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mugentakeda · 9 months ago

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the tapping of his fathers pacing on the tile is almost enough to drive him mad.

“don’t let your brother’s incessant whining cause you to falter. this is merely a short visit to discuss the matter at hand, and then you’re on your way right back to ba sing se. he will try and whisper doubt in your ear.” the firelord stops to shake a finger at him. “do not listen to him for anything! i will help you in the best of my ability to have this taken care of.”

“i’m not,” iroh snaps impatiently, digging his palms into his eyes. “i’m not listening to him, father. he doesn’t care for lu ten and he doesn’t have to. he has his house and i have mine. empty words have little meaning to me at the moment.”

his father purses his lips. the sting of his stare digs down to the core.

“you say that,” azulon snaps, “but i believe this to be a family affair. its possible lu ten was taken advantage of because he was too busy protecting ozai’s wife and ozai’s children to protect himself. if that’s true, then ozai owes him. i don’t give a damn if he cares about him as his nephew or not. lu ten honored his house, so he shall honor lu ten in return by shutting his trap for once.”

iroh doesn’t have the strength to respond. he’d left ba sing se in a rush after receiving the news, and ordered the shipmen to get him back home on the double. he’s sick, he’s tired, he’s terrified and angry, and he misses his son something awful. the last thing iroh cares about right now is what ozai does or has to say.

there’s a heavy, sad sigh from above him. azulon slowly makes himself comfortable on the sitting cushion next to him, grunting as his bones creak. he sets the knocked over teacup straight again and refills it. the familiar heat and fragrance does nothing to soothe iroh, however.

“there is nothing i can say to make you feel better as of right now,” his old man mutters, sitting the teapot back down with uncharacteristic gentleness, “nor can i say anything sure about ursa or the children. but lu ten, he…. he is a remarkable young man. thick skinned and ornery. lightning generation at only 21, can you believe that? he beat you by a whole year. you must have faith in him.”

“it’s not about having faith in my son, father, of course i have faith in my son. but i have no faith in whoever has- has stolen him from me!” iroh suddenly exclaims, gesturing wildly. azulon flinches as his hands come dangerously close to knocking over the tea again.

your boy flagrantly disrespected you and stayed home to laze around, ozai had hissed, his narrow eyes locked straight up at the throne. both were kneeling before their father’s throne, side by side. i don’t know why you even bother. if he thinks he’s so grown up then he can save his own skin.

iroh didn’t bother to respond. he has nothing to say to his brother even on the best of days. all his life, he’s been nothing but a background character to iroh. always insisting on holing up in his room or office, never joining family dinners or celebration banquets. never one to offer his congratulations, but expects his older brother to offer his. yet, he always liked to think his word was of any significance to iroh. that he was always to be heeded. respect to his elders only means something to his little brother if there’s something to be gained.

flagrant disrespect. lu ten did not disrespect him if iroh never directly asked or ordered anything of him in the first place. he implied it, and lu ten pushed back. it hurt, but it would’ve also been the boys first true venture outside the fire nation. so iroh understood the hesitancy.

iroh would’ve just had lu ten by his side in his war council anyway. he would’ve never seen the battlefield or the city until iroh leveled it. not a spot of green would be spared by his men.

he had envisioned himself shooting a hole right through the flimsy palace wall with his lightning, and his son by his side. winning.

nothing has gone the way you made it out to be, great spirit. i don’t feel very lucky, as of late. the evening sun peaking through the tall windows of the corridor offer his thoughts no response. the general sighs heavily, and continues on his way.

the royal procession had gone through the beach house, along with the rest of the island. not a trace left behind. no sign of a struggle, either.

the procession claims it’s like they vanished out of thin air, sir, jee had whispered.

delicate situations such as this one call for holding the ones you trust most closer than ever. thus, iroh took only his personal guards from ba sing se back with him. jee is a rugged and introverted man, one that iroh knows can keep a secret, so he has been acting as his messenger man and valet for the time being.

another member of his most trusted circle is one of his longest working servants, one that belongs to iroh’s house personally. her name is su, and she is a stout woman around his father’s age. stern and silent, but trustworthy. she was the one that kept a close eye on lu ten from a distance during the periods of time iroh wasn’t around in his youth. she had been the midwife at his birth, she had been the one to pick the wet nurse.

and she had slipped iroh a journal outside of lu ten’s room. leather bound and stained in a deep red, with delicate embroidery of lotus flowers decorating its cover. it looked like something the lady ursa would gift him.

i came across this left behind in lady ursa’s garden, your highness, she had murmured fiercely. i snatched it right up and held it for you upon your return, lest it fall into the wrong hands.

