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adventuringblind · 1 year ago

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Mr. Blue Sky

Charles Leclerc x Reader x Max Verstappen

Genre: Fluff

Request: Yes, I loved every second of this. Y'all are welcome to send me your own ideas :)

Summary: After Max gets cheated on, he can't stand being in the house where it happened. Reader and Charles take him in and show him he's still loved.

Warnings: cheating

Notes: No hate to Kelly. I just needed this as a plot point.

Fun fact: my mom calls Valentine’s Day ‘legislative love day’ and will only do any remotely related activities on the 15th because she has a point to prove.

Masterlist

The sound of Charles' phone buzzing at an ungodly hour is what you woke up to. The room is still pitch black, and you can hardly make out Charles in the bed.

He rolls over and pucks up the phone. "It's Max." He states. Voice filled with the sleep from which he was dragged.

He answers the phone, and you curl up into him, hoping to listen in. "Max? Are you-"

You can hear faint mumbling and the occasional choked sob on the other end of the line. "Breathe, Max. I'm going to come get you. Can you stay on the phone with me?" Charles is throwing off the covers and looking for his car keys.

You look at Charles for some sort of answer. To which Charles pulls the phone away from his ear and kisses your head. "Kelly cheated. I'm going to go get him."

You nod your head in understanding. You clamber out of bed and see Charles off to the door.

Your grateful that Monte Carlo is a small city and that it doesn’t take long for him to come back. His body shouldering a drunk Max through the door.

Max is no coherent and reeks of alcohol. His eyes are puffy and his cheeks tear stained. His lips tremble as them mutter words neither of you can understand.

Your heart hearts for him. You and Charles had made an effort to be around the Dutch. You both actively became friends with him and found yourselves in each others company often.

And did you both end up falling for the same pair of blue eyes? Yes.

It was actually Charles who brought it up first. You’d never considered the idea of being with more then one person. Then you got to know Max and you found yourself considering more often then you’d admit.

Neither of you knew if Max would ever be into that and neither of you wanted to ask. The possibility of ruining what is currently a good friendship was not on the to-do list. Plus, he had Kelly and P.

You shake of your thoughts and help Charles get Max into the guest bed. You and him do your best at cleaning him up and making him comfortable despite the fact he is less then cooperative.

When you two are finally back in your own bed, Charles sighs in pained defeat. “She cheated on him while he was out with P.”

You cringe in disgust. “Has it been going on long?”

“Apparently so. About four months.” Charles climbs further into the blankets and pulls you into his chest. “He gave her the apartment. He was out late because he didn’t know where to go.”

“We could offer him a place here for the time being.” You suggest. The slightest hint of a smirk playing on your lips.

“Pretty sure you are just wanting to see more of him.” He chuckles. “But yes, I think it’s a good offer until he figures things out.”

“Don’t lie, you stare at him all the time! You’re going to be the one who outs us.”

“Shush amour. I’m exhausted and I know you are also. Now sleep.”

The week brings interesting events. Max does take the offer to move in, though he’s been quiet and reserved since he started staying with you. Max, Charles, and Lando went back to, now Kelly’s apartment, to get his stuff.

He comes back into the house crying. His heart shattered and the apartment a mere reminder of the events that occurred.

Your grateful it’s the off season and Max will hopefully have some time to process before the start of the new season. You and Charles don’t push him and give him space when he needs. Though you also invade when you can see he’s spiraling. Desperate attempts at not letting him go into those dark places are often just you being in the same room as him.

By the time Christmas rolls around, he’s doing the slightest bit better. He’s been out of the room more and you haven’t had to force him to eat. He decorates the apartment with you and Charles.

It’s disastrous.

The three of you can’t stop laughing at the mess you’ve made of the decor.

The three of you spend Christmas Eve with Charles’ family. Max hadn’t wanted to go home to his less then festive father and Victoria was away with her in-laws.

You obviously weren’t going to leave him alone and Pascale had been thrilled when he said he’d come to dinner.

You could tell he felt awkward and out of place at first, but everyone did their best to make him feel welcome. Soon he was relaxing, sipping on his drink and engaging in conversation.

Christmas and new years had gone by to fast. January had now descended and the cold weather had yet to completely let up.

Originally you thought Max would be out by now. That he’d want his own space as soon as possible. It’s not like he couldn’t afford it. Yet he stayed and you and Charles welcomed him in.

Max was seemed like he was healing. His eyes had regained their light. The one they lost those first days of December. He definitely hadn’t moved one though. You and Charles could still hear the soft sniffles from his room at night.

He may be smiling, but he’s still broken hearted.

The most interesting new additions are the cats. The felines that are Max’s children. He would probably murder for his cats and become the next John Wick. There is something wholesome and sweet about his interactions with his pets.

Charles on the other hand has a bad relationship with animals in general. Small felines included. He like them, they just don’t like him back yet. Max has been letting him feed them until they realize he is nice.

You also have learned that you can share meal prep with Max. You’d banned Charles from it after he tried once and failed miserably. Max isn’t the best in the kitchen, but he helps out and cooks some nights.

February. The month of love.

Everything around reminds Max of what happened. How he will not be doing anything special for the holiday. He doesn’t even want to go out of the apartment and you and Charles have to drag him to go get fresh air.

The fateful day comes around and you and Charles have agreed to keep it small.

Corny, sweet, and romantic is Charles definition of a good day and treats you accordingly.

You try to get Max to come eat something but end up just leaving it at the door.

Despite what people may think, Max is romantic at heart. Charles learned this last year when the Monegasque asked him if he was doing anything with Kelly for the holiday.

You and Charles are lounging on the sofa with a movie playing in the background. His arm draped around you and mouth pressing silly kisses along your jaw.

“I can feel your worry radiating from here.” Charles stops his kisses and you roll your eyes at him in response.

“He’s not eaten all day and I’ve heard him crying. Just wish I could help is all.”

Charles hums in your ear. “We could see if he wants a distraction.” He punctuates his sentence with a cheeky smile.

“Charles Perceval Leclerc! You can not seriously be suggesting what I think you are.” You playfully bat his arm. “I highly doubt he would neither want that or like that.”

“How about we ask and then go from there.”

“I think you just want him to fuck you.” This time it’s your turn to give a cheeky smile.

This is definitely not how you envisioned asking Max about this would go. His teary eyes haven’t looked away from Charles since the pretty male started talking.

This left you in an odd place of trying to read his reactions and getting absolutely nothing.

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to or if you’re not into it. We would completely understand.” Charles laughs but you can tell he’s nervous. His body language betrays him.

Max looks between the two of you like he’s considering something. “You’re telling me you’ve both been crushing on me since last year? And I didn’t notice?”

“You’re very oblivious at times.” You shrug.

“That’s fair but also not the point.” Max stands up out of the bed and starts pacing. “I just don’t understand why me. You two are amazing people and you’re so great together.”

“Y/N has a numbered list of reasons in her phone that we’ve created in case this ever happened.” Charles looks at you expectantly but Your already pulling up the list.

“-please don’t read it I’m already blushing and that will make it worse. Maybe one day but not now.”

All of you freeze at the fact he insinuated a future.

“Does this mean you like us back?” Charles almost purrs. He’s so flirty now but if this goes farther then just a confession tonight he’ll be stuttering and weak in the knees. You know from experience.

Max is the stuttering mess right now however. He’s lost all of his words and is simply gesturing with his hands.

“Breathe Maxy, take your time.” He manages a few and usable to get a grip on his thoughts.

“I’ve to confess something first.” You both look at him expectedly but don’t push him. “The reason Kelly cheated on me is because she’d found a journal of mine. It was a thing my therapist told me to do and so I did. When you two started coming around more, I fell hard. For both of you. I wrote about to hopefully understand myself better and get the thoughts out of my head but they stayed and I hated myself for it. She read it and thought I cheated first so she just did it back.”

He’s in the verge of tears again but you and Charles can only stare I’d utter disbelief. Apparently, both of you are also oblivious.

“Please say something.”

“I think it must be fate.” Again that smirk is tugging at Charles lips.

The air in the room is replaced by a new tension. The kind Charles was originally insinuating before you three started talking.

“So about that proposal then…”

Valentine’s Day definitely couldn’t have ended any better.

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 6 months ago

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WIBTA if I said I have OCD when I don't?

I (20X) don't have OCD. I do, however, have some of the symptoms, which is probably a comorbidity thing (ADHD diagnosis). The symptoms that are relevant here line up with contamination OCD.

I can be particular about "clean" things and "safe" spaces. I still live with my parents, and they're used to my habits. They know not to sit in my specific "clean" chair, to let me disinfect things with alcohol wipes before they get brought into the home, et cetera.

Right now my symptoms are relatively under control. There was a time when a brush against something I consider "contaminated" would result in me chucking any clothes that made contact in the laundry and washing any skin that it touched. I'm trying to avoid doing this when I feel like I can, to try and condition myself into being, for lack of a better word, normal. However, it still bothers me, especially when I'm feeling particularly anxious. And it really bothers me when we have guests over who don't know about my preferences and get their outside "contaminants" everywhere, which is where the problem arises.

We're going to have family over. They're flying in from a different country and will be staying in an Airbnb, but the main purpose of their trip is to visit us, so they'll be at our house frequently. This is mostly fine. My main "safe" space is my bedroom, and I would keep that door closed the whole time, and I think they would respect me enough to not enter. But I also have two "safe" furniture items in shared space -- a dining room chair and a couch (we have two in the living room).

Basically, I want to ask my family members to not sit on those two furniture items and say that I have OCD as a shorthand for "if you do this I will become genuinely distressed". I just feel like it's the only way for them to take me seriously and actually remember not to do it without me having to go into a whole explanation about my neuroses.

But at the same time, it feels shitty to lie about a having a disorder. And I'd also be doing this partially out of laziness, which I feel almost definitely makes me an asshole -- because in theory I could just keep disinfecting the chair and the couch between each visit for the couple weeks that they're going to come over for, but both of them are fabric, and it would be so much work to wash and dry them every single day. To be frank, I can't be bothered doing all that, and would rather they just didn't sit there at all. But it might also be an asshole move to tell them not to sit on one of our couches -- I mean, Christ, it's a fucking couch. It's meant to be sat on. (Even if I'd rather they didn't -- not because of them specifically, but because they'd be visiting in "outside clothes", which aren't clean. I also don't sit there if I'm not in clean clothes.)

So -- WIBTA? And if I am voted TA, any advice for how to proceed that doesn't involve having to steam-clean a couch every day would be appreciated.

#aita #am i the asshole

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gffa · 9 months ago

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I've been watching a lot of this cleaning channel because it's great for motivation to go clean stuff, where it's not about ~*transforming*~ the space (which can be very fun to watch, too) but just about taking a hoarder's space and actually Going Through The Stuff And Cleaning Up. The channel is very soothing because the host is someone who actually has read up on what causes hoarding, he knows that you can't just take a shovel to that stuff (you will making the hoarding worse if you clean without the consent of the hoarder, but also there's always genuinely valuable stuff in there, you can't just shovel it out the door, you have to go through it), like Oh I Feel So Seen. But this video in particular hit really hard today because it's from a "clean" hoarder and ohhhh that's it, that's what I've been dealing with. It was never that there was a bug or rodent infestation, if ever there was so much as a single ant in the house, everything was pulled out to scrub things down and get every last one taken care of, the only real dirt was dust in the places nobody could reach. It was just. Stuff everywhere. In the video, there was a moment in the kitchen when he pulled out a little bin of old cell phones and I felt a moment of Kinship and, about two hours later, when I was back to cleaning out dad's hoard, you know what I found? Old cellphones. It just smacked me in the face all over again. It's also the commentary about how, in every hoarder house he goes to, he finds things like old medication or pill bottle (oh my god I have been able to finally throw away what must be over 50 of them, and so much old medication has also been thrown), paperwork mixed in with junk mail (I'm not kidding, if you piled up all the paperwork/junk mail mom and I had to go through, it would have been about five feet high), or hoarded food (literal hundreds of plastic grocery bags full of expired food I hauled out) and it just hits over and over again how much I'm resonating with everything there. Anyway, if you want to know what I'm working with, basically it's a lot like that video above, it's "clean" hoarding, but that's basically what it was like in every single room and I've been trying to go over and tackle at least some of it every day, while also helping to get the old carpet replaced, the walls painted, etc. And trying to choose furniture that's not too expensive but also doesn't look like a teenager's bedroom or like it was salvaged out of a Cleanup Week pile. And trying to figure out where to store the necessary house things, like a basic tool set and cleaning supplies. But, you guys, be proud of us, I got several baskets worth of small stuff storage put away (extra lotions, extra charging cords, etc., things you keep but don't need sitting out), we got the armchair back into the guest bedroom, I put together a hamper instead of just plopping a clothes basket on the closet floor for dirty clothes, I put all my bathroom decor together in a bin for when we get the new vanity (the current one is so old that it's basically rusted over underneath), put all the after Christmas decorations we bought this year away, put some groceries away, AND I STARTED MY SECOND LOAD OF LAUNDRY TODAY. It's small stuff but it's time-consuming and I need you all to be proud of me for keeping moving on All Of This.

#lumi.txt #hoarding cw

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chiefduckgarden · 2 years ago

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The lady in red

Summary: After the events of MoM Wanda escapes from the destroyed temple and isolates herself from the world with the only person she knows will never judge her or be afraid of her: you. But the past always comes back to make people pay for their sins, and soon you'll need to accept that it's Wanda's time.

Words: 8791

A/N : Soo this is a big mashup of my imagination, the story from the Marvel Comic "Darkhold: Omega", and the final episode of Netflix Series: The haunting of Bly Manor. I took a lot of inspiration from these two works. I hope you like it! Happy reading :D

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The night she knocked on your door you were surprised to get a visit at almost 1 pm. You hesitated for a moment to open the door but the moment you heard her voice, your blood ran cold through your veins.

- Y/N, it's me, Wanda - she simply said.

You immediately opened the door, but the person you found on the other side was not the Wanda you remembered.

- Oh Wanda, what happened? - you asked - Come in.

She walked in front you and got inside the house.

You stared at her for a moment. She seemed weak, like some who's sick and is slowly deteriorating; with remarkable bags under her eyes and a strange darkness adorning her gaze. The last time you saw her was in Stark's funeral, and her red straight hair was now replaced with messy curls.

- Thanks for opening the door - she said - It's just that, I have no other place to go.

Then she broke down crying and you ran to hold her in your arms. You allowed her to cry and vent for as long as she needed without question anything.

- It's okay, I'm here now, you're not alone - you reassured her, stroking her hair and her back, rocking her body back and forth.

- I made horrible things Y/N, so many irreparable mistakes - she said sobbing.

Your white pajama shirt was covered with her tears but you didn't care, you only wanted to help her.

- Are you harmed? Did anyone hurt you? - you asked her.

She denied shaking her head.

- It wasn't me the one who got hurt - she said.

You simply nodded and stood up from the floor with the girl in your arms.

- It's late now, we'll talk about this tomorrow, okay?

She nodded and you cleaned the tears from her cheeks with your thumb.

That night you gave her a pajama and let her stay in the guest room. But before you could leave and turn off the lights she stopped you.

- Can you stay here with me tonight - she requested in a low voice - I just don't want to be alone.

So you got in the bed with her by your side, holding her close and giving her a quick kiss on her hairline.

That was the first night in a really long time that Wanda slept peacefully.

The first that night she didn't dreamt of her children.

But you, you stayed up all night, stealing glances from time to time to the girl laying beside you. You were so confused about her sudden appearance at your door, it had been a long time since you last talked to her and yet, she was still having the same effect on you. Your heart was still beating for the girl.

You met Wanda many years ago, when she joined the Avengers after the battle with Ultron and the death of her brother. You became close friends after some weeks and many sleepovers on your room, but then Vision came back to the compound.

It only took a few days of watching them together for you to realize that you were in love with Wanda, but she was falling for the android. And the night you have decided to tell her about your real feelings for her, she told you that Vision kissed her and they were dating.

Your heart broke with the news but you congratulated her and asked her more about it. You didn't mind on feeling fire inside your chest every time she smiled thinking about the android, for the first time you saw her genuinely happy and that was the only thing that mattered.

So time went on, and when the government split your team, you and Wanda were on the same side. You fought against Tony Stark, and for some days you felt hope on having a chance with her again, Vision chose the opposite team and you were there, by her side.

But you saw them after the battle in the airport, you ran to check on Wanda but she was in Vision's arms, so you took a step back and ran to help Natasha instead. You didn't want Wanda to see the tears pooling on your eyes.

Living on the run with Wanda only made your feelings grow. You were so obvious about it that you were almost sure that she knew it, but she never made a move. After some months she told you she would go to Scotland, and when you were about to tell her you'd go with her, she told you Vision was waiting for her.

And Wanda Maximoff broke your heart again.

It only went worse from that moment on, Thanos and the lost battle didn't only take your friends away, but also the love of your life.

Five years passed slowly, and when Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers knocked on your door telling you there was a way to bring everyone back you didn't hesitate on going with them.

