#I hope you all enjoy this update though and hopefully it won't take me as long to update ch7!

[theitgirlnetwork]

Better

Chapter 4: Until Just Friends Isn't Enough

Note: Another Update, hopefully people won't get bored of this story, I'm just trying to lay the ground work so we can get really deep into the story. I hope you're all enjoying. Thank you for all the likes and reblogs. I appreciate it so much.

"A-and then he got to ride the donkey. Oh, he was so happy, he looked so cute, like a little cowboy.” Monica grins, resting her hand on top of Lip’s.

Lip leans over to mumble into Charlotte’s ear. “Yeah, it was a rottweiler, she left me outside with it while she fucked a drug dealer for some coke.” 

“Oh.” Charlotte mutters, offering Monica a polite smile and takes a sip of the hot chocolate Lip made her.

“So how long have you been seeing my baby?” Monica asks, bouncing in her seat, “you guys seemed close outside.”

“Not long.”

“We’re not dating.”

Lip and Charlotte look at each other, narrowing her eyes at him and him fixing her with an innocent look. “I just moved here, Mrs. Gallagher. Lip’s been a good friend.” 

“Oh please, call me Monica.” 

Footsteps come trudging down the stairs and the sound of Fiona cooing at Liam fills the kitchen. Charlotte hadn’t even realized that it was that late…or early. “Good mornin’ you’re up early…oh. Jesus Christ, Monica? What the hell are you doin’ here? The fuck, Lip?” the brunette groans, placing Liam into his highchair. “Mornin’ Lottie.”

“Lottie, oh, that’s such a cute nickname! Isn’t it Lip?” Monica cheers, grabbing the girl’s hands.

“Hi, Fiona.” Charlotte leans over the table and tickles Liam’s cheek before smearing kisses all over his cheeks, relishing in his squeals. “Hi, handsome! Sleep well? Good dreams?”

Lip watches as the girl bathes his little brother in attention, crossing her eyes to make him laugh, scooting her chair closer to him so he can clap his little hands on her cheeks. The tightness in his chest comes back and without thinking, he goes to try to rub it, soothe it. 

Fiona laughs to herself, knocking Lip with her hip and placing a cup full of coffee in front of him, mumbling to him, “Bet you wish that was you, huh?”

“Fuck off.” Lip squints, placing his hand on the back of Charlotte’s neck, rubbing the skin there. “How ‘bout you, huh? Need some coffee?” 

“No, I’m okay. Thanks, Phillip.” she smiles.

Monica snickers behind her hot chocolate and Fiona shakes her head. Charlotte tucks her chin to her chest slightly, feeling her cheeks warm. It’s not the eyes watching the encounter that gets her feeling sheepish, but the piercing blue ones looking at her intently. “Breakfast? My treat? I…uh” he leans closer, whispering in her ear as she makes eye contact with a worried looking Fiona. “Don’t wanna say goodbye yet.”

“Y-yeah. I’ll go to breakfast.” she says quietly, squirming against him.

Lip looks at her with a smug smile, backing away to rub Liam’s head and go over to the steps. “Takin’ a shower before the rest of the fuckin’ animals wanna wake up and fight me for it.” He disappears up the stairs, calling back down once, “You’re welcome to join me, though, bunny.” 

“Jesus.” Charlotte huffs, dropping her head to the kitchen table in embarrassment, only lifting it when Liam starts cooing “Lottie” at her. 

Monica grins widely, watching the girl, “Oh, this is so great, Charlotte. I’ve never seen my Lip so smitten.”

“You’ve never seen Lip for more than a couple of months at a time, things like his love life might’ve slipped through the cracks.” Fiona snorts, wetting a washcloth and cleaning Liam’s face. “Not a shot at you, Lottie.”

“S’fine.” 

“No, I know that look.” Monica continues, “Lip’s a Gallagher, he’s set his sights on you and he won’t let up. Pretty thing like you, it was only a matter of time. Fiona it’ll be fun having a sister-in-love will be fun! Mickey is pretty cute but he’s rough around the edges. Charlotte will really soften things around here, I won’t be the only creature of light in this family.”

“Creature of light?” 

“Ignore her, we all do.” Fiona says, pulling out the chair across from Charlotte’s and sits. “Look, Lottie, despite all of the psycho babble, Monica might be a little right. I know that look too okay, but it doesn’t lead to a nice house and loving relationship. It’s just lust, don’t let it confuse you alright? I love my brother, but I know him. Don’t fall into the Gallagher trap and end up the next Mickey, alright? Or worse, the next Mandy.” the older girl places her hand over Charlotte’s, “Just not a good idea, Lottie.”

Lip slides on deodorant before pulling a gray sweater over his head, remembering to tuck his chain he’d stolen off of some frat loser passed out in the hallway back into his shirt. He reaches over and snags some cologne one of Fiona’s rich boyfriends had left behind that he and Ian share. “Hey, you got ready fast. Tell Charlotte I need like 20 minutes, and Mickey’s already on his way, alright?”

Lip turns slowly, finding his redheaded brother drying his hair with a towel. “Um…what the fuck are you talkin’ about?”

“Breakfast…Lottie said we’re goin’. Carl, you better be takin’ a real fuckin’ shower and not a bird bath!” 

“Yeah,” Lip pats his brother’s shoulder. “You’re not comin’ to breakfast. Love you though.” 

Lip had thought that Ian and Mickey were the last of his obstacles, but he came downstairs to a now showered and  fully dressed Charlotte with Liam on her hip, Debbie and Carl flanking both of her sides. He shakes his head in disbelief and leans against the banister. “Damn, I didn’t know you came with so many kids.” he jokes.

“Yeah, well, what can I say?” she smiles, adjusting Liam on her hip.

Lip stalks closer, grabbing the base of Charlotte’s slicked back ponytail and tugging her forward lightly, pressing a kiss on her cheek. “Usin’ my siblings against me? You don’t play fair, Charlotte Fisher.” 

“Neither do you, Gallagher” she responds, smiling brightly when Liam imitates his older brother and smacks his lips against her cheek. “Thank you Liam.”

“Charlotte said you’re taking us to breakfast.” Debbie says, pulling on her scarf. “I want french toast.”

“I want bacon. A lot.” Carl adds.

“Well, you heard them.” Charlotte grins, leading the kids to the door. “C’mon guys.”

Lip lets them all pass through before letting his head drop in exasperation, huffing loudly. 

Breakfast had been fine all things considered. Except Liam insisted on sitting on Charlotte’s lap, and she hand fed him the whole time. And the fact that Debbie asked Charlotte her bra size and asked when she thought her boobs would look like that. Which prompted Carl to stare at them for the next 20 minutes before asking her what she’s doing slumming it with ‘old ass Lip’, when she could have him. 

For the like, two seconds the kids went to the bathroom, the restaurant’s fuck ass manager came over trying to flirt with Charlotte to which Lip got pissed off, tossed the money on the table, and pulled the girl out of the booth to wait for the kids by the door.

So it had been a fuckin’ bust to say the least. When they make it back to the house they drop the kids off and Lip walks Charlotte next door. “So, breakfast sucked.”

Charlotte turns to him, leaning on the door. “I thought it was fun, I like your siblings, wish I had some.”

“Yeah? Well, borrow mine anytime.” He pauses, tucking his hands into his pockets, “Unless I’m trying to hang out with you alone.”

The girl shifts uncomfortably, looking out into the street before dragging her eyes back over to Lip, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Phillip.” 

“What?” he asks, thumbing along her bottom lip, distracted by how pretty she looks with snow falling around her, her nose and cheeks with a slightly pink hue. “Hangin’ out with me? We’re friends, that’s what friends do. Can’t help that my friend is pretty, sweet, and fun. You workin’ later?”

“Yeah, short shift, someone rented the place out for some type of frat thing, I don’t know.” She shrugs, letting him trail his finger along her face. “M’sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, I’m still stopping by. I’ll hang out with you, make sure none of those weird guys wanted to try somethin’, keep you safe, bunny.”

Charlotte rolls her eyes, resting her head back against the door. “Not your job, Phillip.”

“I want it to be.” he says, pinching her cheek lightly before backing away, returning to his own house.

Lip knew that Monica coming home was going to be a shit show, and things were already starting to crack. Frank was back in the house, there were random pills crushed up all over the coffee table, and Liam had pissed all over the floor. At least he’d hoped it was Liam’s piss. He could practically feel his blood pressure rising as Mickey and Ian slammed the front door behind them, fussing over Ian going to some club with Monica and dancing on some guy.

Fiona was off in her room sulking because the kids were bonding with Frank and Monica, who were having their own drug induced party. 

Lip shakily smooths a hand down his face, trying to calm his rapid breathing and soothe the pounding headache he has.

“Hey baby, come dance with me and daddy.” Monica slurs, grabbing Lip’s hand and pulling, frowning in confusion when he doesn’t move. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“I don’t know, Monica, maybe it's the fact that you and your bullshit are infesting this house and fucking up our lives, again!” 

“Oh, Lippy, you don’t mean that. Are you worried about that cute Charlotte girl you brought over this mornin’? She was really nice, pretty too. Invite her over!”

“Charl-no it’s not fuc-it’s not Charlotte. She’s working, she can’t come to whatever the fuck this is.” 

Monica tsks disappointedly, resting her hand on Lip’s arm. “Sorry, honey.” she smiles, scooting closer to him. “She’s special, I can tell. She’s beautiful and kind. And the way you look at her, oh Lip it’s wonderful. And the way she looks at you? Like you hung the moon and stars. No wonder. you’ve always been so handsome, she would be lucky to have you. And I think she knows it.” Lip rolls his eyes, and grabs a cup of whatever they’d been sipping on. “She does, Lippy! She’s just worried this is temporary. A cute boy like you only wants one thing. You’ve gotta show her you’re seriously interested if you are!” 

Lip pauses drinking at that. This was the first time anyone had asked him. It was the first time that he’d been asked out loud what he really wanted out of Charlotte. He’d only really known her for a couple of weeks. Sure she was sexy…and cute, nice, and funny. Not that smart, at least street-wise but, Lip liked takin’ care of her, makin’ sure she got home safe, being the one those pretty, big brown eyes look to when things made her nervous. 

He liked taking her on walks, watching her play with his siblings, and dance with his sisters. He liked being around her, touching her, feeling her, for as long as she let him. He likes the way she calls him Phillip. How she answers to Bunny. He liked her. 

It was interesting. He usually didn’t get there until he’s fucked at least five times.

Monica ruffles Lip’s hair, refilling his drink. “Here, honey, drink up, it’ll help you think.”

Charlotte rushes behind the counter to refill the beer pitcher only for one of the man-babies she’s been catering to all night to down it and demand more. “Yup, coming. If you would give me, like, one second!”

“Hey Lottie! How about a dance? I’ll add it to your tip, baby.” 

“I’ll give you a tip!” 

The whole bar erupts in laughter as she blows hair out of her face, whipping around to call into the kitchen. “Hey, Trevor! Where’s Francie, her smoke break was supposed to be over thirty minutes ago!” Charlotte grabs a tray full of nachos, placing them on one of the hightops, and slipping between the sweaty, drunk men to tap one of them dancing on the bar’s leg. “‘Scuse me? Excuse me you can’t dance up there! Sir…you can’t-”

“Charlotte!” she whips around finding Lip stumbling into the doorway.

“Phillip,” she giggles, running over to the blond man, “Oh-”

Lip cuts her off by snagging her by the waist, melding their lips together, guiding her into a deep kiss, a sloppy smack sounds when they separate. “Hi, baby, your shift over yet?” he mumbles against her jaw, pressing a kiss there.

“Are you drunk?” she asks, pulling her head back to look at his face. Bloodshot eyes. Tossing his weight around, slurring his speech. “You are. You alright?”

“M’fine, bunny, I’ll let you finish workin’, don’t worry about me.” Lip slides into a booth in the far corner and Charlotte nods, going behind the bar to grab him a burger and fries with an ice water.

When she places it down on the table Lip rubs her leg in thanks, causing her to giggle before making her way back over to the party. 

“Aww, Lottie, don’t tell me you’re pickin’ favorites.” one of the guys sighs as she clears the dishes away. “I’ve been trying to talk to you all night, that guy gets to stumble in here and you’re letting him feel you up.”

“Yeah, no, he’s my friend, and he was just kidding-”

“What, he pay you for after this? Bet I could outbid him.” 

Charlotte’s lips curl in disgust as she shoves the guy backward, “what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“What?” the guy asks, putting his arms out.

“The fuck did you say to her?” Charlotte didn’t even notice him come over, feeling his chest push against her back. “Must’ve fuckin’ heard that wrong, cause it sounds like you think you can buy my girl, or somethin’”

“Woah, man, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize, Lottie here had a boyfriend. Not surprised, though, a hot piece of ass like this doesn’t stay single for long. But…uh you probably shouldn’t let her work here, lookin’ like that. Dressed like that? She’s a walking case-”

Charlotte doesn’t even get a chance to blink before Lip is yanking him behind her and his fist is going into the guy’s jaw. Next thing she knows, guy’s on the floor, Lip’s on top of him and like six frat boys are trying to jump in. “Francie! Trevor!” she shrieks, staring at the guy pulling at Lip, starting to punch him from the back. “Oh, fuck.” she whines before hopping on the guy’s back and blindly swinging her fists at his head.

