#Think I practiced for about three or so hours? And I got the chords down and I'm almost able to do the full song

[drawbudd]

ive been picking up music yesterday, and I had a blast!! Borrowed my dad's ukulele and at first it took a bit of practice to get the notes down ( and I also had sticky jittery anxiety hands which didn't help jdjsjzjzj) BUT it's really fun to go at a rhythm while humming the lyrics to keep yourself paced :]

[mayasaurusss]

"You like that?"

Inspired by Lottie getting chocked in the new teaser...don't judge me.

Contains: transfem Lottie, gn reader

The sound of skin slapping against skin echoes inside the cabin's attic, muffled sounds and moans coming from both of you as you move against your lover. Lottie, underneath you, skin darkening around the cheeks and sweat trailing down her temple moans, sighs and whimpers as you ride her to her well deserved little death.

Ever since the crash, hell, maybe even before it, Lottie has been very open and lovely with you. At first you though that she was just begin nice to you, since you were new on the team, but after a while, you two became friends. As much as you could be friends with her anyways. You found out she was a very busy woman, and even if she did sometimes asked you to join her and the rest of the team -you were too shy at the time to fully loose up- you never found the time to develop your friendship more than the three hours a day during practice.

But something changed after the crash. Whether it was her need to be close to someone or a sincere interest over you, you and Lottie became close. Closer than ever, actually, sometimes attracting the envious eyes of your other teammates.

Both of you bonded over your hobbies, music and movies, trivia -a thing that you found Lottie liked to talk about,a lot- and books. And through the wilderness you had started to rely on each other so much, that with time, your affections turned into lingering touches and shy looks. You two became lovers into the chaos that was the aftermath of the crash, two pillars for one another. It was a cold November evening when you two kissed for the first time. The wind was strong against the cabin's outer walls, snow pressing against the window and ice forming at it's base. You had spent that afternoon in Lottie's embrace, fighting the cold biting at your skin. Everyone was asleep by the fire, cuddled up together, but neither you not Lottie slept. She had her body pressed against yours, gently lulling you to sleep by warming you. When your eyes begun to close, she snuggled her nose near yours, without even thinking about it, and before long, you threw your arms at her neck and kissed her tenderly.

When the air between you two finally grew thick with need, you couldn't keep you hands to yourself anymore, and neither could she.

You had noticed for a while how she looked at you with a different light in her eyes. How she lingered on your curves for a bit too long, how the flesh of her cheeks darkned when you were near her, how she became all fidgety and shy when you talked to her. It has always been clear -at least to everyone else beside you two- that there was something between you and Lottie.

"Hey..." she came to you one afternoon, when the heat of sunrays melted the snow on the window. "Lottie? What is it?" you were shoveling the snow off of the door at the best of your abilities, teeth pressed tightly. Lottie on the other hand didn't seem too affected by the cold, but that maybe was because she had been inside up until this point. "I wanted to tell you... that I really enjoy your company" she seemed fidgety and uncharacteristically shy, a side of her character that only surfaced while she was with you. "Oh...I really like your company too, Lot". You got back to shoveling away, but she remained at your side. "I meaan... I really like your company. I like you. And we kissed. So..." the way those words were pronounced and the faint red on her cheeks made you realize what the subtex really was.

She rubbed her thighs over and over again, trying to make her bulge less noticeable but failing miserably to do so.

"So...could we, you know..." her voice dropped in the last syllable, vocal chords barely holding on the sound in her throat. She looked so cute, so beautiful with the reflection of the snow in her eyes. And how could you say no to her?

So here you are: in the attic, with your hands on Lottie's throat while bouncing on her dick. The cold is seeping in from the outside and affecting your lovemaking, but the heat your bodies produce is enough to warm both of you. Lottie sits naked under you, a blanket between her and the floor. She had the thoughtfulness of making a little "nest" for you two to be comfortable. The others have her a weird look when she asked for more blankets and pillows, but ignore what they would be needed for. The sound of humping above their heads is enough to make them guess, you think.

"Fuck...oh baby, fuck..." Lottie's eyes roll back, her hands gripping at your hips and shaking. She feels weak underneath you, strenght leaving her everytime she sinks back inside. "Please...please, slow down a moment, or I am going to..." her pleas fall on deaf ears when your hips fall back repeatedly on her own's, even doubling your efforts and moving faster and faster, making her exhale every breath from her lungs. She can't help but be estatich when you take her faster, almost delirious; maybe she did hope you were not going to listen to her.

She can already feel herself bursting, skin tingling and brain empty. Her please and whimpers get erratic, exhaling so loudly you're sure someone knows what you two are up to.

"Lottie! Shut up!" you say, kneeling over her body so that you are face to face with her. Without even thinking about it, you place your hands at either side of her neck, lightly pressing on her throat. "Just-! Be quiet! The others might-" you quickly shut up when you see the look on Lottie's face: her blush has spreaded on her shoulders, her eyes are humid and she looks at you with such adoration and eagerness that your heart hurts.

Something inside of you suggests what that look means, and just to try, or maybe to tease and torture her, you clench down on her cock while tightening your grip on her neck. You watch as a long and loud whine escapes her throat, eyes rolling back and hips chasing you upwards, impaling you on her length and making you fall over her, loosening your grip over her.

"So...you like that..." Lottie just whines and shudders, protesting the lack of movement on your part. "Yeah? Don't worry baby..." you roll your hips downward, making Lottie moan loudly, a bead of precum falling from your entrance on her crotch, "I am going to give you the time of your life".

[likeadevils]

2003 Lover Diaries Transcripts

Mar 23, 2003- Wyomissing, PA

Ok, where did I leave off? Friday. Ok, on Friday in school we had a “Code Red” drill. That’s when someone comes into the school and everybody gets freaked out and the teachers move all the students to the back of the room and turn off the lights. That night I had to babysit Austin while mom + dad went to a Vonda Shepard concert. Saturday mom and I got up early to go to NY for an hour ½ voice lesson. On the way we listened to a CD that mom bought from the concert the night before. It was this band called Sugarland and the lead singer is this girl that’s really good. I like their one song called “Baby Girl”

May 17, 2003- Wyomissing, PA

Hey. Today Mom and I went to New York. We talked and laughed all the way up and parked in a garage near my voice lesson. We walked to her apartment and we worked on Smoky Black Nights after doing all of her warmups. I didn’t do it well @ first but she said that the song was “ingenious.” Cool. After mom and I went to this cowboy/western store nearby. We got a white shirt that buttons up, jeans, and a white T w/notes in it. Then we had pizza at a pizza place and walked back to the car stopping @ Tasti D-Lite, our FAVORITE ice cream store. It’s kosher, non-cholesterol, Extremely tasty, dreamy, frozen yogurt, and only 40 calories. Does it get any better than that? Then we went home and got movies. You know, sometimes I think about what my first kiss is going to be like. It’s going to be great and romantic. I’m such a romantic. I just dream about looking into someone’s eyes and feeling something I’ve never felt before, you know? I just never was able to put a face to my fantacy. But something tells me that my first kiss really far away from happening! Because the guys in our school aren’t even worth worrying about. They are all in it for one thing and I think you know what is, sex. I guess I’ll be okay without a first kiss!! XOXO Taylor

May 19, 2003- Wyomissing, PA

Oh I was SUCH a b**** today! When mom picked me up, she was late again because she thought I had Varsity Singers. I was nasty to everybody!! Oh, I tried to practice my songs for Nashville, but I completely psyched myself out and broke down crying. I don’t know if I can do this. I want it so bad but I get so scared of what might not happen! When I miss notes, I dive bomb and the whole thing goes crashing down. I just have to breathe in … and breath out … breathe in …. relax, Nashville is not going to kill me … I can handle it. I’m okay. I’ll be fine. I’m young. I’m talented. They’ll see it in me. I’ll be ok. I’ve got to hang on. Can’t worry. I’m only 13. I’m allowed to make mistakes, right? Oh, this is a lot to handle. Taylor XOXO P.S. Pray for a better day tomorrow!

Jun 5, 2003- Wyomissing, PA

Hey Journal, I had to sing @ the Garden Party today so Mom and I went to the field and got some of the equipment set up. Then we went home and I got ready. When we got there, all of my friends were there, and they helped set up (kind of). I started my show and in one first three chords of the first song, my guitar pick broke in half and flew out of my hands! There was this huge silence! It was awful! I had to bend over and pick it up in front of everyone! And while I was singing, this guy was shouting stuff like, “Go on, b*#@h! Sing that country bullsh*t! Go on motherf*cker!” It was awful. After the Garden Party, we all went to the Reading Hospital to visit Nanny. She looks worse everytime we go. I sang I Used to Fly, A Little More Like you and Same Girl for Nanny and her roommate, Penny. Penny has liver cancer and is bald from chemo. All of the nurses loved listening to it. It went really well. Then we went home and I worked on a song called Not One day. It’s ok, but I don’t know. Taylor Swift

Jun 19, 2003- Nashville, TN

Hey Diary, This morning, I woke up and I went over to RCA records and did a small showcase and “chatted” with them. We talked to this girl and she was really hip and cool with me. They really liked me and said they would call on Monday because she would be on vacation that weekend. Then we headed over to Capitol Records and met with the president and vice president of the company. They totally flipped out over me! They even said I was the most talented 13-year-old they had ever seen! They told me that I should be thanking God every day for the incredible gift he gave me. Well, I appreciate the compliment, but then they followed it up with “I’d just hate to see you jump into this right now and have a short-lived career.” They very politely agreed that country is directed to 35-year-olds. Radio just doesn’t play teens. That’s where I’m gonna prove them wrong! Well, he took me on a tour of the building and gave me about 25 cds of Capitol’s artists. Isn’t that nice? Then we went back to the hotel and then we went to the Bluebird Cafe, this cafe where like 4 songwriters go in and sing their songs. We sat all the way in the back. I have a radio call, meeting with Warner, and flight to catch tomorrow. I need my sleep!! Taylor I have a good feeling about RCA! <3

Jun 24, 2003- Wyomissing, PA

Hey Diary, I got a record deal! AHHHHH! RCA records in Nashville wants to give me a development deal!!! We were taking Sassy to the airport (late) and when we headed home, we stopped at a Taco Bell. My manager called us on Mom’s cell and she gave the phone to me. He had Dad on conference call. He started out by saying, “Well, we got follow ups on all of the labels. And they think you need a couple years to grow so they can put you on the radio … Except for RCA, who wants to sign you!! Congratulations!” I was going crazy. I cried. I guess I never really expected to get one! It’s a development deal, but those are the only details we have. I told a bazillion people! We were making CDs for a New Hampshire concert I have Friday til 2:00 AM tonight. AHHH! Record deal! R • C • A baby! Taylor

Aug 25, 2003- Wyomissing, PA

Hey, Today was my first day of school! And you won’t believe how much better 8th grade is than 7th!! The real problem last year was the grade above us, and now they’re 9th graders so we never see them. I love being older than the 7th graders! I never knew how stupid I must have looked, carrying around that HUGE book bag running and bumping into everybody trying to get to class on time! Okay, here’s my schedule! 1. Accel. integrated studies 2. science 3. american studies 4. latin 1 LUNCH 5. Accel. English 6. Accel Math 7. Intro. Computer studies 8. Chorus/Gym I think I might just live through this year!! I just hope I can keep up. My locker is 117 and my combination is 35-8-27. I love being older! I think my teacher’s gonna give me a spotlight solo in chorus! This year could be fun. I don’t care what people think of me now because I won’t let them bring me down. <3 Taylor

Oct 15, 2003- Wyomissing, PA

Hey, I really have decided that school is a big disappointment. It's only cool when you're popular. I'm not. It's only cool when you have a boyfriend. It's cool when everybody likes you. I don't have that. But my extracurricular "life" is what really matters to me. I guess I'm just not good enough for people my own age. Or maybe I'm not bad enough? [peace sign] Taylor Swift XOXO <3

(2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 & 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 & 2017)

[evupdates]

GuitarWorld: “I did everything by working my ass off. I played in bars six nights a week, 300 shows a year, three one-hour sets every night for eight years with no record deal”: Evanescence’s Troy McLawhorn on his guitar firsts, favorites and embarrassing moments https://trib.al/khFs88q

Interview Behind The Read More

In this Inquirer column, we reach out to Troy McLawhorn of Evanescence to answer the essential questions in any guitar player’s life. We’re talking first songs learned, first guitars played, and what would McLawhorn do if he had a time machine?

Well, maybe we know the answer to that – he’d take that damned trench coat back to the store…

What was your first guitar?

“My mom and dad had guitars in the house, and though they didn’t play them that much, those were the first guitars I grew up playing on. The one I really started to learn how to play on was my mom's nylon-string classical guitar.

“I played that for years before they bought me my first guitar, which I picked out in a music store down the street from my house. It had a black Gibson Explorer-style body with a maple neck and was made by a company called Lotus.”

What was the first song you learned to play?

“House of the Rising Sun by the Animals. I figured out the chords and then gave a little concert to my mom and dad. I was around 12.”

Do you remember your first gig?

“My first gigs were playing at parties. In my hometown, older kids would have what they called keg parties, where they’d buy a couple of kegs of beer and have a band play. So my first gigs were in people’s backyards, playing at parties for older people who were getting drunk. One of the earliest bands I can remember being in at the time was Hellrazor. By default, our only payment was beer.”

Ever had an embarrassing moment on stage?

“I can't think of anything in particular that occurred in Evanescence, but I do remember one embarrassing moment back in the early ’90s when I was in Still Rain. Whenever I performed, I’d wear snakeskin boots and a leather trench coat that went all the way down to the ground.

“One night, I was playing a solo at the front of the stage and totally rocking out. When I was done, I took a step back, but because my trench coat was so long, I stepped on it and couldn’t stand up straight.

“Each time I tried stepping back, the trench coat got shorter and shorter, until I fell down on stage on my back into the drum kit. I rolled around for a second so I could get my shit together, and I finally got up.”

What’s your favorite piece of gear?

“One piece of gear that I regret letting go of was a Mesa Boogie Mark IV. It was a combo that had a beautiful tweed front. As for my favorite, it’s my 1985 Gibson Les Paul Custom that was given to me for my birthday by a good friend.

“It was used when I got it, but it’s a beautiful guitar that’s got this amazing piece of leather artwork on the front. I’ve never seen anything like it and it just sounds and plays great.”

Suppose the building is burning down; what one guitar from your collection would you save?

“My wife gave me a really great American Telecaster for Christmas a few years back. It’s one of my favorite guitars to play when I’m at home, and it means a lot to me because my wife gave it to me.”

When was the last time you practiced and what did you play?

“It would’ve been last night before the show. I warm up before every show, playing guitar for 20 or 30 minutes. I will usually go through some exercises, and maybe a couple of things in the show that I may have fucked up the night before.

“I don’t really have a routine, as I don’t actually sit down and practice all that much when on tour, as I concentrate on maintaining and getting ready for the show I’m about to play. But when I’m home, I practice a lot and like to learn new things.”

What aspect of the guitar would you like to improve?

“I’d love to have more of a knowledge of music theory. Growing up, I learned everything by ear. I just listened to records and tried to figure out what I could. I think it would be great to have more of an educated knowledge of theory and scales and all that stuff.”

What advice would you give to your younger self?

“I’d say invent a time machine so it can take you to now, where you could watch YouTube videos! I think it’s amazing that kids have YouTube now, because it would’ve been a whole different thing for me if I had all the knowledge that’s on YouTube."

“I did everything I could by working my ass off. I played in bars five and six nights a week, playing 300 shows a year, playing three one-hour sets every night for about eight years with no record deal. The experience was amazing. I don’t know what more I could have done outside of what we did in that time.”

Fallen (20th Anniversary) is out now via Craft Recordings.

[you-can-be-what-you-want-to-be]

since it’s getting close to new years I want to talk about actual quality of life improvement.

Last year (about this time actually, a week or two before the actual new year) I made the resolution to try things when I think about them. This was supposed to be like things I thought about for forever or taking out the trash, not something new.

But the first thing I tried with this mentality was mob psycho, my first anime, and one of the main concepts of it is it is never to late to start, and that no one is special so you should do what you want whether you are good at it or not, and that your life is your own so do what you want.

which as a first anime for someone who is embarrassed is great. It changed the meaning of my initial resolution and I started just throwing myself at new things.

I’ve started learning art. When people say you’ll get better with practice it’s a lie, because you need technique which I was never taught. I didn’t know drawing was shapes and colors which sounds stupid but it’s true. Anyone can do art if they break down enough mechanics. Here’s beginning of the year just starting to learn Vs now

The one on the left took LONGER. It was after using Google and calling a friend for help and it still took me like seven tries and an hour Vs the thirty minutes no help the right took. It’s just learning.

I’ve started watching anime, death note, spy x family, life lessons with utamichi onnisan (which as an educator hit) and have started evongelion and full metal alchemist. These new interests have gotten me five new friends this year.

I got my first tattoo, three actually.

I’ve started playing games, games I never thought I would because I’m not a gamer. After years of seeing it everywhere I played portal and the Stanley parable, and I played off, disco elyiusm, and Omori. It is sooooo fun you guys and most of these make me think a lot.

I started reading more too. I’m in the middle of omniscient readers view point which may be my new favorite story. I’ve read the murder bot diaries, the locked tomb series, and started discworld (finished three so far I think?)

I bought a guitar. I can’t play anything yet but I already have four chords memorized by sight without reference.

I’m learning about new cultures and sponsoring a child in Ethiopia. I’m learning to speak Japanese and reading and watching foreign media and literature.

I’ve played dnd and made a group about it

I’ve made more friends, given more money to the poor, mended bridges with family.

next year I want to learn keyboard piano, I’ve asked for one for Christmas, but if I don’t get it I plan to save up. I want to learn how to do video essays and animate.

Try new things. Be bad at things, be willing to learn. Don’t worry if it’s embarrassingly or worry about wasting time or if you won’t like it, you can always change your mind later. New knowledge and experiences can only better your life. I promise you will not regret it.

[miss-andromeda]

Whispers to Talking, Talking to Screams (Halloween Special)

Universe: TMNT 2012

Turtle of Choice: (Romantic) Donatello, (Platonic) Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo (special guest appearances by April and Casey)

Prompt: “How many of those did you take?”

Song Inspiration: Wonderland (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift

This is obviously non-canon - as it’s a Halloween special! Happy Halloween, y’all, and hope you enjoy a glimpse into my take on a spooky tale 😌🩷

And side note! I will be referencing characters and plot devices from another oneshot written months ago, called Even In Your Wildest Dreams, so if you want to, go read that first!

~

“C’mon, D, please?” Mikey’s incessant begging reverberated across the lair, making both Leo and Raph roll their eyes in frustration. The youngest had been begging and pleading for the better part of two hours, and of course, it wasn’t working.

“For the 50th time, Mikey, no!” Donnie scolded him as he fixed his steampunk costume. “I’m Andi’s plus-one to her friend’s costume party, so I’m not even able to bring you if I wanted to. And furthermore, you don’t have a watch yet, and I’m not about to explain to her friends why there’s a turtle at the party.”

Mikey huffed as he angrily watched Donnie use his human watch, changing him into the same awkward geek that he changed into months before. “Bro, that’s not fair! How come you get to go to a rockin’ Halloween party? You know I’m the life of the party!”

“You’re also the most annoying.” Donnie muttered to himself, before shaking his head at his brother. “Look, I’m not about to argue with you. I’ve got to go pick up Andi.” He finished, walking quickly past Mikey. “I’ll be back by midnight, guys! And I’ve got my tPhone, call me if an emergency comes up!”

He was met with a flurry of reactions: “Tell Andi we say hi” from Leo, “Try not to get beat up” from Raph, and another groan from Mikey.

He was about to respond to all three of them when he heard his tPhone go off – and when he heard the opening chords of “Close Call,” he grinned as he checked the message Andi sent him. 

Or rather, the picture she sent. 

And he just about lost his breath when he saw her in her matching steampunk costume, with a full face of makeup and a teasing smile on her face.

Her message was simple: ‘Still going with me to Danica’s party?’

With shaky hands and a crimson face, Donnie hastily typed back, ‘Of course! Though you may steal the show with how beautiful you look 😍’

He could practically see the blush on her face when she responded, ‘Aw, Don 🥰  When should I expect you, sweet talker?’

‘Say around 7?’

‘Perfect! I’ll see you soon then. I love you 🩷🩷’

Donnie couldn’t help but smile more at her message. ‘Love you more, hon 💜💜’

----------

Their laughter echoed throughout the tunnels as Andi was being given a piggyback ride and she held her boots in her hands. “I cannot believe that you actually won against Kevin for best costume. Normally he’s got that locked down.” She commented, then left a little kiss on his cheek - then chuckled when she left a lipstick print on the spot she kissed.

“Does that mean I’m officially invited back for next year?” Donnie smiled at her, making her roll her eyes and nod, smiling back. 

“As long as we’re still together next year, of course you are.”

