#The Tiny Trash Uncle

[foundfamilymylove]

Imagine the chaos if the people in the indignity test suddenly came into the LCF world-

Dodam calling Cale 'the terrible bastard' while everyone is confused

Raon is happy knowing that even in another world, his human will always save him, just like he promised

Maybe even them fighting for Cale's attention

Both CHs look at each other warily but bond over the confusion that is known as Cale Henituse. Also, CH promises to teach indignity test CH how to become stronger to protect his new-found family. Cale is scared at this, as always

Alver laughing with a refreshed smile, while the younger him wonders if he's gone crazy when he sees how much paperwork he has.

Tiny Alver being happy when he sees that the dark elves, and them too, have been accepted by people. It only reaffirms the fact that he didn't make the wrong choice.

Baby KRS who is wary at first and sticks to CH like glue, however soon opens up with the help of the children. I can imagine Alver going 'Aigoo, why can't I have such a cute dongsaeng?'

However it's ruined when they teach baby KRS how to scam with a bright smile to get money (a critical hit to Alver)

(If you want angst then they wonder why KRS is here when he's so young, however they see how skinny he is still, his footsteps too quiet to not have been learned, the way his eyes were always looking for escapes and he hated people getting too close. The way he dissociates sometimes, just staring blankly at the wall. It's... unnerving, to say the least, to watch a child go so blank and unmoving.

It's clear that something terrible had happened, but both CH, KRS and Cale (to Alver) hold their silence, so all they can do is treat him with care.)

Tiny KRS and the children bonding.

Raon being taught by Eruhaben and Rosalyn.

If they still had the cintamani, maybe they could also dote on baby KRS and how cute he was as a kid, asking 20yr KRS why couldn't he smile at them like that and how such a cute kid turned into such a grump- (tsundere-

Them helping each other out for the future, and sharing concepts/ideas from their worlds.

Vicross having to babysit but he doesn't mind

Ron noticing the similarities between KRS and Cale and deciding to pay more attention to the two of them

Anyways, wow. This got way longer than I expected-

[xxbimbobunnyxx]

Cat and Mouse

(Perv!Eddie Munson x Perv!Fem Reader)

Summary: Eddie thinks you are innocent and oblivious to all the pervy things he does behind your back, but what he doesn’t know is that you’re fully aware. Not only that, but you like it, and you just might be a bit of a perv yourself. WK: 8k (idk what happened)

Warnings: Where do I even begin? This is filthy guys… Panty stealing, honestly just Eddie and Reader both taking things of each others without asking (and using them to pleasure themselves), Maybe a tiny bit of angst? Idk there’s like a second where they’re both doubting themselves but it’s solved quickly. SMUTTTT!!! Unprotected P in V, Oral (M and F receiving), overstimulation(on R), hair pulling, slightly sub!Eddie? Idk he’s just really down bad(but so is R), dirty talk but like dirty dirty. Idk what to tell y’all they’re pervs, they’re gross, this is feral. If I missed anything pls lmk!! 18+MNDI!!

A/N: Listen… idk what came over me with this one… a horny demon possessed me and wrote this.. It was fueled by my feral period brain and all the perv Eddie fics I’ve seen where Reader is innocent, which is still very hot and I love it but I’m a whore so I wanted to write something where maybe she wasn’t as innocent as Eddie thought. That’s it, that’s all I have to say, pls enjoy the filth. 😌 (also shout out to @take-everything-you-can for mentioning something about taking Eddie’s shirt, I kind of took that idea and ran a mile with it.) My Masterlist

You met Eddie a few months ago, you were working at your uncle’s comic book shop when he came in looking for some dice. He came in a few more times after that, always needing something for his campaign, or looking for a comic for one of his younger friends he told you about. He would always stay and talk to you for a while, telling you things about his life, asking about yours. Eventually he asked you if you wanted to come to one of his shows and the two of you had basically been inseparable since.

You hadn’t known him long but it didn’t take long for you to pick up on a few things. Like how his eyes would always linger on your thighs when you’d cross them on his bed in your little ruffly skirts, or how they looked like they were going to pop out of his head when he noticed you hardly ever wear a bra. You noticed he always talked to you in this way that made you seem so innocent and pure, untouched. You weren’t, but noticed he liked it, so you played into it.

You started to notice things going missing, a pair of underwear that didn’t quite make it in the dirty clothes basket, a tester vile of your perfume you had left over from before you decided it was worth buying the whole bottle, a picture of you from your stack of polaroids that was of you at the beach in your little red bikini.

So you started leaving things. Your dirty underwear on display, always at the very top of your laundry basket. A nearly empty bottle of your favorite lotion sitting next to the trash, ready to be thrown out. A picture of your tits with your forearm just barely covering your nipples at the top of the stack of Polaroids.

Each time they would be gone, and you weren’t sure at this point if he was just playing along or if he was the one that was really that naive.

•

The first time Eddie saw you he was convinced you were an angel. Standing behind the counter at the comic shop downtown in your little white sweater and pink skirt. When he walked up to look at the dice in the glass underneath the register he could see your white thigh high socks. You had this cute ribbon in your hair and when you spoke your voice sounded like sugarcane. You asked him if there where any sets that stood out to him, and then you surprised the hell out of him by asking if they were for D&D. You had never played, but your cousins and your uncle did, so you knew the basics.

He couldn’t stop himself from coming in after that, finding any excuse to make a trip to see his favorite girl. Maybe he would decide he needed a new mini for an NPC or offer to go get a new release of a comic for Dustin while he was at school. He always spent a while standing there talking to you, getting to know you, ogling you because he just couldn’t help himself. How could he? When you would lean over the counter giving him a perfect view of your tits through your thin shirts and hardly ever wore a bra? When you would ask him to hold the ladder steady so you could get something up high and he would get a perfect view up your skirt of whatever panties you wore that day? You were irresistible.

He learned that you weren’t only beautiful but actually really cool. You knew a lot about comics, you had read Tolkien, you loved horror movies possibly more than he did, and you were down to give any music a chance.

You also had this innocence about you, like you almost didn’t realize how much he wanted you. It just made him want you more. You’d look at him with those big round eyes and pouty lips whenever he would tease you about something. When he would compliment you outright you always made this little squeaky noise and he would notice you squirm or press your thighs together.

But once you started hanging out with him outside of work that’s when he really lost control. The first time he was at your house he saw a pair of your panties next to your laundry basket. Clearly dirty by the way he could see your juices left behind on the crotch of them. You were in the bathroom changing and he just couldn’t resist. He picked them up off the ground and held them up to his nose, inhaling your scent. He felt slightly sick but he had already gone this far so he figured he might as well just have a little taste. He licked the patch where your pussy was, and even though they had mostly dried you still tasted divine. His head spun and his cock hardened as he imagined what you would really taste like. He heard the bathroom door across the hall creak open so he quickly shoved the panties into his back pocket and sat down on your bed, one leg bent at the knee crossed over the other to try and hide the very prominent bulge in his pants.

Then there was the time you had to run down to the mailboxes to check your mail, he already had been subtly staring at the small vial of your perfume after you proudly announced to him that you decided it was your signature scent now, showing him the larger bottle. He figured you wouldn’t need the small one anymore, it was almost gone anyways. So he did what he’s been finding himself doing more and more often when he’s in your room, he pocketed it. That night he sprayed it on his pillow, holding it to his face while he had your panties wrapped around his cock. Bucking into his hand with reckless abandon, imaging what yours might feel like instead.

Then there was the day he was at your apartment before you were supposed to meet up with some of his friends for a movie night and you wanted to shower after work. He was bored, snooping around a little like he usually does when he gets a moment alone in your room, and he came across a stack of Polaroids. His heart warmed when the top one was a photo of you and him at a metal show you went to with him and the guys a few towns away.

You were always surprising him and that night was no exception, banging your head until your little ribbon was about to fall out of your hair. He fixed it for you, of course. He kept looking through the stack of photos, seeing images of you and your friends back home, some of you and your cousins, and tons of you here in Hawkins. Mostly of you and him, some with his friends that were now yours too. But when he got almost to the bottom of the stack he saw a photo of you and your friends at the beach, all smiling wide at the camera. He could only see your neck and shoulders but he could tell you were wearing a little red bikini of some kind. He eagerly flipped to the next photo, hoping there might be one that proved him right, and he was not disappointed.

This picture was just you, laying on the beach with your legs outstretched in front of you, your hands were buried in the sand and just like he thought you were wearing a bright red bikini.

The way you were leaning back on your hands was making your chest stick out and the way one of your legs was slightly bent made it so he could just see the curve of your ass from the side. Your skin glistened with what he assumed was a mixture of sunscreen and sweat and he wanted to lick it off. Your eyes were adorned with heart shaped sunglasses that matched the red of your swimsuit and if he looked close enough he could tell even your toes matched.

He felt his cock harden immediately, licking his lips at the sight. Without even really thinking he shoved the photo in the back pocket of his jeans, hoping you wouldn’t notice it missing.

You tempted him twice that day, it was just too easy when you threw your clothes on top of the basket after your shower and walked into the kitchen to get a snack. Your panties were directly on top, the crotch side up, and he could see a fresh wet patch there. He couldn’t help it, he pocketed them and excused himself to the bathroom, running his tongue along the cloth where your juices had collected. His eyes rolled in the back of his head and he felt like he was going to pass out. It only took a few tugs of his cock before he was spilling cum all over his hand and exiting the bathroom with his pockets full of treasures like nothing ever happened.

•

About two weeks into this cat and mouse game you still weren’t sure you were just playing with yourself, you were alone in Eddie’s room. He ran out to his van to check for the tape he was looking for and you were sitting on his bed and one of his shirts was thrown haphazardly near his pillows like he had taken it off right before going to sleep. The thought came to you and before you could question it you were grabbing it and holding it up to your nose. It smelled good but not like you were expecting. You were expecting the scent of weed mixed with tobacco, apple shampoo and the aftershave you got for him after you told him the smell of the one he was using smelled like a 60 year old man’s wife picked it out for him.

It smelled like those things, but it also smelled like… you, your perfume. But there was something else. When you picked it up it felt slightly dry and maybe a little bit crunchy and upon closer inspection you noticed that it was dried cum. Did he spray your perfume onto his cum shirt? Was he smelling it while he stroked his cock? Thinking of you? The thought made your pussy pulse and your head spin, but it wasn’t what you wanted. Plus, he would definitely notice this missing. So when you heard the trailer door swing open you acted fast. Grabbing one of his discarded shirts that was on the ground near his bed and shoving it into your bag.

That night you did something you would’ve felt ashamed of if you weren’t positive Eddie’s done something similar, maybe even dirtier from the looks and smells of that shirt you found.

You wrapped Eddie’s shirt around your pillow and rode it until you came three times. As you drifted off to sleep still holding onto the pillow you wondered how much longer you could go without actually having the real thing.

•

Eddie was starting to wonder if you were doing this on purpose, his first indication of that being what he was currently holding in his hands. You were in the kitchen making lunch for the both of you and he was snooping around, as one does. But something caught his eye when he was walking by your shelf, something that wasn’t there before. Right on top of the stack of Polaroids he had found the bikini photo in was a picture of your tits. Your nipples were covered by your forearm, but your tits nonetheless. He was absolutely positive this hadn’t been there before, he definitely would have noticed.

Did you notice that he took the bikini photo and leave this here on purpose so he would see it? Did you take this for someone else? The thought of that made him sick to his stomach. His thoughts were bouncing around in his head like a ping pong ball trying to decide if he was reading into it, if he should take the photo or leave it. If he took it would you be mad? Would you be offended if he didn’t?

Before he could contemplate his decision further he heard your steps coming down the hall so he made a snap judgment and shoved it in his pocket. Practically launching himself onto your bed, he grabbed one of your cute frilly pillows, threw it on his lap and hoped it wouldn’t come off as suspicious.

You were walking down the hall with two bowls of Mac and cheese when you heard a shuffling sound and then the creaking of your mattress like someone just jumped on it. You smirk to yourself, wondering if Eddie saw the gift you left him.

When you open your bedroom door he’s sitting on your bed with a pillow in his lap, he flashes you a smile that is almost believable but you could see the slight flush in his cheeks. You set his bowl down on top of the pillow, and smile back.

“There you go Eds, one gourmet bowl of Kraft, as promised.” You mock curtsied, setting your own bowl down on your nightstand before walking over to your dresser under the guise of grabbing some socks. Making sure to glance as subtlety as possible at your shelf, and just as you thought, the photo was gone.

“Why thank you madam” Eddie held the spoon in his hand with his pinky out as he dramatically took a bite.

You giggled at his antics, as you grabbed the socks out of your top drawer you saw an opportunity to tease him further. You had already seen Eddie eyeing you in your little house shorts and your tank top so you pulled out your white thigh thighs, the soft fuzzy ones that you only really wore at home and made a show of putting them on.

You kept your back to him, bending over extra as you slid them slowly up your legs. You make sure to pull them up as high as they go. Leaving only a small section of skin between the top of the socks and the bottom of your shorts.

Eddie was pretty sure he was going to pass out and he thanked his past self for putting this pillow where it is right now. He watched as you pulled on your socks wondering how something as mundane as putting on fucking socks could be this sexy. When you snapped each one in place it made the meat of your thighs slightly giggle and the way they were sitting just under the curve of your ass was making it look extra juicy. He wanted to bite into it before he made his way between your thighs and spent the rest of his god damn life there.

“Fuck” He swore under his breath and hoped to god you didn’t hear him.

“Hmm? Eddie, you okay?”

You turn around and look at him with that fucking look you always gave him, like you didn’t know how sexy you were, like you didn’t know you drive him fucking crazy.

“Uh - Yeah! I was just saying fuck this is really good, I forgot how much some good ol’ kraft hits the spot.” He smiled and hoped his excuse was convincing enough, taking a large bite for good measure.

“Right? It’ll always be my favorite no matter how many homemade or restaurant kinds I’ve eaten, nothing beats it.”

You crawl onto your bed, making sure he can see down your shirt and plop down next to him on the pillows, leaning over to grab your bowl off your nightstand. Eddie can see your ass even more when your shorts ride up and he suddenly feels like he’s got to get out of here before he says or does something totally humiliating.

“I - uh - I just remembered I have to help Wayne! I told him I’d help him move his stuff into my old room since he has been so tired and hasn’t done it! So I’m - I gotta go!” He stood up swiftly, turning away from you and throwing the pillow down behind him. He didn’t turn around, just kept marching towards your door with his bowl still in hand. Only when he was practically out of your bedroom door did he turn his head to the side and address you.

“Thank you for lunch! I’ll leave the bowl in the sink! I’ll um - I’ll see you later!”

He didn’t even give you a chance to respond, ditching the bowl in the sink, grabbing his shoes not even bothering to put them on as he ran out the door to his van in only his socks.

You sat there with your mouth hanging open, eyes wide as you stared at your bedroom door wondering what the fuck just happened. Did you go too far? Were you making him uncomfortable? Maybe he changed his mind about you… Or maybe… maybe he ran home to jerk off… maybe you did go too far but not in a bad way. That’s what you hoped at least.

You bit your lip and clenched your thighs as you entertained that possibility. Was he going to go home and jerk off to your photo? Maybe with your panties held to his nose or wrapped around his cock? At least that’s what you liked to imagine he did with them, you could be wrong.

•

You were wrong, but not about that. Eddie normally used your panties exactly how you imagined. But not right now, no. He didn’t even make it home, hell, he barely made it out of your apartment building before he was pulling off into some trees and furiously tugging at his cock while he practically dripped drool on your photo. He made sure not to though, he couldn’t taint it like that. It had to remain in perfect condition in case this was his only chance to see your tits.

He grunted and whined, spitting down onto his cock and rubbing it around his tip with his thumb. His pace increased as he imagined it was your hand, or even better, your tits. He imagined sliding his spit slick cock between them while you sucked and licked at the head, he imagined covering your face and tits with his cum.

“FUCK!” He throws his head back against the seat, his eyes cross and he practically bites through his bottom lip as he cums all over his hand, his pants, even some on his shirt.

After he came down from his high, the reality of what he did hit him. He not only probably confused the hell out of you by running off like that without barely saying goodbye, he just jerked off in his fucking van to a photo he took from your bedroom. This was getting out of hand. He had to get himself under control, maybe some distance would help.

•

You hadn’t seen Eddie all week, ever since he ran out of your room like a bat out of hell and that was unusual. You guys usually saw each other a few times during the week, even if it was one of you bringing the other lunch while you were at work.

You called him a few times, either getting his voicemail or only having a brief conversation before he came up with an excuse to get off the phone. You started to wonder if you were reading things wrong after all. But that just didn’t make sense, why would he take all those things if he didn’t like you? If he didn’t want you in the desperate way you wanted him? You almost felt like you needed him.

So you decided to make a last ditch effort, no beating around the bush this time you were going to be straight forward. You grab Eddie’s shirt, your Polaroid, and your white lacy thigh highs with the little pink bows that he bashfully complimented one day.

You wrap the shirt around your pillow like you have done so many times now you’re almost ashamed. You take off your shirt and shorts before pulling on the thigh highs, leaving you in just your little white lace panties and socks.

The first photo you take is a shot from above of your tits, you can see your thong and the very top of your lace adorned thighs.

The second features your face, your eyes wide in that way you know he loves, your middle and pointer finger shoved down your throat with your lips wrapped around them. If you look close enough you can see a bit of drool dripping down between your boobs.

The third photo is a full nude, your legs spread and pussy on full display for him.

The next one is the one you’re most excited for, the one that sparked this entire plan. It’s an upshot of you from the neck down, you’re straddling the pillow that’s wrapped in Eddie’s shirt in just your socks, your free hand grabbing onto one of your tits.

The last photo is you in the same position but it’s from below, you have your fingers on your pussy, opening yourself up for him against the material of his shirt.

Satisfied with the spread, you gather them up, grab your discarded thong and remove the shirt from your pillow. You fold the panties and the photos into the shirt like they’re a gift to be unwrapped and put them in a little box. Then you write out a note.

Eddie,

if you wanted my panties… all you had to do was ask. You’ve taken all my cutest ones now. But that’s okay because I took something of yours too, I thought you might want it back.

Xoxo - Your angel.

You sign the note with the nickname he had awarded you and fold it in half, putting it on top of the shirt and then you put the lid on the box. Now all you had to do was give it to him, everyone had planned to meet at Gareth’s for a movie night tomorrow and he was supposed to pick you up. You could give it to him in the car before you get there and tell him not to open it until he gets home. It was the perfect plan. Hopefully.