the dark, warm silence of iroh’s own chambers is a small comfort, but the cold leather of the journal in his hands chains him to the cruel reality.

one of the vows iroh made for himself when lu ten came into puberty was that he would never violate his son’s privacy. he’d like to think that his son’s life possibly being in danger is a good enough reason to break it, but it still feels… wrong. especially now that he’s an adult himself.

it’ll be like eating a dollop of wasabi, he tells himself. spicy and painful one moment, then fading tingling the next.

with a sigh, he cracks it open to the back page. a few lines of familiar scrawl.

and the reason i torture myself trying to ignore all these things about him that bother me is because….

he looks away, shame crawling up his back. the candle sitting at the corner of his desk flicker along with his irregular, fear ridden heart.

a dollop of wasabi, he reminds himself. he opens his eyes again with a long breath and looks back down at the journal once more.

…well, that’s the crux of it. i just don’t know how to finish that sentence anymore.

that tells him a whole lot of nothing.

iroh flips the page back again, and is immediately overwhelmed by completely filled pages. then startled, by the sheer amount of times his own name pops up to his searching eyes among walls of scrawled text.

unease curls in his gut, like a dragon slowly rising from a slumber.

the ink doesn’t look too old. and su had said she found it in the lady ursa’s garden. and then jee said the royal procession claimed the fours’ trip to ember island was only to last three days, tops.

and as far as iroh knew, lu ten had been keeping quietly busy after iroh’s departure to ba sing se. lu ten willingly buried himself in paper work, always hunting for things he had the power to make into his business. training with lightning generation was grueling, and took hours, on top of the meditation necessary. and it takes a clear mind to even work with lightning, so…

had he done something recently to upset lu ten, and didn’t realize it? what things about iroh did lu ten torture himself trying to ignore? dramatic wording like that is difficult to overlook.

the general thinks back to how well his son can hide his emotions. lu ten’s court face beats even ozai’s, so it made him a gnarly pai sho opponent, but… he never did the backhanded comments. he can lie, but he’s a man of action before a plotting one. so you’ll never see the storm coming until it hits you directly in the face.

the letters he got back from him in ba sing se were… neutral. unbothered. he hadn’t seemed very troubled at the palace gates during his departure, either. tired and a bit wary, maybe.

but now that he thinks about it, the way lu ten looked at him had been… strange. his eyes had an emotion swirling in them that the general couldn’t read.

he rapidly rolls over the most recent letters in his head, the days right before leaving, trying to think of what he might have done to set lu ten off-

…the tiff they had on the evening before iroh’s departure.

he had forgotten about it completely.

spirits, he’d forgotten about it by the time he stepped foot on the shore. the elation of finally arriving at ba sing se, the first big step toward fulfilling the biggest thing he’s wanted to accomplish his entire life, the ultimate win, decades of planning and dreaming, inspired by agni herself…

he’d been caught up in the heat of the moment.

it didn’t even turn into an actual argument, that’s how small the tiff had been- a few things thrown back and forth during their private dinner, and the rest of it had been spent in awkward silence. iroh had let his hurt get the better of him, and he got testy.

the only thing that spoiled his ongoing luck, his relief of finally being able to go and crush his country’s most stubborn opponent, to make the second biggest win since sozin- was his own son not joining in, or showing any interest.

and that wasn’t even it. the closer iroh and his advisors got to bringing their planning to a conclusion, the more withdrawn lu ten became. whenever iroh brought it up, his son would close like a firelily in the night.

i assumed you were above teenage rebellion, iroh had muttered. i understand you want accomplishments of your own, but-

teenage rebellion? you’re joking, right? why do you always insist on- on patronizing me whenever we don’t agree on something? if you think you’re gonna guilt trip me into changing my mind, you’ve got it all wrong.

the disbelieving, ever so slightly shriller tone lu ten’s voice took on reminded iroh of his mother. she always had the habit of raising her voice a few pitches when she got upset. it reminded iroh of a coyote-eagle, once upon a time. the older lu ten got, the taller and leaner his face and physique became, the more time they spent apart, it’s like a vivid repeat of his mother. he even became a hand talker when iroh hadn’t been looking, just like fuhua.

