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stevie-petey · 1 year ago

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episode two: the weirdo on maple street

Trying to ease the awkwardness, you hold up a poster and offer it to them, but Steve snatches it from your grasp. “Henderson, didn’t know you were also a little know-it-all. Why don’t you share your review sheet with the rest of us?” He says, casting a teasing look your way. It isn’t until he inspects the piece of paper that he finally notices that it’s a missing poster for a child, not a review sheet. “Oh, shit. I’m so sorry.” You snatch the poster back from him. “You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington.”

summary: you use your limited psych knowledge to help a bald girl, you force jonathan to accept $20 and he's later an ass to you, steve doesn't know what a "missing" poster looks like, and it's really hard being a single mother to now four kids.

rating: general, but there's cursing as usual and steve being... well, steve - but hes still season 1 steve so give him some time

warnings: cursing, fem!reader, use of y/n, and there's more angst in this chapter with some fighting between reader and jonathan, so fair warning.

words: 10.1k (the longest thing ive ever written)

before you swing in: i'm almost done with chapter 4, so here's a sweet treat as i cram for exams lmao. some housekeeping: should i do a tag list ? i got a few questions about it, so pls let me know soldiers. also, i feel the need to clarify that i adore nancy but for plot reasons - reader and her don't really get along (but they def will later, trust me). season 1 nancy and steve are just so silly. anyways, i hope y'all enjoy this loooong chapter. the rest definitely aren't as lengthy due to plot, but wow. i amazed myself. carry on !

Your jeans drip onto the Wheeler’s carpet, and you’ve definitely left a wet imprint on the couch cushion beneath you. The other boys are dripping as well, but all their attention is on the girl in front of them.

After finding her in the woods, your motherly instincts kicked in, immediately removing your coat to place on her and gently ushering her to your bike and demanding that the boys go back to Mike’s. Your mom is home, so your house was out of the question, and it’s always been easy sneaking into the Wheeler’s, anyways.

Once you all had made it back, you guided the girl onto the couch and sat next to her. You refuse to let her go too far from you, having no idea where she came from or why, but regardless you know she’s too young for any of it to have been good.

Which leads you to now: wearily watching the boys stare at the girl as if she’s some science experiment, asking her a million questions a second.

Bless them and their little prepubescent minds.

Lucas reaches out to touch her, and before you can nudge him away, Mike slaps at his hand. “Stop it! You’re freaking her out!”

“She’s freaking me out!” Lucas retaliates, which honestly? That’s fair. The girl hasn’t said anything yet, even after your multiple attempts to get her to do so. No matter how much you try, you can’t coax a response out of her.

“I bet she’s deaf.” Your brother offers, suddenly clapping his hands to scare her, making both you and her flinch. “Not deaf…”

You roll your eyes at him. “Guys, she’s probably just really scared right now. We should give her some space,” you look at both Lucas and Dustin, “and time,” now you look at Mike. The three boys deflate a bit.

“She’s probably cold,” Mike says after a moment of silence, and you nod at his suggestion. Seeing your agreement, he walks over to a basket of clothes and takes out some pajamas.

While Mike is away, thunder rumbles and the girl jumps, unconsciously getting closer to you. You wrap an arm around her reassuringly, making note that she doesn’t like loud noises. If anything, she’s showing more and more signs of trauma response, which makes you uneasy. You remember Hopper saying something about Will being in danger. What are the odds that this little girl was running from something as well?

“Here, these are clean.” Mike’s return breaks you from your thoughts, and you take the clothes from him and stand up. You thank him, then offer your hand to the girl. She looks at you uncertainly.

“It’s okay,” you reassure her. “Let’s go get you dressed in some warm clothes. I’m right here, sweetheart.”

“She’s super nice.” Dustin says, trying to help.

Lucas adds, “Yeah, you can trust her.”

“She’s alright.” Is all Mike offers.

You give them all an appreciative smile, even if Mike is being a bit of an ass, and then you feel a small, cold hand wrap around yours. The girl stands up, looking around shyly, and you lead her to the bathroom. When you go to close the door, she stops you.

Mike has followed, seeing the interaction. “You don’t want it closed?”

Her voice is quiet, solemn. “No,”

You and Mike look at each other, and he voices what you’re thinking. “So you can speak.”

He looks excited about this new information, and you shove his head out of the doorway. She needs to get dressed. “We’ll leave the door cracked, okay?”

She nods at you, and you stand guard outside the door. It’s not that you don’t trust the boys, but Mike has only known her for ten minutes and he’s already been nicer to her than you’ve ever seen him with anyone else. The only other person he’s this soft spoken to is Will, so you’re protective of her.

You can hear the boys discussing tonight’s events from the living area while the girl gets dressed. They sound scared, and a part of you can’t blame them. While you’re fairly certain that the girl isn’t dangerous, it’s still a creepy situation. Once again, Hopper’s new theory surrounding Will floats through your mind. This all can’t be some coincidence.

Sighing, you approach the boys and catch a bit of the conversation.

“Our houses become Alcatraz.” You hear Lucas saying, and you figure they’ve finally pieced together that there’s no way any of you can tell anyone about the girl. None of you were supposed to be out tonight. As much as you know you should tell an adult, you also need to be able to help Jonathan with finding Will. If your mom locks the house down, you’re doomed.

“Lucas is right,” the boys turn to you. “We can’t go to anyone about this just yet, but I also don’t think it’s a good idea to hide her. She’s been through something terrible, it’s obvious. Tonight, I say she gets some rest. We can figure out what to do later.”

Mike nods, for once agreeing wholeheartedly with you. “She’ll sleep here tonight-”

Dustin’s eyes widen in horror, “You’re letting a girl-”

You clamp your hand over his mouth, motioning for Mike to continue.

“Thanks, Y/N. In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She’ll send her back to Pennhurst,”

They think she’s from Pennhurst? You think, but don’t verbalize it.

“Or wherever she comes from. We’ll be totally in the clear! And tomorrow night, we go back out, and this time we find Will.”

You gotta hand it to Mike Wheeler, he may be a pain in the ass, but he’s a smart pain in the ass. The plan is pretty sound, so long as he follows through with it. However, it’s him following through with it that leaves you a bit unsure.

He looks at you for approval, and you hesitantly nod. “It’s a pretty good plan, Wheeler. So long as you stick to it.”

Lucas and Dustin nod along with you, there’s an unspoken sense of doubt that Mike will actually be able to turn the girl over to his mom. Then she walks out, dressed now in some of Nancy’s old clothes. She draws into herself when you all turn to her, shy. You walk over and offer your hand again, which she accepts.

“Mike, go find her something to sleep on. Dustin, we gotta go soon before mom notices we’re gone.”

Both boys comply, with Mike searching for a sleeping bag and Dustin packing up his stuff. You crouch down next to the girl, so that you’re face to face, and give her a warm smile. “It was lovely meeting you. My name is Y/N, I hope Mike over there doesn’t give you a hard time tonight.”

Mike flips you off, having heard you. “If he’s annoying,” you lean in close to her now, whispering in her ear. “You have my permission to pinch him.”

The girl giggles, finally relaxing a bit, and you warm with pride. She’ll be okay, she seems like a very resilient girl and you’ll oddly miss her.

The two other boys are waiting for you upstairs. You all wish Mrs. Wheeler a good night and head out. Thankfully the rain has now stopped, so the bike ride home isn’t bad. You stop at Lucas’ turn to make sure he gets home safely before finally arriving at your place. As Dustin begins pedaling into your driveway, you don’t follow.

“I’m going to go see Jonathan, he didn’t answer my calls earlier and I just…”

Dustin waves at you, not even bothering to turn around. “Yeah yeah, go see your boyfriend. If mom asks, you’re asleep.”

“He’s not my boyfriend-”

“Are you seriously going to argue with me after I offered to cover for you?”

Your brother gives you a pointed look, and you know he’s right. “Touche.”

Dustin goes to leave, but you quickly grab at his jacket. “Before I forget, swear to me that you’ll keep me updated if anything weird happens, okay?”

He nods at you, knowing better than to argue, and gives you a mock salute as he heads inside.

The living room light is on when you arrive at the Byers home, despite the late hour, but you aren’t surprised. You knock on the door and wait. When no one comes, you knock again, a bit louder this time. After another few moments, the door swings open.

Jonathan has a finger over his lips in a shushing manner, motioning to Joyce who is passed out on the couch. You nod, letting him know you understand. The two of you go to his room and when he closes the door, you finally get a good look at him. He looks worse than he did earlier, the bags under his eyes have somehow gotten darker. His hair is a mess, his eyes bloodshot.

“You’re soaked.” Jonathan says.

“Yeah,” he doesn’t want to talk about it yet, so you play along. “Got caught in the rain. Are some of my spare clothes still in your bottom drawer?”

He nods at you, going over and grabbing a t-shirt and pajama pants for you. You accept them gratefully and excuse yourself to the bathroom to change. Your bones are cold, the rain seemingly having penetrated the layers of your skin. In the mirror you see that your own eyes are bloodshot; you don’t look much better than Jonathan, really.

When you return Jonathan is sitting on his bed, so you join him. It’s silent between you, all you can hear is his breathing. You stare straight ahead, so does he, and you wait. You’ve only seen Jonathan like this a handful of times, where the stress and anxiety becomes too much for him. He shuts down, draws into himself, and all you can do is wait for him to return to you; he always does.

“Mom got a call tonight.” Jonathan’s voice is hoarse, and he looks frail. You wonder if he ever did end up making the spaghetti you prepared for him.

“Who was it?”

He swallows heavily, taking a moment to respond. “She said it was Will.”

“Will?” You look at him now, searching for any signs on his face, his voice lacks emotion. By the way he stares blankly ahead, as if he’s not really present with you right now, you know that it hadn’t been Will on the other end.

“She started freaking out, going ballistic,” his voice cracks a bit, so you take a chance and reach for his hand. He lets you take it, giving you a squeeze, before continuing. “She was screaming, begging whoever it was to give Will back.”

Jonathan pauses again. You don’t say anything, because no words will help. He’s never been the type for comforting words, anyways. He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. “It wasn’t him. Lightning struck and our phone got charred. It wasn’t Will.”

Now it’s your turn to squeeze Jonathan’s hand. He doesn’t deserve any of this. None of the Byers do. Out of the entire town, they’re the family who deserves the most that life can give. Will, too good. Jonathan, too selfless. Joyce, too loving. They’re the best damn people you know.

“I tried calming her down, but she was hysterical. She’s only asleep right now because she worked herself up too much and passed out. I’m worried she-'' Jonathan shakes his head, as if ashamed by his own words. “I’m worried she’s going crazy, Y/N.”

He’s quiet again, but you can tell he’s about to break. His knee is now bouncing up and down and his breathing has become slightly ragged. Everything from today has been building up, it was only a matter of time before he snapped. You’re also worried about Joyce, a part of you skeptical to believe her, but the little girl you found tonight in the rain? Something was definitely weird about Will’s disappearance, but you’re hesitant to tell Jonathan just yet. For all you know, she could’ve simply been a girl who got lost and will be returned to her family tomorrow.

You don’t want to worry Jonathan any more than you need to.

“I should’ve been there for him. I shouldn’t have taken that shift.” He gasps out, and like a dam the tears begin to fall. You’re quick to pull him into a hug and he crumbles into you. His body shakes with violent sobs and he clutches at you as if afraid you’ll leave.

“You can’t blame yourself.” You whisper, stroking a hand through his hair. He cries even harder, the force of it almost enough to knock you over, so you situate yourself so that you’re fully on the bed, laying against his pillows, with Jonathan crying into your chest beside you.

“He’s g-gone.”

“We’ll find him, I promise.” Your own tears threaten to come out, but you force them down. You have to be here for him, he needs you. The only other time Jonathan has so openly cried was when Lonnie left years ago. He’s been holding everything in since then, all those years of looking after his family, taking care of his brother, getting harassed by assholes like Tommy Hagan.

Neither of you say anything else, and you know that Jonathan needs to let it all out. You soothe him as best as you can, running a hand through his hair, stroking his back, reassuring him over and over again that none of this is his fault until your own voice becomes hoarse. You don’t know how long you stay like this, but sometime during the night Jonathan finally falls asleep, and you follow shortly after him.

—

Sunlight streams through Jonathan’s spare bed sheet that he’s pinned over his window, serving as a makeshift curtain, waking you up. You stretch, careful not to wake the boy beside you, and crawl out of the bed. You’re antsy, already knowing that today will be another long day. After grabbing some clothes from your designated drawer and getting dressed, you head into the kitchen and start making a quick breakfast. Just as you’re finishing up, Jonathan comes out of his room, dressed and ready for the day.

Neither of you say anything about the night prior, instead silently working around each other in the kitchen with years of practiced ease. He hands you the salt shaker right when you need it, you grab the pieces of toast that he popped into the toaster, the two of you never once get in each other’s way. You get deja vu, remembering all the times you’ve slept over with Dustin, you and Jonathan making the boys breakfast while they slept in.

The only indication that last night really happened is a forehead kiss from Jonathan, his lips soft against your head. Out of the two of you, you’re definitely the touchy one, so it’s always a nice surprise when he initiates the touch, and his forehead kisses were a welcome rarity.

When the plates have been made, Joyce gets up from the couch and stumbles over to the table. You quickly help her sit down, and for the first time since Will’s disappearance you’re able to really look at her. She looks like Jonathan, only worse. The bags under her eyes are darker, her hair is more matted, and you believe she’s still wearing the same shirt you saw her in the night that Will went missing.

“All right, mom. Breakfast is ready.” Jonathan tries to place her plate on the table, but Joyce stops him, worried about the poster of Will.

Jonathan gives you a look and you run over to the table, grabbing the poster so that he can set the plate down.

Joyce gives you a tired smile, “Thank you, Y/N, but I can’t eat.”

“I just need you to eat, mom.”

“Jonathan’s right, Mrs. Byers. You need to eat, we gotta keep your strength up.” You feel like you’re talking to a child, but in a way, you suppose you are.

The woman lights a cigarette instead, and faintly you wonder how many she’s had within the last 48 hours; you’ll need to wash your clothes when you get home. She begins to ask Jonathan to go to Xerox to make as many copies of Will’s poster as possible. You sit down in front of her, silently eating, knowing there’s no place for you in this conversation.

It’s not that the Byers are ashamed that they have little money, but you know it’s rude to listen in. They make do with what they have, and Jonathan has never felt embarrassed with you knowing it.

“I don’t want you to go alone,” Joyce says, causing you to speak up.

“I’ll go with him and help hang them up, it’s no problem.”

Jonathan turns to you. “You have that chem test, remember? I’m not letting you miss that.”

“Shit…” you bury your face into your hands. You completely forgot about that after finding the little girl last night and dealing with Jonathan. You’ve heard about how impossible the chem exams were, and science has never been your best subject. That was Dustin’s thing, your thing was more humanities.

“You’re the smartest person I know, you’ll ace the exam,” Jonathan reassures you before turning to his mom. “And I’ll handle the posters, it’s okay.”

Joyce has been lost in thought during your conversation with her son, only beginning to speak again when she’s asked how many copies will be efficient. Once she starts speaking again, it’s almost like she’s physically unable to stop. She begins to ramble, finally exposing the crumbling woman that you’ve only heard about, now understanding Jonathan’s fears for her.

“Mom-”

“If we… ten cents-”

“Mom!” Jonathan raises his voice a bit, now grabbing at his mother’s hand. “You can’t get like this, okay?”

The look on Joyce’s face kills you. She looks so lost, ashamed of her behavior, and you cast your head down; this is a private matter. Joyce profusely apologizes to him and all Jonathan can do is gently reassure her that it’s okay. All of this is okay.

Their tender moment is interrupted by knocking on the front door, revealing Hopper on the other side. His presence makes you uneasy, so you stay in the kitchen and begin to clean up with Jonathan while Joyce attacks him with questions.

“A little bit of trust here, alright? We’ve been searching all night.” You hear the cop say. Your hand clenches the sponge, rubbing a bit harder at the plate you’re cleaning. If they’ve been searching all night, why are they here now?

“Went all the way to Cartersville.” Ever since Will disappeared, you’ve been building a wall of hope within you that he’ll be found safe and sound. However, with every passing day, with every new situation that occurs, you can feel a piece of the wall collapse. You can feel it now; the search party went all the way to Cartersville.

“And?” Joyce asks.

“Nothing.” The cry that Joyce lets out causes you to drop the plate you’ve been cleaning, shattering on the floor. You curse, immediately bending down to pick up the pieces. Luckily it didn’t shatter into a million bits, but you still feel horrible for breaking one of their dishes.

Jonathan bends down as well to help, and the commotion catches Hopper’s attention. He sees you scrambling to clean up the mess and sighs with annoyance. “Does she live here or something?”

You and Jonathan look at each other, a slight smile on your faces, and only respond to Hopper with a synchronized shrug. You basically do live at the Byers’ at this point, you have been for years now. It was the same for Jonathan: if you weren’t at his house, he was at yours.

Joyce wipes some of her tears away. “Y/N is family, she’s here to help.”

Hopper ignores this, instead bringing up the phone call from the night before. Joyce leads him over to the phone, and you join them once you’ve collected the remaining pieces of broken glass. When you see the phone, you can’t help but gasp. Jonathan’s words from last night are accurate, the phone is charred.

“Storm barbecued this pretty good.” Hopper says.

Joyce waves her arms out, disbelieving. “The storm? You’re saying that that’s not… weird?”

“No, it’s weird.” Hopper begins, but you cut him off.

“It’s really weird.”

He glares at you. You mumble a quick sorry and back away a bit while Jonathan asks if the call can be traced. Hopper focuses back on the situation at hand, informing him that it isn’t possible and then questions if Joyce even heard Will in the first place. The question makes you cringe, knowing it’ll only make Joyce more agitated and hurt.

“Flo said you just heard some breathing.”

It’s the way he phrases the question, the way he emphasizes the word “just”, that bothers you. This woman has just lost her kid, what kind of mother wouldn’t know her own child’s breathing?

“Even if it was ‘just’ some breathing, I’d know it was my brother. Will is her son, she’d know better than anyone.” You find yourself saying. The words weren’t meant to leave your mouth, but the appreciative look Joyce casts your way outweighs the fear from Hopper’s glare.

“It was him. It was Will, and he was scared. Then something-”

“It was probably just a prank call,” Hopper tries to reason with her, causing you to roll your eyes at him. You respect the guy, you do, but could he at least attempt to listen to Joyce?

You excuse yourself before you say anything else, heading back into the kitchen to collect the two posters you and Jonathan made. While the others talk, you grab his things and pack his bag for him. You know he’ll probably skip school today to get the copies done in time, maybe keep an eye on his mom, so you make a mental note to inform him later that you’ll help with putting the fliers up the second you’re done with the exam. He needs someone there for him.

When you’ve grabbed the last of Jonathan’s things, Lonnie’s name is mentioned. You freeze, standing right outside the hall from them, only a wall between you. If Lonnie is somehow involved in this, you’ll kill him yourself. He was always cruel to Will, even when you were around to witness it. You hate him more than anything in this damn world.

“It’s been long enough, I’m having him checked out.” Hopper declares, storming out of the house.

You count to three in your head, and the second you get to three, Jonathan is following after Hopper. You knew he would, hating his father the most out of everyone who has had the displeasure of meeting him. You follow behind him, heading outside to talk to the Chief.

“Hey, Hopper. Let me go.”

Hopper takes a drag from his cigarette, facing the two of you. “I’m sorry?”

“To Lonnie’s,” Jonathan says, looking at you for backup.

You do your best to try. “If Will’s there, that means he probably ran away. Cops will scare the poor boy, he’ll think he’s in trouble.”

“And he’ll hide. He’s good at hiding.” Jonathan finishes for you.

Hopper stares at you both, inhaling more smoke from his cigarette and blowing it in your direction with a curious look in his eyes. “You two are sickening to be near, you know that?”

You and Jonathan share an annoyed look. A kid is missing, and you still have to clarify that you aren’t together? “It’s not like that,” Jonathan says.

“Sure, you know cops are good at detecting lies,” Hopper approaches him now, grabbing his shoulders. For a brief second you’re afraid he’ll hurt him. “And we’re also good at finding, okay? Stay here with your mom. She needs you.”

Hopper punches at Jonathan’s shoulder before facing you. “And you,” you brace for whatever he’s about to say, knowing you probably aren’t his favorite person at the moment. He points at Jonathan, “He needs you.”

His words hang in the air several minutes after he’s gone. You glance at Jonathan, but he doesn’t meet your eye and instead he goes back inside. You sigh, following after him because it’s what you do. Hopper’s right, he needs you.

