I guess that makes more sense."

But he wasn't always like this, and he wanted to tell you that. But he knew he didn't have the right to say anything at all when you really only needed him for one purpose. Once you got what you wanted from him, you'd be gone.

"Are you always this sweet?" you whispered, wet fingers wrapped around the back of his neck as you looked up at him through your lashes. 

He licked his lips and shook his head. "I don't think I've ever been quite this sweet before." When you finally smiled again, your eyes softened, and Jake kissed the bridge of your nose. "You might as well get comfortable, because I don't get out until the water's cold."

"Cold!" you complained as he held you tighter. "You expect me to stay here until it's cold?"

"Mmhmm." He took another sip of his beer. "And I expect you to tell me what kind of pizza you want for dinner, too. And why don't you tell me what you're studying in school while you're at it. And how you usually spend your weekends."

"I'm staying for dinner?"

Jake sighed and let his head tip back. "I don't think I can fuck you until I've taken you on a proper date. So... will you have dinner with me at my dining room table?"

"Yes."

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

A proper date. The words were bouncing around in your mind even as Jake stretched out on his couch in his gym shorts while you were almost completely on top of him, wearing his clothes. "You're wrong," you told him, shaking your head and pushing his hair off his forehead. "You have the wrong opinion about pineapple on pizza, and I refuse to believe I'm the first person who has ever told you so."

His hand on your butt flexed as he laughed. "Nobody else would dare. Except for you. Go ahead. Tell me what else I'm wrong about."

"Well," you said with a huff of pretend annoyance, "you ate your eggs sunny side up this morning. Wrong. And you didn't already have your bedroom window open to listen to the sound of the ocean last night. Wrong." You paused for a beat before saying what you'd been thinking about for a while. "I would say you're wrong about needing extra large condoms, but I did see and feel you, so maybe you do. Not wrong."

His deep laughter rumbled through his chest, and you jostled slightly on top of him. "You found my stash in the bathroom?" he asked, but he didn't sound annoyed.

"I was looking for a washcloth."

He hummed and asked, "How many condoms are left in the box? I haven't checked in a couple weeks."

"About half." You looked him in his pretty green eyes. "Does that mean you haven't had sex in a couple weeks? Or that you just haven't been using condoms?"

"I always use condoms," he replied immediately with a little nod, and you believed him. "Lesson seven: never skip a condom. Guys are pigs. Don't let them cut corners."

He kissed the corner of your mouth, but all you could say was, "So you haven't had sex in a little while?"

Jake nodded again. "Was getting a little sick of the bar crowd, to be honest. At least until you dropped your fake. Kicking tag chasers out of my bed in the middle of the night isn't much fun anymore."

"What's a tag chaser?" you asked, running your fingers through his soft hair.

His cheeks tinted with pink as he said, "Women who go after guys in the military. Some of them think it's fun to 'collect' tags. Some of them are hoping to trap a guy for the marriage benefits. Different reasons. Same name. And you absolutely can't let them spend the night with you."

You wanted to laugh, because this actually sounded like your roommate, Kylie. But then you remembered why you went to that particular bar in the first place and who you were originally looking for. Your eyes went wide. "Wait. Am I a tag chaser?"

Now he was hooting with laughter. "I don't know, Darlin'. Are you? That little leather skirt screamed yes, but your smart mouth and the fact that you didn't care that I was an aviator are telling me no."

You thought about it for another second and said, "I'm not one," while he laughed some more. "I couldn't be! You let me spend the night."

He reached for his phone as he said, "Yeah, well you're different, aren't you? I'm going to order this pizza."

"Okay," you whispered, letting your cheek rest on his chest as he tapped his screen and then held his phone to his ear. He was looking at you as he said, "Yeah, hi, a large pizza for delivery, please." He paused for a second and then said, "Toppings? Since I'm with a girl who has weird ideas about pineapple on pizza, just wait to hear how horrible this thing is going to sound. Are you ready?"

You were laughing with your face buried against his arm as he gave his address and credit card number, and when he hung up, you screeched, "Jake! You're ridiculous. And wrong! It's going to be the best pizza ever."

"Sure," he said sarcastically before sitting up with you on his lap. He nipped at your lip as he added, "It'll be about thirty minutes before it gets here, Darlin'. I think we have time to review some of your lessons if you feel like it."

A smile bloomed across your face as you asked, "Which lessons?"

"Whatever lessons you want."

