#I’ve been planning this for a while I guess but somehow it’s still very last minute???

[lovingbini]

beautiful coincidences

seok matthew x female!reader | meet cute | fluff, suggestive, slight making out a/n: i believe y'all know exactly what visual of matthew i'm talking about, right? right? *** you and matthew met at a clothing store when you reached for the same jacket. what happened was what one knows of interest at first sight. eyebrows raised, you waited for him to let go – well, he didn’t.

“alright, give me a reason why i should let you get it,” he said, a smile on his face.

“i can give you two, actually,” you dared. “first of all, i have something this weekend that demands this jacket. second, it will look better on me, respectfully.”

matthew gasped, but the smile never left his beautiful features. he took it as a green light to take a good look on your body, making your eyes slightly pop with such audacity.

“right, i admit you’re gorgeous and have a good styling. but it’s actually my birthday this saturday…” he pouted. “you wouldn’t ruin that by leaving with my favorite jacket, would you?”

you had to laugh.

“that’s funny, ‘cause the something i have this weekend is precisely my birthday party.”

“okay, no need to clown me!”

“i’m not! i’ve been planning this outfit for a while, but just got the money for it yesterday.”

matthew bites his lower lip, contemplating. you have a basket from the store with more clothes, which he acknowledges they match the jacket both of you are still holding.

“maybe we could celebrate together after our parties, what do you think? i could use an apology for making me so so sad.”

you smile once again, unable to resist the charms of the man in front of you.

“yeah, poor sad man, what’s your name again?”

“matthew, yours?”

“i’m y/n. now maybe you should give me your number and i’ll analyze your proposal ‘till saturday, is that alright?”

“perfect for me.” he grins.

***

the bar downtown had lounges on the third floor with a view of the city. you rented one of the spaces to spend the night with your loved ones with no worries. it worked so well that your friends were already planning the next events to be in that same room. the place had a glass wall that allowed you to watch the hallway to be aware of anything that was happening outside.

that’s when you saw him.

matthew was standing on the other side of the building – a cup in his hand, hair slicked back and a jacket that looked exactly like yours. he was talking to what seemed to be his funniest friend; his beautiful smile was out for the world to witness, for you to remember how you didn’t text him at all.

it wasn’t on purpose, really. you just got busy with the preparations and ended up leaving it for later – a later that didn’t come.

sensing he’s being watched, matthew looks around and finds you on the other end. tilting his head to the side, his smile changes. he cheers on you with his almost empty glass, you return the action and sign him to meet you in the hallway.

“well, look who wasn’t lying,” he teases while getting closer. “somehow, i don’t see you wearing that so very demanded jacket…”

you hold a smile.

“it was getting kinda hot in there, but i can put it back if you prefer.”

“oh, no, i wouldn’t tell you to do anything you don’t want to. but i can’t lie and say i don’t enjoy this view even more.” there he goes again, scanning you up and down.

“sorry i didn’t text you, things became pretty hectic the last couple days.”

“nah, it’s fine. guess we can seize the moment right now. keep that communication going with no rush this time.”

and you do. the hours pass while you talk about trivial stuff, making sure to be interested in every aspect of each others lives. matthew’s not only handsome and charismatic, he's also part of the production team from a company you know very well — you were invited to work with them for a promotion but the schedules didn't match after all. what did match, though, was the both of you.

the way you laughed in sync, the way you looked at each other with so much attention and curiosity, the way the slightest touches made you two waver. you wish you would've met sooner, but on the other hand, getting to know each other in a place full of people who cherished you and knew how to have fun— oh, that was perfect.

later, when matthew found a more private space to enjoy your presence, you found yourself pretty comfortable on his lap. his kisses were addicting, his hands pressed your curves in ways you could just imagine. first, he was very attentive of your reactions, second, you were the most obvious woman on earth. nevertheless, it was working, matthew’s smoking hot and eager to show his every move. through the few sane thoughts still roaming in your mind, you couldn’t stop the willingness of taking him back home with you.

“wait, i need to pee,” you say, suddenly.

“like in a kinky way, or something?”

“no, what the hell!”

you burst out laughing and hide your face in his neck. matthew pats you in the back, waiting for a real answer.

“i’m serious. i kind of grinded on you in a way that hurt a bit, so it reminded me i’m here kissing you for a long time now.”

“okay, so go relieve yourself and i’ll be right here, waiting to be grinded on for another long time.”

you kiss him again, biting his lower lip as a punishment, but of course he moaned.

“you’ll be a nightmare to handle, matthew.”

“glad to know we have plans together for the next couple days.”

[coolfoxykitkat]

Now that I’ve actually quit my job it is suddenly dawning on me just how fucking insane it is to just. quit your job and move across the country.

[once-upon-an-imagine]

Man On a Wire

A/N: somehow this worked again I really hope you loves like this!

Request - Anonymous asked: For a dialogue, how about Remus thinking you like Sirius so when you ask him to a library date he thinks it's a prank or to make Sirius jealous and he says no. Remus then finds out you were talking with Sirius about him and apologizes.

Warnings: insecurities on Remus' part, making him be a biiit of an asshole, but I think that's it! let me know if I missed anything, also is like 2am here and this is not proofread

Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter :) gif isn’t mine :D  

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Man On a Wire

I feel like I'm walkin' on a tight rope My heart is in my throat, I'm counting on high hopes to get me over you

You kept walking back and forth in front of the Quidditch Pitch.

“You need to calm down, love. It’s only a question” Alice tried to reassure you.

“B-but what if he says no?” you asked, feeling anxious.

“He’s not gonna say no” she insisted.

“You don’t know that. There might be a million reasons why he would say no” you said, making your best friend glare at you. “O-okay maybe not a million but… a f-few” you shrugged.

“Hey, ladies” you heard Sirius approaching and landing next to the two of you. “What are you still doing here? We’re gonna be done in a few minutes” he said looking at you.

“She’s second-guessing herself” Alice told him.

“C’mon, love. We’ve been through this. I’ve told you a million times. I know first-hand, Remus is basically in love with you-” Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

“L-love? You never said anything about love, Black!”

“I didn’t think I needed to. He looks at you worse than Prongs looks at Lily or Frank looks at this one” he said, pointing at Alice.

“Hey, don’t drag Frank into this” Alice glared at him.

“My point is, it’s time you both just stop being stupid and get together” he simply said.

“But what if he says no?”

“Why would he say no?”

“I don’t know!”

“He’s not gonna say no, okay? So, just, go up there and we’ll be out here waiting for you two idiots to come out holding hands and we can go to dinner” Sirius said before he started pushing you towards the bleachers, where Remus was sitting.

“Okay, okay, I’m going!” you said, looking at your best friends one last time and taking a deep breath.

You started climbing up the empty stairs and walked over to one of the highest bleachers where you knew Remus always read while he waited for his friends to be done with practice. Not that you knew his every move you just… noticed. You felt your heart beating faster when you spotted him. He was so enthrallingly handsome, it was ridiculous. You always heard girls talking about how stunning Sirius was and, you didn’t disagree, Sirius was very attractive. But Remus’ beauty was completely different. It was hypnotizing. Which is why you were extremely worried about asking him out.

You gripped your books to your chest a bit tighter and made your way over to his spot. He was so concentrated on his book that his tongue was sticking out a little and he was resting his head on his right hand as he read. You cleared your throat a little, getting his attention and making him look up at you.

“Um… h-hello, Remus” you smiled, nervously.

“Hi” he smiled back at you.

“I am sorry to um b-bother you” you started. “Uh, is it okay if I join you?”

“Oh, yeah, sure” he said, getting up and scootching a little to make room for you. How were you not supposed to fall in love with this man?

“Um, th-thank you” you said, placing your bag on the floor and taking your books out. “So, um… what are you reading?”

“Oh” he said, marking the page on his book. “Um, I’m reading A Murder is Announced” he said, showing it to you. “Have you read it?”

“Oh, yes, I read this last year. It’s a really good book. Are you enjoying it?”

“I am” he nodded. “So, what brings you to the Quidditch Pitch today?” he asked, all of the sudden.

“Oh, w-well, there’s a match on Friday” you said. “... right?”

“Right” he smiled. “Are you planning on coming to the match?”

“W-well, I don’t know. I’m not much of a Quidditch fan, as you know” you said, feeling your cheeks burn. “S-so, I thought maybe if I watch them practice I might understand it a little bit better?” you said, nervously.

“Why the sudden interest?” he asked, curiously.

“Um, I don’t know” you said, nervously running a hand through your hair. “It’s our last year, so… I promised myself to try new things” you smiled wearily. “So, um… do you think you can explain some of it for me?”

“Um… sure” he said, putting his book down. “I mean, I’m not the best myself but I did read Quidditch Through the Ages” he said, making you laugh a little. “So, Prongs is the captain” he said, pointing at his friend. “He, Sirius, and Kurt are Chasers. So, they have to get the Quaffle through the hoops” he instructed.

“Okay, that doesn’t seem that complicated” you said.

“Right, but it’s the Beater’s job to throw the Bludgers at them and prevent them to do so” he told you. “Fabian and Gideon are really good. But, we’re playing Ravenclaw on Friday and their Beaters are quite ruthless” he explained.

“So, I take it you’re coming to the match on Friday?”

“I am” he nodded. “I never miss a Gryffindor match” he smiled.

“Oh, Merlin! Look at him! He looks even better with his hair like that” you heard a group of girls a few steps down and to your right. They were ogling and sighing over Sirius, who wasn’t as far, brushing his sweaty hair with his hand.

“Ugh, I know! He’s stupidly handsome” another one giggled.

“So… Sirius has his own cheerleading section?” you chuckled.

“Yeah, he kind of does” Remus told you as Sirius made his way over to the group of girls in his broom.

“Hello, ladies” he said, flashing his signature handsome smirk at them, making them giggle and they all started complimenting him.

When he spotted you, he quickly sent a wink your way. You failed to see Remus rolling his eyes as he started putting his stuff in his bag, which is why he failed to see Sirius widening his eyes at you before pointing at Remus hinting that you needed to ask him. You sighed, rolling your eyes, and took a deep breath one more time.

“Um, R-Remus?”

“Yes?” he asked, looking back at you.

“Um, w-well, I was um…” you stuttered nervously. “C-could I ask you something?”

“Sure” he said, turning to look at you.

He noticed you were nervously playing with your hands before you looked at Sirius one last time and then you finally faced him. He prepared himself to hear you ramble on about how much in love with Sirius you were and if he could help you fix a date with him or something.

“W-well, I was w-wondering if, uh-” you said, again. “If you’re not busy on F-Friday, um… m-maybe you’d like to um…” you stammered. “G-go with me to the Library to study, b-before the match?” you managed to finally spit out. You felt your heartbeat increase as you waited for your answer.

“What?” Remus frowned.

“O-or if you’re busy we can c-come to the match?” you tried, smiling nervously. “O-or I b-believe it’s a Hogsmeade weekend-”

“What’s your angle?” he asked you all of the sudden, taking you by surprise.

“Um… a-angle?”

“Honestly, if you want to go out with Sirius, just ask him” he said, standing up and grabbing his bag.

“Sirius? W-what are you talking about-?”

“You know, a lot of girls have asked me what’s the best way to ask him out but none of them have sunk so low to the point of pretending that you would like to spend with me to get closer to him-”

“That’s not what I was-” you tried to explain, getting up yourself.

“What is it then? Are you trying to make him jealous or something?”

“What? No! Remus, I don’t-”

“You know what? No, thank you. I honestly have better things to do than to spend a day with you talking about Sirius” he said before walking away, leaving you standing there, mouth opened, dumbfounded. You didn’t even hear the last things he said. The only words ringing in your ears were ‘No, thank you. I honestly have better things to do than to spend a day with you.’

Your eyes kept looking at him as he climbed down the stairs and you saw the group of girls that were looking at Sirius. They all looked at you with sorrow in their eyes. They felt sorry for you. You had just been rejected in front of them. You felt your eyes starting to water as you saw Alice running towards you.

“Hey, what happened? I just saw Remus leaving-”

“He said no” you silently said as a few tears ran down your cheeks.

“What? Why?”

“He said he- um” you tried to explain to your friend as she sat you down. “He thought I was asking him out b-because I wanted to get closer to Sirius” you said.

“What? That’s ridiculous! Why would he think that?”

“I don’t know” you said. “I tried to tell him that wasn’t the case b-but he didn’t let me explain and he left” you finished, crying a little harder.

“Hey” Sirius said, flying over to the two of you. “What happened? Why are you crying?”

“Remus said no” Alice informed him as she hugged you.

“What? Why?”

“He thought she was only asking him because she wanted to ask you out” Alice explained.

“He said that?” Sirius asked you and you slowly nodded. “I’m gonna bloody kill him” he muttered under his breath. “Look, love, I’ll talk to him, okay?”

“N-no, it’s okay” you said, trying to stop more tears from falling. “I d-don’t think Remus likes me that way anyways” you said, sadly.

“Don’t say that, love” Alice insisted. “Let’s just go to dinner and we can talk things through” she suggested.

“I’m not hungry” you said, pulling away and grabbing your things. “You guys should go” you smiled sadly at them. “I think I’m just gonna go to my dorm” you told them, eying the group of girls who were now leaving.

“No, we can talk to Remus-”

“Go and rest, okay? I’ll bring you something” Alice interrupted Sirius.

“Thanks guys” you smiled weakly at them. “I’ll see you tomorrow” you said before making your way out.

“Bye, love” Sirius said before turning to Alice. “I’m going to kill Remus” he repeated.

“If you don’t, I will” she replied.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“What the bloody hell is your problem?” Sirius asked when he burst into his dorm.

Remus was reading a book, James was coming out of the shower, and Peter was just sitting there waiting for everyone to get ready so they could go to dinner.

“Which one of us are you talking to, Pads?” James asked, confused.

“Why don’t you ask your stupid friend Moony” Sirius said, glaring at him.

“What are you talking about?” Remus frowned confused.

“Oh, you’re going to play dumb? So we’re just going to pretend that nothing happened back in the Quidditch Pitch and you didn’t make anyone cry?”

“What?” James and Peter asked at the same time.

“Again, what are you talking about? Nobody cried” Remus said, closing his book and getting up.

“Really? Are you sure about that, Moony? Are you really sure?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Padfoot. You have no idea what happened!”

“Oh, really? So, you didn’t reject her when she asked you out?”

“What? Who asked you out?” James asked, interested.

“Nobody-”

“Nobody? Really? The girl that you have practically been in love with for years is now nobody?”

“What? She asked you out?” Peter asked.

“You said no?” James asked, extremely confused.

“She didn’t ask me out, okay? She was only asking to spend time with me to get closer to you!”

“What?” James and Peter asked again. “That doesn’t make any sense!” James said.

“Yeah, what are you talking about, mate?” Peter asked.

“Why the fuck would she want to get closer to me? We’re friends!”

“Because she’s in love with you, just like every other girl in this stupid school is, apparently!” Remus snapped.

“You see? You see how stupid your friend is?” Sirius told James.

“Stop talking to me as if I’m not here! And stop calling me stupid!”

“Mate, you are stupid! You truly are if you think she was only asking you out to get closer to Sirius!” James told him.

“Shut up! I saw the way that she was looking at him! You winked at her, and all of the sudden she’s interested in Quidditch and she wants to go to the match on Friday, and I’m supposed to believe she doesn’t fancy you?”

“Mate, I highly doubt she’s interested in Quidditch” Peter laughed.

“Yeah, she’s as interested in Quidditch as she is in Padfoot” James added.

“Moons, I winked at her because I knew she was nervous about asking you out. See, it was actually the other way around. She came to me and asked me how she could ask you out” he explained.

“W-what?” Remus asked, feeling terrible.

“Do you honestly not know how much in love with you she is?” Peter asked, confused.

“Yeah, she’s always looking at you, mate” James told him.

“She’s n-not” he insisted, trying to convince himself that he hadn’t just turned you down and that you were not in love with him. “She likes Padfoot. She’s always with him-!”

“Yeah, talking about you, you idiot!” Sirius told him. “She’s always asking what your favorite books are, what movies do you like, and what would be the best way to ask you out! And when she finally got the courage to do it, you said no” he explained.

“Holy shit” Remus muttered to himself, plopping on his bed again. “I am so stupid” he stated.

“Yes, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, mate” Sirius said, sitting next to him. “So, what are you going to do?”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Throughout the next few days, Remus tried endlessly to find you so he could apologize but it was useless. You were avoiding him like the plague. Even when he tried using the Map, it was as if you were one step ahead of him. He looked for you in the Library, where he thought you’d be even if he said no, but you were nowhere to be found. He hoped you would make it to the match on Friday, but again, you were a no-show.

It wasn’t until Saturday when he begged Alice to drag you to Hogsmeade so he could just ‘casually’ run into you. It took him and Sirius to convince her since she was still mad at Remus for rejecting you, but she caved.

So, here you were, on your way to Hogsmeade as a third wheel on Alice and Frank’s date, although they insisted it wasn’t a date, so Marlene and Dorcas were here too. So, all in all, you were fifth-wheeling.

