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blockedbykei · 3 months

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𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 (𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇)

🏐 — tsukishima kei x f!reader

— synopsis: something about the stars has always intrigued tsukishima, how even in the dusk of the night, the brighest star would light up the world and burn itself in the process. he also didn't know what to do when that star had turned into the person who seemed to make his days just a little bit better.

— warnings: nothing much, except angst. just soft yet also mean tsukishima who doesn't know what to do with those feelings of his. maybe he's a little ooc. based on "andromeda" by weyes blood.

stars, so miniscule, so far away from his touch, so beautiful even with the stygian waters that it swims on.

every night, after practice, tsukishima would walk his lethargic body home with his headphones in his ears, his neck bent backwards it could snap. but he didn't care, he wanted to watch the stars move and follow him.

he wanted to watch all the dead stars who shined the brightest, the stars that had turned into supernovas, the stars that are created. and he felt at peace— the soft rhythm and reverb of the song humming in his ears, and the stars that lead him home.

and occasionally, adding to his visual and auditory senses, a sweet drink on the palate of his tongue made his evenings better.

tonight was no different.

he had just bid his goodbye to his teammates, although timidly and without masking that annoyance he'd always bore against the little tangerine boy who always had a little too much energy.

tsukishima begins his journey, using the stars as his map, putting his hands in his pockets. yamaguchi hadn't joined him for tonight. actually, he hasn't joined him in a while, always walking yachi home, using her "safety" as an excuse (it really was the reason, but obviously there was another one).

still, he didn't mind the absence of his friend.

anri's soft doo-wop brings pleasantries in his ears as the song begins. his fingers tap inside the pocket of his gym shorts. he looks up at the night sky and connects his own constellations. tsukishima wonders if those stars ever know that they're being admired by millions of people in this planet, even if they'd died billions of years ago.

as a child, he used to think that the stars were the meteors that had killed his beloved dinosaurs. and every night, he would refuse to look up. but then akiteru, despite finding humor in his little brother's childish belief, had decided to tell him the difference between meteors and stars. and then added more information about those stars.

so now tsukishima loved three things: dinosaurs, strawberry shortcake, and stars.

his feet patter softly on the cobblestone that serves as a pathway to his home, the cool air drying the sweat off his temples and cooling his back, which reminds him to wipe his sweat when he gets home before he showers to avoid getting sick.

and then he suddenly comes in contact with a small body.

just outside of sakanoshita market, tsukishima's chest bursts in sudden (but light) pain from the person's elbow. and that person had emit a small noise of surprise and pain, stumbling backwards.

tsukishima was just about to snap, tell the person to look where they had been going and call them an idiot when his eyes met yours.

they're wide, irises darkened from the night's haze, and you're clutching your elbow, headphones askew. you rub the soft skin, a small pout on your lips and tsukishima wonders how painful was it for you to pout like this.

then you look at him and he feels the air stuck in his throat.

pretty.

"oh! sorry. i didn't mean to bump into you." you bow in front of him, hands pliant at your sides. tsukishima's at lost for words, lips only parted and looking at you. he still hasn't said anything when you bring yourself back up again.

"it's- it's okay." he finally stammers out, pausing his music and moving his headphones off from one ear. "sorry for not looking either." tsukishima bows slightly, just tilting the top half of his body.

you smile lightly at him, hanging your own headphones around your neck, scanning his figure. he suddenly feels shy under your curious gaze, watching as you read the print on the left side of his chest.

"karasuno...? ka-karasuno! i go there," you laugh lightly, like that discovery was the greatest news you'd ever heard. "i don't think i've seen you around. well, maybe because i'm new. i'm such a dumbass."

though the last sentence being a whisper, tsukishima contradicts: "n-no. i haven't seen you around either." he takes one step forward towards you, didn't expect himself to be nearer than he'd planned. "tsukishima kei."

you tell him yours in a polite manner, with a smile so bright you'd beat the stars that hover both of your bodies. "you're part of the volleyball club, aren't you?"

he hopes you don't see his wavering blush in the dim lights. "yes."

"cool! what position?"

"middle blocker."

"that's so cool," you face him, neck bent upwards to meet his eyes, hands forming into excited fists in front of you, like how hinata would get enthusiastic about something. "you're really tall. i bet, i mean if you could, you'd hit the streetlights when you jump."

that theory piques his curiosity. his eyebrows raise. "i haven't given it a thought. i will try it soon though." tsukishima finally removes his headphones and leaves them around his neck. he points to the bag in her hands. "what'd you buy?"

"chocolate milk. ukai-chan is your coach, right?"

"how'd you know?"

"i see him enter the gym everyday after classes. he owns this store," your head motions behind you. "can you tell him his mom is a little mean? i actually preferred it when he was watching over the store."

tsukishima smiles a little. "can't. he's our coach. he might actually drop us for his store."

your laugh may be brighter than anything else in existence.

"okay, well, see you around tsukishima-san." you smile at him, the pearls of your teeth glinting in the moonlight, the whiskers of your eyes denote the glee you've obtained from him and tsukishima softens just a little. you wave at him and walk past him.

he turns around, and even though your back was to him, his hand lifts and waves at you.

tsukishima walks home happier than he expected, a small smile lingering on his face.

🏐 —

"who you looking for, tsukki?"

yamaguchi serves his friend a teasing smile, holding the tray carefully in his hands. tsukishima looks down at his friend and deadpans:

"shut up, yamaguchi."

"sorry tsukki."

they sit down on the table hinata and kageyama sit on, the two bantering quite loudly on which flavored milk was the best and is advisable to increase their energy. kageyama says: "banana, you dumbass."

hinata argues that: "it's chocolate! it makes people hyper for a reason. could you watch your language?!"

tsukishima and yamaguchi sit beside each other, their backs to the window of the cafeteria, which meant that tsukishima has a view of the entire room, his height being an advantage despite the large crowds.

he blindly brings his bento out of his box, his eyes never leaving the heedless crowd. yamaguchi, ever the curious, most specifically the friend who always wondered what it is that ran through tsukishima's mind, asked again: "seriously, tsukki, who are you looking for?"

tsukishima huffs. "just sawamura-san. i need a-advice. on my blocks." the lie slips easily off his tongue that yamaguchi can't decide between believing him or forcing the truth out of him.

but tsukishima is slightly disappointed that even after five minutes, he still can't see the color of your hair amidst the throng of students. though his face might say otherwise (rbf), he can't help but feel a little sad.

maybe the star isn't shining so bright today.

he pokes and prods at the vegetables placed on top of his rice, stabbing the carrot and shoving it in his frowning mouth. he doesn't notice that hinata has been observing– no, looking at him. because hinata was never the type of person who could be discreet.

"stingyshima, you look sad," he doesn't know if it's a tease or not, but maybe it is. "is he looking for someone, yamaguchi?"

"i don't know," he shrugs. "he says he's looking for sawamura-san."

"he's right there," kageyama jabs his finger behind him, seeing daichi in line for the cafeteria food. "your blocks haven't been good? figured."

"sorry if i haven't lived up to your standards, king." tsukishima sneers. yamaguchi and hinata laugh, kageyama burning in his seat.

eating his lunch ended quite faster than he thought it would, and soon he finds himself walking along the hallway of the school building waiting for the remaining free time to end. so his boredom drags his feet towards the nearest vending machine.

the device on his ears blocked out all the haze and noise of the world, which left him in his own environment. it eased the nerves that trickled along his veins, rubbed the tension off his shoulders. in his own milieu, he could think whatever and say whatever and do whatever.

just like how stars form themselves however they please, explode and die whenever they want to. tsukishima didn't have better knowledge of stars than he knew of dinosaurs, but it was his own thought and he had the freedom to think whatever it is (although of course, with just a little bit of accuracy and validity).

tsukishima's eyes scan the plastic divisions for the sight of any strawberry drinks. when they land on one, he types the number and slips the cash in. the conveyor belts begin to twist.

but much to his dismay, when the drink was pushed, it never fell.

he tuts in frustration, his head falling backwards to release a tired, irritated sigh.

and then you pop up beside him.

tsukishima jumps lightly when he sees you put your head out and smile at him, clutching his heaving chest. somehow, your laugh had managed to drown out the song in his ears; he doesn't mind though. he thinks your smile was the most beautiful orchestra ever conducted.

he puts his headphones around his neck. "they're incredibly annoying, aren't they?" you smile up at him. "here, i'll help you."

suddenly, you begin to violently shake the vending machine. tsukishima almost feels embarrassed for you, but the lack of audience has rid that feeling. you, with your height, looked like a child angrily throwing a tantrum and had transferred your anger towards an object.

nonetheless, adorable.

finally, the strawberry drink fell down, and you squat to pick it up from the port to give it to him. tsukishima takes it from you and says: "thank you."

"no problem!" you beam at him. "i was actually looking for you earlier. i couldn't see you. did you eat at your classroom?"

tsukishima removes the plastic of his straw. "no. i was at the cafeteria." he doesn't want to admit he's looking for you too, but he hopes you can see it in his eyes.

(you don't. to you, he looked uninterested and entertained at the same time. very hard to read)

"aw, alright. well, i was just wondering if you'd like to, uh, switch emails?" you're shy and he finds it amusing. "not switch like i use yours and you use mine, but switch like i take yours and you take mine... so we could text each other..."

he wants to say that he knows, he's not dumb. but you– your eager eyes of softness look up at him and he forgets how to be so cruel and cold. like you were the kind of fire to melt the falling snowflakes. tsukishima nods.

"sure." he pulls his phone out with one hand from his pocket and hands it to you. you take it and give your phone to him, and it felt smaller in his hands.

when you exchange phones again, there's shyness written across your face. tsukishima can't help but blush with the way the sun kisses your skin the way it would to tainted windows– radiating colors so beautiful he can't help but simply be at awe towards you.

a star is created somewhere far away. tsukishima's heart skips a beat.

"i was actually looking for you, too. earlier." he admits, putting his phone back in his pocket. "i couldn't see you. sorry."

"don't be sorry!" there goes that smile again, always making his heart flip. "we both struggled anyway."

"do you want anything?" he points to the vending machine. "chocolate? banana? strawberry?"

"can i try yours first?"

tsukishima pauses, the straw in his mouth just finishing his sip. there's innocence in your eyes that riles him up the wall in ludicrous ways. he slowly takes the straw out between his lips and hands it to you, with you greedily taking it from him before his hand met you halfway.

he swears he could've been redder than any other person in the world when you so shamelessly put his straw in your mouth.

should i be worried about the germs or the fact that we kind of just kissed but not really?

when you sip, you swallow and he can see your brain ponder on what decision you were going to make. you hand it back to him and say: "yeah, i like that one, too."

how could you act like you didn't just drink from his straw?

tsukishima gets you one, this time without shaking the vending machine and hands it to you.

"thank you." you say, your smile adding to your gratitude.

though it seems as if time has reached its end and a familiar sound rings across the hallway that reminds the both of you that the free time was over. tsukishima sees your pout but you don't directly show it to him.

"well, see you around, tsukishima!" you wave goodbye to him, walking away.

tsukishima stands still, staying at his place. his drink was no longer cold, the condensation dripping down his fingers.

somehow, the colors are brighter, the drink was sweeter, the tension from his body had disappeared, and everything else felt lighter. and even if you were no longer standing in his proximity, that luster you left behind etched itself to him.

you were now his new environment.

🏐 —

you. hi tsukishima! 3:13pm

when his phone dings, he places his waterbottle to his side, tuning out the sound of squeaking shoes and bouncing balls. he sees your name on the screen. he doesn't hesitate to text back.

tsukishima. Hi. 3:13pm

his palms sweat from simply typing that greeting. but his heart seems to beat faster and his chest feels light. he didn't expect that you'd text right away. nevertheless, he feels elated to see you text him.

you. didnt see u at the gates earlier during dismissal, do u have training today? 3:15pm

tsukishima. Yes. 3:15pm

you. oh really? until what time? 3:18pm

tsukishima. 7. 3:18pm

you. okay! thats kind of tiring haha. 3:20pm

tsukishima. It is. 3:20pm

he winces at the possible tone he may deliver, so he adds:

tsukishima. Haha. 3:20pm

"bruh, you text so lame."

it seems that tanaka had been peaking over his shoulder as the conversation ensued. tsukishima hugs his phone to his chest and glares at him. "that's invasion of privacy."

"and that's how to lose a girl," he points at his phone. "you text like you're so uninterested."

yamaguchi looks at the two. "who's tsukki texting?"

"some girl named, uh,–"

"no one." tsukishima snaps. "no one."

"oh, it must be the one tsukishima was looking for earlier," hinata runs– or skips towards them. "stingyshima flirting? i wonder how you look like. i'm smart, but i won't tell you that i'm a smartass because i wanna impress you with my blocking skills. i'm so cool and so tall."

tsukishima hates how hinata mimics him. he bites back. "oh, i'm hinata. i'm so small."

much to his dismay, even sugawara had joined in. "you could tell her that, you know, i'm so tired. but i'm drinking water so that's good enough for me already."

he responds with respect, though dripping his annoyance. "sugawara-san, please don't mimic me."

his phone vibrates again, and everyone else leans in to look. tsukishima snarls and moves away from them, clutching his dear phone to his chest.

you. any chance we could drink later? 3:27pm

you. not alcohol, of course. just milk or juice, or a shake, even yogurt. although, we can't drink yogurt... 3:27pm

tsukishima feels yamaguchi peer over his shoulder, and he knows its him because of that distinct smell of his. he doesn't hide the phone away even when yamaguchi says: "she's asking you out! go!"

"calm down, yamaguchi."

he shakily types his response.

tsukishima. Sure. By the store again? 3:27pm

three dots, he's awaiting for your response.

you. okay! see you there :) 3:28pm

🏐 —

his practice ends at 7 on the dot. tsukishima has never left faster in his life.

though he was always the first to leave, bidding them goodbye before walking his way home. this was different– his goodbye bore that sense of urgency with a twinge of excitement as he clumsily slipped his regular shoes on, walking as fast as he could away from the school campus.

coach ukai had actually offered that they go back to the store together, but tsukishima was in a rush.

it was an eight minute walk to the store. he got there in five.

you were no longer wearing your school uniform. you had your hands at your sides, rocking back in forth from the heels of your feet, your headphones bobbing along with your head as you listened to your song. tsukishima wonders how he would approach you.

a tap on the shoulder? yell your name? appear in front of you? should he turn you around violently and smile awkwardly? should he–

"tsukishima-san!"

he didn't realize that he had spaced out, blinking. you approach tsukishima as you discard your headphones to hang them around your neck, stopping just a few friendly feet from him.