•

Eddie was nervous on his way to pick you up for movie night, he had managed to avoid you the entire week, much to his dismay. He felt pathetic but he missed you, and even though he was still feeling guilty he was excited to see you.

He pulled into a guest parking spot in front of your building and was surprised to see you already standing there. He usually had to come in while you finished getting ready because you were perpetually running late. But you were standing there in a little white dress and a soft looking pink knit sweater, holding a little box in your arms. He figured it was some kind of baked goods, you pretty much always brought treats to every get together.

You saw him pull in and waved as you walked over, he jumped out of the car so he could come around and open the door for you.

“Hi Eddie, this is for you. But don’t open it now, open it when you get home. Okay? Promise me?”

You sounded nervous, hell, you looked nervous. What was in that box? He doesn’t know how he’s going to get through the night not knowing.

“A gift? For me? Angel, you shouldn’t have.” He tried to play it cool, even though he was feeling anything but.

“I didn’t spend any money on it or anything… but I’m not giving it to you unless you promise you won’t open it until you get home later.”

“Yeah, I promise.” He smiled at you reassuringly.

You handed it to him nervously, and he took it with glee, immediately shaking it like a Christmas present.

“EDDIE!! Don’t do that, you’re never going to guess what it is so just wait, please!”

You were looking at him with this pouty look on your face and he literally would’ve said yes to murder at that moment so he agreed. You let out a breath of relief as you got into the car, now all you had to do is wait.

•

Movie night wasn’t awkward like you feared it might be. When Eddie picked you up he acted totally normal, like he hadn’t been ignoring you all week and you couldn’t tell if that annoyed you or not. Maybe a little. You wanted to ask him about it but you also didn’t want to make things awkward by bringing it up so you tried to act as normal as you could.

That little box in the back of Eddie’s van was in the back of your mind all night though, you couldn’t stop overthinking and second guessing your decision. You even almost went out to his van at one point to take everything out and shove it in your bag but you talked yourself out of it.

Eddie was in a similar boat, he was having fun, he was engaging and acting as normal as he could but all he could think about was what possibly could be in that box. He knows you made him promise but there are several times where he has to physically stop himself from just going out to his van to look in it.

When the last movie ends you and Eddie were both quick to gather your things and leave. Him wanting to get home as fast as possible to see what was in the box and you wanting the looming thoughts of how he might react to just be over with.

Your goodbyes were chaste, neither of you bringing up the gift you had given him. He walked you to the door like he always did but he didn’t ask to come inside and the hug he gave was much faster than the usual bear hugs he would normally give you.

•

Eddie sped home, he lived in a studio apartment a few miles from yours and the drive had never felt so long. He pulled into his parking spot with a screech, grabbed the box from the back and rushed inside.

He didn’t even bother to take his shoes off, throwing his jacket across the back of the couch before plopping down on one of the cushions with the box in his lap.

He took a deep breath before opening it. At the top was a note, he unfolded it and as he read it he swore all the blood from his body went directly to his cock.

Underneath the note was his shirt, his favorite Iron Maiden one he hadn’t been able to find for a few weeks.

It was folded neatly so he gently took it out of the box, it felt heavier than it should and when it was fully in his grasp he could feel that there was something inside it.

He sets it down in front of him on his coffee table so he can unfold it and his jaw drops when he sees what’s inside. A pair of your panties, a little white lace thong is sitting under a stack of Polaroids.

His hand shakes as he reaches for the photos, when he sees the first one he actually moans, and then they somehow just keep getting better. But he stops dead in his tracks when he sees the second to last one.

You have his shirt wrapped around your pillow and you’re straddling it in nothing but those fucking socks, and he’s seriously going to lose his mind, especially when he sees the last photo of you in the same position, spread open for him.

It took him a second to get past the fog of lust to realize what this means. You knew. You always knew what he was doing. It all makes sense now. The way your panties were always so easy to steal, how he always happened to have the perfect view of your tits and ass, the photo. Also you took his shirt, you didn’t just take it, you put it on your fucking pillow and humped it. He hopes you did it more than once. He picks up the shirt again and he really looks at it this time, there’s little white streaks all over it, from you. He brings it to his nose and it’s the best thing he’s ever smelled. Both of your scents mixed together, topped off with the sweet smell of your pussy.

His initial thought was to rip his pants off and stroke his cock until it was raw but he realized he could do better than that. He could have the real thing. He needed to see you. Now.

He didn’t even think twice about shoving everything back in the box and walking back out the door to his van. Speeding off in the direction towards your house.

•

You were laying in your bed trying not to let your anxiety consume you when you heard banging on your door. Your heart pounded and your mouth went dry, you knew who it was, there was no way it could be anyone but him.

You opened the door and there he was, looking absolutely feral if you might add. His eyes were wide, pupils blown out, he was breathing like he ran a mile, and his hair was all over the place. You wanted to eat him alive.

“You knew?” He held up the box you had given him earlier the night, his hands shaking.

“Yeah…” You bit your lip as you nodded. “I knew the whole time… from when you took that first pair of panties, I knew.”

“And you didn’t say anything?” He looked at you, his eyes filled with lust and confusion.

You shake your head, a smirk forming across your lips.

“Why not?” He was still panting, hands grasped tightly on the box.

“It was fun, I thought for a while there that you knew I was doing it on purpose, and then when I realized you didn’t it was almost hotter to me for some reason… I’m sorry if that’s weird.” You suddenly felt super self conscious, was he mad you didn’t say anything?

“I stole your panties, multiple pairs might I add, and you’re asking me if it’s weird that you left them out for me?” He laughed, bringing his hand up to your cheek and rubbing his thumb across it.

“I could never think you were weird angel, do you know how sexy that is? And these photos…” He groaned, his eyes rolling back in his head. “Did you really…”

“Fuck my pillow with your shirt on it? Yeah.” You nodded, your face nuzzling into his palm.

“Jesus fucking christ… that’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life, shit.”

He used the hand cradling your face to pull you closer, clashing your lips together in a hungry kiss. You immediately buried your fingers in his hair, like you did in all your fantasies. You wanted him closer but the box was still in between you so you broke the kiss long enough to pull him inside and discard it on your kitchen counter.

You pulled his mouth back down to yours by the collar of his shirt, running your tongue along his bottom lip and he immediately granted you access. Your hands made their way back into his hair and he gripped your hips pulling you tightly against him.

“God Eddie, I want you so fucking bad.” You moaned against his lips.

“Angel, I’ll give you anything you want after all these sweet gifts you’ve been leaving me without me even knowing… you really thought I knew?” He took your face in both your hands, running his hands down your neck and rubbing his thumbs along your jaw.

“For a while there, yeah… That’s why I left you that first picture, but then when I came back in my room and you were acting all nervous I realized you definitely didn’t know. I thought for a second I might’ve made you uncomfortable but I took the chance with the photos anyway… looks like it paid off.” You looked him up and down, biting your lip.

“Fuck yeah it did.” He pulled you into another bruising kiss that you happily returned. You stood there in your kitchen making out for what could’ve been minutes or hours, tongues exploring every inch of each other's mouths and your hands mapping out each other's bodies.

You finally pulled away, breathless. You smirked at him, placing a kiss on his throat before turning around and walking towards your room. Eddie wanted to scream at the sight of your ass in your tiny little pink spandex shorts. He bit down on his fist instead, admiring you for a moment before practically running after you.

You were standing in the middle of the room with a smirk on your face that he’s never seen, one you must have been hiding from him this whole time. You looked like you wanted to eat him alive and he was going to let you.

“Tell me about your fantasies Eddie… tell me what you did with my panties, I wanna know so bad.” Your smirk turned into a little pout, giving him that fucking look. The one he knows now is all an act, but something about that just makes his dick even harder for you.

“Fuck, you really want to know? The first time I sucked on them while I jerked off and right when I was about to cum I wrapped them around my dick and came all over them.”

“Mmm… that’s what I hoped you’d do, tell me more…” You walk up to him and run your hands down his chest, hook your fingers in his front pockets and give him the look.

“I can’t believe this is happening, I - uh - I was so scared if you ever found out you’d hate me. But fuck, I never imagined you would be into it.” He put his hands on your hips and squeezed, almost like he was making sure this was real.

“Well, you better believe it honey, because I am so so into it.. please tell me more.” You lean up and press wet kisses along his neck.

“God damn.” He throws his head to the side more, granting you further access to his throat. “When I had a second pair I sucked on the newer ones and used that same pair to jerk off. Then when I got your perfume I sprayed it on my pillow so that I could smell you and taste you.”

“Mmm Eddie, that’s so hot.” You bite into his throat causing him to let out the cutest little yelp, sucking the skin into your mouth, wanting to mark him as your own.

“Then once I had the bikini photo I was able to see you too, so it was like I was surrounded by you in every way possible.”

His hands snake down your hips to grab onto your ass, the material of your shorts and the feeling of your soft skin contrasting with the calluses on his fingers.

“That day when I found that picture of your tits… and then you somehow found a way to make putting socks on one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen and you topped it off by bending over in those little shorts with your ass practically in my face? I barely made it out of your building before I pulled over and jerked off in my van like a depraved psycho.”

You moaned at that, pulling back from his neck to look him in the eyes.

“If you’re depraved… so am I.” You pull your tank top over your head and throw it on the ground behind you somewhere, followed by your shorts. Eddie seriously thinks he’s in love with you at this point because you’re not wearing a bra or panties but you are of course wearing white thigh highs. You’re standing there like every fantasy he’s ever had about you come true, but better.

“Angel, those pictures have nothing on the real thing” He grabbed onto your tits, twisting your nipples between his fingers. Using his nose to brush your hair away so he can whisper in your ear. “I need to taste you so bad, like, so bad. I need to know what the real thing tastes like.”

“Mmm fuck, yes, want that so bad.”

You lay back on your bed and spread your legs, showing him how wet you are for him. Eddie doesn’t think twice before dropping to his knees in front of your bed and throwing your legs over his shoulders. He wishes he had it in him to kiss every inch of you before tasting you but it was like someone offered him the nectar of the gods and he needed it now.

He parted your lips with his fingers before running his tongue along your slit, licking up and down with a flat tongue before shoving it as far as it could go inside you.

“Ho- holy shit! Eddie!! Fuck, your mouth is so good.” Your fingers found his hair again, tugging and the groan he lets out sends vibrations through your pussy.

“I thought your panties tasted sweet but nothing will ever taste sweeter than the real thing, oh my god baby.”

His tongue comes up to circle your clit, wrapping his lips around it and sucking. You feel his fingers circle your entrance before he’s inserting his pointer and middle finger deep inside you. He curls his fingers in just the right way, he’s still sucking your clit while he runs circles around it with his tongue and you feel yourself getting close.

“I’m gonna - I’m gonna - fuckinnng cum - I’m gonna cum.” You pull his hair again and start rocking your hips against his face. You watch his eyes roll back and feel him moan into you again, knowing he’s enjoying this as much as you is what sends you over the edge. Your hips rising off the bed and your hands falling from his hair to grasp the sheets. Eddie brings his free hand down on your abdomen to hold you down as he fucks you through your high.

You try to push him off once it becomes too much but you hear, or more so feel him let out an “Uh-Uh” into your pussy. His hand that’s pinning you down doesn’t move and his fingers stay buried inside you. He’s licking and sucking on your clit like a man starved and you immediately feel another orgasm crash over you. Your entire body shakes and you let out noises you didn’t even know you can make.

When he feels you push at his head this time he lets you, looking up at you with a grin on his face, his chin and mouth covered in your juices.

“Sorry… you just tasted so good and when you came it was so hot I didn’t want to stop.” He looked awfully bashful for someone who was just eating you out like it was his fucking job.

“You’re sorry? Holy shit Eddie, I’ve never cum that hard in my entire life.”

He smiled triumphantly, you’d think just told him he won the lottery. He came up and covered his body with yours, kissing you without wiping his face. The taste of you on his tongue was intoxicating so you pulled away from the kiss and licked his lips, then his chin, and down his neck.

“Fuck, we taste so good together.” You moan.

“Holy fucking shit, you’re my dream girl.”

“Let me return the favor, I wanna taste you too, also you are wearing way too many clothes right now.” You pull at the hem of his shirt and he puts his arm behind his head to pull it off.

You’ve never seen him shirtless before and you needed a better view. You push on his shoulders until he lifts himself off of you and lays back on the bed. You throw your leg over him to straddle him, looking down at him in awe.

“Wow Eddie… you’re beautiful.”

You smile at him with that devilish little smile he’s becoming addicted to as you run your soft hands along his chest before raking your nails down his torso, all the way to the waistband of his jeans. His back arches off the bed as he lets out this sound that you want to hear him make over and over again.

You grind your hips down on his, fiddling with his belt loop and looking at him with a question in your eyes.

“Please.” Now he’s the one giving you the look and you understand why he loves it much. Those big brown eyes are wide and glassy, there’s a slight pout on his lips and even though he just ate you out so good it makes you want to sit on his face.

But there’s something you want more, something you’ve been dreaming about. So you undo his belt and jeans with deft fingers, pulling on the waistband of both his pants and boxers. He lifts his hips so you can pull them down and when his cock pops out and hits his stomach your jaw actually drops.

You always figured Eddie was big. You caught small glimpses through his jeans when he thought he was hiding his boners better than he really was, so you had an idea. But it’s bigger than you imagined, and so so pretty. The tip red and leaking precum, each vein prominent because of how hard he was. You lick your lips and spit on your hand, wrapping your hand around his cock and pumping it a few times. He makes that sound again and you know you’re addicted to it now.

“Your cock is huge baby, I can’t wait to feel it stretching me out.” You spit on the head of his cock, circling your thumb around it before you lean down and take it in your mouth.

“Holy - fuckING - sh - shit!” Eddie instinctually jerks forward, his cock hits the back of your throat and you gag.

He’s about to apologize but you don’t pull off, just push his cock further down your throat until your nose is snug against the hair at the base. There’s tears coming out of the sides of your eyes and drool dripping down your chin but you’re moaning and so he can tell you’re enjoying it. You circle your tongue around his shaft a few times before pulling off.

Not for long though, you take him as far as you can without gagging and start bobbing your head up and down, your hand moving in time with whatever your mouth can't reach. Eddie is a moaning mess, he’s babbling your name in between curse words, switching between grabbing onto your hair, the sheets, and his own hair.

When you pull off his dick and bring your mouth to his balls, swirling your tongue all around his sack before sucking one into your mouth he’s pretty sure he’s in love with you. But he’s also positive that he wants to fuck you so he grabs you by your hair and pulls you off.

“Hey, I wasn’t done!” You look at him with a pout and you whine. Every time Eddie thinks he can’t possibly be anymore obsessed with you, you prove him wrong.

“Yeah but I was about to come and I want to fuck you so badly.” He’s the one whining now.

“Can I ride you?” You ask him like that’s even a question.

“Fuck yeah you can.”

You eagerly climb back up to straddle him, wasting no time lining him up with your entrance and sliding down on his cock. It’s still a stretch but you’re so wet it hardly hurts. You rock back and forth a few times once your hips are flush against yours and you moan in unison at the feeling.

“Oh sh- shit, your pussy is so fucking t- tight. Feels better than I could’ve ever imagined.”

“Yeah? Your cock is so fucking big, filling me up so good Eds.”

You start riding him hard and fast, your ass bouncing against his thighs, your tits on full display and you’re moaning his name over and over again like a prayer. He has one hand on your ass, grabbing it so hard you’re sure you’re going to have a bruise there tomorrow, and you honestly hope you do. He brings the thumb of his free hand up to your bottom lip and runs it across it.

“Suck.”

You do, happily, swirling your tongue around the digit and moaning at the feeling of having something in your mouth while your pussy is being filled too. He pulls it out and you’re about to mourn the loss but then he’s rubbing circles on your clit and fucking up into you to meet your thrusts.

He starts fucking you so fast that you can’t keep up, you put your hands on his chest, your nails digging into his flesh and just let him take you. He’s fucking you hard and fast, his cock hitting just the right spot while he continues to circle your clit.

“Eddie I’m c - close I-I’m close.” Your babbling and drooling, fucked out and on the brink of what you know is going to be a mind altering orgasm.

“Me too Angel, I need you to cum for me. Cum all over my cock just like you dreamed about when you were humping your little pillow.” His feet are flat on the mattress and he’s somehow fucking you harder than he was before. When you cum your vision goes white, pleasure jolts through your entire system and you aren’t even sure you’re on this planet anymore.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck I’m gonna- I’m gonna cum, where do you?”

Eddie talking brings you back to earth just enough to respond, to tell him what you want.

“Inside! Eddie please inside! I want you to cum inside me so bad!” You start to meet his thrusts, he’s still rubbing your clit and you’re so sensitive you already feel another orgasm coming on.

“Oh fuck!!!” Eddie cries out as his thrusts slow down to pumps and his cum spills inside you. The feeling sends you over the edge, cumming right along with him. Your walls squeeze him for all he’s worth.

When you come down you let yourself fall onto his chest, both of you panting, your hearts pounding. You lay like that for a while, catching your breath and enjoying the feeling of each other. Eventually your knees start to cramp and you slide off of him, settling at his side with your head on his chest.

“I’m gonna fuckin marry you someday.”

You laugh, even though he doesn’t sound like he’s joking.

“Yeah? I think I’d like that. Then my underwear will stop going missing because we will live in the same house.”

You both started cracking up at that.

“I’m serious though, can I have some of them back? You really did steal all my best ones…” You looked up at him and pouted, giving him the look.

“That’s not gonna work the same now that I know you’re just using it against me…”

“You sure about that?” You stick your bottom lip out further and make your eyes even wider.

“Ugh, no. You’re still not getting them back though, I’ll buy you new ones.” He brings his hand up to push your hair out of your face and places a kiss on your temple.

“Why? So you can just take those ones too?” You tease.

“Nah, I have the real thing now. I’d rather take them off you.”

Tagging the bbs: @the-unforgivenn @lokis-army-77 @gravedigginbbydoll @bettyfrommars @eddiemunson95 @melodymunson @bangaveragewhitewine

[corroded-hellfire]

Throwing a fluffy idea out there: Eddie volunteering (possibly for community service after getting busted for something silly) at a pet shelter. The kittens trying to play with his hair, him rough housing with the dogs to help get them some playtime and exercise.