“Okay, yes, sir. Sorry again.” Charlotte hangs up the phone and plops down on the sidewalk next to Lip. “Didn’t lose my job. Apparently, jealous boyfriends, baby daddies and disappointed fathers show up and start fights all the time. I’ll just be getting a pay reduction until the damages are paid.” 

“I’ll pay him back for you.” Lip says, staring forward at the street. 

“No, I’ve got it, thanks.” she looks down at her one busted knuckle. “I’ve never been in a fight before.”

“I should kill that stupid fucker for that.” he groans, reaching over and taking her hand pressing a kiss to it, and pulling the bottle he’d taken from Monica out of his wallet, pouring the last bit of it onto the knuckle and mimicking her hiss. “I know, I know.”

“He didn’t hit me, I got this from trying to punch his head.” she sighs looking down at the scratch, “think it’ll scar?”

“Fucked up your pretty hand with his stupid fuckin’ face. You’re good, though? You okay?”

“Yeah.” Charlotte looks at him with big, sympathetic, brown eyes and Lip feels himself sober up better than he had when one of those shitheads attempted, and failed to break a bottle over his hard ass head. “You okay?”

“Yeah. You got into a fight for me.” Lip grins, nudging her shoulder. “You like me, slugger.”

Charlotte frowns at him, bawling her fist up again. “Don’t be next, I’ve got a mean right based on the non-existent bruise on that one guy’s face.” Lip raises his eyebrows at her. “I never said I didn’t like you. I said I want to be friends. Something tells me you’ve never really done that before.”

“I’ve been friends with plenty of exes.”

She purses her lips. “For how long before you started fucking them?”

Damn.

“Point taken.” Lip groans, stretching and wincing at a sharp pain in his ribs. “Just friends for how long?”

Charlotte pauses for a moment, bringing her knees to her chest. “Um…until things happen naturally. We’ll be just friends until we’re really friends. And then until just friends isn’t enough.” 

“I-”

“And that doesn’t mean the first time we get horny for each other.” Lip looks at her and smiles, biting his lip. “What?”

“Knew you wanted to fuck me as bad as I wanna fuck you.”

Charlotte sniffs, jumping up from the curb, crossing her arms. “Shut up and walk me home.” 

Lip cocks his head to the side, pulling a cigarette from his pocket. “Ask me nicely, friend. Only pretty girls who let me fuck them get to boss me around.” he laughs as the girl rolls her eyes and starts walking in the direction of their houses by herself. “Brat.” he mumbles as he pushes up and follows behind her. 

When they arrive at the fence separating their houses Lip walks Charlotte over to the stoop at Kev and V’s and turns to go to his own. Except when he reaches the bottom of the steps and hears that the all night Gallagher bender is still going, he pauses. He turns around, walking up the walkway again, unsure of where he’d go. Maybe the Alibi…he’s not sure. But somewhere. So he looks to the side, making sure Charlotte got in safe. Like he does every time. 

“You okay?”

She toys with the fabric of the jacket he gave her. It’s his warmest jacket, the rest of the ones he has are pretty thin. But he doesn’t want her to know that. And he likes watching her wear it. “I’m fine. You didn’t go in. Are you leavin’?”

Lip glances back at his house and then back at her. “Yeah, I’ll uh, be back tomorrow.” 

Charlotte leans against the banister, biting her Lip. “You got fucked up for a reason, huh?” She takes a step down, tilting her head toward his house. “Cause they’re home?”

He just looks at her. Doesn’t know what to say. He’s fucking embarrassed. 

“Mmkay.” she says quietly. Walking the rest of the way down and grabbing his hand. 

Charlotte guides Lip into V and Kev’s house, shushing him as she leads him to the spare bedroom in the back, closing the door behind them. “Sit, okay?” 

He watches quietly as she slips out of the room door, sitting on the bed, it creaks lightly under his weight. Moments later, Charlotte comes back with two bottles of water in her hands, and wrappings under her arms. “You..you don’t have to do that.”

“Stop. Stop okay?” she smiles softly at him, lifting his arms and pulling his shirt over his head. She tightly wraps his ribs and cleans the cuts on his knuckles and face. Lip’s eyes don’t leave her beautiful features the whole time. Watching her focused eyes, her plump bottom lip caught between her teeth as she checks for any spots she missed. “There’s water okay? And aspirin. But seriously, water. Try to finish a bottle before you go to sleep, it’ll flush your system and make tomorrow suck less. You can sleep here. With me. Just sleep.”

Lip nods, kicking his shoes off. His hands go to his belt buckle and he hesitates, looking at her. “Okay?”

“Yeah, you can.” 

He strips the rest of the way down to his boxers, climbing into the soft bed and admiring the girl as she gets ready for bed. 

Lip memorizes Charlotte’s routine. Wrap her hair up, putting a pretty, pink, silk scarf on. Washing her face, putting like ten thousand different creams on. She slipped her uniform off as if she’d forgotten he was in the room. Tossing the clothes into the hamper in the corner. She has on a bra and underwear but that’s about it. Lip is damn near dizzy looking at her body, it looked even better than he’d pictured it. Which is why he was so fuckin’ confused about why he looked away when she went to take her bra off.

She started undoing those clasps and he clenched his jaw, for some reason listening to the blaring signs flashing in his head reminding him that this wasn’t a peep show, and she hadn’t invited him to look at her.

He doesn’t open his eyes again until he feels a dip in the bed in front of him, and her soft hands lift his arm and place it around her waist. “You okay, you need anything?”

Lip quietly shakes his head no, tightening his arm around her waist, feeling that she’s got a shirt on now. He can smell her sweet perfume, still lingering on her skin. Unless that’s just what she smells like. Cinnamon. 

“We’re friends, Lip. If it’s ever…if you ever need a break, you can come to me.” she tilts her head back to meet his eyes, twisting slightly. 

Lip wets his lips, unsure and very sure at the same time. He doesn’t want to fuck this up. He doesn’t. But he feels like he can’t help it. And she’s right there. As quickly as the thought comes he’s leaning over her, bringing their lips together in a deep, slow kiss, cupping Charlotte’s jaw and feeling his heart pound against his ribcage when he feels her kissing him back, her hand sliding up into his har, pulling a groan from him when she tugs. 

This time Lip pulls away. Pressing two more pecks against her soft lips before settling back onto the bed, laying behind her and tugging her back to his chest. Her gasping breaths make him want to do nothing more than take more of her breath away.  “I’ll let you get away with it this time cause you have booboos, Phillip.”

“Don’t let that be the benchmark, bunny or I’ll get beat up everyday.” he breathes back. He kisses her shoulder before nuzzling into the blankets. “Until just friends isn’t enough, huh?”

[kirby-manga-translated]

Kirby Manga Double Bill + A Fanfiction?!

Solid Snake voice: Kept you waiting, huh?

Finishing off the requests in my queue (at least for the time being), I present to you two chapters! One from Manmaru Nikki and one from Mopupu. And yes, you read that title correctly, there's a special surprise after them as well! Well not a surprise I guess since it's in the title but very special! Anyways, let's just get to the manga, eh?

Kirby: Manmaru Nikki (AKA Daily Round Diary) - Volume 4, Bonus Chapter 2 English Translation

Starting off with a quick little retelling of Cinderella with Kirby characters in all the roles! Though this one is short, I still feel like I got some good translation work in there. A lovely morsel of Kirby manga that can be read in full at the following links:

Imgur

MangaDex

Google Drive

Next up, it's

Kirby: Moretsu Pupupu Hour - Volume 7, Chapter 8 English Translation

A full-sized chapter here about Kirby leaving and the manga getting a new main character that definitely isn't just Kirby wearing a costume! King Dedede is left to figure out what's going on and how to convince the others that it's obviously just Kirby wearing a costume. Read the full thing at the following links:

Imgur

MangaDex

Google Drive

Now what was that about a fanfiction?

It's true, dear readers: I have dabbled in fanficcery! It's kind of like translating a manga chapter except instead of translating Japanese into readable English I have to translate my internal thought process into readable English.

It's a nice and simple story about Kirby wanting to eat a cake but not being allowed to eat said cake and all the emotion and heartbreak that occurs as a result, featuring King Dedede, Daroach, Adeleine, and Magolor. It's the very first fanfic I've ever written, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It might not Wham Bam Rock your socks off but it could, uh... Fatty Whale your... scales off? Look just read the thing at this link if you want

Whew! Looks like you've got some reading to catch up on. It hopefully won't take me this long to update again since I'm not planning on writing another fanfic anytime soon (but maybe someday...). Hope you enjoy the chapters and please let me know what you think of my fanfic!

[slowd1ving]

.・゜゜・NAVIGATION

about me .゜ call me res! I go by he/him and I'm 18. I typically write longer fics but could probably drop some headcanons and drabbles later down the line! usually my fics are more plot and world-building based but I do write nsfw occasionally (sometimes I write plot solely so I can get to that lmao). I generally stick to writing for male/neutral readers but might eventually write for female readers too (genderfluid legend) - but male readers are more of a priority due to the content drought for them. honestly went awol on here for a while because I post more on ao3 but I decided to bring my newer works here too <3 so enjoy the blog

fandoms I've written for .・ in the past I've written for bleach, genshin, and jjba. some of my newer stuff includes that's not my neighbor, twisted wonderland, more jjba, and some itsv i wrote when it first came out. however, check out the current interests section to find out different fandoms I might write for in the future, as well as the requests + asks section :)

current interests ゜・ started playing honkai star rail recently, honestly really enjoying how interesting the character stories are. some manga I'm currently reading include blue lock, jjk, sakamoto days and jjba. I read a wider variety of manhwa and novels though, including orv, lookism, how to fight, return of the mad demon, solo levelling, concubine walkthrough (really recommend this one), legend of a northern blade... I can't list them all since I've read over two hundred lmao (please ask me for fic recommendations I've got so many) in terms of my other hobbies since I do have a life (I hope this is obvious) I like art, history, and the sciences (fuck I use so many science metaphors in my work...), so if you ask for scientist!reader... yeah you know what's up

things of note •. yeah don't follow me or interact with my work if you're racist, homophobic, ableist, or if you don't believe in a free palestine. idc who you are that's an immediate block.

requests + asks ・゜ I write as a hobby and honestly just to blow off stress! currently am doing my studies in a myriad of subjects and have lots to do, but my ask box will be open; just keep in mind I may not reply immediately (sorry about that). I probably won't be able to write longer fics but less than 2k is light work fr, especially if it's something like headcanons or drabbles or things of that nature. again, will write for neutral/male readers so please keep that in mind when requesting. my ask box will be open for just discussions or other things :) as mentioned previously, I write for male/neutral readers, but I might extend it to female reader eventually (or depending on the fic idea?? really does depend). while the majority (all...) of my work is x reader, I don't mind doing character x character I won't write any weird ships (no incest, big age gaps, just weird ships in general), and I won't write nsfw of aged-up characters that are minors in the original work!! in terms of fandoms you can request for, any of the aforementioned should be good, I just may not be very familiar with the character so it might take a while to find their 'voice' to write for. however!! if the fandom in question has not been mentioned above you can send a request anyway because I've extensively consumed media so I'll have at least heard of it (probably/hopefully)

what I'm currently up to <3 as of june, I'm continuing my jjba long fic and currently redoing my entire blog (my older posts look so UGLY omfd). debating whether to make a side blog for just discussions and stuff?? I'm also thinking of medium/plot-based fics for other fandoms to give myself somewhat of a refresh I'm fresh out of end of year exams but still have a lot to do elsewhere so this blog is going to be my proverbial terrarium to nourish and take care of so I don't lost my sanity

OLD MASTERLIST ゜・★･ﾟMASTERLIST

TAGS FOR NAVIGATION (will continue to be updated) [navigation] for things like masterlists + the navigation post (this one) [masterlist] for masterlists [res ･ﾟ writing] for any of my writing [old writing] for my old stuff that my og followers know me for

[mentally-a-slut]

Important Update!

Hello lovelies!

So, I have written two x readers at this point, both in second person. I have decided I'm going to write in either third or first person from now on, simply because it's more natural to me and I enjoy it more. That doesn't mean I won't do x reader, though! In fact, I have some important info about that.

Since I write for female readers, I would likely just refer to reader as 'her' in third person. I don't like using '(y/n)', s it'' likely just be nicknames or just pronouns instead.

I am happy to do request x readers! By that, I mean I would love to write a character for you, whether it be based off you or an OC of yours. If you're interested, please send me an ask with a name, a description of the character, and a brief summary of the plot or just an idea you have. This will help me develop my character writing skills, and overall improve the quality of my writing.