“So you think we won’t be together next year?” At the question, he feigned like he was about to drop her, making her yelp and latch onto her shoulders. 

“No, I just-” She then groaned and rested her head against his shoulder. “That’s not what I meant.”

He only laughed in response as he tightened his grip on her. “You’re cute when you’re exasperated.”

Andi rolled her eyes again, but a smile flickered back onto her face. “And you’re lucky you’re cute, or I would’ve socked you in the shoulder.”

“Sure you would.” He reached into his coat pocket and took out some caramel chews, handing two to Andi before asking if she could unwrap one and feed it to him. 

“How many of those did you take? You’ve had, like, 20 this evening.” She teased him, her voice slightly muffled by the candy.

He was about to respond (likely with something snarky,) when they finally entered the lair…

…only to be met with darkness and no noise whatsoever.

“Huh, that’s weird.” Andi mumbled after swallowing the candy, before hopping off Donnie’s back and looking around for anyone. “Hello? Leo? Mikey? Raphie? Master Splinter?” She called out, and when she was given no response, she frowned and turned to her boyfriend. “Was the power giving you trouble when you left?”

Donnie only shook his head as he searched blindly for the light switch. When his fingers grazed it, though, he smiled to himself and switched it back on. And when the lights were back, everything looked completely normal. The throw pillows on the couch were still in the same position as before, the TV was switched off, Mikey’s video game controllers were strewn across the floor (as usual,) and nothing looked out of the ordinary. 

“Maybe Mikey thought it was a good idea to get us by turning off the lights when we came back.” Andi surmised, rolling her eyes. “Was he giving you trouble when you were getting ready?”

“Yep. I estimated 50 times that he begged me to let him join us.”

“Typical Mikey.” Andi mumbled under her breath, but shook her head. “Maybe next year I can ask Danica for one extra invitation for him, if he really wanted to go that badly.”

“Honestly, that’s your best bet.” Donnie agreed, nodding his head. “Especially considering-” 

He was interrupted by faint whispers, so soft that you had to basically listen to the wind to hear it.

“Do you hear that?” He whispered to Andi, who only stared in confusion at his whispering. 

“Hear-” She spoke in a normal voice before Donnie shushed her, then gestured to his ears to pantomime her listening closer. 

‘Go to the lab. Go to the lab.’

“ Who’s whispering that? And what do they mean, ‘go to the lab’?” Andi whispered to him, her eyes widening. 

“I don’t know, but stay here. I don’t want you getting hurt.” Donnie told her softly, his normally soft and gentle look to her being replaced by a protective, steely one. This always happened when he worried that she would be in danger; the last thing that he ever wanted, under any circumstances was for her to be in the line of fire. 

But he knew Andi, and he knew that by the panicked look in her eye and her frantically shaking her head that he didn’t convince her. “Are you crazy?!” She whispered, her eyes becoming more fearful. “I’m not gonna let you get hurt either! Either we both go or neither of us do.”

Donnie let out a slightly exasperated sigh; when she was this fearful (or just emotional in general,) there was no changing her mind. And he really wanted to figure out where his brothers were…

“Okay. But stay by me.” He softly commanded, and he had to admit, the vice-like grip she had on his arm pained him. Literally and figuratively. 

He tentatively walked the two of them to the lab, Andi’s grip never letting go of him. Normally, he liked being her knight in shining armor…but when she was this scared (and admittedly, he was starting to get worried too,) his white-knight tendencies when it came to her left the building.

He just hoped that whatever was calling for them wasn’t…that awful. 

When they got to the lab, it was the same scene; lights were off, but other than that, nothing looked too out of the ordinary. Except…when the voices realized they had visitors, they changed their commands. 

‘Turn on the lights. Turn on the lights.’

Still fearful, Andi fumbled for the light switch - and when she found it and switched it on, her heart fell into her shoes at the sight as she started to sob. 

“NO! APRIL!”

There she was…her best friend, slumped over Donnie’s keyboard, and blood spilling from her stomach and onto the floor.

Upon noticing what happened, Donnie gasped (and felt tears blur his vision as well) and grabbed Andi, pulling her from the gruesome sight and into his plastron, cradling her head against him and softly urging her not to look. 

“W-Who could do this to her?” She whispered, her tone sounding disheveled and heartbroken. “S-She didn’t do anything…”

Donnie shook his head, furiously wiping away his own tears as he leaned in to weakly kiss her forehead. He then looked back at the scene - but rather focus on April, he noticed the crimson writing that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

What scared him wasn’t just the message, it was the fact that it looked like it was made out of April’s blood.

 “What the…” Donnie breathed, horrified at the thought, as he tried to read the message through the messy scrawl. “See…what? O-Oh, um…’see what happens when you ignore me’…t-that’s weird. Why would they write something so specific?”

Andi’s eyes widened as she listened to the message; when she turned around to read it for herself, she gasped at the realization. “Wait…how did they know about me having to cancel my plans with April?” She asked aloud. “O-Only me and her know about that-”

She was interrupted when she heard Donnie screaming in fear and, making her whip around and see him being dragged off into…the shadows. “Don! NO!” She screamed in panic, desperately trying to grab his hand and pull him back to her. However, despite her best efforts, the invisible force fighting her won, and she had to watch her boyfriend disappear into the abyss. 

That made her fall to her knees in panic, crying and holding her head in the process. “Why are you doing this?! First my best friend and now my boyfriend - w-what did I do to deserve this?!” She screamed at nothing in particular. “And who are you anyway?!”

She was ignored, though, as the voices started to get louder and louder. But they only repeated one word:

‘Ignored. Ignored. Ignored. Ignored. Ignored.’

“Leave me alone! Please!” Andi screamed again, curling in on herself. “I promise, I’ll never do anything even remotely bad again! Just give me my friends back and leave me alone! I’m begging you!”

‘Next. Next. Next. Next. Next.’

Andi’s eyes widened at that - that could only mean one thing. 

She was grateful that Splinter had been training her to hear footsteps - though it helped that when she was this on edge, she was always hypervigilant.

So when she heard a set of footsteps getting louder and closer to her, she did the only thing that seemed rational to her.

She spun around and punched the would-be assailant in the face, hard enough to knock them out.

But then she noticed who it was once she ripped off the mask.

“Casey?!”

That’s when she was met with three things; raucous laughter, Donnie rushing to her to make sure she was okay, and the lights turning back on. 

“We got you so good!” Mikey cheered, high-fiving a still laughing Raph and a proud Leo. “That might’ve been the best prank ever!”

“P…Prank?” Upon hearing that, Andi’s adrenaline drained as quickly as it emerged, and before she could yell at the boys for such a joke, her eyes crossed and she keeled over, fainting in Donnie’s arms. 

The last thing she could make out was her boyfriend berating them for making her faint before everything faded to black.

----------

She woke up in a familiar place. It was a bit rigid, but nothing she wasn’t used to. It reminded her of the first time she and Donnie met - this was where they had their second conversation. 

She was in the lab, on the little cot in the corner.

“Don?” Andi weakly called out, grunting as she held her head.

As if by magic, he appeared, stroking her hair and looking at her with the most sincere and gentle expression she had seen in a long time. “Hey, you. How’re you feeling?”

Andi managed a weak smile as she tugged him closer. “Okay, I guess. I think I just fainted from how much whiplash I got finding out that was a prank. A really sick one.”

Donnie nodded in understanding, leaning in to kiss her forehead again. “That’s understandable.” He then sighed and shook his head as he sat next to her. “I think I figured out why that even happened. Mikey was mad because he wanted to go with us to that party, so to get revenge, he enlisted everyone’s help to give us a scare. April joined because she figured you wouldn’t get as freaked out as you have, and Casey, the genius he is, thought it would be a good idea to scare you silly.”

Andi rolled her eyes, then closed them as she leaned against him. “That clears that up then…but still, that was a bit far, even for Mikey.” But then her eyes opened again as a mischievous smirk crept onto her face. 

An idea.

“But…it’s not entirely too far for me.” She surmised. “And you do realize this means war, right? I mean, we can’t let them get away with pranking us that badly and letting them feel victorious.” When she saw a little smirk threatening to come out on Donnie’s face, she smirked more as she leaned up to kiss his cheek. “What say you, professor? Shall we get some revenge?”

Finally, Donnie cracked; a smirk appeared on his face as he nodded, giving her a proper kiss on her lips. Once he pulled away, he leaned his forehead against hers. “We shall, enchantress. Let’s scare them so badly that they’ll jump at their own shadows. After all…as you said, darling, this means war.”

----------

Happy Halloween, my lovely friends 🩷🧡

@post-apocalyptic-daydream @leosgirl82 @thelaundrybitch @tinkabelle19 @kikithedreamerwriter @jasminarts01 @android-cap-007 @happymoonangel @margoteve @raphsmuneca

[theloniousbach]

BACK TO FUR PEACE RANCH: ACOUSTIC HOT TUNA with Larry Campbell, 5 NOVEMBER 2022

My best laid plans last night were to catch a real time set from Small’s Live by a piano trio led by Kevin Hays who deserves attention, though I sometimes find him a bit too clever for my own good. My jazz listening/writing is the one thing that hasn’t resettled since my sentimental journeys to Santa Fe and Pittsburgh. On the Monday in Santa Fe, I took advantage of the time zone shift to catch Miki Yamanka’s late set in real time and came in the middle of Alan Broadbent (not with Harvie S) before it. Those haven’t made it into one of these souvenirs, so seeing Hays would have allowed a cadenza about them. But I saw no more jazz out west and just the Lew Tabackin and Jeremy Pelt shows over this past week.

Instead there has been the Caffe Lena trad/folk excursion with Bruce Molsky and Beppe Gambetta (so I haven’t suffered). Though I had missed the social media announcement of this show, there it was. We jumped in for the last 45 minutes of the second set, about a third of the total, just as Larry Campbell embarked on Deep Elem Blues.

Having not immediately deleted an announcement that Acoustic Hot Tuna will be in Steelville in about three weeks. It’s a legendary intimate destination venue a couple of hours southeast of St Louis. With housing, it’s north of $200 each. So, no, but reluctantly. But that put this personally important band on my mind yet again.

Looking at the setlist, I regret missing Good Shepherd and That’ll Never Happen No More because I take a stab at as well as several rarities (True Religion, Keep On Truckin’, Highway Song (David Crosby sang on the original and he came up as they tuned into open G for the Water Song encore. In any case he was alive at the time), and Ode for Billy Dean. Campbell sung Police Dog Blues and Big River Blues which would have been fun.

What we did see was a healthy dose of Reverend Gary Davis. Not Candyman which opened the second set, but Hesitation Blues!! (Campbell on fiddle), Death Don’t Have No Mercy!!!!! (Jorma said, “We’ve been too cheerful.” Perhaps. I like playing it in my way as solace as I think of my coming losses.), and Let Us Get Together Right Down Here as the set closer. Between them, Jorma and Campbell are where I have learned most about the Reverend.

There were a couple of Jorma songs which I identified via the set lists, not by my own recognition. They have glorious chords and thoughtful lyrics (swallowed up again as Jorma’s voice has regressed to mean from the Quarantine Concert days and being off the road highpoint), but one camera angle put Jack Casady right in front. As I find my own way around my young singer-songwriter friend’s chord progressions and thereby figure out some things about the bass, I saw so much more about what he accomplishes sometimes with a quarter or even half note. He got a couple of flat out solos on Deep Elem Blues and Let Us Get Together Right Down Here.

Larry Campbell has quite the pedigree, doesn’t he? Music director for Bob Dylan and then the Levon Helm Rambles; a stint with Phil Lesh and Friends; and this longstanding friendship. Between those four gigs, he touches on keeping alive key parts of the music of my youth.

That said, I’m not sure he quite fit last/that night. I don’t blame him though. While Jorma doesn’t retain his QC voice, his guitar playing remains even more ornate from those months of being able to really practice. He takes up more space, so where to fit in?

I’m not going to return to the whole show in its entirety (but okay, Police Dog, Shepherd, No More, and Candy Man maybe) so as not to endure ads etc. BUT I’m very glad to have followed my nose about this show and I got a writing prompt out of it.

Jazz returns. I’ll catch that Kevin Hays set in the Small’s Archive in a week or so and I have a Smoke show pass already bought for this afternoon.

But Hot Tuna has also had a huge impact of the epigenetics of my musical DNA.

[deanstead]

I Know You

Pairing: Adam Ruzek x Asian!Reader

Requested: no

Summary: No thanks to her parents' interference, Y/N finds herself having to deal with unwanted advances from an old acquaintance.

Word Count: 1.3K+

Tags/Warnings: established Adam x Reader, arranged marriage, self-indulgent fic (lol)

A/N: First try at a more specific reader background, and I almost didn't let this see the light of day but @sheetsonfire gave her beta services and told me otherwise so here it is!

ADAM RUZEK MASTERLIST

“Y/N!”

You let out an involuntary groan under your breath that only Adam could hear from where he was sitting next to you, prompting him to glance up, his eyes falling on the guy who was pushing his way through the crowd towards you.

You were literally never going to forgive your parents for inflicting this on you. Ever.

Moving to America should have stomped out ancient ideas like arranged marriages a long time ago. And yet, you’d only met Andrew again after more than ten years because they’d disguised the lunch as a catch up with old family friends, with everyone but you knowing what it really was - a matchmaking session. It was like they’d just ignored everything you said about already seeing someone.

Granted, they’d told you that the final decision was yours to make, which meant they weren’t that backward. But even after turning him down multiple times, Andrew was still dancing around you and pushing for you to give him a chance.

You turned your eyes up in a look of exasperation.

“Three times is not a charm.” You snapped, not bothering to hide the distaste in your words. “You’re basically stalking me.”

That definitely struck a chord with Adam as he got to his feet, looking Andrew straight in the eye, his body angled towards him so that he was now standing protectively in front of you, his body practically blocking you from Andrew’s line of vision.

Obviously Adam knew everything. You’d told him the moment you’d finally escaped from that hell of a lunch, and told him every time that Andrew had come looking for you. But this was the first time they were coming face to face and although you’d happily see Adam knock this asshole to his feet, you weren’t willing to let Adam get in trouble for it.

Andrew didn’t even flinch, behaving as if you’d both just offered him a polite hello.

“So is this him?” Andrew asked, looking around Adam towards you and you gritted your teeth. Wherever this was going, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

You glanced along the line of tables, noting with immense gratitude that Jay and Will were just at the next table with Kevin. Whatever was happening seemed to have just caught their attention as Jay raised an eyebrow at you. You discreetly put a finger up to tell Jay to wait and see, to which he just nodded quietly.

Adam gave you a small smile even though you’d ignored him.

“Y/N, come on. You’re a lawyer and he’s a… officer?”

You growled. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Adam interrupted this time. “Walk away.”

You could hear the intense effort Adam was using not to start throwing punches.

Andrew laughed before addressing Adam. “Have you even thought about it? What kind of life you can give her? With your pitiful paycheck, the hours you spend away from her? You going to let her rough it out with you?”

Was this guy serious?

But your face angled upwards as you realized Adam was hesitating.

You reached over for his hand, quietly slipping your fingers through his.

Adam glanced back at you and you offered him a small smile, the unspoken words between you seeming to set a new resolve in his eyes as he turned back once again to Andrew.

“You can have your high position, place or whatever.”

Andrew paused for a moment but Adam wasn’t done. “I don’t know about high or low places, but my place is next to Y/N.”

You let out a proud grin, squeezing Adam’s hand encouragingly.

A look of anger passed across Andrew’s face, which was Jay and Kevin’s cue to make their presence felt.

Andrew glanced between Adam, Jay and Kevin, as well as Will who had now got to his feet as well. Deciding that it wasn’t worth the fight, Andrew glanced back. “This isn’t over.”

“Yes, it is.” You muttered, pulling Adam back down to sit.

Adam glanced at you after nodding thanks to his friends before he turned back to you.

“Adam Ruzek.”

Adam paused as you called his full name.

“Don’t you ever hesitate. Ever. I wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world.” You warned.

Adam smiled, leaning in to press a kiss to the top of your head. “Let’s go home.”

You nodded, smiling.

It was about a few weeks later when you had been out with Adam that the both of you had run into Andrew again.

Truth be told, you’d already filed him away out of your mind, sure that he’d finally given up and moved on, maybe taken his stupid ass out of America.

So you’d been a little startled when he’d showed up, standing right in your path.

You glanced at Adam before offering him an eyeroll. You were getting really tired of this.

“I am literally going to file for a restraining order.” You directed at him.

“I’ve had it. You’re coming back with me.” Andrew reached over, his hand closing around your wrist as he roughly tugged you towards him.

Your other hand still clasped tightly in Adam’s, you felt a jerk, the opposing force from Adam’s hold on you only jerking you forward a few steps.

“Let her go.” Adam’s voice was low and dangerous, and you could hear it again, the edge between Adam’s composure and him pouncing on a guy right on the street.

You turned up to look at Andrew furiously. You didn’t care if you’d been friends when you were younger, this was getting ridiculous.

But before you could open your mouth, Andrew tugged you towards him even harder.

Adam didn’t move, his grip on you still firm but with opposing forces on both your arms, you hissed. Andrew’s grip on you felt like it was cutting off your blood circulation and you were about certain one of your arms were going to pop off.

Adam glanced at you and without warning, the grip Adam had had on your hand was gone and you stumbled the remaining distance towards Andrew.

You looked back at Adam, who just looked upset.

You glared up at Andrew. “Let me go. Now.”

“Why should I? He was the one who let you go.” Andrew quipped back defensively. “You’re coming with me.”

You felt the white hot anger pulsate through you, and before you knew it, your leg had shot out, hitting him right in the shin. Andrew yelped, instinctively letting your arm go as the pain shot through him and he bent over.

“What do you think I am? A toy?” You growled, marching back towards Adam. “You need me to teach you this? Fine. The only reason Adam let go was because he realized it was hurting me. You were hurting me. You were about to tear me into half Andrew. But you don’t care, do you? You’ve been like that since we were five.”

Andrew opened his mouth to argue but no words came out.

“Adam’s not the problem here. You are. You don’t care if I’m happy, or if I’m uncomfortable. You just want what you want.” You snapped.

Adam glanced at you, taking your hand once again with a small smile. "Thank god.” He whispered.

You smiled, watching as the insecurity dropped off his face now that Adam knew you wouldn't misunderstand the gesture.

“I know you.” You whispered back.

You turned back towards Andrew now. “Try this again Andrew. I’ll get a restraining order so fast, you won’t know what hit you.”

Finally, there was defeat in Andrew’s eyes as he stepped aside.

Adam glanced down at you where you were squashed into his side as the both of you walked back down the street.

You looked up as well, meeting his eyes and Adam pressed a kiss to your temple, both of you knowing that no words needed to be exchanged.

You knew.

THANK YOU FOR READING!! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THIS!!

If you want to support me, buy me a coffee!

Character taglists are open!

