#also he ate the can whole. with metal

[renonv]

Bringing back an old ass Demon au from 2018.. and making it worse ❤️

Part 2

[daisyhooves]

just a small dump of stuff for the rain world mgs au because its been on the brain for a bit. the ideas they are in my head.

[missmarveledsblog]

Dustin's got a sister? ( Eddie Munson x Henderson!Reader)

summary : friday where DND nothing would stop that except the discovery of Dustin Hendersons older sister of course which leds to eddie wondering if he was wrong about the whole love at first sight thing being crap .

warnings : fluffy fast burn , mutual pinning , eddie being a simp for sure . picture doesn't represent the reader it was just a fic cover i made

Friday meant one thing to Eddie munson and that was Hellfire night . The club were beginning what he could only describe as his best campaign yet ,the loud roars and cheer or cries filled the basement of Dustin Henderson since the older boys graduated it became the new spot . What Eddie didn't know was that the boys were not the only ones in the house as the music upstairs caused them to halt and look to the owner of said basement in confusion .

 " It's just my sister , ignore her" he shrugged, wanting to continue but the sudden excitement of Lucas and Mike only made the older boy more curious .

" sister since when do you have a sister" Eddie almost challenged. " since my mom and dad you know and then she was born" Dustin's head tilted knowing he'd mentioned her before .

"and She's smoking hot" Lucas blurted out for Mike Wheeler to nod eagerly in agreement.

" How come we've never seen her around?" Gareth asked .

" because she went to a different school and usually she was with her asshole boyfriend but they broke up also she hangs out with Steve and robin, she also busy with college stuff " Dustin looked around the table seeing all their confused faces.

" Wait, I've never seen her when I hang out with them" Eddie looked at the boy .

" that's because she was with her boyfriend ,I literally just said that" he rolled his eyes.

" hey dusty bun you down there .... Oh shit sorry i forgot you had company" all their eyes landed on the woman standing there hair wrapped in a towel and dressed in shorts and tank top .

" hey Y/N" Lucas waved dreamingly . 

" Hey Sinclair," she smiled . 

" Hey wanna join," Mike asked.

" I can't tonight. I got a paper due on Monday, just came down to see if Dustin ate , but now the question expands , "Do you guys want pizza?" she smiled bright towards them, eddie could have sworn he had drool coming out of his mouth .

" yeah totally would eat pizza with you" Jeff chin resting in his hands . " Ok pepperoni would be a safe choice right" she looked, seeing them all nod . " ok i shall call when it's here " she ran up the stairs, cheeks heated suddenly aware of her attire and the eyes of the boys roaming her body . 

" How the hell is that your sister?" gareth asked, totally in awe .

 " Told you , smoking hot" Lucas beamed proudly.

" You asked her to join, why ?" Eddie almost whispered not ready for the answer in fair of his mind short circuiting even more that it was . " because she's the reason that we know how to play" Mike whispered back, sending the group of boys almost into a group of school girls fawning .

 " So you're telling me that the smoking hot goddess of a woman is a nerd like us" .

 " Can you all please stop calling my sister hot?" Dustin grimaced, suddenly regretting offering his basement for the Hellfire club . when the music changed and the familiar riffs flooded his ear drums . 

" Is that?... YOUR HOT SISTER LIKES METAL" Eddie almost roared across the table . 

" Is it too late to quit hellfire?" Dustin groaned.

It seemed the campaign was forgotten about after half an hour of questioning. Dustin Henderson was never more grateful for the pizza man's arrival but when she told them to come up he was almost trampled as his friends tried getting up the stairs .

" holy shit you guys must be hungry , no need to panic i got more than enough " she laughed seeing them pushing each other out of the way . 

" Totally starving" gareth smiled brightly.

" ok well plates are there and help yourself" she pointed to the counter .

" ladies first" Eddie smiled, arm outstretched . 

" Thank you" she moved, grabbing her plate and pizza before heading to the sofa. " I just stuck on halloween if you guys wanna join" she called eyes on the screen not seeing the pushing and shoving happening in the kitchen before eddie smiled victoriously beside her. " I love this movie" he winked . 

" I literally only started it so you all aren't missing much ... wait what about the campaign" her head tilted as they all sighed in content.

" Apparently due to hormones it's over" Dustin grumbled sitting on the other side of her . 

" Shit sorry that was my fault if I'm being too loud I can go to my room" she offered only for a chorus of no's and don't to fill the room . " you're fine, really we can do it another time apparently" Dustin smiled seeing the worry on her face. Before anyone else could say anything the doorbell went off making her run out to see who it was totally forgetting she invited steve and robin over.

" hey if you can find a place to sit" she led the two in.

" Hey guys," the three kids called.

"Hey Harrington man , nice to see you , how come you never mentioned the sweetheart of a sister Dustin had before" Eddie smiled yet glaring at his friend.

" because Dustin told me not to" he shrugged, heading off to the kitchen .

 "Do I embarrass you or something?" She turned to her brother.

" No just you were with that douche before and i didn't want him embarrassing me" he lied easily . 

" That's a good point," Robin nodded .

 " I hated that guy so much" Steve agreed eagerly as he handed Robin her plate as he sat beside Dustin .

 " Ok enough about my ex and let's watch the movie" she huffed, letting her damp nearly dry hair out of the towel . As soon as the lights went out all their attention went to the movie playing well mostly to the movie. Eddie's attention did try to stick to the screen but it often shifted to the girl sitting beside him. wondering how the hell he wasn't a puddle in the chair or if the beating of his heart was audible given how fast it was , was he sweating cause sure as hell felt like it . He watched the light of tv shine on her face, her relaxed state or... shit she grabbed his hand , why was he short circuiting over a girl grabbing his hand . 

" Sorry that part always make me jump" she whispered soft laugh spilling from her pillow plump lips , he could of sworn he saw a blush on her face but wasn't sure giving the limited light .

" if you need to grab it again feel free too" he whispered back smiling so wide showing off his dimples .

" thank you munson" now he was hoping more parts would make her jump . her hand in his throughout the movie it turned out his campaign wasn't the highlight of this Friday after all.

Once the movie ended Dustin hit the lights making them all groan at the sudden intrusive brightness . except the light snores filled out the room making them all turn to see the older henderson and eddie passed out cold her head on his shoulder and his hand holding hers .

 " Awhh that's so cute" Robin cooed, hiding her amusement.

" Damn it, I was gonna ask her out " Gareth growled, making everyone turn to the boy . " I said that out loud huh?" he stood rubbing the back of his neck .

 " Very loud," Steve snorted . "Come on i can drop you guys home" he stretched as the all looked at him wide eyed.

" Seriously "king"Steve Harrington is going to let us be seen with him" Jeff almost gasped out.

" yeah yeah dont cream your pants , come let them sleep" he ushered the gang of still shocked boys out the door. Only for Dustin to slam it shut behind them waking the two .

 "Where is everyone?" she asked, confused.

" yeah i remembered more people being here" Eddie rubbed his eyes . 

" Steve's dropping them home since you two were all cuddled up in sleepland" . 

"Shit i'll go clean up and head out before your mom comes home '' Eddie yawned and stretched ready to head back down to the basement . 

"Just stay, she's not home till Sunday," Dustin yelled, heading down to his own room . 

" If you want to, I mean we can watch another movie," she smiled nervously was he making her uncomfortable or was it something else.

" Yeah i could totally stay, I got some clothes in my van , let me grab them" he beamed with excitement.

" I'm going for a smoke so i'll come out with you" she grabbed her shoes and jacket pulling out the carton of cigarettes and lighter . 

" Lead the way princess" he opened the door letting her walk out first. The night's crisp air hitting them , she stood on the porch as he ran down grabbing the backpack out of his van given his original plan was to sleep at jeff's for the night so wayne could have a night's sleep in his room for once. When he looked back to see she was sitting on what he called the outdoor sofa to rile Dustin up, her eyes looking up at the sky lost in the stars above even then she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen . The slow exhale of smoke and she turned to smile at his approaching figure .

 " You cold, i can give you my jacket" he was already going to take it off pulling out his own cigarettes.

" no it's not too chilly tonight ,it actually a nice night" she mused moving so he could sit beside her.

"So Dustin mentioned you went to a different school. How come" he asked, wanting to know everything and anything about the woman sitting beside him . 

" You don't remember me huh?" she asked, confusing him completely.

" we actually went to the same school til i'd say middle school i changed schools because tommy hagan kinda made my life hell so my mom moved me to a different school since the principle wouldn't do anything about it , i was fat kid with curly ass hair , he called me sparky cause of this'' She shrugged the jacket showing the lightning bolt scar on her arm Making him remember completely who she was.

" shit yeah i remember, i also remember you punching him when he picked on other kids" he mused.

" another reason i had to move schools, the irony of letting myself being their victim and yet seeing ready when i seen them torment someone else " she snorted, tapping the ash of her cigarette . 

" Shit i would've never pictured you and Dustin to be siblings," he chuckled.

" Well back then my parents were still married and I wasn't always Henderson" She pointed out.

" Well that also checks out, still i've always thought that scar was metal , how you get it?" . 

"Wasn't struck by lightning sadly that would of been cooler no i burned it trying to make my own shield" she giggled. "

That's still metal in my books" he chuckled. 

" I guess your right I mean my mom didn't think so in the ER but hey it was good shield think it's still in the garage" throwing the cigarette away , sneaking a quick glance at the most adorable and probably hottest guy she ever met sitting beside her .

" you in college now or ? " he asked .

" yeah just an hour drive away, studying nursing what about you ? " she turned. Her eyes made him completely weak at the knee's .

" apprentice mechanic " she noticed how his smiled didn't quite reach his eyes when he said it .

" well if you ever get hurt on the job call me, I'll come nurse you back to heath " she nudging him playfully there it was a real smile on his pretty face.

" come on we head in or I'll be the nurse when you catch some flu or cold being out here " he stood holding his hand out to help her up .

" wanna was nightmare on elm Street" she asked.

" of course and if you get scared you can hold my hand " he winked as they walked into the house.

" I mean it is scary movie dare I say even terrifying you might get sick of me holding your hand" she teased heading to the other side of the room to grab the tape and a blanket .

" never would I do such a thing " he held his hand over his heart those damn dimples that made her heart skip a beat or the glint of the rings as he held his hand over his heart.

" could you put the movie in , I'll grab the snacks and some drinks " she scurried of the kitchen . Putting the movie on pause before he called to say he was putting some pyjamas on before it got started .

When he came in she had snacks pile on top of each other along with the soda . He could of sworn he caught her checking him out but brushing it off instantly.

" ready" she lifted the blanket up for him to join .

" born ready darling " he hit the lights as the second movie of the night started playing he suddenly felt the,warmth of her palm in his . " just incase I get to scared " she winked now he was one who was grateful for lack of lights cause he was sure he was beet red now.

" better safe the sorry " he whispered his voice almost cracking in the nervous manner of possibly the hottest most beautiful girl he'd met holding his hand ... his goddamned hand . the two say eyes locked on screen itching to look at the person at their side . She inched her way closer as the movie played when jumpscare came on she couldn't help bury her head In his chest . The smell of his cologne and cigarette filled her sense as she felt the vibrations of his laugh as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I'll keep you safe princess " she could feel the almost cocky grin in his words feeling her little plan worked .

" thank you eddie my hero " she cooed looking up through her lashes making his gulp audibly leaning up and a peck to his lips, he was sure to die in his spot . A victory smile she kept her head on his chest while his arm was wrapped around her , she could hear the now steady beating of his heart as he gotten comfortable in the new position his hand rubbing up and down her back . Wasn't long til the two got way to comfortable and feel asleep in each others arms to content to even care .

[eepy-evie]

Twisted Wonderland Senior Headcanons

A/N: i am very tired as i write this, BIBI is saving my life force. I just got screamed at by my mom but the fans (no one) can’t wait 😎. Im sorry Lilia’s is kind of short, im pretty high and have been pushing this off for days.

Contents: Various non romantic headcanons for the seniors in TWST

Trigger warnings (if any): Religion mentions (Trey’s + Leona’s + Vil’s + Rook’s + Idia’s part), eating disorders (Vil’s part), stalking mentions (Rook’s part… no surprise), minor adult themes (idia’s part)

Trey Clover

I might have this feeling only because i also bake but he has beef with multiple people about bread.

Like i mean people spreading misinformation (NO YOU DO NOT NEED TO ADD SUGAR INTO BREAD, IT DOESN’T DO MUCH)

Besides my personal beef with ig bakers…

He doesn’t listen to music, lofi background stuff at best.

He’d listen to anything someone put on with no complaint but he doesn’t feel the need for music for mundane things

With his obsession with brushing teeth i feel like he loves mint

Like i mean spearmint gum constantly, mint chocolate chip ice cream, idk mint leaves in drinks?

Bro can not understand if someone else doesn’t like mint

I believe he is an Atheist living in a Christian household

Its probably brought up rarely but he just doesn’t really believe that saying grace before dinner does anything

I think he’s way too empathetic for his own good, i mean like excusing lots of harmful things due to how someone was raised

(Totally didn’t mean to refer to Riddle but whatevs)

Cater Diamond

Get this man into kpop NOW

I feel he is rivaling Idia with his, honestly abusive, amount of slang

I dont think anyone who isn’t chronically online could stand to hear his thoughts

Or who isn’t insanely mentally unstable

But he pulls shit like “she=onika ate=burgers” every single chance he gets

Which i wont blame him for that, i pull medieval slang every second i can too

He loves brittany broski with his whole heart and soul

Not only is she funny as hell but she can also be very serious in a blink of an eye

On the low he enjoys those insider videos

He likes watching them and pausing them to argue the point to no one

Going back to kpop briefly…

He loves Aespa

Do i know any of the members of Aespa to tell you my assumed bias? No.

Also loves Zerobaseone

Ricky bias

Although i may be biased (oh my a silly pun, you scoundrel)

I do believe that he is a funny person but he is very repressed

I dont mean to make this a whole angst post but he genuinely doesn’t understand how he can express it

He is very sensitive to rejection so i think that leads him to extreme lengths to be liked

And I’m not just talking about how he acts a certain way to please others

I mean a deep rooted guilt for not being what someone wanted

Leona Kingscholar

…all my headcanons for him are purely how I’d personally treat him

Someone get this man a mukbang video and a comfy bed

He barely listens to music but when he does its some rnb stuff

He doesnt care for stuff thats too loud but he does like soft music even if he isnt open about it

I need to make him see nekomimi switch, twitter.gov, and anything else that has catgirls/boys so i can see his reaction

I dont think he holds many physical attributes to lions besides the ears, tail, and teeth but he most definitely holds many reactions and other stuff

Like he is literally sleeping in a garden most the time

He has long(er) nails and hates cutting them

Erm… idk man

I think he had a big Religious breakdown in his childhood

I dont really know what Religion he’d be to start with(due to my lack of knowledge of Religion in Africa) but he’d have the whole moment of betrayal

And then he’s completely Atheist for the rest of his life

Vil Schoenheit

He has a side account where he responds to all his hate comments

For music taste… hear me out…

He likes, on the low, vkei

But no metal like kaneto juusei or gulu gulu I mean malice mizer

He enjoys the instrumental along with the twists they take on classical

Moi meme motie x Vil Schoenheit collab when???

He 100% doesn’t express it though, he tells the public he likes whatever’s popular

I feel like, this may or may not be me projecting, he’s a hellenist

Obviously worshipping Aphrodite and has an altar for her which he never publicly speaks of but is not hiding

heres a bit of TW for eds + that type of stuff

I feel like he has an extremely bad relationship with food

He doesnt see it as something to nourish your body but instead a sort of numbers game

Like with a limit of however much someone says and the whole game is to stay under that number in calories

Besides that i feel he’s very orthorexic to the point he’d refuse to eat something if it looked too “bad” to him

(End of tw)

I know he has a very argued gender identity but i dont think he’s too confused by it

He’s very firm that he is who he is and he never seemed to have much of an inside problem with it

Maybe he got poked fun at a few times but thats all his problems with it

Rook Hunt

Get this man away from me

He is in many fandoms and somehow knows everything going on all the time

Bro personally took down Nayeon’s stalker by himself

But seriously i dont think his intentions are bad, i think he is just trying to be on top of everything in the worst was possible

He doesn’t really think its creepy himself but most the time he is

He is also a Hellenist who worships Aphrodite but also Artemis

He is so very open about his Religion

He makes those hopecore videos on tiktok and has amassed 10k followers but no one knows its him

Yearns to be in the south/midwest for the scenery

Just yearns in general

Bro is single handedly bringing back male yearning and being chalant

Saw bridgerton as a normal tuesday for him

1000 hours on c.ai

I will not, and should not, elaborate.

Is that projecting? Yes. Do i care? No.

He has the longest and some how most effective body/skincare routine ever

I mean like he’d do some shit like “once in a blue moon bath in pure hyaluronic acid for 2.5 hours on the dot”

He loves absolutely everything on everyone and its to a detriment to me personally

Hooked nose? Loved. Chubby? Love. Literally anything unconventional? Consider yourself yearned for.

He listens to anything and everything

Although he cant stand songs about break ups or anything to do with hate

Put this man on “doughnut” by TWICE now.

