#RIDICULOUS OFC THEY'RE GONNA LIKE THE POST

[teddybeartoji]

oke wait why is tagging new mutuals kinda scary😭😭😭I WILL GET OVER IT AND I WILL RESUME WITH THE SAME LEVEL OF ANNOYING AS PER USUAL JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE ALRIGHTTT

[vimesbootstheory]

woooooo according to my outline I am 92% of the way through drafting my next ck fic

[f1tales]

is it that sweet? i guess so - mv1

that's that me espresso || part two

previous part || next part

pairing: max verstappen x ofc!piastri

summary: oscar’s older sister is a singer, who’s taylor swift’s opening act for the eras tour. she goes to a few races on her break. she meets max; who thinks about her every night now. much to oscar’s annoyance.

face claim: sabrina carpenter

"You know people are on to us right?"

Ivy curled herself up to Max's side. She drew shapes on his chest. She looked up to meet Max's eyes. She bit her lip as she thought back to when Lando messaged her on Instagram just after the Australian Grand Prix.

She had been extrememly giddy when she entered the club for the Australian GP after party that Lando had invited her to. He had messaged her earlier about how Max wanted her number.

They had met briefly, but oh my god, Ivy was mesmerized by his deep blue eyes and adorable smile. Her hands were trembling as she made her way through the club to join Lando and his friends.

Max had been there.

And he had bought her drink, as Ivy had suggested he'd do before he went off to scold Lando for sliding in Ivy's DM's for him.

Ivy and Max ended up talking the entire night in the far corner of the VIP section of the fancy club. She decided she liked to hear him talk; she liked his accent. He had escorted her out of the club with a firm hand on the small of her back at two in the morning. He ordered a taxi for them to share and held her hand as they drove through the streets of Melbourne.

Max told the taxi driver to wait outside her building so he could walk her to the door. And okay, Ivy admits, the bar was set pretty low by her shitty exes, but it was one of the nicest things someone had done for her.

They had stood in silence for a while.

"I-," they laughed when they both spoke at the same time.

"Will you let me take you out tomorrow?" Max had asked as he held her hand.

Ivy had smiled at him, "I would. But I'm off to Perth to work on my next album." She squeezed his hand. She dropped his hand to fish a piece of paper out of her purse. She had shivered slightly; her sheer dress did nothing to keep her warm.

She had slipped the piece of paper in the pocket of his jacket. She then went to stand on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his cheek.

"Good night, Max."

Max had then shown up in Perth just a couple of days after Ivy had arrived. Supposedly to go visit Daniel on his farm, but in reality he just couldn't stop thinking about the blonde singer.

And well, the rest is pretty much history.

Max had taken her to Daniel's farm for a couple of days before having to go to Japan to meet his friends. They had a ski trip planned, Max had wanted to cancel his plans. Ivy told him to go, that he was being ridiculous.

He went, but on the condition she would join him in Japan to watch the race in Suzuka.

And here they were. In Max's hotel room. The morning light was softly filtering through the room as Ivy continued to draw shapes on his chest.

"I didn't think we were being that obvious."

Ivy looked up at him with an eyebrow raised. Max had been anything but subtle about the whole thing. Liking her Instagram posts, commenting underneath them. And then talking about how much he liked her songs on his streams.

Max pulled her on top of him. "They're gonna be even more suspiscous when you watch the race from the Red Bull garage." He pulled her down so his lips could meet hers in a kiss. "I can't wait to see Oscar having an aneurysm when he sees you in the paddock."

The singer gasped, "Max!" She playfully hit him on the shoulder. "That's my brother." She sternly looked at him.

Max simply looked at her with raised eyebrows. He placed his arms behind his head as Ivy's face cracked and a smile crept on her face.

"God, it'll be so fun to see him lose his mind."

"We don't have to walk in together," Max looked at Ivy. She was chewing on her lip, something Max noticed she did when she was nervous or stressed. He grabbed her shaking hand and intertwined their fingers.

Ivy let out a relieved sigh, "I really do want to go public at some point. I just, my last relationship was so public and I,"

"Hey, hey, you don't have to justify it or apologise for it. I would also like to keep things between us for now."

He squeezed her hand three times just before the car came to a halt. Ivy leaned up to kiss his cheek, "I'll come see you before quali."

"Counting on it!"

Max winked before he got out of the car with his backpack strapped around his shoulders. Ivy waited a respectable five minutes before entering the paddock herself; a shiny Red Bull paddock pass hanging from her neck.

part 3 coming soon.

taglist: @mastermindbaby @charlesgirl16

[johnslittlespoon]

thinking unholy thoughts of gale making john come untouched with only his fingers in the biker au… maybe john didn’t even know it was possible so when gale keeps going he gets confused and is like “i’m good im ready” but gale keeps going 😅

au post | ohhh man okay. yeah feeling super extremely sane and normal about this, never been better! thanks! ~2k words of nsfw filth below the cut sighhhh

okay, prefaced with a little more world building in my last post since we're really diving into this au now LOL. ofc things might change when i actually write it, but this is how i'm feeling things will go rn!

re: 'maybe john didn't even know it was possible'– like i said in the drabble before this, he's fooled around a little with curt, but nothing more than getting a bit handsy. he's had a girlfriend for around a year, so they were probably serious enough to get up to things too, but straight sex is very different from gay sex obviously.

the internet exists, and during the time john is pining(thirsting) over gale, he probably does his fair share of googling 'blond man with tattoos fucks brunet man', but really he's kinda intimidated by a lot of stuff, so he doesn't delve too deep into that world. when he and gale start seeing each other and john realizes they're gonna move past making out eventually (because gale is almost such a gentleman sometimes that john wants to bash his head in in his impatience), he probably psychs himself out a bit and gets into his own head and is like fuck.

gale's had years to gain experience and what if he's not good enough or does something stupid or or or, on and on. obviously these worries are completely unfounded because gale adores him and would never pressure him and doesn't expect them to just jump right into things; half of the reason he probably drags things out is because he wants to be absolutely certain things are on john's terms, and that john's not just being horny and impulsive.

john probably ends up trying to do some research so he can yk. pick up some tips, because he's got all the enthusiasm he needs when he thinks about getting to drop to his knees for gale, but he has no idea what he's doing and he doesn't realize everyone learns as they go because he's dumb (/fond) and overthinks everything. (whatever he ends up learning doesn't matter anyway, because all coherent thought leaves his head when they do start doing stuff together and gale is so encouraging and easygoing that he feels ridiculous for ever worrying.)

all that is to say that yeah, he's got like no firsthand experience when it comes to anything past the basics or anything he hasn't been doing by himself. everything is fresh and exciting and as much as he loves just hanging around gale, he's also always needy and horny (gets told he's "insatiable" quite a few times by gale) so they get up to a lot of shit and it's unfair how good gale is in bed and how he knows exactly which buttons to press to get john worked up.

at the time this incident happens, gale's already fingered john a few times, but it's always just as a build up/foreplay, usually followed or joined with gale's other hand or lips around john's cock. they haven't had sex yet, and it feels really nice when gale does this, but john always just kinda sees it as foreplay and it doesn't last for long.

so when gale's got john laid in his bed one sunny afternoon and they're making out and john starts getting whiny and squirmy from the stimulation of his fingers in him, and gale doesn't switch things up like he usually does, john's heart leaps because in his mind, surely gale's getting him ready for something else.

but he's frustrated because it feels like gale's purposefully avoiding hitting right where he needs him to, pants out gale's name against his lips, grasping the back of gale's shirt. starts rocking his hips down against his fingers, seeking it out, and gale rumbles out a "needy thing" before pressing a kiss to his cheek and crawling down the length of his body, settling himself between john's legs.

john props himself up on his elbows to watch, cheeks flushed and eyelids heavy, digging his fingers into the blanket instead. he lets out a little whine at the slow drag of gale's fingers, and that finally makes him cave, crooking his fingers just right, and john's lips part at the way the sudden surge of pleasure zings up his spine.

lets his elbows slide out from underneath himself, dropping back down into the pillow, satisfied he's finally getting what he's been waiting for since gale worked him open ten minutes ago. he waits for stimulation on his cock to join the fingers in him as usual, assuming that's why gale moved to lay there, but gale just keeps up the slow in and out and consistent brushes against his prostate and its embarrassing how much he's leaking all over his own stomach.

but then he has the thought that maybe gale's actually properly prepping him and his cock twitches and his breath catches and he props himself up again to find gale already watching him. he waits expectantly, too shy to ask, and gale doesn't offer him any confirmation, just pressing gentle kisses to his thighs and smiling when john's hips start to roll down against his fingers again.

john thinks that maybe gale's waiting for him to say he's ready, since he does often make him ask for what he wants, so even as his cheeks go hot, he gets out a breathy "gale, i'm– that's good, 'm ready."

but gale only chuckles quietly, nipping at his thigh to feel it twitch away, watching john in a way that makes him feel somehow even more exposed than he already is, and now he's even more confused and he feels like he's melting into the bed and gale's putting a little more pressure into each crook of his fingers and the sounds he's making are so whiny and high pitched that he wants to cover his own ears out of embarrassment.

"does it feel good, doll?" gale purrs, dragging john's eyes back to him, and he nods, twisting his hands in the blankets harder. it does feel good, enough so that heat is pooling in his stomach in a way that's both familiar and foreign, the sensation all different with no friction against his dick.

gale's working his hand a little faster and john's face burns at the realization that he's being finger–fucked like a girl and he drops back into the pillows, arms going too weak to hold himself up. his thighs are starting to tremble and gale murmurs that he's "making such a mess on yourself, baby, look at you" and john immediately reaches down to take his dick in his hand, but gale catches his wrist with his free hand, slowing his movements down, much to john's dismay.

"no hands today, john," he says gently, letting go of his wrist. "i want you to keep them at your side for me, can you do that?"

and john lets out a near hysterical noise but he obliges, grabbing fistfuls of the blanket again, head spinning at being given an instruction, biting down on the inside of his cheek when gale speeds his fingers up again with a "good job, baby."

the heat builds and builds as gale's fingers hit right where they need to each time, and it feels like he's just hanging on the edge of an orgasm for so long, unable to tip over that edge, eyes blurring over from how overwhelming the drawn out sweet–hot pleasure is. he's mindlessly rocking his hips down and panting out little "ah ah ah"s with each thrust of gale's fingers and he's so close to lifting his hand from his side when a sob of frustration slips out.

but gale presses his lips to his thigh again, sucking at the sensitive skin there, pulls back to murmur a stream of "c'mon sweet thing, come on my fingers, show me how good you feel, you can do it" and john chokes out a cry as he clenches around his fingers and comes so hard he nearly blacks out, back arching and hips stuttering up like he can get friction that way.

gale's hand chases his jerking movements, continuing to fuck him on his fingers as john paints his own stomach, cock pulsing, feeling like he's just going to keep coming and coming, mewling desperately and shaking like a leaf and seeing stars behind his closed eyelids.

he closes his thighs against gale's sides when it starts to be too much, hands shaking when reaches down to tiredly push at him, hips stuttering away from the stimulation, hiccupping as he tries to catch his breath. he can feel hot tears soaking into the hair at his temples, lips parted in surprise, shuddering when gale lets his movements slow down until his fingers go still.

john whines when he pulls them out, despite his efforts to squirm away from them moments before, and gale presses a kiss to his hip before he crawls back up his body, cupping john's face with the hand not covered in lube, and john's eyes flutter open, bleary when they focus in on the expression of awe on gale's face.

"fuck, john," gale sounds almost as breathless as him. "you're crying, baby. was that okay?" john nods shakily, tilting his chin up for a kiss, and gale leans down without missing a beat, kissing him so deep it feels like he wants to devour him. mumbles "you have no idea what you do to me" against john's lips, brushing his fingers over the tear streaks on either side of his face, peppering his red cheeks with light kisses before pulling back again.

"felt good?" he murmurs, and john chokes out a laugh at the understatement, draping his wrist over his forehead. "really good," he breathes out, flushing when he opens his mouth again, "didn't know that was, um. a thing." and gale half laughs, half groans at the admission, rolling his hips down, and john sucks in a sharp breath at the drag of his pants, cock twitching even after all that.

gale doesn't mind; he's more than happy to watch his pretty boy fall apart on his fingers, mouth, cock, as many times as john lets him.

[emmitaaa4]

Addressing some fandom BS inconsistencies

Gwyn was shadow mommy, Az was shadow daddy, they were gonna have shadow babies with her extra super pliable bones.

I audibly chocked when I read this @nikethestatue (btw everything said in this post was on point). No but seriously this is how they sound, too many of them insisting that there is nothing wrong with basing the likelihood of a ship on who has the more suitable uterus to be with a man... cause supposedly they're just picking up on the hints SJM wrote for them? She likes babies for HEAs so ofc children are the end all be all of a relationship, plus there's absolutely no way that she could ever write an adoption plot SJM is literally adopted and has done it in other series. Selective reading strikes again.

A minimum amount of critical thinking would tell you that 1) the infamous *magical uterus change* scene was about nessian (& feysand), not about any ship; 2) if SJM had written Nesta changing Elain's uterus, it would have given too much away, not to mention 3) how disturbing/violating it would have been for Nesta to change her sister's reproductive anatomy WITHOUT HER CONSENT?! None of it makes sense narratively; my girl Nes would never, especially given the trauma they both suffered from having their bodily autonomy--and so much more--ripped away by the Cauldron.

This argument is so trivialized that I see it every other day on reddit/tiktok/*insert media app*, and yet elriels are the toxic side of the fandom? The ones whom people are allowed to insult, to ridicule for theories all made in good fun, the women that are villainized over a difference of opinion? Don't get me wrong, there's assholes on both sides and people keep calling one another variations of delulu (and the nastier personal attacks). But by painting this fandom-wide villain there is such a lack of accountability for the plethora of harmful talking points spread by other portions of the fandom. (I've been silently reading the anti-elain & anti-elriel tags for like a year, and I'm on tiktok. Yes, I have self-destructive tendencies).

Anyways.

I never understood either how people ever actually thought (or well still think) that gwynriel would happen BEFORE elucien?? It makes no sense logically, narratively, or in terms of characterization & the arc she's set up for Elain, Azriel, and Lucien. Yet it took one controversial bonus chapter for people to decenter Elain in her own story, that is make her choice of romantic partner--which SJM spent 3+ books setting up--Azriel's. It took one bonus chapter that soo many readers are still unaware of, to brush Elain off as a "sexual object" Az is using to distract himself until his therapist-extraordinaire Gwyn comes in and heals him all up. Because ofc she will: she's badass and not the "passive and weak and boring" Eplain (aka "Plant" or "brain dead gardener"), she fits the YA archetype of the spunky warrior-girl so she can handle his darkness, and SJM supposedly spent time fleshing her out because she wrote her as a LI for Azriel; she's made for him, she is what he needs to grow (I actually enjoyed Gwyn's character btw, just pointing out how silly it all sounds). “Next book is a love triangle between Elain/Az/Gwyn” “Elain will turn evil or is secretly evil”. So you're telling me that SJM would pit Elain & Gwyn against each other in a love triangle over a man... all because of a necklace that was not even mentioned once in the actual books? Please, let's be logical for a second.

All this because instead of reading the bonus chapter in the context of the books, some people are reading the books in the context of the bonus chapter. Which now that I think of it is probably why so many people mischaracterize Az the way they do--because yes we know enough of his character to know half of the stuff the fandom diagnoses him with is questionable. Azriel? Entitled incel x fuckboy hybrid (gotta be the first of his kind, minute slay ig)? Interesting tell me more. No joke I saw a semi-popular post on here where a gwynriel said they read the bonus WITHOUT HAVING READ ANY OF THE BOOKS. I'm sorry, ship wars are silly and believe it or not idc who ppl ship, but it makes it hard to take some of the things they say seriously.

All this to say that the fandom isn't even debating the right thing. If you consider everything SJM has said in her interviews:

(she's been planting seeds for Nesta & Elain's book since acomaf; she knows who she is writing the first 2 books about + is keeping things open for the 3rd one--with 5 different ship options--which automatically rules out "Elain will close the series"; she said she's doing research for Elain's book in the ACOFAS bonus & there's seeds for future bookS in acofas; all she said recently about her beloved *heroines* and the themes of fate/true love/choice she finds *very* interesting & wants to discuss)

and if you also consider all she's written in the actual books (elain's characterization + the overarching plot in general & how she fits into it), then it's pretty evident that Elain's book is next.

The question then would be who is the MMC / 2nd PoV in her book, aka would acotar 5 be an elucien or an elriel story? Because logically, gwynriel was always a consequence of elucien. I honestly do not understand how people don't see that.

Oh and they always think they're gagging elriels with the "obviously Azriel is the next MC" as if elriels aren't saying the same thing? And we're the ones twisting info and not making sense. It's just funny at this point.

---sidenote: I realize that this post generalizes some things, and I just wanted to say that I have interacted with lovely eluciens / people on either side of this headache of a ship war. My hard limit is Elain haters though... back off I say 🤺 BACK OFF 🤺

---sidenote 2: I would have written this as a reblog except im not entirely sure how tumblr works and I get no visibility from them rip.

[aishabellasbigblogofeverything]

My post about hating the Barbie movie and how it actually spat in the face of feminism and all that the franchise stands for is done and dusted, I'm afraid, but that being said there are still some points I left out of it that I would like to address, and I will do so here:

The movie portraying women as hopeless endless victims who have no hopes of succeeding or getting what they want out of life is bad enough, but there's a brief blink-and-you'll-miss it scene where Barbie is taking Gloria and Sasha back to Barbieland, and as they're on the spaceship, she says to them that women control everything and have all social and political power, which is fine...but THEN she goes "basically everything men do in your world, women do in ours" and that...that line just makes me so appalled and angry I could SPIT. Like you're really spelling out that you think women in the real world have no power or control in any aspect of society? I understand that it's supposed to be "commentary"(it's not good commentary tho) and that the real world IS a patriarchy, but we HAVE women in power in our world too! We HAVE female Supreme Court Justices! We HAVE women in high office! We HAVE female mayors and CEOs! We HAVE women in positions of power and leadership, period! And yet Barbie creates this illusion that women in our world such as Sasha and Gloria would have NO knowledge of or point of reference for women in power who do any important shit at all; it's completely fucking absurd. But then again, this movie was written and directed by a white feminist. A white feminist, who, like all white feminists, has a complete miserable victimhood/defeatist complex. So of course she projects it onto her female characters(even female characters of color, who are ofc SUPPOSED to be more sad and let-down than SHE is!), like the sad, pathetic fuck she is. And y'all wonder why I hate persecution flips so much. We need to shove that bullshit trope six feet under. If you want to tell a story about the patriarchy, then FUCK, WRITE ABOUT THE ACTUAL GODDAMN PATRIARCHY!!! Don't just do this nonsense "uwu what if men were the oppressed ones and women were the privileged--" no. Stop. Cut it the fuck out. This is getting ridiculous.