In other news, I would like to tell y'all about my OCs! I have quite a few, for different fandoms, and each are shipped with specific characters. If anyone is interested in learning about any of them, please let me know! You can anonymously request or leave a comment on any post! I have art of them by me, and I'm in the process of writing fics for most of them. My point is, I would really love for you guys to get to know my girls, and I would be really happy if I could write for them on here too! I'm going to list some info about each OC to see if anyone is interested! If so, feel free to request prompts or one shots for me to write them into!

Josie! So hear me out on this one, she is my red dead 2 OC, and she's Sean's older sister. She's paired with both Arthur and Charles, and they are set to be in a poly relationship. They are all romantically involved, not just with her. Meaning Charles and Arthur are also in love with each other. Her full name is Josephine Maguire, and she is a well-known bounty hunter under the alias 'Lady Luck.' Her backstory is too long to dive into here, so if anyone want's a full post about her, please lmk! I love love love this girl, so please express your interest.

Laena! She is (one of) my BG3 OCs, shipped with Gale because he is my soulmate and I can't romance anyone else. She's a storm sorcerer and had a traumatic past that I will get into later if requested, but she spent some of her childhood in Waterdeep and knew him when they were kids. They reunite when they both get infected, and it goes from there. There is a lot to her character, so trust me when I say she is worth it.

Estelle! Now, this one is a bit strange, considering I didn't mention this fandom in my intro, but she is my Stardew Valley OC! I saw on TikTok people talking about non-human farmers trying to hide it and failing, and I got the idea of Estelle. She's a nature spirit hybrid that was taken in by the owner of the farm and that's how she inherited it. There's far more to her history but that's for another time. Her love interest is Harvey. I have a whole thing about her family history so there's tons to learn about her!

So, just to recap, I will no longer write in second person, I would love to do specific requests for you or your characters, and I hope to write stuff with my personal OCs for y'all!

Please let me know in the comments or an anon ask if you're shy! Don't be a silent lurker, I love y'all but the feedback is over half the motivation for artists. I hope to get some requests from y'all and I look forward to (hopefully) sharing my OCs with you!

Take care lovelies! - Azi >:)

[okchijt]

Author's Note: Thank you so much Anon for the request! Sorry the request is a screenshot, I accidentally posted it cause of the stupid mobile update 😒 But anyway, this is such a cute idea! I'll be more than happy to do it for the little monster 😍 Just hope I didn't make him that OOC hopefully ^^' And lastly, go ahead and check out my masterlist if you like what you just read and if you want to request anything yourself, thank you, and enjoy! 🩷

His Little Stealer - Eric Cartman x Chubby!Reader Headcanons

🔴 The fact that you're close to his weight by being chubby makes Cartman unironically love you more. Being the only overweight kid who regularly gets picked on for it is still hurtful no matter how hard he tries to play it off or fight back. So having someone he can relate to with a similar body type is a plus in his book.

🔴 Also, just as Cartman always defends himself by saying: ''I'm not fat! I'm just big-boned!''. He would do the same thing for you and even throw hands if anyone ripped on you for being chubby. But to his surprise no one does so, why? Because you're an actual decent human being, others don't hate you and don't make fun of you. But if you act like Cartman then I take it all back.

🔴 But let's be real for a second, we all know Cartman sucks and he doesn't have the best track record when it comes to any relationship whatsoever. But as his partner I see him letting you get away with stuff he won't let others, and by that I mean everything. He'll let you do and say whatever you want and he'll bite down on his tongue just so that he doesn't accidentally say something wrong. Cartman is a horrible human being but for you? He'll try and become aware of how he should treat you right.

🔴 Back to the wholesome headcanons! I already said it, but I wanna add a little bit more to the idea. Cartman loves your chub, okay? He won't say it out loud ever though, not to you or in front of his ''friends'' cause he thinks it's embarrassing, but he'll make sure you know it with actions alone. Not only will he let you touch him without protesting, but he'll cuddle you too! You'll either be lying in bed together or on the couch with his arms wrapped around you as he grabs and fondles your excessive skin gently. It's just so soft and squishy, how can he not like it and hold it like his favorite plushy!? He'll act like he doesn't even know what you're talking about if you say anything about it, you'll know he loves doing it though cause he'll always be blushing red as he death glares the TV in embarrassment. One way to quickly gain back Cartman's attention though is by hand-feeding him Cheesy Poofs or anything really. His face will be redder than before and he still won't talk but he'll definitely pull you closer to him as he grumbles under his breath about how: ''weak'' this is. He actually means the opposite, trust me.

🔴 If you're someone that's insecure about their weight, Cartman totally gets it, he won't say it of course but he does. He'll make sure no one ever says a word about your weight by threatening them and depending on the person it might work. Of course no one regardless would ever say anything, but Cartman doesn't trust them so he still goes out of his way to do so. Also, if you decide to stop eating because of it, he will not let that slide one bit. He'll force you to eat himself and he won't take ''no'' for an answer unless you tell him that you're just dieting and being safe with it, then he'll begrudgingly respect it.

🔴 Now onto the stealing part, he both loves it and hates it. He thinks it's cute how his hat blocks all of your vision and his coat just kind of hangs on you, covering you entirely. It's almost enough to make him let out an audible ''awww'', almost. But at the same time, you're stealing his stuff! Now he's freezing his tits off as you embarrass him in front of his ''friends''! If you were anyone else he'd scream at you, but you're his partner so all he does is whine and cling to you as he tries to force you to give him his clothes back.

🔴 They ain't many opportunities for you to steal his hat and coat though, either grab it and run when he isn't wearing it or beg for it. You can only have an opportunity of stealing it when he's playing with his "friends" and he's being The Grand Wizard or The Coon. He'll immediately figure it out once he's done playing for the day and seeing his clothes go missing so prepare to witness an angry Cartman storming into your home demanding his stuff back only for you to make him stop in his tracks out of cuteness overload when seeing you wear his clothes.

🔴 Then there's begging, it can go either way actually. You can only win this by bribing him, doing something for him, getting him something he wants, or helping him accomplish something. Of course, knowing Cartman all of those things I've mentioned are 99% of the time requests to hurt the others around him and only satisfy him. Just because he loves you, doesn't mean he won't involve you in his schemes every now and then, it's like he wants to be partners in crime with you. Hoping that you're a decent person you obviously don't agree with any of it, so it leaves you no choice but to beg. Some puppy eyes with a promise of cuddling with snacks as you watch TV make him succumb almost instantly. He'll be all grumpy about it but he secretly loves it.

🔴 Overall, Cartman isn't vocal about how he feels about your weight in fear that he won't admit to that he'll accidentally hurt your feelings. Like I said he's trying to be better for you so he prefers to show how he feels with actions. He loves your body, he relates to you, and won't change a thing about you because you make him feel secure with his own weight despite what everybody else says. And again, with the stealing thing, it's a love-hate relationship for sure. Cartman doesn't like his stuff getting touched, let alone stolen so he does get annoyed at you for it, but then again it's you that does it so he can forgive it. Plus there's no denying he finds you absolutely adorable with his clothes on, the blush on his cheeks, the halt in his movement and the odd silence says it all!

[woahpinkhorsegirl]

Hi mlp tumblr and bluey tumblr! Im Pink! Im hoping to share my stuff on here and discover other stuff!

This is my sona! She's a changeling but stays in her pony form almost all the time, just her preference :)

Im gonna start posting OCs and whatnot for both fandoms soon, but i wanna put here the list of Deviantart basemakers i used from at various points, mostly early on when i forgot to credit them. Hopefully I'll make new refs eventually and they'll have proper credits.

I have a huge MLP and Bluey next gen thing to post too so either look forward to that or check it out if its out by the time you read this!

Other information about me, if you'd like to know:

I am 19 years old, white, American, and ace bi. I'm a ciswoman but I go by all pronouns, she/he/they/it and neopronouns are all acceptable, whatever you see fit or comfortable to call me!

Trans people of all kinds are welcome on my profile, alongside queer people in general! I am pr0-choice and pr0-p4lestine, I don't talk about my p0litical stances much but those are the two most important i can think to mention.

Disabled people, with both invisible and visible disabilities, are also welcome (these feel obvious but I've seen people who make it feel necessary)

Non-white people are also welcome (again, unfortunate that I feel the need to clarify that, but I use twitter so :/)

I also saw a random post about this but just in case, anyone with coping mechanisms (like age regression) are also welcome. I won't judge you for doing what you need to do.

If i look like im censoring some words by using numbers or symbols, that's a force of habit. I don't like appearing in search terms unless I actively want to, it usually invites the wrong people, so i "censor" terms that I think might draw the attention of bad apples.

Uh just some boundary stuff I guess? I love OC interaction and I also enjoy RP. I don't like giving my discord to people so any of that is gonna have to happen here. If that's inconvenient or not gonna cut it, then my apologies :(

Uh my rules for RP are a tiny bit strict but not in the way your probably thinking.

Im one of those "planning ahead" type of roleplayers who like to map out a scenario and key events before we begin and occasionally take pauses between major scenes to plot elements of the future. If you can handle that, then I'd say your golden! Im not picky with the length or detail in responses, as long as theres something to work with, I can usually move things along. The only other restriction i can think of is: when it comes to the sexualities of my characters, please respect them. Thats really it :)

I do platonic roleplays, adventure, romantic, and slice of life. I'm not much for action stuff unless its the spice thrown into the other types occasionally. I'm pretty flexible though, so we can talk about it individually if need be.

Oh, and no nsfw RP. I dont do s3x, and im not much for depicting "elicit substances" to put it lightly. Alc0hol might be the only exception, if its kept in small doses. If for some strange reason our characters end up in a s3xual scenario, we're skipping to the aftermath.

Edit: Some of my OCs have romantic interests made/owned by my boyfriend. This element can be removed for romance roleplays if need be (although they will still be with his OCs outside of the roleplay)

So yeah uhm I think thats it! Im not sure if you can edit things on Tumblr but if you can then I guess I'll update this as needed! Thanks for checking out my blog!!

[moonchildreads]

small town

Chapter 22 - Let's Dance

IN THIS CHAPTER: Matching outfits, a parking lot talk, and Hellfire does Prom [10.5k]

WARNINGS: underaged drinking (no one gets drunk), mentions of teenage delinquency, Eddie being an unreliable source of info about Hawkins' recent oddities, shitty former friends and partner

A/N: so. this chapter was supposed to come out last week but i got food poisoning, which turned into me taking a day off work because i felt like shit and when i returned, it got insanely hectic to the point where i did three extra hours today. life is lifing, friends! in order to keep myself sane (i cried at work again today, it's not looking good folks) i'm gonna throw away the update schedule and post whenever i feel like it. i'm still gonna aim at one chapter per week though! i just won't make promises on dates anymore because nothing is working out irl at the moment. anyways, enjoy the chapter and i'll see you when i see you (soon, i promise)!

masterlist - prev - next | playlist

Put on your red shoes And dance the blues

Friday, June 6th - 1986

On Thursday afternoon, Eddie Munson made the mistake of not telling Dottie Burke - his girlfriend that wasn’t actually his girlfriend because he hadn’t asked her out yet - why he couldn’t drive his friends to Donny’s family restaurant for dinner before prom. They’d been lounging on her bedroom’s window seat, radio playing at a low volume while they lazily kissed and cuddled, taking full advantage of the fact that her Dad hadn’t arrived from work yet when Eddie mentioned having to run an errand with Wayne on Friday after school. He said he was probably going to arrive late to the gathering, so they should make plans without him and he’d meet them at the restaurant whenever he was done. The metalhead noticed how Dottie freezed in his arms, lifting herself up from her comfortable position on his chest and put a little distance between them, but since she didn’t inquire further, he simply left a few hours later without ever explaining himself, leaving her to sink into a spiral of self-doubt and very familiar anxiety that left her equal parts jittery and exhausted.

That night after dinner, Dottie called her Auntie Rachel to ease the pang of rising panic, desperately seeking reassurance from the older woman who was always plenty eager to provide a pep talk to her favorite niece whenever she needed one. Everything will be fine, Rachel had said while nursing a glass of red wine all the way in her apartment in New York, her kids already tucked into bed and a newly acquired romance book waiting for her on her bedside table. Stop worrying about it, bug. Senior prom will be the best prom of your life. But as much as she tried to help, Auntie Rachel hadn’t been made aware yet of the change in her niece’s relationship with the older boy, so her advice rang hollow in Dottie’s ears, and the teen had ended up having a pitiful and unsatisfactory sleep before what was supposed to be the most exciting day of her senior year up until that moment.

Still, Eddie had behaved completely normal on Friday at school towards her and their friends, which had eased her nerves slightly. He didn’t make any comments about being anything less than happy to attend his first and hopefully last senior prom, and once he’d dropped Gareth off at his house, he’d lingered in Dottie’s driveway for ten long minutes. Eddie let himself enjoy the feeling of her mouth against his while a gentle drizzle hit his van windows before she finally headed into her house and he sped away towards his mysterious errand. Her best guess that the reason he had never really explained himself was because he was off to do something that was private to his uncle, and she hoped it wasn’t anything health related; Wayne wasn’t exactly old, but he also wasn’t young, and she didn’t like the idea of him having to go through any kind of medical emergency or invasive treatment. And so Friday evening found Dottie at her desk putting the finishing touches on her makeup look, and Eddie on the other side of Hawkins pleading to the stars above his head that his not-yet-girlfriend would understand his weird need for secrecy by the time the night had ended. Hopefully.