“Come on, love. It’s gonna be fun!” Marlene said, linking her arm with yours. “We can do whatever you’d like!”

“Yeah, we can go to the Three Broomsticks, or Tomes and Scrolls, or the music shop” Dorcas suggested.

“To be honest with you, girls, I kind of just want to go to Honeydukes to get as much candy as I can carry and then go back” you said with a sad sigh.

“What? No, love, it’s a beautiful day!” Marlene insisted.

“Look, we have some errands to run, why don’t you go to Honeydukes to get some candy, and then we can meet at the Three Broomsticks?” Alice suggested as you entered the village.

“Um… can’t I just by my candy and go-”

“No!” Dorcas and Marlene said in unison. “We’re gonna head to the Three Broomsticks to get a booth, so you better come there after buying your candy” Dorcas added.

“Ugh, fine!” you said, frustrated.

In all honesty, all you wanted to do was buy an endless amount of candy and go back to your dorm. Ever since Remus rejected you, you felt people watching you everywhere you went. You could hear them talking about you and you were certain that the girls that witnessed the entire thing had already spread around your very much public rejection. Which is why you had been avoiding going out of your dorm as much as you could.

You turned around to make your way to Honeydukes, completely missing that your friends joined James, Peter, Lily, Remus, and Sirius at the Three Broomsticks.

“You’re up, Lupin” Alice said, still glaring at him as the rest made their way inside the pub.

Remus took a deep breath before he followed you into the sweetshop. He spotted you on one of the furthest shelves, holding, or trying to, as many sweets as you could in your hands. He felt a sweet smile forming on his face as he watched you. A small part of him still thought that Sirius was wrong. That there was no way that you could ever be interested in someone like him.

But his heart fluttered more intensely with each step he took towards you, and he knew that whether Sirius was right or wrong, he still needed to apologize to you for the way he spoke. When one of the many chocolate frogs you had fell on the floor, he quickly made his way over to you and picked it up.

“Um, here, I think you dropped this” he said, making you turn around to face him. His heart ached a little when the smile dropped off your face when you saw it was him.

“Oh… um” you said, grabbing the treat from his hand. “Thanks” you smiled nervously.

“How have you been?” he asked, cursing himself silently. “I uh… didn’t see you at the match yesterday” he added.

“Right… I wasn’t really in the mood to go” you smiled firmly.

“Oh” Remus said, feeling even worse. “W-well, you missed a good match” he chuckled. “Gryffindor won” he said.

“I heard” you replied noticing a few people looking your way. “Um, I should uh- probably get going” you said, as you were going to start making your way out, but you felt Remus gently grab your arm and turn you around.

“Wait!” he said, getting even more attention from the students around you. “Um, I…” he felt his heart beating a little faster. He didn’t like dragging this much attention to himself and he wanted to ask you to go somewhere a bit more private. But, firstly, he didn’t think you’d like to go anywhere with him until you apologized and secondly, he very much publicly rejected you, so maybe he had to do the same thing. “I wanted to apologize to you” he blurted out.

“Oh, R-Remus, you don’t have to-”

“Yes, I do” he said, getting closer to you and pulling you a little away. “I’m really sorry about the way that I spoke to you” he said. “I’m sorry for assuming that you were just talking to me to get closer to Sirius-”

“Why did you think that?” you asked all of the sudden.

“E-excuse me?”

“Why would you think that the only reason I would talk to you or wanted to spend time with you would be to get closer to someone else?” you asked. “I mean, I thought- I thought we were friends… Is that… um… is that what you think of me?” you asked, sadly.

“What? No!” he assured you. “I don’t- we are friends” he insisted. “I just…” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Okay, here it goes” he said, taking a deep breath. “I like you, love” he started. “I really like you. I’ve liked you so much for so long, I’m pretty sure that I’m very much in love with you” he confessed. “But, I never in a million years thought that y-you could like me like that” he said. “I thought that you were only interested in Quidditch because you wanted to see Sirius and I saw him wink at you, so my reasoning was that you liked him because, for some reason every girl in school does, and that would be the logical thing-”

“The logical thing would be for me to like Sirius?”

“Well, yes” he said as if it was obvious.

“Why?”

“Why would you have any interest in spending time with me then?”

“Because I like you, you big idiot!” you blurted out, frustrated.

“Y-you do?”

“Yes! I figured Sirius might have told you by now, or you might have heard it from the entire school who apparently knows and you’re the only one who’s still oblivious to it!”

“Well, to be honest, Sirius did say something but, I still wasn’t entirely sure that it was true-”

“Why, Remus? Why do you think it’s so impossible for me to be in love with you?”

“L-love? Did you just say love?” he asked, smiling.

“I uh-” you said, realizing you just let it slip. “Well, you said it first!”

“Well, yes, because it makes sense for me to be in love with you, but it doesn’t make sense for you to be in love with me!”

“What? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! Why?”

“Why? Oh, I don’t know, maybe we should discuss this on the next lunar phase” he said, muttering the last words.

“Oh, Merlin! Really? Is that what this is about?”

“For starters!” he argued. “Trust me, it would make a lot more sense if you liked Sirius! He’s handsome and always laughing, he’s funny and witty-”

“Remus, are you trying to tell me that I should be in love with Sirius? Or that you are in love with Sirius?” you smirked a little.

“That’s not what I meant!” he glared at you. “Look, I just… I never thought that someone like you would ever want to be with… someone like me” he muttered the last part.

“Wow, you really are an idiot, aren’t you?” you chuckled as Remus rolled his eyes.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“Who called you an idiot?”

“Sirius!” he complained.

“Aw” you smiled. “Well, we can be two idiots in love, or you can just reject me again. It’s your move, Lupin” you told him.

Remus bit his bottom lip, trying to prevent his smirk from getting bigger. He walked closer to you and gently pulled you closer to him by your waist before he leaned down to press his lips against yours. You suddenly dropped all the candy you had in your hands and you quickly wrapped your arms around his shoulders.

“I choose two idiots in love” he smiled before kissing you once more.

“Good answer, Lupin” you smiled.

“Oh, I also wanted to ask” he said, grabbing your sweets and placing them in a basket. “If you’re not too busy if you… wanted to go on a date with me?”

“Well, I told Dorcas and Marlene I would go to the Three Broomsticks-”

“Yes, they are all waiting for us to get there” he informed you.

“Oh, okay, so that’s a no on the Three Broomsticks then” you said, as you walked over to pay for your things.

“I think that’s for the best” he smiled.

“Well then, it looks like my day is free” you said, as Remus held your hand when you walked out of Honeydukes.

He pulled you back a little and kissed you once more. “I really am sorry, love” he smiled.

“I know you are, Rem” you smiled back at him.

“So, does this mean you’ll keep me company on Quidditch matches?”

“If you’re there, I guess I can be there” you smiled as he kissed you again, neither of you noticing your group of friends looking at the two of you from the window at the pub across the street.

“Fucking finally” Sirius muttered, bumping Alice’s fist. 

The End

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

A/N: hope you loves like it! Charlie's coming up next!

[steddieas-shegoes]

Request: video gamer Steve who is very very private & constantly has competitions with his friends/followers. But one day he does & q&a and someone asks him about his ring/necklace (or something that is noticeable) & he talks about his partner. & Eddie who is a well known musician who talks about his partner Steve. And somehow their fans put it together that Steddie are together. Then they do a really cute q&a on Steve's channel all about their relationship & its really cute

MY LOVE!!! Honestly, if Liam didn't watch so many gamers on YouTube, I would be so clueless. I never got into video games (because I'm so so bad at them you guys it is actually embarrassing) and I never really watched streamers on YouTube or anything. But I know that some of them have like a cult following and so I am picturing Steve to be one of those here. Please don't ask what games he would play because this is a choose your own adventure part of the story. - Mickala ❤️

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

Everyone made fun of Steve for how much he talked with his hands. Even on camera, his hands were constantly in the frame, moving and emphasizing his passion for whatever game he was playing for that stream.

He should have realized that wearing a ring on his usually bare hands would have given him away.

It was his first livestream competition since Eddie proposed on their trip to the Maldives.

He was still a little high off of, well, everything, and he wasn’t thinking clearly.

He ignored the first question that popped up.

who got you that ring?

He shared some basic personal stuff with his fans and followers, but he kept most things private, especially his relationship.

But then questions kept coming in.

R U ENGAGED???

usually the girl wears the ring right

If you’re taken I might have to unsubscribe

The last one made him pause.

It’s not like he was an idiot, he knew that there would always be a handful of people who followed him because he was attractive. He didn’t mind, especially because some of them would message him and explain that they ended up getting into games because of him.

“Okay, wait. Sorry guys. Um. I wanna address something before we start the actual stream.” He held his hand up, looking over at the ring Eddie proposed with. “I share a lot with you guys. I came out about a year ago during a stream as bisexual, and it really shouldn’t have been much of a shock, but it caused a bit of a…thing.” He grimaced. “And I guess most of the reason that I came out then was because my boyfriend had come out as well, and it felt like something we could do together without actually doing it together. Most of you know I was just gone for a week on a much needed vacation. I was with my boyfriend, and he proposed while we were there. I said yes because he is the only person I’ve ever wanted to spend my life with.”

Steve put his hand down, sighing.

“I understand if that makes some of you unfollow me, but I do hope you look at yourself and try to come to terms with why that is what makes you unfollow someone you enjoy watching. Anyways, the ring is beautiful, and it's a simpler version of one he wears every day, so it means even more.”

He felt relieved, but also a little stressed, and knew he’d be calling Eddie as soon as this was over to talk to him about everything.

“Let’s get gaming!” He gave his best smile to the camera.

—-------------------------------------

“Yeah, we had a nice week off together, alone, and I finally got to propose. I don’t think we left the bed for 24 hours after that,” Eddie laughed.

The interviewer laughed too, used to Eddie’s jokes and blunt answers.

“I’m glad you got to spend some time just the two of you. This has been a busy world tour for you and Corroded Coffin and you’re only halfway through!” The interviewer, Hannah, stated. She smiled at him when he nodded. “Anything new planned for the second half of the tour?”

“We can’t give out secrets, Hannah, you know that,” Eddie smirked. “But Gareth did say I should tell you about one thing.”

Gareth definitely had a crush on Hannah and had pouted endlessly about being scheduled for a different interview at the same time as Eddie’s interview with her.

“Oh?” she leaned forward, eyes gleaming.

She maybe had a crush on him, too.

“He actually wrote a song that’ll be on our next album. He doesn’t usually get bit with the writing bug, but someone’s inspired him,” he winked at her, smiling at her blush. “Anyway, it’s been added to the setlist for the second leg of the tour and we’re all really excited for everyone to hear it.”

Eddie felt his phone vibrating in his pocket multiple times. All the guys knew he was in an interview and couldn’t answer a call, so who the hell was calling him?

It was easy enough to ignore through Hannah’s next question, until it started again.

He reached in his pocket and checked to see who it was, eyes going wide when he saw ‘Stevie’ with a picture of them on their vacation lighting up his screen.

Steve never called twice in a row unless it was an emergency. He knew if Eddie didn’t answer, he was truly busy.

He felt his heart racing as he looked back up at Hannah, who instantly seemed to catch on to something happening.

“We’re going to a commercial break, but when we’re back, Eddie’s gonna share a few hints about the next album!” Hannah said, immediately shutting the mics off and gesturing for him to get up.

Eddie took off his headphones and stood, walking out of the room as he answered the phone.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?”

“I’m sorry to bother you, I just-”

“Hey, no, it’s not bothering me. I was just in a radio interview with Hannah so we had to cut to commercial break before I could answer. What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned that something terrible had happened.

“Fuck, I forgot that was right now. I’m sorry. Call me back when you get to the bus,” Steve seemed like he was trying to rush off the phone.

“No, Stevie, wait. What’s wrong?” his tone was firm enough to let Steve know he wasn’t going to let this drop.

“Um. I just had a livestream thing. And like, people asked about the ring, so I told them I was engaged and some people just didn’t take it that well and then I went online and some people have apparently put it together that the Steve you talk about is me because of something I mentioned about my vacation and something you posted about the vacation and so I think everyone’s gonna know and I’m sorry,” Steve was panting by the end, speaking a million miles an hour literally taking the breath from him.

“Okay, well, we knew this would probably happen eventually, my love. I’ll just call the guys and we can talk to Chrissy about it if it gets picked up by the media. No reason to panic,” Eddie tried to calm him down while watching through the window to the recording booth where Hannah seemed to be introducing a song to kill more time.

“But I ruined our plan!”

“No, love. People ruined our plan. And it’s okay, anyway. We’ll figure it out.”

“But your fans will be mad that it’s me. I’m just…me!”

“You’re not just anything and any fan of mine who says or thinks that, isn’t a fan,” Eddie sighed. “I love you, and we will figure this out. Whatever we gotta do, okay?”

Steve let out a long breath before responding.

“I love you too. Tell Hannah I said hi?”

“Of course. I love you so much, okay? ‘Til death and beyond.”

Steve let out a small laugh.

“You’re not allowed to use those lyrics in the vows. But I love you so much, too.”

“We can discuss that later. I wrote you a very metal love song that I fully intend to use some of in the vows. Okay, bye!”

He hung up before Steve could argue and walked back into the studio, mouthing an apology to Hannah, who just waved it off with a smile.

Everything would be fine.

—-------------------------------------------

“The lighting isn’t ideal, but it’ll be fine,” Steve was pacing, double checking his set up while Eddie watched.

He tried helping, but kept being told not to touch things, so he ended up just sitting on the hotel bed.

Steve had traveled halfway across the country to do this, his stress was at an all-time high, and Eddie didn’t need to get his head bitten off.

“Five minutes,” Steve said, shaking his hands nervously.

“Come here, sweetheart,” Eddie said, waving him over to the bed.

“No, you’ll distract me.”

“Yes, which is exactly what you need for a minute. Come here.”

Steve sighed, but went over to him, dropping onto the bed and resting his head against Eddie’s shoulder.

“What’s got you so worried?”

“Everything.”

Eddie sighed.

“But specifically.”

“I just don’t want you or the guys to lose fans because of me,” Steve was playing with the edges of the hole in Eddie’s jeans absentmindedly.

“Sweet boy, we lose fans because we endorse a certain amp brand over another. We’ll be fine.”

“This is bigger, though. I’m just a nobody who got lucky on YouTube playing some games,” Steve whined.

“And I loved you before that. If they don’t want me to be happy, they aren’t real fans anyway. You’re my future, not whatever woman still thinks she has a shot with my gay ass,” Eddie said.

“But it isn’t just you who suffers.”

“None of us suffer. We lose some homophobic, idiotic fans who shouldn’t ever have claimed to be fans at all. None of us want people like that around.”

Steve’s alarm went off to signal one minute before the livestream started.

He jumped up and pulled Eddie up with him.

They’d already gone over everything together, discussed it with Chrissy and the guys, even Steve’s manager, Robin, about how this would work.

Steve would pretty much act like it was any other livestream, but Eddie would be there for the first five minutes or so so they could do a quick explanation of things.

Eddie would do a phone interview with Hannah in 30 minutes while Steve was gaming, covering a bit more and answering some questions about their relationship.

Then they’d both have a night off to decompress in the hotel before Steve had to fly back home and Eddie had to head to the next tour stop.

Hopefully, the buzz would die down relatively quickly.

Steve did his normal intro, but Eddie’s hand rested on his knee out of sight, squeezing once when he heard his voice start to shake a little while introducing Eddie.

“There’s been some rumors about us, and we just wanna be completely honest about things so that the rumors stop,” Steve continued. “First of all, we’ve been together for almost four years. Way before I got anywhere with YouTube, before Corroded Coffin had even released their first album. And we were friends long before that.”

“Even though I had the biggest crush on him in high school, I didn’t admit I was in love with him until we both moved to Chicago. Wasted years,” Eddie shook his head.

“Second,” Steve smirked, looking over at him for a moment. “The week off in the middle of his tour had been planned for Jeff to go home and be with his family for his wife’s birthday and daughter’s graduation.”

“Anyone who thinks Steve threw a fit about needing a vacation and made the band take a break is just saying so out of spite that we had to move around one of the tour dates to make the week off work. It’s not up to you to come up with a narrative,” Eddie added, brow raised like he was chastising children.

“And finally, most importantly, what either of us choose to share is up to us. We do not owe anyone any explanations. Our relationship is ours. Being public figures already takes away a lot of our autonomy, and this is something neither of us will budge on. We are willing to share our happiness, but we are not willing to let everyone become a part of our life together.”

Sometimes, Steve said things in such a way that Eddie couldn’t do anything but stare at him in awe. He loved him more than anything, and sometimes the only thing he could do was kiss him.

He did so now, not exactly forgetting they were live streaming, just not really caring.

Steve tensed for a second, but then relaxed, cupping his cheek and smiling into the kiss.

Eddie pulled away and looked back at the camera.

“On that note, I’m gonna leave Steve here to his gaming. If you aren’t nice, I’ll ban you from Corroded Coffin shows for life,” he waved before standing and leaving the camera’s view.