Eddie loves animals and no one can change my mind. All I want is to see him with these fuzzy little babies 🥺

Words: 3.1k

Hopper was a good guy. He knew deep down Eddie was a good kid and that if he was the worst criminal that Hawkins had, things were going all right. But that didn’t mean that the chief of police wouldn’t lay down the law once in a while with the small-time drug dealer. 

Eddie had gotten the choice between a few nights in the tiny town jail or volunteering at a pre-approved Hawkins business. Not wanting to spend time behind bars, Eddie grumbled as he took a look at the list of volunteer options. Spending any time at a medical facility was an automatic no and Eddie wasn’t sure how picking up trash would keep him away from drugs when all he’d want is to smoke a joint after the arduous task. 

The Hawkins Animal Shelter immediately seemed appealing, though. Growing up, Eddie had always wanted a dog, but his dad couldn’t afford to own one and Wayne is allergic. Thinking of spending time with the dogs and cats that didn’t have families of their own brought a smile to his face. Maybe part of it was that he didn’t have a stable home life before coming to live with his uncle, so he could relate to the sweet, innocent animals. 

His first day on the job, Eddie jumps out of his van and tosses his leather jacket on the passenger’s seat so it won’t get covered in fur or drool. The gravel crunches beneath his boots as he heads towards the front door. Barking can be heard before he even grips the dull copper doorknob. 

There’s an older woman seated behind a desk as soon as he walks in, who looks up at him over the rim over her tortoiseshell glasses.

“Munson?” Her voice is deep and raspy, the pack of cigarettes sitting in front of her the obvious culprit.

“Uh, yeah,” Eddie says.

The woman nods her head to a yellow door covered in scratches—mostly on the bottom half. “In there. The girl will show you what to do.”

The girl. Eddie doesn’t even know who she is, but he’s offended on her behalf by being referred to in that way. Giving the woman a quick nod, Eddie heads over and through the door, eager to be out of her presence. 

The sound of dogs barking and yipping is even louder in the back hallway, and now it’s joined by the high-pitched meowing of cats. It brings a smile to Eddie’s face as he shoves his hands into his jean pockets. He turns a corner and sees a girl bending over into one of the dog’s kennels. As excited as he is to see the animals he’s going to be spending time with, he admires the view of the nice ass in front of him first. A particularly loud woof from a Pomeranian has the girl standing up straight and Eddie is quick to avert his eyes, hoping he can keep up the facade of being a gentleman for more than five minutes.

“Oh! Hi, Eddie.”

At the sound of his name, Eddie looks back towards you. A smile breaks out on his face as he recognizes you from school. The two of you never really spoke before, but he couldn’t deny that he’d always thought you were very pretty. 

“Hey! I didn’t know you worked here,” he says.

“Nope, just volunteer,” you say as you wipe your hands off on the thighs of your jeans. 

“And I bet you weren’t even threatened with jail time,” Eddie says with a playful smirk. You giggle and it makes Eddie’s stomach flip in a way that’s unfamiliar to him.

“Let me guess, Brenda sent you back here with a huff?” A dog clamors for your attention in a kennel to your right and you reach in to scratch behind the chocolate lab’s ear. 

“I assume so,” Eddie says with a shrug. “She didn’t bother introducing herself before ushering me along, saying you would tell me what to do.”

“Hmm,” you hum, narrowing your eyes as if inspecting him. “Can anyone really tell Eddie Munson what to do?”

This makes him laugh and it scares a skittish poodle to his left.

“Aw, I’m sorry, pal.” Eddie crouches down and holds his knuckles up to the kennel door to let the white, fluffy dog give him a sniff. 

“That’s Stella,” you tell him. “Her brother Bruno is on the pillow back there asleep.”

Eddie’s eyes roam over to the dark gray poodle snoozing away in the back corner. He looks like he doesn’t have a care in the world and Eddie envies that. 

“Do you know all the animals’ names here?” Eddie asks as he stands back up.

“Sometimes it’s hard to keep track because they come and go, but yeah, I think so,” you say. “Hmm, okay, I was just about to go change the kitty litter. Want to come along and distract the kittens? You wouldn’t believe how much they get in the way.”

“Sure,” Eddie agrees as he follows you down the hallway. As soon as you open the door to where the cats are kept, a cacophony of meowing floods his ears. There are different volumes and different pitches blending together to create a song of cat chaos. Eddie realizes he must be staring when he hears a soft giggle coming from your direction. Ducking his head, he clears his throat and turns towards you. “What should I do, boss?”

“Well,” you say as you walk over to a few of the cubbies the cats are residing in, “I’ll let a few out at a time, you distract them with the toys or maybe even some treats and I’ll clean their boxes. Then we try to corral them back in and start over again. Ready?”

There’s an array of cat toys on the far side of the small room. Fuzzy mice, balls that jingle, some with feathers, and a few cat wands. Eddie grabs a bag of cat treats off the shelf–which means every little eyeball in that room is on him–and settles himself on the floor next to the toys.

“Ready.”

The first batch you let out consists of five cats–ones that you know for a fact get along, you inform him. There’s a calico named Turtle, an orange and white one named Eric, an all-white called Kissy with the bluest eyes Eddie’s ever seen, and two small kittens. They’re both tabby cats with stripes, but one is grey with black stripes and the other is a soft orange with darker stripes; named Pepper and Chili respectively. Unsurprisingly, the kittens are the first ones intrigued by their new visitor. Tiny paws pad over the linoleum floor until they’re both standing right in front of Eddie. Now that they’re this close though, they get a bit shy. Their eyes are so big for their little heads, Eddie thinks, and he can’t help but chuckle at how cute they are. Chili decides to be the brave one and takes on the scary task of crawling up Eddie’s leg. 

“Jesus,” Eddie winces as sharp little claws dig through the material of his jeans and prick at his skin. You pop your head out from one of the kennels and give him a sympathetic look.

“Yeah. I don’t know why but kittens’ claws are sharper than adult cats,” you tell him.

“God, you’re lucky you’re so cute,” Eddie tells Chili as the little furball stops to sit on Eddie’s thigh. As if seeing that his brother is safe, Pepper jumps up and follows the trail the ginger cat had led. “Ah, both. Great.” His words are joking, but the way he grits his teeth as Pepper’s claws do their little pricks of damage is very real. 

Turtle makes her way over and begins to chew on the top corner of the treat bag. Kissy immediately wants Eddie to pet her, and Eric is content to sit about a foot away and watch the others interact with the human on the floor. 

You peek over your shoulder as you empty the dirty litter into the garbage can beside you, and smile when you see Pepper standing on Eddie’s lap with her two front paws pressed right over his heart. Her tiny head bobs as she inspects Eddie’s face, little pink nose twitching as it works. 

Chili has to outdo his sister and jumps right up to Eddie’s shoulder, as if he were a pirate and Chili is his trusty parrot. The ginger cat noses at Eddie’s curls before deciding to take a taste. He opens his mouth and Eddie is glad that hair doesn’t have nerve endings when Chili sinks those little needles that he calls teeth into the strand. 

By the time you get finished cleaning out the litter and refilling the food and water, Pepper is up on Eddie’s other shoulder, chewing on hair on that side of his head. Kissy is curled up in Eddie’s lap, purring contentedly as she snoozes. Turtle is still trying to figure out how to get into the treat bag, and Eric decides he can trust Eddie enough to rest his head on Eddie’s ankle. 

“Well, don’t you all look comfy,” you say as you stroll over to them. 

“Cats have no boundaries,” Eddie says with a smile.

“Not a one,” you agree.

Eventually, you get them all back in their cubby condos and are able to move on to clean the other cat’s areas.

When you get to the last one, you open the cage door and reach in. Eddie watches as you pull out an older gray and brown cat and hug it to your chest.

“How are you, Perry?” you ask before planting a kiss right between the cat’s ears. You turn towards Eddie so he can get a better view of the large feline. “This is Perry. He’s the oldest cat here and an absolute sweetheart. I would’ve brought him home with me a long time ago if my sister wasn’t allergic.”

“Hi, Perry,” Eddie says, walking closer to the two of you. He holds his fingers up and Perry gives them a quick sniff. The cat ducks his head and Eddie takes the hint, scratching wherever his hand is guided along the soft fur.

“Wow,” you say softly. “I’ve never seen Perry let anyone pet him that quickly. He can be a grumpy old man when he doesn’t know someone.”

“I live with a grumpy old man,” Eddie says with a shrug. “Guess I just know how to deal with them.”

“Do you want to hold him while I clean?” you offer. 

“Sure.”

You hand the cat over and Perry quickly adjusts to being in Eddie’s arms. It’s another thing that surprises you. Perry isn’t usually a fan of being held—unless it’s by you. But the tabby seems quite content in Eddie’s arms. 

Since the last cage is the easiest to clean, you finish up with the cat room in no time.

“What now?” Eddie asks. 

A look down at your watch lets you know.

“Time for the first group of dogs to go outside.” You nod for Eddie to follow you in the direction of the dogs’ section. “We do it in groups since there’s so many of them. This way they can all get some attention and there’s less likely to be any issues or fighting.”

It’s not surprising to you that Eddie is a complete natural with the dogs when you get outside. He’s on the grass with them, rough housing, he plays fetch, and even runs laps around the yard with a few who just need to burn off their extra energy. The dogs all take to him so naturally—even the shy ones. It’s impossible not to smile as you watch the canines play with this golden retriever of a man. 

By the time the two of you bring the last round of dogs back inside, Eddie’s cheeks are rosy from exertion, his breathing is somewhat labored, and he has patches of dirt on him almost from head to toe. 

“Come here,” you say with a chuckle once you’ve snapped the last lock shut. 

There’s a battered door at the other end of the hall, and Eddie follows you over towards it. You jiggle the rusty doorknob and step into the small bathroom. There are a few stacks of towels lined up on the counter and you pull a teal one off the top of a pile. 

The scent of lemons fills the small space as you pump some hand soap onto the towel and wring it out with some water. 

You turn back to Eddie and motion for him to drop his chin. He does, and you push a few strands of curls back to wipe at the dirt on the left cheek and jawline.

“How’d you get this?” you ask with a chuckle.

“No idea,” he replies with a small huff of laughter. “I think it was when Yogi and I both dove for that tennis ball.”

The memory of Eddie and the chocolate lab both going for the toy brings a smile to your face as you clean off what you can of the dirt. 

“He’s a good boy,” you say. 

“What about me?” Eddie asks with a mischievous glint in his eye. 

You laugh and toss the dirty towel in the laundry bin. 

“Yes, Eddie,” you tell him. “You were a good boy, too.”

Even though he’s the one who brought it up, he feels his face get warm.

“So, I’m actually headed out early today,” you say as you wipe your hands off on the sides of your jeans. “But I’m sure Brenda will let you know what you can do next.” It’s hard to keep the playful smirk off your face at the mention of the cantankerous receptionist.

Eddie drops his jaw and stares at you with mock annoyance.

“Playing hooky and leaving me with someone who makes Ms. O’Donnell look like a ray of sunshine? How dare you?”

You chuckle and shake your head.

“I mean, if you want to go get my cavity filled for me, I wouldn’t complain,” you say with a shrug.

Eddie winces, fighting off the urge to run his tongue over his teeth.

“Oof, okay. That’s a good excuse, I guess,” Eddie says. 

“I’m so glad you approve,” you tease. “Are you coming back tomorrow?”

“Sure am.”

Honestly, Eddie has no idea if he’s scheduled to come in tomorrow or not, but he hardly doubts anyone would complain if he showed up for extra volunteering. 

“I’ll see you then.”

You give him one last smile before heading to grab your bag from the back room.

The next day, all the cats and kittens meow at you the moment you step foot into their room. 

“Hello, babies,” you greet them. “How’s my man Perry doin—” Your face falls when you see Perry’s usual crate empty of the senior cat. 

Despite the cries of protest, you back out of the cat room and hastily make your way to Brenda’s desk.

“Where’s Perry?” you ask without preamble.

“Got adopted,” Brenda responds, not looking up from the old issue of People Magazine she’s flipping through. 

“Oh.” You swallow and nod your head. “Good for him.” I didn’t get to say goodbye. 

A few tears fall as you head back to the cats and begin your daily cleaning routine. You are genuinely happy that Perry has found a home. Cats of his age don’t belong in a shelter, they belong with a family. Well, all cats do, but it’s especially harder for seniors. It’s the fact that you didn’t get to give him one more scratch between his ears or kiss the back of his head one last time that is upsetting you. He was so much a part of your daily life that it already feels empty in the shelter without him.

“Hey.”

Eddie’s voice startles you, causing you to jump and hit the back of your head on the roof of Chili and Pepper’s cubby. 

“Ow.” You wince and step back, bringing your hand up to hold the sore spot.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry!” Eddie says, eyes wide. “I didn’t mean to scare you—hey, are you okay?” Eddie frowns in concern when he sees the tear tracks running down your cheeks. 

“Huh? Oh yeah,” you say before wiping off your face with the sleeve of your shirt. “I’m fine. Just found out that Perry got adopted and I’m bummed I didn’t get to say goodbye to him.”

“Oh.” The smile forming on Eddie’s pretty face doesn’t hold the tone of sympathy that you were expecting. He clears his throat and brings his hand up to scratch at the back of his neck. “Well, um, actually, I’m the one who adopted him.”

Either your ears or brain are having a hard time grasping what Eddie just said, so it takes a few moments before it finally clicks.

“You? You adopted Perry?”

“Yeah.” There’s a prideful grin on Eddie’s face and it makes your heart rate pick up. “After you left yesterday, I went to say goodbye to him, and he kept pawing at me through the bars of the crate. I let him out and he wanted me to hold him. I kinda fell in love with him right then and there.”

Tears flood your eyes once more, but this time for an entirely different reason. 

“Oh, Eddie.” You chuckle and wipe at your misty eyes. “That makes me so happy. Perry deserves a good family, and I couldn’t have picked a better one. Thank you.”

“You can come by whenever you want to see him,” Eddie says, a nervous warble in his voice. He clears his throat and tries again. “I’m sure, uh, he’d love to see you more.”

A shy smile graces your features as you reply, “I’d like that, too.”

“So, no more tears,” Eddie says, stepping forward and using his thumb to gently erase any remains of your waterworks. 

“No more tears,” you agree, taking a deep breath. 

Before you can let the thought linger and overthink it, you lean forward and wrap your arms around Eddie’s neck, hugging his body close to yours. He tentatively wraps his arms around your body before holding you just as tightly as you’re holding him. 

Reluctantly, you pull away and take a step backward.

“So, what do you say?” you ask. “Should we get to work?”

Eddie drops into a bow and makes a grand sweeping gesture towards the cat cubbies. 

“Let’s do it.”

[hypewinter]

A continuation of this

It was amazing how interesting the hors d'oeuvre table became when one was avoiding social interaction. Danny pouted as he filled yet another plate with the tiny little snack foods. He should have listened to Mom. She had warned him he wouldn't like the party but he insisted on coming too. But how could he resist? When he heard all the fun stories his uncles told, he wanted to see for himself. And his grandpa had been so happy that he wanted to come too. Danny thought he would be in for a night of excitement especially since he'd be able to stay up past his bedtime yet instead he was currently bored out of his mind. He was also incredibly uncomfortable.

Danny didn't like how all these older people kept coming up to him and asking him weird questions or squeezing his cheeks. His mom and uncles tried to intercept as many people as possible but some people had gotten to him and. Danny didn't complain though as he's the one who wanted to come anywhere and he didn't want to seem like a brat. Plus he was still holding out hope that one of his uncles would do something interesting and if he complained, he might be taken home early.

That's why Danny had taken to avoiding his mom. She was very good at reading him and was even teaching him how to read others. If she saw him it would take 0.2 seconds for her to realize he didn't want to be here anymore. Mom was really nice so she would probably take him back home when she noticed. But Danny was a big boy and big boys suck it up for uncomfortable parties that they begged to attend. Though he still wished Sam were here. Sam? Who's Sam? He couldn't remember. There were a lot of things Danny couldn't remember. Even when he tried really hard to.

"Ah so this is the newest Wayne brat!"

Danny was pulled from his thoughts and looked up to see a man staring down at him. The man's blonde hair was very shiny. Must be full of a lot of that gel Uncle Damian liked to use. But he had put on too much and now his head looked all flat and shiny. But maybe the man liked being shiny since he had a lot of gold jewelry on too.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to stare?" the man said harshly, his lazy brown eyes boring into Danny. His body language was practically screaming How dare you? Better than you. This man seemed to sway quite a lot too. Was he drunk? Mom had warned him to stay away from drunk people but it would be rude to just walk away wouldn't it?

Instead Danny put down his plate and signed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. You just have really pretty jewelry sir."

The man's glare only intensified. "Huh? Whazzat? Talk damnit!" He began to project annoyance.

Danny furrowed his brows slightly. The man had said a bad word. You're not supposed to say bad words around children. At least that's what Grandpa Alfred had taught him when Uncle Jason got in trouble for saying one near him. It was also frustrating that this man didn't know any sign language.

Nevertheless, Danny pulled out his phone and opened the notes app. He clicked on the first page which read, "I'm sorry, I have limited speech and use sign language to communicate. However I can use this notepad instead." He held it up for the man to read.

Yet again the man didn't seem to be satisfied as he retorted, "You can speak but you choose not to? You're an arrogant little brat aren't you?" Angry. How dare you think you're above me? Uh oh.

Danny quickly scrolled down to a blank space so that he could explain it wasn't like that but he never got the chance. The man snatched the phone from Danny's hands.

"Listen you little turd," the man hissed, leaning in close. It took all the self control in Danny's body not to gag at his breath. "You may think you're all high and mighty just because you got lucky but make no mistake. You're just gutter trash. Just like all the other pests Wayne brought into his household and just like your mother."

Tears pricked at Danny's eyes. That wasn't true. Neither his uncles nor his mother were trash. They were good people. The nicest people ever. They saved Danny from that terrible terrible place and gave him lots of hugs and sweets and warmth. This man didn't know what he was talking about.

The man continued, "You'll do well to respect me as unlike you and your little pretend family, I actually come from a distinguished background. I'm not some orphan from an unknown background whose parents probably sold him for drug money. Do you hear me?" Hostile. Don't mess with me!

"If I tell you to speak to me, you speak to me. Is that clear?" You're beneath me. Know your place.