“How are you feeling, honey?” James asked, leaning against Dottie’s door frame as she took the last rollers out of her hair and sprayed her curls into place.

“Excited? Honestly a little bit terrified,” she confided in him. “I keep thinking that I’m gonna look around at some point and everyone will have gone home without me.”

“I really don’t think the guys would do that to you, but if they do or you want to leave at any point and for any reason, you can call me, okay? Don’t come home alone.”

“No, I know,” she smiled at him, but it looked more like a nervous grimace than anything else. “I promise I’ll call, I put coins in my purse just in case.”

“Great,” he came to stand behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders reassuringly. “But don’t go in there expecting the worst either. Everything’s gonna be great, honey, you’ll see. Just have a little faith.”

“I really hope you’re right this time, Dad.”

For the next few seconds, each of them were lost in their own painful memories from barely a year ago; James vividly remembered sitting down on their old couch with a can of beer in his hand and a rented movie in the VCR before a younger Dottie barrelled through their front door, shoes dangling from her fingers and black mascara streaking down her cheeks, running towards her bedroom where she locked herself into for 12 straight hours. In turn, all Dottie could think about was how she’d never gotten to see the inside of the gymnasium that was supposed to have been transformed into a fairy wonderland. Her Dad squeezed her shoulders with a comforting touch, dislodging the dark thoughts from her mind before dread overtook her and left her paralyzed once more. She picked up her Mom’s wedding earrings from her little jewelry box and quickly put them on, completing her outfit. Dainty gold pieces secured in place at her earlobes, she rose from her chair and twirled once to show off her full look, fluffy dress glinting as she moved.

During their weekend visit to Hawkins, Aunt Mary Elizabeth had put her sewing skills to good use and shortened the floor-length gown until it reached Dottie’s calves, the golden metallic heels they’d gotten at that heaven-sent Indy thrift store perfectly on display on her feet. She felt like a movie star, ready to walk down the red carpet with a handsome date and be adored by her fans, camera flashes blinding her as she glided effortlessly through a crowded room like she’d always belonged there. Except there were no fans, no paparazzi, and no handsome date either, just her Dad helping her into the front seat of their car so they could pick up the first of her friends for what was surely going to be a night to remember.

Their first stop of the night was at Gareth’s house. James hadn’t even put the car into park before the poor boy was jogging down his front lawn, trying to escape his mother who had been obsessively taking pictures of him in his rented black tux and bright red bowtie in various places around their home. Much to Gareth’s dismay, James insisted on saying hello to his parents before they left, so while he chatted amicably with dad Gavriel, Lydia made her son and his best friend pose in front of her bushes as a backdrop to fulfill the role of nosy journalist in Dottie’s movie star dreams. As much as they complained, the two teens hugged each other and smiled for photos until their eyes were wet from the flash going off and it was finally time to wrap up the shoot and head to their next stop.

The scenario repeated itself at Jeff’s house. His mom, Tricia, prompted Dottie to stand between him and Gareth in the middle of the living room, her son’s white suit jacket with black lapels contrasting nicely with his friend’s black jacket and white button up. As the two boys crowded their friend and planted big wet kisses on both of her rosy colored cheeks while the flashes kept going off, their vision for the night started to become clear: Dottie’s red dress, Gareth’s red bowtie and Jeff’s red Chuck Taylors and cummerbund were difficult to not notice, their club colors proudly and prominently on display leaving no doubts as to whom they belonged with. There might not have been a fancy date à la Rob Lowe or Ally Sheedy to walk hand in hand with into the packed Hawkins High gym, but the Hellfire Class of ‘86 didn’t need any of that to face their prom night - they just needed each other. Tricia promised James she’d get copies of all the photos printed for him and so the teens packed once again into the car and drove away to their final destination.

Donny’s family restaurant wasn’t as fancy as Enzo’s, but in their opinion, it was definitely way more charming. With its big sign spelling Giulia’s in cursive and a homely feel that could be experienced since before they had even walked in, big flower boxes decorated the outside and stereotypical checkered tablecloths were visible from the huge front windows. Donny had been waiting for them at one of the booths near the counter, flowers on every table and tea candles setting the mood for all the couples and groups of friends stopping by to have some authentic Italian pizza or pasta before dancing the night away in their heavily decorated school gymnasium.

“Hey, Don! Looking sharp!” James exclaimed from the driver seat when he pulled up to the restaurant as Donny rushed to keep the front door open for his friends.

“Thanks, Mr. Burke!” he beamed, blue eyes twinkling under the streetlights. “You wanna stay over for pizza?”

“No, thank you, you kids have fun, okay?” he turned to his daughter who lingered in the co-pilot seat. “Take care, honey. I love you.”

“Thanks, Dad. I love you too,” Dottie said, giving him a big hug.

James was so thankful she’d never gone through an I’m ashamed of showing my parent affection in public phase. He watched how Jeff hurried to catch the door when Donny left his post to greet Dottie, spinning her around once and making her laugh, her anxiety visibly melting as the boys made her feel more cared for and loved than she’d ever thought a friend could make her feel in her life. They all waved James goodbye as he drove away, his eyes glossy at the knowledge that his baby was rapidly growing and would inevitably stop needing him, but also incredibly proud of not only her but Donny, Jeff, and Gareth for being such good people to one another. It almost made him wish they’d moved back to his hometown earlier if it meant he’d see his daughter smile as bright as she did every day now.

“Hey, welcome!” Donny’s dad Angelo shouted from the door to the kitchen, his white apron stained with red sauce and his balding head covered with a stripy black and white bandana. “Thought you had gotten lost on your way over! Everyone likes margherita, right?”

“That the one with anchovies we had last time?” Gareth asked as they seated themselves into the booth, ignoring the looks they were getting from the other guests as they talked loudly over their heads.

“That’s the romana,” Donny said, going through the big beverage fridge at the back of the counter where his older sister Isabella was fiddling with the register. “Margherita is sauce, cheese and basil.”

“Oooooh, I love basil,” Dottie said, caging Jeff between herself and Gareth.

“We’re good with margherita, papà!” Donny placed glass soda bottles for everyone on the table and plopped himself down besides Dottie. “You look really pretty, by the way.”

“Thank you! You clean up nice too,” she smiled at him, and he chuckled shyly, not used to all the attention.

“Angelo, why didn’t you say the kids were here already?” Bianca, Donny’s mom, said coming out from the kitchen carrying pasta dishes for another table.

“They just arrived, cuore mio,” Angelo said, kissing the side of her head as he walked past him before he returned to the kitchen and busied himself with more cooking.

“Let me see you, boys, you’re looking handsome!” Bianca beamed at Gareth and Jeff, the two rowdy teens she’d known since before they could tie their own shoes. “And this is Dorothy, right?”

“Just Dottie is fine, mamma,” Donny corrected his Mom.

“Isn’t she a doll! Donatello said you’re interested in joining us for the summer, is that right?”

“Yes, ma’am, I’d love to work for you,” Dottie said, ignoring how her friends were snickering at the mention of Donny’s full first name.

“Do you have any experience?”

“Not as a waitress, but I was a babysitter back in New York since I was 13. I took a Red Cross course and everything. And I have CPR and First Aid certification if that helps.”

“We’ll talk more after graduation, but job’s yours if you want it,” Bianca said with a kind smile before hurrying over to attend to a customer.

“That was the quickest job interview I’ve ever seen in my life,” Jeff laughed.

“If we’re all gonna have money in our pockets, summer’s gonna be fucking awesome,” said Gareth, and everyone couldn’t help but agree with him.

By the time only pizza crust and empty cups of tiramisù remained on the table, everyone was feeling ready for some good old teenage fun on a sweaty dance floor. At some point during the dinner, Donny’s older sister Isabella had brought out a camera and taken a couple of snapshots of the group, wanting to preserve the memory of her little brother going to his first ever high school dance. Donny was acting like a peacock in his maroon suit with a matching black button up and tie; he’d even gelled his curls back, his stud earring glinting in the candlelight whenever he turned his head. As their classmates started leaving but their group remained behind, Dottie began to worry once again. Where in the world was Eddie, and why hadn’t he shown up yet? When she excused herself to the bathroom to reapply her bright red lipstick in an attempt to hide her nervous breathing, the boys huddled up in the booth, voices dropping to a low mumble, heads close together above the table.

“Where the fuck is he?” Gareth hissed.

“He said he was gonna be late, but this is too much,” Jeff said.

“You think he chickened out?”

“No way,” Donny said, confidently. “He was really excited about the surprise, he wouldn’t flake on us like that.”

“Well, he better show up or I’m beating his ass,” Gareth said. “Dot doesn’t deserve to go through another sucky prom.”

“Fuck, I didn’t even think about her,” Jeff’s eyes went wide. “She’s gonna be devastated if he doesn’t come.”

“He’ll come,” Donny nodded. “He’s not gonna stand her up. Like, if anyone knows how much this means to her, it’s probably Ed. They tell each other everything.”

“Okay, I’m ready to roll,” Dottie said, making their heads snap up at her voice. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah! You wanna get going now or do we wait for a bit longer?” Gareth asked.

“I… I dunno, guys. I don’t think Eddie’s coming,” she said, resigned. Jeff and Donny looked at each other.

“I’m gonna call him,” Donny decided. “You guys wait here.”

He shouldn’t have called, because when he returned to the table and said no one had picked up, the way Dottie’s face fell was enough to make them all feel incredibly guilty about something that wasn’t even their fault. They watched her school her features, masking the disappointment behind a friendly smile while she gathered her purse and slid out of the booth like nothing was bothering her. They said their goodbyes to the Vitale family, nonna Giulia coming out from the back to see her only grandson off (and pinch all their cheeks), and finally headed towards Donny’s car with a false sense of cheeriness but the best intentions at heart. The boys weren’t gonna let anything ruin the night for their friend, insisting on opening doors for Dottie and taking turns to offer her their arms to hold onto. Donny was unlocking his car’s doors when a very familiar brown van pulled up behind him, Eddie spilling out hurriedly without turning it off first.

“Jesus Christ, fuck, I’m so sorry,” he breathed out, jogging to catch up with his friends.

“You jackass, where the hell were you?” Jeff scolded him, but his words lost all edge when he pulled the long haired boy into a side hug.

“I’ll tell you later, but fuck man, I really thought I wasn’t gonna make it,” Eddie laughed, turning to hug Gareth.

“Is Wayne okay?” Dottie asked.

“Yeah, he’s fine, don’t worry about him,” he turned around and felt his soul leave his body when his eyes rested upon her. “I, uh- wow.”

“What’s wrong?” she said, looking down at her dress with a frown.

“Nothing! You- you look really nice,” he couldn’t hide his smile even if he tried, and he didn’t want to.

“Oh. Thank you, you look nice too,” she smiled back.

“Let’s take a picture before we leave now that we’re all here,” Donny said, waving through the window at Isabella, who immediately understood the assignment.

“We should take the camera with us,” Gareth proposed, and Jeff nodded in agreement.

Isabella had a few stern words towards Eddie for being late, but when she made them pose on the street, the light spilling out from the inside of the restaurant illuminating their happy faces, she couldn’t stop a fond expression from gracing her features. Donny hadn’t had an easy time throughout his school years, but it was this group of kids in front of her that had made everything better for him. She remembered the summer barbeques in the backyard with a younger Jeff, that one time Gareth lost a tooth munching too harshly on a cannoli, and that first day Donny brought Eddie over. She had asked her boyfriend (now husband) to help her keep an eye on the older boy throughout his visit, worried about what a junior could possibly want with her little brother. They’d talked about Lord of the Rings and played checkers for hours, and she’d heard Eddie warning a freshman Donny about certain teachers and how to avoid getting on their bad side, which softened her attitude towards the lanky teen considerably.

Truthfully, Isabella wasn’t one to judge quickly, but she had been worried about Dottie when Donny first began dropping her name in conversations at family gatherings. Girls had never been particularly nice to her brother while growing up, and as the eldest Vitale sister, she could be a little overprotective when it came to her siblings, especially towards her only brother. But here Dottie was, huddled up between Gareth and Donny, head resting lightly on her brother’s shoulder to be captured in a picture forever and looking happy about it, and Isabella knew this new addition to the group had been good for everyone. They were all wearing matching formal outfits, for Christ’s sake! After Isabella returned inside and everyone started heading towards Donny’s car again, Eddie grabbed Dottie’s wrist and stopped her from following their friends.

“Hey,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “Ride with me?”

“I, uh…,” she turned to look at the rest of the guys who were waiting for her a few steps ahead.

“I kinda wanted to talk to you about something important.”

“O-okay,” she said, heart sinking into her stomach. “I’m gonna ride with Eddie, guys.”

“Everything okay?” Jeff asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you later,” Eddie said. “Meet us in the parking lot?”