Idia Shroud

Yes… give me this nerdy man…

He 100% (mostly canon) loves jpop idols

Prolly an akb48 stan

I cant even get started on everything he likes

But i can tell y’all 100% that he is not overly flirty or overly easy to fluster

Istg all i see is either big dom idia or uwu shy boy idia

And both are wrong (in my opinion ig)

He starts arguments about anything and everything in game chats

Because he’s grown up in this big company family he was forced to appear better that how he truly acts so i believe that would also entail with being a die hard hellenist

But without any spotlights he does care, he just likes his games and anime

Speaking of anime…

He loves shoujo, he’s in hiding though

He literally wants to be sawako from “from me to you” but will never say it

Somebody come get this man

If anyone asks he just loves Naruto and One Piece

But we know the truth…

Istg he plays an absurd amount of eroges for the plot

He’s depraved on twitter

Two accounts, one for public image and the other for the unspeakable

Do NOT let him find any dating advice on there cause he will take it and act like a fool

He loves breakcore music and anime intros and thats about it

Besides his jpop idols

I dont think he like kpop, for some reason he just has a grudge against some fans

A little self insert but he 100% has autism (as we all know…) but he also has arfid

For those who dont know… arfid is “avoidant restrictive food intake disorder” which is like you are a very picky eater

He aint struggling with it, he succeeding (LYING)

Malleus Draconia

Get this man a cat or some shit like that

Can someone please make him watch all of aphmau Minecraft diaries and then twilight back to back

This strange individual has that man from the notebook shaking in fear

Bros a hopeful romantic

Randomly says inspiration quotes that you cant find anywhere online

It just came from his heart

He only listens to classical songs he knows how to play

Though i’d doubt if you showed him something he’d dislike it

Bros the yearner

I showed up to the yearning contest and went into anaphylactic shock at the sight of him there

He has honestly researched every single religion for fun

Highlight god damn bible verses for no reason

He needs to make an iceberg of every single religion and why they are good/bad

I just know he has an insane knowledge of lore in any book he’s ever read

Please make him watch smiling friends

You’d have to pause every 5 seconds so he can process it

You could make him do anything tbh, just be like “you should come watch *whatever it is* with me” and bro is outside your door

For shame with the amazing attention towards practically anyone who shows anything besides fear or hatred comes the fact he is unaware of most modern things

He has a tamagotchi and thats it man, get him a 3ds at least

He cant use a phone, cant use a computer, and barely understands the concept of social media

But at least he has the spirit to learn

Lilia Vanrouge

Do i even put him as a senior?

Bro is pushing some mystical number that no one knows

He’s like one of those grandmas that never mention their age and whenever its brought up all they say is “never ask a woman her age”

… perchance a bit controversial but i think he’s bad at cooking on purpose

Ain’t no way someone fucks up cooking THAT bad

I think he really likes horror games

And i dont mean those shitty mascot horrors like poppys playtime

I mean fatal frame, faith, and visage type shit

He listens to breakcore too

I dont make the rules

Hes a gamer grandpa so he either has to have pretty good taste in games/music or the absolute worst

HE’D LOVE GULU GULU AND VKEI

Hes practically already mana sama

Hes got all the moi meme motie dresses

Get grandpa off taobao NOW

I want my nyanya madoka dress, and i will not be stopped by some twinkish old man.

[writing-zelda-brainrots]

Then Apothecary![Name] challenges the boys to eat something with a species she created that would be the minimum of a hot chili in our world in exchange for a couple of rupees if they last 2 minutes

No one lasted that long and maybe even their tongues got a little burned and they lost the sensation of taste for a while-

Yes, we're making white people jokes here. I admit, they're pretty funny depending on the execution. Also relatable. While I don't mind spicy food (it's not my favourite, but it's not like I'd turn my nose up at it), my mother hates it. Dad loves it, though.

Wild handles it the best because, honestly, he has a lead belly. Bro literally ate rocks. He'd probably ask for more, even if he is going to regret it later when his tummy gets the rumblies.

I actually think that Rulie likes spicy food. He can't handle it at all, but he likes it anyway. Also he gets to beg for sweets later and no one would blame him.

Four's in the corner saying how he now knows how the metal he works with feels. He's coughing and gets the hiccups after just a few bites.

Time seems to be doing well, but what the others don't know is that he's got a bottle of milk he's constantly sipping from when no one's looking. No cheating! It gets taken away very quickly and he is suffering.

Honestly, Wars and Legend have about the same level of tolerance. They make an unofficial bet on who can last longer. Also may or may not be adding more spicy stuff into each other's food to make the other lose.

Poor Wind tries to put on a brave face, but everyone can see that he's not taking it well. Mostly because of he does not have a poker face.

Twilight immediately opts out. Just the smell coming from the pot is making his eyes water. Too bad. If they all have to suffer, so does he. (Please note, do not give your dog anything spicy. It's not good for them and will end in a trip to the vet).

Sky has it the worst. Living at such high altitudes his whole life has not prepared him for a lot of things. Also I never really saw much variety of food on Skyloft, mostly pumpkins. No tolerance what so ever.

On the bright side, if they ever get something that they can't handle, they can just give it to [Name] so they don't have to waste food.

[13a07s]

Her Closet

(Daichi Sawamura)

[Artwork is not mine! Credit to Etcetera.art]

Requested by: Myself

Word Count: 3,359

Warnings and/or Pre-Notes:

I fully believe Daichi's wife would call Sugawara by his first name

I also believe Daichi would never get out of the habit of calling him Suga

Daichi is a bit of a horn-dog in the second part :)

———————————————————————

     The door to the station swings open, the old metal squeaking from the movement and catching my attention. I can't see the entrance from my desk, but I sure can hear my sunshine of a wife's laugh, along with my coworker at the front yelling that "Sawamura's old lady is here".

I try my best to keep my smile reasonable but I can't help the huge grin that starts to spread across my face as I approach the front. The whole walk-up is filled with teasing from the other officers but I don't mind, especially when my Sunshine is still giggling at the soft teasing she's receiving. By the time I'm shouldering the door open, my cheeks sting from how big my smile is.

     The door easily gives in, being pushed open just enough for me to peak out. My grin somehow grows at the sight of Sunshine, seeing her swimming in my hoodie and making my heart flutter. It's my work hoodie, MPPF in bold letters over her chest, an outline of a badge in the middle of her stomach, and Miyagi Prefecture Police Force in small letters below it. I know our pledge is stamped into the back of it without having to look.

     "You know those hoodies are for officers only, I could give you a ticket for impersonating," the guy at the desk teases, making my Sunshine laugh again as she shakes her head.

     "I assure you I have impersonated an officer in a lot worse ways than this," she jokes, quickly rushing my thoughts back to the last costume party Asahi hosted. My Sunshine sure did impersonate an office, in a lot worse ways, but I enjoyed every second of it.

     "Sunshine," I quickly call, trying to blink away the memories of the 'after party' we had together.

     "Officer Sawamura," she teases, her eyes and smile pointed at me now. "I was out and about so I grabbed you lunch," she tells me, holding up a take-out bag.

     "Thank you," I mutter, pushing the door open the rest of the way before motioning her forward. "I appreciate it," I add when she gets closer, taking a moment to kiss her cheek as she walks past.

Wolf whistles, pickup lines, and compliments are shot at her by the station as we make our way back to my desk. The light-hearted play only makes me shake my head, giddiness filling my chest the whole of the short walk.

When we get to my desk, I take a moment to pull out one of the chairs from their opposite spot across from mine. Instinctively my hand goes out, waiting for my Sunshine to take it so I can help ease her into the chair. As expected, her hand finds mine, gently holding it as she sinks into the cushions. I keep a hold of her as I push her in, pecking her hand before letting it go.

"Oh, oh, oh, we have a gentleman amongst us men," my senior partner teases, a smug grin on his face as he pokes at me.

"Seems like Officer Sawamura's old lady has him by the balls," one of the younger officers adds.

I ignore the eruption of teasing that follows, sliding across the desk to settle in my chair. "I got you a sandwich," my Sunshine starts the unneeded explanation, slowly unpacking my lunch for me. "And a bag of chips, of course, and a water bottle which I probably didn't need to get but I did anyway."

"Thank you," I repeat, leaning forward to start unwrapping my sandwich. "You didn't get yourself anything?" I ask, looking at her for an answer as I start raising my sandwich to eat. Thoughts of telling her I'm too full to eat my chips are already brewing in the back of my mind.

"I ate while I was out with the girls. There was a sale on those energy drinks you like so I made sure to stock up on them. Oh! And I got new curtains for the kitchen window if you could hang those when you get the chance," she rattles on, moving in her seat to curl up in a lazy, comfy ball.

I swear, everything about this moment makes me fall in love with her all over again. Her mind always thinking about what she can do for others, more specifically me. I could listen to her voice all day long. Plus her excitement over such mundane things is adorable. Add on her inability to sit in a chair like a normal person and I'm back to being the lovestruck high schooler I was when I met her.

"I'll add it to my to-do list," I tell her before taking another bite of my sandwich. If she hadn't caught lunch with her little housewife group I would have given her my chips in a heartbeat, but I'm excited I get to enjoy them myself.

"Whipped," another officer teases, covering up the word with a fake cough. Again, the comment rolls off of me. I don't mind the teasing or the 'hot wife' jokes because I know it's true. I am whipped, at her mercy, willing to do anything she asks.

I also know my Sunshine is a beautiful woman, one who's swimming in my hoodie. It's my hoodie string she's twirling. My hoodie that her hand is shoved under to rest on her stomach. My hoodie she's going to nap in once she gets home. My hoodie everyone has seen her in today, and finally, my hoodie she's going to be wearing when I get my pay back for her costume party reminder.

Seeing her wearing my clothes always brings me back to high school, specifically the first game I invited her to. My Sunshine went all out, tacky but cute pom-poms waving around from the bleachers, tinsel tied into her hair, and my alternate jersey wrapping her fully in orange. We lost, no surprise there seeing how the team didn't start winning any games until my third year, but I was still prideful seeing her so excited to watch me play.

Getting to see my Sunshine support my career brings me the same kind of pride. Seeing her in my work hoodie, at work events, and hearing her say 'My husband, Officer Sawamura,' are the signs in my life that I made it.

     "Koshi called this morning," she utters, eyeing my chip bag. So much for enjoying them myself.

     "Ya? What did you two talk about?" I ask, popping the bag open before giving it to her.

     My Sunshine's eyes lighten up at the gesture, happily taking the chips from me. "He said he's going to go watch the Sendai Frogs play tonight and asked if we were coming too. I told him I'd talk to you and call back with an answer," she explains, slightly shifting in her chair as she eats. It's cute that she squirms when she's enjoying a snack; it's even cuter that she doesn't notice it most of the time.

     "Where's their game at?"

     "Koshi just said it was a home game so I don't know. I can text him and ask," she mumbles, tilting the bag toward me.

     "Their team is stationed here in Miyagi. You can tell Suga we're going," I answer for her, saving my old setter a question. I take a chip from the bag as well, enjoying the excitement melting into her eyes. My Sunshine doesn't know much about volleyball - or any sport, really - but she 'enjoys the environment of a game' which is good enough for the both of us.

     "I'll have to call him back and tell him then. I'll have to go through my - "

     "Our," I interrupt, shaking my head at her excitement.

     "My closet. My clothes are my clothes. Your clothes are my clothes too," she 'corrects' me without missing a beat. Again, I shake my head, this time because I guess my Sunshine is right; she wears my clothes more than I do, so it's her closet. "Anyway, I have to figure out something to wear. It's a volleyball game, right? Koshi invited us to a volleyball game?"

     "Ya," I hum, throwing my trash away before settling back in my chair. My elbow is propped up, my head on my fist as I admire my beautiful wife. The way her hair bounces and catches the sun as she talks, the sparkle of joy in her eyes, and her curled up form on the chair, my hoodie big enough for her to tuck her knees under it in her new position.

     "Oh, good! Do I get to see another one of your old teammates play this time?" My Sunshine asks, sparkly eyes caught on me, her beautiful hair water fully over her knees because of her head resting on her knees now.

     "Tsukishima plays for Sendai," I answer, letting my eyes fall closed for a second. I have four more hours of work, I can't get caught up in my Sunshine's... well, sunshine.

     "Which one is he? I don't remember."

     Slowly, I let my eyes peel open again, her smile being the first thing to catch my attention. "Tall, thin, blonde, glasses," I mutter, glancing around the station. My work mind set is ruined for the day.

     She explodes in a ball of excitement, feet back on the ground as she gushes over my old teammate. "Now I remember! He was one of your baby crows. It was always so fun bantering with him. Always so quick to have a smart mouth."

     I nod my head in agreement, eyes back closed as I run through the information on my newest case, trying to push out everything having to do with my Sunshine.

Lips against mine pull me out of my thoughts, eyes instantly snapping up to be met with her leaning over the desk. She pulls away, a loose smile back on her lips. "I should get going. You have work to do and your partner is itching to talk to you. I'll send you a picture of the outfit I choose. Bye, baby!" My Sunshine chirps, pecking my lips again before she almost skips out of the station.

"'Bye baby'," some of the guys repeat, voices pitched and teasing. Others make kissy noises for a few minutes before it all melts into soft laughter. Despite the joking, all I can think about is what cute outfit my Sunshine is going to pick.

                     ———————————

     My footsteps thunder as I race down the block, my watch weighing on my wrist a constant reminder of the time crunch I'm under. Why does the Sendai's match have to start so soon after my shift? Why did my Sunshine have to find my old jersey? Why does she have to wear it to the match? Why did she have to send me a picture of herself in it?

It's been killing me the past few hours, knowing what she's wearing. Knowing she's alone at home. Knowing I have to wait to see her in it. Enjoy her in it. It's been years since she's worn it. Dear lord did all the 'comforting' after my matches and the victory 'celebration' of my third year come rushing back. All because she had to find it hidden away in our closet. In her closet.

     I don't slow down when our house comes into view, if anything I move faster to get inside as soon as possible. When I get to the porch, I struggle with the doorknob for a moment, unable to get it open.

     I can't help the excitement that bubbles in my chest when I do finally manage to get the door open. "My Sunshine?" I yell once I'm through the door, wrestling to kick off my shoes and undo my work vest.

     "Welcome home," she greets, her head poking out from the sitting room. "How was work?"

     "Fine, good, great, work," I mutter, my eyes snagging on the parts of my jersey I can see.

     Sunshine fully rounds the corner, giving me a full view of my clothes on her. The sight makes my hands fumble worse, making it seem impossible to snap my work belt off. "Calm down, baby. It's not going to hurt anyone if we're a few minutes late," she coos, settling in front of me before she helps to snap my belt off. "Guess what? Koshi invited - "

     I cut her off, burying my hand in her hair to pull her into a kiss. A soft him escapes her because of my sudden nice, but the surprise washed away soon after. My Sunshine's hands settle on my chest as she joins the kiss, adding a bit of pressure to counter mine.

     As our kiss carries on, my free hand works on unbuttoning my shirt, fully prepared to leave it on the growing pile of work clothes on the ground. My Sunshine pulls away, sucking in a breath before opening her mouth to speak again. "Daichi, Koshi and - "

     Again, I cut her off, taking a step forward to kiss her. This time she kisses me back right away, gripping the open flaps of my shirt as I finish undoing the last few buttons. "You look beautiful," I murmur when we part, my lips falling to kiss along her jaw as I shrug my shirt off.

     "Thank you, baby, but we have plans and your friends - "

     "I know, it'll be fine. You said it yourself it's not going to hurt if we're a few minutes late," I interrupt, letting my hands start slithering under her shirt. "You look amazing," I repeat, slowly guiding us down the hallway, toward the sitting room.

     "Will you let talk?" She giggles, her arms around my neck now as her body arches in response to my feathery touches.

     "Go ahead," I hum, letting one hand rest on top of her bra, gently squeezing the material and her breast. My other hand starts sliding backward, soaking in as much of my Sunshine's soft skin as it can during its trip towards her ass. I've made quick work of kissing her, slowing down as I start trailing over the dip from her jaw to her neck.

     My mind is a bit preoccupied, set on touching every inch of her and continuing to lead her towards the couch so I can enjoy my beautiful Sunshine and relive some memories from my volleyball days. "Koshi brought Ennoshita to watch the game with us. They got here like ten minutes ago and have been waiting with me for you to get home."

     My mind is no longer preoccupied. My head snaps up, pulling my lips off my wife, so I can scan the room. As promised, Suga and Ennoshita are sitting on the couch, my best friend looking amused and my old underling looking shocked. "Guys," I mutter, after forcing out an awkward cough. I help my Sunshine stand up straight again, fixing my jersey before letting her go. "I was not expecting you."

     "I can see that," Suga teases, a huge grin on his face.

     "I texted you," Ennoshita mutters softly, barely loud enough to hear. He waves his phone around, our messages open as proof. "Apparently you didn't get it."

     "I probably did," I murmur, scratching the back of my head as I look away from my friends. My eyes settle on my Sunshine. Her teeth are messing with her bottom lip, cheeks fleshed as she looks at the wall. "I'm going to go change. I'll be right back," I grumble, pecking her cheek before I walk out of the room.

     "I'm surprised you're not taking your wife with you!" Suga yells after me, a chuckle following his teasing. Sunshine scolds him, the sound of her lecture being cut off when I close our bedroom door.

     I lean against the closed door, hands jumping up to my face as if they could rub the embarrassment off. When my hands fall away, my eyes end up landing on our - her - closet. As expected, clothes are littered around the room, my Sunshine's inability to decide on an outfit being evident. "I can't believe I did that," I whisper to the emptiness, shaking my head before I jump into action. I need to change so we can get going. My Sunshine, me, and our friends I just embarrassed us in front of.

                   ———————————

     "Tsuki!" Yamaguchi and my Sunshine both scream, the two of them leaning over the rails as they cheer for him. Suga and I both shake our heads at them.

Yamaguchi notices the joking disapproval, his cheeks fleshing as easily as they did in high school. My Sunshine doesn't though, she's in her universe, shaking the green and yellow pom poms she bought as she cheers for the middle blocker.

I love seeing her at games. Seeing her so energized, so excited, so happy to support someone she knows. I haven't decided what I enjoy more; having her cheer for me or getting to watch her cheer for someone else. Probably the latter, since I get to enjoy it instead of having to focus on the game I'm playing.

"Baby!" She chirps, lunging at me. Her hands land on my knees, pom poms and all, as she looks up at me, the usual excited spark in her eye.

"Sunshine?" I hum, sliding my fingers through her hair, being careful not to pull on any of the tinsel she tied into her locks. It's nice but almost sorrowful seeing her dressed up like this again. I should get her a Sendai jersey before we leave.

She makes a kissy face, the sound picking up just enough for me to hear it. A soft grin spreads on my face at her request, a request I have no problem fulfilling for her. My fingertips twirl the end of her hair as I lean down, pecking her lips like she wants.

A happy giggle spills from my Sunshine as she sits upright, eyes cast to the court for a second before they're back on me. "I'm hungry."

"Okay, Sunshine," I utter, pecking her lips again before I stand up. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" Suga asks, his eyes not pulling away from the players on the court.

"To get my Sunshine some food," I answer, starting the careful descent out of the bleachers, set on not trip on anyone or thing.

"I'll come with," he says, already on his feet so he can trial after me.

It takes a while, but we both manage to get out of the bleachers without an accident. "Should I be expecting a third Sawamura soon?" Suga asks, flashing me one of his grins.