Steve rolled his eyes, but smiled fondly as Eddie walked out of the bedroom, blowing kisses back at Steve the entire way.

—-------------------------------------------

After that, Eddie made random appearances on Steve’s live streams, and Steve flew out to a handful of shows to support Eddie.

It’s not that they were hiding before, but they just hadn’t felt like they should have to try to.

Now they didn’t.

Steve even did a Q&A with the band on tour while playing games with them.

They were all pretty terrible at it, complaining most of the time about how D&D was so much easier than this. Eddie didn’t play, but he sat next to Steve and braided his hair while he kicked their asses, asking them all the questions that popped up from people watching.

When he got to one for him, he smiled and kissed the top of Steve’s head.

“This question is for me. How did you know Steve was the one?” The guys all groaned, but they were smiling. “Well, I knew he was the one back in my first senior year. I tripped on the step into the gym and Steve was the only one there. He helped me up and smiled at me, and I was a goner.”

“He’s lying to you all,” Steve said without looking away from the game. “He knew when I made him homemade banana bread. His exact words were, ‘I’m gonna marry you so hard someday, Harrington.’ and then six months later he proposed.”

“Both can be true,” Eddie pouted.

Steve paused the game and turned to him, kissing the tip of his nose.

“Every moment I have with you proves you’re the one for me,” he said before turning back to the game and leaving Eddie silently shocked.

“This is the last time we come on this thing, Steve,” Gareth said.

“Yeah. You broke him,” Jeff agreed.

[iwritefandomimagines]

NEW YEAR’S KISS — JAMIE TARTT

masterlist

pairing: jamie tartt x reader

description: last time you saw jamie tartt, he’d laughed off your confession of feelings. now it’s new year’s eve, you’re at a richmond party, and he looks so fucking good in a suit.

warnings: swearing, bit of angst, bit of fluff, alcohol consumption, light sex references but no smut

author’s note: eeeek happy new year’s eve and happy new year for tomorrow all !!! sending lots of love n good vibes <3

———

You couldn’t even believe it yourself that you had agreed to attend the New Year’s Eve party that Dani had decided to host.

Sure, you loved any opportunity to hang out with the men you’d grown close to in your time working with the club, but given the way things went the last time you saw a certain Mr Jamie Tartt… You were regretting your agreement to come immensely.

Even worse, the last time you’d seen him was also at a squad event where one too many shots had been to blame for your actions, and you feared this would be repeated.

You’d stupidly let your guard down when he was flirting with you nonchalantly again, and confessed that you had feelings for him.

He’d laughed it off — assuming that alcohol and clouded your judgement instead of just instilling you with the boldness you needed to be honest.

Since then, you’d avoided him like the plague and turned down all of Keeley’s invitations to places you knew he’d be.

Given that you were only working with the club on a temporary basis anyway, avoiding him had been relatively easy.

But now here you were, because you had no other plans anyway and Keeley insisted that you couldn’t avoid Richmond forever — even if she didn’t know the real reason for it and believed you’d just been busy.

“Oh my God Y/N, you look well fit!” Keeley screamed when she saw you, eyes flitting over your frame before she yanked you into a tight hug, “I’ve missed you, babe!”

“I’ve missed you too,” you hummed, trying to quell the anxiety bubbling in your stomach as you felt all eyes on you, “Sorry I’ve not been around. Lots going on.”

“Too busy for us now, yeah?” Jamie sidled up to your side, a smirk on his face that you couldn’t quite tell the root cause of. Was he just pissing about or was he trying to be snide?

When you looked over at him, you felt your heart race even faster at the sight of him in a gorgeous, well-fitted, and frankly uncharacteristically smart goddamn suit.

Somehow, it made him look even more incredible than usual and only made the feelings you’d fought to deny since you last saw him become impossible to ignore.

You bit your lip, looking down for a minute and not catching the way his eyes scanned over you hungrily.

Your dress was certainly doing wonders for your figure, and he’d have been an idiot not to appreciate it, “Kiddin’, love. You look stunning. We’ve missed ya.”

You nodded for a moment, taken aback by his compliment even though they’d never been rare when you were around him more often, “Uh— thanks, Jamie. You still scrub up well, too. I’ve missed you all.”

Jamie’s smile softened now, reaching out his arm to link it with yours, “Wanna go get a drink, milady?l

You caught Keeley widening her eyes at him with a grin, as if encouraging him.

Oh fuck — did she know what had happened? Were they all laughing behind your back?

“I, uh, yeah sure,” you obliged, almost melting back into being comfortable with him like you used to, “Guess it is nearly midnight, I should probably catch up.”

And catch up you did — champagne glass after champagne glass being knocked back, while you tried your hardest to pretend that Jamie’s hand lingering on the base of your back every once in a while wasn’t driving you crazy.

It also didn’t help that there was a woman hanging around who you didn’t know — a woman who seemed very fond of Jamie, and spent much of her evening gracing him with lingering touches of her own.

He never complained, just smiled and continued about his evening like it was only natural that he was getting female attention.

Well, you supposed, it was.

It was somewhat nice to feel back to normal, but you couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone else was in the loop about something you weren’t.

It was five minutes to midnight now, and you decided that it was best you excused yourself for the countdown and got a little fresh air.

You were overwhelmed by suddenly being back around the Richmond squad — one man in particular — and weren’t sure you could stomach seeing Jamie’s inevitable new year’s kiss with a girl whose name you’d not even bothered to ask.

“What’re ya doing out here, love?”

God, try as you might, you would never get over the sound of him calling you love.

He was stood just behind you, the warmth of his breath fanning over your neck in the winter chill, “‘S nearly midnight.”

“I know,” was all you could muster up as you turned to face him, eyes avoiding meeting his as you took your bottom lip between your teeth.

His eyebrows furrowed as he watched how shy you were, and his hands left his pockets to tilt your chin up to look at him.

“All that time you spent away from us was ‘cos of me, wasn’t it?” his voice was quiet, almost inaudible, but it made your heart race all the same.

You gulped, “I was embarrassed. Didn’t want to see you again and be ridiculed.”

“Ridiculed? Y/N, I wasn’t gonna ridicule ya,” he shook his head, “I shut you down ‘cos I’m trying to be better. Been working on meself and I didn’t want you to do anything you’d regret with me.”

You’d met this Jamie before — this sincere, gentle, kind Jamie who was reserved only for those he held dearest. But it still startled you to hear him tell you all of this.

“I just—,”

“I wanted to kiss you, love, honest,” when did he get so close all of a sudden? “Just didn’t want you to hate me in the morning, or take back what you’d said or nothing.”

You swallowed thickly, “Jamie, I told you I liked you. I didn’t just throw myself at you and say I wanted to fuck you, or-or— anything like that. I was putting my heart out there and you just—you just laughed it off.”

“You were drunk, babe,” he sighed, “I didn’t know if you’d mean it all in the mornin’, that’s all.”

“Well, I did. Although more regretfully, after that.”

His eyes were sad now, almost glassy, as he watched you carefully to see what you’d do or say next.

You stepped back, your own eyes brimming with tears as your back met the fence of Dani’s balcony.

“I never meant to hurt ya, Y/N,” Jamie whispered, once again stepping closer, “I like you too, I just left you alone ‘cos I had some shit to get sorted before I could be good enough for you. ‘Nd I’ve been really trying.”

You finally gave in to the desire to make eye contact again, and felt your whole body crumble at the sound of his words, “You were always good enough, Jamie. I just— I thought I just wasn’t enough for you.”

He scoffed, his hand returning to your chin and his fingers caressing your cheekbones, “You’re too good for me, Y/N. Too good even for Jamie fucking Tartt.”

You let out a giggle at that, followed by a small sob, “What’re you saying here, Jamie?”

He looked down at his watch, “What I’m sayin’ is, it’s 15 seconds to midnight and I’d like to be your new year’s kiss. And, like, not to get ahead of meself… But I’d like to keep kissing you after that. Like, a lot.”

You nodded profusely, wiping away your few stray tears as you heard your friends calling out the final countdown inside, “3, 2, 1!”

He pulled you in close by your face, lips meeting yours with a furious passion as your arms enveloped the back of his neck.

It was everything you could have ever wanted… Even if you did feel fucking ridiculous for never just talking to him about it sooner.

“Happy new year, love,” Jamie smiled into the kiss.

You matched his smile, pulling back for a moment, “Happy new year, Tartt.”

You were silent for a moment as you just gazed at each other longingly, before a realisation hit you, “What about that girl in there, though? She was all over you.”

“Babe, I’m Jamie Tartt,” he shrugged, smiling smugly, “Just ‘cos the girls love me, doesn’t mean me mind hasn’t been focused on one girl in particular, even if she didn’t want to see me.”

“Oi, I wanted to see you, I was just scared to,” you stuck your tongue out as he grinned, “I’m so glad I came tonight.”

“Me fuckin’ too,” he licked his lips, “And in that dress… God, if you could see inside me head right now.”

“Down, boy,” you joked, fully conscious of the fluttering in your own stomach now, “If you’re good, you can take it off me later, yeah?”

Your lips met again hungrily now, your body pressed against the fence as you heard a round of whooping and clapping from your friends who’d found their way to the balcony now.

“A happy fucking new year indeed,” Roy showed the slightest hint of a smile as you and Jamie pulled apart again, blushing crimson, and interlocked your hands.

“Fucking finally.”

———

ok so i may have rushed to get this finish so i could post on nye — sorry if the ending is shit but i hope you enjoyed! pleaaase feel free to request more jamie if you’d like, obsessed again so i’d love that. meanwhile, here’s my masterlist!

[trafficlife]

Kiss Me Quick, Steal Every Secret I Keep

Etho sees his hard task as a test of skill more than anything else. He thinks it's time he shows Tango what he learned.

Word Count: 3041

A gift for @acolorboom

The reward is none.

Etho stared up at the darkening sky, a collection of whispers flooding his mind.

The risk is great.

He held his breath and closed his eyes. He could only hope that the task wouldn’t be completely impossible.

Let me open the door.

At least, for the most part, Etho was good at completing his tasks. How bad could this one be?

Accept your fate.

The scroll appeared in front of him, an ominous aura radiating from it. He walked away from the Secret Keeper—it’s been a few weeks, yet it still gave Etho chills—to read his secret privately.

A few words stood out almost immediately: Grian, wither, warden, battle, deep dark. And surprisingly, Etho actually felt excited for this task. Would it be chaotic? Absolutely, but that’s what these games were made for. He was also very happy that Grian was tasked with the summoning wither—the last time he tried to bring a warden up to the surface, he ended up dying. 

Etho grinned behind his mask. An idea was already forming in his head: he wanted another person to come with him. But Etho didn’t need help. What he needed was an audience. And he knew exactly who would be interested in watching this.

****

“.... Hold up, you want me to do what?”

“I told you: I want you to come with me and see me bring the warden up to the surface.”

Tango blinked several times at Etho, trying to process the absurdity of this situation: Etho had walked onto the Heart Foundation island and almost immediately grabbed Tango’s sleeve and pulled him away from Skizz and BigB. Then, he tells Tango this plan, which pretty obviously seems to be a task. Tango slowly lowered his rose-colored glasses for extra flair and chuckled. “You- You realize this is a crazy idea, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you realize that this could go either very right or very wrong?”

“Yes.”

Tango pursed his lips, tail swaying behind him. “Well, lucky for you, I do like me some chaos! It would be very impressive if you also succeeded to lure the Warden up.”

“I hope I will. I don’t want to disappoint you.”

A surprised noise escaped Tango’s throat and he felt his face burn. The way Etho said that, with a voice sweeter than honey, coupled with a stare so intense but still so gentle, made Tango short-circuit. And Etho, the smug bastard that he was, knew about this. He walked over to Tango, leaning over his ear and whispering “I want to show you what I’ve learned from your game.”

If dying from being too flustered was a thing, Tango would’ve exploded then and there. However, he was already very close to doing so: his face, neck and ears exploded with heat and his pupils were blown wide. His tail dragged across the cherry blossoms, setting them on fire, but he was too flustered to notice. 

Etho chuckled softly and, oh, he was doing this shit on purpose wasn’t he? He stomped on the flames, leaving black petals on the ground. Tango blinked to look at Etho again, trying to hold on to what was left of his resolve. 

“Fine, then.” Tango purposefully ignored the way his voice wavered and he hoped Etho did too. “Show me what you got.” 

****

Somehow, Etho knew exactly where to go when heading to the Deep Dark. Not once did he turn around or hit a dead end; he kept going, as if the directions were seared into his mind.  He was so confident, it was both impressive and suspicious.

“How do you even know where to go?” Tango asked, as he set up a ladder for them to return to the surface later.

“I stumbled across the Deep Dark at one point while I was mining,” Etho said. “I figured I’d save the location, in case I felt like doing something… Well, crazy.”

Tango raised a brow. “Really… Sounds like a task to me.”

“Does it, now?” Etho turned to look at Tango again, the fabric of his mask twitching as he smiled underneath it. “Why don’t you guess what it is?” The question came out a soft, tender whisper that faintly echoed off the cobblestone walls.

Tango sucked in a breath.

Fuck.

That was the only way to summarize Tango’s racing mind: Fuck.

He was green so he couldn’t guess—both he and Etho were aware of that. But even if he wasn’t, would he want to guess? Absolutely not. 

Etho came to Tango, wanting him to see Etho bring the Warden up. And Etho wanted to make Tango proud and not disappoint him. The thought of it made Tango giddy and his stomach swarmed with butterflies. However, in the very back of his mind, a condescending voice hissed at him: This is only a task. He doesn’t really mean what he says. He wasn’t going to listen to that voice. But he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t having doubts.

“Tango?” Etho’s voice brought Tango back to Earth. “Tango, you good? You’ve been staring at me for a while… Are you thinking about what you want to guess?”

Tango slowly shook his head, swallowing thickly. “No… No, I’m not going to guess,” he responded slowly. “You know that I can’t guess either way, I’m still green!”

“Fair, fair. But if you had to guess, what would you say?” Etho asked, as he went back to digging.

“I don’t know, you have to bring the Warden up to the surface and make sure it kills someone? You do have a hard task and it’s not like this”—Tango gestured randomly— ���is a piece of cake.”

It was time to summon the Warden.

Etho sighed. “That’s not it. If only it were that simple—” Sculk coated Etho’s pickaxe and the stone that he had mined. He raised a brow, shaking the sculk from his pickaxe. “Well… Maybe this’ll be easier than we thought.” He made a larger hole for Tango and himself, and the two of them crawled into the Deep Dark.

As expected, it was pitch black, the only light coming from Tango’s tail. Sculk was everywhere, creating web-like patterns on the ground and crawling up their legs. There were some shriekers visible, along with sculk sensors that were barely obscured by its surroundings. They swayed slowly in the distance, similar to how kelp does underwater. Tango took a deep breath, heart pounding against his ribcage. He met Etho’s gaze and they nodded in sync.

But before Tango could leap down, Etho gently grabbed his sleeve. “Are you going to be okay?” 

“Huh? Why?”

“We’ll need the water elevator.”

“Oh. Right…” Tango grimaced a bit at the thought. He couldn't take damage from water but it didn't make swimming any less unpleasant.

“We could also make stairs,” Etho suggested, “if that makes you more comfortable.”

“What, and risk getting stuck and dying to the warden? I don't want that happening to either of us. I'll…” Tango took a deep breath. “I'll take my chances with the water.”

“Are– are you sure?” Etho asked hesitantly. His concern was very touching, Tango has to admit. But the water was far less risky than the stairs. 

“I'm positive.” Tango smiled. “But, thanks for worrying about me.”

“Of course. Why wouldn't I? Now c'mon, let's go.” Etho leaped down from the ledge he made and crouched down. But Tango still sat there, Etho’s sincere words looking in his mind.

Why wouldn't I?

That was a good question, why wouldn't Etho worry about him? Tango couldn't even say he hated Etho, though they'd had their differences in previous games. Tango didn't know if he loved Etho either but, with how eager he is to spend time with Etho, it was becoming more and more obvious.

“Tango!” Etho whisper-shouted. “You coming?”

“Yeah- Yeah, hold on.” Tango leaped down, one of the sensors picking up on his movement. Thankfully, the shrieker didn’t set off prematurely. They lurked closer to a shrieker, like wolves stalking a sheep. Only they knew that the sheep could strike anytime. He met Etho’s gaze and nodded, communicating with his eyes. I’ll watch your back.

The ground cracked. A dark claw emerged from the fragmented sculk, followed by a low growl. Etho whipped his head towards Tango, handing him a water bucket and making sure none of it spilled. “Get up the ladder- pour down the water when you reach the top.”

Etho understood instantly and went closer to a sensor, making a swift movement.

The shrieker activated in sync with the sensor, the wail bouncing off the walls. Once it faded away, there was tranquility for a moment. They knew very well that the calm wasn’t permanent.