Jonathan’s in the living room, speaking softly to his mom when you enter. You don’t disturb them but rather snatch Jonathan’s keys from the counter and wait for him by the door. Like Joyce said, Xerox opens in about thirty minutes and you have a chem exam to take. If you leave now, you’ll be able to make the copies with him and be back in time before school.

The ride to Xerox is tense, you know Jonathan is upset that he’s been sidelined by Hopper. You also know that he’s torn between wanting to help his mom and staying out of his house as much as possible. If it weren’t for your god damn chem test you’d offer to skip and hide out at your place, but you can’t. Jonathan wouldn’t let you risk your future for him (even though you would, in a heartbeat, a million times over).

The man at Xerox gives Jonathan a look of pity, clearly recognizing Will’s picture on the poster. It’s your favorite photo of him, smiling with all his teeth and happy as can be. From what you’ve heard, the whole town has been conducting search parties for him. Jonathan ignores the look and asks for the 200 copies to be made.

It’s just you and him in the store as you wait for the prints to be done. The guy said it’d be about a ten minute wait so you wander around the store. Jonathan clearly is in a no talking mood, so you occupy yourself with whatever you find. You wish you’d brought your backpack to Jonathan’s last night so you could at least study a bit while waiting, but you didn’t. It’d be a miracle if you pass this exam.

Jonathan wanders around as well, so you give a quick look around and find the employee. He’s standing over the printer when you approach. “I’d like to pay for the copies, please.”

“You can pay after they’re done-”

“No, I can’t let him see,” you point over to Jonathan, who is now looking at some stationary. “Please, just let me pay now so he can yell at me later.”

The guy gives you a shrug, clearly not getting paid enough to care. “Okay, it’ll be $20. Just leave the money on the counter over there, the prints should be done soon.”

You nod and do as you’re told, leaving the $20 bill on the counter while Jonathan isn’t looking. He can kill you later, right now you want to make up for not being able to help with hanging them up. There’s literally hundreds to get through, he can’t do that all alone.

When the posters are done and Jonathan collects them, you wish the worker a good day and then wrap your arms around him and use all your strength to drag your friend into the car. He doesn't fight back at first, too confused by your actions, and you’re almost out the door before he sees the man pocket the money and wave at you. The dots connect in his head and Jonathan begins to fight against you.

“Y/N, let me pay-”

“Nope. Not happening!”

“We both know I’m stronger-”

“Debatable, honestly, seeing as how we’re almost to your car.”

“Let go!” He tugs harshly as his arm, which you’ve got a secure hold on, causing you to stumble a bit.

You plant your feet more firmly against the ground and use all your weight to pull the boy forward. You’re a few feet away from the car, just one more solid pull should do the trick. “Stop fighting this, Byers. I’ve already paid-”

“Which you shouldn’t have!”

“Keep fighting and drop all the posters, I dare you.”

Jonathan looks down at the posters in his spare hand, realizing that you’re right. If he doesn’t give in soon, they’ll topple over. He lets out an agitated groan, throwing his head back, and then marches over to the car to unlock it and fling himself into the driver’s seat. “Just get in.”

You do a small victory dance and hop in the car.

“I hate you.”

“You love me.”

He hesitates only for a moment. “God, I hate that I do.”

You smile, buckling your seatbelt. Jonathan pulls out of the parking lot and begins the drive to school. He’s less tense this time, at least. The small little wrestling match between the two of you seemingly did some good, then.

When you pull up to school, you once again apologize to Jonathan for being unable to help. He waves you off, understanding.

“It’s okay, I promise. I can’t have you failing out of high school because of me.”

You roll your eyes. “One test won’t make me become a high school dropout, Jonathan.”

He ruffles your hair, which you slap him for. “You can join me after, okay? Good luck, bug.”

“Fine, but I’m taking some posters with me so I can hang up on my way to my locker.”

“Deal.”

You run to your locker, flinging it open and letting out a sigh of relief when you spot your chem cards. Honestly, you really should’ve prepared better for your little sleepover at the Byers. You glance at the watch on your wrist, noting that you have roughly fifteen minutes to memorize all the elements in the periodic table as well as some chemistry definitions.

Just peachy.

You tie your hair up so you can focus better and grab the note cards. If you review the cards as you walk to class, you can save at least three minutes of studying time. You tuck the few remaining posters of Will under your arm and begin to head to your class, getting absorbed in all the elements and words. As you’re skimming a card about protein being K, you run into Nancy and Barb, who also seem to have the same idea as you.

“Oh, hey Y/N.” Nancy greets you, Barb waving to you as well.

They’re being nice, so you try to make conversation. “Studying for Kaminsky’s test?”

They nod at you and Nancy sighs, “Yeah, his exams are the worst.”

You laugh a bit, for once on the same page as her. “I know. I spent last night at Jonathan’s, I completely forgot about the test until this morning. I’m screwed.”

Barb raises her eyebrows at you while Nancy suddenly looks sad. “Oh, I’m sorry about Will. I know you and him are close.”

“Yeah, it must be hard taking care of Jonathan right now.” Barb voices.

You give them both an awkward smile. “Thanks, I guess? It’s just, there’s still hope, so…”

The three of you stand there as your voice trails off. It’s painfully awkward. While you’ve known Nancy since you were 12, and at some point you even called her a close friend of yours, the second you entered high school she became distant. You never blamed her for it, people simply grow up and grow apart. Now you only ever interact with her if it concerns the boys.

Trying to ease the awkwardness, you hold up a poster and offer it to them, but Steve snatches it from your grasp.

“Henderson, didn’t know you were also a little know-it-all. Why don’t you share your cheat sheet with the rest of us?” He says, casting a teasing look your way. It isn’t until he inspects the piece of paper that he finally notices that it’s a missing poster for a child, not a review sheet. “Oh, shit. I’m so sorry.”

You snatch the poster back from him. “You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington.”

His friends laugh, but Steve has a bit of heart to look guilty, so you count that as something. His shame doesn’t last long though and the goofy and sweet boy who made sure you were okay after almost hitting you with his car is gone.

Steve plays off the situation as if it were nothing. “Let me make it up to you, Henderson. I know you’re probably stressed out of your mind dealing with boyfriend troubles because of Bill-”

“His name is Will,” you grit out, remembering now why you dislike Steve so much. Everything was about impressing his friends, and while you can sympathize with him, it doesn’t give him an excuse to be an asshole.

“Right, Will. Anyways, I was just about to inform Nance over here that my dad has left town on a conference and my mom’s gone with him, ‘cause, ya know, she doesn’t trust him.”

“Good call,” Tommy says, and you glare at him.

Steve carries on. “So, are you guys in?”

“In for what?” Nancy asks.

“No parents, a big house?” Carol says, as if Nancy is a giant idiot.

You feel bad for her being treated so poorly by her boyfriend’s friends, so you lean in and whisper, “A party, Nancy.” Then you look at Steve. “And no, I’ll pass.”

Steve pouts. “Can’t leave loverboy alone for a couple hours?”

You scoff, shoving the poster against his chest, using more force than probably necessary, but the satisfying grunt he lets out pleases you. “If I didn’t know you I’d say you sound jealous. Unfortunately, I do know you, and that’s exactly why I’m not interested.”

“Meow,” says Carol as she and Tommy laugh.

You ignore her and push past the group to get to class. You’ve wasted enough time, you have to study. Steve lets you, hurt by your words, but tries to play it off, instead focusing his attention on Jonathan up ahead hanging up some posters. You both see him at the same time and as you start to approach him, you hear Steve and his group mock him.

“God, that’s depressing.” Steve says, and you’ve never wanted to hit a man more than you do right now.

You glance at Nancy, trying to convey your disappointment in her. She’s a nice girl, she shouldn’t be with an idiot like Harrington. Who the hell makes fun of a guy with a missing brother? Nancy doesn’t meet your eye, which pleases you. She should feel guilty.

As you near Jonathan, Nancy calls after you to wait up. You listen, mostly because you’re surprised she even followed, and together you walk up to him. “Hey, bee. I thought you’d be long gone by now.”

Jonathan looks up at your voice, surprised when he sees Nancy next to you. He gives you a look that you conclude is a what is she doing here? look and you can only shrug as if to say I have no clue how I ended up in this situation.

Nancy doesn’t see this exchange. “Hey,”

“Hey,” Jonathan responds, still confused.

Nancy looks at you uncertainly, but you refuse to leave. Screw your exam, if she even considers voicing her boyfriend’s opinions to Jonathan then you’ll personally see that she fails alongside you. “I just… I wanted to say, you know… I’m sorry, about everything.”

Oh, she’s being nice. You’re still unimpressed, but Jonathan motions to you to stop staring her down, so you reluctantly listen.

“Everyone’s thinking about you.”

You all turn towards Steve and his group, who are clearly listening in, and you snort at her words. “Right, obviously.”

“Y/N.” Jonathan warns.

“Sorry.”

“It sucks.” Nancy continues, and you have to give her some credit. You’re being a blatant bitch, but she’s still trying. You feel a bit bad now, which honestly makes you dislike her a bit more. Damn morals. “I’m sure he’ll be fine, he’s a smart kid.”

The bell rings, ending Nancy’s little monologue. “I have to go, chemistry test. Y/N, want to walk together?”

She really makes it impossible to be a bitch to her. “Sure, just give me a second.”

You lean close to Jonathan and lower your voice. “Good luck with your dad, bee.”

“How did you know I’d go-”

“Because of course you would. Now go, give him hell for me, will ya?”

Jonathan nods, relieved you aren’t pushing the topic. You know that Lonnie is a sore topic for him, for the entire Byers family, really. You only knew Lonnie for a year or so before Joyce left him, but you’ll never forget his spiteful words and the bruises that Jonathan tried to hide from you. He needs to do this alone, father and son.

You see Nancy watching, and just to spite her you kiss Jonathan’s cheek, relishing in the fact that she looks away, and you wish him luck once again before following her to class.

The test isn’t as bad as you’d feared, and the rest of the day goes by with relative ease. You don’t see much of Steve and his group and you’re thankful for that. Nancy also keeps her distance, no longer attempting to be all buddy buddy with you. A part of you feels bad about that, because honestly the thought of someone thinking you hate them makes you feel physically ill, but as long as Nancy is with someone like Steve, there’s not much you can do about that.

After school you stop by all of Jonathan’s classes and collect the work he’s missed over the last few days; he has enough to worry about, so you figured you could help do some assignments for him. It’s nothing unusual, truth to be told. There was a time you were out for two weeks straight due to the flu one year and Jonathan did every one of your assignments, so it’s about time you returned the favor.

Once you have what you need, you hang up the remaining flyers in your bag and begin your journey to work. You’ve used up all of your sick days helping the Byers, and while Mrs. Waters has insisted on letting you have more time off, you figured the distraction would be good for you. Jonathan will want some space after confronting his dad, and as much as you hated Lonnie, something told you he had nothing to do with Will.

Just when your shift is almost done, your coworker, this young kid named Alex who you’re honestly surprised can legally work, informs you that your mom is on the phone and wants to speak with you. You stack the remaining books in your hands and thank him, walking over to pick up the call.

“Hey, mom. Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, sweetie! I was just calling to tell ya that Dusty is at the Wheeler’s tonight for dinner, so my plan for ribs won’t work without him. I was wondering if darling Johnny could feed you tonight? I know the two of you have that little sneaky food game.”

Your posture, once slumped over and uninterested, now straightens out. Why the hell is Dustin having dinner at the Wheeler’s? They never do that. “Uh, sure mom that won’t be an issue.”

Your mom lets out a sigh of relief. “Bless that Jonathan! I’ve always liked him…”

Your mom may be the biggest Jonathan supporter you’ve ever met. “Yeah, he’s your favorite. I know,” you shift a bit to catch Alex’s attention, mouthing to him that you need to leave work early. “Hey, did Dustin by chance say how long he’ll be at the Wheeler’s? I can swing by and pick him up after my shift.”

“Oh, I think he’s staying the night there. He mentioned something about Mike not finishing his part of their little science project?”

They’re calling the little girl a science project now? Boys are so typical. “Oh, I see. Well, I gotta get back to work, mom. I’ll be home late tonight.”

Your mom wishes you goodbye and warns you not to be out too late. You hum, already trying to figure out the quickest route to the Wheeler’s house. You can’t say you’re surprised that Mike didn’t follow the plan, but you also can’t say you were prepared for this either.

Alex comes back with your boss and you quickly make up a lie about not feeling well. Mrs. Waters gives you a pitying look and tells you to go. You’re incredibly grateful for her, she’s like a grandmother to you and has always been so kind.

You quickly bike to Mike’s house, going over a grand speech in your head for the boys. Logistically speaking, you’re not sure if they can even harbor the little girl in his basement. Would it be kidnapping? Could kids even kidnap other kids? You aren’t sure and you definitely aren’t willing to find out.

You arrive at the house just as Nancy and Barb are pulling out of the driveway, presumably to Steve’s grand house party. They wave at you awkwardly and you don’t have it in you to wave back. You park your bike next to their doorstep and knock on the door.

“Y/N? What are you doing here?” Mrs. Wheeler asks after opening the door.

“Oh, I was just wondering if I could hang out with the boys tonight? Jonathan’s busy and I promised Dustin I’d help with their campaign.”

Mrs. Wheeler cocks her head at you. “But I thought there was a special assembly at the school for Will? Nancy and Barb just left for it.”

You feel your blood boil a bit. There was no assembly for Will at your school, and it was really damn low of Nancy to use his disappearance as a cover story for her stupid party. She’s known Will since he was practically a baby. You have no idea how someone could be so unaffected by a missing child, let alone one who has been at your house every damn weekend for years now.

“Oh, that!” You force yourself to remain calm; there isn’t time to snitch on Nancy, Mrs. Wheeler would only have more questions for you. “Yeah, I’m, uh, skipping it. Jonathan doesn’t want to go, so after he’s back from his errands I’m heading over to his place to, you know, comfort him?”

The woman stares at you for a second, trying to determine if there are any lies to your words. You’ve never been the best liar, but being the oldest Henderson child has unfortunately prepared you for being quick on your feet when needed.

“Well, come on then. They boys just went downstairs, and if you can please remind them to bring the plate of food back up here I’d really appreciate it.”

You thank Mrs. Wheeler and let yourself in. Her words have all but solidified your suspicions: Mike kept the girl.

When you descend the basement steps, it’s almost comical how the kids scramble to hide the girl like little cockroaches. They run around and Dustin screams something about covering her before the poor girl is being manhandled into a sheet as Mike screams at Lucas and Dustin to calm down.

“Guys! It’s just me! Jesus!” You shout, shoving past Mike to rush over to the girl and free her from the sheets. She looks more frightened than usual, but at least she’s alive.

“God, why am I always the one you push?”

You shush Mike, smoothing back the girl’s hair and offering her a reassuring smile. “Remember me, sweetheart?”

The girl nods and softly says, “Y/N.”

“Very good. I’m going to scream at my brother real quick, so why don’t you cover your ears for me so you don’t get too frightened?”

“Wait, what-”

The minute her ears are covered, you turn to Dustin and begin screaming. “Are you brain dead and not understand the words ‘tell me if anything weird happens’ or do you simply lack the appropriate empathy needed for a concerned sister?”

Dustin ducks his head in shame. “Y/N, look-”

“No! I’m all for helping you guys with your adventures and whatever, but Will went missing and then she appears and Mike,” you turn to him and he hides behind a frightened Lucas. “You said you’d stick to your plan. Now tell me, did you?”

Mike shakes his head, his eyes wide. Dustin looks no better as he cowers behind the others. Lucas simply shrugs, knowing that this would happen. You never, ever, yell at the boys; the few times you have in the past, all hell had broken loose.

“Y/N-”

“Zip it, Henderson. I’m so pissed off at you right now and if you want to make it to thirteen I suggest you keep quiet.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Now, why don’t you guys catch me up on what you’ve so sweetly kept hidden from me.” It’s worded as a question, but the boys know better than to deny you.

You sit on the ground so that you’re next to the girl and then motion for the three boys in front of you to start speaking. They look at Mike, giving him a nudge, and he hesitantly steps forward to begin speaking. “Her name is El.”

The girl, El, looks up at you and smiles. You return the smile and knock your shoulder against hers in a playful manner. “Nice to meet you, can I ask what El is short for?”

“Eleven,” she says, and you want to question the name further but the look on Mike’s face stops you. Now is not the time, you guess.

“El, she’s… different.” Mike continues, looking around nervously. He’s acting as if someone could break in any second and snipe you guys, and a part of you doesn’t doubt it can happen. “She has these powers, like, mind control powers.”

You snort, unable to stop yourself. El looks at you, looking unoffended, seemingly expecting this reaction. However, Mike groans at you. “Y/N, this is serious. She-she knows about Will.”

At this, your smile fades and you feel an overwhelming sense of hope take over you. You find your arms wrapping around El before you can control yourself and you give her a tight hug. She stiffens in your arms and you immediately pull away. “I’m sorry, I just… sorry.”

She laughs a bit, softly saying that it’s okay.

“Do you really know Will? Where he is?” You ask, almost too scared to say the words out loud. If she’s telling the truth… you shake your head in an attempt to dispel any false hope. You don’t know this girl, she could be lying.

Before El can say anything else, Mike speaks for her. “She does, but there’s bad men out there who want to hurt her. I think they’re after Will, too.”

You freeze. “Bad men?”

“Yes, this is why we didn’t want to tell you!”

“I wanted to tell her,” Lucas says, which causes Mike to glare at him.

You wave your arms at the two boys, breaking up their fight. “Mike, what do you mean by bad men? Honey,” you look at El, “did someone hurt you? Are you in danger? Should I call the police?”

“No!” All three boys shout at once.

You look at them, at the genuine fear in their eyes, and sigh, “Okay, if you can give me a good reason not to call the cops, I won’t.”

“Did you not hear the part about El having powers?” Dustin asks.

“Gee, Dustin. You’re right! It’s like her having powers is totally believable and reassuring to the situation at hand!”

“I can show you,” El speaks up.

You all face her now. “You can?”

She nods at you, getting up and grabbing your backpack that you threw on the ground when you walked in. She rustles through it while you and the boys look at one another. After a few seconds, El grabs one of your comic books and places it on the table. She looks at you and tilts her head, indicating for you to sit down next to her; you do as you’re told.

El straightens out your comic and then closes her eyes, going completely still. The air around you shifts and you can practically feel the static electricity encasing you; the hair on your arms stand up. The pages of the comic begin to flick up, fluttering as if someone is thumbing through them in rapid succession. You watch as the Spidey panels flash before your eyes, the pages flying faster and faster until it becomes almost frightening to be near. Then, once it gets to its last page, the comic flies up into the air and hovers for a few seconds, right in front of your face.

“Holy shit,” you breathe out, your eyes wide.

Just as quickly as it began, the comic drops back onto the table. You look up at El and see that her nose is now bleeding, which rips you back to reality. The chair scrapes against the ground as you get up to help her, dabbing at the blood with a tissue that had been laying on the table.

“Do you believe us now?” Mike asks, a smug look on his face.

You gently wipe away the remaining blood from El’s face, looking her in the eye and directing your words to her. “I’m listening, sweetheart. What can you do to help us find Will?”

El smiles, pleased to have earned your trust, and you get the feeling that this little girl is the most powerful thing in all of Hawkins, maybe even the world. At her request, Mike places his DnD board on the table and arranges the pieces for El to use. She sits down and closes her eyes once more.

Lucas gives you a doubtful look. “What’s the weirdo doing?”

You flick his head, not enjoying the name calling. Honestly, you thought you raised these boys better than that.

El seems to accomplish whatever she was doing and picks up the wizard piece, murmuring, “Will.”

You feel your heart stop. Will always insisted on being the wizard whenever they played the game. He was Will the Wise, forever and always. El couldn’t have simply guessed that, and you know it’s her-

“Superpowers,” Dustin finishes your thought for you. The two of you exchange a glance and you notice the slight glee in his eyes. Under different circumstances, you’d also find this all pretty cool.

Mike sits next to El and begins to ask some questions about where she last saw Will. She gives him a look that you can’t quite decipher before swiping her arm across the table and spilling the pieces onto the floor. She then flips the board over, having it now face upside down, and places Will’s piece back down.

You knit your brows together, trying to follow along. El’s movements are methodical and carefully planned, being unable to find the right words due to her poor speech, and you try to piece together the information you’ve been given.