"how was practice?" you pip. "you look exhausted."

tsukishima reddens. "i'm alright. same practice anyway," he rubs the back of his neck. "should we go inside? i'm thirsty."

he hopes he doesn't sound too demanding. but you reacted normally, gave him a pretty smile, and led your way towards the store.

coach ukai's mother sat behind the counter, sporting the same cigarette in her mouth, a garbled greeting escaping her without bothering to look up as she read her newspaper. you and tsukishima find your way to the back where the drinks are.

he opens the door for you, the appliance bulb casting a white glow over your face as you bent and searched for what drink made your veins twitch with excitement.

"by the way, you know yachi hitoka?" you balance your hands on your knees, looking up at him. "she's your manager right? i'm in her class!"

"really?" he queries, swallowing thickly. "you're really smart, then. it's one of the higher classes."

"i try," you shrug shyly, looking back at the selection of drinks. "anyway, i asked her about you. she said that you were a middle blocker, 6 foot something, and that she liked your friend yamaguchi? i don't know, she said it then she denied it."

"oh, she likes him alright," he chuckles. "he walks her home every night."

"really?!" you pick up two cans of coke and clutch them to your chest, standing upwards. tsukishima shyly reaches for another strawberry drink. "i'm mad at her for not telling me that."

you make your way to the front with tsukishima following behind you. you place the contents on the counter, the woman behind muttering something you can't discern as she scanned your orders.

"are you allowed to stay out a little longer?" you ask him, the soft beeps of the drinks grazing his ears. he shrugs again, reaching for his wallet.

"yeah, sure. do you want to do something?" he places the payment on the counter before you were able to take your own cash out. you pout.

"i was going to pay for mine."

"it's alright. it wasn't that expensive, anyway." he smiles a little at you. and it was the first time tsukishima had ever smiled kindly at anyone, except yamaguchi, his mom, and akiteru. "you were saying?"

you pop open your can. "i found this really nice spot where you can stargaze. and, honestly, i'm bored and tomorrow's the weekend. i would have invited you to do this tomorrow, but we're here now!"

he laughs through his nose. "i'm free anytime."

when you both approach the exit, coach ukai and the team stand by the open doors. tsukishima stops on his tracks, his mouth parted the slighest as you tip your head back to drink your soda. when your head comes back in place, your eyes settle on the crowd upon you.

"oh, hello ukai-san!"

tsukishima looks at you through his peripherals before darting his eyes back front. they all snicker, eyes widened at the sight in front of them— cold, narcissistic, mean tsukishima kei, with probably the nicest girl in all of karasuno. yachi waves at you.

"is that why you were rushing to get out, tsukishima?" ukai teases, a cigarette hanging loosely off his lips. "i see you've met my number 1 customer."

he blushes when he's exposed, and he ignores the way you give him a surprised glance.

"so you must be the girl he was texting earlier," tanaka approaches you, offers his hand. "forgive him. he sounds lame when he texts, but trust me if you saw his face he looked like–"

"tanaka-san." tsukishima almost pleads.

while shaking his hand, yachi approaches you with yamaguchi behind her. "this is why you asked me about him!"

"shut up, yachi."

tsukishima could die right then and there. melt into a puddle of sweat and embarrassment. there were words exchanged between you and his ever loving team, the heat on his face becoming hotter and hotter at every second.

he wishes he could leave now.

by the time hinata begins to ask you a question about tsukishima's attitude, he sighs loudly. "excuse us, but we have to head out now."

you look at him again. "we do?"

"yes, we do," he looks down at you. "you told me, remember?"

you smile at him, recollecting your invitation. "oh, yes! we should get going."

you offer your goodbyes to the curious group. tsukishima wallows in discomfort, walking away with his shoulders slightly slumped and a hand in his pocket.

"i like them," you tell him, drinking your coke. "they're nice."

"they're really not," he takes a sip of his drink. "if you hung out with them, you'd be just as annoyed as i was."

his "joke" makes you laugh. first he thinks what could be so funny about his comment, then he realizes you don't actually know that he wasn't joking. the thought makes him swoon just a little.

"so why stargazing?" his and your feet are synchronized, stepping on the uneven cobblestone to the destination that tsukishima still doesn't know. your shoulder is closed to his when you walk; he resists the urge to put his hand out so that they'd graze your fingers, feeling the heat rub on his calloused skin.

"yesterday, when you walked home, i looked back and saw you look up at the sky," you reply. "and i realized that "oh, he stargazes too!" so i decided to bring you to my spot."

"your spot?" you hum in agreement. "why?"

"because it's nice to share the feeling of looking up at beautiful stars." you throw your now empty can onto a nearby bin, opening your second one. "i figured maybe you might feel the same way i do."

if it was admiration then yes, he felt the same way you did.

🏐 —

tsukishima realizes the walk was 10 minutes away from his home. now you're both standing at a hill where you can see all the houses nearby and karasuno at the other side.

you sit down on the ground, he copies you. his bottom sits on the soft soil, his fingers prickled by the grass, and the cold smell of the meadow enters his nostrils.

he thinks that everything is happening a little too fast – he had only met you yesterday, exchanged emails earlier, went out to buy drinks, and now you're both sitting at a hill stargazing like it's a date. your optimism and kindness shakes him a little, leaving him with an unknown thought of what he could possibly do as of this moment.

yet he's still here, watching you gaze at the stars, the sheer glow of the moon kissing your cheeks, the stars reflecting off the mosaic of your eyes. you're radiating this cordial heat that wraps around his right arm that rests just millimeters away from you.

"told you it's pretty," you beam, lips parted, never sparing him a glance. "you see that? that's cassiopea right there."

you point to the sky and squint, and it's only then tsukishima takes his eyes off you and follow the direction of your fingerprint.

you trace the invisible strings that connect each star to one another. blearily, his imagination turns those strings into silver. tsukishima draws nearer towards you, his shoulder now bumping yours, his pinkie grazing the skin of your finger.

"andromeda isn't here yet. but it's the one i've been waiting for the most," you turn your head to look at him.

tsukishima's breath hitches when he realizes that he may have underestimated how close the proximity he had created was, your breath fanning his face. he senses your surprise, the way the bottom of your eyes twitch lightly and your nose scrunches a little.

"i figure maybe they arive in a few weeks," he murmurs. he can sense your surprise and says: "you're not the only one who knows about stars."

"yeah? figured you were more into dinosaurs."

"that's true," he sniffles, you giggle. "when i was a kid i thought that the stars were the ones who killed the dinosaurs. so every night, when i see them, i would always cry 'cause i thought that they might fall here and kill us all."

"pessimist, huh?" when your head tilts up, your chin bumps his shoulder. "anything else i should know about you?"

"there's one thing i want to tell you but i've been making it plainly obvious."

"you have a knack for strawberries."

"yes," he smiles a little, the whites of his teeth appearing between his thin lips. "i like music."

"so do i."

"yeah? what genre?"

"...anri..."

"really?" tsukishima's eyes brighten, maybe even brighter than the stars. "i like her music."

"i thought you were kind of a japanese rock kind of guy."

"i can be many things," you look back up to the sky, your eyes darting between each individual star like you're tracing another constellation. tsukishima's tracing the features of your face like it was his constellation.

"yachi says you're mean, but in a way that brings up the team's drive to play harder," you say into the wind. "please don't be mean to me. i cry easily."

tsukishima wonders if he can even smile more than he is now. "i'll try my best. you're giving me a lot of reasons to be mean right now."

"but you're not being mean to me right now," you poke his glasses and shove them to his face, hurting the bridge of his nose. albeit tsukishima doesn't mutter a single complaint. "you're just being dorky."

"i am not!" he balances his body with one hand behind him, the other tugging on the end of your hair.

"now you're just being childish!"

your laugh beats out all the songs he had to search for to complete every single of his playlists. it was as soft as silk, as dulcet as violins; it was something he'd play on repeat when it played on his headphones. and your sweet laughed matched the way your face became even more beautiful.

tsukishima feels his heart beat a little bit faster.

a star explodes. supernova.

he no longer feels wearied from practice, his body languid from comfort in your presence. and just like last night, he was happy his day ended with something that lacked the usual bothersome feeling in his chest, but something that decompressed every constraint muscle in his body and think of something else that made the corner of his lips smile and his heart elated.

that's why when he went back home, when his mother and akiteru (who was visiting) were dead asleep, he silently descended to his room with a smile on his face, brushed his teeth with the sound of your laugh echoing in his ears, changed his clothes with your scent somehow lingering, and went to be thinking about you.

🏐 —

the past few weeks were more eventful than the days he had to train for the inter-high preliminaries.

the more he saw you, the more he felt himself unwinding like a diurnal motion, every trust and rigor travelling through his veins whenever your aura touched his opalescent skin.

you were the succor to his weary bones. you were the happiness that he never truly found in others. you were the light brighter than the stars could ever give him in the dark.

secrets were passed the way notes would in classes.

you got a sweet tooth? what dessert do you like?

strawberry shortcake, tsukishima said. no regrets, no embarrassment. pure adoration.

did you know that velociraptors aren't actually that big?

yeah? how'd you know that, tsukishima?

it's called reading, he'd roll his eyes. you're in the highest class and you don't read?

his retorts were never used to add insult to injury. that's what he liked about you– you knew when he was serious and when he wasn't despite the fact that tsukishima believed that he was hard to read. it seemed like you were able to read him better than yamaguchi has.

his heart aches at the thought. the ache, painful but so good, but something that he could not discern the true intention.

but he could never let you in him. never in his life.

you. saw a frog and it looked like you. loser. 12:51pm

you and tsukishima had exchanged countless of texts that contained topics that he never expected himself to be indulging in. that familiar ding! of his phone reminded him of you already, because you'd been the only one who constantly texted him more than yamaguchi has.

(also because, well, he set up a different tone for you.)

tsukishima sees your name pop up in a rectangular notification on his screen. he opens it with sweaty hands and a towel over his head, his thumbs typing out a snarky reply.

tsukishima. How could a frog look like me, (y/n)? That's dumb. 12:51pm

he ruffles his towel over his damp curls, the sweat on his temples being sucked into the cloth. he watches the three bubbles appear on your side and you say:

you. because i said so. look! 12:52pm

the attached image looked far from what tsukishima looks like. it was a regular frog, beside a pond, with no thoughts. he rolls his eyes.

tsukishima. I don't see it. 12:53pm

you. thats because youre not LOOKING. do u see his eyes? literally you. i think its the mouth, haha 12:54pm

he laughs either way despite not having seen any similarities. but laughing seemed to be a mistake, as he forgot where he was at the moment.

"quit laughing, tsukishima. you'll slack off," kageyama taunts from afar, face etched into an arrogant smirk. yamaguchi approaches him, peeking over tsukishima's shoulder to snoop on the conversation.

"are you worried i'll ruin your game, king?" tsukishima rubs the back of his neck, tilting his chin upwards. "my apologies."

you send him another text: omw there to see u :p 12:59pm

the latter's growl was overpowered by yamaguchi's hum of interest. "tsukki, that frog does look like you."

"yamaguchi, how nosy are you?"

"nosy enough to ask when will you tell her that you like her?"

tsukishima's eyebrows furrow. he did not like you. during those weeks, the both of you did more than just exchange texts in any time of day– often you'd meet after classes and buy a drink when he didn't have practice; sometimes you'd wait for him until seven in the evening so you'd both go up the hill again and talk mindlessly about things that tickled your brains.

in those few weeks, he had learned more about himself than he ever had with anyone else.

and he feels, though never actually given any attention to, that his days ended with a smile on his face rather than feeling boredom creeping up his shoulder like a grim reaper would on a dying soul.

instead, it felt like he was resurrected; tsukishima felt like a shooting star falling through evening, the fire pulsing through his veins as he fell. with you, he felt like everything else had color, that everything else made sense.

his life became brighter that it seemed like hinata's hair was actually on fire from the bright orange hues.

so no, he did not like you.

"i don't like her." he wipes the sweat that dripped onto his glasses. "don't be ridiculous."

"yesterday, when you were eating, you kept talking about how this (y/n) girl told you how the dinosaurs from jurassic park were created. and all of us were talking about one piece."

"so? it's way more interesting."

"but not her?"

"yamaguchi," he bemoans. "nothing is interesting about her."

that lie. that sickeningly, macabre, heartbreaking lie that it even hurt him to say it. tsukishima also doesn't understand why yamaguchi has a horrified face plastered on him, but he realizes he wasn't looking at his friend, and was looking behind him.

he whips his head around.

the tips of your shoes had mud on them from the dampened soil. your umbrella hung loosely around your wrist and dripped on the ground. your fingers clasped around a small contained with what seemed to be strawberry shortcaked that looked delectable enough to make his stomach hurt. and your chest heaved from what he assumed was the aftermath of rapid walking.

despite the sight that had made his head spin, the affliction that twitched from your frowning lips and the gloss that made your eyes shine from dejection had turned the situation into something so monotone he feels like his soul had just left life.

a star dies in the middle of the galaxy.

tsukishima thinks the regret plastered on his face may be seen. he hopes that it is.

the sound of squeaking shoes and ricocheting balls continue, but the ringing of his ears are louder. you swallow thickly, shuffling on your feet, and approach him hesitantly like he'd burn you if you were near him.

"i brought you this because you looked so pale yesterday after you practiced," you say softly, though he could hear the pain in your tone. tsukishima takes the container from your reaching hand, and swears he sees your breath hitch when his fingers graze yours.

"thank you–"

"see you around, tsukishima," you bow, before you hurriedly leave the gymnasium.

it felt like the room was shrinking rapidly on him, his muscles pressing in on his body in a suffocating manner. yamaguchi puts his hand on tsukishima's shoulder, leaning down to check in on his distraught friend.