Tango nodded, holding the bucket with one hand and climbing the ladder with another. He shouldn’t have been worried about Etho; he was essentially an expert at this and was already on his way to winning Decked Out. But still, there was a lingering fear that Tango just couldn’t shake off. Maybe it was the nature of this game. If Etho were to get hit—which Tango doubted would happen—he couldn’t recover easily. And if Etho died, it’d set their progress back. Tango knew Etho was strong. Strong, quick-witted, charming, sensible… For goodness’ sake, Tango, this was a life-or-death situation, it was not the time to fawn over Etho.

Tango could feel the ladder shake underneath him, the heavy footsteps of the warden sending shivers up his spine. He knew Etho could avoid the warden but he didn’t want to delay him. The moment he reached the top, Tango took his bucket and poured it down, creating an elevator for Etho to go up. Tango leaned over the edge, eyes wide with anticipation. “Please, come up all in one piece,” he murmured under his breath, despite his confidence in Etho’s skill.

Suddenly, there was an explosion. 

It was mostly muffled but still loud enough to make Tango jump. And it sounded like it came from underground.

Tango physically felt his heart plummet to the pit of his stomach. No, no, no, no, no, please don’t let Etho be dead. Etho was only green but the thought of him dying made Tango sick with dread. He pulled out his communicator, frantically looking through the names, and-

He was honestly torn between sighing in relief and continuing to hold his breath.

Good news: Etho didn’t die. Bad news: Lizzie did. And Tango felt incredibly bad, especially since she’d be alone the entire game. 

 In the water, he saw a figure slowly rise to the surface and heard a low growl from below. Etho’s head popped out of the water, brushing his soaked hair back (which wasn’t hot at all, thank you very much!) and swiftly climbed out. “Warden- warden’s on its way. Stay close to me, I don’t want to lose you.”

Tango nodded, tail flicking behind him. The warden crawled out of the water, outstretching his limbs as its tendrils clicked. Tango felt Etho grab onto his wrist and pull him away, paying attention to make sure the Warden was following them. “We’re bringing him to spawn,” Etho murmured against Tango’s ear, his breath lightly tickling his skin. Tango’s own breath hitched but he still managed to nod. “By the way… What was that explosion sound?”

“Lizzie. She died.”

Etho winced a bit, some remorse flickering in his eyes. “Oh, gosh… That really sucks. We probably should’ve gone to her party, huh?”

Tango nodded solemnly. “Yup. But hey, we can make it up to her after the game ends! That’s the least we could do right?”

Etho chuckled a bit. “Ah, Tango, you’re always so thoughtful.”

Tango beamed proudly. “I try to be!” 

The warden was right on their heels, stumbling about and flailing its arms around. Somehow, Tango and Etho didn’t run into anybody for a long while. The moon was high in the star-speckled sky, shining down ominously as if it knew the chaos that would follow. Eventually, they saw Grian talking to Scar. Grian saw Tango, Etho and the warden waddling behind them, a mischievous smirk on his face. He was hugging something black to his chest and- wait, was that a wither skull?

Tango blinked several times, trying to make sure that he was seeing properly. What was that pesky bird planning? BigB, who had just approached Scar and Grian, seemed to notice what Tango and Etho were planning because his jaw dropped and his eyes widened. When Scar turned around and saw the warden, he was so startled he was pushing back on his wheelchair.

“Etho! Is this- is this central enough?” Grian asked, trying to stifle laughter from Scar’s reaction. He moved closer to the firepit, setting up soul-sand in a very suspicious position.

“Wh- Grian, what are you doing?!” Scar asked, having now noticed the wither skulls that Grian was holding. Scar scrambled to take the skulls from Grian before he placed them down but Grian was too feisty to let go. Tango watched the spectacle, eyes wide. He then turned to Etho, who had a mischievous glint in his eyes. Clearly, there was much more than he was letting on.

“Wait, Etho, did you know about—?” 

Tango was interrupted by a loud, raspy hiss, as a wither emerged from the soul sand, growing in size and flying into the sky, obscuring the moon. There was absolute chaos. The warden had stopped following Etho and Tango and went to chase the next player it detected, wither skulls rained down from the sky, and everyone was screeching “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” at the instigators.

Grian had the largest shit-eating grin on his face and Etho definitely had a similar expression under his mask. Tango, on the other hand, was biting his lip to keep himself from mirroring that expression. He should have been more scared by the wither but he really wasn’t. Partially because he was so close to Etho and that mattered more than anything. 

Mumbo and Jimmy seemed to be running towards the warden rather than away from it and they because of it. The sonic boom rang in Tango’s ears, in synchrony with the lighting that struck. First Jimmy, then Mumbo right after. The flash made Tango’s heart jump but Etho remained completely calm. 

“Where’s the wither?” Tango asked, running alongside Etho.

“Guys- guys, please.” Scar, in his wheelchair and somehow outpacing the wither, rolled up next to Etho and Tango, scared shitless. “Please, do- do you want to give me a hand?” The skulls rained down behind the trio like a meteor shower, plummeting into the Earth and creating rather large holes. The grass and the flowers began to wilt, shriveling up and dying as the skull drained the life out of them. “Please- I don’t know how much longer I can keep up with this—” 

Before Etho or Tango could respond, the two of them fell into a pit that Scar narrowly avoided. Scar went back to being chased by the wither, begging for others to come out and help him, by leading the wither directly into their bases. Honestly, the fact that Scar was able to avoid the wither for this long was incredibly impressive. 

Tango groaned a bit, bringing his hand up to his hair, accidentally elbowing Etho’s chin in the process. “Oh, sorry, I-” He immediately shut up when he noticed the position they were in. Etho was directly on top of Tango, nearly laying on his chest. Etho’s eyes were piercing through Tango’s, as if he wanted to read his soul. And Tango couldn’t help but wonder, would Etho know how Tango feels about him? 

Tango didn’t really want to get out of this position. And, since Etho didn’t move, neither did he. Their bodies were flush against each other, and Etho’s face was so close, his white hair was brushing against Tango’s skin. The mask slipped off of Etho’s face and-- if he lowered himself any more, their lips would be touching—

Oh, void, the realization that he was so close to kissing Etho made Tango’s face bloom bright red.

“Tango.” Etho’s voice was a hushed whisper and, to anyone else, it would’ve been completely muffled by the wither’s explosions. But Tango kept all of his focus fixated on the man who was laying on top of him, ignoring the wither and the world that was falling apart around them. And it was all because Etho was here, his world was right here. “I didn’t let you down, I hope.”

“Never,” Tango gasped instantly. “You could never let me down.”

Etho chuckled. “I’m glad to hear that.”And then he leaned in, closer and closer and closer until it was finally enough. His lips were warm against Tango’s, and it made him melt almost instantly. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been waiting for this forever. Tango’s hand snaked up into Etho’s hair and oh goodness, it was so soft. 

“Etho- Etho, the wither killed the warden!” 

“Etho, stop making out with Tango, and come press the damn button!”

Grian was shouting at them from… somewhere. But they were too busy to care.

 Tango, dizzy from suffocation, reluctantly pushed Etho off of him. “Gah… I had a feeling that part of this was part of a task.”

“Well… Not the part where I asked you to come with me,” Etho murmured. “I did that voluntarily. I was serious when I said I wanted to impress you.”

Tango couldn't stop the giggles climbing up his throat, a large smile on his face. “You did, Etho, you really did!”

“Are you talking about my warden wrangling, or the kissing?”

“... Yes.” Tango smirked. “I'm not going to elaborate. Go press that button!”

Etho nodded, lightly kissing Tango on the cheek, putting his mask on and leaving with Grian to the Secret Keeper. Tango lay there in the withered grass, hands on his cheeks and grinning. Nothing could ruin the happiness and satisfaction he felt at this moment.

… Not even the fact that Tango forgot to complete his own task. 

He'd make it up next session. But now he just wanted to make out with Etho for the rest of this session.

[sagesolsticewrites]

i thought we had no chance (and that’s romance)

You resolve to tell Anthony about your feelings— with surprising results. (Part Two to Better Kind of Best Friend)

a/n: huge shoutout to Winnie for once again coming through with an absolutely incredible playlist!!! ily bestie 🥹

Warnings: mature content (oral (f receiving), PinV penetration, literally the softest smut y’all have ever read in your LIFE), swearing

Word count: 3.3k (omg she’s a long one)

Read Part 1 here!

Masterlist

It was finally time.

Anto had finally gotten a break from all the press, and he was coming home for a well-deserved vacation before his next project.

You had been mulling it over ever since his last… ahem, visit, and you decided that you had to tell him how you felt. It had started to hurt too much every time he left in the middle of the night, every time he unceremoniously dropped by for a quick fuck and a brief hangout before he was gone once again.

A few days after you’d resolved to tell him, the two of you had made hasty arrangements to see each other— the “hasty arrangements” being a quick series of texts sent in the middle of the night when you were feeling particularly hot and bothered, resulting in an agreement that he’d show up the next evening.

The next day, you’d spend hours mulling over what you’d say, how you’d broach the subject with him, planning for every possible rejection— not daring to let yourself even think about the possibility that he might feel the same. And that evening, there would be a knock on your door.

You jump at the rap of knuckles on wood, adjusting your cropped shirt and sleep short set and taking a deep breath before answering.

“Hey—”

The cheerful greeting dies on your lips as you take in the new addition to Anto’s appearance.

A thick, neatly trimmed beard stretches over his cheeks and chin, making his bright smile somehow appear whiter as he grins at you.

“Hey, Y/N,” he says, a cheeky glint in his eye that tells you he knows exactly what you’re thinking, “So… whaddaya think?”

You step aside to let him in, still speechless. It looks fucking incredible on him, of course it does, and you can’t help but wonder what it would feel like on the sensitive skin of your neck, if it would scrape deliciously between your thighs, if it— No, you mentally scold yourself, bad Y/N. Not thinking about that right now.

“It, uh…” you swallow, your mouth suddenly dry, “You look really good, Anto.”

“Thanks, I knew you’d think so,” he grins, eyes sparkling. His hand moves towards your waist and you force yourself to step out of his reach, trying very, very hard to ignore the brief flash of hurt in his eyes.

“Actually, uh… I was hoping we could talk about something?”

“Oh, I— yeah, of course,” he says, that familiar furrow of concern appearing between his brows as you move to the couch.

“So…” you begin uncertainly; despite the hours you’d spent practicing, you were still unsure of how to start this conversation, “You know how when we started… this,” you gesture between the two of you, “neither of us was really looking for a relationship? And we agreed that it would be a good arrangement, no feelings, no messy emotions, just… stress relief, for lack of a better term.”

You wait until he nods to confirm he’s listening to continue, “And remember how… we’d been friends for so long, we were sure neither one of us would ever want more…”

He nods again slowly, as if he sees where you’re going with this but wants to wait until you confirm it.

“Well— I, um…” You take a deep breath, determinedly avoiding his gaze as you steel yourself, “I guess my heart didn’t really get the memo because, uh… I’ve been seriously falling for you for a while now.”

You clamp down on your bottom lip as your whole body tenses, bracing yourself for the end of one of the longest and best friendships you’d ever had.

“Y/N…” He breathes, his fingertips grazing yours, “I— please tell me you mean that. Please tell me it hasn’t just been me.”

Wait, what?

Your head snaps up, your bewildered eyes meeting his own tender gaze.

“Anto, what do you—”

“I’ve been head over fucking heels for you, Y/N,” he says softly, thumb stroking over the back of your hand, “for… frankly, longer than I care to admit.”

“Wait, I—” your brain scrambles to process his confession, your heart melting as you realize he truly does feel the same, “You mean all this time we could’ve been—”

You’re not sure when you moved so close to Anto, but now there’s barely an inch of space between the two of you as your clasped hands rest on your legs.

“I’ve wanted to tell you for so long, Y/N,” he says softly, tender brown eyes locked on your features, “but you seemed happy with what we had, and I didn’t want to put our friendship at risk—”

“I felt exactly the same,” you say, voices overlapping, “I hated the thought of ruining what we had.”

“Seems like if we had just talked about this a little sooner we could’ve been enjoying more than our current arrangement,” Anto says with a soft smile.

Your heart melts at the overflowing love in his expression as his hand comes up to cup your cheek— how had you not seen it before?

“Maybe we could start by making up for lost time,” you say softly, your eyes flicking down to his plush lips.

With a slight nod, Anto slowly leans in, pausing to meet your eyes as your noses brush as if to make doubly sure that this is really what you want before carefully slotting his lips to yours.

His lips are exactly as soft against yours as you’d imagined them to be, and you can’t help but let out a contented little sigh as your hands come up to cup his face.

What you aren’t prepared for, however, is the slight tickling sensation that accompanies his beard, and you pull away with a soft squeal, face slightly scrunched up.

The concern on his face is immediate.

“No, no, I just—” you scramble to assure him through your smile before Anto can say anything, your thumbs stroking through the surprisingly soft hair covering his cheeks, “It tickles.”

He huffs out a soft laugh, pulling away teasingly, “You know, I don’t have to—”

“Excuse me,” you grin, raising an eyebrow, “When did I say I wanted you to stop?”

His lips land back on yours with a laugh, your heart turning impossibly light as you feel him smiling into the kiss. Anto’s arm — the one with the hand not tenderly cupping your cheek as if you were made of porcelain — winds around your back, pulling you closer as one of your hands finds its way into his hair.

You’re truly not sure how long you stay like that — could be minutes, could be hours — but at some point you end up straddling him, hands buried in his luscious hair as his arms squeeze you tight against him, hands roaming all over your body.

You don’t even realize you’ve begun to slowly rock against him until his breath hitches and he pulls away.

You freeze, terrified you’ve done something wrong.

“What, what is it?”

“Nothing, darling, nothing,” he assures you, and you melt at the pet name as he continues, “I just… If you want to… If we’re gonna do this— not that we have to, of course, but if we are, I… I wanna do it properly. Not on your couch, as delightful as that may be,” he finishes with a soft smile, searching your gaze intently.

You smile, toying with the curls at the nape of his neck, your nose brushing his as you whisper “I do want to.”

Reluctantly, you extricate yourself from his embrace, leaning to press one more tender kiss to his lips as he stands before guiding him to your bedroom.

You turn to him as he enters, a sudden nervousness overwhelming you as it hits you that this is really happening.

The pure love and adoration shining on his face as you face him, however, banishes any trace of anxiety. You melt into his touch as he cups your face, his thumb stroking tenderly along your cheek.

“I fucking adore you,” he breathes.

And then his mouth is on yours, and your mind is empty of everything but him.

His free hand slides down to rest on your hip, using the slightest pressure to pull you flush against him. The kiss deepens, and your hands slip under his shirt, trailing across his warm skin, playing a sort of blind connect-the-dots with the freckles dotted haphazardly along his back.

Smiling against your lips, Anto takes the hint, breaking the kiss just long enough for you to remove his shirt, your hands roaming gently over the newly-exposed skin as your lips reconnect.

You barely stifle a gasp as his fingertips leave your cheek to trail along the exposed skin between your shirt and shorts to grasp the hem of your crop top.

He pulls away briefly, a question in his eyes that he doesn’t even need to ask out loud before you’re nodding, a breathy yes leaving your lips.

Your shirt joins his on your bedroom floor, and he takes a moment to take in your figure, eyes dragging over you appreciatively.

“You,” he says softly, sincerely, as he leans in to reconnect your lips once more, “are absolutely beautiful, darling.”

He slowly walks you backwards as the kiss deepens, tongues dancing. He gently lays you down when the backs of your knees hit the bed, keeping your lips connected as he moves to hover over you.

He pulls away, just enough to take in your features with what looks like awe shining in his eyes.

“Hi,” you say softly— as if speaking too loudly will ruin the magic of this moment you’ve waited so long for.

He grins.

“Hi.”

And then his lips are back on yours for a tender, heated kiss before making a slow path across your cheek, down your jaw, to your neck.

You let out a sound that’s something between a sigh and a whine, relishing in the feeling of his lips on your skin but the slow pace driving you positively mad.

He chuckles against the sensitive spot just below your ear, making you gasp.

“Sweetheart, let me enjoy this— I didn’t get to appreciate it properly before,” he murmurs, “I promise I’ll give you what you want, just be patient.”

You’ve barely nodded your consent before his mouth is on you once more, kissing and sucking and grazing his teeth all along your skin, the beard adding a layer of sensation that has goosebumps rippling up along your arms. Your hand finds its way up to grip his thick waves, throwing your head back to expose more skin for him to mark up, letting out a moan as his lips track over as much of you as he can reach.

“Fuck, sweetheart, you’re so…” he murmurs, moving to nibble along your collarbone, then further south still to kiss along the tops of your breasts, “soft.”

You can only sigh his name as he mouths along your breasts, gently capturing your nipple as he swirls his tongue around you. You let out a soft cry, arching into him as he pulls away to repeat the gentle motion on your other breast, drawing out more soft sighs and gasps from you.

Your fingers rake through his hair as he pulls away to mouth down the valley between your breasts, marveling at the view before you. Sure, you’d done this plenty of times before, but it was never this… gentle, this intimate.