“I don’t understand,” Mike says, being extra gentle with El. You’ve never seen him so soft spoken before and you’re grateful at least one of the boys doesn’t view her as some monster. Which reminds you that you need to have a conversation with Dustin about respecting women, but for now you’ll hold off.

“Hiding.” says El.

He’s good at hiding, Jonathan’s words echo in your head.

“Will is hiding?”

El nods, now looking more nervous. You can tell that Mike is getting closer to information that she doesn’t want him near, which finally causes you to ask the question that’s been heavily on your mind. “From the bad men?”

Now El gives a slight shake of the head, and Mike presses on. “Then from who?”

Without saying anything, El places a second piece onto the board right in front of Will’s. It’s a piece you’re unfamiliar with, with two snake-like heads that loom over the small wizard piece. Whatever it is, you know it isn’t good judging the way Mike, Dustin, and Lucas look at each other in fear.

You turn to Dustin and whisper, “What’s that piece?”

Your brother puts his hands behind his head and sighs deeply, a new resigned look on his face. He looks as if he’s just aged thirty years, which you find a bit dramatic. “It’s the Demogorgon.”

“The Demo-what?” The name sounds familiar, but you can’t remember anything about it.

Mike looks at you and for once his voice holds no annoyance when he says, “There’s a lot we still have to catch you up on.”

–

Your head is spinning as you bike to Jonathan’s with all the new information you’ve just received. Demogorgons, magical vortexes, kids with damn superpowers. It’s all a lot for you to take in, and while you fully believe that El is something entirely different from a normal little girl, how can you be sure that it’s connected to Will? While his disappearance still confuses you, it’s illogical to jump to supernatural conclusions.

Dustin had begged you to let him spend the night at Mikes in order to keep talking to El, and you only agreed because you figured you’d be at Jonathan’s again tonight anyways. He’s been MIA all day and you’re worried as usual, but you made him and Mike swear to you that they’d stay put in the house. At least this way they’re in one place, so if they screw around they’ll be easier to find.

When you arrive at the Byers home you notice that Jonathan’s car isn’t in the driveway, which only confuses you further. Where the hell is he? You gave him all day to deal with Lonnie and cool off, trusting that he wouldn’t do anything stupid for twelve hours, and yet…

You fear he’s done something stupid.

You don’t have time to think too much about Jonathan’s absence because a frantic Joyce runs out the door screaming. She runs straight past you and into her car, and the house begins to light up like a christmas tree. You can hear The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go, a song that Will once had on repeat for three weeks straight, and you can feel the same static electricity in the air that you felt when El used her powers in front of you.

Joyce suddenly gets out of the car and spots you, pointing towards her house. “You see that too?”

You swallow. “Yeah,”

She nods, as if your confirmation is all she needs to determine her sanity, and then marches inside. You stand in the yard, motionless. You’re terrified, and after learning about El tonight, you don’t have it in you to discover any other supernatural beings in Hawkins at the moment. Sighing, you follow after the woman because Jonathan isn’t home and someone needs to talk her down from whatever panic attack the flashing lights have inevitably caused.

“Mrs. Byers-”

“Y/N, you can’t tell me there isn’t something,” Joyce waves her hands in front of her face, almost grasping at the air, “weird about all of this. That was Will’s song, the lights were flashing in Will’s room, something came out of Will’s wall-”

“Something came out of his wall?”

“Yes! I’m not… I promise I’m not crazy, okay? You saw it, please tell me you saw it.”

You bite your lip, now thinking about El. You swore to Mike you wouldn’t tell anyone about her, and honestly you’re not sure that you should tell Joyce about her right now. You’re still unsure if El is being honest with you, and you can’t just give the woman false hope for her son. It’d kill you if you were wrong about El. But seeing the lights, hearing the music, the thing in the wall… There’s something that she’s not telling you.

“Mrs. Byers… I’m not quite sure what I saw, but we just had a bad storm and it could be faulty wiring.”

Joyce slumps her shoulders, frustrated that you aren’t conspiring with her. You just… you can’t. Not yet. Not before you figure out what the hell El is doing in Hawkins. You refuse to worsen Joyce’s already chronic anxiety and paranoia; Jonathan would never forgive you if you fed into her delusions, but it kills you to lie to her.

“Look, I do think that something is weird about this entire situation, “ Joyce’s face lights up, but you’re quick to add, “however, there’s no proof. You, I mean-Mrs. Byers, you’ve seen things in the past. You’re stressed, and anxious, and all the other synonyms.”

The woman lets a few tears drop from her eyes, now embarrassed. “Maybe you’re right. I-I’m sorry, honey. I just-”

You grab her hand. “I know,”

Her smile is brittle, a ghost of the once beautiful smile she’d give you, and your heart breaks for her.

After your conversation, Joyce excuses herself to her room. She looks even more exhausted than before, so you leave her alone and hole yourself up in Jonthan’s room.

You glance at your watch and note the late hour; you’re starting to worry now. Jonathan didn’t mention anything besides Lonnie and the posters, so you don’t know what else he could be doing so late. He wouldn’t go searching for Will without you.

You wake up to Jonathan returning an hour or so later, apparently having fallen asleep while waiting for him.

“Y/N?” His voice is gruff and surprised.

You groan and rub your eyes. “Turn the light off, bee.”

He doesn’t. “What are you doing here?”

The tone of his voice wakes you up a bit, making you sit up and look at him more clearly. His shoulders are tense, his eyes are hiding something, and his overall demeanor is hard to read. “I had something to tell you, but is everything okay?”

“You couldn't have waited until tomorrow? Y/N, this is my house, just… just get out.”

“I’m sorry?” You’re confused by his behavior, now starting to become a bit defensive and hurt by his dismissal.

“You can’t just let yourself in whenever you please.” Jonathan puts his camera on his desk, still refusing to meet your eyes.

“Jonathan, we literally have always let ourselves into each other’s houses whenever we please.”

He rolls his eyes at you and rips off his jacket, throwing it at you. “Get out!”

You catch the jacket before it hits you in the face. “What the hell, Jonathan!”

“Listen, I get that you think you’re a part of the family, but you’re not. You’ve been here for days now, it’s getting old.”

His words cut through you and leave vicious wounds against your skin. He doesn’t mean that, he can’t mean that. You and him were family. He’s never, ever insinuated anything less. He wouldn’t dare. Your Jonathan would never act like this to you, and the only time he’s ever been this cruel to you was when he accidentally dropped Lonnie’s last beer in the fridge and was too embarrassed and ashamed to ask for help; he’d shown up with bruises later that night.

Then it hits you. He did something, something that makes him feel guilty; he keeps glancing at his camera. You soften your voice, “Bee, what did you do?”

He whips around, now yelling. “Nothing! Just get the hell out of my house! It’s getting pathetic!”

You swallow back the angry tears that build in your throat. Fine. Whatever. Let him be a raging bitch after everything you’ve done for him these last few days.

“Fine, I will.” Grabbing your backpack you snatch the assignments you were supposed to give Jonathan and slam them against his chest. “Here’s all your fucking assignments, by the way.”

He seems to come back to himself, blinking away the anger and shame. “Bug…”

“You don’t get to call me that.” And with that, you don’t spare Jonathan another glance.

–

When you get home, the house is eerily quiet. Dustin is at Mike’s and your mom leaves you a note saying that she’s spending the night at your aunt’s. Great. Looks like it’s just you and Mews tonight then.

After everything that’s happened tonight, you never found time to eat dinner, and your stomach is loudly growling. You drop your stuff in your room and then reheat some leftovers, feeling like a pathetic child. You know that Jonathan didn’t mean what he said, but the words had come too easily to him to have just been a way to dodge his guilt. There had been some truth to them. Maybe you were pathetic for always fretting over him.

Dinner is quiet tonight.

You wait for the phone to ring, for Jonathan to call you and apologize, but the call never comes.

You’ve never felt so alone before.

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#steve harrington x henderson!reader #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #stranger things #steve harrington fanfic #stranger things rewrite #slowburn #angst #wdtai #m's writing #the thought of steve just taking will's missing poster and then being like oh shit was so funny to me i had to add it #also sad ending #sorry #but also not

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hellfirenacht · 1 year ago

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Wing Man Part 1

Fic Summary: Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington is your best friend, and is constantly striking out. Sick of this, you two make a deal; you’ll wing man for each other. Hooking Steve up with dates is easy, but he finds himself struggling to find you a date. At least, until Dustin starts talking about his new cool friend Eddie.

Chapter Summary: You are sick of seeing Steve striking out, so you come up with a solution that could work for both of you.

5.5k words

Tags: Eddie Muson x reader, weirdo!reader, bestfriend!Steve

You hadn’t planned on becoming friends with Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington. In your mind, he was still that cocky freshman who happened to be good at playing Basketball during your senior year of high school. You’d never paid much attention to sports or the popular crowd back at Hawkins High, but word had quickly spread about the new kid.

When Steve and Robin approached you to help hook them up with a job at Family Video you were skeptical at first. Robin was a no-brainer when it came to hiring. She had the experience and clearly knew her stuff when it came to movies. Steve you were more on the fence about, as he seemed less cinematically inclined but Robin had vouched for him, and you were tired of having to cover so many of Keith’s shifts. Even when he was here, Keith was basically useless, always hiding in the back.

At this point, you were desperate for any sort of help, so you hired them both.

You quickly took a liking to them- they were easy to hang out with and were able to quickly pick up on what needed to be done. Robin always knew what movies to show on the preview televisions, and Steve was quick to pick up on any busy work that needed to get done.

“I’m always willing to go the extra mile to slack off.” he’d said once, which had earned your approval. As long as shit got done, they could slack off all they wanted. You hated that ‘if you have time to lean, you have time to clean’ bullshit. It’s not like the job was especially hard either.

Eventually you and Steve started talking on the nights where the two of you would close together alone. Tuesday and Wednesday nights were good for that sort of thing, they were your slowest days. You learned that he was floundering a bit after high school, struggling to find a place in the world now that he was no longer King Steve. It was also clear by the way he talked that he was still hung up on his ex Nancy, even if he wouldn’t admit it.

That was probably the reason why he kept striking out when flirting with customers. It was actually kind of sad.

“You know, I really should probably tell you to stop hitting on every cute girl that walks through that door.” you said, taking out some tapes from the VHS re-winder and putting in new ones. “People come here for movies, not to be hit on.”

It was a speech you’d given at least a dozen times over the past four months. You’d said it so many times that Steve was mouthing along the words as you said them, and you gave his arm a smack. Your heart wasn’t in it though, in truth you knew that at least half of the young women who came to Family Video were here to see Steve and flirt, which is why you were so baffled that he was striking out so hard.

He was good with customers, great even. When he first started working here he would get several numbers slipped to him between returned VHS tapes. But as the Summer months shifted into Autumn, he seemed to be running out of steam.

“I can’t help it if I’m naturally charming.” Steve said, with over-compensated confidence. “I don’t even need to think, I’m just that good at flirting.”

“Yeah, I think your charisma stat has taken a hit over these past few weeks dude.” you snorted.

“I still don’t know what that means.” Steve said. “But I have plenty of charisma!”

“You know, if you actually paid attention to what me or your children said every once in a while you’d understand us better.” You couldn’t help but laugh. Over the past few months, so many freshman had come in just to bother Steve while he was working. “How is the single mom life by the way? Am I giving you enough hours to pay the bills? Do the kids need new shoes for school?”

“I’m not the mom, I’m the babysitter.” Steve shot back, before realizing how lame that actually was then he sighed. “I think they’re doing okay. Henderson’s the only one who actively keeps up with me.”

You didn’t miss the hint of disappointment in his voice. “It’s hard when they grow up.” you said, putting your hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they won’t put you in a home.”

Steve snorted and brushed your hand off. “Says the one older than me.” he rolled his eyes.

“See, I don’t have six kids to raise, so I’m going to stay young and fun forever, Harrington.” you teased. “You’ve got a full brood to look after. Oh look, I think I see a gray hair right there!”

You reached over to touch his hair and he swatted you away again. “Like hell there is!” he said, mild panic in his voice. You didn’t let up and kept reaching for his hair and he kept pushing you off.

“Yup, that’s a gray one, you’re about to go full Doc Brown on me before the end of the year!” You declare as he attempted to push you off.

Despite him trying to push you off, there was a smile on his face. A lot of nights ended like this with you annoying him and teasing him for his relationship with so many kids. It was endearing really.

The door to the front of the store rang and you two immediately jumped apart as a girl came in, looking to be about Steve’s age. She was pretty, and you slipped out from behind the desk to put away some movies. He really shouldn’t be flirting with the customers, you know this. But... well it was Tuesday night and you were bored and this was far more entertaining than reorganizing the movies in the back room. Less sticky too.

“Action!” You heard Steve call from up front and you moved casually between the aisles and cringed. Oh, no. He was doing the bit again. How many times have you told him that it wouldn’t work? “Oh, I’m sorry you’re so beautiful I thought you were an actress.”

You had to bite your hand to stop yourself from laughing. You couldn’t handle this, this didn’t work the first dozen times, why the hell would it work now? Steve’s voice carried easily, projecting around the video store and allowing you to hear every single word that came out of his mouth.

You listened as Steve threw everything at this poor girl. Talking himself up as some sort of cinema aficionado when you knew the last movie he rented was Star Wars for the third time to watch with Dustin. And he called you the nerd.

“So yeah, I was thinking, beautiful girl like yourself might enjoy watching this movie with some company.” Steve said, handing over the movie. The girl in question gave a polite smile and declined the movie, renting the two that she had actually came for and left.

“That... was sad, Steve.” you said, as she disappeared into the parking lot. You walked over to the counter and picked up the movie that Steve had tried to offer her. “‘The Karate Kid?’ Really? That was your big plan?”

Steve’s was leaning over the desk, bracing his hands against the side of the counter looking down. “I panicked ok?” he admitted. “I don’t know what’s going on with me. I used to be so good at getting any girl I wanted and now I keep blowing it.”

You felt for the guy, you really did. He’d gone from the top of the world to treading water in just a few short months. Steve had told you that he had been at Starcourt Mall the day of the fire, and you had a feeling that it affected him more than he let on. You’d seen him get rejected so many times, but he was always able to brush it off. This time it looked personal.

Well, he was your friend now, and as your friend it was up to you to help him out.

“I think you need to learn how to talk to women now that you’re not in high school anymore, Steve.” you said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “The tactics you used before just aren’t going to cut it now. Welcome to “life after high school” where everything you learned over the past twelve years is socially useless.”

“Yeah? And what would you know about social skills?” Steve said. “I haven’t exactly seen you going on any dates lately either.”

“Rude, but fair.” you admitted. He didn’t mean anything mean by it, but the two of you were very much opposites when it came to how you both approached things such as your social and dating life.

Steve was interested in taking any pretty face he saw out on a date. You had not been on a date in months, and had barely tried. Steve had countless tales about his time dating in high school, you went to Homecoming stag with your friends once. Steve talked about a time where he was almost having too much sex. You shamelessly rented porn from the back room and made Steve ring you up as he rolled his eyes.

He’d asked you on a date once and you almost laughed in his face. He was good looking, in a traditional sense but not your type.After thinking about it, you decided that kissing Steve sounded too much like kissing your favorite cousin. You had politely declined and he seemed relieved.

It’s not that you didn’t have an interest in dating, you did. You had tried to explain it to Steve one night, that so many people were into being popular and caring about things that you just couldn’t. You’d tried to fit in, but your interests were just weird. You could have fun at a football game if you were with friends, but that came from the excitement of being in an excited crowd and being with people you liked. You didn’t blame anyone for it, you were glad that people could care about these things. You just wished someone could get excited about the same things that you did.

You and Steve were both fish out of water, you’d just grown used to not being able to breathe.

“Sorry.” said Steve, standing up straight again. “That was below the belt.”

“You’re a dick, but it’s fine.” you shrugged. You’d been called worse for less. “You know, I may not be the pinnacle of normalcy but I do happen to be a woman.”

“I thought you said you were the Creature from the Black Lagoon.” Steve laughed under his breath.

“Only on special occasions.” you replied. “But that’s not the point. Look, you need help getting your groove back. I’m tired of renting movies from the back. I think we could help each other.”

Steve turned to you, brows furrowed. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’m thinking we could try wing-manning for each other.” you said. “I’ll talk you up and help you not make a jackass out of yourself, and you can help me get a date too.”

Steve opened his mouth to say something smart, but he closed it quickly with a tilt of his head. He looked to the side, thinking about the proposal.

“You can’t do any worse with my help.” you said. “I mean, that ‘actress’ line was bad. Really bad. Like, horrible. I don’t know why you keep using it.”

“It worked with Linda Mendelli.” Steve said defensively.

“Yeah, I have no idea who that is.” you said.

“She got the lead in the spring musical two years ago.”

“So your actress line worked on a high school actress once.” you laughed. “That explains everything.”

“Like you could come up with a better line!” Steve pouted.

“I can think of a million different lines that would work better than that. And I’ll share them with you, if we have a deal.” you said.

“So you want me to get you a date?” he clarified. “That’s what you want out of this?”

“That’s what I get out of this. Well, that and I can stop nearly puking when I have to listen to you come up with some weird line when a cute girl walks in. It would save me a lot of money on nausea medication.” You smirked.

Steve thought about it for a moment before looking you up and down. “I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say you’re already not interested in changing anything about yourself to make this easier on me.”

“Again, that’s really rude. That is correct though, you get me a date as I am. No make-over montage, no pretending I’m something I’m not. I spent all of high school trying to be something else, and I’m done with that.” you said firmly.

Steve turned away from you, ran his fingers through his hair, and then turned back, offering his hand. “Fine, you have a deal.”

With a smile, you spat in your hand and grabbed his in a firm shake. “Deal.”

“Ew!” he jerked his hand back as you laughed. Steve wiped his hand on his pants looking disgusted. “That’s so gross, you really are giving me a run for my money.”

“Right then,” you said with an amused grin. “Let’s start with lesson one, and stop with any stupid pick-up lines to get attention.”

Over the next few weeks, in the slow times during work where there was nothing to do but dust the shelves and rewind tapes, you coached Steve on how to talk to women.

“It’s really not that hard.” you explained one night. “It really does come down to just two things; be sincere and be confident. You already have probably too much confidence coming out your ass, but the sincerity isn’t there. You keep throwing these random lines out and hoping something sticks. Fine, that works in high school but not anymore.”

“I’m always sincere about asking them on a date!” he protests. “I’m not just asking every girl I see out on a date!”

“That’s statistically incorrect but I’ll humor you.” you said, as you organized the candy shelf, restocking the skittles. “I believe it when you ask a girl out, but you’re so oblivious about them as people. Newsflash, not all girls are the same Harrington.”

“Yeah, some of them are you.” he said, leaning against the counter, having already given up on pretending to work for the night. “How many times have you seen that Rocky Horror movie now?”

“I see it once a month with my friends at the old Cenimaplex right outside town. Been doing that since I was eighteen.” you confirmed. “I’m hoping to get to be part of the shadow cast at some point.”

“See? That’s weird. Most people maybe go see it once in October.” Steve points out.

“We aren’t talking about me, Harrington. We’re talking about the type of girls you’re into. Also, don’t knock it. I plan on dragging you along this month. It’s about time you lose your virginity.” you smirked as you ripped open a box of snickers and handed him one. “Don’t tell Keith.”

He took the candy bar. “You know I’m not a virgin. I have had sex before you know.”

You shook your head, that’d be a conversation for another day. “Let’s get back to the point. You keep asking girls out but you don’t know them.”

“I get to know them when I’m on a date.” he said.

“That’s all well and good, but you need to be able to see what kind of person they are before you go on the date. Not everyone is like me and wears their personality on their sleeves.” you explained, taking your own candy of choice off the rack. “Okay so today for example. Remember the girl that came in with the brown hair and rented out Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure?” Steve nodded. “So, she also rented out The Breakfast Club.”

“Okay? And what does that have to do with anything?” Steve asked.

“It means she has a kid sibling, and is probably a burnt out older sibling.” you said. “Loves her baby brother or sister but is also very introspective and trying to figure herself out. You came on too strong with her, asking her to a high school basketball game was too high energy.”

Steve gawked at you for a moment. “I hate that you just made sense.” He rubbed his cheeks with his hands. “Shit.”

“Dude, just pay attention to whoever you’re interested in and all the pieces will fall in place.” you said. “Pay attention to the movies, what she’s saying, and if she’s giggling at you then that’s a good sign.”

“Pay attention. Right. I can do this.” he said.

Two weeks after this conversation, Steve nabbed his first date in two months. It had taken a little bit of coaching and some hyping on your end but he got a girls number and had set up a date.

