#Jesus Christ get your executives together

[cryptidnest]

The port Mafia is ADHD cause all its executives are disfunctional :-P

[anonymusbosch]

love to be employed and watch remarkable numbers of people in management or executive level positions be wildly incapable of things like "prioritization" or "foresight" or "organization" or "people skills" or "hiring women" or "having a backbone" or "firing people who are so bad they make other people quit"

[honeyedmiller]

Holidays With the Millers

a firefighter!joel miller x f!reader drabble

series masterlist

rating: explicit. 18+, minors do not interact.

warnings: fluff, a lil surprise, illusions to smut but none actually described.

word count: 1.9k

synopsis: your first of many holidays in the miller household is better than you could’ve ever expected.

a/n: happy holidays everyone 🤍

The holidays at the Miller household are… well, chaotically organized, to say the least. 

Turns out, Joel and Tommy put Sarah in charge years ago because they weren’t going to get in the way of a then-eleven-year-old who had a bright vision in mind but couldn’t execute it without the aid of her dad and uncle. 

Three years later, her curly hair bounces every which way as her bright green eyes scan the handiwork you’ve all done with a thorough inspection. 

You can’t help but want to laugh as you, Joel, Maria and Tommy all stand in a line—military style—as she looks between her checklist and the decorations that are hung up brilliantly. 

Once that familiar bright smile shines at all four of you, you know you’re in the clear. 

“Great job this year guys! Gotta give most credit to the ladies though,” Sarah snickers, and Tommy rolls his eyes while Joel barks a laugh. 

“Glad we passed the inspection, madam. Now get your keister upstairs and finish puttin’ your donations in the box I gave you,” Joel says, raising an eyebrow at Sarah. 

She salutes him with a giggle. “Sir, yes sir.” 

Joel had explained to you a couple of weeks back that the entirety of the fire stations in Austin got together and liked to do a toy drive for Christmas. It’s an annual thing, and all families of employees are welcomed to join in and volunteer. 

You went and bought a few toys and board games for the event, excited to hand them out. 

Joel looks down at his watch before looking back at everyone. “The event starts in an hour. We should get goin’ soon.” 

“You’ll be proud of me, brother. I brought my uniform with me.”

“You’re a grown ass man, Tommy. Knowing you I know Maria reminded you at least twice to not forget it.” 

Maria laughs and nudges Tommy in the ribs. “That’s exactly what happened.” 

You all laugh in unison as Tommy holds up his hands in surrender. “I got Dory brain. I don’t know what to tell y���all.” 

Joel rolls his eyes before looking at you with a smile, jerking his head toward the stairs. 

“C’mon pretty lady, let’s go finish gettin‘ ready.” 

“That’s not code for ‘let’s get a quickie in’ is it? Cus y’all really ain’t as slick as y’all think you are.” 

“Tommy!” All three of you say in unison, and your face heats before you shake your head. 

“Mind your business and focus on your own sex life, yeah?” Joel says before slapping him upside the back of his head, ushering you upstairs. You can hear Maria faintly scolding him and he just laughs before their voices drown out completely. 

“Jesus Christ, my brother is a pain in the ass,” Joel deadpans. 

You huff a laugh. “Better him than Andy and Cole. They’d say some even dumber shit and add fuel to the fire.” 

“Well,” Joel checks his watch again. “We do have an hour…” 

You give him an incredulous look. “Absolutely not, Miller. Hands to yourself.” 

He gives you a pouty look before it’s your turn to roll your eyes, heading into the bathroom to finish getting ready. 

-

You wish you would’ve taken Joel’s initial offer. You’re standing in the firehouse helping handing out the cookies you’ve made while subtly making eyes at your ridiculously handsome boyfriend in his uniform, joking with little kids while he gives out presents. 

You think back to when Joel drunkenly told you he wanted to have kids with you, and suddenly you don’t think the prospect is a little insane anymore. Of course, you want to have kids with him, but you’d at least like to be married first… and you’re only shy of half a year in a relationship with him. 

“I know that look. What are you thinking about?” Maria bumps you with her hip, and you flash her a smile. 

“How good Joel looks. How good he is with kids.” 

“Ah, the baby fever bug finally caught you huh?” 

“He’s actually the one who mentioned it. The night they went out. He came home drunk and said, and I quote, ‘we should have kids’.” 

Maria’s jaw drops as she looks between the two of you. “He didn’t.” 

“He did!” You laugh as you hand someone a cookie, smiling at the kid before looking back up to Maria. 

“Drunken words speak sober thoughts,” she says, shrugging as she wiggles her brows. 

“Right. And when’s that happening for you and Tommy?” 

“Please, that man needs to put a ring on this finger before I carry any of his children.” 

You toss your head back in a laugh. “Amen to that.” 

“Amen to what?” Joel asks, sliding up beside you. 

“Just girl talk. You all done handing out toys?” 

He eyes you and Maria suspiciously, but you toss a sweet smile his way and all seems to be forgotten. 

“Mhm. I actually came over here for a reason.” 

“And what would that be?” You quirk a brow as you put a hand on your hip. 

Joel pulls something from behind his back and hangs it over your heads. You look up to see mistletoe, and you can’t help but laugh at how adorably cheesy he is. 

“In front of all these people? You sure about that, cowboy?” You ask, putting a hand on his chest as he wraps his free hand around your waist, pulling your body flush to his. 

“You know by now I ain’t got a dang problem showin’ off my woman,” he says, inching his face closer to yours. 

His words make butterflies erupt in your stomach, and your face heats. He grins and leans in, pressing his lips to yours for a few seconds before pulling back. 

“I love you,” he says, pecking your lips twice more before moving back slightly. 

“I love you too.” 

And it hits you: for the first time in a long time, you get to spend a holiday season with your heart full of love with the most loving person. 

The lights shine a little brighter, the songs sound a little sweeter, and the Christmas magic has finally made its return back into your heart. 

-

Christmas came and went in a flash. As much as you love the holidays, it saddens you how fast they pass by. 

It was so nice to see Sarah so excited about opening her stocking and presents to see what you and Joel got her this year. She got some new makeup, clothes, and a vinyl player with some vinyls she’s been wanting. You also got her a certificate to get a manicure and pedicure done whenever she’d like to go. That sense of pure love poured into your heart when she gave you a tight hug and thanked you a bunch of times. 

You got Joel some new tools he’s been wanting, along with his favorite cologne and a few new clothing items. You also got him his absolute favorite coffee beans that he won’t allow himself to splurge on, so you decided to do it for him. 

The last gift was, in your opinion, a bit cliche, but Joel loved it. You’d bought some pretty red lacy lingerie with sparkles throughout the material and revealed yourself to him after doing your night routine in the bathroom. You gave him a much needed massage before he used his needy, skilled hands on you and gave you one hell of a blissful night as he unwrapped you like you truly are a present in itself. 

It’s New Year’s Eve now, and Tommy somehow convinces Joel to throw a party to ring in the new year. Everyone in your family is here along with a few of Joel and Tommy’s mutual friends, and you’re all chatting away while eating finger foods and sipping on drinks. 

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Eve special is playing on the flatscreen and there’s only fifteen minutes left until the clock strikes twelve. You’re chatting with your mom, Emily and Maria about Emily’s baby and how she’s doing before the conversation gets turned to Maria. 

“So how long have you and Tommy been together?” Emily asks her, sipping on her sparkling apple cider. 

“Two and a half years. Still doesn’t feel like it.” She laughs and looks over at him, her smile growing wider. 

“You think he’ll pop the question soon?” Your mom chimes in, and Maria shrugs. 

“I’m not sure, honestly. I mean, don’t get me wrong. That man has changed for the better within the past couple of years, but sometimes I have no clue what’s going on in his mind. When he thinks of something, he puts his whole heart into it and he’ll make it happen. We’ve talked about marriage before, but it’s not something that comes up too often.” 

“Maybe it’ll happen soon,” Emily says. You give her a look of confusion, but she doesn’t even meet your gaze. 

“I think I’ll probably know when it’s happening. I love that man with my whole heart but he’s terrible at keeping secrets.” 

You laugh as you glance at the countdown clock, noting that it’s only five minutes until twelve. 

Tommy comes up to Maria and wraps his arms around her shoulders, kissing her cheek as he whispers something in her ear. She nods and smiles at the three of you before standing up. 

“Ladies,” Tommy says with a smile, ushering Maria into the small sea of people. Josh finds Emily, and your mom goes to find your dad so you’re left to munch on the charcuterie board laid out in front of you. 

It isn’t until a minute before midnight that Joel comes up to you and wraps his arms around you as you stand in front him, giving your forehead a kiss as he smiles at you. You look around the room and notice Tommy and Maria are still missing. 

“Where’s Tommy and Maria?” You ask, putting a hand on Joel’s chest before your eyes scan the room once again. 

Joel smirks as he nods his head toward the backyard, and in the faint glow emitted by the Christmas lights outlines their silhouettes. Tommy’s on one knee holding something up as Maria’s hands cover her mouth, and it clicks for you. 

“Oh my god. Oh my god! You knew about this?!” 

You’re so giddy inside and you’re not even the one being proposed to. 

“Knew for a few months now,” he says with a deep chuckle. You look back over to them to see her nod her head yes before Tommy slips the ring on her finger. Your eyes well with tears as the indescribable happiness you feel for them courses through you. He leans in to kiss her passionately, and your eyes snap back to Joel. 

“Happy New Year!” Everyone shouts, startling you before you realize it’s finally twelve. 

“Happy New Year, darlin’,” Joel murmurs, tipping your chin so your lips can meet his. You wrap your arms around the back of his neck, getting so lost in his gentle kiss as your mind reels. 

So much has changed for you this year. You feel like you’ve lived twenty lives all wrapped up in three hundred and sixty five days, and falling in love was the last thing you expected. 

You’ve learned so many lessons this year, finally opened up your heart, and have taken a leap of faith that resulted in you being caught by the love of your life.

You can’t wait to see what the future holds with you and Joel, because you know it’ll be one that is full of security and love. 

You smile against his lips as you brush your hand through his thick locks, looking into his beautiful brown eyes that felt like home. That are home. 

“Happy New Year, Joel.” 

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-

divider by @saradika-graphics

[loveinhawkins]

Steve knows that it’s Eddie from the way the RV door sticks awkwardly before it opens, which makes him smile. The guy can break in and hotwire the thing, as smooth as you like, but then apparently turns into a klutz as soon as the pressure’s gone.

Eddie doesn’t notice that he’s inside at first, seems more focused on tying a few makeshift spears together with string so they don’t fall about the place. It’s only when he looks up, does a double take and says, amused, “Sorry, didn’t realise I was interrupting something,” that Steve remembers he isn’t exactly cutting a fine figure right now.

To put it bluntly, he’s currently hunched over, sat at the little table, eating canned frosting with a teaspoon.

“What are you even…?” Eddie sits down opposite him, peers closer and sees the label on the can. “Harrington,” he says, like someone reading out orders of execution, “that’s fucking gross.”

“Hey, I found it sealed in the cupboard, it’s not expired. And it’s chocolate, man,” Steve defends.

A pause. “Can I have some?”

Steve laughs. “Sure.”

He finds another teaspoon, moves the frosting so it rests in between them. Smiles when Eddie knocks their spoons together, like they’re sharing wine instead.

They sit in comfortable silence. Steve has the sudden thought that if it wasn’t for the impending everything, he could pretend like it’s a lazy Saturday, where they’re free to do harmless, juvenile things, like just watching movies all day. Like sharing frosting out of the can.

“God, you’re so unbothered by all this, aren’t you?” Eddie says around his spoon, which makes Steve suspect that perhaps their thoughts aren’t exactly aligned at the moment. “Steve Harrington. Mister Cool.”

He says it softly, a little like Robin had—and Jesus, Steve thinks, did everyone in school have such an idea of him?

“Unbothered, meaning?”

Eddie shrugs. “Alternate dimension. Real life monsters. Uh, I dunno, the potential end of the world? Take your pick, man.”

Steve thinks for a little while, scrapes the bottom of the can repeatedly even though they’ve already eaten it all.

He doesn’t know how to say that over the years, fear has become normal, a reassuring background noise. It’s when he doesn’t feel it that he’s really, truly scared shitless.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Steve says, “I think we all just got so used to it, that—”

“Yeah, that doesn’t make me feel better,” Eddie interrupts with a huff of a laugh. “If I think about it for too long, I might actually cry for you all, Steve.”

“Nah, don’t do that,” Steve says lightly—though he thinks that a part of Eddie really means it. “It’s more like… like I’m a duck, y’know? Calm on the surface, but…” He drums on the table in demonstration. “Freaking out underneath.”

Eddie’s looking at him with a little smile Steve thinks he hasn’t quite seen before—almost like he’s charmed.

He wonders just how many smiles Eddie Munson has. Wants to have enough time to find out.

“And you’re like an upside down duck,” Steve says, matter-of-fact.

Eddie snorts—another smile, wide and bright. “Excuse me?”

“Like, you might think you’re freaking out on the surface, but underneath, when it comes down to it, you’ll be…” Steve moves his hand in a straight line, imitating a duck calmly gliding along.

Eddie shakes his head. “Think you’ve got too much faith in me.”

And sure, it’s said like it’s a joke, but Steve holds his gaze when he replies seriously, “No, I don’t think so.”

You think I’d trust Dustin with just anyone? I saw you pull him back from the edge of the lake. That’s all I need to know.

Eddie glances away almost like he can see Steve’s thoughts dancing in front of him, as if the honesty is too much to witness.

“Plus you’re, like, my guide for what’s a normal reaction to all of this shit. You’re good for us, man. Keeps us grounded.”

Eddie laughs again. “Christ, I’m the guide for what’s normal. God help us all.” He drops his spoon into the empty can with a clatter. “It’s getting late. We’d better, uh. Round up the troops.”

He stands up, shuffles out from the table.

And Steve finds himself standing, too, with the sudden fear that he’s watching a window close before him.

He reaches for Eddie’s wrist—just two fingers, barely a touch—and Eddie turns to him immediately.

“Hey, Eddie, you’re—you’re good with them, y’know? The kids.” Steve laughs quietly. “God, they’d be… scared far sooner without you. When you were messing around with Dustin, and… Jesus, it’s the most I’ve seen Max laugh in a… in a while.”

Eddie’s smile turns gentle. “Nah, man. Any fool could do that.”

“No,” Steve says.

No, don’t you get it? Only you could. We’re all… we’re better with you, happier with you. I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else. Please fucking understand how important you are.

You matter.

Eddie’s eyes flicker across Steve’s face. Like he’s understood without Steve having to say a word.

“Careful there, Harrington,” he murmurs.

Steve’s suddenly aware that he still has one finger on Eddie’s wrist. “What?”

Eddie stares at him. Shrugs with one shoulder, but it’s slow. Thoughtful.

“Just thought I’d get ahead of you, in case…”

“In case?”

“I don’t know,” Eddie says, abruptly sounds a little breathless. “Could be the end of the world, right? And you’re…” He glances over at the frosting can, smirks slightly. “You’re kinda under the influence. Don’t want you saying anything you wouldn’t mean in any, uh, normal circumstances.”

Fuck normal. This is my normal.

“And what if I meant it?” Steve says.

Eddie swallows. Calm on the surface.

“If you’re sure,” Eddie says slowly, eyes never leaving Steve’s face. “Then… go ahead.”

Steve steps closer.

Kisses him.

Eddie’s mouth tastes sweet from the frosting. Steve can feel it when he laughs, can feel him shaking from where he’s leaning up against the edge of the table.

He pulls back. “You okay?”

Eddie’s smile is tremulous, like he’s one second away from crying.

“Freaking out,” he says, but he pulls Steve in for another kiss, so Steve knows he’s not referring to…

“Yeah,” Steve admits. “Yeah, me too.”

Eddie laughs breathily, and the sound is enough to finally drown out the background buzz of terror. He’s so close Steve can count every eyelash.

“You’d never know, Steve.”

“Think this—” A last kiss, pressed to the corner of Eddie’s mouth. “Think this is the most scared I’ve ever been.”

“Me too,” Eddie echoes.

And just before he pulls Steve along, just before he opens the RV door and calls for everyone, he leans in close, whispers against Steve’s lips:

“Worth it.”