This part is probably incidental but fuck that, I'm still gonna knock it. Sasha and Gloria never actually get to experience the matriarchal utopia, and I just find that so depressing. Despite the bleak and frankly miserable lives that they lead, they never get to experience the escapist freedom of living in a society in which they are in charge, where womanhood isn't looked down upon and is in fact honored, where they have power and aren't in danger of being stalked, followed, or killed by men just for walking down the street. They leave their patriarchal world, hoping to see a world that is better, and instead enter a world that is just as bad and equally as patriarchal as the one they tried to escape from. It's truly depressing, especially for Gloria who specifically wanted to get away from her anxieties with real life and just have fun with her daughter for a bit. Instead she has to be confronted with ANOTHER patriarchy, watch the childhood doll she loved and played with have a panic attack and give up on life just like she did, and then give her infamous, cliche, and paint by numbers "being a woman is suffering" corny as hell speech. Before reinventing the matriarchy and getting her power back only by leaning in to patriarchal stereotypes about women's bodies and sexualities. And then leaving back for her regular patriarchy world without getting to experience any of it. It's almost like the movie was literally saying that women will never be able to free themselves from patriarchy and that a better world than this one does not exist. Patriarchy is insurmountable and all-prevailing, says this movie. It's truly tragic.

And honestly, with regards to that shitty ass clusterfuck of a speech, isn't it like, so totes ironic, that part of Gloria's speech is her complaining that women have to apologize for men's bad behavior...only for the "happy" ending of the movie to involve BARBIE HAVING TO APOLOGIZE FOR KEN'S BAD BEHAVIOR?!?!!??!?! Like no one fact-checked that shit and went "wait, something ain't right"? Are you fucking kidding me?!?!?!?!?! I hate that scene with every fiber of my being and realizing this makes me hate it even more now. Just, ugh.

Tldr: Fuck this movie, but then again, I've said that shit like...several times before. lol.

[princess-of-the-corner]

I was looking back through the pr tag and I saw the post about Uraraka and Enji bonding over dunking on rich people. And I just. Need to know more.

YES

Honestly I just

That was made part-way through writing/planning Road to Hell and realizing that the childhood I designed for Enji is similar to Ochako. Not the exact same ofc considering Ochako still has both parents by the time she gets to high school. But having not a lot of money growing up and being painfully aware of this fact and wanting to help despite the fact that they're kids and the burden shouldn't fall on them.

So yeah just. Having very little money and then becoming a Pro Hero and having so much fucking money and no idea what to do with it? He gets it.

I think that bonding would happen like soon after Ochako is a Pro Hero? Like the Chaos Class gets rocketed to the top pretty immediately, thanks to the whole *gestures to Canon* the world has its eyes on them and they're treated like high-ranking Pros instead of rookies. So they get invited to things like fancy galas.

and it's not like Ochako and Enji have never interacted before because Ochako's dating Shoto but I don't think they would've had a long conversation.

Yet

they end up at some fancy gala and he spots her looking both lost and displeased and he just KNOWS what's going through her head and he wants to help.

So yeah he agrees that it's overwhelming. That rich people have a whole different set of social rules and it's ridiculous to learn. and god it's awful to come off of having to struggle to get by to seeing people in dresses that cost more than your childhood home.

He gives advice on both how to deal with seeing such an absurd number in her bank account, and also how to trick wealthy socialites into giving more to charity.

But then he also tells her that when you hit a level of status that's on some level 'above' these wealthy people? Like she's hitting with that high Hero ranking? Oh they're not gonna say shit about her doing dumb things they're gonna take her advice on whatever nonsense. She could tell them it's a new trend to wear inside out hats and they'd jump on it.

[minquiec]

Some lore stuffs + how her story ends

This is kinda all over the place bc I don't have a coherent idea but I just need to write it all down before I forget

How Jia was bit was on a hot ass day and she basically fell asleep on a spider and gained powers unknowingly

Doesn't find out for maybe a week

Has a weird dream one night where she basically meets a deity in her dream and the exchange was literally like

"You, Jialin Chen, now bear the powers to protect this la-"

"Uhm yea no thanks, pass 😬"

"WHAT?"

And then a comedic exchange occurs between mortal and god haha! Until the deity was like ENOUGH this is your DESTINY you will bear it whether you like it or NOT 👹 so Jia's kinda like alright fine damn 🙄 but obviously we all know how she really feels abt the whole situation (she hates it bc of issues) but anyways

The reason why it took a whole week is cause uhmmm plot hole lelel or smth the deity can't actually interfere directly with the world

EITHER WAY this is basically spoilers for endgame but it's not like I'll ever make a coherent plot bc I'm too lazy and dum but basically

The deity of Jia's universe is border on obsessive with creating a story line and destiny and heroes and stuff like that and ofc it has to be perfect (bc ofc it has to be, totally not cliche or anything)

Anyways this obsession makes them interfere TOO much with Jia's universe because if the deity was never this obsessed

Jia probably would've gotten over her issues (bc she's meets someone to help her copeeee 😋😋 cougjocughcgpuccough)

But bc the deity is an unreasonable shithead, they're literally the root of every problem:

They're responsible for Jia's split soul because of how abrupt her duties were suddenly forced on her

Bc of the split soul problem, it nearly upsets the world balance that could've been very bad for the universe! (the day she had lost the plot and had a existential crisis breakdown I think I posted it here but basically on that day she was flickering between both before Lin took control)

-> the logic is rlly,,, idk nonsensical for this bc what I thought as world making is that you can't have two souls in control at once and it goes again natural laws so it nearly ficked up her world cause it AINT SUPOSE TO HAPPEN ITS NEVA SUPOSE TO HAPPENNN but moving on

So then Lin switches in place of Jia and the world balance is briefly restored YAYY 🎉 everything is fine‼️

❌ WRONG ❌

Cause now Lin went and 'broke up' (idk it wasn't rlly a break up bc she never said 'lets break up' but she kinda did go 'we aren't meant for each other 🖕' and dipped) with hb so NOW HES GOING THRU IT and the rest of her friends back at spider society are like ???? What the??? Fuck???

Lin does manage to spend a few days or more at the hq cause technically she is still Jia but just

Different

But everyone's kinda weirded out cause she's Serious™ now and even Miguel's kinda like wattafack 🧍 plus the fact she has long white hair that spawned out of nowhere so they kinda piece some form of logic together that she's a different Jia

Anyways some time passes and one day an especially big anomaly is warned abt in Jia's (still Lin) universe which is bizarre cause they're not usually this big but it's all because of that STOOPID FUKASS deity GOING AROUND FUKIN THINGS UP and somehow created this ridiculously bad threat as a 'enemy' for the 'hero of their story' to defeat

The biggest problem with the anomaly is that while it doesn't really like, belong in Jia's universe, it doesn't belong in any OTHER universe either BECAUSE THAT DEITY BOUGHT IT UP OUTTA NOWHERE BC THEYRE PSYCHO I need to stop hating on characters that I literally made anyways

So HQ can't exactly deal with it like they usually do but they can try to offer assistance at least

Obviously for obvious (cliche) reasons CERTAIN PEOPLE are gonna be there cause yknow they still care abt Jia even tho she's changed (to Lin momentarily)

Battle occurs blah blah I'm not good with action scenes and things are looking a littttlee bleak for Lin and Co and all the sudden Lin receives a bad injury that nearly knocks her unconscious but thru her ringing ears and muted background noise she hears SOMEBODDYYY CALLING HER NAAMMEEE (god I really wonder who)

Because her state of unclarity from the Blunt Force Head Trauma makes things a little weird, the fine line between Jia and Lin also becomes a little muddled and the Jia that's been hiding behind Lin can hear his voice and it quite literally brings her out of that dark room in her mind to control again so TLDR Jia is back again instead of Lin

Reunion happens for maybe 3 minutes tops before shit hits the fan again and suddenly the deity has teared through time space fabric out of anger to speak directly to them mortal little earthlings on the ground because they're a little bitch

All because they thought Lin was the true protagonist they've been searching for all along and now 'that insolent fool' (hobie) has ruined everything (he does no wrong)'

But suddenly because the deity is in direct contact with the mortal world, they're like wait 🤨 you're not from this universe and sees other things also not from this universe and goes on a tangent about how they don't need to rebuild a 'story' anymore and can just find another 'story' to pilot (TLDR AGAIN: local deity discovers universe theft and wants to ditch this universe cause Jia's spiderman story wasn't perfect and now wants to find another universe to force to become their 'perfect story')

Obviously spider people are like 😨😨😨 UHMMM NO TF UR NOTTT so they start retreating (as they should tbh) and Jia's like helping to round up people to gtfo of her universe before some batshit deity absorbs them or smth

Atp bits of her universe is already crumbling and disintegrating because the deity is already trashing it because it's worthless and imperfect now (ngl me when art 😭😭)

So now it's the last of the people to go back thru the portals and its Jia and Hb :)) (y'all should know what's coming next)

Truthfully, Jia wants to so so badly go thru the portal to stay with the rest of them but she knows that there was the possibility of her connection with the deity of her world and her as a creation from the said deity

So she says goodbyes

Pushes him thru

And throws in her watch before it closes properly so the FUCK ASS DEITY CANT GET ANY KIND OF CONNECTION TO THE MULTIVERSE

And thus it concludes her coming of age plot because she found the proper courage to do what was right in all senses and came to terms with her spider girl identity

Even though she had so much she wanted to do with the rest of them was what she had thought while the thread of her universe on the multiverse crumbled into nothingness

ANYWAYS THE REAL CONCLUSION IS THE DEITY IS THE REAL ANOMALY THEIR OBSESSION DROVE THEM INTO AN ANOMALY AND INTERFERING WITH THE LIVING WORLD but thats kinda what happens when you've been living for centuries, you kinda go a little nuts

Anyways thanks for this long and incredibly messy read, don't kill me ✌️ peaces

[logan368]

now taht i know you're requests are open, could you maybe write a solidarity x reader from empires 2 where the hermits visit tumble town and reader hears about it, goes to say hi and they're like kind of 'close' with one of th hermits (doesnt matter who) and then jimmy gets a little jealous and then theres just fluff :) (if you'd be okay with it, feel free to change otherwise) <3

Yes ofc! I love the idea! Thank you! Sorry it took so long to post. I going through something personal, and then I just ended up going inactive. But here you go!

You're ridiculous (solidarity x gn!reader)

You knocked at the door of your neighbor from tumble town Jimmy. You had come over for some gunpowder as his shop is empty as always what a shocker. The door opened and he smiled.

"Well howdy partner what brings you here to Tumble Town?"

"Well I came here for gunpowder but a certain someone," You put heavy emphasis on certain someone, "doesnt keep his shop stocked full." You looked at the sheriff unamused.

His face became a light shade of pink in embarrassment that he was called out for his shop never being stocked by you. "I'm sorry, we can fly over to Joey's farm and I'll provide you some gunpowder."

You chuckled softly. "Hey I'm only messing with you but let's go." Were your plans before you heard a rumble of some sorts. "What was that?" You turned and looked at the sheriff who shrugged in return.

"I have no idea. It was probably no big deal." He shrugged it off. As you both continued with your already made plans to get gunpowder.

On the flight back you grabbed some gunpowder and helped Jimmy restock his shop. "In all seriousness, keep your shop stocked for Joel's sake."

He rolled his eyes at you. "Dont speak of that little wannabe God's name in my empire." To which you just rolled your eyes in turn.

"Joel, Joel, Joel." You giggled seeing Jimmy get all riled up was such a fun thing to do.

"You called?" Joel flew down being followed by a mysterious figure that you didn't recognize.

Jimmy let out a distressed yell. "Y/N! Look at what you've started! Now HES here in MY EMPIRE and he's gonna start something."

"Well Jimmy what a toy way to introduce our new guest." Joel rolls his eyes and the figure behind him goes to introduce himself, but before he could you tackled him in a hug.

"Scar! Oh it's been forever since I saw you last. What are you doing here? How are the others?" You threw questions at your old hermitcraft buddy for explanation you joined hermitcraft for season 6 and the start of 7 but got busy and ended up leaving and joining empires.

Scar chuckled slightly pushing you off of him. "Well, first off. Hello Y/N it's a pleasure to see you again. I dont know how I got here, see I walked through a portal with Grian and the others, and the others are great, they're around somewhere."

"I'll have to look around for them, see I was here in tumble town for some gunpowder, then I had to go on a quest because SOMEONE, not to name names or anything, never has their shop stocked." You explained to Scar. "Ooh! You'll have to let me show you around to the places Joel hasn't shown you yet!"

"Oh! Is that Y/N?" A familiar voice said walking into view. You looked up and saw Grian.

"Oh, hi G!" You waved at him.

Jimmy glared at Grian. "YOU??!?!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

Grian smiled and walked over towering over Jimmy menacingly. "Guess you'll never escape me Timmy. I'm always here, every smp you'll never be safe."

"Well that doesn't matter," he pulled you away from Scar. "As Y/N likes me better than you, which is why they chose to stay on empires!"

"Hey! I never said that!" You gave a stern look to the sheriff. "I just haven't had the time to talk to X about rejoining. It has nothing to do with me liking you guys better than the hermits."

Jimmy blushed in embarrassment as he let go of you. "You can't say things like that Jim!"

"I'm gonna go show Scar around and catch up with him because he asked me to. Then I have all the time to spend with you." You smiled and flicked Jimmy's nose. Before heading off with Scar which caused Jimmy to have a sad pang of jealousy in his heart.

Scar and Y/N caught up after not having talked to him in such a long time. They ended up running into some of the hermits and caught up with them. It started to get late so they waved bye to their friends and flew back to Tumble Town.

They walked into the room to see Jimmy pouting. "You know, you're incredibly ridiculous right?" Y/N shook their head as they went over and wrapped their arms around Jimmy pulling him into a hug. Jimmy hugged back. He didn't say anything to Y/N so they just sighed and ended up cuddling the night away. "You know you'll always be my favorite Sheriff Jimmy Solidarity." You smiled kissing his cheek

He blushed "Yeah, I know, and you'll always be my favorite deputy, Y/N L/N."

[fabbyf1]

Bestieeee your writing is like the benchmark. After reading your fics (after reading and reading each and every single one of your fics, I might say), I have become so picky when reading other lestappen fics just because your fics are always in the back of my mind. Not that other writers’ works aren’t great (i dont want to sound ungrateful) but your fics are just the best of the best.

I literally have notifications for your posts turned on so that I don’t miss. a. single. thing. you. write.

With that being said, I am very curious to know how you feel about other fics when you read them…are you picky when it comes to reading other people’s fics because you have developed a sense of how the “characters” should act in your head? Are you picky when it comes to certain things that you think a fic shouldn’t lack? And do you have favorites, if yes, can you suggest a few for me to read (lestappen, ofc, cuz I live for them at this point tbh)?

Keep being you babe and don’t ever stop! Can’t wait for WAP 2.0!!!!!!!!!

oh BESTIE.

WHAT A LITTLE CAN OF WORMS YOU'VE JUST OPENED.

first off, thank you so fucking much for your kind words. you are so sweet and i'm so honored that you love my fics so much. thank you for taking the time to tell me, it really makes my day.

now to answer your question: YES.

i have been reading and writing fanfiction since i was 12 years old (for reference, that was 2002, before some of yall were born.) the internet and fanfiction in general were MUCH different back then. but because i started at such a young age with such HORRRRRRIBLE fics, it has made me the pickiest bitch alive. i have STANDARDS.

i can open a fic and just by looking at it know if i want to read it or not. because if the formatting is not what i like? i honestly won't even try. if it's written by someone i know and love, i will read it no matter what it looks like, but if i just randomly click on a link? i will know within a second if i'm gonna like it or not.

(pov, you're bailee sending me a fic rec and you had to watch as i opened it and said "immediately no" because of how it was spaced. LMFAOOOOOO. sorry baby. i bet it was great.)

formatting aside, i think it has to be "realistic" to me. but that's also based on whatever reality the fic is set in. for example, if it's a space fic with aliens and tentacle porn, i want it to be Realistic tentacle porn. ya feel me? i want to be able to read it and think "ah yes. i can totally see it. if i had a tentacle cock, it would be feeling this."

...

so when i say realistic, i don't necessarily mean it by definition.

(also, lmfao, i realize how ridiculous that last paragraph was. viva la tentacle porn.)

if it's set in a canon timeline, i want to be able to read it and hear the voice of whoever is speaking. if i'm reading max verstappen but it doesn't sound like anything in my head and i can't hear his cute lil lisp and accent? then i can't read it.

as for the rest of your question, i wouldn't say i compare the characters to how i think they should be written. i like that other people's characterizations of them are different. i have such a clear vision of who they are in MY head that it's actually refreshing to read other people's works and have it be a different max and charles.

it's like a breath of fresh air to get the hell away from my characters and get me out of my head.

i honestly think that's why i don't... read a lot of lestappen... which is incredibly funny. because lestappen is all i think about and what i enjoy writing the most. but it's hard to step away from fics in my head, so when i do pick up a fic, it's usually a different pairing. i think one of my favorite pairings to read is galex because they're SOOOOO different from lestappen. (so please, send me all your galex recs. even though I've probably already read them.)

anyway. i could rant about this for days. fanfiction is my life. fanfiction is my favorite thing to talk about.

[weemstar]

Ive been watching this trend since Rock Paper Scissors.

I don't care about winning. I care about integrity. I don't use the shells, I hoard them.

I'm a casual player who enjoys playing with my friends and being goofy during splatfest. It's a test of my skills and I love the energy!

But unless a team color is funny or the options WILDLY popular in Japan and NOT given to her, Shiver wins.

there's an implicit bias happening if Japan affects the outcome on its own and 90% of them never interact with US and Europe players bc of the way matchmaking functions. Look at Money v Fame v Love. Love reported mirror matches so frequent that TOO many people spent half their splatfest time in mirrors for them to not get the popular vote at LEAST.

Like they keep giving Shiver the options that align most with Japanese players, ofc they're gonna pick Shiver, it's a culture thing. It's not bad or wrong, it's just not fair to the ENTIRE global player base for one single country to affect the outcome singlehandedly.

A streak this long shouldn't be happening with 3 idols. I genuinely love Shiver, her character is great and her design is wonderful, but Nintendo is stacking the deck by giving her the option that aligns with the largest section of the player base EVERY time. I haven't picked her since Nessie because I've been picking based on which one I actually want, not what promises me a win.

I'd be mad if Frye was winning this long, or Big Man. Hell I remember being a lil cross that MARINA had a 7-streak during 2, and I never played that one! It was for the simple fact it seemed ridiculously unfair.

It doesn't make sense for the score to have been *so* close at Halftime only to then turn and see 55% of the total votes going to Shiver. It's ridiculous.