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

You told Jake you wanted to review lessons two and three, and now you were naked on his couch with his face buried in your pussy and his hands wrapped around the backs of your thighs. Foreplay and oral sex were two things you clearly loved. He spent about ten minutes making out with you and hitting all the spots that left you dripping wet, and then he treated himself to a taste. 

"God damn," he growled, lapping at you as you tugged on his hair. Once again, you got him rock hard as goosebumps trailed down his neck. "Fuck."

"Jake," you whined until his mouth was back on your clit, and then you sighed contentedly. He knew he could get you off before the pizza arrived, and he also knew he'd be amped up for you later. He was excited. You excited him. He wanted to be so good.

"Jake!" You came apart on his tongue, rolling your hips up for more pressure. He rewarded you for knowing what you wanted by sucking on your clit, and he enjoyed every second of your orgasm. Every little sound. Each tug on his hair. The way your body seemed to relax into the couch cushions once you were fully sated. And then there was a knock on his door.

"Don't move an inch, Darlin'," he teased, kissing the apex of your thigh.

"I can promise you I won't," you whimpered, arm tossed over your eyes as you ran your fingers slowly up your body.

He chuckled as he walked to the door, and then he realized that he was wearing nothing but a pair of gym shorts and a raging boner. He grimaced and tried his best to hide himself with his left hand while he pulled the door open. You were just in the other room, completely naked on the couch, and if you sat up, the pizza delivery kid who looked like he was your age would have front row seats to the show of a lifetime.

"Thanks," Jake muttered, taking the pizza box and quickly closing the door. Then he walked to the table, his cock merrily bobbing along the way. He started to grab plates and get you another wine glass of ice water, and he had to pause to consider why exactly he felt the need to make this seem like a date. He'd already been over every bit of your body with his mouth and hands. He could have just fucked you by now. He desperately wanted to. But he needed you to understand that you had to go for the guys who weren't just setting out to take advantage of you. That you needed to make them work for it.

Jake turned when you made a soft sound and wrapped your arms around his waist. You were wearing his clothes again, and he collected you against him. "It smells good," you muttered.

He kissed your forehead and said, "This is the one and only time I'm letting you choose the toppings."

Your laughter rang out as you sat down with your ice water. "I guess I better make it count then. And that's such a typical guy thing, to think their pizza topping preferences are the best."

"Yours are just wrong," he replied quickly, dropping a slice onto your plate before putting one on his own. He watched you take an enormous bite and smile as you chewed it up. "But you're cute, so you can get away with it."

You looked satisfied with his comment as you asked, "So, you usually make other girls eat the grotesque topping combination you prefer? Is that why you don't have a girlfriend?"

"Wow. Okay," he replied with a laugh while he sat down, enjoying your smirk. "You think this Cooper guy is going to put up with you, smartass?"

You cocked your head to the side like you had forgotten all about him. "I thought we weren't supposed to be talking about him anymore? That was lesson number one."

"You're not allowed to bring him up," Jake reminded you. "But I can. So what's so great about him anyway?"

You nibbled on your crust and kind of shrugged. "He's pretty hot. And he asked me out four times. I keep telling him we can go out soon, but I know he's going to stop asking if I don't actually pick a day and do it." You paused and looked at your glass of ice water as you said, "I should have just slept with someone by now. I don't want him to be disappointed that I'm a virgin who doesn't know how to do anything."

Jake grunted and set his pizza down. He'd been with his fair share of women, but there was nothing disappointing about you. The way you got him going was unparalleled, and even though you claimed you didn't know how to do even the basics, you definitely had his number. The hair pulling and cum play and little noises you made were all unintentional but so fucking hot. And now he was annoyed.

"That's why you want to lose your virginity? So you can please him physically?" You shrugged again. "Remember how I told you that it's never about the guy?"

"Yeah."

He reached for your chin and tipped it up so you met his eyes. "That goes for everyone, but especially Cooper. Okay? There's nothing wrong with you, Darlin'. You got everything just right."

You nodded and swallowed hard, and Jake was so fucking jealous of a college kid, he wanted to scream. "Okay, Jake," you whispered. "I believe you."

His fingers slipped slowly along your jaw until they were digging gently into the back of your neck. He studied your pretty face and memorized how his clothing looked on you while your gaze stayed fixed on him. "Are you sure you still want to do this with me?" he asked softly. "Because you don't need me to fix anything about you since there's nothing wrong to begin with."