(are habits hereditary, or had fuhua died after running away, and came back to haunt him?)

it’s probably best to start a bit further back in the journal. it might provide the context this father needs. he flips the pages for a few moments, and stops at random.

i spoke with a gentleman from the earth kingdom today during my observational trip through the colonies closest to the homeland. if you didn’t look close enough, you would’ve thought him to be any old fire nation fisherman, but i know green eyes when i see them.

his wife was a sailor that hails from caldera city. they met across the seas, in a neutral port town. they have two young twins, just barely older than zuko and azula. isn’t that something?

now, that is something iroh never bothered doing when he was a young man- it’s only now that his joints won’t let him run around chasing skirts anymore that he’s become a people person. but he’s proud of his boy for taking that initiative and having such a sense of responsibility, to go and mingle with the common man. an empathetic ruler that’s popular with his people will have the surest and furthest reaching authority, after all. iroh couldn’t name a single councilman off the top of his head that would be willing to even breathe the same air as a commoner, much less a colonial mutt.

however… this isn’t a colonial. he’s too keen on the idea of his family members’ abductors being petty, revenge seeking crooks from the earth kingdom to be okay with the idea of his son even conversing with one. for all they claim to be true and steadfast, them sneaking in and attacking an unarmed woman and her young children in their beach house just to get back at iroh is all too realistic of an idea.

but lu ten wasn’t unarmed. lu ten is one of the strongest men in the fire nation, and iroh isn’t even being biased about that. it takes prodigy to conjure lightning, and mastery to control it. and lu ten was very protective of ursa and the children- almost too protective. back in the day, during celebration parties at the palace, lu ten would damn near prowl around a pregnant ursa to fend off the careless crowd, lest they bump into her and jostle her. and he’d only been just a young teenager himself, so it was like watching a polar bear puppy that thought itself a snarly guard dog.

then a few years ago, there had been an incident where lu ten claimed zuko’s instructors were smacking him around. he’d grabbed both of the men by the collar and dragged them both viciously through the palace and right out the door- only after the sharpest scolding iroh’s ever heard since his mother was still alive. he’d never seen his son so angry. he’d chuckled at the way those old instructors had babbled apologies and fell to lu ten’s feet, while patting ursa’s back gently as she floundered.

no, it’s doubtful that an old fisherman had anything to do with it. earth kingdom or not. this is just something he needs to talk to his son about once he’s found. it would take a group of very strong benders to take lu ten down, at the very least.

he was wisecracking and friendly. we talked about his business, the officials that take care of the town and the surrounding environment, how he met his wife. he even shared his lunch during our time together- grilled fish, fragrant with sumac and citrus, and a chilled earth kingdom style mint tea. it was refreshing and unique, and i want to do it again. you’d think the fire nation would pick up these little things as it expands, but it just drowns it all out. i’m not sure if that’s a good thing. what made the food good was its earth kingdom style and seasoning, after all. what made the man interesting was his earth kingdom raised manner.

…what made lu ten think it was a good idea to write such things in a journal, and then be so careless to just forget it in ursa’s garden? he’ll have to thank su for her keen eye. if someone lacking critical thinking happened to pick this up and turn it in to his father, he’d have to deal with his son having allegations of sedition on top of everything else.

iroh, personally, is more than happy to let all traces of chilled tea get drowned out. it’s a frequent and light hearted debate between a father and son, the do’s and don’ts of tea. iroh is a stickler for tradition and enjoying the natural flavors. the fire nation boasted only the most fragrant flowers to enhance only the most delicate flavors of only the finest tea blends, after all.

his son claimed it all tasted like dinky dirt water, and stubbornly stuck with his cold hibiscus teas with herbs, and his heavily spiced and creamed saffron teas. it had been a big joke back then, but now… not so much.

a whole lifetime of a father making his son tea, sharing one of his passions. conversations over tea, tea for soothing a sore throat after screaming matches with councilmen, tea to wash down sea water accidentally swallowed at the beach. traditional methods, ceremonies, porcelain pots precious enough to buy a whole town- but it’s dirt water. yet an old fisherman from their greatest enemy shares ice water with a few mint leaves in a tin cup, and its unique.

and he wants to do it again.

the personal betrayal somehow hurts more than the blatant treachery written out plainly on the paper.

to be honest, i think that it’s a great shame that a good man like that has to be careful on his own property-property he paid for with his own money and built with his own hands- due to being from the earth kingdom, even if he has a strong marriage to a fire nation citizen. i thought about it for a long time, and realized that even if he wasn’t loyal to the crown, i didn’t mind. i don’t get angry at the idea, and i don’t think i ever have. i didn’t even think about it until i left. he made good company, offered to share his food with me, and introduced me to his beautiful children as if i was his new neighbor. i think community like that is something the fire nation needs. especially the nobility, who you’d think all have iron sticks shoved up their asses.

interactions like that are the most important ones to me, because they challenge me the most. i hate to cheapen that by thinking i just enjoy being challenged to spite my traditions and elders, or to be contrarian. that’s what coming of age means to me- looking inward, and asking the big questions.