Nintendo either needs to make splatfests regional again or it needs to fix global matchmaking to ACTUALLY make it as fair as possible.

People are also taking this far FAR too serious and I'm worried if something isn't done people will begin to get worse. It's a game. It needs to be patched and fixed, but stop taking your anger out on others. Stop doxxing people. Stop gore-spamming people and calling them slurs. Stop harassing people over a video game. It's not fucking real you shit-baby.

I don't want toxicity under this post. You act like an ass I'm blocking you. This isn't me being "salty", this isn't me throwing a fit. I'm genuinely asking for a problem to be fixed because it's causing genuine issues.

I don't want to see racism either. I see that shit you're being reported and blocked.

I've seen a LOT of that lately against both Shiver and Frye and it's frankly disgusting.

I'm angry at the company, not the digital character who bare resemblance to irl races that yall seem to enjoy making disgusting comments about when you're angry.

Mic dropped.

[frankenjoly]

Tagged by @neonganymede (tyyy 💙)

RULES: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I'm gonna "cheat" bcs it's technically the concept/part name since my files are usually named after the pov character and only have separate docs when they're too big (like the crack fic or the band au stuff). Also I only have one current wip and the rest are what's coming next dkfkdlfld (and not counting the drabbles here bcs they're pretty straightforward).

(bsd fluff week) sskk my happy marriage au part 2

(bsd fluff week) atsushi & tachi at the akus' place

(bsd fluff week) kunichuuzai from atsushi's pov

(bsd halloween week) red riding hood tachigin au

baby's first montcott

strip poker siglai

dnd-ish au grown-up sskk

(there's more but those are the ones I already have more ideas for/know where I'm gonna put them)

Tagging (no pressure ofc): @ashenaura @zukkaoru @ryuvnosuke @ildi-dragonheart @that-was-anticlimactic and anyone who wanna do this (I forgor who's been tagged already or not lfldll)

[jooniely]

I am not at all qualified to make this post so obviously I will be making it. Basically I've noticed something with how men vs women and queer ppl consume shonen manga.

When I'm on tumblr and ao3 I mostly see women and queer ppl post about manga but on tiktok I see mostly (straight) men. And I see a lot of difference between what they usually want for characters (especially strong ones)

I'm gonna focus on jujutsu kaisen cuz it was this manga that made it finally click in my head. What ppl want for characters and the story is usually directly tied to their identity especially gender identity and ofc the patriarchy.

I'll start with the example that gave me this lightbulb moment: on twitter and tumblr (where I curate my feed btw which makes a huge difference since i follow mainly non-men) I see ppl wanting gojo to essentially have an emotional breakdown or go thru some type of pain and go berserk out of the emotional heartbreaking pain of losing his loved ones or being forced to kill them.

Then on tiktok (where I look thru my fyp so I don't really curate my feed so any manga type videos come up and they're mixed with videos of men) I see alot about who would win in a fight between sukuna and gojo. About who would "dog walk" the other. A LOT about fighting and violence and killing. (In my head I'm thinking why the solution is always straight to killing the other person? Idk writers can get creative with endings that don't contain just straight up killing characters)

This got me thinking: why are ppl so obsessed with the fight and the violence? Then I'm like: well it's a shonen that's the genre. But then that would mean almost everyone who consumes shonen would have similar thoughts. But like I pointed out in the example, that's not the case. Why do the men focus so much on the violence and the women and queers focus on the drama and emotion? The character and their relationships?

Then it hit me: it's about PROJECTION. About living vicariously thru these characters. Men project themselves on these powerful characters and live out their fantasies of being strong, powerful, violent with no one who can get in their way or beat them. It's why they get so offended when ppl bring up other characters that can or can't beat the character they have projected onto.

Women and queer ppl focus on the emotion because we project ourselves and live our fantasies: to essentially breakdown (think female rage?) Essentially in our lives we are often the ones who do the emotional heavy lifting. Ones who are taught to keep quiet or be the bigger person or look the other way. Our emotions are used against us. But when we project ourselves to characters like gojo who has a ton on his shoulders, who has to do everything, we want him to breakdown and cry and rage cuz WE can't do that. It's our way of releasing our need to breakdown and rage, by living vicariously thru him. Often times after this breakdown we want another character to comfort them. For them to be the one to take care of things for once so our character (us) can take a break.

And I notice we project onto male characters and I think there's 3 reasons for this. Male characters are usually better written cuz they are at the focus of shonen so there's more of them we can attach ourselves to. 2nd reason is cuz they're male and it feels like they're "allowed" to emote without having backlash (tho that's not really the case usually. Like if gojo had a breakdown he wouldn't have been seen as weak or ridiculed but if someone else, usually a girl or a male written more softly like modoriya from mha, they would be ridiculed cuz thats "weak". All this would me coming from the men in the fandom too cuz they can't project onto a "weak" character) 3rd reason is cuz we can take a character that men would make into this "alpha man strong" and turn him human. Have him be realistic and have emotions, something we rarely see in real life cuz u know the patriarchy and men can't be emotional unless it's anger etc.

But anyways so that's what I have noticed and being a woman in fandom is a different experience. Usually a good one cuz fandom was created by women and we are the biggest fan content creators when it comes to Fanfic and fanart. Even some of the best analysis I've seen come from non-men. And I'm often on platforms where majority are women and queer and I curate my experience so when I get to places like tiktok or YouTube comments it's like my little bubble popping and I'm reminded of the different ppl in fandom. There are men on our sides of fandom with thinning more aligned to what I have described as what women usually think! But for this post I'm talking majority.

Anyways idk if this made sense but I wanna know what others think, I'm very interested and curious about this topic

[bexleyfix]

Honey, If You Love Me...(Part 1)

Part 1 reworks are complete!

This story is pure fiction and for entertainment purposes only. A lot of incredibly dumb decisions are made in this story and they are fictional situations, so make life choices wisely.

PART 1 WARNINGS AND TRIGGERS: 18+ ONLY (ABSOLUTELY NO MINORS) NSFW... Mature sexual content, suggestive situations and discussions, light smut [male masturbation], pining, angst, lots of super duper cutesy feel-good fluff, swearing, smoking, drinking, drug use.

RELATIONSHIPS: Eddie Munson x OFC ♡ Strangers to Lovers; Max, Steve, and Robin are frequent characters.

SUMMARY: In the aftermath of Vecna's recent destruction, 18-year-old Isabeau (Is-uh-bo) Mancini, a sweet and feisty, independent metalhead from Ohio, moves to Hawkins expecting to take on the role of legal guardian to her cousin Max, but she didn't expect the charming and eccentric metalhead next door to change her life in the best way possible.

(AU/ Vecna was destroyed, Eddie and Max survived)

Copying, translating, or posting my work as your own is expressly forbidden. I do not give my permission.

Prologue

"W-what the hell's going on? Where am I? Where's Eddie?" My body felt heavy, and yet somehow like I was floating. I tried prying my eyes open as I drifted in and out of consciousness. I could hear a woman telling me to stay calm as she pushed on my shoulder, forcing me to lie back. The last thing I remember was a frantic Eddie carrying me into a building in a panic, bright lights all around. "W-where am I? Eddie... Eddie?! Max?!"

"Shhh, just keep still and stay calm. They're in the waiting room. Everything's gonna be fine."

Robin? Was that Robin? What waiting room? Was I in the hospital? What the hell is happening to me?! Why can't I see Eddie? My body felt like lead, and my mind scrambled, like in a nightmare. I was terrified, struggling to remember how I ended up here. I heard several people spouting instructions, as I desperately tried to form coherent thoughts, but I soon lost the fight to keep my eyes open.

I felt someone squeeze my hand. "Hang in there, girl. You're gonna be ok, and you'll all be able to go home soon. I promise." Home... home was in Hawkins, with Eddie and Max, and...

I suddenly felt still and drifted into a dream state, returning to when it all began.

°°°°°🤘°°°°°

It's summer 1986. I finally graduated high school. But what should've been my yearly summer visit full of carefree celebration and downright shenanigans with my little cousin, Max, had turned into a life-changing upheaval.

Max and I are more like sisters than cousins. We trust each other implicitly, so two years ago, when she hit me with the story about Hawkins Lab, the Upside Down, and the slew of ridiculous shit that accompanied them, I was dumbfounded, but I believed her. I knew it wasn't an 'earthquake' that destroyed half of Hawkins and nearly killed Max, so when I received the news that she was in the hospital fighting for her life, I was scared shitless. And to make matters worse, my aunt Susan was among the many missing. My uncle Sam was still in California and not what you'd call a present parent, so I decided to move to Hawkins.

Max was unconscious for about two months after the attack. It was the longest two months of my life. When she came to, and we finally spoke, I told her my plans. She insisted I didn't come before I finished school, swearing she was alright. Begrudgingly, I agreed, but only because she was being cared for by Hop and Joyce. I had one more month of school, and Max was in good hands.

The second my senior year ended, I said my tearful goodbyes, jumped into my '67 Impala, little U-haul trailer in tow, and sped off to Indiana like a bat outta Hell. My parents protested, of course. They weren't privy to the truth, but they certainly weren't thrilled about their baby girl taking on such a big responsibility in a bizarre little town hundreds of miles away, but I was 18 and legally allowed to make my own decisions. And nothing, not my already established life, not the destruction caused by Vecna, nothing mattered anymore except for Max and her well-being.

Around 11 p.m., after hours of reckless driving, I pulled my car into the driveway of the house Joyce and Hopper found for Max and me. It was a shitty cookie-cutter house, practically identical to the one smack dab next to it, but it was big, and because of the devastation to the town, it was cheap, so I used what savings I had to buy it outright. It just needs a little TLC, but if I'm anything, I'm handy.

I stepped out of my car, noticing a beat-up van in the other driveway and a single light in the neighbor's upstairs window. The window was open, so I could hear heavy music and the unmistakable sounds of a man and woman having pretty hardcore sex. It sounded so intense I blushed. When I shut my car door, the commotion stopped, and someone peered at me through the makeshift curtains. (Great, my neighbor's a creep) I ducked out of view, grabbed my suitcase, quickly retrieved the key Joyce left hidden, and hurried to let myself in, locking and bolting the door behind me. I'd grab the rest of my things in the morning.

°°°°°🤘°°°°°

I woke early the next day to clean, unpack, and get situated before I went to collect Max. But first... coffee.

While I waited for the percolator to brew, I threw on a pair of cut-off Daisy Duke jean shorts, my favorite Megadeth t-shirt, and a pair of Chucks and tied my dirty blonde hair into a ponytail. I poured myself a cup of black coffee and went to sit on the porch steps for my morning cigarette. From that point on, my life would never be the same.

I sat down on a step bathed in sunlight, set my mug next to me, lit my cigarette, and turned on my boom box to listen to some Megadeth. I fucking love Dave Mustaine. The things I would give for a sexy metalhead... a faithful one. My track record wasn't exactly great in that department.

The van from last night was no longer in the drive. I was enjoying my coffee, reveling in my thoughts of the red-headed, thrash metal guitar god, when the van came barreling up the street. (Jesus, this guy drives like a fucking maniac! What kind of crazy person do I live next to?) I watched it pull into the double driveway, Maiden blaring from inside. (That's a plus) The driver's side door flew open, and what I saw exit sent my thoughts straight to the gutter.

I was mesmerized by the sight of a cut-off denim vest covered in patches over a leather jacket, black ripped jeans, rings on almost every finger, and the most fantastic head of long, dark, curly hair. All of which collectively embodied the most delicious metalhead I'd ever laid eyes on. The way he put his cigarette to his lips and took a drag looked positively sinful. (I WANT TO HAVE THAT MAN'S BABIES!!!) I was so enamored that my grip on my mug went slack, and I spilled burning hot coffee down my leg.

"OW, SHIT, SHIT... HOT!" I was in a momentary state of panic, searching for something I could use to wipe up my morning beverage.

Eddie heard your outburst, threw down his cigarette, and sprinted toward you, reaching for his back pocket. "I know I'm sexy, Sugar, but you don't have to get so excited."

As much as I wanted to laugh at his quip, the searing pain would only allow me to wince.

Eddie pressed his raggedy black handkerchief firmly against the side of your leg. "Here, Sug. Use this."

(Sug? Was this guy serious?) "Thanks." I accepted his offering and proceeded to dab at my burning leg.

"You alright?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah... I'm good." I was so flustered. When the pain subsided, I finally looked up, and our eyes instantly locked. I froze in place. (Good God, his huge brown eyes were GORGEOUS, and so was his smile) I averted my gaze and stood up. I looked at the handkerchief and handed it over with a quick jerk. "Uh, here."

Eddie's jaw dropped. He was mesmerized by your natural beauty, petite, curvy frame, fair features, long, dirty blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes, which only stood out more under those long, dark lashes. He reached for his handkerchief hesitantly. "Um... I, uh, I take it you're my new neighbor?" He asked, restoring the handkerchief to his pocket. "I'm Eddie. My uncle Wayne and I live next door."

(Figures. My neighbor's a hot metalhead, and he's unavailable) Eddie held out a ringed hand, and I shook it, feeling somewhat disappointed. "Eddie. Are uh, are you the creeper who was watching me from the window last night?" I only half-joked, crossing my arms.

"Uh, yeah... yeah, that was me." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm, I'm sorry if I scared you. I heard that sexy engine (he motioned to your car), and when I heard the door shut, I was a little surprised. I thought the place was empty, so..."

"Mm-hm. Well, I doubt you were as surprised as I was. I hope I didn't spoil your fun." I smirked.

"Uh, wow, uh, you... you heard that?" He asked, embarrassed.

I nodded. "Yeah. I think the whole neighborhood heard that. May wanna close the window next time."

"Noted," he said with a bashful smile.

It took me a second to remember where I'd heard the names Eddie and Wayne. Then it hit me. "Wait, are you... Munson?"

Eddie looked confused. "Uh, yeah. Do we know each other? 'Cause I'm positive I'd remember a face as beautiful as yours."

(Are you fuckin' kidding me, dude?) "Ah, a creeper and a charmer. Does uh... does your girlfriend know you flirt with other chicks?"

"Huh? Oh, no! That, that wasn't... she's just a friend... with benefits. I, uh, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Oh... well, that's good." (Shit! Why did I say that?) Suddenly I was no longer disappointed but highly embarrassed. "I mean... n-not like, good that you don't have a girlfriend, but good 'cause, you know, that... that would've been a dick move if you did." I trailed off, internally cursing myself. I quickly changed the subject. "Uh, to answer your question, no... we don't know each other, but uh... Max mentioned you. I'm her cousin, Isabeau... Mancini. But everyone calls me Isy."

Eddie eyed you questioningly. You're kind of a spaz, but it's incredibly cute. "Isabeau? Like from Ladyhawke?"

"Uh, yeah. Exactly like that, but it's a family name, obviously."

Eddie chuckled. "Well... it's beautiful too. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl."

"Um... thanks." I looked away, trying to hide my bashful appearance.

Eddie took a moment to check you out before you returned his attention. (He was definitely adding this image to tonight's spank bank) "So, uh... what did Red say about me? All good things, I hope?"

"Red?"

"Oh! Max. I uh... I call her Red. The hair, ya know?"

I nodded. "Makes sense. And yes, all good things. Said you helped with all the crazy shit that went down this past spring."

Eddie eyeballed you curiously. "She told you about that?"

"Yeah... yeah, she did."

"Like... everything?"

"Uh, yeah. All the Vecna-y goodness."

"And you believed her?"

"Well, yeah, why the hell wouldn't I?" I stared at him quizzically, unsure what he meant by that. I may have come off a bit defensive.

"No offense, Sug. I'm just a bit surprised. Not many people know the truth, let alone believe it. They'd uh... they'd most likely burn us all at the stake." He chuckled.

"Ah, well, you wanna know a secret?" I smiled slyly, motioning him toward me with one finger. I stood on my tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "I'm not most people."

"Obviously," Eddie was astonished. (God, she's so fuckin' CUTE!) "Now that I think about it, Red said you'd be coming to town. From... Ohio, right?"

I confirmed with a nod. "Well, uh, it's good to finally put a face (and a gorgeous one) to the name. Nice to meet you, Eddie." This time I offered him my hand, and he graciously accepted.

"The pleasure is all mine," he replied, kissing your hand.

His eyes locked with mine, an enormous smile plastered across his handsome face. My cheeks were on fire. I just stood there. Reluctantly, I took my hand from his and shoved both hands in my back pockets, releasing a flustered breath.

"You sure you're alright?"

(No, no, I'm not alright, you fucking gorgeous bastard!) My brain was screaming. Even with the strange scar on his neck, he was a vision. "Uh, yeah. I'm good. I was just... hey!" Something on his vest caught my attention. "Is that a Megadeth patch?!" Without hesitation or regard for his personal space, I greedily grabbed the bottom of his vest and admired the patch. A huge smile spread across my face.

"A little A.D.D., are we?"

"I'm sorry, what?" I glanced at him, then back to his vest, my smile fading to a look of embarrassment. I immediately let go. "Oh, man. I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

Eddie laughed. "It's ok, Sug. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you're a fan, too," he joked.

"Uh, yeah. Obsessed is more like it. What gave it away?" I asked sarcastically, returning my hands to my pockets and smiling at the ground.

"Oh, you know, (Man, he couldn't keep his eyes off you) it could be the shirt or the tunes," he motioned to each one, "or the fact that I just got manhandled because of a patch."

His laughter was infectious. I could hardly keep my composure. "Again, I'm... I'm sorry." I chewed nervously on the inside of my cheek.

Eddie couldn't hold back his laughter. "No... no worries. I'm not complaining."

We stood in silence for a moment, gushing at each other.

"So, uh, what were you about to say before I was so viciously accosted?"

"Uh, hmm, I uh... I was just thinking about Max and all the shit I need to do before I can get her. I can't wait to see her. I moved here for her."

"She mentioned. I love Red. She's a good kid. Feisty and has no filter," he chuckled. "I met her dad in the hospital. I, uh, was kinda shocked he didn't stick around, so... I'm glad someone's stepping up for her."

"Yeah, well, he loves Max, but he's not exactly father of the year. And my aunt's no picnic either, but um, I'm trying to be hopeful..." I trailed off, tears starting to well in my eyes.

Eddie carefully placed a ringed finger under your chin, drawing your attention to him. (Your eyes... he could get lost in them) "Uh... don't lose hope, Sug. Chief Hopper hasn't given up on her."

I nodded and wiped my eyes. "Oh shit... Hopper! It's unbelievable, isn't it?"

"You know Hopper?" He asked, completely surprised.