In an instant, you planted your hand on his thigh and leaned all the way in to kiss him. He realized he was still a little hard from giving you head as soon as you nudged him, but he didn't mind you knowing how badly he wanted you. He didn't stop you as you eased yourself onto his lap without breaking the kiss, and when your body settled against his, you moaned softly. 

Jake pulled away and watched you chase him for more before your eyes fluttered open. "I need to hear you say it," he whispered, hand creeping up inside the shirt you were wearing. "Is this what you really want?"

You didn't hesitate as you told him, "Yes. I want you for my first time, because you're sweet and I know you're not going to hurt me. I don't always need to explain myself for you to know what I need. I want you. Not Cooper and not Rootster. You."

The shirt you were wearing fell to the floor next to his chair, and Jake ran his rough fingers along your sides, making you shiver. He kissed you softly as his hands found the undersides of your breasts. "This pizza is going to taste even more disgusting cold," he murmured as you arched into his touch. "But I can't wait any longer for you."

You smiled against his lips before you stood, taking his hand and guiding him to his feet as well. Then you led him to his bedroom, and he got lost in your little glances along the way.

"Better get those extra large condoms," you told him with a soft laugh.

He kissed you and guided you back toward his bed, and you stretched out luxuriously beneath him, his hand resting on the elastic at your hip. "You got nothing to worry about, Darlin'. I'll take care of everything."

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

Full speed ahead to Jake's cock in the next part. He's ready to go. You've been warned. Thanks @beyondthesefourwalls

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[ruby-dasleaze]

// dating 101:

dating in 2024 is for the bold

—- the tea for today is that men invented romance to manipulate women; not everything the glitters is gold* ✨

i wanna make this post with a few tips for my girls who find themselves in the middle of talking stages + situationships — it’s so annoying seeing some ppl make the dating scene worse for the rest of us 😭 // this post is about raising the bar*

💘 // No Sex: — if you take anything from me, take this!!

this totally depends on your “relationship” everything has it’s nuances + exceptions but I really wanna emphasize that you don’t need to hook up with every guy you’re dating…

especially if it’s someone you want to be “serious” with - absolutely no sex!

if it’s something you need to deal with, then you do that with someone else - like a FWB - but you do NOT hook up with the guy that your trying to be “serious” with

what if he asks?! for sure he’s going to try, you should deff tell him NO obvi 🤭🙃🤷🏻‍♀️💕✨

If you are JUST “talking” or in a “situationship” - AKA not official then no, he can go somewhere else or pay for it 🤷🏻‍♀️🙃 idc, just not you*

the moment you hook up and ur not official you lost him — what do u look like giving it away for a compliment?! #dontbecheap — no official title (relationship) = no sessi time 🤷🏻‍♀️🙃

💘 // Speaking of Cheap!: — let’s say your “dating” or talking or whatever label you want to put on ur situationship — with a “high value” man

you deff don’t want to hook up BUT also no nudes! a man *will try* I’m not saying it will be easy, but you will have to redirect the convo 🤭

// idc if it’s been a whole year(s) - you make him wait* — the “higher” the value (to you) the more u make him wait* && i promise you, you’ll end up his favorite 🤭✨ ps: don’t be fooled money is not the only requisite a man needs…

💘 // Don’t Mix: — each person you “date” has their own individual category*

but what you can’t do is mix them up together if you’re looking for it to go anywhere, ur FWB is not the same person as the situationship

you should deff still keep them around until you think whatever else you having going on is “official” // who you hook up with is always separate + different then who you’re “dating”

💘 // Don’t Chase: — idc how cute you think is, idc who much you “miss him”, idc what a great catch you think he is…

👏 Don’t 👏 Chase 👏 Him*

the sad truth is *many* men today are feminized — it’s such a twisted + depressing result of modern feminism

let him look for you* — might take a few days, shouldn’t take weeks tho* but never be the one who initiates anything*

no “hello” texts, no “wyd”, nothing** you wait for him to be a *man* && reach out to you

femmes *receive* and idc if he’s “bi” — you actually won’t even have this problem with a bisexual man tbh — you’d be surprised how “conservative” gender norms are within the *real* lgbtq community, bi men are deliciously alpha*

// he’ll do all the “traditional manly” things, that kind of gotten lost in the sauce in modern dating — moral of the story tho - don’t initiate, it has to be him, always*

💘 // Some Don’ts:

