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anotherhargrovebitch · 5 years ago

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a baby sitter? : b.h

neil and susan decide its best to hire max a babysitter, but when you turn up and befriend max, billy can’t help but get jealous. (1.4K)

requested by @tearsforhan sorry for the delay angel!

* stranger things writing *

“She doesn’t need a babysitter,” Billy huffs as Susan walks into the kitchen, having just broken the news. “isn’t that why I’m here?”

Susan sighs under her breath, knowing if Neil was here Billy would he pushed against the wall for making such a comment. “It’s just to ensure she’s checked on at all times. You can have more time to yourself,” She forces a small smile as the front door slams shut.

Billy tenses as his Dad shoves past him, walking over to Susan and kisses her sloppily, proving a point. “You told him?” Neil mutters, glaring to his son who remains perfectly still. “We don’t trust you, boy. You lost Max, how can we trust you?” Neil scoffs, but Billy doesn’t dare say his thoughts aloud.

“Who’s the babysitter then?” Billy questions, trying to keep his anger suppressed as he crosses his arms, hiding is clenched fists.

“Some girl in the neighbourhood.” Neil comments, shrugging a shoulder as he looks to Susan for confirmation.

Clearing her throat, Susan speaks up. “Her name is Y/n. She’s in your year, but she babysits a lot of the children in the area.” Susan beams about you, and already Billy cannot stand you.

“Fine.” He states before turning on his heels and heads up the stairs, only to be disturbed moments later by his Dad bursting through the door.

“You mess with Y/n, Billy,” Neil spits at his son as he keeps his feet firmly planted in the doorway, pointing his forefinger at Billy.

“I won’t, Sir.” Billy tells him quietly, swallowing the lump in his throat.

Neil rolls his eyes before reaching forward, slapping Billy across the face. “Like hell, you won’t.” He forcefully mutters. “If I find anything out, you’re gone.”

The door slams shut, leaving Billy in painful silence.

It had been over two weeks since you had started babysitting Max, not that you liked to term it as such. She was a few years younger, but she had the mentality of someone your age.

You often just hung out in her room, knowing Billy was lurking somewhere.

In school, everyone knew Billy. At this point, it was impossible to go a day without someone spreading a new rumour about him. But the reason Max liked you so much is that you couldn’t care less, at least on the surface you didn’t.

When you were with Max, none of the petty drama mattered. She would sit and ask about boy advice, have girl talk that she desperately needed and struggled to engage in conversation with her Mom.

“I wish I had a sister.” Max sighs as she lies upside down on her bed whilst you remain seated on the floor, leaning against the wardrobe as you flick through a magazine. “But instead I’ve got a stepbrother.” She groans as the sound of his music sounds through the house from downstairs. “And this is the shit I have to put up with.”

You chuckle under your breath. “I’m sure he’s not that bad.” You try to reason, but Max shoots you a look that says it all.

“You’ve clearly never had a conversation with him then.” Max comments as she turns to lie on her front, watching as you shrug before turning the page of the magazine. “Hey, Y/n?” She speaks up, listening as you hum. “What’s it like to be in love?”

Max watches closely as your eyes stop scanning the words on the page and your fingertips hold the pages still. You rub your lips together, deep in thought about how to honestly answer her question.

“What’s it like?” You respond, looking up to see Max nod with her left eyebrow arching in curiosity.

“All I see are the girls Billy hangs out with, and that’s never going to be love.” She states and you let out a short laugh, causing her to smile to herself.

Unbeknownst to you both, Billy has discarded his workout to eavesdrop on his stepsister and the new baby sitter. He quietly perches outside of the bedroom door, leaning against the wooden frame as he listens to your sigh.

“Love is complicated, that’s the first thing I can tell you,” You admit and Max gives you her full attention, wanting to know more. “and to answer your question love is painful, unbearable at times but so pure and, and special.” A sad smile crosses your lips, and it’s one Max doesn’t miss.

“Have you been in love before?” She digs the knife deeper into your chest unknowingly as you nod softly.

Billy can’t help but he moreso intrigued as he listens to the sound of you sniff. Wondering who hurt you and made you so fragile around such a mundane topic.

“It was your classic young love that you’ll soon experience, Max.” You state, watching as she rolls her eyes in response. “Oh trust me, I felt the same when I first met him. But, he managed to worm his way into my heart.”

Max watches as you zone out, your mind remembering past events.

“What was he like?”

“He was charming, too charming for me to be swayed so easily. But, I liked the affection he provided. I fell for him hard and it was beautiful while it lasted until things turned sour.” You trail off, snapping out of your memories and returning to the present. “Sometimes it happens though, you fall too hard and you realise how much the landing hurts.”

“Shit.” Max thinks aloud, looking as you clear your throat.

“Sorry, that was way too heavy.” You apologise, but Max shakes her head as Billy mirrors her actions outside. “But, you live and learn. Eventually, you move on.”

Shuffling on her bed, Max sits upright. “And you moved on to someone else I take it?” Her mischevious smile returns and now it is your turn to roll your eyes.

Billy’s interest peaks as you chuckle quietly, a sound he’ll never tire of hearing even if it isn’t for him.

“Kinda,” You shrug your shoulder, leaving Billy wanting to know more. “I don’t know. He isn’t really someone who’d go for a girl like me.”

Max groans loudly. “Don’t be so cliche! Who is it? Does he go to your school? Is it the guy who works at The Gap?” She reels off questions, listening as you answer each of them with responses she isn’t after. “Don’t tell me it’s Billy.” She jokes, and Billy tenses outside of the room not hearing you immediately dismiss him as an option.

You look up at her with a sheepish smile, and Max exhales deeply.

“You’ve gotta be shittin’ me.”

Heat rises through your face as you open your mouth, but no words follow.

“I guess if Billy were to date someone, I’d want it to be you.” She says honestly, and you feel your heart warm at her comment.

“He won’t ever know, Max. But it’s a sweet thought.” You tell her, only to hear the door open seconds later as Billy stands there, looking at Max before turning his eyes to see you on the floor.

“What’d you want?” Max questions coldly, focusing on how Billy smiles at you as opposed to that disgusting smirk he puts on for all the girls she sees him with.

Billy averts his attention from you back to Max. “I came to tell your baby sitter that her parents called. Something about a kid next door.” Billy shrugs his shoulder, lying seamlessly as you swear under your breath.

“I better go, sorry Max.” You say sweetly as she rises to her feet, running through the handshake you both created as Billy watches you both bond.

“See you tomorrow, yeah?” She tries to make it sound calm, and when you nod a silent sigh of relief leaves her lips.

As you run down the stairs, you’re slightly flustered as Billy remains hot on your tail. You grab your coat and slip it on before you reach for the front door, only to see it is already open as Billy holds it open.

“Gotta treat a lady right.” He comments with a smile, watching as you tuck your hair behind your ear.

“Thanks, Billy.” You say as you walk out of the door.

“Hey, Y/n?” He calls after you before you reach your car. “See you tomorrow?” He questions, watching as you nod before driving away, not seeing the genuine smile grow across his lips.

#Billy Hargrove #billy hargrove x reader #billy hargrove imagine #billy hargrove imagines #billy hargrove oneshot #billy hargrove fluff #billy hargrove angst #billy hargrove headcanon #stranger things #stranger things imagines #stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader #stranger things headcanon #stranger things fluff #stranger things angst #stranger things oneshot

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mayraki · 5 years ago

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The Trained Assassin.

Spencer Reid series. Part 6.

Not my gif! Credits to the owner.

Summary: Life’s not easy when you found out that instead of being trained to be a spy for the CIA, you are being trained to be an assassin, a killer. The people you wanted to stop, they were making you one. That’s when you joined the BAU to become someone new, you didn’t want to be someone’s toy. You wanted your past to be arrased, that’s all. But it’s not easy to hide a past like that.

MASTERLIST

“Maxim”

Having the weekend off was not what you wanted, you wanted to go back to work on Friday but Hotch insisted you to take the day off and the weekend as well. He knew that you weren’t alright since the last case, and he was right.

God, I hate profilers.

You weren’t able to sleep well and you didn’t have the appetite to eat anything. You had big bags under your eyes and since Hotch noticed that you couldn’t keep your hands out of a cup of coffee he made the decision to make you have three days off.

“Good job, number 15!” The coach of the basketball team said to one of his students.

You saw your little brother, Maxim, with his curls all over his face and when he saw you he waved with a big smile on his face.

“What are you doing here?” He said once the practice was over. He was all sweaty from the running and he had his big t-shirt on.

“Well, I’m not working right now. So I decided to come and see my little brother. Is that wrong? I can’t see you now?” You said pretending to be hurt.

“No! It’s not that. I mean how did you get in? I thought family couldn’t come in practice on a private school”

“Well, little brother, your big sis has connections.” You winked at him. “I was thinking...” you put your arm around his shoulders “since I have this weekend off, would you like to come and spend it with me?”

He gave you a bigger smile and hugged you “Sure! Let me pack my things, I’ll be ready in five minutes.” And he took off like his life depended on it. You laughed and waited for him at the giant outside door of his school.

“Can we watch Star Wars?” He asked once you two finished dinner.

It was Saturday night and the last two days went amazingly. You missed your little brother more than ever and you wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, with your work and his school it was impossible to spend an entire day together. So you wanted to save this weekend on you memory and remember every single detail.

“Really? Max, you always want to watch Star Wars. Let’s pick something else, I think I can say the entire lines from Star Wars 2 perfectly.”

“It’s not ‘Star Wars 2’” he mocked you “it’s Star Wars episode V: the empire strikes back. And you would know that if you watched it with me tonight.” You laughed.

“First of all, that’s not how I talk! Secondly... sure. You win.”

He applauded excited “I always win.” He said with pride.

“Sure, little one.”

You were half into the movie when you heard knocking on your door. Both of you turned your heads to the door and Max paused the movie.

“Stay here.” You said and got up. “Who is it?”

“It’s Spencer.” The voice said on the other side.

What the hell is he doing here on a Saturday night at 10 pm?

You opened the door and Spencer was there with a big bag on his hand.

“Hi.” He said and Max appeared next to you.

“Who are you?” He said suspicious.

“Hi...?” Spencer said looking at Max and then at you looking confused.

“Spencer, this is Max, my little bother. Max, this is Spencer, I work with him in the BAU.”

Spencer recognised the little boy. He was the one that you had on your desk, the picture that you hanged up your first day.

“I— you weren’t answering your cellphone. I thought something was wrong.” He said still looking at Max who wasn’t trusting Spencer at all.

“Well, you saw that she’s ok. You can go now.” Max said trying to close the door but you stopped him.

“Max.” He looked at you with a serious face. He mumbled a ‘sorry’ and you went back to Spencer.

“I brought something to eat. Some snacks. I know how much you like them...”

“Food?” Max said watching the bag “Ok, you can come in.” He said after seconds of thinking about it.

He stood aside and Spencer walked in.

“Hey, I think I need to remind you that this is my apartment.”

Max turned to you and hold up the bag Spencer gave to him “But he brought food! I think is really rude if you take the bag and let him outside, y/n”

You opened your mouth with surprise but you couldn’t help it and let out a little laugh “I taught you well.” You said sarcastically and Spencer laughed.

“You were watching Star Wars?” Spencer asked looking at the TV.

Max nodded “you like it?” He said putting the Doritos on a bowl.

“Love it. One of my favorites after Star Strek.”

“Oh my god, I have two nerds in this house now, this is going to be a long night.” You said jokingly.

“Favorite character?” Max asked. “Answer quick and there is a wrong answer.”

“Chewbacca, of course. And Luke Skywalker is my second.”

“Nice.” Max said almost in a whisper. “You know, I can tell you’re cool. I thought you were a jerk who was trying to get into my sister’s pants but now I see that you’re more than that.”

You opened your mouth with surprise and Spencer chocked on his drink. “Max!” You said and he turned to you with ‘innocence’ in his face.

“What? C’mon. It’s Saturday night and he brought snacks expecting to come into your house, he knows you wouldn’t say no. It’s not that big of deal. He’s a man, y/n, you should know that. I’m 13, i might be young, but I’m not stupid.” He said giving you a smile and going back to the sofa to keep watching the movie.

You couldn’t believe what Max just said, and you didn’t want to admit it but he was kind of right.

“I’m sorry...” you said looking at Spencer.

“It’s ok... I guess that is the impression that I gave him. But it’s not true.” He said quickly “I did come here to see if you were ok.”

“I believe you, don’t worry.” You said with a smile.

He seemed relieved and you let out a little laugh.

***

“You know, I don’t know if this is an unpopular opninion or not, but I kinda liked the end of Star Wars.” Max said without breaking the eye contact with the TV.

It was almost midnight when you three started watching the next movie of the franchise. You were sitting down at the couch but Spencer and Max were sitting down at the floor so they could see the TV better.

Spencer was across from you when he started talking about his opinion on something, you couldn’t understand what it was because they started talking about some fiction and space stuff you didn’t know.

So you took the chance to look at him in detail. The way his hands moved when he was saying a weird fact, he had a sharp jawline and it tensed every time he closed his mouth. His lips moved quickly and his eyes didn’t look away from the screen. His skin looked like it was very soft and your hands moved unintentionally because they wanted to feel it.

He let his left hand rest on his thigh and the thought of him touching yours made an appearance on your mind. His fingers going up and down, making you feel worm inside while he was kissing you...

“Y/n!” Your brother called you and took you back to reality.

“Yeah?” You said trying to not sound nervous at the thought of your imagination.

“Could you bring me more water?” He said without taking his eyes from the TV.

“Am I your servant now?” You said raising your left eyebrow.

“Sorry!” He said thinking of his previous actions but when he was about to stand up Spencer stopped him.

“I’ll do it, I know this part like the palm of my hand.”

“Thank you!” Max said.

You watched him go to the counter of you kitchen and he opened the fridge. His shirt went up a little bit when he lifted his arm to open the water bottle and you unintentionally bit you lower lip. When you noticed you moved uncomfortably on the couch and tried to move your attention to the movie but the sound of the water doing down the glass cup made you look.

Spencer’s tongue went over his lips and the tough of it licking your skin made you close your eyes and smacking you on the inside because you didn’t want to have those kinda thoughts.

You turned your body so it would face the TV and not the kitchen but your eyes wanted to go back to him. You tried so hard to not go back until Spencer came into the living room. But instead of going back to his last position, after giving the glass to Max, he sat down next to you close enough so your shoulders would slightly touch.

Does he know what he’s doing?

You were glad the movie was over minutes later and that Spencer offered himself to clean the mess him and Max did while watching the movie.

This was new to you, you were always the one that made the first move, you were never the one who falls first and the fact that he wasn’t even trying made your heart go down to the floor even more.

“What time is it?” Max asked while he was doing the dishes.

“Almost 1 am.” Spencer said and you got close to your little brother.

“It’s pretty late, you should go to bed.” You said and Max give you his famous puppy eyes.

“But... it’s Sunday tomorrow!”

“You told me that you had homework for the weekend and you haven’t done it yet, you’re not going to wake up late tomorrow.”

“One more hour.” He smiled and hugged you “you know that you’re an amazing big sister and the best friend I could ever ask for?”

“You’re not going to win, but you can stay until 1:30 am. And say thanks to Spencer because I’m doing this because he’s here.”

Spencer gave you a smile and Max hugged him after letting you go.

“Thank you, thank you so much for coming.”

He laughed “You’re welcome. Hey, do you want to see some magic tricks?”

“You know magic tricks?” Max said sounding surprised “You’re so cool. Hey, sis, don’t ever let him go.” He said when he left to look for the cards he had on his backpack.

“Max!” You whispered to him and Spencer just let out a little laugh.

Your little brother handed the cards to Spencer and he started the magic trick. He was moving the cards fast and his fingers were following every move he made. You couldn’t take your eyes off of them and the thought of them going up your arms appeared on your mind. They were tracing you body like it was a piece of art. But now it’s wasn’t only the fingers that were in your imagination, but Spencer was there too. He was looking at you with his beautiful dark eyes and his lips went to your stomach to leave little kisses on it. He was sitting down in your bed and you standing in front of him and...

“Wow!” Max said and took you back to reality “How did you do that?”

Fuck! I have to stop.

“I’ll teach you some.”

Oh, no. He’s not going to stop. I have to get out here.

“I’ll be right back.” You said and both of them nodded, Spencer give a you a little smile but you didn’t respond because you wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

You washed your face and looked for the time; 1:24 am. Six more minutes and the magic tricks were done because Max needed to go to bed. And the thought of you and Spencer being alone for the first time in the entire night made your heart skip a beat.

You were not usually like this, you never got nervous when it came to boys. You had your experience and even when it wasn’t for your personal life but for a mission, seducing mafia bosses and security guards like it was the easiest thing in the world. And for some reason you couldn’t handle a man who was doing magic tricks and touching your shoulder with his.

What is it about him?

You came back to the kitchen when the hour 1:30 hit on the clock and Max looked at you with excitement on his face.

“Hey, y/n! Let me show you a trick Spencer just teach me!”

“You’ll show it to me tomorrow, now it’s time for bed.”

He looked at the clock and his excitement went away completely.

“Ok.” He said turning to Spencer “I’ll see you. Bye.”

“Goodnight Max.”

“Yeah.” He said and went to his room.

“Want some tea?” You said and Spencer nodded.

“Sure.”

When you started to make the tea you felt his body walk behind you and stand next to you.

“Want some help?” He said almost in a whisper but you said ‘no’ with your head and gave him a little smile. You went to the other side of the kitchen to grab some mugs and pour the tea you just made into them.

“Here.” You handed the cup to Spencer and he thanked you giving you a big smile. “I guess you have some questions about Max.” You said remember the face he made when he met him.

He looked at the floor “I thought you didn’t have any family, that’s why I was so surprised.”

“I don’t have any blood family.”

He put on his thinking face and his tongue went over his lips. And before he asked any questions you started telling the story.

“When I was 22 I had a mission... I had to infiltrate a mafia boss’ bussiness. I had to get close to him and make him trust me. It was the longest undercover mission I went on. Making him trust me was not easy. He was one of the most frightening men that I’ve ever met. And worst, had to lie to. But when I was close enough, that’s when I met Maxim. He introduced him as his son. He was a scare 11 year old boy. We connected immediately. The things that he had to see when he was little, what he went through. This man wasn’t the loving father he needed. Later on I found out that this man abducted him when he was just a little baby. I finished the mission, the man went to jail and his business went down. The CIA decided to not involve anyone else and give Max up for adoption but I knew that its not easy getting adopted being a teenager. I didn’t want him to end up like me. So... I brought him home with me. I worked on a case with a detective, I saved his life and in returned I asked him if his brother would give Max a scholarship on his private school... that’s the story. I can’t believe that the scared boy that I met two years ago is the funny and smart kid that I know now. He’s so strong. We call each other like siblings because we are the only thing we have.”

“You took him in even tho you were so young...” he said looking at you in the eyes.

“I didn’t see myself as being ‘young’. And I didn’t care, I never got adopted and when I did, it was them. I didn’t want him to be like me.”

“Do you ever think what it would’ve happend if you got adopted when you were younger?” He put his empty cup on the counter and walked towards you so he can stand next to you.

“I used to. I try to think how can I make this life better and forget about the past. Try to make a great life for him and be... happy.” You looked up to him and he gave you a little smile.

“It’s weird how our lives can change in a matter of seconds. One day mine is really boring and the next I go on a date with an assassin.” He said jokingly and you laughed. You remembered the day that Spencer asked you to go for coffee on your first case together.

“Hey... I’m not an assassin, I’m just trained like one.” You smiled and looked at him in the eyes.

But unintentionally looked at his lips and he did the same, you felt the tension growing up in the room and everything that used to make you feel sad and unsafe, went away.

“Spencer...” you said “you said to me... ‘I need you alive.”

His eyes went up to yours and he gently grabbed your waist to get you closer to him. You moved on step forward and felt his chest touch yours.

“I do.” He said in a whisper and when he was about to get closer to you, his phone started to ring making you two jump and ruining the moment completely.

He took his phone out from his pocket and you read the name ‘Sophie’ on the screen. He hanged up and sighed.

“Sorry...” He said without looking at you.

“Are you sure your girlfriend is ok with you being here with me?” You said without even thinking. Anger grew in your body and went to the door to open it and Spencer followed you.

“Wait, y/n, she’s just a friend.”

“A friend that calls you at 2 am on a Saturday night? If she was really a close friends you wouldn’t hang up because the common thing to think when someone calls you out of nowhere at this hours it’s that something’s wrong unless the girl is not really a friend and that is a booty call. I am a good profiler too, Spencer. Goodnight.” Before he could say anything you closed the door and stand there, with the feeling of being lost back into your body.

*****

PART 7

taglist: @itsarayofsunshine @whothefuckstolemykeds @haykayhesson @enigma-xlii @introvertedsin @mylovehes @infires420 @uwu-sebastianstan @my-life-is-here-soo @spencersdolore @oldspirit

#spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds imagines #spencer reid #spencer reid smut

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anasticklefics · 5 years ago

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The Epitome Of Youth

Fandom: Stranger Things

Characters: Max/Eleven

Summary: El isn’t used to the social norm and keeps saying the strangest things, such as asking Max if she can tickle her. But who is Max to deny her things?

