#I'm also just realising that it should go on until at least halloween which feels appropriate lol

[somegrumpynerd]

Time for a new toy!

Looks like blanket pulled ahead this time! It was supposed to be paper but, oh well. Tomorrow there will be a blanket in the garden!

Okay, let's try this again...

Oh, I've never seen one of the options get glitched out twice, and why is the text so fancy? I wonder what's going on with whoever's messing up the polls...

[fictional-worlds-are-exquisite]

thank you! i think you're genuinely the only person that has ever said they actually like the fact that my bathrobe is obnoxiously pink. and you're absolutely right, one of the things i like most about it is that it hurts people's eyes. i love it actually. if you ever celebrate halloween you should absolutely add your bathrobe to your costume. an amazing idea. since it has a mouse face on the hood it could be two costumes rolled into one - both a vampire and a mouse (if in the middle of the evening you get bored of one), which i think would be awesome. and you probably wouldn't get cold (is it cold in nz during halloween? because here it almost always is). we don't celebrate halloween in lithuania either though. which i'm a bit bummed about, because halloween sounds super fun. mostly because of the dressing up! but i did celebrate it once, when i was 11 or 12 maybe? me and a couple of friends decided it would be fun even if it's not really celebrated here. so we dressed up, even went trick ir treating (half the houses had no idea what was happening and also i pretty much froze to death because i was dressed as a dead bride and refused to put a coat on because then you couldn't see my dress) and also watched horror movies. 12 (or 11) year old me thought it was amazing.

oh yeah! i've broken a knife on 2 separate occasions i think. once i tried to get something out of between the blender's blades, used a knife and then accidentally turned the blender on (i'm so fucking glad it was a knife and not my fingers). so the tip of the knife broke off (the blender was ok tho). and the second time i have no idea how it happened. i was cutting up broccoli and the knife just fell apart??? i was so confused, because one second i'm holding a knife and the next it's just two pieces of a handle and the metal part, all separate. had fun explaining that to my dad. you sound pretty unlucky too! i mean, a cut every time you use a knife, but you don't even notice it at the time? i think it's just that knives are out to get us (it's my newest conspiracy theory). i actually get double vision too sometimes! mostly when i'm tired, but i just figured that it was because i have really bad eyesight

they definitely SHOULD teach about gender and sexuality in school. it's a really big problem that in a lot of places it's either not compulsory or not even in the curriculum. honestly, everything i know about sex ed or lgbtq+ i had to learn myself on the internet, because we only had one class when we were like 13 years old with a guest speaker and it was mostly biology and then a little bit about menstruation and pads for girls (i have no idea what they told boys because we were also separated). so sex ed definitely sucks a lot in my country and i bet it's the same in a lot of others, which makes me really mad

exactly!! it's so hard to tell whether i'm feeling romantic or platonic love sometimes! it's confusing. also i remember one time me and a couple of friends had a sleepover and the friend's, who was hosting, parents weren't home so we watched romance movies (scandalous i know). again we were maybe 12. and they kept going "oh he's so hot" and intensely watching the sex scenes. while i was looking away from the tv whenever sexy times were going on and commenting on how much i loved the house design and the garden. gee i wonder what that means. (still can't believe it took me this long to figure out i was ace)

the breakfast went very well though! it's so interesting how different traditions are everywhere. i hope your lunch and the rest of christmas day went well too! (also i forgot to ask last time, but what is boxing day? google says it's mostly a shopping holiday, is it that? we just call it the second day of christmas and it's pretty much the same as christmas day but there's no presents!) but yeah i hope you had fun with your extended family on boxing day!

having acid reflux sounds like it sucks. i love breakfast, it's my favourite meal of the day (when i don't have to rush that is) and i skip lunch a lot because i usually have no time for it (my schedule kinda sucks), so i usually try to have a bigger breakfast. but hey, peanut butter is good! so at least you can have something that tastes good for breakfast!

aaand i feel like this ask got away from me. sorry it's so long!

it’s because i have t a s t e. it may not be GOOD taste but it sure is...taste...and i am proud of it. and yes, i love the idea of adding my dressing gown to my costume specifically because it means i’m basically in my PJ’s. minimal effort. comfort to the max. living the dream. halfway through the night i’m tired of being the vampire no one invites in so i drop to my knees and start the mouse act. mice are good at getting in houses and getting to chocolate and such. the dream. also i absolutely would get bored of one costume within the space of a few hours knowing me, so that’s a plus. uhhhh halloween is october which is. mid-late spring so it really depends on the day. it might be a little cold, might be shorts weather. I rarely leave my house at night so I’m not an expert on nighttime temperatures sdflsdfjsd. 