- situationships don’t take “trips” together bc odds are he’s trying to hook up + idc how much potential you see, you do not hook up*

- stop asking him how his day @ work went, should be self explanatory but don’t associate yourself w that aspect of his life unless you own a business together or something but even then - no ty* // meeting @ work is also different but “work” shouldn’t be a highlight*

- FWBs + Situationships *doesn’t equal* having a posicion* , the moment this man starts parading a new toy in front of you, instead of reacting — drop him* — anytime ur not official and some guy pulls a disrespectful ass stunt, yes — you leave expeditiously**

- a man ur not committed to in any “official” capacity doesn’t *deserve* chances to get it “right” — men who are NOT my man get 3 strikes before i leave him wherever he had me fucked up @ 🙃

- men know *exactly* wtf they’re doing — weaponized incompetence is a real thing and I’d much rather you cuss me out - vs - play dumb in my face like a toddler - men will *pretend* && will play stupid if you let them

- talking stages aren’t 7yrs btw lol all of these “getting to know you” stages should be 3-6 mths tops, any longer then that and he’s just wasting ur time — the moment you reach 10+ mths, he’s deff wasting ur time

- don’t get with anyone with a sorry excuse about why their divorce is not finalized, + deff don’t believe any BS story about him wanting to leave her for you lol — most men who do this are *actors* who want their cake and eat it too - no thx - these type of men usually have a storyline already set up— should go without saying but unless he’s actually *divorced* you shouldn’t be “dating” either

💌✨ // Part Deux tbc…

[destinyc1020]

I'd actually would be down for Tom in a gay role, the homophobic spider-man fans will lose their minds but FUCK THEM sooo😇

also just out of curiosity : did tom ever labeled himself ? he only dated Women as far as we know but did he ever actually stated "i'm straight" and never did ? I know it's something than some people speculate about a lot. Same with Z. She did an interview correcting an interviewer who asked her what she she loved in a man and she said *in a person, gender neutral so people think she's pansexual. I don't think she ever labeled herself either ?

(PSA: not that it would be an issue one way or another, just wondering b

Idk why Spidey fans would have the audacity to be homophonic about Tom doing a gay role. Their faves Tobey and Andrew, have also done gay roles. At this point, it's just in the Spiderman clause, as is dating your onscreen MJ in real life, and the actresses playing in tennis movies rofl. 🤭

Re: Tom & Z....

I personally don't know if Tom has ever talked about his sexuality, but I know years ago some fan asked Elle if Tom was gay or bi, and she said he was straight. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I'm not sure if Z has ever addressed it either, but part of me thinks she was just deflecting on that question because she peeped that it was an obvious fishing question (which it was 😏), and was trying to hide the fact that she was back together with her ex lol 👀🤭 I don't think she wanted anyone speculating anything. I also feel like Z is VERY VERY PC, so she might just play it safe just to keep her fandom (even those in the LGBTQ+ group) happy instead of alienating anyone. 🤷🏾‍♀️

But that's just my personal theory. I could be wrong and she could be ______sexual. But she's never addressed it, and as far as I know, she's only dated men, so I don't assume anything otherwise unless someone comes out and said differently. 🤷🏾‍♀️

[baekhvuns]

The memes are indeed funny, but I'm lowkey crying like why Cristiano, why akhsiajsksjsjjsnshsjahss. The Zlatan movie doesn't seem to be well-received, tbh the poster scared me, hahahah but it can be cool for kids

Does Ronaldo need more money though lmao, unless he wants to be loaded for the rest of his life and do nothing but produce more kids

People wait the whole year to die at the end. Lmao so the royal family killers have a weird ass royal family obsessed aunt and she told then they were cursed, because of the coincidence 😭🔪

The bump on my head is gone actually! But I do have a small bump on my forehead cause I hit it... on the bottom of the balcony (don't ask 😅)

P.E. = PEPE alright big brain moment 😵

I didn't exactly catch-catch the puckers I just snatched them, but once a middle aged guy wanted to fight me, a 18 year old girl?! He wanted it more than I did, but with that behaviour??? Get fucked

I get you because I was often angry at Pepe and Ramos for sabotaging the team with their behaviour like REALLY?! I think most of Neymar's cards are for his questionable acting skills lol. The comment "Pepe/Ramos: if he's still breathing it wasn't a foul" jshsajshjsshnsjsjsjshdd