"tsukki," his eyebrows are raised in concern, voice loud enough to snap tsukishima out of his pity daze but low enough that everybody else remained distracted. "hey..."

"i'm fine," he looks up at him. "it's nothing. i'm- i'm fine. let's just go back to practice."

his fists clench when he shoves the cake into his bag and walks back into the court. his blocks are futile when he thinks of your eyes. his serves hit the net when he thinks of the frown pasted on your lips. and he feels himself at the bottom of the game when another star dies.

he just doesn't know if it was his or yours. could a heart break two times?

🏐 –

tsukishima had a crisp trepidation towards the true veneer of love.

he believes he was too young for that, that he was in a stage where he would have this deep passion for things that were alive albeit something that he can't touch nor interconnect with– hense is unfathomable love for dinosaurs, stars, and strawberry shortcake.

so whatever it is that he was feeling for you – he doesn't know if it's love. tsukishima feels like he could die if he didn't see you for a single day; his feet and his body restless up until you both meet after practice.

tsukishima is even more restless now.

there wasn't a single text from you since 12:59 in the afternoon.

there was almost a hundred texts from tsukishima since 3:00pm, the time he had excused himself early from his practice.

he lays on his bed, his headphones on but no music. he wasn't in the mood to put himself up in brighter spirits. his back rests uncomfortably on the thick mattress, his curls splayed across his pillow, a hand on his chest and a hand holding a fork, his feet spread apart.

and the strawberry shortcake you gave him rests on his chest, half eaten, his mouth chewing sadly on the sweet delicacy.

"do you think stars have thoughts?" you asked. tsukishima found this beguiling and preposterous simultaneously, however the curiosity that happened to lift his lips into a dazed smile made him release a teasing retort:

"you certainly don't."

you threw a grape at him. he caught it with an open mouth. the sun was about to set, but the warmth was enough to prevent the both of you from shivering idiotically on the hill at the cold breeze. "i'm approaching an epiphany, asshole."

your vulgarity made him smile more. "celestial bodies, more specifically stars, do not have thoughts. but they're alive, and they function into a cycle."

"unorthodox minds like mine go out of the box," you rolled your eyes. "sorry, i'll put it in simpler terms so you could understand. i have a very creative mind."

"oh yeah?" tsukishima tilted his head sideways to present his interest. "and what'd you mean by that?"

"you know how stars die and create themselves?" you queried. "it's like how phoenixes rise from the ashes as they're reborn. but when a star resurrects, they're called "zombie stars," right?"

"yeah."

"and i'm not saying that they have a mind of their own, but if you were to input your own thoughts into a star, then yeah, it's like they resurrect themselves to live on with life over and over again, and don't you think that's exhausting? they're like dead stars, and they still shine brightly, and it's ironic, right? because something that has been dead billions of years ago still shine. it has a meaning into it that people just... completely ignore."

"so an analogy?" his eyebrow raised.

"yeah, something like that," you licked your lips. "when you see a bright star, and you don't know if it's a dead star. but imagine stargazing and finding love in something that has been dead long ago."

tsukishima's body softened. "uhuh."

"but what if you keep loving that star? and that star just receives so much of that love that they're able to resurrect themselves. well, obviously loving a star isn't actually gonna bring it back to life because there's a separate scientific explanation for that, but i'm saying that– that if you love something, or someone, hard enough that you're able to bring light into their lives, then that's possible.

and they take all that love for the benefit of their life and... they burst into something beautiful called supernovas."

tsukishima stared at you, his gaze ever so adoringly. "and what's the point of this epiphany of yours?"

"that loving someone that has been gone inside their body is possible to save them and bring them back to life to turn them into someone even more beautiful."

tsukishima sits back up, a whiplash from the quick commotion.

it was already night when his thin curtains were tainted black from the dark glow of the evening.

he pushes himself off his bed, slip his way out of his home and clumsily puts his shoes on to find you.

and he knows exactly where you are.

so it's no surprise when he sees you all alone, laying down on the meadow of the hill, blooming flowers grazing your cheeks in any way the wind blows. tsukishima stands and stares at you longingly, his fingers twitching beside him.

"(y/n)."

he says your name like an oath to the stars. you sit up, hearing his voice, cheeks dry with tears melting onto your skin. tsukishima's heart breaks the slightest when he brings himself up the hill.

"what are you doing here?" you ask him, voice so small he'd think you were whispering.

to his surprise, tsukishima falls onto his knees in front of you. he finds it endearing that despite the reduce of his height, you still look up at him. then he takes your hands into his, his thumbs tracing every ridge of your knuckles, looking deep into your eyes.

"i didn't mean what i said." he declares like he was under jurisdiction of the judge. "you are–... the most interesting woman in the world. the most beguiling, the most entrusting, the most beautiful."

your eyebrows furrow, hands shaking in his grasp. "what are you saying?"

"that i'm an asshole." he admits. "you are so interesting that every epiphany of yours pulls me back on the ground and into you. that epiphany you had about dead stars that resurrect themselves from getting so much love? shit, (y/n), that may be me."

you let out a tiny gasp, maybe a breath of reliefz his face is so close to yours, his knees in between your legs, bumping the side of your thighs. "what?"

"i–... i don't know if you love me. you don't have to. but you've made my days brighter and gave my life meaning that i felt like i was resurrected. like all the pieces in me were brought back together. and everything else just felt... alive."

finally, you smile. just a little, but it was enough to make the grass greener and the color of your shirt turn pastel, your eyes vibrant in the night. "yeah?"

"yeah," he laughs, idiotically he may add. "i like you. i like you so much. i like you more than i like dinosaurs."

you guffaw, throwing your head back, hands never letting go.

a star resurrects. a supernova explodes.

"i like you more," you say, looking up at him through your eyelashes.

it was enough for him to jump on you to press his lips on your awaiting mouth, gently pressing you down on the grass, his hand on the back of your head to soften the blow as he settles himself in between your legs.

his mouth, sweet with strawberries and ardor, his hair soft like flowers when your fingers tangle on the golden locks, his glasses pressing against the space between your eyebrows and the bridge of your nose, his tongue that hovers respectfully on top of your bottom lip.

innocent, lips full of solicitude, he kisses you deeper and with care, his head tilting to open his mouth the slightest so that he could get closer to you. the small sound that emits from your mouth makes him pull back and smile shyly.

his eyes had the galaxies reflected off his eyes that it made space seem like they were golden from his irises. you take his glasses off, placing them beside you, and let your hands rest on his face; tucking his hair behind his ear as you do so.

and above your intertwined bodies, andromeda swims across the stygian night sky, traced by invisible strings. just as tsukishima predicted.

tsukishima could stare at you for the rest of his life.

tsukishima loved four things: dinosaurs, strawberry shortcake, stars, and most especially:

you.

reblogs and feedback are appreciated!

#haikyu x reader #tsukishima kei #tsukishima x reader #haikyuu #haikyu fluff #haikyuu tsukishima #kei tsukishima #tsukishima fluff #tsukishima haikyu #tsukishima x y/n #tsukishima x you #kei tsukishima x reader #tsukishima kei x reader

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im-totally-not-an-alien-2 · 1 year

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Halloween prompts year 2 day 7

Danny sees a 30 minute video in his recommendations titled: Why Red Robin and Phantom should never meet, and honestly? The more he watches the more he immediately wants to fly to New Jersey and declare Red Robin and Spoiler his new friends

Tim sees the same video and is losing his mind cause this is how he learns about the Anti ecto acts and about a Lazarus hell portal being open in a small city in Illinois for two years without the JL knowing anything!

He needs to save this guy before he gets himself...okay. Maybe its a little late for that but his point still stands!

It has nothing to do to him liking how many unhinged situations him and Phantom could get away with. Nothing!

RR could hardly believe it when Phantom showed up on his patrol a few nights later, offering to give him a tour of the ghost zone (at least what Danny had mapped out already) in return for some assistance against Vlad, the GIW, the Fentons and help him get Danny and Jazz Fenton rights to thiwr parents patents and machines so the government can't steal them...and maybe set up a place for them to live until they're 18

Also he wanted to know how cool RR was with clones.

Tim gets a thermos and immediately sucks Phantom up, apologizes claiming he needed to test it to make sure it was legit, and they go one thier way. Dannys just glad he didn't give him a blaster.

They become best friends, prank the other bats, terrorize all of thier enemies, ect.

The real problems start when Danny "can't recognize ethics unless its actively hurting someone" Fenton and Tim "always one and a half steps from turning into a supervillian" Drake start taking things a bit too far riding off of eachothers excitement

The universe trembles in fear.

Constantine hides and puts his phone on silent.

#halloween prompts #prompts #dpxdc #danny phantom #danny fenton #fanfiction prompts #red robin #tim drake #they would be so very very unhinged together ❤#breaindead #deadtired #maybe #could be platonic or romantic #either way they are chaos grimlins

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tiyoin · 5 months

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Hiii this is the first time I’ve sent in an ask so I’m a little nervous but your work especially twisted anxiety🌀 just makes me feral❤️ (also feel free to delete this if I make you uncomfortable)

But twst🌀reader being good at sing has got me in a choke hold, it feels very princess coded lol

I mean 🌀reader has grim, so they have an animal companion, they can sing🎶, they have a ‘prince’ the twst boys+yuu and they have a curse! anxiety‼️

This idea has just been giving me so much brain-rot I had to share it with you<3, and don’t forget to take care of yourself because I know how hard making & writing is so have a nice day/night

WELCOME ANON 🫶

and dont worry!! im not uncomfortable in any way, and I apperciate you looking out for my comfortably, truly.

and im so glad you like twisted anxiety!!🙈

but holy shit I never thought about reader being princess coded CAUSE YOU'RE SO RIGHT???

I DONT KNOW WHY THIS HASNT OCCURRED TO ME

THINKING ABOUT MANAGER 🌀 READER AT THE VDC FOR SOME REASON ATTRACTING ROYAL SWORD STUDENTS????

yeah 🌀 is very closed off, not looking at people in favor of the ground, hovering around other manager yuu and the rest of the nrc squad.

but that just makes the rsa students go 👁️👁️

reader is freaked out and starting to get paranoid that everyone is watching them and that there must be something wrong with them. is there something on their face? does this uniform make them look fat? is there sweat stains on their back?? arm pits?? oh god can they see their underwear?? and they're clinging to yuu like a life line

(yuu doesn't mind because they're just happy that reader is clinging to them so yuu can keep an eye on them hehe🤭)

of course vil sets reader off to cool down because he can't have their manager bring anxiety to the rest of the performers. so they go to get food!

until they bump into an rsa student...

"oh sorry, I didn't see you there!" all while they're staring at you like this:

LIKE SIR BACK AWAY!!

reader coming back to the vdc crew with a thousand yard stare as they're clutching a churro.

going back to singing reader,

maybe they're in their little hiding place the woods just letting their feelings out. maybe they go a little too far and wonder onto RSA property (hypothetically because I dont know how far away the schools are. but if it's far... they take a magical little short cut that chenya uses to sneak on over 🤭)

or maybe rsa guys are doing a 'test of courage' and are sneaking tot he woods of nrc. MAYBE THEY'RE EVEN PLAYING A SCHOOL PRANK TO START A PRANKING WAR-

but one of you are in the wrong woods and the rsa guys hear and see you singing. while yes, 75% of the population is some kind of nobility they know that there aren't any princesses here. especially on sage island.

but maybe you are?? because you're a girl, you're singing about true love, the animals seem to like you, you're wearing a.. dress? a robe, even. and you look so good 🙈

and when they see you- oh no! you saw them first!

its like the fucking hunt from snow white HASDBIWEUFB they're chasing after you and you're literally trying not to scream or cry

oh god everything is so much more amplified. and luckily you escape and race into ramshackle like your life depend on it (because it did.)

AND OH MY GOD YOU ALMOST GOT MURDERED!!!

but the rsa boys are gushing and spreading rumors of a beautiful ghostly girl who sings for her true love in the forest... BROTHER WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT???

so much lore to the twisted anxiety saga, and so little motivation to map and write it all out 😔

#ANON YOURE TRULY A GENIUS #CAN I POP THROUGH THE SCREEN RQ AND GIVE YOU A FAT SMOOCH #twisted anxiety 🌀#twst x reader #tiyoin’s cuties 。　 ඞ 。#tiyoin 🔎#twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland x reader #ive lowkey gotta make a solid plan for twisted anxiety because ive just been going off of impulse HASHDAIUDB

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pookietv · 5 months

Text

aquatic missile | arthurtv

had this idea that i thought was adorable so here

have a little arthur with a crush on a marine biologist !!!!

after arthur had moved to london, finally getting somewhat used to the area he had moved to, he had become slightly socially worn out from seeing his friends much more often, being exposed to many more social situations all whilst trying to unpack and organise his new flat.

so he had decided to abandon his responsibilities for the day to go to the aquarium, which was honestly one of the things he had been looking forward to most when moving to a bigger city then he was used to, the museums, zoos, and aquariums he could finally visit.

he was happy going alone, wanting to unwind, his headphones hanging from his neck, ready to play some music as he strolled through and gawked at all the sea life.

when he walked into the lobby, he noticed the place was quite empty, but it didn't wholly surprise him - it was 11am on a tuesday, most people were probably at work or school, and he had somewhat been glad it was empty.

he walked up to the desk, slightly looking up at the woman at the desk before back down to his feet for a moment.

the worker was quite pretty.

"hi, can i help you?" the woman spoke, in a sweetly helpful way.

"hello, i just wanted to get a ticket?" he said, a little quietly.

"just a one day general admission?" she asked, and he confirmed with a nod of his head.

"yeah, that sounds good to me," he nodded, his eyes slightly crinkling as he offered her a slightly awkward smile.

"have you been before? we have a little leaflet with a map in that might help if you'd like one, you can obviously just wander as you please but if theres specific things you'd like to see, they're all labelled in here," she offered, placing a small blue coloured leaflet on the desk, his fingers gently reaching to take it, nodding gratefully.

"oh, thank you, yeah.. i mean, i love all the sea creatures but i do really like the sharks," he admitted with a small laugh, and she nodded, giggling a little herself.