[jj-one]

FIRST TIME’S A CHARM.

this is smut, do not interact if under 18

pairing: sports au, football jock!boyfriend!han jisung x cheerleader!fem!reader genre/tags: smut, fluff, light angst (if you squint), reader is so in love with jisung it makes everyone sick, reader is a virgin, oral (f. receiving), fingering, piv, protected sex, use of pet names (baby, princess, etc.), typical nervousness of first time sex, cherry popping, multiple orgasms, spitting, dirty talk words: 5.1k

**old repost from my deleted blog

Feelings of melancholy plagued your heart this morning. You miss him. You want to touch him, talk to him, breathe the same air as him. Your boyfriend Han was your world. He hasn’t replied to your usual ‘good morning’ text yet and the waiting game was slowly eating you up. You have to get ready for cheer practice since tomorrow is game day but you were hoping that your boyfriend could walk you to the gymnasium. You dread going to practice sometimes but Han would always find a way to lift your spirits and make your mood instantly better.

“You need to give him some space y/n.. you know he’s busy, we can just walk together it’ll be fine!” Karina attempts to snap you into a reality check.

She was your roommate and also on your cheer team, she’s been one of your closest friends since you transferred to this school a few months ago.

“But he always walks with me! I’ll just wait for him to reply, what if he texts me while we’re walking there and then he-“

“Jesus Christ y/n, you should hear yourself talk the way you go on and on about this boy! Don’t you think you’re a little too obsessed?” Karina retorts, “Let’s get a move on, we don’t need to be late to practice for the third time in a row!”

Grabbing your arm in the process, Karina heads out the door with you to get going. You wanted to whine and complain some more but you decided to let it go since you don’t want to annoy your friend with anymore talk of your boyfriend. You could talk about him all day long, you never get sick of being around him, he’s just always so busy with football and other things that it’s hard to see him sometimes. Since the gym you were practicing at was near the football field, you’d hope to eventually run into him later.

Your boyfriend did ultimately text you back but not until your cheer practice was over. You kept messing up the routine and Mrs. Park, your coach was getting irritated by your lack of coordination.

“Y/n, what’s with you today?! I know you can do way better than this!” She snaps in front of everyone, your whole team was looking at you and the embarrassment fully sunk in.

You didn’t have much to say other than a simple “I’m sorry” and “I’ll try harder”, it was your fault that you let your inner thoughts cloud your ability of performing. You gave yourself a couple minutes to recuperate and stretch to join the team again, you couldn’t let them down since the stunt you had to do needed to be executed perfectly.

After cheer practice you read the texts Han sent you:

‘Heyyy babe, so sorry for the late reply :( I’ve been practicing all morning and didn’t get a chance to check my phone!’

‘I just finished, wanna meet in a bit? I’m with Chan and Changbin rn’

You were now grinning ear to ear from his reply, you’ve been waiting all day to see him. It didn’t take long for you to respond back to him enthusiastically.

‘Yes! Where are you??’

‘Still on the field but at the bleachers, meet me there’

‘Ok, coming now!!’

‘See you in a few ;)’

With almost lightning speed you make a dash for the locker rooms and changed out of your cheer clothes to go find your boyfriend. Karina wanted to tag along since she secretly has a crush on Changbin but doesn’t quite want to admit it just yet. Making your way to the football field, you see some figures in the distance sitting on the bleachers; presuming to be your boyfriend and his two friends. You picked up your pace practically sprinting at this point to go hug your boyfriend who was still in mid-conversation with Chan and Changbin. You didn’t even acknowledge or say hi to either of them, only focusing on the man in front of you now. You’ve been craving to see him all day and finally being able to hug him made the sadness you felt this morning dissipate.

“How’s my pretty princess feeling today?” Han says, still having you wrapped tight in a bear hug. His fingers stroked your hair as he felt you against him, words couldn’t describe how happy you were in this moment.

“I’m okay now that I’m with you!” You exclaim, nuzzling your chin into his broad shoulder.

Everytime he hugged or held you, it felt like the warmest place you could be. Nothing compared to his embrace, it electrified you in so many ways that couldn’t be spoken into words.

“Ugh! Could you guys get a damn room already? I’m sick of seeing you act all lovey dovey, makes me depressed that I’m still single!” Changbin teases the both of you. You know he was only joking but it made you want to be even more of a nuisance.

“Then turn around and look the other way, we’re not going anywhere!” Han fires back, now bringing his face towards you to kiss him. He plants his lips on yours and gives you a soft kiss, delighting you with the taste of his minty flavored chapstick.

“Mmm… that flavor tastes good Hannie, could kiss your lips all day!” You go back in for another kiss, completely forgetting that Chan, Changbin, and Karina were right there watching this whole thing go down.

“Alright, enough!” Chan interrupts you and your boyfriends almost near make-out sesh with a reminder of previous plans. “Are we still going back to my place for movie night? I didn’t buy popcorn and snacks for no reason!”

“Ah shit, I totally forgot about movie night…” Han face palms from the lack of remembrance.

“Can I join?!” You chime in, hoping that Chan will allow you in the group so you can spend more time with Han.

“Could I come too?” Karina asks, sitting next to Chan trying her best not to make eye contact with Changbin.

“Yeah sure, the more the merrier I guess!” He shrugs his shoulders.

You were glad Chan let the both of you come along since you didn’t know him that well, you only talked to him on a few different occasions but each time he seemed pretty chill. He was the football quarterback and was loved by pretty much the entire university, he was practically the leader of the football team and looked after everyone. Your boyfriend was also a very popular guy and was well-liked by all his pupils, he was a really good defense and took his athletic skills seriously. You were so proud of your boyfriend and everything that he’s accomplished so far.

“Alright, let’s get going shall we? My dorms not that far from here, should only be a 10 minute walk!” Chan says while standing up.

Everyone gets up from the bleachers to start heading in the direction of the dorms and Han takes your hand in his.

“You cold babe?” Han asks while walking, he sees you shivering a bit from the sudden cool breeze of the wind.

You were wearing a short sleeve t-shirt which probably wasn’t the best idea but you were rushing this morning. You simply nod your head to his ask, you could feel the goosebumps rising on your delicate skin.

“Don’t worry, here you go darling.” Han quickly takes the letterman varsity jacket off his body to bring onto yours. The jacket weighs you down a bit and it was completely drowning you but you didn’t care.

“You look so adorable in my jacket babe, always look so cute wearing my things.” He compliments you while holding your hand tighter.

You could smell Han’s scent on the fabric, everything about him felt like home to you. You’ve been dating for 4 months now, you transferred to this new university thinking you wouldn’t make any friends at all. As soon as you became a cheerleader Han noticed you straight away, he asked a few of the girls about you but you were new so they didn’t know much. He wanted to get to know you more so he went in to shoot his shot and ended up being successful, now you’re both dating and are essentially the school’s power couple. The most popular jock dating the new pretty cheerleader was the perfect recipe to get everyone around the school talking.

“We’re here guys!” Chan says while coming to a stop in front of the dormitory.

He opens the door to lead the way for you all and Han has his arms wrapped behind you plastering small kisses to your cheek. You giggle as you walk inside to see more people sitting on the couch. It was some more members from the football team who joined for movie night but you and Han weren’t actually planning to watch movies with the rest of them.

“Let’s go somewhere else, yeah?” Han whispers in your ear, his voice sending a chill down your spine.

You agree to his ask and Han tells everyone that you’ll both be back before the movie starts getting good. Chan couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the fact you both casually go into his room, he adds one last piece of advice, “make sure to use protection guys!”

Han doesn’t comment back at that, only reacting with a chuckle and heading towards the bedroom.

Chan’s room was your typical early twenties, frat-boy style living quarters. Clothes spread all on the floor, a couple posters adorned the walls, and the bed was unmade with a few textbooks on top. It was everything you’d imagine it would be, nothing in the slightest bit romantic.

“Wow, what a lovely choice to make our grand escape!” You said sarcastically, looking around at the tornado of a room it was.

“Hey, mine is way worse and you don’t even complain!” Han retorts, throwing the textbooks off the bed.

“That’s because I clean your room every time I come over!”

You sat on the bed with Han beside you, he snaked his arm over to wrap you into another tight hug. You feel the hardness of his chest against you and the sounds of his heartbeat produced butterflies in your stomach. You’ve been waiting to be alone with your boyfriend all day and now that the time has come you can’t keep your lips off him. You brought your face closer to his and sealed his lips to yours, his short brown locks tickled your forehead in the process.

You’ve been thinking about the next big step in your relationship— sex. Sex was what built the foundation of (most) relationships, it only proved how much you love your partner deeply. You wanted to give Han your everything, you’ve never wanted to do something more in your life. As you slowly break away from the kiss, you make sincere eye contact with your boyfriend, his eyes shown nothing but endearment for you.

“So I’ve been thinking about stuff lately…” you trailed your eyes away for a second, not feeling so confident in yourself anymore.

“Thinking about what?” He asks attentively, his eyes were still glued onto you, you could feel the intensity of his stare.

You had either two options: tell him how you really feel and what you actually want or you can save this for another time. You went with the latter and chose to keep it to yourself.

“Never mind… I’ll tell you later maybe, or another time.”

This doesn’t sit too well with Han. He likes when you’re open with him, honesty has always been a huge thing for him and when you act reclusive towards him he gets worried.

“No babe, just tell me. I promise I won’t judge you— I never do! I just want you to feel comfortable and be able to share anything with me.” His hand rubbed your thigh gently which made you feel more at ease and much calmer.

“I think I’m ready to take the next step with you.”

“Next step?” Han replies with confusion, “You mean as in like getting married? I think we’re a bit too young for that right no-“

“No Ji, I meant like I’m ready to have sex!” You finally admit, the look on his face became utterly priceless.

“Oh— really? What made you decide that?” He wonders curiously.

He knew for a long time that he was ready to have sex with you but just never mentioned it until you gave him the green light. He’s never pressured you into doing anything you didn’t want to do, make-out sessions with him would get super hot and heavy sometimes but that still didn’t stop him from not pushing your boundaries. He knew you were a virgin and that it would take time for you to make a decision as the relationship progresses.

“I just love you so fucking much Ji, I wanna give you my whole body, want you to be my first.” You bring your hand to his, moving it to your breasts for him to feel you.

His hand squeezes your boob gently, causing you to gasp at the light action. He cups his whole hand around it and juggles it in his palm, smiling at your beauty.

“You have the most perfect tits.” Han says in almost a whisper, still admiring your presence.

Both of his hands now playing with your boobs as he massages them through your t-shirt, you couldn’t help but go back and kiss his soft lips. The kiss grew more passionate as time went on, you couldn’t stop kissing those precious lips of his, you wanted your face attached to his 24/7. You got on top of him now, tangling your fingers through his luscious hair whilst your tongues glide against each other. He removed one of his hands from your breast to go grab your ass, squeezing your left cheek firmly.

“Lay on your back princess” Han says, instructing you as you lye back down on the bed. You aren’t sure what he has in mind but it can’t be anything innocent.

“What do you want to do to me?” You ask, pressing your thighs together to feel something.

“I want to make you feel really good…” He continues in a sultry tone, “I’m going to make you feel so amazing baby.”

His mouth goes back onto yours, kissing almost roughly this time. Something was taking over your boyfriend and it was turning you on incredibly. He plastered a few more wet kisses to your chin and neck, leaving trails of his glistening saliva all over you. Not a doubt was going through your mind, just undying love and devotion to your boyfriend.

“I love you so much y/n, you know that?” Han says reassuringly, you know he loves you but hearing it still made your heart flutter every time.

“I love you so much Hannie!” You probably loved him more than yourself at this point.

His hands roamed your half naked body once he rid you of your t-shirt and sports bra. His soft, tender touch was enough to drive you crazy and he’s barely done anything yet. You held your breath as his fingers danced across your skin, your brain was completely fuzzy and only filled with desire. You tugged at the end of his shirt so he could take it off and he obliged, pulling it from the top and lifting it over his head. You get a full clear view of body, that beautiful body of his, you wonder how a man can be shaped so gracefully. He had the most broad shoulders, chiselled abs and muscles, but his waist was so pretty and tiny. It didn’t make sense how one could be built such a way but he was perfect, his physique truly mesmerized you.

You go in to feel his muscles, his biceps were absolutely to die for, every time he flexed you swear you could hear your kitty purring down there. He was just so hot, you needed to taste each and every inch of him.

“Want you so bad…” you trace the lines of body, fully enamored by your gorgeous boyfriend.

“I’m all yours babe.”

Han lazily brung his hand to the waistband of your pants, fumbling with the button to take them off but was struggling a bit.

“Here, let me help you.” You guide him in the right direction and he successfully unbuttons them.

Once your pants are off he slides your underwear down past your knees, his face lights up at the sight beneath him. You were nervous but didn’t want to tell him that incase he stops, feeling a lump in your throat now forming.

“Let me know if you want me to stop at anytime.” You loved that he was always making sure you were 100% okay with everything he did.

You nod and let him continue doing his thing, he captures his lips with yours one more time before a hand creeps up your inner thigh. His fingers lightly brush your folds and you shudder from the sensitivity. He smirks into the kiss as he presses a single digit against it, gathering your slick nicely.

“Your pussy feels so wet, I can’t wait to be inside you darling.” Han says after parting from the kiss.

His finger glides between your wet folds, feeling your warm juices gush onto him. He makes a V shape with his fingers to spread you open now, getting a better look at your heat. He licks his lips at the sight, wanting nothing more than to get a taste of you. He inches his head closer to your core and spits on it, watching the saliva run down as he licks a long, slow stripe to your cunt.

His mouth becomes suctioned to your clit as he runs his tongue all over it, slobbering against you whilst holding your hips in place.

“Fuck! So good, so good, so good…” you couldn’t stop moaning, the pleasure was just hitting you all at once.

Your eyes were about to roll to the back of your head and your legs were shaking from Han’s insane pussy eating skills. You felt your chest cave in from all the intense pleasure and just when you thought it couldn’t get any better than this, you were in for hell of a treat. One of his digits entered you, now fingerfucking you. You elicit another moan for him as his tongue picks up a quicker pace, his tongue flicks your nub viciously. His finger slips in and out slowly and adds another digit to make you gasp louder. The feeling of your boyfriend stretching you out for him was amazing, you felt your release coming by the second.

“I- I feel weird Ji..” you try to explain how you feel right now but you just can’t describe it. It felt as though you had to pee but you know you didn’t actually need to.

“It’s okay princess, it’s normal. Trust me, just let go. I promise you’ll feel so much better after baby.” He stopped what he was doing for a moment to encourage you.

His words made you instantly let go, you whimpered from the feeling of his mouth on your clit again. You rocked your hips forward to grind against him while he ate you out, playing with his hair and slightly pulling it once you felt yourself cumming. Your hips shook rapidly around him, his eye contact never broke off with you and it made you lose your mind. You mumble under your breath, trying your best to contain your orgasm but everything came crashing down violently. Han could taste your sweet essence on his tongue as he lapped up all your juices, not letting any of you go to waste. He kept himself buried between your shaky legs and pulled his fingers out, leaving you with an empty feeling.

“You ready for my cock babe?” He finally lifts his head up from your dripping cunt, his face fully soaked from the action he just performed.

“Yes, need you so bad Ji.. want you to pop my cherry.”

You looked at him with the most seductive eyes, he bit down his lip at what you just said. You know exactly how to make him feel the most special, he was special to you though, this whole moment meant everything to you.

“I’ll be gentle with you princess, I’ll try and make this as painless as possible for you.” He kisses your forehead and captures your lips in his.

He gets up momentarily to go find a condom in one of Chan’s drawers and quickly comes back. He undoes his pants to pull them off along with his boxers, opening the wrapper with his teeth and pulling the condom out to slide it on.

“I don’t usually like condoms,” Han explains “but since this is our first time I don’t want to scare you.”

You giggle at that comment, you don’t know the first thing about sex and all of this is so new to you. You’re just glad you have an experienced boyfriend that can help make this easier for you, it made you feel a lot less awkward.

“I guess I’ll have to get on birth control soon then?” You were willing to do anything for him at this point.

“It’s your body y/n, I’m not going to tell you what to do. You make your own choices.”

It was sweet how even right now he’s only thinking about how you feel, he really does care so much about you. Han repositioned himself to be between your legs again, his cock was now pressed along your folds. He gives you another kiss before asking one last time,

“You ready to do this?”

“Yes! Please hurry, I’m getting impatient!” You whine, wanting to finally feel what it’s like to take dick.

“Okay, okay, I’m just making sure you really want to do this!”

He rubs his cock against you, sliding it up and down to collect more of your wetness. You bite down on your lip, waiting for the real moment to transpire. His hand rests on the end of his cock, guiding it to your entrance, he prods your hole gently. A rush of pain inflicts your body from the feeling of just the tip stretching you, you could only close your eyes at the sensation.

“Let me know if I’m hurting you at all.” Han continues pushing himself in.