I nodded excitedly. "Of course, Joyce, Steve, Robin, Nancy, Jonathan... the whole lot. I visit Max every summer. When I found out she was moving to Hawkins, I about pissed myself. It's only, like, 350 miles from where I lived in Ohio, so I took an extra trip last year and visited in spring and summer. Max was so pissed when she found out I was still coming. I was all packed and ready to go when the whole Starcourt thing happened. I told her I could help, but she said she'd never forgive me if I got involved, so I waited, but I'm glad I came when I did. Albeit a giant douche, Max took Billy's death pretty hard. Not to mention, Joyce and El were a total mess, so I was the emotional support." Eddie was standing there smiling, watching me as I talked. "I'm, I'm sorry. I'm rambling."

"No, it's ok, Sug. Please, continue."

"Ok, um, wait... if you know all of them, how come I haven't met you before?"

"That's because I didn't officially meet anyone until the end of last year."

"Oh. Ok, cool. Well, it was Hopper who gave me the news about Max. When I heard his voice, I thought I was going crazy. I attended his funeral, for fuck sake."

"Yeah, I gotta say, I was happy as hell to see the big lug alive," Eddie confessed. "Super good dude. It's about time he and Joyce are getting hitched," he chuckled.

"I know, right?! Everyone saw it coming but them. It was like, for real, guys, just fuck already," I giggled. We paused momentarily, staring at each other, a new rush of embarrassment washing over me, or was it excitement? I cleared my throat. "Well, I uh... I better get started. It was nice meeting you finally. I'll, uh, I'll see you around." I went to turn and felt the gentle brush of Eddie's fingers on my arm.

"W-wait, uh..." I looked at his hand, then back at him. "Do... do you need any help? I mean, you'll finish in half the time, and you'll get to see Red sooner. So... if you want, I'm yours to command."

His tone was chivalrous. He spread his arms wide, gave me a low bow, and flashed that radiant smile. I didn't want to admit it, but I was hoping he would ask, not for the help but because I was enjoying his company and didn't want him to go. "Uh, yeah, I'd uh... I'd like that. But only if you're not busy. As much as I wanna see Max, I don't wanna impose." I smiled shyly.

"For you, Sugar, I've got all the time in the world."

(Oh my God! My insides were melting!) "Uh, well... how can I resist such a charming offer? I'd be forever grateful, good Sir." I gave him a little curtsy. "Well, uh... follow me."

"Lead the way, Sug."

°°°°°🤘°°°°°

Eddie and I spent hours talking as we unpacked all my shit. We discussed my life in Ohio, my previous excursions to California (which made him incredibly jealous), when Max told me about the Upside Down, and, thanks to Robin and Steve, my job at Family Video. Eddie seemed hesitant to talk about spring's events, which was understandable, but what I found strange was how he'd turn the conversation back to me whenever I inquired about his life. If Max didn't like him, I'd see it as a red flag, but he's delightful, a fucking riot, a goddamn wet dream. He was willing to divulge that he's 20 years old, class of '86 (finally), and when he became friends with the others. I kept the conversation going as I watched him assemble my stereo system.

"So... why a three-year senior? Did you enjoy high school that much?" I joked.

Eddie chuckled. "Uh, no. I just wasn't very motivated, I guess. And besides, if I did graduate on time, I never would've met anyone, and I probably wouldn't be here with you right now."

I smiled bashfully. "True." Eddie flashed me a sweet smile. "And you made it a point to take all the school's outcasts under your wing so none of them would feel alone?"

"Mm-hm," he mumbled, fidgeting with a stubborn cord. "I call them my little sheep."

"That's so sweet. I wish I had someone like you when I was in school." I immediately wanted to smack myself. "I-I mean... well, I wasn't so much an outcast, but I wasn't popular either. I uh, I got a lotta shit for my appearance." Eddie stopped fidgeting and focused on me, and his brow furrowed in confusion. "Um, the whole... tomboy, metal vibe and all." He nodded. "I mean, I had my core group of friends but hardly any classes with them. It would've been nice to have more people to hang with. I'll never understand how people can be such dicks to others because of their outward appearance." Eddie nodded in agreement. I watched as he reached for a pair of pliers, and used them to tweak something, then stuck them between his teeth so he could finish the hook-up. (Fuck! Why is that so hot?!) He caught me staring and winked. I tried to hide my embarrassment by searching for my smokes.

"Hey, would you mind lighting me one? Mine are in my vest pocket."

"Sure." Happy for something else to focus on, I did what he asked and set it in the ashtray, then I sat on the couch for a quick break. "So, um... thank you for doing this. I suck with elecrtonics, but you seem to have a good handle on them."

Eddie took the pliers out of his mouth, made one last adjustment, and looked at you. "I know a bit. I also have a similar setup in my room. It should be good to go. Let's give it a try." He grabbed the cigarette from the ashtray and placed it between his lips.

(My God, this man's mouth) "Um, my tapes are right there if you wanna pick something."

Eddie grabbed your box full of music, set it on the coffee table, and knelt across from you. "Alright, Sugar. Let's see what you're all about, shall we?" He smiled and started rooting through the tapes. "Damn, you got a decent collection. A little disturbed by the amount of glam and goth rock I see here, but uh, from the wear and tear on some of these other tapes, I can tell you're not a total poser," he joked. You gave him the finger, and he chuckled. "Well, uh... you've obviously got a hard-on for Megadeth, but you have a stellar amount of metal, and you appreciate the classics." He continued to dig. "So uh, is it the music that captures you... or the dreamy front men?" He joked.

I guffawed. "Um... both. And the voices. I dig range, but the deep gravelly voices are my favorite." Eddie's smile was wicked. I wish I knew what was going through his mind.

"I see a pattern. You like the esoteric, long-haired, wild ones, huh?"

The way he was staring at me, I felt like I would burst into flames. "Uh, yeah... I guess you could say that."

"This-this is just... endless." Eddie stopped rooting. "So, not only are you gorgeous, but you're a metal lover who drives that sexy thing?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess so." I looked away bashfully.

Eddie put his hands on his heart in mock pain. "You are a fucking goddess... marry me?!" He started scooting around the coffee table toward you, arms outstretched. "OUCH!"

I gave him a playful punch on the arm. "I don't know, Munson. You don't like glam or goth rock." I eyed him playfully. "But buy me dinner, and maybe I'll think about it," I joked. "And where's my ring?" I grabbed one of his hands to examine his. One, in particular, stood out. "Is that Eddie the Head? I'll take that one, but I prefer Vic Rattlehead."

"Oooo... why you gotta do me like that, Sug." Eddie collapsed playfully onto the floor, sending us into a fit of laughter.

"Throw something on, fool."

"You got it." Eddie got up and started rummaging again. "You got a preference?"

"Uh, yeah. Esoteric, long-haired, wild men." I joked, grabbing his vest from the coffee table to examine it further.

Eddie looked up and snickered, smiling to himself when he caught sight of you examining his vest. Your eyes lit up as you ran your fingers across the different pins and patches. "See anything you like?" He asked.

"Hmm?" I looked up, and he winked again. "Uh..." he was slick. I tried hiding my flushed cheeks by returning my attention to his vest. "Yeah, um... all of it." I let out a flustered breath and tapped some buttons. "I love Mercyful Fate, and don't get me started on W.A.S.P. Blackie was, like, my first love." I noticed Eddie staring at me. "What?"

Eddie couldn't believe what he was hearing. His heart was pounding. "Uh, nothing." (It's only one of the sexiest fucking things I've ever heard!) He let out a breathy laugh. "It's just, you're like, this sweet little angel, uh... I wouldn't peg you for someone who listens to 'Devil' music," he emphasized the word Devil in air quotes. "It's uh... it's kinda hard to wrap my head around." Eddie started rooting again, trying desperately to keep his thoughts out of the gutter.

"Well, I am religious, but I'm no bigot. I appreciate good music. Just because King's a Satanist doesn't make his voice any less amazing. And besides, Satanists don't even worship the Devil. They're just Atheists who don't conform to traditional religious beliefs. They're all about self-indulgence, living life to the fullest, and their own divinity, ya know? Not all that sacrificial evil bullshit, like most people think. If you're good to them, they're good to you." I smiled, and Eddie roared with laughter.

"H-how do you know so much about all that?"

"Well, like I said. People are dicks. It got to the point where I just couldn't deal with stupid anymore, so I read. If I wanna put the Satanic Panic assholes in their place, I need to be able to back it up. It's pretty interesting stuff."

Eddie smiled and nodded. "Does that actually work?"

"No, not really. People usually get nervous when they find out what I know, but the looks on their faces are priceless. So are you a Satanist?"

"What?" Eddie's head shot up, and he immediately became tense. When he noticed you smiling, tapping his Leviathan cross patch, his tension eased, and he chuckled. "Um, no. I'm more of an individualist." He let out a flustered breath. "I'm eccentric for sure, but I have humility. I mainly can't stand forced conformity. I make my own choices. Now, I am insatiable when it comes to carnal desires, but that's the only time I consider myself godlike." Eddie noticed the way you squirmed, and he was pretty pleased with himself.

Eddie's grin was Cheshire. (Fuck! If words alone could make me cum I'd be a writhing mess) I shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, um, well, I see you're also a fellow nerd."

Eddie scoffed, "What makes you think I'm a nerd?"

"Um, social status aside, Munson, not many seniors would befriend a bunch of nerdy freshmen unless they had something in common." I reached over and motioned to the logo on his Hellfire shirt. "So, unless you're all into black magic and sex cults, and from what you just told me, that may very well be the case, but um... I'd say you and the boys bonded over D&D."

Eddie looked down and started laughing. "Uh... you are correct, Sugar. You've discovered my dirty secret."

"Ah! So you are into black magic and sex cults?" I joked. (Jesus, his fucking smile)

Eddie couldn't stop laughing. "Wouldn't you like to know? Uh, I... wait. Did you say, fellow nerd?"

I flashed him a cheeky smile, snuffed out my cigarette, and grabbed a box from the other side of the room. I plopped it down before him and motioned for him to open it. When he looked at the contents, he got so excited.

"These... these are all yours?!"

"Yep. Every map, manual, and module." Eddie looked like he was about to cry tears of joy.

"Uh, ok... that's hot! S-seriously, will you please be my wife?"

I gave him a shy laugh. "Um, I used to play all the time with my brother and his friends... and I played a few times with the boys during visits. I was hoping they still played 'cause it's my favorite game, and uh... I'd like to find a party to join." Eddie was gawking at me, smiling like an idiot.

"Um, ok. Sugar? Future wife? Love of my life?" I couldn't stop giggling at his cute little remarks. "I may have told a tiny fib because I am 'Eddie the Banished'. Legendary dungeon master and God of the Hellfire Club. And I would be elated if you would join our party."

My eyes lit up. "Really?!"

"Really."

"Eeek!" I was so thrilled I hugged him.

"Oh, uh... wow, ok." You backed away, beaming. "You uh... you are somethin' else. Definitely not like most people. I, uh... I like that." Eddie smiled and turned back to your tapes, rejoicing internally. He spotted Mercyful Fate's 'Melissa' and popped it into your stereo. "For you, Sugar." He scanned you up and down and chuckled to himself. Your bashfulness was adorable.

"Yes! It works! Thank you, thank you, thank you! That sounds amazing!"