The next events passed to the history as the time that the Avengers saved the universe. Tony Stark sacrificed himself and the day of his funeral you talked to her for the first time in almost five years.

- How are you feeling? - you asked, she was standing by the river and her face was expressionless.

- I'm alive - she said - I just wish that he knew that everything worth at the end, that we won.

You hugged her and she cried on your shoulder.

- I'm sure he knows it Wands - you told her.

- He didn't even got a funeral.

You gulped.

- I'm sorry about that, but when you disappeared after the blip I tried to take his body with me, but the government took him - you confessed her - I wanted to keep him safe, or give him a proper bury, but they didn't let me.

She only hugged you closer. Her heart warmed at your words. That's what she loved about you, your tenderness and how you always said the right things at the right time.

- I'm sure you did your best, thank you Y/N - she said and then she kissed your cheek.

You sighed.

- Do you want to come with me? I have a house, in Italy, it's a beautiful town and you're more than welcome - you told her, maybe this was your second chance.

But she only stared at you, and words weren't needed to know her answer.

- Vision bought a house for us before passing away, i'm going to visit the town and maybe live there Y/N.

You smiled sadly and took a step back.

- I'm sorry - she said - I love you Y/N, but not in the way you've always wanted.

- Just know that if you ever feel like visiting Europe, you can always come to my house.

And that was the last time you saw her. Until that night. You knew nothing about her life and seeing her again, in that state, was shocking for you.

The next morning you made her breakfast and she thanked you with a brief smile.

- Are you feeling better now? - you asked her but she shook her head.

- No.

- That's okay, we can have breakfast and then you can take a shower if you want.

She accepted and you two ate in complete silence.

That first day she didn't say much, and you didn't pressure her. Whatever happened to her you were sure it affected her like never before, not even after Vision's death she looked that devastated.

-I'm ready to talk to you - she said on the afternoon of her second day with you.

You nodded and followed her to the living room to hear what she needed to say.

- I made bad things Y/N, really bad things - she started - I am a bad person, I was cruel.

You shook your head.

- No you're not...

- Yes I am! I know it - she interrupted you.

You heard her story, she told you about Westview, her children, Vision, Agatha... the Darkhold. She told you about America Chávez, her battle with Strange and the multiverse. You listened to her without more interruptions.

You understood the reasons behind her actions, you always knew that Wanda Maximoff wanted to have a family like the one she once lost.

It stung a bit that her dream family was with Vision by her side, but you left the selfishness behind and you focused on what she felt.

- Wanda, you're just a woman who wanted to feel loved, maybe your actions were wrong but you did the right thing at end - you told her.

- That doesn't change what I am Y/N, i opened the Darkhold, I chose to be the Scarlet Witch and now she will live forever in me. I can still feel her - she said.

- Well, I can only feel you - you said and she started to cry at your words. You never knew why but she felt like going back in time hearing that phrase.

- I'm not the Wanda you remember Y/N, i changed...

- I can still see the sweet Wanda that I met years ago, the one who taught me how to cook Paprikash and loves to watch old sitcoms on Saturday nights.

She looked at you and decided to show you the real her, the Scarlet Witch inside her. So she broke the spell that hid her black fingers and the worn red suit.

You took a step back when you first saw it, but when she fell on her knees crying you immediately ran to hug her.

- I don't care about your past, you did the right thing and now I'm here for you, I will always be here.

- I'm sorry for breaking your heart in the past, if only I had gone with you that day...

- It's fine Wanda, you don't have to say anything, you're here and that's all that matters.

She smiled genuinely for the first time after so much, and she let you hold her. Maybe you were always the answer after all.

The first months were hard for her, readjusting to the society was kind of difficult, but the town where you lived was peaceful and small, and she found a home with you.

You never mentioned your feelings for her again, she never told you she was looking for you romantically, so you just were a good friend for her.

Also, you knew she was still missing and loving her family. From time to time you caught her drawing two boys that you assumed were Billy and Tommy. She never drew Vision, or at least you never saw her doing it.

- I miss them - she told you one afternoon when you were staring at the sunset on the backyard.

You were laying on the grass with your head resting on a tree and she was sat next to you.

- Billy and Tommy? - you asked

She nodded and then she showed you her drawing.

- They were the most amazing kids- she said smiling - Billy was like me, he had my powers, a really shy and tender boy. Tommy was more chaotic, he had Pietro's super speed and sometimes he drove me crazy.

She laughed sweetly at the memory.

- If they were like their mother, I bet they were fantastic - you said.

Wanda couldn't help to let out some tears.

- You would've loved them - she told you - Especially Billy, he was like you too.

You looked at ceiling and just a gave her a shy reassuring smile. Without saying more, she laid beside you, resting her head on your chest and wrapping an arm around your torso.

You held your breath for a second, but then you rested your arm on her back.

- But I really love living here with you.

You smiled.

- I love that you live here with me too, it's nice having company - you said.

She smiled and you stayed like that for some minutes.

- Sometimes I think about how my life would've been if I accepted your invitation to coming here - she confessed.

- It's not good for you think about the what if's, maybe you needed to meet your family - you told her.

- It would've been less painful, for me, for Billy and Tommy... They were happy with their lives in that other universe, now they probably have nightmares about their own mother being a witch, and it's all my fault.

You remained silence unsure on what to say.

- Sometimes I dream about them - she kept talking - It's nice to see them at least in my dreams.

- I'm glad, keep them in your memory is a nice way to honor them - you say.

- No, I really see them - she says looking up at you.

You looked confused at her.

- When I was studying the Darkhold I learned about the multiverse, it said that our dreams are our versions from another universe, so everytime we dream we can see another version of ourselves - she explains - That's how I found them, because every night I used to dream about them.

You listened to her and try to understand what she's saying.

- Now, everytime I dream about my children I know that it's real somewhere.

You smiled.

- They're happy, and I'm happy now - she said.

Another moment of silence remained between the two of you. Wanda was fidgeting with the buttons of your sweater.

- Do you ever dream about us? - she asked.

- What do you mean?

- Have you ever dreamed about me? About us? - she asked again.

For sure you had, not always but some nights.

- Yes, sometimes... Mostly about our time together before the Sokovia Accords and the fight and everything - you said.

- So is it like reliving the past?

You nodded.

- I dream about us, but not in the past - she told you - Sometimes I dream about us being together, like how could have been our lives if I stayed with you and not with Vision.

Your chest tightened for a moment.

- That means that in some universe we are together - she finally said.

Your eyes met and before you knew it her lips were on yours. The kiss was slow and clumsy, but you felt your heart exploding of happiness inside your chest.

When you two separate from each other she smiled and you smiled too.

- Y/N... I want you, I love you, you've always been so good to me and stayed by my side, even when I broke your heart you were a good friend. You didn't even hesitate to receive me when I knocked on your door that night... - she said.

- Wanda I have always loved you, I never stopped - you admitted.

- I know, I'm sorry I'm telling you this now - she said.

- Don't be sorry, it's never too late. I love you, every part of you and that will never change - you took her hand and kissed her palm.

She smiled and kissed you again.

Life was sweet from that moment on, Wanda was by your side now and your life couldn't be happier. During the day you would wake up next to her and after some kisses go to have breakfast. You would paint, listen to music, dance or go to walk next to her; and she was starting to take care of a little garden on the backyard. At nights you two would take a shower together and after some goofy games you go to bed and cuddle with her until she fell asleep.

She never stopped loving her family though, but you loved listening to her whenever she talked about Billy and Tommy. She would tell you about things she lived in her short time with them, or about what she saw in her dreams. However, she couldn't help but cry sometimes at the memory of her children, but this time she had you by her side to cry her heart out and feel accompanied. And she loved you for that.

Six months of happiness preceded smoothly, just you and Wanda. Until one day she decided to show up, to never leave again.

Three weeks ago Wanda was doing the dishes after a tasty pasta dinner you two had whilst you were out buying some groceries that you would use the next morning for breakfast.

A sudden hard pain on her forehead made her drop the plate she was holding and touch her head. It was something she had never felt before. Her hands were feeling shaky and when she looked at them her slender fingers were black again, something she had been avoiding to happen. When she looked through the window to see if you were home already she saw her. The ghost of her past was in front of her, it was her reflection. The Scarlet Witch was in her window.

She screamed and threw a blast of power to the window breaking it. You opened the door in a hurry after hearing her scream and ran to the kitchen, you found her lying on the floor, her hands holding herself as she looked out the window and crawled backwards, as if she was running from something.

- Wanda are okay? - you said sitting on your knees to hug her. She jumped scared when her back hit your body, but when she saw it was you the one behind her, she clung to you and buried her face in your neck - Baby what happened? Why is the window broken?

She was only sobbing and crying so you didn't pushed any further and just waited there, rubbing her back and hugging her until she was ready to talk.

- She was here Y/N, i saw her in the window - she said after some minutes.

- Who? - you asked confused.

She looked up to meet your eyes, sniffing her noise.

- The Scarlet Witch, she was in my reflection - she finally said.

You looked at her speechless. Wanda had told you about her version corrupted by the Darkhold, but you couldn't get it yet, she was the Scarlet Witch, she lived inside your girlfriend, but Wanda had her under control somehow.

- I'm scared, It has been so long since the last time I saw her... But this time it felt different, as if I had no control over her - she said with shaky voice.

You were lost for words, so you did what you always do, give her reassurance and stand by her side.

- It's okay now, I'm here and I will never let something happen to you.

She kissed you and you stayed like that for some minutes before standing from the floor.

- Why don't you go to get ready for a bath? I'll finish the dishes and cover the broken windows with a plastic for tonight, tomorrow I'll have it fix - you said and she nodded.

- I'm sorry Y/N, i didn't want to scare you - she apologized but you shook your head.

- You don't have to apologize my love, it's fine okay?

Kissing her hands one last time she left to go to the bathroom and you picked up the plate that was broken on the floor. You sighed and looked at the window, hoping for it to be the last time that Witch haunted Wanda.

But unfortunately that was not the last encounter of your beloved with the Scarlet Witch, in fact, it was only the beginning of her hunt.

Two days later you came home after doing some errands only to find water falling down the stairs, you quickly ran upstairs to the bathroom only to find Wanda curled up in fetal position, her gaze was lost and you could notice her whole body shaking.

- Wanda what happened? - you said running to turn off the water tap and to kneel on her side - Baby, are okay?

She denied with her head without looking at you..

- Hey whatever happened it's fine, I'm here, we're gonna be fine, just talk to me...

- I saw her again Y/N, she was on the water and I tried to make her dissappear but she only stared at me, I felt like she was analyzing me - she said looking at you.

She laid her head on your chest and some tears rolled down her face.

- It felt so real, she was here with me, I know it - she sobbed - I'm scared Y/N

You sighed and closed your eyes.

- I know my love, but I really don't know what to do - you said - Just know that, whatever happens I will always be by your side, no matter what.

She nodded and kissed you.

- I'm sorry about the water, I was so lost when I saw her and I didn't realized the water was...

- Shhh it's fine, it's just water - you told her and gave her a brief smile - Let's get you dry and then I'll clean this up.

Hours later when the both of you were cuddling on your bed Wanda made a decision.

- I want to go to see someone tomorrow, someone who can tell me what is happening - she said.

- Where? Who? - you asked.

- In Westview, I want to visit Agatha Harkness.

You remained silence.

- I want you to go with me, you deserve to hear whatever she has to tell me - Wanda told you, looking up to meet your gaze - Is that okay with you?

You smiled and kissed her forehead.

- I would follow you to the end of the world - you said.

She smiled and cuddle further on your chest.

- I love you Y/N.

- I love you too Wanda Maximoff.

After some seconds she spoke again.

- Agatha is now under a spell, tomorrow she will probably recognize me but I'll have to make sure she would be powerless to talk to her peacefully - she explained - I don't want you to be scared of me.

- I would never - you said firmly - I know I'm safe with you, I trust you.

- My powers are not same since the last time you saw them, they are different and stronger now, and so am I.

- I know but I'm not scared.

You kissed her hands and she fell asleep in your arms.

The next morning you were boarding a plane to America. You were unsure on what to expect, you knew what happened thanks to Wanda's explanation but now that you were a few hours from your destination your doubts increased.

What would you do If that Agatha witch tried something against Wanda? How could you possibly protected her?

- Baby are you okay? - Wanda asked you, taking you hand in hers and cupping your face with her other hand.

- Yeah, I'm just worried - you told her - I don't know how I would protect you if that woman tries to hurt you.

- Oh honey you don't have to worry, I promise I have it under control - she stroked your cheek - Believe me, you're doing a lot by coming with me, I don't think i would be able to come alone.

You sighed.

- Are you sure?

- Yes, I'm sure - she smiled and kissed you.

Your hotel was a few minutes away from Westview, so after arriving and rest for a bit you drove to the small town.

As you were approaching to the place you noticed how Wanda tensed and as soon as you drove into the town you understood why.

The local people looked curious inside of your car as you were a clear stranger, and you saw how their expression changed the moment their eyes landed on your girlfriend.

- They're still mad at me, afraid - she said.

After driving some more minutes you parked in front of an empty lot and Wanda indicated you that the house next door was Agatha's.

- Wait here Y/N, I'll handle her first and then I'll let you know when to come in okay? - she said and you hesitate a little but nodded your head.

Some minutes passed for you until you heard her voice in your head.

- Come inside, we're at the basement - she said.

You did as you were told and walked inside the house. When you made it to the basement the air became heavier and the lighting of the room turned red.

- So this is your new puppet - you heard a woman's voice talking as you got close to Wanda - A new toy to play dollhouse.

- Silence Agatha - your girlfriend told her.

Wanda looked at you and and held her hand out for you to take it, she pulled you close to her and give you a small kiss on one side of your forehead. But you were more focused on the kneeld chained woman that was in front of you.

- I have to say it, she's more attractive than the machine that you called husband - Agatha said mocking at Wanda.

- I told you to shut up - Wanda said aggressively throwing a blast of power over the woman to put on a magical spell on her mouth - We came here for answers, not to have a chat with you.

You were still complete silence, feeling suddenly so out of place between those two powerful women.

- Did you understand? - Wanda asked her and the woman nodded slowly, rolling her eyes.

Your girlfriend took your hand to feel your presence and the touch made you remember why you were there. For her.

So you held her hand and gave her a shy brief smile.

- It's okay - you whispered.

The magic spell disappeared from the woman's mouth and she took a deep breath in.

- What do you want from me Wanda? - she asked roughly.

- I want you to tell me why am I seeing the Scarlet Witch again... - Wanda said - It's been a long time and I always had her under control, but now I feel like she's haunting me.

Agatha stared at Wanda and laughed dryly.

- You think you have her under control? Oh sweetie, you don't have the Scarlet Witch, the Scarlet Witch has you - Agatha spilled bitterly.

- What do you mean? - she asked - I am the Scarlet Witch, I can control her.

Agatha smirked.

- You're the Scarlet Witch now, but you are not the only one Wanda, there have been others before you... But you seem to be the strongest and, ironically, the weakest out of them all...

Wanda seemed confused and you were too.

- So you're saying that there have been other Wandas? - you asked.

Agatha smirked at you.

- No darling, not other "Wandas" other Scarlet Witches - she said mocking.

- Don't you dare to talk to her - Wanda told her.

- She asked...

You took a step back and kept listening.

- It's something you inherited Wanda, probably your progenitor was a Scarlet Witch too...

- That's impossible, my mom was a normal housewife, she never had powers

- Not your boring human mom that gave you your last name, I mean your biological mother, the one that gave you birth - Agatha explained.

Wanda held your hand tighter and you put your arm around her waist.

- But there's more. .. You're not only a Scarlet Witch but you also contain the chaos magic... a gift from a demon, a monster....

- What... What monster? - Wanda's voice shook.

- I told you sweetheart, your destiny was to destroy the world - Agatha said, and after some seconds of staring at Wanda she smirked - But I have the feeling that you already did that, am I right?

- I asked you one thing Agatha, what monster? What are you talking about? - Wanda screamed.

- I told you that you would need me Wanda, and you decided to keep me trapped in here, in this fake suburban hell...

- Agatha...

- Now you think you have a second chance with her - the woman points at you - You're just another heart to break honey... Another puppet to ease her pain...

- Stop talking Agatha, just answer me - Wanda demanded and she threw another blast of power.

Agatha closed her eyes in pain for some seconds.

- Chton - Agatha said catching her breath again - His name is Chton, the original owner of the magic of chaos... He gave you his powers when you were a baby, before he was banished from earth, as a way to keep a portion of his power on here.... The Darkhold, it was written by him too, it's a testament of all of his knowledge in the arcane arts, but surprise surprise sunshine... You read that too.

Wanda and you froze for a moment, what the hell was that woman saying?

- I thought your powers came from the mind stone - you said to Wanda

- No, the stone only awakened my abilities but they're different, they're magical... - Wanda explained without looking at you.

- Not only magical, destructive, the demon of chaos himself gave you his powers, you and the Darkhold are his connection to this world and now... you have seen all of it.