…this can’t be why lu ten has been so distant lately.

the general slowly shuts the journal in dull horror. how long has this sickness had time to fester his son’s soul?

he swallows hard, and gingerly slides the journal in the folds of his robes. under no circumstance can anyone get their hands on it.

and later, when his gut quits churning and the candles around him quit threatening to set his room on fire, he’ll read this whole journal, front to back. brand every sentence, every symbol into his eyes. then he’s gonna burn it, bring his son home, and ask him what the hell he’s thinking.

the next morning, after letting the foul scent of burnt leather fade from his chambers, iroh finds jee.

“what can i do you for, your highness?”

“i need you to bring me the finest bounty hunter money can buy,” iroh murmurs. there’s a madness in his eyes and in his grip now that he’s had time to ponder the contents of his son’s journal, and what they entail. “and no matter what, it stays between us. i do not care what measures you must take to keep it that way.”

jee swallows hard and salutes with purpose. the poor man must be able to his see stress all over his face, but he’s barely containing himself the way it is.

this was no kidnapping. the blasted earth kingdom has everything to do with it, naturally, but it was no kidnapping.

jee returns to him that evening, followed by a lovely young woman, head to toe in black leather. her gait oozes confidence, and her narrow eyes scream danger.

this is definitely not the kind of finest iroh meant by finest bounty hunter money can buy, but he’ll take it.

“…i’ve, uh. fulfilled your request, your highness,” jee says. he looks flustered, and is clearly refusing to even glance at the woman.

“with a few breaks in between, i’m guessing. your collar is uneven, soldier,” iroh deadpans. he’d call it a shame if he wasn’t curbing an episode at the moment.

jee makes a faint noise of distress and fumbles with his uniform, blushing a deep red. iroh realizes that was the wrong thing to say at how the fair lady scowls at the crude jab.

she shoves past jee with an aggressive shoulder clip and crosses her arms before the general.

“i was promised a shitload of coin in exchange for some missing royals,” she says, voice clipped. “i don’t like to work with your kind, but good money is good money. and i can promise better and quicker results than any phony bounty hunter in the world- my companion is a shirshu. she can sniff out a rat from a whole continent away.”

a shirshu, eh? it would seem my luck has made its return after long last.

“impressive,” iroh praises truthfully. he’s a weak man for crass and foul-mouthed women. “i’d like to take a look at this beast, and then we can discuss the details and prices. i also hope you’re alright with keeping this transaction under wraps, my dear.”

she sneers. “you can call me june. and i’d highly suggest keeping a few steps away from my nyla, for your own good.”

jee clears his throat. “i’d listen to that one, sir. her creature is something else.”

iroh hums pleasantly, and keeps a few paces behind june as they go. a strange calm has washed over him now that the universe finally makes sense to him again; he has a few more people he’d like to question, and he’ll be all set. then sooner, if he’s lucky, rather than later, his sister-in-law, his nephew, and his niece will all be found and returned home, safe and sound. his son will be in his arms, whole and unharmed. ba sing se will simply have to wait.

and if they’re lucky, the dragon of the west won’t have thought up a better solution to finally grinding their sorry ashes into their own dirt by the time he gets back. but regardless, he will win.

#somehow this did not leave off on a redemption-esque note. My bad #I PROMISE IM GONNA ABIDE BY THE POLL RESULTS OKAY #this part can honestly be called Irohs Cognitive Dissonance: The Thrilling Saga #also im sorry about the lack of focus on irohs relationship with zuko and azula.#i know it tracks in canon (azulas doll gift) but im still. Kinda unsure.#im honestly better at just writing irohs dialogue vs his thoughts #and this being him before he starts changing makes it even WORSE #so i hope. i did him some justice. Awks #also i hope you guys liked the implication of june and jee making out sloppy style.#even if iroh kinda ruined it.#idk where that even came from it just happened #i hope u guys are seeing all the azula-iroh parallels about Winning and Luck. thats all intentional #runaway fire fam au #alicias writing stuff

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celestialecho · 3 months ago

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🌦️&💤

on childhood best friends.

via ill give you the sun by jandy nelson // via the art of ponyo by hayao miyazaki // jack johnson, we're going to be friends // a message from my childhood best friend // mitski, i guess // via a little life by hanya yanagihara // adventure time, island song (come along with me) // via unknown // abba, chiquitita