Anto looks up to meet your eyes as his lips continue their path down your body, the heat in them still present but softer, somehow. Like a warm hearth on a cold winter night compared to the blazing wildfire of lust you were used to.

“You’re so pretty,” you murmur as you push back a strand of hair from his forehead, so soft you’re not sure if you even mean for him to hear it.

He does, though, and you can feel him smiling as he kisses his way down your stomach.

“So are you, my love.”

The words send butterflies flurrying throughout your stomach, the feeling of which only intensifies as he presses gentle kisses along the skin just above the waistband of your shorts.

“Anto…” His name leaves your mouth in a pleading sigh, and he hums his acknowledgment as his fingers glide up to toy with your waistband. 

“Can I, sweetheart?” He murmurs against your skin, and you nod furiously, certain that if you hear one more sweet pet name come out of his mouth you’re going to die on the spot.

You lift your hips as he eases your shorts off of you, a groan leaving him at the sight of the lacy underwear covering your core.

“Never got to tell you this before the way I wanted to, but you are so,” he mumbles, brushing a quick kiss to your core over the increasingly damp fabric covering it, “so beautiful, honey.”

He slowly removes your underwear, adding them to the growing pile of clothes before brushing gentle kisses up your thighs.

Well, you were right.

The beard did feel utterly perfect on your thighs.

You sigh his name desperately, tugging gently at his hair. “Want your mouth on me, please, baby.”

His pretty brown eyes, pupils blown wide, meet yours as, with one final kiss to the soft flesh of your thigh, he lowers his mouth to you, licking deep into your folds.

You cry out his name, fumbling praises tumbling from your lips as he finds each and every spot to make you moan, his thumb moving up to gently circle your clit.

Your whines reach a fever pitch, and Anto murmurs sweetly against you as he recognizes the signs of you reaching the edge.

“C’mon, honey, please, wanna taste you. Lemme make my girl feel good, please cum for me sweetheart, please—”

Your world goes white, and when you come back to yourself, you feel Anto pressing gentle kisses to your thighs, mumbling sweet nothings against your skin.

You reach down to stroke through his hair as he meets your eyes with a smile.

“You alright, sweetheart?”

“I’m perfect,” you sigh.

“Good,” he murmurs, moving to hover over you once more, brushing gentle kisses all over your skin as he goes, “because I really, really need to be inside you.”

You just barely stifle a moan as you feel the telltale bulge brushing against your thigh.

With one final kiss to your lips, he shifts off of you to shed his pants and boxers, retrieving another familiar foil packet from his pocket.

“Came prepared,” he quips with a wink, making you giggle.

You sit up, gesturing for him to hand it to you.

He hesitates for a moment.

“Y/N, I don’t… I want this to be different than the other times, sweet girl. You don’t have to—”

You promptly silence him with a kiss, plucking the foil from his hand.

“I want to,” you assure him as you pull away, gently rolling the latex onto him, your fingers brushing against him in a way that has his eyes fluttering shut.

“Fuck, sweetheart,” he hisses, moving to hover over you once more as you lay down, his nose brushing yours, “You’re gonna be the death of me.”

You merely pull him down into another kiss, smiling against his lips.

Anthony keeps his lips connected to yours, deepening the kiss as he slowly drags his length through your slick folds, your breath hitching as the tip of his cock snags against your entrance.

He pulls away briefly to scan your face.

“You ready, darling?”

“Yes,” you say softly, thumb stroking gently over his beard.

Soft brown eyes remain locked on yours as he slowly pushes into you, noses brushing, breaths mingling.

Anto pauses once he’s fully entered you, panting. “God, you feel… fucking perfect, sweetheart.”

You can only whine, murmuring vague praise in response.

After a moment, he slowly pulls out and thrusts back into you, beginning the gentle push and pull towards ecstasy.

Your breaths become heavier, Anto panting sweet praises with his breath hot against your cheek until his mouth crashes once more onto yours.

Your lips remain locked in a tender kiss as Anto continues his slow thrusts into you— he said he wanted it to be different than the other times and it is. 

There’s no lips mouthing roughly at your skin, no teeth scraping against your collarbone, no fast, sweaty thrusts designed to get you both off as fast as possible. This is… tender, this is intimate, this is everything you’d been wanting since you first realized you had feelings for him.

It’s… perfect.

“I love you, darling,” Anto sighs against your lips, every inch of his warm body pressed against yours, “I love you so, so much, Y/N.”

Your breath catches, overcome with emotion for a moment before you reply softly, earnestly, “I love you too, Anto. God, I’ve wanted to say that for so long, I love you, I love you, I love you…”

Your voice trails off as he captures your lips once more in a tender kiss, and…

Now. Now it was perfect.

“Anto…” you sigh into his mouth, a warning as you feel a familiar tension building within you.

“I know, sweetheart, I know,” he pants in a strangled voice, “Me too, ‘m almost there.”

His thrusts speed up the tiniest bit, your toes curling as he hits your G-spot repeatedly.

“Ant—” you gasp, your grip on him tightening as you feel yourself about to tip over the edge, “oh, fuck, Anto, ‘m gonna—”

“Come for me, sweetheart,” he pants softly in your ear, “Wanna feel you come on my cock, angel, please, ‘m right behind you—”

You shatter as your second orgasm crashes over you, tucking your face into Anthony’s neck to muffle your cries. Several erratic thrusts later, he follows suit, spilling into the condom with a cry as he buries his face in the crook of your neck, lips brushing tenderly against your skin.

He slumps against you, both of you attempting to catch your breath as he gently pulls out of you with a sweet kiss to your nose.

“Was that—” he asks softly, still gasping slightly for air, “Was that okay?”

You hum softly, eyes tracing over each one of his beautiful features.

“It was perfect, Anto. Absolutely perfect.”

“I’m glad, my love,” He grins, dipping to capture your lips in a tender kiss before standing and discreetly disposing of the condom in your en-suite.

You make grabby hands for him as he returns, and he gladly climbs back into bed with you, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you close.

He presses his lips to your temple, fingers tracing gentle patterns over your exposed skin.

“I meant what I said, you know. I really do—” His breath catches as you look up at him, eyes wide and soft. “I love you. So, so much Y/N. I’m sorry it took me so long to say it.”

“I love you too, Anthony,” you murmur, a rare use of his full name slipping out, usually reserved for important moments, or when you’re mad at him. Right now, it’s the former. You want to say something else, but your eyes are growing heavier by the minute, so you settle for brushing your lips tenderly against his cheek as sleep overtakes you.

Just before you fully lose consciousness, you feel him press his lips firmly to your temple, smiling against your skin, and you can’t help but smile as you fall contently into sleep.

You spend the night sound asleep in Anthony’s arms, secure in the knowledge that he’ll still be there when you wake.

[gravedigginbbydoll]

pencil shavings and shared smiles {pt.2}

Fem! Teacher Reader x Teacher! Eddie

Previous Masterlist Next

AN: I’m honestly so grateful to find people who enjoy my writing :) This started as a bit of fun aside from my current WIP that I’m DETERMINED to not immediately trash, so I wanted to practice some writing on the side, and hey, it’s been a while since I’ve done fanfiction (like, over 6 years…. I think my last fanfic was at age 16! I'm now 23.) so I figured why not? Anyways, I hope you enjoy this next bit (I’ll be honest, I was struggling with it, but the next chapters will be better, I swear!) I don’t have an exact plan for how many parts this will be, but I’m excited to see where it’s headed! 

WARNINGS AND CONTENT:  Minors DNI!!!, Noncanon, Hawkins AU, Normal Hawkins, Rumors about Eddie, Eventual Smut, Very fluffy, Outcasts and Bullying, Mentions of Loneliness, Flirting, Fem!Reader, use of Y/N, older! Eddie, short-haired Eddie, 1995/1996 Hawkins, F! Reader has a dark past, angst.

Summary: You settle into Hawkins, looking for a way to spruce up your place, and bump into a familiar face. You maybe even meet some new friends. Things are looking up. 

The next few days following your encounter with Eddie, you throw yourself into trying to get settled in and getting to know the town. You had been there for a few days before coming to the school but still had boxes piled high and needed some items. 

You focused on moving all the boxes into their designated spaces. But then, you realized you didn’t have much when it came down to it. You had work clothes, plates and bowls, cutlery, basic toiletries, cleaning supplies, and three makeup items. 

In your rush to leave the city, you left so much behind you hadn’t realized. As a result, your apartment looks abandoned in its barren state, and the hideous peeling pink floral wallpaper from the 70s makes your skin crawl. 

That’s what led you to this moment. A shopping spree throughout Hawkins. You’re determined to make the “blink, and you miss it” town feel cozy and like home. It is home now, after all. Though you may need a blanket to cover the ugly cracked green leather couch that came with the place. 

You’re piling up blankets, knick-knacks, and even plants to busy the place. By the time you get to the antique store, you’re sure you’ve burned a hole in your savings. You look around, admiring old furniture with history you wish you knew. You see a large wooden bookshelf, probably older than you, and bite your lip, picturing the perfect reading nook in your large window, a chair with too many pillows, and a table to set your favorite cup of coffee on. You did just buy some new mugs, after all. 

In your daydreaming, you barely notice the presence creeping toward you. 

“As lovely as that little vintage piece is, I heard it’s haunted.” 

You jump a bit, startled by the sudden speaking. When you turn, you feel that familiar creeping of heat across your skin, your stomach twists with nerves while your heart thumps a loud, steady beat. Eddie. He’s wearing a super distressed band shirt with the sleeves cut off, his slightly muscular inked biceps on display. Your thighs tighten at the display, and you mentally scold yourself. 

Now is not the time! Get a hold of yourself.

His brown eyes twinkle with mischief as he tilts his head at you, sticking his thumbs in his jeans pockets. You are instantly reminded of a puppy and feel your insides practically melt. Your heart is thumping embarrassingly loud. You hope to god the cute metalhead in front of you doesn’t somehow have super senses. 

“You redecorating?” 

You shrug, a shy smile gracing your lips. “You could say that, I guess.”

He nods and looks back at the bookcase with intrigue. His expression is thoughtful yet almost solemn as he speaks softly, his words barely reaching you. “Seriously though, that bookcase is bad luck. Belonged to a notorious killer. Henry Creel. Killed his whole family when he was like 9.” 

You feel a chill go up your spine, the sense of fear deep in your belly. But, of course, you knew the old trope of sleepy towns never really being sleepy. Still, the last thing you would’ve guessed to happen in Hawkins was premeditated murder. You peek over at Eddie, who looks at you; his eyes are almost sorrowful as he rubs your shoulder comfortingly. You feel an electric current shoot through you at his touch, and goosebumps shoot up your neck. A flutter in your stomach reminds you that you are far too emotional about this man, despite barely knowing him. 

“Sorry,” He rasps. “I sometimes ramble and forget what I’m saying. I didn’t mean to spook you. It was ages ago. He’s in jail now.” He pulls away his warm touch, and you almost find yourself leaning back for more. 

You shake your head. “It’s fine. Everyone has skeletons in the closet, don’t they?” You remark jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. 

Eddie’s eyes don’t sparkle as they usually do, and he looks a bit more guarded as he smiles softly. “Yeah.” 

You feel a tug at your heart and remember the encounter between the grouchy bookstore owner and Eddie. It’s clear he has a past, but you won’t bring it up. After all, you’re the last person who should be digging through someone’s history. 

“Hey, so a few friends and I are headed to a bar called The Hideout; tonight to bid adieu to summer. I was just wondering…if you’d like to join?” Eddie says shyly, scratching the back of his neck as his cheeks flush. “Of course, I understand if not; I just figured since you’re new here, it may help you get more acclimated and maybe even meet some people-” 

You cut off his rambling with a hand, your lips fighting the urge to smile so vast your jaw may break. “Eddie, I’d love to. What time?” 

He grins, his signature dimples appearing and making your stomach flutter. “Great. Around 7 pm tonight. First drink on me.” 

You feel your cheeks heat once again as you nod, tucking some hair behind your ear. “Can’t wait.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later on in the evening, you are stressed and pacing. You remember dancing and singing to calm anxiety as a young teen and get the bright idea to turn on the radio to your favorite rock station. 

Now, you're dancing around your living room as You Oughta Know by Alanis Morrisette plays on your radio. You’re dressed in a black slip dress, the satin fabric accentuating your figure. Maybe you’re dressed a little too nice for a bar. Who cares? Dr. Martens on your feet create a more casual look but also possibly causes a noise complaint from your neighbors as you stomp and sing, applying makeup. 

“AND I’M HERE! TO REMIND YOU! OF THE MESS YOU LEFT WHEN YOU WENT AWAY!” 

You scream into your hairbrush, jumping around. 

The singing calms your nerves a bit, and by the end of the song, you’re panting and thinking maybe you should try to hit the gym more. 

You glance at the clock and realize the time is flashing a red and angry 7:30 pm. 

“Shit shit shit shit shit!” You scramble, tripping over your feet, quickly putting on earrings and a choker, trying to rush out the door. 

Fucking Alanis Morissette. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You arrive at the bar, hoping to pass off as fashionably late. You look around before spotting Eddie, his back to you in a well-loved leather jacket. He’s at a booth with some friends, a dark stout in his hand. 

You tremble slightly as you walk over, your body thrumming with nervousness, and tap him on the shoulder. He turns, lighting up the minute he sees you. “Hey! You made it! Come on and sit down.” 

You feel embarrassment sink into your skin, hands nervously fiddling as you sit beside him. He introduces the rest of the table, practically making your head spin. There’s Nancy, a petite and beautiful brunette who works as a Chief Editor for the local paper. Steve, a handsome man with an impressive head of hair, works as a coach at Hawkins Middle and High Schools. Robin a talkative and nervous blonde who works as a band teacher at Hawkins High. According to Eddie, this wasn’t everyone in their circle, just the ones he could fit in a booth. You laugh, nerves wracking your stomach as you hope to make a good impression. 

A few minutes in, you’re laughing and practically snorting at a story Steve is telling about Eddie accidentally flashing everyone in a Romeo and Juliet drama production, where he insisted to the drama teacher that they swap the actors and actresses. Eddie had been playing a side character, a plain maiden, when he tripped over his dress and - “Absolutely ate shit! He landed with his head between his legs, and everyone could see his Garfield boxers!” 

You can’t stop laughing at the image of a smaller and younger Eddie, his loud personality causing so much chaos on the stage. You were glad he had gone to buy your drink, seeing as you had laughed so hard you were sure tears had fallen from your eyes. You wiped your eyes and sighed, taking a breath in. 

Eddie returned at that exact moment with your drink, settling it down while playfully glaring at Steve. “Harrington, you better not be talking shit.” 

Steve flicks a paper straw wrapper at Eddie and scoffs. “Can it, Munson. I could kick your ass any day.” 

Eddie immediately leaps into action and pulls Steve into a headlock, tousling his hair while laughing. Steve yells, trying to fight off the taller man and protect his hair. Robin laughs and rolls her eyes while Nancy softly smiles, shaking her head. 

“Knock it off, you two. You’re letting on that you’re both children way too early. I need new friends,” Robin whines, covering her face in embarrassment. 

You feel sheepish, smiling. You’re not used to the attention. Not this much, anyway. But you’re having fun. Eddie’s friends are vibrant, loud, and the most genuine people you’ve ever met. 

Eddie lets Steve go, Steve grumbling about his hair and sitting back next to Robin, who smirks at him while she messes his hair up even more. Eddie then takes his spot next to you, sliding in, and due to the small booth, your thighs touch. You can’t help but feel warmth creeping across your insides from the alcohol and Eddie’s clothed leg pressing against yours, which is bare. You ignore the heat pooling between your thighs at the contact and the ever-so-sinful thoughts about his ringed and masculine hands. 

Eddie leans over to you, his blinding grin causing your stomach to join in on the anatomy shuffle currently happening in your body, fluttering to the point that you think you may have swallowed a bird. 

“Sorry if we’re a bit much. But, now you’ll have a few familiar faces, right?” 

You nod, smiling softly. “Yeah. Thanks, Eddie.” 

He nods, and you almost swear you see his eyes dart toward your lips before he turns back towards the group, all arguing about what the next movie night should be. You feel your heart skip a beat. You can’t help but be grateful for this introduction and even the awkwardness it brought. You now felt a little less of a stranger in Hawkins. A sense of relief rushes through you. Maybe, things won’t have to be so lonely. 

Eddie interrupts your thoughts once more when he leans over towards you. You almost feel drunk on the scent of tobacco, vanilla, rum, and something spicy like cloves and cinnamon. Your thighs tighten, and you curse your brain for instantly thinking dirty thoughts. You’re in no state to have a physical or romantic relationship. Your throat tightens as you push down the ideas and look at Eddie. 

“Hey, so we're goin' to hang out at the Palace Arcade. It’s usually super packed, but tonight they’re having a party there, so no one under 21. You wanna join?” His eyes sparkle with mischief and something you may be misreading as hope. 