Three days after that he had another date set up.

Two days after that, another three dates.

It was the start of October now, and you were decorating the store for the season. You were standing on a ladder putting up a strand of black garland while Steve held the ladder.

“So I’m taking Shannon out on Tuesday to get ice cream at the new place down the street.” Steve explained.

“We work Tuesday.” you said.

“Tuesday morning.” Steve clarified. “Then Thursday I have two dates with Amy and Marissa since it’s my day off.”

He’d been going on about this for an hour. Steve had been going on dates steadily again for at least three weeks now. It had only been a little over a month that the two of you had agreed to the deal. Now King Steve was back, and you were now subject to every detail of his romantic escapades again. You were happy for your friend, really, but sometimes you’d sneak into the back room and organize the porn just to give you a moment away from hearing about your friends new-found sex life.

It didn’t need to make sense, it just needed to work.

“Do you ever stop to sleep?” you asked, taping up the final end of garland and coming back down the ladder.

“Sometimes I sleep before I have to sneak out a window after I’ve-”

“Nope. No more words, Harrington.” you said, holding up a hand as he laughed. “I get it, I’ll give you more hours so that you can expand your condom budget. Your poor kids must feel neglected while you find them a new mom.”

“I thought you said that I was the single mom?” Steve asked as you both moved the ladder to a new spot. He handed you a bat from the box that held the Halloween decorations.

“Oh, you are. Your kids can have two moms, I’ll allow it.” you said, hopping up on the ladder again. “Hey look, I’m Ozzie Osbourn!”

Jokingly you bit at the head of the bat as Steve looked up at you as if you were insane. “...What?”

You frowned and looked down at him. “Black Sabbath?” you asked. “The guy bit a bats head off on stage?” Now he was looking at you like you were a total psychopath. “Oh come on, you didn’t hear about that? The first time it was a fake bat but then he somehow managed to grab a real bat?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, as usual.” Steve said, shaking his head. “What movie is Black Sabbath again?”

It was your turn to stare at him now. “How are we even friends?” you asked. “You and I don’t have a single thing in common. ‘What movie is Black Sabbath’ be so for real right now.”

“You asked me last week if the Pacers was a marathon I was going to race!” Steve shot back.

“And I stand by that, because that does NOT sound like the name of a basketball team.” You climbed higher on the ladder to hang the bat.

“You’re thinking of the Fitness Gram Pacer Test.”

“Sports!” you cried out, giving the bat a small bap to make it swing. “Movement like that means nothing to me!” you gave a pause. “Unless you’re actually going to compete. I’ll care for your sake if you’re playing. Otherwise I’m just gonna smile and nod. Give me another bat.”

Steve dug into the box again to pull out another bat for you. “So what’s Black Sabbath then?” he finally asked.

“Look at you taking my lessons to heart and asking questions about a girls interest!” You reached down and pat his hair, causing him to swat you away again with a comment about not touching his hair. “It’s a metal band.”

“I didn’t think you were into metal.” Steve said as you came back down the ladder.

“I’m into anything I like.” you said simply. “Why limit yourself, you know? If I like something I need to learn everything about it or I feel like my brain will explode.”

“You’re kind of weird.”

“I know.”

The two of you continued to decorate the store between taking care of customers. You were going a bit overboard, if you were honest. Keith had handed you a pathetic box of a few paper decorations to use, and you had gone out with your own money to buy more. If you were expected to be here to earn a paycheck you may as well get something out of it, even if it was the feeling of being surrounded by cheesy holiday memorabilia.

“So how are the kids, Harrington?” you asked, untangling a fake spiders web.

Steve sighed, messing with the candy counter. “Dustin’s doing good. He’s made a friend at school.”

“You seem tense about that.” you looked over at him. “Care to share with the class how that makes you feel?”

“I don’t feel anything about it.” Steve said, clearly defensive. “Henderson has a new cool older friend who’s into the same nerdy shit he’s into.”

Steve was so jealous, it was written all over his face. How long had he been the cool older figure in that kid's life?

“Should have taken him up on playing D&D with him.” you said with a grin. “Now your child is going to divorce you for a new dad.”

“You really need to sort out whatever metaphor you’re going to use with me and these kids.”

“Nah, gotta keep you on your toes.”

Steve shook his head with a laugh. “It’s funny you know? One minute I’m the coolest guy in the room to everyone. I was king of Hawkins High, had these kids that annoyed the shit out of me but looked up to me, and the best girlfriend I could have asked for. Then I graduated, the kids took over school, and now I’m single even after going on all these dates.”

“Yeah, life’s funny like that.” you agreed. “If it makes you feel any better I don’t think you’re super lame. You’re actually kind of an alright dude.”

“Thanks.”

“Any time.”

“...So speaking of you going on dates.” you started slowly, unsure how to bring this up.

“Right, yeah, so I said I was going out with Amy and Marissa on Thursday-” Steve started.

“No not that,” you interrupted. “Well, sort of but not really. So I’ve held up my end of the bargain, Harrington.”

Steve froze for a moment before looking up at you on the ladder. “Oh, right. So about that, I have no idea what you even like in a guy.”

“Fair enough, I have not exactly been as pro-active as you have been.” The past few weeks had been so busy with the changing of seasons and weeding out old movies that you hadn’t really had time to think about dates. You’d been stuck in a perpetual loop of work and school with the occasional odd movie night with Steve and Robin when they were free.

“So what do you like?” he asked. “If you want my help, you’re gonna have to open up about that.”

“Oh but that involves being vulnerable with King Steve of Hawkins High and that’s not exactly my style.” you sighed dramatically.

“Last week when we got together for movie night you got drunk and cried about how you got asked out to prom as a joke. Is that not opening up or being vulnerable?”

You winced and made a face. “I did that? Yikes. I’m never drinking again.” You did remember renting out Carrie with the others and crying because she had been a very relatable character in your early high school years. Things were a lot better now that you left high school, but you supposed that had struck a nerve.

“Come on, just give me something to work with. I know you’re a weirdo who obsesses over the most random things. You like Rocky Horror and anything with music. But what do you like in a guy?” Steve pressed.

You fiddled with the decoration that had been perfectly hung a moment ago, just to give you something to do with your hands. This was a very good question that you had thought about a lot.

“I guess I want someone who’s as weird as I am.” you finally said. “I’d like to at least meet someone who understood the things I cared about, or was at least willing to learn. I know I’m different, and I’m okay with being different. I want a guy who gets being like that, and won’t make me feel less for it.”

“That’s... specifically vague.” Steve said, thinking. “I was thinking more looks wise.”

“I like guys with long hair.” you said immediately.

That he could probably work with. You hopped off the ladder for the last time and he helped you pack it away in the storage closet.

Steve was thinking hard about what to do about his end of the bargain when the door rang and someone walked inside.

“Steve!” A voice called out, and your co-workers face immediately lit up and ran to the front of the store.

“Henderson!”

You watched as the two boys ran to each other, immediately going into a secret handshake that you couldn’t help but find endearing. The kids that Steve was friends with were always fun, but you had to admit that you had a soft spot for Dustin. That was a kid who knew who he was and wasn’t afraid to be it. You admired that a lot about him.

Deciding to give them a bit of space, you made yourself busy with the horror movie section, making sure that everything was in place. Lucky for you though, those two were still very much boys and you could hear every single part of their conversation.

It’s not eavesdropping if they’re that loud. Probably.

“The store looks great!” Dustin said, looking around. “You guys really went all out with the decorations, huh?”

“Yup, we just got finished. She bought most of this stuff herself.” Steve gestured to you and you gave a wave.

“Hey, Dustin!” you called out, and he waved back.

“They’ve started putting up decorations at school too, but people keep stealing them.” Dustin said. “There are at least three skeletons missing from the science labs.”

“Those aren’t decorations, Henderson. I think those are supposed to be educational.” Steve replied.

“Not when they’re wearing witches hats and cat ears.” Dustin countered. Steve shrugged in agreement.

“So is school going alright? How’s Lucas doing on the team? What about Mike?” Steve asked and you couldn’t help but laugh to yourself. Steve could deny it all he wanted, but he was absolutely a single mother to these kids. You wished that you had a way to record him so that he could see the way he was fussing over them.

“Lucas is still a bench-warmer.” Dustin said, grabbing a candy bar from the snack stand. You conveniently were too busy making sure that a copy of Sleepaway Camp was properly rewound to notice the blatant theft. “He still goes to practice every week, but he hasn’t been on the court yet. He’s been making a lot of cool and popular friends.”

There was no hiding the disdain in his voice when he said that.

“Well Basketball is the best way to secure your ranking at Hawkins.” Steve said. “I would know.”

“Yeah but it seems like he never has time to even come to Hellfire Club anymore. We’re lucky if he makes it to one or two sessions a month.” Dustin sighed. “He totally blew off me and Mike last week to go hang out with his cool new friends.”

“You know, you have an in with the popular crowd now Henderson. You could use this as a chance to be popular.” Steve pointed out.

“But I don’t want to be popular, Steve! I’m happy with the friends I have and enjoying what I like.”

“Ignore Steve, he’s stupid. Keep doing what you’re doing, kid!” you called out to them, making Dustin laugh and Steve sigh.

“Thank you.” Dustin said before turning to Steve again. “Anyway, Eddie says that conformity is overrated. He says it’s better to be a freak with a few friends than some weird version of normalcy and be miserable.”

“Right, because ‘the freak’ is so wise.” Steve said, rolling his eyes.

“He is!” Dustin frowned. “You know, he’s the only person who’s been nice to me and Mike since we started school. And last session he had us-”

That was when you started tuning the conversation out. You looked up at the clock and swore, you had some work to do in the back before your shift is over.

“Steve, watch the front for me. I’ll be finishing up in the back.” you called out, and Steve only waived in response.

Once you were out of earshot, Steve held up a hand to Dustin to signal him to stop talking.

“What?” asked Dustin. “You told me that I get at least five uninterrupted minutes to talk about the campaign when we hang out.”

“Yeah, and I’ll let you have seven minutes if you help me out.” Steve said.

“Seven? An extra two minutes? Make it ten.” Dustin crossed his arms,

“Eight.”

“Deal. What do you need?”

Steve stares at Dustin for a second. He doesn’t want to ask this question, as he never had any interest in knowing anything about Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson. Eddie had been a stagnant 2 years ahead of him and somehow still hadn’t graduated. Steve couldn’t comprehend being 20 and still in high school, and he almost felt bad for entertaining this thought. Then again, you had also spent an extra semester at school, so maybe that wouldn’t be a deterrent.

“I need you to tell me more about Eddie.” Steve finally managed to get out. Dustin looked like Christmas had suddenly come early.

“You want to know more about Eddie?” Dustin had a shit-eating grin on his face that Steve hated. “Since when do you have an interest in Dungeons and Dragons?”

“I still don’t.” Steve said firmly. “I never have and never will understand your game. And I’m not asking about him for me, I’m asking about him for her.” He motioned to the door to the back room.

“Her?” Dustin looked at the door, as if he could see you through the flimsy wood. “Is she wanting to play?”

“I don’t know, probably? She’s made enough references to playing before. Listen, no, that’s not what this is about.” Steve sighed. “We have this deal going on. She’d help me get dates if I helped her get a date. And she followed through, and I still have no idea how to get her a date.”

“She wants to date Eddie?” Dustin had a look on his face that was a mix of surprise and confusion. “How does she know him?”

“I don’t think she knows Eddie.” Steve said. “But she wants someone weird and as much as I hate to admit it, your new friend might actually fit her criteria.”

“Fifteen minutes.”

“Dude, come on.”

“Fifteen uninterrupted minutes, and you let me rent an R rated movie.”

“Jesus, Henderson.”

“Deal or no deal?”

Steve turned and looked at the door that you had disappeared behind. You had been a good friend to him over the past four months, a really good friend. You and Robin had been able to keep him grounded and going after the Starcourt Fire. You’d more than held up your end of the bargain.

“Fine, deal.” Steve agreed.

Dustin smiled and seemed content. “So what do you want to know?”

Part 2

Dividers by @strangergraphics

Tag List @k8loo @terrormonster55 @sp1dyb0y1008 @crocwork-clockodile

#eddie munson x reader #nacht fic #wing man

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agaypanic · 9 months ago

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omg requests are open!! i hope you’re having a great day, i’d like to request reader is malcolm’s childhood best friend and starts to realize she likes reese, reese has the same realization + how malcolm would take the news tyyy

My Best Friend's Brother (Reese Wilkerson X Reader)

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Summary: You always thought of Reese as your best friend’s mean older brother, and Reese always thought of you as his little brother’s annoying tag-along. But as you get older, you realize that feelings can change.

A/N: i had no idea how to end this :///

***

Knowing Malcolm for years, you didn’t mind that his family was a bit insane. You had grown to embrace the chaos. You seemed to be more accepting of it than your best friend, who constantly complained about how he wished he had a normal family.

The only family member you joined Malcolm in complaining about was his older brother, Reese. He was a menace, probably psychotic if you were being honest. He was known for being a bully and an asshole, and no matter how hard you tried to look on the bright side of things, you couldn’t help but agree with those judgments.

Reese returned your feelings of annoyance and light loathing. Every time he saw you at his house, he complained about how it was like you lived at the Wilkersons instead of your own place. And whenever he saw you at school, he talked about how he could never escape your presence no matter how hard you tried.

Safe to say, Malcolm did his best to keep the two of you away from each other.

But then, one day, things changed. At least for you.

You were waiting for Malcolm in the living room. The two of you were planning to study at the library and see a movie. You decided to flip through channels on the TV while Malcolm got dressed and got his things together.

“Don’t you have your own house to hang around?” You rolled your eyes at Reese’s voice.

“And don’t you have some kid to beat up? Or a class to fail?” You tossed the remote on the couch, letting the TV stay on some random channel as you turned your head to look at Malcolm’s brother. But when your eyes fell on him, it felt like your brain stopped functioning.

Reese stood just a few feet away from you, the only thing covering him being a towel wrapped around his waist. His usually spiky hair lay flat and wet on his head. His bare chest was covered in water droplets, falling over his abs and v-line, which disappeared beneath the towel.

“What are you looking at?” He smirked at your speechlessness, a rare state for you to be in. You cleared your throat, turning away from him to turn off the TV before standing up.

“Put on a shirt,” you say, bumping into his lean but muscled arm as you pass by him to go find Malcolm. “Weirdo.”

***

Ever since that day, you’ve been looking at Reese differently. At first, you chalked it up to just being horny or something, because all you could think about was his body. But then you started getting nervous anytime he came around. Whenever you knew you were going over to Malcolm’s house, you put a bit more effort into your appearance just in case you saw Reese. And whenever Malcolm complained about his brother, you didn’t add onto it like you usually did.

“Hey.” You watched Reese make dinner, which you were staying at the Wilkersons for. He glanced up at you, brows furrowing as he returned to the pasta he was cooking.

“What do you want?”

“Can I help?” You blurted out, surprising the both of you. You didn’t really want to cook, but standing next to Reese and helping him make spaghetti was probably better than just ogling him.

Reese took a second to think about it, eyes darting around the kitchen, which was cluttered with ingredients and cookware.

“Okay.” He beckoned you closer and pointed to a jar of sauce and a cluster of seasonings. “You can make the sauce.”

You nodded, pouring the tomato sauce into a pot and turning on the burner. As you stirred, Reese moved away and out of sight, which disappointed you slightly. But you brushed it off and continued cooking.

And then suddenly, he was right behind you.

“Lift your head up.” You tried to disguise the shiver that went down your spine with a deep breath, straightening up like Reese had said. Something passed over your head, and then Reese’s arms reached around your waist. He snugly tied the apron he had put on you, taking a moment before moving back to his previous place beside you. “Don’t forget the seasonings.”

“Yes, chef.” You busied yourself with the sauce so you could ignore your cheeks heating up. Reese gave you a look you didn’t see before clearing his throat and returning to the pasta.

***

“Y/n!?” Malcolm called out as he entered your seemingly empty house. You were supposed to meet him at the park for studying and lunch, and you were an hour late. This was extremely unlike you, so Malcolm decided to swing by your place to see what the hold-up was. “Y/n, are you here?”

At first, Malcolm thought that shouting through the house was useless, because it seemed like you weren’t there. But as he walked through the house, getting close to your bedroom, he realized he wasn’t the only person in it.

He didn’t realize until it was too late that there was one more person in the house than he thought.

“Oh my God!” Malcolm yelled in horror as he looked in your room. Surprised by Malcolm’s sudden presence, you froze, which wasn’t the best thing to do, considering that you were straddling Reese’s lap while he sat up against your headboard. “What the hell are you guys doing?!”

“Malcolm, what are you doing here?” You scrambled off of Reese, who seemed less shocked than you about his brother catching you making out.

“What am I doing here? What’s he doing here?!” Malcolm slammed the door behind him, forcing the three of you to bask in the awkwardness. “How long has this been going on?”

You and Reese looked at each other, silently arguing about who would answer Malcolm’s interrogations.

“A couple weeks,” Reese finally said, eyes glued on you. “And before you say anything Malcolm, I’m not gonna stop seeing her. I don’t care if she’s your best friend.”

“And I don’t care if he’s your brother.” You added.

Malcolm looked like he was about to explode.

“What?!”

***

Malcolm in the Middle Taglist: @rattilol

Reese Wilkerson Taglist: @hollymaybank @theogirlovermattheogirl

#agaypanic #reese wilkerson #reese wilkerson x reader #malcolm in the middle #malcolm in the middle x reader

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strawberryshortcake1495 · 2 months ago

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Here’s my personal interpretation of Dipper in my “The Summer Project” AU (loosely based off @urdadsceilingfan’s Reverse Portal AU)

Now this post is LONG overdue. As I’ve scoured the few posts I’ve made about my Summer Project AU, I noticed I unintentionally antagonized Dipper as this bad brother who’s too much of a wimp to protect his sister 😭 So I’m gonna try to shed some light on him, not to excuse his actions, but to simply show his side of the story.

Dipper had a rough childhood. He always had his twin sister, Mabel, but besides that, everyone was so mean to him. Some kids could stomach Mabel’s fun-loving personality but when it came to him, he was just some stupid nerd. He wasn’t happy with his life. That was until he met the Book Club. Other nerds who had the same interests as him, weirdos who loved the things that people would laugh at him about. And they weren’t shy like Dipper, they were proud of who they were and that inspired Dipper to join them. He tagged Mabel along and everything seemed great. But as Dipper grew older, his relationship with his sister began to change. This was due to the Book Club not being as friendly to Mabel as they were to him. It’s as if their status in school has changed. Now his sister was the weird outcast and he was the lovable dork. His heart ached for his best friend, but at the same time…it felt so good not to be the laughingstock for once. Whenever one of his friends would tease and openly bully Mabel, he’d get this tight feeling in his chest. His heart would beat loudly like thunder, and his breathing would quicken. In moments like those, he’d squeeze Mabel’s hand to provide some sort of comfort. For her, of course! If she was far away, he’d squeeze his own hand.

As summer was around the corner, he and his sister started getting into fights over the Book Club. Dipper was put in a rough position. Should he choose the people who made him feel wanted, or the person who made him feel loved? He didn’t get the chance to fully think this through, as his parents told him they were shipping he and Mabel off to Gravity Falls to stay with their Grunkle Ford. The night before they went on that bus, he overheard a conversation between his parents. A conversation he wasn’t supposed to hear. They were getting a divorce. He and Mabel could be separated. He couldn’t bear the thought of a life without his sister. Dipper didn’t get a lot of sleep that night, which resulted in him having an awful migraine the first day they stayed at Grunkle Ford’s museum. At night, Mabel brought him a cold glass of water and some pills she found in a cabinet. Dipper took the pills and drank the water. Big fat tears streamed down his face and he begged Mabel to stay by his side until he fell asleep. He squeezed her hand so tight it might’ve cut off her circulation. She sung a lullaby to help him sleep. The next day, he told her he cried because of how painful the migraine was. That was a lie.

The rest of the summer from then on was amazing. From crushing on that pretty lumberjack girl Wendy, solving mysteries with his sister, and growing close with his great uncle Ford, everything was great! Dipper never thought he’d see the day that he would be truly happy. He hoped the rest of the summer would be as great as this.