A/N: Based on this prompt. Dedicated to the lovely @ticklishraspberries because today is her birthdaaaay and I love her xxx

Words: 935

El could say the strangest things. Wait, okay, backtrack.

A summer of bare legs and scruffy knees, tangled hair and roadside kisses out of view. Their group of six splitting up, Mike and Lucas too weird about their breakups. Too prideful about their girlfriends now dating each other. But for them it barely mattered, which was definitely the honeymoon stage speaking, but Max couldn’t find it in her to care or change it just yet.

She would skate around Hawkins, El skipping beside her. Both laughing, chewing bubblegum and kicking pebbles out of their way. The epitome of youth if Max had ever seen one. A cliché, almost. Not having had their first proper big fight yet. Always exploring. Always curious and eager as they jumped into pools and ran through fields. It was as if the simple act of being was enough for them those weeks. They didn’t need books or comics or TV or stores (though they of course would be stupid to not utilize the entertainment laid so neatly in front of them from time to time). They would talk and laugh and run and kiss, and it would be enough.

But El could just say the strangest things.

Max had to admit her lack of a filter and embarrassment could be rather funny at times, but she’d also never spluttered as much as she had that summer. Afraid her eyes would get stuck in permanent surprise, her cheeks always warm as El looked at her so earnestly it nearly broke her heart.

But sometimes the questions her girlfriend would ask would just be so stupid that all she could do was laugh. She only stopped when she realized it upset El, but it was hard to bite it back sometimes, though try she did.

That day it wasn’t a question as much as a request. “Can you tickle me?”

Max stopped in her tracks. “Sorry?”

“Can you tickle me?”

She tilted her head at El, unsure of if she was messing with her. It wouldn’t be the first time. Eleven had realized Max would believe anything she said at this point and would sometimes act clueless just to see Max stumble through an explanation. But this wasn’t a request for Max to explain the concept of tickling, but a request to tickle.

“Like, now?”

“If you want.”

The field was entirely empty, the grass high enough to hide them from view if they lied down. Leaning against a tree for shade, they’d started tucking in on their sandwiches when El had suddenly piped up. They hadn’t even been talking about tickling, which made Max believe this was something that had been on her mind for a while now.

Max hadn’t even known El knew about it.

“Sure? I mean, if you want me to?”

“I do.” El’s smile was bright. Eager. “It’s been so long since someone did it to me. I miss it.”

“Did Mike use to-”

El nodded. “And Hopper.”

“Ah.” A beat, and, “And you liked it?”

“It was fun.”

“Okay.”

“Do you like it?”

Max turned her face toward the sky, willing her blush to slow the fuck down. “A little. It’s fun.”

“It is.”

“And you want me to tickle you right now?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, well.” Max turned to face her fully, grinning when El instinctively held out her hands. “Where are you ticklish?”

“Find out for yourself,” El said, and it was that teasing, playful tone that made the last bit of awkwardness in Max’s body melt away and she reached out with a laugh, going for El’s unprotected knees.

El squealed, moving her legs away but Max was too quick and took a hold of her calf, fluttering her fingers over the back of El’s left knee. Her squeals turned into proper belly laughter that Max adored with her whole heart. Twisting her body so that she was lying on her side, El managed to slip her leg out of Max’s grip. Not deterred, Max went for her sides, her shirt having slipped up and exposed a strip of smooth skin that was too tempting for her to leave alone.

“No!” El cried, still laughing, still squirming like crazy, but never asking Max to stop.

Max was laughing too, having forgotten how much fun it could be to reduce someone to a giggly mess. How much El had to trust her to let her do this.

“Where else are you ticklish?” she asked, moving her hands downward, trying to get to El’s belly, but finding it hard when El full on decided to lie on it. “Well, there’s always your armpits.”

El clamped her arms down, but Max managed to worm her fingers beneath them anyway, wiggling them as much as she could while El curled up beneath her. Repeating Max’s name now, over and over like a prayer.

Max leaned closer, her hair brushing El’s neck. “Can’t handle it?”

“Shut up,” El choked out between her laughter.

Max hummed. “I wouldn’t be cocky when you’re in this position, babe.” She slipped her hands free and moved them to El’s lower back, a mere guess, but El kept giggling. Not as much as before, but enough to keep Max going, fingertips light against her skin.

El rolled over to shield her back just like Max had hoped, and she attacked her girlfriend’s belly as soon as she could, making her cry out, knees rising, hands grabbing Max’s wrists, but all in all not doing anything to actually make her stop.

El had to really like this.

It had suddenly grown on Max as well.

#tickling #ticklish!eleven #elmax #elmax fic #eleven/max #stranger things fic #stranger things #mine #tickle fic #ana's fics #the epitome of youth

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soiruntotheriver · 4 years ago

Note

(9) In summary, when things get hard, does Silver go back to what he knows: being out for himself, lost in creating his “perfect” life, even if it means losing the person who loves him/he loves, all stemming from his repression in realizing his feelings, in repressing his past, an inability to stand being truly seen, and therefore an inability in being an honest, equal partner?

Alright, my dude, you’ve got me doing a deep dive on this one haha. I actually went back and re-watched the last three episodes and took notes to sort all this out in my head. Hopefully it all makes sense. This is all about Flint and Silver’s motivations and the actions they take to achieve their goals towards the end of the series. It’s gonna be a long one, so buckle in. As Jack Rackham once said: “Please forgive me, I will go on from time to time, but generally in the service of thoroughness...” I’m gonna post this under the last of your asks, as I believe it addresses most of your points. If I leave anything out please let me know.

Alright so, *crack knuckles* here we go:

For context: Rackham and Max have gone to create an alliance with Marion Guthrie in Philadelphia, Billy has gone to Rogers to show him how to divide Flint from Silver, and Madi has been taken prisoner.

Early in episode 8 we get the first of a number of similar conversations between Silver and Flint concerning the war. This one has Silver asking what’s going to happen after their current conflict. He points out that any time Nassau hasn’t had a someone to lead/support it (Eleanor, Rackham, Rogers) it becomes a place of horrors. If this is meant to be a period of transition, what’s on the other side? Something better, something meaningful? He asks:

‘But what if it isn't? What if the result of this war isn't beyond the horror, what if it is the horror itself. Have you given this any thought at all?’

To which Flint replies that to be rid of England and fashion something else, he knows that they will have to go through a period of darkness and seeming hopelessness. But that he has to believe that it will be worth it and that progress is possible. Silver responds by saying that’s a lot of potential suffering to wager on blind faith. Flint assures that with the right people in place they can get through it. He also states that those people are meant to be Madi and Silver, and that Madi is just as important to realizing their goals as the cache.

So Silver agrees to try Flint’s plan to retrieve Madi, but he still brings the treasure along just in case this all goes sideways. And it does. Rogers just starts shooting people willy-nilly which even Flint seems surprised about. Just as Rogers is about to blow Madi’s head off, Silver shows him the chest and next thing we know we’re on our way to Skeleton Island to make the exchange. On the way there Flint yells at Silver about how he’s just given Julius more leverage against the cause and crippled the war effort. Silver retorts by telling Flint that they’ll make do somehow and demands his support in this venture. He points out the numerous times he’s helped Flint even though he didn’t necessarily understand or agree with him.

‘My god. The number of times I have followed you blindly, backed you with the men blindly, put men in the fucking ground…good men! Friends! Because you said, “I know the way. "Don’t ask me how. Just do as I say.”’

Silver asks again if Flint will support him and Flint answers: “Yes.”

Shortly after this we have two great conversations happening in parallel: Silver with Hands and Flint with Dooley. Hands tries to convince Silver that Flint is Bad and must be killed. Silver asserts that he trusts Flint. Hands says that a crown can’t be split two ways and that he knows that Silver actually wants Flint dead, he just doesn’t know how to ask for it. To which Silver responds:

‘Hear me very clearly, there is no hidden message and no equivocation, you will make no move against him, you will not speak of doing so to any man on this crew nor to me again. Do it, and you'll answer for it.’

Meanwhile, Flint is telling the legend of skeleton island to Dooley in order to bring up the subject of men loosing their wits. He asserts that he believes Silver is compromised and so he (Flint) finds himself in need of a new partner. Dooley agrees and they go to fetch the gold, almost getting killed by another crew member in the process. They are saved by Hands who tells Flint he wants them to go ahead and take the treasure so that Silver will see Flint’s true colors. The end of the episode has Silver witnessing this betrayal and deciding to send men out after Flint, ostensibly to kill him, though I think he knew those men were not a match for Flint and really just wanted to find out where he was going so that he could get the treasure back.

In a fit of true diabolical evil, our writers chose to follow up this last scene from episode 8 by opening episode 9 with the first flashback of Flint and Silver’s fencing lessons. I literally said “Oh, no” to myself several times aloud as I watched Silver climb that hill to the bluffs.

Now these are lovely scenes I could go on about forever, but the most important takeaway for me right now, is that Flint realizes he doesn’t know anything about Silver’s past. Silver says that his past isn’t important. Flint argues that that’s not true. From Flint’s perspective, he’s revealed himself to Silver, given him his history, which defines him, and also the tools Silver needs to guess at Flint’s future actions. Flint goes on to insinuate that Silver wormed his way into Flint’s story by comparing himself to Flint’s former ill-fated partners. That he did this in order to use Flint’s affection for him to make it more difficult for Flint to act against him later. Silver is disquieted by Flint calling his bluff and seems thrown by that last comment in particular, mostly because I don’t think Silver consciously meant to manipulate him that way at all. Flint says he’s not angry with him but Silver is too overwhelmed to continue. He asks if it’s okay if they resume tomorrow, and flees.

I want to revisit the fireside chat here for a moment in order to point out that Silver was, in fact, already very deeply in the story by that point, a story he’d been made a part of largely against his will (by his injury, by Flint’s machinations, by Billy, etc.). In regards to Silver’s motivations during that conversation, I always assumed them to be exactly what they seemed to be: He wanted to understand why Flint was so driven to wage war and he wanted to voice a real, actual warning that he himself might prove to be Flint’s undoing. Flint responds in a way that makes me think he either A. didn’t think Silver would betray him or B. he didn’t think that Silver could get the better of him.

This is an important moment of dissonance between them, because it repeats itself in the sword lesson flashback: Silver asks if Flint is worried about the fact that he’s essentially teaching Silver to best him in combat and Flint waves him off with a smile, saying he’ll take his chances.

The most significant moment within the flashbacks comes when Silver finally finds the words to outline his philosophy and frame his decision not to share his past. I actually think this scene gives Flint all he needs to know about Silver as a person (in terms of being able to anticipate Silver’s future actions), though I’m not sure in that moment he could really wrap his head around it. Knowing the details of Silver’s past are not necessary when you realize that they did, in fact, define him and one can use that knowledge to recognize the ways in which they shape his future decisions.

Silver maintains that he is not trying to hide anything, he merely absolved himself from the obligation of finding any relevance in his own story because there is no coherence, ‘nor sense, nor grace’ to be found in life. But more than that it’s because he’s experienced ‘events some of which no one could divine any meaning from, other than the world is a place of unending horrors.’ He says that Flint knows of him all that’s relevant to be known and swears that Flint has his true friendship. He asks if it is enough for there to be trust between them and Flint, not quite sure what to make of all this, answers by resuming their lesson.

Intermixed with these flashbacks are our real-time scenes, some of which I want to touch on to check in on Silver and Flint’s states of mind. As Silver and Hands pursue Flint in the forest, Hands asserts that he believes Silver will keep finding reasons to forget everyone’s warnings about Flint. He also mentions when Silver tells the men to split up to find Flint that he’s sending at least one group of them to their deaths. Hands makes a point of saying that Silver’s decision here shows that he’s learned a lot from Flint. Aka, Silver is willing to sacrifice other’s lives to reach his own ends. Silver seems uncomfortable with the comparison, likely because he sees the truth in it. Silver’s desire to not be like Flint is very important in the final moments of the show and will come again up later. Silver admits to Hands that he’s not sure if Flint actually wants to save Madi for the sake of it or if it’s just part of his larger machinations. It’s key to note that Silver’s trust in Flint is degrading further. Both because of Silver’s inherent pessimism, and because of Flint’s own actions.

Meanwhile, Flint and Dooley are doubling back to the chest after having chucked it over an embankment to throw Silver’s party off their scent. Dooley essentially tries to convince Flint that Silver might become a liability. Flint defends Silver but Dooley’s like, yeah, but if it comes to it I’ll kill him for you. The look on Flint’s face clearly shows how not okay he is with the thought of Silver dying, but he keeps his reservations to himself for now. At this point, it is important to acknowledge that neither Silver nor Flint wants the other dead. They are both still trying to outmaneuver each other in order to reach their goals.

Silver finally catches up to Flint which leads us to another Important Conversation wherein Silver states that if the war were to continue it would be just like this, forever - lies, betrayals, death. He also tells Flint that he understands Flint’s motivations more fully now because he’s suffered a similar loss. When Madi was presumed dead, he wanted to give her sacrifice meaning by waging battles in her name. But he says that underneath that desire was the thing that Flint himself taught him to recognize: rage. In a very Miranda moment, Silver tells Flint that part of what drives him is wanting to watch the world burn. This is another way in which Silver does not want to be like Flint.

After this is a deeply depressing flashback wherein Silver is trying to explain his relationship with Flint to Madi by saying: ‘I have earned his respect, after all the tragedies that man has suffered (...) I have earned his trust, I have his true friendship. And so he's going to have mine. And as long as that is true, I cannot imagine what is possible.’ And all of our hearts break a little to think of what could’ve been. Because, as I mentioned before, Silver no longer believes he can trust Flint and so he no longer has faith in their friendship.

The episode ends with Rogers blowing up the Walrus which puts a hold on Flint and Silver’s duel and forces them to ally once again with Rackham. Flint makes a little speech about how their priority is to rescue Madi and tells Jack he’s taking over command of the ship to facilitate that end. The next episode starts with Silver questioning Flint’s motives, sure that he’s only placating John whilst continuing his scheming. Flint throws him by offering a very candid and heartfelt reply about how he isn’t sure he wouldn’t have acted exactly as Silver had if it were Thomas’s life on the line. He states that he meant it when he promised he’d see John through this and still wants to put things back together. Silver is visibly torn over whether or not he believes what Flint is saying.

Alright, we can now fast forward to the Final Confrontation. Flint, realizing that something has passed between Silver and Jack that smacks of betrayal, halts their trek through the woods in order to question Silver about it. Silver can’t bring himself to lie. He asks Flint how much more ‘measuring of lives and loves and spirits’ there will be ‘so that they may be wagered in the grand game. How many casualties can be tolerated for the cause, how much loss?’ So it’s not just Madi’s life he’s concerned for, not just his own or Flint’s. He mentions the men, women, and children who have already died for this, who will continue to die for this. And he cannot see where the line might be, because Flint has yet to draw one - this is a man who frequently endangers himself, killed his best friend, sacrificed crew members, murdered innocent civilians, and has no qualms betraying his allies. I think Silver legitimately believes that Flint will stop at nothing. That’s why it’s not a war to Silver, not like any other, instead it’s a ‘fucking nightmare.’

When Flint insists that Silver stopping the war will mean that they will have been for nothing, that this is how the powers-that-be win, that they’ll be distorted to fit false narratives, Silver asserts that he doesn’t care. I personally don’t find this surprising at all, given how little Silver cares about his own personal narrative. I also don’t think that Silver Doesn’t Care At All, it just means that he doesn’t care enough for it to change his mind. I mean he’s lost a leg for these people, risked his life and freedom for this cause, allowed himself to be molded into a better partner for Flint. When Silver opened himself up to a partnership/friendship with Flint and later to a partnership/romance with Madi, he was choosing to allow meaning back into his life. He became a part of a story. But he’s not totally invested in the story itself. He’s mostly just invested in the people in it. Because what does it matter what strangers say after he’s dead? Life up to this point has been about grabbing onto whatever you can in the moment and enjoying it until it is inevitably taken away from you. Experience has relentlessly taught him to have low expectations. So while I think he cares about his relationship with Flint, is proud of what they were able to achieve together, would like to change the world for the better, and wants to be worthy of Madi, none of those goals/states of being are as achievable to him in this moment as ending the war.

I’m not sure that Silver believes that a “good life” with Madi is possible after this - Flint points out that she won’t forgive him for taking the war away and I think Silver knows that’s true - but he’s willing to go for some kind of reconciliation at least. I also don’t think Silver is factoring a post-conflict relationship with Flint in at all - as far as he’s concerned either Flint will be safe somewhere far away with Thomas or Silver will be forced to kill him.

This leads us up to the ending. I personally don’t believe that Silver killed Flint. I feel that’s an important distinction to make when trying to make sense of Silver’s decisions. I won’t go into all the reasons I believe this, in the interests of keeping this thing under ten thousand words, but I will mention a few.

Firstly, as I mentioned above, I think that Silver honestly didn’t want to turn into Flint. When Madi say she thinks he’s lying about not murdering Flint, Silver says that he’s not the villain she fears he is, he’s not him. I think this is in reference to Flint killing his friends to further his goals. I also believe that Silver thought that giving Thomas back to Flint was the key to Madi’s forgiveness and so I think he would have done it for real in case she ever checked up on it. However, I do also think that Silver embellished the story of Flint’s reunion with Thomas. What parts were true and which were false, who can say? He just sounds like he’s dressing up the story a bit, both for Madi’s sake and for his own.

The second main reason why I think Silver’s story checks out actually involves Rackham. Jack tells Marion Guthrie that Flint has retired. Why would he lie about that when telling her Flint was dead would more thoroughly assuage her concerns? He mentions that Flint retiring was a better story to sell the Maroons, but at this point, the treaty has already been signed, so why keep up the fiction?

The third and most tenuous thought I have about it is that Silver uses his “I’ll wait a day, a week...” etc. line on Madi because it actually worked previously on Flint. Maybe some of Flint’s anguish in the woods is over the fact that he’s going to do what Silver’s asking him to do. Maybe he doesn’t want Silver to have to kill him so he gives in and gives up his war.

In conclusion, and to answer one of your questions directly, I think that characterizing Flint as someone who just wants to sate his rage is just as limiting as characterizing Silver as someone who just wants to take the easy way out. And I think that saying that Flint’s motives for reforming the world were noble is as incomplete as saying that Silver just wanted to save the ones he loved at the cost of everything else. All of those things, and more, are simultaneously true.

For me, Flint and Silver were both bad men and good men. Both had room to grow. Both made choices for each other. Both manipulated each other and made mistakes. Both were forced to make quick decisions under enormous amounts of pressure. They were both angry and afraid and courageous and loyal and deceitful and kind. They were both very very human.

It might not seem like it, but I’m more of a Flint irl. Maybe that’s why I’ve tried so hard to understand Silver, because his motivations were a bit more foreign to me at first. I’ve come to love and sympathize with both of them - which is why I continue to talk about them incessantly and devour fan works - especially the ones that get these two to finally work out their issues. If you’re ever looking for fic recs, btw, please do let me know. A lot of this meta is fleshed out beautifully in fan fiction. And those authors say it more profoundly and elegantly than I could ever hope to.

#james flint #john silver #Black Sails #black sails meta #hoo boy it's a long one folks #black sails s4 #this is practically a play by play

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doof-doofblog · 4 years ago

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"... Police Business Is Starting To Look A Lot Like Mitchell Business, Callum!"

Tuesday 29th September 2020

Good evening everyone! Hope you've all had a good day, before we dive into tonight's episode, I have a few spoiler pictures to share with you.

Hopefully these pictures won't give too much away, but obviously you can see for yourselves. Gray doesn't look like he's going to be able to cope during Chantelle's funeral. Do you think he'll eventually tell the truth about how Chantelle died? It's only a matter of time, plus it's also been revealed that Kheerat will not be welcome at the funeral, will he keep the peace and walk away or will he demand to be there?!

In other spoiler pictures, does Frankie come clean to Mick? Is she really Mick's secret daughter? How and why has she come to find him? What does she want with the Carter family?! If she is truly his daughter, how will Linda react and will they both want to create a Father and Daughter relationship?!

Of course there are many questions that need answering, but I'm sure we'll find out the truth in the upcoming episodes! I'm really looking forward to seeing how they unravel! Now lets focus on tonight's episode, it began with Callum in the police stations, from what we can make out, he's listening to a voice message from Phil, asking him to already asking him to do a police check on some individuals he could be potentially doing some dodgy business with, of course he's listening to the voice message with his boss standing with him. From what I can make out, his boss needs something harder to be able to put Phil behind bars, Callum is unsure how he's going to be able to do it - he admits it's going to be hard! I feel like the Detective is just telling Callum what we wants to hear, manipulating him a bit, telling him he understands how hard it is to be the first one on the scene of a huge car crash and also complimenting him saying how much of a good copper he is! Callum explains to his boss that he record every conversation when he's with Phil, it's then his boss passes over to him a small recording device and asks him to place it in the Arches. Callum instants refuses, but once again his boss worms his way into his head and says that if he really wants to keep Ben safe, he'll do what he's asked.