"oh, me too.. the sharks are my favourite by a mile, i even have a specific favourite shark, they actually let me name her," she smiled, and his eyes lit up.

"no way, really? what did you call her?" he asked, clearly interested.

"a little rogue but i called her missile," she said bashfully, and he laughed.

"that is very cool." he confirmed, and she blushed a little with a nod.

arthur handed her the money for the ticket, taking it from her with a small thanks as he headed his way into the aquarium.

he could easily spend hours in the aquarium, and he did, meandering slowly and stopping at each small fish that he could see, reading all the boards with the facts on, and by the time he had even looked down at his phone he noticed it was already 2pm, and he was approaching the shark section of the aquarium, a grin on his face at the prospect.

he had barely ran into anyone whilst walking through the winding path of the place, and in the shark section he could only see one person in the whole big area, a big glass tunnel, someone hunched over on a bench, eating and watching the sharks on the other side.

he began slowly walking around, his head focussed on looking up at the glass, watching the sharks swim around, even over his head when he was lucky before he heard noise.

"oh, hi again," a small familiar voice said, and he turned to the girl eating, who had lifted her head up - the worker from before.

"hello," he said, smiling a little, "must be very cool to be able to eat here on your lunch break," he joked a bit, and she nodded.

"uh huh, one of my favourite parts of the day, checking on missile... and of course all the other sharks, i love them all. though, feeding time is also pretty cool,"

"feeding them would be so cool," he nodded in confirmation. "which one is missile?" he asked curiously, and she grinned.

"the one that swam over your head before," she laughed slightly, putting down her box of pasta and standing up for a second, slightly closer to him before pointing upwards, at a spotted slightly smaller shark, "that's missile, she's a leopard shark,"

"what about the others? do you know all their names?" he asked, and she nodded, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"that's david, he's a lemon shark... that's haribo, he's a gummy shark, that ones called eve, she's a nurse shark... and the rest are hiding somewhere, but we have hammerheads, angel sharks and cow sharks hiding round here somewhere," she laughed a little, shrugging, "some of them like the attention more then others,"

"so you're really interested in sharks? or is it just a thing where you know a lot from working near them?" arthur asked, and she nodded again.

"i studied marine biology, i usually work more behind the scenes but on quiet days i work behind the desk too, but yeah, i love sharks, and just sea animals on a whole... i mean, i even have a shark tattoo," she giggled. "what about you, you just here to see them or do you have an interest?"

"oh, um, i have an interest in animals in general, and i just moved to london, so i wanted to come see the aquarium 'cause i've never been before," he admitted, and she nodded.

"i do love the aquarium, it's so peaceful, i mean sometimes i come in even on my days off, which in most jobs seems so bizarre but, i don't know, i just love it here."

and that's how arthur ended up frequenting the aquarium more than he intended to, over the past month going at least six times, enjoying the aquarium (and secretly hoping to run into the girl who he had become just a small bit infatuated with but had only admitted that to his close friends, who in turn obviously mocked him)

"you literally don't even know this girls name," george laughed when arthur had admitted he may have had a tiny crush on her after telling them about going to the aquarium for the fourth time in two weeks.

"well, obviously i know that, but i mean, i can't find out unless i see her again, can i?"

"only arthur could go to an aquarium and randomly fall in love with a girl just because she spoke to him about sharks," chris said sarcastically, and arthur rolled his eyes at him, his face red.

"she was cool, okay? she literally gets to name and feed and pet sharks, that is cool!" he defended himself in a splutter of embarrassment, only leading to slightly more giggles

when he next went, and he had paid for his ticket with someone else at the desk, and began his wander around the museum, he heard a slightly teasing voice once in the shark exhibit.

"you know, you could have saved yourself a lot of money if you had just bought a monthly pass," a giggling voice said, and he turned around to her with a slightly red face and a shrug.

"didn't realise i was gonna end up coming so much," he admitted with flushed cheeks.

"just become obsessed with the sharks, eh?" she asked, and he gulped down with another shy nod.

"uh huh. and, um. well, kinda hoping to run into you, also," he acknowledged, only to hear her laugh a little more.

"stalking me now, are you?" she asked, only to make his eyes widen

"no, not like that! just that, you know, i thought you were interesting and that-" she laughed a little harder now,

"i'm just kidding, don't worry about it. you do know there's other ways to see girls you find interesting other then hoping to bump into them at work?" she teased.

"well, that's what i was hoping to ask, you know... if i could maybe see you not in the shark section of the aquarium? like a date?" he asked, fiddling with his fingers a little.

"sure, that sounds nice," she smiled at him, "though, you don't even know my name," she teased.

"well, what is your name?" arthur asked, slight more confidence in his voice and a small smile on his face, slightly reassured that she had said yes.

"whats yours? i mean, for all i know you're some stalker who frequents aquariums looking for victims," she teased, leading him to jokingly roll his eyes.

"my name is arthur, and i promise it was not stalking... just thought you were smart, and pretty, so.. what's your name?"

"suppose you'll have to find that out on the date, hm, arthur?

#arthur frederick #arthur frederick x reader #arthurtv #arthurtv x reader

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hellfirenacht · 10 months

Text

Wing Man Part 6

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. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9)

Chapter Summary: What DID he mean by five? The second meeting.

5.1k words

A/N: How are we feeling in a post-"Flight of Icarus" world, y'all? I knew from the beginning that I'd want to add some of the lore in and let me tell you, I LOVE Ronnie Ecker. For those of you who did not read the book, or haven't had a chance to, Ronnie is Eddie's best friend who ended up with a full scholarship to NYU. They're siblings, your honor.

Also if anyone can show me on this map where the plot is going, I'd really appreciate it.

This late at night, the only sounds in the trailer park came from the occasional dog barking and the echoes of Eddie’s tapes blasting as he pulled up to Wayne’s trailer. His uncle was working tonight as usual, which would normally allow Eddie time to hog the tv before passing out for a few precious hours before he had to get up for school.

Tonight however, his mind was buzzing with what had just happened less than an hour ago. He liked you, he wasn’t sure how much yet but he did. You were sharp and knew your stuff about metal. It helped that you were cute. Really cute.

He liked seeing you in the passenger seat of his car, matching wits with his friends and ranting about Ozzy. He liked seeing you laughing and the way you watched him play. He really liked the way you had fiddled with the pick he’d thrown at you at the end of the set.

Eddie had never done that before. He’d wanted to, but never had anyone’s attention like that before- no. That wasn’t true. There had been one other person who’d listened to him play like that, two years ago.

Was he always gonna fold to the site of a pretty girl actually paying attention to his music?

“Of course you are.” Ronnie’s voice echoed on the phone. “And I’m gonna laugh every time you do.”

Eddie groaned, holding the receiver to his ear as his forehead pressed against the front of the fridge. He hadn’t planned on running to her with this, but he was nowhere near able to wind down. He hadn’t even expected Ronnie to pick up the phone this late at night with the time zone difference and the fact that it was a school night. He’d have to push his stash a bit harder to pay Wayne back for the long distance call.

The past two years had been a slow crawl of building back trust up with Veronica Ecker. The two had gone almost a whole summer without talking before Eddie had basically groveled for forgiveness outside of Granny Ecker’s trailer before Ronnie left for New York. She had forgiven him enough to let him give her a ride to the airport.

“Last time?” He’d asked.

“Last time.” She’d repeated.

“So why didn’t you shack up with her tonight?” Ronnie asked. “You got her into your van, and you dropped her off like a gentleman.”

“I don’t know, I panicked.” Eddie sighed, bonking his head against the fridge a few times. “She was right there, and she was leaning in and all I saw was Paige leaning in-”

“You know not every girl who shares your taste in music is Paige, right?” Eddie could practically see Ronnie rolling her eyes on the other end of the line.

“Any girl that shares my taste in music ends up fucking off to the opposite end of the country.”

This made Ronnie laugh. “You’re an idiot. Paige fucked off back to her job and I fucked off to college.”

“Fucking off is fucking off.”

“Maybe you need to fuck off.”

“I tried, remember?”

She remembered. Both of them remembered.

“Look, stop being a dipshit.” Ronnie said after a moment of awkward silence. “You’re graduating this year, right?”

“Uhhh...”

“Eddie.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m working on it. I just need those last stupid two classes and then I’m home free.” Eddie confirmed.

“You can’t stay in high school forever.” Ronnie said. “And you’re gonna realize that there’s life outside of Hawkins. Have you even talked to Paige since then?”

He hadn’t, and they both knew it. Eddie gave up two months after she’d bailed him out of jail. Two months of dead air silence. He got the hint.

“No.”

“Then stop worrying about one girl from over two years ago!” Eddie could feel the phantom pain of Ronnie punching him in the arm like she always used to. “Get laid and graduate, Munson. You earned it.”

Eddie snorted, sliding down the fridge to sit on the cool floor. “Is that the only advice you got for me, Ecker?”

“It’s the only advice you need. Did you pass that test last week?” Ronnie asked.

“By the skin of my teeth.” Eddie sighed, leaning his head back against the fridge.

“Your new girl graduated, maybe she can help you study.”

“She’s not my girl. She’s a girl that I’ve met a handful of times-”

“That’s turning your brain to mush.”

“She doesn’t even know who I am, Ronnie.” He fiddled with the chord in his hand, watching the spiral wind and unwind around his fingers. It was already stretched out pretty bad, with a few spirals already tangled beyond repair like his old slinky from when he was a kid.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Ronnie asked. “She doesn’t know you, that means she doesn’t feed into the bullshit of the rumor mill.”

Ronnie had a point and he hated it, but that’s why he called her to begin with. Ronnie was the only person who could cut through his Munson bullshit and give it to him straight. He missed it. As much as he enjoyed the power he had to protect his little lost sheepies, they were all too intimidated to actually stand up to him and call him out the way that Ronnie would.

“Yeah, you’re right. As usual.” Eddie could hear her snort and he couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “So why the hell are you even awake right now? Up til 2 am on a school night, Ecker?”

“It’s barely past midnight, the time zone isn’t that off. I was studying for a test, but hearing you complain about your love life is a far more productive use of my time.”

“You’re using me to slack off, aren’t you?”

“If I have to look at my flashcards one more time tonight my eyes are gonna go square. How’s Granny doing?”

“She’s an empty nester and is determined to turn me into her replacement grandson until you visit again.” Eddie shook his head. “She threatened to give me a haircut the last time she dropped off a plate for Wayne.”

Ronnie had come back to visit a grand total of five times since she’d left, returning for holidays and summers to visit Granny Ecker and by extension Eddie. Each time she’d come back with stories of law school and how different New York is.

It seemed impossible, everything that Ronnie had told him about going to college and about life outside their small town. She was playing Dungeons and Dragons still, having found a group that would play with her. According to her, being a rules lawyer for the game at a law school hit way different than it had their small Hellfire group in high school. No one even cared that they played outside of a few students who had better things to do than enact violence against a few nerds.

Then again, in law school everyone was some sort of nerd. Eddie wondered if even a freak would be accepted there. Well, socially at least. He wasn’t delusional enough to think he’d be able to be accepted into law school with his grades. Ronnie had invited him up to visit a few times, but there was never time or money to do it.

The two continued talking for another hour, catching up until Ronnie was scolding him for staying up so late on a school night.

“Yeah? And what’s your excuse?” Eddie said. “It’s almost 4:20 am there.”

“Ha. Ha. Again, ha.” Ronnie said. “Still not how timezones work. And my first class doesn��t start until noon.”

Right. In college you didn’t have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn every day.

“Night, Ecker.”

“Night, Munson. Graduate and get laid.”

“Does it matter the order?”

“Good night, Eddie.”

Talking to Ronnie had eased his nerves, but there was still something inside that wouldn’t let him lay down and go to sleep. It was late now, way later than he intended to stay up tonight. The night he played at the Hideout always had him up late, and his teacher already considered him more useless than usual on Wednesdays. It’s not like anyone would care if he slept in class, unless they were in a particularly foul mood.

He made his way to a stack of books in his room rummaging through a pile or two until he found what he was looking for. Eddie’s copy of Lord of the RIngs was well loved at best, and completely trashed at worst. The cover of the paperback was nearly torn off, taped back together haphazardly over the years. Pages were dogeared, the spine was cracked, notes were scribbled in the margins, and his name was scribbled in messy cursive on the front page declaring that this book belonged to Eddie Munson and that he was in third grade.

Eddie stripped out of most of his clothes, tossing his jewelry on his nightstand, and hopped into bed. He turned on a small lamp and opened the book. He could probably recite the first chapter from memory if he tried, the words on the page a comfortable lullabye for his wound up mind. But tonight he flipped to a page near the end where his bookmark was. The flower made out of blue construction paper wasn’t nearly as old as the book, and only in better shape because it never left the safe pages of Tolkein’s writing.

His eyes glanced at his arm again, your phone number a temporary tattoo on his skin until it washed off. Shit, it was going to wash off eventually. Eddie grabbed a pen from under his bed and added another scribble to the inside of the book before copying your number carefully onto the paper flower. At least this way he’d always know where it was.

With that aside, Eddie didn’t make it through three pages of his book before he passed out with the light still on.

Fall Semester, 1984

The PrinciPAL’s office was just as interesting and inviting as it always was, which is to say not at all. Eddie was slumped back on a chair, watching as Janice sorted through paperwork, pretending to look busy so that she could avoid any small talk with ‘that Munson boy’. He had been waiting for Higgin’s to show up for almost fifteen minutes now, because why shouldn’t he waste Eddie’s time at this point? The worst that was going to happen today is that they’d do their little song and dance, Eddie would plead his case that the flyers were absolutely serious and that Chris Morrison had every intent to run for student council, and that it was all of the club that had made the posters, Higgins would shake his head and not believe Eddie for a second (which to be fair, this would be the first time that Eddie would admit privately that it was his fault), they’d go back and forth until Eddie got some form of detention or Saturday school.

Honestly, the worst part would be rescheduling Hellfire if he wound up in detention.

Eddie had counted out 13 paper clips that Janice had used in her papershifting before the door to the front office opened up again. He looked up, expecting to see Higgins walk in, ignore him for another five minutes, before Janice would let Eddie go in.