But then “Not What She Seems” rolls around. Dipper and Ford find out that Mabel is hiding something. She’s trying to bring back this weird demon guy named Bill Cipher. His great uncle Ford claimed the thing to be his biggest enemy. By the way he described their past, Dipper assumed Bill to be some crazy ex (but he’d never tell Ford that). He and Ford confront Mabel and she breaks down into tears. There’s that feeling again. The one that gnaws at his chest. The tightness. The pounding heart. The hyperventilating. No matter how hard he squeezes his own hand, the feeling doesn’t go away. Suddenly, he’s in the air and in front of him is the shutdown button for the portal. Ford begs him to turn it off. Mabel doesn’t try to defend herself, she just won’t stop crying. He can’t move. Why can’t he move? His ears ring. The only sound he can hear is the loud whirring of the portal. His chest feels WAY too tight, as if his lungs were collapsing in on itself. He can’t breathe. He can’t breathe. He can’t breathe. He can’t br-

Suddenly, he’s blasted away as the portal activates and he hits the floor with a loud thump. Pain spreads from his spine up to his head. He wakes up surrounded by a pool of something wet…he realizes it’s blood. His own blood. Dipper panics and pulls himself up, probing a big wound on the back of his head with his hands. Ford runs to him and inspects the wound, his eyes filled with concern and care. Then there’s some footsteps. Dipper and Ford whip their heads towards the sound. Dipper thinks it’s Mabel. It’s not.

(design is by the silly @taco-del-taco)

Wholesome hc: The pine tree sweater Dipper wears is the first sweater that Mabel ever knitted. It ended up being too big for him back then but now it fits perfectly. Dipper knows Mabel isn’t too proud of her own sweater so he wears his to make her feel better about herself.

#gravity falls #gravity falls au #reverse portal au #dipper pines #mabel pines #ford pines #stan pines #bill cipher #wendy corduroy #the summer project au

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orions-choker · 4 months ago

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+:★:+* Chapter Two: Hit The Lights +:★:+*

“Okay so, Dracula is a yes, Frankenstein no?” Kirk's eyebrows were raised in intrigue, leaned forward across the table, beer in hand. “Why not?”

Y/N scoffed, leaning forward and grabbing the drink from his hands to take a sip. She may not be of legal age to drink yet but she was confident the waiters in the restaurant wouldn't notice if she stole a few sips. “Well..” she placed the beer back into Kirk's grasp, ignoring the offended look he gave her. “What's hotter, rich guy in a castle who drinks blood and keeps hot ladies around? Or an undead monster made of rotting body parts?”

“What the fuck are you two talking about?” James interjected, leaning over the back of his booth with Lars into their own. His long hair tickled Y/N's shoulders and she swatted him away.

Tilting her head back to look up at her brother, Y/N frowned. “The fuck-ability of classic movie monsters.” She helpfully informed him. She grabbed a slice of her pizza and shoved it in his mouth forcefully. “Now butt out, you won't contribute anything helpful anyways.”

Laughter graced Y/N's ears from across the table, a blush rising to her cheeks. A sense of pride washed over her knowing she could so easily make Kirk happy with her antics. “Fuckin’ weirdos,” James grumbled, turning around to slump back in his seat with the others.

Y/N and Kirk had been banished to their own booth by the rest of the guys. One too many drinks had the two of them howling like hyenas, not letting anyone else get a word in edgewise. “Alright so your into vampires, I'll keep that in mind.” Kirk nodded nonchalantly, taking a bite of their shared pizza.

With a grin and a shake of her head Y/N protested. “Nuh uh, you have to tell me your thoughts on it.” there was a mischievous glint in her eye as she leaned across the table on her elbows.

There was a pause and a thoughtful hum from Kirk. “Y'know come to think of it, I don't want to fuck either of them.” His declaration earned a scandalized gasp from Y/N. “I do, however , want to be Dracula, I like biting things and I think I would make a pretty hot vampire, don't you agree?” He leaned back against the seat, his tongue briefly snaking out to swipe along his teeth. God she loved those teeth.

It felt like her blood was boiling beneath her skin as Y/N stared at him across the table. Her mouth unable to form words as she stared at him, his skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, his white button down clinging to his skin, the sleeves rolled up just to his elbows. His hair was starting to get longer now as well, sticking just lightly to his forehead.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes to snap herself out of the trance he had induced on her. “Ugh as if, sorry Kirky you have nothing on my man Bela Lugosi.” She waved her hand dismissively at him. She felt him kick her shin lightly from beneath the table, causing the two of them to erupt into giggles once more.

On the bus the five of them had settled into a comfortable routine. The boys would all get shitfaced drunk through the night, Y/N would sit with them as her form of entertainment until she got tired of the yelling and went to bed. No one would wake until their next show and they would grab food after. It was the closest thing Y/N had to a routine or anything resembling normalcy since she was a kid.

Y/N liked the shows too, standing off to the side with the roadies, getting to watch her brother and best friends live out their dreams each night. What she didn't enjoy, was some of the people that tagged along after.

She was used to the booze, the women brought around, mostly by her own brother and Lars, never Kirk though, never Kirk. The drugs on the other hand, left her with a deep unsettled feeling in her stomach.

It started off with weed, acid occasionally when Cliff felt like it. At some point though the boys started doing bumps, thin powdery white lines off tables, dashboards, people. It happened, she supposed, when you got deep into the scene. The roadies, tech guys, bar owners it seemed everyone was offering them drugs.

Even in her brothers less than sober state, James was insistent she stay far away from it. Pretty hard to do when it completely surrounded her. She hadn't even drank before she joined the boys and now it seemed she had one in her hand all the time.

The five of them boarded the bus again, Y/N complaining with a laugh as she tried to push a drunk Lars off of her, his arm slung around her shoulders as he hollered about something she couldn't bother paying attention to.

Kirk was passing a joint between himself and Cliff, Y/N's eyes lingered on the plumes of smoke passing between Kirk's lips. She jumped, startled, as Lars leaned forward whispering in his ear.

“You fuck him yet or what.”

Y/N gasped, slapping Lars away from her. He laughed heartily, barely shielding himself from her beatings. No one questioned the abuse Y/N inflicted on him, he usually deserved it.

Cliff was the first to catch on to Y/N's crush on Kirk. He was sweet about it at the least, his teasing gentle and brotherly. Lars found out next and it had been consistently the same bullying. She could only hope that her brother and most of all Kirk wouldn't find out.

“Ugh fuck you guys I'm going to bed.” She groaned, her eyes rolling to the side as she pried herself away from Lars. She stumbled to the back still buzzed from the drinks she stole from Kirk in the restaurant.

She heard footsteps behind her as she reached the sliding door to her room. “Hey Y/N,” Kirk's voice caught her off guard. “You don't want to hang out anymore?” He asked his big brown eyes pleading.

Shaking her head with a reassuring smile Y/N explained “Lars is pissing me off, I'm tired anyways.”

Kirk pursed his lips, a contemplative look on his face. He opened his mouth wordlessly before shaking his head. He smiled warmly at her. “Okay, goodnight Y/N.” He sighed, reaching out to ruffle her hair.

She leaned gently into the touch before he walked away. Tingles ran across her skin as she lay down that night. Curling into the scratchy sheets of her bed, gathering her plush animals and pillows within her arms as she imagined laying next to him that night.

When Y/N awoke the next day it was starting to darken outside, she was used to this nocturnal lifestyle now. She stumbled from her room, clutching at the side of her head, her shoulder knocking into the walls.

“Morning Princess,’ James teased her, leaning back from the open fridge, beer in hand. “Sleep well?”

The only response he received was a guttural groan from Y/N. Her hands rummaging around the mostly empty cupboards until she found ibuprofen. She threw herself on the couch between Kirk and Lars, neither of which were truly awake.

Her head fell to the side resting on top of Kirk's shoulder. Her eyes glazed over mindlessly watching the cartoons playing on the Tv. In return his head fell on hers, his arm slinging around her shoulders. “What time's the show tonight?” She finally mumbled, voice thick with sleep.

James handed a beer to each of the guys, purposely passing over Y/N's waiting hand. She glared at him. “Its at 6, you got two hours kiddo, hit the shower before we do.” He sandwiched himself between her and Lars.

Y/N tilted her head back releasing another distressed groan. She shrugged Kirks arm off her and stood up. Despite her protests as she shuffled to the small shared bathroom, she sighed in relief as the warm water hit her skin. It soothed the pain the hangover caused her.

The room filled with the warm cinnamon scents of her body wash and hair products. She took extra time to blow dry her hair and do up her makeup in the lighting of the bathroom. She emerged to the protests of the boys as they scrambled to take quick showers before the show.

Kirk was the first to join her outside, leaning against the side of their bus, hair still dripping as he lit a cigarette. Y/N frowned leaning over and plucking it from his lips. “Ive told you how unhealthy that is.” She complained.

He pried it back from her with a sheepish smile. “I know, I know sorry, pre show jitters.” He sighed, flicking his ash on the pavement. Y/N smiled fondly at him. Despite being three months into the tour she could still feel the nervousness radiating off him.

The two fell into a comfortable silence watching the sky go from a dark dusty blue to almost pitch black. “Hey Y/N, I've been meaning to ask you-” Kirk's sentence was cut short by the rowdy hollering of the rest of the band leaving the bus. A frown tugged at his face. “Nevermind, later.” He sighed.

Y/N smiled at him confused, nodding her head slowly. She followed everyone to the back door of the venue, settling down on an empty equipment case as the boys did soundcheck. Her head nodding along to the heavy rhythm they put down.

“Hey Y/N!” A deep voice called out from behind her. Her head snapped around to be greeted by one of their tech guys. Fuck she couldn't remember his name.

“Heeeey….Mike!” That was it she was pretty sure. By the way his face lit up she assumed she was right. “What's up?” She asked as he sat down across from her.

Y/N's eyes darted from the man in front of her back to the stage, Kirk's picking seemed more aggressive, his eyes locked on to her own. She looked back to the man as he finished off the sentence she hadn't been paying attention to. She couldn't help but wonder what was pissing Kirk off so much.

“So what do you say? Dinner with me tonight after the show?”

“What?” Y/N spluttered out, her eyes snapping to attention, eyebrows raised hidden by her teased bangs. The gears in her brain shifted as she comprehended what he had just asked her. With a fake smile plastered on her face she apologized. “Sorry, after show tradition for me to grab pizza with the guys, thanks for the offer though.”

The mans face fell, shoulders slumping lightly. “Yeah of course, maybe another time.” He sighed, standing up from his seat. He shuffled away without another word.

Y/N's shoulders shivered, she frowned, shaking her head as if she could rid herself of the uncomfortable question. She turned back to the stage just in time to catch the end of their soundcheck. Kirk all but ran up to her, concern on his face.

“You good Y/N?” He asked, his frown matching her own as he pulled his guitar up and over his head. “Was that guy bothering you?” Y/N could sense his hackles were raised.

Quickly she shook her head. “No no I'm fine!” She assured him. She reached beside her to hand him a water bottle. “He was asking me out to dinner after the show.” She explained to him.

“What did you say?”

Y/N was taken aback by the sudden sharpness in Kirk's voice. She punched his shoulder playfully in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Fuck no dude, there's greasy pizza calling our name after the show I wouldn't ditch you guys.” She grinned at his visible relief.

With a sigh he threw a sweaty arm over her shoulder. She faked a gag as she felt his damp skin against her bare shoulders, but she didn't push him off. “Good otherwise I was gonna have your fucking head dude.” He laughed lightly. All the tension that had been radiating off him had dissipated. “Tech guys are dicks anyways, don't date em’”

Y/N's eyes rolled to the side, a sunset pink dusting her cheeks. “Whatever Kirk don't you have a show to do in like, twenty minutes?” She sighed.

Suddenly his weight was lifted off of her. His hand came to rest at the top of her head. “Yeah, I do.” He paused, “Keep your eyes on me tonight Y/N, I have a feeling tonight's gonna be a good show.”

#metallica #metallica fanfiction #metallica/reader #jason newsted #jason newsted x reader #kirk hammett #kirk hammett x reader #jason newsted/reader #kirk hammett/reader #kirk hammett x jason newsted #kirk hammett/jason newsted

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amywritesthings · 11 months ago

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Operation: Battlepass (AKA the Totally Awesome Plan to Play Wingman by Yuuji Itadori) / a Choso x OFC story

After choosing to live together as brothers, Yuuji decides to introduce Choso to the wonderful world of gaming. What he didn't expect is for Choso to fall head over heels for his online friend. Naturally, hijinks must ensue, and the gang comes up with a plan to make this romcom a reality.

word count: 3k (part one of ??) tags: au - canon divergence, fluff, romantic comedy, told in yuuji's pov, ultimate big brother!choso, gaming, online friendshipcredit: dividers by @saradika-graphics

read on ao3 here.

PART ONE: THE INTRODUCTION

disclaimer: this is a very crack slice of life story. everyone's alive. itadori is friends with an adult through online gaming. their dynamic is very much 'you're a kid and i have to protect you from weirdos in gaming lobbies'. iris is inspired by my own older online friends growing up. it's nothing nefarious.

Yuuji Itadori has never been a wingman.

Well — kind of.

If you scratch all of the times that Itadori went along with the ‘Save Megumi’ plan conjured up by the brilliant (and twisted) minds of Gojo-sensei and Kugisaki, then he’s technically never been a wingman.

Come to think of it, he’s never really given the act of dating much thought.

It isn’t like he’s ever had much skin in the game.

Itadori’s never had a partner, for one.

Fushiguro is smooth enough to flirt without anyone’s help, two.

Kugisaki can be a little intimidating all on her own, three.

So it leaves… well, Itadori to cheer on his perfectly-capable friends as they navigate what it means to be a teenager.

It also leaves him wondering if one day he’ll know the tv-show-butterfly feeling of helping two lonely souls get together.

(He really should focus on his own love life, but given the whole Sukuna ordeal? That’s a mess he hasn’t quite ironed out yet.)

Enter: Choso, his alleged big brother from another mother.

(Or another father? That’s another thing he’s gotta iron out. More at 11.)

Getting a two-bedroom bachelor pad with the guy you only met, like, a few weeks ago wasn't on his year-end bingo card.

"Really?" If Fushiguro and Nobara question something simultanously, that usually spells danger.

"Yeah!" Itadori exclaims, sipping on his tea. "I mean, why not, right?"

"Wasn't he the guy trying to kill you?" Fushiguro grunts.

"Then he changed his mind on a dime and demanded he protect you with every blood cell in his body?" Nobara adds, lips trembling from her attempt to hide a smile at her pun.

(Neither of the boys catch it.)

Itadori grimaces. "Well, when you put it that way..."

Fushiguro leans back. "Trying to kill you—"

Nobara leans forward. "—to defending you—"

They come together again, and Itadori sinks in his booth.

"—in a few hours."

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Itadori whines. "But it'll be fine. We're great pals and figured it out. He's totally normal now."

So normal that Choso's in the booth at the other end of the restaurant, sipping a coffee black with a newspaper upside-down, waiting to take Itadori and his friends to the shopping district later.

(It's a little weird admittedly, but Itadori thinks it's endearing. He cares!)

So, yeah.

He ditched living at Jujutsu High in order to move in with his brother under the approval of his instructor.

Maybe it was a hasty decision, but Itadori will take the blame on that one.

Call it excitement or stupidity, he doesn’t mind.

After spending a lot of his life wishing he had a sibling of his own, it’s kinda cool to live a brother.

Not even a brother, but a big brother who takes his job very seriously.

For starters, Itadori always gets to order wherever he wants for takeout dinner, which never got to happen back at Jujutsu High.

Fushiguro used to be apathetic about what they’d order, which meant Kugisaki took the liberty in steamrolling every decision.

Now?

Itadori gets to show Choso every single one of his favorite foods and then some.

The guy doesn’t eat much — apparently something to do with being a curse, not that Itadori judges — but he thoroughly enjoys the nights watching Choso squint over a takeout box trying to figure out what the heck is in the thing.

It’s nice teaching someone else the ropes, rather than feeling clueless in his own life.

He shows Choso how to cook; how to clean, though they’re both fairly great at lifting furniture to get into those hard-to-reach spots; how to pay bills over the internet — or just to pay for bills in general.

However, there is one important item in life he has to show his big brother:

Video games.

Apparently all he ever played when he was with Jogo, Brains, and Mahito were board games.

Snooze.

Boring.

“Today is your lucky day,” he tells the man with tightly-coiled space buns one day while Choso's watching television.

Itadori thrusts a coveted console controller into his view with excitement.

Choso blinks down at it with confusion.

“Because I — Yuuji Itadori, your little bro — am going to show you the wonders and joys of gaming.”

“I know how to play games, Yuuji,” Choso flatly replies, though there’s a warmth to his tone no matter when he speaks to Itadori.

The pink-haired boy shakes his head.

“I’m not talking about Life or Trouble or, ugh, Monopoly — though you can technically play them on a console.”

Choso’s brows slide high: really?

“Yeah, really.”

“Huh.”

The man with the black strip over his nose tests the weight of the console controller in his hand, lip slightly pouted.

“So what do you… do?”

“Press buttons, mostly.”

Itadori holds up his own decked-out controller — a modified neon blue and black masterpiece that glows in the dark — and presses a few of the buttons to show him.

“You’ll get used to it. Trust me, it’s way easier in practice.”

Sitting beside his brother with crossed legs, he triggers the console to wake up to its dashboard.

The game show disappears, and a brilliant burst of color takes over the screen.

The reaction is priceless — Choso’s eyes widen to the size of saucers.

Aw, yeah, he has him interested now.

“Do you play these games with your friends?” Choso asks quietly, poking at a button with his thumb.

“Sometimes,” Itadori replies. “Fushiguro isn’t a fan of them. Nobara gets way too competitive. Like… scary competitive. We limit her screen time.”

Choso snorts. “I can picture that.”

Itadori grins and opens up a few window menus so he can set up a profile for Choso on his console.

He hands over his main controller and gestures to Choso.

“Pick whatever profile photo you want.”

Sticking his tongue to the left in the exact way Itadori does when he’s concentrating, Choso flicks over the right joystick to search through the images.

“Itadori?”

“Yeah, Choso?”

“I don’t see my face.”

“Huh?”

“The photographs.” Choso points to the screen. “Where am I?”

Itadori blinks before he realizes.

“Oh! You… don’t, ha. You pick a character.” He pauses. “Like how you choose a thimble or a car and stuff in Monopoly.”

Choso sucks in a sharp inhale and nods in understanding before fluttering through a few more options with more confidence.

He settles over a photo of Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series before clicking it.

“Like this?”

“What, you like Lara?”

“Is that her name?”

“Yeah, she’s kinda super badass.” Itadori takes back the controller to finish up his profile. “My one online friend really likes those games—”

Then, brilliance hits him.

It doesn’t happen often, but today?

Itadori strikes gold.

“Oh, hey — if you want, you can kinda see how me and my one friend play. She’s usually on at this hour. Here.”

He pauses to reach around the couch only to hold out a headset for Choso to take.

“Wear this. It’s my spare.”

With that same inquisitive squint, Choso observes at the headphones with scrutiny.

Itadori showcases how to put them on, popping his RGB headset over his head and squishing his pink hair to his head.

It takes a little finessing with his hairstyle, but Choso does the same. He lets the headphones sit on his head and doesn’t move.

“You good?”

“What?” Choso’s voice shouts over the noise-cancelling feature.

“I said are you—” Itadori pauses, holding up a thumbs up.

Choso blinks. Then his thumb raises.

Good.

Itadori blinks back to the television screen where he signs on as himself — YuuMasterGeneral — before searching for a particular name on his friends list.

Truth be told, he’s only ever talked to this girl.

He has no clue what she looks like in person because he’s never met her in person, but she sounds pretty nice.

After Grandpa got sick, there wasn’t much to do around the house.

Sitting in a quiet house wasn’t cutting it, so Itadori tried his hand at online gaming lobbies.

Most of them sucked.

Most of them were full of assholes.

But he got lucky — an older girl that went by the moniker of Iris was nice enough to join his team.

That first night, they talked for hours about nothing in particular. Eventually he told her about his grandpa, and she added him as a friend. Iris told him to poke her whenever she was on so he had someone to play with.

Honestly? It was exactly the kind of lifeline he needed at the time.

After that, he gamed with Iris pretty regularly. Although they mostly game, sometimes they chat about their other hobbies. He's learned she has a full-time job, just recently graduating from university. A few times she's given a sprinkle of real life advice, from an adult figuring it out a couple of steps ahead of a teenager.

He felt safe. Seen.

He and Iris have been friends ever since.

Iris was good at gaming. Like, impossibly good.

So good she’d probably even beat Nobara.

But she wasn’t obnoxious about her wins, which was why Itadori enjoyed chatting with her so much.

Last time he talked to her was maybe six weeks ago. She’d been busy with her day job, but Itadori had been really busy with… well, everything to do with sorcery.