[alrightieaphroditie]

take the edge off | e.m. series masterlist! | next part!

pairing *:･ﾟ eddie munson x female! reader wc *:･ﾟ 3.7 k warnings *:･ﾟ mentions of drugs (weed) and talk of events that happened in s3! an *:･ﾟ ahh i have officially written my first fanfic ever!! this is very exciting for me but also makes me kinda nervous, hehe. i hope this leads to me writing many more, though, bc this shit is lowkey therapeutic. anyways, this is kind of unedited, so if any major errors jump out at you while you're reading, please let me know so that i can fix it! this is like a soft!eddie type fic bc i was just in the mood for it last night! i appreciate any and all feedback!

synopsis *:･ﾟyou're exhausted, feeling burnt out, and your neighbor won't stop practicing guitar with his amp turned as loudly as possible. you need a pick-me up, and eddie munson has just the thing.

you were desperate. at least, that seemed to be the only logical explanation you could think of as to why you were walking across the graveled road towards eddie munson's trailer late at night in your pajamas.

of course, if anyone asked max why you went over in the first place, she'd tell them that you were just asking eddie to turn down his amp. munson was notorious for practicing his guitar late at night, and most nights you and max didn't mind the background noise. in fact, on the nights where max couldn't sleep, the nights where she would cling to you while you both sat on the couch. you comfort her as much as you can while wiping her tears and running your hand through her hair softly, and you appreciated the noise then. you created a game for those nights, telling max to close her eyes, to listen to the chords he struck loudly, and guess which song he had decided that he needed to learn that week. it seemed to calm her enough, and you always made her laugh when you suggested that eddie was finally learning a david bowie song.

as if.

but tonight was not one of those nights. tonight, you had worked two shifts at the family video in town (somehow keith hired you even though your top three movies were breakfast at tiffany's, the aristocats, and the dark crystal) and then went straight to the police station, where you were helping flo sort through files and answering phone calls. max was sitting at the table in the kitchen area when you got home, multiple books and notebooks flung about the small space. the table was where the two of you had spent the last few hours as you tried helping max study for her biology exam at the end of the week. you could tell she was seconds way from ripping her hair out of her head, and you, well you were barely hanging on yourself.

working two jobs in hawkins while living at a trailer park was not what you had envisioned for yourself when you moved out a year ago to attend college. you lasted two semesters, came back home to visit your family, and then your world turned upside down. literally. a few weeks after getting settled at your old house, max confided in you that she was worried about billy. she wouldn't exactly tell you why, but you promised you'd try talking to him. you never truly cared for your stepbrother, but max, for whatever reason, had a very small soft spot in her heart for him, and you wanted to take care of your sister. he was the same asshole he'd always been when you spoke to him the next day, slamming the door in your face as he walked away in his red swim shorts and white tank top. you thought nothing more of it.

it wasn't until you got home late one night from being with your friends when you saw billy carrying bag after bag of ice to his bedroom. he looked feverish, but despite your questions, he insisted that he was fine. later that night, max ran into your bedroom, shaking and panting. she'd had a nightmare, and this was when she finally gave in and confessed to you some of the events that had happened the previous year. you learned all about eleven, a girl who had some kind of power, and the truth about what went down at the hawkins lab. it was only a matter of time before you were recruited by max's friends, and you were one of the few who knew the truth of what happened at the starcourt mall. one of the few inside the mall when the mind flayer attacked.

max had been immediately affected by the events of the night, by billy's death. she had shut down, became a shell of the person she used to be. every now and then you'd catch a glimpse of the girl she used to be, but it disappeared just as quickly as you caught it. you, on the other hand, had responded to things a little differently. after billy's death, his father left your mother. not officially declaring a divorce, but there wasn't much hope for the marriage if one spouse was in california while the other was in indiana. your mom struggled to keep her job, turning to drinking to cope with the loss of a stepson and her husband, almost forgetting that she still had two daughters to care for. you knew you couldn't go back to college after this, and so you withdrew, moved back home, and have been helping keep things afloat as much as you could. you needed to be the person max could rely on during these times, and so you kept your emotions and struggles to yourself.

usually, that wasn't an issue. you had become one of reefer rick's most reliable customers, seeking him out to buy weed whenever you could spare some of your hard-earned money. that solution worked for about half a year, and then rick got busted by the cops. you had run out of your stash a few weeks ago and were starting to see the results of not being able to smoke. your thoughts wouldn't stop running a mile a minute, and every time you closed your eyes, you saw billy. you got cranky, becoming irritated more easily, and a perpetual migraine sat at the back of your head.

on this night in particular, you had already snapped at a guest when they tried convincing you to let them take home another movie even though they already had the max out, and you shouted at officer callahan when he accidently dumped your cup of coffee out in the sink because he thought you were done with it. all you wanted to do was lay in bed and cry, but when you saw max at the table, you knew that wasn't happening any time soon. and then eddie freaking munson started to play his damn guitar when it was almost the middle of the night.

a soft march breeze flittered throughout the night, and you wrapped your oversized brown flannel around your middle as you stepped through the grass to the few stairs leading up to eddie's door. it was then that you immediately regretted coming out, only for the fact that you were wearing a tank top and shorts under the flannel. you almost turned around and went back to max, but as you started down the stairs, eddie struck a chord that made your head throb, and that was that.

"munson!" you shouted, banging a fist on the trailer door a few times. you shifted your weight, holding your flannel closed with one hand as you waited a moment before starting to knock again. "eddie!"

the incessant noise abruptly stopped and, feeling satisfied with yourself, you started to march down the wooden stairs, thinking about making some hot chocolate for you and max. you had just reached the grass when you heard the door to the trailer fling open, causing you to spin around. in the doorway stood eddie munson, wearing a white t-shirt and pair of red plaid pajama pants, leaning forward a bit as he held open the screen door. his big brown eyes found yours immediately, and you watched as a cheshire cat grin spread across his face.

"well, well, well. if it isn't miss mayfield standing at the edge of my humble abode. to what do i owe the pleasure?" he asked, moving forward on the small landing. he leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at you, the grin never leaving his face. despite the breeze, you felt your face heat with a blush.

eddie munson was no stranger to you. namely, he had quite the reputation of being a freak, what with his heavy metal band corroded coffin and his supposed satan-worshipping hellfire club. you knew the later was a nothing more than a stupid fear, though, as max's friends were all involved in the club. every time you worked with steve harrington at family video, you were subjected to listening to dustin henderson speak nothing but praises for eddie himself. and you trusted dustin, had no reason to believe otherwise. you had also gone to school with eddie, though you weren't really sure he remembered that fact. he was supposed to have graduated before you, and then with you, and now, after you. you'd even had a few classes together, but you knew he spent more time not being in class than he ever did in it, so you honestly didn't really expect him to know you. even these last few months that you've lived across from him, you've never interacted with one another. just some stolen glimpses when you're arriving home and he's leaving, or vice versa.

you must admit that you did foster a bit of a crush for him when you were in the same grade, and now, with him standing above you, gazing down at you with his brown eyes, you were starting to remember exactly why you felt that way. clearing your throat, you copied his pose, crossing your arms across your chest. "i was just coming over to ask you to turn down your amp a bit, please. max has had a rough day." you weren't completely lying to him. you really did need him to quiet down otherwise you were worried your head might genuinely explode from the migraine. however, you also knew from rick that eddie also dabbled in selling drugs, and again...you were desperate.

he studied you for a moment, the sounds of crickets chirping filling the silence, before pushing himself off the doorway. he gripped the railing of the landing between his hands, leaning forward slightly, and in the glow of the streetlights you could see the silver metal of the rings adorning his fingers. "ah, max is the one having a rough day, yeah? is that why you look like you're five seconds away from bursting into tears on my lawn?" he drawled out, cocking his head to the side as he questioned you. his accusation caused your eyes to widen, and you forced yourself to take a few deep breaths. you were not about to lose your cool in front of eddie munson.

"let's just say we've both had a rough day, then. i'm trying to help her study for her biology exam and she can't focus with all the noise coming from here." you state, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear. eddie's eyes squinted down at you, and you could see his nose scrunch as he scoffs at you.

"it's not just noise, mayfield. it's music. i'm not surprised you don't know the difference, though, considering all you do is blast bowie and fleetwood mac." you can tell by his voice that he was irritated, and you almost have to stifle a laugh. he's shaking his head slightly, his wavy hair falling around his shoulders. he sees your grin, though, and he pauses. "is something funny?" he asks, moving one of his hands up to grab a piece of his hair and twirling it in front of his face.

"you can't diss stevie nicks, eddie. that's, like, sacrilegious," you tease, your grin growing a little wider as you speak. you've always known how passionate eddie was for his music, and that was honestly something you respected him for. he wasn't afraid to simply be himself, even if this town hated him for it. eddie munson wasn't a freak, he just had unique interests that made him stand out. and in hawkins, standing out was the last thing anyone wanted to do.

eddie continues to twirl his hair around his finger for a moment before throwing his hands out wide. "oh, haven't you heard? i'm a devil worshipper, y/n. being sacrilegious is the least of my worries," he declares, taking a few dramatic steps down the stairs. he stops when he's in front of you, and you realize how much taller he is as you tilt your head back slightly to maintain eye contact. your fingers fiddle nervously with the buttons on your flannel, but you don't back down.

"devil worshipper or not, it's very childlike of you to be judging others for their taste in music just because it doesn't match your own. i'm not hating on you for playing metallica at all hours of the night, just simply asking you to turn it down a notch." you reply, suddenly wondering how the conversation strayed this way. and how he knew what music you liked to listen to. this was a mistake, you thought, maybe i should just take a bath instead of smoke tonight. with that decided, you gave eddie a small wave before starting to back trek to your trailer.

"you could tell that i was playing metallica tonight?" eddie called out at you from behind suddenly. with a sigh, you turned back around, catching him looking at you with an eyebrow raised. you couldn't help but roll your eyes. "yes, munson, i could tell it was metallica. it's their newest song, right?" you asked, putting your hands on your hips as you stood in the middle of the gravel road. you could tell that your response shocked eddie, and it made you smile. "i don't just listen to bowie and fleetwood mac, hon."

those big brown eyes of his widened, and suddenly a smile lit up his face. "there are layers to you, mayfield. i like it," he whispered while pointing a finger at you. "you know, i've actually heard a lot about you, my lady. especially from my dear friend, rick." his grin grew even bigger with his last remark, and it was your turn to look at him with a raised eyebrow. you couldn't fathom why rick would talk about you to anyone, least of all eddie munson. it wasn't like rick knew everything there was to know about you, but sometimes he would let you try out a new strain of weed he had gotten, and you never could control what slipped from your mouth then. that's why you always preferred getting high in the comfort of your own bedroom.

"and are you planning on sharing what you've heard, or are you just trying to hang it over my head?" you asked, tilting your head to the side slightly. your hair fell down your face, and eddie's eyes trailed the movement, causing your face to flush as you pushed it back. he began pacing, occasionally glancing at you before leaning against the railing of the stairs, reaching behind him to hold on to the wood.

"i'm sure it's stuff you already know," he joked, winking at you as he laughed. when eddie laughs, his whole face lights up. his eyes get bright, his smile so wide that you can see the lines around his mouth curve. it's the type of reaction that makes you want to try to get him to laugh again, even if it's at your expense. you watch as he squats down, his plaid pants tightening around his thighs as he runs a finger through the grass in front of him.

"it's mostly just the basics, i guess. you dropped outta school, picked up two jobs, started being very motherly towards your dear sister. i can only imagine how stressed out you must be. makes a man wonder how you handle it all," he tilts his head up to look at you, a mischievous glint in his eyes. you immediately understand the direction he's going with his, and it's enough to make you roll your eyes.

"eddie, if you're talking to reefer rick about me, i'm pretty sure you can imagine what i'm doing to handle my stress." your gaze is as heated as your tone, and he definitely picks up on that. he holds his hands up, frowning slightly.

"woah there, mayfield. i'm not accusing you of anything. we all need a little something now and then to take the edge off. your secret is safe with me," he tosses you another wink, and you push down the wave of butterflies it sends to your stomach. you really should be going back inside, back to max. she's probably wondering what's taking you so long. and yet for some reason, you can't seem to feel the urge to actually want to leave. surprisingly, you like talking to eddie. there's something about him that's so disarming, and there's a part of you that wants to sit on the grass next to him and talk to him until the sun rises.

you watch as he stands back up, wiping his hands off against his pants. "in fact," he continues, giving you a glance before moving to jump up the steps. "i think you could use a little something right now. you feelin' on the edge tonight, mayfield?" he asks, almost softly, gazing down at you with his big eyes. his tone is teasing, but his eyes show how genuine he is in asking that. how much he actually does care. it's his eyes that essentially bring down your walls, and you find yourself wrapping your arms around your middle and nodding slightly in response.

"just a bit," you whisper, feeling tears burn in your eyes suddenly. too many emotions were swelling up inside you, and you felt close to breaking down, which was an unexpected turn of events for you. usually, you're able to push down these feelings until max was asleep. you'd go through the motions of getting ready for bed, but instead of heading to your bedroom, you would escape outside and sit on the stairs leading up to your front door. you would cry until you simply couldn't, and then you'd tuck your knees up under your chin and hug yourself until you felt strong enough to go back inside. you always figured the night was the safest time do let go, the time when no one else would notice you breaking down. but the look in eddie's eyes have you wondering if you've had an audience some nights.

his gaze is soft, and he has the smallest of smiles on his face, more sympathetic than anything else. he holds up a finger, muttering "one second," before dipping back into his trailer. you use this time to blow out a loud sigh, wiping your eyes with the sleeves of your flannel and trying to make yourself seem like less of a mess. you can hear a few things being knocked over or dropped in the trailer, and you walk to the bottom of the stairs, concerned. "eddie?"

he bursts out of the door quickly, nearly tripping on the doorstep. his hair flies behind him as he gathers his balance. he makes his way towards the step in front of you, grinning, and when he's near you, he holds out his hand. you see a small baggie nestled in his palm, and the urge to grab it hits you hard, but you restrain yourself. in all your desperation, you forgot a key factor needed to make this a done deal - money. just yesterday you spent what you had left of your two paychecks on helping with the electric bill and getting groceries for the three of you. what little savings you had in your account was saved back for max, in case she needed anything.

looking up, you give eddie a small smile but start to shake your head. "i really appreciate the gesture, but i... i can't really afford to buy this right now. thank you, though." at your response, eddie simply laughs and reaches down to grab your wrist. he brings your hand up and drops the baggie into your own palm dramatically, curling his fingers over yours so that you’re holding it in your fist now. you watch him with furrowed eyebrows the entire time, confused.

"no charge, mayfield. knowing that i helped you get back from the edge is enough for me, alright?" he says quietly, still holding your hand within his own. the two of you stand like that, frozen in time, for a moment before his gaze lifts over your shoulder. a grin encompasses his face, and he turns his eyes back on you. "i'd ask if you wanted to come in, but it looks like someone is waiting for you back there." he nods his head in the direction of your trailer, and you turn your head to look, catching a glimpse of max in the window before the curtain closes quickly. you can't help but laugh, and when you turn back to eddie, his eyes are locked on your hand in his.

when he realizes you're looking at him, he clears his throat and drops his hand away, shoving both of his into the pockets of his flannel pants. the action makes you blush, and in a sudden act of bravery, you tilt up on your tiptoes, leaning forward to press a small kiss against eddie's cheek. "thank you, munson."  the smell of smoke and his aftershave fills your nose as you pull away, and you start to back away slowly from the landing. eddie's head turns, and he blinks slowly, almost sleepily, and gives you one of his grins. you don't even bother trying to suppress the butterflies again.

"don't be a stranger, mayfield." he calls out at you as you make your way back to your trailer. when you reach your door, you turn back around, noticing that eddie was waiting for you to make it back. giving him a small wave, you finally head back inside, hiding the little baggie within your sleeve so that max wouldn't see it. when your door is shut, you lean against it, a soft smile tugging at your lips.

if being desperate meant having more interactions with eddie munson, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to be after all.

[oncasette]

rooster on cassette

bradley bradshaw x gn!reader

summary: six songs and how they relate to your relationship with rooster, drabble/head canon style

warnings: innuendos/sexual implications

masterlist | taglist

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE - jerry lee lewis

i’ve changed my mind, this love is fine

goodness gracious, great balls of fire

ok, ok. this one is obvious but i had to add it. everyone knows he plays it at the bar all the time. it’s his signature. and it’s one of three songs he can actually play on the piano. but! ladies man rooster let’s you—makes you—sit on the bench next to him as he plays. and, eventually, you learn enough of the chords that you can play the song together. 

“c’mon, baby. gotta please the crowd,” he says as he pulls the piano bench out for you. you know what song he’s gonna play without him telling you. it’s his go to. even if he knows how to play “piano man” and “old time rock & roll,” you know he won’t play them with the bar as crowded as it is.

your thighs are always touching, and sometimes one of yours gets tossed over his and you’re practically sitting on his lap in the middle of the crowd surrounding you. and you just get to sit and stare at him with your massive heart eyes as he sings. he’ll do that silly little dance when he gets done every time, pulling you up to join him after he’s completed his victory lap. 

“kiss me, baby,” he half-sings, pouting his lips for you to smack one on him. he even does the “oooh, that feels good” bit in between the kiss you give him and the kiss he inevitably drags you into seconds later. 

and he’s grumbling ten minutes later when he’s forced to plug the jukebox in, because he can’t bare to be away from you that long. but the grumbling doesn’t last long, when you agree to follow him over there (dramatic, bud) and pick out a new song for the two of you to dance to. 

brad mumble sings the silly love song as he presses himself fully against you. He’s always a little touchier after he gets done singing, and you never ask, but you know it’s got something to do with his dad. you’d seen the way maverick had reacted that one time, and you were just glad bradley was letting you in enough to include you in it. 

ADDICTED TO LOVE - robert palmer 

it’s closer to the truth to say you can’t get enough

you know you’re gonna have to face it, you’re addicted to love

windows down in the bronco, screaming both of your hearts out to this song. he’s got his free hand running up and down your thigh and his aviators perched on the edge of your nose. 

you’d somehow convinced him to go to the farmer’s market with you that morning. well, not somehow. you’d had to bribe him with your sundress. but! you got him out and to the car in time to make it to the farmer’s market at a decent hour, before it closed or got too unbearably hot. 

He’s got one–of the two total playlists he has on his phone–playing over the aux as he drives, only the beginning chords of this song have got him cranking up the stereo to the point that you can feel the bass in the seat beneath you. it’s the playlist he’d made for your road trip last summer, seeing as the other one is the one he’d made for your ‘getting in on’ time, as he so eloquently put it. 

“sounds like you, huh,” he says, referring to robert palmer’s love-sick descriptions. your heart sweats, your body shakes. another kiss is what it takes. 

“hm?” you ask in response, never having really paid attention to the lyrics in the past, save from the chorus. you adjust in your seat, allowing the still-rising sun to hit your skin at a better angle. 

“think he’s saying you’re addicted to me.”

“don’t be stupid.”

“so i’m wrong?” god, you hate him and his stupid little smirk. it’s even worse so early in the morning, with the sky still brewing in its haze. he looks so good here, like this.

“no… but you don’t have to be so cocky about it. it’s unbecoming, bradley.”  

“oh, you’re right, baby. sorry, won’t be cocky,” he assures you, gently squeezing the thigh still in his grip. you can smell the lies dripping off his tongue. 

ROOSTER - alice in chains

here they come to snuff the rooster

yeah, here come the rooster, yeah 

i feel like roos would listen to this unironically, like all the time. bradley’s #1, most played song of all time. always on his spotify wrapped in some way, which means you’re stuck listening to it more often than not, as well. 

brad’s got this on in the bathroom late one morning, one of his off days. he’s got you seated on the bathroom counter, in between the double sinks with his razor in your hand. 

“don’t butcher me up too bad, baby,” he says as you slather the shaving cream across his cheeks. you’re careful to avoid his lips and stache region, knowing he’ll trim that on his own with the clipper you gifted him for christmas. 

“wouldn’t dream of it, handsome.”

“handsome, hm? might make you shave me all the time if you’re gonna be so nice,” he says as he lifts his head to give you access to his neck. 

“stop talking. i’m scared i’m gonna cut you,” you say as you eye his bobbing adam’s apple. 

“yes, ma’am.”

as soon as you’re done—like, the second the towel you’re using to clean him up is no longer covering his mouth—he’s replaying the song and putting his aviators on to serenade you in your ensuite. to a song about his callsign. full dips and lyrics mouthed along your jaw serenaded, too.

I’M ON FIRE - bruce springsteen

i got a bad desire

oh, oh, oh, i’m on fire 

a slow dance in the kitchen song at its finest. two am,

just got home from the bar. neither of you are drunk, just buzzed and happy and really craving popcorn for some reason. 

it’s your phone this time since you always got aux in his car on nights out and your trip home had cut mr. springsteen short. it’s left on the island as you rummage around in the pantry with bradley wrapped around your back. it seriously limits your mobility, but he’s too warm for you to even think about asking him to get off. 

his popcorn—the movie theater butter kind—is hidden on the top shelf which forces brad to reach over you and grab the snack he’d hidden himself.

he backs the two of you up the foot it takes to reach the microwave, only giving into his cravings long enough to let you put the damn thing in, before he’s pulling you further against him to sway slightly. 

“love you.” it’s mumbled into the nape of your neck, neatly trimmed mustache hairs tickling your hairline.

it’s gentle, at first, just barely moving your hips in sync. but he’s spinning you around not long after and intertwining one pair of your hands together so that he can–clumsily–lead you through the single ballroom dance he learned in eighth grade etiquette class. 

“i love you, too,” you hum just moments before the song ends and the microwave goes off.

FOOTLOOSE - kenny loggins 

you can fly if you’d only cut loose, footloose

kick off your sunday shoes

this is on the list only partially because miles is in footloose. ok totally, but it’s a secret, don’t tell anybody.

you make him watch footloose. (both. yes the remake exists in this timeline, shh). and as much as bradley claims to hate it, he can’t deny how much he actually loves watching it with you. it’s a watch at least every three months, alternating between the two versions. 

“you’d be a good willard, i think,” you say during one of your viewings. 

“you think?” 

“oh, yeah. I know you can boogie, baby.” he tosses a piece of popcorn at you in retaliation. 

(he so definitely surprises you with the end dance at your wedding. like i’m absolutely sure about this). 

BIG BALLS - ac/dc

everybody says i’ve got

great balls of fire 

bradley has fifth grader humor and thinks this song is peak. comedy. to him. best friend is snorting like every other line.

brad has got this playing on the nightstand one night after he’d gotten home a tad later than usual. not that he ever stopped playing it, if you were being honest. 

but this particular night, he’s a little gigglier than usual. he’s still in his towel, hair wet and dripping down his face as he climbs up on the bed to lean over you. 

“god, brad. you’re worse than the dog,” you whine at the feel of the newly cold sheets. He ignore you, though, too focused on the innuendos spewing from the speaker. 

“it’s my belief that my big balls should be held every night,” he whisper sings before he’s tucking his face into your tummy in a half-assed attempt to hide his laughter, dampening the gray cotton of your t-shirt and darkening it. 