#do you ever think about how momo was taught to weaponize her anger while mikan was taught to swallow his back. both as a means of survival #how momo probably admires mikans ability to hold it in. how mikan probably admires momos ability to release it all.#because i do. i think about it a lot #(BTW. IF YOU KNOW WHERE THE “let's go to the garden. let's be kids again. i'll chase you if you chase me.” IS FROM PLEEEASE LMK.)#the message is from the friend that inspired momo and mikan. btw she messaged me out of the blue and we chatted about our earliest memories #the whole “ohhh he came up to me offered me his hand and said you wanna go play with me because i was all alone” seems really unrealistic #BUT THATS. WHAT HAPPENED WITH US. WITH ME AND HER. i dont remember it very well which is funny and poetic in a sense. but SHE does... gugh #its because i was the one that went up to her... of course she remembers me offering her my hand because that meant the entire world to her #← OR SOMETHING. NEVER RUMINATE ON UR CHILDHOOD WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE its because my birthdays coming up im getting all weird. ugh #okay actual tags instead of my rambles...#web weaving #my wws #oc tag #momo tenki #mikan javier #on childhood friends #id in alt #nova noise #also hai sunny. (halo freak) one of these for kinzoku and gensou when. i will NEVER RECOVER #← silly slash lighthearted. i am just crazy over them you absolutely do not have to ^_^ i hope it doesnt come across that way

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diavolo-is-babygirl · 4 days ago

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Diavolo x Levi Short Fic: Comfort and Warmth

Levi gives Diavolo some much needed comfort while they’re playing an adventure game.

The glow of holiday lights filled Leviathan’s room, casting soft shades of green and red over the shelves lined with his treasured collectibles. Outside, Devildom’s world lay in its usual dark gloom, but inside Levi’s haven, it was cozy, full of warmth and festive cheer. In the center of it all, Diavolo sat beside Levi on the couch, controller in hand, his brows furrowed in concentration as they navigated their characters through a dense, enchanted forest in the co-op adventure game Levi had chosen.

Diavolo had been distant lately, haunted by stress and insecurities, and Levi had noticed. He’d invited Diavolo to come by under the pretense of playing his new game together, hoping it might bring a smile to his face, even if just for a little while. But when their characters faced a particularly difficult boss fight, Diavolo’s focus wavered, his fingers slipping over the controls. “I… I’m not very good at this, am I?” he murmured, his voice carrying a hint of defeat. “I should be better, stronger… more capable.” He let out a heavy sigh, his gaze dropping to the controller.

“Even here, I feel like I can’t keep up.”

Levi paused the game, turning to look at Diavolo, his heart aching at the vulnerability etched across his friend’s face. In all his time knowing Diavolo, he’d rarely seen him so visibly shaken, so burdened by self-doubt. “Hey… that’s not true.” Levi’s voice was soft, a hint of earnestness peeking through his usual shyness. “Everyone has times when they feel like they’re not enough. Even the greatest heroes struggle, you know? You’re no different.”

Diavolo met Levi’s gaze, his amber eyes full of something soft, like he hadn’t expected that understanding from someone who usually kept to himself. “You think so?”

Levi gave a small, reassuring smile. “Yeah, of course. Besides, you’re doing amazing! This game isn’t easy, but look at how far we’ve gotten. And…” he paused, glancing around the room, his face flushing slightly. “You’re here, with me. That… means something, doesn’t it?”

The faint twinkle of Christmas lights cast a gentle glow over Diavolo’s face, illuminating the faint lines of worry that slowly eased at Levi’s words. He looked down at their characters, poised together on the screen, standing side-by-side in the dark, pixelated forest. “You’re right,” Diavolo said, his voice steadying, as if drawing strength from Levi’s quiet encouragement. “Thank you, Levi. I sometimes feel… like I’m not allowed to have moments like this, to struggle.” He chuckled softly, his voice warm. “But here, in this room, with you and the lights and the game, it’s… easier to believe that it’s okay to be myself.”

Levi’s cheeks turned pink, but he swallowed back his nerves, his voice soft but unwavering. “You don’t have to be perfect, Diavolo. Just be yourself. I… like you best that way.”

A quiet smile bloomed on Diavolo’s face, a gentle, unguarded happiness lighting his eyes. He let out a contented sigh, leaning just a bit closer to Levi. “Thank you, Levi. Truly.”

Without a word, Levi resumed the game, and their characters began their journey again. The tension in the room had shifted, replaced by something warmer, softer, as they navigated together through the magical, wintery landscapes. The game world came alive in brilliant hues of green and gold, reflecting the colors of the holiday lights around them. They fought battles side by side, defeated bosses together, and slowly, Diavolo’s laughter filled the room, ringing out with genuine joy as they shared victory after victory.