Surely she wouldn’t get weirded out about showing his older brother the ropes, right?

Iris was a private person, something Itadori could very respect, but he felt comfortable enough to invite her into this little debacle of his life now that Choso was going to be a permanent member of his family.

IRISSIRI IS ONLINE.

“Oh, cool, she’s on.”

“Who?” Choso asks, pushing a headphone off of his ear so he can hear Yuuji properly.

“My friend, Iris,” Itadori explains as he clicks to invite her to a party chat.

He then adds Choso, whose eyes widen at the magical sound of his little brother’s voice suddenly coming through the headset clear as day.

“This sounds…”

Choso trails off, blinking as he hears the echo of his own voice.

Itadori laughs and leans over to mess with his settings once more.

“Sorry — gotta mute yourself, buddy, otherwise we’ll get an echo going.”

Then a tiny chime sounds, and the brothers simultaneously stare at the television.

“Hello?”

Her voice is smooth as honey and soft, like she’s surprised to get the call.

Itadori immediately perks up, but he notices how Choso doesn’t move.

He just… stares, lips parted.

“Iris!” he greets excitedly. “Hey! Long time, no chat.”

“Yuuji,” she greets in return with a small smile in her voice. “Hey, no kidding. How’s it going? And who’s this…. Guest, person?”

“Oh — I haven’t given him a username yet. Iris, I wanted you to meet my big brother, Choso. Choso, this is my online friend Iris.”

He turns his head to look at Choso in the glow of the tv, but his brows furrow when he notices the pale complexion of Choso’s face turn a warm pink.

“Choso?” she asks, and Choso’s throat bobs.

Maybe he’s nervous about new people?

He’s never really been that nervous before.

“I didn’t know you had siblings!”

“Ha, yeah, it’s a complicated situation,” Itadori explains before flicking up his microphone stick so he can whisper directly to Choso: “You can speak in the microphone, you know.”

Choso clears his throat, his pink face turning scarlet in stark contrast to the black stripe across the bridge of his nose, before nodding.

“....I’m his big brother.”

“Cool, cool,” she chides in return, and Itadori can’t even believe what he’s seeing:

His older brother practically melts in his seat as he presses a hand gently to his headphone as if to push it closer to his ear.

"It’s super nice to meet you, big brother Choso.”

Choso bites his lower lip and glances up at the screen. “You… have a really pretty voice—”

Uh oh.

Abort mission.

Itadori flies off of the end of the couch to quickly flick his microphone up to mute them both for a little familial aside. “Dude!”

Choso’s surprised, still sporting the blush.

“What?”

“You can’t hit on my online friend!”

“I wasn’t hitting anyone, I was talking!” Choso hisses right back under his breath.

“Hitting on, not hitting!"

"Whatever!"

"Look: telling my friend she has a pretty voice is a little weird, okay?”

Suddenly the man looks a little worried. “It is?”

Itadori nods. “Yeah. Girls get bothered online all the time. Just… be cool.”

He slowly drops his microphone back down.

Choso deflates and nods.

“Sorry about that! Yeah, no, he’s never played video games before so I thought we could show him how it’s done.”

“It's fine. But wait: he’s never played video games before?” Iris asks over her mic with a little laugh. “Seriously?”

Choso smiles small at that.

It’s lopsided and goofy.

Itadori feels like he’s in the twilight zone.

“Did he live under a rock?” she adds in a gentle tease.

“Something like that.” Yuuji tells her, quickly loading up Fortnite for a game of Duos so Choso can listen and watch. “He’ll just hang with us while we play, if that’s cool with you?”

“So long as he doesn’t mind me asking him questions while we play,” Iris replies, sending a quick game invite to Itadori’s screen.

Both Itadori and Choso stare at one another.

Choso points at himself.

Itadori nods and points at him.

“Me?” Choso asks in a bit of a confused voice.

“Well, I’ve known your little brother for two years now, but I don’t exactly know you, ” Iris explains. “In a way, I kinda felt like his far-away big sister, so I'm happy to know he's got someone looking after him. So how old are you?”

Choso sits up a little taller.

“I'm one hundred and fif—”

“The same age as you!” Itadori chirps, cutting Choso off. “He’s twenty five.”

He can not have his normie friends find out about curse spirits and all of that insanity.

Itadori’s just grateful Sukuna never appeared cackling at his cheek in the middle of an intense match to make a pass out of bad taste.

Choso looks absolutely confused, but he slowly nods in tandem with Itadori’s pleading nod.

“...yes, I am... twenty-five years old.”

“Sweet, same age,” Iris chirps, and that goofy little look shows up on Choso’s face again.

(What gives, dude?!)

“And you’ve never played a single game before?” she asks as they load into the next lobby.

“I like Life.”

“The board game?”

“Yeah.”

“I was so bad at that game.”

“The spinner can really put you in debt,” Choso agrees with a solemn nod—

And Iris giggles.

Itadori blinks.

As he departs his character from the sky bus at the location Iris placed on the map, his lips begin to pull down to a grimace.

He’s never heard her laugh like that.

Not even when she's put toxic guys to shame and made them rage quit in Call of Duty.

“How did you meet my younger brother?” Choso asks, suddenly emboldened by the laugh.

“We met in a Destiny 2 lobby, actually,” Iris explains happily. “He helped me with a few of my bigger raids. When I found out the kid was fifteen-something, I felt like I had to make sure no one was a jerk to him in any future lobbies.”

“So you protected him?” Choso murmurs with surprise.

“More like shepherded him through games, sorta like a—”

“—big sister would,” Choso finishes for her.

“Kind of! Like I said earlier, Yuuji’s a good kid. And he’s really solid at playing games.” Iris clears her throat. “Yuuji, six o’clock. There is a drop over there.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am.”

“Yuuji.”

“Miss!” Itadori corrects. “I mean Miss!”

“Jesus, he acts like I’m fifty sometimes,” Iris bemoans, and Choso smirks.

“Yeah. He acts like I’m a hundred and fifty,” the older man cheekily replies, and Itadori scowls.

On Itadori’s screen, they watch as a potential enemy rounds the corner of the building Itadori’s looting —

He doesn't act fast enough to attack —

But suddenly they fall to their knees, before bursting into confetti with all of their items strewn about.

K.O.

They both hear Iris whistle from her microphone.

“Respect your elders, kid.”

“Thanks, Eye. I didn’t realize there were people on my spot,” Itadori chimes.

Yeah.

Because he’s too busy listening to Choso act like he’s going to eat the mic to get closer to Iris —

And the fact that his online friend, his very normal friend, is giggling the way some girls giggle whenever…

They look…

At Gojo-sensei.

Itadori stops moving his thumbs on the controller, too deep in thought to play as Iris carries them.

She's scoping perimeters while he's busy putting the puzzle pieces together.

He's blushing.

She's giggling.

His Mikasa Ackerman avatar gets shot down, and Iris is shouting that she's coming back to save him —

But his eyes are on the guy opposite to him on the couch staring intently.

Not at the game, no.

At Iris’ little avatar that shows up every time she speaks.

Her icon's a little chibi Lara Croft.

Kind of like his generic Lara Croft icon.

Some weirdly-fated choice in a sea of happenstances.

Huh.

Wait a second.

"Hey, Choso, do you mind taking over for me in the next game?"

Choso whips his attention, eyes widening with uncertainty. "Me?"

Iris laughs again, and Itadori sees it in real-time: that butterfly-in-your-stomach goofy face, smack dab on Choso's lips.

"I'm down if you're down, Choso."

Quickly he takes the glowing controller from his younger brother and straightens up. "I can learn."

"Just don't go running off on me on the map, alright?" Iris requests playfully. "Stick with me and we'll easily get to last twenty."

"I won't fail you," Choso promises with a nod.

Itadori crosses his arms, observing and listening to Iris explain the game gently to Choso.

Although she was just as gentle with him, Itadori can hear something different in her voice. It's like she's trying to get Choso to answer her so he can talk. She asks him questions that will get him to talk more and more, until they're having a full-blown conversation without Itadori in sight.

Interesting.

He likes her voice, that much he's deduced.

But does she like his voice, too?

Something's happening here.

The cogs are turning.

Maybe —

Just maybe —

Yuuji Itadori can actually be a real, bonafide wingman.

#choso kamo fanfiction #jjk x reader #jjk fanfic #choso kamo x female reader #choso kamo x ofc #choso x female reader #choso x original female character #choso kamo x original female character #jujutsu kaisen fanfiction #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #jujutsu kaisen fic #jjk fic #jjk fanfiction #choso fluff #choso kamo fluff #yuuji itadori fluff #yuuji itadori fanfic #amywritesthings #operation battlepass

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sunflowergirl522 · 2 years ago

Text

New Years Eve

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Superstitious!Reader

Summary: It’s New Years Eve and Robins bringing her cousin to Steve’s party.

Word Count: 4406

Eddie Masterlist

“Are you sure you don’t mind me bringing Y/n to the party?” Robin asks Steve for what feels like the millionth time to him.

“Yes Robin I’m sure. I’ve only told you I don’t care everyday for the past week.” He’s laughing while he speaks, tossing some more popcorn in his mouth.

“Who’s Y/n?” Nancy comes back in from making another bowl of popcorn, this one for her and Jonathan, and Eddie points her way to show he’s wondering the same thing.

“She’s my cousin, she’s a little bit older than Steve but she was homeschooled and was basically raised to be a shut-in or something so there’s no way you guys have ever met her. I’m shocked her mom’s even letting her out for this but she asked if she’d be able to tag along with whatever New Years plans I had. So you’ll all meet her tomorrow night. Fair warning though, she’s a bit of a whackjob. It’s how she was raised though and if I hear any of you call her that we’ll fight.”

“Don’t worry, Robin whack jobs are my specialty.” Eddie points to himself with his thumb while leaning forward. “What kind of whack job are we talking here, ditzy, space invader, total weirdo?”

“She’s a little ditzy I guess. Mainly she’s just extremely superstitious.”

“That’s like witchy stuff right?” Steve speaks through a mouthful and barely pulls his attention away from the movie on the tv.

“No it’s like believing that black cats are evil and stuff like that.” Jonathan comes back from the bathroom just in time to correct Steve before Robin can hit him on the back of the head for being stupid. “My mom believes in a few superstitions like crossing your fingers and broken mirrors.”

“Why does believing a few superstitions make her a whack job Robs?”

“It’s not a few or a handful even Nance, she lives by them. Like she didn’t go to public school because she was an extremely clumsy child and her mom believes that tripping over something on your way somewhere means you have to turn back and go home and she didn’t trust that when she was younger she’d listen to it. So homeschool her whole life was somehow the answer.”

“Seems like a lonely childhood.”

“Yeah, she saw me a lot growing up but not much of anyone else.”

“What’s in the bags Y/n?” Robin asks as you get in the car she borrowed from her parents excited for your first party.

“Oh grapes and noisemakers. Mom and I went out to get them today in case there wouldn’t be any there. Where are we going again?”

“Right. Remember I told you about my friend Steve?” You nod. “He’s throwing a party for our group of friends and a few people that he only barely knows through like Eddie and Nancy.”

“Okay.” It’s quiet in the car after that and Robin glances your way to see you playing with the hem of your dress where it rests on your thighs.

“Are you okay? Do you wanna just go to my place and we’ll have our own party just me and you?” As much as Robin wants to spend the night with her friends her love for you outweighs it and she’d rather you be comfortable.

“No! I’m just a little nervous I guess. I mean this is my first party and what if your friends don’t like me or think I’m too weird? And what if I didn’t bring enough grapes for everyone?”

“They’ll love you! You’re literally the sweetest person I know, I mean who worries about bringing enough grapes for people they don’t even know? Besides, we're all a bunch of weirdos. Jonathan is a total loser in the best way, Eddie is so weird that the whole town thought he was a satanist, Steve’s just a complete idiot and like all of his friends are kids. The most normal one out of us is Nancy but even she’s a little odd. And the kids are like drawn to oddballs, not that they themselves aren’t odd but they feel right at home with others and I’m sure you will too. Besides you look cute the boys will-” Your laughter cuts her off and she looks at you. “What?”

“You’re rambling Robs. But thank you I do feel a little less nervous.”

You were still nervous though of course. The only person you’re going to know will be Robin and as excited as you are to meet her friends and hopefully make some friends of your own finally you can’t help but think about how you and your mom don’t even go to family gatherings anymore because of how often family members would try to get you to be ‘normal’ and not believe in her superstitions. Your dad's side of the family was the worst when it came to it and you used to get bullied by your cousins so you stopped going to those long before your mom’s. Thankfully Robin's mom and dad were more understanding because if you didn’t have Robin who knows what kind of a sad hermit you would be.

“I’m glad to help. Really though they’re gonna love you, don't stress about it. And I’ll be right there next to you most of the night.” Robin parks the car in front of Steve’s house and turns to you squeezing your knee in support. “Do you need help with those bags?”

“Could you just take the noisemaker bag? I’ve got the grapes.” She nods and takes the bag you hold out for her before getting out of the car. You’re quick to follow her holding the bags in one hand while the other smooths down your dress that got all bunched up in the car.

“Guess who’s here dingus!” Robin yells out as she bursts into the house ushering you in behind her.

“You’re late Robin, even Eddie beat you here.” Steve rounds the corner and pauses when he sports the two girls in the entranceway bags in hand. “What’s all this?”

“Steve, this is my cousin Y/n. Y/n, Steve.”

“Hi! I hope you don’t mind but I brought noisemakers and grapes.” You wave and hold the bags in your hands up. “I hope I brought enough for everyone to have twelve at midnight.”

“I’m sure you did. You can uh put them in the fridge or something, Eddie will help you figure it out he’s in the kitchen now. It’s just down that hallway to the left.”

“Okay.” You cast a glance towards Robin who nods reassuringly at you before leaving her side. There goes your plan to follow her like a shadow.

“Where do you want the noisemakers?” Steve’s response is low as you make your way down the hallway he pointed to and you don’t hear it. When you turn into the kitchen there’s just one guy in there with his back facing you dumping chips into bowls.

“Stupid Harrington putting me on goddamn snack duty.” Eddie mumbles to himself not sensing a presence behind him.

“Um, excuse me?” He jumps at your voice and whirls around. His eyes go wide as he takes in your form wrapped in a white dress with small light blue polka dots adorned on it. “You’re Eddie right? Steve said you’d help me.”

“That’s uh, that’s me.” He stumbles over his words as he fights with himself to make his eyes move to your face instead of where they’re fixated on how snug the top of your dress is. When his eyes meet your own your breath actually hitches at how pretty he is. “What do you need help with darlin'?”

“I brought grapes and Steve said to put them in here somewhere. Like the fridge or something like that.”

“Well then I guess I’m the man for the job. Harrington put me on snack duty even though it’s his house and his party. So who are you?”

“I’m Y/n. The grapes aren’t-” You take a few steps closer to where he’s searching the cabinets for another bowl.

“Robin's cousin right?” He perks up at recognizing your name and smiles when he sees a small one form on your own face.

“Yep.”

“And you’re superstitious right?” Oh boy, you think to yourself, this is where the teasing will start. “Is that what the grapes are for, or did you just really have a hankering for them?” His response is so unexpected that you can’t help but start laughing partially out of relief and the other part at how he said it. The way he looks at you like he’s genuinely interested keeps the smile on your face as you answer.

“You’re supposed to eat twelve grapes at midnight to bring luck into the new year. Each grape stands for a month.”

“Huh.” Eddie hums as he brings a bowl down. “That must be why I’m so unlucky all the time. I only eat grapes by the handful if I need a snack on my way out of the trailer. We should probably take them off the stems right?” He looks between the grapes now on the counter and you who’s now right next to him.

“We can, it’ll make it easier for everyone to grab some.”

“Then let’s get to work.” He moves the bowl in between the two of you and grabs one of the bundles from a bag. You both work in silence for barely two minutes before he’s talking again. Eddies never really been good with silence; it's why he’s talking all the time or always listening to music. “Is it rude to ask why you believe it or if there’s any truth behind it?”

“Oh, I don’t think so. I was just sorta raised with it. My mom says that she used to peel and mash them up before feeding them to me as a baby. As for the truth behind it, I'm not sure if there actually is but once when I was younger my dad miscounted his and only ate eleven, his dad then died later in the year.”

“Shit really?”

“Ya, but he was pretty old and sick anyway.” You shrug. “He didn’t like blame himself or anything because of that. And between you and me my dad never really believed the stuff the way my mom did. He just did it all because it meant so much to her. But that really solidified it for me.”

“Are there any other new years things I should be following?” Your eyes narrow at him not able to tell if he’s genuine or not in his curiosity.

“Are you messing with me?” He gasps as if it’s the most outrageous thing and his hand flies to his chest.

“You wound me, do I really seem so awful that I’d do that?” He then drops the act of being hurt to assure you even more. “This stuff is just genuinely interesting to me.”

“So you actually want to know about other new years superstitions?” The hope in your voice nearly breaks Eddie’s heart because he can just tell it means people have gotten your hope up in the past.

“Really I’d like to know about more than just those specific ones but ya. Wanna just start with the new years ones since that’s what today is?”

“Okay!” You bounce slightly as you start ripping grapes from the stems and Eddie finds it absolutely adorable. “Well there’s the twelve grapes one, um then there’s one about making noise at midnight to scare evil spirits away. I brought noisemakers for that too. That’s actually probably why people set off fireworks and stuff each year.” Eddie nods to show he’s listening and continuously looks over at you as he fills the bowl up. “My outfit is actually all superstition based.”

“Oh yeah?” His eyes rake over the dress again hoping you don’t catch him in the act.

“Mmhm, the white is for good luck, the polka dots are to bring wealth, abundance, and success, and red underwear is to bring luck and help you find your soulmate.” Eddie chokes on his spit at your last comment.

“You still good in here Y/n?” Robin comes into the kitchen and pulls your worried look away from a still coughing Eddie to her.

“Yeah I was just helping Eddie with the grapes.”

“How about we leave Eds here to do it and I’ll introduce you to everyone else?” You look back at Eddie and he clears his throat, nodding.

“Go meet the crew, I'll be out of here and joining the party in no time.” You basically skip over to Robin in your excitement to meet everyone else after seeing how nice Eddie, the supposed satanist, is.

Steve comes into the kitchen soon after the two of you leave and crouches to dig through his lower cabinet.

“Did you come to take me off snack duty?”

“Nope, Dustin’s demanding I find something to put the cookies his mom made on other than the tupperware he brought them in. So I need to find one of my mom's nice pie plates or something. Did you meet Y/n? She’s cute huh?” His voice is muffled as he shoves his head and shoulders inside to find the one he’s looking for.

“Yeah, she’s sweet. Told me the color of her underwear.”

“What?!” Steve bangs his head against the top as he tries to rush out and look at his friend in bewilderment. “Eddie, even I know not to ask someone what color their panties are.”

“I didn’t ask!” His hands go up in defense before quickly going back to dealing with the grapes so he can finally join the party. “I just asked about other new years superstitions and it came out of her like it was the most normal thing to talk about with a stranger.”

“Huh, I guess Robin did say she was sorta odd. So what’s the thing with the grapes, did you ask?” Steve also lets out a little ‘aha’ once he finds the plate he was looking for and stands after he speaks.

“We’re supposed to eat twelve at midnight for luck next year. Each one is a month.”

“I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t that.” Steve rubs the back of his head grimacing as he does so. “It’s nice of her to think of everyone to bring enough.” He starts helping taking over the bundle that you left behind.

“Yeah, it seems like sharing this stuff with others makes her happy.” Eddie smiles as he thinks about how you lit up like how the sky will be tonight as you told him about the different superstitions you believed in.

You’ve been talking with Jonathan about the superstitions his mom believes in for the past fifteen minutes. You could barely contain your excitement when he told you his mom believed in some so he knew about a few of them. You had immediately started asking questions about it while Robin chatted with Nancy. She was nice and Robin was right she did seem like the most normal one, though you haven’t really met the kids yet you were brought over to Nancy and Jonathan first.

“Who wants snacks?” Eddie sings out as he makes his way into the big living room. One of the kids goes straight to him and takes a bowl of pretzels right out of his arms before rejoining the group on the couches. Eddie rolls his eyes before moving to put the rest of the bowls on the fold out table set up in the corner opposite where you’re all standing before crossing the room to join the group. “What’s going on over here?”

“Letting Y/n get to know these two before moving onto the nightmare that is the kids.”

“I’m sure they’re not that bad.”