     "I just got excited seeing her in my jersey after so long. That's all," I answer, trying to push down the embarrassment crawling up my neck.

     "Sure you did," he chuckles, shaking his head at me. "You know, I thought you were insane when you told me you were going to propose after graduation."

     "I know, you told me at least twenty times," I grumble, rolling my eyes at the memory of all the lectures I got from him. Suga was not on board with the idea of us getting married right out of high school.

     "And now I can't help but be impatient with you two. When are you going to give me a niece or nephew?"

     "I don't think that's any of your business," I snap, the heat winning and coating my cheeks. "You're just as bad as my mom."

     Suga shrugs, a grin still on his face. "Maybe your Sunshine is trying to get you to give her a baby. Wearing your clothes and all that."

Now it's my turn to chuckle, shaking my head back at my friend. "The closet is fully Sunshine's. It's her closet, her clothes, I just borrow them sometimes."

"You definitely did not get over that love sickness did you? I thought you'd kick it after graduation."

No, I did not get over it, and probably never will.

[itiswormtimebaby]

Here’s what I’m thinking about:

Biker!Bucky (who also happens to be your brother’s best friend) comforting you when you accidentally get way too high and think you’re going to die. 

TW: Recreational drug use (weed), talks of death (reader feels like they’re dying), virgin reader, suggestive

The illicit baked goods were handed over with very clear instructions, only eat HALF. But you were so hungry, and the brownie was surprisingly good, and what would really be the harm in eating a whole instead of a half? Death. Inevitable death would be the harm. 

There’d been a very pleasant twenty-five minutes where it felt as if you were dancing on air, now you could barely get any- breathing shallow, chest tight, head heavy. This was it. Goodbye, cruel world. You knew there was little to be done so you decided to embrace the inevitable, if you acted quickly maybe you could go in your sleep. So you filled your cats food bowl, pressed a quick kiss to her head, and crawled into your hammock to await the end- but wait, wait you couldn’t go with regrets, that was a sure fire way to come back as a ghost and you did not want to haunt your crappy walk up forever. No, no regrets. 

So you called James Buchanan Barnes, Bucky, your brother’s Bucky. Bucky who lived only a few blocks away, Bucky who could send you off without regret. He picked up on the third ring, and didn’t get much in edgewise after a hesitant “Hello?” 

“Bucky! Bucky I’m dying and I need you to come over right now. The doors unlocked.” You’d hung up before he could ask any questions, best to save your breath, you reasoned. For his part Bucky had politely but firmly asked the girl currently occupying his bed to leave, and made for the door, tugging on gray sweats as he went. While he was positive your dumb ass wasn’t dying he wasn’t willing to leave you in a distressed state. 

When he kicked off his bike and made it inside he’d found you curled up in your hammock, clinging to your cat, eyes squeezed shut; he’d grabbed your attention with a gruff “Bug?” You’d shot up, furry feline friend taking off with a displeased hiss at the sudden rocking motion; “Thank God, Bucky! Get over here, I don’t have much time.” He’d crouched down next to your hammock, bringing his cool metal hand to your cheek, brushing away some stray hairs and taking note of your blown out pupils; “What the fuck are you on?”

“It- it was supposed to only be half the brownie, but I ate it all, I’m such an idiot and now-” He bit back a laugh realizing you were just stoned off your ass, not wanting to add insult to injury as your eyes welled with tears “-now I’m dying but I can’t go yet, Buck, I can’t, because if I die full of regrets I’ll have to haunt this stupid place forever.” 

“For Christ’ sake, Bug, you’re not dying, you’re just stoned.” 

With an adamant shake of your head you reached down and grabbed his flesh hand, pressing the palm of it flat to your chest as the tears in your eyes finally spilled over with a warbling hiccup; “I- I’m not, I am but I’m not- I know what death feels like.”

His mouth popped open in mock surprise; “Oh, you do? Because you’ve experienced it so many times?” 

Your bottom lip quivered as you glowered pathetically at him, “D-don’t be mean to me. Not right now.” Torn between pushing the issue and humoring you he chose to go with the latter. 

“Okay then, Bug, no regrets. How can I help?” 

With a small watery smile you turned in the hammock to fully face his kneeling form; “We’ve got to have sex-”

“Jesus fuck!” Your sincere expression, tear stained cheeks, and glassy eyes awakened something dark within him, pleasure spiking within his groin and pulling him to half mass even as he adamantly shook his head no. Seeing his refusal you began teetering on the brink of tears again; “Please Bucky, please, you have to fuck me, it has to be you. I don’t want to die a virgin and I love y-” 

Quicker than your sluggish brain could process the cool fingers of his left hand wrapped around your mouth, silencing you as his other hand smoothed across the top of your head and down to cup your cheek, thumb stroking it in small even passes. He took three steadying breaths, eyes clenched shut, before he met your gaze; “Shut up. We are not having this conversation right now.” You whined behind the gag of his hand, but he just shook his head firmly in return, so much for humoring you. “Bug, you are high as a fucking kite. So here’s what’s going to happen; I’m going to go get you a drink, and then you’re going to sleep. End of.”

He stood abruptly, moving towards the door of the bedroom as you pleaded with him to come back and take you, promising he could do whatever he wanted as long as he was inside you. You didn’t stop rambling until he stormed back in with a glass of water, towering over your prone form. “Listen to me,” he hissed “when I finally fuck you the only thing you’ll be high on is my cock, so do me a favor and shut the fuck up about it so I can take care of you until then.” 

AN: In hindsight I’ve taken some liberties with the use of the word “comforting.” 

[lowkeyrobin]

HII ‼️ begging on my hands and knees for an aris fic where they meet at the wckd facility and when they get out reader and him start developing a crush on each other on the way to the right arm. even better if gets angsty and includes aris being taken by wckd at the end. :D 👍

OH MY GOD YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!! ; finally an aris request LMAO ; and thank you for the ppl who sent maze runner reqs for me, the drive has been insane considering I started two whole fics on my wattpad (not published yet) for aris & brenda (character x oc) over it is insane 💀 but anyways! ; thanks for requesting, hope you enjoy! ; also damn this is a long one LMAO ; also red wine supernova inspired this a lot and idrk how

ARIS ; through the scorch we go

summary ; as you trudge through the sandy scorch with aris, you realize you're growing weird feelings

warnings ; language, violence, guns, drugging (the club for cranks or whatever)

disclaimers ; reader is described to be roughly the same height as aris

word count ; 2.6k

masterlist

You'd strayed from your friends long ago, after the maze and after they'd all been taken to the safe place. Your friends Edith, Percy, Leo, and Rosa had all been called by Mr. Janson to leave to go to the safe place to be free from WCKD forever over the past two weeks. You'd been welcoming in the last of the mazes, having learned they'd gone A-Z somehow.

The only boy from the new addition, Maze B, had caught your eye rather quickly. He was quiet, usually using his dark, striped hoodie to hide himself from others. He sat alone at his own little table, in the middle on the far right side.

As you spent your days investigating, he rarely ate, inspecting his cornbread when you obviously looked over at him after catching him looking at you. You noted the dark bags under his eyes, almost red like he never slept either, in the back of your mind. You couldn't help but almost feel worried for him, like he wasn't adapting outside his maze very well.

On top of losing his friends as well, whether being killed or taken to the safe place, or by the Right Arm, it would've broken you to also know that he actually wasn't eating or sleeping. Just knowing he never talked to anyone on top of that hurt your heart.

So, one day, a day prior to Maze A's arrival, you decide to sit with him, having been alone after your last friends were taken. You were tired of being alone and were sure he felt the same way, probably just needing a friend here. Who knows how long it would be til either of you would be called to go to the safe place?

You sit down across from him at the beginning of dinner, giving him a little smile as your tray lightly slaps down on the metal table.

"Hi, I'm Y/n"

He blinks a few times, kind of surprised you'd one, sat with him, and two, introduced yourself. Maybe he wasn't used to kindness.

"I'm Aris," He mumbles, setting his cup of water down as he'd held it in his hand before he spoke.

"My friends all got sent to the safe place too" You comment, "We can be friends if you want? I know you've been lonely over here, inspecting your cornbread everyday"

He smiles, appreciating your kindness towards him. "Yeah, that'd be cool. Thanks, Y/n"

A few days after making friends with Aris, just as you were about to fall asleep, you hear a loud thud and clattering noise under your bed, scaring you awake. You instantly sit up, and cautiously begin to peer over the side of your bed to see what had caused the noise. Before you can even place your hands on the rim of the metal bed frame, Aris' hands beat yours there, his face emerging from the darkness.

He holds a panicked, awkward smile on his face, the gap in his tooth shining brightly into your tired eyes. "Come on, we aren't free from WCKD. Everyone who's been getting called to go to the safe place, they're being used as lab rats, hooked up to machines and stuff."

You blink a few times with a puzzled look, silently begging for more information.

"We need to go, we're escaping with the guys from Maze A, right now." One hand leaves the edge of the bedframe to move around in his hoodie pocket. It rises back up to show you a key card. He flips it back and forth to show you it was legit. "We need to go, please!"

You nod, quickly scrambling out from your bed to get down on your hands and knees to crawl through the vents with him. You follow his lanky frame, his eyes looking more alive than ever as he directs you through the ceiling of the lab.

You end up on the other side of the door toward the outside world, awaiting the boys arrival. As Aris quickly informed you in the vents, there were five of them, plus a girl that they were going to find.

Their introductions are quick and action-packed, with Thomas just making it under the closing door before it closed by sliding. Aris quickly uses a brick, which had been laying around due to construction, to beat the key card reader so Janson and the WCKD gaurds assisting him couldn't use it and just chase after them.

You look to Aris, eyes wide as you look between him and the other teens before sprinting toward the exit. As the large doors open, sand flies into your eyes, blinding you for a moment before you all run into the cold desert, needing to run as far as you could before they tracked you all down again.

After hiding, getting away, and discussing a plan, you get familiar with the other teenager's names while searching for resources. There was Thomas, their leader, Teresa, Newt, Minho, Winston, and Frypan. You hang tight to Aris, being the only one you trusted at the moment.

"Damn, who are you gonna kill with that thing?" You joke, looking at the shy boy as he holds a metal baseball bat in hand.

"Cranks, probably"

Your second night, after losing Winston, was awful. All of his friends were clearly upset after having to leave their friend for dead, meanwhile you and Aris didn't really know how to comfort them, deciding to gather sticks for a fire to try and leave them be for a moment. Once you returned, they were clearly lacking any spirit, barely keeping it together before falling asleep.

It was much colder than it was the past night, leaving you freezing and shivering beside the dead fire. The hard, dead dirt didn't suffice as much of a mattress either.

You attempted to hold yourself to warm up, but it didn't help much. Between your sweatpants and t-shirt, there wasn't any warmth to be created. You would've picked some clothes up while you were gathering resources, but there ended up being nothing left in whatever sizes would fit you.

Aris asked if you'd be okay, which you responded too with a positive nod and smile.

Christ, you wish you took him up on that offer to look around more that other night.

Aris must've awoken due to your frantic shivering and slightly loud attempts to blow warm air into your hands. He sits up, eyes immediately directing to you, trying to warm up any way possible.

"Oh, sorry" You whisper, "Didn't mean to wake you"

He shakes his head, assuring that your apology wasn't needed. He pulls off his jacket and then his hoodie, handing it to you, leaving him in the white WCKD t-shirt you'd all been given on your first day. You look at the hoodie, then him, then the hoodie, then him again, almost confused.

He nods, holding it out for you to take.

You graciously accept the hoodie, quickly pulling it over your head while he slides his tan jacket back on.

As you pull the sleeves down over your wrists and adjust the hood before pulling it over your head, you quickly catch the smell of sweat and, somehow, cologne. You didn't know how or why this kid and his laundry smelled so good out in the desert where you'd spent days sweating with no hygiene set in place, but you weren't complaining.

You breathe in the musky, almost comforting scent one more time before looking back at Aris, who was already looking at you. You give him a smile to tell him thank you, appreciating his sacrifice for you.

But sadly, he was now cold without his extra layer, and you were still a little cold as well. You didn't understand how the Gladers were sleeping through the night like babies, but at least they were getting rest.

The both of you, shivering, quietly laugh as you notice, now seeing that you were both and still miserable.

"You wanna like, cuddle? To bounce off each other's body heat?" You suggest, getting a little risky with your moves, not even catching your own words and what they could've meant to him.

He nods after a moment, opening his arms for you to join him in his little patch of dirt. You scoot over, falling into his arms, your head buried in his chest while his head rests on top of yours. You're roughly the same height as him, but you decide to use him as your pillow, not needing him to see your tired face anyway. That could wait til morning, at least.

As you trail around the club, looking for your new friends, you hang on tightly to Aris. You took a drink of some random substance from a red cup to get in, probably having been drugged with how you were feeling after one sip. You had to take one for the team, though. Your team consisted of you and Aris, you didn't know who you were kidding.

You hang onto his hand tightly, your own hands clammy. You feel your head pound viciously behind the loud, thumping music, your vision becoming swirly and colorful.

As you stand still for a moment within the crowd, Aris catches you as you fall into his arms sideways as you're practically unable to walk. Your speech is slurred, complaining of your body hurting, your pupils dilated like no one's business.

"'ris, mmm... eyes hurt, please..." You hide your face in his shoulder, hiding from the light. "Make 't stop..."

"I know, I'm sorry," He replies, his voice raspy from the lack of water he'd been ingesting out in the scorch. "We need to find Thomas, okay?"

You nod, pulling your head up from his shoulder to look at him. You lightly place your fingers on his cheeks, admiring his pretty face.

Between the music, being drugged, and the shining lights all around you, you felt like you were actually having a brain aneurysm or something. After convincing yourself that you were dying, you quickly pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, unable to speak the words you were thinking to him.

The sun peers through a large window nearby, hitting him in the eye, causing him to give you an almost disgusted and cringed type of look. Through the miscommunication, you take it as disapproval for your actions.

He moves you a bit, needing to get his eyes away from the blaring sun. "C'mon, you're drunk out of your mind. Let's find the others, 'kay?"

In a state of panic and worry, he quickly pulls you into a side room, just having randomly found the others, plus your new companions Jorge and Brenda. They stand around Jorge, beating answers out of some dude for the location of the Right Arm.

Newt, Teresa, and Thomas quickly run to your aid as Aris asks for help, then you'd fell to the floor, complaining of being dizzy just before. The four pick you up and help you onto a cushioned chair just beside you, allowing Aris and Teresa to look over you. Thomas, Newt, Minho, and Frypan turn their attention back to Jorge and Brenda, still trying to beat answers out of the random dude you didn't know.

"How long have they been like this?" Teresa asks the boy.

"Since we got here, like fifteen minutes or so. They took a drink of something to get us in, I guess it was spiked," He quickly explains, looking at you with worry in his eyes.

"Shit," the raven haired girl mutters. She places her hands all around your face, checking your temp, trying to get you to follow her fingers. She was like a natural doctor.

You close your eyes, covering them as well due to the sensitivity to the light you were facing.

"They should be okay, it doesn't seem life threatening"

"Okay..."

Aris pulls you up from the chair, much to your dismay, to follow Jorge who just announced that he finally got the answers he needed. Aris essentially carries you on his back, allowing Thomas to walk behind him to catch you if you fell at all.

By the time you'd reached the car, you were already knocked out cold. He and Thomas lift you into the back, letting you rest your head on his lap and have the rest of the back seats for your sprawled out legs. The other boys plus Teresa sit in the trunk while Brenda joins Jorge in the front.

Aris can't help but softly run his fingers over your hair, admiring your peaceful, sleepy look.

Thomas, Fry, and Minho all giggle and look up at Aris from the back, joking about how smitten he was for you.

"True love" Minho laughs.

"We've known each other for like a week!"

As you settle into the Right Arm, you sit beside a little campfire with Aris, meeting his two friends Sonya and Harriet. They seemed really cool so far, you'd love to be friends with them.

"I think Y/n is one of the funniest people I've ever met" Aris smiles, knowing you couldn't hear him upon the cliff where you were offering food to the Gladers.

Sonya playfully rolls her eyes as Harriet speaks. "Sounds like you have a crush, the way you look at them is insane"

He shrugs, not even really hearing her as he stares up at you.

"Hey, Aris!" Fry exclaims, waving down to him.

"Hey guys!" Aris waves back, having been dragged from his daydreams.

You walk back down to the Maze B survivors, joining them once again while Thomas climbs up a bit higher on the clifftop to talk to Teresa.

"What're we talking about?" You ask, sitting back down next to the familiar brunette boy.

"Making plans for the Safe Haven" Sonya replies, "I call dibs on being the Keeper for the scavengers"

"I'm not working under you," Harriet jokingly fights.

"Well, you are!"

You and Aris laugh as you listen to the two girls, enjoying the peace you'd waited so long for.

He looks over at you as they leave, going to retrieve s'mores ingredients for themselves. He smiles, looking at you a little too long before speaking.

"They're nice, right?"

You nod with a smile to match his, a quick realization putting a pit in your stomach as you look at him.

"You okay?" He asks, seeing your smile quickly falter.

You nod, "Yeah, I'm good"

His eyebrows furrow, silently asking if you're sure. You nod in response.

A loud explosion catches you off gaurd, causing you to jump into his arms as heat waves over your bodies. Screams and gunshots fill your ears. You're paralyzed in fear as you try to process what's happening.

Aris quickly pulls you up, dragging you away by the wrist, trying to look for Sonya and Harriet.

Within the dramatics, explosions, and gunfire, you lose him.

It's not until you're by Thomas' side that you realize WCKD has him and that Teresa was working with the enemy. You're unable to hear as Thomas, Teresa, and Ava Paige speak, only able to hopelessly look over at Aris, his arms held behind his back by a WCKD member in uniform.

He's eventually dragged away and shoved up into the Berg, his eyes resting on your worried expression until he couldn't look at you over his shoulder anymore.

Minho and Sonya are taken as well, so are a bunch of other teens who had found safety with the Right Arm.

You solemnly watch as the Berg flies away, leaving the destroyed camp burning and smoking. You're speechless, unable to form thoughts as Newt tries to ask if you're okay.

You only nod, unable to verbally answer him.