- That can't be true...

Agatha stared smirking at her.

- Believe what you want to believe honey... But the power is stronger, even stronger than you... Do you think you'll be able to hold all of it... Now she's just haunting, testing you, but sooner rather than later she will reach you, and there'll be no escape.... For the both of you - she said looking at you too now - It will consume you Wanda, until there's nothing of you left.

You stared at the woman scared.

- Y/N wait in the car... I'll go in a few minutes - Wanda told you firmly.

- But Wanda... - you tried to argue not wanting to let her alone with Agatha, but she didn't give you room for it.

- Y/N please...

You sighed and walked to the car.

- You will not save her Y/N, don't even try... - that was the last thing you heard from Agatha before stepping out of the basement.

You waited for a couple minutes before seeing Wanda get in the car. You were expecting her to be cold or distant after everything you heard but the moment you looked at her she broke into your arms crying.

- I always knew I was a monster - she said.

You shook your head denying.

- No my love, you're not monster... What she said, it can't be true...

- But what if she is? What If the power takes control over me... What if I hurt you?

Wanda was shaking from head to toe, her voice was thin in fear and her tears didn't stopped from falling down her cheeks.

- You would never, I know it.

She remained affected for the rest of the day. In the night when you two were in bed and in the safety of each other's arms you had and idea.

- What if we go to see Strange? Maybe he can tell us if that whole Chton thing is real and if there's any chance for what Agatha said to be true?

She lifted her face to meet your eyes.

- You know, Strange and I are not in the best terms... I don't think he would help...

- It's been a long time Wanda, I'll go with you and we both will talk with him - you said - He's the only one I would trust to tell us the truth, and he's a smart man, I bet he knows by now that you did the right thing at the end.

She hesitated for a moment but then just nodded her head.

- Okay, maybe he could help...

Next morning you took a flight to New York City and walked to the Sanctum Sanctorum to look for the Strange. When you made it to his place you were happy because you were right about him already forgiven Wanda about the whole Multiverse thing, but your smile slowly faded away as soon you ask him about Agatha and Chton.

- I'm sorry Y/N... - he said - That witch, she's telling the truth.

Wanda paled after hearing him.

- Wanda is now a human vessel for all the power of chaos magic, and Chton is no demon to play with, he's one of the strongest, part of the big leagues of the universe...

- But Wanda is not a demon... - you said

Strange sighed.

- I know, but the power and her one day will become one, and in that instant there will be nothing left from Wanda...

Wanda walked out of the room with some tars falling from her eyes and you followed her.

- Darling, come here please - you asked once you were on the receiving room.

She didn't say anything for a while, just stayed there, you only seeing her back.

- We'll solve this Wanda - you told her approaching slowly - We're gonna be fine...

She turned to look at you and only then you saw her big puffy green eyes because of her cry.

- We're in this together, I'm not gonna let you deal with this on your own.

You wrapped her in your arms and she let herself fall in them.

- I don't want to lose myself Y/N, i don't wanna be that monster... - she said in a whisper with shaky voice.

- You will not baby, we'll figure this out, I promise...

She shook her head denying.

- No, it's not fair for you to go through this hell with me, you don't have to burn...

- I will not let you burn - you said looking into her eyes - And don't even try to push me away darling, I'll always come back.

- But Y/N you heard them, there's no solution on this, I will leave someday and... I don't want you to pay for the mistakes I made... I want you to be happy, that's what you deserve.

You hold her hand to kiss it.

- You are my happiness, and I don't care of how much time we have left, I want to spend it with you.

She gave you a brief smile but you saw the doubt in her eyes.

- Are you sure? - she asked you - You don't have to, I understand if you want to take a step aside... You don't have to worry.

You also smiled giving her reassurance.

- I'm sure my love, I would never imagine a life without you...

She smiled and kissed you deeply, letting you know how much she loved you.

You came back with Strange to talk about Wanda's future.

- I'm not sure about how many time there's left for you, it's all so uncertain, it can be weeks, months or years even... - he said to her - But it's going to happen, that's for sure.

- And when she possesses me, when the Scarlet Witch takes control of my body and the power blinds me... - Wanda said with trembling lips - What is going to happen?

Strange looked through the window thinking how to explain everything.

- Once she has you Chton will be able to return to this world, his exile will end and maybe he will try to conquer the earth... He will take the power in you to be complete again - he turned to look at you, worried - We'll have to be prepared if he decides to attack...

You felt your stomach flinch in scare for what might happen to Wanda, you can't let something so terrible happen to her. On the other hand she was thinking on how to avoid such a horrible event to happen.

- Is there any way we can stop this from happening? - she asked.

Strange sighed.

- There's one way - he closed her eyes for a second before talking - If we destroy his connection to this world and close the gates he left open before leaving... Maybe he'll not be able to return

You frowned.

- But Wanda is the connection...

He looked at you with sorrow.

You denied with your head and stood from the chair you were sat in.

- No, no, no... Don't even think about it.

- There's no other way Y/N, Wanda destroyed the Darkhold but she read it, all Chton needs it's her...

- Well, I will not let you touch her...

- Y/N...

She interrupted you and you turned to look at her, when your gaze met you knew what she was thinking.

- No Wanda, I'll not let you do it.

- Baby - she walked to you - I'm the one who started all this mess, I'm the one who has to finish it.

- But you can't, you can't leave me...

You started to sob just at the thought of living without her by your side.

- We don't have to say goodbye now my love, let's enjoy this time we have left... But it's something I have to do.

She also started to cry and Strange left the room to let you two talk.

- It's not fair, we should be happy, live a long peaceful life and grow old together... This is not how it's supposed to be...

She cupped your face, caressing your cheek.

- I known, life isn't fair, but I'm the happiest because you are the one I get to live with for the rest of my days, and then if I get to stop this I will go peacefully... I'll finally rest.

You understood Wanda had to do it to feel inner peace, to forgive herself for all the things she did.

You stared at her with tears rolling down your cheeks and her face full of tears too; and breaking your heart in the process you just nodded, accepting your fate.

- I'll be honored to accompany you.

She kissed you like it was the last time and your heart hurt knowing there would actually be a last time for you.

When you left Strange that day to return home Wanda told you to wait in the car one more time to have a quick chat with Stephen.

- I wish I could help you more Wanda, I'm glad you found happiness - he said.

- Thank you Stephen, but I have the feeling this will not be the last time we see each other.

He sighed nodding.

- I know, as I said I don't know when it's going to happen but the moment you feel like it's becoming too much, if you feel like no having control over your body, come here, we'll help you go to Wundagore to close the gate...

She accepted and shook hands with the man.

- Yes, I will.

He gave her a brief smile.

- I hope you don't have to come in a really long time... I wish you more years of happiness with Y/N, you deserve it.

Wanda smiled and said goodbye before returning to you in the car.

- Are you ready my love? - you asked her and hold her hand.

- Yes, let's go home.

The whole way back you felt a hole on your stomach everytime you looked at Wanda. When she fell asleep on your shoulder on the flight you stared at her peaceful features and you couldn't help to cry. The reminder that someday the woman you loved would be lost in pain was killing you inside, and you felt it so unfair, Wanda came back to your life only one year ago, your time together have been so short and they were taking her away from you, again.

- You know, I can feel whenever you're sad - she murmured with her head still laid on your shoulder.

- I'm sorry, I'm just... I keep processing everything...

She sighed and lifted her gaze up to you.

- I know it's scary, and it's fair for you to feel sad or angry, I'm not asking you to stop feeling and pretend nothing is going to happen...

You stroked her cheek.

- Thanks for understand, I don't want to feel like this for the rest of our time together, but I can't help it...

- Detka it's fine.. I feel scared too, more than you can think... But I also want to live happy, like I was before coming here....

- Me too, I wish we could go back to a week before...

- Let's do something, I know we both feel horrible now but what If we let all of this Chton thing here, in America. We can be miserable all we want during this flight, but then, when we land in Italy and arrive home let's live our life like there's no tomorrow, like there's no time clocking for us... Let's leave it all in America.

You looked at her big green orbes and smiled.

- Okay, we'll leave it all in America.

And so you did, for the next months Wanda and you lived in the fairytale you always dreamed about, loving each other like never before. And although you wished from the bottom of your heart for it to stop, the Scarlet Witch kept haunting Wanda. It wasn't very often but when she did, she always left Wanda shaken and affected for the rest of the day.

Three months later you prepared a nice dinner at the backyard of your house that Wanda had turned into a beautiful garden. You put lights all around the flowers and bought a nice ring to propose to Wanda.

- I know out future is uncertain, we have no clue what it's going to happen tomorrow but I am sure of one thing, I love you Wanda Maximoff, I love you like I never knew I could love someone, you make me feel like I'm the luckiest girl on the planet, I would give you the world if you ask me to... Wanda Maximoff, would you marry me?

With tears of happiness on her face she said yes.

- Of course I will marry Y/N, i love you!

She kissed you with tender and two months later she became your wife on a special ceremony between only the two of you.

Now, after two years of full happiness and love you are laying on a sun chair at your garden with Wanda on your side, you right hand holding her left hand with the bright ring on her finger. It's been hard days for her, the encounters with the Scarlet Witch had been increasing and Wanda now see her on her reflection on windows, mirrors, water or in her dreams. You only want to help her, so giving her peaceful moments like this has become your priority.

- I really gonna miss this - she says - I love watching the sunset with you.

You turn to look at her confused.

- You don't have miss it already, I know we still have plenty of sunsets left to see - you tell her but her reaction it's not the one you expected. Instead of smile sweetly and look at you, she stays with her gaze on the sunset and instead of her smile, sadness is reflected on her eyes - Darling, is everything okay? - you ask stroking your thumb on her hand.

She takes a long breath, allowing the warm air of the afternoon fill her lungs, closing her eyes.

- This loving atmosphere we created, the home we built, it's something I never thought I would deserve - she murmurs softly.

You listen to her, not wanting to interrupt.

- After Westview, when my children disappeared I promised Vision we would say hello again, maybe in another dimension. But when I studied the multiverse and found Billy and Tommy, Vision was never there, they were my kids but he wasn't by my side. And in those universes where he was with me, we never ended up together... Like in this one - she remained silence before turning to look at your eyes - But you were there, always, sometimes as a friend, sometimes as my partner. You are the love of my life Y/N, it took me so long to realize it but I'm glad that we found each other again, you bring me love, peace and happiness; you gave me the life I always dreamed of; you are real Y/N, you loved me even before I loved myself, you held me all those nights when I cried for Pietro, you held me through my grief and grieve with me. You showed me true friendship, true love, made me feel trustworthy and special. And yet, I broke your heart so many times, I chose another person above you and even then, you only smiled and accepted without any complain. You were always what I was missing, the key to finally feel complete. I'm happy and honored to be the one you hold and the one that gets to hold you, thanks for all these years of bliss and love. I'm sorry I'll have to break your heart again by leaving, but I want you to always remember that I love you, if it were up to me I would stay with you until the end of our days, but I can't.... I'm so sorry Y/N, i have to leave you behind again...

At this point you're crying and sobing with her on your arms, what she said wasn't something you were expecting to hear. You're lost for words, so you just hug her close to you, not wanting to let her go, ever.

- I'm the lucky one here darling, I would always choose you, above anything or anyone... I never resent Vision, he made you happy and I will always be grateful with him for that, but the night you knocked at my door crying my heart skipped for seeing you again. Letting you get in my house was the best decision I've ever made, you're the love of my life too Wanda Maximoff, I love so much that sometimes it hurts.... But I know we still have more time together...

Her crying intensifies with your last words, and she hides her face in the crock of your neck.

- I don't think we have that much time darling - she whispers between sobs - These last few days I have felt her, she's stronger now, sometimes I don't even recognize myself in the mirror. I'm not even afraid of her anymore, I just stare at her for minutes, waiting for her to attack... I don't feel like myself anymore...

Your heart breaks the moment she says that, your bigger fear is finally materializing and you're not prepared for it yet.

- Strange told me to go to him the moment she takes control over my body, I don't know what she's capable of doing and don't want to put you in risk - she sighs - Maybe it's time for me to go, to close the gate...

You denied.

- No Wanda, you don't have to leave on you own, I'll go with you - you tell her - I'll never let you alone again.

- Y/N, i don't want you to go through this....

You don't let her finish.

- There's no discussion on this Wanda, tomorrow we'll go with Strange and I'll go with you, okay?.

She closes her eyes and nod, smiling briefly.

- Okay - That's all she says.

As every night you fell asleep with your wife wrapped inside your arms, expecting to travel the next day. But later that night Wanda had a nightmare.

She was in your garden, wearing the Scarlet Witch dress and the sky was red, just like when Strange looked for her help on the farm. The house and the garden was all burned out, and she was dragging your body through the ground, holding you with her hand on your neck. You were dead.

She wakes up abruptly, with sweat all over her face and her heart pounding very fast. She turns to look at you, and sees how you're sleep, running a finger over your features she knows she has to leave before something terrible happened to you.

She stands from the bed and, sobbing in silence she left the house, not without giving you a peck on the lips before and leaving a letter for you to find it later.

Next morning you wake up at 8 am, searching instinctively for your wife with your hand. But when you feel nothing by your side you open your eyes and sit on the bed confused.

- Wanda? - you ask outloud for her to hear you.

You stand from the bed and look through your window to see if she's down in the garden, but she's not there. You change your pajama and go downstairs to look for her in the kitchen, but she's no where to be seen.

You have a bad feeling growing on your chest, and after some minutes of thinking you take a sit on one of the chairs of the dinner room. Just then you notice the envelope on the table, a letter that has your name written on the front. And you understand everything, Wanda wasn't gonna return.

Immediately you take the letter with you and leave running to the airport to get to New York the soonest possible.

But Wanda had arrived to New York an hour ago, in the shadow of the night.

- It's time Stephen - she said to the man.

He stared at her and nodded.

- We have to get you ready before - he told her.

So the Sorcerer and the Witch prepared themselves to go to Wundagore.

Meanwhile you were traveling all the way to America. Having a close friendship with the wealthy widow Pepper Pots, allowed you to get there faster by flying in her private jet.

In the privacy of the airplane, you unfold the letter Wanda left for you. With shaky hands and tears already falling from your eyes you start to read it.

Y/N, my love.

I'm sorry for leaving without you, but tonight I had a nightmare about the Scarlet Witch hurting you, and I couldn't handle it anymore, I would never put you in risk and I feel like now it's the right time.

I know you wanted to go with me but I can't let you go through that pain again, but please know that I'm not doing this to hurt you, I only want to protect you.

I'm writing this to say goodbye, and thank you for everything, for giving me love and happiness; although last night I told you everything I wanted you to hear.

Darling please don't let this consume you, don't let yourself drown in pain and sadness; and as I said, I'm not asking you to not feel, just don't lose yourself in sorrow.

Live baby, don't let your life end up here, it's not the end of the line for you so please don't stop just because I'm gone, you're young and beautiful, so please enjoy life, do it for me.

And I know you my love, you probably will go to see Strange (if you're not in your way already) but please don't be mad at him, he's just helping me. I'm conscious that visiting New York will make you feel angry, so cry, scream, be sad, I can't stop you from feeling, I know I would feel my world ending if you were the one leaving, so grieve. But baby, leave it all in America, when you arrive to our home I want you to fell free, to have a happy memory of me, of us.

I love you Y/N, more than anything.

- Wanda.

You hold the letter close to your chest murmur.

- I love too Wanda.

When you land in New York you take a cab to the Sanctum Sanctorum to look for Strange. But you only find Wong in your way in, and when he looks into your eyes, the guilt on his gaze let's you know that it was too late.

- Wanda is gone - he says.

Those three words resound inside your head and you fall on your knees, crying like never before. Wanda Maximoff broke your heart for the last time.

~▪️~

Wanda and Strange made it to feet of the mountain Wundagore.

- I can't go further than this, Wanda - Strange told her.

- I know, thanks Stephen, for being here.

He nodded and looked at the woman.

- I'm sorry you have to do this, it's gonna be painful, you'll feel like they're burying you alive, but it's gonna finish before you can notice. In that moment the magic of chaos will die with you.

She nodded nervous.

- Tell her how much I love her - she said and the man smiled sadly - Goodbye Stephen.

- Goodbye Wanda.

So she flied to the destroyed throne she once claimed as her own, and there she gave her body to the damned souls of the Darkhold, the only ones who could claim her. She left this world with the image of her wife never leaving her mind.

The prophecy said that the Scarlet Witch was destined to destroy the universe. But the Scarlet Witch was now also Wanda. And Wanda wouldn't. Wanda would never.

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labellefleur-sauvage · 1 year ago

Text

Heat Above

In the sudden uncertainty of her life, Elain Archeron seeks comfort in an unlikely source: her mate Lucien.

For Elucien Week 2023 Day 1: Mates

The specifics of Elain's visions don't exactly seem well-described in the books, so I'm interpreting her visions (and how the end of ACOSF could affect them) and their potential ties to Lucien here. I like to imagine that Elain's visions will guide her towards her mate, and I wanted to try writing something in the ACOTAR universe for my favorite pairing, so here we are!