“gross!” you scoff, joining in on his laughter out of habit, as you push his head up off of you. 

“hey, bon scott said it, not me,” he says as he leans in with the most obnoxiously puckered lips you’d ever seen. 

“you’re disgusting. vile,” you punctuate your statement with a gagging sound, only to meet his lips halfway in a peck.

“you love me, baby,” he says. and you hate how right he is.

tags-- @zeldaknight @ridestomars @hotch-meeeeeuppppp

[blipblooopp]

Let It Be Me

Summary: Choi San is many things. The most talented man you have ever seen. Be it on the dance floor or in front of a mic during a gig. He was the kindest person, always holding the door for the people behind him, helping the elderly carry things, even paying for strangers randomly. He got along famously with your parents and even better with your grandparents. He was charming like that, capturing the attention of anyone and everyone who even looked his way. He’s the love of your life, you’re sure of it but he’s also your best friend. Pairing: Boy Band AU!Choi San x F!Reader Words: 5.6k Genre: Angst/Smut

You’ve heard of a thing called platonic soulmates but it’s taken you years and years of watching Choi San grow to realize you weren’t. Well, you hoped you weren’t. Everything about him made your body erupt into a fire.

San looked at everything with adoration, finding all the good in life, including you. It was a double-edged sword, really. It made you feel special… important. But you could barely concentrate when his eyes were on you.

It didn’t help that he was gifted in pretty much everything; it made you nervous beyond belief. He’s pretty much perfect and as much as you wanted to be with him, you knew the odds of him liking you back were slim to none.

You’ve come to terms with it for the most part. It hurt to see him flirt with girls in front of you, hurt even worse when he started dating this awful girl named Areum. She didn’t give a fuck about him, actually. She barely responded to his calls and texts, going as far as blocking him one time. They fought nonstop. Every time you two hung out, San had a new dilemma to talk about. For some reason, San wouldn’t break up with her.

You had asked him after a night of you two getting drunk together, after another night of listening to his relationship problems. He laughed dryly, taking another sip of his beer, “I love her so much.”

Apparently, it was his “slow-motion” moment. He and his band had been wrapping up the night with their last song, soaking up every second they could have. Halfway through the song, San had noticed Areum in the front row. You were there too so you noticed the look on his face. A look you had never seen him make before. It basically tore your heart out when he told you that he couldn’t get “that beautiful girl” out of his head. She ended up becoming a dedicated face in the crowd so San asked her out.

You would’ve thought they were soulmates from the way they looked in the beginning. Lord only knows how they got to this point. How you got to this point, with San crying in your lap.

It was 10:00 pm when someone started banging on your door. You were enjoying a cup of coffee but you almost had a heart attack at that moment. You opened the door with shaking hands, hoping that whatever killer was on the side wasn’t actually a killer. Instead, you saw your best friend, with swollen red eyes, sniffling.

“Oh my god, San! You scared— what’s wrong?” You immediately dragged him in, locking the door behind you. He sniffled again as he slumped into your couch. You took a seat next to him and took his hand in yours. “Was it another fight?” You knew it wasn’t. In all the fights you had heard, San never cried.

“She was cheating on me… this whole time.” He hiccuped as he talked.

“That bitch.” You said under your breath. You held onto his hand a little tighter, trying to contain your anger.

“I went to her house tonight because she wasn’t responding to me again. I wanted to talk it out with her but she opened her front door in her underwear with some motherfucker sitting on her couch!” Although you had many words to say with Areum, you were speechless in front of San. What were you supposed to say? All you could do was scoot back on the couch and guide San's head onto a pillow in your lap.

“It’s gonna be okay.” You ran your fingers through his hair, “You can cry for as long as you want.”

And cry he did.

____

The next morning was hard. You woke up on your couch sitting up-right with a terrible case of stiff-neck. That’s not the only reason it was hard. No, it was worse seeing San still laying on your lap. He was wide-awake, dark eye bags contrasting against his face. His eyes stared deep into the ceiling.

“What’re you thinking about, Sannie?” You started to run your fingers through his hair again and watched as his eyes fluttered shut, his body instantly relaxing.

His eyes opened again, “Why didn’t she love me?” You couldn’t respond, not that he let you. “I knew we weren’t perfect, knew she wasn’t perfect… but we always made it through the end of the day. I can’t believe she would do this to me.”

“It’s her loss.” You finally said. “You don’t need her anyway. It was her decision to cheat and you had nothing to do with it.”

San didn’t say anything after that, just continued to stare at your ceiling.

___

The first few weeks were the hardest for sure. San had spent most of them at your place, barely leaving even for band practice. When he did practice with the guys he would leave early, only strumming a few chords on his guitar before deciding that it reminded him too much of Areum.

“He’s been really out of it.” Yunho, the bassist commented one time. San hadn’t even played that day. He just sat in the corner for an hour. You stayed behind for a few minutes and told San to wait in the car. You wanted to catch up with the other band members.

“Can you blame him? That bitch was… well, a bitch.” Wooyoung shot back, setting his drum sticks down.

“How has he been holding up?” Hongjoong asked.

You scoffed, “Have you seen the man? I don’t even think San’s there anymore! God, if I see her, it’s on sight!”

You did your best to help him through those weeks. You had been through a few hard breakups in the past so you understood that the early stages were the worst. You even used up all of your sick time to stay home with him. You had never seen him this gloomy. At one point, he went through five pints of ice cream in three days.

____

It took three months for San to be even remotely okay. He started going to practice more and this time, he actually played. You couldn't say you were surprised. San loved playing with the band and you knew it was probably the only thing that would bring him out of his funk.

"You look good, man!" Hongjoong slapped his hand on San's back playfully and for the first time in months, San had his usual dimpled smile.

"I feel good." He replied, setting down his guitar and taking a seat next to you on the beat-up couch. "It's thanks to you, y/n"

Your eyes widened. "Me?"

He nodded. "You stayed up with me, didn't go to work, even made me breakfast when you knew I didn't have the energy to get off your couch."

You couldn't lie; your heart was racing. All you could do was stare back into his eyes with a goofy smile painted on your face. San put his hand on your thigh, skinship being normal between you two, especially within these past months.

Your friendship remained just that, a friendship, for the next month. You were okay with this, though. At least you had a small sliver of hope now that he was single. That tiny bit of hope that he'd love you back was able to tide you over.

Until one night.

San had come over for your weekly movie nights, an event you had been doing since high school but stopped doing because his ex got jealous easily. You tried calming your nerves as you sat next to each other, his arm wrapped around you.

You were so close you could smell his cologne. It was intoxicating. Maybe it was the fact that he was newly single now, filling up your thoughts even more recently, but his entire presence was overwhelming tonight.

“You alright, beautiful?” Since San was single now, his usual playful flirty side was coming out again. Just like everything else about him, you had a love-hate relationship with it. It doesn't mean anything. You had to remind yourself. He talked like this with everyone, especially when he wanted to get a rise out of his bandmates.

You gulped when you looked up at him. How could a man have this effect on you? You would think that after years of unrequited love, you'd be able to at least contain yourself. “Yeah.”

San gave you a dimpled smile, shifting his gaze to a piece of your hair, moving it behind your ear. Your mouth parts, probably to say something but you can't be too sure right now. If someone walked in, they would think you guys are about to kiss. Maybe you are... you want to kiss him.

With your heart pounding in your ears, you slowly lean forward, keeping your eyes on his lips. They look too good not to look at but you're also scared of seeing the look in his eyes, the potential disgust that might be taking over at the thought of your lips touching his.

Everything is moving in slow motion. From your hand caressing his cheek to the moment your lips make contact. He's stiff against you and you can only imagine that it's because he's uncomfortable. You start to pull away, dreading the awkward conversation you're about to have but San is quick. His hand grips your thigh and he's kissing you back with fervor.

Your head is spinning, Is this really happening? These sparks you're feeling all over your body, does he feel the same way? You push away any thoughts you're having, trying to focus on keeping up with San. You needed to enjoy this moment. Without realizing it, you swing your leg and straddle San's lap. He groans underneath you but before you can question it, he's giving you a reassuring squeeze on your waist.

You don't want to take the initiative of going further, but man, your hands are burning to touch his bare skin. Your hands, instead, rest on his shoulders, gripping and releasing every few seconds. As if he was reading your mind, San's hands move to the hem of your shirt and for the first time, you break the kiss.

The second your shirt passes your head, San's moving to kiss your neck, occasionally sucking to leave hickies that are sure to last a whole week. You're breathless, taking this as a sign to take off San's shirt. Your hands are all over each other, San's going from your cheek to unbuttoning your jeans, your fingers feeling his abs contract under your touch.

It feels like a flash. San suddenly laying you down on your bed, both of your clothes littered behind you on the floor, his lips still on your neck. It's only when he's about to insert himself does he stop and look at you with dark eyes. He doesn't give you enough time to question it, pushing himself inside you. You both gasp at the feeling.

"Fuck, you're so tight!" He grips your hip with one hand, the other holding the headboard like his life depends on it. He feels like he'll burst any second.

You're right there with him though, the mere feelings of this moment making you sensitive. "You're just big. Holy shit!"

It takes him a second, taking a moment to give both of you a moment to adjust before he moves inside you. You can't contain the sounds coming out of you as he hits all the right spots with ease. You couldn't have pegged San to have this big of a dick, yet here he was.

Before you can realize it, your hands are finding purchase on his back and your nails are sinking into his skin. He hisses above you but his thrusts get harsher and the moaning in your ear doesn't get any quieter.

"You feel so good... so warm and tight for me." He's practically whimpering into your neck. You try to keep your cool, trying not to cum so fast but he's hitting that spot inside you with ease.

Your nails dig into him deeper, "S-san," You stutter out. "Close... so close."

"I know... but you gotta wait for me. Can you do that?" His thrusts get faster and deeper, you don't even comprehend his words properly.

"Can you do that for me, pretty girl? Be a good girl for me?" He's using both hands to clench onto the headboard now, the force making it harder to not cum. You just nod and wrap your legs around his waist. San is drilling into you with so much force and he's hoping that the bed isn't going to break. After a few more thrusts, he starts to get sloppy, and your vision's crossing.

"Alright, beautiful. Cum for me." He grunts out, trying not to cum at the feeling of you clenching around him. You finally let the waves of pleasure course through you, seeing stars. If you were lucid, you most definitely would have been embarrassed by the noises coming out of your mouth and your pussy.

With a loud sigh, San pulls out of you and releases onto your stomach. Almost immediately, he’s up and cleaning you, you’re body’s too tired to do anything but lay there. You’re surprised, because instead of leaving, San lays next to you, even going as far as pulling you close to him.

You have so much on your mind but you're too tired now.

____

This goes on for weeks. Sometimes you would hang out. Sometimes do other things. Everything happened so fast. The friendship that you held so dear had become a muddled mess of lust and confusion. You obviously still had feelings for San but you had no idea where he stood.

You'd never even talked about the first time you guys had sex. When you woke up he was gone and when you saw each other again, he acted like nothing had happened. You didn't want to be that clingy girl who expected a relationship so you never brought it up. Now you're in this endless cycle of sleeping with each other and never addressing the elephant in the room.

What didn't help was how San was acting differently. He was much more touchy with you, always having to touch you in some way whenever you were together. His hand on your thigh, holding your hand, arm around your shoulder, he did it all. Before the incident, you would have considered him touchy but that's nothing compared to him now.

Your hangouts started to become more elaborate as well. You guys were actually going out to movies instead of watching Netflix at your house. Small coffee shop hangouts started becoming intimate dinners. It was like you guys were dating. These dates gave you hope that he would eventually open up and ask you out properly but you didn't want to force it out of him. So, you just decided to go with whatever he wanted.

"Let's go ice-skating." The handsome man suggested his left-hand steering and his right hand on your thigh.

"You know I can't ice-skate." You deadpan, getting distracted by your fingers playing with his.

He glances at you with a honey-sweet smile before bringing his eyes back to the road. "I can teach you, ya know."

"Please, you just want to see me fall so you can laugh at me."

"That too."

San taught you how to ice-skate for maybe ten minutes. After that, he decided that it would be best to let you learn through trial and error.

"San, I'm literally gonna fall on my face!" You cried, your legs shaking as you attempted to walk on the ice.

"You're doing great. Just try skating to me." He held out his hand for you. Every time you got even remotely close to him, however, he would slowly start backing up. You were struggling around the rink but he made sure to sprinkle in encouragements so you wouldn't be too mad at him.

Just when you thought you were doing good, you got too cocky and propelled yourself towards San, wanting so desperately to close that gap. Your feet weren't pointed straight enough causing your left skate to hit your right, tripping you onto the ice.

"Holy shit, y/n! Are you alright?" San appears in front of you with seconds. Helping you up with ease. Your knees ache and you could feel the bruise forming on your hip.

“Did you not see me eat shit?” You bark out, now gripping his arm for dead life.

“I did but it’s always polite to ask.” You slap his arm playfully as he guides you off the ice and onto the benches. “Are you actually okay?”

You shook your head and pouted like a child. San chuckled to himself, seeing right through you. Instead of saying anything, he pecked your lips innocently and took a seat next to you. It was the first time he’s kissed you in public which only confused you further. Is he doing this on purpose? You really had to ask him.

You’re too lost in your thoughts to see San staring at you. It’s not until he’s moving a piece of hair out of your face that you’re snapped out of your thoughts. You jolt slightly and hum at him in response. He just shakes his head and returns his gaze to the people skating.

It was your turn to stare at him, to memorize his features for the nth time. He’s just as beautiful as he was two seconds ago and the butterflies are still strong. You open your mouth to question him about your relationship, finally building up the courage just when…—

“San? Is that you?” You freeze. Her, you think. That manipulative bitch.

“Areum?” San stands as if he’s been caught doing something bad like a child. She offers him a warm smile, completely disregarding you as always. You feel like you did during the concert. His eyes are no longer on you… but trained on her. You feel that distance he created on the ice growing bigger and bigger.

“What’re you doing here?” The man asks, still shocked to see her.

“Ah, I was just walking around.” The nerve of this girl to act like she didn’t do anything wrong. “What’re you doing here?” Her eyes land on you but she quickly looks back at him.

You stand this time. “We’re…” Don’t say it. Don’t be petty. Don’t say it. Don’t say it. “On a date.” You entwine your arm with San’s.

Areum’s lip twitches in annoyance. “Oh?” She quirks a brow and glances at San. “Is this true?”

San freaks out without thinking and shakes his arm from yours. “No!— I mean like a friendly date, sure. We’re just hanging out like old times.”

There’s your answer.

His ex smiles with victory at your defeated state. “Well, we should catch up, San. I know we ended things on a bad note but I think we should talk.”

The car ride home was awfully silent. Usually, they were filled with laughter and off-key singing but tonight, you gave San short answers in his poor attempt to talk. When you entered your apartment, you told him you were going to bed early and that he should lock up when he leaves.

Instead, you feel his warm body climb into your bed and hold you at 12 am. As always, you didn’t tell him to leave. Because, as always, you couldn’t say no to Choi San.

____

You wake up and San's not next to you but there is a text.

San : Sorry I didn't want to wake you but I left to go to practice. It'll probably end late today so if you feel up to it, come hang out. :)

Should you? Maybe it's just better if you pretend like nothing happened. Obviously, that's what he's doing. Besides, it’s not like his bandmates gave you false hope just to reject you in front of their ex. You end up going to the practice, a huge lump in your throat. If you brought up the situation, you're sure that whatever you guys had would be over the second you said anything.

Jongho, the lead singer, greets you with a smile and a nod in your direction as he warms up.

"y/n!" Wooyoung calls out, getting off of his drum stool and engulfing you in a hug.

You giggle on command, loving his enthusiasm. “Wooyoung, why do you always act like we haven’t seen each other for years!”

He smiles and whispers, “Don’t tell the guys I told you, but you’re like… our muse!”

You roll your eyes and pull away from his chest just to look at him, “I think you’re the only one crazy enough to even consider that.”

Wooyoung lets you go completely and returns to his drum set, you follow suit. “Maybe but you’ve been our number one supporter since day one! Plus you’re beautiful and beauty inspires art, does it not?”

Laughter erupts from you again at his cheesiness and your feel an arm wrap around your shoulder. You didn’t have to look to know who it was, the signature cologne giving him away.

“What’s so funny?” San’s smiling but you can tell there’s something different in his tone.

“Just exposing how important y/n is to the band.” Wooyoung sends you a playful wink, your cheeks burning slightly. San forces a laugh, something you don’t notice, before sitting you down on the couch.

After practice was over, you waited outside of the room for San so you could go back to your place. That wasn't the original plan but San insisted. The chilly air made you wrap your arms around yourself, internally scolding yourself over not bringing a jacket.

Wooyoung was the first to come out, fishing his lighter out of his pocket. He wasn't the only cigarette smoker in the group but he was definitely the one that smoked the most. He grinned at the sight of you, resting his hand in his pocket instead.

"Why're you waiting out here? It's cold as hell."

"Yeah... But I didn't want to get in your guys' way." You rubbed your hands up and down your arms trying to create heat. Wooyoung took off his jacket and wrapped it around you without hesitation. "A true gentleman." You remarked.

He put his hand on his chest, his face contorting to look hurt. "I've always been a gentleman. Even when I'm freezing my ass off."

Your eyes widened, ready to give the jacket back. "Woah there, missy. I gave it to you for a reason. We don't want our muse to die of hypothermia." The joke makes you laugh lightly. "You waiting on San?"

You nod, staring at the ground and rocking back and forth on the balls of your feet. “It’s been a lot of waiting recently.” You accidentally confess.

“Uh oh.” He leans against the wall. "I noticed something was different."

"What do you mean?" You hear your heartbeat through your ears and you find it hard to breathe all of a sudden.

"You guys are a lot closer... You guys are best friends, sure, but the air's been different between you two. He still doesn't notice how you look at him."

You scoff, "That obvious, huh?"

"To everyone but him, it seems. Can I be honest?" Wooyoung rolls to face you. You nod, now looking at him. "Unless you tell him how you feel, you'll be doing nothing but waiting on him."

"But our friendship-"

"If you're about to tell me that it's enough for you, so help me God, y/n, I will kick your ass." You laugh for the first time since the conversation started. You understand what you have to do. You guys have already crossed so many boundaries and clearly, he feels something for you, right?

The door to the practice room swings open and this time it's Yeosang and San. San's bright smile seems to falter as his eyes instantly land on the jacket that's wrapped around you. His eyes shift between you and the drummer then he strides to you, grabbing your wrist.

"Let's go?" You don't have time to answer. San's practically ripping the jacket off of you and throwing it at Wooyoung who barely catches it. This time, you don't miss the change in his tone. He replaces Wooyoung's jacket with his hoodie, not saying a word as he puts it on you.

Just like the night before, the tension in the car is thick but unlike last night, it's you who's trying to spark a conversation. San's knuckles are turning white as he drives and it's starting to worry you. You've never seen San this upset before and you're still trying to place the reasoning. Was it jealousy?

You pull up to the house, expecting him to follow you like he always does but he doesn't. Instead, he leaves the engine running and his eyes on the street. For some reason, this sets you off. This man had the audacity to pull away from you, act like you were just a friend in front of the ex that cheated on him, but gets jealous over you casually talking to another guy?

You scoff and unbuckle your seatbelt, stepped out of the car, and slammed the door shut. San was feeling extra temperamental tonight. He couldn't understand why he felt like this either. Maybe he was looking for a fight. He turned off the engine and followed you inside. Before you could close and lock the door, he stepped into your house.

"What is your problem?" You asked venomously.

"What is your problem?"

"I didn't have any problem until you decided to get all confusing!" You dropped your tote bag on the floor, turning to face him fully.

"I'm confusing? Are kidding me?" He huffs out, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Actually, I'm not. You've been driving me nuts since we started hooking up. I'm over it!" His lip twitches into a sarcastic smile. "What the fuck was that with your ex? You completely pushed me aside. She treated you like shit, remember? She cheated, she lied, and she manipulated you. Do you want to get back to-"

"You're not my girlfriend, y/n!" He cut you off. "God, it's like you don't know your place." Tears pricked your eyes but you felt more angry than sad. Angry, you've never felt this way with San before. You're experiencing a lot of firsts tonight. San immediately realizes what he said, how hurt you were. He took a step closer to you but you put up your hands, putting up your boundaries for the first time.

"No, you're right. It's not like you hold my hand wherever we go or put your hands on my waist in public. You don't smile at me sweetly during dates. We're not completely vulnerable with each other, telling each other things we'd never breathe to others. It's not like we fuck almost every day! Do friends do what we do? Please, enlighten me. What's my place?"

"I'm sorry, y/n. I shouldn't have-" You're full-on bawling now, sucking in breaths where you can.

"I can't believe I've loved you for so long. I've torn my heart out for you and you just... you just throw it back at me like it's nothing!" His mouth opens but nothing comes out, instead he wraps his arms around you. You react once you feel him, trying to fight him off but he's stronger, trying to calm you down by hugging you.