“They’re annoying little shits.” Eddie chuckles into his can of beer as he speaks. “Dustin’s the worst of them!” He says it loud enough for his friend to hear him and is awarded with a pretzel flying at his head.

“Henderson, what have I said about throwing food in my house?” Steve comes in just in time to see the pretzel land on the floor. He holds his hand out to you once he joins the group. “We didn’t get to meet properly before, I’m Steve and Robin has told me a lot about you.”

“Y/n, Robin’s told me a lot about you too.” You take his hand and he covers yours with his other one as he shakes it.

“All good things I hope.” You nod with a polite smile. “Is your band coming Eddie?”

“Nah, they decided to go to Gareth’s place like we normally would. I was over there for a bit before coming here.”

“You’re in a band?” There’s a sort of awe in your voice that has Eddie bristling with pride even though you’ve never heard of them before. He feels like as long as you keep looking at him like that he doesn’t need to be a rockstar.

“Yeah Corroded Coffin, we play at the Hideout once a week.”

“That’s so cool! I’ve always wanted to see live music but I never know where I should go and I don’t really have anyone to go to concerts with.” You’re a little embarrassed mentioning just how little people you know but you remind yourself that that’s why Robin’s helping you branch out.

“Well maybe you could come watch us at some point.”

“That would be great!”

Robin watches the two of you interact with a smile on her face. You’d think she’d be upset with Eddie taking such a liking to you already but she’s just happy that you look right at home with the metal head. She knew that her friends would be accepting of you in a way that she knows you’ve never really had before. She didn’t realize how quickly you would bond with Jonathan or get Eddie basically wrapped around your finger so soon after meeting him though. She should’ve, you’re a sweetheart and have such a warmness about you that she’s always shocked when you tell her about how some people treat you.

“Eddie’s getting pretty cozy with your cousin there Robs.”

“Yeah.” She answers Nancy with a smile on her face turning her attention back to her group of friends.

“Why are you so happy about it?”

“I think they’re gonna be good for eachother, whether that be them just being friends or it leading to more. I mean Eddie’s still dealing with the chaos of people still not quite believing he’s innocent for killing Chrissy and Y/n deals with being labeled as a loon basically on the daily since most of the town knows her mom or at least who she is. I think they’ll be able to relate to one another on a level none of us really will.”

“Huh, when’d you become deep?” She rolls her eyes at Steve’s words.

“I just know who they are. Are your newspaper friends coming Nance?”

“Yeah, they should be here around nine.”

“Argyle will probably be here closer to ten. Thanks again Steve for letting me invite him.” Argyle had moved to Indiana right after graduating and he and Jonathan got an apartment together soon after.

“Yeah no problem, just make sure he doesn’t smoke in the house. I don’t want the living room to reek of weed again.”

“Do you have any new year's resolutions?” You and Eddie sit in the corner of the dining room while the others who are there and have shown up play drinking games or talk to each other. The kids are still taking up the couches in the living room but now they’re watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin’ Eve to entertain themselves while everyone else drinks around them.

“I want to make some friends because I can’t just depend on Robin to be there for me all the time. Not that she wouldn’t be, I just don’t want to put all of that on her. Besides, I’m gonna be twenty one next year. I should have more than just one friend who’s my cousin.” You take another sip of the mixed drink you’ve been nursing for the last twenty minutes and Eddie smiles at how you sort of ramble the same way Robin will sometimes. “Do you have any resolutions?”

“I didn’t really, but now I think it’s become your new best friend. Before you know it I’ll be taking Robin’s place.”

“I’d like that.” You beam at him. “But you should know that no one can take her place.”

“Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I need to steal her away for a bit.” Robin comes up next to you and pulls you out of your seat.

“Why?”

“Because you’ve been hogging her all night Eddie and I’d like to introduce her to the kids before the new year rings in.”

“Wait, what time is it?”

“Eleven thirty eight.”

“We have to start explaining the grapes and bring them out then.”

“I’ll do that darlin’ you go meet the menaces in the living room. I’ll meet up with you in a bit.” You nod at Eddie extremely thankful and a little shocked that he’d do that for you before letting Robin pull you into the next room.

By the time Eddie joins you in the living room bowl of grapes halfway gone in hand there’s five minutes till midnight. He had enlisted Nancy’s and Steve’s help with putting grapes into smaller bowls twelve in each to hand out to people as they explain what it’s for. He didn’t bother separating the rest once everyone other than the kids, you and Robin had some. He figured you could explain it to the group and he trusted them enough to grab the right amount.

“My mom believes in the breaking a mirror and opening an umbrella inside ones. So I tend to follow them too.” Eddie sits next to you on the couch to catch the middle of a conversation between you and Will.

“So you’re Jonathan's brother right? We were talking a little bit about what superstitions he knew earlier.” Will nods and before anyone can say anything else Eddie chimes in.

“Speaking of superstitions, have you explained the grapes to them yet?”

“Not yet, I find it easier to do with the grapes.”

“Alright.” He nods but keeps speaking before you can explain it yourself, his attention going to the eyes looking his way. “You’re gonna eat twelve grapes at midnight to bring you good luck each month of next year. I’m not missing anything am I?” You’re in awe at how he remembered after you mentioned it once hours ago so all you can do is shake your head no, your lips parted slightly. Normally people would choose to forget about it because they didn’t find it important or they thought it was just some silly thing you did.

“Now all of you just take twelve.” He hands the bowl to Max to start the passing around.

“Did you bring the grapes yourself or did Steve happen to have them in the fridge?” Dustin asks while taking the bowl from Lucas and counting out his grapes.

“I brought them, I really hope there’s enough for everyone though.” You go to look around the room at all the others to see if they got any but get distracted when Eddie places his warm hand on your bare knee.

“Don’t worry we handed everyone else some before I came over here. There should even be some left over after everyone has twelve.”

Everyone starts to trickle into the living room as it gets closer to midnight for the count down. With each pass of the bowl more and more enter the space and by the time it’s your turn to grab the grapes everyone is there. Eddie takes his grapes just as the countdown and ball drop starts on the screen.

“Will you be my New Year's eve kiss?” You rush out between fifty nine and fifty eight.

“What?” Eddie asks in response, confused at fifty seven.

“It’s a superstition I forgot to mention before, a kiss at midnight wards off a year of loneliness and I’ve never had one before. And I’m just so sick of having years of loneliness.” You explain it as simply as you can between fifty six and forty three.

“So do we eat the grapes before or after the kiss then?” Eddie tries to get it right before giving you an answer between forty two and thirty eight.

“Mom and dad always did it after the kiss but I’ve always just had the grapes so I’m not sure about the right way to do it. I’m pretty sure the two superstitions aren’t normally combined though.” You answer and think back on all the previous years you had watched your mom and dad do it between thirty seven and twenty six.

“Oh, okay.” It takes him a second to answer as he ponders it between twenty five and twenty. “I’ve never had the grapes and I don’t normally have a kiss so I can’t be of any help with this.” He continues on between nineteen and twelve.

“Eddie!” You get his attention back to you at eleven just before people around you start to chant down from ten. “Can I kiss you?” You ask again between ten and seven.

“Yeah, yeah of course.” He finally answers between six and four. You let out a relieved sigh at three and beam up at him at two. As everyone screams happy new year you’re connecting your lips to his own in quite possibly the sweetest kiss he’s ever had. It doesn’t last long before you’re pulling away to start popping grapes in your mouth. He follows your lead and makes sure you have a noisemaker in your hand once the grapes are gone because he remembered what you told him about evil spirits earlier.

You and Robin leave shortly after that since you wanted to be with your mom for a little bit to celebrate too but you make sure to give Eddie your number with a wink telling him to give you a call if he wanted to know more about your other superstitions.

Eddie Taglist(Closed): @sadbitchfangirl @notbeforelong @munsonswhore86 @navs-bhat @emotionaldreamer @magicalchocolatecheesecake @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce @fangirling-4-ever @gaysludge @audhd-dragonaut @eddiethesexy @mazerunnerrose @tvserie-s-world @midnightsgetawaycar @goldylions @spacedoutdaydreamer @livslifeonline @mushroomelephant @hb8301 @ginnupp @saramelaniemoon @kaylshunter @nojamsonmytoast @vintagehellfire @esoltis280 @cole22ann @spikedhe4rt @let-love-bleeds-red @siriuslysmoking @ladybug0095 @toobsessedsstuff @3rriberri @alana4610 @gretavanfleas @sparkletash @herejustforjj @aactuaaltraash @gloryekaterina @quixscentsposts @wormm-mom @eddiemuns0nl0ver @spookyemorockbabe

Everything Taglist: @bejeweledmastermind @matchamunson @bubsonnobx @practicalghost @katsukis1wife @crustyowos @yourfavdummy @protecteddiemunson4vr

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson #eddie x reader #eddie stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader #stranger things #eddie munson stranger things #Eddie munson x superstitious!reader #eddie munson x fem!reader

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toujokaname · 7 months ago

Text

Game master / Episode 21

Author: Akira

Characters: Aira, Rinne, Kohaku, HiMERU, Tatsumi, Mayoi

"I'm grateful, I honestly am."

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[ Read on my site for a better viewing experience using Ois~su ♪ ]

Season: Winter

Location: Matrix Stage

Aira: —Hwah?!

(H-Huh? Where... is this?)

(It's bright! My eyes are adjusting after being in the dark for so long, but somehow, after dodging those weirdos for ages, we've stumbled into this wide area!)

(What are these, fireflies? Stars? I can't tell, but there are so many lights floating around!)

(What's this mysterious space...?)

Rinne: Welcome.

Did you have fun with the test of courage?

Aira: Ah, there he is, the mastermind! Look, Hiro-kun, Kohakucchi, the culprit's shown himself! Now beat him up!

Kohaku: Right. But before that, mind clearin' a few things up?

What the hell's all this about?

Rinne: Gyahaha, what a dumbass question! "Teacher! I don't even know what I don't know!" That's literally you.

Kohaku: Shut up. I ain't in the mood to go along with your stand-up comedy, especially after havin' to play tag with those mysterious masked guys 'til just now.

Quit stallin' and fess up already, or I'll roll you up in a bamboo mat and plunge you into the sea, ya halfwit. [1]

Rinne: No wayyy, ever since getting involved with Double Face, my child's turned into a delinquent...

Kohaku: I've been a delinquent from the get-go~... If anythin', I've been gradually becomin' a good kid since then.

Rinne: Yeah. By now you must've figured I'm sketchy, and that Matrix has an ulterior motive, yet you've obediently played along until the very end.

To repay those feelings, I'm gonna show you guys something good.

This is—my real hometown.

Kohaku: Rinne-han's hometown...?

Rinne: What I've shown you so far is only the surface of our hometown.

Think of it like the layer that hides something important, the armor shielding something fragile.

To put it in extreme terms, unless we're talking about a completely different dimension—

Environments completely cut off from the outside world only exist, if at all, within specially treated equipment in a lab.

While our hometown may have a pretense of self-reliance, we still need to be connected to the outside world. For food, water, and other essentials.

Rinne: The Amagi Village you visited is a contact point set up for that purpose—it's nothing more than a bridgehead or a frontline base.

It's a fake Amagi Village, so to speak.

And this space, it's where the village meets the outside world, linked to our hometown—you could call it a gateway.

Look, you can vaguely make out a door in the back, right? Beyond there lies the real Amagi Village.

It's where we're from. After following a long, long tunnel from there, we reach the hometown where we were born and raised

Kohaku: Yeah, I see it. There's this faintly visible buildin' in the distance. Looks oddly modern—is that Rinne-han's real hometown?

Rinne: Yeah. To those expecting a stereotypical backward village from a movie, my condolences, but this ain't exactly the old-fashioned countryside that everyone imagines.

In terms of scientific power alone, we might be more advanced than you.

Making buildings levitate in the air with perpetual motion machines and anti-gravity is as simple as pie, unlike anything you guys can achieve.

HiMERU: Is this a story from a sci-fi novel?

Rinne: It's a story from reality. If I explain too much, even as the monarch, I might be held accountable, so I can't divulge all the details.

Well, mysteries are better in some ways, they let your imagination run wild ♪

Rinne: Maybe we're descendants of aliens who came from outer space. Or maybe we're underground dwellers who've lived in hiding on the other side of the earth.

Or maybe we're the descendants of a persecuted people, defeated by the Yamato Imperial Court and repeatedly driven into distant corners in ancient times.

Our origins don't matter. What matters is that we're intelligent beings who can talk and share our feelings with you.

Unlike insects or animals, we can do the same work as you.

We can live in the same society.

We can even become idols.

Tatsumi: It's clear that you, that all of you, are unfamiliar beings.

But if we share the same aspirations, we should be able to coexist. Isn't that so, Mayoi-san?

Mayoi: Yes, Tatsumi-san. That's why I, too, am shamelessly living here with you all.

Rinne: It's strange, isn't it, underground dwellers? We're people who may have different births and upbringings, maybe even different races, yet we wear the same clothing and sing the same songs.

And so, we can love and be loved by everyone. That's good, isn't it. It's a miracle.

Rinne: There's someone who taught me that such miracles really do exist.

Back in my teenage years, I longed for the outside world so much that I ran away from my hometown. After getting lost for a while, I ended up on some street corner—

And found someone singing and smiling.

It was an unknown idol, to the point where nobody knows his name anymore. Maybe not even Ai-chan, who loves idols so much, knows him.

A long time ago, he couldn't sell anything and ended up retiring.

And yet, that idol, who was nothing special at all and could be found anywhere—at the time, I was just some little kid and looked up to him.

When I seriously ran away from home and pursued becoming an idol, he helped me a lot. He was a kind guy who taught me the basics of how to be an idol.

His producer in charge was Akan-san, and when he retired and she was left with some free time, she decided to produce me too.

She managed to turn me into a proper idol, one way or another.

In the end, during my solo days, I couldn't keep up with the times, and I was left completely stranded when the bigwigs at my agency fell from power with "SS."

Even before that, I hardly had any jobs; I was essentially open for business but had none. That was just the final straw, or rather, the fatal blow.

Rinne: Despite being meant to disappear quietly like that, why is it that someone like me is still able to stand on stage even now?

It's all thanks to my benefactors who taught me how to live as an idol.

It's because of them that I've been able to love being an idol and still not be disillusioned.

I'm grateful, I honestly am.

[ ☆ ]

Kohaku's referring to "sumaki," a term associated with a method of execution. This method involved throwing someone wrapped in a mat into water, often resulting in death. While not a formal punishment for crimes, it was commonly employed in extrajudicial killings by bakuto, the predecessors to modern yakuza.

← Previous ✧ Directory ✧ Next →

#akira #event story #matrix #aira #rinne #kohaku #himeru #tatsumi #mayoi

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mythicalmagical-monkeyman · 2 months ago

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(Semi) Wholesome moment between Logan and Mateo was not on my bingo sheet. Under cut and @fruity-legos look i’ve got more food

Summary:

The world was tough sometimes but good thing Mateo had friends to help him along, to remind and tell him things, or to just be there when he needs them

Five plus one times Mateo accidentally got good advice from his friends/had wholesome chats with them

Additional Tags:

Wholesome. Just Mateo talking to his friends and seeing parts of what make them tick. Logan Chan has DID - Dissociative Identity Disorder. These chats will come back later in the series. ambiguous time periods, idk when these would fall on the timeline. DID terminology used so feel free to ask if your curious about some of the terms. No Beta we technically die as symbolism for death and rebirth. Other Additional Tags to Be Added

Chapter One: Logan—

It was raining.

Gross, was his first thought, and usually Mateo was a big rain lover, but that was of course on the days when he was inside and hadn’t forgotten his rain jacket at home.

Groaning, Mateo looked out as the rain beat down on Brooklyn from his spot under the covered entrance to the school.

Most of the other kids and teachers had left already, including Izzie, Cooper, and Zoey, as school had ended almost two hours ago. Mateo had stayed late though to finish up one of his art projects that was due soon and surprisingly his art teacher was kind enough to let him stay late.

Really late, to the point where Mateo felt himself growing weirdly sad at how quiet the school campus had become.

Mateo pulled out his phone and brought up his dad’s contact, he probably wasn’t off work yet but it wouldn’t hurt to give a quick call just to see if he could get a ride.

His phone vibrated as it rang but eventually it clicked off. His dad hadn’t picked up so he must’ve still been busy.

Disappointing.

Ok then, all he had to do was run and hopefully he’d get home before the rain soaked through his backpack and wetted all his supplies.

Mateo inhaled deeply and steeled himself. He was just about to run when he heard a click.

With a hum of confusion Mateo turned to his side and saw Logan standing there, a closed umbrella in hand.

Logan looked at him, raised an eyebrow, and let a, “Sup Matty?” Slip from his lips.

Mateo glanced Logan over, he was dressed the same as always but Mateo could see sweat stains growing in Logan’s armpit areas.

Ew.

Apparently Mateo accidentally let that thought slip however as Logan scoffed at him.

“You try not working up a sweat during basketball tryouts weirdo,”

Well that explained everything.

Logan rolled his eyes and popped open his umbrella, moving it to hold it above his head before walking out into the rain. He only got a few feet away when he suddenly stopped, grumbled to himself angrily, and turned back around with a loud sigh.

He came back over to Mateo and held out the umbrella slightly like he was offering it to Mateo to take.

Mateo took a hesitant step forward, “What are you doing?”

Logan grumbled something that sounded like Mandarin under his breath and forced a small smile, “Do you want to walk home and get soaking wet?”

Mateo paused and then responded, glancing down to watch himself kick at the pavement, “No,”

“Good, now come on, my mom is making spring rolls and I don’t wanna be late,”

Mateo glanced back up just in time to watch Logan turn and begin to walk off again. A small surge of panic darted through Mateo and he bolted over to join Logan under the umbrella.

Instantly Mateo felt an uneasiness settle over them. Being this close to a sweaty Logan under a small-ish umbrella made him definitely feel a little uncomfortable and it wasn’t unlikely Logan was feeling the same. They weren’t exactly the best of friends.

They walked in silence for a while, with Mateo deciding to keep his attention on his sleeve where he watched it grow slightly damp from the rain.

Logan spoke first.

“Why do you look so depressed?”

Mateo shot a quick glance at him, “I’m not depressed,”

“Sure you are,” Logan insisted, “I mean just look at your face bro,”

“Very funny,”

Though he wasn’t facing Logan, Mateo swore he felt Logan’s eyes on him, “I’se serious though, if you need to talk about shit I’m here. I might tease you for it if it’s lame but hey, still good to get it out.”

“Thanks Logan,” Mateo muttered as sarcastically as he could.

Logan snorted, “No problem bro,”

Mateo couldn’t help the sigh and eye roll that came from him at Logan’s response.

A second awkward silence was just starting to crop up as the boys came within sight of Mrs. Castillo’s food truck, which surprisingly still seemed to have life going on inside, when Logan exclaimed, “Oh I know what it is!”

This time Mateo turned to look at him, his eyes narrowing in confusion, “What?”

“Why you look all poopy,” Logan said back, jerking a finger towards the other boy’s face, “you still don’t like me,”

Mateo frowned and in an act of protest argued, “Well you still do call me Lunchbox,”

As much as he still felt a little irked by Logan it felt wrong to agree to full on dislike. They weren’t… enemies anymore.

“Ha! Yeah ain’t ditching the nicknames any time soon,” Logan admitted but he still did look a little guilty, “but I get it you know. I’ve been told I’m not exactly easy to get along with,”

“No crap,” Mateo grumbled, turning away and missing as Logan tilted his head to the side as if he was listening to something Mateo couldn’t hear.

Logan let out a low whistle, “Alright fine, I’ll ask. Luka’s wondering if it is us though, he doesn’t like when people are mad at us,”

“I…” Mateo trailed off for a moment, glancing at Logan quickly as his brain reminded him that Logan had other people in his head, “it’s not really you. I know we don’t exactly get along but, well, after everything we’ve been through. We’re cool.”

“For reals,”

They continued on for a few more steps, words on the tip of Mateo’s tongue that he felt like he had to get out, “I’m just… sad? I suppose. I’ve just been feeling really alone lately.”

He wasn’t really. He knew that he had his family, his friends, Z-Blob, teachers too if he really felt like stretching it but he couldn’t help the feeling that had persisted for most of the week. The weird feeling that left him feeling empty, a bit alone. Yet with how everyone had been that week, doing their own things and relaxing in the face of a peaceful dream world, he guessed that made sense. People were allowed to have moments of space away from each other and while feeling alone wasn’t particularly fun it existed as a part of human nature.

“Alone eh?” Logan hummed, “Well you ain’t,”

“I know it’s just this feeling, you know?”