He didn’t expect to see you, pale and shaken, clutching a teacher’s note in your hand. Eddie watched as you handed the note over to Janice who read it, shook her head, and pointed at the chair next to himself. Your eyes never left the floor as you sat next to him, staring at the cheap carpet as if you could somehow burn a hole in it and disappear.

Trouble was no stranger to Eddie, and Eddie was no stranger to trouble. In Hawkins the name ‘Munson’ might as well be in the thesaurus next to the word. This wasn’t his first rodeo, and it would be far from his last as long as Higgins stayed the princiPAL. He’d walk away with a lecture and a sigh and then it would be business as normal.

The look on your face though, that was far from the mild annoyance he felt. You look downright traumatized at the idea of having been sent here. Eddie glanced up at Janice who deigned to make eye contact with him now. Her eyes flicked between the two of you, a disapproving look behind her purple frames as if this was somehow Eddie’s fault that you had ended up here as well. But then, as far as any of the faculty from the office was concerned, even him being enrolled at this school was a death sentence to the rest of the poor student body. Eddie was a disease that they would try to contain until they had the cure to remove him.

The shaking of your knee made your chair (and his chair by proxy) rattle slightly. The quiet of the office and the mundane shuffling of Janice’s papers only added to the tension that was radiating off you.

“Janice, is Higgin’s gonna be long?” Eddie finally asked, and your bouncing knee stopped for just a moment before going back to its nervous movement.

“He’s in a very important meeting.” Came the reply over a stack of papers, still not looking at Eddie.

He sighed again and looked over at you, trying to place where he knew your face. Your eyes were a bit red, and you looked like you were on the verge of crying. Shit, he needed to do something before he had to ask Janice for the tissue box.

“First time?” Eddie asked, and when you didn’t respond he nudged your knee with his.

You jumped slightly, head snapping up. It was a wonder you didn’t give yourself whiplash and it would have been almost funny to Eddie had you not looked like a deer in the headlights looking at him.

“I... Huh?” your voice cracked slightly.

“What are ya in for?” Eddie did his best to give you a smile which he was sure made him look more like a serial killer than a comfort. It was rare he wished that he had his dad’s smile, but in cases like this he’d make an exception.

You looked at the paper in your hand and swallowed. “Uh... skipped.”

“Skipped school or just class?” Eddie prompted, trying to get you to talk more. If you were talking, then you weren’t crying. That’s what he hoped at least.

“Class.” He didn’t think you’d say anymore but you surprised him. “US History.” Eddie caught the way your eyes darted to Janice again as if to make sure she wasn’t listening in, but Janice had better things to do than to eavesdrop on two delinquents. “I wasn’t... I had a bad day. I'm having a bad day. I felt like I was going to explode and I went to the library.”

Eddie nodded, wondering what had happened today that made you need to duck out. It wasn’t his business, and frankly Higgin’s was going to grill you enough as it was.

“Rookie mistake.” He said instead.

“Rookie...?”

Eddie kept his voice low and leaned in closer to you as if telling you a secret. “If you’re gonna skip, you can’t go to the library. You might as well have walked into the teacher’s lounge and announced that you were cutting class.”

You let out a sharp breath that he swore counted for a laugh. “Thanks for the heads up, can you tell me that a few hours ago?”

There was color returning to your face now and Eddie kept going. His brown eyes scanned your face, trying to place where he knew you from. Hawkins was a small town, and there was nothing about you that screamed ‘I’m new!’.

He liked your sarcasm though, and his ‘comforting’ grin shifted into a genuine smile. “If you’re gonna ditch, you need to go to the bathroom or go outside.” He said. “Especially for last period. Go hide outside in the woods and you can slip into the parking lot seamlessly without anyone noticing. By the end of the day the teachers are barely taking attendance anyway.”

“Have you been in the girls rooms here?” you asked, shaking your head. “I think I’d rather take my chances here than stay in there longer than I’d have to.” Eddie wasn’t sure if you were trying to make a joke or if you were serious.

“Would you rather hide in the boys room?” he asked. “I swear it only smells like piss almost all of the time and you’d end up in the splash zone even if you were in a stall.”

That got a laugh out of you, a genuine one. Your shoulders were relaxing and you looked down at the paper again and took a deep breath that you exhaled with a sigh.

“I’ve never been in trouble before.” you said, your hands starting to bend and fold the paper on your lap absently. “I’m not good at being in trouble.”

“Well, lucky for you I’m here.” Eddie nudged your knee again with his. “Being in trouble is kind of my job here at Hawkin’s High. I’m a professional, you know. If I wasn’t here taking up all of Principal Higgin’s time he might have to actually do his job.”

That last part was louder, as he directed it to Janice who refused to take the bait and only reached for her lilac stapler instead.

A small smack on his arm drew his attention back to you, you were smiling at him looking astonished. “You’re gonna get us in trouble!” you whispered at him.

“We’re already in trouble.” Eddie reminded you, his smile never fading. “Look, you’ve never been in trouble before, right? You’re gonna be fine. Just give him a good sob story about being overwhelmed with school, or about a sick pet. If you can squeeze out some tears that’s even better. The worst that he’s gonna do is give you a slap on the wrist and maybe detention if he’s in a shit mood”

You take in his words, listening to him carefully and taking in every word he was saying as if this was life or death. Eddie admittedly, had purposefully slipped into his Dungeon Master voice. It was a skill that normally only worked on his little sheepies in his club, and that was after semesters of training his players to listen and pay attention to his words or else it would be life or death for their characters.

Having someone else listen to him like that? It felt really good.

Your mouth started to open to say something but then the office door opened again and Higgin’s stepped in, nodding to Janice and then looking at the two of you. There was an accusatory look in his eyes as he made eye contact with Eddie again, and it was clear what that look said. Leave her alone, don’t make things worse for her than they already are.

“Munson.” Higgins said and it took everything in him to stay still and not flinch at his last name. He was used to the weight that came with his name, but he hadn’t wanted you to know who he was. Not after he just remembered where he knew you from, glancing down at the note that you had folded into a flower in a fit of nerves.

“I heard you missed me, Sir.” Eddie forced his eyes to meet Higgin’s. “You really should just start saying hi in the hallways instead of inviting me to these little chats every week. You’re taking away valuable learning time from me, you know.”

If the two of them had been alone, Higgins would have snapped back at Eddie about being a smartass. But you were there, and the color had drained from your face again, and there was a shine to your eyes that was threatening to spill over your waterline. Higgins looked at you and motioned for you to follow him into his office.

Eddie wished that you would turn and look at him before disappearing into the PrincePAL’s office. He could imagine you turning to look at him for comfort, he’d give you a smile that would put you at ease and a thumbs up. You’d give him another smile and walk in feeling brave.

Instead it was like you forgot he was there as your figure disappeared behind the heavy wood door that shut with a heavy click.

Of course Higgins had you come in first, even though Eddie had already been sitting here since the beginning of the period when he’d been called in.

He was tempted to go over to the door and press his ear up against it to listen in on what he was saying to you but even Janice would scold him for that. So there Eddie sat for another ten minutes as he waited for you to step out again.

Higgin’s was the one to open the door and let you out of the office, as if he were some gentleman instead of Eddie’s own personal warden five days a week. You walked out and to Eddie’s surprise you gave him a nod and mouthed thank you as you slipped back out the door and into the hallway.

Eddie’s eyes followed you until he couldn’t see you anymore and it took Higgin’s standing in front of him with folded arms and saying his full government name for Eddie to snap back to reality.

“Munson. A word about your little flyers?”

“Well, I’d say a picture is worth a thousand words-”

“In my office.”

Eddie didn’t remember much else about that talk, only remembering the white paper flower that had been carelessly tossed into the trash next to Higgin’s desk.

“He still hasn’t called you?” Steve asked as you, him, and Robin continued your closing routine. The day had been busy, with almost everyone in Hawkins coming to rent a movie for the weekend. Robin was stocking the candy while you wiped down the sticky counter where children had been touching all day. Who’s idea was it to leave out free suckers on the counter anyway?

Oh right, that was your idea because you loved Halloween.

“Nope.” you said, your voice a little tense. It had been almost two weeks since that night at the Hideout. You hadn’t returned to the dive bar, hoping that Eddie would call you and make the next move. Each passing day you had stayed as close to the phone as possible when you were home and you’d checked your voicemail every day when you got home for any sign that he’d attempted to reach out.

Nothing.

You shouldn’t feel this rejected but you did. It was far too early to tell if you had any feelings beyond initial attraction to the guy, but... you’d felt something. An enjoyment of bantering with him and an ease that came as naturally as your friendship with Robin and Steve.

Plus, you had to admit it, he was really fucking hot. Seeing him play guitar two weeks ago had haunted your dreams and slipped into a few of your fantasies when you were alone.

You kept that part to yourself though, that was the last thing that Steve or Robin needed to hear. Besides, that was Steve’s job to go far too into detail about his sex life. Steve had tried ribbing you about going home with Eddie but you’d told him that you were a complete gentleman with him.

That night had left you feeling electrified, almost high as you danced around your room as you got ready for bed. Even as his odd parting rattled around your brain, you couldn’t help but to feel excited at the idea of seeing him again.

Then a few days went by. Then a week. And now two weeks later you hadn’t heard from him. The kids hadn’t stopped by either so you couldn’t hassle them about Eddie either. Even if they had, you weren’t sure if you could ask about him, you didn’t want to come across as desperate.

“Did you ever figure out what he meant by ‘five times?’” Robin asked, opening up a squished package of Reese's Cups. “Like, didn’t you say you didn’t know him?”

You threw your hands up before tossing the paper towels you were using to clean in the trash can.

“I have no idea.” you said. “Either I’m bad at math, he’s bad at math, or maybe we’re both stupid.”

“He did get held back a few times.” Steve muttered to himself.

“There’s a chance that you two have met before though.” said Robin, “I mean think about it, you’re both weirdos who went to the same school. Shouldn’t you both have bumped into each other before?”

“You’d think so, but my group kind of kept to ourselves.” you said with a sigh. “We were private weirdos. When I DID try and make other friends-”

“Yeah, yeah, Chris Morrison shot you down.” Steve said, waving his hand.

“Oh, you heard that story?” you laughed. “I didn’t think I mentioned it to you before.”

Steve gave you a blank stare that only made you laugh more. “I swear you keep talking about that guy more than Eddie. Maybe I should track him down and set you up on a blind date with him instead.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Hey, that could be fun!” Robin added. “We’ll dress you up super hot, set you up with Chris, and then you can turn him down instead!”

“Excuse you, Robin. I am always super hot.” you declared, straightening out your unflattering Family Video vest. “Who wouldn’t want a piece of this?”

You hadn’t done laundry in a week, and your hair had seen better days. The green polyester vest was wrinkled and if Keith saw you looking sloppy he’d probably have words about it. Not big words or even intimidating words, but words nonetheless. It was night and day compared to how you’d looked at the Hideout and the arcade earlier in the month. But it wasn’t like you had anyone to impress while you were at work anyway.

“Hey, nerdy chicks can be hot.” Steve said. “I mean, Nancy’s an academic nerd and I was crazy about her.”

You hummed thoughtfully and turned to Robin. “How about we get married instead?” you asked. “You, me, a fuck ton of cats, and a tax break. What do you say?”

Robin laughed and shook her head. “You aren’t my type.” Her eyes darted nervously to Steve for a split second and you sighed dramatically.

“Guess it’s just me and the cats I’ll eventually adopt.” you said. “Not even a tax break.”

“You know, Keith thinks you’re cute-”

“I am going to pretend that you did not just say that, Harrington.” you said firmly. “Nope, not happening. Uh-uh. Absolutely not.”

“He’s not... that bad?” Robin said, but you could hear the pain in her voice through the laughter. “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

“The lady is trying not to think actually.” you laugh. “We’re closed, I’m actually done thinking. I just wanna finish cleaning up and go home. What’s left?”

“Rewinding the returns,-”

“Ugh.”

“Cleaning up the kids movies,-”

“Ugh.”

“And cleaning the bathroom.”

“UGHHHHHH.”

“Would you rather clean up the porn room?” asked Robin.

“Yes actually, I would.” You said. “Whatever they think about doing in that room is what they do end up doing in the bathroom.”

“Gross.”

Steve sighed “Okay, I’ll be the hero and save you ladies from cleaning the bathroom. Robin, you fix the kids section, and you can rewind the tapes.”

“I thought I was in charge here.” You crossed your arms.

“Okay, did you have a better way to divide and conquer?”

“...No.”

“Then let’s hurry up and-”

Ding!

“Who didn’t lock the door?!” you asked.

“It was Steve’s job to-” Robin started.

“Oh, shit. Hi.” Steve was staring at the person who had just walked in. You turned around and your heart jumped in your chest and your stomach dropped.

“Cursing in front of customers, Harrington?” Eddie said. “Now that’s not very professional of you.”

Robin’s eyes were darting so fast between you and Eddie that you were surprised she wasn’t giving herself vertigo. You tried to give her a pointed glare but your friend either didn’t get the hint or refused to.

“Well, we’re closed. You can’t be a customer if you can’t pay.” Steve said, putting his hands on his hips.

Eddie looked away from Steve and made eye contact with you. It had been two weeks since you’d seen him, and you glazed at his arm for a second, trying to see if the faded remains of your phone number were still stamped on his arm. Unfortunately for you he was wearing a heavy leather jacket and you had not yet developed x ray vision. Perhaps in another genre.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Eddie asked and you, ignoring Steve who looked mildly offended.

You stood there in shock for a second before Robin nudged you in the rib.

“I- uh. I have to finish closing.” you said, snapping out of it.

“Steve and I can handle the rest of closing!” Robin grabbed Steve and shook his shoulder.

“Guys, I’m literally in charge of you both. I can’t leave before you.” You said, already reaching for your bag under the counter.

“We can handle it!” Steve said.

“And I can handle Steve!” Robin added. “We close without you and Keith all the time, remember?”

You could trust Robin, and as long as Steve didn’t knock down any displays then it wouldn’t take them more than another ten minutes to finish up. You were so tempted to turn them down, make Eddie wait as you had waited for him for the past two weeks.