SM better does well for SuperM or else 💀💀💀💀 I was hoping for a live performance of Halazia to hear the actual vocals, but almost everyone lipped during Gayo (basically every artist)?! So I'm laughing at Atunas saying they were live, not even Jongho and the rap line. If you can't hear the difference you can even see the lips didn't match come on 🤡 Actually ZFP1 is my fave album! It's cohesive, even though I don't listen to GLB a lot and don't care for ODAAT, other songs are 👌🏻 but many people found the Fever series underwhelming and I kinda get it, like ZFP2 that album is... questionable imo. On the other hand those who became fans during that era say otherwise and don't necessarily vibe with their current sound. You can't please anyone, but I definitely prefer their music pre-Movement era, ngl. Treasure series my beloved 🥰

I'm glad Hwa is getting interested in producing though! But yeah can't have a normal discussion even with people who bias him 🔫

Seonghwa's Gayo fan cam dropped, I'm gonna camp there, he llooked like one of those fuzzy chickens, he said he liked that disheveled look, and he pulled if off.

2002-2009 liners?! Time to kill YG for real

PSG what are you doing omg. No way, the Al-Nassr guy is an icon already actually, jobless but iconic

IU and LJS such a hot couple, but these couples >>>>> there was another one and Seonghwa is dating someone from CLC?! I don't remember being a member of CLC, but okay 🤭

SEONGWHWHAHWHAHHAHA LEGO LIVE AGAIN, THE YEAR HAS BEEN SAVED 🥰

But there was no need to comment that OP and there was absolutely NO NEED for him to read it out loud. I'm having a normal reaction

Also, I'm watching the Youngjae show rn and is it just me or is Hwa looking extra beautiful and radiant recently 😭 also if MinHwaSang cut their hair it's on fucking sight, game over - DV 💖

hi hello!!!

The memes are indeed funny, but I'm lowkey crying like why Cristiano, why akhsiajsksjsjjsnshsjahss. The Zlatan movie doesn't seem to be well-received, tbh the poster scared me, hahahah but it can be cool for kids /// Does Ronaldo need more money though lmao, unless he wants to be loaded for the rest of his life and do nothing but produce more kids

😭😭😭 no bc no one offered him a contract where else would he go 😭😭😭 saudi slightly better than a us club i guess bfwbdnsnckc zlatan’s movie poster looks like a character from hotel transylvania tbh,,, LMFAOOOO bro is making his own real madrid just wait till 2030 his kids would be playing in the wc 😭😭😭 no bc earning $380 PER FUCKING MINUTE?????? what. a. life. 

People wait the whole year to die at the end. Lmao so the royal family killers have a weird ass royal family obsessed aunt and she told then they were cursed, because of the coincidence 😭🔪

nO SERIOUSLY u wait a whole year for what? just die now bfwndbjejc NO WAAAYYYY STOP GOT CURSED FOR WHAAT DBWBDB 😭😭😭😭😭 is the royal family aunt also obsessed with the meghan and harry thing 🧍🏻‍♀️🧍🏻‍♀️ its a group discussion in my household every month dndnd

The bump on my head is gone actually! But I do have a small bump on my forehead cause I hit it... on the bottom of the balcony (don't ask 😅) /// P.E. = PEPE alright big brain moment 😵

…….anon 😭😭😭 i understand the balcony ( somehow) bUT THE BOTTOM OF IT??? 😭😭😭 U KNOW IT !!! pepe should open a school where they teach p.e, his way <3 it was lucky for him that pepe was in a good mood 😭 do u also think that kep1er is basically derived from pepe’s name fbwmdbks

I didn't exactly catch-catch the puckers I just snatched them, but once a middle aged guy wanted to fight me, a 18 year old girl?! He wanted it more than I did, but with that behaviour??? Get fucked

aHHH THE SAME THING 🔫 snatching it is more impressive bc u have to have the speed to do it 🤌🏻 LMFAOOO??? A WHOLE ASS ADULT??? NAAAAHHHHH BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME UNCLE FBFBBD

I get you because I was often angry at Pepe and Ramos for sabotaging the team with their behaviour like REALLY?! I think most of Neymar's cards are for his questionable acting skills lol. The comment "Pepe/Ramos: if he's still breathing it wasn't a foul" jshsajshjsshnsjsjsjshdd

no cause ur fouling and risking u to skip the next natch and putting career threatening injuries on ppl 😭😭😭 but NOW??? DO WHATEVER U WANT I SUPPORT no ur right def the acting skills but when he fouls back it always counts </3 LMFAOOOO NO ITS RIGHT if the player is still breathing it is not a foul or the “u missed the ball pepe” “i wasn’t aiming for the ball bro” 😭😭😭 pepe is the reason VAR is invented 😭😭😭😭