"It's okay, we'll get them back. We aren't leaving without them"

[muder-boner]

↷✦; w e l c o m e ❞

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♫♪.ılılıll|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llılılı.♫♪

➤; ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪs ʙʟᴏɢ.↶

⬆︎ made by : @rainydayzxd , my beautiful child and best friend

↖︎ pfp by @agirlfr0msomewhere :3 it's me !!

Tws for my blog : mention of $h, mentions of fighting , a lot of venting bcuz I hate my life, cigarettes, uh strict parents and they're shitty asf, past shit that still haunts me, swearing, sometimes me being hard on myself, I do not post $h pics.

NO CREEPS, PEOPLE OVER THE AGE OF 20 I AM A MINOR AND I'M NOT LOOKING FOR ANYTHING LIKE THAT (ifykwim)

TW UNDER THIS READING THINGY- BRIGHT COLORS AND GIFS !! :3

Fucking welcome !! Have a drink 🤘

This profile ain't a vent one even though most of the time I complain and whine on here, I'm actually really nice if you interact with me, ask @rainydayzxd . (They're my child and my baby I'll protect them at all costs)

I suffer with $h, I find it hard to find anything i deserve in this world, I don't post $h pics, if there's a post I didn't tag (like a tw) please DM or send me an ask, I'm trying my best to have a safe spot people can interact with.

best ffriends on Tumblr! : @agirlfr0msomewhere @rainydayzxd @deliu07 @kornyblu @dazaissceneslut @raytorosguitarstrap @s1l4s-w0rsh1ps-t0m4t03s

Hallo !! I'm looking 4 friendz, here iz my info dump

My name is Ezra !! Ftm dude and I go by he him

I'm Romanian , yet idk shit abt Romania, or do the whole "tradition" thing,

➤ Music Genre

➤ Emo rock, Death Metal, Nu metal, Goregrind, Sometimes metal core, Power Metal, Glam metal. (Yes I'm a metal head)

➤ Artists and Bands

KoRn , Green Day , Weezer, Tokio Hotel, Mitski, Eminem, Deftones, Steve Gabry, Your Favorite Martian, The Smiths, Epic Rap Battles Of History, Pink Floyd, BabyMetal, Gorillaz, The Strokes, LMFAO, Arctic Monkeys, JT Music, IC3SPEAK, My Chemical Romance, Metallica, Anal Vomit, System of a down, Slayer, Slave steel, Mortician, Slipknot, The Anxiety.

➤ Fandoms : Call Of Duty, Cry Of Fear, My Little Pony, The Walking Dead, Shameless, Deathgasm, Sally face, Err can't really thing of anything else man.

➤ Moviez : Fight club, The virgin suicides, FNAF Movie, The Mario movie, Coraline, Studio Ghibli movies, Deathgasm , All Fred Figglehorn movies, Dinner in America.

➤ Fave colorz : Green pink blue and of course, the best shade ever, Black

➤ Favorite pony from main 6 : applejack

➤ Favorite pony from all series: BIGMAC💗💗

➤ Favorite sanrio : pompompurin he's so me

➤ Favorite Twd character : Carl (i cosplay him!!!) And / or Beth (and many more lol!!)

➤ Favorite Sally face character : Travis Phelps (he's so relatable) (yes I have daddy issues)

➤ Favorite people : @agirlfr0msomewhere, @0r1sw0rldxp, @kornyblu, @s1l4s-w0rsh1ps-t0m4t03s, @wh3nth3pawn , @rainydayzxd, @bull3t-f0r-my-v4l3nt1n3 (STOP CHANGING UR USER NAME SM JORDAN I CAN'T KEEP UP WITH EDITINF THE LIST /pos /j! I luv u change ur username I love ur creativity with em :3)

LOVE MY OTHER MOOTS 2!!!

DNI: - homophobia, racism, sexism, anti furry, anti therian, over 20 , people who want donations, I don't have money, plus I have nothing to do to help. all bad stuff etc

Everyone else is welcome !!<3

I like to think that I'm kind and caring,i love taking care of people, so yes slide in my DMS if u're lonely,im always down to make new moots and friends on here !

➤ My tags !! :

Ezras' food !! ➥ what I ate

Ezras' art !! ➥ my art and drawings

Ezras' outfit !! ➥ what I'm wearing that day

Ezras' day !! ➥ rants about my day

Ezras' vent !! ➥ my vents

Ezras' interests !! ➥ rants about my interests

Ezras' friends !! ➥rants about my friends

Ezras' embarrassing facts !! ➥ My embarrassing facts I'm scared to talk about so I post them on my Tumblr blog!

I might add more in the future !!

Also have tags like "Silas tag !!" Where it's a post or a reblog of my friend or moot !!

Gifs & blinkies are not mine !! (I think that is want they're called

Recently started playing guitar ! fucking metal yes yes

SLAAAAAAAAAAYERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Jumps up and down

I'm Carl Grimes

[signed-loni]

Okay, so my lil request is like sal and y/n sleep over. There all nice and cuddles up and enjoy their night. but when tention hits the rom it's a crumbling set of emotions. like emotions all over the place as they make out. but that's cut kinda short when ash and larry walk in with drinks and they're high as the roof. Basically a friendly lill cock block if u will

Heehee. Yes🕺🏻

ALSO I APOLOGIZE FOR TGE LATE RESPONSE, I have been having to motivation to write, so please enjoy :)

(Since its gonna take place in highschool, no mentions of alcohol. Obviously, not their freshmen year, you guys are in your senior year. You and sal ate both 18.)

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ⚠️: 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐟𝐰, 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐬, 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐮.

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟏,𝟏𝟗𝟕

@plusvanity

You and your friends, Sal, Larry, and Ash, were all walking to your class the three of you had together. Math was always easier for you nowadays since you had friends to talk to in class with.

Mrs packerton had her back turned to the class and you were writing in your notebook everything she was jotting down on the chalkboard. “Any questions?” She asked, turning around to face the class. The room was silent for a moment. “Alright! I’ll be at my desk, you all figure out this problem.” She wrote a quick problem down that would surely take the whole class about 10 minutes to complete. Quickly, you copied the problem into your book, starting to figure it out, when you felt something hit your arm. It didn’t hurt at all, felt crumpled up though. You glance at your arm a d too the floor, where you see a crumpled up piece of paper. Picking it up, you read the words

-“Wanna come over for a sleep over? Larry and Ash are coming to”

-You knew it was from your beloved boyfriend sal. You two had been dating for about a year or two now, and you didn’t actually have a sleepover yet, despite the fact you lived in the Addison apartments along with Larry.

-Quickly responding on the paper, you threw it back to sal

-“Of course! I’ll just have to ask my parents lol.”

-Sal silently sighed and nodded to himself. Your damn parents always were so strict. It bugged him sometimes to say the least, but he never pushed you to go against your parents word. They weren’t pushy about you going out with Sal, going on dates, hanging out with him and Larry, going to the fifth floor (surprisingly) but whenever it came to you asking to sleep over? No.

But,sal digresses.

Finally, your mom picks up. “Hello?” She asks. “Mom,” you start, carefully. “Can i sleep over at Sals house tonight?” You blurt out. Your mom is being quiet so shes thinking. Thats kinda surprising, she always just straight up says no. “My friends Larry and Ash are gonna be there to so it wont just be me and him!” You quickly say to convince her further to let you go. “Sure honey, go have fun.” She says sweetly. “Really? Thank you mom!” You say, hanging up so she doesnt change her mind-You quickly text Sal, Larry, and Ash in the group chat you guys had that you could go. -You rush home to pack a bag, and you’re out as fast as you were in. You walked to the elevator and took it up to sals floor. The elevator door opened with a loud ding! and you were on your way to his apartment.-You knocked on the door and sal let you in, opening the door a little wider for you.-You went into his room and processed everything, seeing as though it was youre first time in his room, you were fascinated by everything. His posters and paintings on the wall, the old record player he owned, the records he owned (all heavy metal of course).

~

(Sals mask is off in this part).

Its about 9:00 now and your other friends still aren’t there. You don’t mind of course, you just wish they would have let you know ahead of time that they were gonna flake out. You don’t mind only being with Sal of course, but you did kinda want to have an actual sleepover with your friends-

You and sal lay on top of his bed, watching a scary movie, you cuddled on his stomach with his hand on your head, playing with your hair. You get sorta bored and you start moving around a but. You sit up and sals hand falls off of you and onto your lap (accidentally, sal wouldn’t touch you there without consent). You look at Sal and he looks away, pulling his hand back. “M’sorry” sal uttered. “I-its okay. Don’t worry about it.” You said back with a little smile. That same fucking smile that makes sal go crazy. That same smile he loves to feel when he locks lips with you. That same smile that got him to fall in love with you.

-Sal started to stare, and once he noticed, he quickly turned red. Tension hit the room as soon as he looked away. Accidentally touching hands and locking your eyes together. You did it once more before sal finally couldn’t take it.-Sal quickly looked hack at you and turned your head towards him, pulling your faces closer together. And once you nodded, sal immediately pulled you into a kiss. Not even 1 minute in and you guys were already making out. Keep in mind, you guys don’t check the time frequently, and it was about 9:10 since you guys started making out. The kiss went on and on for a while, pulling away only to breathe.

-Sal got on top of you and kissed even more passionately. It was starting to get sloppy. Tongue slipping out and falling back u to yours.

-Once he got on too of you, you could feel his growing boner. And it was getting harder by the second😭-

His hands found their way to your hips, bringing you even closer to him than you already were, if that was even possible. His fingers went up and down your thighs and found their way to the waistband of your pajama pants. -As soon as he got your permission to dispose of your pants, Larry and Ash burst in,higher than the roof. -

“Fuuuuuuck..” larry slurs. “Woah woah woooah, were you two about to fuck right now??” Ash giggles as she sees sal on top of you. “Sal quickly grabs his mask and straps it onto his face and gets off of you. You sotuate yourself and sit up along with sal. “N-no, we weren’t..” sal responded. “You fuckin liars, we toootaly saw you on top of them.! You cant hide it from uuus” Larry says, falling onto Ash slightly. “What the fuck are you guys on?” You say, half embarrassed, half genuinely confused. “Heh, a lil weed, mayyyybe crack” ash says dizzily. “You guys need sleep” sal responds. “Yea yea, sleep schmeep whatever.” Larry says and he collapses on the ground, taking ash with him. And just like that, boom. They’re asleep.-

You sigh and fall back onto the wall, looking at sal, visibly red. You smile and give him a kiss on his prosthetic and fall back onto his bed. “I love you, Sally face.” You say sleepily. “I love you to, baby” sal responds, falling back onto his bed with you, taking off his prosthetic and wrapping his arms around you.

[blueberrypancakesworld]

hi hi! can i request a euronymous x reader where they grew up together and were next door neighbors and reader got into the scene with euro and they’re very close friends. and when ann marit is introduced, reader gets jealous and it’s angst to fluff?? ✨🤍

The neighbors

warning : angst, fluff, kiss, jealousy

Info : Of course you can request such thing (always happy if I have something diffrent something other than smut (I like writing smut not to get the wring idea)you know) I like the idea so I hope you like it and have fun reading ;)

masterlist ->loc

Disclaimer : I don't want to glorify anything, it's about the actors who play a role, not the real events.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was never anything to do in this sleepy little town. Euronymous knew that and so did his neighbor. The two of them were practically sandbox friends. The parents got on well, often ate together in the garden, went on outings and the two firstborns had fun.

They played in the woods and gave free rein to their fanaticism, even when they were no longer children and their teenage angst made the world a cruel place for them.

Euronymous in particular helped her see her pain and fear and showed her a dark world. A world that was different from the norm of the city, not the stuffy suburbs with old people. but a world of records, dark records that vibrated the walls of her room with the music from the speakers.

They both danced wildly to it and screamed until their necks hurt from headbanging, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter what they both had, it was that when she put on her studded leather jacket, black eyeliner and Euronymous dyed her hair black, they both knew they were simply the new revolutionaries. They had something that the longtime residents of the city didn't have. They wanted to change something, to revolutionize something and that was music.

A resolution they also kept and helped their neighbor and maybe also their secret crush to write letters for a long time. ,,Thank you I mean really thank you for this whole thing...means a lot to me" he had said to her putting his hand on her shoulder and giving her a smile. Then she saw the old him.

That softness before they had both changed and she had smiled back, confident that she would always be with him. But where he had touched her, the inferno of hell seemed to be burning, an inferno she had long since lost herself in. An inferno of love that she had no idea how strongly it would still burn in the black metal.

So strong that it would overcome everything, wouldn't it?

That's what she thought, but when it came to the party at his and Dead's new rancid house, things seemed to be different. The party was good, there was beer, new songs and a bonfire over which they burned things, barbecued and did other things. She danced with the others, laughed, took photos and helped Dead with his make-up.

Until she saw the blonde Ann Marit come up with her friends and Euronymous, who had been talking to her for a few minutes, left her standing there. The fire, it burned, it hurt and it seemed the first time she felt jealousy, she had always gotten along with him, they were childhood friends and even if she wished it, maybe he had felt something for her.

Or was it just one-sided, because the way he looked at Ann made her heart sting. The beer that was still in her hand was thrown to the floor and she went into the house to find something stronger, or something to eat, or new music, anything to take her mind off them.

But she hadn't seen the pair of eyes she had been watching. Slamming the door behind her, she made her way into the kitchen, ripping open the cupboards, looking for something to distract her when she didn't notice the wooden crack behind her.

,,Are you looking for the offering or can I help you?" she heard Euronymous's voice standing at the doorframe, looking at her with a slight smile. But this grin only made the pain in her heart greater. ,,You...go back to her near the door...I can do this," she hissed at him and slammed the door of the cupboard shut so that it almost fell down.

Her eyes closed and she sighed strainedly as he suddenly approached her, his hand slowly but suddenly placed itself on hers. ,,But she's not you...and she never will be," he began and she raised her eyes slightly hopefully, confused. His expression didn't lie, he was serious.

She would never be Ann, she couldn't be. ,,I don't want you to be like her, you're you and...and in all this you've always been there for me," he continued, his gaze moving slowly from her hand up to her cheek, seeing the hope in her eyes, the tension between them.

As she gripped his hadn tighter, she couldn't believe that this hope, the hope she had had since she was a teenager, might have a chance after all. ,,Euronymous I was afraid...afraid that you-" she was interrupted by him when he suddenly kissed her. gently, intimately and lovingly.

He pulled her close, his hands embracing her in a hug as he had always been there for her. ,,Afraid I wouldn't love you?" he asked with a grin, which she returned and kissed him back, something he returned with pleasure.

,,I love you until the inferno of hell devours us, my dark princess," he winked and put his hand back on her cheek, letting her snuggle against him, knowing that perhaps a little gentleness in the darkness could create a love that would last forever since they were neighbors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[bilehwit]

Hi, another ask kinda indirectly related to the Bilehwit AU

But what are some of your personal headcannons about the bishops, that may or may not be in this au but as a personal interpretation of their character?

+ Who's your fav Bishop(excluding Narinder for now) ?

Favourite has to be Kallamar - gay coward??? Me coded fr fr.

That being said, I somehow always write more about Shamura???

But headcanons!

Kallamar:

🐙My man has a skin tone for gold, and he lets it be known by wearing enough to be heard janglin' a mile away.

🐙He has never once in his life done that! (He has done it 1 billion times, but he must appear better than thou.)

🐙Scared of Shamura when they're not lucid.

🐙Once drunk Leshy under the table only to then get decimated by Heket.

🐙Many spouses, does not like sexual activity. In my eyes he's asexual but a hopeless romantic.

🐙Will stop whole processions to look at bacterial growths on the floor.

🐙East Asian - South Korean, modern day would be a K-Pop beauty influencer.

Leshy:

🌱 Is Chaotic, but not in a fun way, more in a "Oh my God 3 people are dead" way.

🌱Used to biting to show affection.

🌱Cries when he's angry.

🌱Wants Shamura to be proud (they are.)

🌱Turns spouses into Witnesses. Also doesnt know what a spouse is/is for.

🌱Is the most physically violent.

🌱Ate scraps of metal on a dare (digested with no problems.)

🌱Russian.

Heket:

🐸Hates mushrooms (shockingly).

🐸Bought a cowboy hat.

🐸Likes to garden and cook but hates washing up.

🐸Says shit like "four score and twelve moons ago" to piss off Kallamar.

🐸Likes writing on Papyrus.

🐸Egyptian and will complain about heat.

🐸Lesbiab. Lesbaen. WOMAN LIKER.

🐸Tells you to go fuck yourself if you compliment her looks.

Shamura:

🕷When lucid, talks about the good old days.

🕷Most crimes committed as a mortal.

🕷Writes nursery rhymes for their followers.

🕷Used to have dancing rituals to gather sin - now can barely twitch their legs to a beat.

🕷"Oh, thank you Leshy- sorry, Narinder." "I'm Kallamar." "That's what I said." - common occurrence even before.

🕷Wants a pet so so bad. Do not give them one.

🕷Attracted to people with long hair and excellent grammar.

🕷Once did a kickflip so bad they had to kill the elderly congregation watching them.

🕷Tanzanian and speaks swahili when angry.

Narinder:

🪦Likes to bite Kallamar ("I can't help it, cats love fish." "I AM NOT EVEN CLASSIFIED AS A FISH." "You could be.")

🪦Indian, but spent so long in Purgatory he can no longer handle flavourful foods. At least at the start.

🪦Didn't realise Bilehwit had an ACTUAL CRUSH on him and thought they were like. Just that devoted. Pious. That's why they never took a lover.

🪦Cat baths when no one looks - gotta look constantly refined.

🪦Uses his third eye to scare people, namely children.

🪦I Would Never pt, except he definitely is still doing it while you watch.

🪦Finds children hilarious (to torment).

🪦Best dancer, worst singer of the Bishops. Can play music very well though.

🪦First time in Bilehwit's tent, he paid no attention because they were arguing. Then snuck in later to actually see the place.

And that's all my headcanons!

[captain-mj]

does selkie!soap know that ghost is a changeling? if not can we have him figure it out?

Yes! I absolutely fucking can! Continuation from this post

1

Soap looked at his husband, watching him carefully. Ghost had eaten twelve pancakes. Not eggos. Eggos would be reasonable. Twelve, full sized pancakes. 

To be fair, Ghost had been the one cooking them, so it wasn’t that noticeable to anyone else. They all had large appetites. Big men, big muscles, bit metabolisms. 