Danny didn't know how much longer he could keep the tears at bay. Luckily he didn't have to.

"Is there a problem?" There she was. Mom! In all of her glory. Her hair done up in a little bun and dressed in a suit matching his. He had actually picked it out for her.

Danny rushed over to her and clung to her leg. Not trash he projected. My family. Meanwhile, the man's attitude did a complete 180. "Ah Ms. Cassandra it's so nice to see you again! I was just complimenting your little one on how cute his suit looked on him!"

Mom ignored him and looked to Danny instead.

What happened?

Insulted you. Insulted my family. Mean man. Bad man.

Cass gently patted Danny's head. He loved when she did that. Okay now. Don't worry.

Mom turned back to the man. "For someone so much better than everyone, you really like hanging out in the Bowery," she said. I know your secret.

The man stiffened. Does she know? How does she know? "I'm really not sure what you're referring to Ms. Wayne." Nervous. Agitated.

Mom didn't say anything. Just leveled a stare at the man. His smile began slipping in the awkward silence. Panicked. Must leave.

"Well I should probably be going now. I feel like I've had too much to drink. Perhaps I'll go sit down," the man said quickly, excusing himself and disappearing into the crowd.

Once he was out of sight, Cass turned back to Danny. Okay? Danny buried his face into her leg. Wanna go home. In the next moment, Danny felt himself being picked up and cradled in his mother's arms. Let's go home, she portrayed with a smile. Danny desperately clung to her suit as his bottom lip wobbled.

"Sorry," he whispered. He wanted her to know he really meant it. That he was truly sorry.

He felt a kiss be planted on his forehead. "Don't be," Mom replied. Danny wrapped his arms around her neck and closed his eyes, finally letting the tears he'd been holding at bay fall. He took in the warmth and love his mother showered over him. His family wasn't trash. They were his saviors.

[werepuppy-steve]

it takes a village

@steddiemicrofic prompt: rest | wc: 387 | cw: teenage parenthood (steve is 16, eddie is 17)

i've been wanting to write my teen dads au for so long and never had any solid ideas for it, but here's something for it finally! i'm not sure if this baby is emma or not, or if i want to make an oc specifically for this verse

wayne hears it before he's even out of the truck, and if he can hear it, then so can the rest of the trailer park, so he has to do something quick before he's got angry neighbors on his doorstep at seven in the morning.

forest hills is no stranger to babies, but everyone has their limits. wayne opens the front door with a wince as he's greeted with the ear piercing wails of his granddaughter. eddie and steve look like they're not fairing any better—steve is leaning on the counter with his head in his arms while a frazzled eddie desperately tries to calm his daughter's cries, pacing back and forth in the kitchen and patting her back, a burp rag thrown over his bare shoulder.

"she's been crying for hours, uncle wayne," eddie says, his voice cracking like he's gonna start crying at any second. "we've tried everything but we can't get her to stop."

steve lifts his head and looks just as desperate as eddie. "she's gonna cry herself sick but nothing's working."

wayne knows that it's killing them. they've made a fuss over every tiny noise this girl has made since bringing her home from the hospital a month ago, like all new parents do. but to be a new parent when you're only teenagers yourself? they deserve a little grace.

november is chilly and the december cold is right around the corner. wayne starts the bmw and lets it warm up as he gently takes the baby from eddie and puts her in her coat.

steve and eddie hover as he does this. understandable, since she's still squalling.

wayne sighs. "you boys need to rest, you look like you're gonna drop any second."

"but you just got off work-"

"no buts, son," wayne tells steve with a hand on his shoulder and a reassuring smile. "lord knows it takes a village. get some sleep."

eddie manages to convince him and after they both press kisses to their daughter's head, they slink back to their room to sleep for who knows how long.

wayne gets the baby in her car seat and pulls out of the drive, the music on a low volume. he huffs a laugh when the crying stops and she's asleep not even half a mile down the road.

taglist: @yournowheregirl @judasofsuburbia @steves-strapcollection @thefreakandthehair @stobinesque @vecnuthy @scarcrossdlvrs @starrystevie @inairbinad @flowercrowngods @starryeyedjanai @matchingbatbites @corrodedbisexual @theheadlessphilosopher @patchworkgargoyle @sentient-trash @wormdebut @legitcookie @corrodedcoughin @steddieas-shegoes @wynnyfryd @sidekick-hero

support my writing 🥐☕

[kinardsevan]

Okay, prompt. Tommy and Buck are having slow shifts and one of them decides to call the other.

consider this as existing in the same timeline as to can’t outdrive pain (someday it’s gonna take the wheel)

we survive

Tommy sighs, pushing a piece of paper across the table.

“Riley, you have to at least try to make your art not be derogatory,” he states in a gentle but firm tone. “Miss Sidney isn’t going to let this fly.”

Riley rolls his eyes, tossing a conte crayon onto the table. Charcoal scatters as it cracks in half, and the teenager crosses his arms. Tommy frowns, reaching out for the crayon and setting it back inside the box he’d brought with him.

He’s no stranger to Riley’s moods six months into this endeavor. What had begun as a way to fill some time after breaking his elbow and having to miss weeks of work has become part of his weekly ritual now, occasionally twice a week when he can swing the extra time. Evan has joined him a number of times when the time off has lined up, but today he’s alone.

Riley Collins was almost sixteen and had a rough background, one Tommy could relate to only too well. His mom had died when he was three, and he was left with an alcoholic father who cared so little that at seven, he’d been found digging in a neighbors trash can for food. That had begun the teen’s childhood in foster care, but it hadn’t been the end of it. He’d cycled through multiple foster homes with while struggling with attachment issues. There was a year-long period when Riley was eleven where his father had gotten sober, regained custody, and things seemed like they might get better. Except, Riley had been the ringer by that point. He’d lived in homes with emotional and verbal abuse. He’d seen parents hit each other, and occasionally hit the children. He’d seen sexual abuse through the tiny window of where his blankets didn’t completely cover his eyes when cries of his foster siblings woke him in the middle of the night. He’d faced some of those situations himself, and by the time he cycled back into his fathers home, he wasn’t the same little kid who had learned to become self-sufficient when his father was lost to the bottle.

Either way, Riley’s father made it six months before his sobriety with Riley back home went to hell. There was a DWI, and then an occurrence where Riley showed up to school with a black eye and bloodied nose. Then he was locked out of the house. CPS was still so involved at that point that he was quickly placed back in foster care, but the writing was on the wall at that point. Even though he’d been placed with a family with good values, he was a mess. There were stolen things, broken possessions, a flirtation with breaking the law. Ultimately though, it was a full-on brawl he got into with an uncle which led to his placement in the group home. And the thing was, he was a great student. He could stay invested in his school work and the routine it required without a problem. But when it came to people…he was a mess.

Tommy couldn’t help but reflect that back to his own childhood.

“This is so fucking lame anyway,” Riley bemoans.

Tommy raises an eyebrow at him. “Really? You seemed to think it was cool three days ago.”

“What the fuck do you know, old man,” Riley replies, scowling at him. He shoves away from the table, and Sidney is up out of her chair quickly, already calling after him, but Tommy raises a hand to her.

“Let me go,” he tells her softly. Their group is usually a bit bigger, but with school being back in session, half of them have signed up for extracurriculars, so there’s only three today, and Sidney has the other two pretty well covered with whatever they’re drawing.

She looks at him with a hint of apprehension, but then nods, settling back into her chair.

Tommy picks up his sketchbook and moves around the table, walks out the back door toward a picnic table where Riley is pushing a stick into the aged wood, trying to peel a piece of loose long grain with it. He dares a glance up at Tommy and then sighs, looking back down at the table.

“Hey kid. You wanna tell me what that was all about,” he asks, crossing the space between them but still staying a few feet away.

Riley huffs but doesn’t answer as he keeps pushing at the picnic table with the stick. Tommy frowns, taking a few more steps forward and sitting down on the opposite side of the table. He reaches into the pocket of his shirt and pulls out a tin of Altoid Sours. He pops one in his mouth and then offers one to Riley. When the kid doesn’t immediately take one, Tommy rests the tin on the table between them.

“You know, I used to make a lot of really violent art,” Tommy states. “Still have some of it. Drawings of people getting stabbed, gunshot wounds.”

“Bet Miss Sidney would love to hear that right now,” Riley states sarcastically.

Tommy shrugs. “Probably not. But it was how I dealt. Especially with the people who hurt me when I was your age.” He flips his sketchbook back to the front before setting in front of Riley on the table. The first few pages have older, yellowed paper taped in. It’s been crumpled and some of it is shredded, but Riley looks up at it, skims over the images. He sets the stick down and flips a page over as something that looks suspiciously like comic paneling tells the story of a child and his abusive father. He watches the way Riley runs his fingers over the paper, touches the images.

“What do you know about abuse anyway, old man,” Riley murmurs softly, anger still present in his voice.

“More than you’d think, kid,” Tommy replies. When the teen looks up at him, Tommy raises an eyebrow at him. “First of all, I wasn’t always this built or lean. And me at thirteen, on the huskier side and gay? That didn’t go over all that well in my home.”

Riley doesn’t let on his emotional response to Tommy’s explanation, but he keeps flipping through the pages in the sketchbook. A drawing of a war zone. Drawings of mass military graves. Dog tags. Bloodied fists with colored pastels.

“Least you got out,” Riley comments after a few minutes of silence. “Had someone to help.”

Tommy gives a haughty laugh. “I went to the military to get out. I didn’t have anyone waiting at home if I made it back from Iraq. Everything I’ve done, I’ve had to do on my own.”

There’s still a scowl on Riley’s face, but the ire seems to sink out of it as he listens to Tommy.

“I was not cool when I came back, either,” he adds. “I was really shitty to people I now consider friends. Spent a lot of years alone because I couldn’t figure out how to just connect with people.”

“Least you found people who wanted you around,” Riley grumbles, his voice still soft, like he doesn’t actually want Tommy to hear him. “I got two years.”

Tommy sighs. He’s not sure whether saying something is a good idea. There are still too many what ifs and probabilities for him to be sure.

“You know, Evan and I have been talking to Miss Sidney,” he states in a quiet tone. Riley finally reaches out and takes one of the altoids, pops it into his mouth. His eyes slowly raise, though he doesn’t look directly at Tommy. “But we can’t do anything if you keep showing this kind of attitude in program. They won’t consider it a good placement.”

Riley’s brown eyes meet his then, his sandy blonde hair half hanging in them. He stares at Tommy with a bewildered expression.

“Hailey is-..”

Tommy shakes his head, cutting Riley off. Of course the kid would think they’d want a young child. “Hailey doesn’t fit in our home. She’s six. She needs a mom.”

“Dakota-“

“Doesn’t like fire trucks,” Tommy comments, in reference to another one of the younger kids.

Riley looks up at him, brow furrowed. “Shouldn’t you two want a baby?”

Tommy lets out a small laugh. “Do you know how long the adoption process is for an infant? Never mind surrogacy.” He can’t help the warmth in his chest at the fact that for all of Riley’s questions, the idea of living in a house with two men in a committed (carnal) relationship isn’t one of them.

Riley is quiet again for a few moments as he closes Tommy’s sketchbook and places it back on the table.

“I age out in 798 days,” he mutters.

Tommy takes a breath and shrugs again. “Well. I guess that leaves us roughly twenty-two thousand more to have you around with us, five of take a few thousand,” he states. “You know, if you want to.”

Riley looks up at him through his eyelashes with an expression that’s trying suspiciously not to reflect any kind of hope. Tommy recognizes it from the one he had when he’d been told he was going back to live with his father at thirteen. He narrows his gaze slightly as he reaches out for his sketchbook.

“You know, Evan makes a mean shepherd’s pie,” he comments, sliding the book back over. “I could probably get him to whip one up tonight. He’s supposed to be off shift soon.”

“T-tonight,” Riley stammers.

“Only if you want to,” Tommy replies. “And if you apologize in front of Miss Sidney. I kinda promised her you’d be a good fit and you’re making me look bad right now.”

The slightest bit of an upturn happens at the corners of Riley’s mouth. Tommy nods, reaching out for the altoids tin. He closes it and pops it back in his pocket.

. . .

Hours later, in the silence of their home, Evan rests his chin on Tommy’s shoulder as they stand in the doorway of what they expect to become Riley’s bedroom. The teen is sprawled across the Queen-sized bed and a pillow that Tommy finds to be suspiciously similar to one from his and Evan’s bed is wrapped tightly in the teen’s arms.

“Dare I say, he’s a little attached to us,” Evan whispers to Tommy.

Tommy chuckles, pointing up to the T-shirts tacked up to a cork board on the wall. “That was his idea.”

Both shirts are worn and faded, one from the 118 and the other from Harbor. The vinyl is half-peeled from the shirts, and only the outline of Tommy’s last name remains on the shirt that belonged to him from how much use it’s seen.

“Who would’ve thought he’d like us that much,” Evan jokes. He tilts his head, resting his cheek on Tommy’s shoulder.

“I think he feels seen. Understood,” Tommy murmurs back. He takes a breath, looking down at Evan. “He asked if he could take both last names.”

Evan smiles wearily at Tommy. “He can have whatever he wants.”

Tommy lets out a soft chuckle, although he stiffens when Riley moves on the bed, only to settle a few seconds later with a contented sigh.

“And this is why you’re not in charge of the budget right now,” he comments. “He’ll have you talked into a car and three gaming systems in under twenty-four hours.”

Evan scowls at Tommy, turns his head and bites his shoulder. Tommy grunts softly, turning toward him. He pushes Evan gently out of the room, across the hall into their bedroom, easing the door shut quietly.

“Let’s not traumatize the kid on his first night home,” he states, framing Evan’s face with his hands before he dives in for a heated kiss. Evan moans softly into his mouth, fisting Tommy’s shirt.

“Well then, I guess you’re just gonna have to drown me out with the shower,” Evan replies, tugging Tommy back towards the en-suite.

And he does.

[streamafterlaughter]

Safe

masterlist | nav

summary: a night out with your friends turns sour, but you’re rescued by an unexpected hero

A/N: i wrote a chapter based on this post for my main fic, but feel a desperate need to write it again putting more detail into it bc i love a fictional man covered in blood idk what to tell you!!! let me know if you want a part II, im feeling a miniverse comin’ on (dw, chapter 23 of FD is in the works, i promise!) reblogs and comments always appreciated!

tags/tw: friends to lovers, mentions of sexual harassment, blood, violence (eddie gets in a fight), swearing, slut shaming, confessions, drunkish!eddie. (lmk if i missed something!) fluff, angst, slight hurt/comfort. reader and eddie are about 22-23, out of high school, happy etc etc. best friend!robin and best friend!steve feature, of course.

—

Your friendship had been simple, at first. You and Eddie had met as kids, before boys had cooties and girls were lame. Eddie had been cornered on the playground, by some giants in the grade above you. They'd shoved him against the chain link fence, their greasy leader demanding he hand over his lunch money. When Eddie blubbered that he didn’t have any, that he hadn’t eaten lunch in weeks, the goons cackled at him, shoving him to the ground while calling him things like “trailer trash.” You couldn’t stand it, even at eleven years old. The poor kid, with hair buzzed closely to his scalp, dressed in all black, carrying around a battered notebook with doodles of dragons on its cover. Your face had warmed with anger, hands balled into fists ready to swing on the group that would outnumber you five to two, or five to one if you were being realistic. This kid clearly wasn’t a fighter.

“Hey!” You had shouted, stomping your worn out converse against the mulch of the playground. “What the hell are you doing, Jared?” You hadn’t been afraid to get in the kid’s face, brows furrowed together as you jabbed your tiny finger into his puffed out chest. “What’s he ever done to you, huh? I don’t think it’s his fault your mother left.” You know now, it wasn’t the nicest thing to say, but it had worked. Jared’s goons had gone silent, anticipating his retort, but all he’d done was cry. What a bitch.

When he’d run, tail tucked between his legs, you’d turned to the cowering boy behind you, offering your hand. “You okay?”

He’d nodded, clearly still shaken up but trying to be brave. “I can take care of myself.” Of course, it had been embarrassing. Not because you were a girl, or younger than him, but you were braver. You didn’t give a shit what people thought of you. Even then, he could tell. You were fucking cool.

”Yeah, sure looked like it. Whatever. I’m Y/n.” You held out your hand to him again, this time to shake, like you were a seasoned lawyer, or something.

“Eddie.” He’d taken your hand, given it a brief shake, but you could tell he was nervous by the way your palm stuck to his.

”Hi, Eddie. You wanna walk to Benny’s with me? Get some burgers?”

He’d shaken his head. “I don’t have money.”

You’d only shrugged. “I got it.” You didn’t think mentioning that Benny was your uncle, or that you and your friends could always eat free, was worth mentioning. From that day on, you and Eddie had been inseparable.

—

The Hideout is loud. You’re wrapped around your best friend’s arm as he leads you through the bar. It’s the only time you’ve seen this place busy, let alone filled with people that don’t qualify for a discount at Denny’s.

The crowd must be the fault of the band. They're full of life on the tiny stage in the back of the bar, somehow convincing patrons to take to the sticky wooden floor to dance.

“You wanna drink, sweets?” You hear him even over the loud music, like a siren call meant only for you.

“Yes, please!” You look up at Eddie, who’s already staring at you. His rich brown eyes sparkle in the dancing stage lights, and you find your tongue in knots at the sight of him.

He nods, sliding his jacket from your shoulders before seating you at a table. “I’ll be right back!” He promises before skipping off to the bar. You keep your eyes trained on him, hypnotized by the way he glided towards the bar, weaving between the mass of gyrating bodies.

You can’t exactly pinpoint when your feelings for him started changing. You assume it had to have been high school. He started growing his hair out, dressing in leather and denim, and listening to a lot of heavy metal. Something about it was attractive to you, watching your best friend become the man he is now, at twenty three years old.

Even with an exterior most find scary, Eddie is still the kindest soul you know. That’s what really pulled you in. He’s always treated you with kindness and care, never once letting you leave his house angry, and knowing just what to say to calm you down. He always makes sure you’re home safe after a night drinking, sometimes even willing to forfeit his own fun to drive you to your place, or crash at his trailer.

Of course, these feelings have stayed stuffed deep, deep down. You can’t bring yourself to ruin what you have with him, risking your closest friendship to maybe be told what you want to hear.

“Hey! You still in there?” Eddie waves his decorated hand a few inches from your face, and you’re dragged back to earth. He places your drink on the table in front of you.