The more he inched inside you, the more painful it became. It felt as though your whole body was on fire, everything felt so strange to you. You endured the pain in hopes of it becoming better soon, you didn’t want to worry your boyfriend. You feel the size of his cock growing in you, the constant throbbing was making you dizzy. You held onto him tightly, not wanting to let ever go of him. You clench around him as he attempts to fully fit his entire cock but you wince at only half of him inside you.

“Fuck, you alright baby? Did I hurt you?” He studies you with concern, stopping immediately to gauge your body language.

“You’re so fucking tight, even though you’re soaking wet I can still barely fit my cock inside.”

Your face turns red as a tomato, you don’t know what to say and you’re getting too flustered.

“Awe, is my little princess feeling nervous? I told you it’s okay, I’ll be here with you every step of the way, I got you.”

He holds your hand in his, tentatively caressing the inside of your palm, he brings your hand up to kiss it and gave you a warm smile. He continues sliding more of his cock in and is eventually able to get most of himself settled. Your mouth is wide open once he begins slowly thrusting in you. The pain was starting to go away now, just slightly. You focus on the feeling of his length in you, you try to relax your muscles the best way you could. You feel so full, so stuffed, his cock fully immersed in your sweet cunt.

“You feel so good around me princess, just wanna fuck your tight pussy all night long..” he groans while picking up his pace, the discomfort comes back to you now, you wriggle around to make the burning sensation go away.

“Is it supposed to feel like this Ji?” You croak, trying your best to be good for him.

You know that Han would never judge you but you still felt insecure about your performance in the bedroom.

“It’s only going to hurt for a little bit, just keep thinking about me darling, think only thoughts of me.”

You can feel a knot in your stomach form now, his cock slamming into you deeply was making you see stars. You gnaw at his neck to bite down softly, you couldn’t hold in your emotions anymore. The pain was now fully gone again, the intense pleasure washing over you like a tsunami. You kept your eyes tightly shut to feel all of him, focusing on what he told you when he said to think only thoughts of him.

“Your cock feels good Ji, I love how feel inside me!” You cry out to him, arching your back against the bed.

You’ve never felt anything like this before, it all felt too good to be real. He increases his rhythm as he thrusts into you, fucking into your little virgin cunt harder. Your pussy twitches around his cock, you feel that need to pee like when he was eating you out.

“I- I think I’m gonna… cumming…” you could barely get a coherent sentence out. All you could do was continue digging your nails in his back and moan out his name.

“You gonna cum for me princess? Do it. Want us to cum together for our first time.” Han throws his head back as he keeps fucking you. He was bucking his hips in a sloppier motion now, indicating that he was getting close like you. It only took a few more pumps of his cock to get you to form a large ‘O’ with your mouth, your jaw stayed locked in place. Your walls contract around his thick cock and you gasped for air as you lose your breath.

“Ah, fuck y/n!” Han almost says with a growl, his chest feels heavy as he releases his load into the condom.

He continues thrusting slowly into you while gently massaging your breasts. You let go and feel your second orgasm approach, feeling waves of ecstasy throughout your whole body. You were both heavily panting, staring at each other with nothing but complete passion. Han collapses onto you, his sticky and sweaty body rested on yours. His cock was still buried in your cunt, you didn’t want this moment to ever be over.

“So how would you rate your first time?” Han asks while propping his head up, “on a scale of 1 to 10?”

“I’d say a 100/10, I’ll remember this day forever.”

You snuggle up against him, completely forgetting that you had your first time with Han in Chan’s bedroom.

“Well… maybe it could’ve been better if we did this in our rooms.”

“I agree, but hey there’s always next time!” Han finally pulls out of you and notices tiny droplets of blood on the condom.

“Oh my god babe, I popped your cherry!”

You were shocked that even happened since you didn’t feel anything inside you tearing, guess it was a myth that you could feel your cherry pop. Han looked so stoked by this discovery and you wish you could engrain the look on his face in your brain. You just giggle at his actions and give him another chaste kiss, cuddling with him and forgetting the rest of the world around you.

“I think we should head back out soon, they’re probably thinking what the hell we’ve been doing in here for so long.” Han gets up from the bed to go and put his clothes back on.

“I hope we weren’t too loud!” You say, grabbing your clothes to get changed too.

“If they heard us don’t worry about it, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. They’ll probably congratulate me by how much noise you were making!”

You blush once again by what he said, you can’t believe you just lost your virginity, you don’t feel any different physically but you feel way closer to your boyfriend than ever before. You felt like the luckiest girl in the world to have such a loving, healthy, and supportive relationship. Han Jisung really was the light of your life.

Coming out of Chan’s room felt the walk of shame. You couldn’t face any of his friends or Karina in the living room, they all instantly turned their heads to face you. Changbin started clapping loudly and everyone else followed suit after, you knew this was going to be embarrassing but this just felt like pure torture.

“Congratulations bro! It was about time you finally both got some!” Han’s friend/teammate Minho shouts.

Your biggest fear came true, everyone heard absolutely everything.

“Did you guys really have to fuck in my bed though? I just washed those sheets last week!” Chan exclaimed, giving him the evil eye.

“Hey, I don’t kiss and tell! Whatever happened in that room stays in that room.” Han brings his hand to his lips to make it look like he sealed them.

All the guys keep teasing him and you couldn’t stop blushing, maybe you should’ve waited to have sex in one of your dorms since Chan will probably never let him live this one down.

“You missed the movie anyway, might as well just leave and go for round 2!” Chan jokes.

“That actually doesn’t seem like a bad idea… thanks. Let’s go y/n!” Han links your arm around his and speed walks out the door.

Now that you were no longer a virgin, it didn’t feel all that odd to you as you thought it would be. It actually felt nice knowing you lost it to someone you love so much, someone you care so deeply out. It may not have been in the most romantic atmosphere which you’ve always pictured losing your virginity in a much better setting. However, you’ll cherish this special day with Han because even if it wasn’t the ideal scenery you had in mind, it was still a reminder that you had such a strong, beautiful connection with your lover.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Oh no. Sir I believe I'm going to need you to explain that Dragon Age 2 opinion, that is a BLAZING hot take

I really don't think it is. Although of course all of this is personal opinion, not some sort of divine proclamation on high about which video games people are allowed to prefer, so take please it in the spirit it is offered.

Origins is a worldbuilding walking tour as much about explaining its own in-universe lore and fantasy history as it is about either its characters or the actual story that is happening in the game. It's a cool world! With some great lore! But also it is built entirely around Generic Fantasy Plot Structure #1 and never particularly seems interested in innovating, or surprising the player. On top of which, a lot of its setting and lore is pretty weakly sketched and doesn't really get developed into something either visually or narratively compelling until it gets built out in later games.

And while Inquisition has some genuinely fantastic characters, everything else about the game suffers very badly from the plague of BioWare Magic™, i.e. the production was an absolute mess up until the last minute when five hundred extremely overworked and underpaid creative geniuses somehow managed to wring a functional experience out of the trainwreck. It was made with fucking Frostbite of all things, jesus christ, it's holding together with spit and duct tape.

Now, Dragon Age 2 shares a bunch of the problems of Origins and Inquisition. It too bears the hallmarks of "our executives couldn't plan a healthy game production cycle if their lives depended on it" with a lot of unfinished content, half-assed sidequests and a truly frustrating over-reliance on a combat system that isn't half as engaging to use as it needed to be.

But Dragon Age 2 also has something neither of its siblings could ever even hope to match: an actual compelling protagonist.

Like, listen, I know people adore their headcanons about their Wardens and Inquisitors, and it has made for some truly amazing fanworks, but Hawke is literally the only actual character out of all of them. Hawke has conflicts, problems, needs and drives that actually inform and push the story forward, they have a family and a history and a reason to give a sh** about the central conflict of the narrative.

In Origins and Inquisition both, your character becomes the main character of the story entirely because of fate and random chance. You are the Chosen One and you are the only one who can Save The World because you're the last of the super special elite fantasy Hero Squad, or because you got some green magic stuck in your hand by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because the character is a complete blank slate onto which the player is expected to project themselves, random chance and circumstance are the only tools the plot can use to position them as main characters. There is no character to drive them to it.

In Dragon Age 2, Hawke becomes the champion because they're trying to build a new life for their family in Kirkwall, and end up embroiled in the chaos and politics that befall the city as a natural consequence of living in it and dealing with the conditions of it. Hawke and their family's needs and wants drive their actions, and push them to engage in endeavors that influence the course of history. They have agency (in the conceit of the narrative, at least) over how their life turns out, they make choices that have consequences, rather than being dictated into the position of Main Character by a literal looming apocalypse that permits no other course of action.

And I'm not about to sit here and claim that Dragon Age 2's story is perfect or that every character is a masterpiece or that every plotline is amazing. No, there's plenty of scuff and jank and things that have aged poorly and unresolved plot threads and all the rest of it.

And I am definitely not forgetting the godsdamned DLC where BioWare threw it all overboard by inventing a Special Bloodline Plot where oops it turns out Hawke actually IS a special chosen one specially chosen by a special fate to have a special role in Saving The World because they're special because of fate and destiny and blah blah, I still think that was phenomenally stupid (especially when Corypheus wasn't even Hawke's goddamn main villain to deal with what was any of this supposed to add to their character ffs BioWare)

But even with all its problems, the simple fact that Hawke is a character you can give a shit about independent of your own projection as a player - the fact that Hawke isn't just an empty bland blank slate with no personality, no traits, no wants or needs or drives - that has made Dragon Age 2 infinitely more memorable to me than either Origins and Inquisition. I think about it to this day. I think about Hawke to this day. I care about what happens to the character in a way that I just simply could never bring myself to do with either my Wardens or my Inquisitors.

[luvnami]

i genuinely don't know what overcame me when i wrote this. but here, have modern!au sanemi baking with reader. hopefully you think it's funny, because i'll feel less braindead

baking together is not romantic. the idea itself is cute. execution of said idea, however, leaves much to be desired. 

“sanemi,” you begin, because names are always a good place to start, “this tastes like ass.”

before you is a comically flat loaf of bread. the crumb is incredibly dense (if it can even be called a crumb at all), the crust is as hard as a rock, and you’re pretty sure the yeast packet you used was expired.

you don’t know why you thought that baking bread was an easy process, considering that both you and shinazugawa are amateur bakers. you know how to cook, sure. baking, on the other hand, comparatively seems like rocket science. 

shinazugawa stares at the fruit of his labour on the kitchen counter. he raps his knuckles on the crust once, then twice. it sounds like he’s knocking on a brick. 

“jesus fucking christ,” he mutters. 

his arms are sore from kneading the dough. you had quickly grown tired of it, learning that reaching that perfect ‘gluten window’ was harder than it seemed, so you left it to your boyfriend with his big, strong biceps. surely all those hours in the gym must amount to something, right? it also gave you an excuse to gawk at him, in your extra pink apron and his forearms flexing with each knead. 

your apartment’s kitchen is now littered with baking utensils. you’ll find flour in the strangest places for the next two months, but that’s a problem for future you to deal with.

“well, that was a bust. what do we do with this?” you sigh, crossing your arms. 

shinazugawa sucks on his teeth. he was planning to make something edible for dinner out of the bread, but that’s clearly out of the question now. 

“fuck this. we’re getting takeout. we can feed the bread to, i don’t know, the pigeons at the park.”

“the pigeons? what if they choke and die! babe, this isn’t even bread. it’s an abomination.”

“fuck the pigeons.”

you gawk at shinazugawa. he’s serious. he’s going to feed the pigeons your failed gluten creation and newsflash: you’re getting arrested for killing the pigeon population at your local park. it’s a life sentence. you’ll never make it out alive. even if you do, the pigeons will send their strongest army to peck you to death. 

“babe! the pigeons! you can’t just say that!” you cry out. 

you lunge at shinazugawa and start weakly beating at his chest. he snorts. okay, maybe don’t fuck the pigeons. he catches you and squeezes you tight against him, ignoring your appeals to him to maybe care about the birds a bit more (he could give less of a fuck about them, though. damned things had a knack for assaulting him for his snacks). 

you’re both covered in flour, wearing matching aprons, and you’re all pressed up against him. next time, maybe you’ll start with cookies first. shinazugawa makes a mental note of that. 

“c’mon, we’ll order your favourite.”

your eyes sparkle. you momentarily forget about the pigeons. 

“really?”

shinazugawa melts a little when you look up at him, eyes wide and expectant. how can he say no? thank god for failed bread and stray birds. 

he kisses your forehead.

“of course.”

[theresattrpgforthat]

Any recs for pick up and play/no prep ttrpgs?

THEME: Pick Up & Play!

Hello there, you’ll probably find a bunch of one-shots in this collection, as I find one-shots tend to gear a bit more towards low-prep play.

Lost Goths From Beyond, by goblin goulash.

You are not from around here. Maybe you’re dead (you sure liked playing the part anyway). Maybe you’re in Hell (your parents warned you). Maybe you found a Victorian city in your dreams. Maybe you come from the Realm of Fairies, or a timeline stuck in the 90s, or a planet far far away… Well you’re here now, and you gotta do what you gotta do to get back. And you intend to do it in style. High heel, black leather, smoky eye style. You’re a Goth from Beyond, and you’re here on a Mission!

Lost Goths from Beyond is a stylish, rules-light TTRPG for 1-5 Goths and 1 GM.

As a hack of Lasers & Feelings, Lost Goths from Beyond is meant to be quick in execution, with obstacles coming up as you roll - and for that reason I think it doesn’t really require much prep. I’d say that the most you’ll have to do is actually collaborative at the table - deciding the setting and limits of your characters, and determining what subject matter you do or do not want to explore in your game.

I have two things I like about this game - one is the layout, how clean and succinct it is, communicating the vibe while keeping the instructions short and to the point. The other is the thirteen special items you can choose from to give your Gogh character their own unique thing - whether that be nail polish that turns you invisible, a body piercing that emits light, or stylish sunglasses that can see in the infrared.

Christ Heist, by shawk games.

ALL ABOARD… It’s 1907 and you’ve been down on your luck. Jobs are drying up, wars are being waged, and the west is growing. As luck would have it, your reputation precedes you: as a storied felon, you and your crew have been forged through indominable industry expertise and pulled together for one last job: Rob the Church.

It was a dangerous journey to Kansas City – but you all know your roles, and you know what you need to do: trick the laity in St. Anthony’s Chapel Car out of their tithes, make off with the Solid Gold Jesus Crucifix, and exit the train in Denver before anyone notices.

Heist games are excellent for one-shot games, and this heist is built on the fabulous Honey Heist rules, which are designed for little to no prep. Because you’re robbing a train, the game comes with a timetable for each of the train’s stops, which can be placed in front of each player so they can come up with a plan on the fly. As per Honey Heist tradition, you also have a series of roll-tables for the GM to help design the Chapel Car of the train and the nature of Bishop Bartholomew, as well as the kinds of complications to make your heist interesting!

The Quick, The Quiet & The Dead, by Whimsynaut Games.

Play as a group of survivors, working together to survive the night from a random table of horrors. Will you be escaping an alien spider in a rusting theme park, an eldritch horror in an abandoned campsite or a murderous cyborg aboard a cargo ship in a storm? 

Another Lasers & Feelings hack, this game also gives the GM some roll-tables to generate a situation on the fly. The basic setting is that you’re surviving some kind of horror scenario, but you can cater the scenario to fit the style of horror movie you’re interested in. If there’s a horror setting that you like, you can probably layer that over this game to give yourself a quick horror rush.

If you’re not a bit horror fan, I definitely recommend checking out the broader world of Lasers & Feelings!

The Head, by forkfrenzy.

Vassago's body lays before you. His head is in your backpack. The labyrinth goes on forever. It’s your home. It’s everyone’s home. Maybe you'll get out some day, but right now you have to deliver this head to the Duchess. 

The Head is a 1-page, 1-session roleplaying game (RPG) by Levon Jihanian — set in a mysterious, labyrinthine world. The player characters have just cut off Vassago’s head and are tasked with delivering it to the Dutchess, who lives at the palace at the center of the labyrinth. The game builds on the mechanics of Fuck! It’s Dracula and The Agony of Elves.

I don’t own the rules document for The Head, but I did find a copy of the rules for Fuck! It’s Dracula, which is about 200 words long and fairly simple. The game appears to go through a various number of phases, with roll-tables used to both generate characters as well as events that will bring you closer and closer to the narrative climax.

It looks like much of the details behind the main premise are also meant to be explored during play, which I also take as a sign of low to no-prep. If you ‘re coming up with the lore as you play, you don’t need to prepare it beforehand!

Loom of Blood, by curubethion.

Spin your webs of fear through the night, from the corners where you lurk.

Loom of Blood is a game of unfolding horror: sketch out the strokes of unsuspecting lives, and then uproot them into murderous mayhem. Build your own horror movie franchise with your friends, and delve deep into a tangled tapestry of wickedness, bloodshed, and frail humanity.