But Soap was watching Ghost make more for himself and he was clearly trying to make it seem like he hadn’t eaten that much. It was odd. 

His husband. What a funny phrase to be able to use now. Anyway. His husband was odd. 

He poured more syrup on his pancakes, he made chocolate chip for Soap, blueberry for Gaz, strawberry for Price and from the looks of it, plain for himself. Ghost ate in the kitchen, probably to keep them from seeing his face. It wasn’t unusual, but Soap couldn’t help but wonder how often Ghost was using it to hide his odd eating habits. 

2

The next was simpler. Ghost’s gloves had torn. His hands looked normal but very pale. 

“Guess you don’t get out in the sunlight much, huh LT?”

“Not really.” Ghost rubbed his hands together gently. 

Soap tossed him again and turned away, only to hear it thunk against the floor. He looked backed to see Ghost just staring at it. 

“I’ll stick to knives.”

“There’s a lot of people. I’d feel better if you have a gun.”

“Do you have one with a grip?”

“What? No.” Soap stared at him for a minute and Ghost relented. He picked the gun up and followed him. 

It wasn’t until later that he finally got to put the gun down and Soap saw them. Everywhere the metal had touched his hands were burns. Severe ones. In parts, especially where he’d have it pressed hard to his palm, the skin had started to bubble and crack. 

Ghost noticed him staring and dropped the gun. “Ironic. A sniper who can’t actually touch it. S’why I wear the gloves...” 

“Ah...” Soap thought of the steel and therefore the iron in the gun. His whole not human theory was starting to make much more sense. 

3

It was such an odd topic to bring up, but they were on it and Soap was determined to use it. 

“Yeah, personally I grew up Roman Catholic. Got the baptism and everything.” According to his dad, who had laughed about it, his mom had begged him not to, worried it would kill Soap or make him human. According to his mom, his dad had jumped at the idea that baptism might make him human. It did neither of course. “What about you, LT?”

“My mom was Protestant, but I never was baptized. She stopped taking us before I was old enough to do it.”

“Why?”

Ghost paused, glancing around. No one was really focusing on them so he shrugged. Soap had noticed that although the bond effected him in the usual ways, the world revolving more around Ghost, him always being aware of Ghost, feeling Ghost’s presence around him at all times, yada, yada, it had also affected Ghost, which was interesting. It made him a little more open with Soap. Just Soap. If that sent a thrill through him, no one needed to know. 

“My mom took me and Tommy every Sunday. My dad occasionally tagged along. One day, one of the patrons caught me stealing an extra piece of the communion bread. This lady made it fresh and it was fucking great. They told my dad and he hit me with a bible so hard it knocked me to the ground. Right in front of everyone. My mom stopped taking us to church after that.” Ghost told it all to him quietly. “I had liked going, even though I didn’t believe in it. Always felt insincere, but it made my mom happy.” 

“Oh.” Soap stared. “How old were you?”

“I think I was seven.” Ghost hummed and looked away. “Never got baptized. Probably good thing. They always heated the holy water up.” 

Soap prepared himself for the joke of “boiling the hell out of it” but after a moment he realized Ghost was sincere. 

The holy water burned him. 

Soap suddenly had a vague idea of what he was. 

4

Soap had a heavy suspicion at this point. He had a feeling he knew exactly what Ghost was, so he decided to do a little experiment to see. 

Before he left that morning, he turned his shirt inside out and then slipped his hoodie over it. The only exception being creatures that had to notice. 

Ghost stared at him for a moment before he simply turned away and ignored him. Soap tried to get his attention and Ghost just wrinkled his nose and turned away from him. 

Gaz gave them an odd look and Soap just smiled awkwardly before stepping away. He fixed his clothing and tried once again to strike up a conversation. 

Immediately, Ghost actually talked to him. It was his usual rather quiet amount but it was definitely there.

“Why did you ignore me?”

“What are you talking about MacTavish?”

“Right now. You ignored me.”

“You weren’t talking to me a minute ago. You need to go to the medics?” Ghost seemed genuinely concerned. 

“Nah, probably just dehydrated. I’ll go grab a drink.” He smiled at him and stepped away. 

Gaz looked at him. “I think Ghost is going a tad crazy.”

“Nah, think he’s fucking with me.” Soap covered for him. 

Gaz didn’t look like he believed him but he dropped it. 

5

“Johnny, why are we on a secluded beach in the middle of the fucking night?” Ghost had followed him though. In his civvies, the soft hoodie and sweatpants clinging to all the right places. His mom didn’t warn him how bad marriage would feel at first. Or more, how bad one sided marriage would feel. He wanted to attack Ghost. Throw himself at him and claim his husband in every way he could. 

“Simon. I need to talk to you about something.” Ghost turned towards him. Soap vaguely put the face he remembered from Los Almas over the ski mask. He was glad Ghost went with this instead of the plastic mask and balaclava. That day, the kohl makeup had run all the way down Ghost’s face, covering his cheeks and his nose. His hair was shaggy and curled oddly, sticking up all over the place. It had been shoved down as if to cover his ears and it felt in his eyes. Despite clearly being cut into a buzzcut recently, it looked like it hadn’t worked too well. Soap had wondered at the time if it had been unfinished and he had to rush it. 

Now that he knew he was a changeling, it made more sense. Their hair tended to grow unnaturally fast and choppy. 

“What do need to talk about Johnny?” Ghost seemed worried. He glanced at the coat around Soap’s shoulders. 

“I... I know you’re not human.” Soap decided to start there. 

There was a beat of silence. 

Then Ghost laughed. There was a slightly bitter edge to it. “Oh, fuck off, Soap. You know, out of everyone, I never expected that shit from you.” He started to turn away from him.

“I’m not either.” Soap thought he was playing coy. It made sense, Soap would never admit it so easily and this Ghost. King of not saying shit about himself. 

“MacTavish,” Ghost looked at him, “you may be experiencing psychosis. Sometimes men on the battlefield...” Soap stared at him, hearing him like he was muffled through more than just his mask. 

Did Ghost... not know? 

There was no way Ghost didn’t. He hid away all his oddities. Been so careful. There was no way he didn’t at least expect it.

“Have you ever heard of a selkie?” Soap interrupted. 

“The seals that turn into humans. Yeah, I guess.”

“I need you to understand I’m not... I’m...” Soap sighed. “Just. I need you to trust me for a just a minute, okay?”

Ghost stared at him for a long while before nodding slightly. “Okay.” 

Soap slowly slipped his coat off and then started to undress. He kept his eyes downcast, but he could feel Ghost’s eyes on him. Scanning over him with growing alarm. 

Soap wrapped his coat around him before he shucked off his underwear. 

“Johnny.” Ghost said softly and there was something there that Soap needed a lot more time to unpack.

“Trust me.” Soap said softly. “Just... could you turn around for a minute?”

“You’re willing to undress in front of me but not do... whatever you’re about to do?” Ghost sounded... amused. It made butterflies in his stomach. 

“It’s unpleasant.” Soap said softly. Ghost finally turned around him. 

His coat fused with his skin and the transformation was... unpleasant to look at it. His fur laced with him and he sorta fell to the ground, luckily able to muffle himself so it didn’t startle Ghost. 

There he was. A harbor seal. He barked and Ghost turned around slowly, staring at him. 

Ghost continued to stare. And continued. And stared. 

Soap slowly rolled over to his expose his stomach. He couldn’t exactly talk, but his dogtags, which he had clearly been wearing, were around his neck now. 

Ghost slowly moved closer, touching the chain and reading the name. He didn’t move, staying crouched over him. 

Soap could see the ring of gold around his pupils again. 

“Oh.” Ghost said softly. 

The transformation back was much easier and faster. His snout seemed to wrinkle before splitting and he poked his head out, shaking his head. It looked like he had just had the coat over his face, but Ghost knew better. 

“Take your mask off.” Soap muttered against him, the coat splitting down his chest to go back to a more coat like shape. His bare chest was out but he was smart enough to cover his lower half. 

Ghost stared at him even longer and Soap knew for a fact he hadn’t blinked the entire time. He reached up and pulled Ghost’s mask off for him. 

There was Simon. 

Oh. 

Oh God he’s incredibly hot. 

Simon hadn’t put the make up on so Soap was treated to his freckles. They were... He sat up and grabbed Simon’s face who didn’t seem that surprised by it honestly. 

They sparkled. They weren’t like a human’s at all. One, they were mostly shaped like stars instead of just dots and fleck. Two, they were a stunning gold color that reflected the moonlight. 

Soap reached up and ran his hands through Ghost’s hair. It was just like before, spiky and uneven despite clearly being freshly trimmed. His ears were pointed like an elf, too severe to look normal.

“When the body modifications came out, I just blamed it on that...”

“Do you... know?” Soap spoke gently to him but he couldn’t keep his hands to himself. His husband was right here.

“No. I don’t... know. I didn’t even know there were other things like me. Thought I was just... wrong.”

“I think you may be a changeling.” Soap admitted. “I may have... tested it. A couple of times, trying to see if I could figure it out.”

Ghost glared at him and he went to take his mask back, but Soap stopped him. “Johnny... Please.”

“Simon.” Soap said softly, pulling him a little closer and Ghost finally slid to his knees instead of crouching. “I’m not going to hurt you.” 

Simon looked at him and suddenly stiffened. “When I took your coat.” 

“It’s okay. You didn’t... You didn’t purposely do anything.” Soap reassured.

“But I did do something.” 

Soap sighed. “This isn’t... the conversation I wanted to have tonight... What do you know about selkies?”

“Take their coat and you can control them. That’s it.”

“Pretty accurate. It’s a little more than just control though. When someone holds my coat, there’s an instinct under my skin. A desperation to please is the best way I can put it. It’s a survival tactic to keep from being punished according to my mom. You do what you can to keep your master happy so they don’t strike out at you.” 

“Have you...” Simon was touching him now. Holding his face and putting his arm around him. “Been...”

“Twice. Once when I was 12 for two months and once when I was 17 until I turned 19. The first one was by a kid my age and it wasn’t... nothing happened. People usually get concerned.” Johnny smiled at him. 

“And the other one?”

Johnny shook his head. “Another day. Please.”

“Another day.” Simon promised. “But what did I do?”

“You gave it back. The way you did it... You pick it back in my hands. You didn’t let me grab it.”

“Is that bad?” 

“We’re married. Kinda. It’s not legally binding, of course. It can be ignored. Even broken.” Soap mumbled the last parts. It hurt. He’d like to blame it on his coat. That it was making him a little crazy. But he knew it wasn’t just that. The idea of being rejected by Ghost was... He cared a lot for Ghost and it had nothing to do with being not quite human. 

Ghost was staring again. “Since the hospital. That was weeks ago.” 

“Yeah. I suppose it was. Look, I can tell you how to break it.” Soap felt Ghost’s mouth on his and the arm pulled him closer, right against his broad chest. 

“I haven’t been a very good husband to you.” Ghost joked, but there was a layer of stress underneath it. 

Soap shrugged. “I haven’t been a very good bride.” He leaned in closer. 

“Would you... like to be?”

“If you’d have me.”

Ghost huffed. “I’d be an idiot not to.” 

“Good. Although, you are going to have to court me. My mom is not very impressed with you right now.” Soap got up.

“You talked about me to your mom?” Ghost was scrambling to get up and follow him.

“Of course. Had to tell her some Brit married me. She was worried.” He flashed him a smile and tossed him his mask. 

“How the fuck do I court you?” Ghost tugged it on and followed him. He gathered up Soap’s clothes, watching him twirl around barefoot on the beach. 

“Figure it out.”

“Can I have your mom’s number?”

“Why the fuck do you need that??”

“To ask her how! Also I want your mom to like me.” 

[steddietogo]

I had so much fun writing this for the @steddiesummerexchange!! @steddieasxshegoes hope you like this!

Word count: 8.9k

Read on ao3

— — — Steve finally turns to glare at Robin when one of the sunflower seeds she’s been throwing at him comes dangerously close to taking an eye out.

“Stop staring, dingus,” Robin laughs at him.

“I’m not staring,” he protests. Steve was merely glancing at the hot metal head on a leather couch at the back of the bar, nursing his drink all alone. “If you stopped paying attention to me for a second you’d have noticed the blonde making eyes at you from the bar,”

“Where?” Robin asks, whipping around embarrassingly fast.

“Rob! You don’t just–”

“Oh my god, she’s hot,”

“You’re so obvious,” He hisses back. “Go talk to her,”

“What? No way,”

“Hey, maybe you have more game in Rome–” And the next sunflower seed bounces straight off his forehead but before he could retaliate, there’s movement at the corner of his eyes.

“Shit, she’s coming over,” he says and watches the absolute panic taking over Robin’s face. “I need another drink, good luck.” He narrowly misses the kick aimed to his shin, slipping away to give them some privacy because, dear god, Steve knows he would never hear the end of it if Robin doesn’t get laid at least once during their entire trip to Italy.

The bar is cozy, decorated to look like the inside of catacombs with picture frames lining the walls and chandeliers hanging low from the ceiling. It's much better than the ones Robin brings them to, back in LA, almost entirely lit by neon signs and plays music a little too loud for his taste these days.

But here in Italy, Steve is not confined to the rigid schedule he follows to keep himself rested and alert enough for emergency situations. Steve makes his way to the counter and orders himself another drink, settling back to people watch– definitely not just to discreetly ogle the lone metal head looking entirely too bored to be sitting in a nice bar in Rome.

— — — Eddie can feel the eyes of the fluffy haired man on him from across the bar. Nothing he isn’t used to though. He might even be flattered by the attention if he wasn’t too busy feeling sorry for himself. He didn’t plan on sitting in a bar all alone, on what was supposed to be his honeymoon vacation, sans a ring on his finger. But no amount of being desired by the masses on stage has made his love life any better. No amount of admiration saved him from his cheating ex. He’s not heartbroken, just tired; that relationship was long over before the cheating even started. Rick was only ever concerned about the fame and attention he’d get throwing Eddie’s name around.

He would just be rotting away at home if it wasn’t for Chrissy refusing to let him cancel the whole trip and basically dragging him to the airport by his ear. He suspects it’s also to keep him far away from the whole press circus his ex no doubt started to stir by now. He just hopes they’d leave the boys from the band alone. He’d hate to drag them down with him.

Since landing in Rome the day before, Eddie had slept, ate, slept again and landed in a bar for a drink or two, trying to feel some semblance of normal again. Maybe Chrissy thought the Italian sun would magically reset Eddie to the optimistic idiot he once used to be, but he owed it to her to try at least. From where he’s sitting, two weeks felt like it’s an eternity away.

Eddie watches as the man leaves his seat and walks over to the bar by himself. He likes the way his button up stretches over his shoulders. He’s conventionally attractive in the boy next door kinda way. Pretty, even. Eddie hasn’t slept with a stranger since the beginning of his career when he’d gotten caught by paps doing the walk of shame back to his place. Since then he’d been a lot more careful with everyone he’s been associating with.

This one is cute though and Eddie may be tempted to break a few of his own rules. There is something about being alone and depressed in Italy that makes him want to throw caution to the wind and just do something impulsive. He’s feeling a little too restless and itching for some human connection. Very tempted to buy the cute guy a drink and see if he would follow him back to his stupid big honeymoon suite.

Besides, wasn’t that what Chrissy wanted for him? To forget Rick and to enjoy himself? She’d also say that it's not healthy to throw himself at the first pretty thing so soon after a breakup, but whatever, she’s not here with him.

Eddie feels, more than sees, as the stranger’s gaze lands on him one more time. The blonde that he came in with looks cozy sharing a couch with another woman, so no harm no foul, Eddie decides. He sweeps up his jacket and makes his way to the bar.

“Hi,” Eddie says. The cute guy startles at his sudden appearance by his side but his grin is nearly blinding. “I’m Eddie,”

“Hey,” he replies. “Steve,”

Steve, he learns, is on vacation with his best friend. After speaking to him for a bit, Eddie is about 70 percent sure Steve has no idea who he is. Just the way he prefers. He buys Steve a drink and they flirt a bit. Eddie likes the way Steve’s eyes crinkle when he smiles and how he constantly runs his fingers through his hair like Eddie makes him nervous. Unfortunately, before he can make a move, their little party is crashed by Steve’s companion. Eddie can’t help but feel a tiny bit annoyed.

“Oh my god, I need a drink,” The woman comes barreling between them.

“You okay there buddy?” Steve asks her and she grabs him by the shoulders and shakes.

“Oh shit, sorry, did I interrupt?” She asks, finally noticing his presence, funnily enough.

“Don’t worry about it,” he waves her off.

“I’m Robin,” She stuck her hand out.

“Hi Robin, you have lipstick on your face,” Her eyes widen and she scrambles to fix herself using the reflection in the mirror behind the bar, frowning when she finds nothing on her face.

“No I don’t,”

“Made you look,” Eddie grins.

She narrows her eyes at him. “You’re good,”

— — —

They get another round of drinks, Steve buys this time, and they move to a bigger table. Robin sticks to them like a cock blocking barnacle but after a while later, Eddie doesn’t mind anymore. She’s weird and funny in a refreshing way he doesn’t get to see everyday. Plus, Steve looks more at ease when she is by his side.

“So, Eddie,” Says Robin, “What brings you to Rome?”

“Well, you can’t call it a honeymoon if you don’t marry your cheating fiance, so,” Eddie shrugs, watching the slight alarm on both of their faces. “Guess its a solo trip now,”

“That sucks, man,” says Steve.

“It's whatever,” he shrugs.

“You know what? Fuck that motherfucker,” Robin says, wine sloshing dangerously close to the rim. “You’re gonna have the best solo honeymoon ever and he’s gonna be soooo jealous of you!” Robin is kind of a light weight, but it's nice to see someone else enraged on his behalf.

“Yeah,” Eddie says. “Fuck him,” And then he buys a round of shots. This isn’t the way he saw his evening going when he approached Steve, but Eddie isn’t complaining.

“This is so stupid, we’re gonna regret this in the morning,” Steve giggles, slumped so far down his seat only his face is visible above the table.

“Shit! I forgot!” Robin exclaims.

Eddie frowns. “What’s happening in the morning?”

“We’re going to Tuscany!” Steve says and Robin gasps suddenly, repeatedly slapping Steve on the arm, her eyes wide as dinner plates as she looks at Eddie.