"You're welcome."

~~~~~

Eddie was so cute, playing air guitar as he wiped down walls. "That's some accurate air guitar, Munson. You play?" He turned my way with a sly smile.

"Maybe." Eddie pulled a chain from under his shirt collar, revealing a dangling guitar pick.

When he turned around, I bit my lip, trying incredibly hard to hold it together. "M-maybe you can play for me sometime?"

Eddie felt like he would explode! "Absolutely! As long as I can take that sexy car of yours for a spin." You gave him a shy nod and turned back toward the other wall. He kept stealing glances as you danced on a step stool and sang. The collar of your shirt had slipped down, revealing what looked to be a panther tattoo on your shoulder blade. (Holy FUCK, that's hot!) Drawn to the sight, he strolled toward you as if caught in a tractor beam and reached a hand to your shoulder, startling you as his fingers made contact with your skin.

"Jesus, you scared me. I was in the zone. You need something?" I stepped off the stool to face him.

(You... I need you... screaming my name as I pin you against the wall and fuck you to Mercyful Fate!) "Uh, no. I was just... admiring your tattoo. Is that a panther?"

"Oh, yeah. It's uh... it's my Peter Criss tattoo." I rolled my eyes.

"Whoa, whoa, wait... Peter Criss?"

"I know. I get it all the time. Why not Paul, Gene, or even Ace? I've just always liked Peter. He gets no love, ya know?"

(Better than anyone, Sugar) "Can I take a closer look?" Eddie asked politely.

"Of course! Here," I turned my back to him. When his fingers brushed my hair from my shoulder, I felt a surge of electricity shoot through my body. I barely managed to keep it together when I turned my head to explain. "Um. Well, Peter's the Catman, of course, hence the panther. Its eyes are green 'cause Peter's color is green, and the tail's in the shape of a three 'cause that's his lucky number."

Eddie couldn't peel his eyes off your skin. "That... is so fucking cool. Granted, it's symbolic of Peter Criss, but... hey!" You shoved him playfully, and he started giggling. "You got any more?"

I immediately blushed. "Um... I do. But after that comment, I'm not about to let you see it."

Eddie's eyes immediately lit up. "Ooo... I'm intrigued. So uh... where is it." He started looking you over. "I don't see anything visible. Now I really gotta know."

He smiled devilishly, but I shook my head." Not on your life, pal."

"Come on, Sugar. I'll show you mine if you show me yours," he joked.

I scoffed. "Nice try, jackass." I had to divert his attention. "So... do you actually have tattoos? Or are you just fucking with me?"

He chuckled. "No, I do." He pushed up his sleeve and held out his arm. "Check out these sweet tatties."

A huge smile crossed my face. (God, he plays guitar AND has tattoos?) "May I?" Eddie nodded with a smile as I reached for his arm. I held his wrist and traced my fingers lightly over his ink, wholly captivated. "I like the bats. And this one looks like Puppet Master Eddie from Number of the Beast?"

Eddie felt chills run down his spine. "Ok, you're killin' me, Sug. If you don't agree to marry me, like, right now... I might spontaneously combust."

I laughed nervously, hardly able to control my beating heart. "Do uh... do you have any more?" He immediately became hesitant, but somehow not in the same way I was. His hesitation seemed more like worry, not embarrassment.

"I do... but how is that fair?"

"Um, well... I guess it's not." Eddie observed me for a moment, straight-faced, but eventually reached for his shirt collar and pulled it down, exposing the tattoos on his chest. I leaned in for a closer peek, but what drew my eyes wasn't his tattoos. It was the enormous scar that now swallowed half of one. Without thinking, I reached to touch it. Eddie flinched and grabbed my wrist, startling me. "Whoa, hey, uh. I'm, I'm sorry. I should've... sorry."

When Eddie noticed the horrified look on your face, he felt a twinge in his heart and immediately released your wrist. He didn't mean to frighten you but was reluctant to let you touch him. "No, um... I'm sorry." Going against his better judgment, he tilted his head to the side and pulled his collar down. "Go ahead," he whispered.

I studied him with uncertainty. "No, really... if it bothers you..."

He cut you off. "Please, it's ok."

"You sure?"

He wasn't but nodded anyway.

I carefully reached again and lightly ran the tips of my fingers down his neck. The scar was so jagged and rough.

Eddie closed his eyes, trying to control his breathing as your fingers explored his flesh. He concentrated on the sound of your voice as you sang along to 'Melissa'. He didn't know why he was letting this happen. He never let this happen, not with anyone, but there was something about you. Something in your beautiful blue eyes. Something... safe. He felt he could unravel under your touch, so he let it continue.

"Jesus, Eddie... is this from the Upside Down?" I glanced at his face. His eyes shut tight, and he was breathing heavily through his nose.

"Mmm... mm-hm," he swallowed hard.

"W-was it Demobats?" Eddie tensed as I pulled his collar down further.

"Yeah, h-how'd you know?"

"Well... when I got the call about Max, I freaked the fuck out and immediately called Steve and Robin. Steve told me about his attack."

"W-what else did he say?"

"Uh... not much. Noone seemed to wanna discuss it just yet. I didn't hear about your involvement until Max woke up... but even she didn't tell me much." I decided to be bold. I wanted to see how far he'd let me take this. I reached down to try and lift his shirt, and he trembled. "Hey, it's ok... just breathe." To try and calm him, I cupped his cheek and brushed it lightly with my thumb, but it only seemed to make things worse. "Eddie, if you want me to stop, I will. I'm not trying to stir up bad memories."

"Um, it's not that. It's just, the scars. They're uh... they're..." Eddie trailed off and cleared his throat. "Um... c-can you keep singing? It uh... it helps."

"Yeah... of course." I wasn't quite sure what was bothering him, but I started singing, reached down, and carefully lifted his shirt. "Jesus!" I grimaced, startled by what I saw. "Eddie... they're everywhere."

"Mm-hm." Here it comes. This is when you tell him he's repulsive. "They're uh... they're fuckin' disgusting... I'm-I'm disgusting," he whispered.

I stared at him in confusion. "Eddie, is that why you're so tense? You were worried about how I thought you'd look?" He nodded, eyes still shut tight and his chest heaving. "Well, not that it should matter what I or anyone else thinks, but you're not disgusting. I mean, yes, the scars are horrifying, but they're just scars."

"Yeah, um... you don't need to spare my feelings, Sug. I know how I look." His breathing became more labored.

"Oh, shut your mouth, Munson, before I shut it for you. Any girl who doesn't find you attractive is an idiot, scars or no." Usually I'd be embarrassed to say that, but he needed the reassurance, which seemed to ease his tension.

"Um, thanks, Sug. I appreciate that."

"Well, it's true. Don't be so down on yourself. You're handsome as hell." I noticed his slight smirk, so I resumed my investigation. "Ok, Munson. I'm gonna touch you now, so just concentrate on my voice. You can do this." He nodded earnestly. I continued to sing, placed a tender hand on his stomach, and he trembled. I brushed my thumb over a particularly angry-looking spot. "My God, Eddie, how the hell did you even survive these?"

He exhaled heavily. "Um, that... that's a story for another time, Sug."

I nodded and ran my hand down his side, letting my fingers caress every mark. I trailed them from one side of his body to the other, completely enamored. I took the opportunity to accidentally, on purpose, tangle my fingers in the dark trail of hair protruding from his jeans. I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help myself. Even in this state, he was so goddamn sexy.

Eddie's eyes popped open. He tilted his head to glimpse at you and smiled. You weren't sneaky. He knew damn well there were no scars right there, but he most certainly wasn't gonna complain. Without another thought, he grabbed his shirt, pulling it to his chin so you could explore further. The way you beamed at him, you seemed thankful. It was sweet. He was relishing this moment. It was invigorating, liberating, and so... intimate. He observed as you took both hands and caressed his stomach and chest. Your touch was so gentle and caring. And the expression on your beautiful face, it wasn't one of repulsion... but affection.

"I, um, I can't decide which is more metal, the tats or the scars." It was wonderful to hear him laughing. As much as I didn't want to, I took my hands away, put his shirt back down, and patted his stomach. "See? No worries." I gave him a sincere smile, and he immediately trapped me in a full-body hug. I wrapped my arms tightly around his shoulders and started chuckling. "Um, I'm gonna guess that doesn't happen often?"

"Never, Sugar... you're uh, you're the first."

"I-I am?" I could feel him nodding. I was stunned. "But, how is that even possible? I mean, well, you've obviously been with girls." Eddie let me go and shook his head. His smile was enormous.

"Um, no... I um," he started laughing, "I-I keep my shirt on. I mean, all I need is below the belt, so..."

Jesus, I was about to lose it. I looked at him, completely bewildered. "Um, thank you for sharing this with me. I'm... I'm honored." I smiled happily and let out a breathy laugh. "Um, was that too much excitement for one day? You, uh, you still wanna stick around?"

There was no way he would leave you, especially after that. "No, I'm staying. But only if you sing some more."

"Oh? You like how I butcher King's vocals?" We both snickered. "Well, this tape's almost over. Go ahead and pick another one." Eddie nodded happily but didn't move. He took me completely by surprise when he quickly kissed my cheek. I was speechless. There was no way he didn't see how red my face turned. He beamed at me and returned to my box of tapes, rustled momentarily, and popped in Led Zeppelin II, then walked back to me, staring at another cassette.

"Hey, do you mind if I borrow this?" He held up King Diamond's debut album. "I haven't had a chance to get it yet."

"Hmmm... I don't know, Munson. That's asking a lot. I listen to that one constantly," I joked, but by the look of disappointment on his face, I could tell he didn't catch my jest, and his obliviousness was adorable. I was trying so hard not to laugh. "I guess you can borrow it... but I'm gonna need collateral."

Eddie looked toward his vest, then down at his hands. "Oh!" He proceeded to pull off a ring. "Here." He held it to you and smiled. You looked down at Eddie the Head and started laughing. "What?" He asked.

"I-I was just kidding. I don't need collateral, fool. You're more than welcome to borrow it."

Eddie chuckled. "Here... take it anyway." He reached for your hand, looked for a finger to fit it, and slipped it on your thumb. "There."

He kissed my hand before letting it go, and my laughter stopped. "Eddie, I... I can't take this."

"Why not? You're my future wife. But I will need your actual ring size, 'cause uh... this one's too big. And besides, it gives me an excuse to bother you again."

My cheeks were burning. I gawked at my hand, then at Eddie's goofy grin. "Ok, thanks. B-but you don't need an excuse. (Way to be subtle, Isy. Why not just throw yourself at him) I mean, you're borrowing King, so... you have to come back anyway." I veered away. I don't know why I bothered to hide my flushed cheeks anymore. "But um... i-if you insist, I'll take good care of it."

Your bashfulness was so fucking adorable. Eddie tilted your chin up so your eyes met his. (God, your eyes, so beautiful) He wanted so badly to kiss you. "I insist... and I know you will, Sugar."

Eddie smiled again and brushed my chin with his thumb. (Holy shit! If he only knew what that did to me) After everything that happened, I felt obligated to share a little more. "Um... Eddie? M-my tattoo, well... not only is it embarrassing, but um, it's in a really awkward spot, and uh, i-it comes with an even more embarrassing story, but... that's definitely one for another time."

He smiled sweetly and nodded. "I look forward to hearing it, Sugar."

°°°°°🤘°°°°°

After finishing, we went to the porch for a cigarette. We sat on the top step, shoulder to shoulder.

"Thanks for the help, Munson. You, uh, you made this fun."

"Don't sweat it, Sug. I enjoyed your company."

His smile was so adorable. I looked away bashfully. "Ok, I gotta know, what's with the pet name?"

"What? 'Sug'?" You nodded. "Isn't it obvious? It means I think you're sweet, like sugar. If you don't like it, I can stop."

"No, I... I didn't say that. It's just, well, you don't even know me, yet it was the first thing outta your mouth. For all you know, I could be some... crazed psychotic bitch. So, are you a serial charmer or just foolish?"

Eddie chuckled. "Straight to the point. I like that. Uh... a little of both, I guess. I'm a flirty guy, but my charm's usually lost on most, so... let's go with foolish." He smiled sweetly. You looked surprised when he took your hand and squeezed it. "I'd uh... I'd be willing to call your bluff, though." He inched closer, leaning his face toward yours. "I bet you're not a psychotic bitch. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that you're very sweet... in more ways than one." He stuck out the tip of his tongue and wiggled his eyebrows. "Care to prove me wrong?"

I scoffed, suddenly feeling incredibly hurt. That comment changed my whole demeanor. "Wow! Bold, Munson. Was that your endgame all along? Butter me up with all your sweet talk so I'll sleep with you?" His sweet smile morphed into a look of confusion. "You know... I bet that is your girlfriend. And she deserves better than you." I took my hand from his.

"W-what?" Eddie immediately felt the familiar sting of rejection.

"Oh, don't bullshit me, Munson. This shtick may work on the sluts in Hawkins, but I have self-respect." I got up and stalked toward my door. I wanted to cry. He seemed so honest, so sincere, but I was wrong once again.

"Whoa, whoa, hey... Sug!"

I spun around. "My name is Isy... and if all you're looking for is a piece of ass, go call one of your friends. They seem to fall for your shit." I turned away again.

"Isy, please... STOP!"

Startled by his tone, I immediately froze. He jumped up the steps and blocked my way. "Move, Munson."

"Seriously, what's with the hostility? I thought we had something going here."

"Oh, is that what you thought?"

"Well, yeah... didn't you?!"

I huffed. "I did. Then you made it perfectly clear that you're just trying to get in my pants."

"WHAT?!" You tried to pass him. "Look, I'm not gonna lie. I think you're gorgeous. And yes, I would love to get in your pants and do... unspeakable things to you, but I was just teasing." You scoffed again and crossed your arms. "JUST, just listen... please. I'm being honest here. Look, I'm sorry if I crossed a line. I just... I didn't realize my teasing would set you off, or I wouldn't have done it. I mean... I'm just being me. I've been teasing you all day, and you... you've been returning my affection the whole time, but... apparently, my charm's lost on you too, so... I guess I am just a fool." You stared at him, still not speaking. "Look, I'm not bullshitting you—the total opposite. You're... different, not like other girls. And I like that. I like you."

"Seriously, Munson? You expect me to believe that? For fuck sake, twelve hours ago, you were balls deep in some other chick!"

"That... that was nothing!"

"Oh, like I haven't heard that one before."

He stared at you, utterly confused. "Did... did I miss something? Why are you attacking me all of a sudden? 'Cause last time I checked, what I do on my own time is none of your goddamn business!"

"Oh, go fuck yourself, Munson. Or better yet, go fuck your friend."

Eddie blocked you again, his expression now stern. "Are you mental? I mean, maybe I'm wrong, and you really are a psychotic bitch." You looked at him with such disdain.

"What'd you just say to me?" I was fuming.

"You heard me. You know... you are such a hypocrite. You're upset with me, but you're not innocent in all this!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"Oh, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about! You wanna keep pretending like you didn't just feel me up in there? HUH?!" You flinched at his tone and looked away. "Yeah, didn't think I'd catch that, did you? I know my own body, Isy, and there're no scars on my abdomen, but did I flip out on you?!"

"Well... of course you didn't. It's what you wanted, right?"

"That's not the point! Whether I wanted it or not, you touched me in an intimate way. In a way, I can only construe as sensual... and you used a vulnerable moment to do it! You're sending me mixed signals, Isy! Now that's fucked up! So instead of biting my head off for making a lewd comment, how 'bout granting me a little courtesy and just... let me explain! Will you do that for me, please?! Can you find it in your heart to trust me? Jesus Christ! Do you know how hard that was for me in there?!?!" You shook your head. "No, no, you don't. You have no goddamn idea how difficult that was... but I let it happen, and all I got in return was cynicism!"

"If it's such a sore spot for you, and you didn't have an ulterior motive, why the hell did you let me put my hands all over you?!"

"I think the better question is, why the hell did you want to? To appease me, or was it for your own twisted gratification? 'Cause I'm not exactly down with flaunting that part of myself."

"Then why let it happen? I asked if you wanted me to stop and you said no!"

Eddie's frustration was building. "That... mmm... that's what I'm trying to explain."

"Go ahead... enlighten me."

"Ok... not that I should have to explain myself to you, but since you're so adamant about defaming my character, I'll grant you this. That," Eddie pointed in the direction of his window, "that's a special circumstance, ok? She and I... we have an arrangement."

"What kind of arrangement?"

"Honestly... and I'm not proud of this by any means... but I sell drugs. And despite what you seem to think, I don't have a little black book of friends. The truth is, I don't exactly get much physical attention, so... I supply her with drugs, and in exchange, she gives me what I need physically."

That was not the answer I was expecting.

"She's not my girlfriend, Isy. There's no emotion there whatsoever. It's just physical, alright? I mean, I'm starved for attention in more ways than one. And then you appear... like something outta my goddamn dreams, and, and you're beautiful and compassionate, and so... comfortable around me. Isy... I haven't let anyone see my scars, let alone touch them. Shit, I was worried you'd find me repulsive, but by some impossible miracle... you didn't. So yes, as hard as it was to let you touch me, I welcomed it... but it wasn't for the attention. It's because I see something in you. Something noone has ever shown me. You-you made me feel more emotion in a few hours... than I've felt my whole life. You treated me with respect and affection... until now."

I nodded, still not making eye contact. I didn't know what to say. I was trying so hard not to cry. When I mustered the courage to peek, he was staring at the porch with his hands in his pockets, kicking the wood with the toe of his shoe. I felt like such an ass. "I'm... I'm sorry, Eddie," I whispered.

"Yeah, well, you should be."

That stung. "I didn't mean... I just thought... well, look at you!" I was so flustered I started waving my hands around. "One minute, you're all sweet and flirty, charming me with your metalhead style, and your pet names... and your goddamn marriage proposals. Those... big doe eyes, and your... your long, curly hair, and that smile." I surveyed him up and down. When I averted my gaze, I glimpsed his ring on my thumb. "You-you offered to help me, even though you just met me, and... you were kind enough to share an intimate moment with me. And I'm truly grateful for that. Please, believe me, I am. I didn't mean to take advantage of that. Really, I didn't. I was genuinely curious. And it's just... well, body hair drives me completely insane! It's like my fucking kryptonite! That was for my gratification, which was highly inappropriate, I know, but I just... I couldn't control myself, and I'm sorry, ok! You're so fucking handsome, and it's been a while since I've experienced any intimacy. And I wanted so badly to believe you were being sincere. And I did. Then you made that comment, and I... well, I just... assumed that it was all a ruse." I trailed off and started playing with his ring.

Eddie immediately understood, wanting to kick himself for not seeing it sooner, wishing he could take back every harsh word he uttered. He shouldn't have gotten so heated, and he most certainly shouldn't have yelled. Seeing you cry was breaking his heart. "Oh, Sugar." He closed the gap between you and trapped you tightly in his arms. You grasped handfuls of his vest as you buried your face in his chest and balled. "It wasn't a ruse. That's just how I am. Yes, I'm a lonely nerd, and sex is on my mind constantly, especially when a beautiful woman is showing me some attention. But as much as I crave female company, I'm not like all those douchebags who just tell girls what they wanna hear so they'll sleep with me. Not many girls give me a chance, but even if they did, I'm respectful. I'm just a playful pervert, and I like to tease."

I was too embarrassed to look at him.

"I take it someone hurt you?" You nodded. "Did you love him?"

"Yeah," I whispered.

"Was it another girl?"

"Girls plural," I said in a muffled voice, fresh tears soaking his shirt as he cradled my head to his chest.

"I'm so sorry, Sugar. The guy sounds like a real shitbag." Eddie placed a soft kiss on your head. What he would give to have unconditional love, and that asshole had yours... and squandered it. If given the chance, he would cherish you. "Hey... look at me." You lifted your head and met his eyes. "I'm sorry. I never meant to upset you. But I would never do that. Not to any girl. I know what it's like to be rejected, to feel discarded, and it sucks. But that's a story for another time." Eddie took his thumb and wiped a tear from your cheek. "Please don't cry," he whispered, happy to see the smile return to your face.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Eddie. It was wrong of me to assume. I just... I promised myself I'd never fall for that shit again, so I got defensive. I shouldn't have unleashed my bullshit on you. Not the best first impression. I just... it's hard to escape that mindset."

"Don't apologize, please. I did the same thing to you. I didn't realize your situation. And honestly, I'm not used to girls seeing me the way you seem to, so I didn't connect the dots, and I'm sorry. I never should've raised my voice. This was all just a huge misunderstanding. And besides, my first impression was way worse." That got you laughing. "I really did enjoy your company today. And if it's not too much to ask, I'd love to get to know you better. For you to get to know me... and my quirks," he stroked your hair. "To show you... that your future husband isn't such a bad guy."

We smiled at each other. "I'd like that."

"So you will marry me?" You gave him the finger again, and he laughed jovially. "Come 'er." Eddie held you tight, rested his cheek on your head, and sighed in relief. "Truce?"

"Truce," I agreed. Eddie pulled back and flashed that fantastic smile.

"Can I still tease you? It's kinda my thing."

I smiled, shoved his face playfully, and said, "You do you."

"I'll take that as a yes." He started to walk down the stairs, stopped, and held out his hand. "Come with me. I'll take you to get Red. I know you've been here before, but the detours are killer, and I haven't finished acting foolish. And in all seriousness, I really don't wanna leave your side."

I smiled bashfully and accepted his hand. It reminded me of Terminator. (Come with me if you want to live, and boy, did I, especially if Eddie was a part of my life) "Ok... but only if you control that lead foot. I enjoy being alive." He laughed, nodded, and led me to his van.

"Your chariot, m'lady." He opened the door and waved me inside, then ran around the front of the van and shuffled into the driver's seat.

°°°°°🤘°°°°°

Max and I held each other for what felt like an eternity, tears falling freely. It was surreal, especially seeing a living, breathing Hopper. I practically tackled him, Joyce, and El, expressing my undying gratitude for what they've done for Max and me. When we finished with pleasantries, Hopper and Eddie grabbed Max's bags and loaded them into the van engaging in further conversation. Max and I weren't far behind.

"Um, how the hell did you end up here with Munson?" She asked.

"Yeah, about that. Turns out that sweet hunk of metalhead goodness... is our next-door neighbor."

"Shit, I can't get a break," she whispered to herself.

"Mm-hm..." I started mocking her in my best 'Max' voice, "'This guy Eddie Munson, he helped us fight against Vecna. He's a good friend. He and his uncle Wayne lived in the trailer across from me and Mom. Poor guy got his ass kicked, but if it weren't for him and Dustin, we probably wouldn't have made it out alive. He's a good dude'. You neglected to mention that he's my fucking dream guy and the father of my future metalhead babies."

"Ew, gross." I smacked her upside the head. "Ow! shit, Isy. You don't need to be a bitch about it." I gave her an accusatory glance. "Ok, I'm sorry! I mean, it's not like I lied. I just... withheld information." My expression was unchanged. "I swear, I wasn't trying to keep him a secret. I like Munson. I was just... trying to delay the inevitable. But what difference does it make? You met him. You find him dreamy. If he's not totally into you already, it won't take long." She crossed her arms and kicked at the rocks.

My irritation melted away as I watched her. "Oh Max, I know you've been dealing with more important matters... and I'm so happy to be here with you... I just would've appreciated a little heads-up. I mean, I didn't expect a curveball like him. He has a multifaceted personality, and I almost ripped him a new one when he went all pervy on me." She looked at me wide-eyed.

"Oh, shit... poor Munson."

"Yeah, poor Munson. I felt like shit, but... he gave me a run for my money." She looked shocked. "He seems like a good one, and I'd like to see more of him, but only if it's alright with you." I threw my arm around her shoulder, and we started walking. "You're my number one priority, first and foremost, so if you don't want me to see him... I won't."

"Why wouldn't I want you to?" She searched my face. "Wait, do you... do you think I want you to spend all your time with me?" I shrugged. "Oh, no. Don't get me wrong, I love you like crazy, but I have a life. When I said I was trying to delay the inevitable, I meant you and Munson doing it 24/7. No, go, hang out. Just keep the nasty shit outta my vicinity."

I busted into laughter, grabbed her in a headlock, and dragged her to the van.

Eddie held the van door open, smiling as he watched you both. He trapped Max in a huge hug. "Where to ladies?"

"Um... would you mind swinging by Family Video. I wanna grab my uniform?"

"Sure thing, Sug." I patted his cheek and smiled.

~~~~~

We pulled into the parking lot, and Eddie jumped out of the van to open the door for us. He grabbed my hand to help me out, and we locked eyes. I flashed him a giddy smile and ran inside.

When Max jumped out, Eddie grabbed her by the jacket and immediately flicked her shoulder.

"Ow! What the hell, Munson?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Red! A little heads-up would've been nice. Why didn't you tell me your cousin's my future wife?"

"Jesus, are you two sharing a brain?" Max muttered to herself.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"Nothing. You two are already annoying the shit outta me." Max noticed his unamused expression and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Munson, I knew the moment you saw each other, you'd both turn feral, and I didn't want to subject myself to the sound of you two going at it like bunnies. I've been through enough trauma."

"Oh? So she is into me?" His smile was smug.

"Ugg, gross."

He chuckled. "Well, I'm sorry, my small, red-headed friend... but that's just tough shit. That gorgeous creature has not left my thoughts since I laid eyes on her this morning, and after only a handful of hours with her, I can already tell she's something special. I wanna pursue this, Red. But it wouldn't feel right unless I had your blessing."

Max was unnerved by the wavelength you two were on.

"Come on, Red, please! She's perfect. I uh... I even let her touch the scars."

"WHAT?!" Max's eyes went wide. She knew how much of a sore spot that was for Eddie. If he was willing to let you do that... someone he just met? He was already in deep. "Whatever, yes, I don't care."

Eddie clapped his hands together excitedly. "Mmm, YES! Thank you, Red!"

"Just... keep the explicit shit out of earshot."

"Yeah, yeah, no problem." They shook on it.

Max had never seen Eddie so happy. He deserved happiness. You both did. "And, Munson... she told me she flipped out on you. I didn't think you'd meet so soon, or I would've warned you, but apparently I'm cursed to have you as a neighbor." Eddie chuckled. "Isy's got major trust issues. Her ex is a cheating douche, and it really screwed her up, so she's inclined to call bullshit. I'm sorry you had to find out the hard way."

Eddie gave her a sweet smile. "Don't worry about it, Red. It actually helped us gain a little insight about each other."

"Well, I'm still sorry. Don't get me wrong, Isy wasn't always like that. I mean, she's always had a temper. Seriously, she can make Demobats look like cute, cuddly puppies, and she's still wild and carefree, but now she's guarded. She really is an understanding person, though, and she'd do anything for the people she loves, so don't let the attitude deter you. Just be yourself. I can already tell she's kinda crazy about you."