Meanwhile, Stuart is getting ready for his wedding day, it's the happiest the he's ever been. He and Jay are discussing how lucky his is and whether Rainie will be changing her name when Lola appears, explaining that Rainie is having some kind of nightmare with her wedding dress. As far as I can make out, it was some kind of wedding dress from a Christmas box, Wilma Flinstone? Obviously Stuart finds the situation amusing, but when Lola insists that she's serious about the whole thing, Stuart makes himself scarce so Rainie can go and get a proper dress for her wedding day.

As he leaves the scene, Denise can be seen cleaning the salon, Sheree approaches her and she thanks her for standing up to Phil Mitchell and defending Isaac. Denise doesn't know what to say, I guess she doesn't want to take any form of "Thanks" - obviously, unbeknown to Sheree, things we getting on top of Denise and she it looks as if Phil was the one she needed to lash out at, especially considering the fact that he's the father of Raymond. The conversation changes slightly and they end up talking about Mitch and Chantelle, Sheree states that she can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to lose a child, as Denise takes in every word she says, she also mentions that she wouldn't know what she'd do if she was to lose Isaac - Denise suddenly asks Sheree to cover for her, has her words started ringing in Denise's ears? Is she going to focus on what she can do for Raymond?!

Meanwhile, at the restaurant Max is sat on his own looking at his laptop when Bobby comes up behind him, he clocks on to what he's looking at on his computer screen and realises it's his website he's created for The Lucy Beale Foundation. Bobby is in shock when Max reveals how impressed he is with his work and says that he'd like to support him. Bobby says it's not necessary for him, considering what's been happening between him and his Dad. Max apologises to the teenager for how he acted the other day. He also just happens to mention that he's that impressed by Bobby's website that he's called a journalist to come and speak to him about the charity, Bobby instantly seems surprised, he admits he doesn't want to go public with the information just yet, but Max is insistent - what he's portraying is good and it needs to be shown that he's trying to make a difference, and if he's passionate about then so will everyone else!

Dressed in his Best Man attire, Callum looks like he's about to break into the Arches, he successfully makes his way in by unlocking the padlock. My only thought process is, where did he get the key from? Did Phil give it to him? Ben perhaps? I can't recall who or where he got the key from? I mean, of course you'd think Ben would trust him to have given him access to the Arches, but has is instead just also nicked it from someone/somewhere? Once he's in, he quickly scours the room trying to find a decent hiding place for his recorder, from what I see, he decides to leave it in the far corner of the Arches. As he's doing this, his brother is getting enjoying his celebrations with the locals, a hearse is seen outside the Vic with flowers made into the letters S and R! Stuart lets himself inside the car and begins to play "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins. The next part of the scene I loved, Ben and Stuart bonding as they enjoy the music, as Jay is trying to get a hold of Callum, Rainie is ready for her big day, and can I just say - she looks absolutely stunning in her wedding dress! Lola is following along behind her holding her train, when she asks where Stuart is, Jay reveals he's hovering around the hearse, suddenly Rainie's face drops - Stuart has only gone and locked himself in a car with dodgy electrics!!

Back at the Arches, Callum is perfectly hiding his recorder, sticking it underneath a type of ledge of some sort. Once doing this, he begins searching all the documents on the table, taking photographs of each one. Part of me is saying that he's going to be caught at any minute, what I didn't expect was for Danny Hardcastle to make his way in! Instantly, he's suspicious - he questions Callum what he's doing looking at all the paperwork, but then to him, it all makes sense - Ben Mitchell dating a copper and suddenly he's being arrested for the robbery, Callum instantly plays dumb and acts like he has no idea what Danny is talking about. Just then, Phil walks in! Something tells me he's here to perhaps save and stick up for Callum, what is going to happen now he's become face-to-face with Danny again?!

I just want to say how much I loved the next scene! Rainie is going ape at Stuart for getting in the wrong car, of all bloody days! Stuart reassures her that not matter what, they will be getting married. This little hiccup will not ruin their day! It's then he turns and asks Ben to get the car started, Callum is nowhere to be seen so he's now asking Ben to help with Best Man duties! For a split second my heart was in my mouth when Ben realised he had to go the Arches, what would he do if he knew his boyfriend, his Dad and arch enemy were in there?! Wait! I know the answer, he'd go bursting in demanding to know what was going on! Then, when Ben realises he hasn't got the keys, he asks Jay to go instead, they swap roles - Ben calls the wedding venue to change the time of the wedding and Jay goes to the Car Lot to get some jump-leads!

In the Arches, Callum is still - kind of - trapped with Danny and Phil. Danny insists he's only wanting to say adios, after he's had a discussion with him about his arrest. It's then that Danny turns the conversation about Callum, explaining to Phil how he caught him going through his paperwork! This scene had me worrying for Callum. Danny was on him like a dog on heat!!!! Every word he was saying, we knew, was right!!! But of course, Phil isn't going to believe Danny, he'll take the word of his son's boyfriend. Callum attempts to talk his way out of being caught out, explaining that he used Ben's keys to get in as he picked them up by accident. When Danny uses the words to Phil "He's playing you!" I am just praying that Phil will realise what Callum is doing ... Okay, please be honest with me folks, how are you guys feeling about Callum's current situation? Do you think he's doing the right thing? Do you understand why he's doing it? I have such a split feeling about this, I don't like what he's doing to the Mitchell's - to Ben and Phil, he's betraying their trust - and yet I can kind of understand why - to protect his boyfriend. It's such a horrible situation and I really don't like it! It's only going to end badly!! When Callum claims that Danny is lying about everything, Phil does the one thing he's been needing to do - asks Callum to prove he's on their side!!

While Ben is calling his boyfriend, asking where on earth he has got to. Everything is kicking off at the Arches, my mouth drops during this scene! Danny is egging Callum on and on and on! Claiming to Phil that mainly because of his career choice, Callum is using the Mitchell to his advantage, claiming everything they tell him will get back to the police. It's then that Danny turns nasty, saying when his back is turned he'll get his hands on Ben. Callum is getting angrier and angrier at the minute, how dare he threaten Ben again after what he put him through? After causing him to lose his hearing and almost never being able to hear again! Callum lashes out - grabs a sturdy pole and whacks Danny to the floor, Phil watches on as Callum continues to beat Danny over and over again - I'm sure this would be taken as a sign that Callum is proving himself to Phil?!

Wow!!! How long has it been since we've seen Billy?! He joins Mitch the Queen Vic, Mitch makes it quite clear that he's not wanting to have another argument. But Billy insists that's not why he's come to see him. - Random question - Are Billy and Karen still together? I'm assuming they are?! - Mitch has been sleeping at the salon after accusing Gray of being involved in Chantelle's death. Karen, understandably doesn't believe a word that is coming out of he ex's mouth! She's warned him to stay away until he's rid of his unbelievable theories! Billy assures Mitch that he doesn't have to stay away, especially considering Bailey will be returning and she'll need somewhere to stay. He asks Mitch whether he could apologise and forget ever mentioning Gray, but the poor man admits it'll be too hard to do! Billy tries his absolute best to get through the grieving father, Karen is the only one who knows how it feels, they both need each other right now - now more than ever!

Back with Denise, we see her visiting the hospital again, she watches as Ellie is being told that Raymond is progressing really well. Denise approaches Ellie, revealing she's brought pyjamas for the youngster. Ellie warns her that if she really doesn't want to help then she'd best stay away, but Denise reassures her that she is truly eager to help in any way she can. She explains to her that she wasn't close to the young boy's parents, she probably didn't speak to them as much as she'd like, but she truly does want to help her young son. Ellie allows Denise to sit with the boy.

At the Taylor household, we can see, as Billy described to Mitch, that Karen is going through pictures of Chantelle, deciding on which picture to use for her funeral. We can hear her softly sobbing as she looks through the pictures, to me - it looks as if she's looking for a specific one? She looks to the heavens with tears in her eyes, we hear footsteps approaching and Mitch walks in, seeing Karen on the floor he crouches beside her, they don't say a word, Karen acknowledges him and her sobs get harder and harder. Billy was right, they need each other right now. They have lost a child they both loved dearly, only they can understand how the other one is feeling.

At the salon, Jack is seen looking for Denise, Sheree reveals to him that she has gone out and she has been holding the fort for her - for 4 hours!! Jack is clearly beginning to get suspicious of his girlfriend, where is she going and why is she being so secretive? Meanwhile at the hospital, Denise is watching over Raymond. She starts to speak softly to him as he sleeps, apologising for giving him up as a baby, explaining how much she wanted him to have a family who wanted/loved him. Suddenly the little boy wakes - "Mummy!" - Denise is shook, the boy is asking for his Mummy! Part of me thought she was going to start crying softly and perhaps even embrace the young child? She leans in slowly - only to be stopped by Ellie! Do you guys think Ellie is suspicious of Denise also?! Something is telling me she's going to figure out who Denise really is! She explains the child was asking for his Mummy and that she wasn't sure what to do, she quickly exists before things get any more awkward for her.

Back on the Square, where the fun is still going on with Stuart being locked in the car, Jay is trying to jumpstart the car, after a certain amount of attempts, it's clear that the battery of the car is dead. Rainie groans in frustration, of course her groom would get trapped in a car on their wedding day! Suddenly, Ben appears with another fellow in tow! He explains to the couple that he is willing to marry them then are there, otherwise they'd have to reschedule for another day - I just want to mention how much I loved that one-liner by Stuart - "Who's the bowtie?!" - Rainie explains to him the situation and they both agree! It's clear they both love each other, what does it matter where they get married?! As long as they'll have each other, that's all that matters. Finally Callum shows up to his brother's wedding, asking what he's missed, Ben gives him quite a serious look as if to say "Where the hell have you been?!" Ben makes it clear to his boyfriend that he's been trying to get hold of him.

Oh yes! I almost forgot about that - so much as has gone on in this episode tonight! As Max and Bobby leave the restaurant, they both appear to be thanking a journalist for interviewing Bobby and that they'll look forward to reading their article. Of course, Ian is wondering towards them and overhears what they're talking about, "What article?" he asks. Bobby informs his Dad how much of a help Max has been and that hopefully now they'll start to get donations for his sister's charity. As Bobby thanks Max once again, Ian warns him not to play games with his family. Max tells Ian that he's fond of Bobby, even though he's done wrong in the past, he's trying to turn his life around and do something positive, he states a very clever point - why would he want to play games? The only thing he's wanting is his money back and he warns Ian that the clock is ticking!

Back at the Taylor household, Mitch and Karen are reminiscing about their daughter. It's quite a sad scene really, Karen has so many memories of Chantelle's childhood, while Mitch realises he should've been there a lot more for her. He starts to torture himself with thoughts of Chantelle calling for him as she was fighting for her life, Karen tells him not to think of such horrible haunting things! As Karen softly cries, she reminds him on what a beautiful girl they created and how much she will live on through her children. As they both share in their grief, they both lean in for a kiss - when suddenly Gray walks in on them! I don't know about you guys but I can certainly feel the tension between Gray and Mitch as they both look at one another - as much as Mitch wants to be there for Karen, he can't shake his doubts about Gray.

On the Square, Rainie and Stuart are finally getting married, it may not be as they imagined, but they are finally tying the knot! With Ben, Callum, Jay and Lola and all the locals gathered around the car. They are finally announced as husband and wife. It's a beautiful scene as everyone applauds the happy couple! Ben instructs everyone to head into the Vic for drinks and food! Callum watches as his boyfriend walks on ahead, he knows he's going to have to come up with an explanation. As everyone makes their way inside, Rainie decides to stay with Stuart (as he's still trapped in the car) - she then asks whether he wants to know about her surprise! It's then she announces to her new husband that she's pregnant! Honestly, I feel so happy for Rainie and Stuart, they're probably the main couple who deserve all the happiness in the world, after everything they've both been through in the past, they deserve to have a happy married life and to have a child. Why do I fear though that Rainie's pregnancy could be a difficult one?! Happiness only lasts so long in soaps!

Callum finally re-joins Ben, of course Ben has been wondering where the hell his boyfriend has been! Callum lies once again to his boyfriend that he just got caught up at work, which is why he was running so late for his brother's wedding. Ben clocks onto the blood stain on Callum's shirt, what he says then rings truth, his police business is starting to look like Mitchell business! I guarantee, the first thing that is going to come across Ben's mind is, what has his Dad got his boyfriend into?!

Please tell me folks, what do you think of this current storyline with Callum?! I'm really interested to know your thoughts! I hope you enjoyed this post, I apologise for it being up so late, but I hope you'll enjoy reading through it as much as I've enjoyed writing it! I'll be back on Thursday following Thursday's episode! Also I just want to give out a huge thank you to @artsy-highway for the shout-out earlier, if you haven’t already please give them a follow, another fellow EastEnders and Ballum fan who writes brilliant fan-fiction! Get on it! <3

Thank you again everyone, enjoy your Wednesday! Goodnight all! xXx

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cherryblossom-chopper · 5 years ago

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Straw Hat Parent Headcannons

So while I was writing Sanji’s headcannons I was thinking about how much I love parent child relationships and now I can’t stop thinking about the Straw Hats as parents.

Luffy

The fun dad

He’d probably have oopsie babies

I’d be really poetic if Luffy had three sons, that’d make my little heart explode

He’d love playing with his kids but his poor S/O would probably have to make sure he wasn’t being too rough with them

Luffy would cry the first time he got to hold his child

I think he’d be really proud of all their milestones and brag on them

He’d teach his kid to steal food from Sanji for him

I can imagine him carrying his baby around in one of those chest pouches (??)

As his kid got older Luffy would probably let them do more dangerous activities, but I think he’d know where to draw the line

Not a super responsible parent, but still a good dad

Zoro

Probably encourages his kid to be athletic

Has a strict schedule for them especially when the kid is little

Zoro puts his toddler on one of those baby leashes so his kid doesn’t wander away from him

Papa Zoro is the best to nap with

He has the best dad hugs

Zoro is overprotective and a strict dad but he tries to let his kid be independent as they get older

I think Zoro would have a hard time with the idea of his kid growing up, like that's his baby and they’re getting older and going off and having their own life. He’d never admit that though

Zoro is kinda like a sports dad so I think he’d have a hard time connecting with his child if they were a book worm or just not all that athletic

His kid would probably be tasting alcohol at a young age, they’re first real drink would be a very proud moment for Zoro

Responsible parent, but a strict bean dad

Nami

THE WINE AUNT

Her kid is probably an accident, or adopted due to bad circumstances

I think due to her past Nami would be more likely to adopt a younger kid

I’m not sure Nami 100% would want a baby or a toddler, but a six year old would be better for her

I could imagine Nami being like Whitebeard where she just adopts an army of children and she’s just their mom

Any child of Nami’s would learn how to at least pickpocket people

She’d never let them get to far into harms way though

Nami’s babies would be frugal as all get out and be finance experts by the time their ten years old, I swear

As her kids got older I think Nami would be less patient with them and start getting real sassy with them about their life choices

Sanji

The most responsible dad out on the sea

Would not raise his kids the way he was raised, especially if their his daughters

His daughters are going to be precious princesses that much be protected at all times

He would of course love his kids no matter the gender (or lack of) they associated with

His kids would be taught to be well mannered at all times, manners are key to being successful

No toddlers in the kitchen it too dangerous

Carries his newborn child around in a baby sling?

Co sleeping at least for a few months

Every milestone is going to celebrated with cake and cookies and whatever else his baby wants

There will be tears

Usopp

He’s going to be a nervous wreck, oh my lord

“The baby won’t eat! What if they die!?”

“I’ve lost my child”

I cannot express how freaking stressed his going to be this poor boy

Usopp won’t have a leash or anything but he’s probably thought about

“I’m the Great Dad Usopp!”

Getting his kids to fall asleep is hard because he gets too excited with his stories, but he can always entertain them

Usopp would be stressed when his kid was a newborn, but when his kid starts walking that’d be a while new level of actual stress

He’d follow his toddler around the ship making sure they didn’t fall over board

Helicoper parent to the max

Probably a lot more chill when his kids get older though

Yasopp will get so many letters begging for advice

Chopper

His kid would probably a child he found that was really sick or injured that he got attached too

Chopper would be a worry wart but nowhere near as stressed as Usopp

At least every six months his kid would get a full body check up, just to be safe

He’d be sure his kid knows basic first aid and CPR

OHMY Matching hats; Chopper would totally try and let them have matching hats. Oh thats so cute

Chopper would 100% send a letter to Dr. Kureha that she’s a grandmother, this lady would totally cry

Chopper would try to dress his toddler up in little matching onsies a lot

I think he’d cry when his kid got taller than him, which wouldn’t take long but still

Robin

Please allow me to introduce the best parent of the entire crew

she’s already the mom friend so like it’s time for a baby

I’d adore a Frobin baby but if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen

Robin would read her child to sleep every night even if she just read them a history text book

Her kid would be able to read poneglys and when the got older Robin would recruit them to help her learn more about the ancient writing

I think Robin would be absolute elated to have a baby, but I think she could experience a bit of post partum depression

I think she’d be extra careful when her kid is young. Robin deeply fears losing her baby or passing away and her child has to live on without her

She doesn’t want the past to repeat itself and she’ll do everything in her power to protect her child

Her devil fruit lets Robin be the absolute master at tickle fights

Other than Sanji’s kid her child would be the most well behaved

Best parent on the crew hands down

Franky

Dad jokes thx

Franky would be all over his kids.

Everything his kids did would be worth celebrating. Each milestone woud be absolutely super

I can only imagine how much he’d purposefully embarrass his kids when they’re teenagers

Franky is crying all the time. His kid is born; crying. His kid starts walking; crying. His kids first word; crying. You get the picture

Franky would film his kid in shitty home videos all the time. ALL THE TIME.

He made a specialized baby pouch on his body so he could carry his child around

This kid will not have pants on. A pantless child will be running around the Sunny

Dad Franky is going to be giving his kids fun hairstyles on the daily

Probably the most involved Dad other than Usopp maybe

He’d be the type of parent to fight PTA Moms and stuff but also bring cookies to the little league games

Brook

I’m sorry but I cannot imagine this man with a baby. Like... I dunno if it’s because he’s a skeleton but I can only imagine him with a bunch of cats. I think Brook would take in a child if need be but I just don’t think he’d want one of his own. I honestly just can’t really imagine it. I think he’d be a decent baby sitter and the fun weird uncle that everyone has tho

IMPORTANT UPDATE ABOUT BROOK

Alright so user, Sanny-chan5 mentioned that Brook is like a grandpa and omfg yes. I didn’t think of that so now I have Gramps Brook Headcannons for ya’ll

Weird pocket candy

Tells the same like six stories over and over again to his grandkids

Special grandpa-grandbaby music lessons

“You wanna comb my Afro?”

Grandpa Brook just 100% for carrying his grand baby on his shoulders

They could wear his hat and he’d cry

Brook likes to make his soul exit his body to scare them but he’d feel bad if they got real upset

Lullabies

Is the crews official grandpa

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horansqueen · 5 years ago

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AM Conversations : chapter 13

A Niall Horan fanfiction ; rated MA

CHAPTER 1 || CHAPTER 2 || CHAPTER 3 || CHAPTER 4 || CHAPTER 5 || CHAPTER 6 || CHAPTER 7 || CHAPTER 8 || CHAPTER 9 || CHAPTER 10 || CHAPTER 11 || CHAPTER 12

NOTES:

-one chapter is her pov, the next is his. -4k. -im sorry, i never proofread, i hate it. -there WILL be smut. but not only smut. -this is a romance, comedy, smut story. -for the summary, check my MASTERLIST.

- IF YOU WANT TO BE NOTIFIED WHEN THIS IS UPDATED, I THOUGHT I COULD START A TAG LIST SO LET ME KNOW. IF YOU’D RATHER BE NOTICED IN PRIVATE, MESSAGE ME TOO PLEASE!

- there will be smut added soon, just thought i’d give a fair warning!

- i’m having a hard time finding 2015 Niall gifs so i may add 2016 gifs instead. if you want to propose me any PLEASE message me. youll make my day!

- thank you so much for all the asks i get. you guys make me so happy. i cant even explain. thank you forever. i love you!!!

-please, message me, give me feedbacks, it would mean sooo much to me!

Chapter 13 : Her chapter

OLIVIA

Harry was staring at me and I was staring right back. I could feel my heart beat hard against my rib cage but I was not really sure why. Clearly, he thought Niall and I had seen each other naked and although it was pretty true for me, it wasn't as obvious for him. I had caught Niall masturbating completely naked in bed when he was 13, but when Niall saw me, I was wearing a shirt and panties. We got changed in the same room quite often but I knew Niall and I knew he would never look at me without my consent, whether it was out of respect or simply because he was not interested.

Harry's lips curled slightly on the left as he kept his eyes on me and I did the same, looking away and leaning against the couch behind me. It was embarrassing to talk about it and I wanted to talk about something else. I turned to my best friend and had to swallow hard when my eyes landed on him. He had just admitted he had slept with Maya and after what I had confessed to him earlier, it made it even worse. Now I knew why he was trying to reassure me about my jealousy for her and it had worked quite well but now, everything was ruined. I had came to make myself believe that they hadn't done anything. Niall was a discreet person but the way he acted with Maya was so different than how he acted with Heidi and he never explicitly confessed to having sex with her. Perhaps I just didn't want it to be true and now it was hitting me right in the face.