But you were already stepping behind the counter towards Eddie and tossing the keys to lock up to Robin. Keith would murder you and write you up (in that order) if he knew what you were doing but looking up at the roundest pair of brown eyes you’d ever seen had you in the mood to make questionable choices.

You shrugged off your vest and tossed it at Steve, in an attempt to make yourself look like you hadn’t spent the whole day dealing with unruly customers and screaming kids. Part of you almost wished that you had agreed to bathroom duty, if only to give you an excuse to look in a mirror and straighten yourself out.

“Thanks, guys.” you gave them a quick nod, catching sight of Robin’s knowing smirk and Steve shaking his head before walking out the door that Eddie was holding open for you.

The last thing you heard was the scrambling of the entrance to Family Video being locked.

Part 7

Dividers by @strangergraphics

Please comment and reblog <3

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#nacht fic #wing man #eddie munson x reader

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profound-bouquetbird · 9 months

Note

Hello, saw your post about httyd and I'm happy there is more people here!!!

Can i please request hiccup and female reader who lives on a small island with dragons? They're friends and she even rides one (personally i think wooly howls are so cool), hiccup finds the island while exploring with toothless and they meet.

Maybe he's fascinated that's there's someone else who's like him who's friends with dragons and doesn't want to kill them, maybe there's species he haven't seen before so he becomes a nerd (i love when he and fishlegs get like that).

It's like a small idea that i thought would be cool to see, i think as a one shot during second movie or race to the edge? Whatever you think is best.

Thank you for your time!!!

YESSSSS, I LOVE WOOLY HOWLS!!!!

I didn't watch rtte, buuutttt this is before the second movie took place 👍

I had fun writing this tbh. And, just so you know, this was written from a platonic perspective! But I also think it can be read from a romantic perspective..

Hiccup soared through the air, the salty seawater droplets making small contact with his dragon, Toothless, as they slowly ascended higher up into the sky

"How're you holdin' up, bud?" Hiccup questions as he gently pats his dragon. Toothless only let out a huff as a response, his gaze not shifting, instead focused on the scenery up ahead

Hiccup shook his head lightly, suddenly tugging on the dragons saddle as they flew up into the sky

Hiccup watched as they passed each island, every single one already being in his maps. He furrowed his brows as he let out a huff of annoyance, laying down onto his dragons back

He stared up into the sky, glaring at the clouds as he mumbled words and curses underneath his breath. Toothless paid no mind to him, his focus now on the slowly forming, seemingly unknown piece of land

Toothless let out a growl, turning his head slightly towards Hiccup to warn him. Toothless began growling, jerking his head towards the unknown land, desperately wanting for Hiccup to get out of his frustrated state of mind and to look

"What do you want Toothless." Hiccup breathed out as he sat back up, glaring at the dragon as it managed to turn his head to tug at his sleeve

"Hey- what has gotten into.." Hiccup stopped as he watched the huge piece of land slowly coming towards him, "..you" he breathed out as Toothless let go of his sleeve, facing forwards yet again

A confident smile tugged at the Berk boys lips as he quickly grabbed the saddle, laying down a bit so that the two could go faster

As the two were getting closer and closer, Hiccup watched in awe as the island became more clear

It was a pretty decent sized island, lots of greenery all throughout, but it was rich with beaches and had an odd amount of ice clinging to its side

As the Night Fury landed, Hiccup made sure there weren't any traps before getting off of Toothless. His prosthetic leg squeaked once he got off, he brushed off the nonexistent dirt off of his clothes as he looked around, a smile present on his face

Before he could even get a word out a rustle from the bushes caught his attention. He turned his head at the sound, the Night Fury quickly taking a fighting stance as it stood behind Hiccup

The boy extended his arm, motioning for Toothless to not take action as he slowly approached the rustling bush

His heart pounded in his ears as each step he took made his fear rise up. But that fear quickly disappeared once he saw a small baby dragon playing with a stick

Hiccup let out a sigh of relief as he crouched down, petting the little dragon

"You gave me quite the scare there." He chuckled, petting the top of the dragons head. The small dragon purred in delight as Hiccup slowly examined the species

"A Wooly Howl?" He questions, as if the dragon was going to give him a response. He did gain a response, but not from the small dragon

His eyes widened as he heard a low growl, his head rising up slowly to see, possibly the mother of the little dragon. He slowly began moving his hand away from the small dragon

"Hi?" He said, his voice sounding squeaky. The Wooly Howl furrowed its 'brows' as it slowly opened its mouth, presumably to attack

But the Wooly Howl closed its mouth back up as it heard a whistle, its head immediately turning towards the noise. The small dragon purred in delight as it let go of the stick and ran towards a shadowy figure

Hiccup tilted his head to the side in confusion as he inspected the silhouette. It sure didn't look like a dragon, but it didn't look fully human

Hiccup stood up, his eyes squinted as the figure slowly approached. He was even more confused when the thing came into the light

The figure stood a few feet away from the boy, one of their hands clutching onto a makeshift weapon, their mask shining under the sunlight

The figure mimicked the boy's action, tilting their head to the side as they watched him. Hiccup straightened up, and so did the figure

"What are you?" Hiccup question, although it may have been a stupid thing to ask, the boy was just the tiniest bit lost

The figure let out a chuckle, their free hand going towards their face as they slowly took off their mask. Hiccup's eyes widened in shock as he felt like the wind was knocked out of him

The person shook her head, putting her mask under her arm as she adjusted her mess of a hair

"A better question: what are you doing here?" She asked, a small smile present on her features as she tilted her head to the side, waiting for the boy to answer. The boy jumped slightly, clearing his throat as his dragon slowly walked to his side

"I am Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the son of the Chief of Berk, and I am on a little mission of looking for.. islands." He said, hoping that his full name and title would spark fear into the girl, despite his scrawny physique

But the girl paid no mind to his word, her attention fixated on the Night Fury by his side, her lips slightly parted as she was astonished by the dragon

"A Night Fury." She whispers under her breath, slowly approaching the two. Hiccup stumbled back slightly, staring at the approaching girl in confusion, the Night Fury copying his actions

The girl extended her hand out slowly, waiting for the dragon to sniff her hand before resting his head against it. Hiccup watched in awe, but he quickly snapped out of his daze and pulled his dragon back

"Okay- who are you?" Hiccup asked, his hand gripping tightly onto his dragons saddle as he glared at her, not wanting to let his guard down

"Oh! How rude of me!" She chuckled, setting her weapon and mask onto the soft grass as she straightened up her clothes

"I am Y/n L/n.. the dragon rider?" She awkwardly chuckled, giving him a quick bow. The Wooly Howl let out a distorted chuckle behind her, making the girl, Y/n, give the Wooly Howl a quick glare

Hiccup let out a chuckle, his grip loosening before his hand slowly dropped back to his side. He shook his head slightly, looking around, although there wasn't much to look at since he landed in an area surrounded by tall trees

"Would you like a tour?" His head snapped back towards the girl, who was now oddly closer to him, "of the island." The girl added in case he was confused. He smiled, nodding his head a bit before actually speaking

"Yes, that would be appreciated." He sighed. Y/n smiled as she quickly turned around, grabbing her weapon and mask before mounting the Wooly Howl

"Follow me." She chuckled, her voice slightly muffled by the mask. In a blink of an eye, she shot up into the sky

Hiccup watched in awe as the girl ascended, but his gaze was shifted to his dragon, which had nudged him out of his train of thoughts

Hiccup mounted his dragon, quickly shooting up into the sky as he began following the girl

The two flew side by side, hiccup watching as more of the island revealed itself now that he was flying directly above. He examined the the island with interest, taking in each detail. His gaze dropped onto a small clearing which had what looked like a little shack and multiple little crops, he supposes that where Y/n lives

His breath got caught in his throat as he heard the girl beside him whistle, causing the leaves on the trees to rustle as a couple of dragons ascended into the air, flying below the two

He watched as unfamiliar dragons flew past him, giving the boy a quick glance before quickly switching their direction. He chuckled in delight, turning to look back at Y/n

She gave him a nod before making the Wooly Howl plummet towards the ground. Hiccup watched in shock, but quickly followed her actions, flying a few feet above her

She looked back up, seeing the boy following with determination. Y/n gave Hiccup a small wave, tugging lightly on her dragons fur as it changed directions, now hovering a few feet above the ground

Hiccup's eyes widened as he roughly tugged at his saddle, making the dragon quickly change directions and, luckily, not lose his balance. He let out a sigh of relief, shaking his shoulders before going back to following Y/n

He watched as she slowly made her way towards the ground. He smiled, landing down a few feet away

He jumped off of Toothless and rushed to her, his dragon not bothering to quicken his pace

"Did you get a clear view? Or do you need to take another look?" She asks, kicking the sand underneath her feet lightly. Hiccup shakes his head as he sat down onto the ground, pulling out a little notebook

"No need, I've seen enough." He replied, opening up the book to reveal a map. Y/n looked at the map with curiosity, knitting her brows together in confusion at the odd names of the islands

As Hiccup made the adjustment to his map, Y/n couldn't help but chuckle at the odd names of the islands

Once the boy had stuck the piece of paper to his map, he turned to you with a smile

"What do you call this island?" He asked, eagerly tapping his pencil onto the paper. Y/n stared at the map for a little while before turning back towards Hiccup

"Nita?" She blurted out, clearly not having any idea on what the name of the island was. Hiccup smiled and turned back towards his map

"The Land of Nita, quite catchy." He notes, writing the name of the new island down. Once he was done, he set his pencil down and watched in prude at the multiple islands he had found

He tapped his map gently before turning towards the girl yet again. Watching as the air gently blew her hair and as a smile slowly made itself present on her face

"Are you hungry?" She asks. Toothless' head shot up at her as he eagerly nodded, making the girl chuckle lightly as she stood up, motioning for the two to follow

"C'mon, I'll make you something to eat." She said, taking off her mask and giving it to her Wooly Howl, patting its head gently. The Wooly Howl gave her a huff, gently holding the mask in its mouth as it flew away from the three

The girl made her way into the woods, turning to the two as Hiccup clumsily tried to close his map

The girl chuckled, shaking her head as the boy ran towards her

"Hey- if you don't mind me asking, what was that one blue tinted dragon? I don't think I ever saw one like that!" He asks, giving a poor example of what dragon he was talking about as he began walking next to the girl, the Night Fury being a few steps behind them

The girl chuckled as she slowly began telling him the different dragons that had made their way to this island. Hiccup listened closely, the thought of his friends and father being worried slipping his mind completely as he took notes

#how to train your dragon #httyd #httyd x reader #httyd hiccup #hiccup haddock #hiccup horrendous haddock iii #toothless #httyd toothless #x reader #anonymous asks #anon ask

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the-cat-and-the-birdie · 1 year

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A (Partial, Hypothetical) Map of the

Arachno-Humanoid PolyMultiverse

[A slightly MEDIUM length post where I mapped out and explain the positions of the different universes we see in ATSV -

and how those distances can effect everything to travel time - to the reason why Miles got bitten (maybe..based on my charting and data)]

Did I use common grouping and graphing to make a connectivity map of the universes within the Arachno-Humanoid-PolyMultiverse based on common attributes and similarities?

Why no - I didn't. Lyla gave me this map this morning. So there. _______________________________________

You know what pisses me off? ATSV showing us amazing ass things and then not stopping to explain them at all. Lucky for them, I have autism, a keyboard, and way too much time. So allow me.

'This is Everything': Okay but what is it?

The Spider-verse series is like an expert at going 'this is super interesting but i also I refuse to explain'

But one thing I've always found this SUPER interesting - The Portals. Because LOOK AT THEM. Like... the watch is creating a channel along a set path! It has velocity! How fast are they going? How far?!!

In lots of other Marvel movies like Doctor Strange, teleportation between universes is instantaneous. This is true for a lot of sci-fi.

However, for Spider-verse, they chose something different.

We see them flying and falling through portals, many of them twisting and turning. And it got me thinking -

If they're flying from point A to point B - Doesn't that imply that the universes have set locations - with measurable, varying distance between them?

And if so - how close are they together? Does it always take the same amount of time? Are some too far to get to without jumping to a closer location first?

So many possibilities! I was so curious to make sense of this. How does the watch KNOW where to go? Where every universe is?

The Solution:

I realized that each universe has similarities - and if similarity = proximity, there could be a way to map the universes by asking three simple questions:

Are they in the modern era? Are they in New York - or something like it? Are they stylized?

And what I got was a map that actually explains some very interesting things in the movie! (If you play by my logic, lol)

Graph Breakdown : How to read

[Explainer and breakdown below the cut PLUS a clearer version - so you can map out your sona!]

The graph is made up of two different points - Cluster Centers & Universes:

The Three Clusters: Location, Time, & Style

Cluster Centers are specific attributes that universes share, and these attributes clump similar universes together, shortening the distance between them.

There are 3 cluster centers, based on the three questions:

The Time Desynchronization Cluster: For universes that exist outside of the modern era The Stylization Cluster: For universes with artistic stylization The New York Cluster: For universes in which the Spider-person is based in New York, or a rendition of it.

These clusters are arranged in a triangle with sides of equal length.

Then, a universe is placed on the map based on whether they fit the criteria and how much they fit the criteria.

How much they fit each criteria determines each universe's proximity to each other, and the pathways the watches will take to get from location to location as quick as possible.

For example:

Plotting Universes: Distances & Changes

Using these three Clusters, we can plot almost any Spider-person or Spidersona on the map!

Universes that share attributes and clusters are closer together, shortening the distance and time it takes to complete jumps.

In addition, universes with lots of cluster connections and nearby universes are considered more stable, the strands of the web closer together, and quicker in general.

And just for reference:

The places in which the universes' lines cross are common canon events they share.

Looking at the plotted Universes, we can see some cool things about how they work:

[My lovely OC's, DiscoSpider Diane and Inca-Spider Moche plotted as examples]

The proximity matters in context too! And it seems to effect a lot of things - like observably in the movie.

The closeness of two universes, can possibly explain the time it takes to get there, why some people fall into other universes, and how easy it is to assimilate into another's universe.