Loom of Blood is collaborative, and for that reason, I think it’s a great option for a no-prep tabletop game. I find that GM-less games still typically require a person to exist in a facilitator role, so you might have to read through the pdf before you sit down to play, but each beat of the story is introduced in the process of play - try to come up with too much beforehand, and you’ll probably feel like you’re trying to turn the story in a direction it wasn’t naturally set up to go.

On your turn, you’ll introduce either a Moment, a Fool, or a Mirage to the story. Moments are descriptive phrases that introduce a new horror to the scene, like the rustling of trees, or a scream of something “neither animal nor human.” A Fool is a character doomed to stumble into the danger, their death perhaps not imminent, but likely to happen before the story is over. A Mirage is a place that feels safe, a location that fills out the map of your story.

The elements of this story feel somewhat similar to I’m sorry did you stay street magic, which is also beautifully collaborative, as well as a game I’d consider no or low-prep. If you want a game of collaboration that leads you through each step, you might be interested in Loom of Blood.

Let’s Kill the King, by Obli-Awa.

The revolution has begun.  The people cry out for justice and, as night falls on the capital city, they have swarmed its streets in righteous fury, pitchforks aloft and torches blazing.  The guard have locked things down as best they can, but you, you lucky few, have made it over the wall; managed to slip into the castle thus far unnoticed.  Tonight, the old order falls.  You will be the regicides who bring it crashing down.

A TTRPG designed to indulge in the fantasy of bringing corrupt leaders to the justice they so richly deserve by our own damned hands, LET'S KILL THE KING offers 2-4 players and 1 game master a raucous couple hours of manic, king-hunting glory.  Absolutely no preparation of any kind is needed from either GMs or PCs: encounters are generated via table and the basics of who a character is can be rolled on the spot.  

Games like this one, which have a very strong premise and a very clear goal, are often really good options for folks who want little to no prep. You are sitting down knowing what all of you want - to kill the King - and you also have a few other facts that are already determined for you, such as the fact that you’re hunting through the Castle, so you have a good idea of the limits of what you might or might not find. I’m also a big big fan of the fact that you have two clocks that you can use to track your progress - one for the Hunt of the king, and one for the King’s escape!

Black Bars, by HMLW.

Black Bars is a roleplaying game for three people about slipping secrets past censors that want to prevent the TRUTH from getting out. One of you will play the Whistleblower, the one that creates the Secret and the Messages. Another will be the Censor, redacting the Messages whilst trying to discover the Secret yourself. The last of you is the Decoder, receiving a heavily obfuscated Message and tasked with finding out the Secret.

The prerequisites for Black Bars are pretty specific (3 players only), but I really like the goals for your characters here. A game about trying to code, decode and redact messages, you can invent all of your own reasons for why these messages are being sent and obfuscated, but you can also play competitively, which might allow for a nice transition from boardgames into roleplaying games, if that’s a background that your players share.

Goblin Errands, by Sharkbomb Studios.

Goblin Errands is a no-prep RPG for 2 to 4 goblins and one Tall Person. Together you'll go on comical (mis)adventures trying to complete seemingly mundane tasks as you struggle with a world not designed for you. 

You've just joined a new family of goblins and you are determined to prove yourself useful. Clearly, the best way to do so is by running errands for the community. 

Unfortunately as a goblin you live in a world made for folk much bigger and stronger than you. And on top of that you have only a single brain cell to work with - and one that you have to share with your fellow goblins. Even otherwise ordinary everyday tasks turn into hilarious challenges.

A lighthearted game with cute misadventures, Goblin Errands describes itself as a game about “solidarity among the unrecognized” - folks who don’t fit in to the infrastructure of the world as it is. It’s a game about underdogs, but the stakes feel rather low, so this might be a great palette cleanser, or a nice way to start roleplaying with a group of people you don’t know as well.

While the game styles itself as a no-prep one shot, you’ll probably have to do a bit of reading beforehand, just to make sure you know how the rules work. Character creation looks like it needs to happen at the beginning of the game, since you generate something called the kenn together. The fact that the goblins are sorted into playbooks signals easy of entry to me, since playbooks often provide all of the information you need to know about your character in one place.

When it comes to running the game, the GM will roll to generate an errand, but I think the obstacles and challenges that arise will likely become apparent thanks to the collaborative worldbuilding that happens before you create the characters.

Also For Your Consideration...

Low Improv Games

Zero-Prep Characters / One Shots

Holdfast Station, by Lampblack & Brimstone.

If you like what I do, consider leaving me a tip on Ko-Fi!

[aziraphales-library]

Hey there! Do you have any refs for fics involving a road trip (extra points if its aziracrow as Angel/demon and not an au altho aus are lovely too!!)

Hi! We have some road trip fics here, and I've got more now...

leave you faithless by midnightbotany (T)

As Aziraphale struggles with the demands of his new role as Supreme Archangel, a heartbroken Crowley embarks on a journey around the world hoping to stop Armageddon. Again.

Where The Furniture Used To Be by Magpie_BKK (T)

The Bentley has mysteriously brought Crowley back to central London, just as an old friend turns up at the bookshop. But not everything is as it appears, and Crowley finds himself on the run with an amnesiac angel, trying to unlock his memories along the way.

The Lost Apostle by miraworos (G)

After a long hiatus, Crowley badgers Aziraphale to go on a road trip with him. But it's more a quest than a road trip, and both Crowley and Aziraphale may be getting into more than they bargained for. Bentley POV.

Waterfall by duustbunny (E)

Two years after Aziraphale accepts the Metatron’s offer, Crowley is captured as he attempts to infiltrate Heaven and Aziraphale is tasked with executing public punishment. Instead, he lets the demon lead him on a quest to recover a lost item that can help them stop the end of the world once more. Because Heaven is not the boss of him anymore, and preventing the Apocalypse will never stop being his and Crowley’s job.

The Journey by ElderlySardine (M)

“Anthony J Crowley… Mayfair, London… Next of kin: Mr A Z Fell…” Crowley nodded. It wasn’t as if he had anyone else. “Emergency contact: also Mr Fell…” Crowley had almost stopped listening. “Relationship to applicant: husband…” “Husband?!” Crowley and Mrs Lowry spoke together as one, for the first and almost certainly the last time in their lives. “Husband.” Crowley recovered first, and fixed Mrs Lowry with a hard stare into which he infused just a little bit of demonic energy. “Is that a problem?” It was a problem. It was Aziraphale's harebrained plan, and it was clearly doomed to failure, as well as embarrassment and ignominy. But since when had Crowley been able to say no to the angel? It was only two weeks, and 3,850 miles. It couldn't be that hard, could it?

hurry back, please bring it back home to me by Percyjacksonfan3 (T)

“Why should I?” The demon interrupts cuttingly. “You’ve made it perfectly clear where your priorities lie and anything I say won’t make a bit of difference.” “That’s not true at all.” Aziraphale replies after a long hurt moment. “And you know it. Besides, you’re being stubborn. You’ll help me eventually.” Rage flashes over Crowley’s face. “You think so, do you?” Aziraphale juts his chin up stubbornly, ignoring the unpleasant feelings Crowley’s expression stirs in him. “Yes.” Aziraphale needs Crowley's help in saving humanity from the Second Coming and despite what happened between them he's determined to get it. After all, it's not only that he needs Crowley, but his plan also includes their car. As for the other matters between the two of them... well there's no reason those can't be sorted out along the way as well, is there? Or, a possible take on Series 3 that includes the Bentley, a resurrected Jesus Christ set on bringing about the End of Days, and an angel and a demon who are stupidly in love with each other but are both suffering from a lack of experience on how to actually deal with said emotions. Emphasis on the stupidly.

- Mod D

[blindmagdalena]

Homelander and spanking is giving me brainrot rn. Just imagine lightly smacking his ass throughout the day as a joke only for him to turn tables and go from 0 to 100 REAL quickly

18+, f!reader, spanking, dirty talk, inappropriate use of a conference room, p-in-v sex, cream pie. The first time you slap Homelander's ass, it's a drive-by at work. It's quick, a sharp little smack with the back of your hand because he hasn't noticed his cape is pulled aside, hooked on a chair. No one he's standing with notices, but he whips his head around to look at you. You're already halfway down the hall, practically fleeing from him while grinning to yourself.

The two of you have been dating for a while. It's certainly the office's worst kept secret, but you both still like to play around as if no one knows.

It happens again that same day while the two of you are alone in The Seven's conference room, and this time it's a full on assault. It's hardly your fault that when you drop your pen, he doesn't bend with his knees. Instead, he bends perfectly in half, acting the part of the ideal gentleman to pick up your pen. You reel both hands back, and clap him loudly on the ass, surprising even yourself with the sound it makes.

The look on his face when he whirls around on you makes you nearly scream with laughter, muffling it into both your hands.

"Okay," he says slowly, voice pitched so menacingly that you instantly turn on your heel, making a break for the closed door, but he catches you by the waist and yanks you right back. "You wanna play? Let's play."

"No! No! It was just a joke! I won't do it again!" You cry, writhing in his grip, still laughing.

"Nope. You started this, now I'm gonna finish it," he says, bending you over the table. He keeps you there with nothing more than a light hand on your lower back, and shamelessly flips your skirt up over your hips.

You gasp, whole body tensing up immediately. "Oh my god, hold on-"

The first crack of his gloved hand against your ass knocks the next words completely from your brain, swiftly emptying it. You expect that to be the end of it, a revenge beautifully executed. Until he does it again.

This time, you moan.

The sound surprises both of you.

You feel your whole face flush, your stomach doing backflips. You reach back to push your skirt down, wildly embarrassed by how obscene the noise had been in your own ears.

However, Homelander doesn't let you up. Instead, he takes hold of your wrist and curls it behind your back, wringing another surprised noise from you. "Wh-what're you-" He does it again. He's incredibly restrained, striking with such precision of strength, it's honestly a wonder. To your mortification, you can feel your clit beginning to throb. Holy fuck, this is turning you on fast. He delivers another sharp little smack, and then another. You clench your thighs together, panting out pitchy little breaths with every blow.

Homelander slides his hand up from the small of your back to the back of your neck, squeezing it. You can feel yourself beginning to soak your panties, ridiculously wet not only from the way he's spanking you, but from the ragged way you can hear him breathing. Knowing he's getting off on this as much as you are strikes a chord low in your belly.

"H-Homelander," you moan. Your ass is beginning to smart, hot to the touch. Even when he just rubs it, it feels absolutely electric. "Jesus Christ," he growls, gritting the words out through his teeth.

The next thing you know, he lets go of your neck and you hear a distinctive metallic click. It's followed immediately by an audible shuffle of fabric, and then you feel him hook the crotch of your panties with his thumb, pulling the material aside.

You recognize the shape of the fat head of his cock pushing against your pussy immediately. It makes an obscene, wet noise upon contact, smearing not only your wetness, but his. He rocks his hips, grinds back and forth against you, trailing that wetness from your clit nearly all the way back to your ass.

"All this time," he breathes, voice rough, already wrecked with his own arousal. "You just wanted me to spank you, huh?"

You make a pleading little noise, spreading your legs further.

"Could'a just asked, sweetheart," he says, huffing a laugh. You can hear how he's restraining himself, forcing himself to go slow, keeping himself from shoving inside you all at once. He fucks lazily between the wet folds of your cunt, slowly driving you wild.

"C'mon," you urge, rocking back against him. "Fuck me," you say, but instead of moving him along any faster, all you get is another sharp slap to your ass.

"Say please," he chides.

"Please," you moan readily, knees quivering. "Please, please fuck me."

He grunts out a tight little "Fuck," and takes your hips in both hands as he finally lines himself up with your cunt. He moves slow, makes you pant and whine as he eases just the thick head of his cock into you. He rocks you back and forth with ease, like a toy, working himself gradually deeper.

You claw at the table, struggling to find purchase, but the glass is smooth and too wide, leaving you absolutely nothing to grip. You can't do anything but take it, moaning feverishly as he opens you up.

"Always take me so fucking good," he groans, halfway there now, savoring the way your walls cling to him. "Like you were made to."

"I was," you say, hands balled up into fists, panting condensation onto the glass table top. "I was made for you, feel so fucking good in me, oh fuck, fuck, my pussy's still shaped like you."

Those words snap something in him, cause him to jerk you back the rest of the way onto his cock. Your ass stings deliciously when he bottoms out against it, wringing another pitchy moan from you. You've always had the power to shatter his meticulously crafted control, and today is no exception.

You wanted him to fuck you, and you're going to get it.

Homelander fucks you in sharp, deep little bursts, barely leaving you, just grinding deeper and deeper until you feel the head of his cock bumping into the very core of you.

Abruptly, he pulls you up until your back is flush to his chest. He wraps one hand around your waist while the other goes right to your throat, lifting you clean off your feet, holding you tight while he mercilessly pounds into you.

You have no leverage, can't do anything but grab hold of his wrist with both hands, clinging to him. Your ass burns and your cunt fucking aches, and there's a pressure building in you so rapidly you feel like you're going to explode.

"I-I'm gonna come," you gasp wetly, tears gathering in your eyes from the sheer overwhelm of sensation. "H-Homelander, I'm gonna come, I'm-I'm gonna come!"

He just pumps his hips faster, buries his face in the crook of your neck and fucking bites into your shoulder. It surprises you so much you nearly scream, and with it, your climax hits you like a truck. Your whole body seizes up, an explosion of waves rolling through you. The euphoria is unbelievable, knocks the wind right out of your lungs and paralyzes you, leaves you unable to breathe while Homelander fucks you through it.

After one last hard slam, Homelander stills, spilling into you with a ragged, gasping moan. The heat and flood of it is so intense, you almost take it for a second orgasm, goosebumps erupting across your body all over again.

Slowly, gently, Homelander lowers you back down onto the table, covering your body with his.

The two of you stay like that for several long moments, both catching your breath, both equally shocked by the rate at which the situation had escalated.

Eventually, after a deep breath, you say, "So... I like spanking."

"Yeah," Homelander exhales, licking his lips. "Me too."

[badfanfictionaire]

Contrary to popular belief, Eddie Munson actually hates Halloween. There’s only so many times a kid can take being invited to participate in a group costume, only to find out it was a joke, before the whole concept gets ruined. Not to mention the amount of times he’s had to help Wayne scrape eggs off the trailer, or rip toilet paper out of trees. And yeah, Mischief Night is the night before Halloween, but that’s why most of his Halloween memories include Wayne swearing up and down when he woke up in the morning to broken windows and orange spray paint covering the side of his truck.

Even before he lived with Wayne, Halloween just wasn’t a good time for young Eddie. His mother refused to let him eat candy because she was convinced it was poison, and his dad was almost always too drunk to take him out trick or treating anyway. Most nights Eddie just sat in the living room watching whatever Halloween movie was playing on TV.

Lately he’s been going to Halloween parties because he makes a killing selling at them, but he still hates them. He refuses to dress up, what’s the point? He already dresses like a freak every day anyhow.

The only reason this Halloween is any different is because, after everything that’s gone down, he owes it to Steve and the kids to play along and have fun. So, there he was, sitting in the Harrington’s living room, dressed to the nines in a handmade Batman costume. Robin had tried to convince Steve to go as Batman so she could be her namesake sidekick, but he’d declined, so Eddie offered instead. He was even doing the voice, though it was getting sloppier as he got drunker. The kids weren’t old enough to drink still (haha) but he and the other adults had glasses of spiked cider to sip on. Eddie hated to admit it, but he’d already refilled his little plastic pumpkin goblet three times. Turns out that Halloween beverages can be delicious.

The night goes on and Eddie finds he’s loosened enough to join in on a game of charades. Afterwords, he joins Steve outback for a smoke, and when they go back inside he starts thinking maybe that was a bad idea given the amount of rum he’d consumed already. Because, he’s clearly hallucinating.

“Eddie, look, we got you a Halloween present!” Dustin declares proudly.

“Haha guys, very funny, but I’m not falling for your trick.”

“It’s not a trick,” Mike groans, crossing his arms over his chest, “These idiots thought this was a great idea.”

He blinks at the group before him. Most of them he knows because they’re his gremlins, but the middle figure he can’t distinguish. For one, they’re wearing a bloody white wedding dress. And for two, they have a burlap bag over their head.

“What the hell?!” Steve shouts, having just finished locking the back slider and joining them.

“Just last week Eddie said the only way we’d get him to a Halloween party was if we got Chrissy Cunningham herself to attend. So we did! Because Eddie held up his end of the bargain.”

“You have to to be kidding me,” Steve stomps forward and carefully removes the bag from the newcomers head.