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Penny for your thoughts?” He rests his chin on his knuckles, full attention on you, and you feel your face warm.

“Just happy to be out with you is all.” Not a lie, but not exactly the truth. Safe.

“Alright.” He’s never been one to pry. “You wanna dance?” The song has changed to something slower, and you try not to read into his timing as you nod your head cautiously, taking Eddie’s hand as he leads you to the floor.

Eddie places his hands on either of your hips, and you can’t help but stiffen. “This alright?” He must have felt it too.

“Yes, yeah,” You stumble to reassure him, nervous you’ll scare him off. He’s always been such a gentleman, so careful with you.

You drape your arms around his neck loosely, casually. Safely. Still just two friends, swaying to some angst ridden tune you can’t understand the words to.

—

It’s later when Steve and Robin arrive, already drunk from spending the night at a concert in the city. You’re still not down for the count, and Eddie’s nursing his sixth drink of the night as the music has switched from guitar driven to computer beats coming from a turntable.

“Since when does The Hideout hire DJs?” Robin shouts over the bass driven music, eyes squinting in the bright lights.

“Ever since the place sold to some big wig in Indy, they’ve been doing this shit on weekends!” Eddie informs her as Steve starts talking about how “this is actually a great business tactic.” You decide now is a good time to slip back to the bar for a refill.

Unfortunately, you are one of about fifty people to have that idea, and you groan as you fight to find an open space along the counter. You mumble “excuse me” after “sorry” after “move, please!” until you’ve almost reached the front. As you’re about to order, you feel a hand squeeze your ass.

You whip your head around, and come face to face with a large, muscular man in a tight t-shirt and even tighter jeans.

“Hey, baby,” He winks, the disgusting smirk on his face sending a chill through your body. “You here all by yourself, gorgeous?” Your throat tightens. This is what it’s like, you know that. You shouldn’t be by yourself, that was your mistake. Your throat tightens, impossibly dry, before looking back up at this man. He is seemingly a foot and a half taller than you, likely able to break you in half using only his bicep, and he’s is standing way too close. You can even smell the whiskey on his tongue. “Uh, well,”

“Cmon, let’s go dance, huh?” He interrupts, snatching your wrist with an iron grip, and you squeeze your eyes shut as he leads you towards the dance floor, already formulating an escape route. You’ll say you need to use the bathroom, then you’ll find your friends and leave. Easy enough, right? Unfortunately as you reach the dance floor, the song slows again and you find yourself flush against this beast of a man, his big arms caging you into his chest. You feel the tears start to well in your eyes, blurring your already obscured vision. Your heart drops into your stomach when you realize you are completely, fully, and hopelessly trapped.

—

“Sooo,” Robin turns to Eddie, who’s been staring across into space, daydreaming about you for the last five minutes. “Where’s your girl?”

“What?” He’d heard her, but he wants to hear it again. And again and again.

“Your baby, dingus! You’re one true-“

“Would you shut up?” He interrupts her slurring of teasing, aching jabs, feeling his face heat up with every syllable. “She’s not my- y’know, she’s not mine.”

“Oh, please!” Steve snorts, causing Eddie to whip his head to look at him. “We all know she’s yours, and you’re hers, and all that romantic bullshit, okay? No use trying to squirm out of it. Be grateful you got that much. We all know she loves you.”

He rolls his eyes, but his heart is skipping with each word. He wants to believe them, desperately. He can’t bring himself to have those hopes, though, not about you. He’d only disappoint you, or scare you off when he got too close. It’s better, keeping you at a distance. Safer.

“Is that… No,” Robin looks beyond Eddie, and he turns to follow her gaze. He finds you easily, the only figure he’d recognize in such a loud, multicolored environment. You’re squished against a boulder of a man as you sway to the music, but he can’t see your face. Eddie feels his heart catch in his throat as he turns back to his friends.

“See? I told you she’s not mine.” He clears his throat when he hears his own voice crack. Not fucking now.

“Who is that guy?” Steve asks, craning his neck to get a better view.

“Probably just some club sleaze, she’s probably not even having fun.” Robin shrugs. Her comment clicks in Eddie’s brain before it clicks in her own, though.

“I gotta go.” He shoves himself from the table.

“Should I go with him?”

Robin shrugs. “That dude is gigantic. Maybe watch his back.”

—

“Hey, um,” The song has ended, and you need to get the fuck out of here. “I’ll be right back, I gotta use the ladies’ room,” You peel yourself away from him, but he grabs your arm before you can.

“Nuh uh, you can use the bathroom at my place. C’mon.” There will be no talking yourself out of this. Usually you can confuse a man into leaving you alone, but this guy’s different. You can sense the danger, the complete lack of empathy, like it’s a scent he’s giving off. You have to make a scene.

You twist your arm, writhing to get out of his grip, when you feel the cooling rings of a familiar hand on your shoulder. “Hey, sweetheart,” Eddie’s voice is low, so this man/monster can’t hear him. “I’m gonna get you out of here. Hang on.” He moves in front of you, between you and the giant causing him to drop your arm. There’s an angry red ring of his lasting grip around your wrist. “You gotta problem, buddy?” The guy puffs his chest out at Eddie, like some weird, animalistic instinct to seem bigger. Like he needs that advantage.

“Yeah, I do. Why were your hands on my girl?”

You try not to think about the words too much. Despite the situation though, you feel your heart skip. Steve joins him beside you, placing his hand on your other shoulder protectively.

“Your girl, huh? Well your girl’s a fuckin’ slut then, she’s been dancing with me for the last ten minutes.”

“What the fuck did you just call her, you prick?”

“You heard me bitch boy, she’s a slut! And I like my girls dirty.” Before Eddie can respond, the guy swings his arm into Eddie’s unsuspecting face as you watch, frozen and helpless. Your hands fly to your mouth to muffle the shriek, but you catch the attention of some nearby patrons.

Eddie doesn’t go down, though. The adrenaline keeps him on his feet. “Oh, we’re doin’ this now?” Eddie smirks as he wipes the blood from his split lip. “Cmon, I know you got more in ya than that. You’re massive!” Eddie taunts him before launching at the guy, managing to double him over with a punch to the gut. “You’ll have to do more than that if you want her, big guy. I’ll lay down my fuckin’ life in this bar for that woman.”

The crowd has now turned their attention to where Eddie’s got the brute in a headlock. He gets one more punch in before his opponent breaks out of his grasp, sending his elbow straight into Eddie’s nose. “Oh, ho, ho,” Eddie cackles maniacally as he lifts away from the counter, blood now dripping from his nostrils into his mouth, staining his skin and his shirt. “Look at you, tough guy.” He spits a mouthful of blood onto the bar floor. “Real big of you beatin’ on someone a quarter your size.”

Before anyone else can make a move, the bouncers are rushing up behind them, escorting both men out the front entrance while you follow behind with Steve and Robin. It takes six guys to move the giant, leaving Eddie to comply with the disgruntled manager. You watch as your adversary curses at Eddie before walking into the night, disappearing before anyone could think to call the cops.

“Oh my god, what the fuck?!” Robin is laughing nervously as she looks between you and Eddie, then to Steve with that annoying, know-it-all glint in her eyes.

“Eddie, he could have fuckin’ killed you!” Steve, ever the babysitter, scolds his friend with an elbow to his ribs, causing Eddie to wince in pain.

“Yeah, maybe, but if it meant keeping her safe-,” He cuts himself off as he meets your teary eyes. “Oh, no. Sweets, what’s wrong?”

You shake your head, barely able to look at the bloody boy in front of you. He’s hurt because of you. You were supposed to keep him safe.

“I’m so sorry, Eddie.” You whisper, afraid your voice will betray you for speaking at full volume. “You shouldn’t have done that, I shouldn’t have let you.” The tears are warm on your cheeks when they spill, and as quickly as they do, you have six arms wrapped around you.

—

“Get some rest, we’ll see you guys tomorrow.” You shut the cab door behind you before following Eddie into his trailer. You don’t want to be alone tonight, and Eddie has graciously offered a sleepover at his place.

“How’s your face?” You ask, already on your way to the freezer for an ice pack.

“I’m fine, honey, I promise.” His voice says otherwise, low and scratchy from a night of straining it. “How are you doing, though?”

It’s a loaded question. How are you supposed to feel, watching your best friend risk his life for you? You’re grateful, sure, but the guilt eats at you still. “I’m just so, so sorry Eddie,” You carefully lift your hand to caress his swollen cheek. “You really didn't have to do that.”

“What was I supposed to do? Let him hurt you? I couldn’t live with myself.” He shakes his head, wincing in pain. “I meant what I said. I’d risk my life to keep you safe.”

You shake your head, not accepting his answer. “Why?” It’s meek, barely a whisper as you blot the remaining blood from his lip.

“What do you mean why?” His words are muffled by the tissue.

You huff, getting upset despite yourself. “You’re telling me you’d put yourself in danger if it meant keeping me out of it? What’s the point? Why do that to yourself because I’m too stupid to make the right decisions? What do you gain from that?”

He shakes his head, clearly frustrated. “Do I have to gain something from it? I do it because I love you, y/n. Simple as that.” You gape at him, and he rolls his eyes, the beginning of a smirk twitching on his face. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”

“It would be helpful, yes.” You’re just about begging now, the nervous sweat causing your shirt to stick to you.

“Sweets, I accepted that I would die for you a long fuckin’ time ago. If it meant keeping you happy, I would tie myself to the train tracks. Or, in this case, let some fucker twice my size beat the living shit out of me.”

You can’t accept it, logically. Your brain won’t let you believe any of his claims. “But I don’t-“

“No.” His voice is stern, almost scolding. “No more of that ‘I don’t deserve you’ shit. Okay? Absolutely not. Because you do. You saved my life all those years ago, and I promised myself I’d make sure to protect yours, too. You are my best friend, and the absolute love of my life, so I’m gonna give you everything I’ve got.” He laces his fingers with yours, and you watch as his rings catch the light.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel that way about me, I’ll never ask you for that, it wouldn’t be fair. But I can’t stand by when you’re in trouble, it’s not what I do.”

Your heart is fighting to free itself from your ribcage. It wants to jump from your skin, straight into Eddie’s open palms. Though the ever present coward in you wishes to curl up inside yourself and hide from him, everything else in your body is being pulled towards him, compelled as if by nature.

Before you even notice you’re crying again, Eddie wraps himself around your shaking frame, rubbing soothing patterns on your back as you sob, open mouthed and ugly, into his t-shirt. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m right here.” He coos, and you focus on his breathing, matching the pace to calm the stutter of your cries.

You claw at his jacket, inhaling his scent of cigarettes and pine soap. You need him closer. He tightens his grip on you, and you look up to face him. His own cheeks are wet with tears, his eyes screwed shut trying to stifle the bite of the wracking sobs you know the strength of well. This is the only chance you’re getting, so you move with calculation. Despite the anxious pounding of your heart, and everything in your head telling you that he’s not yours and never could be, you crane your neck to reach Eddie’s split and swollen lips, squeezing your eyes shut as you place your mouth on his, ever so gently.

Before Eddie can react, you’re gone, face inches away from him as his eyes flutter open. “Whoa. Uh, w-what… what are you doing?” He sputters, face now bright red, and you feel your own cheeks blush.

“I’m- I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed… ” You cover your mouth with your hand to hide the shame, feeling the fire in your stomach. You have just ruined years of friendship, and for one stupid kiss! But Eddie’s beaming, and he’s still gripping you close to him. “I've just wanted to do that for so long.” You admit shyly, shifting against his grip, ready to retreat, but he holds you tighter.

“Can you do it again?” His voice is more confident now. You’re not sure you’ve heard him correctly, but when you look at him, it’s undeniable.

You mirror his smile, nodding before leaning into him again. He makes the connection, taking the lead as your body contorts around his, lips locking together as he holds you flush against him. His lips are so soft, and he’s so gentle with you, even though you can tell he’s eager, like maybe he’s also wanted to do this for a while. The thought causes you to smile against his lips, and you feel his own lips stretch against yours as your hands move from his shoulders to his hair.

One of his hands moves from your waist to caress your face, holding your jaw like a precious pearl he’s discovered after years at sea. Your tears fall freely now, ones of overwhelming love for Eddie, ones you never could have hoped to shed, content letting them simmer in the pit of your throat if it meant keeping your best friend. You’re breathless when he lets you go, fighting the urge to chase after his lips. After almost a decade of wondering what Eddie would taste like, what kissing him would feel like, now you get to know. “I have been in love with you since that day on the playground,” He confesses, tightening his arms around your waist to keep you close. “But I’m such a chicken shit, I didn’t wanna ruin anything. You were so sweet to me, I couldn’t risk losing that, losing you.” The words seem to spill from him now, like he’s been craving to tell you. You suppose he has.

You take in the sight of your best friend, battered and bruised for the sake of your honor, like a knight thrown into battle without armor. He’s beautiful, even in black and blue. You bring your hand to his cheek, rubbing small circles on his skin as he leans into your touch. You could stay here forever, you think. “I love you too, Eds. I have for as long as I can remember.” He smiles at you, lip splitting again but he doesn’t even flinch. You return the grin, feeling your cheeks ache from how wide you’ve stretched your mouth. “Thank you for keeping me safe.” You kiss him again, letting yourself taste the blood he’d spilled for you, a silent promise that you’ll make sure he never has to again.

-

taglist @children-of-the-grave :p

[freckledjoes]

Munson mornings

Friday - March 21st, 1986

It was one of those rare days where Wayne had worked an afternoon shift, meaning that he had had plenty of sleep before he sat down at the kitchen table in their trailer. He knew it would take Eddie about an hour or more before he'd wake up from his slumber, probably grasping at some honey combs before he'd rush out the door, mumbling something along the lines of "Missed first period, what's new." with his mouth still full. Wayne would then look at the crumbs on the doormat and consider that a task for another day.

However, today was a different day for both Munsons, it seemed, as Wayne heard Eddie trashing about in his room, loudly complaining about being unable to find something, much earlier than he was used of him. At one point he let out a happy yell, meaning that he'd probably found what he was looking for, and then possibly stubbed his toe in excitement, judging by all of the swearing that immediately followed after. His door opened, the bathroom door following and not much later Wayne could hear the shower.

Seeing as his nephew would probably have considerable time to get to school, he figured he could make them some eggs on toast, a little treat right before the weekend. It wasn't until Eddie stepped out of the shower that he realized that Wayne was home.

"You're home? Why aren't you asleep?"

"Afternoon shift."

"Oh. Eggs?"

"If you wanna."

"Sure. Can you—"

"Already done it."

Wayne had prepared Eddie's plate just how he liked it, with the eggs cut perfectly to fit on the toast, and the other bits on the side so he could eat those as a "snack". Eddie got dressed first, left the towel around his neck for his dripping curls and added a tiny bit of eyeliner to his eyes. As Eddie sat down, Wayne could immediately tell he was excited about something by the way his features contrasted his usual morning expression drastically. That meant four options.

One: He had a date (unlikely)

Two: Some kind of good drug deal coming up (possible, but Eddie usually didn't really talk about that stuff around his uncle)

Three: He had a gig (it wasn't Tuesday)

Four: Anything related to his D&D campaign (bingo)

"Those little shits have no idea what's coming," Eddie said with a slight evil grin right before taking a bite of his toast, groaning at the taste of it.

"Campaign night?"

"Uh-huh. I've got the dungeon all set up. There are so many traps, but there are two things that could help them out if they know where to look. Dustin will probably try but I bet Mike's gonna rush them into their deaths without blinking. Him and probably Gareth. See, there's this, let's call him "demon guy" for your sake, and he's gonna be waiting right here," Eddie grabbed some dry crackers that he wasn't planning to eat and used them to lay out a part of the dungeon map he'd been working on the past few weeks. Wayne followed his movements, watched how Eddie broke tiny pieces off the crackers to emphasize that one bit had a rounded corner, and stacked some honey combs to show the position of "demon guy" while also popping a few of them into his mouth as he explained further.

Eddie went on and on, eggs on toast almost forgotten until Wayne wordlessly nudged his plate so he'd remember and would take a bite out of it in between. Wayne watched him fondly, cherishing the light he recognized in Eddie's eyes, a light that seemed a rare occurence nowadays. He hoped that graduating would work out this year, so Ed could stop beating himself up about it. Maybe he could get himself a job as a mechanic, he seemed to like working on his van. Or perhaps something backstage, with lights or music, so that he could be involved in that industry even if he hadn't made it big himself just yet. Wayne knew he was meant for big things. He had the drive for it, just needed the confidence.

"Wayne? Are you listening? This part is crucial."

"What did I tell ya about chewing with your mouth open, boy?" Wayne sighed half-heartedly as crumbs landed everywhere on the table. Eddie gave him an apologetic smile (full of food) and tapped impatiently on a piece of honey comb that now represented a summoning circle.

"So this is where..."

Wayne didn't mean to, he really didn't, but he lost track the second Eddie started talking. Maybe being distracted was a Munson trait, who knew. He smiled fondly and took in all his gestures, enjoying the quiet morning with his nephew who was the opposite of quiet. It was nice, having him around. It always had been, even throughout puberty where he hadn't always been easy. He would always be his boy, a young man ahead of his old man in many ways.

As Eddie finished his breakfast and went back into his room to grab his stuff for the campaign that evening, Wayne decided he should ask Eddie about the campaign the next day. He couldn't wait to see hear how his clever nephew made those kids twist and turn. Eddie was a great storyteller, and his own story was only just beginning.

—

This was a vague idea that popped up in my brain, which I shared with @stevesxyellowxsweater, basically thanks to Joseph mentioning a dinner scene (I think it was dinner? I'm forgetful - anyway I turned it into breakfast) between Eddie and Wayne would've been nice.

It's a little painful, in retrospect, but that's the duffelbags' fault not mine :)) Anyway hope you like? I rarely post writings sooo yeah.

[starwarsmum]

A new fic? Me? Must be Wednesday 😅 this is based off a prompt for @apileofashandember about Marinette meeting the batfam through Penny ❤️

The rating on this is Mature because it gets a little spicy further down the line! You have been warned 😘

Chapter 1: A Liar Ruins a Website

Marinette sat alone in her room, hands scrunched in her hair as she muffled her screams into her bed. Her laptop sat innocently on her pillow, new comments popping up every few minutes on her now ruined website. 