He smiled brightly. "Thanks, Red. I like that she's feisty. I can see where you get it." He threw his arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm gonna treat her like gold. In fact, I'm gonna treat her so well, she's gonna feel like the treasure beneath the Lonely Mountain, and not even Smaug will keep us apart."

"O-kay? I have no idea what that means, but whatever."

"Seriously, Red? We fought in Mordor together, and you still don't understand Lord of the Rings?" She shook her head. He chuckled, and they headed for the store.

~~~~~

"Look what the bat dragged in," Robin rounded the counter to greet Eddie and Max.

"Buckley, you look ravishing." She gave Eddie a twirl. "Where's my favorite Wonder Twin?"

Robin yelled for Steve. "Hey, Dingus! Get your ass out here and say hello!"

Steve appeared from the back office with a stack of papers. "What're you bitching about now, Rob--Hey! Max!" He ran over and wrapped her in a friendly embrace, then turned to Eddie. "Munson... what's happening, buddy?" They gave each other a bro hug.

"Not much, Harrington. Isy wanted to stop and get her uniform."

"Wait, you're here... together?" He motioned between Eddie and me. "What happened, Mancini? You lose a bet or something? Oh, I know. He lured you into his van with the promise of candy?" He shot me a wink, and I lost it.

"Well, Steve, you know I love me some candy, but uh, he was blasting Maiden, so... I practically did a Duke Boys jump through the window."

Eddie's eyes locked on you. He tried hiding a faint smile by chewing his hair, but nothing got past Robin.

"Seriously though, it turns out he's our next-door neighbor, so he helped with all my shit this morning and took me to get Max."

"Oh... right on. I guess it was inevitable. I knew once you got here, you wouldn't be able to escape Munson's clutches." I bit my lip and snuck a glance at Eddie's smiling face. "Well, here's the employee paperwork you need to fill out."

"Alright," I looked at Eddie. "You mind if I get a jump on this?"

"Not at all, Sug. I'm gonna grab some movies." He traveled a few rows over.

"Sug?" Steve quietly inquired.

"Yeah, short for Sugar. 'Cause I'm sweet." I gave him a smug look.

"Hmm... he obviously hasn't seen you angry."

I shoved him hard. "Oh, fuck you!"

"See, that's exactly what I'm talkin' about. Munson's got a nickname for everyone, and they're usually pretty fitting, except yours."

"Shut up, dick." Steve snickered. "Hey, I wanted to ask you. Is he always so... explicit?"

"Munson? Oh yeah. He's known to say what's on his mind. He's also a total cheeseball. You get used to it." Steve observed your nod of understanding as you turned back to your forms. "Lemme guess, he already laid on the 'Munson charm'?"

"Yeah, big time. We, uh... we had the best time this morning. Eddie was charming and playful. And you know how much I love me a metalhead." Steve lifted his brow and nodded. "I was instantly hooked. Then he switched to perv mode, and I, uh... kinda flipped out on him."

Steve lost it. "Oh shit! So he did get a taste of the evil bitch queen?" I pursed my lips and nodded. "Oh, man, I feel for Munson. I would not want to be on the receiving end of that. I gotta say, though, I'm a little surprised. You used to be into all that pervy shit."

I nodded. "I know. And I still am. I mean, I probably wouldn't have reacted the way I did, but," I bit my lip, leaned toward Steve, and whispered, "when I got to the house last night, I overheard him and some chick going at it, so... I assumed she was Eddie's girlfriend and he was trying to get a little on the side."

Steve started laughing harder. "No-no way! Are you serious?!" I nodded again. "Jesus... that was most likely the bartender chick from the Hideout."

"Oh do... do you know her?"

"Not personally, but I know of her. I think Munson had a thing for her a while back, but it's just casual."

"Oh," I said indifferently.

Steve noticed the wheels turning in your head. "Mancini... lemme tell you something about Munson. He uh, he has it hard. Harder than most. Everyone sees him as some... scary, satanic freak, especially girls. And as much as I hate to admit it, we all saw him that way, except for Henderson, Wheeler, and Sinclair. But in reality, he's a big softy and one of the most loyal people I've had the privilege to call a friend. Not to say he doesn't annoy the shit outta me."

I had to laugh.

"Believe me, he's not like your ex. If he's into you... and judging by the dumb smile that hasn't left his face since he walked in here, I think it's safe to say that he is, you should give him a chance. He's a good dude. And trust me, after meeting you, she's the last thing on his mind. He'll probably call it off the moment he gets home."

"Thanks, Steve. You're a good friend. But if you were so sure Eddie and I would take to each other how come you didn't tell me about him, or vice-versa?"

"Um... because Max threatened me on pain of death, and I value my life."

"Figures. That little brat." Steve smiled and gave me a friendly kiss on the head.

Eddie was staring at you from behind a shelf when he heard a whisper. "Pssst... Eddie!" Robin cocked her head, motioning for him to follow her.

"What's up, Buckley?"

"Dude... could you be more obvious?" She whispered.

"What?" He smiled mischievously.

"Ugh... seriously, Eddie. You keep eye fucking her like that, someone's bound to notice."

"Shit, was I that obvious?" His words dripped with sarcasm.

"Seriously, what's the story?"

"Calm down, Buckley. She already knows I think she's gorgeous."

"Oh..."

"But if you must know," he paraded Robin around the store, grabbing movies as they walked, "Isy and Max are my neighbors. I met her this morning and thought I was staring at an angel. I mean... it was love at first sight, Buckley. This goddess drives a black '67 Chevy Impala. She's a fucking metal lover, for Christ's sake, a very knowledgeable one, I might add. She's a nerdy, bashful sweetheart. Feisty and so smart. She's caring, kind, and just... the most compassionate and open-minded person. I've never met anyone like her. And that's not even the best part. I think she's totally into me."

Robin noticed the blush on his cheeks. "Holy shit, Eddie! That's awesome!"

"Yeah. I've found the future, Mrs. Munson."

"Eeek! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! So what are you gonna do?!"

"Buckley, my lady-loving friend. I'm gonna marry that girl and never let her go."

"Ahhhhh! Oh my god, this is so exciting. And you're certain of this? After only a few hours?"

"I've never been more certain of anything."

Robin recognized the sincerity in Eddie's eyes. "Oh my God, so CUTE! And she's, like, super hot too!"

"Oh... smokin'! Her eyes, that thick little body, and those fucking shorts, Buckley? I helped her out this morning. You should've seen how her ass was trying to escape those things when she was cleaning. I just... I wanted to push her against the wall, and... well, I almost creamed my fucking pants!"

"Ew! Gross... but Ahhhh! Keep us informed, I'll fill in Dingus, and we'll help however we can." She hugged Eddie and ran back to the counter.

°°°°°🤘°°°°°

"Home sweet home, Ladies!" Eddie carried Max's bags into the house.

"Eddie, I can't thank you enough!" I graciously replied.

"I can think of a few ways you can thank me. OW! Dammit!" His shoulder met my fist.

"You're so gross, Munson," Max groaned.

"Why's she so mean to me, Red?"

"Maybe she likes you, Munson."

"Ahh, is that it, Sug? Are you mean to me because you liiike me?" He poked my side and immediately backed away, shielding himself if I threw another punch. He was having too much fun at my expense, but I found it incredibly adorable.

"Thanks, Munson, but I'm not subjecting myself to this."

"The loft is all yours, Max. It's clean so you can arrange it however you want. I'll be up in a minute." She waved me off, and I motioned for Eddie to follow me outside. He was standing with his hands behind his back, a shit-eating grin plastered across his face.

"Alright, you big dope." When I walked toward him, he flinched, but instead of a punch, I stood on my tiptoes and delivered a hug. When he realized he was in no immediate danger, he wrapped his arms around my waist and chuckled.

"You're so short, Sug. The perfect height for some, uh, hardcore kitchen counter, OW! Shit!"

I smacked the back of his head. "Shut up, perv. You're ruining the moment." Eddie's laughter was quickly becoming one of my favorite sounds in the world.

"Ok, ok, I yield." He lifted his head and smiled at you. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your embrace, sweet thing?"

"I'm showing my appreciation, you ass." I hugged him tighter and buried my face into his neck. (My GOD! He smelled so fucking good) "Really, thank you," I said and backed away.

"I'm forever your humble servant." He bowed again. "Oh... one more thing," he took his Mercyful Fate button from his vest and proceeded to pin it to the collar of your shirt. "Here, I uh... I want you to have this. To keep."

My jaw dropped. I looked down at the pin. "But why? At this rate, all your stuff's gonna be mine."

He chuckled. "It's a thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt. I can see my charm's no longer lost on you. I know it's not the right album, but it's a reminder of a special time. Think of my dopey face whenever you look at it."

I let out a breathy laugh. "But, I... I don't have anything for you."

"Sug. You've just given me the best day. That's something I haven't had in a long time." He took your hands in his and pressed them gently to his lips. "I couldn't ask for anything more, except maybe a lifetime of days like this... but I'm not greedy."

I couldn't hide my flushed cheeks this time. "Well, at least take this." I touched his shoulders, stood on my tiptoes, and gently kissed his cheek.

"And maybe that, uh... yeah... can, can I get another one of those?" He turned his head and tapped his cheek with his finger.

I leaned in and placed one more sweet kiss on his cheek, lingering longer than before. Eddie turned his head slowly, and our eyes met. I noticed his veer toward my lips briefly before he backed away.

"Um, don't be a stranger, Sugar. Remember, you still hold something that's mine." Eddie saw you look down at his ring, but that's not what he was referring to. You had his heart. He turned on his heels, jogged up his porch steps, and flashed one more bright smile before heading into his house.

°°°°°🤘°°°°°

Max and I spent the rest of the day organizing our rooms. I bombarded her with questions about Eddie, but she didn't feel right telling me certain things, so I eventually backed off. I was just so smitten. I couldn't stop thinking about him. I wanted to know everything. It was mentally exhausting. I was sitting on the couch, adding the Mercyful Fate button to my jean jacket, thinking about my time so far with Eddie, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up, and it was almost midnight.

"Shit! Max?!... MAX?!" I ran through the house in a panic, but there was no sign of her. I heard voices coming from outside, so I ran to the door and threw it open.

"Heeeeey! There's Sleeping Beauty! Come join us, Sugar," Eddie bellowed.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Max, Eddie, Robin, Steve, and two other guys I didn't recognize were sitting in the driveway around a small fire pit. I grabbed my cigarettes, jogged down the steps, and joined them.

"Here you go, Sug." Eddie grabbed a chair, set it next to his, and motioned for you to sit. "You want a beer?"

"Please!"

"Oooo, I love it when you beg," he joked, reaching into a little cooler. He handed it to you, and you thanked him with another punch. "OW! Shit! That's like the fifth time today. Why you gotta treat me so bad?" He stuck out his bottom lip and gave you puppy dog eyes.

(My GOD, those fucking eyes!) "Perv." I gave him a little shove and a cheeky smile and sipped my beer. "You know, most people would've learned to stop after the first punch."

"What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment," he leaned toward you and whispered, "especially yours."

He winked, sending my heart a flutter. I took another sip. "Mmm... you know, I'm not a huge drinker, but after the last 24 hours, this is just what I needed."

"Well, drink up. I have plenty." Eddie reached over to grab a black metal lunch box. He smiled and proceeded to roll a joint.

I stared at his hands as his skilled fingers meticulously worked their magic. His mischievous eyes met mine as he flicked his tongue across the end of the rolling paper, then licked one long stripe down the seam to secure the seal. (Oh, for the love of everything holy! I never wanted to be a joint so bad in my entire life) I chugged my beer, trying to focus on anything but him. When he finished, he lit the joint, took a hit, and held it out to me.

"You want a hit?" He offered.

"I don't know. What're you looking for as payment?" I smiled slyly.

He started chuckling and exhaled. "Whatever you're willing to give me, Sugar." He winked again.

I smiled bashfully. "Thanks, but no. These are my vice." I held up my smokes and smiled, lighting one. He passed the joint around to everyone else (except Max). Eddie introduced me to the two guys I didn't know. His friends, Jeff and Gareth. Both are incredibly nice and funny dudes.

"Does anyone wanna play a game?" Robin blurted out.

"What kinda game?" Steve asked.

"Well, there's the usual ones... truth or dare... never have I ever." All the guys groaned in unison. "Ok then. Do you dinguses have any bright ideas?"

"Oh, I've got one. Has anyone ever played 'Honey, if you love me'?"

"Is that the dumb game you used to play at camp?" Max asked.

"It's not dumb... it's super fun. And depending on how involved people get, it can be hysterical."

"Alright, but let's make it a drinking game. Is that possible?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, we can make that work. Um... let me explain the rules. So, the idea is not to smile or laugh. You pick a person, look them in the eyes and say, 'Honey, if you love me, would you please, please smile?' Now the other person has to say, 'Honey, I love you, but I just can't smile,' and they have to say it with a straight face. If they smile or laugh, they lose." I looked at everyone's unenthusiastic expressions. "Oh come on. See, the kicker is, anything goes. You can say or do whatever you want to make the other person smile, but you both have to say those exact words. And we can add the rule that if you lose, you have to finish your beer. Sound good?"

"Ok, let's give it a go." Eddie chimed in.

"I'm calling it a night. Have fun, losers."

"Night, Brat!" Everyone waved Max goodnight. "Ok, I'll go first so yinz get the idea." I went over to Robin, got down on my knees, and grabbed her hands. The boys started to hoot and holler. I waved them off, smiled at Robin, and thought briefly about what to do. "Uh... ok... Honey, if you love me, would you please, PLEASE... smile?" I ran the tip of my finger down her nose, smashed her face to my chest, stroking her hair, and wiggled my boobs.

"Honey... I wuv you... but I jus c-aahahahahaha!"

"Ha! Gotcha! Drink up," I booped her nose and returned to my chair. "Ok... Robin lost, so now it's her turn." I looked at all the guys. They were sitting stalk still, mouths agape. "See, guys. I told you it was fun." I smiled slyly.

"That was so not fair... you made me motorboat you."

"Thems the rules. Pick your victim."

Robin chose Steve first, but no matter what she did, he refused to crack. She moved on to Gareth, who ended up losing his shit. Gareth also took a crack at Steve, who remained stone-faced, so he picked Eddie. Gareth tried to recite the words while giving Eddie a lap dance but fell on his ass. Eddie couldn't keep a straight face, so... he chose me. After he chugged his beer, he rushed over and parked in my lap. I was having difficulty holding it together, and Eddie hadn't even spoken yet. He gave his hair a seductive flip, then put his arms around my neck.

"Honey..."

He rolled his eyes and let out an exaggerated sigh. He definitely had a flair for theatrics.

"If you love me... would you please, PLEEEAAASE!..." he grabbed your face in his hands and whispered, "smile?"

He stared at me like he was staring into my soul. I couldn't look away from his chocolate-brown eyes. "Honey... I love you, bmm--" At that moment, Eddie's lips crashed into mine. Everyone started cheering. His kiss was deep and lingering. His tongue requested entrance, and I immediately obliged. He was so passionate, so needy. We threw our arms around each other, practically suffocating as we swallowed each other's faces. But as quickly as the kiss began, Eddie pulled away. I opened my eyes at the loss of his lips and started giggling like a schoolgirl.

"Gotcha," he whispered, flashing that devilish grin as he climbed off your lap.

"Now that... was most definitely not fair." I shook my head trying to gain my composure. (What the FUCK just happened?!?)

The game went on for a while, but once the majority of us were shitfaced, we called it quits and proceeded to bullshit and listen to tunes. I went to make my way to the cooler, but Eddie quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his lap. I landed at an awkward angle, so he put his hands on my waist and helped me into a sitting position. I was hyperaware of his hand resting on my bare thigh, his other on my waist. I could feel his thumb under the hem of my t-shirt, faintly rubbing my side, and the gentle squeeze of his hand on my thigh, causing my heart to race. I cleared my throat and met Eddie's vast, lust-blown gaze, but Steve's voice broke the spell.

"Well... I'm gonna get this one home." Steve stood up and motioned to Robin, who was passed out in her chair.

"You alright to drive, man?" Eddie asked.

"Oh, yeah. I only had a couple of beers. Unlike you dorks, I can keep a straight face." Eddie and I chuckled as we watched Steve hoist Robin and walk her to his car.

Jeff and Gareth stumbled over. "Hey, we're gonna head out too."

"Oh no... you guys are smashed. Get your asses inside. You know where the spare rooms are."

"Alright, thanks, man." Jeff helped steady Gareth as they made their way into Eddie's house.

Eddie turned his attention back to you. "You should probably get some sleep, too, Sugar."

I shook my head. "Naw, I'm good. Unless you're ready to call it a night."

"No, I'm fine. If you wanna stick around, I can grab my guitar. I believe I owe you a serenade." You nodded excitedly. "Just let me clean this stuff up, and we can chill on the porch."

I helped Eddie put everything away and put out the fire. He ran to grab his guitar, and when he returned, I parked my ass on the porch next to him. I watched as he put the guitar strap over his head and got situated. I lit a cigarette for both of us and placed one between his lips.

"Mm, thanks, Sugar."

I smiled sweetly and exhaled. "That's a Warlock, right? Dave Mustaine and Blackie Lawless have one of those." Eddie started laughing. "What?! Why do you keep laughing?"

He handed you a fresh beer. "Sugar, I swear. You're sexier with every sentence, but if you keep dropping bombs like that, be prepared to say I do."

He was a master at making me blush. "Um, I don't know. I mean, it's pretty, but I'm partial to the Flying V."

He busted into uncontrollable laughter. "First off, not it, she. And she's my sweetheart. Isy didn't mean that, sweetheart." Eddie said to his guitar. "She may not be a V series, Sugar, but she's special. We put on the most metal interdimensional concert in the history of the world."

My eyes lit up. "You, you mean... in the Upside Down?" He nodded. "Oh, please, do tell!"

"Well, uh, that's..."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, a story for another time." Eddie nodded again, and I took another drink. "So... when do I get story time?"

Eddie's expression grew dismal. "Soon, Sugar, I promise. Just... let me enjoy this time with you before you run away screaming."

I looked at him, confused. "W-why would I run away?"

He looked down at his guitar and smiled. Your impression of him was heartwarming. "They uh... they always run away, Sugar."

Who were they? I didn't understand. Eddie's expression was so sad, but I could tell he didn't wanna talk about it. I finished my beer as he started strumming chords from 'The Candle', his attention now fully invested in playing. "Did you seriously learn this in an evening, just by listening?"

"Mm-hm." He didn't look up but continued to play.

"That's... incredible." Eddie went directly into playing 'Melissa', and I got goosebumps. He met my gaze and smiled sweetly.

"You want another beer?"

"Hmm... why do I feel like you're tryin' to get me drunk?" I joked.

He chuckled. "No, Sugar. Just having a good time. You don't have to."

"I really shouldn't. I'm already buzzed."

He laughed. "Seriously? You've only had like three."

"I know, but like I said. I don't do this often. I have no tolerance." I pondered for a moment. "Eh, what the hell. I don't need to be anywhere tomorrow. I can live a little, right? Just don't try anything," I warned in jest as he handed me a beer.