"Sorry guys, but Louis and I have both seen 4 persons in the room naked too, why didn't we get votes?" Liam argued with a frown, obviously talking about his girlfriend who put her hand gently over his.

"Don't go there, Liam." Louis quickly replied, taking the cigarette that was waiting behind his ear and putting it between his lips. "It's a can of worms and no one wants to see that."

Everyone remained silent when he lighted it up and after a few seconds, Eleanor smiled and read a question outloud. I felt the tension in the room calm down suddenly and took my pencil again, ready to keep playing.

"Who's got a deep secret they never told anyone?"

I suddenly held my breath and my eyes got bigger for half a second. I felt extremely exposed for no reason and I closed my eyes, imagining all the eyes turned to me. It was paranoia, it had to be, because no one knew I had feelings for my best friend. No one knew I've always had feelings for him, and that I probably always would. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes again and noticed everyone was busy scribbling down a name and no one was giving me any unsolicited attention. I felt my body relax slightly and quickly grabbed my pen, scribbling the first name that came in my mind.

I waited impatiently for Niall to read all the answers outloud and stress came back when I heard my name. I didn't want to seem like it was true and I simply waited for Niall to be done.

"I don't know why anyone would write Harry." Niall laughed. "He walks around naked, no matter who's in the room, I don't think someone who does that can have any deep secret."

Harry grabbed the first thing he could reach and threw it at him but Niall simply laughed, moving his head right on time not to get Harry's pen in the face.

"Liv doesn't have any deep secret she's never told anyone, she tells me everything, right?"

I held my breath again as I stared at Niall. His eyebrows were raised, his lips were curled into a satisfied smile, and i felt guilt invade my whole body and making my head throb. Could he read in my face how embarrassed I was? My lips parted and I was about to answer when someone else talked.

"Everyone's got secrets." Louis pointed out, taking a sip of his beer. "I'm sure you keep stuff from her and she keeps stuff from you."

"So you keep stuff from your girlfriend, Tommo?" Niall argued, his gaze moving from me to his bandmate.

Louis laughed and rolled his eyes.

"She's not your girlfriend, Neil."

Silence fell in the room and I swallowed hard, trying to find a way to ease the tension. I had no idea why these kind of games always ended up in some sort of arguments but I didn't want to be part of it anymore. I was about to just get up and leave when Lottie groaned low.

"You're both so fucking annoying." she let out. "I think it's time to find a new game to play."

She dived her hand in her purse and bit her bottom lip as she searched for something. After a few seconds where my heart threatened to jump out of my chest, she pulled out cards and sent all of us a smile.

"It's a game I used to play at parties when I was younger." she explained, shaking the cards to put our attention on it. "Kiss And Tell. It's some sort of truth or dare game but the questions and the dare all have to do with kisses. And to avoid everyone to choose 'tell', we'll use a dice. 1,2 and 3 are kiss, and 4, 5 and 6 are tell."

She checked the cards and got off the couch to sit on the floor, putting the two stacks on the carpet. I noticed Harry had gotten up to find a dice and I suddenly realized how bad of an idea it was.

"Okay but maybe I'm not interested in making out with everyone here." I pointed out, staring at the big 'KISS' written on one of the piles.

"Kisses on the cheeks are fine," she chuckled. "but you're ruining the fun, Liv!"

I remembered that time when we were 15 and went to a stupid party. We had played spin the bottle and when it was Niall's turn, the bottle had pointed at me. I couldn't believe I was going to kiss my best friend, who was also the boy I was in love with, in front of everyone. I remember how close he was, how his eyes had roamed on my face, how I held my breath, how scared I was, and how he had apologized in a whisper right before to press his lips on mine. His 'I'm sorry' had haunted me for weeks. What did that even mean? Was he sorry that we had to kiss in front of people? Or that I had to be kissed by him? Or maybe he was just sorry he had to kiss me because he really didn't want to. We had never talked about it after that but now that there was an other chance I could kiss him, I knew I didn't want to go through that again. Would anyone notice if I got up and ran away?

"No way, I mean unless you're actually dating someone, there's no reason not to play! A kiss has never killed anyone!" Max let out, making me turn his way.

"Well, actually..."

"No, no stats darling, please." Niall cut me straight, his lips curling slightly to the right.

I raised my nose in a grimace and shrugged, glancing at the cards again. Lottie decided to start, just to show us how to play and had to kiss the person she trusted the most in the room. Without a surprised, she walked to her brother and kissed his cheek for a few seconds with an exaggerated 'muah!', making me laugh.

I watched as Gemma grabbed the dice and got a 2, picking up a 'kiss' card.

"Kiss the person you could have dated (outside of your significant other)."

Her eyes roamed on everyone and she sighed in a defeated manner. I could bet kissing her little brother's friends was not something she had ever thought about.

"I'm sorry but i've seen all of you pre-puberty and it's a complete turn off." she pointed out, getting up and walking to the other side of the living room. "Except you."

Max chuckled but got up too and I stared at them way too intensely. It's not that I didn't want to kiss anyone. In fact, I didn't really mind, but I didn't know how i'd react if I had to kiss Niall again. I honestly thought it would hurt me even more than it did the first time. The kiss lasted a bit too long and the way she gripped the side of his shirt made my heart jump. I couldn't stop thinking about that kiss I shared with Niall and how I was torn between hoping to do it again or to never do it again.

When I got out of my thoughts, I noticed Gemma was back on the couch while Max had taken place somewhere on the floor near his best friend.

"He didn't look that bad pre-puberty but he's better now, trust me." Eleanor let out, making Gemma chuckle a bit.

It took only a few seconds for Julie to breathe her courage in and grab the dice before grabbing a 'tell' card with a small relieved smile. I knew no one would have forced her to kiss someone else than her boyfriend but I could understand why it was stressing her. In fact, the amount of stress invading my body at that exactly moment was clearly too much to contain and I started playing with the sleeve of my sweatshirt.

"Tell us about your most memorable kiss." she read out loud, sending a glance at Liam.

They both smiled at each other and I bite my bottom lip, forgetting how nervous I was for a few seconds. The level of complicity they had reached had me quite jealous. It must be amazing to be able to get to that point with someone when that someone was your lover. I knew Niall and I were extremely close, probably as close as Julie and Liam were, but we were just friends, and I think that toned down the relationship a bit. Not because friendship was less important than love, of course not, but because when you're best friends and dating, there was only the two of you. That intimacy wouldn't have to be shared with a boyfriend or a girlfriend outside of your relationship. It was complete. It was full. I wanted to be complete with Niall.

I glanced at him, making my heart jump in my chest, before to focus on Julie's story. I would have expected her most memorable kiss to be their first but it ended up being that one time, when he was on tour and they hadn't seen each other in weeks. It was in the way Liam had looked at her, how her whole body had given in, how it felt like the first time again... It was about how much they had missed each other and how they realized they didn't want to be apart for that long again. The romantic in my sighed internally as I brought my hands in my sleeves, gripping my shirt with both hands from inside. I could have something great with Harry, I knew it, but would we ever be as close as I was with Niall? That was clearly impossible. Right?

I saw Niall grab a card and my heart seemed to stop but I relaxed when I realized it was in the 'tell' pile. I moved my knees up, my arms around them, and leaned my cheek on them to look at my best friend. He seemed surprised by the card in his hand but finally read it outloud.

"Tell us about your most awkward kiss."

When Niall turned to me and dived his gaze in mine, I held my breath. I didn't want him to talk about that kiss we shared over a decade ago but I knew it had came to his mind and somehow, it made me feel like shit. It really was awkward, but to me, it was weird because I had feelings for him. For Niall, it was probably awkward because he didn't have feelings for me. He didn't want to do it. After all, he had apologized before doing it.

"Oh god." he chuckled, rubbing his eyes slowly and extending his legs on the carpet. "One time I was hanging out with this girl I didn't like and she just misread some signals or I don't know, and she kissed me but she did it so quick her front teeth hit my upper lip and it started bleeding. I don't know if it can be considered a kiss but it was horrible."

Everyone laughed but I just kept staring at him. I already knew about this story. That girl was one of my friends and after that day, I stopped speaking to her. Now that I thought about it, it was wrong of me because after all, she had no one idea how I felt for Niall, no one knew, but I couldn't deal with it anyway. It was not her fault, it was mine.

"Okay, my turn." Harry let out, extending his body close to me to grab the dice and pick a 'tell' card.

I felt extremely lucky that both of them had gotten that instead of a 'kiss' card. I didn't want to kiss any of them at this moment, but I also didn't want to see them kiss anyone. I closed my eyes tight at that thought, realizing how much of a loser I was, before opening them again. Harry moved his gaze up to look at me and his lips curled slightly into a fond smile. I couldn't explain how much I enjoyed it when he looked at me that way.

"Tell us about your favorite kiss." he read, his eyes never leaving mine.

I didn't want to hear about it but at the same time, I was dying to find out what kind of kiss could be his favorite. Was it romantic like Julie and Liam's? Or was it in a heated and passionate moment? I ended up thinking that knowing Harry, it could be a first kiss when he was young with someone he really loved, or an intense kiss before making love. He could give any of these answers and I wouldn't be surprised.

"My favorite non-kiss involved jello." he started, still staring at me. "And I was so close to kiss her but her clumsy ass choked on it. She probably thinks she ruined it but it made me like her even more. There was also this non-kiss in the pool, where I kept thinking about her lips and the way they would feel. Or that non-kiss at the lake where we got cock-blocked."

During his whole monologue, I held my breath and everyone was focused on him. It was always that way with Harry, he always had everyone's attention because he was captivating. I didn't want to think about everyone else in the room, though, and I didn't have to. He was looking at me, and no one else.

"But my favorite kiss is the kiss i'll get when we finally kiss for the first time. So it hasn't happened yet, but i'm still hoping for it." he concluded before I exhaled suddenly, realizing I was out of breath.

I smiled at him, my lips parting slightly and my heart jumping so hard in my chest that I honestly thought everyone could hear it through the powerful silence filling the room. No one dared to talk and Harry smiled more, chuckling low before moving his chin a bit.

"Your turn, Liv."

It took me a lot of courage to roll the dice and I had to swallow hard when I saw the number 3. I knew my luck couldn't stay forever and I shook my head, picking a 'kiss' card. I didn't want to read it, I didn't want to kiss anyone with everyone watching, and it took me forever to read the card. It took a few seconds to process what I read and I held my breath, confused and stunned by the words on the card.

'kiss the person you love the most in the room.'

I didn't even have the guts to read it outloud and I just pressed my lips together and shook my head.

"No, sorry, I can't do that."

Quickly, I got back on my feet and ran to the bathroom, locking the door behind myself. I leaned against it, my head hitting gently the wood, and closed my eyes as I tried to calm the erratic beatings of my heart. I knew my reaction would bring a lot of questions but I didn't care. I just couldn't deal with that card.

I felt the card between my fingers and held it tighter, glad that I had brought it with me so no one could read it. I slipped it in the back pocket of my jeans and pressed the palms of my hands on my eyes, trying to get rid of the shame invading my whole body and mind.

Instinctively, I thought about Niall as soon as I saw the words but picking him would be admitting something I was not ready to admit and probably never would. I knew it could pass as strong and intense friendship but I didn't think everyone would be gullible enough to believe it. It was obvious to me that at least one person would find out about how I really felt, and I was scared that that person would be Harry.

How did I really feel about Harry? Was he only there, in my heart, to fill the space I wanted Niall to fill? Was he someone I could fall in love with? Or was I doomed to date people I would never really love simply because I couldn't seem to forget about how much I loved my best friend? Was that void I wanted Niall to fill going to be there forever? Was it possible for me to be satisfied with someone the way I knew i'd be with him?

My head said it was possible for me to be happy without him, but my heart screamed louder, telling me i'd always be missing something inside of me and I tended to listen to my heart in every circumstances.

I jumped in surprise when I heard a knock at the door and moved away from it. I was not ready to face anyone but i knew i'd have to, sooner or later, and perhaps it was better to do it now and get it over with.

"Babe?" I heard a low but high voice. "Please, let us in."

I recognized Eleanor's voice and the surprise was even bigger. We've always been on good terms but I wouldn't consider us close. Still, I had to admit I was touched by the fact that she was ready to be there for me and I unlocked the door, opening it slowly. The shock was even bigger when I saw Lottie, Gemma, Julie and Maya waiting with her. I stood there, motionless, my lips slightly parted, and El just raised her eyebrows.

"Can we come in?"

The bathroom was large but clearly not built for 6 girls and I sat on the edge of the bath tub while the others leaned on the walls, sat on the toilet or simply on the floor and I waited until someone would talk.

"Okay so I don't know what your card is, but clearly, you want to kiss Harry, right?"

"Uhm.."

What was I supposed to answer to that? No one knew how I felt for Niall, meaning that no one could help me with this confusion that was tearing me apart. All of them thought my reaction had everything to do with Harry when it was a lie, and I had to keep on lying.

"Oh what he said about the kiss?" Maya let out, moving her upper body in our direction as her lips curled into a naive but happy smile. "That was so great! It wasn't even for me and it made my heart melt!"

I knew she was thinking about Niall and I swallowed.

"Yea." Gemma groaned before letting out a chuckle. "My brother has that effect on people."

"Wait." Julie quickly said, raising one of her hands to get silence. She turned to me. "You want to kiss Harry, Liv, right?"

"I mean..." I slowly raised one of my shoulders as my eyes roamed on the five girls around me. "I guess, yes."

That was not a lie. I just omitted to add that I'd prefer to kiss NIall.

"We could cheat?" Lottie proposed. "So they get to kiss? Or find a game that will have them kiss immediately?"

"7 minutes in heaven?" Maya quickly suggested, her face illuminating.

"What are we, 12?"

The discussion kept going but I remained silent, only half-listening to what they were proposing as they threw ideas on how and when I could finally kiss Harry. I knew they meant well, and I could admit that I was deeply grateful and moved by the fact that they were there for me and cared enough to try and help me. I had known these girls for a while and I liked them a lot, but even Maya, whom I had just met, was trying to find a solution and the fact that it made her even more perfect than she already was made something stir in my stomach.

Their voices became a background noise and I suddenly held my breath and jumped on my feet again. I was tired to wait, tired to ask myself questions, tired to analyze every move of everyone, including myself. I deserved to be happy, I owed myself to at least try, and it was time I did something about it.

"I know what to do." I just whispered, opening the door and walking out of the bathroom.

They remained motionless and in shock for a few seconds but ended up following me to the living room, getting there just in time.

The boys were now standing up, talking and drinking. I noticed Harry saying something and Niall laughed but they both noticed me when I entered the room. I had never felt so determined in my life. I knew I had to do it and I knew I had to do it now. It didn't matter where we were and with who. All that mattered was this.

I walked up to them and noticed Harry's lips curl at my sight. Quickly, I got on my tiptoe, gripped his shirt tight and pressed my lips on his. He smelled like expensive cologne and I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of his mouth against mine. His hands found my waist but I could barely feel the tip of his fingers brushing against my sweater as he deepened the kiss but kept everything slow and gentle. He tasted amazing: a mix of sweet alcohol and caramel. How was that even possible?

I think I heard a few positive reactions around me but I tried to shut down every single senses except the ones that made me enjoy this kiss. The way he smelled, tasted, felt... And at this exact moment, I asked myself why this hadn't happened before? Why did we wait so long to get this incredible and inexplicable feeling? There was no answer and I pushed the questions away to focus on this moment that I knew i'd never forget.

#niall horan #niall horan smut #niall horan fluff #niall horan story #niall horan writing #niall horan fanfiction #niall horan fanfic #niall horan fan fic #niall horan fan fiction #harry styles #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles story #harry style fanfic #harry styles writing #harry styles fan fic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fan fiction #my fanfics

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elshopper · 6 years ago

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Secrets

... aka my contribution to Stories From Summer, spearheaded by the lovely @mikeweezers!! Thank you so much for all your hard work in organizing and including me in this incredible group of writers!! And yes, I know this is one day late, but I scheduled it before midnight the night of so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Prompt #30: Girls Night, in which Max and El attend their very first sleepover.

wc: 3,009

summary: Honestly El and Max have a sleepover and bond and stuff. Need I say more??? It’s cute I promise.

Read below or on ao3 here!!

Max was a little reluctant at first.

Actually, she was a lot reluctant at first.

It all started at the lake behind Dustin’s house… if you could call a snake-infested pond a lake. All the summer blockbusters at the theatre had been watched three times over. All the hikes up the quarry had been made. All the ice cream trucks had been chased down. It was late July, and now, all that was left of summer was the horribly sticky heat. Max hated to admit it, but she almost wanted to go back to school.

After mentioning on occasion how she totally took summers in California for granted (what with the beaches and the nice weather and the lack of snake-infested ponds), her friends had been gracious enough to plan a picnic by the water. Except the water was a really funky shade of green and their meal consisted of greasy burgers from McDonalds smashed in the bottom of Will’s backpack.

Everyone was pretending to enjoy it. For her. She appreciated the gesture, but was it really worth it to sit and suffer while risk getting eaten alive?

“I’m calling it,” Dustin said, reading her mind. He pulled his back pack towards him and started to unzip the front pocket. “This blows.”

The cicadas screamed in agreement.

“It’s, like, one million degrees out here and – oh shit!”

Out of the front pocket of his backpack, Dustin pulled out what used to be a bag of gummy worms. Instead, they were now a hot, sticky bag of rainbow-colored goo.

“I’m sorry, El. I really am. I’m gonna bring you double next time, I swear.”

His apology was sincere, but El still glared at him while twiddling a blade of grass in between her fingers. She had really developed a major sweet tooth over the past few months, heightened by the fact that she only got to leave the cabin every once in a while. In fact, every time they chased down an ice cream truck, it was because Mike told them that she wanted some.

El rolled her eyes and sighed, her expression softening.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to bring me double.”

“I really can! It’s no big deal…”

Their chatter continued until Max finally spoke up.

“Can we get back to the part where this blows?”

She had their attention now, and she could tell each one of them was trying and failing to find another alternative.

“Yeah, but what else are we going to do?” Lucas said, fiddling with a twig he found in the grass.

“Why don’t we just watch a movie?” Mike asked.

“We’ve seen them all already,” Dustin replied. “I don’t think I can go see European Vacation again.”

“We can just watch one at my house,” Mike suggested.

“What movie do you have that we haven’t seen a thousand times?” Lucas asked.

“None,” Will answered, “but I bet he has some El hasn’t seen a thousand times.”

That seemed to perk everyone up. They just loved showing El normal people things in the same way they loved to show Max all of the reasons why Indiana sucks.

“El what movies have you not seen?” Dustin asked, but Mike and Lucas shot him a how on earth would she know look. Sure enough…

“I don’t know,” El replied.

“I don’t think she’s seen Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Will supplied.

“Um yeah, she has. In June,” Mike said, as if everyone should be keeping track.

“Well guess what?” Dustin said, mocking Mike’s tone. “There’s a sequel! El have you seen Temple of Doom?”

Before she could reply, Dustin kept on, “… because if you haven’t you’re really gonna lose your shit when they get past the –“

“How is she going to lose her shit when you already told her what happens?”

“There’s something to be said for cinematic storytelling, Lucas.”

“Dustin, that makes no sense.”

“What do you mean it makes no sense?”

As they bickered on, Max met El’s gaze and she discretely rolled her eyes. Max stifled a giggle. El had really come to enjoy eye-rolling too. When there was a break in the argument, El reminded them gently.

“I’ve seen Temple of Doom.”

“Well, damn.”

“El, it’s your first summer. What do you want to do?” Max asked, trying to get the ball rolling again. El was always a big fan of the burger place with the name she was always forgetting, but they just finishing up their gourmet meal of Quarter-Pounders and soggy fries. There was a candy shop down town that was likely already closed. Their options really were running low.

“I want to have a sleepover.”

Silence. Even from the cicadas.

“You know, like they do on TV.”

It was times like these where everyone turned to Mike to do the explaining, but it was also times like these where Mike turned beet red and had no idea what to say.

“Well, I mean… you know… we can’t all…”

“I know that,” El snapped, offended. She was trying to act like she didn’t already ask and receive painful explanation from the chief a few weeks prior. “I mean me and Max.”

Besides the occasional smile and shared eye rolls, Max was positive this was the first time El had showed any intention of actually being friends. Although she wasn’t positive about the reason, she assumed it was something to do with the feeling of being replaced. A feeling Max knew a little too well watching her mom’s attention shift to her idiot step-brother the minute she married his dad. So, she stayed back, let wounds heal, and tried not to take it too personally. Lucas said she didn’t really like new people anyway.

To avoid any awkward situations or small talk (Max loathed small-talk), she could easily make an excuse. But the look on El’s face made her understand why Mike had made them chase after so many ice cream trucks. If the two were going to be friends, they were going to have to start somewhere.

“Um, yeah! We can have a… girls night,” Max said, her voice wavering.