Thank you for everyone @elucienweekofficial for organizing this event!

Rating: Explicit. Word Count: 3.9K

Read on A03

XXX

In the span of a day, both of her sisters nearly died.

And there was nothing Elain Archeron could do to save either of them.

It all worked out in the end, they each soothed her. Nesta triumphed over those wanting to destroy her and became a Valkyrie, a living legend and feared warrior even the Illyrians idolized. Feyre survived the birthing bed—how, exactly, no one deigned to explain to her - and introduced her son Nyx to her family, everyone weeping joyously.

Everyone was safe. Everyone was fine.

And Elain’s visions had been out of control ever since.

It was as if a momentous shift occurred, like something—or someone—had altered the preordained fates the Mother lovingly crafted for each and every Fae and set everyone a new, uncertain future.

Her visions had never been regular or clear, but now they were chaotic and overwhelming. Death, blood, war, grief, terror and interlopers, interspersed with breathtaking happiness that Elain felt with her entire being: family dinners, Solstice celebrations, walks in unknown meadows, tending a garden on a bright, green hill, and holding hands with a foreign yet familiar male with flaming red hair.

That red-haired male was a frequent guest in her visions now, for whatever reason. Nearly every day she saw a glimpse of him, sometimes alone—his handsome face wreathed in sunlight, an open window behind him, a contemplative look on his face—or with someone she quickly realized was herself, such as when she saw him kissing down, down, down her body…

Elain shut her eyes. It was just like when she had been newly turned and her visions were constant, to the point where she didn’t know what was the present and what was the future, what was real and what wasn’t.

It was all too much, yet not enough. Elain wanted to turn her brain off, to have no thoughts at all, yet she craved more, needed to know what may happen.

She was alone, yet surrounded by people. There was no one who could help her.

Except one.

There must be a reason he kept appearing in her visions.

Elain leapt up from her bed and hurriedly dressed. She hoped he still kept his apartment by the river.

“Oh, hello Elain,” Feyre called quietly from the couch in the living room downstairs. Rhys was on the ground next to Nyx, swooping a toy bat over his head. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Just for a walk,” she called, gathering her shoes.

“Would you like some company? Nyx is due for a nap, and a trip in the stroller—“

“No!” Elain yelped so loudly even Rhys raised a surprised eyebrow at her. “Er, thank you, but it’s just something I need to do by myself.”

Elain let herself out of the River House with Feyre and Rhys’s gentle murmurs behind her, then made her way into Velaris. She didn’t actually know where he stayed or if he spent his time with someone else.

No, she thought resoundingly, turning down a sleepy street lined with attractive apartments, Elain knew her mate hadn’t been with anyone since that horrible day in Hybern.

She stood in front of a clean and unassuming building. Something told her this was it. But how to get in? She was just about to knock on the front door of the building and hope someone would let her in when the door opened and she saw Lucien for the first time in months.

“Elain?”

He looked good. Handsome, clean, and put together in a deep green jacket and brown pants. Two small sections of hair were braided at his temples.

Elain wondered if he would ever braid her hair, if she asked.

“Elain?” Lucien asked again, confusion and concern flooding his voice. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes,” Elain said, remembering herself and why she was here. “I came to see you.”

Lucien paled. “I see. Would this be better handled inside?”

“Hm. Yes, I think that would be for the best.”

Without a word, Lucien opened the door and led her up a series of staircases to an apartment on the top floor. Like everything about Lucien, it was clean and quietly elegant and put together: soft curtains fluttered on either side of the windows thrown open wide to let the cool breeze in, and several tasteful chairs were arranged around a low table in the middle of the room. A simple kitchen was in the corner, and a closed door was on the opposite side of the room.

Lucien sighed. “Are you here to break the bond?”

Elain looked startled. Why would he assume that?

True, Elain had been ignoring her mate for years now, too frightened to belong heart, body and soul to any one being. After Graysen, after Azriel, after her entire world upended when she was pushed into the Cauldron, Elain couldn’t bear the thought of having another supposed constant in her life turn away from her.

But to permanently sever ties with Lucien, especially now when her visions were pointing him towards her, left an empty, hollow feeling in her stomach.

“I—no, I’m not here to break the bond,” Elain replied. Lucien let out a deep breath and visibly relaxed. “I’m here to ask you why I keep seeing you.”

Lucien’s brows furrowed. “Seeing me? I haven’t seen you in months.”

“No, not like that,” Elain said with a slight roll of her eyes. “I see you. Constantly. In my visions.”

Lucien raised an eyebrow. “And there must be a reason,” Elain went on. “I see you in my mind everyday, without fail, between my… other visions.” Elain winced. “But the only good visions—if that’s what they really are, and not just some type of hallucination—only feature you. And I want to know why.”

Silence greeted her. “You came to see me,” Lucien said slowly, an eyebrow still raised, “to ask me why I keep appearing in your visions?”

Elain flushed. When he said it that way…

“I thought you previously said you couldn’t control your visions. How would I have any control over something you can’t?”

Elain bit her lip. He was completely right—there really was no good reason for her to have come here, to see Lucien and demand answers for something he had nothing to do with. But some part of herself knew Lucien was connected to her sudden violent visions—why else would she have visions of him constantly, and feel the urge to see him now, if he couldn’t help her?

“I—I thought—“

“I’m sorry Elain,” Lucien said quietly. “I don’t know if I can help you.” He looked away, a pained look on his face. “Would you like me to escort you home?”

Elain furrowed her brows. “You want me to leave?”

Lucien raised a quizzical eyebrow. “I just told you I don’t know how to help you. You ignore me for months when I give you gifts and space—I imagine you can’t stand to be in my presence since I told you something you didn’t want to hear.”

Elain glared at him. “Don’t assume to know what I want.”

“You’re right. I can’t assume to know anything about you, because every time I’ve tried, you’ve ignored me like a coward,” Lucien replied coolly.

“I’m not a coward!” Elain hissed, her cheeks turning hot.

Lucien chuckled unkindly. “I bet that’s all you’ve ever been. Hiding behind your sisters, using them as shields so you don’t have to confront anything in your life that bothers you.”

Elain grit her teeth, unable to deny Lucien. Why did she think he would help her, even if he could? Lucien probably detested her, loathed her for everything she’d put him through, and she couldn’t even blame him.

“Even if I were somehow able to help you,” Lucien went on, putting distance between the two of them, “who’s to say you’d do anything but ignore me after I somehow banished myself from your visions?” Lucien leaned against a kitchen counter, directly in front of a wide window, the morning sunlight streaming in and bathing him in light. “At least this way, I can find comfort in the fact that I’m on your mind in some capacity.”

Elain sucked in a breath. It was identical to her prior vision: Lucien, surrounded in sunlight, his red hair gleaming. His golden mechanical eye paled in comparison to the glow he gave off now. The anger and frustration she felt for the male in front of her faded away.

If this vision was true, what about the rest of them? Danger and sadness, but also eventual joy and happiness. Could one be had without the other? Was it worth risking everything to find out?

“You’ve been so cold to me for so long,” Lucien went on, ignoring how Elain was looking at him. “You ignored me, tossed me aside—“

“You’re my mate,” Elain breathed, and everything suddenly clicked in her mind. Yes, it was inevitable that there would be death and grief and bone crushing sadness in her life. They had been ever present in her life before she was turned, when she was human, and those emotions would be with her, in some way, shape or form, in her current life. The only difference was that now she had someone to weather the storm with her, and make her remember that happiness was always worth the sadness.

“What did you say?” Lucien asked quietly, looking at her.

“You’re my mate.” The more she said it, the better it felt, settling in her body and cementing her to the present. “You’re my mate. There’s only you.”

Lucien stared at her. The only sound in the room was his mechanical eye, ticking and moving faster than Elain could track.

“Don’t say things you don’t understand,” Lucien said quietly, staring at the ground. “To say that to me, it’s, it’s…”

“Admitting what we both knew and have been avoiding?”

Lucien took a deep, steadying breath. “How do I know this is real?” Lucien jerked his head to look at Elain. His eye was wide and Elain could hear the fast beating of his heart. “How can I tell if this is what you want?”

Elain cocked her head, staring at the open vulnerability sketched on her mate’s handsome face. “Because I’ve seen my future. I thought it couldn’t be real, that some things must be wrong, but…”

“But? But what?”

“They’re all real,” Elain said quietly. “Horrible, horrible, things, coming soon and also later, but great things as well. Happiness, a family—all with you.”

Lucien’s eye widened. “You’ve seen that? Us? Together?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re not saying this because of what you’ve seen? You still have a choice in your future.”

She did, and her own heart sped up to match Lucien’s at the tenderness in his tone. Even now, he wanted Elain to have a choice, and wanted Elain to choose him.

“I think my visions have been urging me towards you for a long time. They know what I’ve been too afraid to admit.”

“And what’s that?”

“That I could be happy with you. That I will be happy with you.”

Lucien swallowed but didn’t move towards her, a wary look on his face. From what she’d heard about her mate from Feyre and Rhys, Lucien was never short on words, but his silence hung over their heads in the room.

Elain had already taken the first metaphorical step towards healing her relationship with Lucien—what were a few physical steps to convince him of her words?

Walking towards Lucien like he was a frightened animal, Elain stopped right in front of him. His heart was still beating fast—nerves, excitement, anticipation, she couldn’t be sure.

“I still hear your heart.” Elain took one of Lucien’s large hands in hers—he was so warm—and held it against her chest, over her own stuttering heart. “Do you hear mine?”

Lucien gasped, his eye wide and mouth open as if he could finally hear the constant drumming of his mate’s heart, like Elain had heard ever since she emerged from the Cauldron. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but she swore she saw some type of shimmering cord wrap around Lucien’s hand from where it connected with her chest and traveled along his arm—

Elain lost sight of the cord entwining them together when Lucien leaned down and kissed her, consuming her mind, body and soul.

It was blissfully silent in her mind for just a moment before a wave of images flashed before her eyelids, one after another after another, too fast for her to comprehend. It was like a lifetime’s worth of visions being crammed into the space of a few seconds and Elain gasped, overwhelmed with everything—

“Elain, what’s wrong? Breath, breath for me.”

And just as soon as they appeared, her visions fled at the first touch of Lucien’s touch, one hand on the back of her head, another on her lower back and rubbing soothing circles against her with his thumb.

“There, that’s better.” Lucien continued comforting her, and Elain realized what a fool she’d been the past years, to deny herself the sheer solace her mate provided her with just a few soft words and touches. “Was that…?”

“Yes.” Elain worked to steady her breathing. “I saw everything.”

Lucien paled. “Everything?”

Elain nodded, staring up at him. “We’ll travel… somewhere together. And Vassa will be wreathed in a crown of flame and feathers.”

“Elain—“

“Your father will rise to his full glory—”

“Beron?”

“No, the other one,” Elain snapped, massaging her temples. If only he could see. “And you’ll take your place next to him.”

“Other one? What are you—?”

“The man at the lake will fall and his birds released into the wind, but not without great cost.”

Lucien stared at Elain aghast.

“The Dread Trove will be restored, with the help of visitors from worlds so close to ours, but separated by the thinnest of veils.”

“Elain—“

“But we’ll be happy together, in the land of perpetual sun.”

“We will?”

“Yes, the two of us. You glow in the future. And we’ll have children—I’m not sure how many, at least two—“

Lucien’s lips stopped any more words from leaving her mouth. “Elain,” he chuckled against her, his lips kissing the corners of her mouth. “Let’s leave some things as a surprise, hm?”

“But what about—umph!”

Lucien’s lips slotted against her own again, his hands cradling her jaw, and Elain let her train of thought taper off.

“We don’t need to worry about any of that now,” he whispered. “Let your mate take care of you, hm?”

Elain wanted to argue, that they absolutely should worry about what she had just witnessed, but then Lucien was kissing her again. His big hands trailed down her waist, then over her hips and behind her to cup her bottom. Whatever would come to pass would come—not admitting to her feelings and spending time with Lucien wouldn’t change that.

So Elain twisted her hand in Lucien’s shirt and nipped at his lips and smiled in triumph when she felt him gasp against her. Her victory was short-lived: with one graceful swoop, Lucien carried her in his arms towards the closed door in his apartment.

As she suspected, it was a bedroom. Elain didn’t have time to study the room in detail, as Lucien tossed her on the bed then followed after her, climbing on top of her and resuming his heated kisses.

“Is this alright?” he whispered, his lips trailing down her jaw, throat and collarbone.

“Yes!” she gasped as his lips skimmed her upper chest. She was on fire, and knew Lucien would only stoke the flames of her desire the more he touched her. “Off, off—!”

Together, they wrestled her dress off and soon, Elain was bare in front of her mate on his bed. Before, she might have felt self conscious—she’d only been with Graysen, and that was in a dark room—but she had no reason to be embarrassed, not when Lucien was staring at her like his world had just been shattered and made new in the span of an afternoon.

“Elain,” he croaked, glancing at her body before settling on her bright face. “You’re the most beautiful being I’ve ever seen.”

Elain smiled, her chest warm and beating, before Lucien was on top of her again, his lips against hers. She threaded her hands through his long hair and moved her hands over his neck, his back, his chest, anywhere that she could, just to feel more of his body.

Lucien moved down her body, his lips licking and pecking at her sensitive breasts, her bellybutton—Cauldron, she had seen this too—before settling between her legs.

“Yes?” he asked, an eyebrow raised. Still checking on her, making sure she wanted this, wanted him. Lucien was breathing heavily, his eye darting to the curls between her legs and her heated face. He swallowed, like he was barely holding onto his restraint.

Elain wasn’t faring any better. “Yes,” she responded desperately, canting her hips towards him. Lucien needed no further persuasion: gripping her inner thighs, he wrenched her thighs apart and lowered himself between them.

The first, hot press of his tongue against her folds had Elain arching her back against his bed. The next swipe of his tongue against her clit made her grab Lucien’s head and keep him right where she wanted him.

Lucien didn’t seem to mind; groaning into her cunt, Lucien kept licking and sucking, gradually inserting one, then another thick finger inside her tight channel and thrusting. Elain moaned her approval, too delirious with pleasure to form words.

After nearly no time at all, Lucien crooked his fingers a certain way inside her, his tongue flicking her clit and his eye intense on her face, and Elain was coming. It was all consuming, but immediately her body craved more, more, more.

“Lucien!” Elain gasped, pushing his head away from between her legs, where he had been gently lapping at her swollen bud. “I need you!”

Lucien sat back on his haunches, breathing heavily but studying Elain. “You already have me, Elain.”

Elain felt her heart twist, knowing he’d given himself to her the day she crawled out of the cauldron and the mating bond snapped. But although Lucien had long ago given himself to her, Elain hadn’t yet done the same for him. She needed to reassure her mate that she wanted him.

Silently, Elain rose from the bed and helped Lucien discard his clothes. The more and more golden-brown skin he revealed to her, the warmer Elain felt; whether the heat was coming from Lucien or herself, she couldn’t be sure.

Soon, he was naked, and Lucien’s glorious body was on display. Elain felt a sudden rush of pride: this strong, clever, handsome male was all hers, and no one else’s.

“Have you…?” Lucien began when he was over her once again, the tip of his cock brushing her folds.

“Yes,” Elain responded, shifting her hips to get comfortable. He was so close to where she needed him.

“Are you sure—“

Elain stopped his question with her lips, soft and sweet, against his. Lucien was on his elbows above her, his face inches from her own. Silently, she moved her hand over the scars on his face and traced them gently, then leaned up to kiss them lovingly.

Shivering, Lucien pressed against her, working himself inside her tight channel. He went slowly, letting her adjust, until finally he bottomed out inside her.

Elain felt full. Not just from Lucien’s length, but from it all meant for her: having someone with her, always, to defend her, protect her, care for her, and support her. She belonged to someone, and someone belonged to her. She could cry from how happy she felt.

And as Lucien finally shifted his hips and began moving, his body and his heat above and within her, Elain felt grounded for the first time since she was turned. Her mind quieted, no longer tormenting her with what would happen, but blessedly blank, letting her focus on being with her mate.

Elain was thankful; she didn’t want to miss any of what she was experiencing. Lucien was thick inside her, moving slowly but steadily. He was being so polite, exactly what she expected from the gentleman Elain knew Lucien was.

But Elain was selfish, especially now, and she wanted more.

“I need—“ Elain gasped, unsure how to communicate what she wanted.

Like Lucien could read her mind, he shifted one of her legs up against his hip and thrust hard inside her. Stars exploded behind her eyelids and Elain could hear the smirk in Lucien’s voice. “Is that what you needed?”

“Yes!” Elain moaned as Lucien leaned back on his knees, her leg still propped up against his body.

“What else do you need, Elain?” Lucien crooned softly above her, increasing his pace inside her. He swiped a thumb over her clit.

“Yes, Lucien, more,” Elain begged quietly, quickly approaching her peak.