He scoffed jokingly. "I would never." He winked. "No, seriously, I won't touch... not unless you ask me to." He wiggled his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes and shoved his shoulder. "Mm... hey, can you thrash?!" I asked excitedly.

Eddie suddenly perked up. "What do you think, Sugar?" He smirked and immediately started shredding Megadeth's 'Rattlehead'.

I was practically drooling, watching his fingers move effortlessly across the frets. (Jesus, the things this man can do with his hands) Without missing a beat, he switched to Dio's 'We Rock'. I was loving this, banging my head to the music. "This is my absolute favorite Dio song!" I yelled.

"For real?" You nodded, and he stopped playing. "Alright, let's go old school. You know this one?" He started playing 'Great White Buffalo' by Amboy Dukes.

"Ugghh, yes! Love sweaty Teddy!" Eddie was laughing so hard that he had to stop playing. "Munson, you're fucking amazing. I'm not kidding. You should be in a band."

Eddie smiled bashfully. "I appreciate that, Sugar." Eddie gazed at your beautiful face, ready to tell you about Corroded Coffin, when an idea struck him, making his heart skip a beat. He'd tell you but now wasn't the time. "If I did join a band, would, uh... would you be my groupie? Ouch! Dammit! Ok!"

"Knock it off, perv." Eddie never stopped smiling.

"So... lemme get this straight. You're panties get instantly wet for one of the biggest sex fiends in rock and roll, but I got my ass handed to me for a suggestive comment?"

I pursed my lips and nodded calmly. "Um... yep." He eyed me curiously and smirked. "What?! Why do you keep looking at me like that?!" I shoved him again. "Yes, I dig perverted rock stars. Sue me. I'm not a prude. Far from it, actually." I took another swig and smirked. "I flipped out on you 'cause I felt a connection... ya know? And, I thought... well, I thought you were using that connection to take advantage of me." I looked at him sheepishly. He nodded and took my hand, the alcohol making me more aware of his touch. "Uh, with rock stars, it's a fantasy. You can pretty much guarantee they just wanna fuck, no strings attached. I mean, shit. There's, like, a laundry list of mother fuckers I'd ride 'til I couldn't walk." (Jesus, what the hell was I saying?)

Eddie practically spit out his beer. "Yeah?" He asked, laughing.

I gave him a scrunched expression. "I don't know. I think that's the beer talking." He chuckled. "I mean, I'd want to, that's for damn sure, but I don't know if I'd be able to go through with it." I chugged the rest of my beer. My inhibitions were pretty much nonexistent by this point. "I, uh, I did try once." I glanced at him, totally embarrassed.

"WHAT?!" He was rolling.

"Yeah, um... well, I guess now's as good a time as any to share my embarrassing story."

"Uh, you sure about that, Sugar? You're drunk. I don't want you saying or doing anything you'll regret."

"Naw. It's cool. I was gonna tell you eventually. The alcohol just acts as liquid courage."

"Ok, if you say so."

I motioned for him to hand me another beer. I took a drink and continued. "Ok, you'll appreciate this. It was, uh... summer of '84. W.A.S.P.'s Winged Assassins tour at the Troubadour."

"Whoa, whoa, wait... you saw W.A.S.P.? In '84, you would've been, what... 16?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I was visiting Max. It was our last summer in California before she moved here, and I really wanted to go, so... I gussied myself up to make myself look older, and Billy helped me sneak in."

"Billy? Billy Hargrove?" Eddie looked shocked.

"Yeah. Billy went for the drunk chicks and ditched me when we got there, but I didn't care. I just needed to get in. It was fucking awesome! You would've had a blast. Anyway, I barreled through the crowd to get right in front of Blackie."

"Seriously? I know you're an aggressive little thing, but you're, like, a buck ten."

"Well, I was determined, and my adrenaline was off the charts. I dig a lot of rock stars, but when it comes to Dave Mustaine and Blackie Lawless, I don't fuck around. I wanted to go that January 'cause W.A.S.P. and Megadeth played together, but it was like a week after Christmas break, and there's no way my parents would've gone for that."

Eddie was staring at you, chuckling. "I'm, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to picture this."

I nodded and took another drink. "Mm... wait 'til you hear what I did. So, during 'Animal', Blackie leaned down and grazed my chin with his fingers. It was like... instant orgasm. I'm not kidding. When the show was over, I snuck backstage to find the band's dressing room, and uh... that's when I got stopped by security. I gave the guy some sob story about being from outta town and unable to find my cousin, so the dude took me inside to look for Billy, and that's when I gave him the slip." Eddie started laughing again. "Luckily, there were a ton of people in the room, so it was pretty easy to do. And the dude gave up looking pretty quickly. Once I was in the clear, I looked around 'til I spotted Blackie. He was sitting on a couch, toweling himself off. I was shocked he wasn't surrounded by a hoard of chicks, so I just... walked up to him. He recognized me, which I couldn't believe, and asked if I was lost. I don't think he bought my look." Eddie nodded and smiled, totally engrossed. "I was so starstruck all I could do was shake my head... then I heard Billy yelling my name. He and the security guard were looking for me."

"Well, that's kind of a non-douche move on his part."

"Oh, no, it wasn't. Billy didn't give two shits about me, but seeing as I was supposed to be back at the house sleeping, he was more worried about what his dad would do to him if he came home without me, which I did understand, but I couldn't leave without doing something. I mean... when the hell would I get another opportunity like this, so uh... I did what I could, and uh," I chuckled, "this is the embarrassing part, um... I turned back to Blackie, trying to think of what to do, so uh... I spotted a marker, grabbed it, and asked if I could get his autograph, and he started laughing at me."

"Why was that embarrassing?"

"Oh, I'm not done. So, Blackie took the marker, and when he noticed I didn't have any paper, he asked me where I wanted it. I heard Billy's yells getting closer, so I had to think fast, and since I was wearing next to nothing, I uh... I turned around, lifted my mini skirt, and uh... I flashed Blackie my ass."

Eddie was rolling. "No... no, you didn't?"

"I did." I grimaced, which only made Eddie laugh harder.

"Y-you let the one and only, Blackie Lawless, sign your ass?"

"Uh, yeah. Billy was fucking furious. I quickly put my skirt back down before he grabbed my arm and pulled me away, but uh... I managed to wrench myself free. I only had a split second, so I ran back to Blackie, grabbed his face, and planted one on him." Eddie was staring at me, mouth agape. "Yeah, that's pretty much how I figured Blackie would react, but uh, the son of a bitch actually shoved his fingers in my hair and kissed me right back. That's when Billy grabbed me again. When he dragged me away, I turned back to Blackie, smiling, yelled thank you, and blew him a kiss. He was laughing... kinda like you are right now."

"Uh ha! So, let me get this straight. You went to see W.A.S.P., at 16 years old, with the help of... Billy Hargrove, so you could sneak backstage and try to fuck Blackie Lawless, ultimately ending the night with a huge, wet kiss and the man's signature on that... beautiful ass?"

(Oh my God! STOP!) My face was so red I had to bury it in my hands. "Uh, yeah. That pretty much sums it up."

"And I'm the pervert?"

"Touche', Munson." I looked up. "I don't know what I was thinking. I'd like to think I would've gone through with it, but I most likely would've chickened out. But now, every time I hear W.A.S.P. I get, like, instantly horny." The dopey expression on Eddie's face was hysterical.

"Blackie Lawless? Jesus, that guy's my new fucking hero." I hid my face again. "Ok, I get why you did it, but why Blackie?"

"Why not?! I mean, he's just... well, he's fucking hot. There's really no other way to put it. I have this picture of him from '85. It's one of my favorites. He just, I don't know, he looks so fucking adorable. I mean, he's not wearing all the makeup and tassels and shit, but his expression... it's almost sweet. I-I don't know where I'm going with this. The point is he's an adorable bad boy, and um... well, I guess you remind me of him." I immediately wanted to kick myself. "Shit!!! I don't know why the fuck I just said that. Ok, I'm cut off." Eddie laughed even harder and took my hand again. "Um, ok, so it's no secret I think you're handsome as fuck. I mean, come on, just look at you. You're like... the perfect combination of Dave Mustaine and Blackie."

Now it was Eddie's turn to blush. He let out a nervous laugh. "Um... ha! H-how so?"

"Well, there's the charisma, the long dark hair, the gravelly voice, you shred that guitar like Dave, and you're obviously a sexual pervert." He chuckled. "You're the epitome of an adorable bad boy. The only things you lack are chest hair and blue eyes. Ugghh! That fucking chest hair! I'm a sucker for it. But you... well, you've got that happy trail, and... and your eyes..." I trailed off, staring into those giant, brown orbs. "My God, they're gorgeous," I whispered the last words. We stared at each other mesmerized until I pulled my hand away and buried my face again. "Shit! Just shoot me now. This is so fucking embarrassing."

Eddie squeezed my hand, forcing me to look at him. "Um, don't be embarrassed, Sugar. I'm flattered. That's, uh, probably the nicest compliment anyone's ever given me."

I smiled and nodded. "You're welcome, Munson. And that's not the alcohol talking. I mean it. I um... I tend to open up... speak my mind when I drink, so..."

Fuck! He wanted to kiss you so bad. "Um... well, it's a shame you didn't get to keep the autograph." He joked.

I immediately averted my gaze.

"Wait. You, you didn't! Is-is that the other tattoo?!"

I closed my eyes and nodded. "I hit up a tattoo parlor the next day."

"Ok, um... I have to see this thing."

I shook my head fervently. "No, no way. I mean, I'm beyond appreciative that you shared the scars, but this... this is a whole other level of intimate." I started laughing nervously.

"Ok, fine. But if you think I'm gonna let this go, you're outta your goddamn mind."

"I was afraid of that." I looked away again and laughed.

"Come on, Sugar." You shook your head again. "Come oooon. You know you wanna show me."

I huffed and took a swig, contemplating what to do. "Alright, what the hell." I stood up and turned my back to him, unbuttoned my shorts, and pulled them down just enough to expose the tattoo. I looked over my shoulder and busted out laughing. "My God, your fucking face." He looked like he was about to start drooling. "Ok, that's long enough. You can close your mouth now." I buttoned my shorts and sat back down.

"Uh," he cleared his throat and shifted his crotch uncomfortably. "Mm-mm... I um... my God, your ass." He let out a breathy laugh, and stared at you. "So, um... if I do this," he reached over and grazed your chin with his fingers, "and then, this," he started playing 'Animal' and you froze. "You'll fall madly in love with me and, uh... wanna fuck my brains out."

Eddie's voice was so seductive. He leaned closer and stared at my lips. My God, my panties were fucking soaked. He was dangerously close to breaking my resolve.

"'Cause, uh, I've got a secret, Sugar. Blackie's not the only one who fucks like a beast."

Fuck! Was I horny! I felt like I was about to faint. All I could do was stare, his face inches from mine. "Uh, you... you don't have as much chest hair," I joked.

Eddie immediately turned away and started laughing, shaking his head. "You're uh... you're somethin' else, you know that? You're a freak. I like it. I'm kinda surprised you haven't tried to attack Harrington," he joked.

"Well, uh, I'm not gonna lie. Steve's a sexy guy. And after a pool party or two, the thought did cross my mind, but uh... no."

"What? Harrington's not wild enough for ya?"

There was that mischievous smile again. "Um... no. Chest hair aside, the whole preppy, jock thing... doesn't do it for me. Not to mention, he's one of my best friends, and so hung up on Nance it would've been pointless. And I'm not a huge fan of casual hookups. Nothing against people who are," I joked, giving Eddie's shoulder a playful shove. "I sometimes wish I was more adventurous. I mean, don't get me wrong. I enjoy sex, but I have difficulty seeing past the emotional bit. That whole Blackie thing... it was totally out of character for me, and it was definitely stupid."

He laughed bashfully. "Well... casual hookups are fun, and they definitely feel good, but uh... they make for a lonely existence. I wouldn't do it if I had someone, so... Well, I can only imagine how good it feels to give yourself to someone so completely..." he trailed off and returned his attention to playing.

"H-have you really... never been in love?"

"No, I have... but it was never reciprocated."

I nodded, looked down at my thumb, and started playing with his ring. My heart was beating a mile a minute. "Hey, um..." I stood up. Eddie furrowed his brow in confusion when I took his guitar and set it aside. I sat between his legs, leaned back against his chest, and closed my eyes. Eddie hastily wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pressed his other hand against my stomach. He rested his chin in the crook of my neck and started rocking me gently. I could feel his head turn slightly, his warm breath on my skin, and the light brush of his lips. Without warning, he latched them to my neck. I inhaled sharply, and a heat wave shot straight to my core. Eddie grabbed the side of my face, trailing greedy kisses across my chin to my waiting lips, and shoved his tongue down my throat. I turned my body and threw my arms around his neck as he kissed me hungrily. It was so fucking passionate. He grabbed my face with both hands, making the kiss more vigorous.

"Mmm... mhhhh," he broke away, let out a breathy laugh, and leaned his forehead on yours, both of you breathing heavily. "Uh, do... do you... m-maybe wanna... spend the night with me?"

I was in a lustful daze, staring at his mouth as he spoke every pleasurable word. "Eddie," he lifted his head and looked at me, his eyes filled with lust and want, "I-I don't know."

"Please, Sugar. I need you so fuckin' bad."

Jesus, this was so hard. "Eddie, I... I want to. I do, but..."

He slowly backed away and nodded, fidgeting with his rings. "No, I'm, I'm sorry... I know you're not in the best state right now, and I'm not trying to pressure you. I guess I'm just being selfish. I just... I want you to be mine... so fucking bad, Sug." He gave you a once-over and looked away.

I knelt before him, grabbed his hands, and looked deep into his eyes. "Eddie, I want that too. And don't get me wrong, this isn't a rejection by any means. I mean, shit! From the moment I laid eyes on you, I've been so goddamn horny I feel like I'm losing my mind." Eddie let out a breathy laugh and nodded. "And, well... it's taken every ounce of willpower I can muster not to pull your dick out at any given moment and ride you 'til the sun comes up, but uh... it's deeper than that, and we're still figuring each other out, ya know? And... well, I'm fucking scared. I'm scared because... you say your charm isn't a ruse, but if that's the case, how the hell are you still single, or at the very least, not swimming in pussy?"

"Sugar, I know you don't understand, but I'm not the kinda guy girls wanna bring home to meet mom and dad. I'm more just... a plaything to use."

I was utterly confused, unable to comprehend what he was saying. "But why? See, this is what I'm talking about, why I'm hesitant. I mean, what does that even mean? You take guarded to a whole new level, and I can't for the life of me figure out why? I get that most parents prefer the Harringtons of the world, but I can't be the only girl who sees how wonderful you are, so what is it? What are you hiding from me? What can be so bad that you feel the need to be so secretive? I mean, you tell me next to nothing about your life, but unless you're an abusive, unfaithful, pathological liar, who moonlights as a serial killer, nothing about you will make me turn heel and run. I've already seen the scars, and I still think you're a goddamn vision. For fuck sake, I want you, ok... and not just physically, but in every way imaginable. I mean, shit! Just... let down the walls so I can finally scream your fucking namemmff---"

Eddie grabbed your face and delivered a harsh kiss. He felt so much love for you at this moment. "Mmm... Sugar? Shut up before I don't give you a choice and take you right here."

Ugh! His demanding words should have been a red flag, but they completely hypnotized me.

"How 'bout this? Tomorrow, we go for a drive. I'll tell you anything your precious heart wants to hear. Full disclosure, yeah?"

I smiled brightly and nodded. "Yeah, yes! For the love of God, Yes!" My heart was racing. I jumped onto his lap, wrapped my arms around his neck, and buried my head into his chest.

Eddie chuckled. "I'm sorry, Sugar, but I have to ask again. And here's why." He took your face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. "It's not just your bangin' body. You really are unlike anyone I've ever met. It's kinda unbelievable. And I know you've had a few, but I'm asking you... no, I'm begging you. Please spend the night with me... please. We don't even have to do anything, just... let me hold you. 'Cause I'm scared too. Scared... that after we talk... you will wanna run. And if you do, well, I'll at least have the memory of one night with you. Please, Sugar."

I stared into his eyes, torn, but I saw no deception, only sadness. "Um... ok. Just... let me go freshen up." Eddie smiled excitedly and tapped his lips with his finger. I kissed him gently, our tongues lightly brushing.

"Mmmm, go do your thing, Sugar."

I climbed off his lap and started walking away. "Um, ok. I'll, uh, I'll be back shortly."

"I'll be waiting." Eddie's eyes followed you. "I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave," he said with a smile as you made your way to the door, giggling.

"Perv." I entered my house and shut the door.

Eddie was so excited. He hoped this wouldn't be the only night he gets to spend with you. Lost in his thoughts, he picked up his things and carried everything inside, then sat back down on the porch and waited. He noticed a car pull up behind his van. A girl got out and started walking toward the house.

"Hey, Eddie." She yelled.

He waved. "Hey, Jan." Shit! He just realized he completely forgot to call and end things with her. "To what do I owe the pleasure? You can't be out already?"

"No, I'm not, but I'm having a party tomorrow. I figured I'd stop by and stock up. I just left work, so... you up for a little fun?" She smiled seductively.

Eddie couldn't believe this. He's so worked up right now, but he only wants you. "Uh... tempting... but we need to talk."

She looked at him quizzically. "Ok?" She walked up the steps and sat next to him. "What about?"

"Well, I uh... I need to end our arrangement."

"Oh, boo! How come?"

"Yeah, I, uh... I met someone."

"Oh!" She smiled. "That was quick. Anyone I know?"

Eddie smiled. "Well, um..." He pointed to the Impala.

"Wait... that girl from last night? Is she your neighbor?" He nodded. "Oh shit! Did... did she hear us?"

Eddie pursed his lips and nodded again. "Yeah... I hung out with her all morning, and we just... connected, but eventually, well... Eddie had a lotta 'splainin' to do, so I uh... I told her our deal."

She started laughing. "Eddie... shit. How'd that go?"

"Not... particularly well, but uh... it all worked out."

"Well, I'm not gonna lie. I'm gonna miss that dick of yours. You fuck like a champ. And I'm definitely not looking forward to paying cash for my shit, but uh... if you finally have a chance at something real, you go for it.

"Thanks, Jan... you've always been good to me. I appreciate your kindness." Eddie took her hand and gave it a quick kiss. "And, as you know... flattery works with me, so... what do you need for your party? It's on the house."

"Aw, Eddie, I can't do that. I mean, at least let me give you a handy or something," she joked.

He chuckled. "No, really... I insist. Come on." He grabbed her hand and led her inside.

"Ok, but just this once. I promise, cash from now on." He opened his lunchbox and let her grab what she needed, and then he escorted her back outside. "Thanks, Eddie. If you're up for it, you should come by tomorrow. Bring your girl. I'd love to meet her."

"I'll let you know." She kissed Eddie sweetly on the lips and walked away. Eddie sat back down, making sure Jan was safely in her car. He waited for about ten more minutes, his leg bobbing up and down nervously as he checked his watch, disappointment setting in, but he figured, in your state, you probably passed out, so he got up and went back inside.