Surprisingly enough, El actually looked a little relieved.

“Cool,” she said. “I’ll tell Hop you’re going to stay.”

Max arrived a little after 8:00 with her duffle bag tossed over her shoulder. With all the hype about El’s first sleepover, Max had almost forgotten that she’d never really had a sleepover either. She was just never the type of person to make friends with other girls. So, she had absolutely no idea what to bring. She didn’t have any nail polish or face masks or magazines – nor did she enjoy any activities that involved those things. She just brought her pajamas and her toothbrush. But just in case, Max did stash a tape of her very favorite movie – Grease – into the bottom of her bag.

She had never told a soul about it being her favorite. When her mom wouldn’t let her see it, she rode her skateboard to a video store down the street with her saved-up weekly allowance and bought it on tape. She would watch it when she was home alone. She had probably seen it a million times, but she knew someone who probably hadn’t…

“Hey kid,” the chief grumbled, trying to squeeze out a smile when he opened the door. “Do you want anything to eat?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you,” Max said as she stepped through the creaky threshold.

After a beat of painful silence, Max asked, “So where’s –”

“Oh, El’s in her room,” Hopper said, pointing toward the door to the right with white light flashing through the crack above the floor. “Some show is on, I don’t know.”

Max nodded and moved towards the door.

“I’m going to bed if you need me,” Hopper said, and laid back down on the couch.

Max creaked open El’s door slowly and was not shocked to find exactly what she had expected.

Illuminated by the soft white light of the television, El was wrapped in a cocoon of blankets with a bowl full of popcorn in her lap. Her eyes were wide and focused on the screen, as she mindlessly shoved popcorn in her mouth. Max shut the door behind her.

“You’re just in time,” El said, her vision staying locked on the TV. “Break just ended.”

Max dropped her bag at the foot of the bed.

“You’re watching that TV like it’s the president’s funeral,” Max teased. It was something her dad used to say to her when she watched cartoons as a kid.

“Who’s the president again?”

“Ronald Reagan.” Max sat down next to El on the bed, and El scooted over ever so slightly to make room.

“Right.”

Someone on TV pulled a knife out of a drawer, and El’s eyes grew even wider (if that were possible) and she sat up taller as if to get a better look. Max was okay with watching TV with El, even if soaps drove her nuts. Making friends took time and effort. Just hanging out with El while she watched her weird shows was just going to be the time part.

“Mike’s dad talks about him.”

“The guy with the knife?” Max asked in concern. El laughed.

“No. Ronald Reagan.”

“I’m shocked he has an opinion about anything since he never gives a shit where his kids are.”

After thinking about it for a split second, El stifled a laugh under her breath.

“Sometimes I think I’d kill to have parents who didn’t care where I went,” Max said wistfully. “You know, I had to make up this whole story about going camping with some girl from school so my mom wouldn’t try to call someone’s house.”

“You lied?” El’s tone was accusatory.

“Right, like you’ve never lied to your parents.” Max fired back, and as the words fell out of her mouth she felt her stomach drop. She wished she could grab the words put them back in. Of course El hadn’t lied to her parents before. She had never had any. Instead of being met with shit from any of the boys, the room was silent marking their absence. She had to fill the quiet with something.

“I mean… you know… you have to have lied to some…”

“I’ve lied to my parents,” El responded, totally oblivious to Max’s panic. “Parent,” she corrected herself. Even though he acted as one, Max had never heard El refer to the chief as one of her parents before.

“You lied to Hopper?”

“Yeah.”

“About…”

“About where I went.”

“Where did you go?”

El finally broke her gaze from the television (the guy with the knife had stashed it in his briefcase before the commercial break) and looked at Max. She took a deep breath.

“To the city.”

Max knew how easy it was to scare El into silence. Instead of taking a quizzical tone, she brushed the new information off.

“The city? Which city, El? There’s more than one.” Max asked casually, reverting her attention back to the TV and grabbing a handful of El’s popcorn. The guy with the knife had shown up on some woman’s doorstep looking awfully shady. She would be lying if she didn’t admit she was a little invested. El looked at Max, offended that she had stolen some of her popcorn, but she relented and moved the bowl in between the two of them. Max grabbed another handful.

“The big one.”

“Indianapolis?”

“No.”

“I’m going to keep bugging you until you tell me. Fort Wayne?”

“Chicago.”

Max raised her eyebrows.

“All by yourself?”

“Yes,” El said, shrinking down a bit.

“That’s badass,” Max replied.

She was missing key details, but Max didn’t want to press to hard. If she was going to guess, that’s where El was last November right before she met them at Will’s house. When she asked Lucas, he said that El would tell them when she wanted to. She figured that Lucas was referring to the rest of the group with the exception of Mike, since he was the one she did most of her talking to.

The show cut to a shot of a bloody knife on the ground and El tensed. That was the end of that. When the credits were finally rolling, El turned to her.

“Now you have to tell me something.”

Max laughed.

“What do you mean I have to tell you something?”

“A secret you haven’t told anyone.”

“You haven’t told anyone you went to Chicago by yourself?”

“No,”

“Not even – ”

“No,” El said, cutting Max off, her tone urgent. “Don’t tell him yet.”

“Um, don’t worry,” Max said. She picked up El’s pinky with her own. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

El smiled.

“He just gets so worried sometimes,” she said.

Max laughed again.

“Mike? Worried? Really?”

That one really set El off, and she began laughing so hard the popcorn spilled onto her bed spread.

“Shit,” El muttered under her breath. That made Max laugh, and then both the girls were laughing hard enough to drown out the Nair commercial playing on TV.

Once they picked the kernels off El’s quilt, she was quick to jump back to the secret thing.

“You still haven’t told me something.”

“Technically I don’t have to tell you a secret.”

“Yes, you do. Those are the rules.”

“This isn’t how truth or dare is played, El.”

“We’re not playing truth or dare.”

Max rolled her eyes.

“Fine. But you can’t tell anyone, okay?”

El nodded, sitting up and eagerly anticipating whatever Max had to say.

Max reached down into her duffle bag, rummaging around for the tape.

“This,” Max started, “is my favorite movie of all time. Grease.”

“Grease?” El asked, taking the tape and looking at the pretty people on the cover.

“Yeah, but you can’t tell anyone.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too girly. It’s a musical.”

“So?”

“So, I brought it because it’s right up your alley,” Max said. By the look on her face, Max could tell the idiom was completely lost on El.

“You’d love it,” she corrected.

“That’s not a secret.”

“Yes, it is! You said something I’ve never told anyone! You’re the only person on earth who knows I even own that on tape.”

“Well it’s not the secret I’m looking for.”

“And what type of secret are you looking for? Because I don’t have any –”

“Boy secrets,” El said. Max scoffed.

“You think I have boy secrets?”

“That’s what girls talk about at sleepovers.”

“Not it is not!”

“Yes, it is.”

Max knew exactly what was happening, and she was somewhat impressed. El was trying to be coy about trying to get some information out of her.

“Well, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, because I don’t have any boy secrets because I don’t like any boys.”

El hummed and narrowed her eyes.

“You’re lying.”

“Um, no! I’m not.”

“You are.”

“Not!”

“Max.”

“What?”

“Friends don’t – “

“Yeah, yeah, I know okay?”

“So why are you lying?”

“I’m not lying.”

“So, we’re not friends.”

The playful tone from before was replace with something that sounded like hurt. Max took a deep breath. If she was being honest, she technically didn’t have a boy secret. Everyone pretty much knew. But that didn’t mean she needed to say it out loud. In fact, Max couldn’t remember a time she admitted out loud to anyone that she had feelings for a boy. She was easy to blush, and Max could feel it creeping up on her cheeks. El noticed, and her hardened expression melted a little.

“I mean…” Max started. Ugh.

El sat up and moved toward Max, looking at her with the same wide-eyed fascination that she was watching TV with just minutes earlier.

“Lucas is nice, I guess.”

“I knew it.”

“Well if you knew it, why was it such a big deal?” Max said, shoving El’s shoulder a little bit. She giggled and pushed back before grabbing Max’s pinky like she had before.

“Your secret’s safe with me.”

“It better be,” Max said.

El picked up the tape from her lap.

“Do you want to show me this?”

Max nodded, and shuffled over to the VHS, pushed it in, and pressed play.

El was mesmerized. So much was happening. People were singing and dancing and wearing such weird clothes. And Max was beginning to understand why Mike liked showing El new things so much. She was so funny to watch.

In the middle of the sleepover scene – one El was particularly excited to see – El tapped Max on the shoulder to ask a question.

“That brown bag has wine in it, it’s alcohol. It’s illegal to drink it underage. And I’ve heard it tastes like shit,” Max said.

“I know that,” El said back. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Max laughed, expecting a joke, but the look on her face actually looked remorseful.

“El, what are you sorry for?”

“You were new. I was mean to you.”

“Oh, yeah that,” Max said, shifting her gaze to her hands in her lap. “You don’t have to be sorry.”

“Well, I am,” El said.

“Well, thanks.” Max said. They both turned their attention back to the movie, both with smiles growing on their faces.

On the other side of the door, Jim Hopper was just trying to get some sleep. He had an early shift tomorrow. Just because all the kids are on summer vacation, didn’t mean that everyone else was. It was a Wednesday night for Christ’s sake.

He was seconds away from banging on the door and calling lights out when he heard El laugh through the door. He hadn’t heard her laugh – at least not at home, where she felt trapped and alone – in God knows when. He didn’t even know she was that close to the Mayfield kid. But it was a good thing, he supposed. He smiled to himself as he wrapped his pillow around his head, covering his ears.

What’s the harm in a girl’s night after all?

a/n: I have been super busy with life changes and all that fun adult stuff (!!!!!) and haven’t written in 5-ever... so I’m so glad I had this as an excuse to get the juices flowing again... 3k words???? Who am I right now. So much dialogue whew. Anyway, I edited this in a hurry so be forgiving, but I had so much fun writing it and being a part of this series!!!! It’s been so cool to read everyone’s work. I know it’s getting kind of boring around here, but the best is yet to come!!! <3 <3 <3 <3

tagging the sfs crew and praying these are all your correct users: [ @mikeweezers][ @el-and-hop ][ @summer-in-hawkins ][ @partwayhappy ][ @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold ][ @janeswheeler ][ @cstlebyrs ][ @formerlyjannafaye ][ @jane-el-hopper ][ @themikewheelers ][ @elizabthturner ][ @the-proud-princess ][ @itcouldbendoritcouldbreak ][ @scottsclarke ][ @the-most-beautiful-broom ][ @hannahberrie ][ @dancingskygreen ][ @mileven-and-contemplation ][ @eddieksgazebos ][ @mikeswheelers ][ @moodyandmoonyeyed ][ @jopper-chopper ][ @earlgreyteagirl ][ @janehoppers ][ @michael-hearteyes-wheeler ][ @stevemossington ][ @thezoomermax ][ @dustinhendrsn ][ @mothersnail ][ @writer-lia ]

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mysticalreadingnerd · 7 years ago

Text

Machetes and Near Death Experiences (A Steve Harrington x Reader imagine)

Words: 5286

Summary: Being a babysitter for the Party requires a full set of abilities. Battling inter-dimensional monsters, being a machete swinging pro and managing a bunch of dorks with a penchant for attracting danger being just a few. Add Steve Harrington to the mix and things get a lot more interesting.

Warnings: swearing, violence, Dustin being a sassy cutie

Disclaimer: I don't own Stranger Things or any of its characters. This is merely me turning my wishful thinking into reader insert imagines. GIF credits to the owner.

“Harrington?”

No answer.

“Harrington, what do you think you’re doing?”

Still no reply.

“Hey this ain’t funny, dammit!”

You weaved a frustrated hand through your hair as you watched the former King of Hawkins High leave the safe haven of the boarded bus in a bid to ‘expand the menu’ as Dustin put it. “Stay here and whatever you do, don’t open the door unless I tell you to.” You ordered the kids in a no nonsense manner and they merely nodded. They knew you enough from previous babysitting sessions to not mess with your instructions. Gripping your machete tightly, you followed the low growling that was slowly filling the night air. “Y/N what are you doing here? It’s not safe...” “Exactly asshole, you need someone to watch your back here. I won’t let you turn this into a suicide mission”, you answered as a demo-dog entered your field of vision. Steve took its jump head-on, the baseball bat landing with a sickening crunch. “That was easier than I had...” another snarl interrupted his sentence as more beasts appeared out of the fog. “3’O clock! 3’O clock!” Lucas shouted and all Steve could do was utter a low “fuck”, as another beast jumped on you both. Snarling with razor sharp teeth, its face opened up in a macabre parody of a flower. Pushing Steve out of the way you swung the machete in an upward motion, slicing half of the petalled horror clean off. You had known this Upside Down shit was no laughing matter when you encountered it last year while babysitting the boys. Keeping El a secret had been a bitch but you had managed, somehow. So the Party knew they could trust to be handy when things started getting strange again. You were no telekinetic Mage like El but you could slash your way through with a machete alright. It was no surprise really, when Dustin showed up at your house with Harrington no less (that pairing had been odd but who were you to judge), asking for your help regarding certain ‘pet’ problems. Turns out, pesky pets were actually demogorgon hounds masquerading as slugs. Code red could have justified one demo-dog, what you weren’t prepared for were a dozen more menaces appearing out of nowhere. “I thought you said there was only one!” you screamed as Steve rolled off the hood of a rusting car, kicking off another demo-dog. Too many. There were too many to hold off. “Steve! Y/N! Abort! Abort! Abort!” Dustin shouted and you guys didn’t need more incentive to abandon a plan which had been foolhardy from the very beginning. The door was thrown open on your shouts and quickly slammed shut just as one of them lunged at the bus, crashing on the door and sliding down. A thrashing limb tried to get in and you heaved the machete, putting your strength behind the swing as you repeatedly clobbered it until it slinked right out. Steve readied his nail ridden bat and you huddled the kids behind you, switching the machete to your other hand. “You think they can bust through the door?” a loud thud echoed off the roof, answering your question. “Shit!” This was followed by a scream from Max the one closest to the ladder, when a demo-dog reared its ugly head through the roof. Steve pushed her towards you and landed a solid hit with the bat. But more kept coming, making him retreat towards you. He clutched your hand blindly, tightening his grip once he found it as if saying a silent goodbye and you started fearing the worst. You hoped you could at least shield the kids before they took you down, when the monsters suddenly withdrew. All of them. With Harrington in the lead, you gingerly opened the door and stepped out to investigate. The coast seemed clear for the time being. “What happened? Lucas asked. “Steve scared’em off? Dustin sounded hopeful. “No. No way”, he replied, “They are going somewhere.” Steve pointedly stared in the distance before shaking his head and looking at you, checking for any signs of injuries. “You okay?” you gave a small nod. “You?” “Peachy”, he answered. Sighing in relief, you took a step towards him. His expression softened on seeing your approach and he was about to say something when you interrupted it by hitting him on the arm. “OW! What the...” Another hit, this time harder. “THAT HURTS!” “It was MEANT TO!” you screamed, huffing loudly at his stupidity. Sighing, you said in a deathly calm voice, “You dare try another heroic stunt like that again Harrington and I won’t just use my fists next time”, you brandished the machete in his face. Steve put up his hands in surrender, nodding in awe. “She’s so cool!” Dustin exclaimed, earning a weird look from Lucas and Max. “Okay. What do we do next?” Lucas asked, finally letting go of Max’s hand. “We need to find out where they went. If they were called back, maybe we can find the source of it and come up with a plan on how to deal with them”, you replied, wiping the machete with your hand, trying to get the blood off. Steve stared at you for a bit longer than necessary, absentmindedly answering, “Yeah, yeah you’re right.” You trudged up ahead with Max and Lucas as Steve and Dustin brought up the rear. Following the sounds that echoed off in the distance was your best bet. More like, your only lead. “Dude, did you see how she swung that machete at the demo-dog? That was pure art in motion!” Unknown to you Dustin raved on, repeating the same movements, swinging with an imaginary weapon albeit much more clumsily, stumbling in the process. “Watch your steps, Henderson.” Steve warned. But he couldn’t have agreed more as his gaze unwittingly watched your shadowy figure walk with an arm slung over Max and Lucas’ shoulders, the machete tucked at your waist, its blade glinting under your plaid shirt. He had been expecting that darn monster to be sweepingly fast but he hadn’t been prepared to face a dozen salivating horrors. He would never admit it out loud but never had a woman looked more attractive than you swinging your machete to slice off inter-dimensional creatures. Dustin noticed his gaze on you and chuckled, “You getting sappy, Steve?” Snapping out of his daze, Steve replied, “Shut your trap, dipshit.” He hadn’t expected to be attracted to someone so soon after what happened with Nancy. Let alone start falling so fast and so hard. It made him wonder whether what he had felt for her was love to begin with. It had been all fuzzy butterflies and tumultuous emotions with Nancy, more feelings than actual understanding. Whereas with you, he got a sense that everything was much more real, as if he could never be more grounded and aware than when he was with you. He had been swept away by Nancy’s perfection, failing to see the cracks that had developed in that facade over time. On the other hand, he was awed by your ability to transform imperfections. You owned them as if they were worthy laurels to be worn with a head held high. But all this over thinking was in vain. There was nothing between you and him, he mused, and it never would be. Even though a part of him hoped otherwise. After all, you were Y/N L/N, a machete swinging, protective badass in plaid. You didn’t do sappy nonsense like romance. Right?

Steve couldn’t have been more wrong. You crouched in a corner of the Byers’ living room wondering what exactly you had gotten yourself into. Bob Newby’s death had come as a shock to all of you. You had interacted with him twice or thrice while babysitting Will and he was one of the nicest people you knew. Slightly weird but nice. You couldn’t come to terms with how someone so good could be with you one moment and gone the next. Your gaze slid over to Steve Harrington as he sat with the boys, a sombre silence blanketing the room. With his perfect hair, kind eyes and warm smiles that brightened even your sulky mood, that beautiful bastard had managed to worm his way into your heart. God! You had hated the way your stomach became all tingly when he had clutched your hand and hovered protectively in front of you, braving the onslaught of a dozen demo-dogs. Brave and stupid nonetheless, but it was the thought that counts, right? You watched as Max sat next to you onto the floor. “Hey” you murmured. She had been taking all this surprisingly well considering she didn’t have as much time to adjust as you had. “Hey. You think this will work?” she gestured vaguely at the scattered papers on the table, ‘close gate’ scrawled across one of them. You merely shrugged, “It’s as good a plan as any. If there’s anyone who could beat that Mind Flayer, it would be El.” An awkward silence grew at the mention of Eleven. Not wanting it to continue, you asked, “You okay?” she muttered something under her breath. “What?” “I said, Eleven probably hates me.” You smiled at that and shook your head, “Nah, I doubt it.” She furrowed her brows, “How can you be so sure?” “Well, for one, I literally had to keep these idiots out of danger last year”, you gestured to where Mike, Lucas and Dustin were sitting. “Also, think about it. She was the only girl among them and then she had to leave these dorks for the longest time, only to find you amongst them. Maybe all she’s feeling is insecure, worried that you will replace her.” “But I’m not even part of the party. Mike specifically said so”, she mumbled the last part. “Oh don’t take him to heart. He’s just been miserable without El, missing her for so long. He’s been in a crappy mood with every one of us.” You gave her hand a small squeeze, “They’ll be fine, trust me. Just give them time.” Max pondered over your words before giving you a toothy grin. “Thanks Y/N! Dustin was right, you are pretty cool.” “Don't you mean pretty and cool?” you looked up to see Steve hunching over you both, obviously having heard your conversation. “Was that a lame attempt at flirting, Harrington?” you smirked, though you had to admit you were pleased on the inside. “Really? Is that the best you can do, man? I thought you could do better than this!” Dustin complained from his place on the couch. Pink dusted Steve’s cheeks as he placed the dish cloth he had been holding on his shoulder. “Hey. Hey. Hey. Don’t sass me you little shits. Let’s clean up this mess. Better than sitting in one place and just waiting for them to come back.” Everyone got up one by one, ready to clear up. Steve offered you a hand as you were about to get up and when you took it, a small smile bloomed on his face. “You are good with this,” he said, pulling you to your feet. “What do you mean?” his touch lingered on your hand as if not wanting to let go. Or was it just something you had imagined? “With Max. With the kids. You’re good with handling them, considering all this.” You found a smile tugging at your lips. Steve intertwined his fingers with yours and you found that you didn’t mind it at all. His smooth fingers filled the gaps between your calloused ones perfectly. “Yeah? You aren’t half bad, Harrington.” “Half bad?” he sounded affronted. “I’m a pretty damn good babysitter!!” Your laughter rang out through the room at that and unlike other girls (he had to admit you were unlike any other girl he had ever met), who giggled or gave high pitched squeals, this was a throaty laugh, rich in timbre and echoing from the heart. Steve found himself mesmerized by the sound. He wanted to hear more of it and above all, he wanted to be the reason for causing it. “Okay, if you two love birds are done canoodling and giggling, can we do some actual work here? Steve, need your help with somethin’.” Steve reluctantly let go of your hand, cursing under his breath about burying Dustin with some unwanted demo-dog bodies. You proceeded to clean up the shattered glass along with Max, noticing for the first time how restlessly Mike had been pacing the whole time. “Mike, would you just stop already?” Lucas tried to reason. “You weren’t there, okay Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs!” Mike argued. “Demo-dogs!” Dustin corrected from the kitchen. “The chief said he’ll take care of it!” Lucas bit back, exasperated at Mike’s behaviour. Steve tried to simmer down the argument in his own misguided way, using ball game jargon. Mike was visibly irritated and voiced it out aloud, “Okay. First of all, this isn’t one of your stupid sports games and secondly, we aren’t even in the game. We are on the bench!” Steve sputtered out, “So- so my point...is...” you held your head in your hands, this was getting ridiculous. “Right, yeah, we are on the bench, so, uh, there’s nothing we can do.” He again placed the dish cloth on his shoulder. “That’s not entirely true”, you looked at Dustin, intrigued as he spoke about how the demo-dogs had a hive mind, basically connected to the Mind Flayer and if they were called back, the lab would be obstruction free for Eleven to close the gate. “Yeah, and then we all die!” Steve exclaimed. “Well, that’s one way of looking at it.” Despite yourself you chuckled, earning a grin from Dustin and a glare from Steve. ‘Sorry’ you mouthed at him. Mike started off about distracting the dogs by setting the hub of the tunnel on fire and the rest of them were pumped about the idea, completely ignoring you and Steve. “Hey.” They ignore him again. “Hey! Hey!” This had gone on long enough. You gave out a shrill, piercing whistle calling their attention to you. Silence fell in the room and all pair of eyes were trained on you, “I believe Harrington wants to say something.” “Thank you Y/N for that kindly interruption. This”, he pointed at them, “is not happening.” “But...” “No buts. We promised that we’d keep you shitheads safe, and that’s exactly what we plan on doing. We’re staying here. On the bench. And we’re waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand? This isn’t a stupid sports game.” Steve paused. “I said does everybody understand? I need a yes.” “We should ask Y/N for her take on this. She can’t be agreeing with him” Dustin proposed, pointing at Steve as if he hadn’t said a single word. “Why are you even asking this? WE”, Steve waved a hand between you two, “are together on this!” “Oh shut it Harrington, we are asking for her opinion not your relationship status.” Steve sputtered incoherently at that. “Yeah, Y/N gets a say. She’s senior sitter, her vote carries more power than your’s.” Mike spoke up. You had been listening to this exchange with mounting annoyance. “Hey shitheads, stop talking about me as if I’m not even here. And that includes you as well Harrington!” you pointed at him with a ticked off expression on your face. You continued, “They aren’t completely wrong...” “Please don’t be actually considering this...” Steve begged. “All I’m saying...” the sounds of an engine revving loudly interrupted you. Max scrambled to the window, fear evident on her face. “It’s my brother. He can’t know I’m here. He’ll kill me. He’ll kill us.” She looked at you and Steve, just as you both recognised the person to whom the car belonged to. Steve exclaimed, “You are Billy Hargrove’s sister?!” she nodded. You frowned as you motioned to follow him outside. “Y/N stay here.” “If you think I’ll let you go suicide squad again...” “They’ll need someone tough if things go wrong”, he jerked his heads towards the kids.