“Make a website, Jagged said, it'll get your name out there, he said,” she complained to Tikki. The tiny god wisely said nothing, but settled itself into her hair. “How did that liar even find out about it? No, don't answer that,” she added when Tikki took a breath. “If I don't take my website down now, my name will be ruined, and I will never design professionally again.”

One short internet search later, and her heart broke as she changed the code to an out of service message. She would have to email the half a dozen clients that she had secured in the past month or so, and contact Jagged and Penny to let them know. It wasn't fair, she had worked so hard on making her website cute and fun. And now all of that hard work was ruined.

She sighed and opened up her group chat with Jagged and Penny, looking back at the good luck messages she had received from them about the website. It made her miss the early days of her commissions, when Jagged had asked her to make a pair of sunglasses and an album cover.

Nette: hey, just to let you know, I had to take the site down. someone said I stole their work and I got a bunch of hate

Auntie P: what?! who dares? I'm sorry Nette, that's awful

Uncle J: that's not rock n roll! is it that girl you told us about? Leela? Layla? 

Nette: probably, not that I can prove it

Marinette sighed, rubbing her eyes. She fired off the emails to her clients, hoping to get ahead for the night. She had finished her homework, but she still had an hour or two before she crashed for the night so she was hoping to get at least one of the designs finalised.

She got lost in the designing process, fresh pages becoming covered in sketches and annotations. She surfaced from her work after Tikki reminded her that she had school the next morning, so she readied herself for bed. When she checked her messages again before she went to sleep, she saw a new one flashing on the group chat.

Aunt P: if you need a hand rebranding, creating a new website, just let us know. we're proud of you for being so mature with this and we'll help you succeed

Nette: thanks both, I may take you up on that. I just need a couple of days to get over this setback and we'll sort it

It was after a fitful night's sleep that Marinette awoke, late as usual, and ran through her morning rituals. She shoved her hair into a bun, dragged on a semi-respectable outfit and grabbed a croissant on her way through the bakery. Now that she was in lycée, she had to travel further in the mornings. Fortunately, with the motorcycle she had finally passed the test to drive, she didn't need to rely on public transport to get there.

“Girl, are you okay?” Alya raced up to her as she pulled into the lycée car park, throwing her arms around Marinette. “Lila told us your website went down last night, right when she was about to submit a request! What happened?”

“Someone started a rumour that I stole my designs and it meant a bunch of people started trashing the site,” Marinette said, trying to keep her voice even. She couldn't help stressing the first word, as she knew who was likely behind it, but she regretted it when Alya sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Not again, Marinette! I know it's been hard for you since you and Adrien didn't work out, and now it looks like he and Lila are going to start dating, but you need to stop with the jealousy! I love you, girl, but you get so into your head about him.”

“Alya, I didn't even say anything!” Marinette protested, weariness settling back onto her like an old, heavy blanket. “Look, whatever, it's not important right now. We're going to be late to class if we don't hustle.”

“I know you, Mari, you always think it was Lila!” Alya sounded exasperated, and it wasn't like Marinette could refute it. They walked along the hallway to their lockers, nodding at their friends as they passed. “And I get it, really, you can't help how you feel, but like I've told you before, you have to look at things objectively to get to the truth!”

Marinette bit her tongue, not wanting to point out that Alya’s blind insistence that Lila would never do such a thing was just as subjective as her believing that she had. She deliberately changed the topic to something else, ignoring the disapproving look her best friend shot her.

When they entered their classroom, Marinette greeted her other friends, sliding easily into her seat. She had chosen to sit at the back of the class so that nobody could say she had to give up her seat to someone else, reducing the upset it caused when Lila started spinning tales. She was fortunate that Lila had been placed in a different class in the previous years, but in her last year of lycée, her luck had finally run out.

“Oh my gosh, Marinette, I heard about your website!” Came the liar's high pitched faux-concerned voice. It grated on her that she would have to play nice with Lila once again, as Lila got her jabs in at Marinette. “It's so scary that someone would start a rumour about your work ethic, with so little evidence! Adrien and I were talking about it last night, he's always saying how you're still such a good friend to him.”

“Yeah, well, actually there's no evidence of me stealing designs because it's one hundred percent untrue,” Marinette said blandly, staring Lila down. She ignored the distressed noises the other girl started to make and waved a hand. “It doesn't matter, I have a few commissions to get through, but then I should take a break from designing to focus on the BAC anyway…”

Everyone around her told her it was such a shame that she wouldn't be able to take on new commissions for a while and she nodded glumly. She had no intention of stopping designing, of course, but this would hopefully give her some breathing room whilst she got herself set up again - anonymously this time. 

Which sadly meant that Max was no longer an option for making a new website. As much as she loved her friends, they really didn't look too hard at Lila's fantastic stories, which meant they would blithely tell the witch when Marinette set up again. This way, she would make a name for herself separately, and claim the brand in a few years once it was fully legitimised.

The lessons that day felt like they dragged on forever, Marinette just wanting to go home and make some progress on her commissions. She had learned to keep her sketchbooks at home - she didn't want to lose her work to people like 14-year-old Chloe - so she focused on trying to get a headstart on her homework whenever she had a free minute.

“Marinette! We were just talking about our Christmas plans, girl, weren't you making a bunch of designs for the local nativity play?” Alya beckoned her over and Marinette hid the grimace that threatened to cross her face. “Wow, that's so cool! Did you volunteer or something?”

“Not really, they saw some of my work and offered me a reasonable price for their main costumes for the play,” Marinette answered, wary of where the conversation would go next. She had stopped doing freebies for her friends, which had upset them until she had explained that she wanted to go to university in America and needed to spend all of her time on paid commissions. 

“Oh, it's so nice for you that you're comfortable taking pay from such an underfunded space, Marinette!” Lila put in, sounding sweet as per usual, but with all of the underhandedness that Marinette was accustomed to. “I was just telling Rose that I'm planning on volunteering my time at a soup kitchen throughout the Christmas period. My friends, Damian and Tim, their family funds a few different charities both here and abroad. Do you think Adrien will be able to help out too?”

“You should probably check with his aunt,” she replied flatly, refusing to be baited into an argument about whether she should be doing the costumes for free. “I need to go and eat, excuse me.” She pushed away from the table, feeling drained again and resolutely ignoring the conversation that picked up about Lila's ‘friends’. Marinette was sure that whoever Lila was claiming to know this time had no clue who she was and she wasn't going to get stuck in that mess.

She toyed with her phone before deciding that she absolutely needed a new website and that Penny's friend was likely her best bet. So she crafted her message, begging Penny to put her in touch with her computer whiz before slogging through her homework and lunch.

_ _ _

Marinette sat nervously at her desk later that evening, waiting for the video call Penny had promised her. They had decided a three-way call was the best way to introduce them both, but as the other two were in America, it was later than Marinette would have liked for a video call.

Tikki was sitting quietly on her shoulder as she sketched anxiously. She knew that whoever Penny was introducing her to would be nice enough, but she was always unsure of meeting new people. She added a few details to her work, and jumped when the laptop began ringing. She hastily accepted the call, twisting in her chair and tapping her fingers.

“Hi, Nette,” came Penny's bright voice. “And hey Babs, thanks for coming on the call to help. Marinette, this is Barbara, an old student of sorts. I worked with her back when I was an aide at Gotham U, she was studying library science with a minor in computer sciences. Babs, this is Marinette, Jagged's personal designer. She's done a ton of his more recent album artwork and designed all of his stage outfits for the last 2 years. She's also our honorary niece.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Marinette!” The woman was leaning towards her screen, scrutinising the teenager. Marinette eyed her as well, seeing a whole mane of red hair and glasses above a broad smile. “Penny mentioned you needed some help with a website, though she didn't mention you were so accomplished already.”

“Ah, yes, I had some recent trouble with my own website and I don't have enough technical know-how to create something secure. I'm planning to go anonymous, to prevent the same thing happening again, but I have no idea where to start,” Marinette explained, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. 

“And how do you plan to get clients if you have no base to start from?” Babs was beginning to type furiously, a gleam in her eyes. “Don't get me wrong, I'm sure your work is wonderful, but if you don't have any endorsements, isn't it really hard to break onto the fashion scene?”

“Oh, well I thought I'd have Jagged do the introduction, if that's okay, Pen? Because I'm under 18, I didn't tell anyone except my maman that I was working with Jagged and she promised to keep it to herself. I figured that way I can sort commissions and won't have a problem with getting new clients.”

“Wicked idea, M!” Came Jagged's voice from off screen, making her giggle. “Babs, let us know when you have her site up and running and I'll rep it on my socials. Rock n roll, girls!”

So they worked out the logistics moving forward, Marinette trading contact info with Barbara and promising one evening a week to go over the website details. It was everything Marinette had hoped for when Penny had offered to connect her with a friend. When the call finally ended, it was closer to midnight in Paris and she was relieved that it was a weekend the following day.

“That went well, Marinette,” Tikki squeaked at her, floating around head height as the girl got herself ready for bed. Marinette agreed before collapsing into bed with a groan. It didn't take long for her to pass out, a slight smile on her face.

[transjerma985]

I’m super curious to know what non-jermamites know, so:

Jerma fans can still vote though! And lmk why you chose what you chose in tags or replies =] I’ll reveal when the poll ends

[steddieas-shegoes]

take a break

Happy Birthday CJ @tboyeddie )!!! I hope this tiny token of my friendship makes you smile, and I hope your day is relaxing and you get to do whatever you want to do. Giving you the biggest hug and wrapping you in a fuzzy blanket so you can be cozy. - Mickala 💖

rated m | tags on ao3

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

“Wayne’s just as bad as you.”

Steve looked at the giant box sitting in his living room, scribbled with little doodles and notes to their daughter, Jess. Her birthday wasn’t until next week, but since Wayne could only come this weekend, they’d arranged an early party.

He shipped her gift to their house since he couldn’t bring it on the plane.

Now Steve sees why.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Eddie said against his cheek as he came up behind him and wrapped his arms around Steve’s waist. “Nothing bad about wanting the best for our girl.”

“The best doesn’t have to be so…big.” Steve gestured to the box that was nearly his height. “What did he even get her?”

“He might’ve mentioned something about a swing set.” Eddie rocked them back and forth slowly. “But maybe it’s not.”

It was.

Steve glared at Eddie as he opened the top of the box to peek inside to confirm.

“We don’t even have anywhere to put it!” Steve whisper-yelled. Jess was asleep in her room, exhausted from a busy day at school and softball practice. “I’m not setting it up in my living room.”

“Sweetheart, we’ve got enough room on the back patio for this. It’s just one swing!” Eddie pulled a printed picture of the assembly from the side of the box. “See? Barely takes up any space. You won’t even notice it.”

“Right. I’ll just have to walk around it every time I have to take the trash out.” Steve crossed his arms. “Where are we even hiding this until her party?”

“I can make it fit in our closet.”

Steve’s brows raised in surprise.

For all that Steve used to hoard clothes, he only took up about 30% of their shared closet now. He was content with just enough to get through his week and a couple extra nicer outfits for special occasions.

Eddie, however, believed that more is more and he should get to have every shirt that looks even remotely decent on him.

Which, Steve admits, is most shirts.

“You’re not gonna make that fit.”

“How many times have you said that to me? I’ve always made it fit, right?” Eddie smirked at him, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“I’m going to bed,” Steve sighed, turning so he could hide the fond smile he had on his face.

“I’ll be in soon to make it fit!” Eddie replied.

Steve shook his head as he walked to their bedroom.

He stripped off his clothes with every intention of letting Eddie try his best.

——————————

“Daddy! You said Uncle Wayne was coming at 3:45. It’s 3:47 and he isn’t here!” Jess whined.

“Daddy did say that. But Daddy forgot you can read a clock and Daddy should have thought this through better,” Steve said as he finished making the pitcher of lemonade that Jess had long since abandoned.

“Where is he? Is he still in the plane?” Jess looked out the window and up to the sky as if she would be able to see Wayne waving out of the window of a plane if she tried hard enough. “Dad said that sometimes planes have to fly in circles before they can land. What if he’s dizzy?”

Steve hid a smile in the fridge as he put the pitcher of lemonade on the top shelf. “He’ll be here any minute. Maybe there was a holdup with his bags at the airport.”

He was glad Eddie was working right now or else he’d be pacing the floor and being as impatient as Jess. If he knew Eddie half as well as he thought he did, he probably was.

“Maybe they lost him.”

Steve couldn’t hold back the laugh at that. “Lost Uncle Wayne? I don’t think so. It’s pretty hard to lose a person, lovebug.”

“Not sometimes! My friend Hannah at school lost her sister once at the grocery store and her mom cried for two whole hours before they found her.”

Steve’s eyes widened momentarily. “But they found her! And she was just a kid who probably didn’t listen to her mom or dad, right? And your Uncle Wayne-“

“Is here!” Wayne yelled from the front door.

“Uncle Wayne!” Jess yelled as she ran out of the kitchen and dining area to their living room. “You’re not lost!”

“‘Course not! Couldn’t get lost right before your birthday. Then who’d sing ya the silly birthday song?” Wayne picked her up and settled her on his hip.

She was turning eight, and she was quite tall for her age, so this would probably be the last year Wayne could get away with this.

“Dad knows it. Doesn’t he?” Jess asked Steve, suddenly growing concerned. “What if Wayne did get lost?”

“Your dad knows it just fine,” Wayne said, setting her down and walking to Steve. “Hey, son. You doin’ alright?”

Steve let himself fall into a hug with Wayne, doing his best not to let tears gather.

It’d been a while, okay? He missed Wayne’s hugs.

“Glad you made it. Want a drink?” Steve pulled away to grab him a beer. “Grabbed your favorites at the store last night.”

“Drink sounds good.” Wayne popped the top before turning back to Jess. “I was promised a makeover last time we talked on the phone, wasn’t I?”

Wayne was a good sport, insisted that he didn’t care if it was playing catch at the park or getting his nails painted, he wanted to spend every second with Jess. Steve was just excited to have a day go by without eyeshadow glitter on his clothes.

“I got a new lip gloss that tastes like strawberries and you will love it, it’s just a little pink, but it tastes so good,” she said seriously, folding her hands in front of her and rocking onto her tip toes. “Can I show him daddy?”

“Yes, but remember what I said. It all stays in the bathroom. Go get everything ready first while he rests for a minute,” Steve smiled at her as she clapped and ran to the bathroom. “You don’t have to let her do the makeover. She’d be just as happy doing it to herself.”

“I’m happy to get a little glitter on this face. Could use a shinin’ demeanor,” Wayne joked. “Especially after the airport lost my bags.”

Steve’s jaw dropped. “What? Do you need me to run to the store and get you stuff? Why didn’t you say so sooner? I’ll catch Eds before he leaves work so he can stop on the way home.” He walked over to the phone, only to be stopped with a hand on his arm. He looked at Wayne with furrowed brows. “What is it?”

“If you waited a second, you’d know they found them. That was why I was a bit late.” Wayne shook his head. “You ain’t gotta jump through hoops for me, I keep tellin’ ya. You doin’ okay? Really?”

Steve’s sharp inhale, his painstakingly schooled features on his face, his hands being kept busy so Wayne wouldn’t see them shake, it all added up to him not doing okay.

Wayne pulled him into a hug, one hand cupping the back of his head and one rubbing his back as he felt Steve sob against him.

“Son, what’s goin’ on? You boys need some help?” Wayne whispered so Jess wouldn’t hear. “You know I’ve got some money saved up if ya need it.”

Steve shook his head against Wayne’s shoulder.

“No, no.” He sniffed. “I mean we’re broke, but all the bills are paid and we still managed to spoil Jess for her birthday. It’s just-”

Wayne smiled sadly before pulling away.

“Everything?” Steve nodded. “I know the feelin’. You boys are doing a great job, though. I know it’s a lot right now, but you’ll get through it. You always do.”

“Just overwhelmed lately. Eddie’s been working a lot more and my classes are all labs this semester, which is so stupid, like why do teachers even need labs if they aren’t gonna be science teachers?” Steve threw his arms up. “And Jess got in trouble at school last week for fighting and she was technically right and protecting herself and another kid, but they have policies or whatever so she was suspended for a day and I had to miss class, which was a midterm day and the professor is a dick who doesn’t seem to understand that people have lives outside of the classroom. And Eddie doesn’t really understand my frustration because he hated school, so why should I care so much, right? But he’s kinda right, like, I was allowed to make up the midterm, why am I still letting it bother me?”

“Papa! I’m ready!” Jess yelled from the bathroom, interrupting Steve’s rant. “Do you want blue or purple eyeshadow?”

“Surprise me!” He yelled back before touching Steve’s arm. “We’re gonna talk about this more later, okay? Ya don’t have to hold this in, son.”

“I know. Enjoy your makeover,” Steve sniffed, wiping at the few tears that managed to still trickle from his eyes. “Eds should be home soon.”

——————————

When Eddie got home, Wayne was well on his way to being the prettiest princess Chicago had ever seen.

He barely contained a snort of laughter at the streak of dark pink blush across one cheek as he kissed Jess’ head and made his way back to the kitchen.

“Hey, sweetheart. Smells good,” Eddie leaned in to kiss Steve’s cheek, brows furrowing when he saw the red around his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothin’. How was work?” Steve’s attempt at a comforting smile failed, and Eddie let his hands fall.

“Fine. Turn the stove off.” Eddie wasn’t sure what could’ve happened between that morning and now, especially since he’d been looking forward to Wayne’s visit even more than Eddie had been. “Look at me, Stevie.”

Steve turned to him, eyes still downcast, bottom lip worried between his teeth.

“Your head being loud?” Eddie whispered, cupping Steve’s cheeks in his hands. He smiled sadly when Steve nodded. “What do you need me to do?”

Steve shook his head, unsure of what Eddie could do. They were both doing everything they could, it was just how life was going for them right now.

No way out but through.

Eddie wordlessly pulled him into his chest, ignoring his quiet protest.

“We’ll order pizza if it burns.” Eddie had $20 cash in his wallet ready to go if Steve just said the word. “You’re doing too much, sweet love.”

“Jess, I totally forgot!” Wayne’s voice echoed from across the room. “Part of your birthday present is coming to stay with me at the hotel for a night so you can swim in the pool! Did you know it has a slide?”

Eddie turned to glance over his shoulder, nodding once when Wayne gave him an encouraging smile.

“Really?” Jess squealed. “Daddy! Dad! Please!”