Chrissy Cunningham blinks back at them, dressed as the bride of Frankenstein.

“Dustin! I was joking!” Eddie screeches, “You can’t just kidnap people!”

Dustin looks genuinely disappointed. “You could be a little more appreciative, this took us forever to perfectly execute.”

“Yeah, and I had to steal Billy’s car to get her here!” Max scowls, “You’re welcome.”

“You did what?” Billy shouts, appearing from the kitchen.

“I think the kidnapping is the bigger issue here,” Steve says, putting a hand on Billy’s chest to stop him from pummeling someone.

“Can someone untie my arms?” Chrissy pipes up.

“Jesus H. Christ,” Eddie groans, stepping forward and digging his pocket knife out of his utility belt.

Carefully he cuts the twine they tied her wrists together with and helps her over to the couch. Steve steers the kids into the dining room for a lecture, Robin appears with a bottle of water which she hands to Chrissy, and Billy heads for the backyard to cool down.

“I’m so sorry,” Eddie begins, “They’re idiots, I’m so so sorry.”

“They didn’t hurt me or anything,” Chrissy assures, “Just kind of caught me off guard.”

“I’ll drive you back to your own party,” he offers, “You sure you’re ok? You want some food or something?”

“I’m fine really,” she says with a sweet smile, “You really asked for me by name?”

“I um, uh-” He scratches the back of his neck. “It was a joke, I just really didn’t want to come tonight. It was a metaphor, like, “when pigs fly” or some shit.”

“That’s not a metaphor dingus,” Robin quips.

“Did I ask you?!” he snaps back.

“But why me?” Chrissy asks.

“Because he’s obsessed with you,” Nancy says, joining them and handing Chrissy a pumpkin donut on a little paper plate shaped like a ghost.

“That makes it sound fucking creepy, Wheeler.”

“It is fucking creepy,” Robin says.

“You two can go now!”

Chrissy giggles. “You barely know me, why would you want me here?”

“You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen,” he admits sheepishly, “I figured the likelyhood of me ever getting to talk to you was about as good as the kids convincing me to come to this godforsaken party.”

“Well it looks like the odds were pretty good for both things, no?”

He blinks at her. “How are you not more freaked out?”

Chrissy shrugs. “Like I said, they didn’t hurt me, and Jason’s party was lame anyway, I kinda like the vibe here better.”

Eddie rubs at his eyes with his fists.

“Well you’re welcome to stay,” Nancy pats her shoulder, “We could always use more players for team estrogen.”

Chrissy smiles and nods appreciatively.

Nancy and Robin finally leave him alone then.

“So, Princess, you want a ride back to Loch Nora?”

“I meant it, I kinda want to stay here.” Chrissy blushes. “If that’s ok?”

“More than ok,” Eddie blurts.

“Good, thanks,” she says, “Can I have some of that cider? It looks delicious.”

“It’s very strong,” he warns, offering her arm, “Come on, I’ll show you to the punch bowl milady.”

“Thank you,” she says standing and giving him a little curtsy.

“God you’re a vision,” he sighs.

“I’m surprise you can see anything with that mask on,” she giggles.

“When it comes to you, sweetheart? I only have eyes for you.”

“Get a room!” Robin shouts as they pass her in the hallway.

“Shut up, or I’ll run you over with the Bat Mobile!”

Robin sticks her tongue out.

Chrissy ends up staying, to everyone’s shock. They play another round of charades, then El convinces them to do Halloween karaoke. Chrissy is great at both activities. (Which is not shocking to Eddie in the slightest, he knew she was a wealth of talent.”

When the party comes to a crawling end, Steve ushers the kids out to the driveway where they’re picked up by their parents. He and Billy slink off to Steve’s bedroom upstairs, Nancy and Robin disappear into a guest room, and Eddie and Chrissy are left on the couch.

“I have a confession,” Chrissy says.

Eddie taps their knees together. “You were lip syncing during karaoke? I knew it!”

She giggles. “No, Eddie. That was all for real. The kidnapping though? That was fake.”

“Wh-what?!”

“The kids asked me a week ago if I would come, said it would mean a lot to you. But they wanted it to be Halloweeny.”

“So they staged a kidnapping?!”

“It was probably not the best plan,” she admits sheepishly.

“But, why? Why would you agree to come?”

“Because I’ve had a crush on you for years, and I figured it was now or never.”

“Are-are you serious? You’ve had a crush on me?”

“Uh, yeah? Since middle school, you remember the talent show?”

“How could I forget!”

She blushes deeper. “I’ve always been to shy to do anything about it. But when you’re friends asked me if I’d come, because you had a crush on me but were too shy to ask me out, I decided one of us had to be brave. And your friends seem like good kids, I knew they weren’t trying to trick me.”

“You’re something else, Cunningham.”

“I’m glad I came,” she says, beaming at him.

“Me too,” he says, and then again in his Batman voice, “me too.”

Halloween, from that night forward, goes down in Eddie’s book as the best holiday ever. Because it’s the night he finally kisses Chrissy Cunningham, and that alone negates every other horrible thing that’s ever happened on October 31st in the last eighteen years. He doesn’t miss a Halloween party ever again, and he’s not even that pissed when he has to help Wayne scrape eggs off the trailer again and again. (Ok, so, maybe he’s still pissed about that, but at least he knows he’s got a pretty girl waiting for him with a fresh batch of mulled cider for after he’s finished.)

👻👻👻👻

(Read on AO3)

[goldenfigtree]

OMG THAT WAS ONLY PART 1 OF THE FIC ????? HELP I NEED MORE I NEED TO SEE MORE OF THIS

Raise A Glass

Summary: Part 2 of 3, After your passionate moment with Leon in the garden, you feel even more conflicted than you were before.

Pairing: Leon Kennedy x FemReader

Warning: Fluff

A/N: Ask and you shall receive! Part one is below if you've yet to read it :)

Part one

Bright and luminous, the moon hangs from its invisible string, blissfully unaware of its glow shining through your windows and onto your face. The sounds of Will’s snores were the only sound throughout your home while you laid in bed without a blink of sleep, fingers intertwined together and thumbs twiddling. 

This was unlike you, especially with the rehearsal dinner coming soon this evening and the wedding another day later. Most days that consisted of wedding planning left you in shambles, collapsing onto your plush mattress with a pitiful whine into your pillows and soon after, sleep swooping you under its wing. This new stressful yet effective routine had helped you gain all the hours of sleep you purposely lost before. But not this time, not when your mind was captivated with guilt, confusion, and stress. Ever since that moment in the garden, your mind has been an utter mess. 

You thought you were in a moment of distress before, hell, now you really knew what distress was after leaving Leon in such a state. 

You let out a sharp exhale through your teeth, brows furrowed as Leon’s face flashed into your mind, your lipstick residue on his lips, over and over again. And those eyes, God, those ocean blue irises watching you run away. 

Tick. Tick. Tick. 

The antique grandfather clock Will refused to throw out, despite your visible distaste for it, mocked you with its consistent clicking. Only reminding you that you needed to decide what road to take, now that there were two. Sliding your hands underneath the pillow lying under your head, you bring the sides to your ears in hopes the ticking and clicking will go away. 

God, you always hated that clock, you didn’t care if it was a family heirloom. It was as hideous as it is noisy, but Will insisted. Just like how he insisted on having yellow as one of the colors of the wedding theme, forgetting how much you despised the color. You really wished time travel was a thing so you could stop yourself from fighting with him about how little effort and input he had put into the wedding. Maybe while you were at it, you could stop yourself from kissing those soft plump lips at the garden fountain. . 

No, you couldn’t even if you tried. 

You wouldn’t admit it to anyone but that man had always been the apple of your eye. One mission with you and him as partners was all that it took for the both of you to hit it off. It was hard to not get along with Leon Kennedy. Someone so humble, kind, and loyal to his comrades. You always knew, if all else fails, Leon Kennedy was there to save the day. Which was also why he was overly worked. Everyone knew the way Leon Kennedy executed missions and pushed himself was on a different level. A level so many competitive and envious agents tried to achieve and so many other smitten agents oggled at. He was practically a celebrity to anyone working with the government. So, you didn’t look twice at the possibility of him perceiving you in any other light that wasn’t friendly, much less romantic. With all the options he had, certainly not. 

And yet, He kissed you.

Subconsciously, your bottom lip traps itself between your teeth. Being so good at everything, you didn’t expect him to be a good kisser too. What couldn’t that man do?

 Jesus Christ. How heartless can I be?

You think to yourself, turning to your soon-to-be husband, snoring away, blissfully unaware of the mess you were at the moment. At this point, sleep was a lost cause and you needed some fresh air. Swinging your legs to the edge of the bed, you slowly get up and walk out of the bedroom. Arms crossed, in your silk nightgown, you walk silently to your kitchen and make a beeline to the coffee maker. Call it self-sabotage, but you desperately need a friend. And since you kissed the only person you could talk to, coffee would have to suffice for now. Making it just the way you like, you walk outside and sit on one of the patio chairs, bathing in twilight as you take a comforting sip. 

Tick. Tick. Tick. 

There it was again, that blasted ticking of the grandfather clock– or was it just your head? It’s midnight and you’re exhausted from your mental turmoil so with another sip you decide to ignore it. However, one thought loomed over you like a stormy cloud, no matter the effort to fan it away,

You are getting married in two days. 

“What am I going to do?” You murmur to yourself, eyes pressed shut as you run a hand through your hair. Then you remembered, you do have someone you can talk to about this. Pulling your phone out from you pajama pants pocket, you dial the number quickly, “C’mon pick up. I know you’re awake” you whisper urgently to yourself as you hold up your phone to your ear. With two dials, a voice answers, 

“Can’t sleep either huh?” Claire wittedly greets over the line. Your lips curve into a smile of relief, 

“Nope” You perkily reply, earning a chuckle on the other end, “Do you have time to talk? I’m not bothering you, am I?” 

“No, what’s up?” 

There’s a pause between you that’s almost hesitant, hesitant enough for Claire to press, 

“Is everything okay?” With a sheepish chuckle, you shake your head, 

“Yeah yeah, I’m fine. I just need someone to talk to about… Leon” There’s another pause, 

“Oh!” Claire cheerily replies, almost too cheerful you noticed. 

“Yeah, did you see Leon at the engagement party a few days ago at all?” 

“Yeah, I bumped into him on the way to getting your engagement present. But after that, I didn’t see him for the rest of the evening”  

Your heart dropped, he must have left shortly after you ran away. You couldn’t blame him, but the thought of Leon being upset or hurt by you was slowly killing you inside. 

“Did.. something happen?” Claire gingerly asks. Squeezing your eyes shut, you let out a long sigh, 

“Yeah, I.. kissed him. At the engagement party” One hand holding the phone to your ear, you use the other to pinch the bridge of your nose as you continue, “I know Claire, I know” 

“Well, how was it?” You eyes flutter open in shock, 

“Huh?” 

“You heard me, how was it?” With a nervous chuckle, you try to find someway to word it, but your words were utterly failing you at the moment, 

“It was… awesome” Claire’s laughter erupts the phone as you wince at your choice of words, 

“Really?” Claire says teasingly,

“Shut up” 

“Any specific reason why you decided to kiss Leon at your engagement party?” 

“Well you, of all people, you know I’ve always had feelings for Leon. And then I met Will..” 

“Uhuh” Claire beckons you to go on,

“And Will’s just so nice and safe. Not something I’m particularly used to so I jumped into this relationship and now we’re getting married in two days and those feelings I have for Leon, they’re still there.” You ramble, voice trembling, your foot anxiously tapping on the floor as you look out to your freshly cut green lawn. 

“Sounds to me that you’re conflicted” 

“You think?” You mutter under your breath, anxious for some answers, some directions of which road to take,

“You mentioned you like Will because he’s safe right?” 

“Yeah, I mean he’s a teacher, so my work schedule won’t be hard if we start a family. And he makes me laugh. He’s just all around just a nice guy” 

“That’s nice n’ all but people usually get married for love not convenience” Claire bluntly comments, “Look, I know you, you’re not one to take risks, which can be good at times but to marry someone because they don’t challenge you is not safe” 

“So, should I run to Leon then?” 

“I don’t know, that’s for you to decide” Claire responds, earning another dramatic groan from you, “I know I know, but I’m not going to make life choices for you. Need help deciding whether to drink decaf or not, then I’ll have an answer for you” 

The both of you share a laugh as you feel the distress you were feeling a few minutes before slightly lift off. 

–

10 more minutes. 10 more minutes until everyone would arrive for the rehearsal dinner. You couldn’t help but repeat everything Claire had said in your head as you put on your earrings, 

“Safety or love, safety or love” you whispered to yourself, not realizing Will walking right past you, 

“You say something honey?” Avoiding his gaze, you try your best to focus on the application of your makeup as Will approaches you, pressing down the panic in your chest as you feel his presence closing in, 

“No, just focused on my makeup. Want it to be just right for tonight” Resting his hands on your shoulders, he looks at you through the bathroom mirror, his green eyes glowing from the bright bathroom light along with his shimmering golden blonde hair,

“You look great babe” He reassured pressing a kiss on the back of your neck. It took a second to realize that he did because what you felt was nothing, absolutely nothing, “Your family is on their way, Claire is going to be a little late” 

“Is Leon coming?” the green eyes in the reflection that once glowed with their usual uppity, darkened almost immediately, 

“I don’t know, why?” Averting his eyes you resume applying lipstick onto your lips. The air was so thick with tension it could be sliced through with a knife,

“Just wondering babe” you say as nonchalant as possible, earning a scoff from Will,

“You know he showed up late and left early at our engagement party? For someone that’s a close friend of yours, he sure doesn’t seem supportive” Will comments resentfully,

You could feel a coiling in your stomach at his words, your tongue suddenly having a mind of its own, 

“He’s very busy, Will. Him showing up for our engagement party and our rehearsal dinner is supportive enough” 

“That’s right, how could I forget? Leon Brown-Noser Kennedy can do no wrong in anyone’s eyes, especially yours” Will quips viciously, tightening the knot of his tie in the long mirror. The coil in your stomach tightened even more as you looked back at him through the bathroom mirror, pupils shrinking,

“What’s your problem?” You ask, glaring at him as you twist the cap of your mascara back in place. 

Will doesn’t look at you, only scoffs once more as he straightens his blazer, “what’s my problem?” with one last look in the mirror, he doesn’t look at you as he walks out of the room, only muttering one word in passing, “Nothing” 

You flinch at the sudden sound of him slamming the door, the sound alone preparing you, for what you already knew, was going to be a long night. But, you knew that you had to keep on with this search for what you wanted. And tonight, Leon was the one bearing the answers you so desperately needed. You wondered what he was thinking now, did he regret the kiss? Knowing him, you assumed he would want answers, answers you didn’t have yourself. Your rather gaudy engagement ring sparkles in the mirror aggressively, almost like the high beams of a car at night. Bringing it closer to your face, the memories stored in its jagged cuts and silver band dance around your head like a carousel. It was truly a beautiful moment, Will practically in tears as he professes his love to you on one knee, everyone around you at the pier looking at the both of you with awe and joy, the sun setting just for the two of you. It was truly breathtaking, but was it you? You had your wedding planned practically since birth, you knew exactly what type of cut of gemstone you wanted, the color scheme, the venue, the dress, absolutely everything. Was this massive rock on your finger what you admired in the wedding magazines as a kid? Was a public proposal always something you longed for when watching cheesy rom-coms? 

The answer was no and you knew it. But Will loved you, maybe not in the ways you wished he would but he loved you. Leon on the other hand, you had no idea how he felt and that alone was more terrifying than any biohazard monstrosity you’ve seen. One moment of passion wasn’t enough to throw this safety net away. You needed confirmation. You needed reciprocation. With a huff of a breath you look at yourself in the mirror, adjusting the neckline of your snowy white strapless dress. You were ready for this, you had to be for the sake of what lies ahead. 

Walking down the stairs, your can’t help but look around at who arrived, looking for a certain someone. It seemed that everyone noticed you make your entrance and looked up at you as you gazed down at them, gripping the stair railing to make sure you didn’t trip and fall to your death. You receive some greetings, some singing jokingly “here comes the bride”, but the only person you seemed to notice was him. 

He was there, gazing at you, pupils billowing, invading his blue irises. You almost forgot to breathe as you made your way down the stairs, step by step. Making it to the bottom, you make your way to him, eyes fixated at him with such determination that the crowd parted as you neared them. Finally, you meet him where he stands, 

“Can we talk?” You ask quietly, so no one else could hear. You try your hardest not to glance down at his lips but it seemed that Leon didn’t hesitate to look down at yours before nodding. The tension between the two of you dissolving by the clearing of the throat by Will, 

“Better dig in before the food gets cold, you coming sweetheart?” Will asks expectantly, lending a hand for you to take. Your heart drops at the sight of it, you hoped to get your answers before dinner. Before Leon decided to briskly sneak away back to the comfort of his home like last time. But, with one last longing look, you take Will’s hand and let him lead you to the dining room. 