And when the final boss fell, Levi leaned into Diavolo’s shoulder, the warmth of their shared accomplishment—and something unspoken—filling the quiet between them. Diavolo looked down at him, his gaze soft, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Thank you, Levi. You’ve given me more than you know.”

Levi’s lips curved into a shy smile, and, for once, he didn’t shy away. Instead, he let himself bask in the moment, the comfort of Diavolo beside him and the quiet magic of Christmas lights casting their soft glow.

#obey me nightbringer #obey me shall we date #obey me leviathan #obey me diavolo #this took me all day to write #i hope it came out okay!

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dirtydoctorwho · 11 months ago

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Secret Santa for @ethvn-torchio

#peggy carter #steve rogers #captain america #steggy secret santa #herbie made a thing #okay i MIGHT have seen your ask response too late #so i hope this suffices <3 #AU is such a big catagory #AU of an AU. ALL THE AUs #i am once again won't to do an single line of shading #for real there's no shading on this #its just a bunch of layered gradients on some block coloring #i really like how it came out tho #happy holidays im honored to have been your secret santa :)

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runningupthatvecna · 2 years ago

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the law of seat partners | part 2

a/n: ok so the response to part 1 of my first ever eddie blurb has been quite surprising and i've had ideas for a second part while writing it so i guess that's what's happening here now. this part is definitely longer (you're welcome) and will lead to a part 3, so no worries there everyone. i definitely recommend reading part 1 first though to get more context. enjoy and i live for reblogs and comments so i'd appreciate you leaving me some :)

summary: the bus ride continues and so does your feeling that eddie might like you a bit more than the others. also, he eats all most of your snacks and it (among other things) makes you realise that you're down bad for him. also you learn that his hands are just generally quite warm.

cw/tw: more of eddie being a touchy menace while trying real hard to make reader aware of his affection. kinda friends to lovers with eventual spice in part 3. slow burn, kinda? slapping of butts, a bit of mutual pining (reader is emotionally ... confused), mentions of eddie being treated poorly by people, mentions of eddie partaking in illegal activities, also a lot of eddie being a sweet bean. no mentions of y/n.

read part 1 here

-----

It was the halt of the bus that woke you up from your pre-noon nap on Eddie Munson's head.

His hand was still resting on your thigh, giving it a reassuring squeeze before he lifted his head from your shoulder and straightened himself.

The touch wasn't entirely new to you, since you had figured out this was the primary way he expressed a certain level of affection. Because he also was like this with the others of your group and you hadn't dared to read too much into it. At least until now.

"Looks like the babies already need a diaper change."

His mumbled comment on what seemed to be the first break on the road made you snort.

You loved the fact that he seemed to share your disapproval of having a rampage of middle schoolers sharing the bus with you on this trip.

Eddie turned his head to you, his deep brown doe eyes slowly wandering over your facial features while is mouth was lightly curled into a smile. Yours was slightly tilted towards him, reciprocating his gaze right before a familiar voice made both of your heads turn.

"Hey, you guys wanna head outside for a stretch?", Steve's pretty lean figure had appeared in front of your seats, he stood on one of the lower steps of the staircase leading out of the back door.

Again, Eddie turned his head to check on you. Because if you would rather stay in your seat, so would he.

You cracked a smile at Steve who was just now followed by Nancy, Robin and Dustin, all of them awaiting his exit in the aisle.

"Sounds good", you replied, while your friends hopped out of the vehicle into the warm Indiana sun which was, thankfully, still more than visible in the blue sky.

It was warmer outside than on the parking lot this morning, which made you decide leave any additional jacket or hoodie inside the bus. You weren't the type to get cold easily anyway. Following an energetically bouncing Eddie down the stairs, you both made your way over towards where Steve, Robin, Nancy and Dustin were gathered.

Not long after, you had the Byers brothers standing among you as well.

"Anyone going for a wee?", Robin asked in her blatant straight-forward no filter fashion you celebrated her for. It made you smile. "We still have six minutes and I've been holding it since we left the parking lot."

"Yeah I'll come", Nancy replied to her, before they wandered off towards the building together and left you among the group of boys who wouldn't have minded just stepping out into the bushes along the fence of the road house.

Steve was the only one who seemed to take the going outside for a stretch literal, because right now his entire figure was bent in half as he leaned forward to let his arms dangle towards the ground while he tried his best to keep his legs straight.

And Dustin's observant facial expression, which was slowly turning into a grin told you that he was desperately fighting the urge to playfully slap Steve's ass.

I mean, fair.

Eddie also had seemed to notice and it took him only a mere few seconds to decide on executing Dustin's obvious thoughts.