I used to wish we did Halloween here but that was mostly because I wanted lollies. Although I also liked playing dress up as a young kid so maybe very young me would’ve vibed with the costume aspect. I know there’s a photo of me when I was like, 5 and my best friend of the time dressed up as witches at some point, maybe we had our own little halloween. I also possibly had a halloween themed birthday party once as a kid? I remember the little gift bags having spooky things in them and also possibly a bat cake but my memory is too bad to remember for sure. aha that’s the problem here too, no one locally would ever think to buy lollies to give out so it’d just be like um. you can have an apple I guess? at least you had fun though! i respect the commitment to the costume despite the cold. 

that is such a stressful story to read, i fear for your life. although i understand the knife breaking in that first scenario. that would be terrifying though. what if the blender launched it,,, nOPE. i’m very glad it wasn’t your fingers, that’s some horror movie shit. the second time is just,, it be like that sometimes. it was probably just waiting to happen. my parents have a cheese grater with a loose handle and it. falls off. every time. i dry it. with the dishes. and every time i fear for my life as the grating bit drops off towards my feet as i’m left holding the handle. i should expect it by now but i never do. I get scared every time it happens. knives are definitely out to get us, i fully support this conspiracy theory. oh yeah, tiredness doesn’t help with double vision. i kind of need bifocal glasses by now but I also don’t want bifocal glasses so i just suffer but I suspect having them would reduce the double vision. maybe. maybe not.

yup! i remember someone handing out tampons and pads at primary school, i assume after giving a talk about periods, idk. i do also remember a teacher pulling the girls aside and being like yo, this is what a period is, here’s a horror story about my daughter and a tampon, enjoy the trauma, go back to class. good times. we did actually get really comprehensive sex ed concerning most things at my high school but that is faaaarrr from the norm around here, clearly. although teenage boys are good at filling in gaps, in my experience. they’re like little sex encyclopedias that offer up information without you asking. i didn’t ACTUALLY want to know that but i do now, i guess, thanks michael. 

dude. the ‘oh he’s so hot’ comments are so confusing. ‘hot’ is like a category of attractiveness that I’ve never understood. ‘isn’t he hot?’ what does that MEAN rebecca. i think i asked once if it meant like, attractive or good looking. and the person i asked was like, you know, hot. you just look at them and, you know- no i don’t know. what is this. i don’t think i’ve ever watched a sex scene with people my age though, generally i just zone out for them sdkfhskdfh. i feel like there’s definitely all these indicators when you look back like oh yeah, should’ve realised i was ace then, but it’s just. such a hard sexuality to figure out. not that other sexualities aren’t but you’ve got to figure out an absence of something when you don’t even know what the something feels like- it’s a challenge.

I’m glad it did! It is interesting, for sure. I’ve always been interested in how winter Christmas’s work. As a young kid I didn’t understand hemispheres...obviously...i was like 5...and i’d go out on Christmas morning to see if there was snow. and sometimes it’d be a bit chilly in the morning and I’d be like damn. we almost had some this year. it’s a shame our climate tends to be too hot for snow on christmas :// like no you tiny dumbass it’s summer you little idiot there will be no snow no matter what. everything ended up going super well here :). boxing day is basically just a shopping holiday, i don’t know if it has any significance in any other way, i’m sure it did at one point, but i know there’s always boxing day sales everywhere. I think it’s also a public holiday (?) to give people another day off work and that, but I could be wrong there. I know I also used to regularly go to the races (horse races) nearby that were always held on boxing day, it was like a 150 year old tradition or something until people in attendance started dropping and I think they finally shut it down a couple years back. I didn’t care all that much about the horses but they also had food and carnival-type rides and such for the kids which is why I loved it. also we tended to meet extended family there for a picnic lunch.

acid reflux is like the least of my problems sdfkjshdkf. it’s annoying but it’s pretty managed with medication, I have to watch certain foods and drinks but I’m used to it by now. I think it’s also what causes me to not be able to eat large amounts normally so I survive a lot on snacks and a reasonable sized dinner. works for me. but peanut butter is good! i’m glad i can have that! I used to also have vegemite but that’s a bit more of a push, it’s easier to stick with peanut butter.

also it’s fine!! my responses are always very long too sdfjhskdf.

[justapotatonow]

Sunshine boy ch.3

Summary: Lucas and Y/n have been best friends for a long time, so what will happen when there's trouble in paradise and a new person enters their lives

Masterlist

You woke up still feeling tired because of the sleepless night Jungwoo caused you. You wondered how it hasn't come up in the conversation that he's a literal millionaire. You got dressed, ate breakfast with Kevin and headed out. Lucas usually picks you up and you drive to school together, but you weren't in the mood today, so you told him to go to school without you.

The first few classes went by unusually fast, and before you knew it, it was time for lunch. You grabbed your wallet and went to grab something to eat from the cafeteria. As you were standing in line someone tapped you on your shoulder. You turned around and saw Jungwoo scolding a handsome brunette.

"Oh hi Jungwoo" you smiled brightly at him.

"Hey" he laughed sheepishly.

"Thanks for inviting me to hang out with you and your friends, I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too" he smiled, and your heart, beat just a little bit faster.

You bought yourself some crisps and a smoothie, "I'll see you later then"

"See you later Y/n"

This time you avoided Lucas' table and rushed to where Kevin was sitting. "Hey, guys, what's up?

"Oh nothing," your friend Minho smirked "just watching you flirt with that dude over there," he said pointing at Jungwoo.

"He's her new boyfriend"

"kEVIN, no he's not my boyfriend"

"But you want him to be" added your friend Mingyu.

You just started eating your crisps as the boys kept teasing you about your "boyfriend".

"So who is this 'boyfriend' you're talking about?" you heard a familiar voice so you looked up from the bag of crisps. "It's no one Lucas. Chill"

"Alright then. You wanna hang out later? The guys and I wanted to check out the new place downtown."

"Sorry I have plans already. Maybe next time." you said smiling sweetly at him. He rolled his eyes and walked back to his table where his girlfriend was already draping herself over him.

"What was that? You could cut the tension with a knife" Minho asked.