“You should come with us!” She exclaims. “There’s enough room in the air bnb i'm sure, you can bunk with Steve,”

“Come with you to Tuscany?” Eddie asks, puzzled.

“Or Steve can just take the couch,”

“Hey!” Steve protests. “But yeah, it’ll be fun,” he says, turning his big hazel eyes back to Eddie looking so hopeful and expectant; and maybe a little too gone on the alcohol too.

So, really, you can’t blame Eddie for saying yes to a half baked plan that probably wasn’t even going to happen. He’s drunk and a pretty boy is asking him to follow him across Italy. Most likely, the two are going to wake up the next morning with no recollection of the night, or they're probably not even going to make it to their train anyways.

So Eddie says, “Fuck it. Let's do this!”

— — —

Turns out, a drunk Robin is no less a planner than a sober one. Eddie is woken up with his phone incessantly ringing at 10 am on the dot, his presence being demanded at breakfast. At least he feels a little bit better after seeing the other two looking as bad as he feels. Robin is wearing two sunglasses stacked on top of one another.

Packing is no hassle, thankfully, as Eddie never bothered to unpack in the first place. Being hungover for more than an hour on a train isn’t really fun. He eyes Steve and Robin happily curled up and dosing away at their seats as he spends the better half of the train ride to Florence trying not to yak up the cup of coffee and pastry he had choked down at breakfast. Wanye would have laughed and told him he has been spoiled by all the soft mattresses in his fancy hotel rooms. And he wouldn’t be wrong.

They spend twenty minutes ambling around the city, looking for a specific hole in the wall Steve was determined to visit, then fall face first into plates of pasta in ravenous hunger. It's chaotic, better than being holed up in his room with nothing to do. Eddie might even admit it was fun if you ask him tomorrow.

Once their plates are just short of licked clean, robin rummages through her cross body bag and pulls out a paper map, unfolding it into a cartoonishly large piece of paper. “Do you not have GPS in your phone?” Eddie asks, eyeing the map.

“You’re in a foreign country, Eddie, what if you lost your network? Do you want to die?” Steve says in a scarily accurate impression of Robin, then gets a bony elbow to the ribs.

Robin clears her throat dramatically, points at a part of the map and says, “We’re here right now,” Here, Eddie assumes, is Florence in the map since the lettering was so small and crowded together it was almost impossible to read. “And we’ll be taking a cab to an airbnb here, about thirty minutes away. It's like a big ass villa we’ll be sharing with a few other people and there’s like a big ass pool there too, so we can chill out over there. Then at seven, we have a wine tasting-slash-dinner at a vineyard.”

“Oooh we’re getting drunk again?” Eddie asks.

Robin enthusiastically replies, “Yup! We’re on vacation, baby!”

— — —

The villa is gorgeous. It’s up on a hill overlooking rows and rows of vineyards and trees and has a huge breakfast nook, living room and outdoor dining place and his first thought after stepping into the place was damn, Chrissy is going to be so jealous. The host is a friendly middle aged man with an accent so strong only Robin could mostly understand what he was saying.

The pool is a nice idea too. After their initial tour of the property, they change into pool-side appropriate wear and make their way downstairs. Eddie tosses his hair up and sinks into the water, letting his fingers prune in one corner with his shades on, watching Steve and Robin splashing about like a couple of toddlers. He doesn’t understand where those two get their unchecked energy reserve from, Eddie is so close to dozing away.

He turns to the woman a couple feet away trying and failing to read her book in the ruckus the two are making. “I don’t know them,” he says, though she probably saw them arrive at the pool together. She gives him a polite smile and goes back to trying to read.

The vineyard they go to for dinner is a walkable distance away, or so Steve says, and then it takes them half an hour to walk there. Which both him and Robin complain about, a lot. There’s a small group taking a short tour with them walking around in the vineyard, taking a few pictures. He sends some to Wayne and gets a thumbs up emoji back, which was the equivalent of a heartfelt hug from him in text.

Dinner is good, the food and the company. They are given tiny wine glasses and get refills as often as they want. Everyone takes full advantage of it. He even makes polite conversation with a few of the others in the groups. Steve looks especially pretty in the firelight with a rosy tint to his cheeks.

Eddie feels relaxed and so much lighter than he had in months when they stumble back to the villa, swaying and leaning against each other, giggling about stupid things. “I’ll see y'all bitches in the morning,” Robin bids them goodnight and Eddie and Steve crash into a pile on top of the two seater couch in their room.

“Hey,” Steve whispers. “I really don’t mind taking the couch you know,”

“What? No way, Steve. I don’t mind sharing, I can keep my hands to myself, you know,”

Steve snorts, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like ‘if only’.

“What was that,” Eddie asks, raising his eyebrows.

“Oh, nothing,”

Eddie absentmindedly draws patterns over a knee thrown over his lap, the heat of his skin like a furnace under his palm. He can’t look away from wine stained lips and flushed cheeks as Steve smiles softly at him, inviting. His hazel eyes drop to his lips then back up again.

Eddie didn’t realize how close they are, their noses nearly brushing– Steve almost fully on top of his lap– it would be so easy to kiss him. He just has to tip his head up to press their lips together, so he does it.

Steve’s mouth feels as warm and inviting as it looks. Eddie lets him press his tongue between his lips, big hands cupping the back of his head keeping him there. Eddie takes it as permission to get a little more handsy, slipping his hands under Steve’s shirt.

Eddie feels himself melting into the cushions as Steve tilts his head into the kiss. He pulls back and Eddie has to stop himself before he does something pathetic like whine, or maybe chase after his mouth. “You wanna move this to the bed,” Steve asks, sounding as breathless as Eddie felt.

“Yeah, sweetheart,”

— — —

Eddie wakes up fully nude under the covers feeling warm and satiated. He listens to the birds chirping outside the window and the soft snores from the man stretched out beside him. He flips to his side, watching Steve sleeping on his stomach, his ribs expand and contract with each breath he takes. His back is littered with moles and freckles and Eddie with his sleepy brain wonders how long it would take to trace every one of them. Some of them disappear under the scar tissue twisting over the side of his torso, starting at his hip and spreading almost all the way to just under his rib cage. He leans in, lightly brushing his fingers just over the shiny, raised skin.

"It’s from a fire a few years ago," Steve says, slowly blinking sleep out of his eyes. And at Eddie's raised eyebrows, he elaborates, "I'm a firefighter. Robin too.”

“Shit,” Eddie replies, suddenly feeling more awake. “You just got like ten times hotter,” Steve snorts. “You have to wear a uniform right? Do you have any pictures?”

“What am I? Just a piece of ass to you?”

“A very hot piece of ass,” Eddie says, pulling himself up on top of Steve. “Don’t sell yourself short, Stevie” And he leans down to kiss him, morning breath and all. They get distracted for long enough that Robin comes thumping on their door to get them out of bed.

— — —

Breakfast is once again a steaming cup of coffee, fruits, and a fresh croissant. Eddie has had more fresh fruits in the past two days than the entire year combined. He was also having a very nice time happily appearing in public without fear of camera flashes or crazed fans. Feeling the sun on his skin, living his best life, as the kids would say. Eddie was wearing one of Steve’s shirts open over a band tee and canvas shorts. His usual wardrobe, consisting mostly of ripped jeans and leather jackets, wasn't the most comfortable in the sun.

There are only two other couples in the outdoor dining area of the airbnb. A pair of retirees and the other two possibly honeymooners by the way they were all over each other. Eddie briefly considers how if he hadn’t been with them, Steve and Robin would’ve also looked like a heterosexual couple, not codependent platonic soulmates having a vacation together. The thought makes him huff a laugh into his coffee. Steve raises his eyebrows at him in question from his seat beside him, and he just shakes his head.

Robin drops the folded paper map on the table once she’s done studying, steals a sip from Steve cup, then winces. “That's the one toxic dude bro trait you have,” she says, glaring at the offending cup of black coffee with no cream or sweetener in it. Eddie has to nod his head in agreement. Even Eddie doesn’t drink his coffee black.

“What? It's not that bad,” Steve tries to reason.

“It’s actually really horrible, you just don’t have taste buds anymore because you burnt them off, apparently.” Eddie chimes in.

“Nuh-uh, you aren’t allowed to team up like that, no way,” Steve protests. Robin sneaks a sip from Eddie’s cup.

“Holy shit, there is no coffee in this, it's just milk and sugar!”

“No, its not,”

“Yes, it is!”

“Okay, calm down, children. Robin, weren’t you just gonna tell us the plan for today?” Steve interrupts.

“Fine,” Robin huffs. “First we make a ten minute walk from here to the rental place for the Vespas, then were going to go to Pisa, then Siena, then San Gimignano if we have the time,”

“We’re renting Vespas? That’s the most touristy shit I’ve ever heard,” Eddie says.

“Eddie, we are tourists,”

“But like, couldn’t we just rent a cab or something?”

“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?”

“I don’t have a motorcycle license,”

“That’s fine, you don’t need it,” Steve chimes in, “It's just like riding a bike,”

Eddie grumbles under his breath, stuffing another piece of bread in his mouth. Steve exchanges a look with Robin.

“Eddie,”

“Hmrph?”

“You know how to ride a bicycle, right?”

“I- I just never learned to, okay?” Robin snorts.

“That's okay, you can ride with me,” Steve smiles, nudging him.

Later on Eddie sends a video to Chrissy of the sprawling vineyards and him on the back of a ridiculous red Vespa and matching helmet, clinging tight to Steve as they sped down a cobblestone road.

— — —

Pisa is nice. There is a lot more climbing involved than Eddie had expected, and is grossly underprepared for it. The view from the top of the leaning tower is cool. Cool enough to climb up and down multiple narrow stairs? Eddie isn’t sure. Steve and Robin barely break a sweat beside Eddie who is fighting for his life– maybe he should listen to Chrissy and cut down on the cigarettes– the damn firefighter stamina.

They take many dorky touristy pictures of them trying to hold up the leaning tower which he knows would make Chrissy laugh. Eddie does his best to occasionally answer the barrage of questions thrown his way after Chrissy sees his messages. She’s mostly just happy that Eddie’s having fun and isn’t alone. She also has a few questions about the sandy blonde hair woman in the pictures with him.

Before they set off to Siena, Steve pulls out a bottle of sunscreen and insists everyone reapply– then acts all affronted when Eddie says he wasn’t wearing any to begin with. His ass feels just about flattened after the almost two hour ride to Siena. They have lunch at another nice spot, walk around taking a million pictures of the Duomo, and climb more stairs to Eddie’s dismay, which Robin finds hilarious.

— — —

“So,” Robin says, “Eddie.” Steve groans. “That bad huh?”

Robin and Steve are sitting in the shade of a nice big tree in a park, Eddie having gone to hunt down food and water for them. His spirits are still high for someone who looked so close to passing out at the top of the leaning tower.

“He’s only the hottest, funniest dude I’ve met in like years probably, no big deal,” Steve throws an arm over his eyes. “Face it, Robs, I’m just cursed to never find love.” Robin rolls her eyes at his dramatics.

“Just ask for his number, dingus,” She says, like it's obvious.

Steve sits up. “I can’t, it’s probably like, just a fun vacation fling for him. And–” He continues before Robin can interrupt. “He just got out of a serious relationship, I can’t ask now, it's too soon,”

“It does even have to be like, ‘I wanna date you please give me your number’, It can be like, ‘we should keep in touch, let's exchange numbers’,” Steve makes a face in response.

Thankfully before Robin can attempt to change his mind further, Eddie comes trudging across the park towards them. “M’lady, M’lord,” he offers the paper bag of pastries to them, on one knee.

“M’dork,” Robin replies and Eddie throws himself backwards on the ground, pretending to get shot.

“Why do you wound me so, fair maiden,” He wails rolling around in the grass, making her snort and Steve complains about getting grass stains on his shirt.

— — —

Eddie almost falls to his knees and begs for mercy when he’s rudely awaken at 5 fucking am and Robin tells him that they will be spending yet another four hours on a train to Rapallo to yet another airbnb. He tells her that she and Steve are single handedly funding the entire organization. Robin tells him to shut up and drink his milk.

“There isn’t much walking,” Steve promises him as he coaxes Eddie from bed. “We’ll just swim in the ocean, drink and relax.” After breakfast they make their way to the train station. Thankfully, this time Eddie manages to pass out for a good amount of time during the train ride only waking to blearily change trains.

He’s well rested by the time they make it to their airbnb. They get ready for a beach day, then it's Vespa 2 electric boogaloo as they rent a couple for the day to get to the beach and back. Eddie shouts “Liar!” from the back seat when Steve tells him the beach is twenty minutes away. Steve argues, technically he wasn’t lying since they aren’t walking.

The beach, unfortunately for Eddie, is a lot more packed than he had expected. It puts him on edge, makes him feel like he might get recognised. He hadn’t realized how Steve’s shirt felt like armor the day before. No one was expecting Eddie Munson to be wearing a striped button up and canvas shorts. But having his tattoos out in the open feels like he was asking to be caught. So he swipes Robin’s orange cover up with little pom poms on the hem the second she discards it and tucks his hair under a sunhat.

The wonder twins are busy in the middle of a sandcastle building competition– which they asked Eddie to be the judge of– like little kids. He sits back and watches people with their friends and family, the two dorks in front of him fighting for sand at the same place like there isn’t sand anywhere else on the beach. He spots boats docked on the other side of the beach and gets an idea.

“Hey guys, I’ll be right back,”

— — —

Steve lays on his beach towel, eyes closed and listening to music on his headphones. Robin was off fucking around in the water with another cute woman she struck up a conversation with.

Eddie rushed off saying he was going to get them something to drink but Steve gets the impression that it's just because he wasn’t one for crowded places, though he didn’t seem too uncomfortable yesterday when they were going around Tuscany. He seemed to shrink into himself when they reached the beach, looking vaguely nauseous when he was sitting under the umbrella all covered up.

He wonders if he should go look for him and make sure he is doing okay, he’s taking a little too long for Steve’s comfort. Or maybe the queue is just really that long since the beach is crowded and Steve is being an overbearing mother hen like Robin sometimes reminds him that he has a tendency for.

Steve starts to slowly doze listening to the chattering all around him and the sound of the waves in the background of his playlist when he feels a shadow descend over him. He opens his eyes to find Eddie standing over him, still in Robin cover up– sans drinks– looking a little too pleased with himself. “Pack your bags,” he tells Steve. “And get Robin,”

Steve scrunches up his face in confusion. “Pack up? We just got here,” Steve yanks on Eddie’s hand and catches him on his lap when he goes down yelping, the sun hat knocked off his head.

“We have much better places to be Stevie, believe me,” he says cryptically, throwing his arms around him.

“You’re not making any sense, dude,”

“I rented us a boat,” Eddie says, grinning.

“A what?”

“A boat. You know? Those things floating over there in the ocean?” he points like he’s explaining to a child seeing a boat for the first time. Dick, Steve thinks fondly.

“When did you do that?”

“Like five minutes ago,” Steve wants to wipe the stupid grin off his stupid face so he leans in and kisses him. It doesn’t really work, Eddie’s still high on his new boat procurement adventure. He tugs in Steve’s hair, pulling him back.

“Come on, we’re losing daylight,” he insists.

“It's not even noon yet,”

— — —

Robin seems very excited by this new development, basically bouncing all the way to where Eddie leads them to a big boat. She brings along her new friend from the beach with them, a curly haired Spanish brunette– Go Robin, Steve thinks– though the boat Eddie had picked had a capacity for more than just four people.

The captain is a funny middle aged guy who’s happy to let them play music as loud as they want. He shows them around the coast and then stops further into the ocean where there are other boats and yachts some distance from them. Steve, Robin and her new companion waste no time jumping into the ocean and Eddie finally looks relaxed.

A little while later, Steve clambers back into the boat in his swimming trunks, sea water dripping from his hair. His shoulders are already turning a deeper shade of tan. He joins Eddie lounging under the sun, laying his dripping head on his shoulder. Eddie traces a finger through the droplets doting his arm.

"Enjoying yourself?" Eddie asks and Steve hums happily.

"Kinda feel like I'm seventeen again," He says.

"Oh? You were galavanting around Italy in high school, Stevie?” Eddie grins at him, teasing.

"Mhm. Summer after junior year, I got brutally dumped,” He explains. “Kinda deserved it though, I was a little bitch in high school," Then there’s a glint in Eddie's eyes like he’s imagining Steve in a preppy outfit and the ridiculous way he used to style his hair.

"My parents brought me along for their trip and their friends has a gay son, though I don’t think they knew he was gay or they wouldn’t have let me hang out with him otherwise," Steve thinks of Andrew sometimes and all the awkward fumbling they had done when they would sneak into each other’s rooms at night– something Robin calls his ‘Bi-awakening’. “So yeah, I left for the vacation straight and came back bi,”

"That is so trust fund baby core, holy shit," Eddie says, and Steve snorts.

"Was a trust fund baby. Past tense," He clarifies.

"Hm, what happened then?"

"I mean, I already knew my parents were homophobes but hey, at least they waited till I finished high school to kick me out,” He shrugs, feeling embarrassed the second he finishes spewing his whole story.

“I’m sorry your parents suck,” Eddie throws his arms around Steve and squeezes him until he laughs. Steve has always been an oversharer, a trait that had put off a lot of his past partners, unfortunately. Eddie is a good listener. He doesn’t seem too bummed out by his little trip down memory lane. But then, when did Steve start thinking of Eddie along the same line as the people from his past relationships?

“Whatever. They were really just cramping my style,”

“Yeah, I bet you looked real bad in those starched shirts and designer suits,” Eddie says, sounding like he really doesn’t mean it.

"Come get in the water with me," Steve says and Eddie whines in protest. "What? You don't know how to swim too?"

"I know how to swim!" He exclaims a bit too defensively. "I just don't want to get my hair wet," he pouts.

"You don't have to get your hair wet," He pulls Eddie up, "I’ll protect your hair, come on,"

Steve dives in first, watching Eddie carefully lower himself into the water just enough to keep his head above. "See? All good,"

He wraps his arms around Steve's shoulders, pulling him in for a salty kiss.

"CANNONBALL!"

"Rob, wait!" It was too late. Robin crashed into the water, way too close to them, sending a huge splash into the two, drenching them to the tip of their heads.

"Noooo," Eddie moans, looking like a drowned rat with his bangs plastered to his forehead. Robin's maniacal cackling reaches them as she surfaces. "She's so mean to me," he whines, hiding his face in Steve's neck.