"Hey man, stop that!"

Steve snapped back up and let his fist hit Eddie's shoulder with a laugh.

"Just giving you what you don't seem to get anywhere else these days, big boy."

It left both Steve and Dustin speechless. Witty comebacks? Not existent in their brains.

You blurted out a laugh, since you knew that Eddie's remark was true. As one of Steve's best friends, you just knew.

The metalhead grinned widely, threw his arm around your shoulders and pulled you close enough for you to hear his low voice, while moving the both of you back towards the bus.

"Come on darling, napping always makes me hungry."

Yeah. His love language was touch.

-----

"Alright everyone, get back into your seats, we're leaving!"

Ms Kelley's voice echoed through the microphone she picked up from the driver's booth while standing in the very front of the bus, trying to get everyone's attention.

Unlike the middle school kids further in the front, you and Eddie had already settled back in long ago.

The vehicle started moving again.

"Is there anything besides being around children of course, that you're particularly looking forward to this week?", the metalhead asked with a genuinely curious tone.

"Oh please, there's nothing I enjoy more than having screaming kids around me, I thought you knew that about me already."

You pretended to think really hard for a few seconds and let out a chuckle, before you continued.

"No, but I get to spend time with you guys. Outside of school, outside of Hawkins. And I love lakes and being in nature. The fresh air, the cool water, I prefer that over any hotel room in any city, if I'm hone– ... Eddie, what are you d–"

While you were speaking, the boy next to you found it to be the perfect time to lean forward and try to reach for the snack bag you had carefully placed between your feet.

"Keep talking sweetheart, I'm listening." He had turned his head towards you, unable to hide another one of those big grins that you secretly adored on him. So much.

You couldn't necessarily see his movements, but you sure as hell could feel them. His right hand kept brushing and his fingers kept tapping against your jean covered calves and shins and ankles, pretending to be on the search for a certain bag, but the more time it took him to actually get it, the more it dawned on you that he was doing this very much on purpose.

What a fucking menace.

And by the way, where were his snacks?

"Eddie, just fucking grab it", you said with a laugh, letting him know you were well aware of the little game he was playing.

"Hm, it's quite nice down here to be honest. Could get used to it."

You just rolled your eyes at him with a smile, let your head hit the rest behind it and turned your head towards the window, while you felt the bag being pulled away from inbetween your feet.

In the corner of your eye you watched him peek into and rummage through it. He was sticking out his tongue, like he always did when he was trying to focus. You'd seen him do it too when he would be working on writing campaigns for Hellfire during lunch break in the cafeteria.

"Like what you see?", you asked him, without breaking contact with the headrest. You didn't dare to turn your head either.

Four hours had passed since you left the high school parking lot in Hawkins, and you don't think you ever spent that long with Eddie. Certainly not in this close proximity.

There was some form of tension building between you two. And you couldn't quite place it. He was his usual charming self, yeah sure, but there was an additional something to it.

"Yeah, I do."

If you would have turned your head, you would have noticed the fact that his eyes weren't taking in the selection of your snacks anymore.

You would have certainly placed his entire demeanor in a new context if you would have paid attention to the way the tone of his voice changed to something more soft and warm, saying those three words.

You turned your head towards him. And you were way too far down the road of overthinking for you to catch the spark in the dark brown of his eyes and the way the corner of his mouth slightly curled up.

As if he actually liked liked you.

But you still smiled back at him.

"Go ahead then pretty boy, all yours."

And maybe you also weren't referring to snacks anymore. But you didn't expect Eddie to catch that.

What you did notice though was him catching your compliments. The way heat was visibly rising to his cheeks.

Eddie Munson had never received a lot of them. Sadly so, due to the fact that he was known as the freak of the town. Being a nerd with a bunch of tattoos, always involved in some kind of trouble, hotwiring cars, dealing drugs and of course the town's favourite classic: worshipping satan. When in fact, he was just trying to be a good friend, going out of his way to make the people dearest to him feel good (and maybe not using the most legal methods ever while doing so), and just heavily enjoying things he found really cool. He was always just being himself.

You had to admit to yourself that you were more than curious to see and explore the effects of your compliments on him. Because you were sure that if you just kept dropping them, they would eventually help him feel better about himself. And you knew from conversations with your friends that he did need that. And most of all, deserved it.

Soft baby cow personality, yeah.

For more general coziness on a ten hour bus ride, you had taken off your shoes right after the first break. You slightly turned your back towards the window and pulled your legs up to let them rest on the little barrier in front of both your seats.

And just after that, you were handed the snack bag by the boy next to you.