You're screaming, all the feelings you've held inside bursting out of you, "Why can't you let me in?" You start to pound on your chest even though you know you shouldn't. You don't even notice that he's crying too. "Why can't it be me for once? Let it be me!"

"I'm sorry," He coos. You couldn't hold yourself up anymore, your feelings making it hard to focus. San catches you though, guiding you to sit on the floor.

San does his best to understand what you're saying through your sobs. He wants to understand what he's feeling. He thought he was doing this to get over Areum but why was he doing all the other things? He could've just stuck to the bare minimum but he didn't. Better question, how had he not noticed your feelings?

San was so caught in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed you had cried yourself to sleep. He was holding your head to his chest and he sighed, finally relaxing a bit. He couldn't really relax though, his mind still processing what you had said. He carried you bridal style to your room and thanking God that you had exhausted yourself.

San tucked you in and, after some hard debating, decided to lay in bed with you. He made sure that he wasn't touching you even though he knew he was going to leave before you woke up. He sighed to himself.

Even as you slept you were beautiful and he beat himself up for only now noticing how exhausted you looked. The man never understood why he was so willing and ready to sleep with you. He could acknowledge that there was steaming sexual tension but he never thought it would get this far. Nevertheless, you guys were in this situation; the very foggy area between friends and more.

Is this how you felt, absolutely terrified? You guys certainly couldn't go back to being friends after everything that's happened between you two. San's body started to shake as he silently cried. He couldn't even comprehend how much pain he's put you through these last few months.

____

You're not surprised to find your bed empty the next day; you wouldn't be surprised if San had sent you a message ending your friendship and promptly blocking you. You stare at your ceiling with tears already prickling your eyes. You weren't going to check your phone for texts. You just went to work.

The day went by fast, your boss giving you plenty of work to distract yourself. You were doing just fine until you pulled up to your apartment to find Wooyoung waiting to knock on your door.

"Wooyoung?" The man turned around, almost like a deer in headlights.

"Oh- Hey!" He quickly put his hands in his jean pockets. You walked to your door silently, unlocking the front door and inviting him in.

“What can I help you with?” You try to be casual even though all you’re thinking about is San and how you know Wooyoung’s here to soothe whatever problem you guys are having.

“I’m gonna cut to the chase. Talk to San. It’s only been a day of you two fighting and all of us are tired of him sulking.”

“What are you even talking about?”

“He came into practice looking all down and he didn’t talk to any of us. He just went through practice barely saying ten words throughout the whole thing.”

"How do you know this has something to do with me?"

“… Do I look blind to you? Everyone knows something’s going on between you two.” Wooyoung sighs and runs his hands through his hair. “Look, I don’t know what happened but I’m sure it was probably his fault. I’m not saying you should forgive him right away but just talk to him. Please?”

——

So now, here you are, outside his door. You took in a deep breath before knocking hard on his door. You couldn’t muster the courage to ask if he was home but there was no practice so you hoped for the best.

The door unlocked within a few minutes. “y/n?”

“H-Hi,” You stuttered out, feeling the weight on your shoulders get heavier. “Can I come in?”

San gestures you inside and you take a seat on his couch. There’s an awkward silence when he joins you and you can’t recall any other time it’s been like this. It was so easy to talk to San before but now you can’t even form a sentence.

“So—“

“What’d—“

You said at the same time.

“You first.” San breathed.

“I just figured we had a lot to talk about.”

"Right..." He brushed off his legs with a sigh.

"I like you, San- actually, I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you for so long and we slept together and it got messy. We've never talked about what we were after that night. You just made me a rebound and I turned the other way..."

His eyes burnt into your face and you were too scared to meet them. "I'm sorry. I never meant to put you in that kind of situation. I shouldn't have been so selfish. I didn't think about the way you were feeling."

San's warm hand grabs yours. "I'm so sorry that it's taken me so long to see how you feel about me. I'm so sorry I said that you didn't know where your place was. Your place..." He takes a big deep breath, making you look at him, "Your place is right next to me. I lost you for one day and in that one day, I've realized what you really mean to me. I'm in love with you, y/n."

He places his hand on your cheek, wiping away a tear you didn't even notice. You're falling apart at his touch but you were so happy that he felt the same way and- Oh my god! Choi San was in love with you!

"You just said you were in love with me." You breathed, a smile breaking out on your lips.

"I did, didn't I?" He chuckles, closing the distance between your faces. Your breath hitches. "Are you going to give me a chance to love you for real this time?"

Your heart is going to burst and you don't really give it much thought.

"Yes."

[the-case-book-of-fanfiction]

Your Favorite's Here {pt. 3}

Ship: Eddie x fem!Henderson!reader

Summary: Eddie realizes how ridiculous it is to like a girl he's met once. He intends to change that—by meeting her again. And again. And again.

Word Count: 5,016

Warnings: fluff, suggestive ending, loving Eddie, friendly teasing, gentle kissing, brotherly disgust, consent is important to Eddie, no explicit smut (just really heavily implied with a lead up)

Note: After accidentally deleting this twice and having to rewrite it, then having technical issues with Tumblr, here it is! Part three is complete.

{part 1} // {part 2} // {part 3} // {part 4} // {part 5}*

*coming soon

☟ Continue below the fold ☟

Eddie didn't show up at Everett's on Thursday. You waited the entirety of your eleven hour shift for him to stroll through that door. You pictured him strutting in with his hands in his pockets and that adorably bashful smile on his face, searching you out from the other green-clad servers, but it didn't happen. Your heart sank when you locked the front door and went out the back to your car, with no sight of Eddie all day.

You heaved a sigh as you flopped into your car. You put your head back and closed your eyes. "It's only been a week. It's fine. He'll come by sometime soon."

Or you're imaging that he's as into you as you are him and Dustin is quite possibly yanking your chain and—

You groaned at the cynicism of your own thoughts and turned your car on. These were worries for tomorrow's you, not the you who had been on your feet all damn day and was awake only because of the caffeine you'd consumed for the past three hours. You'd get some sleep and think about Eddie's no-show tomorrow morning.

Besides, it wasn't like he'd promised he'd come back. It was just...wishful thinking.

~❊~

Eddie felt awful. He'd been hyping himself up to go see you at work on Thursday all week—only to remember he had to practice with the band for the gig the next day.

Eddie flicked his pencil aimlessly across the desk in Gareth's garage, where he'd been moping for the past twenty minutes while the band took a break.

"Oh, c'mon, man," Jeff said, offering him a bottle of water. "You'll see her. I doubt she expects you to show up right away."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, it's just...I wanted to go."

"You could go tomorrow, before the show?" Jeff suggested.

Eddie shook his head. "Nope. I'm at the shop, there's a busted up Chevy I gotta fix."

"Alright, tomorrow, after the show, we'll go again," Gareth promised. "You can tell her how much you hate us for stealing you away to practice and to perform all day today and tomorrow."

Eddie looked up from his pencil, trying to discern if Gareth was being sarcastic or not. "I don't hate you—"

"Yeah, we know," Gareth said. "Hurry up and drink your water. Keep those vocal chords rested so you can actually talk to your girl tomorrow night, alright?"

"She's not my girl yet," Eddie complained.

"Yet," Gareth said, poking his chest. Eddie blushed at the slipup and swatted his friend's hand away. He gulped down his water and picked up his guitar, muttering something about getting back to practice that one tricky spot in a song for their show tomorrow.

~❊~

When the show was over on Friday night, Eddie wasted no time hurrying out of the bar and kicking the band out of his van and into their houses, insisting he wanted to talk to you alone—despite Gareth's teasing that he would need moral support to even open his mouth.

He went home and took a shower, washing off caked-on makeup and sweat. He hated to admit it, but he was preening more than he ever had before for a girl.

Eddie looked at himself in the mirror for a few moments, with only a few hours to spare before Everett's closed, and pointed to himself. "Do not. Mess. This. Up," he said sternly to himself, then pushed his hair out of his eyes.

He did the same thing in his rearview mirror as he sat in his van outside of the restaurant, hyping himself up. "You got this you got this you got this you got this you got this," he muttered to himself as he got out and went up to the door. "You got this." He yanked the door open.

The hostess was the same as last time. "Back again so soon?" she asked with a smile. "And alone?"

Eddie smiled weakly. "I, uh...yeah. Yeah, I like th-the food here, and, um, it's a nice...atmosphere..." He trailed off, his cheeks growing warm. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

The hostess leaned in conspiratorially. "Don't worry, she's been looking forward to seeing you just as much."

Eddie's head snapped up, his breath catching in his throat. "She—she has? Y/N has?"

"Complained all last night that you didn't show. Come on—I'll sit you at one of her tables."

The hostess led him to a table for two near to the booth the band had been sat at. She passed him a menu. "She'll be over soon."

Smiling nervously, Eddie nodded and thanked her, taking the menu. He perused it briefly before hearing a small cough from next to him. He looked up.

And there you were, almost exactly the same as last time—but if he wasn't mistaken, you were wearing different rings and a different necklace. And your hair was a little different.

And, good God, you were smiling at him. A soft, happy smile, a smile that was mostly in the eyes than in the mouth.

"Hi," you said, and your voice was barely above a whisper.

"Hi," he repeated, just as hushed.

You pulled your lower lip between your teeth to bite back a larger smile. Eddie could hear his heartbeat in his ears. You took the time to stare at each other, as if trying to come to terms with the fact that the other was really there, before Eddie broke the silence.

"I like what you did with your hair."

Absentmindedly, you reached up to touch it. "You do? I mean—" You coughed, bringing your hand back to your pen and the checkbook. "What can I get for you, Eddie? Something...stronger than water, maybe?"

"Sure. Bring me whatever your favorite is."

You raised your eyebrows. "You want my favorite?"

"Someone's favorite drink says a lot about them," Eddie said.

"And do you want to know more about me?" you asked, though it wasn't really a question.

"Of course I do," he whispered.

Your lips twitched. Eddie realized he desperately wanted to see a full blown smile from you and really wished you'd stop trying to tamp them down.

"I'll be right back with your mystery drink," you said. "I'll barely be a second and then we can—" You stopped yourself with a cough. "And then I can take your order." You hurried to the bar, head down to hide some of the pink on your cheeks. He watched, his mouth falling slightly open when you glanced back at him, rubbing your neck with embarrassment.

Eddie really, really wanted to know what you'd been about to say.

~❊~

You nearly knocked over Eddie's drink twice while trying to make it. Your hands were trembling something terrible. He'd come alone to see you. He'd come alone to see you. The hostess, who was also a longtime friend of yours, had said he'd been looking forward to seeing you. So why did he look so composed and suave when you felt like the butterflies in your stomach were trying to fly up your throat?

"Get it together, girl," you told yourself, squeezing your hands into fists to calm yourself.

"He's here, then?" asked the other server under her breath, making a drink beside you behind the bar. 

You nodded. "Table 218."

Both of you gazed across the restaurant to the table where Eddie sat, peering at the menu with a slowly growing smile on his face. He glanced toward the bar and did a double take at the sight of you watching him. You looked down quickly, then back up, only to see him give you a little wave. Shyly, you returned it.

"Oh, just date him," your coworker sighed. 

"That's what I'm trying to do," you reminded her. You finished making the drink and placed it on a tray, heading for Eddie's table. You set the glass in front of him and tucked the tray under your arm. "Here you are, sir."

He raised his eyebrows. "We went from 'Eddie' to 'sir' in the span of five minutes, what did I do wrong?"

You giggled. "Absolutely nothing, Eddie."

The two of you shared a long glance. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw one of your other tables raise their hand for the check. You cleared your throat.

"Have you...have you decided anything to eat yet?"

"What time do you get off?"

You started to write his response down, then blinked, only just realizing by the time you had written what time do you g that that was not an item on the menu. You met his gaze as you slowly crossed it off and he— Oh, he giggled. It was a pure, genuine giggle. It was like bottled joy. It was the sweetest sound you'd ever heard. 

"I don't think that's—"

Eddie grinned. "I'll go with your favorite thing on the menu."

Your face relaxed. "Is this another way to get to know me?"

"Well, I have to know where I can take you out to eat later, don't I?" he said with a sly smile.

Warmth flooded your body. You shuffled on your feet. "Are you willing to stay until midnight?"

He looked at his watch. "Oh, don't worry, I'll flirt with you long enough to stretch a thirty minute meal into an hour."

Your legs were wobbly as you walked to the other table to give them their check.

~❊~

"Well," said Eddie, turning to look at you in his passenger seat. "It's not as good as Everett's, but, uh... It's okay, right?"

You sipped the milkshake he had bought you with a grin. "It's perfect, Eddie."

It was just the two of you in his van, sitting in an empty parking lot at two in the morning, drinking milkshakes. It was by far the latest and most unconventional date you'd had, but you found yourself enjoying it. It was nice to sit in the quiet with Eddie. 

"Really? I mean, it's great and all, that you like the stuff I like at my favorite drive-in, but I mean, you're used to, I dunno, better quality food, I guess? Like, Everett's is all—" He made a grand jazz gesture with his hands. "And this place isn't much better than The Hideout, which is so dingy of a bar they let a band of high school graduates be their Friday night entertainment—"

You settled your arm a little closer to his as you put your milkshake down. "Eddie," you said, serious, "I'm enjoying myself more than I have since I came back to Hawkins."

He whistled under his breath. "Wow. I don't think your brother would be happy to hear that."

You elbowed him. "Don't you dare tell him. Look, don't get me wrong, I love my brother. I have fun with my brother. But it's nice to have someone my age that I feel so comfortable with." You glanced at his hand, covered in all its rings. "You know, I think I've laughed more with you in one evening than I have with my coworkers all summer."

"I think you need funnier coworkers."

"I'll be happy with my coworkers as they are just as long as I have you," you said, stretching your pinky toward his. You both stared at anything but your hands as Eddie shifted his hand closer to yours. Your pinkies linked and your breath faltered. 

"Y/N. Can I... Can I hold your hand?" The words came out slowly, as if he wasn't sure they were the right ones.

"Yes," you said, voice hushed.

Gently, he snuck his hand underneath yours and laced your fingers. You looked at him with a smile. He beamed at you, and you were amazed by how beautiful he was. 

"Eddie?" His gaze didn't move off yours as he hummed an acknowledgement. "Can I lean on you?"

He beamed and gave you a quick nod. You leaned into him and nestled your head on his shoulder. He slowly dropped his head onto yours and you hummed in contentment. He giggled sweetly and you squeezed his hand.

You were practically buzzing with warmth and joy for the next few hours, even as you and Eddie giggled and complaining about the brain freezes you got from drinking your milkshakes too quickly.

It was nearly four in the morning by the time Eddie realized out of nowhere "Oh my God, I have to get you home before your mother kills us both and never lets you go out with me ever again." You unhappily extricated yourself from him, but your hand didn't leave his as he drove up your driveway and stopped at your front door.

Dustin's bedroom light was on. He stood silhouetted in the light for a moment before he disappeared, undoubtedly to run to the front door.

Eddie hopped out and rushed to your side, opening the door and helping you out of the van. "M'lady," he said with a wink. You giggled.

You turn toward Eddie where you stand on your front step. "Thanks, Eddie. For everything. It was absolutely wonderful."

"I had a great time," he admitted.

"When can we...do it again?" you asked, unashamed to ask.

He grinned. "Absolute—"

The door flew open. Dustin was behind it, staring at the two of you. "You're late!"

You sighed and said to Eddie, "Time's up."

"Hiya, Henderson," said Eddie, with a grin. 

"Did you have to keep her so late?" he groaned. "I'm tired!"

"Did you have to wait up for me?" you retorted, poking him in the head. "Go to bed, Dusty, I'll be up in a sec."

He narrowed his eyes between you and Eddie. "You're lucky it's not a school night."

You rolled your eyes and pushed him away and watched him head toward his room.

"Well. I guess you should go inside before he kills us," Eddie sighed.

You slowly stepped into your house. "Yeah...I guess so." You watched him start to go and then yelped, "Eddie!"

He turned as you stepped back out and threw your arms around him. Almost without thinking, you pressed your lips to his cheek. His breath caught in his throat. "Did you just— You did. You...kissed me."

"Don't act so surprised," you breathed. "I've wanted to do that since I set eyes on you."

"Just that?"

"No," you admitted, "but that's for another time. Good night, Eddie."

"Night," he said, his mouth crooked into a smile. You waved as you shut the door behind you. You fell against it, giggling to yourself, and then traipsed into the bathroom to finally change out of your work clothes.

~❊~

A horn blared outside for the fifth time. 

"I'M COMING!" Dustin yelled out the window, and you giggled. The last month of summer had arrived, which meant you'd upped your hours to make as much as you could before heading back to college. You had less time than before to see your not-quite-yet boyfriend, which meant the twice-a-week dates had been cut to a few minutes at a time on the days when Eddie drove Dustin somewhere.

Today was one of those days, and Dustin was running a little late. So you were hanging off the side of Eddie's door, one of his hands in both of yours.

"Someone's gotta teach that kid to be on time," Eddie sighed, his tone light.

"Says you," you teased. "How many times have you been late to pick me up for a date? Six?"

"No, it's four," he said. "I know because I always feel bad."

You lifted one hand to brush some of his hair out of his face. "You don't have to. I still love you."

The words were still new, and Eddie beamed like it was the first time he'd heard them. You had a feeling he always would. "You love me," he murmured. "I love you, too."

You leaned through the window to kiss him. The kiss was just slightly older than the "I love you"s—exactly 47 seconds older. The first time you and Eddie had kissed (romantically at a midnight picnic with candles in his trailer), he'd chased it first with an "I love you" and more kisses. You'd only been able to say it back when he finally pulled away to breathe.

Eddie slipped a hand behind your neck and cradled your head for stability. You gave a pleased hum and looped your arms around his neck, relying on him to keep you steady.

"EW!" Dustin yelled as he walked out the door to the sight of the two of you. "C'mon, man, that's my sister."

Eddie sighed as he pulled away. "First of all, this is kind of your fault. Second of all, shut up." He turned back to you and kissed you again, despite Dustin's continued criticisms from the passenger seat. 

At last, you pulled back. "You're going to be late if you stay here much longer, Eddie Munson."

"You know, I don't care all that much anymore," he said, grinning lazily.

"I care," snapped Dustin.

You glanced over Eddie's shoulder. "You behave, Dusty." You pointed to Eddie. "You, too, mister."

"When have you known me to not behave?" asked Eddie.

"Troublemaker is your middle name, love," you reminded him. "Now get going. I don't want to hear from Steve again about how you two are always late to everything when Eddie drives."

Eddie looked mildly offended. "He says that?"

"Yes," you and your brother chorused.

Eddie glanced at the clock. "Hold tight, little Henderson, we're going twenty above the speed limit the whole way there."

"Don't die, please," you reminded him.

He looked at you with the softest gaze you'd ever seen. "C'mere," he said, pulling you close for one last kiss. Dustin pretended to vomit next to him.

"You can see me later," you mumbled against his mouth. 

Eddie's eyebrows shot up. "You're not working?"

"For once, no. I've got the evening off."

"Can we go out?"

"Duh. Now go have fun with the guys. I'll be here when you get back." You kissed his cheek one last time and waved goodbye to them as he peeled out of your driveway and sped down the road.

~❊~

You knew the boys were back immediately, hearing them before you saw them. You paused the fifties rom-com you'd been watching and got off the couch. Before you could make it to the door, it burst open and in waltzed not just Dustin and Eddie but Dustin, Eddie, Steve, Mike, Lucas, and Will.

"I was not expecting this many of you in my house," you said, blinking at them all.

"Steve finally won a game of D&D! We have to celebrate!" Dustin said gleefully, jumping up and down next to him. 

"Wow, guess he's a good sub player for Erica then, huh? Is she feeling better, Lucas?"

Lucas shrugged. "Yeah, but Mom still won't let her out of the house. I think she likes being pampered. They give her everything she wants. They never do that when I'm sick!"

You giggled and made your way into Eddie's arms as the other boys took their places on the couch. "How'd it go?"

Eddie kissed the side of your mouth. "It was a good end to the campaign. Ended perfectly."

"And now you're going to make an even more complex one for the next game, right?"

He grinned. "Oh, you know me so well, sweetheart."

The pet name went straight to your heart. You smiled as you kissed him. Your tongue brushed his and he melted into your arms, squeezing you tighter. You reached up to push his hair behind his ear and cup his jaw.

It was suspiciously quiet behind you.

You leaned your shoulder into Eddie's chest as you glanced behind you to see the others. They were collectively staring at the two of you.

"Mind your business," Steve said to them, prodding Lucas into turning around. Dustin sighed and picked up the remote. Mike and Will exchanged a glance before bursting into a fit of giggles. 

Eddie tugged on your sleeve. "Should we, uh, get out of here?"

"Where to?"

"My...trailer?"

Realization hit you. "You mean..."

"Only if you're ready, I mean, I'd never do anything you don't want me to do—"

"Let's take this conversation away from a bunch of teenage boys," you suggested.