"Aww poor baby," Steve coos, trying to hold back his laughter. "I'll help you wash your hair later, okay?"

"Promise?"

"Promise,"

— — —

Steve does help wash Eddie’s hair, though showering together ends up wasting more water than they were supposed to be saving on accounts of wandering hands. When they step out of the bathroom clean and loose limbed, Robin is on the couch with the TV on full volume, takes one look at their faces and says “Yuck,”

Eddie points at her and says, “Homophobe,”

They decide to order in for the night. Robin hooks up her (Steve’s actually) Netflix account to the TV and they argue on which movie to watch until their dinner arrives, then pass out in a puppy pile twenty minutes into the movie.

— — —

Thankfully, their train to Milan the next day is at a much more reasonable timing. Eddie still whines about having to move again. They make it by mid day and explore the city some more until it's time for dinner.

Eddie feels a pang when he thinks that he’d be saying goodbye to the two in less than a day. Which is dramatic, even for him. He’d barely known them for a week, yet he feels himself clinging to Steve harder and starting arguments just to annoy Robin more often.

When they go to bed, he falls asleep with Steve curled over his back and their fingers intertwined.

— — —

In the morning, Steve joins him on the couch in the balcony where Eddie is people watching through the railing with a cup of coffee. Steve and Robin are leaving soon to catch their flight back home and Eddie’s all packed up to get back to his luxury honeymoon suite in Rome, all alone. The prospect of another week alone in a foreign country feels more daunting than it had been in the beginning of his trip.

Eddie feels like the end of the week snuck up on him. He didn’t expect to like being in Italy so much, though he suspects that has more to do with the company than the country itself. Steve sits so close to him that he’s almost fully leaning on Eddie's shoulder, he’s going to miss his weight and his warmth, the easy way he holds himself near other people like he belongs in everyone’s space.

“So,” Steve says, their position reminds Eddie of the first night he kissed Steve, tipsy on wine, heart fluttering in his chest like butterfly wings. He wants to pull him in and kiss him again.

“So,” Eddie parrots.

“I guess this is it, huh?” Eddie hopes he isn’t imagining the hint of melancholy gleaming in his hazel eyes, he wants selfishly for Steve to miss him too.

“I had fun,” Eddie smiles. It takes effort.

“I’m glad,” Steve says, sounding so sincere. He tucks a stray curl behind Eddie’s ear, leans in to slot their lips together one last time. Eddie takes it eagerly, opening his mouth to him and happily goes along when Steve pulls him into his lap.

They say their goodbyes after breakfast and Eddie watches them get in a cab and drive away from him forever.

— — —

Steve stows their luggage away in the overhead compartment and plops down onto his seat, Robin engrossed in looking through the inflight movie list beside him. He drops his forehead on Robin's shoulder. “You doing okay over there?”

“Mhm,”

“It's okay to not be okay, you know,”

He lets out a watery laugh, feeling pathetic. “Its so stupid,”

“No it's not,” She pokes his forehead. “Don’t be mean to my best friend,”

“I think maybe I should’ve just sucked it up asked for his number,”

Robin huffs, “See, I can’t even say ‘I told you so’ when you look so sad,”

“Yeah, whatever, it's too late now. He didn’t ask either,” Steve reasons with himself.

“Hey, maybe you’ll run into him one day and he’d be like, your next door neighbor or something,”

“This isn’t a movie, Robs,” He sighs. “And I know all my neighbors already,”

“There, there,” She says, patting his head.

— — —

Eddie naps for a few hours, then gets a cab to take him to the train station. Time moves at a glacial pace. Eddie slumps on a bench and scrolls through instagram to pass time. Somehow his feed is full of cats running around causing chaos, cats in silly outfits, funny cat meme edits. And he thinks maybe he should get a cat. A black one, and he can name it Ozzy. Or Aragon. Maybe a cat would make him feel less lonely.

Eddie is about to close the app and go get something to eat when he sees it. It's a blurry picture of two men kissing on a balcony. The angle looks like it was taken from street level, but the tattoos and long hair is unmistakable. Fuck.

The picture already has more than half a million likes. He loathes to think how many other pages it has graced. And the comments were worse.

g3rry_ Hasn’t even been two weeks since the breakup news came out and he’s already with a new guy…

parkouch_ Smells like infidelity hmmm

gin_titanic Poor Rick :(

Corrodedjeff He should just leave the band at this point smh

RickWorld00 Anyone know who the other guy is?

Dusty_Hen05 What the fuck what the FUCK

— — —

He calls Chrissy in a panic.

“Did you see it?” is the first thing she asks him. He doesn’t answer as much as he lets out a high pitched noise like a kettle.

“Chrissy, what the fuck?”

“I know, I know,” She whines. “I’m trying to do damage control here, but Rick fucking posted a tweet saying he’s ‘taking time off from the public eye’ during this ‘trying time’ and now everyone is siding with him,”

“That bitch,”

“How’s Steve taking it?” Chrissy asks.

“I wouldn’t know, Chrissy, he’s on a plane right now on the way back to his real life,” He huffs. “Shit, he’s going to be so blindsided by this, I don’t think he even knew who I am,”

“You didn’t tell him?” she asks. “Shit, Eddie,”

“Book me flight babe, I wanna come back as soon as I can,” It takes some arguing and pleading to make Chrissy book a different flight straight from Milan. But she does it in the end and Eddie hopes he hasn’t screwed things up forever.

— — —

Eddie goes straight to Chrissy’s place from the airport. He has a hell of a time dodging camera flashes and finally makes it to the car she sent in one piece. He falls into her embrace as soon as she opens her door.

“Aww, Eddie, you okay?”

“Ahuh, never better,”

His eyes feel dry and sand from the lack of sleep. Chrissy shoves him into bed and threatens him to get some rest before they can have a serious conversation about everything. Eddie sleeps fitfully, but it's better than nothing. The sun is setting when he shuffles back into the living room. Chrissy hears his stomach grumbling from all the way across the room and they order take out.

“So, Steve,”

Eddie sighs heavily. “I fucked up Chris,” he says, stuffing a springroll in his mouth.

“Someone took a picture of you through your balcony, I hardly think that's your fault, babe,”

“I’m pretty sure he didn’t even know who I was, Chris. Like, how jarring is it going to be for him to just wake up one day and find out some people out there are accusing him of being a home wrecker just for kissing a random dude on a vacation?”

“It is a fucked up situation, I’m not going to lie, and Rick’s really been enjoying playing the victim,” she grumbles. “You know, it really would’ve helped if you had gotten the guy's contact details.” She didn’t need to tell him that twice. “We need to release a statement as soon as possible but we really just need to wait it out. There isn’t much we can realistically do,”

“I feel horrible,” he groans.

“Again. Not your fault Eddie,”

“I think I’ll lose my mind if I don’t find him somehow,” Chrissy snorts.

“Dick that good, huh?” She snickers.

“Gotta admit, Chrissy, it was a pretty exceptional dick.” Eddie sighs wistfully and Chrissy giggles.

“How are you gonna find him?”

“Maybe a PI? Is that too creepy? How many Steves are there in the US do you reckon?” He’s only half joking. Chrissy rolls her eyes and kicks him out of her house so he can go get some proper sleep.

— — —

Eddie takes a hot shower once he gets home, then is immediately reminded of Steve in the shower with him and his big hands holding him against the cold tiles. Then the quick shower turns into a much longer one.

Once he’s changed into his pjs, he pads down to the kitchen to make himself a hot cup of tea then settles in bed with his phone. He isn’t tired enough to go to sleep yet so he switches to a random channel on his TV and scrolls through the pictures they had taken in Italy, zooming in on Steve’s face more times he can count like a love sick– love? Really? –dumbass.

It's 2 am when he hears the sound of his front door opening and shutting that puts him on alert. With shaking hands he grabs his baseball bat from the closet (which Wayne left behind, Eddie wasn’t a sports kinda guy) making his way to the staircase, hoping and praying he’d imagined the whole thing and he’s not actually getting robbed. Or worse– someone has leaked his address online and someone broke in to see him.

It's too dark to see properly, but a figure is climbing up the stairs towards him, a little too fast for his comfort. Eddie swings, his bat connects with the stranger’s face with a crunch and he goes tumbling down the stairs with a pained shout. Eddie rushes to get the light switch and–

“EDDIE!” Rick was on the floor, clutching his bleeding nose. “Shit, I think I broke something,”

“What the fuck are you doing here, Rick?” Eddie screeches. “How did you get in?”

"What are you doing here, aren’t supposed to be in Italy, enjoying our honeymoon,” He spits back. The fucking audacity of this dude.

“Have you been breaking into my house all week?” Rick stays quiet and that's enough of an answer for Eddie. “I’m calling an ambulance,” The 911 operator tells him not to move him, not that Eddie would touch him with a ten foot pole.

“Who was that guy you were with?” Rick asks from the floor, still clutching onto his knee.

“I’m sorry, how is that any of your business?” Eddie snaps back, full of ire.

“Because,” Rick says, his expression pleading in the way Eddie just realizes he always looks like when he’s about to tell him how sorry he was and how nothing was his fault, actually. “I still love you, Eddie,”

Eddie laughs in his face, getting a tiny bit of satisfaction from the way Rick’s face falls. “Seriously? You broke up with me because I was too clingy to open our relationship and you see me with another dude one time and you can’t take it, huh?”

“I made a mistake–”

“Yes you fucking did, now deal with the consequences. You’re not my problem anymore,” The doorbell saves Eddie from the crocodile tears welling up in Rick’s eyes. How did he even put up with this for two years?

However, Eddie isn’t done with surprises for the day, it would seem. The door swings open, and there stands Steve– who looks just as shocked to see him standing at the doorstep– with Robin and another older dude he doesn’t recognise.

“Hey!” the older dude exclaims, pointing at Eddie. “It’s the guy!”

— — —

Steve has had a hell of a time since he and Robin had touched down. The second he had switched his airplane mode off he was bombarded with hundreds, possibly thousands of notifications. 72 missed calls from just Dustin and more cryptic messages from the party group chat– something about coffins? Did someone die? Steve didn’t understand.

Dustin hadn’t been much help when he called him back, babbling something about a front man of a rock band for some reason, but that was only until Robin pulled up a picture of him and Eddie kissing. Except, it was posted on some random instagram page he had never heard of instead of her camera roll, with the caption ‘Corroded Coffin frontman Eddie Munson spotted in Milan, Italy with his new beau’. And then it clicked.

His notifications continued to flood for the rest of the day, friends and coworkers were asking him about it. His high school acquaintances suddenly wanted to know how he was doing and wanted to catch up for ‘old time sake’. Yeah right, Tommy. The worst part was probably the comments nitpicking everything about his appearance and the random threatening DMs he’d receive occasionally.

Robin was quite most of the ride back home, but that was only because she was doing a deep dive into Eddie Munson and his band’s history. The only thing she said to him was, “I know many of their songs, Steve, and Dustin and Mike literally have a poster up like every wall in their house. How did we not know this?”

He slept fitfully, the adrenaline and confusion seemingly overriding the jet lag. The last straw was when his mom tried to contact him the next morning after eight whole years, just to berate him about their family name. “In public Steven? Really?” Steve didn’t have the energy to argue that a balcony is not a public space. There was little satisfaction in hanging up on her mid sentence.

He called up Argyle and begged to swap with his night shift so he'd at least have Robin by his side when dealing with all of it. Not that he thought any of their co-workers would be mean about it, he and Robin aren’t even the only queer people in the station. Besides, Captain Hopper wouldn’t let homophobic behavior slide given that he has a gay step son of his own that he loves very much.

Steve had tried and moderately succeeded in getting some sleep before his shift. Night shifts were moderately less hectic than morning ones– though sometimes it just depends on the night itself– so it opens up more time for ribbing from his colleagues

He had even walked in on the rookie Chance showing Dmitri, the Russian dude Hopper had history with (what kind? Nobody knows), videos of Corroded Coffin singles and performances, and Steve had turned on his heels and walked away.

The call had been a welcome distraction as he buckled himself in the back of the ambulance that Dmitri drove, with Robin. “I like your new boyfriend, he’s loud,” Dmitri had called back at him.

“He’s not my boyfriend, man,” Steve had sighed.

“But he does wish he was,” Robin the traitor had chimed in and then sat unperturbed by his glaring. That was merely minutes before he had rung the bell to the house he’s currently standing before, Eddie on the other side of the threshold.

“W-we got a call about someone getting hurt?” He stutters out, remembering his training and Eddie quietly steps aside to let them in.

— — —

Eddie barely processes shit. His monkey brain is just going Steve! Steve is here! In his sexy firefighter uniform! Stevie! Until Rick spots him and loudly goes, “Man, really?” Which clearly confuses Steve as his face does the whole, brows jumping up and eyes widening look that conveyed the message ‘What?’ without him having to say a word.

“Rick, shut up,” Eddie snaps. If Steve recognises that name, he doesn't show it.

Robin checks him out and splints his ankle, ruling out any serious injury in his hips or spine, except for maybe a nasty bruise from rolling down a flight of stairs. They load him on the gurney, then the back of the ambulance, working quietly as Eddie stood around fidgeting. He really just wants to talk to Steve about the whole thing, apologize for the whole mess.

“H-hey, Steve?” Eddie says and then almost falters when Steve’s attention is on him. “I just wanted to apologize about the whole thing man, you don’t deserve all that,”

“No, you don’t have to, it's not your fault,” Steve chuckles humorlessly. “Honestly, I just feel kind of stupid about it now that I think about it–” The older dude claps a hand over his shoulder, interrupting him.

“We gotta go buddy,” He says in a heavy Russian accent.

“Do you want a ride to the hospital?” Steve asks.

Eddie notices Rick looking at him expectantly from inside the ambulance. Ew. But he could bear it for Steve. He just needs to talk to Steve and Eddie’s scared that if he lets him go right now he might never see him again. So he gets in.

— — —

Steve wishes he would stop apologizing. Eddie would say ‘sorry’ and his brain would automatically translate it to ‘sorry people think we’re dating’.

“It's okay Eddie, I get it,” Steve sighs. “It's not even like we’re together, is it? I’m sure everyone would just forget about it in a while and you can move on–”

"I don’t want to forget about you," Eddie’s face is all scrunched up, “Shit, Steve I thought I was protecting you from the shitstorm that’s my life, since everything I touch turns to dust anyways, I thought maybe I could spare you if I left you alone,” He sighs, “But I failed in that regard too, I guess.”

"But–" Steve's jaw feels like it's on the floor, "Eddie, you don’t need to protect me, okay? I can take care of myself,” Eddie looks like a kicked puppy, all sad and hurt. Steve just wants him to smile again. “I mean, the amount of times we actually kissed in public, I’m just really surprised that was the picture that ended up online,” Eddie barks out a laugh.

“I don’t want you to think that I don’t want you, Steve.” He says, his gaze intense and pleading. Steve is rendered speechless. “I grew up in a trailer park with my uncle. I sold weed in high school and played dnd. It took me three tries to even graduate highschool. I'm not a good person, i'm nothing special, I don't run into burning buildings and rescue kittens from trees or whatever, and I know I kind of ruined everything before it even started but please, please just give me one chance, Stevie–"

“Are you seriously doing this right now? In front of me?” Rick interrupts, and Steve is not a bad dude who’d hurt people who can’t defend themselves but he really wants to smack the disgusted look on his stupid face. Robin flaps a hand shushing him, watching him and Eddie like they’re on her TV screen instead. Even Dmitri is quiet, no doubt listening in.

“Would you like to go on an actual date with me? Please?” Eddie finishes.

Steve is stunned to say the least. He had been distracted for most of the ride, he didn't even realize that they had stopped until the door of the ambulance swung open, startling Robin too. Then he’s being pulled away to do his job, leaving a distraught looking Eddie behind.

— — —

Eddie paces hidden behind the ambulance bay, burning through his third cigarette of the hour– which once upon a time wouldn't even be worth noting, but he's trying to do better here, goddamnit— thinking of what an idiot he'd acted like.

What was he thinking? Asking Steve, a good guy with a normal life, without paps shoving cameras in his face, to be with him. Eddie Munson, the wildcard, the drama.

Eddie can’t go anywhere without someone criticizing everything he does. Ironically enough, that was one of the main reasons he was so anxious to leave his small town home behind. So much for anonymity. The constant judgment is the one thing he hated so much about constantly being in the public eye. He’d love to say that he doesn’t care and that it never bothers him, but the truth is that it gets fucking exhausting how people already have preconceived notions about him everywhere he goes. He doesn’t want that for Steve.

He's never known peace a day in his life. Why would Steve willingly through his life to the wolves just to be with him? It was selfish of Eddie to even ask that of him. He’s put him through enough shit as it is with the picture and all the harassment from his so-called fans. He hates it. This was nothing like how he dreamed his life would be at just twenty eight when he was in high school.

Eddie knows he’s spiraling. He’s being over dramatic and catastrophizing, as Chrissy would say. God, he wishes she were to talk some sense into him. Yet he can't seem to move away from that spot, waiting for Steve to come out through the doors, he can't leave without seeing this through. If he gets brutally rejected, so be it. But on the off chance Steve might still want this? The idea that he might be worth giving up a little bit of peace for, seems way too tantalizing.

The doors to the ER open. Steve spots him and jogs over, the look of relief clear on his face. “Hey, you’re still here,” he says. “I was hoping I wouldn’t miss you,”

“Yeah, um, everything alright in there?” he asks– he doesn’t really care.

“Sure, yeah, Rick’s going to be okay,”

“So, um,” Eddie trails off, suddenly at a loss on what to say.

“Are you going to give me your number then?” Steve asks.

“What?”

“You did ask me on a date, right? Unless you weren’t serious about it. In that case–”

“No! No, I was serious, I swear.” Eddie can’t keep the disbelief off his voice. “You’re saying yes? After everything that happened?”

“Eddie, I really like you,” says Steve. “And I’ve read so many shitty things people have said about you,” Eddie cringes a little, he knows how vile those tabloids can get. “But that was not the man I had known this past week and I want a real chance to get to know you, if that’s okay,”

Before he can stop himself Eddie is careening into Steve, crashing their lips together in a desperate kiss that Steve reciprocates with the same intensity.

“That is so okay,” Eddie breathes. “Love that plan,”

“So,” Steve grins. “Number?”