"Its nothing honestly, he stood me up yesterday and blah blah its a long story," you said as you looked at your phone "that Kevin can tell you because I have 3 minutes until my next class starts." you said swiftly packing up your belongings and rushing to your next class. "Bye guys love you" you shouted out as a goodbye.

Finally, it was your last class. It was only 20 more minutes until you could see Jungwoo again. Okay, you admit maybe you were crushing on him a little bit. But you didn't really know the guy so who knows maybe he's some weirdo who steals women's shoes. Or maybe he exclusively eats cereal in his bathtub. You were so caught up in your own thoughts, you didn't realise that the class already ended, until someone snapped their fingers in front of your face. You looked up and it was the handsome brunette Jungwoo was shouting at earlier.

"Do you not want to hang out with us that badly that you'd rather stay in an empty classroom?"

"Wha-oH shit I'm late fuck," you hurriedly packed your stuff while mumbling profanities under your breath. When you were ready to go, you realised that the guy was still there.

"Are you Jaehyun by any chance?"

"In the flesh, honey."

"I'm Y/n, it's nice to meet you Jaehyun"

"Nice to meet you too Y/n, should we get going? The guys are waiting for us at the front entrance"

"Sure" you said as you both started walking towards the entrance.

"So you're the one who texted me yesterday huh?" He laughed and said that it was indeed him who set this meeting up.

"Yeah, but only because Jungwoo wouldn't stop talking about you. I think

he really likes you, you know?"

"Really? Wow, well I'm not going to lie and say I haven't thought about him since yesterday."

Jaehyun smiled "I think you two should get some alone time, otherwise, how are you gonna find out if he exclusively eats cereal in his bathtub."

Your face turned bright red "How in the world?"

"Well the cartoon you drew was hard to miss" he laughed "you're pretty creative"

"I like to think so" you smiled.

Lucas was just walking to his car when he heard his best friends laughter. He looked around the corner and saw her laughing with some guy. He definitely wasn't one of her friends, none of them had the same hair colour. He admits that he can be quite protective over Y/n but he's just looking out for her. At least that's what he tells himself. He then thinks back to the conversation he had with Y/n earlier. Was that her boyfriend? But she would tell him something like that right? Did she not want to hang out with him because of that guy? The thought made him angry and he stormed off to his car, eager to get back o his house, slamming the door as he got into the car and sped off.

Jaehyun and I arrived at the front entrance where Jungwoo was waiting with two other guys one of them looked quite short compared to Jungwoo and the other guy who was also very tall but looked more mature than the rest of them.

As soon as they saw us walking towards them the two guys walked towards us and embraced both of us in hugs, Jungwoo stayed behind and as you got closer, you saw that his face has turned a bright shade of red. "Johnny! Ten! You're gonna crush her."

"Jungwoo it's fine," you said laughing at the unexpected affection.

He looked down embarrassed by his friends' actions "Shall we get going? We can take my car" proposed Johnny. All 5 of you jumped when you heard a car door being slammed and the sound of a car speeding off "idiot" Ten mumbled and everyone silently agreed with him.

The guys started walking towards spot where you saw an expensive-looking black Mercedes. You thought about Kevin's words "they're one of the richest guys on campus" and wondered why they even invited you.

"It's gonna be a little tight back there, sorry I'm not used to driving 5 people around." Johnnys words brought you back to reality.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," you said.

Well, it wasn't. You were squished between Jungwoo and Jaehyun, Jaehyuns arm was draped across the headrest and you were having breathing problems because of how close you were to Jungwoo. Thankfully the ride wasn't long and when you finally arrived at the restaurant you got out of the car faster than ever.

You sat next to Jungwoo, across Jaehyun. The afternoon was soon filled with the guys telling you embarrassing stories like that one-time Jungwoo dressed as Rose from titanic on Halloween. They even showed you pictures and videos of him dancing in the costume. Johnny was also rambling about his dad inventing coffee by spilling coffee beans on a rock. Which made you laugh so hard, you almost fell out of your chair.

Yours and Jungwoos hands brushed a couple of times and it made you both blush every time.

When the sky got dark the guys suggested going on a walk to which you agreed to because you ate way too much and needed to burn some calories.

Johnny, Jaehyun and Ten walked ahead of Jungwoo and you to give you guys some time to talk alone.

"I had a great time tonight Jungwoo"

"Me too, uh listen," he said stopping and turning to face you "wanna, like- I mean, If you're not busy ... we could get lunch? You know uh alone this-this time" it was so cute how nervous he was.

"I'd love that," you said smiling sweetly at him.

"Wait really? Woah okay uh is Saturday okay?"

"It's perfect"

"Great. Cool, I'll pick you up at six?"

"Okay, I'll text you the address later"

He was smiling so brightly you thought you're gonna be blind. You started walking forwards slowly and Jungwoo was still not moving so you gently took his hand in yours and led him to the car with red cheeks.

Johnny dropped you off later and you thanked him for the wonderful day.

As soon as you stepped into your apartment Kevin, Minho and Mingyu wanted to know everything about your 'date'. So you told them how it went and you told them about your one on one date with Jungwoo on Saturday. "Aww our little Y/n-ie is growing up so fast," said Minho wiping away fake tears.

"Alright, guys I'm gonna shower and go to bed," you said grabbing water out of the fridge. "Can I join you" shouted Minho.