Before you knew it, he grabbed both of your legs a little above your ankles (with his really warm hands, like, really warm hands) and pulled them over his thighs. It made your breath hitch in your throat.

Then he took back the snacks. Between his torso and your legs.

"Gotta set the table then, right?", Eddie flatly said with a smirk, while pulling out a box of crackers. It made you snort.

Why did he have to be like this? And why did you like him so much for it?

You ended up sharing half of the contents of your snack bag with Eddie. Seated like this, one of his hands fumbling in whatever plastic bag or cardboard box of snack he could find, holding them out to you when he noticed you going empty on your last grab, his other resting on one of your shins, while his thumb kept rubbing slow, small circles into the flesh through your jeans.

The warmth of his hand felt like fire.

Eventually you had to keep him from munching through the remainders too, reminding him that you still had at least half of the journey ahead of you.

He had pouted at you all cute, and you had felt your cheeks heat up at him dropping another pet name at you while protesting.

You seemed to keep pushing the right buttons for him to be all sweet with you. And yeah, of course you couldn't deny that you enjoyed his attention.

During your time munching away, you both even came to learn new things about each other.

There were conversations about your families, milestones of your lives, hopes and dreams that some you surprisingly seemed to be sharing, similarities in your outlooks on life, Eddie's slightly questionable moral compass when it came to illegal activities, and your shared love and passion for music.

Pretty much everything he told you was confirming or adding to your already existent image of him.

After a content sigh, Eddie suddenly made attempts to get up into the aisle (he was kind enough to softly place your legs on his seat first though) and reached up into the luggage compartment. He was searching for his own bag of stuff that you were surprised he hadn't forgotten on his bed in the morning.

And yes. Your eyes just had to travel over the stretch of his Hellfire shirt down over his torso, all the way to where a sliver of pale skin revealed itself to you and the light trail of dark hair disappeared into the waistband of his black jeans, which was tied to his hips with his iconic handcuff belt. And it was giving you ideas.

It was pretty much the first time you saw any other part of his skin other than his forearms, even though you'd known him for like, half a year now. There just hadn't been any moments yet where this situation could have happened.

You were so lost in thoughts about Eddie Munson's happy trail that you missed him catching you. Looking. In fact, you seemed to keep your eyes glued to his belly until his voice snapped you out of it.

The growing smirk on his face you saw next was as prominent as your awareness of your own feelings towards him. Just now in this moment you started to realise that if you kept this up, if you kept letting him in, there would probably be no escape. No escape from tripping over the edge and falling into the endless void of pining after him, probably forever.

Ever since you had first met him at one of Steve's infamous parties, it had been crystal clear to you that you were going to have a thing for him.

The way his wild mane had accentuated his beautiful face with his round dark brown eyes and the plushness of his lips in the warm light of Harrington's living room, his smell, a mix of cigarettes, bergamot, cheap cologne and something you couldn't make out but was so distinctly Eddie, the omnipresent leather jacket and Dio jeans vest, tattoos you'd spotted on his forearms, his entire rough metalhead aura that you always found to be so captivating.

"You know that as your designated seat partner, it underlies my absolute obligation to not only eat all your snacks you brought just for me of course, but in return to also make you listen to the best songs in the world.", Eddie explained to you with raised eyebrows, wide eyes and an equally wide grin after he had seated himself again and gestured for you to put your legs back on his thighs.

And who were you to say no to that?

He waved a self made mixtape under your nose. It made you chuckle.

You prided yourself on being a music nerd, so the fact that he was willing to share his music with you was definitely one of the most meaningful things he could have chosen to do with you at this point.

"Oh, how gracious of you, Munson, considering it was you who kept a seat for me", you smiled while taking out your headphones and walkman, which was so technically advanced that it had two plugs for two pairs of headphones. How convenient.

He let out a small, low chuckle while nudging your shoulder with his own.

You held out the second plug of the walkman out in his direction, and he didn't waste the opportunity to place his hand above yours which was holding out the device, to give it more support while his other hand connected the cable of his own.

And just when you were about to press play for the first song to fill your ears, Ms Kelley's microphone filtered voice filled them instead.

"We're going to have lunch break now, everyone! Please be back here in thirty minutes, yes?"

-----

tagged: my dear @josephfakingquinn and @ghost-proofbaby

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fluff #stranger things fluff #the law of seat partners #eddie munson x fem!reader fluff #nora writes #part 2 is heeeeere #took me long enough lol #there will be part 3 #cause how could i not write about eddie eventually throwing reader into the lake #i really hope everyone likes this #it's also okay if not #wild that this all came out of me just from a very brief dream about eddie #lol #stranger things

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