———

[homestuckreplay]

💙 John Egbert's Glorious Return! 💙

(page 843-847)

JOHN IS BACK!! HI JOHN I MISSED YOU <3

He is not doing so hot though. On top of making the dangerous, precarious decision to fight with an impressively bouncy weapon on a small platform above a bottomless pit, he’s clearly outmatched by these two giant ogres. The infinite loop of this animation is really well done, it genuinely feels like these two teams could stay in this stalemate for a while – until Rose gets back online and turns the tide, perhaps. And I laugh every time the grainy ‘Sassacre’ gets stamped over the otherwise very clean art style.

I’m really looking forward to Rose entering the Medium, so we can find out what’s specific to John’s game and what’s general to Sburb. For example, is it part of the game that a sprite will try to protect their assigned player? Or is it John’s nanna specifically (or the harlequin doll, I guess) who has that instinct? Do all sprites have the same powers (eye beams that destroy imps and heal players) or do the powers vary based on what’s prototyped?

I also want to know more about Jade’s predictions; it’s a fun narrative trick to have the reminder on her finger transition into another character, but has she literally seen a vision of this event in the same way that the Wayward Vagabond might watch this moment through a screen? (If so, is it possible she has these visions via her strange holographic computer?) Or does she have more of a vague understanding of things she shouldn’t, just ‘happening’ to be right as she does with the memory modus and the gadgets she’s created, a general sense of ‘John and his benevolent guide will have a challenging battle’?

I am DELIGHTED by the return of ‘Years in the future…’ followed by GameFAQs, and the fact that different characters have taken over these pages to mark a different act. In Act 2 we eventually learned that WV and Rose were in the same location; in Act 2 we already know that the Peregrine Mendicant and John are in the same place. I barely know the Peregrine Mendicant but I think they are so cool. They met a giant metal worm and got so angry when it ate one of their mailboxes (!) that they immediately reached for their sword, which incidentally is the first cool sword in Homestuck (not sorry, Dave). The cross on top of the sword looks like the cross usually found on the king in a chess set, so this must be a powerful sword from the dark kingdom, while PM is from the light. Could this be a clue to what happened in the battle of light and dark in John’s Sburb game?

Page 845 (incidentally one of my favorite pages in the comic so far) is the first time we’ve seen longform writing from John, and it’s a WHOLE new side to him. His character voice is a little different in this medium, but still recognizably John. And he is SO SO SMART, I apologize for everything I have ever said about John being bad at things and not sticking with them, because it turns out that ‘You like to program computers but you are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT’ (p.4) was just John’s low self worth and dismissal of his own skills, like here when he says ‘wow ok that pretty much looks like shit, but you get the idea’ about his cool ASCII art. Like, the John of page 843 is not in his element, he’s fighting two gigantic deadly foes when before today he’s never seen worse combat than being pied in the face, but the John of page 845 knows his shit, has reverse engineered some pretty complex mechanics from just a few punched cards, and is explaining it in terms easy to understand. And he’s making all these really clever leaps and he does brag about his ‘leet haxxor cred’ and he’s clearly excited about what he’s writing about, but I still feel like he doesn’t have much confidence, as he ends by deferring to Jade’s skills. I love how these two John pages are juxtaposed, and I cannot describe the pride I feel in seeing John really shine at something.

Goth queen Rose Lalonde has gone from cat mausoleum to vast, ominous green science lab full of uranium and/or slime, and I’m happy for pages like 840 and 847 that are primarily atmospheric, something I don’t think we’ve seen much of before. The lab’s logo reads ‘SN’, not the cool S, but one with an atom symbol in the upper curve and a spirograph in the lower – both familiar symbols, as both appear on Jade’s shirt (p.794), the atom appears on some of her inventions such as the wardrobifier (p.793), and the spirograph has appeared regularly as a symbol of Skaia. Could SN be SkaiaNet, developers of Sburb, first mentioned on page 114? If so, could Rose’s mom have something to do with the development of Sburb, potentially explaining why Mom knew to build a tunnel from the mausoleum to the lab if she’s had some visions similar to Jade’s. I think that would suck for Rose, as she’s worked hard to be independent from her mom and have her own interests, and to find out that her mom has been controlling her life in a pretty major way the entire time would probably be really hard to come to terms with.

I have been having loads of fun with this punch card calculator; more great work from Gankra, who has programmed several of the interactive pages including p.253. I would punch so many cards if I had a designix.

> John: Take another look at that rocket pack.

[anastasiaskarsgard]

Could you do a one shot where the reader tries to rob the marquis de gramont’s house only for that to go wrong and now the reader is being interrogated.

You woke to a shrill bell, in a room you didn’t remember. Trying to get your bearings, you came to the realization that you had no memory of this place, and you were only wearing a pair of panties.

A screaming headache hit you as hard as the fact that they weren’t even your panties. Plum purple panties, with intricate lace and embroidered roses, looked far more delicate than anything you’d ever buy.

Scanning what you could see of the dimly lit room you were in, it became painfully obvious it was some sort of cell by the metal door and lack of any windows. The only piece of furniture, was a surprisingly ornate velvet chaise you were presently handcuffed to.

Frantically trying to recall how you ended up topless, in someone else’s underwear, in a dimly lit prison cell with no windows, you felt a panic attack swiftly approaching when you found no answers.

The last thing you could recall, was telling your twin sister you’d meet her in your shared suite, as soon as you swam a few more laps. You were in Paris for fashion week in a few days, and were very sought after by all the designers. Your sister ate a very strict restricted diet, while you were a bit more lax and liked food. Unfortunately that meant you had to work out to make up for the extra calories. You actually somewhat enjoyed exercise, and staying active, while your sister hated it. Still, you were amazed at your sisters restraint when it came to food. She never ate any carbs, any sugar, any processed foods, any refined grains, and even refused starchy vegetables and high sugar fruits. She also only ever drank water. Ever.

Maybe that was how you ended up here. Now that you were thinking about it, you had accepted a Mimosa from a fellow guest, but it’d been brought to you by a waitress and you hadn’t even finished it.

You hadn’t sensed any danger or nefarious intentions towards yourself or your sister, and had been recommended the resort by several fellow models and colleagues. You hoped your sister was at least okay.

Suddenly, the door swung open to reveal a tall well dressed man, glowering down at you.

Never one to be intimidated, even with the obvious enormous vulnerabilities you currently had, and no plan whatsoever, you were not about to be polite.

“Who the FUCK are you motherfucker, and WHERE ARE MY FUCKING CLOTHES?” You shouted towards the end. “And what the fuck is this shit?” You asked as you pointed to your wrist, cuffed to the sofa. “This is coming off RIGHT NOW and I’m leaving!”

The man stood there with the same rude facial expression, not responding or reacting to anything you said. Breathing hard, you watched and listened for a few seconds, before closing your eyes, and screaming at the top of your lungs, for as long as your lungs would allow.

Taking a deep breath, preparing to unleash another one, you peeked at your captor and froze your breath to see he was smiling at you. Fucking smiling!

You saw red. “What ARE YOU SMILING ABOUT? Come over here and I’ll give you something to smile about you fucking nut!” You shrieked.

“Sssshhhh!” He placed a finger on his full lips, shooshing you. “How will you know how to win the game, unless you listen to the rules?”

That was it. You were at a whole new level of pissed. You were so angry at the mere suggestion of this fucked up situation, being some weird game, it didn’t even occur to you, that you should probably be frightened. Maybe even terrified, but all you knew was you were going to kick this guys Ass. “Let. Me. Go. Now.”

“What? So you can sneak out again like you did last night? And after I had forgiven you for leaving the party and going through my personal things?” He shook his head amusedly. “You are going to tell me, exactly who hired you, and maybe I won’t kill you.”

Well shit.

Last night your sister had said she was going to bed early and you’d gone out and met up with friends. Could she have gone out after you left and tried to rob this hot guy? Didn’t sound possible, but here you are in a dungeon or something.

“Well? How hard do you want this to be?” He snapped.

“Okay hear me out. I’m a twin and I never went to anyone’s house yesterday so you must be looking for my sister. This really doesn’t sound like her type of deal but I’m always telling her she needs to go out and live a little.” Suddenly feeling overwhelmed, you laid back on the chaise and shut your eyes. “We are successful models here for fashion week, so I seriously doubt she was trying to jack you. She never steals anything so maybe she was just being nosy.”

Several minutes passed before you heard the man approach you and undo your handcuffed wrist. You opened your eyes to look at him and were stunned with how beautiful this man was. He glanced down at you, before standing to his full height and walking out of the room.

Jumping up, you quickly checked to see if the door was unlocked. Unsurprised that it was, you started to pace back and forth.

“CAN I AT LEAST HAVE SOME CLOTHES??!!?” You shouted.

Fully expecting to be ignored, you were surprised when the door swung open to reveal a woman holding out a couture looking dress on a hanger, “put this on. The Marquis wishes for you to join him for brunch.”

Nodding dumbly, you took the dress, and slipped it over your head, all the while sizing up this woman for escape. While she looked fit, she was considerably smaller than you, and you were certain you could take her.

Just as you were about to attack her, the door opened again, revealing two huge security personnel.

There goes that plan. You thought to yourself.

One of the men placed heels down on the floor in front of you. You’d never seen them before, but they fit, so you weren’t complaining.

Silently following after the woman, tailed by the two men, you couldn’t help but gape at your surroundings. While you imagined the place with a dungeon, must be fancy, you weren’t prepared for the level of opulence, and immense size of wherever this was.

Artwork that you’d studied in college, hung on the walls, and furniture you only saw in museums and magazines, surrounded you.

After walking for several minutes, you came to a dining area set in a sunroom. On the table was several breakfast and fruit options, and your stomach rumbled at the sight.

“Sit down. The Marquis will join you shortly. Do not try to escape, your guard detail is just outside the door, and it’s better not to upset my master.” The woman stated in a clipped tone, before exiting the room.

Taking a seat, you scanned around the room to see if any of the windows appeared to open. Deciding they likely did not, and even if they did, the wall surrounding the property, was so far away, you could barely even see it. This seemed like the type of place that had big scary Dobermans or something.

Turning your attention to the food, you sniffed it trying to determine if it was poisoned. Realizing you had no idea how to determine if something has been poisoned, you just picked up a piece of melon, and nibbled on it.

“Isn’t it rude to eat before everyone has arrived?” The Marquis asked as he walked in the room.

“Not as rude as handcuffing a woman to a chair in your dungeon in someone else’s underpants,” you replied cheekily.

Smirking and looking down, he nodded his head a bit before taking a seat. Turning his striking green eyes to you, he took in your appearance very deliberately. “I checked and you are in fact a twin.”

“Ding ding ding! Get this man a prize!”

The Marquis genuinely laughed, before leaning forward and pursing his plush lips. “How well do you know your sister? Are you two close?”

You picked up another piece of fruit and took a bite, maintaining eye contact with the man across from you. You weren’t sure where he was going with this, but you couldn’t see any harm answering questions, that a quick scan of your social media accounts would reveal the answers to.

“She’s the strait laced, conservative, boring version of me, with the self control of a monk, is what I would have said if you asked me yesterday. Today… I am torn between being mad at her, and proud of her.”

“Why proud?”

“Because look at you! Look at this place! You’ve even got some snobby title to boot, and she bagged you. Then she ghosted you, and obviously hurt your ego. She’s never this exciting.” You answered honestly.

“You find this behavior exciting? Flirting with a man, only to look through his belongings while he showers, and exit before he returns? This is acceptable behavior?” He asked indignantly.

Inwardly you were screaming. Your sister NEVER had one night stands. You have had a few and every time she gave you so much shit over it. Going so far as to tell friends and family about them, in an effort to shame you or something. It never worked, but it was irritating that she tried, and come to find out she was doing it too! You absolutely were going to give her an earful.

“Listen buddy, I’m honestly sorry that she did this to you. You’re obviously not used to rejection, and judging by how rich and important you must be, I can see where her looking through your stuff seems nefarious, but I guarantee you, no one hired her. She probably was just kinda tripping that she just had sex with some random gorgeous French guy and was curious, or she hella thought a guy like you must have a girlfriend so she was looking for clues. Now either she found some female items in your stuff and decided to leave, or she was just embarrassed about being a hoe bag, when she’s normally the biggest prude in America.” You leaned across the table and grabbed a pastry, “you’re not going to eat?”

He frowned at you, looking as though he was going to deny you, but seemed to change his mind and grabbed a few raspberries. Popping them in his mouth, he stared off in the distance contemplating something. “We did not sleep together. I had to take a shower because a drunken idiot, knocked an entire tray of desserts into me.”

“Why was she in your room?”

“She came here with an associate of mine, but it was clear from when they arrived, she was not interested in him romantically. He became belligerent, ordering her to leave and calling her all sorts of names. I personally don’t like that sort of behavior, so I had him removed. I approached your sister to offer her a car to take her home, but somehow we ended up talking most of the night. Then the drunken idiot incident happened, and she didn’t want to be left alone with a bunch of strangers, so she asked if she could accompany me. I honestly thought she was going to attempt to seduce me, but no such luck. She just sat down in the receiving area of my personal living quarters. I actually didn’t even take very long, but when I came out she was gone. I assumed she went back to the party, but was informed by my personal security, she’d left out a side door into the night. They were able to track her back to your hotel, where I had them pick her up, but I suppose grabbed you. You see, I have some very dangerous enemies that use various tactics to get to me, and I thought your sister was sent to infiltrate my space and possibly take something, or leave some type of device. I enjoyed her company, so I may have overreacted and automatically assumed the worst in her, when maybe I just live in a world that has made me paranoid and cruel.”

“Wow.” You stated. “That’s a lot to unpack. Rich people problems I guess. You don’t seem like too bad of a guy, now that I’m wearing clothes and not in a dungeon. Fucking bat shit crazy response to a chick just trying to leave tho. Especially the somebody else’s underwear part. That was terrifying.”

He cocked his eyebrow and smirked cockily. “I’m how do you say… strategic. I apologize, and hope you can forgive me. I have a driver at the ready to take you wherever you need to go, and will remain available to you for your entire stay. I also insist you and your sister go on an all expense paid shopping spree, to wherever you like as an apology for how we became acquainted.”

“What if I said I want you to drive me around?” You asked playfully. You couldn’t believe you were seriously flirting with this guy, but he was too interesting to just leave behind. You knew he was only offering the driver and shopping spree to persuade you not to report him to the authorities. You were pretty sure, that even if you did report him, nothing would come from it. He was the kind of rich that was above the law. You didn’t know what a Marquis was, but it likely meant he was a respected member of society, and nobody would believe some random American model saying she got kidnapped by him. He probably had thousands of women willing to give a kidney to go on a date with him. He was likely on some European eligible bachelor list or stalked by the paparazzi everywhere he went. You really wished you had your phone to google him.

“You are being serious?” He asked incredulously.

You were a bit offended he seemed so shocked by the suggestion. Was it that he didn’t drive that made your request so unbelievable, or was it the prospect of spending time with you? Crossing your arms, you stared back at him expectantly.

Scoffing, he rose from his seat and began to pace back and forth across the room, periodically glancing your way, never breaking stride.

He finally came to a stop when the woman from before entered the room and approached him. Speaking to her in a low tone that you couldn’t quite make out, she looked over at you with a surprised look on her face, before bowing to the Marquis, and rushing out of the room.

Still waiting for an answer to your question, you kept your arms crossed and stared straight ahead, even when he walked up next to you.

He lightly chuckled, and combed his fingers through your hair affectionately. “Your mood swings are so extreme. It’s a good thing you are so beautiful, or you might be considered a brat.”

Snapping your head to look up at him, you stuck your tongue out at him, and had to really focus not to bust out laughing at the expression that appeared on his face.

What did you have to lose at this point? “No one has ever stuck their tongue out at you, have they?” You inquired, with a snarky grin plastered across your face.

He scoffed and turned his nose up at you, so you took the oppurtunity to stand up and start walking towards the exit. “Let’s get a move on your majesty. I’m probably already late, and not showing up will cost me a small fortune. I’m under contract.”

“I have too many obligations. I cannot cancel everything to be your personal chauffeur.”

Stopping dead in your tracks, you turned around slowly, and placed your hands on your hips. Do you really think you can kidnap an international model, and then just say oopsie and send her off with a random driver? Don’t answer that, I won’t like your answer. I don’t care if you’re the king of France, you have to give me a day to make this up to me. Understood?” You dropped your hands, and marched up to the impeccably dressed man, never breaking eye contact.

Stopping just centimeters from his face, you had to hand it to him; he never flinched. But if he thought you were gonna back down, he had another thing coming. Over your dead body.

Ever so slowly, he kissed each cheek with a lingering kiss on each. “Au revoir, une fille.”

Before he could back away, you grabbed his face and kissed him square on his lips, pressing your body against his.

Meanwhile in the security room:

the security on duty, several other security personnel, and the servants were watching this crazy girl interact with one of the scariest men in Europe.

“Do you think she could possibly be so stupid?” One of the security guards asked to no one in particular.

“She is an American.” Another replied.

“And a model.” One of the maids added.

“Why hasn’t he killed her? He’s never so patient with anyone. And the way she takes such liberties with his person. It’s unimaginable!” The valet that would be driving this girl if she survived long enough asked.

“I saw him with the sister last night as well and he was absolutely enthralled with her. I’ve never seen him speak to a woman so long. He likely wishes to get to her, and will use her to get the other.”

“I don’t envy them. It’s never a happy ending when the Marquis takes a personal interest in you.” The head of security stated.

“Maybe he will fall for her…”

The entire room broke out in an uproar of laughter. Wiping tears from his eyes, a huge burly bodyguard lumbered out of the room, making his way to find his boss. Maybe if he convinced her to leave, his boss wouldn’t kill her.

Knocking at the door, just in case their activities had progressed, he waited several minutes for a response but none came. Turning to go back to the security room, and enjoy the show that was likely taking place on the other side of those doors, he froze at the sound of them bursting open.

“The entire day is just not possible. The best I can do is the morning.” The Marquis said as he followed the bossy American.

“Guess I’ll just have to kidnap you then. Which way to your cars?” She asked, still walking down the hall like she knew where she was going.

“I’ll have one brought around.”

“No I want to pick which one. Lead the way your majesty!”

Every employee watching, could not believe their eyes when the Marquis de Gramont, did just that.