Logan nodded, “Yeah, I get that. Sorta,” he added.

“Sorta?” Mateo wondered, noting how his house was suddenly in sight. Talking really did pass the time, didn’t it?

“It’s hard to feel truly alone when you’ve got … people,” Logan explained, pointing a finger at his head.

“ Oh ,”

Mateo really had to stop letting that slip his mind.

“But, hey listen Matty…” Logan started, only to shake his head and start again, “Mateo, if I’ve learned anything from having headmates my whole life it’s that you’re never alone. Even when you’re at your lowest and think that there’s no one else out there… there are. There are people out there that will have your back, and that will come for you when you're hurt. Sometimes you may feel like you’re alone but you’re not. Not forever at least,”

Mateo squinted, he was talking to Logan right? He didn’t just switch on him did he? He turned and looked long and hard until Logan turned and stared back. Logan then reached his hand up and flicked Mateo on the forehead.

Yep, that was Logan alright.

Mateo let out a small groan and rubbed at his forehead while grumbling, “That was… really profound for you Logan,”

Logan snickered and grinned, his weirdly sharp canine teeth on full display, “Thanks, I have a gift,”

After a few more steps the duo reached the front steps of Mateo’s house and Logan proclaimed loudly, “Welp, welcome home poop face!”

Mateo grimaced and glanced around to look for other people who could’ve overheard. When he found no one he reached over and punched Logan in the arm.

“Oh shut up,” Mateo huffed, only semi-annoyed, “you just had to ruin the moment didn’t you?”

“Yep!” Logan agreed, stepping away and letting the rain hit Mateo full on. Mateo pouted as he began to get pelted and scrambled up the steps to hide from the rain in the doorframe of his house where he was offered little relief.

“Ok byeeeeeeee,” Mateo heard Logan call.

Mateo turned to wave the other boy off only to find him stopped a few feet away. Logan turned slightly and added, “Also if anyone asks I didn’t walk you home!”

Mateo snorted, “Oh definitely, never admitting to that,”

Logan threw back his head as he barked out a laugh, “Ha!” And with that Logan grinned before running off towards his own home.

#Lego Dreamzzz #dreamzzz #dreamzzz mateo #dreamzzz logan #lego dreamzzz mateo #lego dreamzzz logan #lego dreamzzz fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #laser tag duo #we should call them that

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cringelordofchaos · 1 year ago

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Flicker Eduardo headcanons!!

I know almost no one cares except maybe that one flicker fan scrolling through the flicker tag, but idc

(some of these are weird and stupid)

(also when I say "into ___" I don't mean it in a romantic or s##ual context btw)

pansexual demiboy, he/they, name means "Wealthy Guardian" (only thing canon in this post)

Into rock and heavy metal

Introverted

Into cryptozoology

Into 80's horror movies

Teenager, bout 16-18 y/o

Into werewolves

obsessed with stranger things

Deadname is Valentina (based on the fact that he was initially supposed to be called Valentina and have a different design)

Engages with risky (??) and rebellious behaviour

Divorced parents, father had abandoned both them and their mom and his infant sister

Hispanic

Used to be best friends with Alex, drifted apart and now Ed feels bitter Abt him

Not satanic but they are into studying satanism and people devoted to it

Atheist

Into murder mysteries

Quiet in groups at first until he gets to know others in the group better

Plays the guitar (both acoustic and electric)

Horrible at singing, still likes singing

Used to be in a band with Alex, Amethyst and Prasiddhi

Gets absolutely horrible grades in school besides in literature and Spanish

Theater kid

Dumb#ss nerd

Has sooo many earrings and necklaces

Obsessed with many bands (I can't specify which ones bc i don't know sh#t about music,)(actually screw it I'll name a few that my mom likes

Into Metallica, Radiohead, Queen The Door, and other crap like that (I only listen to Radiohead out of these)

Has one of his eyebrows pierced

Has wolf as their fave animal

Kinda insane (don't ask)

Into paranormal stuff

Brave

Determined and stubborn

Street smart

Skateboards

All about self expression

Known as the quiet kid or the weirdo in school

Likes to go outside at night

Halloween is their fave holiday

Quiet in relation to his negative opinions regarding others

Secretly a MLP + STH fan

Can get bored and distracted easily

Into parkour and tree + rock climbing

Spiritually in the 80's

A really good older sib figure

Attachment issues, fears being abandoned so sometimes they push other people away first, other times he is a bit clingy and desperate

Uses the peace ✌️ and rock 🤘sign quite often

Embraces weirdness

Will always protect and defend people he cares about

Can be kinda rude but also really kind?

Often does the chores in the house, kinda tired from that + schoolwork

Now that Alex isn't their friend anymore, they're just kind of the loner in their class (before he gets sent to the Flicker game)

When the flicker game first starts, he like most people just think it's a run, fake murder mystery game, but one night (a bitttt early on) when they were supposed to get killed they managed to flee and escape into the woods, everyone thinking he's dead

Always puts up a fight when needed

Used to crush on alex and still cares about him as much as he refuses to admit it

Swears a moderate amount

Winks often (ok these HCs sre getting very mundane... um)

Ends up getting along well with most of the flicker players

He constantly feels like HE has to work for everyone (like their mom, having to do chores and upkeep his grades), and although they're very loyal they're also reasonably tired

The start of the flicker game has actually been one of the happiest periods in his life in some time

Can be impulsive

Fidgets often

In classes they barely do anything

Master at solving Rubik's cube

Pretty chill most of the time actually

Into video games too, primarily indie horror and visual novel

Him and Rosalie bicker often

Really wants to be independent, competent and responsible to prove they don't need anyone

They give me Lucas Sinclair and Drew from TMF vibes for sum reason??

Is neurodivergent (bpd, adhd, maybe sumth else idk)

...

Wtf even is this... I'm literally the worst flicker fan to ever exist I'm so sorry

#roblox #rblx #flicker #roblox flicker #flicker roblox #headcanons #im so so sorry #flicker Eduardo

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lil-melody-moon · 2 years ago

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Thank you @lovely-menza for tagging me <3 This is the first time I'm doing such a post, as in, answering for questions in the post, without it being an ask game, so let's roll with it!

Are you named after anyone? Nope, my mom just heard the name on a party one day and she loved it ever since. And that's why I am named how I am named

When was the last time you cried? In the last year, quite a few months ago. It was connected with being laughed at by a close person due to him being after one beer and him not being able to drink at his age. And let's leave it at that

Do you have kids? Nope, but I would like to, if I find a good guy. I mean, I don't want a random weirdo or a creep in my life. I'm either getting a good guy or I'm living alone, without a care - I mean I have music...

Do you use sarcasm a lot? Only when i'm joking. Other than that, I'm brutally honest

What's the first thing you notice about people? Their eyes or smile. It's usually the eyes though. You can fake a smile, be more kinder with it, if you intend to do so. But eyes? You can't hide anything behind them. If you have bad intentions, it is shown in the way you look at someone. I usually am looking in the eyes when speaking to someone and when they speak to me I do the same. Let me tell you one thing - you can get scared shitless when you hear kind words and the person's eyes shine in a very bad way and you know they have bad intentions. I like to know if I'm safe or not

What's your eye colour? They are hazel. Once blue, the other time green, some other time gray blue or gray entirely or kinda white if I feel ill. Mom says that I usually have gray eyes when I'm very sleepy

Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings. I like to see the adventure presented in the media I'm watching have a good ending. Additional point if I like the characters! Then it's double the fun to see them happy at the very end

Any special talents? Maybe it's not a special talent, but I can hear wrong notes in a song very often, catch the rhythm of the song - oh boy, if it's changing during the song then I have so much fun with listening to it! - and memorize the entire melody if I hear the song a lot of times. I literally sometimes sit and play the entire song in my head if it's too quiet. I did that on the last test on statistics! Hehe, silence in class and I was listening to Scars on Broadway in my head while counting - got an A, that proves something XD

Where were you born? Poland! I'm still living there and I don't plan on moving somewhere else - maybe to another city, but then again I don't wanna leave my parents behind so yeah (a little bit of babbling :3)

What are your hobbies? Listening to music, playing on guitar - I started playing in July in 2022, I'm not very good at it yet, but I have a lot of fun! - and maybe writing from time to time some fanfiction. I like creating ocs ^u^

Have you any pets? Yes, a female canary. She's my lovely orb of feathers, who has almost the same music taste as mine - oh GOD, I played "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" by The Doors yesterday on my phone to quickly clean and come back to watching a tv series. The feathery orb sung so loudly along with Jim Morrison and the rest! I wasn't expecting her to give such a bright concert ;u;

What sports do you play/have played? None, I am the person who hated sports XD

How tall are you? 162/164 cm I believe? I am fairly short

Favourite subject in school? Polish lessons. They were fun, despite that some of the school readings were boring. But I could listen to so much stories about the society in the past ages. This was interesting!

Dream job? Working in a library - I'm working hard to get to that goal

Tag 15 people... Let's see if I have so much mutuals XD @furiousbirdballoon @juliearchery107 @jimmysdragonsuit13 @malakianwhvre @explodingegg123 @itsdareeeh @cantag-curtis @diedeadenovgh @circle-bircle @w0rldl0ngg0ne That's all I can think of at the moment. If anyone stumbles upon this post and wants to join, feel free <3 The rest of tagged people? Join the fun if you want :3

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crystalkitty1220 · 2 years ago

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First post (this is a seperate post because i wanna tag this one with the fandoms :))

@consumeroflemoans *takes lid off of plate* your more, my good tumblr user

Adding a cut because this is a really long post but I spent way too long on it not to tag it. Hopefully it's easy to scroll past with the cut. If it's not, then I really don't know what people want from me.

My thoughts come up with way too many Animorphs/IBVS crossover ideas when I should be focusing on other things. Many of these ideas get expanded on through conversations and/or roleplays with Echos, others just soak in brain juices for too long, while the last few quickly disappear and I only remember them as concepts.

Okay, so to start, I should probably explain this one:

Echos and I have created quite a few timelines of the casual version. In every timeline, Isaac and Marco have schedules that cause them to take the same long journey from one side of the school to the other each day. The first notable place where the timelines branch off is whether our beloved closeted bi disaster mistakes Isaac for a girl and tries to ask him out. Those timelines tend to exist simply because they're funny; I believe there is only one timeline in which they actually go on a date, and that is a timeline which is even funnier, not that I can actually remember most of it.

A few near-consistencies throughout the casual version timelines: Rachel and Tobias witnessed the Chrisler while on a flying date, they assumed he was a cosplayer. Jake could have been a popular kid if he made it on the basketball team. Most of the Animorphs don't even know there's a school king, not that they have any reason to care. Edward does get the occasional hunch about the other plotline, mainly just stuff like 'whatever those guys are hiding isn't my club's business and needs to stay hidden' and 'stay away from those weirdos and their weird Sharing thing'.

Second, the one the from today, which the first post mentioned.

(just to be safe) tw: gaslighting, i think

It takes place in a similar timeline to the casual timeline. As explained, Drew gets invited to a meeting of the Sharing. Either a meeting or a party, it doesn't really matter. Think of episode 17 of the Animorphs Nickelodeon show, aka the only episode I liked because it didn't have the disc in it and it actually felt like Animorphs.

Nevin comes with him, but Drew convinces Nevin that he's fine on his own. Drew is not fine on his own. He's terrified, actually, and he's surrounded by people who mean him harm, and suddenly his head is being forced into some water thing he hadn't even noticed before because he was too distracted by the lizard people. The Yeerk he's stuck with is not very nice, because why would he be nice if he just discovered that some humans have superpowers? The evil slug has a whole plan: to not tell any of his fellow Yeerks (possible competitors) about this secret supernatural club, to fool the humans into following him somewhere he could meet up with a Visser (One or Three, hopefully One), and become a sub-Visser or even a Visser himself.

Nevin immediately notices that something is very off with Drew's emotions, reminding him of when Charlie was possessing Chris, and during a faux-friendly conversation with Drew he comes to the conclusion that Drew (along with a lot of people in the Sharing, it seems) is possessed. Which, y'know, isn't quite on the bullseye? But it's close enough. Nevin practically drags 'Drew' home while he texts Chris to come to his house, giving a brief explanation. The twins gets home, Nevin reveals that he knows Drew is 'possessed', 'Drew' insists that he doesn't know what he means, and Nevin calls Chris out from the shadows so that they can both corner 'Drew'.

Chris, cleverly, brought the closest thing to a possession expert he has on hand: Charlie. The three of them interrogate Drew. They narrow down that this surely can't be a demon possession because there's no clear physical change, no clear personality change, and he still has all his memories. Similarly, Charlie and Chris reason that if this were a ghost possession, the ghost probably wouldn't have his memories and there would probably also be some kind of physical change (such as when Chris' eye changed color whenever Charlie would control him). Chris wonders aloud if, maybe, Drew wasn't currently being possessed but had some kind of ghost attached to him that he didn't know about. Nevin immediately shut down that theory because the emotions didn't match up that way; Drew was definitely not the one who was in control.

After a bit more interrogation, Drew is un-cornered and Nevin begrudgingly agrees to treat Drew like normal and just see what happens - as long as Charlie would stay over to watch Drew to make sure he didn't try anything while Nevin was asleep. Before Chris leaves, Drew stops him to talk with him privately: "Nevin's emotion-sensing is a whole unique sense for him, so it could probably get affected by some things just like any other sense. I think something's happening - maybe he's sick or it has to do with his powers - that's causing him to hallucinate." Chris, who was having his own doubts, agrees with Drew and shares this concern with Charlie.

The next morning, before school, Chris comes over and helps Nevin make pancakes, and the Yeerk almost gets caught because he's astonished by how good the pancakes are. And that's as far as I've thought, so the rest is open-ended for now (or for forever, it depends).

Thirdly, the series of fics that I was gonna write and might still write but I don't think I have the motivation: The IBVS take the place of the Animorphs but still have their normal powers. This is a long one, it's been stirring in brain juices for a while.

Most of the normal IBVS events don't happen, with the exception of everything pre-explosion. The day after what would normally have been explosion day, Chris invited Nevin and Edward out for ice cream in an attempt to work out peace between them. Isaac invited himself. Cut through abandoned construction site, yada yada. They just said 'no' when Elfangor offered the morphing power. Genuinely just went "nah, we got this." Unfortunately, this means they have to go through extra measures in order to keep their identities secret, such as kickass hero outfits that barely anyone gets to see because they always try to knock out all the controllers before they can be seen.

Their first costumes were low-quality cheap amalgamations of stuff that Charlie stole from Walmart (yeah Charlie's part of the team too, he kinda takes Tobias' role as the scout because nobody's gonna recognize him anyway). Their second costumes were all designed by Isaac (with the exception of Chris who wanted to design his own), sewn by Chris, and roughly based off an animal in one way or another. Off the top of my head, I only remember a few things about their costumes: Everyone wore gloves and masks, Drew and Nevin's first costumes just looked like raincoats (which hindered Drew's stealth because his was bright yellow), Nevin didn't wear a mask in his first outfit because he figured turning his eyes cyan was disguise enough, and their first masks were all those cheap itchy princess masks that got glitter everywhere and hurt your nose after about two seconds (with the exception of Isaac's DIY rainbow-painted fox mask, but I believe Edward took the fox theme after Isaac switched to a bird theme). I was drawing Isaac's second costume but I only ever finished the mask; here's what I have:

Costumes aside, I had a few plots planned. They were supposed to each be a oneshot, or two chapters if I felt like it was more fitting.

This series idea was where I first had the thought of Drew being invited to a Sharing meeting, but this one would take the place of Frankie's party. I actually have most of the first chapter/half of this one written out, but here's the summary: Drew spends a little bit of time wondering about why so many of the people with strange emotion colors he's been noticing around Foxfield are in the Sharing, before deciding to socialize. The only person Drew recognizes is Barry, so he goes over to say hi to him and the girls he's talking to. (It wouldn't be revealed yet, but Barry and Stacy are Chee.) A full-member meeting starts and Drew is left alone with Dez, who is apparently the only member of the les league who isn't a full-member. They talk for a bit and then suddenly chaos happens, aka the 'andalite bandits' crashing the meetings. Dez and Drew go to explore, stuff happens, Drew recognizes Nevin and both are like "what the fuck are you doing here" before Edward tosses Isaac out the window into Nevin's arms. Isaac has a wound, Drew screams because phobia of blood, Drew heals it and then screams because jesus powers, Drew stands up and then screams because leg is healed, Nevin finally manages to shut Drew up and they all promise to explain everything if Dez can be their getaway driver, Drew screams because a ghost just nyooomed into the car, and stuff is explained. Chapter 2 would be about Drew's first mission: teaming with Charlie, Nevin, and Chris to investigate the Yeerk Pool a little. He starts feeling nauseous from all the overwhelming nearby emotions. Charlie is left to babysit him in their meetup hiding spot until Chris and Nevin come back, but they're seen immediately because Drew's outfit is bright sunshine yellow. In this chapter we'd get introduced to lasers that can actually hurt Charlie, and this would be the first indicator that some of their current undercover outfits were absolute fucking dumpster fires.

In another planned plot, the team is cornered. Isaac's mask (the fox one, at the time) gets taken off by one of the Controllers, who is probably taunting them all and bragging about how he's going to get a promotion. This is the first time anyone in the group, this time being Edward, snaps. I'm not sure if you know or remember a specific scene from #10: The Android, but this kinda parodies that, in a way. Nobody talks about it for a long time, and Edward removes himself from missions for a while.

At the time I hadn't realized I had put Edward through enough hardships, so in another plot, it's discovered that select members of the Wolfe Pack are controllers (not Felix himself, but the Yeerks are definitely planning to get their hands on him for his money). The team overhears one of the pack-controllers talking to another pack-controller, something along the lines of "after Justin handles that part, Ethan will come get the rest of us and we can deal with everything from there." Stuff happens, yada yada, then lo and behold Edward comes face-to-face with, well.. not Evil Justin. Luckily, this would be the first mission with their new outfits, and nobody's cover is blown. Most people would probably never guess that Justin is my favorite of the jocks.

Drew starts the Yeerk Peace Movement single-handedly, coincidentally in that same story a cool new OC joins the team (you'll never guess how those two are connected) (the OC and Drew get to be roommates :) it takes some trouble to steal a portable Kandrona from the Visser). The third-graders are the ones to find the morphing cube, Edward pretty much has a heart attack when he sees Geno and his friends playing with it. If any other characters are revealed to have powers in IBVS, they might get unlucky and end up with David's role.

That, to the best of my memory, is all I had planned out.

Fourth! The fourth one! This one, similar to most of these, is just a concept.

A simple crossover where the Animorphs were sent to the IBVS universe as a sort of gameshow Ellimist and Crayak were placing bets on.

The Animorphs were informed that there is a group in this universe who were hiding a huge secret. If they discovered the IBVS, Ellimist won bragging rights. If they somehow significantly helped the IBVS, Ellimist won a entirely separate 'game' that he and Crayak were playing. If the Animorphs did not discover anything, Crayak won bragging rights. If they somehow significantly messed something up or made something worse for the Animorphs, Crayak won that entirely separate game.

Cassie, as confirmed in Megamorphs #4, is an anomaly who unconsciously breaks the timeline around her if it is not her own timeline. This show quickly becomes a race against the clock.

Other ones I've almost entirely forgotten:

(Similar setup to the casual version) The Animorphs somehow gets swept up in one of the IBVS's issues, assuming it had to do with the Yeerks. I believe they got into a fight with eachother at one point, not sure.

I'm almost certain there was some kind of power swap but the details entirely elude me.

David gets summoned via ritual gone wrong. He's probably possessing Isaac, he's regained his morphing powers, and he does not plan on going back.

One Echos remembered that I didn't: (setup: casual version. similar scene to the scene in #14 The Unknown) The Yeerks try again to do their grab-and-infest tactic from #14 at The Gardens while Foxfield High is having a field trip. The Animorphs, obviously, fight them. When the IBVS are going past on the ride and Nevin gets grabbed, the Animorphs and Controllers comedically stop to watch from the shadows as the IBVS use genuine fucking superpowers to fight off multiple aliens and then continue on the ride. The IBVS definitely thought those were demons. It was too dark and there was too much chaos to figure out who the superpowered kids were, but it would be really funny if Marco recognized Isaac as the kid he flirted with that one time.

#animorphs #ibvs #crossover #long post #genuinely there is a LOT in this post. if there's any warnings or anything else i should tag please let me know.#swearing #at one point #i can't remember if it happens multiple times #ive been typing for four hours

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