He guided Dottie towards his van with a hand on the small of her back, holding her little gold purse for her as she climbed inside and clicked her seatbelt on, their friends slowly driving away without waiting for them to catch up. Once she was seated and her skirt was out of danger from getting caught in the door, Eddie closed it, jogged to the driver’s side and jumped inside, turning on the van and heading towards Hawkins High School. They stayed quiet for a whole block and when Dottie moved to turn on the radio to fill the awkward silence, he caught her hand in the air and brought it to his lips for a quick peck, the loving gesture helping her relax into her seat.

“I’m sorry I was late,” he said. “I had to do something important and it took me longer than I thought it would.”

His hair was still a little bit damp from his hurried shower, and he was wearing a black button up shirt with the sleeves barely rolled up, his good black jeans without holes in them with the chains on the side, and black boots. Chrissy’s birthday gift was the only pop of color in his all black ensemble, the red tie carefully ironed and knotted at the base of his throat.

“You look really handsome,” Dottie muttered with an airy tone, interlacing their fingers.

“And you look stunning,” he smiled softly, glancing at her before he turned his eyes back to the road. “Kinda took my breath away when I saw you.”

“Was worried you weren’t gonna show up,” she admitted.

“And leave my girl hanging? I’d never,” Eddie said, his thumb rubbing the back of her hand. My girl. She could get used to that. “I should have just told you what I was up to, but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“Surprise?”

“Check the glove box,” he said, pointing to it with his chin.

Dottie retrieved her hand from his grasp and opened it as instructed, pulling out two envelopes from the inside: one was white and looked like it contained a letter or a folded piece of paper, the other one was big and brown. She looked at him warily with a million questions in her eyes; he grinned mischievously in return.

“Open the small one first,” Eddie said.

Curiously, she opened the white letter and unfolded the single sheet of paper, finding in her hands a copy of Eddie’s school transcript. At the bottom, written in what she recognized as Ms. Kelly’s handwriting after seeing it for almost six months straight during their check-ins, were Eddie’s final grades for his third senior year. Not quite believing what she was seeing, she read them again and again, the information in front of her eyes staring back at her impassively.

“Stop the van,” she said, her gaze still stuck to the paper.

“What?”

“Fucking pull over, Ed!” she clicked her seatbelt off and threw the papers towards the dashboard, barely waiting until he’d hit the brakes before throwing herself onto him and planting a kiss on his lips.

“Wait, wait-” he laughed loudly, pulling her out of her seat and into his lap, her poofy dress covering his legs.

“I’m so- fucking- proud of you-” Dottie said, kissing him over and over, not caring if her lipstick was transferring onto his skin.

“Yeah? You are?” Eddie asked, giddy. “I had a meeting with Ms. Kelly today,” he began explaining, and she stopped kissing him to hear his story, her hands dropping to his shoulders where she played with his hair as he melted under her touch. “Dropped you off and booked it back to school. Last two times she called me to her office a week before graduation, she told me I wasn’t making it so I kinda shit my pants there for a minute but I knew I did good this time, I could feel it.”

“You did, babe, you did so good,” she grinned at him with hearts in her eyes.

“We did it,” he pressed a noisy kiss to her cheek, making her giggle. “We’re graduating together.”

“Hell yeah we are!” she moved to kiss him again but he dodged her, leaning to the side to get the other envelope from his dashboard.

“Hold on, that was only half of the surprise,” Eddie said, offering the papers back to her. “Open this one next.”

“Is this gonna say you got a full ride to come to Michigan with me or what?” she joked, pulling out the documents. “Oh, a job application! You mentioned this the other day-”

“Turn to the second page.”

“Holy shit! You got it?”

“I got it!”

In her hands, was a copy of his filled out job application and an informal looking contract, but a contract nonetheless. It was missing Eddie’s signature at the bottom, but that was merely a formality: she was looking at Thatcher Tires’ newest employee, with his starting date stamped as Monday, June 16th, the day after graduation weekend. It was only a part-time apprentice position, but it came with the promise of being promoted to assistant and eventually to full-time if he did well, and it was so much more than anyone else had been willing to give to Eddie before. Dottie looked at him with wet eyes and so much love inside her she didn’t know what to do except scoop him into her arms and squeeze him tightly against her chest like she never wanted to let go, lest he thought she wasn’t as equally over the moon about the news as he was.

“I’m just… fuck, Ed, this is huge,” she pressed her nose to his neck and he wrapped his arms around her, breathing in deeply.

“I know. It feels huge,” he chuckled. “Never thought I’d graduate and get a real job, y’know. Wayne cried when I told him.”

“That’s so sweet.”

“Yeah,” he sniffed. “I decided I’m not gonna deal anymore either. I’m just selling what I have left now and then I’m done with that shit. Forever. I… I wanna be good for you, darling. I wanna be the kinda man you deserve.”

“Ed, you don’t have to change who you are for me,” she lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him, her hands coming to hold the sides of his face tenderly. “I fell in love with you like this, I’m not gonna change my mind all of a sudden. I’m so sorry if I made you feel like you had to be anything different than who you are, I-”

“No, no, that’s not it,” he said quickly, hands settling on her waist. “I’m just… You deserve a good man, Dot, and I wanna be that. I wanna be a good man. I- I just didn’t think I could be good before, y’know? Everyone’s always talking about how I’m so fuckin’ stupid, and how I’d never do shit with my life, and I guess at some point I started believing they were right, and- I dunno. I don’t wanna be useless and I don’t wanna end up in jail with my asshole Dad like everyone in this shit town thinks I will. And- and when I met you and you were all like you’re really smart, Eddie, you’re just lazy, you were right, darling, you were so fuckin’ right. You always are,” he was looking at her with so much intensity she had to close her eyes and lean forward, their foreheads resting against each other’s. “I wanna look at myself in a mirror and see what you see. I wanna be good.”

“You are,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to his nose. “You are so good, Eddie. You are the best thing in this whole town and I love you so much.”

“Say that again, please.”

“I love you.”

“One more time?”

“I love you, Edward Munson,” Dottie kissed him sweetly. “I love you.”

“Shit,” he grinned. “You really love me.”

“Of course I do.”

“I love you too, baby. So, so much.”

They stayed like that for a few seconds, Dottie sitting on his lap, her thighs bracketing his, his thumbs rubbing circles on her sides and her hands cupping the sides of his jaw, noses pressed together. They didn’t kiss, because it didn’t seem enough to express what they were feeling right at that moment. It almost felt childish to do so, like kissing was something they usually did for fun and the real intimacy came from just existing in the same space, breathing the same air, feeling each other’s warmth under their hands and just how alive the other felt when skin was pressed against skin. A truck full of rowdy classmates that were clearly somewhat inebriated sped down the street, the loud music coming from their speakers breaking their fairytale bubble and bringing them back to real life. With a shy smile, Dottie collected all the documents strewn around them before moving back to her seat and clicking her seatbelt back on while Eddie tried to wipe her lipstick from his face with a tissue he’d stolen from her purse and water from an old plastic bottle. Once she’d reapplied her makeup and he was sufficiently clean so as not to raise suspicions, Eddie pulled back into the road towards the school, holding Dottie’s hand in his for just a few more minutes.

“You know what I realized the other day?” he said, stopping at a red light. “I didn’t used to be scared of jail when Chief Hopper was still around.”

“Really? Why not?”

“Because Hopper didn’t give two shits about me selling. He busted me a couple of times, gave me a talking to and dropped me off back home. I think he knew I was just doing it ‘cause we needed the money, I wasn’t gonna become a career criminal or some shit like that. He was cool.”

“And the new chief isn’t?”

“Powell’s useless,” Eddie scoffed. “He’s still trying to convince everyone he has what it takes to be like Hopper and no one believes he’s got it. And Callahan is a fucking moron. You know those handcuffs I’ve got in my bedroom?”

“I’m guessing you didn’t get those in a magician’s kit,” Dottie joked.

“They’re Callahan’s,” he grinned. “He caught me buying when I was like 15, put the cuffs on me and everything. Took me to the station and when Hopper saw me at his desk, he turned around and called him a drama queen, told him he was “wasting police resources” over nothing. It was awesome. I swiped the cuffs before Hopper took me home. Wayne wasn’t too happy about it though, he grounded me for like a month but I thought it was worth it.”

“So you stole a police officer’s cuffs? And just… hung them in your bedroom like they were a dreamcatcher?”

“Yeah, pretty much. At first I kept them ‘cause I thought they made me look badass,” he turned into another street, their final stop looming closer and closer. “Now I look at them and kinda get chills. I think Wayne would die if he saw me in those but for real this time. Like, I think he’d actually have a heart attack or something. Can’t do that to my old man, he doesn’t deserve that.”

“And Hopper didn’t know you took them?”

“He absolutely did, he just didn’t care,” Eddie laughed. “As far as cops go, Hopper was pretty cool. He actually gave a shit about us when it really mattered. I mean, yeah, he could still be an asshole when he wanted to, all cops are, but he was pretty chill most of the time. Kept to himself a lot. It kinda pissed me off how everyone started pretending like he was their best friend after he died.”

“Nancy told me he saved people in the Starcourt Mall fire.”

“Yeah. A true American hero: Vietnam war vet, died heroically saving children from a fire during the Fourth of July… doesn’t get more patriotic than that.”

“You said Dustin and Mike were there, right?”

“Yeah. And Erica.”

“What?”

“They were all in the cinema, I think. Dunno much about it, the kids never talk about what happened. Just know they were there ‘cause they mentioned it on the news. Nancy was there too, she didn’t tell you?”

“Oh,” Dottie said, like something had clicked in her head. “Well, that makes more sense now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought it was weird that Nancy’s boyfriend’s mom just, like, adopted the Chief’s daughter after he passed away, but it makes sense. They must have been friends.”

“What are you talking about?” It was Eddie’s turn to be surprised.

“Nancy’s dating a guy named Jonathan-”

“Yes, Jonathan Byers. I know him. Fellow weirdo,” he raised an eyebrow pointedly.

“Well, his mom adopted Hopper’s daughter before they moved to California last year. She’s dating Mike, he told us about her, remember?” Dottie explained. “So she must have been in there with Mike and their friends if Nancy and Jonathan were there too.”

“Hopper didn’t have a daughter. I mean, he did have one but she died when she was a kid,” Eddie said.

“Nancy said he didn’t know he had a daughter until recently, maybe her Mom passed away or something and she left her with him. She was here all summer with Mike and Dustin, she’s really pretty!”

“Yeah? How do you know?”

“They showed me a picture! She’s taller than I expected, has brown hair, brown eyes. Looks a little bit like an elf actually, she has, like, sharp cheekbones?” Dottie pointed to her own round cheeks that looked nothing like the girl’s face on a Polaroid currently stuck to the inside of Dustin’s locker.

“Well, damn,” he chuckled. “Look at Wheeler go, totally thought he was lying about that one. Hey, uh, did Nancy tell you anything about the Byers?”

“About Jonathan, mostly. I know he has a brother that’s friends with Mike and Dustin too.”

“Will.”

“I think so, can’t remember his name. I know Mike’s girlfriend is named Jane though.”

“So she didn’t tell you about all the weird shit that happened a few years ago, huh?” Eddie eyed her curiously as he pulled into the school’s street, the building waiting for them just a few blocks further.

“Define weird shit for me, please.”

“This town is fucking cursed, babe. That Will kid went missing in the woods and then the feds found a random body in the quarry and thought it was him. Everyone thought Mrs. Byers was insane because she kept saying that the body wasn’t Will, but she was right - Hopper found him alive a few days later. It was a huge mess, like, they had held a funeral and everything and now the kid is back like nothing happened?” Eddie shook his head in disbelief. “I thought maybe Nancy would have told you because around that same time, everyone thought this girl named Barb that was best friends with her had run away but actually she died from getting exposed to some weird chemicals from that lab in the middle of the woods where Will went missing and there was a whole conspiracy to cover it up. And also y’know, the fire thing last year.”

“Those are like a lot of strange as fuck things to have happened in such a short span of time,” Dottie frowned.

“I know, right? And Mike and Dustin are always in the middle of it somehow. Must suck.”

“Poor kids,” she said, sadly. “It’s probably hard for them to deal with all that and have to pretend everything’s normal.”

“People get crazy good at hiding things they’ve been through, especially when they were fucked up,” he shrugged.

Eddie finally pulled into the school’s parking lot, quickly locating Donny’s car and their friends standing around waiting for them. He honked the horn twice to call their attention and they waved at him to hurry up. Dottie looked at the boys through the windshield and thought about what Eddie had just said. He was right and she knew this because she’d gotten pretty good at pretending things were okay when they weren’t, not looking for pity or compassion because she’d simply assumed others would judge her for it. Being around Eddie had helped her open up, but there were some secrets that were buried too deep to unearth so casually, particularly when they filled her with shame. But maybe it was about time she stopped doing that. Maybe she owed it not only to her friends, but to herself, to stop feeling sorry for something that had been out of her control and such a special night seemed like the perfect moment to tell them the things that had been eating her from the inside out for a year now. But for now, Eddie was offering her his hand to help her get out of his van, and her friends were grinning at her like the cat that got the cream, so the truth would have to wait until later. There was a prom to attend first, and she was determined to enjoy this one to the fullest.