SM better does well for SuperM or else 💀💀💀💀 I was hoping for a live performance of Halazia to hear the actual vocals, but almost everyone lipped during Gayo (basically every artist)?! So I'm laughing at Atunas saying they were live, not even Jongho and the rap line. If you can't hear the difference you can even see the lips didn't match come on 🤡 Actually ZFP1 is my fave album! It's cohesive, even though I don't listen to GLB a lot and don't care for ODAAT, other songs are 👌🏻 but many people found the Fever series underwhelming and I kinda get it, like ZFP2 that album is... questionable imo. On the other hand those who became fans during that era say otherwise and don't necessarily vibe with their current sound. You can't please anyone, but I definitely prefer their music pre-Movement era, ngl. Treasure series my beloved 🥰

NO CAYSE THIS DBDBD

tbh sm does superm well in terms of musical side but with GOT the music is just 📉📉📉 wait they did?? (did not see the perf at all) all of them were wearing the head seats too omg no bc i saw it on my tl about atinys saying they didn’t lipsync while others said everyone lip-synced 😭😭 i agree with u!! pt1 was great, the tracks THE INCEPTION??? 😮‍💨😮‍💨 wait i also do not losten to glb, ill listen to every song except that one 😭😭 and then after that albim,,, it went a little 📉 nO BC TREASURE SERIES IS SUPERIOR !!!!!! UNTOUCHABLE !!!!!! the concept / lore was the perfect amount 😭

I'm glad Hwa is getting interested in producing though! But yeah can't have a normal discussion even with people who bias him 🔫 /// Seonghwa's Gayo fan cam dropped, I'm gonna camp there, he llooked like one of those fuzzy chickens, he said he liked that disheveled look, and he pulled if off.

prod seonghwa 2023 manifesting 🤲🏻 need a tear jerking ballad that’ll ruin me <3 FUZZY CHICKENS GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE IM SCREAMING FBQKFHQKDBWKHCSKHDSK HE PILLED IT OFF BUT FUZZY CHICKEN VIOLATION 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 OH MY DAYS THATS A VIOLATION

2002-2009 liners?! Time to kill YG for real

BESTIE 2010 NOW 😭😭😭 tool baby monster seriously,,, ppl saying she looks like garam 😭

PSG what are you doing omg. No way, the Al-Nassr guy is an icon already actually, jobless but iconic

no literally and they let their star boy out to fly to the states while the not even the brazilian players JUST neymar get’s the shit + they started the transfer drama,, a low class club feeding to the ego of ONE boy 🔫🔫 ,, JOBLESS BUT ICONIC UR RIGHT i wonder if he’s paid a $$$$ for it too

IU and LJS such a hot couple, but these couples >>>>> there was another one and Seonghwa is dating someone from CLC?! I don't remember being a member of CLC, but okay 🤭 ///// SEONGWHWHAHWHAHHAHA LEGO LIVE AGAIN, THE YEAR HAS BEEN SAVED 🥰

they rly lived a friends to lovers au <333

WAIT THAT LIST???? HOW COME DISPATCH DIDNT REVEAL THOSE 🤨🤨 LMFAOOOO THE WAY MY JAW FELL WHEN U SAID HWA X CLC MEMBER FVFNWHDMS two POLAR OPPOSITES 😭😭😭 seonghwa came as a blessing this year w that blond hair and the constant MF hair flips he does KNOWING FULL WELL IT DOES SOMETHING TO US 🔫🔫

But there was no need to comment that OP and there was absolutely NO NEED for him to read it out loud. I'm having a normal reaction

wait…the comment…why did he pick that one to read out…loud….is he…is this mf….. he’s an exhibitionist

Also, I'm watching the Youngjae show rn and is it just me or is Hwa looking extra beautiful and radiant recently 😭 also if MinHwaSang cut their hair it's on fucking sight, game over - DV 💖

need him to drop the skincare and food routine 🔫 ANON I THINK ITS THE HAIR ITS THE BLOND 😭😭😭 no bc if they tOUCH IT. trim it even SLIGHTLY. haha. ha. 🔫

oooh! what is ur kpop ick!

🧍🏻‍♀️🧍🏻‍♀️