“Ask nicely,” Lucien grunted. He was fucking into her hard now, hilting his cock fully inside her. Sweat rolled down his neck and chest. “Tell me what you need.”

“Keep touching me and stay with me, please.” She hadn’t meant to say that last part. After everything they’d been through, it was too much to ask of him. Elain expected Lucien to freeze, but it only seemed to spur him on.

“Anything. Anything you want,” Lucien groaned, his thumb furiously circling her clit and like an explosion, Elain came. It was like nothing she’d felt before; indescribable pleasure raced up and down her spine, pleasure that came from not just Lucien touching her, but the knowledge that he was hers, and she was his.

Elain was dimly aware of Lucien cursing to himself before he pressed his length inside her and came, collapsing on top of her as his orgasm petered out. He rolled them over so Elain was on his chest.

If Elain thought his heartbeat was loud before, it was nothing compared to the explosive drumming now. It soothed her, though, and Elain felt her eyes drift close after only a few moments.

“I’m sorry,” Lucien whispered against her temple later that afternoon after they had woken up for a second round of lovemaking. “For those horrible things I called you earlier. That wasn’t fair of me.”

“But they were true, as much as it hurts to admit it.”

“But that doesn’t mean I needed to say them.”

Elain sighed into Lucien’s chest and twined her legs with his under the thin sheet on his bed. “If you hadn’t said them, I’m not sure we would have ended up here, right now.”

“But surely you saw this coming.” Elain could hear the grin on his face. “Surely one of your visions—“

“My visions have told me quite a bit about the two of us,” Elain admitted, her cheeks red. “But didn’t you say earlier that some things should be a surprise?”

Lucien dropped a kiss to her nose, and Elain felt his heat suffuse her entire body with that one peck. “I did say that. I may not be terribly fond of them, but if they all concern you, then I’ll gladly let each day with you be a surprise.”

#elucienweek2023 #elucien #elain archeron #lucien vanserra #acotar #my fic #my fics #i have given up on moodboards #and will now be making crappy banners for fics #gRAphIc DesIGn IS mY pASSioN #like this is laughably bad lmao #anyways this fic is my first canon universe fic for these two #a court of thorns and roses #happy elucien week!

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camlannpod · 9 months ago

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Character Playlist: Peredur Green

Happy off-week! We'll all pretend this one was on time. If you're new, hi! Since Camlann releases every two weeks, on the off weeks I'm posting these breakdowns of the character playlists. You can find Morgan's here and Dai's here.

This week it's time for our favourite knight, Peredur!

Brother by The Brilliance

When I look into the face Of my enemy I see my brother I see my brother

Perry's big problem is that they're a knight. And they love the other knights. They feel a siblinghood with them which is incredibly hard for them to ignore. The knights are their family, their home, their story - the place they're meant to be. But it's a family that won't accept them as they are. Perry so badly wants the knights to change their mind.

2. Battle Cry by The Family Crest

Oh, my love, my heart don't cry We were born to die But for this moment, for all time Oh, I will fight for you I will die for you

Perry's a knight! They very much see it as their duty to fight and die to protect the people they love. Right now, that especially means Morgan and Dai, who they've been travelling with since their escape from the Knights. Perry will risk life and limb to keep them safe. (This song is also about Dai. A lot of these songs are about how Perry feels about Dai)

3. Cypress Queen by The Last Bison

On and over the northwest river We go trusting in the Cypress Queen She'll keep us afloat We retreat into our fortress gold To a sanctuary in the trees That i call home

I'm 90% sure this song is about a boat? But I took it literally - this is Perry's feelings about Guinevere, or Shújūn - a woman who they certainly do not trust for us, but to whom they are drawn by their story and with whom they, deep down, have a lot of sympathy. Perry knows exactly what it's like to have a major role in someone else's narrative.

4. See You Through My Eyes by The Head and The Heart

Until you learn to love yourself The door is locked to someone else I'm just as damaged as you are

Perry is just as traumatised by the apocalypse as everyone else, they're just better at hiding it. In general their approach toward their emotions is to pack them up tightly in a box and pretend they're not happening, which is obviously wildly unhealthy. Perry spends so much of their time inspired by and loving their friends, especially Morgan and Dai, but they never open up when they need to and trust them with the more 'difficult' parts of themself.

5. Carry by Branches

I'm feeling like Moses and my arms are getting heavy Brother, would you come and lift them up for me?

Perry has been single handedly carrying Morgan and Dai through the apocalypse. They would never admit it, but this is exhausting, and they desperately need a break. Unfortunately for them, they live in a riddle-twisted landscape full of magic and monsters, so they can never truly relax. They need to stop and they can't, and sometimes they think hey, if they lost the next battle at least they wouldn't have to get up and fight another one.

6. House a Habit by We Are The Guests

Let's make this house a habit Let's make the sun shine

Partly because Perry is Permanently Exhausted, they very badly want to turn the cottage into a real, meaningful home base that feels safe. Perry has always been the kind of person to put down roots, and the last six months of trekking back and forth across Britain has really worn them down. They desperately want this place to be a real home.

7. Selkie-Boy by Spell Songs, Julie Fowlis

Go now, Selkie-Boy, swim from the shore Rinse your ears clean of human chatter And empty your bones of heather and moor And your mind of human matter

Honestly, Dai fascinates Perry. He is completely unlike them in almost every way and they find that beautiful and addictive. They've always felt that there was something ethereal about him and his ability to find hope and love in even the darkest places. Perry would follow Dai anywhere.

8. Church Key by Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Have you gone farther looking in the dark For a fire that can keep you warm Wander off the trail, lose track of all the details Till we make it to our door, where we can sleep

Oh Perry wants answers. The Cataclysm is an apocalypse of contradictions and mysteries and Perry so very badly wants to untangle the cat's cradle of stories in which they are caught. They are also exactly the kind of obsessive academic who will wear themself thin looking for the information they seek. Eventually, they just need to rest.

9. We Will All Be Changed by Seryn

We can write with ink and pen But we will sew with seeds instead Starting with words we've said And we will all be changed

The song on every main character playlist! For Perry, the apocalypse is a lesson in moving from theory to applied learning - from writing about flowers to planting seeds in the soil. It's fieldwork! In more ways than one, and in more ways than one, it's good for them, despite everything.

#peredur green #camlann #camlann podcast #peredur #Spotify

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lannaloveit · 2 months ago

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Action and Reaction 🔥❤️

Part 2 ⬇️

The night ends with Hyunjin returning home thoughtful, Han taking an interest in Ágata and Y/N sleeping in the guest room of Cris's house, since she offered to help clean up the mess.

The girl wakes up to a message from Han: "Look, I don't know what happened last night, but I wanted to know if you're okay." She then replies with: "Good morning Hanji, I was fine, I just found it strange to see you "moving on", spending all this time with you made me think about our past." "I understand perfectly Y/Nnie, but I need to move on, I'm tired of running after you, it was making me feel bad, I'm happy for you and Hyunjin, he seems perfect for you," Han adds.

As the days went by, she really realized that every action has a reaction, that if she does something, something will react. Y/N liked Han but was in love with Hyunjin.

Or maybe not?

She felt confused.

Maybe she did see something in Hanji, he was so similar to her, so fun, funny and it seemed like they shared the same neurons.

She used to say that he was "my alarm clock" the one that makes her wake up every day, her "reason".

Hyunjin arrived so suddenly, it was good, energizing, but as the days went by that gave way.

"You seem sad" Cris said

"I'm not, just a little confused with myself, I feel like I lost Henri and I didn't want that." "Tell me what you want from him, do you want him? Or do you want to risk Hyunjin? I've known you since you were a child, Y/Nnie, and I know that in order for you to really like and want to be with someone, you have to know them for a long time. Do you know why you were sad about his kiss with Agata? Because you trust him, because you wanted him. Think again, maybe Hyunjin only showed up to show you who you really want, because the idea of being away from him scares you. - Cris She hugs Cris and cries "Hyunjin will think I'm an idiot." "No, you just have to talk to him, and if he does, that's his problem, you have to fix things with your best friend now." "Cris, you know that you're actually my best friend, right?" Cris kisses her head and smiles.

Hanji found himself thinking about the damned “truth or dare” kiss. He *wanted* to kiss the prettiest girl in his opinion. Y/N was the prettiest girl, but he simply kissed Ágata because she was the most desired among the boys and he was afraid of what Hyunjin would do. After all, this was before he knew that Ágata was dating a college student who picked her up every day on his motorcycle after school. He felt ridiculous for thinking that she would give him a chance. But what can we expect from a girl who shows up with a different boy every week?

Y/N spends recess with Han and he tells her about Ágata. Honestly, Y/N knew the girl’s nature and knew that she would be bad for anyone who got involved with her. Cris comes up to them and says:

“Y/N, baby, we need to talk.” He looks serious.

“What happened?”

“*Hyunjin,* it was all a bet.

“What?” Han answers.

“I was in the bathroom and I heard him talking to Seungmin at the door about whether Hyunjin would really be able to “get Y/N” and saying that it would be easy because you “fell for his trap.” To top it off, Seungmin said that he should try too because you seem to be acting like a saint, but behind his back you were hooking up with Hanji and trying to deceive Hyunjin, so one more wouldn’t make a difference.”

“They saw that I heard because when I left I threw some truths in both of their faces. Seungmin tried to punch me, but I was faster and punched him in the face, pushed them both away and left.”

“My God…I always had a bad feeling about Hyunjin…it’s a shame I was right.”

“I’m going to kill those idiots.” - Han

“Guys, you better calm down, it’s not worth wasting your time with them, I’ve already taken care of this.”

“I need to talk to Hyunjin” -Alanna

“Be careful, pretty” -Hanji

Y/N finds Hyunjin standing at the door of their classroom

“Hi, honey” -hyunjin

“Don’t call me that, idiot”

“Calm down, why are you like this? Are you nervous because of your friend Cris? Didn’t he fuck you today?”

“Fuck you!” Y/N ends up slapping Hyunjin hard in the face, who freezes there after realizing that everyone saw it. Including the girls he picks up. How could they trust him after that? They even *filmed* it.

Cris and Han get the girl out of there before the confusion gets worse and the three of them go to the cafeteria since the class was free.

“Y/N, I don’t want to see you get into this kind of trouble anymore, I know he deserved it but you could have gotten hurt, if you need anything call me and I’ll fix it” -Cris

“Honestly, you were amazing, princess” -Hanji

Cris gives Hanji a disappointed look

“What’s wrong? I’m trying to lighten the mood” -Han

“I’m sorry but I couldn’t let him talk to me like that, I know I don’t have many female friends but that doesn’t mean I’m a bitch who sits with every boy I see, especially because the only sluts here are Ágata and Hyunjin.”

“I agree, beautiful, but it’s true, when you need it, call one of us” -Han

Y/N goes home with Hannie and they decide to watch a movie, but the girl feels so overwhelmed.

They go to the kitchen to make a snack and she starts to cry

"Kitty, are you crying?"

He hugs her and she rests her head on his shoulder while he strokes her back

"And is this crying from happiness or sadness?"

"It’s just that…everything has been so “heavy” lately, there’s a lot going on and I didn’t expect this to happen so I felt horrible with each passing moment. I can’t explain it, I thought he could be a light but in fact he became the darkness that I run away from so much now, I’m sure he’ll try to destroy my image. I bet on a loser dog and realized that I was the loser" - Y/N

"Think about what makes you want to stay, not what makes you want to leave, everyone in that school knows what he did, everyone knows he lost and anyone who disagrees is a loser like him." -Han

"I discovered a new galaxy when I met you, I love you so much." -Y/N

"- I always loved you my love, I always knew it was you, I was always crazy about you" -Han

"- crazy?"

"- yes, crazy, completely crazy" -Han

He grabs her waist and lifts her chin delicately with his finger and kisses her slowly, passionately

She thought: “Hanji, how hypnotizing you were.”

-" Thank you for not give up on me." -Han

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2treez · 6 months ago

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“My boss drove a luxury car everyday and it was my duty to greet him and to open the gates for him, as I worked as a watchman in his villa. But he never responded back to my greetings.

One day he saw me opening the garbage bags outside the villa in search for any leftover food. But, as usual he never even looked at me, it was like as if he never saw anything!

The very next day I saw a paper bag at the same place, but it was clean and the food inside was covered well. It was fresh and good food like someone had just brought it from the supermarket. I didn't bother as to where it came from, I just took the paper bag and I was so happy about it.

Every day I found this paper bag at the same place with fresh vegetables and all that we needed for home. This became my daily routine. I was eating and sharing this food with my wife and kids. I was wondering who this fool could be?! To forget his paper bag full of fresh food everyday.

One day there was a big problem in the villa and I was told that my boss has died. There were too many guests coming to the villa that day and I didn't get any food that day, so I thought that one of the guests must have taken it. But the same thing happened the 2nd day, the 3rd day and the 4th day.

It went on like this for a few weeks and I found it difficult to provide food for my family, so I decided to ask the wife of my boss for a raise in my salary or else I would quit my job as a watchman.

After I told her, she was shocked, and asked me, how come you never complained about your salary for the last 2 years? And why is this salary not enough for you now? I gave her so many excuses but she was never convinced!

Finally in the end, I decided to tell her the truth, I told her the entire story of the bag of groceries, and as to how it was my daily provision. She then asked me as to when this stopped? I told her after the death of her husband. And then I realized that I stopped seeing the paper bag immediately after the death of my boss. Why didn't I ever think of this before? That it was my boss who was providing this for me? I guess it was because I never thought that a person who never replied to my greetings could ever be this generous!

His wife started to cry and I told her to please stop crying and that I'm really sorry that I asked for a raise, I didn't know that it was your husband who was providing me with the meals, I’ll remain as a watchman and be happy to provide my service.

His wife told me, I'm crying because I've finally found the 7th person my husband was giving this bag full of food. I knew my husband was giving 7 people everyday, I had already found the 6 people, and all these days I was searching for the 7th person. And today I found out.

From that day onwards, I started to receive the bag full of food again, but this time his son was bringing it to my house and giving it to my hand. But whenever I thanked him, he never replied! Just like his dad!

One day, I told him THANK YOU in a very loud voice! He replied back to me to please not be offended when he doesn't reply, because he has a hearing problem, just like his dad!”

Oh! We have been wrong so many times judging others without knowing the true story behind their actions. Be kind and courteous in dealing with others, for everyone is fighting a hard battle. Be careful, not everything is about you. Before you assume, there is this thing called ASKING.

Don’t just jump to conclusion, because that is truly not an exercise, it may cause you more harm at the end of the day. Many of our problems are caused by how we process what happens around us. Don’t judge a situation you have never been in. Be humble enough to learn. You do not know it all. Lets change the way we feel about ourselves and others.

There are two sides to a story. Don’t believe everything you hear.

Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.

🌳🫶🏼🌳

===>> Johnny Gachanja <<===

God Bless y'all!!

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trainer-sean · 2 years ago

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Danny Phantom x DC Prompt Pokemon Au

This will be less cohesive then most Prompts other do, its mainly just some thoughts and ideas I put together when I was day dreaming, I tried sending it to The Bones lady who does Dp x Dc prompts, but its taking a long time, so I decided to post it myself, hopefully others will expand apon and improve it.

Sorry, I'm just kinda impatient @stealingyourbones

Most of the ghost stuff is different, because its now the Fenton's studying The Ghost typing, which, they are now morally correct. due to studying it and have machines processing the Ghost Type Infinity energy, they've had alot of ghost types born from their machines, and alot of them collect around their home, to the point that they know a few of them as welcomed guests. Danny has developed a Ghost type alignment in his Aura(aura having wave lengths with infinity energy, which affects some traits a person has, like water type alignment are good at swimming and holding their breath) due to his parents studys letting the G.T. infinity energy radiating through the house influencing his aura development while it was developing as a child.

the Fentons are the local professors in town, but mostly pass out Ghost, Dark, Fairy, and Psychic types due to their studys being connected to them. There most frequent starters are differently typed Porygon with special evos.

When they find Danny has a Ghost Type Alignment, with secondary Ice and Psychic, they give him a Dreepy they had been previously studying as his starter pokemon.

Jazz has previously been on a journey, with a Teddiursa, she caught psychic types and many pokemon good for Emotional support and therapy due to her developing her like of Psychology during her journey, she made it to 4 gym badges before deciding to head home for studying, splitting up with her traveling companion, Harleen Quinzel, a friend who shared similar likes. However, she would later be kidnapped and tortured by Joker, eventually becoming Harley Quinn, her pokemon have been confiscated, and given to Jazz, to keep them safe. Maybe some Tall Amazon Jazz x Harley Quinn in the future with a foursome side of Jason and Pamela Isley?