That was your first mistake. Letting him go out there alone to face that savage Neanderthal named Billy fucking Hargrove. You just wished that King Steve wouldn’t be dethroned by the new Keg King in a fist fight as well. You noticed too late that the kids were crowding in the window when they were supposed to hide. Suddenly they ducked. “Did he see us?” Dustin asked. You closed your eyes and took in a deep breath. This was turning into one hell of a night. You shuffled them into the kitchen and prepared yourself for what was about to come. The door was kicked open with force, as Billy strutted into the room. “Well, well, well. Y/N L/N and Lucas Sinclair, what a surprise.” He looked at you and then at Lucas behind you with a manic glint in his eyes.

“Hargrove, you need to leave this house. Now.” He merely laughed. “Step aside L/N this doesn’t concern you.” He merely laughed. “Step aside L/N this doesn’t concern you.” “Like hell it doesn’t. You stay away from my kids, you understand?” You kept a hand on your machete, prepared for the worst case scenario. He snorted, “Did you and Harrington decide to take the next step and start adopting kids? If so, leave that bitch alone. ‘Cause I ain’t leaving this house without my sister.” “And I ain’t leaving Max with an asshole of a brother.” That was your second mistake of the night. Your sass was going to get you killed one day. Well, who cares, Hargrove had it coming anyway. He laughed out loud as if you had cracked a really funny joke but the mirth didn’t reach his crazed eyes. With a shout he rushed towards you. You whipped out the machete and hit his head with its handle in a bid to throw him off course. The leather grip and your force dealt a sizeable welt to the side of his head. He grunted with the blow but took you down nonetheless. The machete slid out of your grip and fell too far from your reach. Well, shit. The kids were shouting out loudly, telling him to leave you alone but all you could stare at were the eyes of Billy Hargrove as he grabbed your head and struck it against the floor. The pain thundered through your skull, dark spots danced across your vision and all sound turned into white noise. He didn’t give you a moment’s respite, grabbing you by the throat. You were hoisted momentarily in the air before being pushed against the wall. A groan escaped your lips when he choked you, “You should learn to keep that smart mouth of yours closed Y/N, never know who could rip it off.” You crumpled to the floor as he let you go and approached Lucas, slamming him into a wall cabinet with threats of dire consequences on his lips. Had it been somebody else they would have shit their pants. Not Lucas Sinclair. On being threatened, he kneed Billy in the groin. Despite being dazed and disoriented, you were a proud parent. “You are so dead”, the mullet wearing bastard threatened him again before Steve interrupted his tirade, “No. You are.” You were thankful for that as he seemed to have an upper hand in beating Billy out of the house. That was until you saw Steve being clobbered on the head with a plate and subsequently pulverised to a bloody pulp. The white noise was slowly turning into a dull buzz as you stumbled to your feet and approached the pair. “Hey asshole, stay away from my guy!” Billy looked up in time to see your fist rushing to meet his face. Muttering profanities he grabbed you again and returned the favour. You could have dodged that punch, but all you did was smile at the pain, feeling the bruise already blossoming on your jaw. Confused at your reactions, he cursed as the needle pricked his neck. Max had needed a distraction to plunge the syringe, so you gave her one. You left her to threaten Billy with dire consequences, with liberal use of Steve’s bat of course. You crawled towards him, watching King Steve in all his glory, knocked out cold with a bloodied face. God, he had had the daylights punched out of him. Your head pounded and you had a feeling that you were no better than him, though minus a split lip and a slowly blackening eye. You watched Billy promise Max to leave all of you alone and then slump into unconsciousness. They all looked at you as you chuckled, wondering if you had become deranged from his hits. “Did he knock something loose in your head?” Mike wondered out loud. “Nah, I was just thinking that I trained you kids well.” They all grinned at that. You managed to scrap together a few colourful band aids and carefully placed them on Steve’s injuries. That would have to do for the mean time.

Once you reached Billy’s car, you and Dustin somehow squashed Steve on the backseat. You were overcome by a wave of nausea and swayed on your feet. Most likely a concussion, you mused. “Max can you drive? If I attempt to do that in my state, I’ll probably ram it into a ditch.” That was how you found yourselves racing towards the hole Hopper had dug, Max swerving and accelerating at dangerous speeds.

Just as you started thinking that maybe this had been a bad idea, Steve groggily woke up. “Y/N?” he asked Dustin. “I’m here Steve.” He looked at you, before nuzzling into your side. “You look nice.” He felt your chuckle vibrate through his side, if he moved any further, he would be practically in your lap. “Speak for yourself Harrington.” A moment of silence passed before he asked, “Wait did you just call me Steve?” You turned your head to look out of the window, your cheeks flaming red. “What? No! I think you’re still too dazed to think straight.” “Wait, if you are sitting here. Then who’s driving?” His gaze shifted to Max and a chant of ‘Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!’ started. Frankly you don’t really know how you reached where you needed to be. Suffice to say, it involved a lot of shouting, a lot of cursing, one hyperventilating Steve and a smashed mail box. By the end of the ride, you and Steve were clutching each other for dear life.

“I told you, zoomer.” Max said proudly, once you rushed out of the car never more grateful for solid ground. “Guys? Hey guys?” Steve shouted at the kids as they started taking out bandanas and goggles from the boot, ‘protection’ you had insisted would be required if you were to go through with this. You mumbled your thanks to Dustin as he handed you your pair. “Y/N you should be siding with me on this! We aren’t going down that hole! This ends now!” You stared at the ground for a moment before saying, “They are right, you know. I can’t sit there waiting for others to do things knowing I could have done something to help El and Hopper out. And anything goes, even crawling into a slime infested Upside Down tunnel trying to lure flesh eating demo-dogs if that means we can shut this shit down for good.” “You really have a way with words, you know?” Dustin said while giving Steve his protective gear, “Steve, you are upset. I get it. But the bottom line is a party member requires assistance, and it is our duty to provide that assistance. Now I know you promised Nance that you would keep us safe. So keep us safe.” He handed him his bat and your machete was thrust into your hands. Steve sighed and took his trusty bat after you gave him a nod. Getting down the hole hadn’t been difficult. Once you landed, the sight that greeted you was hardly scenic. The floating dust particles, the slime lathered pulsing tunnel and the chilly air gave you eerie vibes. It seemed like a piece of hell had been recreated in Hawkins. “Holy shit”, Steve exclaimed. “Pretty cosy, right?” you replied sardonically as the party looked around. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure it’s this way.” Mike shined the torch on the crude map of the tunnels you had drawn. You were glad that Steve stopped Mike and took the lead; these little shits could go running blindly into danger and not even know it. Bringing up the back, you swung the machete in your hand hoping that the demo-dogs would at least let you reach the hub and not make any surprise appearances. Getting there had been fairly incident free if you overlooked a minor hiccup (Dustin being spewed with otherworldly vomit could be considered that, in the grand scheme of things) and before you knew it, you were dousing the hub with all the inflammable liquid you could get your hands on from the Byers’ household. With everyone calling out that they were ready, Steve took out the lighter and flung it into the darkness whilst muttering, “I’m in such deep shit.” For the rest of your life, you would remember how the small flame sailed through the air, almost in slow motion, before landing on the floor and lighting up the room like a bonfire taking to dry wood. Nothing could be more horrifyingly beautiful than an inferno of flames engulfing the slimy tendrils that started screeching on being burnt. “Go, go, go, go, go”, Steve yelled snapping you out of your daze when he pulled you together with him. You quickly ran ahead of the boys, taking the machete out of its place at your waist. Was this how Vikings felt when they launched surprise attacks on enemies? Well, they probably didn’t have someone like Steve Harrington shouting, ‘oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!’ throughout the escape but you wouldn’t have liked it any other way. The euphoria of having burnt an evil shadow monster’s lair pumped through your veins, the frigid air rushing past your party as you ran through the winding tunnels.

That was until Mike’s cries for help brought you to a screeching halt. You changed directions, running back to see him being dragged by the vines. Lucas, Dustin and Max reached him first and tried to pull him out of the vine’s clutches. “Stand back!” Steve swung the bat at it once, twice. You delivered the third blow, cutting it clean from his foot as the shrieking critter gave a few dying wails before flopping lifelessly. You were hoping that that would be the end of your problems. You should have known better. A hungry growl diverted your attention from checking if Mike was hurt and the hair on the back of your arms stood up. A demo-dog stood in front of you in all its slimy, many toothed glory. You made a move to go full Viking on it just as Dustin called out, “Dart?” This was the thing that had been mistaken for a pet?? You lowered the machete as Steve tried to pull him back but he just shushed you guys. You tried to call him back, “Trust me on this!” he replied and you lapsed into silence. Your eyebrows rose up in disbelief as Dustin talked with the creature as if it were a beloved dog returning to its master. You were fairly sure your brows had disappeared into your hairline by the time he had managed to calm the demo-dog with nougat bars and waved you guys to move forward. This night was breaking all previous charts of trippy events but stranger things had been known to happen. You swiftly moved on ahead but a loud rumble shook the ground, tripping you and the others. “What was that?” Max asked. “They are coming. Run. RUN!” Mike shouted from the rear. You all ran like your lives depended upon it as growls echoed deeply from the tunnels, sounding closer and closer as you approached the rope. “There! Let’s go. Go. Go. Go.” Steve steadied the dangling rope while you hoisted Max up and urged them to climb up ahead one by one. You were about to follow Dustin as he was helped up by Lucas and Mike when the growls echoed too closely for your comfort. “Shit” you muttered. Hordes of demo-dogs rounded the corner and filled the tunnel, piling over one another in their haste to reach you. It was too late, you could never make it out in time. This was the end, this was how you would die. At least you both had got all the kids out safely. Your fist gripped the machete tightly, readying it for one last swing. Steve looked at you and gave a solemn nod. You held his gaze and a silent understanding passed between you. Whatever may happen, you would go down fighting. You saw the distance between them and you diminishing at an alarming rate. Running at you at full throttle, closing in on you, faster and faster.... And just continuing on as if you were invisible. Completely ignoring your presence, they roughly brushed past you, almost knocking you off balance. Did they not see that there were two prime steaks standing smack dab in their midst? Steve pulled you in his arms as the tide of demo-dogs made its way around you, disappearing around the corner heading god knew where. As you clutched onto him for dear life, your mind finally registered that you had nearly died just then. You stared at him, not comprehending that the ordeal was at long last over. He gazed right back, holding on equally tightly. As if letting you go would make the monsters come back. As if being nearly run down by literal hell hounds had finally opened his eyes and he was seeing you for the first time. You gave a hysterical laugh and flung yourself into Steve as he buried his head in the crook of your neck, clutching your waist even more tightly than before. You both stayed like that for what seemed like eternity before being interrupted by Dustin. “Guys? Guys, I know it’s literally the end of the world but can you have your lovey-dovey moment after you are safe and out of that hell hole?” You sprang apart at that and let go of each other. Blushing the shade of ripe tomatoes, you climbed up the rope. Once you reached above ground, you slipped your hand into Steve’s, took off the bandana & goggles and gave him a dazzling smile. The headlights burnt bright like two miniature suns, signalling that El had managed to close the gate. He looked at you then, with the fading light reflecting off your sweat and grime stained face. You looked as bone tired as he felt, hair greasy and all over the place. There was a purplish bruise on your jaw that was darkening with every passing minute (Hargrove was going to be so dead once he was done with him). Nobody had looked more beautiful in his eyes. In that moment, Steve Harrington thought that if the end of the world meant you would look at him with such adoring eyes, may be facing ravaging demo-dogs and enduring near death experiences wasn’t that bad of a deal after all.

A/N: My first Steve Harrington imagine! Not exactly sure how this turned out. Please excuse any typos that may have crept in. I love Mom Steve, if you didn't notice. I react to feedback the way Dart acts with Nougat. ❤ ~mystical reading nerd.

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skyplayer37 · 7 years ago

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Worm Liveblog: 11.01 - 11.h

Dear god is there a lot to unpack here. I think this is my longest blog yet, which must mean I’m really liking Worm. And I assure you I very much am, since I refuse to let myself read on before I write up the liveblog and I really want to read on

So the regular part of the arc was.... wait what was it again? There was so much good interlude that I forgot, lets keep my phone on over here so I can reference what even happened.... Oh right, the Mall.

So, things have quickly taken a turn into Mad Max territory, showing a community built on the classic post-apocalyptic ruleset of only the strongest surviving. All the standard behavior of turning a large public area, like a shopping mall, into it’s own small town, with burning barrels and loud music and cars modified to have weapons and armor welded to them. This one however is contrasted by its leader, a group of, as depicted in my mind, weirdos in bright skin-tight suits. I would have said that the overall mood of the arc is oddly gritty for Worm, wherein previously teenagers robbed a bank and video-game themed villains were shouting one liners, but with Leviathan’s damage and Shadow Stalker’s almost-fake-suicide, and ESPECIALLY with the 11.x interludes, this whole Titanic has careened into an iceberg, where the iceberg is “psychological horror” and Rose is a representation of the story’s innocence and Jack.. loves knives? And the ship itself is uhhhhhh Bitch/Taylor (Bugbites).

ANYWAY, Taylor’s story has certainly gotten more interesting, watching her embrace her villain side by taking over a large portion of the city while still trying to spin it in a good way to appease her morals. She’s slowly gotten a crew together of non-capes who can later be redshirts or potential Trigger Event fodder. And that dude with the scar she let die is totally coming back to haunt her, maybe with powers or as a ghostly apparition of some cape who can cause hallucinations. Every good superhero story needs the fear dude to act as literal insight into the protag’s self-loathing (see: Scarecrow).

My only problem with this arc is about Labyrinth's power being really hard to picture in my mind, but uhhhh I guess that’s the point.

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

And then let’s take each Interlude by itself because they deserve it:

- 11.a: Bitch being chosen by Siberian for the Nine is... an interesting choice. It makes sense given her connection to animals, but Bitch doesn’t seem as powerful as the others to me. But, as Siberian points out, thats probably because she only uses domesticated dogs. I’m excited to see how powerful a Wolf can get with her powers, probably backfiring and taking down Siberian? And yet, Bitch seems the most likely of the bunch to join the Nine because she wants to.

- 11.b: Another very, very intense seen. Writing wise. Plot wise? I called out that it was just Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2 Battle Tendency the moment the kid said he wanted to be a hero someday. But again, really well written. I doubt that this plot line would go un-resolved, so its also now really likely that Jack won’t get killed for two years, which makes me think that the purpose of this arc isn’t actually taking down the Nine one at a time, but instead entirely on who the Ninth member will be and they’ll fight much further down the line. Unless....it could be..... no no, impossible.

- 11.c: Oh boy, more Labyrinth fun. Nice to see a bit of backstory about the ward she was kept in alongside Burnside, and her powers read a lot better from her point of view, but I’ll admit the.. Travelers? Is that which group this was? Man, there’s so many now. That might be Coil’s group, its hard to remember them all. Anyway, this is probably the group I’m least interested in, despite liking the individual heroes and the case 53 storyline, I’m sure I’ll warm up to them when it finally comes time to tackle that plotline. (I’m guessing it’s gonna be: “Ninth Recruitment” => “Case 53″ => “Slaughterhouse Nine Fight” => “Endbringer stuff”)..unless...nah

- 11.d: Now THIS was a good one. Armsmaster has finally advanced past his one-note character of being the Captain Hammer type and combined with Dragon’s story to get some real dynamics going on. And Mannequin? One of the coolest Tinkers yet. Genuinely creepy. Is Armsmaster still missing an arm? I’m mean, obviously not NOW that he’s got more robo-parts than anything, but it was kinda vague if he did during the confrontation. Either way, him learning about Dragon being an AI the same time that he become more machine than man is a good parallel.

- 11.e: Hookwolf is another one of those capes that I really like but have trouble picturing in my mind. Too many small moving parts to capture for long. But this arc was really good, with some gruesome deaths with the glass powers from Shatterbird. I’m also quite interested in Cricket’s reluctance to have herself healed, which seems to be a pretty common theme in Worm and adjacent media.

- 11.f: Dilah’s pov...oof man this one was rough. I especially love the powers involving time-manipulation or future-sight, so this was a fun interlude, its just.. really heavy. And Noelle? She’s... beyond important. Both the Nine and the Endbringers were after her. She’s kept locked up underground in a vault, in a dark room that smells of meat. She’s like... an SCP. With the power of..... Vore maybe?

-11.g: A good fun one with a girl who has the power to make anyone kill themself without even needing to be near them. Regent has quickly become one of my favorite characters, with his sister instantly heading for one of my top-tier slots right off that bat. She’s just so spunky. I highly doubt her cocky attitude will actually get her in control of all of the Nine, but she is one of the most powerful capes yet.

-11.h: So. Bonesaw. Yeah. Scariest little girl ever? Some kind of fucked up Tinker that chops people up and sews them together into Tim Burton-esque monsters. While Jack is the brains of the operations, its sounded like all the rest of the Nine are more scared of her than anyone. And Amy confessing her love for her sister Victoria? Exactly the kind of fucked-up LGBT representation I would write. Using her powers to instantly make Victoria reciprocate those feelings? Beyond fucked. And I love it.

Let’s see if I can get this right:

Crawler: Buried Girl - Noelle

Mannequin: Arrogant Geek - Armsmaster

Sibarian: Dog Lover - Bitch

Shatterbird: Warlord - Hookwolf

Burnscar: Scaredy Cat - Labyrinth

Jack: Broken Assassin - Not Shown Maybe.... Shadow Stalker?

Bonesaw: Crusader - Panacea

Who I think will join the Nine:

Equal chance for Bitch or Panacea.

The one that sounds right but I’m afraid to say?

Taylor.

#worm #parahumans #liveblog

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glamorously-dope · 3 years ago

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Game Review Scoring – An Idea And Contemplations

Love them or loathe them, review scores have been around for just about as long as the games we know and love. There has always been a desire for this simple system – a score upon which the gamer can base an idea of whether they should spend their hard earned cash on the next piece of gaming goodness they have their eye on.