Gareth Coleman had never been known to be particularly patient about anything throughout his goddamn life. He was always eager to spill the beans, and he always wanted to spill them now, so the fact that he’d managed to keep this specific secret for almost a week had been impressive. Him, Jeff, and Donny had discussed Eddie’s weird behavior while on their way to the school, and they were all equally curious as to what was taking him and Dottie so long to arrive. Donny had already smoked a cig and Jeff had checked the bag in the backseat thrice by the time those two finally rejoined the group, looking a little bit suspicious and plenty cozy with one another. The boys didn’t have too much time to ponder on why though, because immediately upon arrival Eddie revealed that the reason he’d been late for dinner and why he’d stolen Dottie away for a private chat, was that he’d seen Ms. Kelly after school and had gotten confirmation that he’d finally be graduating high school with his friends. Hellfire Class of ‘86, baby, he’d said, pulling his friends into a huddle as they cheered and hollered at what was probably the most anticipated piece of news they’d gotten in a long time. However, Gareth was still impatient as ever, so he quickly peeled away from the group hug and dove into Donny’s car to retrieve their final surprise of the night and keep emotions running high.

“Since we’re all here and in a good fuckin’ mood,” he began saying, making everyone turn to him. “We have something for you, Dot.”

“For me? What did I do?”

“Well, it wouldn’t really be prom if you didn’t have one of these, so… here you go,” he pulled a white box from inside the bag and extended it to her; she accepted it curiously before peering inside.

“Wow, this is…,” she said, taken aback. “You guys! You didn’t have to buy anything for me!”

“Yes, we did,” Jeff said, moving forward to help her get her surprise out of the box.

In his hands, he held a very special corsage they’d all pitched in to buy for her since she didn’t have a formal date to the event to get it for her. The flowers were bright red, with the ribbon in black and gold; he slid it over her fingers until it sat prettily on her left wrist, her eyes filling with heartfelt tears at their thoughtful gesture. She didn’t have time to thank them, however, because soon enough Gareth was pulling smaller boxes from the bag and giving one to each of his friends.

“Could you help us with these?” Donny smiled, opening his box for her to see what he was holding.

Each of them had gotten themselves a boutonniere, two different styles but all in matching colors. Jeff and Eddie had chosen red flowers with black and gold ribbon much like her corsage, but Gareth and Donny had white flowers with red and gold ribbon. Between wet laughs, she pinned all decorations to their chests, wondering how she’d gotten so lucky to have these four men in her life who were all so eager to make every moment count when it mattered the most. Dottie tucked herself between Eddie and Jeff, and Donny turned his sister’s borrowed camera towards the group, blindly taking a picture and hoping he hadn’t accidentally cut any heads out of it. After checking on each other for the final time, the five teens turned towards the gymnasium doors and headed inside to get the party started.

The Hellfire Class of ‘86’s big entrance had been something to behold. No one had really been expecting the freaks to show up, much less dressed to the nines and arm in arm with that one girl that had moved to Hawkins a few months ago right in the middle of the school year, but there they were, and they demanded to be seen. Their matching outfits made them stand out in a sea of bold colors, pastels, and satin fabrics, but the fact that they moved like a cohesive unit anywhere they went was weirdly fascinating. First, they headed to get their picture taken and the photographer had been happy to capture what looked to be a healthy group of friends instead of awkward looking couples that would probably not make it anywhere further than a few months beyond graduation. Then, they lingered at a corner of the refreshments table when Chrissy Cunningham excitedly greeted them and chatted with them for a few long minutes, gushing over Dottie’s vintage dress who in turn couldn’t stop telling the blonde how beautiful she looked in her baby pink gown.

It was silly, really, how the most non-conformist friend group in Hawkins High had found some sort of genuine amusement in participating in what was probably the most stereotypical event in the life of any high school student, but they’d long ago stopped trying to explain themselves to others. Prom to them was a celebration of their friendship, a culmination of four shitty years (or six, in Eddie’s case), and the hope of a better future that felt as equally glorious as every moment spent together. They sipped on cheap vodka from a hip flask Gareth had smuggled in, they pestered the DJ to play Black Sabbath, Metallica, or even some Mötley Crüe to no avail, and they danced in a circle until their feet hurt. Dottie excused herself for a bit to dance with Chrissy to a Queen song, and then she’d stolen Nancy away from her friends for a few minutes, but she stayed pretty close to her boys all night, and in turn, they never left her alone. She’d been twirling around the dance floor with Jeff while Gareth escaped to the bathroom for a couple of minutes when Donny came to stand next to Eddie, who was watching her from the side with the most lovesick expression on his face known to man.

“Might wanna be less obvious with the staring there,” Donny nudged him goodnaturedly. “People are gonna notice you’re drooling.”

“Don’t really care if anyone sees me,” Eddie admitted. “Now that we’re all getting out of here I’m gonna ask her to be my girlfriend, so I don’t give a shit about what this lame ass school thinks about me anymore.”

“Damn, good luck, man,” he looked at him, impressed. “I mean, she’s totally gonna say yes but still, good luck.”

“Thanks, Don. You’re a good friend, you know that, right?”

“Been told once or twice but it’s always good to hear.”

“I should tell you more often,” Eddie smiled. “We’re all best friends, but… I dunno. I feel like you always got me the most.”

“Always thought you got me the most, actually,” Donny said, smiling back at him.

“Hey, Eddie!” Chrissy called, hurrying towards him all giggly and secretive. “We're up next!”

“Shit, already?”

“What’s going on?” Donny asked, looking at the blonde.

“I'm his Best Man," she said, like that explained everything before grabbing Eddie's hand and pulling him towards the dance floor.

Without having to squint too much, the gymnasium didn't look like the sweaty room the majority of the school's populace hated with a passion anymore. Chrissy and her fellow Prom Committee members had worked really hard to turn it into a different place, from the red carpet and fairy lights at the entrance to the golden streamers obscuring the bleachers to the sides, all the way to the myriad of rented mirror balls hanging from the ceiling; everything came together to create a portal to a world where Hawkins’ senior class could pretend like they were movie stars for a night. The theme was perfectly captured in the décor, and Eddie found it very fitting that the Hellfire Club's colors matched it so well - it made everything that much more special and movielike than they had intended when they agreed to display their club’s allegiance so blatantly.

Chrissy maneuvered them past several people towards where Jeff and Dottie danced to Falco’s Rock Me Amadeus, immediately joining in and not caring that classmates around them were looking at her like she'd grown two heads. She had worked her ass off so everyone could have a wonderful night and if she wanted to dance with the freaks, she felt like had rightfully earned her prize. After all, Eddie had said she was a freak too once and she took it to heart, considering it might as well have been the biggest compliment she had ever received in her 18 years on planet Earth. Jeff was still wary of Chrissy, not having had a full conversation with her in all four years of high school but he knew Eddie thought of her as a friend, and Dottie seemed to like her as well so he followed their lead and danced along with her, making both girls spin at the same time in tune with the song.

"Are you having fun?" Chrissy asked Dottie, holding onto her hands.

"So much fun! I voted for you, by the way."

"You did?! Oh my god, thank you!" the blonde beamed at her. "I'm so nervous, I hope I get it!"

"Are you kidding me? We all voted for you, you're totally gonna win," Dottie said with honesty, because there was no other way the night could end without Chrissy Cunningham winning Prom Queen.

"Don't jinx it!" she laughed, as the final notes of Rock Me Amadeus played out.

"Alright, alright, Hawkins High! Is everyone having fun?" the DJ asked over the music; everyone cheered in response. "Let's slow it down a little bit, shall we? This one's for the lovers in the room, but remember to leave space for Jesus in the middle, okay? Don’t want any teachers getting upset."

Dottie laughed at the DJ’s silly joke while the next song began, head whipping around to find Eddie who was already turned towards her and, dare she say, looking mighty sheepish. Oh, darling, please believe me, crooned Paul McCartney as the dancefloor became a little bit less crowded and couples began partnering up to share a sweet moment with one another. Eddie offered his hand to her and Dottie looked at their friends before taking it, but there was no need - Chrissy was fulfilling her Best Man duty to perfection, already swaying away from them with her hands on Jeff's shoulders. He looked mighty confused as to why a pretty cheerleader was slow dancing with him instead of going to find her jock boyfriend, but he was enjoying the small talk about what colleges they'd attend after graduation and Chrissy seemed to be having fun too so beggars couldn't really be choosers. Dottie let herself be pulled closer to Eddie and he held her in a way that didn't look entirely platonic, but they both silently agreed that they’d deal with whatever teasing they could get in the future. Right now, being in her not-yet-boyfriend’s arms while The Beatles played in the background was probably one of the happiest moments of Dottie’s life and she was going to enjoy it as much as she could without overthinking it.

"Got any other surprises up your sleeve I should prepare myself for?" Dottie asked, eyes shining under the disco balls.

"This was the last one for tonight, I promise," he said, fighting the urge to cradle her head into his chest; Mrs. O'Donnell was standing to a side looking for students who didn't leave space for Jesus and he didn’t want to risk it. "How are you feeling, princess?"

"Like this is the best prom I could have asked for."

"Yeah? Is it how you dreamed it would be?"

"It’s so much better. I'm lucky enough to be dancing with the prettiest boy in the room, what more could I ask for?" she smiled.

"Don't know, I'm dancing with the most beautiful girl in the room so I'm feeling pretty lucky too," he smiled back at her, his dimples on display.

“God we’re corny. How did you get the DJ to play our song?”

“I thought our song was Hot Patootie.”

“We have multiple. Answer the question, Munson, Donny and I asked him to play some Bruce Springsteen earlier and he said no.”

“I have friends in high places,” Eddie said cryptically, but undermined the mystery by looking at Chrissy who was laughing at something Jeff had said.

“You totally told her about us, didn’t you?” Dottie asked, but her grin told him she wasn’t mad about it.

“She’s gonna be my Best Man, I had to,” he shrugged, making her snort and shake her head.

“Already thinking about the wedding and he hasn’t even asked me out yet. You’re getting awfully cocky,” she raised an eyebrow, and he had the decency to look shy about it.

“I’m working on it, darling. Just give me time to make it special.”

Eddie pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear as they danced, not realizing that both Donny and Gareth were watching the pair like hawks, smirking at how obvious their affection was in a sea of couples that ranged from uncomfortable to loving. They, however, looked downright sickening, like they had been plucked from a cheesy coming of age movie where the two leads finally came to terms with the fact that all they’d ever wanted had been right in front of them all along.

“He’s totally head over heels for her, isn’t he,” Gareth said, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Absolutely,” Donny said, taking a sip of his spiked fruit punch. “But she’s not far behind either.”

“Yeah,” the wild curly haired boy turned to look at his friend. “Wanna bet on how long it’ll take for them to get together?”

“I say twenty for graduation day.”

Nearing the end of prom night, their feet hurt from standing for so long and they were all starving for some salty junk food. Chrissy had, of course, ended up winning Prom Queen; Hellfire had cheered for her extra loud which hadn’t made the basketball team very happy but they couldn’t retaliate when there were so many teachers around. Besides, Andy’s eye was still very much purple and no one wanted to be sporting a face injury in their graduation photos. Jason Carver had won Prom King too, but much to his dismay, rumor had it that he’d barely beaten the football team’s captain for the title. Nonetheless, the newly crowned couple was dancing in the middle of the gym surrounded by other partnered up classmates when Eddie proposed what was probably the best plan of the night: leaving early and going to get fries and milkshakes at a cheap diner.

Dottie went in the car with Donny and Gareth this time, trying to avoid alerting their friends to her and Eddie’s blossoming relationship anymore than they’d already had, and the teens spent the entire ride gossiping about things they’d noticed had happened during the event, like how this girl from the swimming team had very publicly broken up with her boyfriend in front of everyone or how their History teacher had been dancing with the pretty Science teacher every freshman (namely, Dustin Henderson) had a crush on. When they arrived at the diner, Eddie opened the doors of his van and they sat in the parking lot to eat their fries and share various flavors of milkshakes, debating on which one was better. The boys were rowdy as they always were, Gareth fighting hard for peanut butter versus Jeff’s chocolate and Donny’s orange creamsicle, when Eddie went to grab more fries from the basket he was sharing with Dottie and noticed she was staring at her corsage, a blank expression on her face.

“Hey,” he said softly, trying not to startle her by rubbing the back of her hand with his pinky finger. “You okay? Wanna go home?”

“No, I’m okay. Just thinking.”

“Wanna tell me? I’m a good listener.”

“I know you are,” Dottie afforded him half a smile. “I… there was something I wanted to tell you but don’t wanna bring the mood down.”

“Uh-oh,” he pouted dramatically. “Am I in trouble already?”

“Shut up,” she shoved him lightly. “No, it’s just… it’s about New York and- I don’t know, we’re having such a fun time. Feels like I’m gonna fuck it up. It’s fine, I can tell you guys some other time.”