"Oh, uh, right." Eddie put his arm around you. "Hey, Steve! Keep an eye on the nerds, we're gonna go out for a while."

Steve grinned. "I got it all under control."

"Thanks, Steve! You're the best brother ever!" you called as you headed out the door.

"Hey!" whined Dustin.

"Adopted! Adopted brother! Not really adopted but you get my point!"

"Best babysitter!" Eddie corrected and slammed the door shut behind the two of you, before Steve could start complaining. You hopped in his van and turned to him, putting a hand over his before he could start it.

"Okay, okay, okay. Back to that conversation. Yes, I'm ready. Are you ready?"

"Yeah," he said, voice breathy. "I have everything we need, I think it'll go...it'll go smoothly. Um. But if you don't want to, we don't have to, I don't want you to feel pressured or anything—"

"Eddie."

"Hmm?"

"I want to."

Eddie started to grin. "Great. Great. Um. I'll, um." He got distracted as he started the van and slowly crept out of the driveway. "Drive us...there..."

You giggled and kissed his cheek. He held your hand the whole way there, then helped you out of the van. He pulled you close to his side on the way into the trailer.

"I...I don't want to just...jump right into it, if that's alright with you," he said. "Kinda wanna...I dunno, set the tone? Get in the mood?"

You kissed him and pulled him down next to you on the couch. "Movie?"

He visibly relaxed. "Good idea." He got up to put something on, then sat down next to you. You cuddled close to him, wrapping your arms around his waist like you always did for movie night. Eddie hummed appreciatively and played with your hair. It took you a moment to realize he'd put The Great Gatsby going.

You curled up next to him. "You know, my mom always watches this movie for the "hot guys" in it, but I don't find the appeal of any of them."

Eddie snorted. "That's because your taste in men is me."

"Yes, yes you are," you agreed, kissing him gently.

He cupped your face in his hands, pulling you close. He put your foreheads together. "How'd I get so lucky with you?"

"I could say the same thing," you whispered against his mouth. You kissed him slowly, lifting one hand to his jaw and wrapping the other arm around his waist. Eddie melted into your touch and your mouth, unable to stop a smile from crawling onto his face. He pushed one hand through your hair and broke the kiss to nuzzle into your neck. Despite the number of times you'd made out with him—even in front of other people—he always turned into an embarrassed, blushy, cuddly mess when it was just the two of you.

Eddie gently kissed the skin where your neck and shoulder met. "I love you so much," he mumbled into you, wrapping his arms around your waist.

You smoothed a hand over Eddie's unruly hair. "I love you, too, my darling." You took his chin and gently navigated his gaze toward yours. "My darling," you repeated, the moniker said at barely more than a mumble, but still he beamed like you'd declared in front of all of Hawkins that you had laid claim to the social outcast without a care in the world.

Eddie buried his head into your chest, hiding from everything but your affection.

"You still wanna wait a bit?" you asked, still rubbing a hand over his scalp. "Or...?"

"Wait," he said. "I'm not..." He laughed. "This is gonna sound weird, but I'm not entirely in the...the mood yet."

You pecked his cheek. "Let's watch Gatsby make a fool of himself, then. And you let me know when you're ready."

Eddie hummed and reached around on the couch to drag a blanket across the pair of you. He wrapped his arms around your waist and snuggled his head into your shoulder. You kissed the top of his head and pulled him closer to you, keeping your arms locked around his shoulders.

"Comfy?" you asked, as Nick's opening monologue began.

"Mhm," said Eddie. "Always with you."

You kissed his head again. "Oh, you beautiful sap."

You can feel him grin as he buries his head into you once more.

~❊~

Eddie had the worst possible timing, perhaps ever. The fight between Gatsby and Tom was breaking out when Eddie finally lifted his head from your chest and stared up at you. Despite your attention being on the movie, you noticed when Eddie pressed his lips to the column of your throat, more gentle than ever. Your eyes fluttered closed as he slowly moved up, using two fingers to tilt your head up. He kissed along your jaw, stopping before reaching your mouth. You sighed contentedly and opened your eyes as his lips left your skin.

"Why'd you stop?" you mumbled, reaching for him as he sat up.

"Need a better angle," he muttered, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead. "I wanna see your face."

You cooed, taking one of his hands and lacing your fingers together. "My sweet boy," you murmured, nuzzling into him. He held you close to him for a few moments before he laid you back against the couch and kissed down your throat. Your breath caught as Eddie pressed a kiss in the hollow of your throat. "Eddie..."

Eddie pulled back, holding your face in a hand. "Let me love on you, sweetheart. Just a little."

"No protests from me," you sighed.

"Just tell me if you don't like something, okay?"

"Okay," you whispered, kissing his soft mouth once before he ducked down again.

He kissed your collarbones and glanced up at you as he gently pulled you closer to him. He kissed across your shoulders and moved slowly down your chest. He reached the low neckline of your shirt and looked up. He toyed with the hem of your shirt.

"Sweetheart?"

You nodded, knowing what he was asking. "I'm ready, love."

Eddie surged to his feet and hauled you up into his arms. You squeaked and hooked your legs around his waist. You kissed his throat and jaw the entire way to his bedroom, returning the sweet kisses he'd been giving you. He mumbled incoherently, but you thought you heard a few "thank you"s and "I love you"s in amongst the soft babbling.

He gently lowered you onto his bed, brushing some of your hair out of your eyes. He stared lovingly down at you, placing a gentle kiss to your lips. He left you to close his door, then reappeared above you, bracing himself on either side of your shoulders.

You reached up and ran a finger along his cheek. "Hi."

"Hi," he said. He smiled, that dreamy smile that was usually reserved for the times when he admired you when he thought you weren't looking. "I'm so in love with you. I fell in love with you the instant I saw you."

"Love," you cooed. You brought a hand behind his neck, coaxing him to your level. "I saw those pretty eyes and that sweet face and loved you."

Eddie's smile was a happy, bashful one as he pressed your foreheads together once again. "I'll love you forever."

"Forever," you agreed. "I love you, Eddie Munson."

His mouth connected to yours. You let your eyes flutter closed and revelled in the way his lips parted slowly, the way his tongue gently prodded your lips, the way he was still so slow and careful when you opened them for him, the way he painstakingly explored your mouth.

You let out a dejected noise the instant Eddie pulled away. "I'll be right back, sweetheart, just..." He gently put a hand on your side. "Can I...touch you?"

"Wherever you'd like," you whispered. "Just gentle. Slow."

"Gentle and slow," he repeated. "Got it."

His mouth returned to yours and his hands caressed you, his fingers circling every centimeter of skin. He slipped a hand underneath your shirt and met your gaze.

"You're okay," you promised, before he could even get the question out. "You can."

"I can take it off?"

You pecked his cheek. "Only if you let me take off yours, too," you teased and Eddie beamed. He let you pull his shirt from his shoulders, then helped you out of your own. He gazed at you with a sappy, pretty smile on his lips.

"Just gonna stare, pretty boy?" you asked.

"Nope," he promised, leaning back down. "Lie back for me. I'll take care of you, as best as I can." He kissed your stomach and took note of the way your breath hitched, both visibly and audibly. "I promise." His hand went to your hip. You nodded. As he hooked his fingers underneath your waistband, he repeated, "I promise."

"Just a second," you breathed, sitting up and reaching behind you for the clasp of your bra. Eddie reached behind to help you.

Three muffled shots startled the both of you. Your mind raced for a few seconds before you remembered—

"Well, I think Gatsby just got shot."

Eddie laughed. "Well, if that's not the worst timing—"

"Hey, you started this while Gatsby and Tom were arguing over who Daisy loves more and Daisy had her breakdown, so I could say you have the worst timing," you teased. You kissed his nose and he stared at you with heart-melting puppy eyes. "Hop to, love."

Eddie pulled your undergarments away from your body. "Don't rush me," he mumbled against the skin of your stomach as he kissed lower and lower. "I intend to take my time with you."

He sent you a mischievous grin.

☞ ❊ ☜

Stranger Things // Eddie Munson // Part 3 of 'Your Favorite's Here'

Taglist: {comment and let me know if you'd like to be added to the E.M. taglist!} @ohatropa @lilylilyyyyyy@spencestyles@r-royce@theshiresposts@kaitebugg03@the-chocoholic-writer@noiralei@kennedyraye@yourdailymemedelivery@squidscottjeans@cannonize @sebastianstvn

[moonctzeny]

love to hate me

request:  celebrity! jaehyun + enemies to lovers + “don’t you want to know how i feel?”

pairing: friends to enemies to lovers! jaehyun x female reader

genre: smut, angst, fluff... this fic has it all folks

word count:  7.514k

warnings: toxic behaviour, public sex, light restraining, jaehyun pulls a ‘white boy punching the wall’ at some point 

summary: “You and Jaehyun meet as SM trainees, developing a friendship until he debuts and you deicde to leave the company and pursue a solo career. When you reunite again in a music show and he acts like he barely knows you, you stubbornly begin a series of hate-brimmed sex rendez-vous. Your touch-and-go relationship continues on, until a song collaboration will force you both to deal with all your repressed feelings for each other”

a/n: this is the longest it has ever taken me to finish a fic.. I have a love-hate relationship with this (no pun intended XD). I hope whoever requested this likes it!

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

Of-fucking-course you had to bump into him out of all people at the vending machine. All you wanted was a drink to refresh you before you got up on stage, and now you have to deal with Mr. Too Good For This World and his relentless teasing. His eyes, lit up by an amusement that was also evident in his smirk, stayed glued on your body, raking up and down at it for a second too long. Not that you didn’t like it.

“Stare much?”, you bark at him in hopes of snapping him out of his trance, and push through him to punch in the code of your favorite drink. But alas, he always had a comeback ready on the edge of his lips.

“You look ridiculous”, he states and you have to admit that your outfit, though fitting for the Halloween special of today’s music show, was way different than anything else he had ever seen you in. Reincarnated as Dorothy Gale for the night, your stylists had chosen a short, light blue checkered dress, with red stilettos that gave a sexy twist to the character’s ruby slippers. Hair neatly braided in two pigtails, decorated by ribbons and topped off by glittery pink makeup. The image of innocence. Jaehyun had to laugh.

“Says the man dressed up as Woody”

It was unfair, you admitted, how good he looked in that stupid outfit. His hair was gelled back, a few strands framing his handsome face strategically. The yellow shirt fitted him like a glove, its bright colour lighting him up as well. And those jeans, tight in all the right places, just melted over the muscles of his thighs. The ones that you’ve come undone on one too many times.

“So”, he lilts, giving you a once over before lowering both the volume and pitch of his voice, “want a ride?”

You scoff, sparing him an incredulous look, “on what horse, cowboy?”

He doesn’t reply, only points with his eyes to his crotch that is undeniably sporting a visible tent, and you gasp when you see the outline of his dick twitching under your stare.

“Jesus Christ, Jaehyun”, you mutter with a disgusted look on your face before picking up the almost forgotten beverage that the vending machine had barfed out for you. The boy mentioned, however, was unfazed.

“They don’t call me Woody for nothing”

Almost choking at the drink that was supposed to calm you down, you catch his eyes rolling at you through your third cough. Well, that ruins one of your favourite childhood movies. “Don’t pretend to be a prude. Now are we going to fuck before you get on stage of not?”

You can clearly remember the first time you met Jung Jaehyun alone. You always spotted him somewhere in the SM buildings, joking around with his future bandmates, barely ever without company. As a fellow vocal trainee, he introduced himself to you as Yoonoh, filling up the awkward silence while your vocal teacher prepared the music sheets for the both of you to rehearse.

You were thankful the two of you always got paired up together. Jaehyun was charming, easy to be around, funny. He was a model SM trainee with the otherworldly looks he possessed, almost impossible for anyone’s eyes not to follow him when he entered a room. Radiant porcelain skin, soft brown locks, and a dimpled smile that made your heart melt in seconds.

You can also clearly remember the first time you had the privilege of hearing him sing. Jaehyun had a beautiful baritone voice, one that contradicted his flower boy image but matched his manly personality perfectly. The four walls of the small practice room resonated with his sound, that was stable and smooth like honey. The lessons were challenging but Jaehyun made them bearable through spending time with him. Maybe it was your shared struggles, or how you were always tired and vulnerable when you saw him. Maybe it was those damned dimples, but your heart always beat faster when you were around him.

“Sometimes I get discouraged”, he confides in you in that same room, hours later, early into the morning now. The vocal lesson stretched on longer than expected, leaving you two sitting on the floor, sharing a cup of lemon-honey tea to soothe your vocal chords. You let your head rest to the leather couch behind you as you stare into his handsome features one by one. What time was it? Shouldn’t you be back at your dorms by now? It didn’t matter, this was one of those moments when time seems to stop and life seems unreal. When the only thing that you care about is the person standing next to you, and whatever it is they have to tell you.

 “I fear that I will never get to debut. There’s handsome guys all over the company. I just don’t know if my skills are enough.”  

You thought he was crazy for thinking that way, wanted to scream at him that he’s just perfect and more than enough for the company, or for anything in this world for that matter. But Jaehyun was reserved, the type to always mask his true feelings behind a smile and you were more than glad that he finally opened up to you, that he saw you as someone trustworthy. You didn’t want to dismiss his feelings, so you just pet his hair while you listened to his concerns.

 As you mindlessly gaze at the rainy weather outside, a couple of droplets following their own path down the froggy window remind you that time does run by. Even if every day seemed the same, following the same routine, going to the same classes over and over again.

Jaehyun had this sad look that contorted his pretty face and you hated it, reaching up to massage away the wrinkles between his eyebrows. You don’t know which godly creature made the hourglass of time freeze this moment, nor did you know why Jaehyun leaned forward to capture your lips into a kiss. Maybe it was his way of saying thank you for keeping your ears and heart open for him, for listening to him when he needed it most.

It felt so lovely while it lasted, two young people leaning on each other during an uncertainty that anchored them far away from their emotional shoreline. But life as a trainee isn’t a fairytale and falling in love can have serious ramifications. So you promise to each other that this will be a one time thing, and then you never speak of this night ever again.

Unsurprisingly enough, Jaehyun got to successfully debut, yet you didn’t have the same luck. The company had plans of focusing on their new boy group, thus postponing your debut for an uncertain amount of time. It was hard for you to decide to switch labels, to throw away the years of hope and dedication you had pinned on this company but the faith you placed on yourself was stronger.

It’s years later when you finally get to promote as a solo artist in a different company, and you are happy to say that the decision you made all those years ago was the right one. The exposure you got wasn’t the same as being in a Big 3 company, however leaving SM entertainment has its pros. Flexible schedule, less scrutiny, great creative freedom over your work. 

This wasn’t the first time you have come across your old trainee buddy. Jaehyun had multiple comebacks in a year, so it was only natural that his group’s and your promotions would sometimes overlap. You were only a rookie, and NCT turned out to become pretty popular, so of course the wins were always tied to their names.

The first time you walked past him in the hallways, dark makeup and professional styling making you both almost unrecognizable, you expected a wave, small talk, maybe some reminiscing of the old times. Instead, you got a cold stare or at best, an arrogant smirk coupled with a “Do better next time”. It was shocking to you how much Yoonoh, the boy with the shy smile and awkward social skills, would turn into such a stranger.

How you always ended up sneaking out with him to have a quickie in one of the ready rooms, was beyond you. He rushed you inside before checking both sides of the hallway, cautious to hide from any curious eyes. The coast was clear and Jaehyun doesn’t like to waste time, so he pins you against the door he just closed behind him, face dipped in your neck. You can feel his fingers dancing on the skin of your thighs, eager to explore what is hidden under your frilly skirt, and their delicacy in contrast to his feverish kisses sends a shiver down your spine.

One pretty whine from your lips, then two, three and you can feel Jaehyun smile deviously against your neck. The softness is too enticing for him to resist, so he nips at it skillfully, trying to get a reaction out of you. He recognizes that you have plenty of talent as a singer, yet the symphonies you sing out for him in those little sessions seem to be his favorite.

“Jaehyun, cut it out. I’m going on stage in like, 20 minutes”

“Turn me on then”

Wasn’t he the one that basically flashed you in the middle of the cafeteria for just existing? Isn’t it his hard on that digs against your lower stomach? The demand made you mad, and you wanted nothing more than to entice him with a nice blowjob, only to take a big, strong bite off that cock of his. But see, you had a full face of makeup on and your career is way more important than a fuckboy, so you’ll have to get creative.

Flipping him around so that he’s the one trapped between you and the door, you start to suck on his collarbones , then nibble at the tender flesh. He seems distracted enough by it so that you open the button of his jeans and fully remove his belt from their loops with no objections. Palming him over his boxers to keep him entranced, you manage to bring his wrists together, wrapping the leather around them, then lastly fastening them in place.

His eyes widen in shock when he realizes that he’s too late, wiggling his hands in a futile attempt to free himself. Your laugh is sadistic, making the hairs on his arms stand on edge and you gloat in the effect you have on him. 

Giving your palm a good lick, you form a ring with your fingers, wrapping them around the base of his member. He hisses and drops his head back, thudding loudly against the wall. His cock enlarges and reddens as you move your hand up and down, changing the pressure according to his reactions. Jaehyun isn’t one to express himself freely but there is not much he can do to stop the low moans leaving his lips. Not when you rub circles over his tip with the soft skin of your palm.

He looks so fucking good, all squirmy and desperate and trying to hold himself from saying ‘please’. You almost want to keep going, squeeze him more until he whines and begs to cum, and admire the white beads dripping from his slit and covering your hand. Almost.

You halt your movements with a last strong stroke, crossing your arms over your chest as you stare back at him. Jaehyun tentatively opens one eye to see why you have stopped, only to come across that bratty smile that he loves as much as he hates.

“You should have dressed up as a siren. Seducing people before they realize you are a man eating bitch”

“If you want someone to jerk you off you can go ask one of your little fangirls. I want to get fucked.”

“Let me go then. And you’ll wish you never did”

You scoff at his cockiness, nonchalantly freeing him from his constraints, and the way he immediately has a hold of your jaw reminds you of a predator eyeing its prey. His eyes have a crazy look in them, moving frantically over every part of your body like he can’t decide what to grab onto first. He decides on your hips, bending you over a table full of snacks and makeup tools and flyers of today’s schedule.

“You think it’s funny to tease me like that?”, he asks you with a peremptory voice that signifies you’d better shut up.

You hear shuffling behind you and assume it’s him slipping on a condom, so you make yourself more comfortable on the wooden surface. A hard slap on your ass jolts you alert.

“I asked you a fucking question”, Jaehyun presses brusquely and flips your skirt fully over your ass, pulling your panties down until they’re bunched up right over your knees.

“It’s fun”, you moan out, breathless both from the pleasure and the stinging feeling on your right cheek, “What are you gonna do about it?”

Was the room occupied by one of the artists that have already been on stage? Or will they barge in at any moment to find you bent over and pussy dripping for Jaehyun to finally dive inside you? He chuckled at the sight of you, eyes feasting off your naked body, your ass up just the way he likes it. Not so innocent anymore, huh?

He doesn’t reply to you, aligning himself against your slit and bottoming out in one go instead. Involuntarily, you let out a small screech, the sudden stretch catching you off guard.

“You better stay quiet, siren. Or maybe you would like it if people found us like this? Saw how good you take my cock whenever I ask”

You wanted to bite back at him, but the only sound you could make was a guttural moan. It was embarrassingly loud, and you fall forward to bite your fist and force yourself to shut up. It was effective, yet Jaehyun had other plans for you, pulling your pigtails towards him in a strong grip that has you against his chest in seconds.

“Nuh, uh, uh, siren”, he hums in your ear, his panting making his voice sound huskier and smokier than ever, “How about trying to stay quiet by using your willpower alone? That way it’s more- how did you call it? Fun.” 

He slows down his pace momentarily, as if he’s giving you time to answer him. But the moment you open your mouth to talk back at him, he thrusts particularly hard inside you, forcing a whimper out of your lips.

“Fuck you, Jaehyun”

“As you wish”

Jaehyun was conceited and cocky and a dick, but he was also a good fuck. He kept at it with what seemed like all the energy in the world, fucking you against that table until you came all over him, and your legs gave out. It ended how it always did, with him moaning how fucking sexy you look and how much he hates you, and you swallowing your pride as you swallow his cum. You’d tell each other to fuck off and never bother the other again, until you meet up at the next comeback, to do this shit all over again.

And that’s how things would stay if it wasn’t for that goddamn phone call from your manager.

“...so we thought what better way to promote your new song by recording a duet with NCT’s Jaehyun?”

No, no, no this can’t be happening. No way. Anyone but him.

“Are you sure this is the only way we can promote me? Can’t I just go to variety programs like every other idol out there?”