Steve and Eddie were nearly bowled over by Jess, her excitement making them both give genuine smiles.

“If Papa is absolutely sure.” Steve looked over at Wayne, who was nodding. “You should go pack your backpack with pajamas and a bathing suit, little one.”

“I’m not little! I’m almost eight!” Jess argued as she ran to her bedroom.

“Wayne, you don’t have to-” Eddie started.

“You both need a night off. Maybe it won’t solve everything, but it’ll give ya time to yourselves.” Wayne ruffled Eddie’s hair, ignoring his groaning and complaining. “I’ll have her back before lunch tomorrow so she can get ready for her party. Plus, it’ll keep her outta your hair while you set everything up.”

Eddie and Steve knew better than to argue further, not with that stubborn old man.

Jess was packed in record time, giving Steve and Eddie hugs and a kiss on the cheek before practically bouncing out the front door.

Wayne just laughed and waved at them as he took her hand in his to lead her to his rental car.

The silence that followed was deafening, almost overwhelming.

Steve looked at Eddie, Eddie looked at Steve.

“We’re alone all night.” Steve sounded shocked, like it just sunk in. “Just us.”

“Just us. Alone,” Eddie repeated, his smile growing as he walked forward and stopped right in front of Steve. “I’m gonna take such good care of you, sweetheart.”

Steve melted against his chest at the words, grateful that Eddie was already wrapping his arms around him, keeping him from collapsing to the floor.

The past…six months or so, really, had been so stressful for both of them, they’d barely had time to do anything, let alone take care of each other in the way they both desperately needed. Steve wasn’t even sure the last time they actually managed to go to bed at the same time, his homework often keeping him up long after Eddie went to bed.

It would all be worth it, and they still managed to do little things for each other when they could, but it still sucked trying to get through it all.

“Miss you so much, Eds,” Steve mumbled against his neck, pressing his lips to the juncture of his shoulder and neck.

“Miss you all the time, baby boy. You wanna take a bath?”

Steve nodded against him, but didn’t pull away.

He didn’t need to; Eddie lifted him up under his thighs, waited for him to wrap his legs around his waist, and walked to their small, but cozy bathroom. Jess’ bath toy basket was still by the tub, along with an open bottle of bubble bath and her fruit punch shampoo along the edge. Eddie shook his head fondly before setting Steve down on the sink counter.

“She sure knows how to leave a mess, huh?” Eddie asked, not nearly as annoyed as he probably could be. “I guess she gets it from me.”

“Forgetting to close shampoo bottles? Definitely a learned behavior.” Steve kicked his toe out to nudge Eddie’s leg as he cleaned up and started the water. “Definitely not learned from me.”

Eddie turned around just to roll his eyes. “I don’t close them because I know you’re gonna use them. I don’t just forget.”

“Sure you don’t.” Steve pulls his own shirt off as he watches Eddie pour some of the coconut bubble bath. “Which is why you must also always forget to tell me when you’re running low on your body wash.”

“Exactly! You get it.”

Steve snorted and got off the counter to unbutton his pants, didn’t wanna waste any of their time waiting on Eddie to get him undressed.

“In a rush?” Eddie said over his shoulder as he let his hand run through the water to check the temperature. “We’ve got all night.”

“Not in a rush, just don’t wanna waste a second.”

“That sounds like rushing.”

Steve poked his shoulder as he stripped off his socks. “I’m not rushing.”

Eddie finally stood up and turned around, his breath catching when he saw Steve, completely naked, watching him with his hands on his hips.

“You’re so beautiful, baby boy,” Eddie whispered, reaching his hand out to run his fingers across his chest. His scars weren’t nearly as widespread as Eddie’s, mostly focused on his side and stomach, but Eddie liked to trace along the sensitive skin surrounding them just to watch him shiver. “How do you always look so good?”

Steve blushed, never good at taking compliments, even 15 years after Eddie gave him the first one. “I have bags under my eyes that look worse than that bag you found on the side of the road and tried to convince me you could polish up to use for when we visit Wayne.”

Eddie leaned in to give him a kiss. “No one knows how good you are at imagery, it’s such a shame. But they aren’t that bad, sweetheart. And they don’t make you less beautiful.”

Steve didn’t say anything else, just pressed a kiss to Eddie’s cheek and moved him out of the way so he could get into the almost full tub.

As he sunk down, every bit of stress he had in his body left him in a long sigh. The water temperature was perfect, the bubbles smelled good, and he could feel Eddie’s eyes on him in a way that made him feel precious, cherished, loved.

“You gonna join me or just stare at me all night?” Steve kept his eyes closed as he spoke, didn’t wanna disturb his peace.

“Can I do both?” Eddie asked from right next to the tub.

Steve opened his eyes to see Eddie already naked and gesturing for him to scoot up so he could join him.

Their tub was small, definitely not built for two grown men, but they managed to make it work. Once Eddie was settled against the back of the tub, Steve settled his back against Eddie’s front, pulling his knees up slightly and letting them rest against the sides of the tub.

Eddie’s arms wrapped around his chest, holding him up so he could relax completely.

They stayed like that for a while, quiet except for the occasional hum from Eddie.

Steve let his eyes drift shut after a minute or two, focused on the feeling of Eddie’s heart beating against his back, his breath puffing against his shoulder and neck or the top of his head, his fingers making patterns against his skin and chest hairs.

Every moment they’ve had to touch each other over the last few months had been rushed, and while Steve loved when Eddie got rough, he craved the softness of this moment sometimes too.

Now that he had it, his brain was shutting down, taking a rest from expectations, even the ones he liked having.

“Doing good, sweetheart?” Eddie whispered, not wanting to interrupt him.

“Mhm.” Steve’s mouth didn’t quite want to form words, but he was able to get that out at least. “Mmm.”

Eddie’s hands disappeared for a moment, but quickly came back with a soaped up washcloth. He rubbed along his arms and chest slowly, gently, whispering words to him as he worked. Steve felt cloudy, kind of like he’d stuck his head under the water, but kept smiling to himself. He hadn’t felt this good in a while, and he knew Eddie would take care of him.

“Stevie, I’m gonna get out so I can wash your hair. Can you open your eyes for me?” Steve blinked them open and turned his head, his vision blurry and taking a moment to completely focus on the man behind him. “That’s good, sweet love. You heard what I said?”

“Mhm.”

Eddie kissed his lips briefly, not wanting to pop the bubble Steve was in, before getting out of the tub and helping Steve settle back against the wall.

He wrapped a towel around his waist and dropped to his knees, cupped water over Steve’s head slowly, meticulously.

“Good,” Steve managed to get out as Eddie started scrubbing the shampoo into his hair, dragging his nails across the roots, massaging his scalp. “Love you.”

“I love you so much, baby boy.” Eddie kissed his forehead as he helped him tilt backwards so he could submerge all of his hair in the water to rinse it. “You deserve to feel good like this.”

Eddie always said that to him, even when Steve wasn’t floaty. They’d be sitting at a restaurant with Jess and he’d tell Steve to order whatever drink he wanted because he deserved to treat himself sometimes. They would be at the park watching Jess play with friends and Eddie would tell him that he deserved to have the family he always wanted.

Eddie made sure he knew he deserved to be happy, no matter the situation.

When Eddie was done, he kissed his temple and helped him out of the tub, pulling the plug for the water to drain as he held on to Steve’s hand.

The night went on, Steve got extra care and attention, and when he finally came out of the clouds, Eddie was holding a cup of hot chocolate for him to sip on in bed.

“Thank you, Eds. Needed that,” Steve said after taking a few sips, letting his head drop onto Eddie’s shoulder beside him.

“I needed it, too. Haven’t been able to really do much for you in so long. Started to feel like maybe I was failing.” Eddie sighed. “I know it’s not our fault, but we haven’t made us a priority in a while. I’m glad we got to tonight. We owe Wayne big time.”

Steve nodded, taking another long sip. “Maybe we can try to save up and get him that fishing pole for Christmas? That one he keeps talking about like it’s his firstborn child.”

Eddie barked out a laugh. “I think if we got that for him, he’d name it. I’d be forgotten.”

“I hope you don’t get jealous of your future sibling,” Steve joked, nudging Eddie’s side. “Wayne’s got plenty of love for you both.”

“I guess we’ll have to find out, huh?”

“I think if I can pull off a few extra shifts next month during school break, we can do it.”

Eddie kissed the top of his head. “Wayne would love that.”

“Well, I love him.”

“And he loves you. He wouldn’t have offered this if he didn’t.”

“He loves you and he loves Jess, he would’ve offered for you both if not for me.” Steve set the mug down on the bedside table before turning back to Eddie with a grin. “I think we could probably find the energy to get one round in before we pass out, couldn’t we?”

“One whole round? Very optimistic of you, sweetheart.”

Steve straddled Eddie’s lap, cupping his face in his hands. “Half a round?”

“That sounds possible.”

[just-an-enby-lemon]

BatFamily and Their Batman Ship:

Alfred - BatCat. Even though he disaproves of Selina's criminal life he enjoys her company enough it doesn't really matters. He thinks Selina and Bruce are perfect for each other.

Jim Gordon - BatCat and BruHarvey before discovering that Batman and Bruce were the same people he kindda just belived Catwoman was Batman's soulmate and Harvey was Bruce's tragic soulmate. Is more inclined towards Bruharvey because he thinks Bruce is the only one who can get Harvey's back and he and Harvey really bonded working together and he saw Harvey as an younger brother before Two-Face.

Dick - BatCat or SuperBat. He loves both Clark and Selina and both were basically parents for him in a way or another. He is very disapointed in Bruce for never acting on either of his two very obvious crushes. He is even more disapointed after Khoa breaks Bruce's heart.

Dick is an anti-GhostBat and Khoa will have to do a lot of work to prove his worth to Bruce's eldest child. He also disaproves of BruHarvey.

Barbara - BruHarvey or BatCat, just like Dick she grew whatching Selina sending Bruce the heart eyes and also respecting Selina as the ultimate girlboss. But while Dick was seeing Superman sending his dad love eyes, Barbara was seeing her uncles Harvey and Bruce weirdly pinning. And while Dick and Harvey never got along at all, Harvey was very close to the Gordon family as a whole and used to babysit Babs a lot.

Jason - Brutalia and WonderBat. He accepts some of Bruce's other love interests, but he doesn't like them. Talia means to Jason the same that Selina means to Dick, she is basically his mother and he adores her.

While Jason would support Wonderbat as well is important to add that he thinks Diana could and should do better. He thinks the same of Talia, but he also knows how much she likes Bruce and believes Bruce does act better when with her. He is starting to think BruHarvey is also not that awfull of an idea.

Cassandra - She saw most of Bruce's romantic phases with people and she has no fix idea. She just wants Bruce to be happy. If she had to choose one option would probably be Talia, but in parts is because she has a tiny crush on Talia.

Tim - None. Tim doesn't think anyone is good enough for Bruce. Or better put he thinks Bruce is too emocionally fragille for a relationship. Anyone who dates Bruce will have to deal with an overprotective Tim.

He specially distrusts Selina. The closest to a Bat ship he has is BatLatern cause Tim was the Robin during the time Bruce and Hal were having the weird "chair" friendship and it kindda reminded Drake of him and Kon. Still he is very anti Batman dating and will make a PowerPoint presentation of "things I'm going to do with you if you ever hurt Bruce."

Stephanie - Thinks Bruce is too much of a loser to date. Does ship BatCat. She likes Selina and like all Robins saw her and Bruce weird flirt, she thinks they match. She also supports Brutalia, mostly because Damian convinced her. She just really doesn't care. Will write trash fic about Batman and his Rogues. When Riddler was living at her home she would specially make fun of his crush on Bruce. But is more her being a little gremlim than anything else.

Damian - Brutalia. Duh. He wants his parents to be an item and he wants it now. Will do a parent trap if necessary. Sees good points in other ships, he actually gets along well with Selina and with Clark, but I mean, he is on his mother's side.

Duke - Coudn't care less. There is only one superhero love life he cares and it's his own. He loves Bruce but that man's love life is just too messy for him to have an opinion on and my man knows his priorities. While not as protective as Tim, Duke is still very protectice of Bruce.

Bao - GhostBat. This child of divorce just wants to see his parents get back together and he will fight the other child of divorce (Damian) over it.

[I can't imagine neither Kate nor Helena even participating on such debate because both are really not intererested in Bruce's weird love life. I also have no idea what Harper, Cullen, Maps or Luke would think].

All members of the batfam hate BatJokes.

Disclaimer: there is very specific situations with different ships, for example I personally believe that Lego Dick does shipp BatJokes and Unburied Babs ships RiddleBat. But this are very specific versions of the characthers and not the general norm.

[ange1sang]

snail shells

3.3k words, mickey-centric/gallavich

; canon compliant, milkovich family + growing up milkovich, domestic violence/childhood abuse, hurt/comfort, angst, domestic fluff, memories, boys in love, growing up + getting older, trauma, happy ending, puking mentioned in passing

summary: how mickey milkovich goes from crushing snails beneath his boots to peeling them off of his husband's tomato plants.

The earliest memory Mickey has is of his mother screaming. He doesn't remember why she was screaming (though it isn't too hard to guess why) and he barely remembers what her voice sounded like when she spoke anymore, but he remembers her screaming like he was born with the sound engraved in his brain. Something about it makes his skin crawl, because there was never any point in screaming in the Milkovich house – nobody was going to come to your aid, so you either fought back or locked yourself in the bathroom until whoever was after you gave up. Under their roof it was always fight or flight. Freeze would have you beaten half to death and fawn didn't work with people who would happily wear your blood like a glove. Then again, most of his early memories make his skin crawl.

His uncles beating each other till bone cracked, loud and sickening while white trash reality TV droned on in the background. Hiding from a drunk Terry under the bed at his aunt's house when he was a toddler. Holding Mandy in his lap when she was still tiny, sucking on her hair and crying silently for a mommy who wasn't planning on coming home any time soon. Looking at his ears in the mirror, swollen and bruised black and blue, and not understanding why none of the other kids in his class ever looked as dirty or hurt as him. There are few memories from his childhood that don't involve grime or alcohol or injury, almost everything from that period overshadowed by the primal need to survive in a world that could've cared less if he made it to his next birthday. And even the handful of memories that aren't smeared with blood are coated in something bitter and sour and ugly.

Like when he was six years old and staying at his aunt's with Mandy, courtesy of a broken nose he'd gotten when one of his older cousins had shoved him out of the way without looking and he'd landed face first on the kitchen table. He remembers being mean and sharp even back then, because he had to be. To be soft meant being crushed beneath other's heels, and he couldn't afford to be crushed. Not now that he had Mandy to look out for – Mandy who was just a year younger than him but still younger, still a girl with pudgy cheeks and a bottom lip that quivered when their dad yelled. Still his little sister, living in a house full of burly, drunk men.

At his aunt's, though, he could afford to lose some of his mean edge. He could giggle at the cartoons on the TV without being told to shut up and could tug on his aunt's sleeve when he was hungry or thirsty without recoiling in fear of being smacked upside the head. He didn't have to survive in the same way that he did at home, which is why he found himself sitting on the porch watching snails and slugs trail slime on the concrete while rain pitter-pattered onto the steps.

Back at home he liked to kill insects, liked to swat at them with his hands or drown them in the kitchen sink, thought it was funny how their spindly legs flailed and their bodies squished under his thumb. Here he liked to just watch them, grubby fingers curled around his throbbing nose while he absentmindedly picked at the thick scab on the bridge of it. He liked the pattern on the snails' shells, liked how their eyes stuck out of their heads and moved around in the air. He was fascinated by how slowly they moved. At home he was always running – running to get out, running to dodge a fist – and at school he was always running too, getting away from teachers before he got caught pulling another kid's hair or slamming their arm with a locker door. He never got to move as calmly as the snails did, drag on the pavement like he had all the time in the world. He sat for what felt like hours and watched the snails with wide, envious eyes, flicking bits of bloody scab and skin onto the ground below him.

There was one snail, smaller than the others with a pinkish brown shell, that was moving particularly slowly. While the others carried on on their paths to nowhere in particular this one stopped every now and then, eyes waving around like it was trying to talk to Mickey. He reached out to poke it with a bloody finger, giggling when its eyes curled back into its body. If he didn't know better he would've picked it up and taken it inside, put it on the living room floor and watched to see if it would eat any of their Pop-Tart and cornflake crumbs. But his aunt wouldn't like that, so he stayed outside with it, waiting patiently for it to reach the edge of the porch and disappear into the grass.

He was so focused on the snail and the trail of slime it was leaving behind that he didn't notice Iggy stomping up the steps towards him, at least not until he stepped right on the snail, crushing its patterned shell beneath his heavy hand-me-down boot, hanging from his foot like a clown shoe.

"Iggy!" he yelled, eyes filling with angry tears, but it was too late. The other boy lifted his shoe and the snail was nothing but a pancake of slime and smashed up shell. It was never going to reach the grass now.

"C'mon, Joey's gonna get us KitKats from the Kash 'n Grab," Iggy said, all toothy grin and snotty nose. He didn't notice that he'd just stepped on the snail that Mickey had been watching all afternoon. Mickey wanted to run back inside and sit with Mandy and cry, because she was the only one who didn't mind if he cried. But he knew better than to do something like that, knew better than to wear his heart on his sleeve even if he was too little to know what was making his heart was twist and ache in his chest. He punched Iggy in the shoulder, narrowly escaping a punch back.

"Fuck you," he barked, barely knowing the meaning of the words but knowing that they were always appropriate in their family. As they raced each other to the corner store, kicking rocks at each other and yelling curse words back and forth, he could've sworn with each footstep he felt a snail shell cracking beneath the soles of his busted up shoes.

The only real rays of sunshine that broke through the clouds of growing up Milkovich appeared when he turned fifteen years old. Smoking outside of the Kash and Grab, bruised and filthy thanks to Terry and their overdue water bills, he spotted a new face among the shelves of the cornerstore. The redheaded Gallagher kid was in there, stacking cans of soup, freckled face laughing at something a customer was telling him, and Mickey felt his heart swell in a dangerous, nauseating way.

He wanted to crush the Gallagher kid then and there, enraged by the warm feeling in his chest. At the same time he wanted to stand there and watch him until the store closed, wanted to watch him meandering about those shelves in no rush at all, moving slow like the snails did outside of his aunt's house years ago, when he was still small enough to run from home calling for help. In the end he did neither of those things. He threw his half-smoked cigarette to the ground and stomped it out, even though he'd never cared about doing anything like that before, if only to feel something give out beneath his foot. It didn't get rid of the mushy feeling in his chest at all.