“Tell us what?” Jeff asked, making her notice that all the boys were quietly looking at her.

“You don’t have to tell us anything if you don’t want to,” Gareth hurried to say. “-but we’re always down to hear you if you wanna, like, get something off your chest or whatever.”

“Yeah! You’re not fucking anything up, we’re just talking,” Donny said.

Dottie looked around at her friends who were waiting to follow her lead whatever that may be and knew that if she was ever going to say anything, then this was it. This was the moment where she let them all in, where she let them see just how truly damaged she was, and they’d have to decide whether this baggage was something they wanted to help her with or if it was too much for them to handle. Eddie’s ringed hand sneaked behind her, caressing her spine back and forth on top of her dress for support. She took a deep breath and set the basket of fries to the side.

“I, uh- you know how I said my junior prom sucked and that’s why I kinda didn’t wanna come tonight before we made plans?” she began, and they all nodded. “So, there’s actually a pretty big reason for that.”

“You said you didn’t have a date for junior prom and you felt bad so you didn’t go. That’s why I said we should all go together,” Gareth said, making the other teens turn to him in surprise. He clearly knew more about it than they all did and he hadn’t said anything.

“I lied. I did go and I did have a date. I had a boyfriend actually,” she said grimly.

“Oh.”

“How long did you date that guy?” Donny asked, sparing a glance at Eddie who was staring at her nervous hands playing with her Mom’s engagement and wedding rings, spinning them around her left middle finger.

“Around six months. His name was Tyler, we went to school together. He was… nice, I guess? I really liked him,” she muttered. “And like, not to overshare but he was my first real kiss, you know? My first everything. And he made me feel special for a while.”

“What happened?” Jeff asked, frowning and shifting closer, his hand coming to rest on her ankle.

“We went to prom together. Flynn, his older brother, took us and the whole ride was so awkward because he kept trying to talk to Tyler and he would just stare ahead, like he was angry or something. He wouldn’t even look at me.”

“Flynn or Tyler wouldn’t look?”

“Tyler. Actually, Flynn was pretty awesome, best older brother ever. He was pre-med, just… a really cool guy. Kinda miss him, he was fun to be around. He had wild stories about college, but not like drunk wild, just general weird things that happened around campus,” Dottie smiled, remembering the nice older guy that gave her advice on how to apply to colleges.

“He sounds nice,” Donny said.

“He was! Honestly, I think the best part about dating Tyler was that I could hang out with Flynn a lot.”

“So… what happened at prom?” Donny prompted her to continue.

“Um, Flynn dropped us off and Tyler said he wanted to talk before we went in. I thought he was nervous, y’know? I mean, I was nervous too. But he basically said he didn’t wanna date me anymore because he was gonna go to this science whatever camp during summer, and we were gonna be so far away and he just couldn’t deal with long distance so it was over.”

“What?” Eddie’s eyebrows raised on his forehead until they were hidden completely by his bangs. He was prepared to wait for her all four years of college and this fucking guy couldn’t handle being two months apart? “That’s such bullshit!”

“That’s what I said!” she exclaimed, getting angry again at the memory. “But then he said that he didn’t like me anymore because I didn’t put in any effort, and that other girls got pretty for their boyfriends and- and that hurt because he knew that I hadn’t been able to get a dress I liked for prom, so a friend’s sister let me borrow an old one from her.”

“What a fucking douchebag,” Gareth said, scoffing. “You always look pretty, what was his deal?”

“Wish I didn’t know, but, um, that one hurt way more when I found out,” she said, tears starting to form along her waterline. “Because I obviously went home after that, right? He didn’t want me there, and I didn’t want to be there either, so I got on the first bus I saw and that was it. I didn’t show up for the final week of school, and then I went to see my grandparents and stayed away from everyone all summer.”

“What about your friends?” Jeff asked.

“My Dad returned the dress for me and I called Tracey to say thank you, and that was it. She didn’t ask about what happened and no one else called.”

“You mean that no one cared you went missing for months?” Eddie’s face dropped.

“That’s kinda how summers were like for me in New York anyway,” she admitted, and he moved his hand from her back to her hip to bring her closer to him and into a side hug. “I was sure that everyone knew and that’s why no one called. Like, what would they even say? It would have been so awkward. But then school started again and I found out what happened during the holidays and everything made sense.”

“Why? What happened?” Gareth frowned. “What did they do while you were gone?”

“Tyler went to his dumb summer camp two weeks after school ended and got together with my friend Jeannie,” Dottie said, fat drops finally falling from her eyes. “God, why am I still crying about it? I don’t even care about them anymore, I’m pathetic.”

“Fuck that! You’re not pathetic, they are!” Jeff exclaimed, gripping her ankle tighter to get to look up from her hands. “What a bitch, how could she do that to you?”

“Okay, I’m gonna kill both of them,” Gareth deadpanned. “We should totally kill both of them, right, guys?”

“Hey, come on, don’t cry,” Donny said, shifting closer until he was on Dottie’s other side, squishing her between himself and Eddie. “Do you want us to kill them? Because you know we would. I’ll bring the shovel, Eddie has the van, we can make it happen. Just say the word and we’ll be there.”

“I know you would,” she managed to chuckle through the tears. “It’s fine, I just… I never really told anyone this other than my Dad. The only reason my family knows is because he had to explain to everyone why I was locking myself in my room to cry all the time and wouldn’t leave home. I worried everyone a lot those days.”

“You were keeping this one really close to the chest, huh?” Eddie said, things clicking into place for him. Her sudden desperation when he mentioned Chrissy’s name mid freakout, her willingness to hide her own heartbreak if it meant they’d still be friends, the way she kept to herself all those months before she joined them. “Can I ask… did someone tell them anything? Did your other friends know?”

“They all knew. Tracey and Benji said they were sorry but that was kinda it. And all of them sat during lunch with Jeannie, who kept bringing Tyler over to our table and literally fucking sitting on him every day so I had no friends for six months except for Mrs. Randall.”

“Who’s Mrs. Randall?” Eddie asked, vaguely aware that he’d seen that very same name signed at the front of her well-loved Anne of Green Gables copy.

“The school’s librarian. I had lunch with her every day and she helped me write the essay I sent to UMich. She’s awesome, honestly. Dunno what I would have done without her.”

“I’m so sorry you went through all that,” Jeff said. “You didn’t deserve it, and I’m glad you aren’t friends with those assholes anymore.”

“Yeah! You have us now!” Gareth smiled, throwing himself over Eddie’s legs to join in on the hugging party. “We played D&D together which means we’re bonded for life. Can’t get rid of us anymore.”

“He’s right, princess,” Eddie added, hand coming up to brush her tears away. “It’s in the Player’s Handbook. You signed a blood contract.”

“I love you,” she said, looking at him earnestly before turning to her other boys. “I love all of you. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you anything before, it was just so embarrassing to admit and I didn’t want you to know I’m the biggest loser on Earth and decide you didn’t want to be friends anymore.”

“You’re not a loser,” Donny said. “And those people weren’t your real friends, they were shitheads. That’s not on you, Dot. And we love you too, or else we wouldn’t be wearing suits right now.”

“Everything you guys did today… thank you. I’m gonna remember this forever, you have no idea how much it means to me.”

“We know,” Gareth said, looking at all his friends. “That’s why we did it.”

In the back of Eddie’s van, with the doors open to the empty parking lot waiting to be filled with teens looking for a snack, Dottie shed yet another layer of fear and anxiety. The air smelled vaguely of weed and fries, their forgotten milkshakes sweating rings onto the hard floor, but no one made a move to get themselves out of the puppy pile they had sunk into, five sets of legs and arms tangled with one another and the calm understanding that physical comfort was something they all needed at that moment. They had all been outcasts, freaks, easily disposable and replaceable throughout their lives, but here, in this van, they were invaluable and unique. Here the Hellfire Class of ‘86 was home, and there was nothing in the world that could convince them otherwise. Here they belonged, and birds of a feather flock together after all.

taglist (comment below or send me an ask if you wanna be added!): @munsonology @kurdtbean @every1lovesanunderdog @eg-dr3amer3

[makeyoumine69]

Writing Update ✍

Hello my dears! Right now I have a pretty busy and CRAZY life because of my new job that I really like. But, soon I will have a business trip for a week where I hope to have some time to boost my WIPs since I will have some time alone, lol :D

So, I'll list here the future updates.

Commissions — I have several that I'll try to finish this month.

Prompts for 2k Celebration — Everyone who sent me requests, don't worry, they will all be finished and posted.

Call Me Babydoll — I almost finished 2 new chapters and hope to publish them soon, I'm sorry that I had to pause this story for a while.

Headcanons — I'll try to post at least one headcanon per week.

Sweet Like a Cupcake — I have a finished chapter that will be published soon, and I'm also thinking about the endgame, because this story is already too long, even though I love it so much.

Shadow Lady — I AM SO SORRY GUYS FOR NOT UPDATING FOR SO LONG. I wasn't in the right mood, but hopefully I'll get back to it when I'm done with other stories.

Unravel Desire and The Light in the Darkness - both miniseries will have their finale. But a little later.

Ask Box — I'm not taking requests right now because I have a lot to write, so I won't promise that everything in my ask box will ever be written, but I hope to write as many promtps as I can.

NSFW Rambling — This is mostly for fun, I use it to chill and practice in between writing my main stories, the idea of this thing is that you can choose how the scenario will go by voting in polls. I really enjoy it by far!

I hope I didn't miss anything! Thank you so much for staying with me! I will also do my best to bring you something for Christmas!

[grecae]

I RETURN! Well...this returns, if you have been around AO3 you may have noticed that my focus was on my collaborative work with FallingSkyWater, then uni got the best of me and the subsequent burnout took me out for good! XD I am back though, or as back as it can be possible. Now, about this chapter!! Thank you for being so patient! This chapter has been finished for so so long but I kept dragging it and not publishing it, but now that the next one is almost done, I decided it was time for it to see the light. Hope you guys enjoyed seeing Ravess getting dragged into the squad dynamic by Snipe and Starling, of course grumbling all the time, Ravess would not go quiet. Again thank you so so much for being patient! As usual, you can always talk to me on tumblr @grecae! ... .. . Hopefully the next update of any work won't take as long! XD

[senzasord]

Life update - haven't done one of these in a while, but I reached a save point, so a good time for it.

Read more break because it's longish:

- finally finished the assignment that was due in april. Far too late to submit, but I've emailed my course advisor (and will over the next week build up the courage to email my unit coordinator as well). I don't have to process this until next year when I re-take the unit, but if you don't count my capstone assessment for prac next year, then that was my last assignment for my masters of teaching. I'm frustrated with how long it took, but I really enjoyed completing it, and maybe I'll get to implement it one day (it was a proposal for a classroom intervention)

- mum and older sib finally found a rental, and also grandad's will has been done, so for the first time in my life I'm not worried about mum having money. Hopefully it lasts - it's not too much, but enough that i can breathe, and mum's getting better with money too, so it should last a bit. I actually really don't know what to do with myself.

- Cody has an infected paw. Vet wants to do exploratory surgery. I'm worried because of his age, but they wouldn't recommended it if they weren't sure he couldn't handle it. Now that mum can afford it, it's been scheduled after the move

- Singing lessons are going well - won't go into it too much because I've been doing that enough on the other blog. Almost done for the year though. I hope to rebuild my practice over the summer

- Had another big flare from around mid-July to end of August, and spent September recovering from it, but doing better now. It's been really frustrating because the whole point of moving my prac was to have this half of the year to work on my health (e.g. starting the CHOP protocol to manage my POTS better), but most of the time has been taken up by flaring and finishing that assignment (which was, of course, delayed because of the flare). I've been trying to make peace with it by reminding myself the flare would have happened anyway, and it's been informative to know I can finish anything given enough time and not forced to quit for the start of a new unit. Also, class doesn't go back until February, so I still do have a lot of time. I might have to move my prac again, but again, that decision is a long way off. My brain is just good at dilating and shrinking timeframes in an unhelpful way. Knock on wood for no more big flares for the rest of the year (and not catching covid third year in a row! Now that the flare is over and my assignment is finished, I can get my booster finally)

- Now that flare is over, slowly reconnecting with friends I haven't been able to stay in touch with. Slow going, but it's been good to see people and talk to people in real life who aren't my coworkers, my housemate, and my doctors. Also means I get to enjoy better the company of my friends of my weekly discord game. They'd never admit it, but I can be pretty annoying during a flare, so I'm glad we might get a reprieve from me for a while

I think there's other stuff, but those are the big ones. I've promised myself to do no teaching study for a few weeks. But I do have start all the admin and house things i"ve been putting off - I currently have 8 empty butter containers soaking for recycling that have been slowly collecting in the fridge since february. I hope I don't make a fool of myself by being optimistic - I could have another flare tomorrow. And I'm still exhausted all the time, but at the moment it's less so, so for the time being, I'll take the win.

Edit: my friend just finished their thesis!!!! WAHOOOOOO!!!!