The dining room was centered with a long glossy wood table, golden candleholders held the tall waxy candles in place as they dripped along the rims. Food trays and bowls lined and scattered along the table. The candlelight made the food and atmosphere all the more alluring enough for everyone to quickly sit down and be ready to serve themselves. 

The small talk with in-laws alone was thinning your patience, only the few glances at Leon talking to Claire keeping you sane. Sometimes Leon would make eye contact with you and smile, you couldn’t help but smile back before noticing the squeezing of your hand by Will’s. After a bit of eating and socializing, Will taps his champagne glass with his spoon to quiet down your guests, 

“First of all, I just want to thank all of you for coming to support our union. I hope your full bellies are evident enough of our gratitude” polite laughter briefly rises at his words before he continues on, “It’s an Allen family tradition to have a few people make a toast to the soon-to-be wed couple, care to start us off Leon?” 

Everyone at the table immediately snaps their necks to look at him for his reaction. It was safe to say this wasn’t expected. Your stomach dropped as you looked up at Will, eyebrows turned up in worry as you glanced back at him apologetically. Leon, being Leon, only gives you a reassuring smile before standing up and lifting his glass with him, 

“First, I’d like to say congratulations to the lovely couple” both your family and Will’s nod in approval, 

“Choosing the person you want to spend your life with, is the most important decision in our lives. It should be with someone that knows you, challenges you, sees all the good in you that you don’t see in yourself. And I have to say William, you have found that someone in her.” 

While he says this, his eyes slowly trail to you, giving you a warm feeling in your chest, “The moment I saw you, I knew there was something special about you. Then once I got to meet you, I found out I was right. You carry yourself with so much strength but also with so much love to give. And I’m so grateful to be one of the receptors of it. I think I might have taken it for granted. But I need you to know now and forever, no matter where you are, no matter who you’re married to, I will always love you” 

Your heart skips a beat as your eyes drip with tears, yet never straying away from his, deafening silence fills the dining hall as relatives and friends glance at one another in shock and confusion. This was it, the confirmation you were looking for, brought to your feet.  

“Like a brother to his sister, cheers to the Bride and Groom” He adds to save face before lifting his glass higher, the rest of the table following suit before gulping down their champagne.

[raz-b-rose]

1 Corinthians 4: 1-5 Part 1

"This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful." (v. 1-2)

That first word servants is hupéretés and it was commonly used for sailors, bellow deck rowers specifically. So in this context is means "a subordinate executing official orders and operating under direct and specific orders"

That second word, stewards is oikonomos and it means household manager. Specifically "a slave that was released from forced/legal servitude"

Now putting this together we get "Others should logically conclude that we are a subordinate of Christ, executing His direct commands and freed from our bondage to sin, and mange His household through the mysteries revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.

What Paul was telling the Corinth church here was

They were directly under Christ's commands via His word. Paul had already in chapter 3 said "stop declaring your loyalty to me and Apollos, its to Christ"

They were freed from sin! They were no longer slaves to themselves, but free to loyally follow God. As he follows up in verse 2 "Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful"

And I love that word required because it means "to search" Why use that word for required? Because we can only receive understanding of the Mysteries of God if we actively and faithfully search them out!

There is a finality to our faithfulness.

"But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time., before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in the darkness and will disclose the purpose of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God." (v3-5)

As the rest of the chapter continues in verses 3-5 Paul says that they can't, let alone a human court, judge him or rather examine him, let alone himself. That it is the Lord who judges, examines or as the Greek used this word, to forensically examine. For this can mean God testing us via difficult trails.

So what this section of his letter is saying is that only God can truly discern the heart, because we deceive ourselves into thinking we aren't sinning but we are, and God "will disclose the purpose of the heart" (v5b)

God has taken into account our sinful hearts, the purpose for which we do things, before the history of this world was established and made a plan for it (Jesus) and through this refining examination for our Father we will receive His approval (cross reverence Matthew 25:23)

There is so much to take from just these five verses and how they relate to the previous chapters. You can tell Paul is building into something great because he is laying the foundation of reminding the Corinthians about who they are, who they serve, and their role in this relationship.

We can use these same reminders. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand Gods word and we are to faithfully search Him out and ask Him questions. God has accounted for our sins, but we still need to choose to repent, because He also accounted for our free will. We need to listen closely for our directions from above and execute them without hesitation. And we need to live as we are, no longer slaves to sin and death, but serving the one who bought our freedom faithfully.

[meet-me-backstage]

🜸

𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐰𝐨

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 🎸 Virgin!Eddie Munson x Fem!reader

𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 🎸 You play at the Hideout with your band, Stake For My Valentine, every night, you're considered the metal queen of the bar and your band are the rulers of the roost, famously loved by the Hideout's local drunks. However, when a band named Corroded Coffin land their first gig there, the sparse crowd warm quickly to the unique and awkward charm of the leading metal head, Eddie Munson.

However, you don't warm to him so easily - in fact, you don't warm to him at all. Eddie, on the other hand, worships the ground you walk on and doesn't hesitate to make it known, leading to a cold rejection from you.

Band rivalry occurs - you vs. Eddie, Stake For My Valentine vs Corroded Coffin.

You hate each other... but one night everything changes when a plan is created and executed by yours and Eddie's bandmates with the intention of bringing you two together and harmony between the bands.

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊-𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒕, 𝒔𝒎𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈!

𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 🎸 bad language, angst, mention and consumption of drugs, mention and consumption of alcohol, sexual innuendos, mention of blood, Eddie wearing eyeliner bcuz damn😍, some typical bar fight drunkard violence and SMUT so you must be 18+ to read‼️

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐰𝐨 🎸 7.3K

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐰𝐨 🎸 bad language, mention of and consumption of alcohol and reader being kinda mean to Eddie for no reason oop.

𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒍 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚 - 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝟐𝟎𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑶𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟓 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒚 (𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 - 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝑯𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂)!

𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 - 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠!

𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲, 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢-𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝! <𝟑

⇜ 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐧𝐞

𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 ⎈ 𝟐𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 ⎈ 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟓

Eddie had his head tucked into the shitty school magazine he'd been handed on his way into the Hawkins High cafeteria.

He didn't usually read it, but today he felt he needed a distraction - tomorrow was going to be Corroded Coffin's first ever gig... well, aside from the middle school talent show and Battle of the Bands' competitions - but they were different, events full of acts and terrible sound quality. The last time Corroded Coffin played at a Battle of the Bands the amp blew during Eddie's guitar solo, putting the entire event to an abrupt end.

There was something else though, something other than the usual nerves of a first gig - engraved and irritating his mind like a new tattoo to the skin... it was you.

He hadn’t been able to get you out of his head from the moment you gave him the eye from the stage on Friday. It had been playing on his mind with every hour that passed, he couldn’t believe that you gave him the eye - the coolest and most metal badass in Hawkins.

He’d never received attention like that and he’d come to the point of accepting that he wasn’t going to from anyone, let alone from the girl he’d been obsessing over for years.

A tray slammed on the table, making Eddie jump in his seat and causing him a mini heart attack, he dropped the magazine he was ‘reading’ onto the table, “Jesus Christ!” He squeals, looking up, only to see an aggravated Gareth standing over him, “What the hell, dude?”

Gareth grimaces, “Seriously?!” Jeff and Travis are stood behind him with their arms crossed, “We don’t see you at band practice and all you’ve got to say to us is ‘what the hell, dude’?!”

Eddie’s eyes were wide and his chest heaved, he slowed his heavy breathing and placed his hand over his heart, “You scared the hell outta me, what else was I gonna say?!”

“Gee… I don’t know, maybe an apology - an explanation?” Gareth asks sarcastically, scratching at his chin before dropping himself onto the seat with a thud diagonally from Eddie. He leans towards Eddie, giving him intense eye contact that made Eddie’s pulse pick up again, his cheeks turning pink from embarrassment.

The other boys sat themselves down, Jeff next to Gareth and opposite him - they began to stare too, making Eddie writhe even more and bite at his trembling lips to try and stop himself from breaking.

Eddie felt sweat beginning to bead at his forehead from the tension of his friend’s glares, he felt like his entire head was about to explode, or his mouth out least and he couldn’t hold his words any longer.

A strained noise escaped his lips and moments later he let his hand fall and slam down into the table , “I’m sorry, m’kay,” he drawls with a small frown, his lips still twitching as they continue to stare at him, unsatisfied. Eddie rolls his eyes, “Fine - if you buttheads really have to know - I was at… the Hideout,” he exhales as he utters the last two words, his chest deflating and he stares down at his ring-clad fingers tapping a fast beat on the table.

The three boys around Eddie squint their eyes all at the same time.

“The - Hideout?” Gareth blinks with blank features.

Eddie gulps, nodding. His brown eyes were wide and he continued to keep his head down, afraid of them spotting the obvious blush on his cheeks. He felt so hot, he could only imagine how pink his entire face looked.

Jeff and Travis snorted with laughter, holding their hands over their mouths to try and cover it up and it only made Eddie more self-conscious and jittery so he dives a hand into the pack of pretzels that his Uncle Wayne had left out for him in the morning and chucks one of them in his friend’s direction, “Shut up!”

Eddie knew that he was going to have to tell them about his whereabouts last weekend, he just hadn’t exactly planned how he was going to explain. The decision to visit the dingy bar was on a complete whim on his part, it was like he’d been lovestruck and suddenly couldn’t keep himself away from the place.

“Hey - defensive much?” Jeff picks up the rogue pretzel and chucks it back at Eddie, who narrowly dodges it.

“I am not being defensive.”

“You so are.”

Gareth laughs, his eyes flickering between the two bickerers before setting his hands down with a thump onto the table, gaining him the attention of all three boys sat around him, “Defensive? More like delusional,” he flashes Eddie a knowing smirk.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eddie furrows his brows, tilting his head to the side and burrowing his hand back into his packet of pretzels, ready to fireball some more of his lunch if need be.

Gareth rolls his eyes, “This is about your little lovesick puppy moment last week.”

Eddie blows a raspberry, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms, “I don’t know what you’re talking about - I - went there to get more familiar with the place so my nerves won’t be so bad at our gig on Tuesday and I just - forgot… about band practice.”

“You expect us to believe that bullshit?” Gareth asks sarcastically while the other boys blink blankly and nod in agreement with Gareth. Gareth suddenly leans forward and points at Eddie, his finger brushing the ‘W.A.S.P.’ badge on the pocket of his denim vest, “You went there because of Vampire - whatever the name is now - Vamp!”

“No I did not!” Eddie squeaks.

“Oh come on - we all know you’re obsessed, you’ve been obsessed since 6th grade.”

Eddie forced a nervous laugh, memories flooding back suddenly of the moment he first saw you in middle school.

He was in the midst of stuffing his grade six history notes messily into his locker, his door was wide open and all he could see of the person beside him were their shoes, small worn black boots that thudded loudly on the floor, the sound being what caught his attention in the first place. His lips trembled, being new and already unpopular, he knew nobody other than Gareth at that point.

He not so sneakily peeked past the locker door… it was you. You were taller than him at the time and chucking some of your own notes into your locker - he spied on the decorated interior of it and one particular thing caught his eye, Black Sabbath’s logo that you’d clearly torn from a magazine.

⎈ 🎸⎈

“What are you looking at?” You ask with a harsh stare, looking down at the small boy after taking out your diary of ‘77 that had little butterfly stickers on it.

You could only see half of his face, the other half was hidden by his locker door and when he’d realised that you’d caught him his eyes, widened, massive compared to his small head and the rest of the features on it - you raise your brows at him, crossing your arms and tapping your foot. He slowly unhides himself, shutting his locker’s door carefully, “I - er - l-like Black Sabbath - too.”

You just stare for a few seconds, then roll your eyes at him and slam your locker door, muttering with a shrug of your shoulders, “Whatever.”

You leave him stood there with a rapid heartbeat that felt as if his heart was going to pound out of his chest.

⎈ 🎸⎈

Eddie remembered running to the cafeteria excitedly and jumping onto the stool opposite Gareth, immediately uttering the words ‘I spoke to a girl!’

You were always pretty distant from everybody else - it was something you did on purpose with the intention of not being noticed by anybody… or so your thirteen year old self thought… but twelve year old, buzz-cut Eddie did notice you. After the short encounter you had he noticed you on the sidelines whenever you excused yourself from any kind of drama, game, school event or club. Whenever you sneaked yourself past the likes of Derek Hagan and his basketball friends, including his younger brother, Tommy and his friends in the year below. They would all snigger at you whenever they had the chance through middle and high school - it never stopped until you took matters into your own hands and dropped out, never looking back at the school again.

Eddie was the first to notice yours and your friend’s disappearance in your senior and his junior year - he figured it was because of the bullying and felt bad about it because he was sure that if he’d approached you more then you would’ve been sat with him - friends.

But eventually you had found your own friends and he had found his. The thought of approaching you felt stupid when he figured you would probably send him away anyway, but it didn’t stop him from thinking that you were the coolest in both Hawkins middle and high combined. He decided that he’d love your antics and be your number one fan from afar.

Seeing you again at the Hideout was a chance that Eddie thought he’d never get since it seemed like you’d just vanished.

Two years later - a second chance. Take it, don’t waste it - was all that had been running round and round Eddie’s head since that night.

“Helloooooo-,” Gareth waves his hand directly in front of Eddie’s deadpan face. Eddie eventually blinks himself back to reality and pushes Gareth’s hand away, “Where were you?”

“With Vamp by any chance?” Jeff asks with a little grin.

Travis then pouts his lips, making smooching sounds, the others hysterically laugh for minutes.

“Are you guys done?” Eddie asks, his cheeks pink from embarrassment and suddenly feeling extremely conscious of his surroundings, everyone else in the cafeteria - which was unlike him, he didn’t usually care for the glares that others gave him from other tables.

Though their laughter had died down, they were still watching Eddie with amusement.

“What?”

“Did anything happen?” Jeff pipes up, usually the most quiet of the four.

Eddie looked down for a moment, fighting a small smile from making its way onto his pink lips, “She looked at me - again, y’know - like - the look. Like the one I was telling you about on Friday,” he trails off at the end of the sentence.

“And?” Jeff lifts his hands up, gesturing for Eddie to continue.

“And what?” Eddie shrugs, trying to play it cool.

Jeff rolls his eyes, snorting a small giggle, “Did anything happen? Did you talk to her?”

“I - looked back at her,” Eddie reveals, genuinely impressed with himself by straightening his back, pushing his chest forward and toothily grinning until he notices the disappointed looks that his friends are giving him, “It’s something, m’kay?”

“It’s nothing!” Gareth interjects, “You’ve gotta talk to her, dude - this is like sixth grade all over again!”

“Pfft - I tried, but everyone in there wants to talk to her. She’s like - the queen of the Hideout, whenever I got the courage to approach her someone else would swoop in so I just - sat at a booth with a bottle of cola that Keith gave me, I must’ve looked that miserable,” Eddie exhales with a laugh at the end of his ramble, “Besides - I think she’s got a thing going on with that - Rodrick guy, y’know - the one that-.”

“Got us the gig tomorrow - yeah, he’s kinda epic for doing that for us,” Gareth mutters, lowering his tone and scratching the back of his neck.

“Exactly, he is epic - and cool - funny,” Eddie sighs.

“You’re all three of those too,” Gareth states, placing his hand flat on the table in front of Eddie, “you just need to show her that you are.”

“How?”

Gareth bites his lips together for a brief second before exhaling, “I think you made a pretty good start last Friday, you made her laugh so - she thinks you’re funny at least.”

“I’m pretty sure she was laughing at me - there’s a difference. I’m not that clueless - even you should know that, Gareth, you’re the most experienced here.”

“Being dared to kiss my crush in eighth grade and running out of the room after is not what I would personally call ‘experience’,” Gareth recalls, his teeth gritting slight at the memory before he pressed the tip of his index finger against the tabletop, “My point is - if you can make a girl laugh, you’re already halfway to your destination - her heart.”

Eddie tilts his head, squinting his eyes, “you’re making this sound a lot like one of my campaigns.”

“If it helps you then maybe picture it like one of ‘em,” Gareth suggests, his voice growing with enthusiasm, earning a few nods from Jeff and Travis, “Picture it like this - Rodrick is Orcus. There’s an undead army guarding them - Orcus and er - Tiamat! Vamp is Tiamat. You’ve got to somehow get to your dragon queen by killing Orcus, slaying the undead army and defying Tiamat’s powers.”