"Come on then, pretty boy," you said smirking. Minho was always the flirty friend but it would never go past some innocent remarks. Okay maybe once at a party but only once. It's one of the reasons why Lucas didn't like your "other" friend group, and you were careful not to mix them.

You didn't realise how tired you were until you laid in bed. You fell asleep almost immediately after your head hit the pillow.

[bow-woahh]

From the Halloween Prompt List: 41 "What are you?", 55 "I'm the tall dark stranger your parents warned you about." and 64 "Vampires aren't real though." :D please.

Sink my teeth to save you

“How did...what are you?”

The stranger stroked her chin, pondering something, then said, “Well, I’m the tall dark stranger your parents warned you about," flashing her abnormally sharp fang like teeth, almost in a grin, though it felt more like she was just showing off.

TW: blood and (an almost) assault

(read under the cut or click the title to read on ao3)

[[MORE]]

It was late. Definitely past midnight. Arguably, it was too late for a 'good looking girl' like Adora to be out at this time, on her own. How else was she meant to spend her Friday night with no one around to keep her company? She decided she didn't need friends for tonight, just some dingy bar music, and one too many shots. It was practically the same thing. 

A couple guys had tried to hit on her, but she made it very clear she was not in the mood, or attracted to them in any sense of the word. 

If only a hot girl could come along. 

 

And a hot girl she got. The next time she looked up from the deep depths of her (5th?) shot glass, a couple stools away from her was the most beautiful woman she had ever laid her eyes on. 

Brown, tanned skin; long luscious curls that she could only dream of how soft they felt; tight black skinny jeans, and leather jacket tying the outfit together. Her eyes were striking, one blue, another practically golden and her demeanour screamed a careless and cocky don’t fuck with me.

 God. 

Awestruck, Adora felt as though she was short circuiting.

 Adora being Adora, however, had no clue how to approach this, approach her. So all she did was stare, until the girl looked in her direction, then she whipped her head back to her empty glass, calling the bartender for another drink.

 Over the next ten minutes, Adora could of sworn the girl had looked in her direction, most definitely at her, multiple times, yet made no move to talk to her. It was disappointing to say the least.

If I don’t make a move, who will?

Alas, no matter how many times she told herself this however, she couldn’t break the stalemate of secret staring. She continued to watch the girl, and the girl continued to watch her as they knocked down drinks sequentially.

Once Adora was past being slightly buzzed, she checked her phone, and was greeted with a couple of messages from her friends who were out of town, and the fact it was nearly 2am.

Sighing, Adora knew her time was up, and that she’d probably never see that beautiful brunette again, so she paid for the last of her drinks and gathered her things, defeated. Unable to control herself, she stole one more glance at the girl, who was now on her phone, immersed with something else. Adora took this as a sign from the universe that she had no chance, and finally made her exit. 

Since she lived so close, there was no point in calling an Uber— even if it was late, Adora was drunk, and pretty, blah blah blah…

 Rolling her eyes, she started walking, completely unaware of the figure behind her.

Then, just a couple minutes into her journey, right as she passed an alleyway, someone was grabbing her from behind, hand over her mouth to muffle any cries for help.

“Help!” She tried to say, but it was a futile attempt, voice muffled by his palms.

 

Whoever this was was taller than her, bigger too. Dragging her into the alleyway, Adora met the wall with a thud, and was now face to face with the captor.

“What’s someone like you doing out so late, sweetie?” His voice with low, full of something that made Adora shudder as his fingers brushed against her cheek. 

“Let go of me!” Adora demanded calmly, despite the fact she felt her blood pumping at the speed of light, and that she so desperately wanted this to stop, so desperately wanted to go home.

“Okay...you can get what you want, when I get what I want.” Leaning in closer, Adora fought the urge to try and move away, and was forced to inhale his rancid breath.

“And what is that?” She could feel her voice wavering. 

That’s when one hand moved to grip her waist, when he said, “I saw you in the bar, playing hard to get, yet you’re here all alone, so how about I—”

Thud.

 

And this time, it wasn’t her body slamming into the wall, it was his, onto the floor, with blood pouring out of his neck. Letting out a gasp, she backed away from the body, deeper into the alley, and once she looked up from the ground (from his body) she was met with the face of the person who had to be behind this.

Her?

The brunette smiled as she stepped over the body to get to Adora, coming face to face with her for the first time tonight, even though Adora did not think the universe wanted this to happen. 

“D-did you just…” Adora stuttered out, pointing at the limp body on the floor, and the small pool of blood around him. 

“Yes. Your welcome,” the girl said, bluntly, as if this was something normal, regular for her. 

Adora’s eyes widened in horror, and just as she was about to clasp a hand over her mouth, the stranger grabbed her wrist and said, “oh, stop being a baby, he’s not dead, just unconscious, he’ll be back in a few.”

“Oh,” Adora sighed, letting her wrist fall to her side.

She looked past the girl once more, to examine the body closer. Only his neck was bleeding, and it looked like—

“How did... what are you?” Adora asked, looking the brunette dead straight in the eye; so focused, so determined to get an answer, but the girls mismatched eyes were mesmerising, making her forget, sucking her in.

The stranger stroked her chin, pondering something, then said, “Well, I’m the tall dark stranger your parents warned you about," flashing her abnormally sharp fang like teeth, almost in a grin, though it felt more like she was just showing off. 

Adora rolled her eyes at the ludicrousness of the comment, retorting back with, “What? A vampire?” 