You bite your lip, thinking that maybe you’re too deep and should head to the comfort and quiet of home. You haven’t been to an arcade in years. Much less a party. Sour memories threaten to come up, but you push them down and set your resolve. You are just a woman in her mid-twenties trying to have fun. You deserve that, at least. Even if it’s really a lie. 

You smile at Eddie, nodding. “Sure, I’ll tag along. I haven’t been to an arcade in years.” 

Eddie grins, his dimples flashing. “Great. You can meet the band.” 

You perk up, looking at Eddie quizzically. “Band?”

He nods but puts his finger to his lips and winks, signifying it’s a secret. You furrow your brows and feel your stomach flutter as the ever prominent question wracks your brain again. 

Who the hell is this man?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

taglist: @bebe07011 @corrodedcoffincumslut @kurdtbean @nerdflash

[mykoreanlove]

PERCEPTIONS

Chan finally had the chance to take you out and catch up on life but the afternoon didn’t go as planned.

He stood at the counter waiting for your coffee order as he watched you get hit on by the third guy in a row. They were all decent but you rejected every single one. As he watched the last one leave in defeat, he made his way back to you.

„Damn y/n, you’re brutal“, he chuckled amused.

„He‘ll live“, you replied sarcastically and took a sip of your vanilla latte.

Your best friend mustered you for a while before he started interrogating you.

„Why though?“

„Why what?“

Chan took your small hands into his big ones and spoke to you very softly.

„I’ve seen you reject hundreds of guys y/n. You’re not even giving them a chance. Why is that?“

You saw the concern in his eyes. Chan and you had been friends since kindergarten, he knew you very well, yet he couldn’t figure out the reasons for your solo quest in love.

You sighed exasperated.

„What chance is there? It always ends up the same. I’m not interested in getting my heart broken… again.“

Hearing you say this broke his heart.

„Is this because of Innie?“

Your heart stopped beating for a second; you haven’t talked about him for a very long time.

„Drop it, Chan“, you warned him.

„No“, his voice now even softer, „I want you to face this. Are you still not over Jeongin?“

Jeongin.

Memories of him flooded your mind.

You met him years ago during a workshop and fell for him the minute you saw him. He was breathtakingly handsome, confident and a little menace. You still recall him pranking everyone around him, throwing his head back while laughing maniacally.

You barely spoke a word with him, too nervous and intimidated but somehow he was drawn to you.

You got to know each other more, sharing deep secrets and lovely antics until he met someone new.

You remember those nights in which you cried in Chan‘s lap, cursing the world and everyone in it.

„I’m not enough for him, Chan. Why doesn’t he want me?“

Jeongin was aware of your feelings and distanced himself, which made you even more depressed. You lost touch and separated, which helped after a while.

Once his relationship ended, he found his way back into your life.

Jeongin called you out of the blue, solely to apologize and ask for your forgiveness. Ever since, your friendship got reignited.

„I don’t understand, y/n. He is single now, he clearly likes you but you’re still just friends?“, your friend used to pester you.

„I guess he just doesn’t see me that way.“

„Are you really over him?“

A part of you believed so.

Another part knew it was not so. Hearing from him made your day, having his attention on you made you feel alive.

„Innie got cheated on“, you explained frantically weeks later.

„Yeah? That sucks“, Chan replied.

„Innie got cheated on!! INNIE!!! Who the fuck would cheat on him? You can’t do better than him, what the fuck?“

„Guess you’re not over him“, he mumbled under his breath.

You spent countless weeks building him back up, in desperate need to restore his faith in women. In love.

„I don’t get it y/n. You are so great, really I think you’re so amazing. Why are you still single?“, he once asked.

You felt the resentment come up, your heart was still deeply hurt.

Because you don’t love me.

„I guess I haven’t found the right one“, you lied.

„I really hope you do.“

Your relationship got more complicated over time as Jeongin was turning into an egotistical monster.

„He got hurt by his ex and now he’s taking it out on every girl around him? Including you?“, Chan asked.

You nodded, exhausted from all this.

„I asked him to come visit me and he snapped, insulting me in my face.“

Chan‘s nostrils flared up.

„What did he say?“

„He clearly drank too much, slurring his words and all. But he was saying something like we both know how it would end if I showed up. That’s all there would ever be.“

You deleted his number after that.

„He thinks I’m amazing and girlfriend material, yet he doesn’t want me. Fucking me would be okay though“, you explained defeatedly.

„And that’s it? You never heard from him again?“

„Y/N?“

Chan’s soft voice brought you back to the present moment, ending your walk down memory lane.

You tried to swallow the lump in your throat, pushing your emotions away.

„Chan, listen. I loved Jeongin. I really loved him with all of my heart but he didn’t want me. I wasn’t good enough for him and ever since that happened I’m just too afraid. Love shouldn’t feel that way, don’t you think?“

Chan squeezed your hands, an expression of his sympathy.

„Don’t you think there is another meaning to this?“

You looked at him puzzled.

„What do you mean?“

Chan sighed deeply.

„Has it ever occurred to you that he didn’t confess or started dating you because of him?“

You grew irritated, not understanding what he was getting at.

„What’s that supposed to mean?“

„Y/N. Has it ever crossed your mind that you were not „not good enough for him“ but he was not good enough for you?“

You sat there in silence, watching your friend.

„It has not, huh? You always thought that he was so amazing, so out of this world that someone like you could never measure up. No matter how hard you tried. But as a matter of fact it’s him that doesn’t measure up. He is no way near your level, y/n.“

A deep realization hit you, a feeling of knowing and finally understanding.

„I gotta go“, you got up and ran out of the cafe.

You didn’t think clearly but ended up at his apartment, your feet got you there automatically. Impatiently, you rang his bell.

„Y/N?“, Jeongin looked at you surprised.

„What is the real reason you and I never got together?“

His eyes grew even bigger, not understanding where all of this was coming from.

„What?“

„The real reason, Innie. Please.“

The pleading tone in your voice made him feel uncomfortable.

„I didn’t want you.“

His words were still able to cut you like a knife but you pushed that hurt down.

„Because I wasn’t good enough?“

His brow rose, adding to his surprised face.

„What? No. No way. Why would you think that?“

„Why would I think that? Are you kidding me? What else am I supposed to think?“

Tears started to form in your eyes. Jeongin wrapped his arms around you and hugged you tightly, just like he did back then.

„I tell you y/n. You should think that I’m a mess. You should think that I’m not good enough for you. I could never give you what you deserve. I could never make you happy. I would ruin you, hurt you. Even more than I already did. You should think that you are amazing and more than enough and so lovable.“

You cried into his chest, staining his white shirt while doing so.

Hearing his words made you realize that you had doomed yourself for nothing.

He didn’t reject you because you were not good enough, he rejected you because he had trouble on his own. Jeongin‘s actions were a reflection of his troubled heart, not one of your worth.

Suddenly, you felt relief, finally understanding that you were never meant to see yourself as a loveless loner.

For the first time in years you felt like you had a chance at love. For the first time in a while you felt ready to at least try.

[avatarmerida]

Purposely Forgetful

Feels like it been forever since I’ve written some fluff, so here’s a little something I whipped up while I’ve been working on some other projects.

———

It was a lazy, casual day with the Emerald trio hanging out at Willow’s house. Gus laid on the couch, editing his human appreciation blog on his scroll while Willow and Hunter sat on the ground in front of him drawing up strategies for their next flyer derby practice. From the corner of his eye, Gus could see the pair getting closer and closer as Willow’s head was hovering over Hunter’s shoulder preparing to fall when-

“Well would you look at the time? I should really get going.” Hunter said as he started gathering his things to shove into his bag.

“Awh, so soon?” Willow fake pouted on the ground beside him. She was joking, but a part of her really was upset that Hunter was always the first to leave. Especially when they were getting so… cozy.

“Yeah I uh, told Darius I would… help him… organize his closet.” Hunter said, rising to his feet. “But I’ll see you later?”

“Oh I bet you will.” Gus said with a smirk. Willow missed the glare Hunter shot at Gus as she wrapped him in a quick goodbye hug.

“Message me when you’re back safe, k?”

Hunter nodded as he headed to the door and Willow leaned against the corner of the couch with a dramatic sigh. For some reason, planning new flyer strategies seemed less fun now.

From her seat on the couch, Willow spotted Hunter’s signature notebook resting on the armchair across the room. How had it gotten there?

“Oh shoot,” she said walking over to grab it.

“What did he forget this time?” Gus asked, not looking up from his scroll.

“It’s his- wait, how did you know he forgot something?”

“He’s been ‘forgetting’ things a lot lately,” said Gus, emphasizing his disbelief with air quotes.

“Has he really? Huh, I guess I didn’t really notice.” Willow realized, picking up the book.

“Yeah, ever since we were in the human realm, he’d forget a lot of stuff, especially in your room.” Gus said with an unmissable amount of sarcasm.

“Really? He must be distracted or something.” Willow shrugged, scanning the chair to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything else.

“Maaaaybe.” Gus went on. “All I know is, he would come down to the basement and look at the clock, wait a bit before saying he forget something and would rush back up with an excuse to see you again.”

“What? I don’t think that’s-.”

“Or you’d come down and bring it to him, either way it worked.”

“Hunter doesn’t need an excuse to see me,” said Willow, shaking her head.

“He does if he wants to see you alone,” countered Gus.

“What? That’s not-.”

“Either you’ll run out it to him before he’s too far away or he’ll come back to get it when everyone else has left.” Gus said plainly. “Am I wrong?”

Willow had to admit it did sound familar.

“Last week I watched him take off his jacket and set it on the back of the chair, and look straight at it before he left like he was making sure he left it somewhere you’d see it.” Gus said.

“Okay, well I do kind of remember that,” said Willow with a small smile. She had found the jacket after everyone else had left and tried it on, admiring his neeest collection of patches. She was astounded he still had room for more at this point. It was oversized on him but his height made up for it somewhat but when Willow wore it the sleeves far surpassed her fingertips and it was long enough where it covered her shorts. It was still warm somehow, and wearing it felt like an embrace from the sun. It made her feel very cool so she had taken a selfie in the jacket to send to Hunter to inform him that he had forgotten it. A part of her had hoped he wouldn’t ask for it’s immediate return.

“He made the picture of you in his jacket the background on the phone Camila gave him,” Gus said as thought reading her mind.

“Whaaat? He did not.” Willow scoffed with a blush.

“He definitely did,” said Gus with a dramatic sigh. “He’s always staring at it. He’d probably make it his scroll background too if he didn’t think you’d see it and think it was weird.”

“I wouldn’t think it was weird,” she said softly, not so secretly relishing the idea of Hunter wanting to see the picture often. She did look cute. “Why would he care if I think that’s weird?”

“Cuz he likes you,” Gus said simply. Willow was somewhat aware of this, well at least she had suspected it. She was more familiar with having a crush than being one, but her experience still help her deduce what she hoped to be true. But she also knew that crushes could fade, and she suspected that she might be Hunter’s first crush. She remembered how confusing and bubbly her first crush had been, but she also remembered how it was as short as it was intense. As much as she knew she returned Hunter’s (supposed) feelings, she didn’t want to rush him because she didn’t if he was still figuring it out or if he wanted these feelings acknowledged.

“Maybe.” was all Willow said as her finger traced the careful way Hunter had written his name on the bright yellow notebook Luz had given him. The spine was bent and the pages warped from writing and doodles, it never left his sight so when she received the message casually inquiring if he had forgetten it there she knew it had to have been left there on purpose. Otherwise there would be a panicky audio call or a separate message in all caps marked urgent in the group chat.

“Was that him?” Gus asked, already knowing the answer as he heard Willow’s scroll ding. She simply nodded as she took a picture of herself holding the book to confirm its location to which Hunter quickly replied that he would be back to get it later, if that was alright.

Later, she though. When no one else is around.

She gave Gus’ words some thought, remembering instances where he had come back to retrieve something or when she had brought it to him. It had just been them, but how had that made a difference?

“He saw it in a movie,” Gus offered, as though answering her thoughts again. Was he reading her mind??

“What?”

“A few movies, actually.” Gus said. “Where one person leaves something and when they go get it or the person returns it they have like a moment.”

“A moment? Like what kind of moment?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what kind of moment Park,” scoffed Gus, still not looking up from his scroll. He didn’t need to to know she was wearing a smitten, goofy expression.

Had they had a moment and Willow just hadn’t realized it? Was that possible?

When she brought down the shopping bag he had left in the girls’ room months ago, she had ended up staying in the basement for an hour helping him arrange the patches he had bought.

After flyer derby practice when he came back to get his water bottle, they had ended up sitting on the bench watching matches on her scroll.

When he came outside looking for his umbrella he had allegedly left nearby, he had stayed with her in the garden and listened to her talk about how well the strawberries were doing.

They never did find his umbrella. Thinking about it now, Willow was pretty sure he didn’t even have one.

Those were moments. Small ones, sure, but they added up to Willow. Maybe asking her directly to hang out one on one seemed too forward in his eyes or too intimidating. This way, he had an excuse to leave just as much as he had an excuse to be there. Willow would be lying if she said when she noticed the things he left behind she insisted on being the one to bring it to him.

“Why doesn’t he just… ask me?” Willow said as though she hasn’t been wondering this in the back of her mind for months now.

“Luz and Amity made him watch period pieces, apparently they’re all about the slow burn.” Gus explained. “He also might think there needs to a chaperone? I don’t really know. But I do know the one time I went to bring him something he forgot, he looked disappointed to see me which has never happened before.”

“Woah, that is serious.”

“I’ll let him know I’m leaving so he can come over and gawk at you in private,” said Gus, getting up from the couch.

“Gus, you don’t have to-.”

“Nah, I’m meeting up with Matt anyway,” shrugged Gus. “Vee and I are gonna try and explain DVD’s to him. He’s gonna feel so embarrassed for thinking they’re food.”

“You also thought they were food.”

“Yeah, but I only ate like one and a half he’s eaten like six,” countered Gus. “Have fun with your little moment.”

Willow rolled her eyes endearingly as Gus made his way to the door.

“And if you still don’t believe me, if you look closely at the shapes he drew on with marker, you can tell they used to be little hearts with your initials inside,” said Gus, sticking his head back in one last time. “He tried convincing me it was a glyph.”

———

When Hunter did make his way back to Willow’s, he knocked gently on the door. Everyone else knew to just come in, but Hunter always insisted on doing things the formal way. Willow was realizing this was true about everything he did.

She was standing there, waiting for him holding his notebook tightly to her chest as she ran her plan through her head one last time. How could she be sure it was the right time?

“Thank you Captain,” he said, a smiling spreading across his face as she opened the door. He was clearing trying to seem as though he was relieved it was safe and not as though he hadn’t been totally certain this whole time.

“Of course,” she said. She was overly aware of how his fingers lingered as they brushed against hers, each holding one end of the notebook like an indirect hand hold. They had held hands before, on purpose, so why did this feel… like more? Was it because it was unclear if the contact was intentional? Was Hunter trying to create a moment or was he hoping to stumble into one?

Was he waiting for her like she had been waiting for him? Where they stuck in a never ending loop of “accidental” encounters, trying to collect enough moments to amount to something obvious? The familiar rush in Willow’s chest told her they had been in the strange loop for awhile now, unaware if progress was being made.

“Thanks uh, for having me over.” Hunter said leaning against the door frame, lingering in their farewell.

“Of course,” she said, twirling her braid around her finger. “Do you… have everything?”

“Um, yeah I think so.” He said, not trying too hard to make sure.

She fought back a wide smile. He would normally consult a check list to prevent being forgetful again. He was looking for an excuse to see her again. Alone.

“Well, actually now that I think about it, I did find something else that you left behind.” said Willow.

“You did?” Hunter asked, having always kept detailed track of his items and knew he had already retrieved the only thing he had “left” there.

“Yeah,” said Willow softly. “I mean, I’m pretty sure it’s yours at least.”

“Oh, what is it?”

“Hold on, lemme get it.” Willow pretended to search her pocket and come out with something in her fist. As Hunter reached out his hand to take it, she instead grabbed onto it to pull him down closer to her so she could place a firm and purposeful kiss on his cheek. When she went down from her tip toes to see his face, she was delighted to see it was a crimson mixture of delight and confusion. She bit her lip as he pretended to clear his throat and tried to remember what words were.

“I-I-I left that?” he sputtered, not sure what else to say but knowing he had to say something as his hand touched the spot she had kissed as though he was holding it in place.

“I think so?” Willow said as though they were talking about something common like a pencil. She could tell her face was starting to turn a matching hue to his as she pressed on. “Hmm, ya know what it might be mine actually. Buuut, you can hold onto it if you want and get it back to me when I see you next or ya know… whenever.”

“Yes, of course,” said Hunter as though she had handed him a satchel of diamonds for safe keeping. “I-I’ll hold onto it for you. Of course.”

“Okay then, great.” She said, her eyes darting to the ground as she kicked the invisible dirt.

“Yeah, for sure yeah.” Hunter was trying in vain not to stutter and sweat but his mind would not free him from the fresh scent of dirt and lilacs that her hair carried and the way it flooded his senses when she so effortlessly pressed her soft lips to his face. No romantic drama could’ve ever prepared him for this.