[day6source]

hello my loves!!!! happy holidays!!! and happy birthday to young k!!!!!! (a holiday in and of itself!!!) 💕💕💕💕 first things first: the christmas concert! 🎄

i've already got the beyondlive ticket bought, and i'll more than likely have it up the next day when i finally wake up! so if you're unable to get one or simply do not want to be up and/or around at a weird hour, don't worry, i've got you covered! second: been trying some new ways to do captions and some new organization!! i'm gonna try and date everything so if you're curious about what happened on a specific day, you can just put in the /tagged/datehere and find it! i'll be keeping it to kst given that's what the post will be on, and if i find something (like an insta post i was never notified of for example) from before, i'll mark it with that date! i'll be keeping to the date date/month/day format, so ex: 20231219! hopefully this makes it a bit easier to find things! third: small really, but i did give the mobile theme (and desktop banner) a little christmas cheer hehe. it helped me learn the mobile themes have new banner dimensions now though, so after the new year things won't look nearly as wonky hopefully! fourth: it's young k day!!!!!!!! happy birthday to our favorite fox/cat/radio dj/songwriter/bassist/singer/funny boy who writes us only the best songs 💕💕💕💕 but that should be about it! bubble will be better updated now, and some of info on the desktop theme is officially fixed (i had pilmography's release date written as the one for right through me apparently??), and always trying to stay up to date with stuff that the official account doesn't necessarily update on. i hope you're all enjoying this time of year, and looking forward to the end of the year and hopefully some relaxation time! might try and think of a little something to celebrate, especially since we're nearing 200 followers (ahhh!!)!!! i hope you're staying warm (or cool, depending on your hemisphere), but most importantly, i hope you're staying happy and healthy and taking care of yourselves 💕🫶🏻💕🫶🏻💕🫶🏻💕🫶🏻 love love love, tay 💕💕💕💕

[yxstxrdrxxm-a]

AND THATS A WRAP !

Hello, hello! It's me, the local dumbass that went "lol lets run this silly event" since January. I'd like to say thank you so much for participating!

I never thought that so many would look @ my blog event and go ":D lets go get matched w/ yans!" LIKE?? HELP WE GOT A LOT OF SUBMISSIONS SINCE DAY 1, IT MADE ME GO "oh shit" BAHAHAHAHA

But fr, I want to say thank you so much. To those who came in to join the matchup, to those who participated as anons to the story that was unfolding, and to those that were theorizing and even lurking:

Thank you so much for giving me a chance. You guys have no idea how much it means to me to celebrate this milestone with all of you.

I would love to mention everyone of y'all that joined to leave my special thanks, but this post will be lengthy if I did that and I... Am NOT about to make it too sappy LMAOOOO

Now! On the update + future plans:

The rest of the fics will be posted but slowly and will be saved as special dlc fics of One Last Call. This covers additional lore of the worldbuilding behind OLC, but there are some that won't be written (Freminet and Aether are unfortunately those I can't write as yanderes) to lessen the load. Also, some will be shorter/snippet wise, but we shall see.

I will be making a "story explained" post for OLC and the characters behind it. This goes into the possible "what ifs", the original draft of the story (storyboard lol), what each character would've been in my plans, and everything in between! (Also, there may or may not be drawn sketches for each of them. Maybe kek).

The next event will be happening on March. I won't elaborate what it'll be, but it will be indulgent and maybe a little funny (for me). It'll also last for a week at most so I don't end up burning myself out LMAOO

Finally, I will be hosting small event for Cupid, Eros, and Boss. They won't be big, but they will have their spots when I planned out what'll happen to them. (Hint: you guys are going to see them often on your feed if you know where to look ;>)

For now though, I will be finishing up the drabbles and pray I get them queued to finally archive this event. Also, I will be responding to asks + cleaning up my inbox again when I'm done :)

Once again, thank you everyone. I genuinely thought that running One Last Call will not work out back then (I told a few friends I was scared that it won't take off as it did), but I pushed through it anyway since I thought it'd be fun anyway. And to see everyone enjoy it is the best feeling I've had since opening this blog.

I hope all of you enjoy chilling as I try to write + post the drabbles for OLC before concluding its tale... And hopefully writer's block does not slam its gavel on my ass BAHAHAHAHAHA

[solitarydoomsday]

RAUUUGHHHH BLOCKSTUCK UPDATE FOR 6/12

RAUUUGHHGFHHH THIS HAS BEEN LIKE WAY TOO LONG IN THE MAKIGN BUT I FIGURED AN UPDATE WOULD BE FITTING FOR 6/12!!! its a super short update but i promise i won't leave you guys hanging for 2 years again lmfao. more coming soon!!! >:33

FIRST PAGE: https://mspfa.com/?s=43188&p=1

p.s. explanation for the excruciatingly long hiatus under the cut vv

i feel like i . owe you all an explaination with how long that really took to update. for fuck's sake it's been since april of 2022 since i updated it. i'm not gonna go into too much detail but pretty much Fucking Everything got away from me. that was the year my life kinda went to Shit towards the end and it sparked a really really fucking long depression that i just Couldnt Cope With so i just kind of. rotted. and so did most of my projects.

i'm on antidepressants now though, and i really wanna finish this story, even if it's gonna take me years just to finish one act. i put a *lot* of effort into this just for a simple self insert comic, and even though i don't entirely align with aselus' character anymore, i'm determined to finish what i've started. i still have a story to tell, i still have ideas and dreams for this comic, even if it wasn't initially what i wanted for it. even if it is just, at it's core, a cringy au where my self insert is friends with the main cast of characters. i still love this stupid thing, and i wanna finish it.

*however*,i'm not going to keep up with an "update schedule" anymore. i am, after all, just one guy working on this. it's not like hussie themself had an update schedule anyway. not to mention, i'm making all the music and panels and flashes all by myself, and i am learning how to use half of this shit from *scratch*. the update schedule just adds another layer of stress to the whole ordeal, and i'm not looking to add more stress to my plate with me trying to finish school and get into college early next year. i want this to be fun just as much for me as it is for anybody who decides to read blockstuck. i know that's extremely mushy for a comic like this, but i really do want this to be something i can fondly look back on as something i made that was actually pretty decent.

i already have a backlog of blockstuck panels ready to go, i'm working on one of the first flashes of the whole comic, but i'll start to slowly pump out the rest of what i've been working on when i can or . really even remember.

if you! read this novel of an explaination, thank you for listening to my creator woes, but i hope you can enjoy blockstuck as much as i have making it :) and this is !! hopefully going to be a better "start" than what i already started with.

thanks again to anybody whos stuck with the comic, and also sorry again to hussie for cussing them out when i first started this comic, lmfao. i still hate their guts but i love their work. Guh.

anyways. happy 6/12 everypony

[bellaxgiornata]

Soooo...I stumbled upon your fics sometime late last week or over the weekend and your stuff is SO. GOOD. I'm pretty sure I irritated my husband with how invested in reading your stuff I was but c'est la vie! The Matt Murdock stuff is everything I didn't know I needed and I haven't even watched Kin yet but you best believe it's on my list now because you have me invested in Michael!

I saw your post about taking your toddler trick or treating and I have NO IDEA how you write, edit, and post so much good stuff and also take care of a little human! I have a toddler as well and even though I've slowly been getting inspiration to write again, I haven't known how I would even approach it.

I don't send many messages on here anymore but I have so thoroughly enjoyed your catalogue I had to tell you. You're doing an AMAZING job!

Ahhh!! Omg thank you so so much!! This was such a lovely message to see before I ended my night! ❤️😭 Your poor husband 🤣 Mine is quite supportive of my writing (fanfic or otherwise), but I'm sure I've annoyed him plenty with needing to post an update or take a few minutes to finish writing the end of something so I could get it out of my head. You're certainly not alone 😅

I am so glad you've been enjoying all my Matt fics! AND YES!! We need more Mikey lovers!! Kin is soo incredibly difficult for people to have access to watch and I'm honestly hoping that now that BBC bought the show, hopefully it won't be long before it's made more widely available somewhere legal. It's such a great show and Charlie's acting as Michael is so good. And I absolutely adore Mikey. If they continue it for a few more seasons he might give Matt a run for his money in my head...🤣 Don't tell Matt.

I am a stay at home mom so in the few moments I get of my son doing something on his own, I usually am typing away on my phone or a tablet or my computer. Honestly for me getting back into fanfic and being part of this community has helped me feel like me and not just mom--which as a parent yourself I'm sure you totally understand what that feels like! So this is like...something that keeps me sane on a daily basis. It's a hobby for sure but the connections I've made here have been amazing. And hell yes! Definitely let yourself write! You can always just start by writing for yourself, don't put the pressure of sharing or even finishing it on yourself if you don't want to! Just diving into it is probably the best way to begin.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop in and leave some love! ❤️ This definitely made my day and my night to hear so thank you, friend! I'm glad you stumbled on my blog!

[portableleo]

I loved ur City Fall Leo art very much (I love Foot Leo stuff so much. And Leo's IDW Foot design rocks very much), and I will probably buy the print of it. It is a very cool print!

I also loved ur art of Sophie's Foot Leo design, because I love aslo love that take on Foot Leo too, and it also looks great. The one in the actual comic rocks too, like I said, and Leo in black has always been cool to me. But that design rocked hard too. And Leo in white and/or red looks great too. And I now very much like Leo being fox and/or kitsune themed.

I am still very much hoping for Foot Leo in a cartoon and/or (animated) movie someday and done great. And hoping the design is like and/or inspired by the one in the IDW comics and/or the white and red, kitsune one Sophie made. If u ever did a print of that art and/or just one that had the white and red, Kitsune-themed Foot Leo look/design; I would also, probably buy that (too).

Ur Halloween art of the 2012 boys using the official costumes and/or looks for them (Leo as a mummy I think, Raph as a vampire I think, Donnie as Frankenstein/ Frankenstein's Monster I think, and Mikey as a werewolf I think) was great too!

I am sad I missed getting the TMNT (was it TMNT 2012 specifically, or just TMNT more generally? Either way, cool) charms this time, but for the sake of my wallet, it is probably for the better I get them when/if u decide to restock them, because I do still want to try to get them. They look very cool! I love how they look on both sides (i.e.; the fully-colored complete faces, and the other side that just has their whites ninja turtles eyes mainly. I like how Leo's side is more blue tinged too), and the expressions u gave! And the different head shapes. They just look cute.

Last of all, I have been enjoying ur TMNT: Labyrinth fic so far! And the art u do with it (the art is just nice, and the characters look cute and cool). I still need to catch up on it though. But so far, it is interesting. And I like the the more mythology stuff going on. And there being a "traitor" (but like, not really willingly) among them (lol). And the card/card symbol stuff and motifs going on. And the characterizations are really good so far. It is cool the fic is mainly more a TMNT 2003 and/or IDW one.

Alright, done (for) now, hopefully. Hahaha. 2/2.

thank you again! i hope you can snag the print once it becomes available -- i will be getting the prints made after the keychains are all shipped out!

and yeah, i love sophie's design for foot leo! i won't be using that design on anything i'll be selling, because that isn't an official design, just fanart that sophie had made, so it would be wrong for me to profit off of that. but we'll see if i ever design my own dark leo in the future (who knows)!

i hope you can snag a keychain when i get them restocked!

and lastly thank you for reading my fanfiction! i haven't updated it in awhile (the writing juices have been dormant) but i am working on it bit by bit! maybe with nanowrimo starting tomorrow, i'll be pumping more writing out, we'll see

thanks for the thoughtful asks you sent!

[nobodysdaydreams]

any updates for the mbs s3 fic??? the cliffhanger was so good omgggg

Thank you! I promise, I AM working on it and did some writing for it yesterday (the chapter is longer than expected, but what else is new?😭). I appreciate your patience and the fandom's reactions and comments have greatly fueled me to write. SOS took over a year, so hopefully this one won't take quite as long (it's shorter, so we can always hope). Sadly, integrating adult life with fandom writing is a difficult existence. The hyperfixations will always be there, your writing ability will increase, but your free time with vanish quicker than you could ever imagine. Nevertheless, I can promise that I will endeavor to write as much of this story as possible, because so many have enjoyed it and because...well, if you thought the last cliffhanger was good, you'd gonna hate me for the next one (and the ones after that and soooooo much else... but no spoilers :))

Well, maybe light spoilers. Here's a WIP snippet:

“You’re in no position to be making moral judgments, Mr. Washington, considering you and your little friends have allied yourselves with Curtain. Yes, I know all about that, as well as your efforts to locate me.”

“How?” asked Reynie.

“Some very clever spy work,” boasted Jackson proudly.

“It’s how we knew you’d both be at Boatwright,” explained Jillson.

“We learned how to tap telephone lines,” bragged Jackson. “Though it had less to do with tap dancing than we thought.”

“Rather disappointing,” bemoaned Jillson.

“We purchased tap shoes for nothing,” sighed Jackson. “The store wouldn’t let us return them.”

“All that choreography wasted,” lamented Jillson.

“Don’t tell them about the phone tapping!” scolded Dr. Garrison.