“y/n, duets by different group members are one of the most efficient methods of promoting there is! And with NCT’s latest song topping the charts this will be a great opportunity for you. Taemin and Sunmi did it. Suzy and Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Punch-“

“Alright, okay, I get it”

“Besides, since you used to be an SM trainee they specifically asked for you. The directors made some pretty big compliments on your work”

Isn’t it a little too late now? Not like they didn’t have the chance to debut you, right? That being said, there isn’t much to oppose to decline SM’s offer; your manager is right and you know it. Saying no to Lee Sooman and giving up a popularity push like that is basically career suicide. Nor could you let your manager know about your and Jaehyun’s little adventures, minutes before you have to go on stage.

“Just send me the schedule. I don’t have to record with him, right?”

“Oh no, they’ll record his part first and then they’ll send it to us. But there will be a music video of course”

Oh for fuck’s sake.

There was this little monster of worriedness that was screaming inside your head, refusing to shut up. This collaboration isn’t going to be easy, but you didn’t want to let Jaehyun’s pettiness get in the way of your career. Fumbling with your phone in your hands, you kept removing and reinserting its case compulsively, over and over again, until you mustered the courage to take matters into your own hands.You knew his number was buried somewhere in your contacts.

you [16:35]: hey it’s me, y/n

Jung Yoonoh [16:50]: y/n who??

you [16:55]: y/n y/l/n? the girl whose guts you were inside in last week? we have a song coming up 😒

Jung Yoonoh [16:57]: oh y/n right

Jung Yoonoh [16:58]: thought you’d have deleted my number

Well you sure have deleted mine, you murmur with your blood boiling, regretting reaching out to him in the first place. 

you [16:59]: i always hoard peoples contacts

you [17:00]: old habits die hard i guess

Jung Yoonoh [17:00]: like the habit of me being inside your guts?

You gasp out after reading his last message, hands awkwardly juggling your phone until you’ve forced yourself to calm down. After waiting for a while, until your face has reached its previous temperature, you feel focused again, and type out your original intentions for this conversation.

you [17:05]: this isn’t what i texted you about.

you [17:07]: we have this project coming up and while I know we aren’t exactly on the best terms, this comeback is very important for me

you [17:08]: and i don’t want to fuck it up

Jung Yoonoh [17:10]: kitty cat, relax. maybe this is a brand new word for you but i know what professionalism is

you [17:10]: don’t you ever and i mean ever call me that again

you [17:11]: glad to see we are on the same page

You didn’t expect a message back, nor did you get one. All you could do from now on, was pray that the promotions would go smoothly and Jaehyun wouldn’t do anything stupid that would jeopardize your collaboration.

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

And the day you dreaded finally came. The first day of filming for the music video. 

You had already finished recording the song, a bittersweet balad about two lovers who lost their way, only for their paths to cross again. When you listened to the demo for the first time, it only took three notes from Jaehyun’s pre-recorded verse to spread goosebumps on your skin. His voice was deeper and even more developed than you remember. Long forgotten memories, shoved deep inside your brain so as not to leave a bitter aftertaste in your mouth, came flooding up again. But things have changed since then.

The sky was crying rain and lightning, fitting to the storm inside your head. Normally you'd be excited to film a music video, bubbling with energy and unable to contain a smile. Today, all you could do was let your teeth abuse the cuticles of your left thumb, until little drops of blood ruined the fresh manicure you got for the shoot. 

Following your manager inside the studio, you take a quick glance at all the props the creative directors have prepared. They were very intricate, filled with all different types of flowers everywhere. Some of the fake rooms looked like classrooms, two others were decorated like teenage bedrooms. It was a lot more than you have anticipated.

“The song will be part of a drama OST, that’s why the budget is higher than usual”, your manager tells you as if he was reading your mind. 

He leads you to the changing room, where you try on different outfits your stylist has chosen for you, while simultaneously being briefed on the concept of the music video. It’s kinda cheesy and cute, with you and Jaehyun posing as high-school students falling in love. Certain scenes of the drama, whose plot matches the music video’s, will intercept in between.

You’re seated on the makeup chair, sunk in the uneasiness caused by your co-star. Jaehyun had arrived a few minutes after you, his bare face more handsome than you’ve ever looked in your most glamorous state and you can’t help but stare at him. He is all polite smiles and bows to the staff, and even gives you a formal greeting. 

You’re not sure why you just can’t bring yourself to stop your legs from shaking as the makeup artist patiently tries to apply a rosy blush on your cheekbones. It’s like you’re scared that everyone will see right through the both of you, somehow enter your brain and find out that you’re replaying your last encounter with Jaehyun in the music show’s waiting room in your head. As you try to read through his expression, to see if he’s nearly as nervous as you are, you defeatedly can’t decode what’s going on inside his head. Not like you ever could.

You glance at both you and Jaehyun through the mirror, admiring the youthful makeup. Blushy cheeks and innocent eyes of two teenagers in love, masking the raw lust between two nemesi. It couldn’t stray any further from the truth.

A staff member leads both you and Jaehyun (who is refusing to spare even one look your way) back to the main set. The director is passionately explaining what he wants to see from you in your first scene, but you can barely focus with Jaehyun’s eyes burning holes through your school girl outfit. You block him out and walk inside the ‘classroom’, spotting the cameras and sitting on your designated seat, while you wait for your signal to start.

Of course, you had acted before. Yes, you had expected for the director to ask you for some more intimate moments with your co-star. But when Jaehyun passed you a “love note” from the desk in front of you, looking all blushy and shy and with his dimples showing, you felt that the role of crushing schoolgirl became a little too easy for you to act out. 

And maybe, just maybe he was feeling the same way too. He looked pretty flustered when he saw you dancing across class, shifting restlessly in his seat when you bent forward to tie your shoelaces. Whether you did it on purpose or not, was a question your ego didn’t allow you to answer truthfully.

Most of the individual shots would be handled at a different shoot, so all you had to do was get over this one day with him. That’s what you repeated yourself over and over again. And you did pretty well, smiling charmingly at the camera, with the director praising you for your “innocent look”. You didn’t miss the scoff slipping from Jaehyun’s lips but you were good at ignoring it, focusing on getting through the different scenes in one-shot. 

You were currently leaning your body against the wall, playing with your hair while Jaehyun glances down at you, like a boy that is ready to confess to his first love. 

“y/n, I need you to give me something more shy, more bashful”, the director yells eagerly, but you can barely hear him, too focused on regulating your breathing. The look your co-star is giving you right now might seem loving and pure to the staff, but you know all too well the motives hidden behind his facade. It’s the calm before the storm, the silence he purposefully keeps to make you squirm, right before he whispers the most sinful propositions in your ears. 

Reading him like an open book, you stand still as he leans closer, just enough so that no one besides you get to hear his words.

“Come on y/n, can’t you act bashful? Or is it impossible for you to get embarrassed after getting fucked against the window of a TV station’s building?”

Clearing your throat, you’re suddenly hyper aware of every single sound and movement in the room. Suffocating, even in the light clothes you were wearing, and desperately trying to mute out his words that bring you back to the day he was repenting.

“When you were pressed up against that glass, moaning my name, all exposed for anyone that simply looked up to see, you weren’t too shy, were you?”

You raise your palm to wipe a bead of sweat that has collected on your temple, and breathe deeply through your nose, as if a good pump of oxygen would cool off the sudden heat between your legs. 

“Shut up Jaehyun”, you simply hiss through your front teeth, but he isn’t done yet.

“You know I can’t hold myself when I see you in skirts. So pretty. And you love to tease me in them too, I’ve noticed. Flashing me again and again until you get to suckle on my dick”

You were sure his voice was barely louder than a whisper, but the thought of anyone accidentally prying into your conversation had your whole body raising in temperature. The heat didn’t take long to reach your cheeks and you couldn’t remember the last time your legs felt like jelly, as they do now.

“Perfect y/n, that’s exactly what I’m looking for!”

You blinked back at Jaehyun a couple times, your mind trying to process that the director is cheering you on instead of scolding you to focus. The trembling hands, the fast-paced heartbeat, your big doe eyes. Though involuntarily, you had nailed the scene.

“You’re welcome”, Jaehyun mouths at you just as the staff announces a break. He scurries off to his dressing room without a word, as if he hadn’t just spewed his dirtiest of thoughts on set. It was almost as if he was daring you to follow him, but it’s not like he had left you a choice. You were fuming.

“Jaehyun”, you called out to him strictly but he didn’t acknowledge you, only walked further inside the small room with his name written neatly on the door. He was removing some of the heavier jewellery, rubbing the red lines they had left on his neck and wrist, momentarily catching your eyes on the mirror's reflection. They were misty, unreadable, and with how unpredictable you knew he could be, you decided to close the door behind you.

“Closing the door?”, he muses and in just a few long strides he has managed to trap you between his body and the wooden surface. It is reminiscent of your last meeting at the music show, and the memory of you tying him up doesn’t help with the organizing of your thoughts. “What are you planning on doing to me in here?”

You point one finger against his chest, not enough to create any real distance between you, but it comforts you nonetheless.

“What the fuck was that out there? What happened to professionalism?”

“Relax, kitty cat. I was just helping you act better”. His eyes stayed glued on your hips, once again making you all wound up and jumpy under his stare, “And it worked. You should be thanking me”

“I. Told. You.”, you started, tapping your finger on his sternum to emphasize each word, “Never call me that again. Today’s already hard as it is, why do you have to make it harder?”

He takes one more step towards you, his chest now touching yours and your hand that separated you lands involuntarily on his right peck. As if his presence wasn’t overwhelming enough, you feel a hardness pressing against your thigh, and for a moment you worry he can feel how wet you really are under your skirt. His voice is a low, a deep rumble.

“I don’t know. Why do you have to make everything so hard?”

“You are unbelievable”, you scowl at him and free yourself from his trap. You turn to the big mirror to avoid looking at him anymore, and you come to the embarrassing realization of how fucked out you look right now. You had to get out of there as soon as possible, before you do anything stupid and lose any trace of self control left in you. But not before you gave Jaehyun an earful.

“What I meant was that I am out there, being paid to be all lovey-dovey with you. This is not something easy for me you know. It’s basically prostitution.”

You catch Jaehyun’s eyes in his reflection, and for a fleeting moment they turn a colour that you hadn’t seen them in for a long time. Hurt? Disappointment? Whatever it was, it was gone in a second, replaced by that smile that made him both irresistibly smackable and fuckable at the same time.

“Did it cross your tiny brain that maybe someone could hear you? Staff leaks information all the time! If they found out we were fucking…”

“Were? Past tense?”

“Are. Will be. Whatever.” You sigh, defeated, hiding your eyes with your palms as you face him once again. “Like I said, this is important to me. So no more dirty talk on set. Okay?”

Jaehyun avoided your glance, from embarrassment or uninterest maybe. “Okay”

You continue to sit there silently, but your head is so occupied with a million thoughts that you don’t notice. How you will get through the rest of the shooting, whether your manager is looking for you or not, the coldness of the glass Jaehyun had pressed you against that day. The only thing that snapped you out of it, was him suddenly taking off his shirt.

“What are you doing?”, you ask panicking, but you can’t dismiss the pool of excitement in your belly.

“We have a wardrobe change after the break, remember? And since you refuse to leave my changing room..”

You clear your throat, trying your hardest to rip your eyes away from his abdomen, that you’ve so keenly marked with love bites before. His naked skin must have monopolized your attention way more than you realized, as you can’t remember when he slithered his way closer to you, towering over your height.

“Stare much?”, he almost growls, arousal dripping from his voice.

Every fiber of your being wanted to lurch forward, glide your fingers through his hair and start nibbling at those pretty lips of his. The sexual tension, amplified by the argument you just had, was filling the room like a thick liquid would fill a cup. One more drop, one more second of his staring and it would overflow. It felt so real, that you could feel that drop landing on your forehead. Then another one on your cheek, and that’s when you realized that what you felt was real.

“What the-?”, Jaehyun mumbles as he stares up at the ceiling, a big wet spot staining it and allowing the water drops to slowly wet his styled locks. As you start to put two and two together, someone knocks loudly on the door, making you both jump one feet away from the other.

“Get undressed”, a high-pitched male voice that you recognize as Jaehyun’s manager calls through the door, “the rain is ruining the set. It’s a wrap for today”

———————————————————————

A soft touch on your lower back, an even softer breath making your ears tingle. A tentative kiss on your neck that’s full of purpose and makes you shiver.

And then another touch, this time more south on your body. Fingertips grazing over your sensitive clit. Easily moving through your wetness and finally dipping inside of you. That baritone voice.

“This pussy is mine, isn’t it, kitty cat?”

You look up to meet the face of the familiar voice, only to meet Jaehyun’s baby brown eyes. The pleasure was enough to make you ignore the despised nickname, flowing intensely through your body. You let out a desperate moan, gripping his arms to keep your balance. His fingers are now dragging through your walls and you clench around them instinctively, confused but enamored by his touch. You are falling apart.

“Jaehyun? What are you doing?”

“I want to make love to you”

“Love? But you hate me”

He plants another kiss on the slope of your neck, his hands picking up in pace and making you feel like you’re floating on air.

“Love. Hate. Is there really any difference when I’m here, ready to please you? Willing to make you feel things you have never felt before?”

“You already do”, you admit, only seconds away from your orgasm. The bliss is so close you can almost taste it, but for now you choose to taste his lips. They are so soft and warm that you realize you haven’t kissed Jaehyun since that night at the practice room. How you miss him. Not the group visual, not the idol, not even Jaehyun. Yoonoh.

“Yoonoh”, you moan out against his lips as the pleasure overtakes you, a low buzz humming in your ears, “mmm yes, Yoonoh”

“Who the fuck is Yoonoh?”

You finally wake up, your manager shaking you awake being the first thing you see. The sun’s morning rays are peeking through your blinds, warming your skin in lines. Your phone’s ignored alarm clock is still buzzing on top of your nightstand.

“No one. I’m awake, thanks”

Fuck. That makes it what? The fourth night in a row you dreamt about him?

“Get, up. Quickly. We’re late”

You groaned at the banging of your head that was caused by you getting up so fast. It was early into the morning, as you had to get ready for the mv’s second shooting day. The heavy rainfall wouldn’t allow for the filming to continue for another week, yet aided your growing anxiety of having to encounter Yoon- Jaehyun again. 

You felt a little stupid, like a kid that goes to middle school for the first time, anxious but full of butterflies in your stomach in the thought of seeing him again. You weren’t sure who the anger, that came with the inability to control the fresh feelings bubbling from your dream, should be directed at. Your manager for booking you this job? Jaehyun for making it his goal to have you dripping wet on set? You, for letting it all affect you so much?

You decide on the former, giving your poor manager the cold shower for forcing you to deal with the problems you’ve caused yourself. Checking your phone, you realise that you are, indeed, late, and wonder how quick you’re going to have to make your morning shower.

“Is Jaehyun and his team there already?”, you ask your manager as nonchalantly as you could, feigning mildly interested in his answer.

“Oh, they didn’t tell you? The other team asked for the shootings to continue separately”. You felt your stomach drop all the way down to your condo’s basement. And the icing on the cake: “Jung Jaehyun’s request”

Maybe your manager wasn’t as clueless to your electricity, or maybe it was your sudden impulse to pluck every loose thread of the pyjama top you were wearing that made him sense the discomfort following what he’d just said. He plops next to you on your bed, boards creaking in the silent room and you feel his rough hands patting you on the back.

“I’m sure he had an overlap in schedules and needed a break, nothing to do with you”

But you knew better, and you knew your palms wouldn’t stop itching unless you picked up your fucking phone and sent him a message. 

you [06:30]: i heard you can’t make it to set today. everything ok?

You wish you never did. The radio silence from his number was way worse than any insult, any form of teasing he could give you on set. You even tried calling him, desperate for an answer, a closure even. Maybe he was busy. Maybe the shooting took longer than expected. Maybe he wasn’t avoiding you; one of his managers uploaded his latest story on his instagram, not him. Maybe at the end of the week he would get back to you.

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

Going to his dorm unannounced was not a good idea. Waiting for someone to open the door for you, you hope his members will recognise you from your trainee days, or those rare nights Jaehyun sneaked you in when you were both lonely and in need of a… well, whatever you two were.

You’re starting to worry that whoever saw you from the peephole thought you were a sasaeng and called security, when Mark opens the door. His eyes are wide open behind his glasses, clearly not expecting you and immediately yelling for his ‘Jaehyun hyung’.

Soon, the called male arrives at the apartment’s entrance, annoyed for being interrupted from whatever it was he was doing. “What is it, me and Jungwoo are watching the season fina-“

As if Mark suddenly turned invisible, Jaehyun walks right past him, grabbing you by the wrist and dragging you to his room without another word.

Jungwoo, engrossed with the aforementioned show’s season finale on his computer screen, tries to cover up his naked torso in panic when he notices you. 

“Get out.”, Jaehyun orders him, and the younger man knows that his tone is not one to be argued with. It triggers the cold sweat that makes your clothes stick closer to your skin and forces your heartbeat to quicken, pumping blood all over your body. The door closes, leaving you both alone with only the sound of Jungwoo’s laptop still playing in the background. A lighthearted scene that is too oxymoronic against the tension that is just palpable at this point. What the hell were you thinking coming here?

“What the hell were you thinking coming here?”, Jaehyun speaks your thoughts out loud, and you wince at how empty your head is with excuses.

“Are you ignoring me?”

“What?”, he asks dumbly, hoping you would avoid asking again.

“Was it that hard to text me back? Am I such a waste of your time?”

Jaehyun seems angry at your confrontation, his bad mood escalating with every word that is leaving your mouth. He still avoids to look at you, toying with some plushies and decorations next to his bedpost. You realize you never had time to really notice them, barely recognizing them. You always entered the room blindly, pressed up against Jaehyun’s body and with his lips all over your neck, then left as soon as the sex was over. His apathy was infuriating.

One by one, you start to remove all of your outerwear, dropping your clothes on the floor until you’re left in only your bra and jeans. Jaehyun stares at you incredulously, then at the pile of clothes on the floor, unable to make out the reasoning behind your impromptu stripping.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting naked. Seems to be the only time you can actually pay attention to me.”

You reach for the buttons of your jeans, only able to unzip it halfway before Jaehyun has you pinned against the wall behind you, his fingers cool and pressing lightly against your neck.

“I-I fucking hate you!”, he cries, punching the surface to release some of the steam, and lets go of the hold on your neck almost completely. How tempted he is, to just fuck your right against that wall, pour out his anger by pouring out his cum inside you, then ignore each other like you always do.

It’s the easy thing to do, keeping the toxic circle going. All barking and fucking and no real problem gets resolved in the end. He wouldn’t even call a cab for you, preferring to be hated for something he wasn’t than to be rejected for showing the real him. You would still have no idea about his feelings towards you, going around saying how awful he was while asking for a round two. But Jaehyun was tired.

“Can’t you tell that I am trying to distance myself from you?”, he sighs and it’s the first time you’ve ever heard him sound so emotionally exhausted.

“Why do you dislike me so much? We used to be friends and then one day you-“

“Friends? Just friends?”, he interrupts you with a chuckle and a sarcastic puff through his nose, and you shake your head.

“If you also think that what we had was more special than a common friendship then why act like you don’t know me?”

“You were the one who wanted to ‘forget about anything happening and never telling a soul about it’, remember?”

“I thought we came to a mutual agreement! I was just trying to save our careers and it worked Jaehyun, you got to debut and I-“

“And you just threw away everything we had like it was the easiest thing to do! Do you ever want to know how I feel, y/n? First you want nothing to do with me, left the company without even saying goodbye. Then I try to forget about you, become an asshole to keep you out of my life and suddenly you want to jump my bones. One day you just play blind to everything, asking for professionalism and now I’m the one ignoring you? What the fuck do you want? A fuck buddy? A professional? A friend?”

“I want you, Yoonoh. Fuck, I just want you”

You’re not sure which one of you initiates the kiss. His lips are as plump and kissed as hard as you recalled, a couple of tears staining your cheeks that you didn’t realize you were holding back. It felt so right, the way his head pushed and pulled away from yours, always inviting you back to him. One hand was situated over the dimples of your waist, the other lost between your hair, untangling it gently. You decided to lay yours over his heart, feeling its tempo and calming yourself down.

You kiss for what seems like an eternity, so drunk in bliss that you can’t remember how you made it through life without Jaehyun’s taste all over your tongue. When he pulls away from your lips, you almost whine, but his fingertips dabbing at the soft skin of your cheeks feel just as comforting.

“I don’t want us to be like this anymore”, you whisper to him and he nods encouragingly, holding you even closer. “I’m sorry for not reaching out to you all these years ago, I just thought ‘What would a brand new idol want to do with a failed trainee like me’-“

Jaehyun brings your fingers to his lips, kissing all your knuckles one by one and you think you’re gonna burst at the seams. “You weren’t a failure, you were the best thing to happen to me back then”. His voice is so sincere that you don’t dare question the veracity of what he’s saying and you let him continue. “When I saw you again I was so bitter, I decided to turn off my feelings. I think I get too comfortable in that role. I put it on for me, my members, my fans even”, he stops then, laughing sadly, “it’s how I finally got you”

It was your turn to open up his eyes to the truth, holding his face between your hands and admiring its beauty. 