Some people enjoy a score and some, nowadays feel that a score should not be given as gamers can get all the information they need from around the web simply watching gameplay from YouTube or Twitch or indeed just from the reviewers prose.

Girl gamer? Want a piece of equipment that screams girl-power, is comfy, and will bring glory to your setup? Check out TGC’s recommendations for creating the ultimate pink gaming setup.

Scores can cause comment wars when scores given to games past are brought out to backup why a games score is deemed too high or too low by gamers who are passionate to defend or attack the quality of whatever may be the latest hype train they are riding along on.

The Last Guardian, err yeah, not much hype here

Personally, I have always enjoyed game review scores. I don’t think it’s just because they have always been there and they act as a crutch for a gamer who enjoys this tradition, for me these days, it’s all about quickly being able to get an average from reviewers / sites that I find personally back up my own gaming tastes. Even then, a game I am looking forward to will fail to get the score I had hoped for and this can, I must admit, shake my faith in the potential purchase I was about to make. I’ll still make up my own mind but there’s no shying away from the fact that for me, the opinions of gaming media outlets I respect really do have an influence on my judgement of a game. On the whole, I trust an average of this trusted circle of mine.

It gets awkward when certain games get very high marks on certain websites that you just really can’t understand and this shakes faith in the mainstream – I’m looking at you Evolve. Certainly my circle of trusted outlets has shrunk significantly over the years and it’s great that the internet gives so many gamers a platform from which we can gauge opinion of a games quality.

Many people however don’t like a score out of ten or a percentage anymore and prefer a simple must buy / ok / avoid type scheme. Kotaku and Eurogamer both use such appraisal techniques now and hey, that’s fine. It’s a good way to avoid having the mirror of gaming scores past held up in evidence of future reviews. Though as I say, I must admit I prefer a good old fashioned score.

Anyway, the point I thought I would offer is that this got me thinking of whether an alternative scoring method could be used that was fair and could be backed up against past marks and that people could get behind as a standard. Well, I can dream.

After some thought I came up with the following system which is based upon taking away the need to assess graphics, sound, playability etc as separate entities and hinges the score (or recommendation) simply upon what I feel is the most important aspect of a game – Value.

http://www.thegamercollective.com/gaming-laptops-getting-hot/

Is this game worth your time and your money and if so, to what degree?

So, how can this be determined?

Well here is what I propose, behold The Spark Review Standard.

This system gives a score by working out a percentage based upon the value that the reviewer considers the game is worth against the games RRP. This then gives a score based simply upon Value.

So for example, lets take No Man’s Sky and apply my system.

Ok so at GAME, No Man’s Sky (PS4) is currently £45.99 – I think it may have been a £49.99 price point at release for RRP but can’t quite remember so let’s just use this.

Then, the reviewer decides whether the game is worth buying at full price. If so, the game is a must buy – 100% recommendation. However, for everything deemed wrong with the game, this would incur a penalty against the RRP and give the final sum that would give the score.

So for instance, if a reviewer determined that on the whole they thought that No Man’s Sky was a game worth playing but not at the RRP. Maybe more like the £15 mark, they would simply work out what percentage of the full price the price they think it’s worth is –

£15 as a percent of £45.99 = 33% (rounded up)

So this would give a score of 33% / 3.3 out of 10 / or 33 out of 100.

Hey Max, I ain’t got hella cash dude, I need the value

So, it’s all based on the value for money of the game in question as perceived by the reviewer. Once this score is reached there could be a further scale introduced that this could fit into to perhaps mask direct comparisons in the future of Avoid, Okay, Good, Great (or you know, something like that) and the game would sit in one of these quadrants depending upon its percentage.

Let’s imagine a reviewer decides that Deus Ex (PS4) is worth paying £35 for of the £39.99 it currently is at GAME – obviously we would need accurate RRP’s at release as a standard.

£35 as a percent of £39.99 = 87.5%

So, there you have it, this is where my thoughts on the subject led me. Obviously this system would only work for games you pay for and it may already be in place out there in the gamerweb. Free to play would need some more thought but by the nature of being free don’t really require a score as much as your big blockbuster hyped up titles.

This is just an outline of an idea that occurred to me (maybe it’s already out there) and like any system it would need some work, some refining and polishing up but on the whole I think it would make a great review standard that is fair and upfront, in as much as a subjective review could be anyway and if we started adding ratings to games over here at this is certainly a system that could be considered.

Sound good? Or is the whole written review and score method now simply an archaic tradition that we need to move away from? It’s funny that in trying to come up with a review standard based on value, ultimately you need to answer the question as to whether in this day and age a new system is even required.

I think I’ll shut that can of worms now. Right there…

#gamer #gaming #pc gaming #xbox #playstation #video games

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levi-inthesun · 7 years ago

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Summer at Camp Duff

Part 3 (2 of 2)

Where Stella Opens Up

A/N: ONE WORD: THERAPY. These pure humans need THERAPY. Everyone needs therapy, but anyways. I AM SO EXCITED TO HEAR WHAT YOU GUYS THINK OF THIS CHAPTER!!!

Part 3 (1 of 2)

Steve wanted to figure out how you were connected to the upside-down and what events lead to your hip being a Demogorgon snack. So, when the sun started going down and the kids were off playing night games, Steve found you decorating the cabins.

“Hey there Scout,” Steve said awkwardly stuffing his hands in his jean pockets.

“Hiya Steve, what is going on?” You set the staple gun down and brushed your hands off on your shorts.

“Well, I was hoping we could talk, and since the groups are off doing night games together and we have a fantastic view of this sunset,” he said motioning to the view with a nod of his head. He motioned for you to come sit down by him on a log overlooking the lake.

“Okay, Steve what did you want to talk about.” You sat down next to him and nudged him with your arm.

“Well, first of all, you cannot blow me off again like you did last night,” he said pointedly. “Second I know you were involved with the upside-down.”

You stared straight ahead trying to keep yourself rooted, ignoring the internal instinct screaming within you to run away and never look back.

“Now, what you also need to know is that I was also involved. I know earlier I told you that Dustin and I go way back and everything, but by way back I mean last year when the Demogorgon’s attacked. Dustin found a baby one and raised it and then found out it was a Demo-dog, that’s what he nicknamed them since they weren’t fully grown, and I had a bat with nails in it, which is currently in my car because ya never know! Anyways, I also know that you know about Eleven. She’s the reason they went away this last time, she closed the gate that Hawkins lab made her open. It’s crazy but it happened.” Steve sighed, looking over at you to gauge how you were reacting to all of this. All he saw was a stone-cold face you were putting on and recognized it. He’d felt empty trying to deal with everything afterward on his own.

“Stella, dealing with this stuff is insane. I tried to cope with everything on my own and I found myself spiraling and I just couldn’t handle it by myself. So, I need you to know I am here for you. When you need someone to talk to about all of it, I will be there for you. I won’t force you, but please. Let me help you.”

You felt like Steve was looking straight into your soul. You felt like he could see all of the hurt you’ve had to deal with on your own. There was a part of you that wanted to just spill everything. You didn’t have access to a support system like this. The closest thing you’d had was a shitty relationship with an abusive boyfriend, and that’s saying something. Yeah, you’d made friends with a lot of the girls you went to school with, even had a few meaningful relationships. But once everything had started last year, you pushed everyone away, trying to protect the ones you loved from the horrible demons that were your reality.

Steve realized he was overstaying his welcome and got up to leave you when you stopped him.

“Steve wait,” he turned to look back at you, worry filling his golden-brown eyes. “I uh…. I don’t have anyone. You’re right, and it’s been really crappy. I uh… I’m not in a good place right now. I’m using camp to distract myself, but I really don’t know what I’m gonna do when I leave for school... Like… It will be so so good to get out of this place. Leave my real-life nightmares, ya know?” You looked up at Steve, your dark brown eyes were filled with sorrow and fear. “I just don’t think I can talk about it yet… But…. I will, I think.”

You stood up facing Steve, you were only inches away from him. You felt your heart start to race, but wanted to take control of whatever was going on. You leaned forward a little, leaving a soft kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for… well… being here,” you whispered, before you walked off, lighting some of the torches you had set up for when the kids got back from playing camp-wide night games.

As it turned out, a few of your kids ran into some poison ivy and were spending the night in the nurse's cabin, leaving you with what you learned was called the ‘party’. It was you, Steve, and these brave kids who had also faced the horrible things you had faced and you realized that maybe what was needed tonight was a little vulnerability. These kids needed to heal just as much, or maybe more than you did. Steve needed to heal too. You could see it as he had pleaded with you to talk to him, to let him help you, that he needed the same. Even though you wanted to just swallow the events from the past year and pretend it never happened, it was time to open that can of worms.

You knew Max had recurring nightmares. She had woken up in a panic the night before and told you so. She was finally able to fall asleep when you agreed to sleep next to her.

El was struggling. You couldn’t place exactly how, but you could see it. You knew how much she loved Mike, but she was pushing herself away from him.

Dustin was loud, but that was so that the quiet thoughts that kept him up at night didn’t get the best of him when he was around others.

Will…. Will. You weren’t even sure where to begin. When you had met him, he was just a shadow of himself. He had lost so much weight because of the Mind Flayer taking control of him. The second time you saw him, he was even skinnier. He told you what had happened replayed in his mind. How he hurt other people because of the Mind Flayer. It was eating him alive.

Lucas was just trying to stay brave for Max. He was trying to be something solid for her to hold onto when the memories and her home life came to haunt her.

And Mike. Mike had at one point or another lost two of the most important people in his life and was doing everything in his power to protect them and make sure nothing bad ever happened to them.

These six kids were holding on by a single thread, collectively, and were slipping. They tried to have fun with the other kids, but it was hard. The things they had gone through pushed them to grow up too fast. They weren’t actually kids anymore and your heart hurt for them.

The sounds of their footsteps brought you back from your thoughts.

“Hey Scout, you okay?” Dustin asked, sitting next to you by the fire. As soon as he came over, everyone gathered around the flickering flames.

“You know Dustin, I’m not.” Steve’s head shot up to look at you, confused. “Hey, why don’t we all scoot a little closer together, you know, the trees have ears, and I don’t think the trees should hear what we are gonna talk about.”

The rest of the party, Steve included, scooted together.

You started telling your story, and once El and Max realized what was happening, they were on each of your sides holding your hands, Dustin was practically sitting on Steve, although he would never admit it. Mike was next to El, and Lucas next to Max.

“Alright, so you guys know that when I moved to town, I went to an all-girls school. It was great and I made a lot of really great friends there. One of whom got an amazing internship opportunity at Hawkins Lab, which I know you are all well acquainted with.” El squeezed your hand. You send a squeeze back and she rested her head on your shoulder. “Well, my friend found out I was interested in science and helped me apply and get the same internship. One day, when we were helping clean up after some chemical experiments, we were talking and eventually started to wander around the lab. That is when I met Eleven.” Everyone started to perk up. El didn’t like talking much about what had happened at Hawkins lab, except that Papa had done terrible things, the opening of the gate, and her sisters.

“Once I realized they were experimenting on kids, I freaked, and I helped Eleven escape.” you took a deep breath before continuing, “Nothing happened for a while and I ended up quitting. I couldn’t handle being a part of such a terrible place. I kept contact with my friend who promised to keep a lookout for other kids, but she never saw anyone after El.”

You cleared your throat, looking around to see your captive audience, eyes pleading you to continue.

“A year went by, and I continued on. School was good, I was dating a really great girl and I honestly thought it was going to last forever.” You paused for a moment. Allowing yourself to remember the last person to truly have your heart.

“You can do that?” El asked you quietly, while Mike gave El’s hand a supportive squeeze.

“Yeah El, you are allowed to date boys and girls. All of you are.” you saw Will get preoccupied with his hands and Mike blushed a little bit.

Steve smiled at you and urged you to continue.

“Anyways. That’s when I found out about Demogorgons. I had met Will and when he found out I knew about the lab and El, he mentioned something was happening and that they were back, so I went out to investigate.

I was out in the woods, by myself, I know, not the best idea. And I met a boy, my age. He was handsome and charming and decided to keep me company. I didn’t tell him what I was looking for but he didn’t really care. I think the Mind Flayer knew what I was looking for because after the boy and I parted ways, I came face to face with a Demo-dog.” You shuddered for a moment. It’s millions of tiny sharp teeth in your mind as it leaped on you and made contact with your hip.

“It attacked. I know you guys saw the scars on my hip earlier today. The boy hadn’t really left and was able to scar it off, hitting it with his car. He actually helped get me to the hospital. Anyways. After that, I started pushing the people I loved away, including my girlfriend. I couldn’t let her get hurt or be faced with the evils I was then aware of. After that, Billy and I ended up spending a lot of time together.” You gave Max a half-smile, and Steve practically choked on nothing.

“Billy. Billy helped you? And then you... You guys….” Steve trailed off, wide-eyed.

This time Max gave you a squeeze of the hand and returned your little smile sadly.

“Yeah. Billy and I ended up dating. He was the only one who knew what had happened. I knew he wouldn’t think I was crazy because he saw it. Hell, I thought I was crazy….” You paused again trying to get your composure back. Anytime Billy came up, so did a whole new can of horrible worms.

“Billy and I were together for a while. I would help clean him up when Neil took his anger out on him, and Billy would help calm me down when the nightmares started. Pretty soon, the nightmares never stopped, and I started seeing these dark, visions during the day. The Mind Flayer was always there. Always telling me to do these terrible things and controlled me. I ended up going to the new Hawkins Lab trying to find out what was happening to me.” You looked over to Will, who was staring at you wide-eyed. He hadn’t known you had gone through something like he had.

“It got worse once I was back at Hawkins Lab. One time, I found myself waking up in this dark, cold tunnel that connected to the lab. I could hear the Demo-dogs in other tunnels, so I ran. They eventually caught up to me, and one of them got a good bite out of my ribcage. Then they were called away, and I somehow made it to a hospital. I think I had called Billy.

After that night, Billy said I was just looking for all this trouble, and started saying I was insane and pretty soon, we weren’t taking care of each other anymore. He was causing twice the amount of pain, and I was left to pick up the pieces. I uh, was finally able to get out of being with him when I found him kissing someone else. But, that was just a few weeks ago, and he left me with something to remember him by.”

You held out your arm, pulling up your sleeve to show deep scratches on the inside of your arm near your bicep.

“I don’t really sleep at night. When I do, it is filled with either nightmares of the upside-down, or nightmares of Billy.”

You put your arm around Max, who had started crying. After she calmed down a little, she began telling you guys about what was happening at home.

“Neil isn’t letting him leave for another month out of punishment,” she said wiping her eyes, “ and Billy has started taking it out on me, worse than before. Um..” Max started sniffing more and let out a sob, “Billy hit me before we left to come here.”

Max broke down.

You cried with her.

Will spoke up, sniffing, “The Mind Flayer is always in my dreams. I have a notebook full of what happens in them. I keep trying to get it out of my mind, but I don’t think I will ever be able to escape.” While Max was talking, Will had moved to sit next to Mike, who was now holding both of his best friends.

Next, Mike openly wept about how hard it was losing Will and El. And that even though he and El weren’t really ‘together’ together, that they would always be best friends.

After Dustin and Lucas tried to muscle through talking about their own problems they faced because of the events that had taken place, Steve finally spoke up.

“Um… I don’t really sleep either.” He said, adjusting the arm he had around Dustin, who had finally broken down and was shaking slightly. “If I do, all I dream of is what happened at the junkyard, except, in my dreams, the Demo-dogs get you all. I can’t protect you guys. In my dreams, I’m useless, watching from the sidelines as they tear everyone apart.” Steve visibly shudders, images playing behind his eyes.

“I have a nail bat in my car, and one under my bed at all times. I never feel safe. I always feel like danger is around the corner.” He swallowed loudly, and let tears slide down his face. He closed his eyes for a minute and focused on his breathing.

“Guys, I am afraid to leave. I’m afraid that if I leave Hawkins to go to College that I won’t be able to protect you guys anymore. I know you have each other, and Joyce and Hopper, but I feel this responsibility for you guys. I just… I can’t let anything happen again.”

Once Steve finished, everyone sat, staring at the fire. Max and El were whispering to you quietly, and Mike and Will were holding each other when Will spoke up.

“Hey guys, I uh, I actually feel a lot better, having talked about this..”

“I do too,” Dustin said, and the others nodded in agreement.

“Okay then Y'all, I suggest a pact.” You said turning to look at everyone, “That if we ever need to talk to someone, we can 100% go to each other. Are we all in agreement?” you asked.

Once everyone agreed, you pulled those around you closer and motioned for the others to come too.

“We are going to hug this out now, no objections” and without a signal word of dissent, everyone came in close, hugging each other tightly.

After that Steve was able to find lighter things to talk about before everyone went to bed.

“Hey actually, you guys, I don’t know about you, but these stars are amazing. I think we should all sleep outside tonight.” He looked at you, a soft smile on his lips, and wisdom in his eyes. He sure knew these kids and knew they would all need to be close to each other.

They were all so excited that they ran to get into their pj’s and grab their sleeping bags. There was a little field right next to your area that you all set up in. After whispering together for a few minutes, the kids declared that they wanted to be in a little circle with their sleeping bags. They all set theirs out quickly, leaving only two spots open next to each other for you and Steve.

Once everyone was in their bags, you went around to each of them giving them a big hug, and telling each one how proud you were of them for being brave enough to share what was going on with them. You finished with the kids and suddenly realized it was just Steve left, who was wiggling his eyebrows at you.

You smiled and embraced him in a warm hug, which lasted much longer than any of the other hugs, except for maybe Max and El, who kept you there much longer than any of the boys had.

You could feel yourself relaxing as Steve held you, and you felt a rogue tear slip out. You shifted slightly so that your face was in the crook of Steve’s neck, instead of being buried in his chest.

“Hey Steve?” you said quietly.

“Hmm” he breathed out, pulling you closer to him.

“Thank you.” You tighten your grip on him, “None of this would have happened if it weren’t for you talking to me earlier.”

Steve pulled away slightly so he could look at you.

“Well, that and some kids falling into poison ivy,” he said smiling, “It seems everything has worked out as it ought to.”

You nodded, tearing your eyes away from Steve’s to look over at the now sleeping kids. “Steve, their so young. Why did this have to happen to them?”

“I don’t know, Stella. I honestly don’t. But, I doubt any other group of kids would have been able to handle it like they have. Also…” Steve turned back to look at you, grabbing your hands. He closed his eyes for a moment as he continued, “I can’t believe what Billy did to you, and to Max. It just… It makes me so mad!” His voice started to rise in volume as he began to feel a whole new anger towards the town’s resident bad boy.

“Shhh, it’s okay... I mean, it’s not, but it’s already happened. What we need to do is make sure Billy never touches Max again. She doesn’t deserve this.” you shook your head slightly, wanting to protect the girl from what happened to you.

“Um… Stella, can I see…” he nodded to where the scratch marks are on your arm. You gave him a slight nod and held your arm out. Steve carefully shifted your sleeve up. He delicately touched the four, still angry and red marks. You closed your eyes at his touch.

Ever since Billy had gotten his hands on you, you forget what it was like to be touched softly, to be truly cared for.

You and Steve stayed up talking a while longer in your respective sleeping bags, eventually drifting off mid-conversation.

Steve was awake a little longer and watched as you peacefully surrendered to sleep. Amazed at the selflessness you possessed. He knew you weren’t ready to talk, and yet, for the sake of those amazing kids, you opened up all the wounds you had been trying to hide, including ones that you didn’t necessarily have too, but did for the sake of Max.

When Steve finally fell asleep, it was with a smile on his face.

The Demo-dogs didn’t attack in his dreams that night.