Eddie grits his teeth before visibly deflating, rolling his hair around his index finger, “I dunno, man - that sounds pretty brutal.”

Gareth also deflates at the sound of his friend’s low tone, “C’mon Eddie - this isn’t like you. A Dungeon Master doesn’t give up on a quest just like that-,” he snaps his fingers, “Not before the battle has even started.”

It’s silent for a while. Eddie restlessly taps his fingers and bounces his legs as he thinks about the mission he’d been given to conquer - it takes a few minutes and his brain starts to ache before suddenly his heart jolts and his entire body stills, but the light behind his eyes reignites. The other boys notice it, causing them to smile and hold the table from inner excitement, they knew what was coming - a hop on the table performance from Eddie.

His lips pulled upward at the corners of his mouth into a mischievous smile, he began to lift himself up off of his seat and climbed stealthily onto the seat before jumping onto the table, almost knocking his black lunchbox and trays of lunch off of the table. Gareth, Jeff and Travis quickly hold the trays down and stare up at Eddie with grins from ear to ear as he stares back down at them.

Eddie holds his arms up, playfully aiming at tables around the cafeteria, “First, I’m gonna fireball the undead,” he jolts his arms forward as if he’s preparing for attack and shouts ‘boom - boom - boom!’, making the other boys laugh and the rest of the cafeteria stare at him with dumbfounded looks. Eddie smirks before swiftly spinning himself around and facing Gareth, “I’ve stunned them - now before the villainous Orcus can bring them back to life I sneak past the army, like this-,” he ducks and runs with light feet along the length of the table, ignoring the fact that he was practically stepping on other student’s lunch, “I’ll shield myself as I sneak past Orcus and from the poisonous clouds of Tiamat - then-,” he stamps his foot down on the table and runs further along the table until he reaches the end, “I go in for the kill - firebombing the dragon queen, she’ll rush me, but I’ll knock her back, then I’ll pound until I have her heart, killing Orcus!” He holds a hand up in the air, his chest heaving under his ‘Dio’ t-shirt.

Gareth, Jeff and Travis are in fits of giggles, but clap as Eddie jumps off of the table, ignoring others that were calling him an ‘asshole’ for his outburst. He jogs back to his friends, his hair bouncing on his shoulders and he stands behind Jeff and Travis, placing a hand on their shoulders, “It’s not gonna be easy, but I’m gonna give it a goddamn try.”

Gareth grins triumphantly at the return of his friend that he’d known since the very first day of sixth grade, the defiant, energetic and loud Eddie that he loved, “There you are. This is the Eddie that is gonna blow her mind.”

“Mhm - mhm - starting tomorrow. I’m gonna shred an almighty guitar solo, we’re gonna perform the most metal concert in all of the world. I’ll give Vamp the eye and after - I’ll - make a beeline straight for her, I’ll talk to her again - finally - hopefully without any interruptions or - mess ups - or rejection,” Eddie nods with each word, squeezing his friend’s shoulders for support as he tries to build his confidence up.

“Vamp is not gonna know what’s hit her.”

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 ⎈ 𝟐𝟒𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 ⎈ 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟓

“Yeah - see you in ten, Elektra,” you fiddle with the cord of the telephone in your room and as you put the phone down, the cord uncoils itself from your fingers and hits your face, “Fuck!”

Like your old middle school locker at school, your room had ripped logos, band photos and your favorite photo of Eddie Van Halen stuck to your black and purple striped walls. Unlike your old middle school locker, you had Polaroids of you and the girls of Stake For My Valentine stuck to the wall too, your band logo that you designed spray painted onto fabric and hung up at the head of your bed.

You were laying on your bed on your stomach in a skirt with fishnet tights and wearing an oversized, old band t-shirt of The Runaways - who were your queens of rock ‘n’ roll from the moment you first purchased their debut album on vinyl with your pocket money as an eleven year old in ‘76.

Jumping off of the bed, you hastily grabbed your black leather jacket and climbed through your window as a way out of your childhood ‘home’.

Though you couldn’t call it a home because homes are meant to be a place of comfort, love - you didn’t feel that here. It was the reason why you were climbing out of the window and not simply walking out of the door, saying ‘goodbye’ to your mom and dad, because you’d only be met with their strictness, their disappointment in you, they’d probably go to the extent of trying to stop you from going to the Hideout again - they could never.

As far as you were concerned, the Hideout was your home and Elektra, Alyssa, Cherie, Keith, Rodrick and all of the drunks, the misfits that hung out there - they were your family.

You scraped your legs and your fishnets got caught on the rose bush that you landed next to upon dropping yourself from your window and tucking and rolling - a move you’d gotten more stealthy at over the last few years.

With a flip of the bird aimed at the house, you ran your way in the dark to your real home.

The Hideout was on the other side of the woods that separated the larger houses and what once was Starcourt Mall from the desolate side of town.

There were abandoned, unkept buildings surrounding the Hideout, along with trees and straw-like grass as far as the eye could see.

You didn’t mind the darkness, or the woods - in fact, you actually found comfort in both, especially in autumn.

The crunch of leaves under your feet, the chilling whistle of the wind blowing past you, causing goosebumps to form on your skin, the sight of the bright moon, making the silhouette of the branches of trees above you crystal clear.

Other than it being on your journey to the Hideout, it was a place you sought freedom in when you struggled to feel like you belonged anywhere, before you found that dingy bar, before you formed Stake For My Valentine, before you decided that you wanted to pursue music and before you’d even met Elektra, Cherie and Alyssa.

It had been a while since you’d sat yourself against the trunk of a tree with the intention of contemplating something that had happened the same day, or basking in silence instead of muffled shouting coming from your parents on the floor below while you locked yourself in your room.

It took time to learn to ignore it and not care - you found that just being distant, keeping to yourself and delving into the sweet sound of metal music at the Hideout as much as you could was the best way to warm your cold and empty heart. It was also a way out - long-term, you wanted nothing more than to use the little money you got from gigs to eventually be enough to buy a trailer, then you could play your guitar to your hearts content.

You were even more desperate for that trailer now, especially with the potential of Corroded whatever having access to the ‘backstage’ room that Keith provided. You, Elektra, Alyssa and Cherie had, had it to yourselves for so long - it was personalised to Stake For My Valentine, filled with your belongings and all of your music gear, it was your place to play guitar and sing… your place to learn new Iron Maiden, Dio, Van Halen and Metallica songs and guitar solos on your beloved Pink Special.

You’d no longer have that privilege if you had to share the room with another band and deep down, though you’d never show it… you were worried.

Corroded Coffin had been on your mind since the very first moment you had been introduced.

The shyness and the boyishness of them intrigued you. If Keith and Rodrick had scoped them out and decided to give them a show then they must be at least a little talented… metal - no, I decide who is metal and who isn’t.

That’s why you were making your way to the Hideout right now - to pass judgement because they couldn’t be that good, right?

You had to see it for yourself.

Besides, the curly-haired, doe-eyed brunette - Eddie Munson, had been doing the exact same to you. You’d seen him spying from the back of the room at your show last Saturday, hiding at a booth and at the back of the small crowd who had come to see you play.

Two can play at that game, you thought, now stood on the opposite side of the street from the Hideout.

You could hear loud crashes, bangs and wallops coming from the inside, it was muffled from where you were, but you knew that the music being played was the four boys that made up Corroded Coffin because you’d planned on arriving late all along.

With every step you take, the music gets louder and you could distinctly hear between each instrument… and a voice.

When you opened the rustic door that was painted black and had little chips from how old it is, the music blared past you, almost knocking you off of your feet from it’s strength.

You slowly stepped into the bar once you’d gathered your balance against the sound waves. There was a crowd of about five drunks stood in front of the stage, making you smirk, you internally laughed until…

Squinting your eyes due to the familiar fog in order to see clearly. You recognised one of the sparse crowd, it was Alyssa. She was dancing chaotically in a black and white chequered flannel, distressed black skinny jeans and her trademark, her black cowboy hat that she wore 24/7, complimenting her long dark mullet.

Out of the four of Stake For My Valentine, Alyssa is the groover and has immensely incredible rhythm when it comes to dancing - you can tell that she puts her skills of drumming into her moves.

Alyssa’s eyes were shut, one of her arms up in the air and her head banging to the music as she held her hat down with her other arm’s hand.

Traitor.

You storm your way towards her with a stomp of your feet, though you couldn’t hear the them over a loud drum solo. Once you were stood by Alyssa, who had still not noticed your presence from being so lost in the ‘music’ - if you could even call it that. You tap her shoulder harshly with your pointer finger, “Alyssa!” You continue to tap until she bats her eyelashes at you, “Alyssa, what are you doing?!”

Alyssa grins smugly in response, even after being caught red-handed. You held onto her shoulders tightly but her head continuously turns to face the stage, like the boys on the platform had her under a trance with their instruments.

Her eyes were half-lidded and she continued to bat her eyelashes, you furrow your brows as you watch her - you turn your head purely out of curiosity, realising that she was practically eye-fucking the drummer - Gareth? You quickly turn back to face her, shaking her shoulders at the same time, “Are you fucking kidding me?!”

“What?” Alyssa shouts back before gesturing towards the band, you suddenly hear the same voice that you heard outside of the building, “Aren’t you hearing this?! They’re good!”

“You're the light of the dying sun-.”

Hearing it clearly, the voice has a high-pitched raspiness about it that you couldn’t hear outside.

“You're the dark side of the night.”

It pierced through your body suddenly, having the same effect as the music had on you when you first opened the door. You subconsciously whipped your head in the direction of the stage again, catching eyes with Eddie. His legs were spread apart and he wielded a beautiful guitar of a shiny red and black pattern - you couldn’t keep your eyes off of it, falling into a similar trance to Alyssa’s. It was as if the lines of sound waves coming from his electric guitar had wrapped themselves around your neck and you could not drag yourself away.

Your gaze drifted upwards, only to realise that he was looking right back at you - mirroring the same exact look that you’d given him last Friday, his lips twitch upward at you too.

Your facial expressions immediately harden and you snap yourself from the trance that the music had you under. You drag your eyes away from him and look to Alyssa, who had resumed dancing. You roll your eyes and slide a hand from her shoulder down her arm to her hand, grabbing it before pulling her with you away from the dance-floor.

Elektra, Cherie and Rodrick wave at you from a booth and you sigh from relief, tugging at Alyssa’s hand.

Elektra’s arm was wrapped around Cherie’s waist as Cherie leaned her head on Elektra’s shoulder.

Alyssa stood by you and Elektra waved down her little sister with her spare arm, “Murder on the dance floor, eh? You killed it, sis!” Elektra then held her arm out to low five Alyssa, who grins, slapping her sister’s hand.

You scrunch your nose at the sight, breathing in your frustration and turning your attention to Rodrick, who, as usual, had a beer in his hand. He gestures with his pointer finger for you to come over, then pats the seat beside him - you flash him a flirtatious smile and oblige, climbing into the booth and shuffle on the seat towards him, leaving a small distance between your hips.

Rodrick closes the distance, shuffling to connect your hips, he leans towards your ear and you can feel his beer-smelling, hot breath on your skin, “You look beautiful tonight, Vamp!” He shouts into your ear, making you flinch and look the other way, again, unintentionally making eye contact with Corroded Coffin’s lead singer, this time he didn’t smile back at me, he looked down at his guitar instead, pursing his lips as he seems to play even more passionately than before.

Again, you drag your eyes away, focusing on Rodrick’s breathing in your ear, “Only tonight?” You utter with sarcasm and a pout, facing him, looking deep into his brown eyes that were outlined with black eyeliner.

He laughs, shaking his head and taking a swig of his beer while subtly pressing his thigh more against yours, “You know you steal the show every night, you don’t even have to try.”

A sly grin creeps it’s way onto your lips, “Yeah, well - tonight’s show isn’t proving to be too tough to steal anyway,” you nod in the direction of the stage.

Rodrick bites his lips together, making your eyes flicker to them for a moment, “You’re really harsh on them, huh?”

You shrug your shoulders before confidently reaching for his beer, taking a sip from the exact spot that he had pressed his lips against. He watches you closely, licking his lips at the same time, even as you slide his beer back to him, “They’re a parody of metal music - it’s embarrassing, it’ll taint our-,” you gesture towards Cherie, Elektra and Alissa, who are occupied with their own conversation, “reputation as a band, I’m afraid we won’t be taken as seriously alongside - that,” you groan, letting your hand slam onto the table of the booth, “I swear, if they get a weekly deal with your dad I’m gonna- ugh- I’m gonna make their lives a living hell here.”

Rodrick raises his brows, his lips pulling up into a mischievous, but mesmerised smile, “You’re kinda hot when you get all passionate and angry, y’know that?”

You shoot him a playful glare and in response to it he sticks his tongue out, scrunching his nose.

“You’re agonisingly annoying, y’know that?” You mimic his voice, leaning closer to him.

“And you’re so into it,” he mumbles and leans closer too, your noses almost brushing, but not quite. You no longer felt the same excitement you used to when you’d be this close, even closer - everything had changed since you’d seen each other naked.

“Totally,” you whisper convincingly, but half-heartedly and as he continued to lean forward with a half-dead expression you quickly turned, looking over your shoulder for any sign of Keith, “Your dad might see us,” you whisper. You spot him stood at the side of the stage, and phew, not paying any attention to you and Rodrick, instead, he was preparing to do is usual ‘five minutes until the show is over’ warning with a tap of his wrist watch.

Rodrick leans his chin on your shoulder, “Er, Vamp? I don’t think it’s my dad that you should be worrying about right now.”

“What?!” You shout over the music, leaning your head gently onto Rodrick’s.

“Four o’clock!”

You turn your head in the direction of ‘four o’clock’, your eyes landing on the bar. You squint your eyes, only seeing the locals that usually sat there and waiting to be served, “That’s nothing I should be worrying about, aren’t you supposed to be serving them while your dad is on ‘five minute warning’ duty?”

“I meant the stage - shit, I gotta go!” Rodrick downs the rest of his beer, the froth of it now coating his lips. He gives you a kiss on the cheek before climbing over you, almost tripping and falling onto the table on the way, the running in a stagger towards the bar.

You wipe the wet kiss from your cheek, muttering ‘gross’ as you do it.

What did he mean by ‘the stage’? You ponder for a moment before slowly glancing the it’s way.

The sight made every feature on your face drop and toughen up - it felt like a hallucination, you became extremely still.

There were more people gathered in front of the stage now, unlike before.

Where had all these people come from?

They must’ve heard the music from outside, you’d never seen them before and you’d know if you had.

It was still a sparse crowd, but equal to the amount of people that would come to a Stake For My Valentine gig - just that thought alone made your skin crawl with anger.

No, this can’t be happening.

With stiff bones you lift yourself up from the booth, your eyes setting target at the four boys performing.

Rage was filling you second by second as you slowly walked in the direction of the stage. It was evident on your face, how angry you were, your lips and nose were twitching and your head was bowed on your way.

You stood at the back of the crowd, who were dancing, screaming, throwing their limbs chaotically to the music - you crossed your arms, stood still and staring up at Eddie.

He was looking Keith’s way, who was pointing at his watch - the five minute showdown. In response, to Keith, he nods before he appears to be searching the drunk crowd until… his eyes widen at the sight of you in the midst of it.

You glare at him, but he quickly turns to face his band-mates, shouting something at them. So amateur.

‘I think Vamp likes us! I can’t believe it, the plan is working so well!’

You couldn’t hear a word, and neither could the rest of the crowd - neither did they seem to care about the band’s lack of professionalism.

‘I am the king-,” he sang, his brown doe eyes catching your piercing glare. He shot you a smile, dimples peeking at the corners of his rapidly moving lips, “and this is my castle!”

Your blood was boiling within you. The smile - the lyrics - the constant staring… he’s laughing at me.

Then his eyes close at the euphoric feeling of playing the guitar on stage, he was on cloud number nine - you could tell. You watched him closely, still with harsh eyes as his ring clad fingers quickly pluck the strings of his six string, a screech of notes ring through your ears like a sweet caress - the most beautiful guitar solo you’d ever heard, and you’d heard and studied plenty.

It ranged from low to high notes and his fingers wriggled skilfully as his bottom lip tugged behind his top one, his face was scrunched up and his hips were pressed against the body of the guitar.

Slurred screams and claps sounded around you - you heard people talking amongst each other as they enjoyed Corroded Coffin’s music.

‘Where have these guys been?!’

‘This is what I call metal!’

‘Who is that?!’

You couldn’t believe your ears, are these people for real? They must be drunk to the point where they can’t actually hear if they’re enjoying this shit!