DC is still a heavy part here.

due to pokemon and the pokemon league being a thing, Civilians will help apprehend criminals, due to pokemon training originally being a Crime deterrent. this has also turned away multiple invasions. also, Apocalypse(can't remember how to spell that name) was destroyed long ago by Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, so no Darkseid. isn't great when God's actually do their jobs?

starters: Danny with Dreepy, Sam with Bounsweet from her parents too make her seem normal, she actually loves Bounsweet alot and it hasn't changed her because she was planning to get a grass type starter already, Tucker with Togedimaru, and Jazz with Teddiursa(has a vest made with a silk scarf materials and both an everstone and Evolite).

when Danny goes on his journey at 14, he, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz, head out to travel Unova. Jazz here to mentor and chaperone. they ran into multiple incidents involving poachers and evil teams, and assisted Heroes, like many trainers. The League actually has a meeting every few weeks to talk about some of the notable trainers that helped them, and even watch the League Tournaments as team bonding. Batman is more approachable here, and he and the batfam use suits that have tech that allow them to use attacks, primarily based on the closest pokemon to their animals. regular animals still exist.

the DP team find a old Temple, one that was recently cleaned out and collapsed, when some ghost types were beckoning for help, after clearing the way they found a strange woman who'd look like she was trapped for weeks, she looked half feline pokemon, much like Killer Krok(Krookodile) in Gotham.

Barbara Ann Minerva had been obsessed with archeology from a young age, sense she learned of all the pokemon that were artificially made by ancient civilizations and that Fossils could be revived. But while she was interning for a Professor on a exploration if a temple, she and the Professor were backstabbed, the professor killed and she shot through the back, thankfully not through the spine. They had blew up the pathway, Barbara was stuck, her mentor was dead, and she was likely to starve. she returned her pokemon so they wouldn't have to worry of starving, and started crying. her crying angered something. The Temple she was in was the resting place of the Legendary pokemon Cheeralah (chi-rah-lah), an Electric Fighting type, a humanoid and feminine cheetah pokemon, with bandages wrapped around her legs, arms, and chest, and Bronze markings along her body. Some human was whining in her Temple, she was angry, so she cursed Barbara, turning her into what was basically a Human Cheeralah hybrid.

when the Dp Team made it to Barbara, Cheeralah was angry enough that she showed up, along with two Zeraora. A Raid Battle occurred, with much struggle, from all the pokemon on Danny's, Sams, tuckers, Jazzs, Barbara, and the deceased Professors teams, all three legends were caught. and then Danny accidently caught Barbara.

Diana shows up with Doctor Fate(who here is different, the god of order behind Doctor fate is a legendary pokemon, completely independent of the helmet) because they had sense the awakened presense of Cheeralah. Diana knows Barbara because Diana had actually sponsored one of her and the Professor's digs in the past, and even joined in.

Gotham, the spirit, became a legendary pokemon along time ago, and still has no clue how to assist with everything, she became some variant of Lunala, but a Dark/Ghost type, and she just can't seem to exit the spiritual plane, which is probably the doing of some wizard or something to prevent city spirits that became pokemon from running around causing havoc. She eventually breaks out when Jason was kidnapped. She looks like a darker Lunala with a more pointed tail, she has a form change that makes her look like dawn wing necrozma, but not entirely, it doesn't look like necrozma parts, maybe even make it an artificial form change made by Bruce, similar to the enhancement equipment Jessie and James sometimes use on their pokemon, maybe even a special batmobile that attaches power ranger style with a ride-pokemon saddle part for Bruce. Name, Gothamala. Form change, Gothamala, Bat-tle Wings.

Something Similar to Metropolis, who became a Variant of Solagaleo, a Steel/Fairy type, who just watches from the sidelines as the superfamily protects his city, but his appreciation can be felt by the super family due to their lack of resistance to supernatural power. Maybe make its presence capable of breaking down green kryptonite and its radiation. Name, Metropaleo.

Amity Park has one too due to the Fenton's studying on Ghost Type Infinity energy, and due to multiple other studying, like blueprint analysis on Silvally, Amity is born a variant of Silvally, but with out its hind legs and a serpent tail, basically taking a Lindwyrm body shape with its usual fin tail still on the end, but slightly modified, it still has a version of the RKS System, called the Fenton System, but its a dual ghost/normal type, so its form changes are Ghost Dual type, and it's got the disks to do it because the Fenton's are friendly like that here. Its head Crest is not as tall and more wavy like a ghost tail. It can enter the physical world thanks to how Saturated the Fentons lab is with Ghost type energy. Name, Spectvally.

Maybe make some of the other city spirits similar to regular pokemon, like similar paradox pokemon, like star city(thats green arrows place right?) Is a Decidueye, but it has a pair of crossbow like structures floating beside it instead of being able to make a bow string, due to not being a grass type. Ghost/fighting type with the Sniper ability.

Cheeralah, The War Pokemon. a Legendary Electric and Fighting type. Cheeralah were once worshipped as Gods of protection and purity, but worshipped members of the species began to enjoy fighting and conflict while protecting the innocent, corrupting their image. Zeraora are believed to be lesser incarnations born from Cheeralah lust for battle being so great that she tried to forcefully removed it to save herself from falling from Grace, and it became a pokemon of its own.

#danny phantom #dp x dc #danny fenton #batman #dc x dp #pokemon #dc #pokemon au #fakemon #dc x pokemon #dp x pokemon #dp x dc prompt #sean's fanfiction idea prompts #Trainer sean pokemon au #Trainer Sean Fakemon

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sunshine-in-a-bottle · 8 months ago

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I fantasize every single day about having my own house, decorated in a bright flourish of colors and filled with fun silly knickknacks and the comfiest furniture. I'll have a dishwasher and a washer/dryer set, and enough windows to let the light in. I'll have ac and heat, and a fan just in case. The lamps will have fun shapes, like flower bulbs, and there will be a clock that makes noises every hour like the one in my parents house.

My bed will be a queen size, and it's gonna have fun sheets and covers and maybe even something crocheted for the top (I would have the money to buy someone's work, to pay them what they deserve.) I'll put up glow in the dark stars on the ceiling, and do wallpaper on some walls and paint on others. No carpets, but a couple of rugs and mats with pretty patterns.

One of the rooms will be a small library, only half- filled because I have so much more I want to read. It'll also have a work desk maybe for my computer and a sketchbook, and there's plushies peeking out off some of the shelves.

There's gonna be a basement, and that's where all my art stuff will be. An art studio, but it's not fancy, and it's going to be messy as all hell, but I'll get to work with clay on the wheel again, paint things on a big canvas, or just draw. Maybe accidentally drink paint out of my mug. There'll be a fan in the basement window to keep the air down there from becoming too bad.

I'll have one dog and one cat. The dog will get training and get to go to a groomers and he'll protect the house but also get so many kisses and snuggles, and when I walk in to get a cat I'll ask who's been there the longest and who needs the most help, maybe an elderly cat, and I'll love it forever. It'll have toys and a cat tree and two litter boxes. I'll make time to walk the dog every week, and we can go to a dog park for many zoomies.

I want a guest bedroom that's clean and always ready to go, so my friends will always have a safe place to be if they need it. They can come over for fun times and we can make food together, and some of them will get antsy and ask to do dishes with me cause they want to help, so I'll rinse off the dishes and they can put them in the washer, or vice versa. They'll never have to, because they're my favorite guests in the whole world, but I'd never let them stew in anxiety over a couple of plates.

I don't have a green grass lawn. I hate mowing. There's gonna be flowers everywhere instead, and I'll have a bunch of written notes about where the sunlight goes and how much shading there is so I can make sure each plant gets the proper amount of light. I'll have a list in my big binder, all the flower names and where they are and what they need. I know it'll take me years to get everything set up and grown, but it'll be a really big reward to have butterflies and birds. There will be a big multi-feeder like my grandma has, and a squirrel feeder opposite side of it to keep them separated. I want a gooseberry bush so I can make a pie. I'll have a composter. I'll have overwhelming amounts of zucchini and sheepishly offer them to my neighbors every year. I want to be friends with all my neighbors.

I'll know all the people in the neighborhood and their kids, I'll say hi and give them food and be a part of the community. When the kids go out and play on our street like I did as a kid, they'll be safer cause I'll be an adult worth trusting. My dog will always be happy to see them and I'll never be mean and yell at the kids when they get too rowdy. If a neighbor wants to be left alone I'll leave them be, but I'll make sure they know I'm here if there's ever an emergency or they need a working phone, like our old neighbors did for us.

I'll have a ramp and no steps to get into my house, because I want my friends on wheels to be able to easily get inside my house. If I gotta have stairs inside my house, I want to someday afford one of those wheelchair lifts so they're not stuck to one floor. The floor space will be clean and open enough for the chair to zoom everywhere. I'll have a shower that's handicap accessible like the one in my family home now, along with a huge bathtub. I'll make my home accommodating in all the ways they suggest so I can have my friends be safe and comfortable when they're with me.

I could have a pond out in the back, like my grandparents did. Get toads every summer, get some fun plants to make it a diverse ecosystem. It would be lined with big rocks and the birds would like it, even if the water isn't clear. Could also get a bird bath. I'd take my grandmother's books about identifying birds with me, so I can learn about which ones are coming to my garden. I'd learn about all the different insects scuttling through the dirt.

There'd be two medical kits, one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen. Everything would be organized so I don't have to go rummaging through drawers at 3 am for a bandaid.

It wouldn't always be the cleanest place, because I know myself, but once a month I could hire a cleaning service and pay them to help me. It might be a little awkward at first, but I'll be very nice to them and check to see if I can leave a tip for the hard work, and maybe offer them zucchini bread.

I don't watch TV, but I'd probably have a small one in the living room that has a DVD player, perched in one of those wood shelves that have cupboards filled to brim with movies and shows and even music I like. I'd have them on in the background while I do things, cause I need the audio. I won't have to pay for streaming sites because every show I love I can hold in my hands.

I can never bring myself to hang my clothes up in a closet, so I'll have a couple baskets of clean clothes I can look through. I'll learn how to iron. I'll be able to pay to have my clothes tailored to fit me. The closet will have Legos in it instead, or some very soft nerf guns, or board games I know I love. I'll make messes I won't clean up for a week, but I'll be able to build a Lego city with my friends when they come over or build marble towers.

I'll host tea parties where we can have fun and dress up in pretty clothes, and costume parties where my friends can come and show off their cosplays. There'll be good food, maybe potlucks. I'll learn how to be a good host and maybe my friends will make friends with each other sometimes. Every holiday and season will get its own special flag that I'll hang outside my house. I'll have a welcome mat at the door.

I'll have pictures of my friends hanging up on the wall. I'll have paintings from artists I love. I'll have figurines and interesting rocks I found.

I'll have my friend's favorite sweets in the pantry for when they come visit. My fridge will always have food in it. There's vanilla ice cream in the freezer. The fridge won't have any fancy computers and alexas inside, none of my stuff ever will, but it'll have a long lifespan and be easy to repair.

I'll have the family piano and my violin case on top of it. My guitar will be safe in its stand. They'll all be clean, tuned, and well cared for. I'll never be forced to play an instrument ever again, but I can always pick them up again, and it'll be my choice.

There will always be clean water. I can walk around my whole neighborhood safely. I can go to the park and climb something. A grocery store might even be within walking distance! (But there will be a bus line that can take me there if not, or maybe a train, if the future is kind.)

The roof will be well tended. I might have solar power and a backup generator. The house's siding will be nice and clean. I'll have a nice fence that doesn't go too high so I can chat with my neighbors if they like.

I'll have a calendar on the wall to mark off each day, and even if there will be bad days (cause there will always be bad days) at least I know that I lived through another one. And that's definitely good enough.

#suds soapbox #ill also have the jar with my uterus in it up on a high shelf so i can flip it off occasionally #but we dont talk about that

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 6 months ago

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AITA for intentionally giving someone bedbugs?

So, a few years ago, I (17 at the time) got bedbugs. I'm still not sure where from because it was only me who had them. Maybe from visiting a friend's house, maybe from the hotel I went to for a convention, or maybe I was just unlucky and picked them up off someone in public. Regardless, I had bedbugs and was the only one in my house that did. Because of my relationship with my parents and a very intense fear of getting in trouble, I was convinced I'd be scolded for having them/seen as gross, so I didn't tell anyone I had them. I just killed them on sight and every other day used the vacuum on every side of my mattress.

Now, while this was happening, my parents were arranging for a family friend's daughter "K" (15 at the time) to move in with us. Her and I really didn't get along. She was generally rude to me, shittalked my little sister constantly. My friend had told her about something that happened between me and a family member where I was abused, something that I didn't tell the rest of our family, and K was threatening to tell them about it. The issue is this would cause a LOT of unrest and stress on my family that I thought would be worse than keeping the event a secret, so I told her not to. She said she wouldn't, and then went back on that and told my parents anyways. I barely managed to convince them she got it mixed up with something else that happened, and everything was mostly fine.

Anyways, point is, I REALLY did not like K. She was moving in with us because her parents are, frankly, terrible people and don't really take proper care of her. So, my parents wanted to give her a better environment for a little while. I wanted to give her a chance because I knew she didn't have the best background or anything, even if I didn't like her.

She got here and didn't have a bed get (we set up an air mattress and the plan was to get a new bed for me and give my old one to her since it was still a really good bed, but I was due for a new one because of growing). I was trying to figure out how to come clean about the bedbugs before the switch.

That is, until she started being a jerk while at our house. She was stealing from the fridge and then blaming it on me. She was lying to my parents and sneaking out. She was lying ABOUT me and my parents to hers, telling them and her friends that we were abusing and neglecting her. She cut the screen of the guest room window to sneak a boy into our house in the middle of the night. She refused to help me and my sister with chores, which got ALL of us into trouble when they didn't get done.

I don't know if it was just the cumulative stress of the situation, school, and the bedbugs or if I just really felt like being terrible, but I didn't tell anyone about the bedbugs.

Then, we put my old bed in the guest room, and I got a new bed after a while. She started getting bug bites and after maybe two weeks my parents found out about the bed bugs. We deep-cleaned the house and had to get rid of the whole bed set.

To this day, my family believes K brought the bedbugs because of her home situation. I have only told a few of my friends about this. In hindsight, I feel bad because bedbugs are terrible and I made it seem like she'd brought them herself. I'm conflicted because I generally feel guilty over lying about it, but I also feel a little justified for my little bit of revenge. AITA??

#aita #am i the asshole

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drarrily-we-row-along · 2 years ago

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The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known (Part Three)

Draco was itching to see Potter, desperately curious to know what he might learn next about the other man.

And, if he was being honest, a bit desperate to see if Potter would let him touch him again. Nothing untoward, just... it had felt nice to let his fingers tangle in Potter's curls, to know that his hands were helping instead of hurting.

He found himself, for possibly the first time ever, leaving early to arrive at Potter's house for movie night. The normal hum of anxiety, making his skin a hint too tight, seemed to have been reduced to a mere pinprick in the trips of his fingers at the prospect of learning more about Potter.

When he showed up in the living room, Potter was nowhere to be seen. Casually, he greeted everyone who made eye contact on his way through, heading to the kitchen, hoping to find Potter there.

He pushed the door open, and there he was, standing on the other side of the island, working diligently at several different spreads of food. "Gin, can you grab the olives from the-" he said before looking up and seeing Draco standing there. "Draco," he said in surprise and something pleasant flared in his stomach at the sound of his name in Potter's mouth, "err. Malfoy," he corrected, trying to look anywhere but at him. "Sorry. I thought-"

"I can help," he said, moving toward the cupboard and pulling down the can of olives.

"You're a guest," he argued.

Draco shrugged, "I'm woefully single and," he added, lowering his voice and raising an eyebrow, "Ginerva and Pansy seemed rather busy when I walked through a moment ago."

Potter groaned, "not the mental image I needed right now." He shook his head, "Well, if you don't mind would you grab that punch bowl from the counter?"

"Still hung up on Ginerva?" he asked casually as he moved to get the red punch bowl for the other man.

"Pfft," Potter snorted as he set out the juice, ginger ale, and gin on the top of the island. "Don't be ridiculous. We're friends, when I say she's like a sister to me, I genuinely mean it."

He hummed, something easing in his chest at the admission, he wasn't going to look too hard at that.

"What about you and Pansy?" Potter asked, glancing up at him before going back to measuring liquid in the punch bowl.

"What about us?"

Potter lifted a shoulder, "Ever feel like you might want that again?"

"With Pansy?" he asked incredulously. "Disgusting."

Laughing, Potter replied, "you didn't used to seem to think so, all that lounging in her lap and having your hair stroked."

"Potter, I don't know what I have ever done to give you the impression that I am attracted to women. Aside from being a touch and affection starved teenager, apparently."

At that, Potter looked up at him, blinking a few times, "You're gay?"

"Yes?" he replied. "I thought literally everyone knew that." He glanced down where Potter was still pouring gin into the punch, "You're overflowing your bowl," he said.

"Huh?" Potter asked, still staring at him uncomprehendingly.

"Your punch bowl," he said, nodding at it, "You're overflowing."

Potter followed his gaze, "Shit," he gasped, ceasing pouring and casting a quick charm to clean up the spill.

Draco cleared his throat uncertainly, it had been a long time since he'd felt anything akin to embarrassment about his sexuality.