Gravely, slowly, the girl nodded, without an ounce of warmth in her eyes, and in that moment, Adora could tell she was serious.

Mouth hanging open, she began to speak again. "Vampires aren't real though." Her reply was frank, matter of fact, but also slow, as if she was debating whether or not that statement was true— the person in front of her said otherwise.

Tutting, the brunette said, "They very much are, princess— and I’m one of ‘em.”

Staring in disbelief, Adora couldn’t think of much else to say, so she allowed her alcohol addled mind to take charge for a little while, asking, “so...Miss Vampire, you got a name?”

At that, the girl chuckled, hand outstretched as she said, “Catra.”

Adora took the hand, and gave it a sloppy shake, repeating the name, “Catra” to herself. “I like it— Catra...has a nice ring to it.” She said with a lazy smile.

“What’s yours then, or should I just keep calling you princess?” Catra asked in return, but Adora was more focused on the latter end of the sentence. It was the second time Catra had said it, but only the first time it was getting through to Adora and her brain’s slower processing. 

 “Huh?” She said when she finally realised the question needed to be answered. “Oh! Adora, it’s...yeah, Adora.”

 “Wow, even your name is endearing,” Catra replied almost deadpan, and for some reason, that made Adora like her even more, despite the impending danger she should of felt. 

“I saw you—” Adora began, “checking me out inside.”

 “Well, I saw you checking me out in there too. So I’d say it was mutual.” Another grin.

 “Why...why did you follow me out? Why didn’t you speak to me in there?” Adora asked, burning for answers. 

Pausing to think, Catra let out a sigh before answering. “I don’t know. I’m not very good with humans, or girls, or human girls, so when you were checking me out, I didn’t know how to approach it, you know, that maybe this pretty girl staring was all in my head. Then you left, I followed — which I admit is...not great, but I thought, ‘just in case’ and I was right so—”

 “You’re not going to kill me?” Adora was relieved that Catra didn’t seem like she wanted to drink her blood, but also shocked at the fact that even Catra, a vampire was also equally as nervous to approach someone as her. 

 “What? I— no, we have morals, you realise that, right?” Catra replied, clearly a little offended.

“Well then...that’s good,” Adora said smiling softly at the ground.

Adora knew she should of been scared to death right now, weary of this - mesmerising - stranger who she stood in front of, who had just rendered a grown man unconscious; but she couldn’t find it in her to be fearful of the girl. In fact, Catra felt familiar to her, alluring, and maybe it was the fact she was still drunk, but she wanted to know more, know Catra more.

"How about we…” On impulse, Adora grabbed Catra’s hand, playing with her fingers as she said, “...continue this conversation— at my house?"

Catra grinned, flashing her fangs once more.

End

[justa-fangirl]

"I'm not wearing that!"

Thanks, Anon! Sorry it’s like a day late, I didn’t get your ask until it was too late for me to write last night.

Also, this ended up being 1657 words. What the actual fuck?

Characters: Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak

Summary: Richie and Eddie make a bet.

TIme period is reader’s choice. Could be 60s, 90s or beyond. Whatever floats your…nevermind. I don’t like that metaphor anymore.

It was only a matter of time before Richie and Eddie’s cruel and friendly banter devolved into cruel and friendly bets. They were weirdly competitive around each other, and loved to show each other up and see the other humiliated. In fact, they probably would have bet on absolutely everything from sunup to sundown and beyond – if only Richie weren’t such a shameless cheater.

He was always miraculously winning their bets thanks to little loopholes which no normal person would think to exploit, and Eddie swiftly learnt that they should set down very specific rules before he accepted a bet.

But sometimes he was so swept up in the moment and wiping the smug smirk off Richie’s face that he would forget. And he usually paid for it dearly.

Today was one of those days.

They were on their way to Bill’s house one afternoon in late September, and Richie stopped as the Denbrough residence finally appeared in the distance.

‘I bet I can beat you to Bill’s house,’ he said casually.

‘What do you get if you win?’ Eddie asked, the question coming automatically as part of this new routine.

‘You have to dress up as whatever I want for Halloween.’

The answer came so fast that Eddie knew Richie had had it prepared. Usually their rewards were spur of the moment ideas, but the gleam in Richie’s eyes made it clear he really wanted this. What horrible idea was he cooking in that brain of his…

‘What do I get if I win?’ Eddie asked, hesitantly. He was already sure he didn’t want to accept, humiliation be damned. Richie would tease him for turning down a good bet, but some things just weren’t worth the risk.

‘I have to dress up as whatever you want for Halloween.’

Eddie laughed, but as he mulled it over he realised that didn’t sound too bad, not bad at all. He may not have a master plan in the back of his mind like Richie obviously did, but it was a whole month till Halloween and Eddie was sure he could think of something suitably humiliating to shut Richie up once and for all. He knew Richie was planning to have a Halloween party at his house with other kids from school – if he had to host dressed up in some ludicrous costume of Eddie’s choosing, everyone would know once and for all that Eddie was the master of their little bets.

It turned out some things were just too good to pass up. And in his excitement, Eddie forgot to ask for a clear set of rules.

‘Okay,’ he said, sticking out his hand.

Richie shook it, and then pushed Eddie hard into someone’s garden bush, instantly dashing off towards Bill’s house with a wicked cackle. He made it to Bill’s front door while Eddie was still trying to disentangle himself from the prickly branches and twigs that had scratched him raw.