“And, uh, no rush, okay?” Said Willow as she rocked back and forth on her heels. “I was gonna give it to you anyway, so uh i-if you wanna keep it and don’t wanna return it I won’t be-.”

“Oh, did you want it back?” Hunter asked, a subtle sound of panic in his voice as he stepped down from the doorway onto the porch. Willow wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed. She had hoped she could leave the ball in his court, give him time to process the action and his feelings but now the part of him that was etiquette focused was pulling apart her messy metaphor. She did want it back, right? Or did she want him to keep it? What was the difference? Titan, this whole thing went smoother in her head.

“I uh…” she started, biting her thumb as she looked at him looking at her with wide, glistening eyes. She was trying so desperately to be cute and charming but should she just be direct? Had she left the loop too soon? Was Hunter actually just very forgetful, despite everything she knew about him suggesting the opposite?

“Do you wanna do something tomorrow?” He said quickly.

“What?” Willow asked, so caught up in her own internal spiral that she wanted to make sure she hadn’t misheard him.

“Do you… wanna do something with me? Like… just the two of us?” He asked again, rubbing the back of his neck as his eyes looked to the sky. “Together.”

“Okay.” She said softly.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” She said, wishing that time could move faster for them.

“Cool! Great! Awesome! Yeah I’ll uh, message you? And we’ll figure out what we can… yeah okay. So I’m just gonna…I’ll bring your… thing with me too. If you.. um decide you want it back.”

Willow wasn’t sure if they had arrived at the same meaning with the metaphor, but she had high hopes for how Hunter planned to return her kiss to her.

“Promise you won’t forget it?” She asked with a mischievous grin.

Hunter returned her smile as he placed his hand to his cheek as though putting the gesture in to his hand and then put it in his pocket for safekeeping.

“I couldn’t if I tried.”

[goatcheesecak3]

Gavin's Diary

Gavin Ellis x F!Reader

Fic type: angst

Warnings: police violence, gun violence, coma, organised crime

Summary: Gavin reflects on the mistakes he's made in his diary, as he wonders what the future might hold for him and y/n

Y/N got fucked up. And it’s my fault. I roped Ray into some bullshit, even though she warned me not to. Ray is okay now, thank god, somehow he managed to go ten full days without spilling his guts – metaphorically and literally. He says he forgives me, but I still feel awful. That’s why I told that cop, I told him everything, and I begged him to give Ray immunity. I didn’t care if I went down for it, I just wanted to get him out of the mess I made. Well, turns out that was just another thing I fucked up, because it got the love of my life hurt.

I stood on the rooftop with Detective Paris, and told him the whole plan. I told him the part I played and I even gave him Pat’s name, and he told me I would be okay. I believed him. Why the fuck did I believe a cop? Staring down into the motel car park, I pointed out the car of the man who’d been sent there to kill me.

“you won’t have to worry about him anymore” were the last words I heard before my balance was thrown off, a firm slap to my back sent me lunging forwards. My life flashed before my eyes, before I realised I had stopped falling. Desperate, clamouring hands had gripped onto any part of me that they could, and pulled me back over the ledge and onto the roof once more. The screams, those awful screams could very well have been the last thing I heard from y/n, as she held my body, which was now limp with fear, kicking and shouting at the cop to get away. She had followed me there. Smart as ever, of course y/n had known that what she had always referred to as a “Gav plan” would fall through. She was always looking out for me. As if saving my life wasn’t enough, she was willing to sacrifice her own for me, shielding my body with her own as gunshots rang out.

All this commotion was enough to get the attention of the other cops in the building, as they dashed upstairs to find Detective Paris pointing a gun at y/n and me. None of the bullets had hit me, I was, somehow, entirely unscathed. I couldn’t say the same for y/n. She lay motionless, one bullet in her thigh, another in her back. Being as incredible as she always was, y/n had a tape recorder in her pocket, it had documented the entire altercation – all while she was creeping up on me and the cop, right until the paramedics later found it on her person. By some miracle, none of the bullets or blood had gotten to it. Needless to say, Detective Paris has been arrested.

The lawyer who had been assigned to Ray’s case has decided to take y/n and I on as clients too, she’s a nice lady, and I can tell she’s invested in the wellbeing of everyone involved. So far, it’s looking good for me on the legal front, there’s physical proof that I cooperated, and that I was assaulted by an officer. It’s looking like all my charges will be dropped if I agree to keep my mouth shut about what happened. I can’t say the same for y/n, though. Legally, obviously she’s fine, but she’s been in a medically induced coma for a week now and I can’t put into words how scared I am for her.

I’ve visited her every day for the last week, just sitting by her side, holding her hand and reading her poetry. I’m not sure if she can hear me, but I hope that if she can it’s brought her some type of comfort. It’s funny, I never really got the poems and books she enjoyed before, but now they’re the only things that comfort me. There’s this one poem by a guy called Thomas Hardy, it’s about his cat dying. Y/n always loved that one, and now I think I do too, I don’t know, I guess it reminds me of her or something.

I suppose that brings me to the present. The hospital called about an hour ago, an said y/n’s finally awake and in a stable condition. I’m writing this from the hospital waiting room, knowing that these may well be the last few moments I can kid myself that y/n and I are still together, I doubt she wants anything to do with me anymore after everything I’ve put her through. Still, y/n being alive and healthy whilst hating me is better than her dying because she loved someone as fucked up as I am.

I think the nurse is calling me now, wish me luck.

A/N i've got an idea for a part 2 to this, so let me know if anyone wants it!

[exhaustedandlostit]

Not A Bad Way To Go | John Price x Reader

You met Price by accident, but you think it’s your favorite accident.

Word Count: 1.1k

Tags: Price/Reader, no gender mentioned, first meeting, mildly suggestive towards the end, no use of y/n.

Rating: Mature(Suggestive Content at end) 18+ mdni please

Warnings: None, just fluffy fluff, Not edited or beta’d.

First fic I’ve written on this account, and in a very long time. Hope you guys enjoy. Reblogs and comments are welcomed and appreciated.

——————————————————————————————

You aren’t quite sure what got you here. Your brain is fuzzy, dizziness setting in from the failed huff you took when Price settled his cigar between your lips. He’d chuckled to himself a bit when you grimaced.

“Not supposed to inhale, love,” He’d said, chest rumbling with his light laughter. You’d shot him a stare laced with irritation.

“Too used to cigarettes, I guess,” You retort. He doesn’t chuckle this time, just gives you a warm smile that reaches his eyes. You can feel the warmth of his smile in your chest, and you muse to yourself about how fucked you truly are.

You’d met Captain John Price by accident. You were back on base, again, much to your dismay. You left the service months ago, no longer holding the desire to torture yourself further. Your brother, who’d convinced you to join in the first place, was both dismayed and grateful for your departure. Once you’d left the unit you two shared, he was selected to join a task force.

“Task Force 141, its intense as hell,” his voice crackled through the phone the day he got the assignment. You shook your head, provided some dry retort your brother was inevitably expecting. Much the same way you were expecting the call you received a week later.

“We need help.” You knew what that sentence meant, especially with the rare serious tone your brother’s voice had taken. Tech help, clean job, in and out. That’s what they always say, and yet its never what it ends up being. You’d (unfortunately) made a name for yourself while you were still in for being computer savvy. Guess all those coding classes you took for extra credit in highschool paid off somehow. You grasped technology easily. Your brother is happy you love him, because you’re on a plane within hours.

You weren’t supposed to come in contact with the team period. You were to meet with a woman named Kate Laswell, who would provide you with a laptop and the information you needed. However, the room the soldier who’d met you at the airport brought you to had not a woman in it, but a man.

Weird. That was your first thought. Weird hat, weird facial hair. However, you weren’t one to judge someone purely on their appearance. The man looked up from the document covered table as the door opened. His eyes found yours quickly, and the minute they did you knew you were fucked. His eyes pierced yours, examining everything about you in a second. You could tell by his stature and tac gear he was most definitely a soldier, and also not the woman you were supposed to be meeting.

“You don’t look like a Kate,” you stated, very matter of factly, and the sentence drew a chuckle from him. That may have been the first time you brought that from him, but you knew then it certainly wouldn’t be the last. You enjoyed it far too much.

“That’ll be ‘cause I’m not.” His accent was soothing. Another checked box on the list of things that make you absolutely addicted to this man, and it had only been about 45 seconds.

Kate being unavailable was your first indicator that the mission was absolutely not going as planned, but you weren’t too disappointed by that. After all, spending an afternoon showing off your expertise in front of a man who you were absolutely trying to impress was not a bad alternative. However, you did not get to go home after as planned. That night, your brother had shown to greet you, apologize that in a matter of hours shit had gone sideways, but that was not the most interesting part of that encounter.

The most interesting part was that when your brother entered the room he said your name, and then turned to the man and said “Captain.” to acknowledge him.

Fuck.

The knowledge that the man you had spent your afternoon swooning and even lightly flirting with(much to his enjoyment) was in fact your brother’s captain definitely threw a wrench in your day. Not as big a wrench as it threw in your brother’s though, who had inevitably sensed the not uncomfortable tension between you and Price about 30 seconds after entering the room. You sat in the smoke pit nursing glasses of shitty whiskey, burning through cigarettes, while getting an earful about being a slut from your brother. It was all in joke of course, but you could tell he was definitely irritated.

“I leave you alone with him for 4 hours and you’ve already got heart eyes for him.” He took a long drag of his cigarette with a hefty sigh.

“Not my fault your captain is hot.”

“Not my fault you’ve got hella daddy issues.”

“So do you, asshole.”

“Touché.”

Months later, here you were. Hired on as a contracted tech intel agent, you now spent your days living on base, digging around through documents and CCTV, scouting everywhere your team went, noting threats and holes before they even got there. You’d become invaluable, but that wasn’t what kept you there. He was. Captain John Price.

Every long day spent inside of the military bases you’d tried so hard to escape were made worth it by returning to not your room at night, but John’s. That’s where you are right now, settled into his lap in his bed, his cigar in his left hand, his right tangled in your hair while he damn near killed you with a kiss.

When he finally did let you breathe, he had a smirk plastered on his face while your hands rested on his chest, panting for the air you’d been lacking. You looked at him in the pale light from the lamp, and raised one of your hands to brush over his head and through his hat-flattened hair. Your hand came to a stop on the back of his head, and you looked into his eyes again, this time expecting the way they reached inside of you to your normally walled off soul, now bared, but only to him.

“You’re going to kill me like that one day,” You say, without a hint of a negative emotion in your voice. The chuckle you love rumbles from his chest again. He puts out his cigar in the ashtray on the nightstand, and grips your hips. In a second, you’re below him on the bed, and you can feel his body pressing into yours as his face dangles so close but not close enough to reach from your pinned state.

“Not a bad way to go,” he muses as one of his hands moves to rest on your face, encasing your cheek as he finally gets close enough.

“No, I guess it isn’t,” are the last words you say that night, save John’s name.

[space-mermaid-writing]

The Vamp and the Were [IronStrange]

Summary: Tony would mark the day he met a vampire that did not immediately jump at his throat. Just for once – that would be a nice change.

Relationship: Werewolf!Tony Stark / Vampire!Stephen Strange

Tags: hurt/comfort, idiots in love, angst, fluff

Ko-fi | Read it on AO3 | Masterlist | Word count: 2.7k | Previous | Next

Chapter 5: This didn’t go as planned

Every now and then they went on a mission together. It turned out each of them had a special skill set that proved to be useful in some cases. And the company was also nice.

Somehow Stark had managed to crawl into Strange's off-putting shell.

A few days ago, he had contacted the werewolf because several children had disappeared in the same area and he suspected an underground trafficking ring behind it. He had obtained some clothing and toys from those children, which he now handed to Stark in separate plastic bags.

"Can you pick up their trail? There's not enough DNA for a tracking spell."

"So I'm just your better tracking dog?" Tony snorted, without really being offended. "Yeah, sure, it's not like I have more important stuff to do."

Stephen raised his eyebrow. There was a small smirk on his lips. "More important than to possibly save five or more children from a cruel and painful fate?"

Tony was very unhappy about that comeback since it was very valid and he had nothing to counter. So he followed Strange through a portal to the place where one of the children had last been seen.

He took a plush bunny from one of the labeled bags and sniffed it.

Then he checked the surrounding air and concentrated.

When he was younger the many scents used to be overwhelming. But he became pretty good at filtering out what wasn’t of interest at the moment.

A few days ago the lawn had been mowed, and since these past few days had been really hot, the freshly cut grass was on the fast way to become straw. It carried a hint of the typical smell from stables.

Various cats and dogs were living in the area. Tony ignored those scents completely.

A car drove by, diesel engine. The brakes dragged a little and produced a fine abrasion.

Then he noticed something. It was faint, a few days old, and he followed the trail. An Iron Man suit, piloted by Jarvis, was sent to scan the area from there.

Stephen followed him without questioning him.

He knew from experience that if he was dragged out, something crucial would happen. Fortunately, they were in a quieter area of Queens. It was easier to pick out the older lead here than in midtown. And once picked up, he would hardly lose a trail. He didn't even need to shift for it.

Strange walked at his side, eyeing the surroundings. There was still no smell at all of the sorcerer. And that fact was still weird.

Tony was curious how he would smell. Probably something calm with a hint of herbs, like his teas. Something warm and inviting.

The Were shook his head.

He shouldn’t get distracted!

The path led them through a narrow passage between tall buildings. The area became poorer and poorer.

“You’re unusually quiet,” the Were noted after a while.

“I don’t want to distract you from your work.”

“I can track a smell and listen to you at the same time. It’s called multitasking and I’m an expert in it.”

Stephen scoffed. “Alright then. What do you want to talk about?”

Tony led them under a bridge. It smelled like pee. "Oh, nothing in particular. How was your weekend?" He stopped in front of a metal fence and rattled the gate. It was locked. So he tapped his wristwatch, but before he could weld it open, Strange did a swift motion with his fingers and the door magically swung open.

Stephen moved ahead past Tony. “My weekend was fine.”

Tony rolled his eyes and muttered, “Show off,” before he followed him suit. He waited a few more seconds, but Stephen offered nothing more. “Wow, don’t tell me more. I can already picture it as if I’ve been there myself.” His words were dripping with sarcasm. “Let me guess: you read an old book, drank some tea and argued with Wong about which of them was on dishwashing duty? Maybe you even washed the cloak.”

The cloak moved as if by wind when it was mentioned. Stephen stopped and turned to the engineer, looking into his eyes. “I went to a dimension that consists purely of energy and gaseous elements. The inhabitants have never seen a solid shape and I had to disguise myself as some kind of smoke. I chased an ill-mannered nebula through some kind of semi-liquid slime and prevented it from passing into our plane of existence.”

Tony blinked. “You’re making that up!” he accused the sorcerer.

There was the hint of a smile on Stephen’s lips. “I also did wash the cloak afterwards.” With that, he started moving again.

Tony followed him, still not sure if he was told the truth or just some nonsense.

Suddenly there was a noise above them. Something approached them through the air, then landed with a gentle ‘thump’.

“Hey Mister Stark, Hello Doctor Strange. I saw the armor nearby and thought you might need some backup with whatever it is you’re doing here.”

The teenager didn’t lift his mask but the men could hear the nervous smile under it.

Tony exchanged a quick glance with Stephen.

The sorcerer shrugged his shoulders. “It’s just a rescue mission,” he said lowly.

That was good enough for the Were. "Sure, but do as we say and stay behind us," he told Peter.

"Yes, totally!" He sounded thrilled to be included.

So the three of them continued on their way, and the men explained the situation to Peter in a few words along the way.

Between the three of them, with the help of Tony's suit in the air, it was easy to find the missing children's whereabouts. Either the kidnappers were not very smart, or they felt very safe.

It was a fucking cliché: an unused office building on a street with lots of warehouses, most of which were empty.

The kids seemed to be locked in a barely furnished room next to an empty open-plan office that covered almost the whole floor. All the doors were glass, but most were covered with newspapers. So were the windows, so they had no visual contact.

Tony had called his Iron Man back down and stepped in it to get a better read of the data.

There were five armed guys in the open office space and two more in another adjacent room.

Stephen, Tony, and Peter quickly came up with a plan: Stephen and Tony would take care of the armed guys, while Peter snuck to the kids. Once it was safe, he would get them out.

They had the element of surprise on their side and between the sorcerer’s magic and Iron Man’s blasting beams, they should make enough commotion to create a clear pathway for Peter.

But, somehow, everything went to shit.

Apparently, the guys had been prepared. Maybe they knew that human trafficking was prone to vampire attacks – or they had done business with them in the past and had taken precautions. Their weapons carried silver bullets and they were both good marksmen and skilled fighters.

They caught Peter on his way to the kids and engaged him in a fight as well.

The guys guarded their merchandise well.

One moment Stephen was dealing with two guys at the same time, only relying on his magic, while Peter dodged the swings of his opponent, and Tony engaged the boss of this little gang in a hand to hand fight, repulsor vs knife.