“That’s not true. I kept staying because I knew what was hidden behind all that armor. I guess, the sex was the only way to get closer to you”

“Not because I’m good?”, he jokes, wiggling his eyebrows and you can feel his dimples forming under your fingers.

“Eh, you’re pretty good too”

He starts pecking your neck, his smile obvious in his kisses and you squeal when he lifts you to his bed. Bouncing on the hard mattress, you let him lay his body weight over yours as he gives you a million traces of his love. 

“So, I’m guessing this means we start over?”, he asks reluctantly as he emerges from your half naked body and you hold back from cooing at him.

“I thought you loved to hate me?”

“I think I hate it, but I love you”

[wedreamedlove]

why did you think that Osborn and Evan are half - brother?

there are too many coincidences and symbolism in the game. however, i cannot stress enough how insignificant this is among everything else. the two men resolved their differences in their childhood already and have their own goals in life, they're practically strangers (and low-key rivals in love).

EVAN’S CLUES

in his top up [SR Milky Way Dreams], we learn that Evan has a hobby and obsession with wristwatches; he can easily take them apart and put them back together. there’s also a mention about how, as a child, he was often in immensely silent rooms with only the noise of a ticking wristwatch.

in his trajectory [SSR Illusionary Light], when he was 10 years old, he asked his father to give him his wristwatch if he got a perfect score in school and to come home. instead, Evan sees his father go to an amusement park with his other family and give the wristwatch to his son there (Osborn would be 7 years old here).

in [Chapter 13], we learn that Evan’s dad disappeared 15 years ago, putting Evan at 11 years old and Osborn at 8 years old.

back in [SSR Illusionary Light], Evan talks about losing three things when he was 12 years old and the second thing was a wristwatch that was thrown into the fireplace.

OSBORN’S CLUES

in [SSR The 400 Blows], when Osborn was 9 years old, his father was already long gone and his mother cried every day until she abandoned him at a castle where she says he’ll live a better life. (Evan would be 12 years old here).

under the read more is the excerpt of the relevant passage. by the way, Osborn’s trajectory is an hour long recording, so you can imagine how much stuff goes on in them and this part is just 1/5 of what happened to him 14 years ago. except for Charlie’s latest trajectory, everyone else’s is only 30 minutes long. these things are huge and traumatic.

[SSR The 400 Blows TRAJECTORY - 14 Years Ago Early Spring]

A tall, thin man led me into this castle. He looked at me with disgust and said this place would be my home in the future. He called me Young Master. I think it was in that moment that I suddenly understood what was called leaving. I didn't dare think about its true meaning and only desperately ran towards outside. My mother shouldn't have walked far, I thought that if I ran hard enough I could catch up to her. But I was stopped by that man. I begged them to let me out, but no one paid attention to me. This place was large, so I could only go around and around looking for an exit. I couldn't count how many times I looped around in a circle until my entire body was without energy. I crouched in a corner, crying and crying and crying until, in the end, I lost my voice. Many people walked past me and they would all pinch their nose, just like I did when I saw Old Beggar Chen. I couldn't stop from panicking and raised my arm to smell it hard, but I didn't smell anything. However, those disdainful gazes would still accompany me for many years after this. At the time, I suddenly thought that maybe Old Beggar Chen didn't actually smell bad and we had wrongly blamed him. I couldn't help but start to be scared; the living room in front of me constantly enlarged while I constantly shrunk, shrinking until I became a grain of rice. I was scared that one day I would become the Old Beggar Chen of this place. This terror made me feel that time had stopped, until I saw that boy. He didn’t look much older than me but by a few years, however his appearance was more exhausted than anyone I had seen. He asked me, "Would you like some water?". I followed him into a room. I was really thirsty and drank many cups of water, but he didn't say a thing and only sat down beside me. [movie about nezha and how it strikes a chord in Osborn, such as standing up for what's right, cutting through a thorny path without ever bowing his head, dismembering his bones to give to his father, and returning his flesh to his mother] The story ended and the room also became silent. The boy lowered his head and the gears of the watch in his hand collided with a crisp sound. He seemed to have long grown used to this silence. I knew I could never get used to it like him, so I said loudly, "Thank you for the water, I'm leaving". The boy pieced together the last gear, his lowered head staring at some spot. He said, "You can't get out of here". Following his gaze, I saw the watch wrapped loosely around my wrist. In this moment, it was the only sound in this entire room. His eyes made me feel that he really wanted this watch. So, I asked him this, but he shook his head with his eyes like an adult. Suddenly, I saw the shadow of my father. I took apart the watch and took out its core. He accepted it, his solemn appearance making me feel that it was a heart I had just plucked out from my own body. The originally silent watch face began to turn and the originally turning watch face became silent. He scrutinized me for a moment and then got up to open a door. I hastily ran into the light and then glanced back at him. Why did I feel that he had a bit of envy and a bit of longing? I couldn't help but ask him, "Do you want to go together?". He only shook his head and quickly closed the door, as if his earlier appearance was some sort of offence. I felt I must have seen wrong, why would he envy me? My father suddenly left, my mother sent me away without a sound. What was there to envy about this? [...]

[teddy06writes]

the quackity + karl irl stream but add y/n ✨ (and maybe sapnap if that's not too hard to write 😳😳)

quackity x karl x reader (I tried to Fit in Sapnap but it didn’t work with the way the meet up actually went)

trigger warnings: swearing

premise: you finally get to meet your long distance boyfriends in person, the stream that follows is WACK

(y/s/n) - your screen name

(y/n/n) - your nickname

“Blep” talking

‘blep’ texting

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

“WE’RE POPPING OFF! WE’RE POPPIN OFF!”

You roared with laughter, doing your best to stay out of the way as Alex and Karl started swinging guitars around.

~~

two and a half hours earlier:

You had gotten off the plane in NC, practically buzzing with nervous energy, or maybe it was the coffee you’d gotten on the plane, combined with the two energy drinks earlier in the day, but hey! it was a long flight, and it was already late.

It was nearly 10:30 by the time you got your bag, and pulled out your phone to check the new messages from Karl and Alex.

You had all planed to meet up originally at Karl’s house but then plans had changed when you and Alex figured it’d be cheaper to uber together, even if it ruined the plan of all of you meeting at once.

‘I just got my bag where are you?’ you texted Alex.

‘I only just got off the plane, I should get down to baggage claim soon tho’

You smiled, ‘I’ll see you them <3′

‘nerd’         ‘<3′

You stood against a wall, quietly scrolling through twitter as you waited, until a new message from Alex popped up.

It was a fairly blurry photo of a crowded airport, with a red circle drawn around one person.

‘that is you right?’

You chuckled, zooming in on the picture to determine that is was indeed you, ‘yup, that’s little ole me... stalker’

You looked up as you sent the text, rising on your toes to look over the crowd, trying to spot him, pulling out your camera you quietly explained what was going on and then:

“(Y/n)!” Alex emerged from the crowd, and immediately you grinned, throwing your arms around him.

“Alex!”

You pulled away long enough for Alex to ask, “Can I kiss you?”

Laughing you nodded, and his lips met yours, as your hands came to rest on the sides of his face.

When you pulled away Alex muttered, “wow.”

“That bad? Sorry.” You glanced down sheepishly.

“Not that-” he said quickly, taking a half step back, “It’s just- wow, you know. Like, we’re actually here together, and about to go meet up with Karl, and wow.”

You chuckled, “I guess that makes sense.”

He garbed your hand, “C’mon, I already called an uber.”

~~

The whole way to Karl’s you sat nervously fiddling the cuffs of your hoodie, occasionally glancing at Alex, who smiled back reassuringly.

You sent a message to the group chat the three of you were in saying you would be there in two minutes at which he sent back a long string of emojis you could only take to mean that he was excited.

The car pulled up in front of the house and you got out, thanking the driver as Alex got your suitcases from the back.

Quietly you pulled out your camera, just as you had at the airport.

“Why are you filming everything?” Alex asked as you walked up to the house.

“We’re gonna do what George could never.” You laughed.

“Yeah but the lightings gonna be shit, it’s dark out here.”

“It’ll still be better than George!”

Alex laughed, high fiving you, “True!”

Almost as soon as you knocked, the door opened and Karl came barreling out, tackling both of you in a hug, “YOUR HERE!”

Alex barley kept him from falling over, “Yeah!”

“It’s almost like we planned it.” You couldn’t help but scoff at the camera.

Karl grinned, quickly pecking at your lips, and then Alex’s as he let go of you, “I am so excited that you guys are here!”

“Woah Karl where's the consent?!” Alex feigned shock.

“Oops?” He giggled.

You rolled your eyes with a chuckle, “Can we come in? It’s cold out here!”

“Oh, yeah, sorry, come in, come in!” Karl quickly moved back inside, waving you and Alex in, “Sorry.”

~~

After getting your suitcases inside and being formally introduced to Shaun, Karl all but demanded for you to take pictures together, resulting in many shots that were blurry from too much laughter, but a few good ones, like the picture with the boys on either side of you, kissing your cheeks, which later went up on Instagram, and a picture of Karl, mid laugh looking back at you up on Alex’s back.

All of your previous anxiety was very much gone.

You laughed, looking at Karl’s phone as he showed the picture, “Oh my god!”

“That is amazing!” Alex agreed, leaning over you to look.

“It’s gonna be the stream announcement!” Karl declared, pulling up twitter.

You glanced at your phone, “Karl it’s almost one in the morning, no one would show up to a stream.”

Karl laughed, “You seriously underestimate the fans.”

The next thing you knew you were up upstairs, sitting off to the side of Karl’s streaming set up as Alex grabbed the guitar from the corner, “Karl you don’t even actually play, why do you have this?”

“Because I can?” He said absently, starting to set up for a stream.

The air was thick with excitement as Karl hit ‘go live’, and handed you and Alex extra sets of headphones.

Alex was still messing with the guitar, and you barley stifled laughs as he began to sing Country roads in a strange accent, and the chat filled with people.

“It’s pop off time!” Karl announced in a high pitched voice, making you laugh even more.

The face cam was turned on, and the yelling began.

After a few moments, and a couple more terrible bars of country roads, Karl grinned, “Everyone! This is, Quackity, our, uh, our guitarist for the day!”

Alex laughed, “We’re poppin off! We’re poppin off!”

“And (y/s/n)s here too!” Karl dragged your chair further in frame, “Welcome! Welcome!”

“It’s pop off central tonight boys!” You chuckled.

The alert box went insane as did the chat as Alex finally sat down next to you, and Karl stopped laughing enough to sit back up.

“Guys! Chill! You’re gonna break the alert box!”

You laughed again, “Yeah just tell your chat to stop, just knock it off, leave we’re done!”

Alex snorted, “It’s over!”

Karl pulled his chair closer to the desk, “Thanks for uh, being here, with the boys, uhh.”

He turned to Alex who was now essentially just spamming random chords, yelling, “I can’t hear you!”

You berried your face in your hands, trying to control your laughter.

Karl sighed and pulled his headphones off, “You know what? I’ll be right back, I’ll be right back.”

You immediately hopped seats as he left, “Hello chat! Hello!”

Alex leaned over, trying to grab the mic to pull it towards him, “hell-” part of the stand snapped, “Oh my god!”

“Oh my god you fucking broke it!” You yelled, pushing away from the desk.

“Oh god, hold on!”

He did his best to fix it, leaning in to talk to the chat, while Karl came back with another guitar.

“Why do you have two of them?” You laughed.

Karl grinned, “Technically it’s Shaun's!”

“OH WE”RE POPPING OFF! WE”RE POPPING OFF!”

You roared with laughter, quickly moving back out of the way as Karl jokingly swung the guitar at Alex.

Once you calmed down you caught a glimpse of the chat, “Guys I think you fucked something up!”

“Oh god!” Alex muttered.

“Wait- hold on- did-” Karl examined the mic, “Wait its unplugged!”

It took a few minutes to get things sorted out, and as Karl and Alex went back to yelling about popping off you spun around in your desk chair, “Pop off crew! Pop off crew!”

Things settled down again when you moved your chair back to between them, a sub goal was set for a height check, and you started to try and get things some what orderly.

“So yeah this isn’t just a Minecraft stream, I think we’re just hanging out, Popping off, you know, we’re gonna talk to chat-”

Karl began to laugh, and Alex tried not to chuckle as he said, “He’s laughing at you (y/n) he’s just laughing at you! What are you gonna do about it?”

“Listen man, I’m trying to get your fucking stream in order. If you just wanna fucking ignore me then fine!” You held your hands up in surrender.

“Well, I mean-”

Karl started to stand up, and you knew he was going for the fit check but Alex screeched, shoving his chair back, “Fuck off!”

“Wha?”

You laughed, “He thought you were going for the Hight check early man!”

“Dude it’s the fit check!”

Alex laughed as Karl sat back down, “Holy shit- cash app with the hundred tear ones!”

You giggled at the message, “They wanna see the height check! Who wants to see the height check? Who wants to see the height check chat?”

“No no no no! No height check early! It- it doesn’t matter, cause height is stupid, and a choice!” Alex struggled for words.

You shook your head whispering, “He just looks short next to Karl and he’s scared.”

“Shut up!”

~~

A while later, after both Karl and Alex’s stream descended into chaos or partial chaos, you found yourself tucked between them on the couch.

Karl’s fingers were intertwined with yours, and Alex’s head lay on your shoulder.

“I’m glad to have finally met you guys.” You murmured.

“Yeah,” Alex hummed, “Actually being able to cuddle is much better than the online thing.”

Karl hummed in agreement, “I wish you guys could be here all the time.”

“Let’s get a house somewhere.” You mused.

“Somewhere convenient for you two nerds to go to school.” Karl chuckled.

Alex yawned, “Somewhere near good take out.”

You smiled sleepily, “Anywhere with you guys is fine by me.”

Distantly a clock on the wall read 4:23 am.

[waybrights]

Sats au

Marcy, after a whole day of nonstop writing: *sleepily/aimlessly walks around the studio*

Sasha, sipping her her coffee in the dark: "You know it's midnight, right?"

Marcy, going completely still: *looks around confused*

okay i wrote smth for this and ik it doesn't fit the prompt exactly i hope u enjoy it anyway!!!

There was something strangely comforting about the studio, especially when the only sound was the hum of the air conditioner and there was no one around. Well, no one but Marcy. Technically, she wasn't allowed to be there, but it's not like anyone was going to kick them out. Besides, she was certain no one knew she was still there. And if they did, no one had come for them yet, so they couldn't get mad when they found her asleep on the couch in the morning.

Besides, the studio was probably one of the only places Marcy could actually focus on what she was doing. Their house was too noisy, especially since Sprig and Polly were over for the week whilst Hop Pop was away on some important trip, and her phone and laptop were there too, all easy distractions from the music she was meant to be going over. So she stayed behind, in the dark studio that had really, really, shitty wifi and an air-con that was stuck blowing cold wind into the building.

Sure, it wasn't the best and they could afford to rent out a new one, but all three of them liked the studio enough to stay, even if the couch was starting to fall apart and it was constantly just above freezing.

On one particular night, Marcy was sitting on the cold floor, one of Sasha's guitars in her lap as she tried to figure out a chord progression. No matter how many combinations she tried, it never sounded right. Sure, they could always just ask Sasha to play something for her, but Marcy knew how tired she'd been recently, and didn't want to bother her with something as trivial as a chord progression. Plus, figuring out herself might make Sasha less stressed about having to do a whole tour after not playing for months due to an injury.

She hadn't meant to stay up so late, but then again, this stupid chord progression was meant to be easy. Luckily, the coffee machine had been fixed just the day before and restocked with just about everything Marcy needed to keep her awake for an extra ten hours and she was absolutely going to take full advantage of it.

---

Marcy wasn't sure how long she'd been sat there, staring down at those stupid lines, but the notes were starting to blur together, making it all the more harder to actually figure out what they were supposed to be doing. Their fingers hurt from playing and the song was rattling around in her head, the same three lines playing on a loop, bringing Marcy closer and closer to just tearing up the sheets surrounding her.

She hadn't realised she'd been crying until a single tear fell onto the paper, it only smudged one note, but it was enough for the frustration that had been building up for the past however long to boil over.

Biting her lip to stop herself crying even more, she stood up and made a beeline for the door, because if she stayed in this stupid recording booth for any longer, Sasha would come in finding her guitar in pieces.

Swiping up the half finished coffee, Marcy stomped out of the room, blinking quickly to get rid of the tears pooling in their eyes. God this is so stupid, she thought to herself as she slammed the door open. In the back of her mind, she knew it would mark the wall, but she didn't have it in her to care. She'd probably just let everyone down. It was a simple chord progression and she couldn't even figure it out. So much for one of the best songwriters, she huffed, practically slamming the cup onto the desk.

Only, she slammed it too hard and the handle came clean off. Marcy stared at it for a few seconds, their eyes flitting between the handle closed in their fist and the mug Anne had got for her birthday on the table. "Fuck," she mumbled, pressing the handle back onto the mug as if that would magically mend it. For a moment, it looked like it was balanced, and Marcy slowly pulled her hand away, only for the handle to clatter against the desk a second later.

For the next ten minutes, Marcy tried to reattach the handle, each with less success than the last. It was pathetic really, but she was so caught up in the fact that she broke Anne's gift to her, that she didn't really have the mental capacity to care about it. So what if everyone saw her breakdown the next time they checked the security footage? That didn't matter when she'd just ruined something Anne gave her.

It was the feeling of warm hands on her own that finally got Marcy to stop. Everything seemed to drain out of her as the mug and handle were pried away from her. Vaguely, she wondered who was in the studio so late, although there was a chance she'd just spent several hours trying to force a cup back together and everyone had arrived for their final session. Either way, they didn't object as someone wrapped their arms around her waist and picked them up.

"I'm sorry," Marcy mumbled after a few minutes. It hadn't been part of her plan when she opted to stay behind to have some sort of breakdown and then cry in someone's arms, and she couldn't help feeling like she should apologise.

"Don't worry 'bout it, you looked like you needed this," Sasha's voice was a mere whisper in her ear, but it still sent Marcy's heart racing.

"Sasha?" Marcy asked, her eyes snapping open as she stared up into her band-mate's face. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Sasha said, a small frown on her face.

"I was," they paused and looked down, resting their head against Sasha's chest. "I was trying to figure out that chord progression you were complaining about. You've been so stressed recently, and it doesn't help we're going back on tour soon and you haven't played in a while, so I thought that, maybe, if I fixed it for you, it would make you slightly less stressed," saying it out loud, she realised that maybe it wasn't her best idea, but she wanted to do something for her friends. They both did so much for her, it was high time she did something for them.

“You… you didn’t have to do that, mar-mar,” Sasha said gently, and even though she wasn’t looking, Marcy could see the smile on her face. The way Sasha’s lips twitched up and her eyes would crinkle ever so slightly, because she didn’t usually smile and when she did it was a sight to behold. “But if that’s what got you so upset…”

“No, it wasn’t that,” well, not entirely, “I just got stressed.”

“That, or you haven’t slept properly in about a week and keep sneaking off here when you think Anne and I are asleep,” Sasha said, though her voice held no anger.

Marcy felt themself go still as Sasha spoke. How did she know? Were they that obvious? No, no she couldn’t be because no one had even asked her about it before! “That’s stupid,” Marcy scoffed instead, “I’ve been sleeping perfectly fine.”

“Marce…” Sasha mumbled, her arms coming up to gently squeeze their shoulders. “You don’t have to lie to me. I won’t force you to tell me, but if you think it’ll help to get it off your shoulders I’m-” she swallowed, almost like it was hard to admit that she was there for Marcy. “I’m always here, whenever you need. Even if it is 1 am on the shitty studio couch,” she ended lightly. Marcy giggled and moved slightly to bring a hand up to where Sasha was drawing random shapes on their bicep.

“Thank you, Sash, seriously,” they said, threading their fingers together. “And I will tell you, both of you, just not right now.”

“It’s okay,” Sasha whispered, very obviously trying to hold back a yawn, “I’ll wait for as long as you need.”

Marcy smiled and pressed the pad of her thumb against Sasha’s. “Are you excited? For next week?”

“Hmm?” Sasha hummed, her body jerking ever so slightly as she woke up. “Yeah, but I’m also nervous, y’know?” she mumbled, slowly waving her lightly bandaged hand around. “I haven’t played in a while, so I don’t want to mess up or anything.”

“You won’t,” Marcy mumbled, her eyes growing heavy as they sat there, Sasha’s warmth creating a bubble of sorts, where nothing could get to her. “You’re really great, Sash, you’ll be amazing.”

When no response came, Marcy slowly lifted her head, only to find Sasha fast asleep against the arm of the couch. It looked uncomfortable, and they knew she would complain in the morning, but she looked so relaxed and Marcy didn’t want to ruin that for anything. So she slowly shifted so she was laying down, their head on Sasha’s lap and her arms wrapped tightly around Sasha’s waist. “Night, Sash.”