The Losers were most unsympathetic.

‘It’s not funny,’ Eddie insisted, as everyone laughed at him.

‘When are you going to learn?’ Bill asked.

‘I have learnt! I just…forget sometimes…’

‘But just yesterday he bet you couldn’t beat him in a thumb war, and then he kicked you in the shin and slammed your thumb down while you were distracted in pain,’ Mike reminded him. ‘And I think I remember you saying you weren’t going to play these dumb games with him anymore if he kept cheating like that.’

Eddie opened his mouth to defend himself but Stan piped up.

‘I liked the one where you bet Richie couldn’t make you jump, and then he didn’t do anything for five days because you hadn’t specifically said what the deadline was for the bet.’

‘That wasn’t funny!’ Eddie snapped. ‘I was scared shitless that whole week!’

‘I know, it was hilarious.’

Halloween arrived, and with it Eddie felt a sense of dread, like the world might actually be ending.

He walked up the Toziers’ front steps like a man condemned, and knocked listlessly on the front door.

Richie flung it open as if he’d been waiting on the other side. He may well have been - Eddie knew he’d been as thrilled for this day to come as Eddie had been dreading it. Richie was never any good at keeping secrets, and it looked like it had been physically paining him to keep Eddie’s costume to himself the past few weeks.

Well, now the big day had finally arrived. At least it would be over soon, and then Eddie could asses the damage and decide just how far away he needed to move so he never had to see anyone from school ever again.

Eddie finally managed to drift back to life through his morbid thoughts, and finally took in Richie’s appearance. He was dressed very smart, in a nice jacket and bowtie, with his slacks neatly pressed. He looked more put together than Eddie had probably ever seen him.

He was also beaming with such a wide smile Eddie, in his dark and sour mood, was almost blinded.

‘Buddy Holly,’ he acknowledged, begrudgingly impressed.

‘The one and only!’ Richie agreed, dragging Eddie inside his front hallway. ‘And you, my friend, are all I need to make the look complete!’

‘What are you talking about?’ Eddie sighed, defeatedly.

Richie picked up a long piece of strangely-shaped cardboard that had been propped against the wall. Actually, it was two pieces of cardboard, Eddie noticed as they flapped together, connected loosely at the top by two strips of duct tape. And then Richie flipped the cardboard, turning it inside out, and presented it proudly for Eddie’s inspection and admiration. And Eddie realised it was only plain cardboard on the inside. On the outside, it was beautifully painted to look like a shiny Fender Strat.

‘Bill made that, didn’t he,’ Eddie said.

‘He only cut and painted it,’ said Richie, blithely. ‘I did most of the work: finding the cardboard,  putting the duct tape on, all that stuff.’

‘Uh-huh,’ Eddie nodded. ‘I’m not wearing that.’

‘What?!’ Richie exclaimed, looking scandalised. He looked down at the cardboard guitar as if he couldn’t imagine why anyone would turn it down. ‘Why don’t you want to wear it?’

‘I don’t know. I just know this is a trap of some kind.’

Richie clutched the hand-made sandwich-board fixing Eddie with a calculating look, and Eddie just crossed his arms and stared back.

And then Richie was lunging at him, trying to get a grip on Eddie and slip the sandwich-board over his head. Eddie kicked and fought to get out of Richie’s hold, whipping his head around so Richie couldn’t get the makeshift sandwich board over his head.

‘Eddie! Careful! You’re gonna break it! I worked really hard on this!’

For some unknown reason—some treacherous sense of common decency—Eddie stopped struggling. He could tell Richie really did care about this stupid guitar thing, and he knew he’d feel guilty if he accidentally broke the cardboard and ruined all Richie’s hard work when he was so close to seeing his plans come to life. They may not be nice plans, and they may spell nothing good for Eddie Kaspbrak, but somehow Eddie still couldn’t bring himself to crush Richie’s dreams. So he decided to humour him for now, and let Richie slip the cardboard over his head. The strips of duct tape sat on his shoulders, so the front side of the Fender was draped down over Eddie’s chest, while the side that was painted liked the shiny back of the guitar hung behind him. The head of the guitar sat under Eddie’s chin, and the neck ran down to his waist, with the body ending around his thighs. Richie gave him a critical once over, and added some duct tape around the sides so the two halves didn’t flap around and sway too much if Eddie moved.

Eddie crossed his arms over his chest again, careful not to crush the narrow neck of the cardboard Fender, and glared at Richie as best he could while feeling so completely compromised.

Richie was looking at him, his magnified eyes almost as big as flashlights, and just as bright. ‘It’s perfect!’ he sighed, dreamily.

‘What are you up to, Richie? I know this can’t be as innocent as it seems.’

Suddenly, Eddie found himself being spun round and pushed sideways, and he screamed as he clutched blindly at whatever he could grab onto as he fell to the ground.

But he wasn’t falling. He seemed to be dangling at an angle, held up by an awkward grip on his shoulder and hip.  

He opened his eyes to find himself looking up at Richie Tozier, who was smiling down at him with a smile so benevolent Eddie couldn’t help but distrust it. Eddie’s arms were wrapped around Richie’s neck and he withdrew them quickly to cross them over his chest again when he realised suddenly that Richie was dipping him, like they were at a cheesy dance or something.

‘I don’t want any part of whatever this is,’ he said, hoping he sounded threatening. But he didn’t think so from the way Richie’s eyes continued to sparkle.