Some cool things to note:

Gwen and Miles' universes are next to each other. Which could explain how she fell into his world. Gwen is way more stylized than Miles, so she's closer to that Cluster than he is.

Peter's universe (not charted..lol) would be next to Miles' & Pavitrs - which also explains his involvement in ITSV.

Noir, Spider-Ham, and Peni Parker would all be close-by as well.

Miles and Pavi's universes are next to each other. Miles & Pavi share all three attributes. Because of this, Miles and Pavi's universes are right next to each other. Which could be why Gwen & Miles' jump to Mumbattan is very short and quick.

Pavi's universe is next to HQ. Pavi is modern, low-stylization, and based in a New York adjacent city. This is true for Miguel too, however, he's in 2099, desynchronized from time. Them being right next to each other could explain how so many members of the Spider Society arrived to Mumbattan quickly to contain the anomaly - as all they would need to do is traverse the time difference.

The stylized characters are charted 'most stylized' to least - left to right, based on medium/inspo: Gwen being first (watercolor), then Hobie (collages of prints, text, and real people), and then Noir (completely shaded with no color, but based off of live-action films), then Patrick a.k.a Webslinger (based on live-action Westerns).

Because of this layout, Hobie's universe borders Gwen's. This could explain how Gwen stayed at his place without being noticed for her differing style (which - as we see with Miles and Spider-Ham, would be obvious). But Gwen universe being nearby, could be why she didn't stand out too much.

Hobie's universe borders Noir's. This is very cute. I love them. Happy feelings.

Noir's universe borders Diane's. Because they both live in New York, and are desynchronized from time (Noir being 1933, and Diane 1982) - Noir and Diane's universe sit next to each other. This makes a lot of sense - Noir's world is perpetually white and black - literally 'noir', while Diane's world lacks a day-cycle, making it always night-time.

Because they share these attributes with Miguel as well - Nueva York, 2099 - Noir and Diane actually live 'closest' to campus, along with Pavitr third.

Despite both being O'hara's, Patrick's universe is REALLY far from Miguel's. This is because WebSlinger's universe is time desynchronized in the opposite direction, very far in the past. He's also stylized - and he lives in the Wild West, not New York. Hence the distance.

As is Moche's - Miguel's wife. Like Miguel, Moche lives in a time desynchronized universe (his 2099, hers 1992) - however Moche is from Peru, hence why her and Patrick are the farthest from the New York Cluster. Moche's world is stylized as photorealistic, moreso than Miles, so she's the farthest from that cluster as well.

Miles' and Wiles' universes would be almost directly next to each other - which explains the spider-bite and the fact Miles' DNA changed so easily. Not all variants are next to each other though - Hobie's 616 Prowler variant is actually pretty far from his.

Uhhh...yeah, I think that's everything. But mind you - that's only a two dimensional slice of THIS

Hopefully I was able to decode like 0.0001% of it.

This is all speculation and my imagination, But what came out of it is INTERESTING AS HELL TO ME. Writers...pleasee...feed me more random stills in which I can consume.

Also Miguel if you're reading this please hire me I have a degree in Archnohumanoid Poly-Multiversal Research that's good for nothing and I desperately need a job-

________________________________

I hope you liked this and this made sense! It was just a fun little experiment to do that turned out to be REALLY interesting to chart out/decipher.

Lemme know what you think about how it all works and stuff and what you think of this!

If you made it this far! Thank you so much!! SERIOUSLY THANK YOU

Here's a copy of the map with smaller universes, so you can slot in your own sonas! Plus, a pic of Hobie for your troubles.

His eyes are so pretty. Can you believe he's in love with my Spidersona thats crazzzyy

Bye.

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noellevanious · 1 month

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neon white hating below the cut (dont worry thisll be my last post about the game)

blown away by how Subpar and Ok this game is. Gameplay loop is sooooo basic and Just Alright. ive played TF2 custom rocket jump/surf maps that have more depth and challenge than anything in Neon White so far. I would keep playing for the story but oh my god i can not be forced to care about these characters theyre so bland and lifeless. It genuinely feels like the most cookie cutter set of characters ever.

Like Woah I'm brooding antisocial Emo Cute coolguy in a trenchcoat? and i'm a former assassin dude?!?! And Hubba Hubba those two Babes.... ones a bit crazy.... you might call her "Yandere" If you're totally Anime-pilled like me XD but the other is also aloof and wow..... shes so tall and slender and also legs!!! she's more of a """Tsundere""" type.... and can't forget about my Cool Abrasive Bro we're always goofing around sayin g and doing crazy sh#t!!! But we totally hate our parents or teachers- I mean. The Angels. And WOAH there are cats in heaven and they're all wacky!?!?

It's like man. I could just watch Persona 4 All Cutscenes on youtube while playing Source game surf maps and get more depth and creativity than I got in the past ~hour of playing this game. THe only semi-redeeming part is the style that is honestly kinda cool. But it's riding a thin line between genuinely creative/charming and "What if Anime Lo-Fi Girl Beats to Study To or TOTAL JUNGLE PLAYSTATION VIDEOGAME MUSIC by XxShinDeath22xX was a an entire videogame's OST"

I'm really only going on this rant because I feel like people would not stop singing the praises of it back when it released so i'm in awe at how like. 5/10 on a good day the game is. Bland generic writing, an okay gameplay loop that amounts to a Gamer's First FPS speedrunner experience, and weird visual novel bits that make me want to shove the devs in a locker for how fuckin otaku-level bad they are

#inanegargling

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i-rate-horse-games · 2 months

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rating horse life for pc

this is the closest thing to a title screen i could find lol

the player character is shorter than the horse, i dont think ive ever had this pov looking up at a horse, it's scary, eyes right next to their teeth, short people are so brave, wow. this is my horse Ramune out at pasture.

she always has her ears back in the pasture and ignores me the first three times i call her but as soon as she comes over she seems happy? like she really hates socializing but is acting like she does to seem cool to her friends? i have no idea

this game is abandonware now and my copy of it seems to be poorly translated from french, so i'm not going to comment on the funny bits of dialogue, but the dialogue lines themselves were incredibly repetitive!

the game goes like this: you take care of your horse (feed, clean stall, sponge, or brush - not all at once though) which feels like it takes forever but might just be three minutes on average. you compete to win gold medals in show jumping, dressage, cross-country, and eventing.

jumping and cross-country both use the same jumping mechanic, where you change your speed between every jump to the one the game wants and then press the space bar when the ground in front of the jump turns green or white. dressage has you click the left and right mouse buttons to the beat of a metronome, except the beat of the sound and the beat of the flashing lights on the screen don't match and if you follow the lights, you're sunk. eventing is just all three events in a row.

whenever you win, the resident Mean Girl accuses you of cheating, and the Stud Farm owner says he’s so proud of you. there’s a morning-evening cycle and after the sun sets, the stud farm owner tells you the day is over and to go get rest and come back tomorrow. this happens instantly and changes nothing.

you get coins from winning, which you can use to purchase unlockable wearable items for your horse and your rider! although i don't think anything can save this outfit.

you can't customize this rider at all, either, and there's only like four horse color options and then a few custom markings.

next you go to Training in the Training arena, and the stud farm owner teaches you the one trick that distinguishes your competition level from the next, and then you compete at the next level. the mean girl is always competing in the same races as you, and she always scores exactly 85, which is honestly more impressive than getting 100, that's so specific. you have a childhood best friend who shows up every now and then to remind you to take care of your horse like you used to, and that you’ve always been such a better rider than her.

then, although i swear it’s not in the tutorial, you eventually realize you can click on the woods north of the map and go on trail rides, which get you involved in cutscenes that tiptoe around the idea of the game having a plot. so far the mean girl has been caught trying to tire out my horse & we got to chase her “to stop her from hurting herself” and then there was no resolution after she was caught. i was so surprised that she would do such a thing that i tried to take a screenshot and got this weird glitch where half of the stable turned invisible, revealing a second secret stable in the distance... so mysterious...

then we were ordered to ride out there and take a picture of the town using the camera function, which you can use at any time when on a trail ride which Is Fun! here's a picture i took of some sheep!

they're so smooth...

after that, a vet came along with a sick horse and made me ride the entire trail with him slower than a gallop, which is frustrating because the entire trail takes like seven whole minutes to complete, so i started watching videos some random kid fight a giant spider in Grounded while doing that. i also got tired of taking care of my horse ramune, but just feeding her boosts her health, and so far there's been no repercussions to just feeding her a lot and doing nothing else.

the game is pretty repetitive, but if I were still a preteen or younger and not yet aware of my surroundings and the world around me, my dreams of someday riding a Real Horse would elevate this game to a new level. you have to use your imagination and get yourself invested in it in order to have fun with it. and for some, that’s what you’re looking for. overall, it sure is a horse game, and it’s not actively bad, it’s just mid.

i'm rating this game 2.5 out of 5 stars!

★★✬☆☆

smooth cows

#horse game #horse life #horse game rating #horse videogame #videogame #pc game #low poly sheep #abandonware #computer game

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ajearthlinggg · 3 months

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My opinions on all Will Wood music videos

momento mori MAP: the first Will Wood related thing I saw thanks to my brother. I remember seeing it and being like "Wow this is so okay." Not really one of my fav songs but still really good animation from everybody

Mr. Capgras: (oh my god this is my end) honestly in my top 3 favorite music videos (number 2 and 1 are even more sexual 😭 the karma music video ain't shit idgaf) I have dressed as Will from this video (the outfit when he looks like an auntie) and I will NOT be posting the photos BC y'know, underage. But just it matches the song's vibe so well and is incredibly visually interesting. Will's makeup is on point (as always) and him and his band's outfits (or lack of) also manage to fit the vibe of the song perfectly. I read an interview he did about the music video and had to look up like, ten words. Someone make this man an English teacher. Anyway, amazing video. Give Mario more screen time.

Dr Sunshine: somehow WAY more uncomfortable then Mr. Capgras. Once again, Will's makeup is great. There are so many goddamn colors I don't know if I love it or if I want the video banned because of it. It's great how the video goes from a normal kinda weird WWATT video to incredibly uncomfortable and strange as soon as he goes bald. Great video. William, the cones in my eyes feel great resentment towards you.

Hand me my shovel: OMGG I PLAYED A BIT OF THIS ON PIANO AT MY PIANO LESSON AND MY MUSIC TEACHER PUT UP THE MUSIC VIDEO IN FRONT OF MY DAD AHAJSJJZJ (he luckily stopped after the intro) anyways I fucking hate this video for creating one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. 10/10. Fuck you.

Euthanasia: no. Don't even remind me. Please. *incredibly loud ugly sobbing noises*

Laplace's Angel : haha this video has so much bones that it should be called Skeleton Appreciation Day! *gets booed of stage* anyways great video. Wills outfit is so cool. You know the one. Bnoes bnones bnes. Lemmed ssee yior bneons.

Sex, drugs, and rock and roll : GUYS THIS VIDEO IS MOSTLY SATIRE PLEASEEE. watching Will throw tomatoes at himself is beautiful. 10/10 viewing experience

Love, Me Normally: First WW video I watched as a real fan of his music. Omg I love this video. He said in a YouTube comment that the rats were his girlfriend's at the time. I can just imagine the conversation "Hey can I borrow your RATS for my MUSIC VIDEO about CONFORMITY?" Also the first WW fanart I drew was of this video so that's pretty cool. Anyways I love the ghosts and the hat falls off his head like every 2 seconds go watch the video you'll see what I mean.

2econd 2ight 2eer: this used to be my fav WW song before I was a WW fan. Anyways THE MAKEUP ONSGDJAHSJ this video made me question my lesbianism like HIS EYELINER AAAAAA. But anyway once again lots of colors. Like, LOTS of colors. I already have eyesight problems William once again THE CONES IN MY EYES HATE YOU. AHSJSJKAAKA. Also thank you to this song for giving my lovely mutual his username. (Hi Syd)

Chemical Overreaction: This song and music video is my new aesthetic. That's all I have to say.

6up 5oh: I remember when my brother was obsessed with this song back in 2020 😭 HOLY SHIT I HEAR POLICE SIRENS RN THEY'RE ON TO ME DELETE THIS SONG FROM MY WATCH HISTORY RN FUCK FUCK FUCK. Ig this video is pretty good. Not one of my fav videos but its alright.

You Liked This: You even both like Subway, Eat Fresh!

Well, better than the alternative : omg the filter and artsyle is so cool. Also the Stranger Things references, the masks, the outline of the filter, it's so 2020 and it makes me sad. WHAT'S SO WRONG ABOUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? I'M JUST TRYNA DO WHAT'S RIGHT BY YOU?

Tomcat disposables: please I'm gonna cry again. OH MY GOD WILL IS SO FUCKING TALENTED

Cicada days and Marsha, thankk you: not really a fan of lyrics videos. Decided to group the lyric vids together to say this.

White Noise: as somebody who's struggles with the topics this song speaks about, there really is no Will Wood song that affects me emotionally more than this one. Not Against the Kitchen Floor. Not Tomcat disposables. Hell, not even Euthanasia. This song in particular is so underappreciated and pushed aside instead of being recognised as an emotional, hard hitting, meaningful, lyrical masterpiece, and the video only adds to that. The symbolism from the excitement the people get over nothing makes so much sense after paying attention to the lyrics. Also holy shit he's bald again.

2012: the way his fans treat the topic of this song kinda is so weird. Like, he did so much drugs that he FORGOT A WHOLE FUCKING YEAR. and his fans are just like "haha funny I don't remember hehe" anyways this video for some reason is like Criminal by Fiona Apple if she took 12 edibles and believed in aliens. Not saying it's anything like that but that's just the vibes it gives me. I love Fiona and Criminal is top 2 fav music videos for me so I have no complaints 👍

Wealth and Hellness: not really a WW music video but I love this song so much and Will did an awesome fucking job directing the video. I love Human Zoo and can't wait to see if they ever will collab with Will again. Also all that conspiracy bullshit was insane.