When he plucked the last note it ringed for a while, fading into the familiar sound of static from the amp.

They finished just in time for Keith’s one minute warning, you noticed, because the middle-aged man gave the band a thumbs up and a proud smile.

The room was silent for a few moments, as if they’d completely shocked the sparse crowd with their godawful music. Screams, thuds of feet and clapping soon erupts together into a loud and messy rhythm.

Your mouth was left agape, you were left at a loss at the entire situation, your mind in a state of complete disarray. They did it, Corroded Coffin had actually wooed a crowd.

The so called ‘metal’ band basked in the glory with faces that expressed disbelief and exhaustion mixed with pent up adrenaline - they huddled together, jumping and chanting before the swooshy-haired singer, in a cropped black t-shirt with a white skull design on it that matched the bandana he wore on his head and showcased his arm and chest tattoos, swung his guitar over his shoulder, kissed the neck and carefully rested it against the bass drum.

His face was glistening with sweat, his chest also heaving up and down rapidly. He faces the audience, wide-eyed and frantically searching again until eventually he locks eyes with you, pulling that same smug smile that boiled your insides for what felt like the millionth time tonight… your organs feel so hot that you are sure that they are suffering from first degree burns.

To your surprise, he jumps from the platform down onto the floor. Droplets of sweat shake off of him and his hair slaps wetly back onto his shoulders after the thud that his sneakers had made from his land.

His eyes didn’t leave you for even a millisecond as he headed in your direction with large strides. The crowd reached for him, touching his shoulders, telling him that he ‘rocks’, that they’d ‘never heard anything like you’ and asking things like ‘will you gig here again?’. These were the people that were usually clamouring for your attention, your time - why were they suddenly so desperate for his? I don’t see the appeal.

His response was to triumphantly grin while bewildered by the sudden attention, uttering a breathless ‘I hope so’ before looking straight forward, manoeuvring and dodging people with an energetic skip in his step… he was getting closer and closer and you physically felt as though you couldn’t move - his stare was dark, half-lidded but still entirely focused on…

Me? Is he? Your breath hitches and you look over your shoulder to see… no one…

“Hi,” you hear the familiar voice of the doe-eyed brunette and your heart drops as you slowly turn your head to come face to face with him. Seeing him closeup, his pupils were blown out with adrenaline or maybe just from shock at the sight of you stood in front of him - the messily applied eyeliner he wore was running in streaks from his eyes due to the sweat, “You - you came,” he speaks softly, breathlessly.

You press your lips together tightly into a straight line, trying to suppress your anger at him because you didn’t want to get on the wrong side of Keith again, especially after the ‘talk’ last Friday.

“I didn’t think you would,” he continues, bringing his hand up to fiddle with the tips of his dripping hair, “Thank you.”

You snort a small laugh, “Oh - don’t flatter yourself, Ed- Edwin - Edmund - whatever your name is-.”

“It’s Eddie-.”

“Eddie,” you repeat in a low drawl that makes his breath hitch, “If I’m honest - I forgot about your little gig and my invitation, I came because my friends and I are discussing our Halloween gig next week.”

He nods, gulping and sliding his shaking fingers through his hair now, “Nonetheless, I’m glad you came.”

You roll your eyes and huff with attitude, “I’m sure you are, Munson.”

“So you did remember half of my name, that’s a start,” he mutters the last three words to himself.

You did remember his entire name - how could you not? It had infested your entire brain over the weekend, the name infuriated you.

You notice his lips tugging upwards again into that smirk- I swear, if he looks at me like that again with that stupid look, twirling his stupid long hair around his stupid fingers I’m going to lose it - you spin on your heel and turn away from him and return to your friends.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You hear behind you, along with footsteps, “Hey, wait up!” He pleads over the music now coming from the old stereo, but you continue to walk until he gently grasps your hand.

The touch sends an electric jolt through your entire arm that makes something snap within you, making you turn to face him again with raised brows, “Leave - me - alone, do you know what that means?”

Eddie tilts his head with widened brown eyes, resembling a lost puppy, he no longer wore the smug expression, “Woah woah woah - I’m struggling to pin-point exactly where this all went wrong.” He gestures dramatically between the two of you with his spare hand before letting his hand drop to his side, slapping his thigh in the process, “Can you enlighten me, please?” He asks with a sigh, absentmindedly rubbing your knuckles subtly with his clammy fingers.

Feeling the coldness of his silver rings against your fingers, your breath hitched at the realisation that he was still holding your hand, “Sure, I’ll - enlighten - you,” you mimic his desperate high pitched voice, pulling your hand away from his soothing and gentle grasp before you grimace at him, “How about the way you just loved rubbing your undeserved success in my face tonight with your annoying looks - the stupid smile - the guitar solo - need I go on?” You bring your hand up and press your index finger’s tip against his chest, poking him with every word spoken in a sassy tone.

Eddie’s face couldn’t have fallen more, he brought his hands up in surrender and let out a nervous and breathless chuckle, “Y-you’ve completely got the wrong end of the stick, sweetheart.”

“Well, how about you enlighten me?” You take a small step closer towards him, visibly making him even more nervous as he starts to breathe shakily, “And don’t you dare call me that again,” you state with another poke to his chest, your finger grazing his plectrum necklace.

“I - I just wanted to-,” he sighs, shaking his head and placing a hand on his forehead, “Jesus H. Christ - this is stupid - I just wanted to impress you, m’kay?” His pleading brown eyes search yours through the gap between his pinky and ring finger, “I wanted to - show you that I can be cool - metal or whatever and I kept on looking at you because I wanted to see if you were - having fun - impressed,” he rambles while scrunching his noise. It was evident to you that he wanted nothing more than to crawl into himself and hide forever. It almost made you laugh in his face, “I even tried to put on this - stupid eyeliner - badly because I know you like it. And I - came up with this - extravagant plan just to talk to you because you never even looked my way three years ago… I’m pretty sure you still wouldn’t even if I walked around Hawkins High with underpants on my head.”

You furrow your brows… now you were lost, “What?”

Eddie’s breathing is now staggered from his confession, his heartbeat rapid. He exhales loudly, “I-.”

“I think I owe you a congratulations, bro!” Rodrick suddenly swoops into yours and Eddie’s personal space. He wraps his arm around Eddie, rubbing his arm roughly and shooting you a questioning look, “How do you feel? Like you’re on top of the world I bet - am I right?!”

“Y-yeah, dude - like the king of the castle,” Eddie doesn’t reciprocate the embrace, but turns his head to Rodrick, forcing a grin.

Rodrick mirrors Eddie’s grin and pulls him closer into his side by the shoulder, “Speaking of ‘kings of the castle’, me and my dad think that Corroded Coffin ruled the Hideout tonight, andddd - if you want, we’re willing to give you a deal. You’ll play every Tuesday, how about that?”

Tuesday?

As Rodrick speaks he side-eyes you with a mischievous glint in his eyes, while Eddie stares at him with an excited expression, practically bouncing on the spot and about to burst, “Yes! Shit! We’ll do it - we’ll do it!” He laughs between each word, finally reciprocating Rodrick’s embrace.

Rodrick cackles, “Then the backstage room is yours just as much as it is the Valentines. We’ll see you next week - the thirty-first,” he side-eyes you with a mischievous glint in the look - it is almost like he wants to see my reaction.

Halloween night?

Rodrick squeezes Eddie’s shoulder, pointing at him with his other hand before looking at you once more with a raised brow and leaving to resume tending to the drunkards of the bar.

You were alone with Eddie again, who was elated at Rodrick and Keith’s proposition, while your world had crumbled right in front of you.

The softness of your features due to his confession before Rodrick had interrupted, had hardened.

Halloween was your favorite night of the year, but most importantly it was your gig. The same rage that had been boiling within you before had resurfaced - you’d spent so much time planning a costume for your performance, the lighting, the makeup, the set-list… now completely sabotaged and stamped on by Corroded ‘fucking’ Coffin.

“So - now that I’ve finally got your attention. Would you wanna - maybe go-,” Eddie confidently begins with a charming and dimpled grin, chuckling in between words and rubbing his hands together.

“Save it, asshole,” you spit with a harsh glare, staring right through his eyes like a laser before throwing yourself around in a spin, facing your band-mates, only to see Alissa clearly flirting with Gareth and Rodrick proposing the ‘brilliant’ deal to the rest of Corroded Coffin at the same booth.

You huff and storm your way towards the Hideout’s exit - feeling the extreme urge to leave before you could burst and get yourself a permanent ban from Keith.

Before slamming the door and removing yourself from the insufferable situation you turn to face Eddie, who was stood in the exact same spot you’d left him in, a defeated look evident on his soft features. “And I’m the queen of this castle,” you state loudly enough for him to hear and flip him the bird.

From the moment that you’re completely alone and no one can see you, a tear falls from your eye, only for you to quickly wipe it away and sniffle.

You stumble your way to the first place you can think of…

The woods.

⇝ 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠! 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆!!!!! 𝐈𝐭'𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 <𝟑

𝐈𝐭'𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 (⊃｡•́‿•̀｡)⊃

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 ’𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒’ 𝐨𝐫 ’𝐄𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧’ 𝐭𝐚𝐠-𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰!

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐒 ↯

𝑩𝑨𝑻𝑻𝑳𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑩𝑨𝑵𝑫𝑺

@munsonology @eddiesluvt @pexsistolss @kathieycarrerarosshley @marjoriea13 @lolalanaie @big-ope-vibes @majesticjellyfishzombie @lexi--a @b-ritney @joyfulcandyrunaway @sidthedollface2 @sillypurplemurple @aysheashea @spookycreepycookie

𝑬𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝑴𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒏

@introvertedmouse @fastnights

🜸

[axel-ambassador]

Its 4 am for me and I just wanna talk about why poly shipping is so good especially in Total drama.

TD is such a unique show that is able to get away with having an extreme abundance of characters, and by extension, ships, without it coming across as overbearing. Like name a show with over 100 characters that you know the name and personality of. It's an extremely impressive feat.

That said with so many characters there are so many different shipping opportunities. Sometimes the writers give two characters really good chemistry as friends or enemies and the fans take it to the next level. Sometimes the writers completely fumble the potential they have and the fans pick it up from there. Sometimes there are rare pairs that in context make no sense but fans make them work and that's so cool.

Anyway back to my point. I personally hate needless drama, in real life and in fiction. Fiction especially because typically said drama involves character derailment and general disappointment for the fans of said characters involved.

My point is that I hate the love triangle. I hate the drama it caused. I hate how predictable it was. I hate that it was an arc spread over multiple seasons starting in season 2 and ultimately lead to nothing by the end of season 5. I hate how such a lazy trope is what defined Gwen, Duncan, and Courtney's characters for a multitude of years only for it to mean nothing, and I'm not exaggerating, nothing, by the end of All Stars; their last canonical appearances.

Duncney was destined to break up after island, that's not what I have an issue with. Duncan didn't have to frickin cheat and drag Gwen in a long with him. I love Gwuncan in concept, I really do, but the terrible execution of it which directly contributed to the down fall of both characters sours the memory and idea of the honestly awesome relationship between two of the most popular characters in the entire series.

And then All Stars rolls around and watching it as a Gwen and Courtney fan is like getting a warm embrace, two incredible characters are finally on good terms, only for that embrace to become a suplex, Sundae Muddy Sundae. So now you're on the ground feeling hurt and quite betrayed. And then the realization that it all was for nothing, Gwen and Duncan breaking up despite them getting together being such a huge plot point, Gwen and Courtney being back to square one despite a whole seasons worth of investment in their relationship, character derailment up the goddamn wazoo on all 3 ends, is like the show consecutively spitting in your face.

You wanna know how all of this frustration, pain, and shitty writing could have been avoided? Poly shipping.

Duncan and Courtney have a serious talk about their relationship, how it's incredibly toxic and they need to smooth things out if they want to progress as a couple.

Gwen over here having a bi panic as, oh no, maybe she likes Duncan more than she thought, and she's also slowly falling for his girlfriend since they've had no one but each other to talk to for half a season.

Courtney coming to terms with huh maybe she's not as straight as she thought and how Gwen calms her in a way Duncan never could.

Meanwhile Duncan realizes he likes Gwen for the opposite reasons he likes Courtney. Courtney knows how to push his buttons and he loves how much it drives him crazy. Gwen is much more down to earth but is just as chaotic and a rebel as he is.

They don't kiss in the confessional in London. They talk. Jesus Christ if there's one thing the characters in this God forsaken show don't know how to do it's fuckin communicate. Especially in relationships.

They come to the conclusion that they like each other, and they both like Courtney. So they go and talk to Courtney, and Tyler can do whatever the hell it is he planned on originally.

So there you go. What was meant to be an informative post on poly shipping turned into a rant and ultimately sloppy fix of the love triangle.

Back to my original point I was trying to make but got side tracked. Polyshipping is a multi shippers heaven. As a multi shipper, it's so much easier to make everyone date instead of just picking which ship I like more.

There are characters with great chemistry that would never be considered canon, Gwourtney, Alenoah, Gweather, Heathney, Nowen, I could go on. There's obviously an overlap in some of those.

I love Gwourtney, but Gweather and Heathney are so cool too. I don't know which one to pick. The great thing is that you don't have to pick with Gweathney. Or Gwuncaney. Or Alenowen. Or Aleheathcan.

There is so much potential with so many characters in this show that it can be challenging to figure out which dynamics you love best and which to pick from.

Not only does polyshipping make that easier but also hella more painless and comical in terms of character interactions.

Thank you for your time and I'm sorry.

[thegreymoon]

The Story of Minglan

Are these two lowlifes serious?

I know that China and Chinese dramas are big on filial piety, but come on now. There has to be a point where even Confucianism says it's OK to boot out toxic relatives on their asses when they literally come for your life and livelihood.

***

That's right, Minglan, get up and walk away from this bullshit.

There is no need to even give them the time of day.

***

Fuck off.

Also, if your rapist, human-trafficking shitbag sons get beheaded? It will be no great loss for humanity.

Unfortunately, Gu Tingye will eventually save them, or if he absolutely refuses, the Emperor will do it himself because he will not be able to stand having his favourite subject's name sullied. Endless hate.

***

LMAO, your wife is pissed off.

Get your shitty relatives under control.

***

Wait. Are Xiaotao and Shitou a thing?

Is that something that a thing that happened and I slept on it?

***

Again, I have to reiterate how lucky Minglan is to have married Gu Tingye, who is a man with a brain and a spine, and above all, is madly in love with her.

He will always shield her and stand up for her, which is what the losers Qi Heng, He Hongwen and Liang Han would never have done.

Also, fuck Qi Heng yet again. This is all his shitty doing. He has done so much damage to her reputation! She is married and his garbage is still following her. She's just lucky that she is now out of his reach and he and his shitty wife can no longer touch her.

***

LMAO, I love them 🤣🤣

***

Don't you just love it when people who deserve no respect crow about not getting the respect they think they're due 🙄

Bitch, you just tried to blackmail her and then dragged up her past to have him divorce her. Fuck you.

***

My guy, your cousins are rapists and traffickers preying on the powerless.

If the Emperor was to execute them this instant and you didn't lift a finger to help them? You would still be right. Scumbags deserve to die. There are at least two rapes that they committed and blamed you for that we have been made aware of since this show started, in addition to other obscenities.

Let them die. Let them all die and start the family over from scratch with Minglan.

***

Fuck you.

You did not hesitate one second to throw Minglan to the wolves. You must have known her shitty in-laws would do nothing good with the information you gave them, and yet you still went there and told them anyway. You and Qi Heng deserve each other. Go forth and have a miserable existence together!

***

Snatch him back? LMAO, you never had him to begin with!

Also, let me just LMAO here over the fact that there are apparently multiple women out there fighting over Qi Heng's loser ass.

***

Lady, quit while you're ahead.

Your time is over.

***

Jesus Christ, his back 😵

And he still grieves for his pos father. It's only a pity they did not let him see him on his deathbed so that he could spit on him before he shuffles off to the underworld.

***

At least you still remember that he saved your worthless hide.

Go fuck yourself and maybe reconnect to reality while you're at it.

***

Oh, ffs.

I thought Tingwei was going to be a good guy because he did not take part in setting Tingye up, but it seems like he is also a weak-minded imbecile and a rapist. Any man having sex with slaves and trafficked women is a rapist, no ifs or buts about it. Fuck him. He can get beheaded right along with his shitty cousins.

This entire family is just pure crap from top to bottom. The only one resembling a decent human is Gu Tingye and even that is only because he took after his mother and was raised by his mother's people.

***

Aww, poor baby, he was instigated into taking two concubines 🙄

It's not like he could, you know, just not stick his stinky dick into every woman he can.