"Sorry," Potter said, glancing up at him. "I didn't mean to-"

"You apologize a lot," Draco commented.

Potter tilted his head, "I put my foot in my mouth a lot," he said.

He chuckled, "I suppose, but you also apologize for existing."

His jaw clicked shut, clenching. "I don't know what you mean."

Draco realized that he'd stumbled onto something seemingly sensitive without exactly meaning to. "I mean," he said carefully, "That you've apologized to me for being surprised about something, for having basic human needs like someone to help with all of the work of hosting a party every week, for not knowing who was walking in your kitchen, for telling me about your life as though it's some sort of burden-"

"You sound like my therapist," Potter said, shoulders tense. He avoided making eye contact and Draco felt his heart twist uncomfortably.

Potter had been honest with him, had handed Draco little bits of himself like a gift. Taking a deep breath, he decided to return the sentiment with a little vulnerability of his own. "Yes, well," he said, voice light, "I've spent enough time with mine to know what one sounds like."

The other man tilted his head at Draco, "I didn't know you saw a therapist."

"No one does," he said with a shrug. "But I needed to," he continued. "I was really fucked up after the war, still am if I'm being honest. He helps me straighten out my thoughts, you know? Get things into order a bit."

Potter nodded, "Yeah. I get that."

He gave the other man a tentative smile, "So," he said, intent on changing the subject, "What needs to go out there?"

"Oh, none of it," Potter said, waving a hand. "This is all stuff to refill later. Sometimes we get busy playing games or I don't want to miss the movie," he hurried to add like his needed an excuse. "Plus at the beginning of the night, I feel like I'm intruding," he added, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh come now, Potter," he teased, "Don't you simply love being the third wheel?"

The other man laughed, "Or fourth in the case of Ron, Hermione, and Blaise."

"And who doesn't love the lectures about putting yourself out there more?"

He nodded, "Or the pitying, 'you're next.'" he added with a shudder. "Merlin I hate that."

"So, instead of enduring their advice and pity, you were hiding in the kitchen-"

"I wasn't hiding!" he protested, but he was laughing, eyes bright.

Draco continued like he hadn't been interrupted, "-and doing what exactly?"

"Daydreaming," Potter replied, a little shyly, tipping his head down and glancing up at Draco from under his eyelashes.

"Anything interesting?"

Potter shook his head, "Never. They're all terribly mundane-"

"Tell me?" he asked softly, barely daring to hope the other man might because the truth was that both of the daydreams Potter had given him had made him feel more feelings than he could even name.

He tilted his head again, looking curiously at Draco. "There's this one I have in the kitchen a lot, actually," he said, voice soft, wrapping Draco up in the cozy, casual intimacy of a soft confession.

Draco sat down on the stool across from Potter and leaned his chin in his hand to listen.

Bemused, Potter continued, "It's just this daydream of him coming into the kitchen, seeing that I'm working on something that I'm not particularly enjoying, and putting his hands over mine. Sometimes it's dishes, or cooking, or cleaning up, or prep work," he said gesturing to the counter full of things to be brought out later. "But he gently empties my hands and holds them in his as he turns he around to look at him."

He said nothing when Potter paused, waiting with baited breath for him to complete the picture.

With a little shake of his head Potter continued, "I expect that he'll kiss me and I lean my body into his to receive one but he just pulls me into his arms and dances me around the kitchen. We sway and turn to music that only he can hear and I don't mind not being able to anticipate where he'll lead. It's nice just to be held and cared for," he finished with a little shrug.

"You've got a lovely mind," Draco murmured, because it was true and he really enjoyed hearing about the ways that he daydreamed.

"It's a trauma response," Potter replied, matter-of-factly.

"Sorry?"

He shrugged, eyes on Draco's left ear as he said, "I learned how to dissociate when I was pretty young. I was always trying to imagine a better world than the one I lived in as a child," he added. "So I just got good at imagining things that made me feel better."

"What were you trying to dissociate from?" he asked as the door to the kitchen opened.

Potter's attention snapped away from Draco and to whomever had just entered the kitchen, "Hi Blaise," he said with a smile. "What are you looking for?"

"You, actually," he replied as he sidled up next to Draco. "We were wondering about getting a game of Exploding Snap going?"

"Yeah," Potter said, grinning at him, "No problem. I'll be out in a sec to get the cards."

Blaise rapped his knuckles on the table, "You're the best," he said with a wink before he disappeared.

Potter turned to look at Draco, "Sorry-"

"Why?" he interrupted.

"Why what?"

"Why are you sorry?"

His brow furrowed as he looked at Draco, "I just trauma dumped on you."

"You didn't," he replied. "Why are you sorry?" he pushed.

"Because I spent five minutes talking about a daydream that wasn't even based in reality."

"I asked you to," he replied steadily. "Why are you sorry?"

"Why are you pushing me?" he asked, hands on his hips as he scowled at Draco.

He shrugged, "Because I want you to stop apologizing for being a person."

"I-"

"Harry!" Ron bellowed from the other room and Draco could have strangled him.

"For Merlin's sake," he hissed under his breath. "Yes, coming!" he called. "Fine," he snapped at Malfoy, "I'm not sorry. Is that better?"

"Much," he replied with a smirk.

"You're impossible," Potter replied but the corner of his mouth was turned up in a pleased smile.

He nodded, "I know, if you ask Pansy it's probably one of the reasons I'm single," he said with a wink.

Potter picked up one of the bowls of chips, "Really?" he asked. "I find it rather charming," he said before pushing his way out into the living room.

Draco had to stand in the kitchen and pick his jaw up off the floor before he found himself able to leave the kitchen and join everyone else.

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

(Part Two) | (Part Four)

#drarry #falling in love #talks about dissociation #soft #day dreaming #fluff #tentative flirting #draco and harry are both soft #part 3 #tenderness

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moonchildreads · 1 year ago

Text

small town

Chapter 18 - I Know There's Something Going On

IN THIS CHAPTER: Pride and Prejudice, viking braids, and Dottie is forced to come clean [5.9k]

WARNINGS: vague foreshadowing but honestly this one is pretty cute

A/N: i'm back, friends!!!! i noticed that the extras i thought i had scheduled to pop up while i was gone ended up nowhere? i don't know what happened lol i'm a grandma when it comes to these things but i'll post them eventually! you'll get one more recipe and a playlist for the inconvenience. thank you for waiting for me so patiently, this chapter picks up right where we left the previous one. enjoy!

masterlist - prev - next | playlist

I know what you think and what's in your mind So darling, look, why pretend

Saturday, May 24th - 1986

As soon as one Eddie Munson rang the doorbell on that overcast Saturday afternoon, Auntie Rachel and Aunt Mary Elizabeth immediately perked up. The Hellfire teens had hung out for far longer than they’d originally planned to the previous night, leaving the women to retreat to their shared guest room before they could talk to their niece about the very evident candle she was carrying for the eldest boy in their friend group. Still, they’d discussed it between themselves plenty to make sure they were both on the same page before any conversation took place, reaching a fairly reasonable conclusion: Eddie seemed to be a really nice guy, but he needed to be observed more to figure out his intentions before encouragement to proceed was given to their niece. Nobody needed a repeat of Junior Prom ‘85 and the events that followed, least of all Dottie.

The women took it upon themselves to keep an eye out for the kids throughout the day, which proved to be quite hard when they relegated themselves to the quiet solitude of Dottie’s bedroom, books spread out on every available surface and barely exchanged words for the Aunts to eavesdrop on. The teens worked in organized patterns: Eddie would review his Sociology notes while Dottie put the finishing touches on her final AP Research paper, she’d go through her Calc worksheets again as Eddie read up on his Latin vocab lists. They would put one subject down and move to the next one every half an hour or so, rarely interrupting each other’s concentration unless it was to ask for a pen or a glass of water that was just too far out of their own reach. Auntie Rachel was the first one to waddle her way up the stairs after too many minutes of apparent silence, only to find Eddie sitting on the windowsill with half of his body outside, a Biology textbook propped open on a cushion to keep it within his view while he smoked. Dottie was lying on her front on the circular rug, matching Psychology questions to their answers written on flashcards spread out around her. Rachel offered them snacks, they declined politely, and she went back down with exhausted defeat settling in her bones.

At around four, the women were starting to get antsy. James was strangely nonchalant, bustling around the house doing random chores that had been neglected all week without paying any attention to the teens upstairs, and Rachel had had enough of the mystery.

“What if you bring them cookies or something like that? Prompt them to talk to you,” she suggested to Mary Elizabeth who was lying on an armchair while rubbing circles on her belly.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. They really are studying very hard, I mean, the door is wide open and you can’t even hear them whisper.”

“Do you think they’re hiding something?”

“Like what? Do you think they are dating in secret?” Mary Elizabeth snorted. “James would know.”

“Would he?”

“Rach. James always knows. He reads her like she’s an open book, that girl can’t lie to her Dad to save her own life.”

“I just… she’s different, you know? It’s only been a few months but she’s not the Dorothy we sent away in January.”

“She’s growing up, Rach. We’re just gonna have to accept that our baby isn’t really a baby anymore. And if she likes this boy, well, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“I don’t want her to get hurt again,” Rachel gave up trying to hear anything from the doorway and sat on the couch near where her friend was sitting.

“What are you two gossiping about now?” James asked, coming in from the backyard through the kitchen.

“Do you trust that kid?” Rachel said, straight to the point.

“Eddie? Yeah.”

“Why?”

“He hasn’t given me any reason not to.”

“Jamie.”

“Rach.”

“What Rachel wants to know is if Dottie is safe with him,” Mary Elizabeth translated. “Has he said anything? Is he interested in her?”

“He says she’s important to him.”

Before they could inquire further about what that meant, the teens in question came bounding down the stairs, Eddie carrying a small book in his hands. Dottie waved a paddle hair brush around as she talked about an intricate hairstyle she’d seen in a magazine, the boy looked at her with interest as he followed her to the kitchen. They moved around the island together like a well-oiled machine: he got two old enamel mugs from a cupboard and set them on a big wooden tray while she filled a snack platter with various pieces of fruit, nuts, and assorted cookies and crackers. Eddie opened the fridge to get a large jug of apple Kool-Aid and a jar of creamy peanut butter, setting them in front of her before retrieving a big spoon and offering it to Dottie. She scooped a big spoonful out of the jar and put it in a little bowl next to sliced green apples, swatting his hand in warning when he tried to sneak a few grapes from her creation before it was ready to be consumed. He recoiled like he’d been mortally wounded, and she wheezed, offering him the used spoon instead.

“We’re gonna go outside for a bit!” Dottie announced, her voice carrying through the overpass window into the living room.

“Okay! You need anything?” James asked, already knowing her answer.

“No, we’re good!” she turned to Eddie, who was carrying the heavy tray with ease. “D’you need help with that?”

“I’ve got it. Just open the door for us, princess.”

“For fuck’s sake, he calls her princess?” Rachel muttered, making Mary Elizabeth laugh.

In the backyard, Eddie settled the snack tray on a wrought iron patio table and sat on the very edge of a lounger. Dottie filled their mugs with artificially-flavored apple juice and stood next to him sipping quietly, enjoying the warm breeze rippling through the blades of grass that were getting longer and longer every day. He let his head fall to the side, resting it on her right hip, her right hand falling to his shoulder where it stayed gently applying pressure. He let his eyes close and enjoyed the calm of the moment; there was no rush, no expectations to do anything other than simply keep breathing. It was only when she moved to retrieve the hair brush from the table that he moved from his position, opening the book he had been carrying since they came downstairs. Quickly, he found Chapter 19 of Pride and Prejudice’s first volume and began reading out loud.

The next day opened a new scene at Longbourn. Mr. Collins made his declaration in form. Having resolved to do it without loss of time, as his leave of absence extended only to the following Saturday, and having no feelings of diffidence to make it distressing to himself even at the moment, he set about it in a very orderly manner, with all the observances, which he supposed a regular part of the business. On finding Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth, and one of the younger girls together, soon after breakfast, he addressed the mother in these words: “May I hope, madam, for your interest with your fair daughter Elizabeth, when I solicit for the honour of a private audience with her in the course of this morning?”

Eddie used the full extent of his Dungeon Master’s skills when reading the classic romance book he desperately needed to finish before his English Literature final on Monday. The voices and characterizations that poured out of his mouth allowed him to concentrate on creating a full world, internalize the words he was speaking into existence, and, most importantly, to not get distracted when Dottie’s deft hands began brushing against the nape of his neck while she untangled the knots in his unruly curls. When she’d shown him the fancy braids she’d seen in her magazine, he’d immediately offered his long locks for the experiment, more than happy to lend her his head to try a new skill on. She perched herself on the lounge chair behind him, sitting on her own bent legs but keeping her knees bracketing his hips from behind. He stopped between sentences to gather a couple of snacks into his hand, occasionally raising a pretzel or a grape at her to nibble out of his grasp while her hands were buried in strands of his hair. If he hadn’t been trying so hard to ignore how close her lips came to his fingertips each time she accepted a treat from him, he would have repaired on how bold the gesture looked like to the two women that were spying on them through the kitchen window.

“What are they doing?” James asked, putting the kettle on the stove.

“She’s brushing his hair while he’s reading out loud,” Rachel said.

“They look so cute together,” Mary Elizabeth said, ever the romantic.

“Get this,” Rachel turned to James with a raised eyebrow. “He’s feeding her.”

“Her hands are busy!” Mary Elizabeth defended her niece. “You need both hands for a braid.”

-You can hardly doubt the purport of my discourse, however your natural delicacy may lead you to dissemble; my attentions have been too marked to be mistaken. Almost as soon as I entered the house, I singled you out as the companion of my future life. But before I am run away with my feelings on this subject, perhaps it would be advisable for me to state my reasons for marrying - and, moreover, for coming into Hertfordshire with the design of selecting a wife, as I certainly did.”

The idea of Mr. Collins, with all his solemn composure, being run away with by his feelings, made Elizabeth so near laughing, that she could not use the short pause he allowed in any attempt to stop him farther, and he continued:

“He’s a fucking idiot,” Eddie said, pausing his reading to take a sip of his juice before he lifted the cup for Dottie to drink as well. “He cannot be this goddamn blind, she’s never gonna marry a fuckin’ priest.”

“Look at how long his speech is though,” Dottie laughed, twisting strands of his hair into complicated patterns. He put the mug down and flipped to the next page.

“No fuckin’ way!” he said, and immediately kept reading, interjecting each sentence with hilarious commentary about Mr. Collins’ stupidity.

“God, they are adorable,” Mary Elizabeth giggled, cracking the window open a bit more so they could listen to Eddie’s narration.

“And this happens every weekend?” Rachel asked.

“Every day,” James corrected. “They’ve been hanging out after school every single day since the beginning of May. Sometimes they have other friends around but it’s mostly just the two of them, either here or at his house.”

“Oh, that boy is smitten,” she said.

“You are too hasty, sir,” she cried. “You forget that I have made no answer. Let me do it without further loss of time. Accept my thanks for the compliment you are paying me. I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them.”

“I am not now to learn,” replied Mr. Collins, with a formal wave of the hand, “that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second or even a third time. I am, therefore, by no means discouraged by what you have just said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere long.”

“This can’t be real,” Eddie said, lowering the book again much to Dottie’s amusement. “He can’t be this fuckin’ dense! Do girls really do that?”

“Do what?”

“Say no when they really wanna say yes so they don’t look easy.”

“Of course not!” Dottie swatted his head lightly. “Maybe insane ones do, but no one would say no to the guy they like literally proposing to them.”

“Well, maybe not if they proposed but… imagine you liked me and I asked you out. Would you say yes or would you play hard to get?”

“I am physically incapable of playing hard to get, Ed. You know this,” she said, willing her hands to stay still at the implications of his inquiry.

“I actually don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. Answer the question, Ms. Bennet.”

“Are you Mr. Collins in this scenario?”

“I’m whoever you want me to be, princess,” he said, flirting with the peace of someone who already knows his affections are reciprocated even though they hadn’t discussed that part of their relationship. Soon, he thought.

“I wouldn’t play hard to get anyways,” she admitted, lowering her butt to rest against her heels. “That’s just dumb to me. What if you say no and the other person moves on and you miss your chance because you were too prideful to say yes in the first place?”

“Pride and prejudice. That checks out,” he said, and thankfully dropped the subject in favor of reading the next line in the book.

“He’s smart,” Rachel admitted.

“What do you mean?” asked James.

“He’s trying to see how she’d react if he asks her out. Getting a baseline before he does it.”

“Ooooh, that is smart,” Mary Elizabeth said, munching on a cracker. “I like this kid, he’s setting himself up for success already.”

“I do assure you, sir, that I have no pretensions whatever to that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man. I would rather be paid the compliment of being believed sincere. I thank you again and again for the honour you have done me in your proposals, but to accept them is absolutely impossible. My feelings in every respect forbid it. Can I speak plainer? Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.”