He quickly learned that there was almost nothing he could do to get rid of that mushy feeling he got around the ginger Gallagher. It didn't help when he beat on Kash or stole things from the corner store when he knew Gallagher would see him. It didn't help when he stayed past closing and caught Gallagher on his tiptoes kissing his boss, and it certainly didn't help when Mandy came home crying that Ian Gallagher (the redhead had a first name now – Ian) had groped her. So Mickey did the only thing he knew how to do. He beat up Kash and he beat up Lip, every punch and kick bringing with it a fiery dissatisfaction. Nothing he did would get rid of the stupid somersaults his heart kept doing every time someone mentioned the Gallagher kid, every time he walked past the blue house on North Wallace, every time he and his cousins went down to the Kash and Grab to snatch something to eat before their stomachs started growling again.

And then he beat up Ian. Or at least, he tried to.

One second he'd been sleeping and the next Ian Gallagher's head was between his thighs, pressed down into his worn, soiled mattress. And Ian was blinking up at him, bracing himself for a crowbar to the head. He blinked slow, his eyes muddy green-blue like rain pitter-pattering on snail slime. He was breathing heavy. There was a bruise forming on his cheekbone already, underneath his freckles. He had a lot of freckles, Mickey thought to himself. Way more now that he could see him up close. And just like that the mushy feeling eased up, turned into something he could hold. Something more scary than it used to be, but also more tolerable.

Mickey liked Ian. He liked Ian a lot. Liked his sideways, crooked smile and how he saw the good in everybody all the time. He liked how good he was to Mandy, liked how he took cigarettes from between Mickey's fingers like it was nothing so that they could share, liked the way his muscles moved beneath his skin and how warm his blood ran, his touch always searing Mickey's skin like he was branding his palm print into the space between Mickey's shoulderblades. He was sweet like orange soda, sarcastic and quick like a butterfly knife. He was soft where Mickey was sharp, and while that would've scared Mickey when he was fifteen by the time he was seventeen all it did was make his heart jump and his cheeks burn. That might've been why he let his guard down.

Rays of sunshine turned to dark, thick clouds quicker than Mickey ever could've anticipated. All it took was one poorly timed afternoon, one unlocked door, Ian's hands on his shoulders and a Russian hooker who would come to know him better than most people he'd ever meet.

In that one afternoon it became clear that those soft edges he loved on Ian had rubbed off on him, and all they had done was make it easier for Terry to dig his teeth deeper into the parts of him that mattered. All of the things he liked about Ian translated to nothing more than vulnerability in the end. Mickey wanted to hate him for it. It would've made his life easier, to shut out the reason he'd turned so soft. But all he did was hate himself.

The years he'd spent growing out of his bony elbows and teary eyes were thrown out of the window like they meant nothing after that afternoon. He was just a kid again, locked out of the house and dizzy from a too-hard smack to the head, but now he couldn't run crying to his aunt or hide out in the bathroom until Terry forgot about him. Terry wasn't ever going to forget, and if Mickey wasn't careful he'd get himself killed. Or worse, he'd get Ian killed.

Ian, his sister's best friend who never knew when to shut up about his fucking feelings. Ian who always smiled at him like they'd never done anything wrong in their whole shitty, South Side lives. Ian, who still made his heart squeeze and flip-flop even after Terry tried to pistol-whip that feeling out of him. Ian, bruised and bleeding on the ground telling Mickey to admit he was gay. Pleading for him to admit it just this once, pleading even after taking a fist to the stomach.

"Feel better now?" he asked, bleeding where Mickey's fist had broken the skin on his forehead. "Feel like a man?"

Mickey wanted to scream. Scream because nothing was going to make him feel better. Scream because Terry was always going to ruin anything his kids could get their hands on, and because he was stupid to think he could've held Ian without hurting him in the process. He wasn't sure that those were the words that would come out if he opened his mouth though. He was terrified on his own tongue and lips, terrified that they'd tell Ian something else, something fleshy and fragile instead. Something that could bleed.

His boot made a nauseating sound when it hit the side of Ian's head, blood flying across the gravel beneath them. A sound Mickey knew well from the Milkovich house. All of the warmth in his chest turned sour, rising in his throat like acid.

"I feel better now," he taunted as he walked away, his throat straining around the lie. Thunder rumbled loud in Mickey's ears, sounding an awful lot like his own racing, mangled heart.

He didn't turn back to look at Ian, didn't want to see his lips slick with blood instead of spit, didn't want to see the damage he'd done and how similar it looked to the kind of damage his father was so good at leaving behind. He wasn't ten steps away when he felt the crush beneath one of his shoes, the same one he'd kicked Ian with. A snail shell, turned to mush beneath his muddy, bloody sole. Everything in him screamed to stop and look, look at the life he'd destroyed with just one step. But he didn't. He couldn't, not without seeing himself in the shiny, sharp shell fragments.

He kicked off his shoes when he got home and locked himself in his room with a bottle of vodka. It didn't help. He could still feel the snail stuck to the bottom of his foot, broken and dead. He swallowed a mouthful of liquor and puked it right back up into his laundry basket. Ian's blood was on his knuckles when wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He could taste it as he sucked on his bottom lip like a teething kid.

He was a Milkovich through and through. He was just like Terry.

That feeling stuck around for far longer than he'd expected it to. Even after Ian came back to him, Mickey could feel it beneath his skin, sick and unclean. Each time he and Ian bickered, each time the redhead's muddy eyes turned sad, Mickey felt that snail's shell giving way beneath his foot. He was going to crush him again. The only boy he'd ever liked, let alone loved. Whether or not he wanted to he was going to dig his teeth into his soft spots and draw blood and hurt him. He was sure of it. And yet, he never did.

When Ian cried now Mickey didn't make it worse. He didn't make him bleed or bruise. He dried his cheeks and kissed his forehead, thumbs always hesitant, always scared that he was going to do what he'd been raised to do. And all Ian did was lean his face further into Mickey's touch, trusting him over and over again not to pull him limb from limb. Love was made up of a lot of that, Mickey eventually learned. Trusting, again and again and again. Trusting Ian not to drop his hand when things went awry. Trusting himself not to aim for the jugular when he felt vulnerable. Trusting the Gallaghers not to turn into Milkoviches when they'd had one too many drinks. Trusting as many people as he could, as often as he could, because even if his first memory was of his mother screaming there were better memories to be made. Better memories to build his life out of now.

Like how the morning light fills his and Ian's bedroom in their apartment on the West Side. Orange and warm, filtering through the gaps through their curtains and illuminating the freckles on Ian's chest. Most days Ian is awake before him, but on the days that he isn't Mickey gets to watch his husband sleeping, count every breath and every freckle if he wants to.

The first thing Ian does when he wakes up is smile. He's always been smiley, even when they were fucking in the back of a corner store and Mickey smelled like cow shit, but Mickey still hasn't gotten used to the butterflies it gives him, the way it eases the weight of the world on his shoulders. Then he kisses Mickey, like it's the easiest thing in the world, like they didn't fight tooth and nail for ten years to be able to do it. Then, he goes out onto their balcony and checks on the plants he's been growing.

He's always been gentler than most people, vulnerable and trusting in a way that reminds Mickey of Mandy and in a way that he sees in Debbie everyday. Mickey's always known this, but seeing how Ian handles fragile leaves and stems between his big fingers reminds him again that he's married to somebody soft. Somebody fleshy, who bleeds just like him.

Most of the time Mickey just watches him garden from afar, not interfering with the plants he knows nothing about, but every now and then he spots a bug crawling along a stem and he kneels down beside Ian to flick it away, watching with a smile as it scrambles to find its footing again. On even rarer occasions, he spots a snail gliding along the leaves of one of the plants, usually after a night of rain. He's always confused as to how they get up to their balcony, especially with how slowly they move, and he's always fascinated by the glistening trail of slime they leave behind. He guesses he'll always be that hurt little kid sitting on his aunt's porch, cradling his broken nose and waiting for the small snail with the pinkish brown shell to make it to the safety of the tall, untended grass.

He also knows that he's older now, that he doesn't have to watch somebody crush the snail with their big hand-me-down boots and that he isn't going to misstep and kill it by mistake, leaving behind a pancake of shell and flesh and slime. Now he gets to reach out and pick up the snail by its shell, snorting when its eyes recoil into its body, and carefully set it aside onto the wall of their building. He waits to make sure its got a grip on the wall before he lets go, and watches it slowly (so, so slowly) begin to make its way to a different destination.

When he turns around Ian is watching him with a fond smile that makes Mickey's ears burn.

"What're you lookin' at?" he asks, all faux-defensiveness as the mushy feeling he's known since he was fifteen fills his chest. Ian nearly always replies in the same way, just as enamored every time.

"My husband," he says, grinning at Mickey.

It's a simple memory, one that's taken place enough times that it should be mundane by now. It's still one of Mickey's favourite memories, one that overshadows all of the bitter and sour and ugly ones from his childhood. He kisses Ian, like it's the easiest thing in the world. Like they didn't fight tooth and nail for ten years to be able to do it, because everything he's been through was worth it in the end.

[werepuppy-steve]

🐝 cj. 27. he/him 🐝

writer's tag | steddie ficlets | fic recs | wip posts | answered asks | ko-fi

ೀ⋆.🌷 ao3 fics ೀ⋆.🌷 (registered users only)

▸ darling, lets get old - G, 383, complete fluff, recreational drug use, marriage proposal

▸ Starry Eyed Love - G, 1.1k, complete outsider pov, corroded coffin gig, established relationship

▸ haunted by the ghost of you (take me back to the night we met) - T, 2k, complete vampire eddie, established relationship, post-s4

▸ the magic that we'll feel is worth the lifetime - M, 7.7k, complete post-s3, established relationship, fluff, eddie's birthday

▸ constant, pleasure - E, 3k, complete dom/sub, daddy kink, face slapping, spit kink, babygirl steve

▸ [ hiraeth; ] - series, WIP appalachian eddie, established relationship, eddie munson's extended family

▸ silent spark - G, 4.1k, complete animal crossing au, pining, fireworks date, platonic hellcheer, aspec steve

⚘ there's comfort in the panic - G, 1.2k, complete panic attacks, established relationship, lex's spicy six spring fanworks challenge, hurt/comfort

▸ she put her love down soft and sweet - E, 5.7k, complete modern au, dom/sub, aspec steve, transmasc steve, established relationship, daddy kink

▸ it's the spirit of the season - T, 3.8k, complete established relationship, christmas fluff, crack treated seriously

▸ they said it all comes down to you - T, 1.5k, complete demon eddie, sacrifice steve, soulmates

▸ sugar sweet as dixie crystal - E, 4k, complete established relationship, high school sweethearts, transmasc steve, ace steve, daddy kink

▸ a whole lifetime - E, 1.6k, complete rockstar eddie, older/married steddie, daddy kink, dom/sub, babygirl steve, birthday sex

▸ i'll be yours if you'll be mine - E, 1.9k, complete hand kink, spit kink, daddy kink, secret relationship

ೀ⋆.🌷 tumblr ficlets ೀ⋆.🌷

▸ farmer steddie - light dom/sub, steddie dads, older steddie, modern au ▸ tiny hands, little feet (snippet) - teen dads au, no upside down au, transmasc steve ▸ birthday blues - established relationship, fluff, steve's birthday ▸ the night before christmas - steddie dads, modern au, rockstar eddie, emma verse ▸ one more night - modern au, nurse steve, established relationship, injuries, hurt/cmofort ▸ if i ain't got you - arguments, making up, slow dancing in the kitchen ▸ promise you forever - appalachian eddie, established relationship, drunk dialing, fluff ▸ hold you close - transmasc steve, established relationship, fluff, comfort, descriptions of periods ▸ eddie's bad day - fluff, comfort, established relationship ▸ steve's bad day - fluff, comfort, established relationship ▸ night shift - nurse steve, modern au, established relationship, light smut ▸ it takes a village - teen dads au, uncle wayne, microfic ▸ can't you hear that scratching - microfic, established relationship, vampire eddie

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dividers & banners by: @saradika-graphics updated: 4/9/24

[kokocaju]

LQR being a grandpa™ scene prompt idea

"I'm not sure about that, Lan Zhan," Wei Ying sighs, coming back to the table on the deck.

"I honestly, agree," Nie Mingjue says with a confessional tone.

Lan Zhan understands their worries, but it's unfunded. He and his brother calmly sip from their teas and share a long look at each other. They know everything will be fine. Not only that, but the extended weekend trip they'll go on tomorrow is something the four of them need.

Lan Yuan and Lan Jingyi will be fine with their uncle for four days. Lan Qiren is strict, but the kids are already used to it. Both of them asked to stay with him in the first place. Four days with Lan Qiren seemed more interesting to the four-year-olds than a trip to the family's cabin.

"You don't need to worry," Lan Zhan says to his husband.

"Everything will be fine," Lan Huan smiles. "Our uncle is more than used to having two boys at home. Nothing will happen-- Oh my god..."

Lan Yuan and Lan Jingyi appear at the top of the deck stairs with bright smiles and a disastrous state. They're not just filthy. Lan Zhan freezes on spot seeing the dirt stains on his son's face and shirt.

"Daddy! Daddy, look!" Lan Yuan runs to them with something in his hand.

"What is it?" Wei Ying takes the lead. Lan Zhan is still in shock. "An earthworm? Wow! How-- How did get this?"

"Grandpa said we could hunt them to, to, put in the," Lan Jingyi stumbles with his excitement. "The food-trash-bin in the garden!"

"They make poo for the garden!" Lan Yuan completes.

They're radiant. Lan Zhan leans over on his chair to get closer to his kid. Seeing his small face painted with such a genuine smile lights a warm in his chest, as cozy and gentle as a fireplace.

"How did you get dirt on your face, A-Yuan?" He says, cleaning the stain with his thumb.

"C'mon, boys," Lan Qiren's voice comes from the top of the stairs. He's almost as dirty as the kids, and that's something Lan Zhan never saw. The dark soil stains on his cream shirt do not match the stern look on his face. "First a shower, and only then we can have ice cream."

The kids nod at the same time, and run to the closet plant vase to put the worms in. They run to the glass door of the living room and carefully slide it open, leaving the prints of their soil-dirty hands on it.

Lan Zhan's mind feels numb seeing it. He can't bring himself to speak.

"Take off the shoes before..." Lan Huan's exhilarated voice fades before he can finish the sentence.

"It's alright, I'll clean it," Lan Qiren calmly says.

What? Lan Zhan slowly looks at his brother and sees the same shock he's in on his face. Lan Huan shifts his gaze at him, eyes widen and mouth agape.

Lan Qiren looks at them with the same measured demeanor Lan Zhan knows from him. The tiny white flowers on his hair break the stiffness of his expression.

"We're having breakfast for dinner," Lan Qiren announces solemnly. "You're welcome to join us."

"Hm," Lan Zhan nods.

"Alright," Lan Huan mumbles.

Lan Qiren nods at the four of them and walks inside with his hands behind his back.

"We never had breakfast for dinner," Lan Huan says.

"Hm..." Lan Zhan agrees.

"Everything will be just fine..." Wei Ying mocks, laughing loudly.

[cookietrains]

Fun fact! Jolly was NOT the first Killer Klowns oc I made. When I first watched the movie, Jumbo immediately gave me "he would be such a good dad" vibes, so I made a tiny oc for that ^^

This is Backpack ♡

Fondly named because she is almost always seen on another Klowns back (90% of the time, it's Jumbo's back). She has golden eyes and shaggy light blue tufts of hair in a small mohawk and a side tuft on either side of her head. She still has her infant tail (she will eventually lose this as she gets older) and her sharp baby teeth. She was born in an abandoned amusement park and stole an extra small hoodie she found in a prize box while raiding a concession stand. < the Klowns will, at a later time, give her more comfortable clothing more suitable for Klowns when she grows out of the hoodie. She seems to like the hoodie at the moment, so they don't bother with it now. On her face, Backpack has masks like markings around her eyes, alluding to the ability she has where she can put a mask on other people to make them see what she wants them to (metaphorically- she can do this from afar)

Jumbo found her while trying to lure humans close so he could catch them. His victims grew none the wiser to his antics (? Is that the right phrase? They figured out what he was doing) and took off, knocking over a trash can. Jumbo followed a light giggling noise towards the fallen bin and found the smallest Klown he'd ever seen, drinking a soda. He almost left her there, believing she could make it on her own, but she ended up following him. Or trying to! Her lil legs could only carry her so far ;;

Jumbo picked her up and hasn't put her down the rest of the invasion. She loved meeting the other Klowns and had a lot of fun tricking humans with her ability: the power of illusion (it was initially the power to create a dust that could put her victims to sleep - but i scrapped that and gave that ability to Jolly instead). She can make her victims think they're somewhere else or seeing something else. While she's still a baby, she really likes making people think they're in a fun house or circus, while the older Klowns sneak up on them and take them out. Jumbo saw this as a HUGE advantage to them and decided to adopt her permanently. Teaching her to strengthen her abilities and becoming more useful to other invasions. She goes towards more realistic illusions when she gets older, trapping humans in "locked rooms" or making them think they're driving away when, in reality, they're sitting defenseless on the ground. Being a baby and liking more colorful things, all she knows is circus tent, fun houses, party situations. Which works too! She can still get people like that.

She's only a few weeks old from what the other Klowns could tell, still having a tail and not being able to speak yet (aside from squeaking and giggles). And, of course, her size is a dead giveaway. Because of her size, it's easy for her to squeeze into small spaces that Shorty couldn't fit and trap humans in hallucinations from afar.

When Jumbo gets shot and explodes, Rudy decides to take care of her in his place. Knowing he has more knowledge on how to raise baby Klowns, compared to the others. Backpack is distraught when her adopted parent dies, but she likes Rudy too. They bonded quite a bit while on the invasion. He would be more like a fun uncle to her.

Anyway, Backpack is super addicted to soda, juice boxes, and candy. Anything sugary like that she can get her hands on. Growing Klowns need more sugar and meat than other, more older Klowns. The Klowns in the movie sometimes just killed humans. Baby Klowns would never do that. They need all the food they can get to be able to grow. She had to learn early to be very careful with her illusion powers because she has to time her attack just right so the humans/ whatever she's hunting don't run before she can get to them.