The next moment, Tony was suddenly in a headlock with a gun to his head. He was wearing his helmet, but he had never tested it if it would withstand a close-range shot. Or several of them at the same spot.

"Freeze or I'll shoot his head off!" the guy yelled at Tony's companions.

The Were growled and clawed his opponent's arm, but the grip around his neck did not loosen. He didn't dare to turn because the guy's finger twitched on the trigger.

Stephen and Peter stopped what they were doing – the sorcerer ever calm, but his gaze was dark and he seemed to be calculating his options in his head. He gave a secret signal to the cloak, which was currently not on his back, but was stealthily approaching Tony's attacker from behind.

Peter on the other hand was still a kid and seeing his mentor in this immediate danger made him go pale. "No, Mr. Stark!" He jerked on instinct as if he wanted to leap over to him and rush to help, but forced himself against it.

Still, it was one move to many.

Tony's attacker aimed his gun at the boy instead and pulled the trigger – one, two, three times.

The Were thrashed against his hold. “No!”

But it was too late. Nothing could beat a bullet.

Except maybe a very skilled vampire.

There was a blur. A flash of blue and red. In the same instant Stephen stood in front of Peter and threw his arms around him in protection.

He hissed in pain as the bullets hit his back. They were perfectly aimed, and they burned so badly that they must be spiked with silver. A metal that was bad for Were’s and Vamp’s alike.

These people certainly knew their stuff.

Peter shrieked, first of surprise at the sudden appearance of the sorcerer, then because Stephen’s protection hug grew very heavy as he slumped to his knees.

Tony went feral. He saw his pack threatened and retracted his faceplate to bite his opponent in his arm. Then he turned in his grip, his claws extended as he transformed.

The armor adapted to his four-legged body like the masterpiece of technology that it was. It no longer covered Tony's entire body. In this form, he preferred to keep his face and paws exposed while fighting.

It was easy to overpower the traffickers after that. Growling angrily, he barely cared about how much he hurt the people who dared to attack his pack. As long as one of them survived in case the authorities wanted to pry more information out of them.

One of them tried to crawl with a broken leg towards the door. A ridiculous attempt to escape. The Were grabbed his trouser leg with his jaw and yanked him back. The man gave a startled yelp as he was thrown ruggedly against a cabinet, where he remained motionless on the floor.

Tony looked around for the other two traffickers, but there was nothing more than a pathetic bunch left of them. That hardly calmed the Were down, even if the enemies were all neutralized. The smell of fear, sweat and adrenaline was still in the air and kept him on edge.

He whipped his head around when he heard Peter’s panicked voice. “Mr. Stark!”

The boy kneeled next to Strange, his eyes wide and worried. The sorcerer sat scrambled, his head hanging low. He was heavily breathing – and bleeding. Shit.

Tony rushed over to the two of them and ducked under Peter’s arms right into Strange’s personal space. Something wasn’t right.

Stephen turned away from him, hiding his face.

The Were was too big for this, needed too much space, so Tony shifted back into his human form, still wearing his armor, and laid his hand onto the other man’s shoulder.

“Doc?”

“I’m fine,” Stephen gritted through his teeth.

“Like hell you are!” The anger that hadn’t completely shifted into worry blazed back to life. “You got shot!”

Those bullets were meant for Peter. How the hell did he manage to get over there in time? Tony hadn’t seen his signature glow of magic.

“I just need to return to the Sanctum.” Stephen had trouble talking under the intensified burning in his back. He needed to get the bullets out of his body. The wounds would heal regardless on the outside. But his flesh would be burned alive from the inside. Like a slow and very painful poison.

The Vamp felt his control slipping. Not on his mind but his body. The urge for blood, for regeneration became stronger. His fangs were out and so were probably his claws, which was why he cradled his hands close to his chest.

It made reaching for his sling ring in his belt all the way harder.

Peter hadn’t left his side, the brave boy that he was.

And now Tony appeared right in front of him. Stephen tried to turn away again, to hide somewhere. Anywhere.

But Tony held him by his shoulders.

Why wouldn’t they leave him alone?

“Please,” Stephen tried again, his throat dry. “Just take the children home. I can manage.”

“You must have hit your head pretty hard if you think we would leave you like that.” Tony's voice softened with his next words. “Stephen, look at me.”

The Vamp shook his head, his eyes shut close and his lips tightly pressed together. That was difficult due to his heavy breathing.

He was a vampire. Undead. He didn’t have to breathe at all, but it helped with the pain and besides, it was a force of habit. He had gotten so used to blending in.

Tony's finger gently but forcefully pushed his chin up. “Stephen.” His voice was so very concerned.

The Were was too stubborn to let this one slide.

And Stephen couldn’t fight it anymore.

Finally, he looked at Tony. His eyes wide in anticipation of the man’s reaction. And glowing red. The open mouth allowed the heavy breathing to continue, his fangs now on display.

Tony needed a second to understand the meaning of what he saw. His eyes darted over the sorcerer’s face, down to his hands – still scarred – but also with long claws.

The fact that the man was still alive – ha – minutes after being shot in the back several times.

He let him go as if burned and stumbled back a few steps. His face is a mixture of betrayal, anger and disgust.

It couldn’t be.

He would have known it. He would have smelled it.

But sorcerers didn’t smell of anything.

“Peter,” Tony addressed the boy that was still crouching next to Strange and who watched the whole interaction concerned and confused. “Step away from him. Now!”

There was no room for arguing in the command.

For the split of a second Stephen’s face showed the hurt he felt. Not the pain from the bullets. Then a carefully put together neutral mask slid in the place.

The boy hesitated only a second before he finally obeyed. But it stung as bad as Tony’s change of behavior.

Stephen was still looking at the man, unsure what he would do next.

Tony seemed not sure himself. He raised his hand with the repulsor glove and it made this little noise signaling that it was active and ready to shoot. But he didn’t fire at the vampire.

Their eyes met. Stephen did not avoid his gaze, nor did he not look away. There was acceptance in his eyes – in those red glowing eyes that didn’t blink.

Tony wasn’t sure he had ever seen the guy blinking.

His ears twitched as his fine hearing picked up the sounds of the children that were still sitting frightened next door, still waiting to be rescued. They needed him. Maybe they even needed medical help.

He grabbed Peter - who had stepped next to him - by the arm and pulled him with him, walking backwards to the door. He kept his hand raised and the repulsor activated until they left the room. Only then he turned around and away from the vampire.

Peter looked at him with big eyes. “Mr. Stark…”

“We got a job to do, kiddo.” His voice was stern, cutting off any further objection from the boy.

Tony tried not to think about the fact he left the man he called friend – the man he probably had preferred to call other things too – behind, injured and bleeding.

That man was a Vamp – an enemy. He had lied to Tony, had deceived him.

Had everything been just pretended? An illusion?

Tony’s heart ached at the betrayal he felt.

He should have killed him immediately. But the sorcerer had saved Peter. And even if he hadn’t, Tony wasn’t sure if he could have killed Strange – even if he was a vampire. And that was alarming in a whole different way.

__________________

Tag list: @jekyllhydetrash @goopierthenyou Tell me if you wanna be added/removed

[lykaiosthinks]

new series, journal entries from V's pov pre-roadtrip arc and post-broadcast arc

Day 1:

4:32 - Radio broadcast finished

4:51 - Started prioritizing materials

5:05 - Consolidating stuff

Well, Cleo asked what I was doing, then pointed out that it wouldn’t be much help to whoever read this if it was just a time log, so I guess it’s a journal now.

I guess I should probably explain what happened. That broadcast was the first thing we ever heard from anyone outside of the city after the fallout. Coincidentally, it was also the last thing we heard from anyone while we were inside the city. Reason being that the broadcast was basically our 30 day timer to get out. They were dropping a bomb on the city in an attempt to clear out the infection. I guess that probably means our city was a hotspot, which means that if you’re reading this you’re far enough into the future when this city is finally hospitable again. Or you’re just some insane adrenaline junkie who decided to journey far and long enough to somehow find this. (If that’s the case, please leave this for someone who needs it. You clearly don’t.)

Anyway, I guess this is just a record of what we’re doing, but we haven’t done much yet. Cleo and Jo were quite taken aback at the news, which is understandable. I suppose I’m just numb to everything around me at this point. It took a while for them to calm down and rationalize that we had plenty of time to figure things out. The first thing we did was figure out what we were gonna need to leave this place. Food and water was a must, but the problem was how much? I wasn't sure how soon it would be before we could find another sustainable source of food. I decided that we would bring as much as we could, and dump some if we needed something else. I guess I don’t really need food as much, but honestly what I need is probably more scarce.

I guess I should also introduce myself. I’ve been going by V, for fear of not wanting to reveal my full name. I guess it doesn’t matter so much now that I know Cleo and Jo better, but I see no reason to change anything. Cleo is the youngest of us, and she lost her sister soon after the fallout happened. She’s been looking for her ever since, and the news of the bomb hit the hardest for her. She still believes her sister is okay, but there’s been no evidence of her life or her death, so it’s hard to say. Jo is a little older than Cleo, and they get along very well. A little too well at times, honestly. They can cause more trouble than the infection itself, if given enough time. I think I’m older than Jo, but my memory’s really been going since the initial breakout. I suppose I should mention that Jo and I are both technically infected, but I managed to throw some sort of antidote together. It doesn’t really fix the problem entirely but it keeps it from getting worse, which is what matters. I didn’t really care too much about my wellbeing before Jo and Cleo came around, so I’m basically surviving entirely off of pills and such. That’s my theory as to why my memory is going; whatever is keeping me alive and functioning certainly isn’t normal.

Anyway, the rest of the day was spent packing things up and deciding what would be good to take and leave. I insisted that any personal belongings should be kept to a minimum, but Cleo and Jo claimed there were things that had to be taken with them. I figured it was fine as long as I wouldn’t be carrying anything, which they said wouldn’t be a problem. I suppose this is all we’re going to be doing for the next month, so I should probably get used to it.

I need sleep. Any rest I can get will be crucial to our plans. I should have been asleep a while ago, but I forgot about this journal thing. No wonder, but maybe writing this stuff down would help me remember. Maybe this will all be useless. I’ll forget about it again, maybe. Leave it somewhere no one will find it. I’m not really sure what’s worth my time anymore.

This isn’t good, is it?

[ritualofcirice]

Lucifer's Response (Letter Four, a Lucifer x Reader)

🐑 ♡ Final thanks to my beta, Sycamore, for reading this over. You're awesome ♡🐑

You sent a love letter to Lucifer, and he responded.

Teen and Up Audiences, No Warnings, F/M, M/M, Other/M, Tag(s): Love Letters, Fluff, Awkwardness, Gift Giving, Emotional Baggage, Ambiguous Gender Reader, POV Second Person

Find it on ao3 ♡ WC: 442

Taglist: @idonia-dovahkiin

Chapter 4

Letter Four

While Lucifer and yourself had exchanged phone numbers following your meet up, the letters that you sent to one another remained a constant. You hoped that wouldn’t change. Perhaps the courier did, but you started to give them a substantial tip for their work.

It was the least you could do if it meant you got to enjoy the comforts of Lucifer’s words.

‘Dearest, sweetest Admirer, Thank you for having me over. I adored every second of it, and I cannot tell you enough how kind it was for you to host everything. I’m already planning for next time at my place. Just like we organised! You don’t mind a bit of mess, do you? No you don’t, of course you don’t. Still, I’m going to make sure you enjoy yourself to the best of my ability. I really want you to feel at home with me. And thank you for being so considerate too. There’s lots of things you didn’t have to do for me, but you did anyway. Almost like how you sent me a letter to see if I was okay. We wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for that. That sure is something. You know, you’re as sweet as your kisses taste. Which is a lot - I realise you wouldn’t actually know what you taste like. Unless you do. I wouldn’t judge you if you did know that somehow, but I won’t ask how. As for your letters, I won’t lie I’ve been keeping them all safe in the draw next to my bed. Perhaps it would be nicer to have you next to me. We could give ourselves all the time in the world, yet I keep thinking about how much I’d love to let you stay as long as your heart desired. Call me impatient. Call me whatever you want. I just want to revel in your company. Darling, there’s so much I want to say, but it’s all things I’ve said before. I can hear your voice telling me to do it anyway, so I guess that means I get to be a bit of a hopeless romantic. And what better way to summarise feelings of love than poetry! It’s even better when you put the hopeless part into play! I cannot remember the last time I tried poetry at all. Here goes: If I were to find you In a world of your own I would never be lost With you as my guiding star It’s very freeform! No rhyme either, but it’s the effort that counts, right? You really are too bright for Hell. With the most tender of affection, Lucifer M.’

[iguessitsjustme]

Love Sea Ep 7 Thoughts

I was considering not doing a liveblog this week. This honestly might be my last one. I don’t know. I just…I don’t feel particularly welcome here anymore so this might be my last post for a while (here being tumblr. this is not love sea specific. everyone has been very nice about my liveblogs thank you). Also my tendonitis has been so extremely bad lately. Honestly, this will probably not even be much of a liveblog. Click to read if you want. Or don’t. I’m just gonna eat my pizza and watch.

I want Rak’s shirt with the little infinity over the heart.

I actually think they’re being cute right now. And I really like this music choice. Either this show has gotten better, I’ve stopped caring, or my mental state is more fragile than even I realized.

I still hate the narration at the beginning of the episodes. Stop this. It adds nothing.

Can I skip all of Vie’s scenes? Will that make it better or worse?

Rak don’t give that man money. Give that man a concussion. 

Honestly, I’ll forgive Mut everything if he just…punches Rak’s dad. Just a little. As a treat.

Save Mook. Save her.

The way I would have left Vie stranded so many times. Mook is a far better person than I. And she deserves better. This manipulation is such ass. I’m not gonna talk about it any more. It’s making me angry. Like real angry. Not just haha internet angry. But angry angry.

Mook has to threaten to quit to get Rak to do part of his job that he agreed to do and somehow she’s the bad guy? They should just rename this show Hate Mook.

This storyline with Rak’s…cousin?? I think. It bores me. I am bored.

Okay I was worried that someone would try to make it seem like Mut met Rak’s cousin in secret but it does seem like Mut told Rak about it. That’s good. Unexpected but good. Wish I cared.

What was the point of all of that? Why introduce that problem just to immediately solve it? Why immediately cancel it out? It did nothing. It added nothing. What was the point?

Noisy neighbors go AWAY

I managed to get so far into the show today before they appeared but dear god. One of these days I’m gonna leave my apartment and just be like “y’all noisy. Ya mind?”

Even MORE noisy neighbors? Anyway clapping very loud and saying “excellent. wonderful. truly amazing. love it.” in a deadpan voice gets them to at least stop being so freaking noisy. They’re still there and talking but at least they aren’t so damn loud.

Anyway I rolled my eyes the entire way through Rak’s speech.

What was Prin’s plan really? Rak will get accused of throwing water at her? If people actually believed he did that, it would blow over in what? A week? It was water. She also didn’t think there would be a camera? Seriously. What was her end game? What kind of weak ass plan was that?

If Vie just asked for help like a normal person and was willing to accept a no from Mook, Mook would be so much more eager to help. But the manipulation is crazy. How are you going to say that Mook not helping you rehearse will lead to OT for the crew. Be better at your job then???

I just had to go wash soot off of my hands. It’s better if you don’t ask. But I need you all to know my struggle.

Honestly? This episode was fine. Rak and Mut are cute now I guess. Vie can go…away. Just go away. Mook deserves better. Prin is unhinged but also this is a huge scandal because she dumped water on herself. That’s insane. The framing of the show is making out like it’s the most egregious crime. Like yeah. She tried to create a scandal by saying Rak dumped water on her but again…it’s…water. Many people have had water dumped on them and more people will in the future. It’s not like someone pulled a gun on someone. It is literally the least serious scandal of all time. The best way to deal with the Prins of the world is to just not give them any attention. Let them be off in their own little corner being unhinged by themselves. When she appears be like “oh hey. It’s you. how you been?” Just indifference. And also this scandal will blow over in a week if she just doesn’t do anything else crazy. This whole plot is so boring. Like oh no! Someone splashed some water! Whatever will they doooo???

I should go cause I’m being petty about this show. I did enjoy the episode for the most part. No screenshots today. It’s fine. It’s not the best but at least now I can enjoy it for what it is. Except for Vie. I need her not in this show actually.

Oh the show wasn’t over yet. There’s a little bit at the end. Oooohhh this is so on the nose it hurts. I get it. But dear god. This show’s writing has no subtlety whatsoever. It’s like “I need to smack all viewers upside the head with this giant hammer that says MESSAGE on it!” I GET IT. Damn this show really wants to try to do all of our thinking for us. The problem is that it isn’t doing it well. The message you are beating us over the head with should match the story you’re telling. And it’s not. Not quite. Close but not quite.

Oh and it’s paired with product placement. Message with an ad!

Oh I’m gonna hate next week’s episode. Good thing I probably won’t be liveblogging it! I might but the odds are not in liveblog’s favor. I am now gonna go and do/watch something that I actually enjoy and talk to people I love.