“You are uniformly charming!” cried he with an air of awkward gallantry; “and I am persuaded that, when sanctioned by the express authority of both your excellent parents, my proposals will not fail of being acceptable.”

“I hate this fucking guy,” Eddie said, grabbing a piece of green apple from the bowl and dipping it in peanut butter.

“You haven’t read the worst bit yet.”

“It gets worse?” he asked, mouth full of apple.

“The man really wants a wife,” Dottie shrugged, tying the braid and standing up to look at her work from the front. “I don’t hate it, but it looks less viking and more Rapunzel than I intended it to look like.”

“What if you do two small ones instead of a big one?”

“You’re gonna look like those boxer girls.”

“That’s kinda badass.”

“Yeah, but I wanted viking for our last session,” she pouted, taking a sip of her mug. “I think I’m gonna do half a braid only, but start here,” she tapped his head just above his bangs.

“I trust you,” he smiled at her, patting her hand before returning to his snacks. “But what you did the other day looked really good too if you wanna redo that one for Friday.”

“I’m gonna try one more time and if it sucks, I’ll go back to the regular braids.”

“You do that. I’ll be here,” he joked, lifting the book again to his eyes.

To such perseverance in wilful self-deception Elizabeth would make no reply, and immediately and in silence withdrew; determined, that if he persisted in considering her repeated refusals as flattering encouragement, to apply to her father, whose negative might be uttered in such a manner as must be decisive, and-

“Okay, can we stop spying on my daughter now please? Coffee and tea is done,” James said, carrying the mugs to the living room. “Besides, he’s gonna be here all weekend, you’ll have plenty of time to observe the poor kid before you leave.”

“Can’t believe you’re so… unbothered by it all?” Rachel said, still standing near the window while Mary Elizabeth closed the glass pane once again. “You’re really not concerned?”

“Just look at them, Rach. What is there to be worried about?” he said, sitting down at the table and stirring a spoonful of sugar into his coffee.

Both aunts turned to look at the teens one more time, just in time to catch Eddie lifting a piece of green apple covered in peanut butter to Dottie’s face. She bit half of it gently, savoring the treat, and he shoved the rest of it in his own mouth, licking his sticky thumb without a second thought, like indirectly swapping spit was something they did regularly. The women looked at each other with raised eyebrows and even more questions brewing in their minds. Maybe there wasn’t anything to worry about in regards to Eddie himself, but it was clear that whatever was simmering between them was about to reach boiling point and there was no telling what would happen to their perfectly balanced friendship once the water started spilling over the edges.

In exchange for not spending Friday together as they usually did, Eddie ended up staying for dinner with Dottie and her very curious Aunts. James ordered Chinese food and when they all sat at the table, passing styrofoam containers and filling their plates up, Eddie realized he had never really done the whole family dinner thing in a very long time. Wayne often worked during holidays, the extra hours bringing much needed money into their empty pockets, so he wasn’t used to spending many meals in company of adults. The table talk revolved around college, namely, what kind of things James, Rachel, and Mary Elizabeth would get up to when their friendships were barely blossoming between early morning classes and freshman ragers. When the food on the table began dwindling, the conversation turned to the teens and their all too near future. Eddie was reluctant to admit that he had never considered higher education; he didn’t want to seem immature or undependable in front of Dottie’s extended family, but Mary Elizabeth quickly put his worries at ease. Her own brother was a carpenter, deciding to go into it after picking up basic skills in high school, and now lived a comfortable life in Georgia with his wife and two kids. There was no sure path to follow after high school, everyone was winging it and however said they weren’t, should be considered a liar in her humble opinion.

“Besides,” Dottie began, grinning at him. “Eddie’s gonna be a rockstar anyways. He doesn’t need to go to college.”

“Maybe we’ll get our big break in Indy. You think there’s gonna be a lot of agents around?” he chuckled.

“I’ll call them myself if they don’t show up on their own.”

“You know, I’m starting to think you just want to get commissions as our manager,” he joked.

“Well, I wouldn’t say no to being a famous band’s manager. It’d be like being your babysitter, and I kinda already do that for free. Might as well get paid for all my hard work.”

“You wound me, princess,” he clutched his chest. “I don’t need a babysitter, I can take care of myself just fine. Gareth on the other hand…”

“What Gareth needs isn’t a babysitter. He needs an exorcism. I honestly thought Jeff was gonna strangle him yesterday, like, he cannot possibly think you’re all gonna agree to put two Anthrax songs on the setlist.”

“We close with Metal Thrashing Mad sometimes but it really fucks up Jeff’s throat so I don’t think we’re gonna do that one. Also, I kinda already decided our closer and I get dibs as the frontman, so.”

“What are you closing with?”

“Ah, ah, ah,” he shook his head. “It’s a surprise.”

“You can’t keep secrets from your manager, that’s illegal.”

“Gotta read the fine print before you sign any contract, bug,” Rachel joked. “So what are you two gonna do all summer, then? Just band practice?”

“Donny said I could cover for his sister in their family restaurant,” Dottie said, pushing a piece of chicken around her dish. “She’s pregnant and can’t carry the trays anymore, so they need a new waitress for a bit. It could be fun, he’s gonna work there for the summer too so we’d always have the same shifts.”

“That sounds very fun!” Mary Elizabeth beamed. “I was a barista for all four years of college and I really enjoyed it.”

“You worked at the tiniest café on campus and the owner let you take all the leftover muffins home, of course you enjoyed it,” Rachel scoffed.

“Didn’t hear you complaining when you ate my muffins. What about you Eddie? Any plans for summer?”

“Uh, maybe? I’ve been thinking about asking Thatcher for a job after graduation, the owner’s cool.”

“What’s Thatcher?” Dottie asked, mouth full of rice.

“Thatcher Tires? Near 8th?”

“Uhhh…”

“We take that road to go to my place literally every day.”

“I don’t pay attention to the streets when you’re driving. I trust you to know where we’re going and I focus on the music and the snacks.”

“So you want to be a mechanic?” asked Rachel, wanting to get back on her Figure Edward Munson Out mission.

“Dunno actually,” he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I take Auto Repair and it’s the only class I’ve gotten an A in this year so… maybe I’d be good at it.”

“You fixed Donny’s car that one time, I think you’re already pretty good,” Dottie recalled.

“He just needed a new battery, it wasn’t that hard,” he shrugged like it was nothing.

Dinner progressed without any fanfare but the fact that James was pretty much unbothered and already used to the teens’ interactions enough to not pay special attention to them was unexpected by both Rachel and Mary Elizabeth. He and Eddie talked like they’d known each other for years, seemingly having inside jokes already, much to Dottie’s annoyance. It was noticeable to anyone that paid a little bit of attention that Eddie wasn’t used to the level of acceptance he so frequently received from the eldest Burke, and it was bittersweet to see how often he seeked for his approval: the boy clearly held a lot of respect for James, and beamed whenever his efforts were recognized, like when the man mentioned how Eddie had helped fix Dottie’s bathroom lights the week prior. Of course, the praise had been intermingled with him lightly mocking his own daughter and her irrational fear of changing light bulbs, but still, the kind words towards the fidgety boy were there.

It was also very noticeable, however, that as much as James’ acceptance meant a lot to him, it also made him nervous and jittery, which is why the ease in his back and forth with Dottie made his true feelings towards her much more evident to the women at the table. The way he was always offering the last bite of everything to her only for Dottie to cut said thing in half and share it with him, how their head movements were in sync with the other’s, and how in tune they were with what the other was thinking before words had been uttered was astonishing to witness. Whenever her cup was empty, he was refiling it before she could even ask. If his leg started bouncing anxiously, she’d merely rest her fingers on his knee, the cold tips coming into contact with the skin under the rips of his jeans before he was subdued again. They had their own spoons, but they still shared bites from each other’s ice cream tub with the excuse of trying different flavors, they leaned into one another when they laughed, they moved around the kitchen while doing the dishes with merely taps on the waist to signal oncoming traffic.

Mary Elizabeth had been the one to get Dottie to eat her first meal after the disaster that was Junior Prom ‘85. She’d picked her as her flower girl when she’d married Johnny, Dottie had been the one to pick Rosie’s name, and her Aunt had never missed a single school function in the entirety of her academic career. Rachel had picked a heartbroken Dottie up from school before the bell had rung the first day of senior year. She’d taken her to buy her first bra when she was 13, she’d taken her out along with her sons for burgers and milkshakes the day her divorce came through, and Dottie had accompanied her to many work events since she could tie her own shoes. Both women had seen that kid go through the unimaginable, and as her late mother’s best friends, they took her well being seriously and guarded her with the utmost care and love. They owed it to Maggie to make sure her Dorothy was okay, that she was healthy, and happy, and thriving. So when it was time for Eddie to go home, they watched from the living room as the teens said their goodbyes, promising to meet up again the next day for their final day of cramming. Eddie vowed to finish Pride and Prejudice that night before bed, and Dottie told him she’d pay for food on Friday to celebrate their month-long efforts. They hugged, and it lasted longer than any friendly hug had the right to last. He kissed her crown, and she watched him leave from her front lawn until he disappeared down the street.

Dottie climbed up the stairs to her bathroom to take a shower, James retreated to his room, and both Aunts waited until the sound of the water hitting the tub had stopped and the upstairs hallway lights had been turned off to waddle up towards the soft yellow and sage green sanctuary that was their beloved niece’s bedroom in search of the definitive answer to all their most pressing questions.

“Okay, bug, time to spill.”

“Jesus Christ! Can’t you knock first?” Dottie screeched, holding her pajama shirt to her chest, heart racing.

“I changed your poopy diapers more times than I can count, seeing you in your bra isn’t gonna kill either one of us,” Rachel said, sitting on her desk chair.

“Come on, she’s a woman now! We should give her some privacy,” Mary Elizabeth reasoned, but undermined her own comment by sitting at the foot of Dottie’s bed.

“What’s going on?” Dottie asked warily, pajama shirt now safely on her body.

“You tell us.”

“Huh?”

“Sit down with us, baby,” Mary Elizabeth patted the bed; Dottie climbed next to her. “You really like Eddie, don’t you?”

“W-what?” she sputtered, the tips of her ears starting to burn. “Why would you say that? We’re just friends!”

“We weren’t born yesterday, Dot,” Rachel smiled kindly. “We saw you two today. It’s really obvious you like him, and believe us, it’s even more obvious he likes you too.”

“No, no, that’s not- We’re not- We’re friends. We’re not dating.”

“Oh, we know. That boy gets surprised every time you even look at him, he’d combust if you ever kissed him.”

“Oh my god, we’re friends!”

“Baby, there’s nothing wrong with having a crush on a friend,” Mary Elizabeth said, hand coming up to rub reassuring circles on Dottie’s back. “You’re both young, you have fun together. It’s okay if you like him.”

“I don’t like him,” Dottie insisted, staring at her rug. “I just… fuck, I really, really, really do not like Eddie. And that’s terrifying.”

“I’m sorry, bug, we’re not following.”

“I don’t like Eddie,” she said again, putting extra emphasis on the word “like”.

Rachel and Mary Elizabeth looked at each other in confusion. What did she mean by that? She clearly did like him, she looked at him like the sun shone out of his ass. There was not a single cell in Dottie’s body that didn’t scream “Eddie!” every time he so much as breathed near her, why was she trying to deny it? She liked him, she liked him so much that… maybe…

“Oh, baby,” Mary Elizabeth immediately wrapped her arms around her niece. “Are you in love with him? Is that what you mean?”

“I’m gonna ruin everything!” Dottie babbled, hiding her face in her hands, tears bubbling up to the surface. “He can’t know! He’s gonna fucking hate me if he finds out!”

“Dottie, honey, what are you talking about?” Rachel came up to sit at her other side, joining the hug and grounding her. “Why would he hate you?”

“He asked me about it. He asked me if I liked anyone at school and I lied, I said I didn’t. And then he said he didn’t like anyone either, but that can’t be right because Chrissy Cunningham got him a really pretty tie for his birthday and I just- how am I supposed to compete with a cheerleader?”

“Okay, okay, back up. Who is this Chrissy girl?”

“She goes to school with us. She’s really nice and she has a boyfriend, but she’s like, fucking perfect. Half the school is in love with her. Shit, I think I am in love with her.”

“But Eddie told you he doesn’t like her?” Mary Elizabeth asked.

“Yes.”

“Yes, as in he doesn’t like her?”

“I told him she was really pretty, and he said he doesn’t see her like that. And told me he thinks I’d be good friends with her, which he’s right about because when I talked to her she was so kind and we like the same music and everything.”

“And he’s friends with her?”

“Yeah, kinda. They hang out at school sometimes but that’s it. Her boyfriend is an asshole so no one knows they are friends, he’d freak out if he knew.”

“Okay,” Rachel breathed out and looked at Mary Elizabeth over Dottie’s head. She nodded in encouragement once. “Bug, I don’t know anything about this other girl but the Eddie we saw today worships the ground you walk on. We’re not saying this because we love you and want you to be happy, but because we have eyes and see how he acts around you, and we’re sure he likes you back.”

“And besides,” Mary Elizabeth continued. “-what does this girl have that you don’t, huh? He spends all this time with you already, do you really think you have to compete with anyone for his attention? He’s giving it to you freely, baby. He likes you.”

“I’m gonna fuck it up. I know I am. It’s gonna be like Tyler all over again and-”

“Dorothy, look at me.”

Mary Elizabeth’s stern tone wasn’t one she used very often, but it was imposing enough to leave no room for anything else to be discussed. Dottie looked with wet cheeks at her sweetest Aunt, all dressed up in her baby blue cardigan and flowery dress, and saw fiery eyes and a deep set frown. She held her gaze even though she desperately wanted to look away. Rachel watched them in silence.

“Eddie is not Tyler,” Mary Elizabeth began. “This Chrissy girl is not Jeannie. Your Hawkins friends are not your New York friends. If you keep waiting to tell him how you feel, he’s gonna slip through your fingers because you assumed that the boy you’ve been saying is one of the best friends you’ve ever had for months now, was an undercover asshole all along. If you think he’s capable of being like Tyler, why are you still friends with him?”

“He’s gonna get tired of me. They’re all gonna get tired of me and I can’t- Eddie’s the best thing that has happened to me. He’s so, so special. I love him, and I can’t lose him. I’d rather just pine after him until I die before that happens.”

“Listen to us,” Rachel said. “You’re not gonna lose him. You don’t have to do anything right now, okay? Just think about it and maybe come back to it when things are clearer. After finals are done and graduation is out of the way. Anyone would be lucky if you loved them, bug, and just because you loved Tyler and he didn’t know what to do with that, that doesn’t mean Eddie will be the same.”

“And if he is? What do I do if he breaks my heart? And all our friends have to pick sides and they choose him and I’m all alone again?” Dottie asked, tears staining the neckline of her pajamas.

“If all that happens, they never deserved you and we’ll be here to support you no matter what. But we’re telling you that’s not gonna happen. Trust us, okay? We’ve been around the block a few times.”

Dottie looked around her bedroom while she wiped her face and tried to calm down her frantic breathing. There were signs of her boys everywhere: in the pictures pinned to her corkboard above her desk, in the colorful earrings hanging from their holder next to the mirror, in the mixtapes on her bedside table. In the gray blanket at the windowsill seat, and the photocopied notes in her backpack, and inside her wardrobe where her Hellfire t-shirt was carefully folded. She had to trust that their friendships were genuine. That if she’d confessed her love for their leader and it wasn’t reciprocated, they’d still choose to stand beside her. She had to trust that Eddie wouldn’t hurt her, even if he didn’t feel the same about her. But what if he does?

Her eyes landed on Eddie’s birthday mixtape that he’d left behind on her dresser. He had the idea that since she’d picked the first song already, he’d pick the second one, and she’d pick the third one, and so on and so forth. He’d shown up that day with his song already recorded onto it and asked her to play it instead of telling her what he’d done to the tape. Hot Patootie - Bless My Soul was first, but she barely paid any attention to it, anticipating his choice with sweaty hands. As soon as the first notes came through, she knew which song it was before Paul could even begin singing. Oh! Darling played from her tinny speakers and while she hadn’t made the connection at the moment, she was just now coming to terms with the fact that maybe her Aunts were right and Eddie had been waiting for her at the finish line all along. Oh darling, please believe me, I’ll never do you no harm, Paul McCartney crooned, and Eddie’s heart had been singing backup vocals to him for what felt like forever without her noticing.

Rachel and Mary Elizabeth hugged her, dried her tears and encouraged her to think about it in the near future once more before leaving for bed, but there was no need for them to do so anymore. Dottie could see everything clearly now, and for once, she found that through the sheer terror of leaping out from the cliff she had been standing on for so long, there was firm hope that Eddie would be at the bottom, ready to catch her before she could crash and burn. She just needed a bit more time to gather the courage before jumping, but if the strong winds hitting her face were of any indication, her run towards the edge had already started.

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#bunny writes #small town fic #eddie munson x female character #eddie munson x oc #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson #eddie munson x ofc #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson angst #stranger things 4 #stranger things #joseph quinn #baby's first fic

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