Part 4

#stranger things at summer camp #stranger things fic #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x oc #campfire therapy session #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #steve harrington #steve harrington fanfiction

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dustinbi · 7 years ago

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Elmax headcanons

Hints at byler and henclair

- 8

- Max didn’t understand why the girls in her class didn’t like skateboards, worms, and dragons

- She couldn’t get her best friend out of her mind

- It was so weird when she would come up to her she would feel like her cheeks heat up and she would start to act all dopey and want kiss her

- And all of the crushes on girls never stopped and she never had gotten a crush on a boy

- So she assumed when one liked her and she felt like he was her best friend that she had a crush on him

- Even though she hated thinking about marrying boys

- She was always forced to wear dresses until 4th grade when she finally convinced her mom that it was okay and was able to get her first skateboard

- She was terrible but she rode that thing everywhere no matter what

- 13

- As soon as el/Jane walked in max had been struck at how cool and beautiful she was

- Max didn’t know why she felt sad at how mike and el/Jane looked at her the whole night

- And how she wanted to cry when el/Jane refused to shake her hand

- Max didn’t know it but el hated the way her heart pounded when she first saw her on her skate board but then she remembered all the soap operas so she had to trip her

- And when max reached out for her hand and she remembered “rivals” aren’t friends

- Max saw el/Jane with her in that dress and she could feel her cheeks turn rosy and hot Lucas couldn’t even get her to blush

- She really liked lucas she really did but el/Jane made her feel like something else

- Over the year they were able to mend the relationship and became best friends almost always together and close

- 14/15

- At one of their sleepovers (billy was on a date) el/Jane had met Max’s Mom and saw her makeup and asked if she could try some on

- As max applied el/Jane lipgloss as the finishing touch she looked at el/Jane and was struck at how beautiful she was

- El/Jane was so close to max she could feel the others heart beating out of control and could feel her own

- El/Jane had known that they weren’t like other girls in their grade always gushing about boys and talking about their boyfriends nonstop

- They knew something was up with their boyfriends when suddenly became jealous about their other friends becoming closer

- 15/16

- “I’m so sorry Lucas but I don’t love you, god this is so hard, but I love” “Jane, I know cause I’ve loved Dustin for so long I can barely remember a time I didn’t” they were both teary eyed but happy they could say that to each other

- “I’m sorry mike” “I know, but max is amazing so I understand” “will” “yeah will”

- At the next sleepover they tell their group about the break ups and that’s when their sexualities come out

- Max and will are gay

- Lucas, el, and mike are bi

- Dustin is questioning but he knows that he likes both genders

- “Stalker, I need your help to make Jane like me” “I think she already likes you” “I meant in romantically it took me weeks maybe even a couple of months for her to acknowledge me” “don’t worry about it, it’s like totally tubular but she really does like you trust me, would I ever lie to you mad max” “no” “and I’m not sure I could make a good wingman so you should probably ask Dustin he’s good at that”

- “Dustin so tomorrow night can you wingman for me?” “For Jane” “yeah” “good I was getting tired of your guys pining it was getting even worse then will and mikes “you’re one to talk I’ve seen you look at Lucas and you’re just as bad as will”

- They met up at the arcade

- Dustin is wearing sunglasses and did his hair like he did for the winter ball and was wearing Denim on denim

- They just played games and talked and Dustin made terrible jokes

- Max and Jane/el walked in the bathroom with Dustin giving max the thumbs up and max giving the same thumbs up they did a couple of years ago

- “Jane, I have something to tell you” “go on” “I like you a lot, like god how you walked in with your black makeup I knew I loved you and I know you don’t but I just had to tell you but please don’t lea-“ “I like you too” they both cried

- They held hands tightly throughout the night

- When billy came to pick max up Jane made sure to trip him

- For a couple of months now they have been trying to get max from out of her parents custody but they still haven’t gotten “concrete” proof and they didn’t know if max would be placed under their care if they did

- Two weeks after they started to date max comes to live in the hopper/Byers household

- Max has never felt so loved since she left California

- Max was pissed because she, Lucas, and mike had spent a week trying to figure out a way to find a perfect plan to get will and mike together with mike asking and on New Year’s Day

- But they each lost that bet

- 16/17

- It was a day before New Years and Lucas had came to tell max all about the night he and Dustin had kissed

- She was mad that he didn’t tell her earlier but it was two days ago

- Max got her first car and she’s the best and the fastest out of all of them

- On New Years night with all of her family, friends, and girlfriend

- They all gave a heartfelt speech about their importance to each other but there were only 3 that made her cry (all of them did but she’ll only admit three)

- Jane/el about her abuse and coming through it to find a wonderful family and home and she couldn’t be happier with her life right now having great friends, family, and girlfriend

- Joyce and how she would kill for all of them but how she has gotten better without Lonnie and her babies are beautiful no matter who they are

- And wills

- Dustin and Steve cried super hard during each other’s speech they love each other so much it’s unbelievably how they went so long without the sibling relationship

- Lucas speech was like fine wine and everyone was cheering and it was so well crafted

- Mike’s speech wasn’t about how everything was better and he wished for more growth throughout the year like everyone else’s but he shared beautiful memories the tough ones (how he could have died when he jumped off the cliff, how he couldn’t stop crying after hurting Jane/Ed’s feelings and finding out will “died”, and how his family wasn’t really a good one but it was bland) and the sweet ones (meeting his friends, their first campaign, seeing holly off to her first day of school, seeing Nancy graduate, and all of them being happy)

- Hopper talked about he was grateful and not good at speeches but he loved them and would do anything for them Jane/el cried the most because most of the speech was dedicated to her

- Max and Jane/el head outside and just hold hands and listen to the laughter from inside, the bugs sing, feel the cold bitter wind on them, and see the beautiful stars and moon

- The clock hits midnight and they have a heartwarming kiss with them cupping each other’s faces and being giddy the rest of the night from the happiness

#stranger things #st #eleven #jane hopper #max mayfield #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #will byers #mike wheeler #byler #byeler #henclair #dustin henderson x lucas sinclair #i love them so much so please reblog this

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 7 years ago

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Reasons to be nice - chapter 3

It never fails to surprise me that people like this one, anyway, have some more Chlonette

Also on AO3 as always

Chloé did not usually spend time in the library. Why would she, when there was nothing interesting to do here? But today she sat here at a table with Sabrina, looking down at the work in front of her, trying to get her brain into action so that she could actually do this. Oh, it would be so much easier to just tell Sabrina to do it and then spend this valuable time touching up her manicure instead! Sabrina deserved a little break, though.

“Shouldn’t you be hanging out with Kim?” Sabrina asked her, barely even looking up from her work.

“Kim has football practice,” Chloé replied. She was very aware of the fact that Sabrina had become far more outspoken lately, ever since Chloé had started treating her better. Much less of a pushover, much more likely to speak her mind. Interestingly enough, Chloé liked it. What she didn’t like as much, however, was the way Sabrina quite obviously tried to spend as little time with her as possible.

“So you’ll go hang out with him later?”

“I suppose…”

Hanging out with Kim was somewhat tedious. Adrien was never there to see her, and faking being in love was exhausting, even if Kim was nice enough to give her as much space as she demanded of him. But if she broke up with him now, when it hadn’t been very long yet, everyone would surely go back to thinking of her as mean and selfish, like they always used to. It had been hard enough changing her entire personality this far.

The library door opened. Needing a distraction from this mind-numbing work, Chloé looked up to see who it was.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

She furiously lowered her eyes again, imploring her brain to just focus on these numbers already. She and Marinette were civil now. They were civil! No more enmity, no more arguing! Those days were over!

Almost involuntarily, out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Marinette strode into the room. Stopping for a moment in the centre now, looking around for a space to sit down. Chloé’s breath caught in her throat as Marinette turned towards her–

And then turned away again, deciding to sit somewhere else.

Chloé exhaled. But the torment was not over. As much as she glared down at her piece of paper, her eyes still snapped upwards to watch Marinette through her lashes, until she was out of sight again behind some bookshelf.

Phew… that had been odd. It was getting hard to ignore how hyper-aware she was of Marinette these days, every movement far across the classroom catching her attention, every sound of her voice bringing heat to Chloé’s face, every mention of her name sending her pulse speeding.

Things were unfinished between them, that was what. They had never quite had a proper heart-to-heart discussion over everything that had gone down between them over the past several years, never truly sorted out their differences. That must be what Chloé’s stupid brain was trying to remind her of. Why the thought of speaking to Marinette again was sending shot after shot of adrenaline right through her veins.

“You alright, Chloé?”

She turned to see Sabrina staring at her in concern. Her first instinct was to snap at her, just like she would have always done, but she gulped it down. No more bossing Sabrina around. They were equals now. Perhaps not in status or wealth, but Sabrina was a person just like any other.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just rather unaccustomed to working in the library.”

“Or working at all,” Sabrina muttered under her breath. Chloé resisted the urge to snap at her again. It was kind of true, after all.

“Sabrina, I would like to ask you a question.”

“Of course.”

Chloé looked around, making sure no one else was close enough to overhear, and especially not Marinette. “Hypothetically speaking, judging by my actions, do you think I love Kim?”

“Hmm. Hypothetically speaking, not really.”

“And why is that?”

“You don’t seem to actually like him. Even as a friend.”

“And do you think this is the reason why Adrien is still annoyed at me?”

“Maybe.”

Sabrina was still holding back, Chloé was sure of that. Perhaps years of expecting her to hide her opinions and just agree with whatever Chloé was saying would be hard to stop doing. But at least she was being honest enough to help out a little.

“So I need to be more friendly with Kim…” She sat back in her chair, tapping her pen against the side of her cheek in thought. “Yes, I can do that. Certainly.”

“Good for you.”

“Oh, and Sabrina, for the record that was all purely hypothetical. Of course I love Kim.”

“Yes. Of course you do.”

Sabrina’s tone hadn’t changed at all. Then how on earth did she sound sarcastic?!

Chloé just gritted her teeth and looked back at her work. She had to get this done at some point and she was certainly smart enough to, but right now she simply was not in the mood for it. She was in the mood for making friends with Kim. And a particular idea had come into her head – a very risky one, and one that might backfire spectacularly. It really depended on how much she trusted Kim.

Did she trust him? Well, he certainly did like her a lot. He was usually very nice to her. As far as she knew, he was open-minded. So far all he had been trying to do was make her happy.

But this… this plan could change all that. If it went well, it would be great. But if it went wrong, if Kim didn’t take things well, if anyone else found out… that would be it for Chloé’s reputation. In so many ways.

She had about an hour to think about it before she was supposed to meet up with Kim. At least here there was nothing to distract her, nothing to put her off her task, nothing to–

“Oh hey Alya! Yeah I’m working on that too, this project is so hard… sure I can help…”

Marinette!

From the sounds of it she was talking on the phone. Her voice had lowered now, that hyperactive dork probably had remembered she was in a library of all places, but the distant murmurs were still audible.

Chloé tried to think about her plan again. She tried so, very hard. But Marinette’s voice kept worming its way into her ears and lodging itself in her brain. She couldn’t even hear the individual words, but that didn’t seem to make a difference. It was too distracting.

Sighing, she looked at Sabrina. “May I borrow a pair of headphones?”

“Sure.”

Her brain was fuzzy. She took the headphones Sabrina handed to her and simply put them over her ears without even bothering to plug them into her phone. It wasn’t music she wanted, it was silence. Oh, these headphones were probably making her look so ugly…

An hour later she had left the library and was back in Kim’s company, trying to endure the journey back to the hotel without grumbling too much. Despite having spent the hour mulling things over, she had not yet come to a decision about what to do. Perhaps she’d just have to make up her mind on the spot.

Not right now, though, while other people were around – whether that was their fellow students as they walked through the school and out towards the road, or the chauffeur of Chloé’s limo, or the hotel staff and guests milling about on the way up to Chloé’s room where they would finally have a bit of peace.

Kim was such a chatterbox. All along the way he went on about his football practice, how he was totally the best there by a longshot (which was probably an exaggeration), how he was always the last to leave afterwards due to spending so long redoing his hair (which Chloé really did not want to hear about in detail but was subjected to anyway), how since he always wore the new hoodie Chloé got him, Alix had stolen his old one and given it to Max for some reason (which Chloé did not care about at all).

“Do you ever stop gloating about your mundane life?” Chloé sighed once they were finally in her room, away from any listening ears. She knew it hadn’t been a very nice thing to say. But her risky plan was still on her mind and seemed to be stifling the part of her brain that reminded her to be somewhat decent to people.

“Sorry,” Kim said, slightly more quietly. “I never really know what else to talk to you about.”

Hmm, true. There wasn’t exactly any reason for bringing Kim up here at all, since there wasn’t much he would be interested in doing, and all that was left was… talking.

(Or romantic things. But the thought of getting closer than arm’s length to any boy other than Adrien was just so awfully vile, she certainly wasn’t having that.)

That plan was still simmering away in her head. Dare she go for it? Chloé Bourgeois was never exactly nervous about talking to people, no matter the subject, but this was stressing her out more than she cared to admit. Maybe it would be better to forget about that for now – focus on being nice. Being friendly. That was what she had told Sabrina, right? She would make proper friends with Kim.

Clearing her throat, she announced, “I apologize for what I did to you on Valentine’s Day.”

There. That was plenty nice, wasn’t it? She glanced over at him to see his startled expression. There was a silence that seemed far too long – oh come on, surely she couldn’t have somehow messed up a simple apology?

“It’s fine,” Kim said finally, an apprehensive little smile on his face.

He was hiding something. Chloé leaned forward in her seat and looked right at him, trying to figure it out. Usually she preferred not to look at him too directly – his hair and eyebrows were too ridiculous for her to take seriously.

“I really do mean it,” she said, not quite sure herself whether she was lying or not. She wouldn’t humiliate Kim like that again, that was for sure. But honestly, him attempting to buy a date from her with that snazzy brooch when she was clearly disinterested had always annoyed her, not to mention her secretly wondering if he was only going after her because she was rich, and it wasn’t like he had ever bothered to get to know her properly first. Turning him down was not something she regretted in the slightest.

“I said it’s fine,” Kim said, his fake-smile gone. “Don’t worry about that. Let’s just talk about something else.”

Oh, so that was it. He didn’t like thinking about it. To be fair, very few people liked thinking about events that got them akumatized. Chloé herself still had to blink away tears on occasion when thinking about how Ladybug had dismissed her that one day, and what with the little sleep she’d had due to her feud with Sabrina and Vanisher’s subsequent tormenting, felt alone without a friend in the world.

Oddly enough, though, things did seem a bit… lighter now.

She couldn’t quite place it. But now thinking back to Valentine’s Day, rejecting Kim on that bridge, it just felt… not quite so bad to think about. Kim knew now she was sorry for it. Why did that make her feel good? Fake apologies never usually changed anything for her.

“Now what?” Kim asked, breaking the silence that had settled between them again.

Chloé didn’t even know what to suggest. The only possible course of action her own brain was throwing at her was the risky plan! Should she even go ahead with it? Was now a good time? Was there ever a good time for such things?

“You got any video games or anything?”

Video games, pffffff, she would just go visit Adrien if she ever, for some absurd reason, had the craving to do such a pointless activity… Anyway, now back to the plan… He would figure it out at some point, wouldn’t he? She couldn’t hide something like this from a boyfriend for very long, even if that boyfriend was someone as thick-headed as Lê Chiến Kim!

“I guess we could always do homework or something, unless you finished yours already…”

It would be better to just get it out of the way sooner rather than later, the longer she waited to more difficult and painful this would be. But it would break his heart, and that was a mean thing! She was working so hard not to be mean now, and she was going to break his heart again, maybe even worse than the first time considering how she’d been stringing him along just like Marinette had told her she had and oh god no don’t think about Marinette right now–

“I’m a lesbian, Kim!”

Crap.

Chloé snapped her hands over her mouth. It had just slipped right out.

Curse Marinette, honestly. The thought of her had completely fried the wiring of Chloé’s brain.

Okay, so she had told Kim. He knew now. Alright, so perhaps it had been a little sudden, a little tactless. But at least she had actually said it now.

She put her hands back down, taking a deep breath, then lifted them again to brush the hair away from her face, only no it wasn’t in her face, that was sweat. Ew. She quickly wiped her hands on the fabric of her leggings. Why were they shaking? Oh, those were nerves. She was nervous. Why was she nervous? It was just Kim! But then again, this was the first time she had ever come out to anyone…

Taking another deep breath, so deep it almost triggered a yawn, she braced herself and took a look at Kim to see his reaction.

“Oh. Cool.”

He just finger-gunned at her, gave her a casual smile, and went right back to fiddling with his hoodie strings.

Seriously?

Was that seriously his reaction?

“I said I’m a lesbian, Kim. Let me repeat that. Lesbian.”

“Good for you. So anyway, about the homework–”

“LESBIAN. Me. I am a woman, who likes other woman.”

He grinned. “I know what it means, Chloé.”

“So you’ll realize that it means I like women exclusively. Not men. I told you the other day I don’t like kissing boys, right? It’s because I like girls. In a gay way.”

“Awesome, and I totally agree with you that girls are great.”

How was he so unfazed about it? Out of every reaction that she could have prepared for, she never expected this.

“You didn’t already guess, did you?” she asked, her teeth clenched. Surely someone with as few brain cells as Kim could not have figured out something that she herself had taken long enough to come to terms with, could he? And if he already knew, yet had asked her out anyway–

“Nah, I had no idea,” he replied. “I just thought you were straight. ‘Cause like, you always used to hang out with Adrien all the time and I thought maybe you were into him, and then you said yes when I asked you out the other day, so then I… wait…”

Finally, an actual reaction. It was almost possible to pinpoint the exact moment when it hit him.

“Wait a second!” he yelped, leaping to his feet. “But if you’re a lesbian, and I’m a dude, then… this doesn’t… it’s not…”

“This is exactly why I decided to tell you,” Chloé said. The nerves were returning. If Kim flipped out about it, or if he told anyone, Hawk Moth might as well just akumatize her right now. Her life would be over. Even worse, her good reputation would be over.

Kim just turned to face her. “How long have you known?!”

“A few months maybe. So yes, I did already know when I said yes to you.”

Part of her felt like explaining, but it all seemed so shallow now. She had said yes to Kim to impress Adrien, but Adrien would never be impressed unless Chloé and Kim actually became close, and due to the aforementioned incompatible orientations, a friendship would be the best course of action, but in order not to lead Kim on she now had to come out to him and admit she had basically lied to him…

“So you were using me as a cover.” He was still standing there, now frowning and tapping his chin in thought. It was impossible to tell whether he was upset or not.

“Sort of.” Chloé was not sure what this unpleasant feeling deep in her stomach was, but she suspected it was possibly guilt, and she very much did not like it.

“Well… yeah, that makes a lot more sense now.” His frown lifted. “I kinda thought something was off, to be honest.”

“Really?” Her spirits lifted a tad.

“Yeah. I was talking to Max about it too. Like, maybe you’d just said yes to be nice or something.”

“So you’re not upset?”

He shrugged, looking just as puzzled as she felt. “I… guess not? I mean… you’re nice these days, so like… you must have had your reasons to do it…”

“I’ll admit, I was just doing it to be nice,” she said, not bothering to mention Adrien for now. “But if I have caused you any sudden heartbreak with my actions, I apologize for that.”

Kim scratched the back of his head. “Um, it’s weird, but I’m not mad, I promise. Maybe later it’ll hurt. I don’t know. Right now I’m fine.”

“Oh, that’s strange. But reassuring. I’m glad I won’t have to deal with an akuma villain chasing after me.”

His eyes narrowed momentarily at the mention of akuma villains, but quickly snapped back to normal. “So does this mean I’m not your boyfriend anymore?”

“I suppose it would be rather pointless for you, a boy, to continue to knowingly date a lesbian. However…” Now came the hard part. She really hadn’t thought this through. “…you could always still pretend to.”

He frowned for a few seconds, processing the thought.

“So I… pretend to be your boyfriend. So that no one knows you’re gay. And everyone still thinks you’re nice.”

“If that’s alright with you.” Thank goodness he had cottoned onto the plan so quickly. She had been expecting to have to painstakingly explain the whole thing to him step-by-step, considering how he got on in class and how often she’d heard Max going over ridiculously simple concepts with him.

Kim grinned rather suddenly. “That sounds kinda fun.”

Ohhhh no. He was going to treat it like one of his challenges, wasn’t he?

“You know, I really am surprised how well you took this,” she said. “I was worried you would end up crying or something.”

“Hey, it’s fine, I mean we were barely a couple anyway. Only a few days and nothing really happened. I think I hugged you like… once? And you didn’t even let me hold your hand, so…”

“You are still not allowed to hold my hand,” Chloé said hastily, shuddering at the thought. “And only be your hopelessly lovey-dovey self when in public, thank you very much. In private you are to treat me as a friend.”

His face lit up. “So we’re friends?”

She nodded. “Yes. We are friends.”

“Nice!” He stepped forward as if to lean down and hug her, but thankfully stopped a respectful distance away. “So, uh, need me to help set you up with any cute girls?”

“Unless you happen to personally know Ladybug better than I do, then you won’t be able to help me with that.”

Chloé knew her face was going a little red, as it so often did when she thought about Ladybug. Ever since that gorgeous, flawless superhero had saved her from being thrown off the Eiffel Tower, literally holding her tight in her strong arms… oh, Chloé had been smitten. That was the first step towards realizing that she wasn’t as straight as she had previously thought herself to be. Unfortunately, no one in her day-to-day life was anywhere near as attractive as an unattainable superhero, and lowering her standards was simply not an option…

“And what about you?” she continued, shaking herself out of her spotted daydreams. “Any girl you have your eye on?”

“Nah, no one in particular right now. Well I guess… except you… but like…” He rubbed the back of his neck, not quite looking at her. “I’ll get over it. I probably should have a long time ago.”

Judging by how little this was affecting him, it almost seemed like he already was over it! But Chloé held her tongue. Instead she smiled at him, hoping it looked genuine, and said, “Thank you for taking this so well, Kim. Now – I believe you were saying something about homework that needed doing?”

Friends did homework together, didn’t they? Maybe she was getting a little better at this friend thing. The whole being nice thing too, that was coming more naturally now. Thank goodness.

All this progress, and Adrien wasn’t around to see it…

Was he ever going to accept her?

Well, at least Kim had accepted her. And for now, that was good enough.

#this has been ready for a while i just couldn't be bothered to post it #miraculous ladybug #chloe bourgeois #marinette dupain cheng #chlonette #sabrina raincomprix #le chien kim #random stuff #aish writes

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