‘Well, too bad for you,’ said Richie. ‘Because tonight there’ll be nooooo heeesitatin’, oh boy!’ he sang loudly right into Eddie’s ear, strumming the fake strings painted across the cardboard at Eddie’s waist.

‘Oh boy…’ Eddie echoed, smiling through his returning sense of dread.

So he was just here to get manhandled by Richie all night long, was that it? And yes, sure enough, Richie was suddenly picking him up bodily off the floor to try holding him like a proper guitar.

‘Damn, this might not work! You’re heavier than you look, Eds!’

Well, it was going to be a long night, but Eddie decided to count himself lucky. He knew it could have been a lot worse.

[rumaan]

For the Halloween prompt! I'm not such a big fan of halloween, but I found this and I think it would be perfect for yousana :)) - scaring each other Thank you!

Okay, so I changed this prompt to accidentally scaring the wrong person...I hope that’s okay!

Set in Halloween of S3

Also on AO3

The sound of a scream had Sana grinning wickedly. She’d beenpatiently waiting for her brother to return and find the gruesome scene thatshe’d prepared in the front room. With their parents away for the weekend tocelebrate their wedding anniversary, she’d been able to go to town on all thedetails with no one there to rein her in.

It was a tradition now that the two youngest Bakkoushs wouldtry and scare each other as much as possible in the build up to Halloween. Ithad started years ago when Elias had placed a load of plastic cockroaches inher bed, knowing how much she hated them and was scared of how they seemed totag team up against you. Or least the ones in Morocco did. That had earned Eliasa week of washing up duty but he had deemed it worth it. Ever since then theBakkoush Halloween Scare Fest had been on.

However, this year she’d gone all out to get her own backfor his evil prank on her last year when he lurked dramatically in the cornerof Sana’s room dressed in a dark robe with fucking cloven feet and she’d wokenup in the night and screamed the place down certain that there was a djinn inher bedroom.

Scampering out of bed and quickly wrapping a hijab aroundher head just in case Elias had one of his friends in tow, Sana gleefully madeher way to the book room ready to cackle at him. When she got there, she saw afigure bending over her ‘dead’ body. Grinning widely, she exclaimed, “Gotcha!”

However, the face that turned around to face her wasn’tElias at all, but his best friend Yousef. A pale and shaking Yousef, which shehadn’t bargained for when she’d staged a bloody murder scene complete with amannequin version of herself lying face down in a pool of blood.

“Oh my God, Sana!” he exhaled with clear relief in his voiceas he hurriedly got to his feet, strode quickly towards her and wrapped her upin his arms.

Confused, she remained stiff for a moment, but the warmth ofhis embrace along with how good he smelt had her melting into the hug as shetwined her arms around his waist. She could feel his chest shaking as hedragged in deep shuddering breaths and clutched her tightly to him. There was abrief press of his lips onto the top of her head and she was sure she shoulddrag herself away from him but it felt so good to be surrounded by him. Therevelation stunned her and had her heart beating heavily in her chest as sherealised just what that meant.

For the past couple of weeks, Sana had been more aware ofYousef. It had started when he’d returned from Turkey with tanned skin thatmade his eyes seem an even deeper brown and caused his smile to sparkle evenmore. She hadn’t even realised just how much she’d missed his presence in herhouse until he was back, asking her if she wanted to play basketball with themor knocking on her door and asking if she wanted some tea as he was making apot for the rest of the boys. Then there was the way her chest as swelled as he’dshyly given her a box of Turkish Delight from Hacı Bekir and explained that he remembered how muchshe’d liked the box he’d brought back for the Bakkoushs the year before andwanted to bring her more back. She’d dismissed the feelings as nothing morethan fondness for her brother’s oldest and best friend.

However, with how relaxed she felt in his arms it wasclearly more than that and she tucked her head into the crook of his neck,closing her eyes and revelling in the sensation of being so close to him.

“I thought you were dead,” he murmured into her ear. “Thatyou were dead and I never told you just how much you meant to me.”

“What I mean to you?” she queried, her breath brushingagainst the skin on his neck and she smiled as he shivered in response.

Yousef pulled back then and cupped her face in both hishands, his eyes met hers and she got lost in the intense expression in them. “I’vehad the biggest crush on you for over a year now,” he confessed.

“You have?”

“Yeah. It’s kind of embarrassing just how much I adore you.”

Sana stared at him entranced by his words and the delightthat washed through her at him.

“And then I walked in here tonight,” he said before he brokeoff and took another shuddering breath. “I thought you were gone and my heartbroke.”

“I’m sorry,” she said in a heartfelt tone. “It was meant tobe for Elias. To get him back for making me think there was a djinn in my roomlast year.”

He tugged her close again, resting his cheek on top of herhead and said, “I’m just glad you’re okay. Please don’t scare me like thatagain.”

“I won’t,” she promised as she listened to the soothingsound of his heartbeat and realised how devastated she’d feel if she neverheard it again.

“Wow,” Elias said behind them a few moments later. “When Igave you my keys to come up instead of waiting in the cold for me, I didn’trealise you’d take that as an invitation to hit on my sister.”

Embarrassed at being caught embracing, they disentangledthemselves from each other and turned to face Elias, who was watching them withan amused expression on his face. His eyes then wandered around the room andhis eyebrows rose as he nodded his head, clearly impressed.