~~~~~

After my shower, I changed into my pajamas, popped some Aspirin, brushed my teeth, and headed for the door. My anxiety was through the roof thinking about spending the night with Eddie. I took a deep breath, reached for the doorknob, and stopped. I heard voices... giggling. I peeked through the curtain, and my heart sank. Eddie walked out of his house with some girl. Her hand was in his, and I watched as she kissed him and smiled. When I saw him smile at her, her hand slipping from his as she walked to her car, I felt sick. I let go of the curtain and slid to the floor, tears streaming down my face. I could barely catch my breath. I felt like I was hyperventilating. I ran to my room, threw myself on the bed, and cried myself to sleep.

~~~~~

Eddie looked at the clock on his dresser. It was four in the morning. He was restless, reliving tonight's events over and over in his head. The sweet taste of your lips, lingering hints of cigarettes and coffee, all your lovely words, and your story? All of it was driving him mad. When you told him you wanted to fuck him... that you want him in every way. Eddie couldn't fathom what he'd done to deserve your affection. But why didn't you come back?

He felt a ping in his chest, but he was painfully hard, imagining what could've happened had you returned. What beauty hides underneath your insufferable clothing? He wanted to dominate you, rip off your shirt, take what he can only imagine being perfect tits into his mouth, and suckle as you whimper for more.

He reached down and gripped his aching cock. The abundance of precum allowed his hand to glide effortlessly up and down his shaft. He couldn't help but imagine your soft pouty lips around his girth. Kneeling in front of him as you take him into your warm mouth, your round ass spilling from the bottom of your daisy dukes, sucking him vigorously as he surrendered to your touch. Fuck! The thought of seeing that gorgeous, bare ass. He only got a taste when you flashed him your tattoo, and he couldn't wait to give it a hard squeeze. It was almost too much. He worked himself harder as his thoughts veered to an image of you shoving your hand in your shorts to play with yourself as you sucked him off, staring at him with those brilliant blue eyes, bringing him to the brink as he grabbed your head, pushing himself deeper.

"Ohhh, Fuck! Mmm, mhhhh. Yeah, Sugar. Suck my cock. Let me fuck that gorgeous throat. Take me deep. My God, it feels so fucking good." He was dangerously close to finishing. "Mggghhh! Fuck!" He growled, gripping the bottom of his dick, and squeezing, keeping himself on edge, enjoying the intense pleasure.

When his breathing started to even out, his thoughts returned to you, now lying spread eagle in front of him, screaming his name as he cupped your ass cheeks, lifting you to his face as his tongue navigated through the warm, slick juices of your dripping pussy. He can only imagine how sweet you taste. He needs to know, wants to make you cum, make you feel pleasure like you've never felt it before. To show you that, yes, he wants to fuck you senseless, but he also wants you to feel good, feel loved... and adored. He wants you to make good on your word, pull his cock out, and sink that tight little pussy around his shaft. Feel your walls squeezing around him as he plunges his cock deep inside you. Witness the look of pleasure on your doll face as you moan and whimper from the feel of him, begging for more.

"Ohhh, yes! Fuck me, Sugar. Mhhhh! Let me feel that tight pussy make a mess all over my cock. Mhhhhh... fuck yes, take my big cock, Sugar!" He wants to feel you, hold you firmly by the hips, pumping into you, to feel your tight walls clench around his swollen cock. He wants to give you something that no one else can and bust his nut deep inside you, claiming you as his own, filling you as you coat each other in your warm release.

"Ohhhhhh! FUCK! ME! Hmm, hmmm, yes, yes, yes, cum on my cock, Sugar. Mmmm... you're fucking MINE!" With teeth clenched, he exploded. "Ohhhhh, fucking, CHRIST!" Eddie was in pure bliss, his hand and dark trail now covered in ropes of his thick cream. Fuck! He wants you, but not just your body. He wanted every part of you, body and soul, to know that you're his, his girl, his love... until the end of time. Consumed by his euphoric haze, he was finally able to take some sleep.

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●♡♡●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

Part 2 to follow with more intense smutty goodness! Thank you for your support!

°References°

😊 for nostalgia, and for the younger crowd looking to explore the awesomeness before 1987.

Dave Mustaine, the red-headed, thrash metal, guitar God 🎸 🤘

Vic Rattlehead & Eddie the Head: Megadeth and Iron Maiden mascots

Peter Criss of KISS

Blackie Lawless 1985

[yuukei-yikes]

What are your thoughts on post-STR Hiyori and Haruka?

this rather became a hiyori post but hehe. under the cut

i think theyre such an interesting duo because they're considered and welcomed as members of the mekakushi dan, but they both kind of arrive late.

these 2 and ayano are the ones who spent recent time inside the daze but ayano has her whole family and i think hiyori particularly feels. weird about ayano. because they're related.

THE THING ABT HIYORI or how i interpret her at least, she's conflicted about her family because. lol she had this secret sister her parents never told her about?? she suddenly finds out she has nieces and nephews?? she runs away to the city without them knowing?? what are ayaka and hiyori's parents like to cause this reaction on both their daughters...

ok im getting a bit off topic, this isn't a hiyori analysis BUT i say this to justify hiyori being a little weird with ayano+mekatrio. i think ayano especially would try ridiculously hard to have a relationship with hiyori... she's delighted about having MORE family, especially from her mom's side since it's always been like. a secret. ayano approaches her with the big sister mindset of course

but since she doesn't KNOW hiyori, she fumbles spectacularly. ayano's overexcited approach isn't well received by hiyori's conflicted feelings about not only the tateyamas but also everything that's happened to her. idk i think it would irk hiyori that ayano just ASSUMES they're gonna get along and be best friends. i think generally, post str hiyori is more of her serious side and not so much the cheerful act anymore. i think it's there for when she's taking it easy especially around momo for example. but otherwise...hiyori's rly serious i think

ON THE OTHER HAND, there's hibiya and momo. i think thats who hiyori is the closest to/normalest to in the dan, BUT THE THING IS... hibiya and momo are already closer to each other than they are to her. ofc we can argue it with hibiya, ive always and will always choose to interpret hibiya and hiyori as childhood friends so hibiya is in fact this person she's relied on and been with for her whole life!! and they most definitely deal with separation anxiety post str lmao and share a unique bond

BUT in the trio that forms with hibiya hiyori and momo, hiyori can tell they're close. hiyori is jealous by both sides because wtf that's KISARAGI MOMO and she's my best friend :3 but she's bester friends with HIBIYA?!?!? WTF IM HER BIGGEST FAN THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. bur also... hibiya is MY best friend not HER best friend. so its double jealousy LOL nowadays hibiya finds comfort in momo rather than on her bc he doesn't wanna trouble her, he's always been the crybaby of the two and hiyori's always had to pick him up... anyways she enjoys her time with them but DOES harbor some jealousy and feeling like an outcast

ANYWAYS that's where I'd start talking about haruka. ok kind of. im still talking about hibiya and hiyori. i think hibiya and hiyori feel completely different about the konoha situation... i honestly see it being in all sorts of ways, them accepting it or them being against haruka, both having the same opinion or different, etc. BUT PERSONALLY i like the idea that hibiya is completely and utterly against haruka's existence and thinks it's unfair konoha had to go. while hiyori is more understanding and defends haruka. i think it's a huge point of division for hibiya and hiyori... not to the point of causing a fallout or anything but it's a thing they know are in disagreement about.

i think it comes from different coping methods and the different circumstances they were in. like... hibiya's more with the urgency/denial and rly acts his age about it. like with him being convinced hiyori IS SOMEWHERE and HAS TO BE FOUND AND SAVED but he also learns to let go and be open with momo. coming back to childhood friends hibihiyo i think hibiya wears his heart in his sleeve with hiyori, while hiyori acts like nothing is wrong and never opens up and would immediately assume killing is the immediate solution to someone seeing her cry. i like to think hiyori's so rough with hibiya because, and these are purely headcanons: 1. he was the one person to treat her normally and not like a princess, then stopped when he develops a crush on her 2. he is the only person who's seen her cry. so she's like AUGHHH

anyways back to the konoha thing, hibiya's really mourning him (everyone is, but hibiya is kind of an ass about it) while hiyori looks at it from a different perspective. she's like, konoha is why i'm alive he wouldn't want me to be angry. also that's ridiculous and furrowing my brow would give me wrinkles 🙄 and she knows haruka was in the daze too so she's like. i was in there too i know what it's like not to be chosen and be left behind, it's cruel and unfair. and she feels for him. quick sidetrack about whether or not the daze ppl can meet each other... apparently they can but MY PERSONAL hc is everyone can do that EXCEPT haruka because of his link to the outside world, or like ppl can come see him but he can't really go to other dazes bc he HAS to be looking through his own eyes outside at the same time so he cannot leave his own daze. as soon as saeru takes over his body and he can't see outside anymore his daze is open that's why he gets to interact with shintaro&ayano when they come get him. ANYWAYSSS i speak from a hc where hiyori and haruka never meet inside the daze but are aware of each other's circumstances. if they did meet inside the daze it just adds to hiyori having so much empathy for haruka but yeah personally i like the idea haruka was just alone for the 2(+hibihiyo timeloop he had to watch) years. its more tragic like that (gets booed)

bc of this hiyori does hear haruka out while hibiya doesnt give him A CHANCE. like really for hibiya it's just that he needs more time to understand and he just. he needs to be angry for a bit. because he's a middle schooler and being mad at everything and the world is kinda how it goes so of course hibiya needs a damn minute

from haruka's perspective he is also super attached to hibiya and hiyori. we rly don't talk enough about how haruka's access to view what konoha did means he spent a lot of one sided time with hibiya & hiyori. he's 100% attached to them!! same with the whole dan and the one sided friendship thing "omg theyre gonna want konoha not me" thing i always talk about❤️ but with hibiya and hiyori it's even more concrete because not only is he attached but!! he rly feels like he owes it to konoha to maintain a bond!! konoha is most likely the one in the passenger seat now, seeing through him... haruka is sure he wants to see hibiya and hiyori!!!

so hiyori does hear him out and find out he saw everything, even the kagerou days timeloop and idk....i think they'd bond over the konoha situation, being unchosen by the daze, joining the dan last, having people inside the dan they're very close to yet these people ARE close to the rest so they feel like outcasts... hiyori hates to (and wont) admit that she finds a kinship similar of momo and hibiya's, with haruka !! sniff sniff...they are. best friends.

i think when hibiya and hiyori visit they stay at shintaro and momo's place. hiyori is in the middle of the sibling dynamic of shintaro momo and hibiya and tbh SHES ALSO A PART OF THIS. SHE VERY EASILY FITS INTO THIS SIBLING BANTER they all act like siblings not to mention mrs kisaragi probably adopts the hell out of them so its like.literally family times. but hiyori will NEVER admit that bc 1. girl thats a lot 2. she kinda likes being dramatic. again middle schoolers be like fuck the world.. idk was that just me. i feel like hating the world when ur 13 is a pretty universal experience but maybe im wrong. anyways its a difficult age even when ur not in a timeloop so hiyoris going thru it

anyways thats to say she gets out to go see haruka a lot. so she goes to harutaka apartment and theyre ALWAYS home bc they work from home so she's like hi. im here to see ur cat. ( <- pretty true but also wants to hang out with haruka) and haruka's like :3 ok come in. and they eat and chat and HANG OUT AND THEYRE BEST FRIENDS. and hiyori even just stays there watching tv while haruka works. sometimes she wants to sleep over but is too embarrassed to ask. takane is also there❤️ ig bc of this a bond would form between them too but we arent talking abt that. but i do think hiyori's a little iffy with takane for being haruka's partner. not in the HE'S MINE way. i just think since hiyori and haruka are so close she's protective and she's like u break his heart i break ur legs😐<- from a 12 year old girl. takane would laugh but knows it comes from loving haruka which happens to be takane's expertise so she can respect the enthusiasm. but from hanging out there/finding out their backstory hiyori probably grows to like takane. but again she loves being dramatic so she still insists to be indifferent towards her. but also keeps urging them to get married. not cuz she cares abt them getting married but she wants to go to a wedding. loses all interest when they tell her they wouldn't care to have a wedding

AND A QUICK acknowledgment of hiyori having a crush on konoha. first of all i think it's funny as hell bc konoha is weird as fuck and she's like omg...so dreamy... but also it's that she thinks he's really cute, its not REALLY a crush. my friends in hs following the seniors they thought were cute kinda vibes. turning red movie when the girls all are obsessed with the guy working at the grocery store. jandkejfjejd it's just sweet and funny and since it's about his looks yeah it'd translate to haruka post str but yknow after everything that happened i dont think hiyori would be delusional abt crushing on him?? if it still happened though id think its funny. i think ayano would weaponise haruka to try to hang out with hiyori

[chthonicrose]

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

Not gonna tag people tagging is awk. (I was not-tagged by (in that I saw this on the blog of) @rozarria) also some of these things are... debatably names. many of these things. this is going through scrivener from the top so they're going to be sorted by fandom. also this post is going to be Long. if you care even slightly pls do send me something.

Harry Potter, for my sins

Wooble-sue (ofc)

Undead wives (hermione)

Ophelia Gaunt (hermione and f!diary!tom-ish, two different versions)

Tonks/Flora/Hestia

Anything For You (severus/regulus)

Pansy/Hermione makeover

Puzzle Through Time (hermione)

Room Of Stars (hermione)

Pythian (genders!shapeshifter!harry)

Aquila Aurelia Malfoy (oc draco's disabled twin sister)

Lothering (thedas crossover mk i)

Requirement (thedas crossover mk ii)

Mpreg (harry, pregnant by [indistinct magical noises], also featuring baby delphini)

F!Harry Severitus (exactly what it says)

HPLV/HPTR > Mpreg (the babies aren't voldemort's but voldemort is there)

Sleepwalking Harry

untitled file that appears to be a soulmate au where f!harry is a necromancer

Magic royal soulmate (f!harry/ofc)

Mirror of many faces (harry and genders, didn't come out how I wanted it to)

these inconvenient fireworks (egg trans girl harry gets unexpected magical transition and has a crush on the genderfluid weasley twins)

Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

Prostitute Shen Jiu (someday I will figure out how to write the blowjob so upsetting it gives yqy a qi deviation)

untitled file that's a single paragraph of sy addressing lbh

moshang untitled 1

moshang untitled 2

Dragon Age (half of the stuff in here is about my PCs and in folders by character name, skipping most of that because it's just scraps)

Kerahn Adaar > Goodbye

Blossom (Cvetka) (breaking my 'not including posted fics' for this one because I have not updated it in like eight years and I too would love me to finish it :| anyway it's dagna/harding accidental baby acquisition)

Qunari don't fuck their friends (tallis/sera)

Meeting (tallis/sera)

Another try (tallis/sera, no I cannot sort them out)

Cass/Krem (I would LOVE for me to finish this fucking thing)

skin hunger start? (pentilyet)

Hairbrushing (pentilyet)

Morning surprise (shianni/merrill/sera, I have no recollection of why I decided to write that ship)

Skin hungry Cass (cass/bela this time)

I like big hats and I cannot lie (bela/sera)

MGIT (it's, well... MGIT. which is 'mundane girl in thedas', for those unaware. basically self-insert fic. I think it has me swearing at gaider at one point.)

Adoribull woundfucking (exactly what it says on the tin and another thing I would love for me to fucking finish)

Try 2 (hespith/sigrun - there is also a 'Try 1' but it's only a paragraph long)

Sketch (dorian/fenris, for the Fraught of it all, only a couple paragraphs)

Good Omens (has a higher ratio of complete and posted fics than any other fandom I've ever written in) (assume that all of these are aziraphale/crowley unless otherwise stated)

To the world to anguish (angst)

Theatre genderfluid (this one is sort of a prequel to the les mis fic and is just crowley being an actor in a community theatre in london and being friends with the other actors, and also he's pretending to be twin siblings so he can present as different genders)

in love with your ghost (OH MY GOD WHY CAN I NOT FINISH THE SCULPTOR FIC I WANT IT TO BE DONE SO BAD)

Drunk Az (this is actually a cut scene from the les mis fic)

It's over / street corner (angst)

Crowley doesn't lie (angst)

Obvious lies (angst)

Awkward rant Rome (angst)

Wall pin (this is just a scene from the show but with internal monologue woven in. and some angst)

Apathy (angst)

Sordid Angst 2 (I think the craigslist fic was originally sordid ansgt 1)

more than I can pay (mpreg angst)

Miscellaneous (most things in this folder are either exchange fic that's already posted, or too short to bother with)

Goblin Queen (labyrinth... lesbianswap sequel? ish?)

Lover of Ways and Means (hadestown, persephone/adonis)

Kidfic (The Course Of Honor, the ao3 version not the novel)

Colorless (jossed descendants ficlet based on character design in a trailer)

Origfic (selected works, I'm not gonna pull out everything)

End of her rope (the farmhand formerly known as mallory)

hatesex (blair and cheerleader)

untitled (blair and country musician)

House by school murders

The vines hunger

MPDG f/f

MPDG Leanan Sidhe

we're just going to skip the briar divide folder it's too fucking big and too damn old

The Beast and the Rose (riff on beauty and the beast)

Beastly (riff on princess in a tower guarded by a dragon)

Half-Shares (riff on that tumblr post about two witches with claims to the same baby through either parent, but both witches are nonbinary in very different ways)

Ivan (russian-style fairy tale)

Twa Sisters/Little Mermaid

Europa (sentient space probe/alien mermaids)

Caveat Emptor/Homily (sentient servant robot quietly rebels)

Saga of Immortal Dream (I have like three different attempts at starting VRMMO fics in this imaginary xianxia game setting)

Cyberpunk portal fantasy (another xianxia thing)

untitled (the same xianxia setting as saga of immortal dream except without it being a VRMMO and I named the protagonist Bai Feiyi instead of Bei Yifei to differentiate them)

love is not a victory march (god of conquering empire and her stolen bride, god of a conquered nation)

Lesbian magic school (uh. free college on any subject with free accomodations for adult nerdy lesbians willing to believe in the impossible?)

Keys > Start try 1

Magitech dystopia

okay I think that's enough things

the moral here is that I start a lot of things and do not finish very many of them