Wealth and Hellness (censored version): Wonderful video! Perfect for my Christian family! Praise the community guidelines! 🙏🙏😇😇😇

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dwobbitfromtheshire · 9 months

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Stuck Between a Jock and a Metalhead

Summary: Nancy, on a whim, decides to visit Steve at Scoops Ahoy, which leads to her overhearing confessions from Steve that leads her to think about the decisions she's made. A few days later, she decides to come back. She finds him being hit on by the town freak. What's a girl to do? Oh, get stuck in a freezer with the both of them.

Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Nancy sighed as she watched Steve sleep. He was lucky he didn't have another concussion or internal bleeding or broken ribs, but the doctors said he was going to be sore for a while, and they wanted to keep him overnight for observation. Him and Eddie both. Eddie did have a broken nose and a mild concussion, much to Eddie's annoyance. Nancy had managed to bully the doctors into letting them have the same room. So, now here she was, sitting in between both of them. El was snoozing against Wayne on the other side of Eddie's bed. Wayne had tried to get the girl to go to Joyce's house or their trailer, but she had been determined to stay by her brother's side. It was amusing how they were both snoring in unison, and Nancy wondered how such a loud sound could come from such a young girl.

"They're definitely related," Eddie said dryly as he looked at his sister and uncle. "How can Steve sleep through this?"

"Steve’s always been a heavy sleeper," Nancy said in amusement.

She reached over and started brushing her fingers through his hair, just like she used to do after she spent the night. She used to study his face and try to map out the freckles on his body like they were constellations. Nancy always thought that he was bigger than this whole town, that someone who had stars written on his body deserved so much better. She stroked Steve’s hair for a while, and she let her finger trail down until her knuckles were brushing his cheek. He leaned into her touch, still fast asleep, just like he always used to. She hadn't realized that she had been crying until Eddie touched her shoulder. When did he get out of bed?

"Nancy?" Eddie asked softly.

"Why does it take something so horrible to happen to realize just how much someone means to you?" Nancy asked softly. "I love him, but it's so complicated."

"Why is it complicated?" Eddie asked.

"Because he's with someone else, and I don't want to get between them even though I - ," Nancy stopped herself.

"He's with someone?" Eddie asked, and she looked at him with teary-eyed confusion.

"Shouldn't you know?" Nancy sniffled.

"Why should I know?" Eddie asked with wide eyes.

"Because you're dating him," she replied.

"I am?!" He asked.

"Aren't you?" She asked.

"No!" Eddie exclaimed.

"Oh. . . "

"Not that I don't want to, but I figured that you two would be getting back together, and I'm not getting in the way of that," Eddie replied.

"He deserves better than me, especially since I also have feelings for someone else," Nancy said.

"Please, tell me that it's not Byers again," Eddie grimaced.

"No. It's you," Nancy said.

Eddie's eyes widened, and he scoffed. He stared at her for a moment.

"I also have feelings for you," Eddie said softly.

"So, wait a minute. . .both of us stepped back because we thought that the other should get with Steve only to find out that we both have feelings for Steve, but we also have feelings for each other as well?" Nancy asked.

Eddie and Nancy burst into laughter. Eddie leaned against the top of the chair, his forehead against the cool plastic.

"You're both idiots," they heard Steve say. "Actually, we're all idiots."

"What?" Nancy asked as she turned to a now wide awake Steve.

"Sorry, Nancy Wheeler, you're an idiot. Do you really think that you don't deserve me?" Steve asked.

"After all that I put you through - "

"You don't need to apologize for that anymore. Do you remember after we got back together? I kept apologizing for the whole theater debacle. It wasn't my proudest moment. You said that I didn't need to apologize for it anymore because the minute I walked into the house, picked up the bat, and put my life on the line for the both of you that I more than made up for it. You came back into my life, Nancy. You took responsibility for what happened. You apologized, and you don't have to keep doing it anymore," Steve said. "I always thought it was me who didn't deserve you."

"You deserve to get whatever you want, Steve Harrington," Nancy sniffled.

"I want you. . .and Eddie," Steve said.

"Well, I think you've got us, big boy," Eddie said, smiling.

"How is this going to work?" Nancy asked.

"I suppose like any other relationship, just with an extra person," Steve said.

Suddenly, Wayne let out a giant snore startling the three of them.

"Jesus," Eddie muttered. "You know, he once snored so loudly that he woke himself up."

"Jeeze," Steve said, and Nancy giggled.

Suddenly, Eddie pulled her up, causing her to squeal as he slid into her spot and pulled her into his lap. Nancy slapped his chest.

"Asshole," Nancy said, and he cackled.

He attempted to kiss her cheek, but his broken nose hit her cheek instead.

"Ow."

"Okay, no kissing until both of you are healed," Nancy said.

"Aww," Steve and Eddie said in unison.

Eddie rested his chin on top of Nancy's shoulder while he grasped Steve’s hand with his own.

"I'm glad I have you guys. I'm not sure if I'd be able to get through this shit if you weren't here. Although, I wish none of us had to deal with this. I mean, El's just a fucking kid and she's just - how the hell do you guys handle this?" Eddie asked.

"Well, clearly not very well," Steve said, and Nancy snorted.

"You should definitely not take a leaf out of my book, Eddie," Nancy said. "I've tried to run away from my feelings in the past. Just try to face them head-on as best you can, and you do have us to talk to."

"All those people absorbed into that. . .thing. . . I'm going to have fucking nightmares forever," Eddie shuddered.

"Yeah, no kidding," Steve muttered. "It makes my stomach churn."

"Tom was an asshole but he didn't deserve that," Nancy said.

"And Hopper. . .man, he was one of the only adults who actually looked at me and didn't see my dad, you know?" Eddie said.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Steve sniffled.

Nancy's eyes filled with tears again as she thought about Hopper. She remembered how often he had come to check up on her after Barb died. He knew how frustrated she had been with what happened, and despite all of her venting to him, it hadn't been enough. Nancy had appreciated how often he tried to be there for her, especially knowing that he was also hiding El in his cabin at the time, and he was also trying to be there for Joyce as well as the other kids. Nancy would miss their long walks, and she would miss him. She couldn't help but think about unfair it was for El and that she wouldn't have her father in her life anymore. Nancy turned and buried her face into Eddie's neck, letting out a hard sob. Eddie held onto her tightly. She felt Steve leaning against her, hugging her back in what she was sure was an awkward position for him.

"That can't be comfortable for you, Steve," Nancy cried.

"Big boy, lay on your side as far back against the bed as you can," Eddie said.

Steve did as he was told. Eddie nudged Nancy into cuddling up next to Steve before he crawled in behind Nancy. The bed was small, but it managed to fit all three of them.

"This is much better," Nancy muttered.

She pressed her head against Steve’s chest as Eddie threw the blanket over the three of them and wrapped his around them. Nancy sighed in contentment, completely safe in the arms of the two men she cared about.

"I'm definitely wrapping you both in bubble wrap," she muttered before drifting off to sleep.

When Nancy woke up the next morning, the boys were still asleep, and El was staring at her from beside the bed. Wayne wasn't in the room.

"Are you dating both of them?" El asked.

There wasn't really a way to explain herself out of this one, and El would probably be able to sniff out that she was lying.

"As of yesterday, yes," Nancy mumbled sleepily.

"You can do that?" El asked.

"If it makes you happy, yes. People will be bothered by it because they're taught that relationships like this are wrong, but they're the ones who are wrong. It's as normal as any other relationship," Nancy said. "Although, I never really thought about having a relationship like this until recently. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone yet."

"Okay," El said softly.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Robin skidded into the room. Eddie jumped up, but Steve continued to sleep.

"My parents finally released me," Robin said, and then she stopped as she stared at the people in the bed.

"They are just cuddling!" El said quickly.

"Uh, yeah, your uncle and Mrs. Byers sent me to tell you that they wanted to talk to you out in the hallway," Robin said to El.

El nodded solemnly and headed out in the hallway.

"What was that about?" Eddie asked.

"I don't know, but I have to ask. . . Although I'm not sure if I should. . . Is this a thing?" Robin asked, pointing at them.

Eddie shared a look with Nancy, unsure if they should say anything or not.

"Uh, well. . . Is he still asleep?" Eddie asked. "Buckley barging in here like a bull in a china shop should have woken him up!"

"Hey!"

"Like I said, heavy sleeper," Nancy giggled.

"I'm not going to judge you if it's true," Robin said and paused to look at them for a moment. "I'm going to tell you what I told Steve here on the floor of the bathroom of Starcourt. . .I'm strictly into boobs."

Nancy and Eddie shared a look before grinning.

"Boobs and dicks for me," Eddie laughed.

"I'm up for anything regardless of a person's genitals," Nancy giggled.

"So, yeah, we're a thing," Eddie snorted.

"I knew you liked both of them," Robin said. "That day in Starcourt when you and Eddie came in with Holly. . . That's when you realized it, isn't it?"

"Yes," Nancy blushed.

"So, what was it? Me standing up to the troll?" Eddie asked.

"No, it was how sweet you were with Holly," Nancy blushed.

"Oh, kissing you right now would be worth the pain," Eddie said.

He pressed his fingers to his lips and then pressed the same fingers to Nancy's lips. It was a very sweet gesture until Robin spoke.

"You better hope he didn't scratch his ass with those fingers," Robin said.

"You don't have a filter, do you?" Nancy asked.

"Not really, no," Robin shrugged.

"It's okay, neither do I," Eddie laughed. "But next time, don't step on my moment."

"Oh! Hey, speaking of that troll of a delivery guy! He was actually a Russian!" Robin exclaimed.

"Seriously?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, Steve totally knocked him on his ass. He was like, 'That's for scaring Holly!' You two would have gone all gooey eyed over it," Robin said.

"Aw man, we missed it," Eddie whined.

"Well, you got a couple of badasses on your hands there, Munson. I'm sure they're not going to waste a chance to show off every once in a while," Robin said.

"Hell, I would let Nancy shoot me if she allowed it," Eddie sighed dreamily. "It'd be an honor to be shot by Nancy Wheeler."

"Almost as honoring as being killed by Eddie Munson in a freezer," Nancy teased.

"Oh, you do that once, and you never hear the end of it," Eddie sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Excuse me," Nancy laughed and started to climb over Eddie.

"Aw, are you trying to cuddle or get frisky? You should know that Robin's still in the room and Steve's still alseep," Eddie said.

Nancy scowled and slapped his chest.

"I'm trying to go to the bathroom," Nancy said.

Eddie cackled and maneuvered until Nancy was freed from the bed. She shook her numb legs and walked into the bathroom. When she came back, a still sleeping Steve was tucked in Eddie's side with his face pressed against his chest.

"Isn't he the cutest?" Eddie cooed. "I just want to nibble on his face."

Nancy laughed and stroked Steve’s hair before bending down to kiss his forehead. She brushed her knuckles against his cheek and sat down in the chair next to the bed.

"So, how are you dealing with this, Robin?" Nancy asked.

"I don't know. It kind of feels like I'm having an out of body experience," Robin said. "If I wasn't here right now, I would think it was all a nightmare."

"I've been through this a few times, and I still feel like it's all a nightmare," Nancy said.

"I feel like I'm going to need a shit ton of therapy, except we can't talk about what we went through due to all the NDAs that we had to sign," Robin said. "They could have thrown in a free therapist in there except knowing what the Lab did, I wouldn't trust them at all, so what's left?"

"Well, we can always talk to each other," Nancy said softly.

"So, we create our own group therapy?" Eddie asked.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Nancy said.

"It is? I mean, of course it is. I came up with it, after all," Eddie grinned.

"I mean, of course, we can't force the kids to talk, but maybe if we let them know we're there for them and maybe if they see us talking to each other, they'll want to talk too," Nancy said.

"Maybe," Robin said.

It was then that Steve woke up with a loud yawn. He blinked sleepily at Robin.

"What did I miss?" Steve asked.

"We've decided to create a cult, baby. We're going to dye our hair bright pink and start talking backward," Eddie said. "And we all worship at the feet of Scooby-Doo."

"What?" Steve asked, blinking slowly at him in sleepy confusion.

"Munson, how in the hell do you have powers?" Robin asked.

"My powers are very passive, thank you," Eddie said and stuck his tongue out at her.

"She's my new best friend. You have to get along," Steve said, poking him in the chest.

"Anything for you and Nancy," Eddie sighed.

"If we must," Robin said, but she was smiling, indicating that she really didn't have a problem getting along with Eddie.

"So, where would we meet for this group therapy?" Eddie asked. "My trailer is not big enough."

"My dad already complains about Mike, and the basement plus, it wouldn't exactly be private," Nancy said.

"And I'm moving out of my house," Steve said casually.

"What?!" The three of them exclaimed.

"Yeah, I figured my parents don't really want me there so. . . Why not? I figured once I get the place cleaned up, I would move back into the apartment above my grandfather's salon," Steve said. "I was digging through more of his things, and apparently, he left me the place. So, it's all mine."

"I feel like I'm missing some things," Robin said.

"His parents are evil, vile villainous homophobic - " Eddie trailed off as he found himself unable to speak.

"Assholes!" Nancy exclaimed.

"Ah, gotcha," Robin said and paused. "Homophobic?"

"Very," Eddie and Nancy said.

"That sucks," Robin said softly.

"You get used to it," Steve said, shrugging.

"Does he do that a lot? Downplay something in his life that's clearly tragic?" Robin asked.

"Yes," Eddie and Nancy coursed together.

"I have my work cut out for me, don't I?" Robin asked.

"Kind of," Nancy grinned.

"I am right here!" Steve exclaimed.

"We hear you, and we see you," Robin said, touching his foot. "My parents went to couples counseling. The therapist made them say that to each other."

As Nancy laughed with Eddie, she remembered the first time she went through this and how alone she had felt afterward. She was glad that she wasn't so alone this time, that she could stay out of the dark cloud of regret to finally help others through this dark, helpless time. She only hoped that she could actually help them, and she realized that the best way to do that was to make sure that they didn't feel all alone. Nancy could already feel another bond forming between them. One had already forged between Nancy, Steve, and Eddie. Another had obviously formed between Steve and Robin, but now it was connecting between all of them. Nancy could feel it solidify into a friendship much like Otis, Irene, and Steven. One side platonic, one side romantic. Both of equal value.

Chapter Eleven

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