“You really went to town, sis. No wonder Yousef finally gotup the guts to ask you out.”

“Er,” Yousef said. “I hadn’t quite gotten there yet.”

Rolling his eyes, Elias said, “I’m going to the kitchenthen. I’ll be back in ten minutes so don’t get any ideas!”

Waiting until Elias was out of sight, Yousef turned back toSana and said, “So, can I take you on a date?”

[fictional-worlds-are-exquisite]

i dunno, a grey bathrobe with a mouse face on the hood seems pretty fitting for a vampire. mine is bright pink tho and when i say bright i mean it's neon pink. my family hates it, literally anyone who sees it hates it. it's my favourite thing. the best buy i've ever made

your teacher is wild. they have run out of fucks to give. oh a ten year old is asking me for a frying pan? seems reasonable, let me go get one

oh and definitely. me and a knife? nope, would not recommend, -5000/10. it's why i don't cook. i mostly just bake stuff, because that usually doesn't involve cutting things up. i stopped counting all the times i had an accident with a knife, because i couldn't keep count. it's just that every goddamn time i take a knife in my hands i either cut myself or break the knife. sometimes both. i have however somehow magically avoided needing to go to the hospital every single time, so i'm not sure whether to call myself lucky or unlucky. (i'm still leaning towards the unlucky, because this sucks)

they told you about different sexualities in health class? that's so cool! i wish they did that here. i bet it would help a lot of people! also you were definitely very oblivious about your crush! but i can't say anything because me too. even now that i know i'm panromantic i still spent months thinking that those are most definitely platonic feelings i'm feeling for this girl. butterflies in my stomach? being just so goddamn happy when i'm around her? wanting to hold her hand? those are friend feelings right? (also she sometimes sends me nudes and i constantly mess up while trying to react like a normal person to them. one time i just replied asking whether she bought new shower curtains and then spent the next couple of minutes banging my head against the wall because even my asexual ass realised that that was probably the wrong thing to say)

anyways...

well, it's definitely different this year, celebrating christmas, but it's still fun, christmas eve went well and i'm pretty excited for christmas breakfast tomorrow, because it's always my favorite part! so yeah! thank you, that was very nice! ❤️

excellent, if halloween was a thing here i’d take that into account and add it to my vampire costume. halloween is not a thing here though so i guess i’ll just wear it down to the shops with some vamp teeth idk. also that sounds incredible. i love obnoxiously bright things. if it hurts people’s eyes then i’m doing something right. i am going against the masses and saying i love it.

i know right? he was from Germany, I think, and possibly quite new to the country and the nz education system (or at least, we...didn’t really learn anything that year...he just kind of let us play on the computers a lot...it must’ve been his first year teaching) so maybe he just figured that was chill in nz schools. a fair enough assumption considering the chaos of children.

oh geez. that does not sound good. at least you haven’t had to go to hospital yet though, that’s a plus. but it does sound awfully unlucky. it seems that whenever i come near a knife i find a cut on me afterwards. not like, a big cut. not even a cut that bleeds, normally. but just like the tiniest shallow cut ever. I have no idea how I manage it each time. it’s not b a d exactly it’s just alarming that i never notice it at the time. I also get a bit of double vision sometimes and I’ve noticed that when I’m trying to cut something precisely like vegetables I’ll struggle to see exactly where the knife is and well...I just go very slow and keep my fingers far away. I don’t trust my eyesight one bit. very impressive that you manage to break the KNIFE though, I’ve never done that. Bent many spoons real bad in my time tryna get ice cream but no knife deconstruction here. 

oh yeah! they did. I figured it was just a normal thing to teach in nz high schools and I was like wow. sure is great here! uhhh turns out no. Once I hit uni and took a gender and sexuality class and spoke with my classmates, it turned out that very very VERY few of them ever had that kind of thing brought up in health class. Hell, some of them were like we basically got taught abstinence (although they mostly then pointed to the religious nature of their schools, I guess that’s a trend). I was a little shocked some schools skipped sex ed that bad. Then earlier this year I did some research into the nz health curriculum for a presentation for an english class and like. it’s IN the curriculum. if you dig deep enough for this info. It’s just that what’s in the curriculum isn’t exactly compulsory. Which is a problem. Because then it only gets taught if the teacher decides to. For example, my younger sister (by roughly 3 years) attended the same high school as me but she never got any discussion of sexualities or gender identities or whatever in health class. It comes down to the teacher and I hate that so much. it SHOULD be taught to everyone, everywhere, it sure did help me. ANYWAY. i’ve already gone on this rant many times I will stop here

I’m glad it’s not just me in this boat haha. platonic...romantic...i mean who really knows the difference until it’s been 6 months and actually, now that you think about it, maybe there’s something funny going on here. o h n o. what lovely shower curtains! where’d you get them? oh n o. i feel like i’ve been sent a nude once before by a straight friend (who was a girl) who did not know I was queer and I was. how do straight people respond to this. respectfully i am looking only at your face so i don’t make you uncomfortable is actually not what i should be doing here, clearly. you...sure do have a body...good job! that’s...some good looking flesh! i- thank god this has never happened again. i would not be any better. 

I’m glad you still had fun and I hope the breakfast ended up going well! A Christmas breakfast sounds interesting. I feel that’s a whole different area of foods to make something nice out of, I’m so used to special lunches and literally nothing else, breakfast foods seem fun.